Intro and Lists
I am taking some random days off of work as the year comes to a close, and Joe was kind enough to help me fill one of them with a game! With the book out and the Companion App updated a few days prior, we wanted to try some Clash 2025 stuff. Joe brought his Imperial Dwarfs, and the following list:
I didn't quite think it possible, but the Imperial Dwarfs continue to get scarier! We now have two Dwarf Lords on Large Beasts, a Steel Behemoth, Faber, the powerful Formation, and lots of Def6 Ironguard and Mastiff packs. Additionally, Joe really committed to the Command Dice, buying an additional Red on Faber and a Blue on the ASB.
I brought the Undead, as I've had list ideas kicking around for months now. I originally wanted to get a few more "baseline" games in, with normal hordes and stuff, but given the chance here, I gave into my temptation to explore some Undead MMU. Up to test are:
- Regiments of Skelton Warriors with Two Handers. As mentioned in their Hobby Update, these smashy Skeletons are roughly equivalent to Brothermark Penitents, but for a modest points increase, get Fearless and a Nerve bump, avoiding a lot of the frustration that can come with running a 11/14 regiment. They aren’t really scary, but should be able to take up space and punch above their weight. We’ll see how their debut goes!
- Regiments of Skeleton Spearmen. We’re trying MMU, so taking regiments over a horde. These don’t have the offensive power of something like Herd’s Tribal Spearmen, or even KoM Spearmen, so we just want them to eat charges and make use of their good unit strength for the points. The hope was that Phalanx and Fearless would let them trip something up unexpectedly, but that may be a tall order against Dwarfs! So long as they are not deployed side by side, we'll call it a win, and just see what they can do in-game.
- Triple Soul Reavers. The Undead have a wide variety of infantry, which suggests to me that they’ll be good at MMU. The Soul Reavers are on the high-end of the spectrum, and will be around as hammers. We’ll see how they do, and if they’ll be protected enough to deliver the damage I need them to.
- Revenant Cavalry Troops. The Undead have a lot of options around ~115 points. I liked the Revenant Cavalry troops the last time I played with the army, and wanted to try them out again to learn a little more and hopefully build up some good habits with them.
- Revenant King. He’s not the all-rounder I had been hoping for as the three attacks just don’t quite cut it on the offense, but he’s been good at supporting and can be surprisingly sticky.
- Resto Liche King. A resto caster has been a pet pick of mine for the last few months, though I haven’t gotten enough games in to really make a firm decision yet. With a Fearless army, the hope here is that something holds unexpectedly, and the Resto Liche and his Periscope can heal it up to then cause more problems. Kings of War can be regarded as a piece-trading game, so if I can change the math and keep hammers healthy, I should have better chances of killing stuff and running away with a game.
- Undead ASBs. Tried and true, and their ASB Wild Charge 2 aura has great interactions with all the Skeletons, even the Revenant Wyrms. They are good generally, and could be great with this kind of skeleton-focused MMU.
- Zuinok Iceblood. Zuinok caught my eye a while back. Mhorgoth is popular, but Zuinok is a nifty budget spellcaster and if the smashy Skeletons work out, could be a great off-meta pick for me.
- Burrowing Wyrms. Tried and true and a favorite unit of mine on just looks alone. They’ve been lonely hammers in my previous lists, but we’ll see how they fare here with the Soul Reaver joining in that role too.
- Undead Skeleton MMU. The Undead have always been able to field a lot of units, but it takes some particular units to make MMU play tick from my experience. The Undead look to have both cheap unlocking regiments like Zombies and Skeletons and more powerful ones, like the Soul Reavers. We'll see how all the regiments do.
- Command Orders / Command Dice. Since the list was thought up prior to the update, I’ve not purchased additional dice, but we are giving Command Orders a try. Unholy Puppets should be great as the lines close, and By the Master’s Will should be good in the early game to get some additional pressure with extra movement, or late game to grab objectives. I actually like the army-specific Orders for the Undead, so we’ll try to focus on casting those if we can.
