Kings of War 3rd Edition: #081 Herd vs Halflings in Invade

Intro and Lists

I goofed up my schedule, and unexpectedly ended up with a free day on Labor Day, and was able to make it out to a very fortuitously-timed Wisconsin meetup. I really lucked out! We had 9-10 players attending (2 newcomers even!), so our little group continues to gather some good momentum. It was a League-related meet-up, and we are up to 2300 points for September. The first game was against the splendidly-painted and very ravenous Halflings, run by Rob:

We've seen Rob's army before, and the lists have been iterating. The army is splendidly painted and very tough to beat, with lots of complimentary Auras and good list synergies woven throughout. The individual heroes enable the list, with the Sauceror granting supporting Auras while the Muster(d) Captain allows the bulk of the army to make Striding charges, which have proven far superior to my Pathfinding charges. The core of the army remains the same, with multiple Jugger regiments to make the best use of those striding charges, Wild Runners with guns to harass, a kitted Stalwart Horde to hold the line, two troops to interdict, a Harvester and Iron Beast to smash. 

Greedyguts is a new inclusion, and looks like a nuisance, with good keywords to play nicely with the rest of the list. The Wild Lancers are being tested out a bit as a light cavalry unit, and the Poachers are new additions as well. With Scout, Stealthy and Spellward, they look difficult to deal with!

I was looking to explore the Longhorns in my August games. The Longhorns troops surprised me there as a fun, reactive unit to have in reserve, but I didn’t get in enough games in during the month to test out the unit at the regimental size, so my focus today was to finish up that line of testing.

• Longhorn Regiments. We’re exploring regiments today, and I wanted to try them as a front line unit in this game. The intent is to checkerboard them a bit, so they take charges and incoming pressure, allowing the Guardian Brutes and Spirit Walkers to counter-punch.
• Spear Regiments. I really really like the Spear Hordes, but since we are exploring Longhorn regiments, I wanted to make some questionable decisions, and force myself to rely on the more elite unit this time. I wasn’t sure if the Longhorns would be enough of a front line though, and I figured the Spears could help out in this role. Rally on regiments feels more impactful in my brain as well, making weaker units unexpectedly stronger and forcing your opponent to commit more to fight them.
• Harpies. Like the September games, I just have one unit here. The more chaff I take, the more likely it is to all die. Just the one unit should stretch and challenge my threat assessment skills.
• Guardian Brutes. I've gotten better with them over the last few months, and they can put out some good damage, so we'll continue bringing them along for now.
• Spirit Walkers Regiments. If we have Longhorns (and Spears) taking the initial hits for us, I figured it might be fun to bring the Spirit Walkers back to try and help counter-punch as a second-line unit. I’m still not entirely sold on them since they only have TC1, but we’ll see what trouble they can cause.
• Druid. Inspiring is a concern for my Herd, and I am still exploring options. The Druid is a cheap source with Bane Chant, so this has been my go-to. Only one of them this time, but we have the Conjurer’s Staff to help our Bane Chants land.
• Double Tree Herder. I like running things in multiples, and liked the flow and pressure they were able to bring in one of the September games. As pointed out on the Forum, they do everything the Greater Earth Elementals do for me (Striding charges, high CS, immune to Phalanx), while Scouting, Inspiring, and not being a Shambling unit.
• Gladewalker Druid and Celestial Restoration. Spells are a weak point in my understanding of the game, and I am trying to explore them more. Typically, the Heal 2 of the normal Druid always felt like a waste for me, but the strong but unpredictable Celestial Restoration looked like fun to try out with the towering Tree Herders. The companion didn't list this with Indirect for me, but it also dropped Drain Life's Piercing 1 previously. I played it with the Indirect special rule.

Overall, I was mainly hoping for a positionally messy game and some luck. With checkerboarding and so many regiments, I am hoping the Longhorns Rally could help, and then they and the Spears could hold to let the rest of the list strike back, while Radiance of Life and Celestial Restoration kept things in fights just a little longer.

Table and Terrain

We were out at the Oddwillows shop, making use of their tables, and supplementing their growing terrain collection with our own for the day, since we had so many players. For the first time I think I was on their big raised table, which felt nice!

We were using most of our typical terrain rules, running the buildings and rocks as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, fences as Height 2 Obstacles but counting the neoprene mats beneath as part of the terrain, and Hills as Height 3, and the neoprene rocks as Height 1 difficult terrain.

We rolled for the scenario and got Invade. We'd just need to get our stuff across the table. I won the roll off for sides, liked where I was, and we got down to it.

Most of the table.

Left-to-right, the Halflings have Grenadiers, Runners, Lancers, Stalwart troop, Iron Beast, Greedyguts, the Heroic Stalwart Horde protecting the Sauceror and Muster Captain, and then the Ironbeast. The windmill blocked up the battle line a bit, and on the right side we have the other Stalward troop screening for Poachers, then both Juggers, more Poachers, and the other Grenadiers. There was no Inspiring over here to start with.

