Intro and Lists
The second game of the day was against Will and his Abyssal Dwarfs. He’s borrowed some Undead and played us before in a larger game, and we actually did meet this army in the first round of the doubles tournament, but I haven’t played him and his Abyssal Dwarfs in a “proper” game yet. I also forgot to snap a centerpiece picture for the report, so bear with me. We'll do his army justice in the future. He and his wife had hosted Jeff Schiltgen’s visit, and had played his guest the previous evening, solicited feedback, and was proxying some new things to try out as a result. This would be a treat! He ran the following:
The incoming Abyssal Dwarfs also have a very high average defense (5.04), and have a great mix of units to support two terrifying double fliers. Blacksouls and Immortal Guard are all strong line units that resist chip damage, and the Decimators can put out some good shots while the Lesser Obsidian Golems can do a little of everything. The Gargoyles are great chaff, and we have a kitted Infernox and unique pick in Brakki Barka to inspire and support the fights. The stars of the show were two proxied Overmasters, Jeff’s apparent suggestion from the night before.
I ran the Herd, running the main list I was hoping to test today, exploring lots of ablative troops, and a Celestial Restoration spellcaster, in an attempt to keep my larger and important units up and running. Up to test was:
- Tribal Spears with items. The Tribal Spear Hordes have been bright spots in the roster, and are basically staples in my Herd lists these days. Thunderous Charge lets them play offense a bit, and the hordes hold items well. I brought Dwarven Ale and Chalice of Wrath to hopefully keep them in the fights, and play better with the potential heals.
- Guardian Brutes. These have also been staples for me recently. Like the Spears, these units have 30 attacks, and working together, tossing around lots of decent dice at threats has worked out alright for me.
- Druid. Maintaining Inspiring coverage while getting some variety and utility from the sources has been a concern in my lists, but the meager Druid is a nice source of repeatable Inspiring and Bane Chant, and has been nice to have around, especially with the Brutes and Spears leading the way.
- Double Tree Herder. The Tree Herders can do a lot for the Herd, but are expensive enough that I need to build my list around them. I am still learning strategies for Scout, and how best to support them, so we'll just keep at it until I am out of ideas!
- Gladewalker with Celestial Restoration. This looked neat, but odd, given the Indirect rule. I tried it once before, running her in the center of the field, but the spacing got awkward. We'll stick her more on an edge this time and see what we can do and how the spell goes.
- Harpies. The Gur Panthers are great chaff, but 5 points more gets you flying chaff, so they seem worth the extra investment most of the time. I had been bringing just one troop, but with a wide and aggressive line, I definitely need more.
- Trapper Troops. Neither the regiments nor the Silent Hunt formation have really worked our for me, as the units are too difficult to use. Seeing they are the same points as a Harpy, I wanted to try them out as chaff options. I liked them last game, and they can scout, so we'll continue playing around with them.
- Centaur Strider Troops. I liked reactive Longhorn troops, but felt like the Centaurs would be better. They aren't nimble, but have a greater speed to zone out fliers or reposition just a little quicker. Additionally, they are Height 3, so might be able to block for the Guardian Brutes and such. They did alright last game, so we'll continue playing around with them too.
Table and Terrain
I won the roll for determining sides, went with the lazy approach, and got us going. With all my ablative troops, I had the a very slight drop advantage. Left-to-right, my opponent had angled Gargoyles behind both proxied Overmasters. I forgot to ask about this arrangement. Perhaps it's to block line of sight to the chaff, to protect it in the early turns? If so, that seems like a good habit to get into. Anyways, as I learned in chats after the game, the Overmasters were Jeff's suggestion on improving what Will had been running, hence the proxies.
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| The heavenly light is already blessing the table during deployment. |
The center and left had the bulk of the units. We have the Lesser Golems, Brakki, the Decimator Horde, the other Lesser Golems, and a regiment of Immortal Guard. A building, and then the Blacksouls, buffed Infernox in reserve, and the other Infernal Guard.
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| Deployment on the left. |
I haven't played the Abyssal Dwarfs all too much, so I was paging through his army list trying to figure things out, and it took me a few drops to realize I was going to have a drop advantage. Seeing that, I as able to save a few noteworthy things to end on the left flank, most importantly, the Tree Herder.