Table and Terrain
Like our meeting last month with Battle 089, we were out at the semi-local Planet Chaos in Fort Atkinson WI. A very interesting shop full of all sorts of nerdy things! In the last report, it seemed like the mat was a little narrow between us, so Joe wisely brought a mat for us, and I brought some terrain. We were using our typical terrain rules, running the building and bones as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, stone fences as Height 2 Obstacles, and Hills as Height 3, and the ponds as Height 0. As it turns out, the previous table was both narrow and short. The shop had one 4'x4' table extender, and one narrow 6' table. With a slapdash table, you'll see all of the the corners drooping, but it should be fine.
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| The table. |
Wanting to explore the new scenarios but not wanting to think too terribly hard, we picked Protect and Raze for the scenario, which is a riff on the normal Raze scenario. There is a central objective token, and then we each place 3 tokens on the opponent’s side of the board, 6” from the center line. If we control one of the tokens that we placed, we can burn them for a point, and then that token goes away, so we should be whittling down the points of interest on the battlefield down to a final clash in the center. The new twist is that we can control but not burn the tokens our opponent placed, and we can score them if we happen to hold them at the end of the game, providing for a little more interplay, which should be great for armies going second, or slow armies, like the Dwarfs here.
We both favored the left side for our tokens, and having won the roll for sides, I lazy-gamered things and kicked us off with a slight drop advantage.
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| The deployments. |
The Dwarfs spread out with several distinct battle groups. On the left we have Dogs, Def6 Ironclad, the Ironguard from the Formation with the ASB Hansel the Pretty supporting them, Faber nearby in his mech suit, and Ironclad screening for Dogs. Centrally we have formation Bulwarks, the Steel Behemoth, and more Dogs. On the right, we have Ironclad, both mounted Lords, and the other Bulwarks from the formation.
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| View from the left. |
Left to right for the Undead were Revenant Cavalry, a Burrowing Wyrm, Skeleton Warriors with two-handers supported by the Healing ASB, Soul Reavers with Fury, more Skeleton Warriors and Zuinok, and Soul Reavers with Hanns.
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| View from the center. |
I couldn't out-drop the dwarfs, so placed Skeleton Spears and then the Revenant King centrally. The Lords were likely going to come down on a flank, but the Spears should hopefully help me hold the middle at the end of the game.
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| View from the right. |
Overall, I was pretty happy with my deployment. Things were Inspired, regiments were not run side-by-side, and I was able to keep my scary Wyrms and Soul Reavers for some of my final drops.
I won the roll for determining turn order. Neither of our armies are particularly speedy, and wanting to get into the opposite side of the board for the scenario, I wanted to start making progress right away, and so seized the initiative.
Top of Round 1: Undead
This is my first foray with Command Dice, and I rolled up 3, just short of doing either of the Undead's unique ones. Nothing needed healing or rerolls, so I did not utilize the Command Orders at all this turn.
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| The Undead move out, safely. |
On the right, I confirmed charge distances, and then shambled on up. The Skeleton Warriors will move up, and will be Surged forward a few more inches. Normally I am against this kind of Surge move, but there was virtually no way they were going to zip out into danger. Just in case though, the Wyrm lingered, only moving 5, and the Revenant Cavalry moved their 8 and pivoted slightly. The Skeleton Spears moved up and pivoted, as did the Soul Reavers. The Liche lagged behind, keeping the Reavers just barely Inspired. The Celestial Restoration is neat, but it functions like an artillery shot, and I need to keep more than 12" away from my targets. Just in case things got heated here early, I wanted to create some space early on.
Centrally, the Spears and Revenant King moved up slightly. I don't think I used the full movement even, as I kind of want to take it slow in the center.
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| The Soul Reavers move out. |
The Soul Reavers are a bit more eager though, but only a bit. I am wary to being "shot" off with Mastiffs, so one moves their speed around the hill, one moves ever-so-slightly at the double to get their leader point onto the hill to see. Zuinok slots in behind. I don't attempt any spells with him this turn, which is probably a small mistake. Fireball is out of range, and I am wary of Surging the Skeletons up as the many Throwing Mastiffs could make easy work of them if I go too far. Veil of Shadows doesn't work against Mastiffs, but could dissuade Faber, so that could have been a slightly better play from me.
