Kings of War 3rd Edition: #152 Varangur vs Basileans in Dominate

Intro and Lists

Going into the third and final game, I had one giant win and one giant loss, which was not a bad day for me, all things considered! For the third and final game for this little event, I drew against my friend and frequent opponent Trevor, the everything behind the awesome Data and Dice. We had kicked around a few ideas for him, and due to the third forest on all of these tables, I had persuaded him to ignore a clever war-machine heavy Brothermark list and continue on with the more grindy Basileans that he had been messing around with more recently. He ran the following, which had served him rather well throughout the day:

It's pretty similar to what we've seen recently with two Spear hordes, two supporting Phoenixes, two blocking Gur Panther units, and a number of Elohi regiments. Continuing to experiment a bit, we have a Priest with Martyr's Prayer, and the Icon Bearer with Bane Chant.

Trevor even had a secret board, with the unusual approach of using magnetic paint, and then painting it all up. The painting quality is just wild, considering every stone is just painted on without the use of 3d materials. It's a really cool idea, and works nicely with all his magnetized units!

The thinking behind my list was discussed here. Essentially, I wanted to play around with the terrain, and leverage some Striding and Pathfinding charges while trying to lean into the durability of two Cavern Dwellers with the following list:

Neither of us really gets out to any tournaments besides our local ones, and we continue to cross paths at each of these after a few games, when were are both down in more the middle of the pack. Despite some very close games, I have lost both tournament games against him so far, so we'll see if the Varangur can break that streak!

Table and Terrain

The tournament upgraded one piece of difficult terrain to a third forest, as a nod to Wisconsin history, and we were using our typical terrain rules, running the ruined 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 field as some Height 0 difficult terrain.

The tournament used a roll-off into veto and pick system, with three scenarios offered each round. The first roll of the game is for scenario, where the loser nixes an option, and then the winner player picks between the remaining two. I forget the particulars, but we ended up with Dominate, and we tossed a token into the center to help us approximate the center of the board throughout the game.

Deployment, and the table.

I won the roll for sides, and was lazy. With a lot of Pathfinder and Strider, I wanted to make use of the forests to push out and into the center.

Given the scenario, the Basileans deployed centrally. From right to left this time, we have both Spear Hordes on the line, with both heroes in reserve, as well as both Phoenixes, and a unit of Gur Panthers too. The second unit of Gur Panthers took the hill, with Elohi as the final drops all out on the far-left. 

For the Varangur, we have Draugr pointed at the center, a Thegn and a Dweller to the right, Fallen and Snow Foxes in the forest, and the other Cavern Dweller nearby. The Varangur right with the Thegn, Kruufnir, and Tundra Wolves, were all angled, ready to press up and push hard.

My opponent won the roll for turn order, and chose to seize the initiative.

Top of Round 1: Basileans

From the left, the Elohi fanned out with a concave line to project threat. The unit with the marker, nearest the center has the Pipes of Terror. The Gur Panthers hopped ahead to screen and project threat.

The Basileans attempt a slow encirclement.

With no shooting from me, the other unit of Gur Panthers hopped up to get ready to die. Both Spear Hordes moved their speed, with the heroes and Phoenixes keeping pace.

The Icon Bear distributes an Aegis Fragment to the spears nearest the building.

Bottom of Round 1: Varangur

On the right, the Tundra Wolves utilize Pathfinder to scamper into the woods. They'll have their leader point in the terrain, and will be peaking out of it. 

Kruufnir will move at the double, past the woods, and then pivot inward, creating a concave with him, the Thegn, and the Cavern Dweller. 

The Varangur push up, threatening a lot of charges next turn.

Snow Foxes scamper ahead to complicate things for both of us, while the Fallen move their speed and remain in the woods. In case the Foxes waver, I want to leave a good amount of space here.

The other Dweller just moves 6" up, and pivots, putting a corner in the woods. The Thegn is nearby.

The Draugr shuffle about.

Everything is out of range of the Elohi. The Draugr move and pivot slightly. They can move at the double, so the goal here is to preserve them by using the hill to hide them, and then get them into score in the late game.

Top of Round 2: Basileans

The Basileans are aggressive here, aiming to grab the center and hopefully grind out the win. Two Elohi come in from the left, while the one with the Pipes remains on the hill to see just that little bit better.

The Elohi pressure the center, while the spears get braced.

The Icon Bearer distributes another fragment to the other Spear horde, so both have an Aegis Fragment now. They move and pivot to prevent a line. Gur Panthers advance to block up multi-charges, and the Phoenixes stay back to support. 

