Intro and Lists
Friend, forum-goer, and apparently fellow-blogger although he never directly told me, Cartwright has been very generous with his time recently, and we were able to fit in another game into our busy schedules. (We'll recommend his blog in a future post, but it can be found here, if you wish to jump right in.) He had tweaked his Northern Alliance from Battle 047, bringing the following this time:
Some Dwarf Clan Warriors, Pack Hunters and Snow Trolls all return as mainstays of his list. The Frostclaw Riders show up again, as do the Ice-Queen and Ice Kin Bolt Thrower. Two Thegns on Frostfangs and a Snow Troll Prime return to lead by example. A horde of Frostfang Cavalry make another appearance, and a Cavern Dweller makes their debut.
I have used some Cavern Dwellers myself, and have generally liked them. With their small size they are hard to dogpile, and with Lifeleech 3, they can survive more than you’d think. With the new updates they now impart an Aura of Frozen via the Chilling Presence special rule. I thought this was what my opponent was going to explore, but he opted not to run the Naiad block, and both the Pack Hunters and Frostfang Cavalry declined to take their available Tundra Fighter upgrades.
While I have gotten some good feedback and ideas for improving my Herd play, I wasn’t prepared to run them on the day, so I decided to bring a lot of humans to the table! My approach was mainly to Zapp Brannigan my opponent and win through numbers and attrition.
Clash 2024 gave the ASBs for the Kingdoms of Men the dubious “buff” of an aura of Lifeleech 1, but only for infantry. I didn’t like this, but the first few attempts to explore this change didn’t pan out as the unit the ASB was babysitting in those games didn’t get into any prolonged combats. I need to support my grousing with examples! Having 8k of Kingdoms of Men, I scrounged up some infantry hordes from my collection to force the issue and see how that change actually felt in practice. I think defensive hordes/units would work better with the ASBs, but since I am going pretty all-in on the concept and not running Giants or anything, I left the Pike blocks and defensive Foot Guard at home, and am taking three smashy hordes to hopefully have something in the list that can deal some damage for me. I’m feeling pretty good about my Kingdoms of Men knowledge generally, so there were only a handful of things I wanted to test this time:
- Foot Guard with two-handers. I like my stand-in Varangian guards. I am not used to running them as a horde yet though, so we’ll see how they do.
- Fanatics. I don’t think I’ve ever run these in hordes before. Regiments have just been expensive arrow-catchers for me, but we’ll see how the hordes perform.
- Knights & Items. With so many infantry hordes, the Knights are back down to regiments, but I am giving them some items this time. The smaller regiments should support the unwieldy hordes better in theory, but maneuvering can be difficult. We’ll see how I use them this game.
- Mounted Scout Regiments. Troops have been fun, but have not been impactful. We’ll see how regiments perform.
- Ballista. I’ve liked them, but do want to explore them more. I am taking a pair again for this game, and we’ll see how they do!
- ASBs and Items. The impetus for the list! Just Inspiring things isn’t enough for my ASBs, so we’re trying out a few items in addition to the usual Lute. Items to give Mindfog and Hex seem nice, so we’ll give those a try, and we’ll hopefully see how Lifeleech impacts the game!
Going into the game, I was expecting to have an edge in Unit Strength, but that was not the case. Those Northern Alliance Dwarf regiments add up quickly! The Northern Alliance list was light on the Frozen interactions this time, but still heavy on list synergy and combined arms. It was going to be dangerous in every phase, so we should be in for another bloody game!
Table and Terrain
After traveling almost all day on the previous day, Cartwright graciously agreed to travel more and meet me in Madison for a weekday game.
We were out at a shop, and made use of their terrain. We also used the typical terrain rules, with the buildings as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, fences as Height 2 Obstacles, and Hills as Height 3. After a few clashes he won the roll off and picked the lazy gamer side. About 9 drops in, I remembered that I had taken the Scrying Gem. It had been a long day of a particularly long month for me, and not the only goof I made this game. We chose to just do the extra drops when I remembered the item instead of rewinding everything.
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| The Northern Alliance. |
My opponent had both Pack Hunters and the Ice Queen in the corner. A building broke up his line. Continuing on, we had Frostclaws behind the Frostfang Cavalry, Thegn, and Snow Troll horde. Then two regiments of defensive Dwarfs (one with a token), the other Thegn, the other Snow Trolls, the Cavern Dweller. the Snow Troll Prime, and then the hammering Dwarf unit. My opponent stuck his Bolt Thrower in the corner.