The right side.

Left-to right for me is the Tree Herder, Tribal Spears with Spirit Walkers that couldn't fit on the line anywhere just behind, Brutes and the BC Druid, Longhorns with Harpies in reserve, Spirit Walkers, Spears and the Gladewalker Druid with Celestial Restoration, more Guardian Brutes, more Longhorns, the second Tree Herder, and more Tribal Spears out on the flank.

I wanted to get the majority of my stuff on the left to try and push on through the side of the table with no obstacles. With so much coming down on the left, I hoped the fighting would be there, and Poachers near the windmill (and the Grenadiers out on the far flank) were the only units here as I finished my deployment. the second regiment of Poachers and both Juggers were my opponent's final drops, all landing way out here.

Scout Moves

The Poachers scout, so we actually both had good scout moves. He scouted first, with the angled Poachers. I scouted the Tree Herder just far enough to see out of the woods. This is not his full movement, but I think one of the Jugger units has a front charge. The other Poacher unit ran up to dare a charge.

The important Scout moves.

Out on the left, I did not get a picture, but the Tree Herder there moved up its full 12", looking to be aggressive against the light cavalry. 

I then won the roll for first turn. Given the scenario and my army, I opted to seize the initiative, and be aggressive.

Top of Round 1: Herd

On the left, the Tree Herded moved it's speed and pivoted, to keep the Grenadiers (and everything else) in the front arc. The nearby Spear Regiment moved up to support the tree, with the Spirit Walkers moving up as well, with things arranged to complicate things for the Grenadiers.

The Guardian Brutes moved up, but not at the double. I don't think the Grenadiers had the inches to charge them, but the Landers do have a charge into them, but it would be hindered unless the Muster Captain graced this flank. The hope was to move up, box the Halflings in and roll the flank here. 

Movement on the left.

I did make one big positional mistake here, and that was bringing the Harpies up with the rest of the line. I wanted to keep them close so they could be chaff, to block up the Iron Beast or something, but I think it would have been better this turn to have them safe behind the woods and zoning out the board behind my Tree Herder. This would have threatened any of the Grenadier's landing zones over here, and force them to charge, sacrifice themselves to block, or run away.

The Herr'd center moved up as well, with the Spear regiment moving up the furthest and over the hill. If Wild Charge has good rolls from the Sauceror (or on Greedyguts), I think things could charge the unit, but the rest of the line is safe.

Movement on the right.

Over on the right, I do have a charge into the Poachers from the Scouting Tree Herder, but I don't think I can take them off in one combat, and I check, and the Juggers would be flanking me. The Tree Herder stays where he is, just peeking out from the woods. The Tribal Spears move 12" to protect his flank, and the Longhorns move up 11" to protect the other flank. Frontage-wise, nothing here can hit the Tree Herder.

Bottom of Round 1: Halflings

I think my opponent's first move is to get the Grenadiers on the left up past the Tree Herder and looking down my flanks. I said nothing, but he definitely saw my error and happily capitalized on it.

The Wild Runners can't get away, so they shuffle about and fire into the imposing Tree herder, landing 2 damage. The Lancers back up, evading the Herder, and pivot to set a reprisal trap for him. I didn't think that was a move option, as I have never seen it done before, or mentioned in any other report, but we didn't see anything at the time to disavow the move. If we got this wrong, please let me know! The only argument I could think against it was the language for Nimble granting an "extra" 90 degree pivot, and potentially needing a first pivot to get a second one... but "any move" seemed to trump this.

Movement from the Halflings. You can just catch the corner of the Grenadiers.

The the Stalwart roadblock moved up to slow the Herd down, while the Iron Beast also set up some potential reprisal charges.

Centrally, the Heroes of Hodenburg straddled the obstacle, looking to force some hindered charges from the Herd in order to engage them. We played the whole neoprene piece as the obstacle, so this was a pretty formidable position.

Charges, in Round 1!

Out on the right, the second Stalwart roadblock moved up slightly, but hung back with a unit of Juggers taking a hill, and the Poachers holding, to shoot at the nearby Tree Herder, landing 1 damage.

I was hoping my various Spear regiments would dissuade him, and the Muster Captain arrived after all the charges were declared, but the Poachers (with Pathfinder) in the woods charged the Tribal Spears, with Juggers joining in and getting caught up by Phalanx. The Juggers slipped in 5 damage, with the Poachers doing 2. The damage is essentially as-expected with regards to the total. The Spears are Rallied and Inspired, but two blazing-hot Nerve checks see the unit off unexpectedly!

Reforms from the Halflings.