The Phoenixes do spray 5 damage onto the stealthy Snow Foxes, and will get the rout against me.

Bottom of Round 2: Varangur

The Tundra Wolves are presented with frontal charges into Phalanx, so they exit the woods, stay out of the Elohi's slightly longer charge range, and just threaten reprisals.

The Draugr hide while the rest of the Varangur fights and positions.

Everything else charges. Both Dwellers and a Thegn make striding charges into the horde nearest the building. Phalanx impacts the Thegn, but he slips 2 damage in, and the Dweller have a rather good opening performance, thumping 13 more damage on. With a total of 15, the horde is wavering.

Kruufnir makes a hindered flank charge into the Gur Panthers... and again I forget that Rampage should be triggered here. He underperforms, landing 3 damage, but gets a waver here as well.

The Fallen make a solo charge into the other Spear horde. They land clear of the obstacle, but can't really get aligned cleanly, so we treat this as hindered for the sake of sportsmanship. Spreading the damage around both hordes isn't ideal, but this was a pretty safe charge, and should tax my opponent's healing a bit.

Decent results from the Varangur's initial onslaught.

The other Thegn charges the other Gur Panthers cleanly, lands 3 against them, but very luckily manages to pick that unit up, and he will reform to face all of the Elohi.

On the left, the Draugr both sidestep to the left. I don't care about charging with them, and this gets them behind the hill and out of line of sight of the Elohi. The goal is to still zip ahead with them in the late game. 

Top of Round 3: Basileans

The Basileans try to hold the line. Martyr's Prayer from the priest transfer 3 damage off the grievously injured spears onto himself, while the Phoenixes heal off 5 more damage, taking them down to just 7 at the end of the magic phase. Since they were wavering, they disengage and back up.

Pushback and healing from the Basileans.

The Icon Bearer lands a Bane Chant for the other spear horde as they counter-charge the Fallen, and 6 damage will poke through, though I will Iron-resolve it down to just 5. 

Spacing is too tight for a multi-charge, so the Elohi with the Pipes solo charge the the Thegn on the left, and will land 4 damage, though the Thegn holds.

The second Elohi regiment lurks, and the third flies at the double to get out of arc of the Draugr, not threatening anything yet, but trying to get into a spot for some late-game charges.

Bottom of Round 3: Varangur

The Draugr again sidestep and lurk, staying out of range or hiding behind the hill. The rest of the Varangur line pushes hard.

The Tundra Wolves will charge out, joining the Thegn as he fights against the Elohi with the terrifying musical instrument. Or maybe they're carrying plumbing pipes? Hmm. Missed modeling opportunity I suppose! The duo will underperform slightly, landing just 7 damage, which gets Iron Resolved down to 6 as the Elohi do hold.

The Varangur continue their push.

Kruufnir again fights the Gur Panthers, and I again forget to trigger rampage. He again lands 2 damage, and again wavers the Panthers here. I am not using my units to their full potential.

Nearby, the Fallen continue on against their horde, and land the expected 8 damage to take them up to 15, and we get a waver on this horde now.

On the right, the Thegn is presented with another charge into a spear wall, so makes a Striding charge into the nearby Phoenix instead, looking to disorder them. With both hordes fighting, disordering a healer seems like the better play here.

One Spear horde falls, and the other is wavering.

The Cavern Dwellers continue to fight the Spear horde. They'll both do well this turn, and we'll take them from 7 up to 21 with some stellar dice. We will break the horde. The Dweller on the left overruns for a ridiculous 6, taking him just too far to threaten the flank of the other Spear horde. The other Dweller then compensates, and pivots to face that exposed flank.

Top of Round 4: Basileans

With one spear horde gone and the other wavering, the Basileans are on the back foot and trying to stop the bleeding, and forced into some risky plays to try and get back in the game. 

The disordered Phoenix counter-charges the Thegn, but misses.

The Priest Priest syphons off 3 damage from the other horde, taking him up to 6 and them down to 12, and the wavering horde disengages and withdraws. The Phoenix sprays 2 damage onto the Fallen, taking them up to 7, but they will hold, and Iron Resolve down to 6 damage.

The Basileans struggle to put up a resistance.

The Elohi are stretched thins as well. The one in my backfield has no charges, and moves and pivots, looking to scare the Draugr out of hiding.

The other two units multi-charge the Tundra Wolves, will land 5 and 4 damage, plus Brutal from the Pipes, but the Wolves are just wavered at the end of combat.

Bottom of Round 4: Varangur

The Varangur have broken through and have the tempo in their favor. The Thegn in the back again fights the Phoenix, landing 4 damage, and getting another disorder against the bird.

