Kings of War 3rd Edition: #093 Kingdoms of Men vs Halflings in Plunder

Intro and Lists

The band of Ravenous Halflings have a tournament coming up, and Rob was looking for practice games! I believe this is the Renegade GT, and the event’s gimmick is heroes. I don’t have a player pack for the exact details, but the gist is that you need to pick a nonlegendary hero from any other list, which is an “exchange hero,” otherwise known as a Renegade. You don’t need to take an unlocking ally unit for it, and can instead use a normal unlock from your Core list. Keywords carry over, but the Renegade counts as a Core unit for you, will Inspire your core units and such, and is even able to magic items. It’s a neat, albeit awkward idea to monitor. As I understood things then, it seemed like there were four ways to approach this event with your Renegade:

• Assassin. With more individuals around, and Duelist on the horizon to be tripling attacks as of the time of the tournament, hero hunters could be something very nice to grab. Something like the Abyssal’s Seductress came to mind immediately, though this could also be something like a Host Shadowbeast Vampire. The ability to take upgrades and even items in the tournament really opens the door to some strong and interesting picks.
• Defender. Assuming tournament points are on the line for surviving with your Renegades, one might want to hunker down with something like a Undead Pharaoh or a Dwarf Lord and focus on preserving your own points.
• Minimalist. If you like what your list does, one might just go cheap, with something that could help but isn’t strong of a big investment, such as a Herd Druid (with or without Bane Chant) for just another source of Inspiring or even something like a KoM Mounted Hero for an extra drop.
• Wildcard. If your list is already tuned and doing something cool, it could pay dividends to play around with some keywords or add something unusual into your list to give yourself another angle of play.

The Wildcard space seems like where most of the fun will be had, and is what we both tried to focus on for our practice game. Rob brought the following for the Halflings:

The core of Rob’s list should be pretty familiar to frequent readers. He’s got the Heroes of Haagen-Dazs, the upgraded and Inspiring horde of Halfling Stalwarts with the Hammer of Measured Force to hold the line, two Def5 Stalwart troops to interdict. Two Poachers, two Grenadiers, and a Regiment of Wild Runners are around to pressure, and two regiments of Juggers are around to do much of the heavy-lifting. An upgraded Iron Beast and two Harvesters provide some additional hitting and grinding power, and the list is supported by his classic Hot Pot Sauceror and Muster Captain to provide a variety of Auras to the Halflings, the most impactful usually being the Captain’s Strider.

Rob went went with the “wildcard” route with the Halflings, taking a Twilight Kin Summoner Crone with Weakness, Bane Chant and the Amulet of the Fireheart to let her double-cast once during the game. The GT would be using the newest Clash updates, which he was told has Weakness losing its Piercing value, so we played it without Piercing here as well.

The Kingdoms of Men are pretty versatile, so I wanted to play around with keywords a bit, and ran a pretty experimental list with Chariots, the Formation for extra drops, and Fanatics, for the Berserker keyword. 

My Renegade was the Orc’s Morax Mansplitter, to provide an aura of TC1 to Berserkers, which includes the 3+ Fanatics of the Kingdoms of Men! Rob put this event on my radar a few weeks back, so I tried to be extra sporting and hobby up the Mansplitter, but didn’t quite finish him or the Chariots up prior to our game. Up to test are: 

• Spear Phalanx. I need something to hold ground. While I had had these hobbied up for literally years at this point, I don’t think they have hit the table in 3rd Edition yet? Taking cues from my recent Herd game, Def4 and 20/22 isn’t that durable, and with just the one horde, I’ll need to protect my horde this game. 
• Crossbowmen. I need unlocks, and like my one-off shooty infantry hordes, so we are taking the Crossbowmen again. They gave Rob a rough time at Dragonfall, so we’ll bring them again here for the practice game and see if I can scare him a bit. 
• Charioteer Regiments. Newcomers! I have been wanting to try these out for quite some time, but lacked the motivation to hobby any up for years now. I started them up in September, and they aren’t quite finished, so we’ll save the deep dive discussion for their Hobby Update post. The gist is I think they could be great instigators and pressure pieces, provide some extra fire with the cheap bows, and I opted for Regiments because that was easiest for points.
• Triple Giant. I wanted to get the three Rampaging Giants on the table, and the halflings seemed like a worthy foe to bring them out for.
• ASB, mount and Wand. Rob and I had discussed the gist of the GT a few weeks back, and he was leaning towards the Summoner Crone at the time. I try not to tailor my lists, but this was sort of an exception. It would blank against the Halflings normally, but is a decent general pick, and since I figured the Crone would appear, and I chose this and the horse as a way to try and lock his Renegade out, and give him some experience playing with and around Hex, which is a rather complex spell.
• ASB, Lute. A classic for me, and should play nicely with the Fanatics, or with the extra attacks on the Spears.
• Outlaw Formation. I have tried this before. Previously, I’ve loved the hero and hated on troops, but wanted to explore the formation again after my positive experiences with the Herd’s Tribal Trackers. I wanted to use these as extra drops against the Grenadiers, to try and screen them out and prevent them from jumping my lines like usual, but we’ll see what happens. Fliers are hard to contain without multiple units.
• Regiments of Fanatics. I've run them before and they’ve gotten shot up before, but we’re trying Regiments again. Death by Dragons had a Fanatic-focused list for a while, and he eschewed hordes given their high base price point, made even worse by trying to give them items. Against the Halflings, who are known for clever positioning and multi-charges, I also did not want to bring expensive hordes, but ran them stock to save points. 
• Morax Mansplitter. Berserker is a prevalent keyword, so it’s what I decided to play around with for our game. The Mansplitter gives an TC1 Aura to Berserkers, so it seemed like a neat way to cheaply boost the damage output of a bunch of Regiments

Table and Terrain

We were out at Valhalla Hobby in Verona, WI. I ran at least one demo game here previously, though that would have been almost two years ago, when the shop was literally half-built. It’s come a long way since then, has an awesome selection, and a great online storefront as well. Check them out!

The meetup was organized by Kenny of the Combat Phase Podcast, who has been dabbling a bit with Kings of War these days. He beat us out to the shop, and as a TO himself, had dumped a few boxes of terrain out for us to use. I used the Dash28 terrain randomizer to help us with our table. We were using our typical terrain rules, running the buildings as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, fences as Height 2 Obstacles, and Hills as Height 3, and the ponds as Height 0. Kenny plays a variety of wargames, and while the pieces seemed a bit larger than we were used to, but we rolled with it.

Deployment was a little weird for both of us. Two buildings on the left and two ponds on the right made for a bit of a weird dynamic. We spent a good chunk of time in the deployment phase. From left-to-right for the Halflings we have the Wild Runners screening Grenadiers, a Stalwart Troop, some angled Poachers, the Muster Captain behind the building, and more Poachers. The center had the Heroic Stalwart Horde supported by the Sauceror, then the Harvester, Iron Beast, and other Harvester, with the second Stalwart troop out on the flank, screening for the other Grenadier unit. Both Juggers were late drops, and ended up pretty far back as reserves.

Deployment.