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| Deployment in the center left. |
On the left, the Herder and Harpies were my last drops, with things a little awkward due to a lack of planning. We have the Herder and Trappers up front, with the Centaurs and Harpies around, looking to contain the fliers.
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| Continuing on to the center right. |
The Celestial Restoration Gladewalker Druid lines up to use the building for cover. Trappers screen for the Tribal Spear Horde with the Brew, then we have Guardian Brutes with Centaur Striders behind, more Spears, the second Tree Herder with Harpies in reserve, the Guardian Brutes with the BC Druid supporting, and then another Trapper out on the far flank.
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| And deployment on the right. |
The Trappers were all early drops for me, trying to commit to very little while I saw what my opponent did. These could probably be used better, but did fine in this role.
Scout Moves
I had some Scout moves, and remembered them all! On the Left, the Herder and the Trappers move 12" to threaten the fliers and give them some hard choices.
The other Trappers move up 12" as well, around the other side of the building. I am still finding my footing with scout moves, but I think this is a mistake. I am safe from shooting, but I should reel back a few inches, so something charging them is likely to be charged in turn for some actual piece trading.
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| Scout moves. |
Centrally, the Herder scouts as well. I give the Decimators shots into him if they move, but the Golems shouldn't have the range to shoot. This is arguably dumb, but I did this on purpose, trying to accrue some early damage on the Herder to test out Celestial Restoration. If this works as-desired, the Herder will tank the shots and be healed, allowing the the rest of the army to move up untouched.
Out on the right, the lone Trappers scout up around 6 inches. They are greatly outmatched here, so I am just looking to threaten the woods with my Pathfinder, and bide my time for now. Given the scenario, I might be able to delay something if I am smart about things.
My opponent wins the roll for deciding turn order, and given the scenario, wisely chooses to go first, lest he get boxed in!
Top of Round 1: Abyssal Dwarfs
The Herder is out of charge range himself, but is also out of arc for the titanic fliers. Even with seizing the initiative, my opponent has some rough choices already. He tries to protect the fliers, sending a unit of Gargoyles to screen out the Tree Herder and another to screen out the more-middle Trappers. Both titans fly into the Trappers on the left, deal 14 damage, break the unit, and then both manage to back up 3" in a serious display of synchronicity. For proxies, it seems like they have been practicing.
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| Wrapping up the opening turn for the Abyssal Dwarfs. |
The shooty center moves up. Thankfully, nothing can Surge the Golems forward or around in the list, so it's just the Decimators firing away. They'll take a penalty for being in the rubble, but manage to land 7 damage on the Tree Herder anyways.
The Abyssal Dwarfs on the right move forward and pivot. The little forest will slow them down, so he's advancing with caution. The Trappers shouldn't have a charge here.
Bottom of Round 1: Herd
With no charge, the Trappers pivot and move, putting the forest between them and the all the Abyssals on the right. The Harpies move up to bait a charge. If anything substantial does attack, the nearby Brutes and Trappers should be able to help.
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| An early charge for the Tree Herder. |
The Tree Herder is just in range of one of the Lesser Golems. Grabbing a spare base, we determine that he will be out of arc for the nearby Dwarfs, so he charges in, smashing 3 damage through the heavy armor. He gets 1 back from Radiance of Life, and then across the field the Gladewalker casts her spell, connecting once, and healing back another 2 to bring the tree down to 4 damage. Not resounding, but it's definitely a good start, especially since the Tree Herder should be pretty safe next turn.
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| The rest of the Herd advances. |
Centrally, both Spear Hordes and the Guardian Brutes move their max, and we should have some nice charges into the shooty center next turn. The Centaurs take the hill, looking for long charges, but mostly just zoning out the fliers. As mentioned, the Gladewalker Druid is using the building for cover to cast her spell.
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| Charges on the left, looking to contain the Overmasters. |
Out on the left, my opponent did a good job to gum things up and protect his fliers. The Tree Herder is in the flank of the "giant" Overmaster, but can't get there, and the "giant" blocks line of sight to the other Overmaster. The Tree herder thumps against the Gargoyles, hitting them for 4, winning, and then reforming.