The Juggers pivot 90 degrees to free up a little space for the Poachers to pivot. Unfortunately for me, if the Herder turns 90 degrees, he'll clip the Poachers first, so the shooters are his only charge option next turn, which is a real bummer.

Top of Round 2: Herd

My hand feels forced on the right, but at least I have the Longhorns, and they join the Tree Herder against the plucky Poachers. The dice are not great, and the Longhorns deal 5 (6.7 expected) and the Herder contributes 2 (5 expected), but I return the favor with some good Nerve checks, and am able to rout them. Unfortunately, things are not looking great here with the Muster Captain, and I am very outnumbered.

Charges from the Herd in Round 2.

The Guardian Brutes move up, but slow down to pivot, to avoid getting into the charge range of Greedyguts. They are babysat by the Gladewalker Druid, who manages to top off the Tree Herder out on my left. If I can help it, I would like to feed him a Spear regiment or two instead of my more expensive units.

Centrally, the Tribal Spear Regiment can see the Stalwart Heroes. The Spirit Walkers on the hill roll what is needed on their Wild Charge to get in a well, and I choose to send both in. Positioning-wise, both are hindered charges since the obstacle's footprint is so big and the Heroic Stalwarts have their leader point on it. Bane Chant fails for the Spirits, but I roll pretty good and bring the horde up to 11 damage, but it's a horde, and they stick around.

I don't think the Longhorns can do it on their own, so I choose to send in both the Brutes and the Longhorns into the Stalwart roadblock, hoping to break through with some good overruns. I believe they are devastated with just the attacks of the Brutes, but then the troop is found to be quite insane, completely stopping this entire push.

Positioning at the end of the round.

I expected to punch through, so the Tribal Spear and Spirit Walkers had moved up.

The Tree Herder on the left does slightly better for damage, but Rally from the Iron Beast keeps the Wild Riders safe on the Nerve check, preventing them from wavering. 

The Harpies pivot and move up to block the line of sight for the Grenadiers, preventing them from causing too much trouble for me next turn.

Bottom of Round 2: Halflings

Over on the right, the Muster Captain forgets to move, but that's ok. He's Inspiring most things over here already, and giving off the nice Striding Aura to everything important.

The Poachers take the hill, and land 3 damage into the central Spirit Walkers, with the intervening Harvester providing some cover. 

Over on the right, the Stalwart roadblocks flank charge the Longhorns with a striding charge, and the Juggers that bested the Spears join them as well with a striding charge, and the Longhorns are routed.

Combats in Round 2 for the Halfilngs.

The other Juggers stride off the hill, landing 7 damage against the Tree Herder, with the Grenadiers hitting the tree in the flank, contributing 0 damage, but granting Brutal 2, and the Tree Herder holds on, but barely, with my opponent getting 17 on the check in total to make me sweat. 

Centrally, the Stalwart Heroes countercharge the Tribal Spears, with the Harvester is able to squeeze by and connect, and then get picked up and placed on the other side of the building to be aligned. The Spears take 19 damage, and are devastated and routed, as is proper.

I didn't get a picture on the left.

The Grenadiers pick up the Harpies with a few damage and some good Brutal rolls.

The insane Stalwarts have done their job, and simply back up 1". I can't pivot around them, so I am sadly forced to fight them again next turn.

Greedyguts rolls well for Wild Charge, and makes it into the Spirit Walkers. He only lands 3 damage, but has Dread. The Spirits are uninspired, and the regiment is picked up with yet another hot Nerve check. Greedyguts then sidesteps, getting 3" to block up my Tribal Spear regiment next turn, as they can't pivot through the mighty character to charge anything else.

The Wild Runners sidestep, with the Lancers charging the Tree Herder in the front, with the Iron Beast hitting it in the flank. A total of 13 damage is done, and with a normal Nerve check, the first Herder is picked up, essentially for free.

So far, I've already lost nearly half my army in exchange for one unit of Poachers. The writing is clearly on the wall, but I have one more turn in me, for the sake of testing.

Top of Round 3: Herd

The Tribal Spears go into Greedyguts, as this is their only legal charge. I do 5 damage, enough to give me a longshot to pick him up, but I do not. 

Some very sad charges for the Herd.

The Longhorns charge in and best the insane Stalwarts, and then overrun 6". The Grenadiers will have no shortages of charge targets next turn.

The Guardian Brutes stay where they are, eyeing up the Iron Beast, though it should be able to see a bit of them have a charge into the Brutes as well.

Aftermath of Round 2 for the Herd.

The Spirit Walkers are forced to make another hindered charge into the Heroic Stalwarts, I bring them to just 13 damage (hindered again, so no TC and against Def5), and get a lucky waver against them!