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| The left and center of the Kingdoms of Men. |
From left to right I had Mounted Scouts, Knights with J Boots, both Generals, Militia (Token) Mind Fog ASB, Fanatics, both Ballista, Foot Guard, Bane Chant ASB, Knights with the Drunken Ram, and then Fanatics, Mounted Scouts with Fire Oil, Hex ASB, and another Militia Mob over on the right.
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| The center and right for the Kingdoms of Men. |
When we caught the Scrying Gem goof, I was pretty ok with my setup. But had goofed it up a bit by the end. While I had saved my Hex ASB pretty late, I had dropped my others earlier. The Fanatics out on the right had no Inspiring. Not wanting to drop a General out there to be shot by the Bolt Thrower, I took the learning lump and dropped the Hex caster out here.
We opted to try to the revised Push scenario this time, where a unit can carry multiple tokens, but only score one at the end of the game.
My opponent won the roll for first turn, and decided to take the initiative.
Top of Round 1: Northern Alliance
The Bolt Thrower loosed into the Fanatics in the corner, landing a single damage, but giving them Frozen. The hammer Dwarfs moved into the woods, along with the Snow Troll Prime. The Cavern Dweller moved far up, daring a reckless charge from the Kingdoms of Men.
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| The Northern Alliance move up, and are uncharacteristically aggressive. |
The center moved up quickly, but were wary of charges. The Thegn looks brave and intrepid, but is entirely safe from melees in the bottom of the round.
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| More Alliance shooting on the left, into the equally soft Mounted Scouts. |
The Pack Hunters pivoted and advanced. They take a shooting penalty for moving, don't hit well, but land 3 damage on the Scouts, while the Ice Queen will put two damage them herself with Blizzard, and give them Frozen, reducing their speed as well.
Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men
The Scouts move up as far as they can to return fire. We forgot the Pack Hunters are stealthy, but I also somehow completely forget their number of attacks, only rolling 9 of their 14 attacks. The Scouts deal 3 damage. The Knights take the hill. The Frostfangs can see around the building, and their charge range is just beyond the base of the hill. Going any further would expose them to a charge, so I park it here, just in range to threaten the Pack Hunters. One of the flying Generals pulls up to reinforce this area.
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| The Kingdoms of Men try to pressure and dissuade with their fliers. |
The other General wheels about, hiding behind the forest to threaten the advance of the Northern Alliance. I measure, and my Militia are within range of one of the Pack Hunters. I back up an inch to deny that shot. My hope is to smash the Hunters quickly and then run the Militia into their corner as the game goes on. The Militia have good Nerve for their points, but are still just Def3, so I don't want them taking chip damage if I can help it.
The central Fanatics move up, daring a charge from the Thegn. The Foot Guard move up, daring a charge from the other Thegn while wisely staying out of range of the Snow Trolls.
The Militia jump the line to protect the Fanatics from more fire, but this was an early move in the turn and a mistake. Later in the turn, after some debate, I decide to send the extra thunderous Knights into the Cavern Dweller. If memory serves, the Dweller is just shy of making a charge against them next turn, but I do decide to risk it here. Had I been more thoughtful or coordinate, the Fanatics should have moved up ahead of the Militia to threaten anything going into the Knights next turn.
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| A brash, last minute decision to charge. I should have set this up better. |
The the Mounted Scouts canter around the building, and with their Fire Oil, loose into the Snow Trolls on the hill. I again give them 9 attacks only, and again they deal 3 damage. This is still hot rolls for them, and instead of shooting at Dwarfs, I decide to loose the Ballistae into the Trolls as well. Only one of the four attacks hits, and the war machines only add a single damage. On 4 damage, the Snow Trolls easily hold.
Top of Round 2: Northern Alliance
The Pack Hunters are in danger of being charged by my Knights with the J Boots. They back up their max, but are still in range. With penalty, the Hunters shoot into the Mounted Scouts, dealing 7 damage between them. The Scouts will be routed.
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| The Mounted Scouts are shot off... and the Knights are now out of charge range! |
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| Multiple units pile into the Knights while the rest of the Northern Alliance line advances. |
In the center, the Thegn enters the woods to eye things up. The Frostfangs position to avoid a possible flank from my flying General on the far left, but start moving up to threaten things as well. The Primes and Frostclaws and Dwarf units move up as well, with the former throwing grenades into the Fanatics, but only dealing 1 damage.