For deployment, my goals were to spread my giants around, get the Chariots on the hill, get two Fanatics near the Mansplitter, and lastly try to "counter" the Grenadiers with my Outlaw Bowmen. In the left corridor, we have Fanatics in reserve, angled Bowmen ready to pressure the token, a Giant to threaten the hill, and the Outlaw Hero to Inspire. The building split stuff up, and in the center we had the Giant, Spear Horde supported by the ASB with the Lute, Chariots with their Leader Points on the hill, Fanatics and Mansplitter in reserve, a Giant threatening the forest, the ASB with Wand hiding behind the Giant, and the other unit of Bowmen. Isolated on the right and in the pond were the Crossbowmen. They were going to end up on either flank, with the Muster Captain coming down early and behind the building, these were a late drop to try and pressure these tokens. Things could be tidier, but overall, I was pretty happy with my deployment.

Scout moves for the Halflings.

The Halflings make their Scout moves, getting both of the Poachers up in range of my Chariots. They are not majority on the hill, but with the big unit base, the Halflings can indeed see the flank of my unit and will be able to shoot it. The Halflings then win the roll for determining turn order, and decide to get on with it.

Top of Round 1: Halflings

On the left, the Wild Runners cheekily get their leader point on the hill, they have safe shots into my Outlaw Bowmen, and land 3 damage against them. It's a puny troop, but luckily they stick around.

Movement on the left.

In the center, the Poachers hold, as they do not have Steady Aim, and already cleverly Scouted up to get the early shots they wanted. They each shoot into the Chariots, and deal a combined 7 damage, and two 8's on the check will rout the unit!

It's my fault. I should have painted them up fully.

The Crone slinks out from behind the Iron Beast, gets a narrow line of sight, and lands Weakness on the Chariot Regiment, landing 1 damage due to her special rules.

The Juggers come marching around.

Out on the right, the Juggers start to shuffle around the Halfling contraptions, and move slowly towards the 2-Pointer, with the Stalwart Troop pivoting and moving out into the pond to make way. We'll see how deep the water is.

Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

Out on the right, the Crossbowmen have ensconced themselves in the opposing pond, but have clean shots into the first unit of Juggers, and land a hot 5 damage, which gets Iron-Resolved down to 4.

View from the right.

The Outlaw Bowmen here don't have shots, so I move them up a bit. Given the deployments, I think these are just going to be blocking for the Crossbowmen, so getting them up to create space will be important.

The Giant moves up a smidge and pivots. He's looking at the woods, but can still see a bit around it on either side. The goal is to hopefully slow down the advance of the halflings generally and the Juggers specifically.   

Zoning out the woods with the striding Giants has been a good way to use them.

Centrally, my ASB with the Wand lines up a Hex onto the Crone, which lands. My remaining Chariot regiments takes the hill, threatening a lot of charges next turn. It looses into the Heroic Stalwarts, but lands no hits. Arrayed a bit awkwardly, the Fanatics around the central hill shuffle around.

The Moreax Mansplitter moves 10" to try and get ready to zone out the Grenadiers. The Spear Phalanx moves up but stays out of charge range. 

The Giant puts its leader point into the woods to threaten charges. I don't expect the Grenadiers to stick around, so my goal would be to pincer the angled Poachers with the Giant and the Chariots, who have an amazingly long charge range.

Movement out on the left.

Out on the left, the Giant moves up to threaten charges, and the Fanatics move up to try and scar the Runners away. The Outlaw Hero moves up to help Inspire, and the Bowmen troop hold, loosing a volley at the Poachers, who are stealthy, and I land ho hits. I expected as much, but I thought I might be able to zone out the Grenadiers or get a charge against them if they tried slipping in.

Top of Round 2: Halflings

On the left, the Halflings have a ton of options. My opponent came prepared though, and started setting measuring sticks out to gather information. 

More precise than an eyeball.

Eventually, the Grenadiers slip between charge arcs and grab a token. The troop of Stalwarts move up to cover the retreat of the Wild Runners. With just one pivot, the Giant won't be able to connect with against the cavalry like I had been hoping to. But they aren't shooting me this turn, so that's a positive.

Precision allows for some extra clever plays.

One unit of Poachers pivots to get the Giant in the woods into front arc. The Poachers loose again, and with additional shots from the Iron Beast, will collectively 6 damage and bring the remaining Chariot regiment up to a familiar 7 damage, and get some more 8+ checks to ignobly rout the second regiment as well. Shucks.

Yeah, the chariots definitely needed a better paint job.

The Heroic Stalwart Horde pivots, ready to fight should anything charge in, and the three halfling contraptions jostle for positioning to allow the Iron Beast to shoot into the Chariots.

Out on the right, the Juggers continue their awkward swing around. There was a lot of difficult terrain over here to to deal with.

Movement out on the right.

The Crone hides behind the woods to let the Hex wear off, and the Muster Captain makes his way over to this side of the board to start enabling striding charges for the Juggers. The Stalwarts and Grenadiers swing around as well, looking to support in future turns.

Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

I want to support the Giants, but cannot given the charge distances and my lack of chariots, and so all three titans make solo charges this turn. On the right, I can see around the woods, and my closest point is with 14" so I can charge. My opponent says this was a misplay on his part, as he had measured from my leader point when positioning the Juggers. I am probably not going to break them, but with the Harvester and the other unit of Juggers unable to help, I am feeling good about this charge in terms of grinding and piece trading. 

The Giant gets in, stripping Thunderous Charge!

In the ranged phase, the Outlaw Bowmen and Crossbowmen land 6 more into the Juggers (the Outlaws didn't contribute at all...) and at 10 damage, I am able to pick the unit up.

In the melee Phase, the Giant lands 9 damage, but I fall 1 short of wavering them on the test. I realize on the following turn that I neglected the Giant's Brutal. Oops.

Assuming the Juggers weren't going to be routed, I had started bringing the Fanatics over to help. There are tokens over here, so hopefully they'll find a way to contribute. Unfortunately, I forgot that the formation give the Bowmen Steady Aim, so positioning is far messier than it should be. 

All that remains of the chariots is the damage tracker.

Centrally, the Spears scooch back. The Saucerer can go for Wild Charge, and I don't want to risk it against the Heroic Stalwarts or the Poachers. I have one horde, and feel like I need to really preserve it this game, so I try to. I should be out of charge range of the Grenadiers and their token, but I don't actually recall if I measured. The ASB and the Mansplitter move up behind the horde to support.

The Giant charges in against the Poachers, lands 8 damage, and while I forget about Brutal here as well, I only roll a 3 on the dice, so it does not matter. The Poachers hold.

The last Giant charges the Stalwart Troops, lands a familiar 8 damage, but the troop is found to be quite Insane! Nuts.

Not a great turn for the Giants, as it turns out.

The Fanatics move up onto the hill. The Outlaw Bowmen are just out of charge range to get into the Grenadiers with a flank charge. I could but the Outlaw Hero into the unit, but shooting seems like a better option, since there are more dice. The Outlaws here land 4, but I roll another 3 on the Nerve check, and the uninspired unit sticks around without a worry.

Top of Round 3: Halflings

The nimble Wild Runners will about-face, and head back. We go to measure the charge arc of the Fanatics. My opponent thinks he is out, but I think I will be able to see their corner for a charge, but the Fanatics are a little precarious being not quite on the hill, and in the middle of the table, and I bump my unit, so to be sporting the Runners are indeed out of charge arc. They've returned to fire into my Outlaw Bowmen again, and will pick them up this turn.