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| Movement on the left. |
Out on the left, the Skeletons shambled up. The Wyrm is able to mostly wade through the pond, and the Revenant Cavalry shambles up as far as they can.
Bottom of Round 1: Imperial Dwarfs
Having bought some extra dice, my opponent's Command Dice rolling is far more impressive, and he ends up with 8 swords to work with. He chooses to give the left-most Ironclad and the Ironguard horde spellward, marked by purple tokens. He should have 2 swords left, but I didn't make a note on if he used them, or on what.
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| The Imperial Dwarf line moves up. |
On the left, the Mastiff packs get a bit ahead of the battle line. Faber shoots at something, but fails to damage it.
Centrally, the Mastiff pack moves up to screen for the Bulwarks and the Behemoth. The machine has no shots, so my opponent is taking things slow here as well.
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| Imperial Dwarf movement on the right. |
On the right, the Ironclad move up to protect the token near the Behemoth, and I shouldn't have any charges into anything with my Soul Reavers. Further right, one mounted Lord inches up, and the other sidesteps and nimble-pivots to project threat towards the center. The Bulwarks move up, and the Mastiff Pack bounds ahead to block.
Top of Round 2: Undead
I roll up 2 Command Dice this turn. I don't think anything was damaged. Something could have used a reroll, but I don't recall if I did anything with the Orders this turn.
On the right, I multi-charge the screening Mastiffs, just looking to start a piece trade. Unfortunately, my dice don't deliver. Each unit does 2 damage, and the Mastiffs easily stick around. The Undead ASB runs up to keep these units Inspired, and we'll see what can be salvaged here in the coming turns.
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| Things charge while the Spears advance. |
I was wary of tricky nimble charges, so hold back a bit with the Wyrm, and the Soul Reavers. The Skeleton Spears hop out of the woods, hoping to catch a throwing mastiff, or at least get in position to take a charge. With the Skeleton Warriors and Rev Cav ineffectually committed, I want to try and preserve my hammers out here.
Centrally, the Revenant King and the Skeleton Spearmen move up another few inches.
Near the center, the Skeletons have a charge into the screening Mastiffs. The Skeletons are essentially my chaff, and disordering the dogs will prevent them from tossing their own mastiffs, so I go in. I deal 3 damage. The dogs stick around, but I would have need to roll crazy to take them off. Blocking things up is good enough for now.
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| View from the center. |
The Soul Reavers take the hill. Charging off a hill doesn't hurt, especially against all the Def6 the Dwarves brought. Zuinok hops up, and I believe I do cast Veil of Shadow this turn, to protect the Soul Reavers from any errant shots from Faber.
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| Movement on the left from the Undead. |
More Skeleton Warriors walk up. They are still controlling the left-most token, but this puts them in a better position project more threat onto the Dwarven line. They will be able to contribute to charges and such next turn, if needed.
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| Reforms for the Undead. |
I opt to send both the Revenant Cavalry and the Burrowing Wyrm into the Mastiffs on the left, with the ASB running up to make sure they are Inspired. If I flub it, the Ironguard will have a flank charge, but thankfully I don't. The wider Revenant Cavalry pivot for their victorious reform in order to make room, and then so does the Wyrm, getting the Ironclad into front-arc.
Bottom of Round 2: Imperial Dwarfs
My opponent rolls up another 8 for his command dice. He puts Vengeance onto his counter-charging Mastiffs before we discover that that Order is "Dwarf-only" for keywords. I believe he reverts to Spellward on the Ironclad Horde and another Ironguard unit. We caught this in the melee phase. He should have a few swords left to spend, possibly on rerolls, but I don't recall what they were used on.
On the left, the Ironclad charge. I look up the rules for getting TC, and it's actual condition to meet is if a unit on the hill charges a unit off the hill. This counts, and they roll well, dealing a worrisome 6 damage to my titan.