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| Victorious Reforms. |
Over on the right, the Cavern Dweller is wavered, but elects to hold, since this keeps him close to my lines… The hindered Prime hits the Knights in the front, while a Thegn and horde of Snow Trolls hit them in the flank. The unit is devastated, and then routed. My opponent is then clever here as well… the Snow Trolls angle themselves awkwardly, so that while my Foot Guard could reach them, they cannot fit, since the Dwarf unit and Thegn are blocking. Very well played again!
Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men
On the right, the Militia move their maximum, while the Fanatics move up to see around the building now. They should have done this last turn.
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| Hordes of humanity start to move out. |
The Foot Guard take their only charge into the Thegn, looking for a quick victory to trounce the enemy character. Unfortunately they roll poorly, deal just 6, and the Thegn sticks around.
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| Several combats break out in the center of the field. |
The Mounted Scouts with Fire Oil again shoot into the Snow Trolls, rolling the wrong number of attacks, and joined by the Ballistae again. I suppose they could have charged the Thegn as well, but it seemed better to make use of their item and try to focus fire a scary unit. Unfortunately, the ranged damage isn't amazing, and the Snow Trolls are only brought to (I believe) 8 damage after two volleys.
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| My post-combat reforms. Unfortunately not as many as I was hoping for. |
As I recall, both are hindered, though it looks like there should have been a way to give the Fanatics a clear charge. I must have been sloppy. Still, they do manage to slay the beasts, and the Fanatics pick up the central taken. The Frostfang Cavalry are angled and out of position, so things are relatively safe.
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| Some Kingdoms of Men heavy-hitters trying to win this flank. |
Over on the left, the General charges a fresh unit of Pack Hunters. The ASB near the loot-toting Milita tries a Mind Fog into the maimed Pack Hunters, gets it, and gets a lucky Waver to protect the General’s flank. The pond is difficult terrain, and the frozen Knights are only speed 7. Thankfully, the Knights are still able move up, out of charge arc of the Frostfangs while threatening the Pack Hunters.
Top of Round 3: Northern Alliance
Having not broken the Thegn, the Foot Guard get quintuple-charged, which I think is a record for us. The Dwarf unit hits the flank, while the Prime, Dweller, Thegn and Snow Trolls charge the front, with the latter coming off the hill… The Footies are devastated, then routed. Not a great showing for them, but a quintuple charge is hard to endure! The Snow Trolls should regen 1, and the Dweller Lifeleeches from 10 to 7, a trend I am not thrilled with, but unable to do anything about.
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| The Fanatics catch a rough flank charge. |
The Frostfangs wheel about to threaten the center.
The Dwarf unit with the token charges the front of the Fanatics, with the Frostclaws taking a corner for the flank. The Fanatics take a staggering 18 damage, but are thankfully found to be Insane.
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| Victorious reforms from the Northern Alliance. The group of monstrous units are butchering their way across the table. |
The Thegn makes it into the loot-toting Militia, who have been too wary to move out yet. He deals just 2 damage, and they hold.
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| The Thegn strikes, looking to grind down the Militia. |
Over on the left, the slog continues. The wavered Pack Hunters sit still while their comrades charge the General, dealing 3. The Ice Queen hits the Knights with 1 from Blizzard. But they hold, and are well within range this time.
Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men
It's a turn late, but Knights go in, charging through the Yielding Ice Queen, and popping the J Boots against the previously shot Pack Hunters, trying to get maximum damage in to wrap this up quickly. Unfortunately, they flub it. I think we end on 9 damage (they started with 3), and they stick around on a very low Nerve check.
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| The Kingdoms of Men press the attack on the left. |
Thankfully, while General brings his to 9 damage as well, he gets the rout.
The Militia came to play, and hit with half their attacks against the Thegn, but no wounds are dealt.
The Ballista are short on targets. There is a lane to the Frostfangs, but the majority of their base is obscured by other units, so I am shooting with Cover, hitting with two bolt shots, and dealing 2 damage. once Blast and such is resolved. With the Aegis, the Frostfangs are Iron Resolved down to 1.
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| Combats in Round 3. |
In the center, the other General takes the flank of the Frostclaws, and will remove them, while the insane Fanatics wallop the Dwarfs, removing them as well.
The Mounted Scouts opt for a flank into the other defensive Dwarf unit, they catch a Bane Chant, and it is now that I realize I had been rolling too few attacks. Even with the correct number and the Bane Chant, the output isn’t great at just 5, and this being the first damage they’ve suffered, the Dwarfs hold.