Pre-bumpage. I should be good to charge, right? Oh well.

The insane Stalwarts will land 1 damage into the Giant, and the Grenadiers will try and make a break for it, but do lose Fly and Nimble and a lot of speed while holding the token, so their escape isn't as easy as my opponent was hoping it would be.

Centrally, the Poachers will collapse in to fight the Giant, and the Heroes will join in against the flank. The Giant is brought 21 damage, and the he is found to be insane, but devastated.

The Giant holds! Mostly!

 A Harvester peels off from the other contraptions to come support the center and the Heroic Stalwart horde.

The Crone pops the amulet and slips out to cast Weakness into the Spears, landings 1 damage, and Bane Chant onto the surviving Juggers.

The Giant holds, but is outnumbered.

The other Harvester peeks into the woods, and the Iron Beast lumbers around it. Facing Crossbowmen, the Grenadiers nope away, and the Juggers and Stalwarts counter-charge the Giant, landing 7 damage. If only I had remembered Brutal!

Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

With both the Iron Beast and the Harvester nearby, the Giant is not long for this world. I decide to trade for the maimed Juggers, as my shooters can't shoot into them cleanly if I counter-charge the Stalwart troop. 

Movement.

The Giant lands enough to just devastate the Juggers, and then pivots to face the oncoming contraptions.

The Crossbowmen and Outlaw Bowmen shoot into the Stalwart troop, but armored chaff if strong, and only 3 damage manages to slip in, and the unit easily holds, though with the victorious pivot, my Giant is out of their charge arc.

More awkward movement with the Outlaws.

I have not used any of the Fanatics well this game, so out on the right, this unit pivots around, as I am going to need to make a play for the center if I want to win. I am feeling ok on the right though, and have been pressuring well here.

Combats for the Kingdoms of Men.

The mounted ASB scampers around the hill some more, and Hexes the Crone again.

With the Giant holding, the berserkers charge in! The Mansplitter ends up in the front, Rampage triggers, and he's got his TC Aura for Berserkers. Unfortunately, he flubs some hits, and lands just 3 damage. I meant to Bane Chant the flanking Fanatics, but spaced, and Bane Chant the Spears instead to get rid of Weakness. Still, the Fanatics are in the flank, with a clean charge, TC1 and CS1. They don't spike, but deal a more respectable 12, to take the Heroic Horde up to 15 damage. I need a 5 to waver and a 7 twice to rout, and I get another darn 3 for my Nerve check.

The insane but devastated Giant opts to charge in and finish off the injured Poachers. He rolls 11 extra attacks off 2d6 for 19, but we round that down to 9 attacks total, due to devastation. Some damage is done though, he picks them up, and turns to face the other unit.

Unfortunately the third Giant can only charge the insane Stalwarts, and he doesn't particularly want to fight them. He disengages and withdraws, then pivots to moves to get down off the hill and start threatening the center. This is a scenario for tokens and I need to be making plays for them.

The Giant departs, tagging-in the Fanatics.

Speaking of, my weakened Spears don't really want to fight the Heroes. They actually have a charge into the fleeing Grenadiers, and to charge that unit, catching the aforementioned Bane Chant. They are hindered, but their damage rolls are normal now. I land an underwhelming 2 damage (5ish is expected, 3ish if I was still weakened), but this does bring them to 6, and uninspired, I finally get a finally get a good Nerve check and scatter this unit. I claim the token, and about-face with my horde.

Reforms for the Kingdoms of Men.

With the Giant departing, the Fanatics go in against the insane Stalwarts, and will pick them up. I choose to spin them around to face the Wild Runners. We're making a stand out here, and I don't want them around to pot shot or rear charge me.

I believe the Outlaw Hero goes to shoot at the Runners, but misses all his shots. He tucks in under the hill, looking to shoo them out towards my opponent's deployment zone.

Top of Round 4: Halflings

The Wild Runners are indeed shooed away, easily getting out of charge arc of my Fanatics.

The Poachers take the charge into my insane and devastated Giant, deal a few more damage to bring him to 27 damage total, and fell him, overrunning in victory. 

Post-combat, for the Halflings.

The Heroes counter-charge the Mansplitter, landing 8 damage against the renegade. I am a fearless 14, but the checks are good and my exchange hero is bested. The Heroes attempt to overrun, but just get 1 inch, falling short of the token, as well as an overrun into my Spear Horde.

The Harvester will hit the flank of my Fanatics, will bring them to 15 damage, and get the rout.

The other Harvester and Iron Beast will multi-charge the Giant on the right. He started the turn on 7 damage. That number will double or thereabouts this turn, and uninspired, this giant will be routed. 

The Giant falls!

Out on the right, the Stalwarts move up, but don't angle to grab the token. The Grenadiers wheel about and return, pulling in behind the Stalwarts.

Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

I want to shoot the Crossbowmen into the Stalwarts, and the Bowmen into the Grenadiers, but splitting fire is greedy, and with my stats, unlikely to do anything effective. The Outlaw Bowmen hop up to interdict and delay so the Crossbowmen can keep shooting. Both units try to shoot into the Stalwarts, but a combined 2 damage is done, short of what is expected. The Nerve check is good, but at just 5 damage and thanks to the Inspiring Aura from the Iron Beast, the troop just wavers.

The humans struggle to hit the halflings.

The right is essentially lost; I'm not going to be able to fight through the Harvester and Iron Beast. The Crossbowmen are just trying to delay, to force them to stay over here and pick up tokens. The Fanatics on the right run out to make a play for the central token.

Moves in the center.

The Spears catch a Bane Chant and make a hindered charge into the Stalwarts. The Halflings Lifeleeched a bit back last turn, but my dice are a bit closer to the average this time around, and we are able to pick them up, and then back up 1". It's not much, but this does put the center of my unit well into the woods, and the Harvester should be hindered next turn.

With one pivot, the Giant couldn't sneak past the Poachers to help the Spears, and instead charges the Poachers. The Giant rolls up 2 extra attacks, and comes far short of doing anything impressive. Still, the Poachers are occupied and disordered, which isn't a bad thing.

The Fanatics spin around to threaten the Runners if they don't flee far enough, and are angled to line up a charge into the Poachers, as I didn't think my Giant would break them in one turn.

The Outlaw Hero takes the hill, and looses, landing 2 damage into the departing Wild Runners.

Top of Round 5: Halflings

The Wild Runners cheekily nimbly move back, avoiding the charge arc of the Fanatics, and shooting them for 2 damage.

The Poachers counter-charge the Giant, landing 2 damage on him as well.

The Harvester crashes in hard.

The Harvester makes a hindered charge, but with max attacks, still rolls pretty well, landing 7 damage onto the Spear Phalanx.

Centrally, the Muster Captain charges in to stall up the Fanatics. The Crone powers through Hex to cast Weakness on them, and they end the round at 5 damage. The Iron Beast lurches forth to grab a token, and them, looking to pick up the berserkers up next turn and stop my play for the middle.

The Halflings start collecting tokens.

