Kings of War 3rd Edition: #050 Herd vs Abyssal Dwarfs [Invade]

Intro and Lists

Winter isn't quite over in Wisconsin, so the frigid temps were recently braved to get some games in! I was up against the gracious Trevor from the DataandDice blog, otherwise known as Cartwright on the forums, who wanted to explore the Abyssal Dwarfs some more:

My opponent likes the Grotesques, and had printed off some Abyssal Halfbreed regiments to explore as well, with the speedy abominations and the mounted Supreme Iron-Caster as the main things to explore with this list. Supporting these was a tried-and-true horde of Decimators, a pair of Gargoyles for disruption, a pair of Rocket Launchers for more ranged oomph, and a pair of Blacksouls as some reliable infantry to block things up. The literally tanky Hellfane makes an appearance with his contraption to help hold the line with the Blacksouls, and a Hexcaster makes an appearance as well, to help shut down enemy magic and needle things with his Feedback abilities. Neither of us are Abyssal Dwarf experts, but this looked like a pretty balanced list to me! It's got a variety of units and lots of things to explore!

Meanwhile, I brought the Herd, which have been a little difficult to pilot. I have some ideas brewing to switch things up, but I had a few legacy lists I really wanted to try out before I moved on, and my opponent was nice enough to oblige! The first list here was playing around more with Scout moves and more grindy and defensive units like some Forest Shamblers and Tree Herders. Up to test are:

• Tribal Trappers. I have been cooling on them a bit, but they have Scout so I am taking them again! We’ll see how they perform this time without Thunderous Charge.
• Silent Hunt. This was suggested in the forum, and thinking about it, this does seem like a good option for how I have been playing the Herd, with the Trappers used as speed bumps more often than not. So I tweaked the list to fit in and revisit the formation.
• Hunters of the Wild. Hypothetically, they seem good, but I have yet to have big success with them. I have learned that they cannot hold the line on their own, so hopefully they can do better alongside some stronger elementals.
• Forest Shamblers. I have played against these before, fighting the Sylvan Kin. I am hoping they can be a good front line unit for a more grindy Herd. We’ll see how they do!
• Wild Gur Panthers. Still my only real chaff choice for the army. Down to one unit here, as I tend to run a little too much chaff. 
• Gladewalker Druid. The Gladewalker looks really intriguing. The Ring lets her conditionally cast two spells a turn, which could be quite potent. 
• Tree Herder. I am running a duo because I have two, they Scout, and I am really going hard on the scout theme here. Ideally, they’ll get into combat with something, and then the Scorchwing Regiments can swarm in for the win.
• Scorchwing Regiments. Running the Scorchwings as regiments has taken up a lot of brainpower in previous games. I think this list should put the regiments in the best possible light, so we’ll see how I do with them.
• Scout! The whole theme of this list! A huge percentage of the list has the ability, so we'll see what additional things I can learn about tis special move.

Table and Terrain

My opponent was gracious enough to host, so we used his typical terrain, and followed our usual terrain rules, running the buildings as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, stone fences as Height 2 Obstacles, and Hills as Height 3. 

We got Invade for the scenario, and so would need to make it across the middle line with the most Unit Strength in order to win. My opponent won the roll off, picked the lazy gamer side, and kicked deployment off for us.

The battle line of evil dwarfs.

My opponent deployed slightly behind the line, to protect from any early charges from my eventual Scouting moves. On the left, we have the Decimator horde with a Halfbreed Champion in reserve, with the Hex Caster and both rocket launchers in the forest. Centrally we have both Blacksouls flanking the Hellfane while protecting both Gargoyle units. The right was speedy and scary with the Grotesques, and both Halfbreed regiments with the Supreme Iron-Caster in reserve.

The Herd's view from the right during deployment.

Left-to-right for me we had some Hunters of the Wild, Gur Panthers, Tree Herder, both Forest Shamblers, and Gladewalker Druid. There wasn't any useful difficult terrain on my side of the board, so the Trapper regiments from the formation came down across from the Dwarf infantry, looking to concentrate some fire. Two Scorchwing Regiments screened the second Tree Herder. Softhoof the Tribal Trapper from the formation led the right flank, with the second Hunters of the Wild regiment and two units of Scorchwings. 