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| Three units routed! Not bad for humans. |
Out on the right now, the Fanatics see an opening. They are 11 inches away from the rear of the Snow Trolls, and can even fit between the hammering Dwarfs in the woods and the Prime to reach them. They gleefully take the rear charge, and it is my turn to devastate and rout a unit! The reform puts them out of the arc of the Dwarfs in the woods, and they are able to now threaten the center.
Top of Round 4: Northern Alliance
On the left, the Hunters flub their countercharge, dealing just 1 to the armored knights. The Ice Queen lands a Blizzard for 2 into the General, slowing him down from the Frozen special rule.
The Frostfangs eviscerate the flying General dealing 13, while the Dwarfs with the loot token rear charge the Fanatics, devastating then routing them.
The Thegn continues on against the Militia, thankfully rolling a bit cold in these combats. They hold, but are up to 6 damage now.
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| ...And the Northern Alliance retaliates with three routs of their own... |
The other Thegn and Cavern Dweller flank charge the unsuccessful Mounted Scouts, landing 8 damage apiece and devastate, then rout them. The Cavern Dweller will Lifeleech 3 again, bringing him down to 4. Both monstrous units will conga line to face the center and the intrepid Fanatics.
The Snow Troll Prime can see the breakout Fanatics, and charges them, while the hammering Dwarfs take up a position to flank the crazies in the coming turn.
I don’t think the Bolt Thrower had any shots this turn, with most things being in combats. Still, it’s landed 9 damage to my 6 so far, and definitely done ok for itself.
Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men
Starting on the left, the disordered Knights countercharge the Pack Hunters, deal about as much as they did last time, and will finally rout them.
The General, while Frozen, can still get to the rear of the Frostfang Cavalry, and makes the charge. Damage is slightly disappointing at 10, for 11 total. They are uninspired, but the Nerve check is super low, so they not only stick around unfazed, but are also Iron Resolved down to a total of 10 damage now. Shucks.
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| The Kingdoms of Men fail to break anything. |
The Fanatics are in a rough spot positionally, but still in it and still pretty fresh. They countercharge the Prime, and roll amazingly, landing 14 damage on him. The first Nerve check is boxcars, and the second is Insane Courage, effectively pinning the Fanatics in place and sealing their fate. Lifeleech should trigger, as I ran the Hexing ASB up to Inspire them, but we’ve been busy, and I forget about it.
The Ballistae will both shoot into the Dwarfs with the token, dealing 2 damage.
The Militia roll well, hitting with half their attacks again, and sticking some damage on the Thegn this time. Unfortunately, Lifeleech could trigger, but I forget about it here as well.
I didn't expect to break the Thegn with the Militia, but with both the Prime and the Frostfangs holding on, I think the Kingdoms of Men are out of gas...
Top of Round 5: Northern Alliance
The Frostfangs turn and savage the General, landing a stunning 15 more damage, bringing him to 20 total, devastating him, and then routing him. They will then wheel about and continue on with their day as if nothing happened..
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| The Northern Alliance pounce on the remaining human units. |
The Fanatics are clubbed by the Cavern Dweller, flanking Dwarfs and Prime. They are not devasted, but it is close, and they are seen off the field all the same. During the fray, the Cavern Dwellers Lifeleeches back another 3, bringing him back down to 1. All three will turn to face the center.
Instead of charging in, the nearby Thegn moved to the center, to claim the central token dropped by the slain Fanatics. The other Thegn brings the Militia to 8, but they hold.
Bottom of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men
The Knights make a hindered charge into the Ice Queen, who being an individual, then turns to face them, which then means the Knights are also Ensnared… They manage a whole 2 damage against the Queen.
Edit: It has been pointed out to us that we played this wrong. While an individual will "close the door" and align to whatever is charging them, unit facing still matters. This should have been a rear charge.
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| The Militia, as usual, are impressive. |
I don’t think I can win, but we're playing for objectives, and I want to see if I can at least make it a close one. The only way I think I can do that is to spook units into dropping their tokens. Unfortunately, my shooting continues to be underwhelming. I decided to be extra wild and split my shooting. The first Ballista shoots into the Dwarfs; 1 bolt hits, blasts into 1 hit, which is then 1 damage, and they will be... wavered. The second Ballista misses the Thegn, as does Mindfog... I should have targeted the Thegn first to try and reliably remove the Inspiring, but it had been a long day.
The Militia continue fighting the Thegn, brining him to 6 damage, and (finally) Lifeleeching 1 back, coming down to 7 damage.
Top of Round 6: Northern Alliance
With the turns passing quickly, pictures unfortunately got sparse. The maimed Frostfangs speed up to screen the Thegn with the token. Given the heights involved, the Thegn is safe from my Ballistae next turn. While the Thegn did need to move toward the NA deployment zone to create the space for them, he will pivot to angle towards my side of the table. Should there be a Round 7, he can make it over to my side of the table to get more points.