On the right, the Harvester charges the Outlaw Bowmen on the right, with the Muster Captain lingering earlier in the phase to make it a striding charge. Rolling up max attacks, the contraption will shred the bowmen. It overruns, but not far, and is still in front arc of the Crossbowmen.

The Stalwarts don't make their Headstrong check, and so stay put. They are still blocking line of sight from the Crossbowmen to the Grenadiers though, so still doing their job out here.

Bottom of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

The Crossbowmen land a few more damage into the Stalwarts, and will get the rout this time, but it's just a smidge too late.

The Stalwarts are shot off.

The ASB on the hill hexes the Crone again, and the weakened Fanatics try to push through the Muster Captain, but land just 4 damage. They should have Lifeleeched 1 back, but go-figure, I forgot about the ASB's special aura again.

Combats on the left.

The Spears catch another Bane Chant and stab at the Harvester, landing 5 damage against it, despite the Big Shield 

The Giant goes into the Poachers again, joined by the Fanatics coming off the hill, and the unit will be devastated and routed, as is proper. Unfortunately, I rolled this combat first, which is an error. The Giant will back up to make sure he can smack the Harvester next turn, but then the Fanatics are in a bind, and opt change facing, to threaten the Wild Runners. A rear-charge, even just a hindered one, into my token-carrying Spears would be very bad.

The Outlaw Hero won't get off the hill turn turn, but will charge the Wild Runners, and will slap another 2 damage on them and will get a wonderful waver. I was worried I wouldn't even disorder them! It was a pretty big error on my part, and I should have rolled this combat first. I realized my error a bit too late to do anything about it.

Top of Round 6: Halflings

The wavering Wild Runners back up, and then nimble themselves against the board edge. 

Charges from the Halflings in Round 6.

My opponent is playing to win, and so the Muster Captain charges the Spears alongside the Harvester. The extra attack dice aren't great this time, and the Captain is snagged by Phalanx, and only 4 damage slips in. The horde holds strong on 12 damage.

The Halflings tie it up!

The Fanatics had been stalled up by the Captain, allowing the Iron Beast to make a flank charge against the unit. The Beast does 10 damage to take them to 15, but the Fanatics are found to be insane now, keeping me in the game and able to contend for a win.

The Harvester makes a hindered charge into the Crossbowmen, and lands 4 damage, but does get the disorder against them, and allowing the Grenadiers to grab the 2-Point token safely, making the game 2:2 as we go into the Bottom of Round 6.

Bottom of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men

The Crossbowmen counter-charge the Harvester, and deal 2 damage. It's not much, and they never crazy hot dice, but the Crossbowmen did a great job zoning out this side of the board all game.

The Insane Fanatics move out to grab the central token, putting the Kingdoms of Men in the lead. There is always the chance of a Round 7, so I need to protect them if I am going to sneak in the win against the Halflings.

The Crossbowmen push back and the ASB charges.

The first threat is the Iron Beast. The Fanatics are out of charge arc, but it does have a shooting attack. The mounted ASB charges in, but is not able to land a damage to disorder the contraption, so the first threat is unaddressed.

The Kingdoms of Men take the lead!

The second threat is the Crone and her possibly damaging the Fanatics with her Weakness spell. She's been power-casting through Hex, and I have no way to threaten her, so I gotta take my chances there, and the second threat is unaddressed.

The third threat is the Muster Captain just wheeling around and charging the Fanatics, so the Spear Phalanx opt to counter-charge the Muster Captain.

Out on the left, the Giant would clip the Fanatics, so they need to change facing to let him pass as he makes a flank charge into the Harvester. It's on the far side of the table, and I missed that angle on my last turn, so these fanatics mostly just spun wildly around all game.

Silly Fanatics.

I do have the presence of mind to roll the fight against the Muster Captain first. The Spears catch a Bane Chant, and stab the Captain for 10, bringing him to 13 damage. The Muster Captain is then found to be insane, and so there is no overrun into the Harvester fight either.

Speaking of, the Giant rolls abysmally and it looks like only 3 damage is done, but a hot Nerve check gets a waver on the Harvester.

The Round ends with the Kingdoms of Men in the lead 3:2, but I am a glutton for punishment and after all the literal insanity of Round 6, we do roll up a Round 7.

Top of Round 7: Halflings

The Harvester grinds against the Crossbowmen and the Grenadiers jog away with their token, but I don't record the details, and this isn't consequential.

The Iron Beast lurches away from the mounted ASB and readies its gun. Shots ring out, but no hits land!

The Crone casts Weakness on the Fanatics, does get 1 damage, and then gets the rout. I drop the token in the front part of their footprint, behind plane of the back corner of the Harvester. The plan is to withdraw with the Giant and then go pick it up.

The Crone get the rout to even things up again.

The Muster Captain continues on against the Spears, but isn't able to land the damage due to Phalanx, and the Halflings again pass the turn with the game a 2:2 tie.

Bottom of Round 7: Kingdoms of Men

I was eyeballing it. The Giant withdraws, then pivots... and as it turns out, no matter where I dropped the token, the Giant wasn't going to be able to reach. 

I meant to take a better closing picture, but apparently did not. Not the actual positioning, but I am definitely too far away.

I do have a juicy flank charge into the Harvester again, and can probably remove it and the Muster Captain this time, but unable to win the scenario, I just call it here.

Tie Game!

Game Conclusions

Four Insane Courage results? Four? No combat unfolded as we expected it to this game. The Nerve Checks were very unpredictable, so we tried not to read too much into those. 

Discussing it all afterwards, we both felt like the Juggers should have deployed more aggressively, even in the pond. The concern was Inspiring them, as the Muster Captain deployed pretty early and behind the building, much to my surprise. I think Rob had the harder deployment, and I think I got the better of him in this regard. I was pressuring every Loot Token, but mostly just playing for the left-side of the board. That has been a decent approach to playing this scenario, and the Halfling's tentative deployment let the Crossbowmen really pressure those tokens all the way to the very end.

Testing Conclusions

• Spears. I had a conundrum in 6 whether to pop their IW, and ultimately I did not. I overthought it. Indomitable Will grants Fearless as well, and the unit was Inspired, so I did not need to play around a possible waver in Round 7 and I could have popped it at either point to get the same result. Overall, the Spears were used well, and I think it was wise to hold them back for so long.
• Crossbowmen. They didn’t really spike their dice at all this game, but still did well overall, chipping away at things, and really controlled that side of the board for most of the game. 
• Charioteers. I obviously should have painted them up better! I figured they would draw fire, so I guess they did the job alright, but it would have been nicer to get some more turns in with them. I could have hidden them behind the hill more, but I wanted to make use of their long charge range, so I wouldn’t count that as a mistake or misplay. 
• Triple Giant. Losing the Chariots, I wasn’t able to support their initial charges. Each dealing 8ish damage is an overperformance, but a strong start. I forgot about Brutal on those early charges, and wavering the Juggers would have been huge, but so it goes. They were used pretty well, the charges were pretty sound options, and they ultimately traded well.
• ASB, mount and Wand. This was a nice setup, as the Mount gave him the height to see his target and the speed to hit those angles. There was one instance of Lifeleech I forgot for him to aid the insane Fanatics, but so it goes. 
• ASB, Lute. A babysitter, but the rolls were solid and I don’t think he missed a Chant at all. I did forget Lifeleech for him as well, which would have saved 3 on the Spears. Since I held them back for so long, the Spears didn’t accumulate enough damage to be scared of routing, but this is still a misplay on my part and something I need to get better at. 
• Outlaw Formation. I have a better appreciation for the formation now. I remember thinking around and considering Volley Fire, but it never came up. I am 100% sure I forgot they gained Steady Aim from the formation though, which is a pretty big error. They should have been more mobile. A good experience, and worth trying again I think.
• Regiments of Fanatics. I was hoping the Chariots could instigate and then these claim the hill and then charge in once the chariots had fled the field, but with the Chariots shot off… I didn’t have a great backup plan, and they started skulking around the hill. One got a flank charge in, but I spaced and forgot to Bane chant them. These were not used well, but still did ok.
• Morax Mansplitter. I was hiding him and so he was not able to make use of his throwing axe at all. He is a neat hero, and he tried, and at least got to go down fighting! Not a super-powerful Renegade, but this was a fun experiment. The Kingdoms of Men get a Fanatic hero too, but on a shock unit like this, I would rather have the TC aura instead of Rally.