The big scout moves on the left.

I then had Scout moves! On the left, everything went up their maximum. In the center, the Trappers moved up to get into range for some bow shots and the Tree Herder kept pace to protect them, and on the right, the Hunters and Softhoof just hopped the fence. Overall, I was pretty happy with my scout moves. The only bummer was the Gladewalker Druid. She can't scout up, and since she deployed back, she'd have a harder time catching up while casting spells. She should have been deployed on the line.

My opponent won the roll for first turn decision, and opted to go first, so as to not get boxed in.

Top of Round 1: Abyssal Dwarfs

On the left, things stayed put. The Launchers had their leader points in the woods and so could see out clearly. They will launch their rockets, and land two damage apiece into one of the Forest Shambler units. The Hellfane will brandish his pistol and land two damage, and the Decimators will also shoot at them, continuing the trend and also landing 2 damage. At 8 damage, the Shamblers will hold.

Opening moves just preceding the opening volleys.

Over on the right, the abominations move up very quickly. One regiment of Halfbreeds looks to slip behind the building, while the the other regiment and the Grotesques hold the woods, looking to limit the number of multi-charges the Scorchwings had open to them. The Iron-Caster moves up, but I think my opponent forgot the Tree Herders has spells, as my notes have him doing nothing this round.

Bottom of Round 1: Herd

On the right, the Scorchwings can't stop the very aggressive Halfbreed unit, so I opt to run them away for now. The other unit will pull up behind the Hunters of the Wild, and join Softhoof at taking some pot shots into the woods. In total, I think 1 damage is dealt to the Grotesques?

Delaying and repositioning on the right.

In the center, the Herder takes the hill, getting out of the charge arc of the Grotesques. The formation Trappers are in range for some shooting, and two regiments of Scorchwings pull up behind them. All will shoot into a regiment of Dwarf infantry, dealing a combined 9 damage, but the unit holds.

I really like this positioning for my shooters, but wish they had some softer targets this match up.

 
Out on the left, the injured Shamblers move and pivot, letting the Druid catch up to heal away 2 damage. The other horde of Shamblers moves up to threaten the Decimators, and the Herder, not Shambling, moves as close as he can to the shooters, though this is probably a bit too aggressive a move in hindsight. 

The Herd, on approach.

The Gur Panthers want to hunt the war machines, but don't want to get shot by the Decimators, so pull up behind the nearby Forest Shamblers. The Hunters of the Wild move their 10 forward, looking to get around the building next turn.

Top of Round 2: Abyssal Dwarfs

The Abyssal Dwarf abominations continue to push hard on the left. One regiment of Halfbreeds moves and pivots to see around the building. While the Iron-Caster hits a Scorchwing unit with 2 damage from a Fireball. The Grotesques regenerate one of the 2 damage, and the other is healed from Radiance of Life from the Iron-Caster. The remaining Halfbreed regiment and Grotesques multi-charge the Hunters of the Wild, scattering them.

The evil dwarven abominations crash in!

The center gets complicated. The Hellfane and a unit of Dwarfs multi-charge the Tree Herder in the front, dealing 6 total, but the Herder holds. The other unit of Dwarfs charge the wounded horde of Forest Shamblers, and slip 3 more damage in.

The Gargoyles flap up, looking to delay the Herd.

Gargoyles fly up, with one charging the Trappers and landing 4 damage, and one protecting the flank of the Hellfane.

On the left, the Halfbreed Champion is boxed in, and can't charge through the Decimators, so just moves through them to block up the imposing Forest Shamblers, who take a hefty volley from the rocket launchers and Decimators, taking 10 damage. Thankfully, everything holds for me this turn.