The Dwarfs are wavered, but are facing oddly. They will actually back up their 2 inches, bringing them firmly onto my side of the table.
The Thegn again rages into the Militia, who finally falter this time, giving up their token.
The Ice Queen opts to try and disorder the Knights instead of disengaging, but they are stuck in the muck and there isn’t much they could do as the game concludes anyways.
Bottom of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men
The Ice Queen failed to disorder the Knights, so they will countercharge, but are still Ensnared. They land some good damage this time, and will rout the Ice Queen and then victoriously overrun… for a wonderful, solitary inch, are still stuck in the muck.
A Ballista fires into the Dwarfs, finally spiking a Blast roll and dealing 3 damage. The Dwarfs will rout, and drop their token. I again opted to split fire, trying to remove the Frostfangs just for bragging rights. I’ve run mine more than he has, and mine never survive a battle! Unfortunately, the Ballista misses, as does the Mindfog against one of the Thegns.
The Knights are too far away to contribute; the ASBs can’t do much of anything, and things are threatening the Ballistae now, so I concede here.
The Thegn that bested the Militia is clearly on my side of the field for 2 points, while the other is straddling the center line for 1 point, making this a 3-0 victory for the Northern Alliance!
Game Conclusions:
This was easily one of our more dynamic battles. I can't remember ever having so many rear charges or devastated units! Cartwright runs some tight lists, so my weird testing shenanigans usually have an uphill battle against him... and this battle was no different! I was able to find some plays to make the game interesting, but I was always trying to claw my way back towards a competitive game, rather than actually putting him on the defensive. Without good dice to back up my more crazy plays, the Northern Alliance was able to secure the win.
Testing Conclusions:
- Foot Guard with two-handers. They underperformed, but didn’t have much of a chance with just one combat. I had hoped to rout the Thegn and then withdraw, but was not so lucky. There was not not much they could do against 800+ points attacking them besides stick an Insane Courage result.
- Fanatics. They were just ok. They had decent damage output, and their Wild Charge was actually useful, but at Defense 3, they just soak up damage and anything can threaten them over time. At a staggering 240 points, I don’t think these are for me.
- Knights and Items. The Knights with the J Boots were expertly delayed, but did prevail in the end. The charge against the Cavern Dweller was risky, and I should have backed it up with the Fanatics on the right to threaten some piece trading instead of a wild solo charge. I should have made that decision at the beginning of the phase instead of the end. During list-building, I envisioned them in between hordes to give the battle line some flexibility, but didn’t feel like I could do that with the terrain.
- Mounted Scout Regiments. Even ignoring the number of attacks error from me, I wasn’t all that impressed with these. Running them as regiments let them survive some fire from the enemy, but at Def3, everything very reliably hurts them. Lacking both Thunderous Charge and Piercing, they just don’t have the hitting power to deliver when you are able to get them into what should be threatening positions. The Blackpowder weapons could be a thing, but I think a sturdier horde of infantry shooting would be a better option.
- Ballista. I think all but one turn they had totally clear shots? In the end they provided 12 damage, which is ok, but I needed a little more from them this game. Focusing-fire is still generally the best way to use them, but I was getting desperate at the end.
- ASBs and Items. Unfortunately, I goofed the deployment for the Hex ASB. Blizzard did about as much damage as my two Ballistae, so it would have been nice to have complicated that for my opponent. Mind Fog was attempted every phase but achieved only once I think, though it was clutch in protecting the Flying General. Bane Chant was nice to have as always. Three pretty decent items overall, though not run well. I definitely needed to be more aware of things during deployment. Lifeleech is a buff, it’s nice, but I still don’t care for it. It technically kept the Militia in the fight a little longer, but just felt to inconsequential overall since it doesn’t work with anything else in the army list.
- Cavern Dweller. He’s a beast! With lumbering hordes, I didn’t feel like I had good tools against him, and opted for a risky opening. Getting the waver felt good, but I had nothing to follow up with on the following turn, so he was able to spend the rest of the game devouring my units and healing up.
- Pack Hunters. With two expensive, Def3 Hordes I didn’t want to give the Pack Hunters free rein, but my opponent was able to do a phenomenal job to delay my Knightly regiment with the boots. I prevailed, but with the Pack Hunters taking the Knights out of the game completely. My opponent continues to use these very well, and get lots and lots of value out of these units.
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