I didn’t play the best game, forgetting Brutal in the early combats, as well as my usual Lifeleech, but leading for most of the game against Rob and his Ravenous Halflings, I will still most happily take a draw. I learned a lot, and as-usual, I had a great time. A big thank you to Rob, and if we don't squeeze another practice game in beforehand, best of luck to him at the Renegade GT!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #092 Herd vs Brothermark in Plunder

Intro and Lists

Stars and schedules briefly aligned again with Trevor from the wonderful Data and Dice, and we were able to sneak in a late afternoon game recently. Trevor brought the following over to Madison:

We both have a good appreciation for the Penitents as a unit, and Trevor is continuing to explore some Brothermark lists emphasizing them. He's written a bit about this on his own site (in the "Human Goblins" article), and the new iteration here is dropping the war machines entirely. I think that is a good call as the Brothermark just don't have the variety of war machines the Goblins can field in order to rely on them.

Here we have four regiments and two hordes of Penitents, a horde of plain Bowmen, two hordes of Ogre Palace Guard as second-line, cleanup units, three Phoenixes to shoot and support, and a variety of individuals to Rally, Inspire, Heal and even shoot and beat face! The Brothermark certainly have a lot of heroic options.

I brought the Herd. I want to eventually take some cues from Trevor and his Sylvan Kin and work towards some more measured approaches with my army here… but I still have a few oddball ideas I want to play through before doing so. Next up for unhinged Herd lists was Triple Spears Hordes! I hobbied up three horde's worth of them, so by golly we're gonna try and run them all! Up to test are:

• Tribal Trappers. I quite liked running a few troops in my recent games, and wanted to explore that more here. They Scout, and with so many speedy units around to support them, I think I should be able to get some nice early pressure from these. 
• Centaur Bray Hunters. I needed an unlock, and decided on these for some more shooting and good mobility. I tried Mounted Scouts for my Kingdoms of Men for a good long while, and they were just not effective as they were so bland. I concluded that this kind of unit needed good stats or a quirk to be worthwhile, like Piercing Weapons to encourage you to stay at range, or Thunderous Charge to encourage you to skirmish and then close in. The Hunters take the latter approach, and I liked the regiment size over the troops for them, to get the increased hitting and staying power. With TC and decent stats, we’ll see how the Hunters do this game. 
• Scorchwings. I’ve tried Scorchwings a few times, and they have been overwhelming to run and then underwhelming on the battlefield. Still, I do like the interaction between them and the infantry (Height 4 shooting over Height 2 means no cover penalty from my own unit), and wanted to try them out as long as I was bringing the hordes. I have liked the regiments over the hordes for this unit, as they hit harder in melee than at range, and the regiments are less of an investment for a unit that just have TC 1.
• Hunters vs Scorchwings. I have been leaning towards liking Hunters over Scorchwings, but with each unit at my preferred size, we’ll see how things fare! 
• Druids. Tried and true! But boring. With so much going on, I wanted just some basic units to help baby-sit my hordes. Inspiring is paramount; any Bane Chants they get off is gravy.
• Tribal Tracker. I’ve mostly just run the formation version, which has not really delivered for me. I wanted one more source of Inspiring for the horde, but didn’t have triple Druids, so am going with a normie Tracker to see how that feels. He's been underwhelming before, but with so much other shooting, I am hoping he is able to skulk around and contribute a few damage here and there throughout the game.
• Beast of Nature. I wanted to try these again as flying monstrous hammers. Having a weird amount of points leftover, I finagled a way to get the ranged attack on them both, to really lean into my ranged options this game. Similar to the Undead Burrowing Wyrms tested recently, I think it’s probably better to just be charging, but we’ll see if a shooting attack on them feels better with more numerous and more effective shooting spread throughout the army.
• Avatar of the Father. Most titanic fliers are paying for a breath attack, so having a combat-only flier and one on a monster-sized base seemed viable to me, but the Avatar has never had good luck. I have liked the Tree Herders, but wanted to give the Avatar another try, especially after my recent game against the Orcs which had a similar fighting-only flier. Given his usual underperformance, the goal is to primarily just pressure with him, letting other units do the work, and just survive until the end of the game.
• Triple Spears with all the items. I hobbied up three horde's worth of Tribal Spear units, and I want to use them! I like that they can get Thunderous Charge, and so opted to embrace that offensive edge, and run a lot of serious items on them, including the Brew of Sharpness, Brew of Strength, and then the valuable-but-less-flashy Chalice of Wrath.
• Herd Fliers. With all of the Hordes around, my hope is that things should get stuck on them, allowing for some good multi- or flank-charges. In this case, it seemed like a good time to break out my fliers again. We’ll see if that tactic works.
• Herd Shooting. The recent foray into Undead shooting was underwhelming, but as this list idea developed, I swapped Harpies out for Trappers and then decided to commit to shooting more. Per the Companion I have 72 ranged shots in this list! It is mostly bow fire (only the Tracker’s 4 shots have Piercing, with Piercing1), but a lot of these are 4+ with Steady Aim, so we’ll see how  a better volume of mobile shooting works here.

Table and Terrain

We were out at a FLGS, trying to sneak our game in before their D&D League started. We were using our typical terrain rules, running the buildings as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, fences as Height 2 Obstacles, and Hills as Height 3, and the ponds as Height 0.

Terrain and tokens!

We got Plunder for the Scenario, and I won the roll for sides, and I was a lazy gamer. I nominated the center-left token for 2-Points, and my opponent nominated the far-right token. At the end of the game, any white tokens held would be worth one point, and and blue tokens would be worth two points.

A quick overview.

The Brothermark had a lot of drops, but they ended up being pretty concentrated. He used a building to anchor his line, and from left-to-right we have two Penitent Regiments screening some Ogre Palace Guard with the Blessing of the gods and I believe the Chaplain is out here too. Another Penitent Regiment then screens for the first Phoenix, the Bowmen Horde screens for the second Phoenix with the Boomstick Paladin nearby, then a Penitent Regiment screens for the third Phoenix with the Hunters nearby. Then we have a Penitent horde screening for the Ogres with the Brew of Sharpness and a second Penitent horde in reserve with the Martyr's Prayer Priest.