Bottom of Round 2: Herd

On the left, the Hunters of the Wild make it around the building, eyeing the flank of the Decimators, who endure a frontal charge from the Tree Herder. The Shamblers will charge the Halfbreed Champion, rout him and overrun. Unfortunately with spacing issues, the Gur Panthers can't charge anything, so just slip by, entering the woods and threaten to war machines next turn.

The Herd arrive, but not as forcefully as I would have liked.

In the center, Forest Shamblers counter-charge the Dwarfs, with some Scorchwings hitting them in the flank. The unit will be routed, with the Shamblers facing the center of the field while the Scorchwings looking to charge a war machine next round. The Gladewalker Druid will land a heal on each of the Forest Shambler units.

Melees in the center of the field.

The Tribal Trappers will each charge a unit of Gargoyles, and each trounce their respective unit. 

The Tree Herder opts to fight the Hellfane, landing a few damage, but nothing amazing. He will shuffle down to center up against the titanic tank.

Delaying on the right, with a lot of (ineffectual) shooting.

The three other Scorchwing Regiments will fly around. They are looking to delay the abominations, by setting up some lackluster charges for them. All three plus Softhoof will shoot into the nearest Halfbreed Regiment, with the Tracker making use of his Oil item. Unfortunately, the rolling isn't stellar, and only 5 damage lands.

Top of Round 3: Abyssal Dwarfs

The wing of abominations relentlessly advance. The injured of Halfbreeds makes a hindered charge into one of the Scorchwing while regenerating 2 damage. The Scorchwings will take 4, and waver. The other regiment of Halfbreeds moves through my deployment zone towards the center of the table, hoping for some future charges.

Messy combats out on the center/right.

The Grotesques make a clean charge into the front of another unit of Scorchwings. Things are messy on the hill, and we want to see things fight, so we let the dwarfs hit the rear of the Scorchwing unit while the Iron-Caster makes the more important flank charge into the Tree Herder, who is also taking a hit in the front from the disordered Hellfane. They each deal 3, taking him to 11 damage, and my opponent gets the 7 twice to rout him! I was expecting the Blacksouls to hit the flank of the Tree Herder, and thought I could endure that, so the charging Iron-Caster was a surprise to me! Well played!

The central anchoring unit for Herd is no more.

Out on the left, the Decimators counter-charge the Tree Herder for 2 damage, and the launchers land 3 on the impending Scorchwings, though both hold. 

Combats around the woods.

The Hex Caster is neat. He hasn't been able to Hex the Herd's druid all game, but apparently you can Hex anything. The spell normally does nothing to non-spellcasters, but his particular needling actually does damage on the hits as well, and he slips 2 damage onto the Wild Gur Panthers in front of him, wavering the beasts.

Bottom of Round 3: Herd

The Panthers are wavered, but I don't mink where they are, so they stay put. The Scorchwing unit descents upon a war machine instead, but the evil dwarfs build them good. Only 4 damage is done, and the unit holds, though they are disordered.

Mid-combat around the war machines.

The Decimators take charges from the Tree Herder and Forest Shamblers in the front, while the Hunters of the Wild tear into a flank. The unit isn't devastated, but would need an Insane Courage result to hold, and doesn't get it. 

Delaying in the center.

Centrally, the Forest Shamblers and some of the Tribal Trappers attack the Hellfane. It has some damage on it, so I think I was just hoping for hot dice. 

. The Gladewalker Druid hides behind the wounded Trappers, and heals the Forest Shamblers and then her screening unit. Unfortunately, this is an illegal move, as both targets need to have the Elemental keyword. The illegally rejuvenated Trappers will shoot into the Iron-Caster, and land 1 damage.

More shooting and delaying out on the right.

Out on the right, the wavered Scorchwing unit disengages, forcing more hindered charges next turn from the Halfbreeds. Meanwhile the other unit flies out of charge arcs to harass again. It and the Tribal Tracker Softhoof will shoot into the regiment again, landing just 3 new damage. The regiment is only at 6, and holds. 