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| Reactions from the Imperial Dwarfs. |
Faber pivots and moves out to support the Ironclad fighting the Wyrm. He moved at the double, so no shots from him this turn.
The horde of Ironclad tosses a mastiff into the Skeleton Warriors, landing 3 damage, and the counter-charging pack lands 3 damage into their regiment as well.
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| The central Skeleton Spears scatter. |
The nearby Ironguard, as well as the central Bulwarks and Mastiff pack all throw Mastiffs into my central Spears, with the Steel Behemoth moving and then shooting in as well. They are taken to 9 damage, and seen off with a pair of great Nerve checks.
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| Pushback from the Imperial Dwarfs on the right. |
On the right, the Mastiffs countercharge the Revenant Cavalry, sliding down to make way. The Mastiffs get CS against Cavalry, and the dogs deal 4 to my unit, twice what this unit did to them... the Bulwarks move up to continue the fight if needed.
The Ironguard move up to intimidate the Skeleton Spears.
The pair of mounted Lords charge into the Skeleton Warriors, deal 9 damage total, but the Inspired and Fearless unit sticks around.
Top of Round 3: Undead
I roll up another 2 for my Command Dice. I spend it on Endurance, to heal my Wyrm on the left down to 5 damage. The Wyrm will counter charge. Given where the units will end up, I would have some unit overlap with a triple charge, so I have either a flank from the Warriors or a front from the cavalry to assist, and decide to try the flank charge, with the cavalry sidestepping a bit. The dice are underwhelming. The Warriors deal 2 damage, which is expected. So does the Wyrm though. At 4 damage total, they are in no danger of fleeing. Still, the Wyrm catches a heal and the Lifeleech will bring it down to 3, and the Warriors will Lifeleech down do 2 once the dust settles.
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| Many multi-charges out on the left. |
The Soul Reavers both get into the horde of Ironclad. The duo takes them up to 17 damage, and I am able to pick the horde up on the first try. One overruns very far, but can still spy the mechanical rear of Faber. The other pivots to spy the flank of the nearby Ironguard, who are hiding behind the Mastiffs.
Up here, we have the Ironguard for 3 US and Faber for 1, but Soul Reavers for 3 and Warriors for 2 means I wrest control of this token, and will burn it during the scuffling.
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| Post-combat. |
I consider charging the Mastiffs with the Revenant King, but that would be more to keep the focus of those units in the center. I decide that I'd rather keep my inspiring sources alive right now, and he runs up to stay near the Warriors, who will fight their Mastiff pack again, land another 3 damage to bring them to 6, and will then get the rout and overrun.
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| View in the center. |
Out on the right, the Skeleton Spearmen back up, allowing the Soul Reavers and the Burrowing Wyrm to multi-charge the Ironguard. The Soul Reavers do 8, the Wyrm 4, and we are able to pick this up on the first attempt. The Reavers back up 1" and the Wyrm sidesteps 1".
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| Post-combat reforms for the Undead. |
The Revenant Cavalry continue on against the Mastiff Pack, Lifeleeching themselves down to 3, while brining the dogs to 7, but will fail to rout them.
Bottom of Round 3: Imperial Dwarfs
My opponent rolls up another whopping 8 for his Command Dice, giving the Ironclad on the left Vengeance (+1 CS on a counter charge). I don't remember what the rest was spent on.
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| The Ironclad mean business. |
The Ironclad with Vengeance counter charge the Skeleton Warriors, take them to 12 damage with great dice and do get the rout. They reform to face the Wyrm. Faber couldn't charge the Wyrm by himself, and had no other charges, so he turns to face the Soul Reavers, firing into them and landing 2 damage.
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| The Ironclad struggle to repulse the Skeleton Warriors. |
The central Ironguard charge the Skeleton Warriors, and bring them to 6 damage, but with the Revenant King nearby, they hold.