View from the left.

I was pretty haphazard with my deployment. On my left we have the Centaur Hunters, the Avatar of the Father, Scorchwings and Trappers with a Druid and Tribal Spears with the Brew of Strength. I put a Beast on the line in a pond, looking to zone out the woods. The goal on the left was to be aggressive and push.

A pretty weak center.

Centrally I had the Tribal Spears with the Chalice of Wrath and a supporting Druid. I figured the fighting would be fierce here, so I wanted to be aggressive, and hoped something would get stuck up on the horde, letting fliers pounce.

A blurry shot of the right.

On the right, we have the Tracker and Trapper up front, the Beast in reserve, the Tribal Spears with the Brew of Sharpness angled to threaten some early movement, and the last Scorchwings behind the Spears, to hopefully offer shooting support. Up against two Penitent hordes and some Ogre Palace Guard, I deployed further back on my right. I can't fight through all of that, but I do have a speed advantage, so my goal out here is to move up and threaten these objectives and see what happens.

Scout moves.

I very nearly forget that I have Scout moves, and push them all up a little bit. I'm happy with the one on my left. It's aggressive, nothing can threaten it, and I can see around the woods for early shots. On the right, I was hesitant to leave the woods. I'm not going to be charged, but I think I was hesitant due to the Bowmen. The Trappers are majority in the woods, so would get cover if I don't get first turn and the Bowmen want to shoot them off.

However, I do win the roll, and being the Herd, I quite happily take the first turn!

Top of Round 1: Herd

On the left, the Avatar of the Father stops short of his full move, as he does not want stare right at a building. He should be able to see some units and force some moves, but zoning things out seemed like the better call.

The Centaur Hunters nimbly move up, but are too far away to be able to shoot this turn. They end the movement phase on the token, and will pick it up.

The Herd moves up assertively on the left.

The Scorchwings move up and the Trappers hold, and these will both shoot into the Penitents on the flank, they'll land 5 damage and will get a lucky waver. The Horde with the Brew of Strength moves up, but the positioning is a bit awkward, as they aren't going to have a charge next turn.

A shaky shot of the center. 

The central Beast flies up, using the woods as a screen. He nimbly pivots, seeing around the woods and out onto the right. We'll see if I can find any lucky flank charges.

The central horde with the Chalice of Wrath is a bit unsupported. Still, I have the inches, so they run up touch a token, and pick it up, with the Druid keeping pace as best she can.

Another assertive push on the right. 

Out on the right, things move up. The scouting Tracker and his Trappers move out of the woods. Neither have Steady Aim, so both take penalties shooting into the the nearest Penitent troop. Just 1 damage is done, and the Penitents hold.

The taller Beast pulls in behind, and the Spears with the Brew of Sharpness, who were deployed at an angle, move up around 10", with the Scorchwings pulling up behind them. I have a number of units with good charge ranges here, so we'll see what the Brothermark do.

Bottom of Round 1: Brothermark

On the right, both Penitent Hordes move up at the double, eager to be charged. The Ogres with the Brew of Sharpness scooch up a bit, ready to respond. I should have a charge into them with the Beast, but that feels like a terrible idea for now.

The Penitents throw themselves forward.

Both Examplar Hunters move up, and everything that can shoots into my central horde of Tribal Spears. The three Phoenixes land 8, the Bowmen held and loosed, contributing just 2, and the Hunters land 1 damage apiece to take my horde to a very concerning 14 damage.

The Brothermark demonstrate the importance of focus-fire.

The left is a flurry of activity trying to respond to the advancing Herd. The wavering Penitents do nothing, as they should be safe from charges. The Ogre Palace Guard with the Blessing of the Gods move enough to have the building block line of sight from the Avatar of the Father, protecting them as well.

Penitent regiments assume the position.

Shooting seems to be pretty effective against most of my army. Mostly safe from my heavy hitters now, the remaining Penitent regiments maneuver around to block charges, hoping to buy time for the Phoenixes and such to whittle my lines down a bit. 

Top of Round 2: Herd

On the left, the Avatar of the Father nimbly shuffles 10 inches towards my opponent's deployment zone, threatening some flank charges again, though the Bowmen are just out of range.

Movement on the left.

The Centaurs are slowed by the loot token. They loose Nimble as well, but are still able to get into range with their bows, loosing against the injured Penitent unit, with the Scorchwings joining in with a volley as well. We take the unit to 9 damage, and do pick it up.

Shooting results on the left.

The Trappers move up to grab the two pointer. They take a Penalty for moving, and shoot into the untouched regiment, landing 2 damage, and getting a ridiculous waver against them. Splitting fire was a very greedy play from me. Everything should have gone into the injured Penitents, but it worked.

Movement in the center, due to brain fog.

My horde with the Brew of Strength is in the flank of the sacrificial Penitent unit, and they can get line of sight and such for a legal charge. I want to charge both hordes in, just to get better positioning with them, but cannot figure out how. I was very tired. I should go forward with the unit, then pivot 90 degrees, and connect from the side. I keep pivoting at the beginning of the charge move, and obviously bumping into the other horde. The flank will be more impactful, so with my brain blanking, the injured horde with the Chalice awkwardly pivots to let the horde with the Brew pivot first, and then move up to connect. The flank charge is able to get this done. I take them to 20 damage, devastating and routing them as is proper, and then reform to line up the next fights, getting the Penitents and Ogres into my front arc. 

The Beast lurking by the woods just moves out to threaten stuff on the right, making sure to stay out of charge range of the Hunters and their Slayer.

Lots of options on the right...

I have a lot of options on my right. I don't fancy my way fighting through two Penitent hordes and a horde of Ogre Palace Guard though, but I still fight better than I shoot, so I decide to be incredibly greedy.

The eventual charges on the right.

The Spears with the Brew of Sharpness charge the Penitents on the hill. I don't record the damage in my notes, but I believe we deal 14 damage, and I do pick them up. This ends up being extremely fortunate, as the Ogres were in my flank. Victorious, the Horde pivots to get a majority of their base onto the hill.

And then the reform on the right.

The Trapper hangs out being Inspiring while the Trappers, Beast and Scorchwings go into the other horde. I deal 13 damage, and we get a lucky waver on the horde here.

It is an incredibly greedy turn for the Herd, with a lot of it paying off in spades.

Currently, I've routed half the Penitents so far, with another horde and another regiment currently wavering. I control both 2-Pointers, and two 1-Pointers, and just one other token is up for grabs.

Bottom of Round 2: Brothermark

On the right, the Ogres look to have a hard time pivoting past the wavering horde to help it out, so they just take the easy charge into the Tribal Spears on the hill. The Ogres also have the Brew of Sharpness, and are able to thump 13 damage onto the horde and get a lucky waver against me now!

Movement, and a charge, out on the right.

The wavering Penitents hold, trying to limit my options, even just a little bit. The final regiment of Penitents doesn't have a charge, but moves up to join the fun soon.

A Phoenix flies up and makes a play for the open token, landing on it and picking it up later in the turn.