I opt to Bane Chant the Brutes, who are fighting the Harvester, and do cast the spell. Big Shield is tough, but if any unit of mine can do this, it is the Brutes. They do not, landing just 8 damage (with Bane Chant 10 is expected; Def6 is strong), and the Harvester sticks around.

The positioning is rough for the Gladestalker druid. I want to tuck her up by the Brutes to keep them and the Spirit Walkers Inspired, but this puts her within 11" of the Tree Herder. So she runs backward, casting her spell for science, which then fails to connect. 

The Tree Herder did Radiance of Life 1 damage though. While I could likely pick up the Grenadiers, I opt to charge the Juggers, to strip Thunderous Charge, as I was hoping for the big heal to keep the tree monster in the game. I land just 3 damage (5 expected), and do strip off the Thunderous Charge, but that's obviously not enough here.

Bottom of Round 3: Halflings

We let the Halflings clean up and finish the full round, but I stopped taking notes.

The Poachers should pick up the Spirit Walkers. 

More Juggers will flank the Tree Herder and pick it up, with the monster engaged on three sides. I believe the Harvester grinds the Guardian Brutes up, and Greedyguts will one-shot the uninspired Spears with another high Nerve check. 

'Tis a bloodbath, and another strong victory for the Halflings!

Game Conclusions

My hope was to get something stalled up on the Spears or Longhorns and then multi-charge it, and then repeat that across the line. I didn’t get to do my plan at all, while my opponent basically executed the same plan flawlessly, and swiftly routing the Herd with smart multi-charges. The Halflings had a lot of great positional units with the Poachers, Stalwart troops, and Grenadiers, and just thoroughly and completely outplayed me.

I had the mistake with the Harpies and not zoning out landing zone for the Grenadiers on Turn 1, but otherwise, I think I played an ok game, I just happened to bring a very subpar list against a rather optimized one, and then I paid the price! Luck has had no small part keeping me in contention for most of my games against the Halflings, and I didn't get any lucky breaks this game. 

Testing Conclusions

• Longhorn Regiments Frontline. I checkerboarded a bit to keep either them or the Tribal Spears up front, and I didn’t run them side-by-side to give Rally to each other, as I was hoping to spread the buff along the line. Rally didn’t save anything for me, and these are just Def5 with a lot of extra points committed to get the Rally, Pathfinder, CS, TC, and speed. With the extra points investment, they are a decent but very expensive generalist unit. I didn’t really like them on the front line, but have one or two more ideas to test. 
• Harpies. The Halflings had two Grenadiers and two Stalwarts. I was outmatched for chaff, and that's not even counting the Poachers, who can command a lot of space, especially against the pretty low Defense of the Herd. My error in not zoning out the Grenadiers meant the Harpies needed to be sacrificed to even give me a chance to survive the early game. They were not used well, though moving them up just block line of sight was probably the best use for them at the time, and I like that I was able to think of that. 
• Spear Regiments. I was hoping that the Spear Regiments would stick a little better, and be roadblocks for the opposing cavalry, but all the nerve checks for them were unusually high, and none survived a single round of combat, so that plan fell apart. I like my hordes, but this was worth trying out here just to mix things up.
• Spirit Walker Regiments. With the Herd line stalled out and/or routing, I didn’t really get to counter-punch with them like I had hoped to, and they weren’t able to do much this game. One valiantly stalled out the Heroic Stalwarts with an improbable waver, but that wasn’t nearly enough to make this a game. They play very well with Longhorns, and I want to like them, but a Berserker unit with just TC is a huge liability and requires more skill than I brought. They are also equal points to the Centaur Striders, which I think seem more promising generally.
• Druid. She didn’t really get to influence any combats. She’s still a nice unit to have around generally, but yeah, nothing too impactful for her in this game.
• Double Tree Herder. They are Def6, and have a smaller monster base, but still need support to grind. Neither really did well here.
• Gladewalker Druid and Celestial Restoration. I still like the concept of healing tall, fearless monsters or titans and such, but unfortunately the Gladewalker flubbed their big chance. More testing is needed! Indirect proved to be a hurdle too. I tried to put her between the Herders, but mostly in the center of things didn’t work out if I can't hold the center line together. I will need to be more diligent in their positioning next time. 
• Deployment. I was out deployed. Knowing the drop disparity, I hedged and spread the Tribal Spears around, but it wasn’t enough. Both Juggers came down late, after I was fully committed to the table. They arrived where I expected, but were still able to plow through my line, since I wasn’t able to divine that until about halfway in. The Herd wants and needs to be aggressive, but if you are out-deployed, you tend to walk into traps, like I did here. 

It's always a pleasure, but Rob and his Halflings definitely have my number! I've gotten a good number of games with the Herd, and have found a few useful insights, but they are still a very hard army to play, and the Halflings have really used the escalation league to dial things in magnificently. It was a great game, and a very well-deserved and convincing win for the Halflings!