I keep neglecting the center for pics, because I have no units there, but the Bulwarks move into the center with the Mastiffs running ahead. The Steel Behemoth is able to move up and pivot, swinging around to get out of charge arc of my Soul Reavers. The gun lands 3 into the Soul Reavers with the Ale.
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| Reforms from the victorious Lordly duo. |
Out on the right, the duo of Lords will crash through the Skeleton Warriors this turn. The guy has the Brew of Sharpness, and the gal has the Blessing of the Gods. The Blessed Lord will overrun 1", and the Sharpness Lord will pivot. The angles are messy here, as we'll get into later.
The Bulwarks sit tight, and the Mastiffs try again against the Revenant Cavalry, landing a hot 6 damage, and at 9 damage, the cavalry are found to be quite insane, and they will hold strong.
Top of Round 4: Undead
I roll up 4 for my command dice, and spend what seems like an eternity melting my brain with the situation on the right. With the Behemoth (and it's Wild Charge) and two Lords, that's a lot of Def6, a lot of offensive power, and a surprising amount of speed to contend with. There are no good options out here.
The Behemoth is lurking, and I don't have anything to deal with it. With the angles from the victorious reforms, I cannot double charge the Sharp Lord (red guy), as the Wyrm will slide down and hit the corner of the Blessed Lord (purple gal) without creating the space for the Soul Reavers to join. The Wyrm is in the flank of the Blessed Lord, but if I do that, the Soul Reavers can't align against the Sharp Lord. The Soul Reavers can't move and pivot out of the way, and a yolo for the token still gives the Behemoth a flank into them. The Skeleton Spearmen have the inches to charge something, but it'll be a mess figuring out what charges need to go in what order.
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| Messy positioning and hard choices for the Undead. |
Ultimately, the Revenant cavalry countercharge the Mastiffs, will pick them up, and then pivot. The Wyrm will charge the guy Lord, the Spears move up but don't clear the woods, and the Soul Reavers move up and pivot. If memory serves, he needs a 2 on the wild charge to reach me, meaning the Speed 5 Behemoth might not have a charge next turn, but I still do.
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| A standoff with the Steel Behemoth. |
The Liche moves back to let him target either the Soul Reavers or the Revenant Cavalry with Celestial Restoration, but he's back amongst my game aids, and I forget to cast the spell entirely, since the movement phase broke my brain so completely.
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| The center, after all is said and done this turn. |
Centrally, the Mastiffs had moved up to try and swing around to grab and burn tokens in the coming turns. I spend my Command Dice on Drain Life on the Revenant King as he charges in. He's a spellcaster, but I think any unit can get this order? The Orders aren't always as clearly worded as I would have expected from Mantic, which is usually so precise and concise. He lands 2 damage with the spell, and then 1 with his attacks. The Mastiffs hold.
The left is way easier to figure out. The Wyrm charges the Ironclad, Lifeleeches 1, and gets Healed for 1, to take the titan down to just 1 damage. The dice are ever-so-slightly better this time, and I deal 3 damage to take the unit to just 7 damage, and they stick around. Still, this looks like a grind I can win.
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| Combats out on the left. |
The other Soul Reavers flank charge the Ironclad with the Warriors joining in against the front. We'll devastate and rout them, as is proper. I want the Skeletons to go protect the token back on the hill. I want to get the Soul Reavers towards the center more though, so the Skeletons back up 1" to make way, and then the Soul Reavers overrun for another measly 1". They won't be doing anything next turn.
Bottom of Round 4: Imperial Dwarfs
My opponent rolls up another 8 for his Command Dice.
On the left, the Ironclad make a move I did not see coming. They disengage, and then withdraw, putting an inch between them and the Wyrm. They then make use of Ordered March to pivot, and then throw themselves towards the objective. I am initially ok with this, as the Rev Cav on the hill will have a rear charge into them, but going to measure, they are millimeters within 3" of the token, and will claim and burn it.
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| Literally millimeters to pull this off. Well done! |
Centrally, the Bulwarks march up, but thankfully will not be able to reach the other token to burn, out on the hill.