Trappers hit the other unit of Gargoyles, roll great and deal 7 damage, but fail to rout the troop, as they are found to be quite insane.
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| The insane unit is swapped out for the unit with models. A field promotion! |
The Harpies are in range, and charge an Overmaster, landing the 1 damage needed to ground it.
I believe the Centaurs are in range of the Overmasters, so they moves up a ways, though I probably could have gone another inch or two up. The goal here is to threaten the fliers with the Centaurs and force a choice. If the Overmasters commit here, my hope it to be able to ground them and beat them. With the Gargoyles holding this turn, that plan is a little more suspect though.
Top of Round 2: Abyssal Dwarfs
The insane Gargoyles counter charge the Trappers, land 2, and secure a waver.
The grounded "Golem" Overmaster counter-charges the harpies, and picks them up with ease, then reforms to face the Tree Herder.
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| The Overmasters push back. |
The "Giant" Overmaster decides to go into the Centaurs, lands 6 damage, but fails to break them, returning the favor of failing to rout chaff units.
Centrally, the Decimators and Golems shoot into the Guardian Brutes. The Golems look to have pivoted, but have Steady Aim, and I don't think the Decimators moved. I think it was just low dice here, since just 9 damage is done, and the Brutes are still picked up with a hot Nerve check. Inspiring coverage continues to be a bit of an issue for the Herd sometimes, and this was some great awareness and target prioritizing from my opponent. Well done!
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| Movement on the right, with all the sturdy Abyssal Dwarfs moving out. |
The other Golems land 2 on the Herder, bringing him back to 6 damage.
The other Immortal Guard and the Infernox move up, keeping pace with the line.
Bottom of Round 2: Herd
With the line flush, I have my choice of targets. I opt to send the Trappers against the Blacksouls to tie them up, and they deal a single point of damage which gets Iron Resolved back with the Fiery Bulwark. Oh well. I am here to disrupt and delay!
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| Charges on the right for the Herd. |
I send the Brutes into the Immortal Guard. The Brutes catch a Bane Chant, spike the heck out of some dice, and obliterate the Guard, and will reform to face the flank of the Blacksouls.
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| Charges all down the Herd line! |
Centrally, I don't know which combat I rolled first. The Tree Herder thumps on the Golems, dealing 4 damage. This brings them to 7, and I am actually able to pick these up. The Herder got 1 back from Radiance of Life, and 1 from Celestial Restoration this round, bringing him back down to 4 damage. He backs up in victory, but I believe is still in the flank of the Decimators since the roll is so low.
The Tribal Spears with the Chalice charge the scary Decimators in the front, landing 13 damage (10 expected). If I got the charge, I figured I'd be able to break them over a turn or two, but that happens on this turn, with two blazing hot Nerve checks to see them off. Having punched through, this horde pivots to spy the Blacksouls and advancing line troops.
The Sharp Tribal Spears, charge the other regiment of Lesser Golems. I overestimate my chances against Def6, and the army holds strong, landing just 3 damage.
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| Charges on the left. |
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| One Overmaster falls. |
Top of Round 3: Abyssal Dwarfs
On the left, the surviving Overmaster wisely flies away. I don't recall the positioning. I don't think 10" was viable (landing on a Herd unit or something), so with just the one pivot, my opponent opts to put as much distance from here as possible, and aim to help out the Blacksouls and such in the later rounds.
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| If he were the actual model, I'm sure he'd be cackling and stroking his evil beard. |
The lesser Golems countercharge the Tribal Spears, dealing 3 to them.
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| Countercharge from the Golems. |
Brakki and the Infernox charge the Guardian Brutes, dealing a combined 10 damage. Brutal and Dread are both involved, and although only one can be applied, the Guardian Brutes do fall.
The Blacksouls trounce the delaying Trappers, and the other regiment of Immortal Guard move up and pivot, hoping to fight while scoring for the scenario. I believe the Blacksouls tried to overrun, but only got an inch or two.
Bottom of Round 3: Herd
The Tree Herder moves and pivots, drawing a little ahead of Brakki, as the Tribal Spears charge Brakki in the rear, landing the expected 7 damage, but do fail to break him. The Herder's sword kept getting in the way all day, so I break at this point for ease of play, and I'll need to hobby him up a stone hammer too sometime.