Top of Round 4: Abyssal Dwarfs

The Abyssal Dwarfs continue pushing hard. The Iron-Caster will nimbly fly away, landing a big fireball into the Tribal Trappers protecting the druid, delivering 5 damage and wavering the unit. Through his special rules, the Iron-Caster casts his free second spell, healing up the Hellfane.

The dwarven abominations keep pushing.

Both Halfbreed Regiments will make hindered charges into the plucky Scorchwing unit, routing it this time.

The Grotesques and Hellfane hit the Shamblers, besting them and overrun, while the Blacksoul infantry regiment comes off the hill hitting the Trappers for 6 damage. 

The Hex Caster will harass the Panthers again, dealing 1 and wavering them again with his Feedback damage.

Bottom of Round 4: Herd

The Panthers will get a Radiance of Life from the nearby Tree Herder. With the Decimators gone, the Herder and the Forest Shamblers warily eye up the center of the field. The Grotesques are fresh and dangerous though, and they opt to stay out of charge range.

Central combats.

The Hunters of the Wild take down one war machine, while the Scorchwings take another. 

Softhoof and the remaining Scorchwings continue to harass the Abyssal Halfbreeds. They have been regenerating amazingly well, and were down to 2. Combined, I slip in 1 more damage, and get some lucky boxcars on the check to waver them.

Top of Round 5: Abyssal Dwarfs

The wavered Halfbreeds spin to deter the Scorchwings from any funny business, while the other charges Softhoof. It's a hindered charge off the obstacle, into Ensnare, and only 3 damage slips in.

Already scoring, the Halfbreed regiments aim to clean up the right flank.

The Grotesques hit one unit of Tribal Trappers, crushing them and then changing facing to regard the rest of the Herd units. The Hellfane will join the Blacksouls in grinding out the other unit of Trappers.

The scoring Herd and scoring Abyssal Dwarfs wheel to face off-again as the game winds down.

The Iron-Caster hits the Gladewalker druid with a Fireball, and no-look heals something else, either the Hellfane to full or one of the Halfbreed regiments to full.

Bottom of Round 5: Herd

Given the wide frontage, I triple charge the Grotesques with the Tree Herder, Forest Shamblers, and Scorchwings. They deal 14 damage between them, and are thankfully able to see the unit off. 

Round 5 charges for the Herd.

The Hunters of the Wild deal with the Hexcaster, and then overrun, trying to help out in one more combat as the game concludes.

And some unfortunately cold dice for a late-game rear charge.

The Scorchwings lingering out on the right can see the rear of the Blacksoul regiment, and I opt to charge that instead of either of the regiments of Halfbreeds. Even with a flank charge into one of the units, I don't think I could break the cavalry. The infantry have healed up, but still have one damage from earlier scuffles. Unfortunately, I only deal 2 damage. 

Top of Round 6: Abyssal Dwarfs

The Blacksouls countercharge the Scorchwings, with the Iron-Caster charging into their flank. They are devastated and then routed. 

Combats in the final round.

Spacing-wise, the Hellfane can't maneuver to score, so he charges my scoring unit of Scorchwings, and then backs up in victory.

Bottom of Round 6: Herd

The Hunters of the Wild charges the Hellfane, with the Forest Shamblers hitting the tank in the flank. Defense 6 is very hard to deal with, and while 8 damage is done here, the Hellfane endures.

A dicey end too Round 6.

The Herd are invading for 7, with the Tree Herder (1) Forest Shambler Horde (3) and Hunters of the Wild (3). The Abyssal Dwarfs are invading for 11, with the Iron-Caster (2), Blacksouls (3) and both Halfbreeds (3 apiece).

The Abyssal Dwarfs are winning 11 to 7, and things are as good as they can get for the Herd. Instead of exploring a round 7, I concede here so we can try to fit in a second game. 

Game Conclusions

It was a great game! Neither of us are super-familiar with the Abyssal Dwarfs, but they certainly have some good tools from the look of things here! It was very cool to see them on the table and all painted up, and very cool to play against a "balanced" list like this. It had a little bit of everything, and we had a good back and forth game.