The Steel Behemoth sidesteps, and will fire into the Soul Reavers out on the right. Three damage makes it through to take then to 6 damage, but I still have a charge into the contraption next turn, so I am feeling ok about this.
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| The Behemoth's Flamebelcher gun burns bright. |
The Lord with the Brew of Sharpness countercharges the Wyrm on the right, but is disordered, and only lands 2 damage with some abysmal dice rolling.
The Blessed Lord has a free hand, and instead of fighting, she chooses to play the scenario, nimbly running out to secure and burn the token way out here.
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| A wily Dwarf lord, playing the scenario. |
The Bulwarks charge the Revenant Cavalry out on the right, and since they were not healed last turn due to negligence, a few damage lands, and the very damaged unit is easily picked up.
With dwarfs throwing themselves at the tokens, they now take a 2:1 lead over the Undead.
Top of Round 5: Undead
I roll up another 2 for my command dice, and choose to heal the Wyrm on the right, from 2 down to 1 damage.
The Skeleton Spears were positioning to avenge the Wyrm.. but with the Blessed Lord playing the scenario, this flank is a bit of a bust now as there is no token to zone out or protect. They pivot and move out of the woods, and will need 2 successes to surge into the wily Lord. The new goal is to tar-pit the Lords for two turns to prevent them from reaching the center.
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| Having lost the token, the Undead try to tie up units. |
The Wyrm over here countercharges the Lord, and picks him up on the second attempt! Lifeleech brings the Wyrm down to 0 damage. Overrunning would just big the Bulwarks a flank, so the Wyrm impotently pivots.
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| Reforms from the Undead. |
I realize when I go to reform that I forgot to surge the Skeleton Spears in. I reform to get the Bulwarks into the Wyrm's front arc, but this section of the board isn't going well. The Bulwarks have an easy flank charge into the spears, and looking at the pictures, I should have pivoted the Wyrm harder as well, to juuust keep their leader point in arc.
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| Combats in the center. |
Part of the plan against the Behemoth is getting the other Soul Reavers in, but it's now quite messy over here on the left. I want to get the Skeletons back on to try and control the objective here, but they are facing the wrong way. That doesn't seem like a viable plan anymore, but we'll try.
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| Movement from the Undead. The skeletons are having a rough time of things. |
The Skeletons back up, to let the Soul Reavers make a charge into Hansel. The plan is to kill the ASB, and then no matter what happens with the Steel Behemoth, I'll have more Soul Reavers to send into it next turn. Unfortunately, I look to have aligned to him instead of the other way around. Additionally, while the Soul Reavers had a splendid bunch of hit rolls, they flub hard on the damage, dealing just 5, and the gorgeous Dwarven ASB is just Wavered when the dust settles.
The Revenant King rolls great against the uninspired Mastiffs though, landing 2 or 3 damage off his three attacks, and even gets the rout with a great Nerve check! He backs up, but only for 1 inch. As I double-check the rules and pass turn, I find that the Revenant King is not Mighty, so this won't actually stop the Dwarfs from pivoting around and running over to claim the third token like I had been hoping, and it's quickly looking like the best I can play for this game is a draw.
The Wyrm pivots and moves, looking to try and contest the Hill token as well, or play for a Round 7.
The Revenant Cavalry do made an vengeful rear-charge into the Ironguard, charging off the hill. I deal the expected 8, taking them to 15, and we do get the rout here. I think they pivot towards the token on the hill.
The ASB was the last to move over here, getting up in the wake of the Revenant Cavalry. He'll heal the nearby Wyrm for 1, to take the titan down to 0 damage. I don't remember what Zuinok did. I don't think he attempted anything this turn. He didn't have range for Fireball; the Behemoth wasn't going to be shooting to require Veil of Shadows; and Surge wasn't going to get the skeletons out of the way for me this turn.
I forgot to burn the token by the Soul Reavers last turn, so burn it this turn, brining the score back to an even 2:2.
Bottom of Round 5: Imperial Dwarfs
My opponent generates 6 Command Dice, and gives the Behemoth and more central Bulwarks Spellward, just in case.