The other two Phoenixes flick sparks into my injured central horde, with the bowmen and Boomstick-toting Paladin helping out. The dice are not great, but the horde is bumped up to 19 damage and still routed. It was holding a 1-Pointer, and I drop it in the back left of the unit's footprint to make things more difficult for my opponent.

Both Hunters shoot into my central Beast, and will land 6 damage against it, though it survives.

A hindered charge from the Ogre Palace Guard.

The wavering Penitent regiment backs up, allowing the Ogre Palace Guard to charge in. The charge is hindered, and unfortunately we forget about Blessing of the Gods. Just 6 damage lands,  and my horde holds.

Top of Round 3: Herd

On the left, the Centaurs drop their token in order to make a flank charge into the Ogre Palace Guard, as the Tribal Spears continue fighting them in the front. Bane Chants are attempted, but I think just the one into the Centaurs succeeds. The Centaurs do 9, and the Spears contribute a pitiful 3, but the Ogres are a bit too far forward, are uninspired, this is enough damage to pick them up with a bit of luck.

The Scorchwings sweep up awkwardly to pick up the 1-Point token dropped by the Centaurs. The Trappers will move out as well, carrying their 2-pointer, with the Druid coming up to babysit. These are troops, and liable to rout. In my head, I needed one unit per token. We discussed this later, and that seemed like an exception for the Push Scenario only, so this is a very awkward misplay from me. The Trappers can absolutely start running away, but the Scorchwings should be wheeling back towards the fighting. I had a bout of insomnia the previous night, so as excited as I was to play a game and try out my list, my brain was not all here today.

Charges on the left. The Herd is really breaking through.

In victory, the Centaurs will back up, and the Spears pivot.

The Avatar of the Father makes a flank charge into the Penitents. The Avatar finally has some good dice in a game, lands an astonishing 13 damage, and picks the regiment up all by himself. Victorious, he pivots slightly, wanting to keep the Bowmen in his front arc.

Reforms for the Herd.

On the right, I lean pretty heavily on the Beasts. The maimed one has an awkward line of sight with the Phoenix in front of him, but can see past the Phoenix to spy the wavering Penitent horde. Charging Phoenixes tends to not be great plays, so we make the flank charge instead, with the Trappers and Scorchwings continuing the fight as well.

Charges on the right.

This fight against the last Penitent horde goes well, and the unit is routed. The Beast changes facing to face the last Penitent regiment head-on. The Trappers pivot awkwardly, and the Scorchwings back up 3 inches.

Reforms on the right.

The wavering Spears disengage and then back up, trying to buy time. The Beast that had been fighting the Penitents can see over them into the Ogres, and makes that charge, hitting the unit in the flank. The dice are most unkind. The hits are bad; the damage is bad, but Vicious lets me convert my two 1's into the only 2 damage of this combat. Sheesh. The Ogre Palace Guard will Iron Resolve that down to 1.

Bottom of Round 3: Brothermark

With an open charge ahead of them, the Ogres will march past the Beast to continue the fight against the Tribal Spears. They hit with 17 of their 18 attacks, and then damage with 16 of the hits, to unabashedly devastate the Tribal Spears, and then spin to face the Beast that tickled them. 

Movement for the Brothermark.

The last remaining Penitent regiment will charge the Beast, with both Hunters charging into the monster's flank. The Penitents contribute 0, but the Hunters do a combined 7 damage, and the uninspired Beast is felled. The Penitents overrun, towards the Tribal Trappers.

Reforms for the Brothermark.

The Bowmen are in the pond. Just pivoting would keep their leader point in the pond, incurring more penalties, so they move up and pivot to shoot into the oncoming Centaur Hunters. They are hitting on 6's though, and the dice do not spike, and only 2 damage lands.

The Phoenixes had a busy turn moving. Two tried to shoot into the Scorchwings, but roll terribly, landing just 2 damage. The Ogres hogged all the turn's luck for themselves apparently.

Top of Round 4: Herd

We've got the Brothermark backed into a corner. I hold most of the tokens, and my Avatar of the Father is alive! I'm feeling pretty confident, despite losing two of my Spear Hordes. The fighting is fierce in the corner.

On the left, my two units and their tokens continue to run away.

Charges for the Herd.

I forget that the Bowmen have Phalanx, but choose to send the Spears with the Brew of Strength and the Centaurs in against the shooters to try and pick them up in one-go. The Spears do just 9, and but the hindered Centaurs do 7, and I am able to pick the Bowmen up with a lucky check.

The Avatar of the Father needs to be fighting stuff here, and I send him into the flank of the last Penitent regiment. Busting out a laser line, the Trappers are in the flank thanks to the overrun, so we sandwich the unit, and will pick it up. 

The Phoenixes and their shooting is a problem. Losing Fly and Nimble, I can't really escape with the Scorchwings and their token. Not entirely sure what to do, I send the injured unit into one of them. 

Reforms for the Herd.

The remaining Beast goes into the Ogres again, hoping to occupy them for two turns, given my high Nerve. I land 4 damage, and roll up an 11 on the dice to get a very lucky waver, and we're off to a great start here!

The Tracker moves up, Inspiring these units. He tries to shoot into a Phoenix, but misses entirely. Not having Steady Aim, he is taking a penalty, and 4 dice isn't a lot to throw at a problem it seems.

Bottom of Round 4: Brothermark

The Phoenixes are doing work this turn. The one in the center of the field can't get away, and is therefore going to get charged by something next turn, so sidesteps and Nimble Pivots once to face the Tribal Spears head-on. It sprays the unit with sparks, and a Hunter and the Boomstick Paladin land a few damage as well to take my last horde up to 10 damage.

The Phoenixes flap about.

The second Phoenix flank charges the Trappers, landing a few damage, but won't break the unit. 

The third sprays into the Scorchwings, the dice are good, and my birds are melted this time.

The Priest Martyr's off the damage from the Ogre Palace Guard as they fume and regather their wits. The Phoenixes have been shooting more than healing, but the Prayer has transferred a good bit of damage this time.

An Exemplar Hunter charges in against the Avatar of the Father to ground him, and does a concerning 5 damage to my figurehead unit.

Top of Round 5: Herd

With the Ogres healed up, I don't think I can trade the Beast for them, and now hesitate to just feed it to them. It flaps away, and the Tracker charges in, hoping for 1 damage and the disorder to tie them up. I roll 1 hit, and do luck out with the damage to help pin the Ogres down for a turn, though they will Iron Resolve the damage away.

Charges.

The Centaurs can charge through the yielding Chaplain, but the angle is bad, and they can't pass through the mighty Hunter. I'm a dummy again with charges. I can go forward, pivot, and then hit the rear of the bird from that angle. The Centaurs impotently charge the Chaplain. They will catch a Bane Chant, and and take him up to 4 damage, but I don't get a waver or a rout. In my head the Chaplain was easy pickings, but I was confusing him with the Priest, and the Chaplain is a heartier Def5.

I can't quite reclaim the 2-Pointer dropped by the Scorchwings, but the Trappers count their blessings and countercharge the Phoenix, with the Avatar of the Father striding past the upstart Hunter to fight the fiery bird in the flank, as I am looking to pick up the last of my opponent's unit strength to help close out the game. A fantastic 14 damage is done, but the bird is found to be insane. The Avatar of the Father continues to find the crazy ones...