The Herd was in a bit of a difficult spot with no appropriate terrain to utilize on the approach, but I was able to mitigate that somewhat with my own scout moves. Unfortunately my shooting could not get through the Supreme Iron-Caster's heals or the regeneration, and those speedy abominations never had more than a few damage on them at any given time. They survived, and eventually won the game decisively for my opponent.

Testing Conclusions

• Tribal Trappers. I liked them here with the scout move, where they were then able to layer up with the Scorchwings to focus-fire things nicely. Unfortunately, none of these units had Piercing, and the dwarfs had good defense values, so the volleys were not particularly withering. Mid-game they prevailed in the chaff war against the Gargoyles, and late-game they were used to chaff stuff up themselves, so not a bad use of them this game, I suppose.
• Tribal Tracker/Softhoof. Fire-Oil seemed worth trying out here since I had a few extra point, but unfortunately, he’s just a guy. The damage output isn’t there since he has so few attacks.
• Silent Hunt. I did not have good terrain to work with here, so the Deadly Snares rule didn’t come up, and out in the open, I forgot Ensnare in a few fights for the Trappers as well. The units did ok, but the Formation didn’t have great showcase here.
• Hunters of the Wild. The one on my left did well, scouting up quickly and then swinging around. The one on the right needed to be sacrificed, as has been their typical role. A mixed bag this time and so still a bit underwhelming.
• Forest Shamblers. In conjunction with the Gladewalker’s double-casts, I liked them. Healing a few points on each of them in the mid game was great. However, their damage output wasn’t impressive though, and they are just Defense 5, so one is really paying for Scout here. All-in-all, not bad for a debut.
• Wild Gur Panthers. They were boxed out and then perpetually wavered. Not a great time for them, but it’s a chaff unit, so it’s not the end of the world.
• Scorchwing Regiments. The regiments continue to take a lot of brainpower. Delaying and shooting with them felt like the right call, since I wasn’t going to best any of the abomination units in a one-on-one melee, but the evil dwarf cavalry endured my chip damage again and again, so these felt particularly underwhelming for most of the game. 
• Gladewalker Druid. She was taken to support the Scouting Shamblers, and so should have been deployed at the line to better keep pace with their scouting moves. Mid-game I forgot about the conditionality of the double-casting, and the Trappers got some heals they should not have. Among the Forest Shamblers, I liked her, but with the strict conditions, I was less impressed with her. At 150 points, she's doing some good support, but  
• Tree Herders. I probably could have blocked for or supported them better, but I also wanted to test them out in earnest. They aren’t invincible, but did fine, and it was fun to play around with a Def6 unit of my own! Radiance of Life is cool, but I didn't support them properly to make good use of the healing effect. Definitely worth trying again sometime though! 
• Scout. My opponent deployed back slightly to counter my scouting moves a bit, but overall I think I did a good job here, tossing a Tree Herder towards the isolated Decimators, and pressuring the center well enough. 
• Abyssal Halfbreeds. I am a little jealous because these functioned exactly like I thought my Abyssal Horsemen should have been performing the last year or so: shaking off chip damage, charging in, and then grinding things out. These did get babysat by the Supreme Iron-Caster though, which made a huge difference when shaking off the chip damage. My opponent wanted to explore these a bit, and I’d count these as a success!
• Decimators. They are very scary as a horde! Steady Aim gives them a large threat-range for the Blunderbusses. I was very lucky to shut them down so quickly this game, but I foresee this being a staple for my opponent.  
• Supreme Iron-Caster. This is usually where I disparage titanic fliers like this, but this thing was a beast! My opponent used him well, and he had a pretty good match up, seeing as I had no real monster-slayers or artillery. Fireball kept contributing here and there, but the star was the no-look free heal. Between that and Radiance of Life, he was able to do his own chip damage while negating most of mine. I had been treating him as just a big spellcaster as the game unfolded, but the flank charge into the Tree Herder proved he's got come combat chops as well. 

A big thank you to my opponent for hosting and for fitting this in! I had a great day, and we were even able to squeeze in a second game, which should be posted soon.