The Bulwarks are indeed able to slide past the yielding Revenant King, and burn the last burnable token for the Dwarfs. Hansel passes his Headstrong check, shakes it off and runs up behind them.
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| The Dwarfs smartly continue to play the scenario. |
Centrally, the Behemoth will countercharge the Soul Reavers. It rolls up some extra attacks, and brings the vampires up to a very unexpected 10 damage. They have the Ale, but the Nerve check is hot enough to see them off the field, and the machine swings around to face the strong left-wing of the Undead.
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| A wise multi-charge from the Dwarfs. |
Top of Round 6: Undead
Things could be going better, but I could still eek out a draw. I roll up 3 for the Command Dice. I use 2 to heal the Skeleton Warriors, as everything else is healthy, and will spend 1 on a reroll in the Wyrm's combat. Writing up the report, I think this is an error from me.
I did not have the inches to back up normally to claim and burn the token. I thought Tactical Retreat was 4 swords, but it is 3, so I should have used that to back the Wyrm up to burn my 3rd token. Oops. Instead the Wyrm makes a retaliatory charge into the Bulwarks, landing 5 damage. This is a grind I can win, but not with the time remaining.
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| The wyrm angrily charges in. |
Revenant King charges Hansel, lands 1, and gets another waver against the very pretty Dwarf. I roll this combat first to help my chances against the Bulwarks.
The Soul Reavers (with Hann's for Lifeleech 3) that got caught up on Hansel the ASB don't have the charge I wanted into the Behemoth, so they move up and pivot to wrest control of the central token from the contraption, using their superior Unit Strength.
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| Movement from the Undead |
The Skeleton Warriors are again just in the way, and they sidestep, allowing the other Soul Reavers with Fury make a flank charge into the Bulwarks, will shred them, and will reform to face the center.
I think the Revenant Cavalry moves and pivots. It's been a few days. I think I didn't want to give the Bulwarks an easy out if I failed to rout them, but these don't seem to be thoughtful, let alone ideal moves from me.
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| End of the turn for the Undead. |
The Wyrm races up, and should have a charge into the center in a potential Round 7.
Zuinok again doesn't have any good targets for Magic, nor does the Liche, since the vampires got taken out in one go last turn.
Bottom of Round 6: Imperial Dwarfs
My opponent rolls up 6 Command Dice.
I think the Dwarf Lord runs past the melee to try to position herself for a potential Round 7 and a final fight for the center.
The Steel Behemoth charges the nearest Soul Reavers. It rolls up a few extra attacks, and lands another 10 damage. The Revenant King is just Inspiring, not Very Inspiring like I thought, and the vampires are just out of range, and picked up with another good Nerve check.
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| End of the turn for the Dwarfs. |
Hansel again passes his Headstrong check, and makes his way towards the Steel Behemoth.
My opponent has the honors, and we don't roll up a Round 7.
The Dwarfs have burned all three tokens and control the center, while the Undead have burned just two tokens. With a 4:2 score, this is a victory to the Imperial Dwarfs!
Game Conclusions:
We didn’t get to play this any differently than the normal Raze scenario, but I did really like the tweak and the new strategies it allows, even if I couldn’t pull it off here.
The Dwarfs and Def6 is hard to bust through generally, and with two Lords and the Behemoth to add both mobility and punching power to the list, it was too much! Still, writing up the report it looks like I had the tools to win, and was closer than I thought.
I am still in the baby steps of learning the Undead, and I had a few stumbles and forgetful moments, but I thought I was still doing ok until the Dwarfs ran out to take the lead on razed objectives. I had a missed moment to Order the Wyrm back, but that would have just tied it up and made it just a fight for the center like normal. Overall, Joe played a much better game with some clever moves, and came away with a well-deserved win.
Testing Conclusions:
- Skeletons with two-handers. They had a spectrum of performances, but for a chaffy unit like that, that seems normal to me. One held up two mounted Dwarf Lords for two turns, so that definitely seems like worth explore more. I liked them.