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| Positioning on the right. |
The Spears with the Brew of Sharpness struggle against the Lesser Golems, landing just 1 damage this round. Bane Chant was attempted, but I don't know on what, or if it was successful.
Celestial Restoration hits for a third time, and rolls big enough to fully heal the Tree Herder out on the right, which is great, and kind of what I wanted to see from the spell.
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| The Centaurs give chase. |
Winning on the left is great for the scenario. A group of Centaurs changes facing, and has a rear into the departing Overmaster next turn.
The Trappers are steady this round, and march towards the corner. The other Centaurs move and pivot, and the Tree Herder moves at the double or nearly, but both the Centaurs and the Trappers will benefit from his Radiance.
Top of Round 4: Abyssal Dwarfs
The departing Overmaster regenerates his 1 damage, and has a new lease on life. He now flies 10" and pivots twice, looking to get back in the game soon.
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| Charges into the Tree Herder. |
Brakki departs, I guess to create space for overruns? Assuming the rout here though, math-wise, I would think a 1" victorious back up would still let the Overmaster overrun. I'm not sure what the thinking is here. He's got Regen, so maybe we're just looking to preserve and protect a source of Inspiring so it can come back later at full strength.
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| The Abyssals brought mecha claws and hammers instead of axes. |
Anyways, the Infernox and Horde both charge the Tree Herder. Having charged out of the woods, the Blacksouls are hindered, and it's my opponent's turn to struggle with Def6. Only 6 damage lands, and the Tree Herder holds.
Bottom of Round 4: Herd
The Herder opts to countercharge the Blacksouls, and slides down. This frees up the space to have the Spears charge the Infernos without any weird charge logic. The Druid hides behind the Herder, and I think her Bane Chant fails. The Spears deal 7 damage to the Infernox, and are able to pick him up, and then reform to make sure the Overmaster is in their front arc.
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| Combats for the Herd. |
The Herder does 5 and fails to break the horde, but that's fine. He gets a radiance of Life for 1, and Celestial Restoration for 4, bringing him back down to 1 damage. The spell is working nicely, but these are pretty ideal conditions, with lowish damage thanks to very little crushing strength in the fights so far.
The other Tree Herder had moved to support the Tribal Spears struggling against the lesser Golems.
One unit of Centaurs moves up to zone out the rear of that unit as well, as the Overmaster should have a rear charge into them next turn.
The other unit of Centaurs moves up to threaten the Overmaster where he is, and force a decision.
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| Centaur troops doing their thing. |
The Tribal Spears with the Brew poke at the Golems again, land 3 damage, and with 7 damage, I am lucky enough to pick up the uninspired unit. The Spears about-face, and two hordes are now helping to zone out the Overmaster.
Top of Round 5: Abyssal Dwarfs
The Overmaster takes the flank charge into the Tree Herder, with the Blacksouls counter charging, and my notes have them dealing 13 damage combines as they see him off, with the Blacksouls repositioning to block for the Overmaster.
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| Multiple flank charges from the Abyssal Dwarfs! |
Brakki flank charges the Tribal Spears, avoiding Phalanx, but I was that and decided I was ok with that, even if it stripped my Thunderous Charge. I am surprised by the Immortal Guard making the flank charge as well though! They were operating in stealth mode, and I completely forgot about them. Their charge is hindered though, and my horde ends the turn at 11 damage.
Bottom of Round 5: Herd
The Gladewalker Druid has been on the move the last few turns, and moves again to get the corner of the surprised Tribal Spears in view to cast her spell. I get two hits and 3 heals, bringing the horde down to 8 damage.
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| Movement for the Herd. |
The Druid was hiding behind the Tree Herder, but is a little exposed now. Bane Chant is attempted to aid something (I think the Sharp Spears), but fails. I was remembering my Conjuring Staff rerolls, but not having any luck with the spell.