Bad luck for the Avatar of the Father. Eh, it could be worse though.

The remaining Spear horde charges the Phoenix in the center of the battlefield, and rolls a ridiculous 19 damage against the bird, and will pick it up, and then overrun to reclaim a dropped 1-Pointer token.

Bottom of Round 5: Brothermark

The Brothermark's individuals join the Phoenixes in their late-game push. The Hunters charge the Tribal Spears, and land 2 damage total to take them to 12, but an 8 on the dice will still waver the horde.

Lots of wavering this game.

The Boomstick Paladin charges the Avatar, and lands 2 damage, though the Avatar holds.

The Phoenixes sandwich the Trappers, roll blazing hot to take them from 3 to 15 damage, with one Phoenix landing on the 2-Pointer and claiming it as well. It is at this point that I realize that a unit can hold multiple Loot Tokens. Oops.

The Chaplain swings and misses against the Centaurs, meaning that they are not disordered. 

The Insane Phoenix regenerates 9 of its 14 damage, and then Martyr's Prayer removes most of the rest. 

The Ogre Palace Guard thumps the upstart Tracker for 15 damage, devastating and then routing him.

Going into Round 6, it's 4:3 in favor of the Herd.

Top of Round 6: Herd

Now realizing my scenario error on the left, the Scorchwings drop their token and nimbly wheel about to try to be part of a potential Round 7. 

With a wavering horde holding a very vulnerable and very important token, the remaining Beast of Nature flies over to try and assist as well, nimbly pivoting as it lands to threaten the heroes of the Brothermark.

Movement for the Herd.

With the injured, insane Phoenix holding no tokens, facing front, and healing 10 of the 14 damage dealt to it last turn, the Avatar of the Father, disengages and backs up. I don't want him charged by the Ogres next turn and getting them closer to anything. He'll be a threat in a Round 7 that my opponent will need to try and address on his turn here.

The Centaurs don't get a Bane Chant, but charge back in against the Chaplain to take him up to 8 damage, but the check is a 4, just wavering him. 

Bottom of Round 6: Brothermark

The Paladin continues on against the Avatar of the Father, landing 2 more damage and getting a waver against him! Sheesh!

Movement for the Brothermark.

The Hunters disengage from the Tribal Spears. Instead of clashing, they shoot into the horde, along with both Phoenixes. The horde is taken up to 20 damage, and routed. I drop the token in the back left of their footprint. If there is a Round 7, the Scorchwings or Beast should be able to grab it.

End of the game.

The Ogre Palace Guard march up behind the Phoenixes, ready for a Round 7... but we do not roll it up.

With my horde shot off and dropping the token, it's a 3:3 tie!

Game Conclusions

With dice down, we were both a bit bewildered. With the flow of the game overall, neither of us was expecting a draw, but that’s the exciting bit about Kings of War and scenario play!

With the scenario goof and the charge goofs, it wasn’t my best game, and another unit of Scorchwings would have been helpful to have. Writing up the report, I played very greedily, and many things bounced my way to give me a strong start. While I was able to remove a lot of Penitent units, they are there to just take up space and die. It has been a while since I fought the Phoenixes, and I definitely underestimated their shooting attacks! I wasn’t able to deal with them or the fighty Hunters effectively, and the Brothermark endured long enough to secure a tie with the fiery birds.

Testing Conclusions

• Tribal Trappers. I am really liking these troops, and they continue to be a very fun unit to play around with. They pair nicely with the Tribal Spear Hordes, 
• Centaur Bray Hunters. I don't think they were used well late game, but I do like the regiment as it makes them a little more durable and a little more threatening. 
• Scorchwings. This kind of versatile unit has a high skill ceiling, but I did like them at the smaller regimental size. Scenario goof aside, these did ok, even though they were not used well! They need to be making use of flying charges and such, and so should not have been holding tokens early on. They are unfortunately pretty easy to shoot off, but with their height and long charge range, can be hard for an opponent to properly prioritize or plan around, and with enough other Herd stuff around, these weren't able to be prioritized. 
• Hunters vs Scorchwings. I was a little rusty with these, but running them each at these unit sizes makes sense to me and my playstyle. Neither really outshined the other, and I honestly liked this split setup overall, though again, I didn’t end up playing either unit all that effectively. 
• Druids. Bane Chant was iffy this game for successes, but again they were primarily around to keep stuff Inspired, and they did that very well.
• Tribal Tracker. I’ve tried him several times, mainly in the formation, and I just keep being underwhelmed. Lacking Steady Aim makes it hard for him to be a mobile and dynamic shooter, and lacking CS make him struggle in most combats. Design-wise he seems to want to scout up and camp out, but with 4 attacks, the damage output just isn’t there, and the special rules are an odd mix letting him down. He finally had a good moment getting a clutch damage in against the Ogre Palace Guard, but a third, boring Druid would have been a more effective take this game. 
• Beast of Nature. I remembered Vicious! But even so, they did just ok. I gave them some pretty rough match-ups against the Ogres and a flier in the middle of a crowded board is quite often gonna have a bad time. Crushing Strength 2 is great, but wasn’t quite enough to make them a good hammer unit against the Ogre Palace Guard, and the unit should struggle a bit against all Def5 units. The 12” shooting attack doesn’t seem worth it on a flier, as I want to be positioning for charges, not shots. That attack is just too much to keep track of on a flier, but if you drop the wings, I could see this being an ok support piece for some Tribal units, or even Brutes, as it’s tall enough to shoot over them both without a penalty.
• Avatar of the Father. The poor guy! I used him better than I normally do, but he still managed to find an insane unit and get stopped up. He ended the game wavering... but did technically survive to the end! We’ll continue to bust him out for fun, but I unfortunately haven’t quite found a good home for him yet and he continues to not have the best luck on the battlefield.
• Tribal Spears with Items. I was pretty excited about my list. It did ok, but not as well as I was hoping it would. Def4 and lowish Nerve means the Hordes aren’t as “sticky” as I was hoping they’d be, especially with my opponent having no cavalry to gum up with my Phalanx. I didn’t have any healing to help them out, and two hordes wavered at inopportune times. They can handle any of the items very well, but I think taking all of the items could be considered an overinvestment from me, as the baseline unit doesn’t have the staying power to brawl. 
• Herd Fliers. Flying was useful and impactful for me, and we did get a lot of flank charges in throughout the game! I want to always line up a charge for them on my turn, and I think I did ok with them this game, zoning out areas of the board, applying pressure and indeed forcing some repositions. 
• Herd Shooting. I liked the avenues that shooting provided for me this game, but I mostly just lucked out in this regard by securing a lot of lucky wavers. With just 18” shortbows, I can’t really sit back and rely on shooting. Still, this pressure seemed ok, and probably about as good as the Herd can do in this regard.
• No Guardian Brutes. I like the unit, but I got by ok without them. The Tribals Spears weren’t as strong, but they did have better endurance with their higher Nerve. I like the Brutes, but this shows that they aren’t a must-take.

It had been a very draining week, so getting in a game was an absolute pleasure. A big thank you to Trevor from Data and Dice for fitting this into his busy schedule! The Human Goblins are a really neat idea, and I'm hoping to see more of the list soon.