- Skeleton Spearmen Regiments. They did ok? Forgetting to surge the one was a bummer, but ultimately doesn’t matter for testing or the outcome of the game. Testing-wise, that unit still nicely stopped up the Dwarf Lord when they did happen to charge in. The Dwarfs didn’t have a lot of cavalry to disrupt, so this was not a great test for using the regiments.
- Revenant Cavalry Troops. With just TC and hitting on 4’s, they aren’t the best or most reliable hammers. I didn’t get to Surge them around at all either, but they did fine, and one even got a rear charge to break some Ironguard. The Undead have a lot of options around the 115-120 point mark (Revenant Cavalry troops; Mummy Troops; Zombie Troll regiments; and Wraith troops). I have really liked the cavalry here, but I need to try out some other options.
- Revenant King. I still like the Revenant King with Surge as a starting point, but he disappointed in this game. The Undead have a lot of heroic options, and I’ll likely be switching him out for more exotic takes for a while.
- Liche King with Celestial Restoration. He’s feels a little expensive, but I still like the idea. I forgot about an important cast, and the spell just refused to deliver this game. More testing is needed!
- Undead ASBs. The ASBs have good utility, and the aura pairs nicely with the Wyrms and such, so I’ll likely keep them around for a while. I still like my ASBs to hold items whenever they can, and these items seem like good enough starting points for now. The go-to Lute doesn’t seem worth in when lots of things are hitting on 5’s, so we’ll see what other items appeal down the road.
- Zuinok Iceblood. I think he did 1 damage with the Fireball, and I forgot to heal anything with it. It’s hard to get through Def6 Dwarf armor with Fireball; not a lot of shooting to plan around with Veil of Shadows, and I needed pivots, not surges. Not a great showing for him, but I still think he has potential. We’ll take our lessons here and try him again later.
- Revenant Wyrms. They are swingy on the damage output, but Striding charges like this for the Undead feel great. Both survived the game and I managed to best a Dwarf Lord, so yeah, these continue to be good picks for me.
- Command Orders. Overall, I think Mantic implemented the Orders about as well as they could be, with unit type limitations, unit size limitations, keyword limitations and the like, meaning they mostly contribute to a number of smaller advantages throughout the game rather than big devastating plays. A lot of the army-specific ones seems more unbalanced though. One test game isn’t going to be determinative. I still have a number of reservations, but we’ll see how future games go.
- Command Dice. Going with just the baseline 3 dice was rough, though it looks like you should normally have 4 Swords to play with, and I just got really unlucky. I think buying another white or blue dice would be a good call if you really want to try the Orders out. I don’t know if I misunderstood the marketing or what, but I thought the Orders were presented another way to buff Individuals? However, since you have to spend points to get the extra command dice, but every hero gets access to all of the various dice tiers, that is not how it’s playing out so far, and I don’t think we’re going to see any uptick in Individuals unless the Command rules are overhauled and dice purchasing revamped in implemented in a future Edition.
- Lifeleech. I’ve hated on this rule a lot for the Kingdoms of Men. I probably will continue to do so! (ASB’s now give human infantry Lifeleech 2… like Soul Reavers? Sheesh. Fluff failure). To go off on a quick design tangent... I feel like Iron Resolve and Lifeleech should be switched. Iron Resolve gets renamed “Endless Endurance” or something and put on spooky units like the Undead (or the Varangur Draugr… wait), representing how tough it is to put them down, and humans like the ASB get a reskinned Lifeleech called “Fighting Spirit” to show us going above and beyond in certain situations, like believing in a cause, etc. Tangent aside, I think I remembered all my instances of Lifeleech this game? So I got that going for me. We’ll see if it ever translates over to my Kingdoms of Men play.
A huge thank you to Joe for fitting this in for me; I’ve been wanting to get the Undead on the table for a while, and it was nice to do so, even if the movement phases tended to break my brain. Joe played a fantastic and tenacious game, utilized his new Orders well, and came away with a strong and well-deserved victory. Thanks for the game!
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