That Sharp Spears makes a flank charge into the Blacksouls, landing 22 damage (20 expected) and will break the unit and then back up, getting the Overmaster into their front arc. With the Centaurs ignoring the scenario and coming back to chase, we are hopefully putting him in a rough spot. Yes, he could go for the druid and overrun into the horde... but it's late in the game and that would draw him back over to his side. In any event, this seemed like a good conundrum for him to deal with.
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| Reforms for the Herd. |
The greedy play for the Herd is to counter-charge Brakki and then overrun, but I don't think that occurred to me at the time. Instead the horde with the Chalice of Wrath opts to try and remove unit strength and seal the deal, and counter-charges the Immortal Guard, landing 6 damage, one of which gets Iron-Resolved back when the Abyssal Dwarfs hold.
Top of Round 6: Abyssal Dwarf
The Immortal Guard and Brakki go in again. They deal 7 damage, and bring the Spears up to 15 damage and they dup will pick the horde up on the second try with some good Nerve checks. Brakki backs up to prevent an overrun, and the Guard victoriously sidestep, but can't quite make it over the line to be scoring.
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| "Bravely ran away away.." |
The Overmaster didn't like the choices, or being zoned out, and opts to fly away again and make sure the Abyssal Dwarfs stay on the board as the game concludes.
Bottom of Round 6: Herd
The Tree Herder moves up, and one Centaur unit runs back across to score while the other can't make it, so pursues the Overmaster again.
Celestial Resto will hit the Sharp Horde for 2, brining them down to 2, and they will charge in against the Immortal Guard, land 12 damage (good dice, but Bane Chant did connect I think), brining them to 17 damage. The Immortal Guard aren't quite devastated, but they do rout. Given the angle, the Spears finish the combat mostly on the scoring side of the board without needing to do anything.
The Overmaster is scoring 2 for the Abyssal Dwarfs, but the Herd have Trappers in the corner (1) returning Centaurs (1) and Tree Herder (1) and Tribal Spears (4), making this a strong 7-2 victory for the Herd!
Game Conclusions
In the moment, I was really pleased with my play overall. Writing up the report, at lot of my success was just half-decent decision-making paired with phenomenal dice whenever it mattered.
For dice, I had a lot break my way, and break my way very early: The Centaur troop holding in Round 1; routing an Overmaster in Round 2; Brutes rolling crazy damage in Round 2 to start removing the grinding unit strength; Decimators routed quickly with hot checks in Round 2… With a lot of these big moments happening so early on, I was able to get ahead and stay ahead.
But decision-making got me there. The Abyssal Dwarf list was versatile and scary, but very elite. Having more drops, I was able to put him off his aggressive game plan with the Overmasters despite not getting first turn. He also had a lot of scary shooting, but I was able to be aggressive in the center with some big advances in the first turn. By Round 2, the Overmasters were in disarray; the gunline partially engaged but fully threatened; and the grinding infantry blocks were pretty isolated.
Testing Conclusions
- Tribal Spears with items. I feel like I am slipping a bit when it comes to their positioning, but generally, these continue to do pretty good work for me. They carry many items nicely. It's the most expensive, but the Brew of Sharpness has indeed been working well.
- Guardian Brutes. These have also been staples. Like the Spears, these units have 30 attacks, and working together, tossing around lots of decent dice has worked alright.
- Druid. The druid didn't have a great showing here despite the staff, but still kept things inspired, and is nice to have around.
- Double Tree Herder. I got lucky with some positioning to get my early charges, but they did very well this game. Still very expensive, but supporting them a little more with the Trappers and such is feeling good.
- Gladewalker with Celestial Restoration. This was fun! Running them on the flank was ok, but then she didn't Inspire much, so this is a neat trick, but a little swingy and probably won't solve any Inspiring concerns for me.
- Trapper Troops. I think they can help block for the Tribal Spears, but I actually liked these a lot more in conjunction with the Tree Herder. Having units near by to scout up with him was really nice, and it was even better since they were so cheap.
- Harpies. These did great overall. Grounding the Overmaster was worth it, and the other set up a nice piece trade for the Guardian Brutes, so I can't complain. I think I am still too eager to toss away chaff generally, but I think I did ok with these here.
- Centaur Strider Troops. These also did great. They are still in a very weird spot for damage output and stats, but the larger charge range was wonderful, and they did great zoning things out all game.
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