Kruufnir makes third hindered charge into the Gur Panthers, lands another 2 damage, taking them to 6, and again I forget Rampage should be triggering. Finally seeing infantry against me, I had blinders on the whole game hoping to get into combat against the spears. Breaking the habit though, the Panthers break this time, and Kruufnit will sidestep, finally getting out of the field.

The Varangur continue on.

The Cavern Dweller charges the martyr Priest, who has taken 6 damage from his spells. I want to utilize Kruufnir's "Bring Me Their Head" for a super-spicy duelist fight, but the blind cannibal monster lacks the keywords. The Dweller rolls up 1 extra attack, but lands all 7 damage and will break the Priest. I need a 2 on the overrun to connect against the flank of the Spears, but roll up 1 here.

The Fallen go in against the Spears for a third time, and will deliver another expected 8 damage, breaking the unit on the third attempt, and reforming to face down the Elohi.

The other Dweller goes for the disorder against the othr other Phoenix, and will land a few damage to do so.

The second Spear Horde falls.

The Thegn charges the Elohi with the Pipes, contributes 2 to take them up to 8, and we get lucky and do break the angelic unit. The Thegn reforms, staring down the the flank of the other Elohi unit nearby.

The Draugr are pressured, but can charge the other Elohi unit. One will land in the flank, the other in the front, and 3 damage will land, which will Iron Resolve down to 2 when they do hold.

The Tundra Wolves disengage and nimbly back up with a pivot, trying to spy the other Elohi horde.

Top of Round 5: Basileans

I accidentally move the Wolves too far back, and give the Elohi in my backfield a charge. I need to get some smaller corner markers. They will happily take the opening, land 5 more damage, and pick the wolves up easily, and then reform slightly, to get the nearby Thegn into front arc.

The remaining Basilean units fight on.

The other unit roll hot, landing 7 damage onto the Draugr in their front, and then spike the checks to rout the unit. They will reform slightly as well, giving a rear to the Draugr on the hill.

The Phoenix by the building again fights the Thegn, lands 1 damage this time, and a boxcars result will waver him.

And make progress on the attrition side of scoring.

The other Phoenix disengages from the Dweller, and rear charges the Fallen, but will land on the obstacle, making this a hindered charge, on top of withdrawing. It is a lot of penalties, and no damage lands with some ice cold dice.

Going into the turn, the Basileans had only routed some Snow Foxes. Things are dire for the scenario, but they are clawing (a bit) back with attrition due to some bad positioning from me. Getting the Wolves caught out like that was bad, but things are looking great in the big picture.

Bottom of Round 5: Varangur

Things are looking dire for the Basileans, but that is still a deceptive 8 Unit Strength on the table, and I need to keep the pressure up.

The wavering Then near the building does nothing. If I am being hyper-critical, I should be disengaging and backing up towards the building. I'm not blocking line of sight for the Phoenix or anything, and could be playing this a bit better.

The Varngur charge, trying to pick up the remaining angelic units.

One Cavern Dweller has no charges, and so just moves to threaten the center. The other Dweller flank charges the Phoenix, who had taken a little damage already, and starts the turn on 4 damage. The flank charge contributes 11 more, and the Phoenix is broken. 

The Draugr take a rear charge off the hill into Elohi, with Kruufnir in the flank. The unit starts on 2, and the dice go ice cold for me. Twelve damage is expected, but I do 6, taking the angels up to 8. Thankfully, the inspired nerve check breaks my way here.

The Varangur secure some victories.

The Thegn and Fallen multi-charge the other unit, into more cold dice, and 8-9 is expected here, but just 3 damage lands. 

Top of Round 6: Basileans

The Elohi counter charge the injured Fallen, with the Phoenix near the building joining in with a rear charge. This rear charge has no penalties, and lands 4 damage, while the Elohi catch a Bane Chant and deliver 3 more, and the Fallen are picked up, which is a big catch for the attrition points. In victory, they change facing.

Bottom of Round 6: Varangur

The Thegn shakes things off, and moves and pivots towards the center, aiming to help with a possible Round 7. The nearby Dweller does the same, just leaving the crop field.

The Varangur converge into the center.

I think the Elohi's counter-charge slides they away from Kruufnir and the victorious reform gets them out of arc, though I may have donked up Kruufnir's facing as well, based on the picture in my turn., and my notes aren't calling my out or clarifying here. Either way, he does not have a charge this round, and spins in the middle, facing the Phoenix, who takes a front charge from the remaining Cavern Dweller, and is brought up from 3 to 9 damage, and then found to be Insane.

A little insanity to end Round 6 and keep things interesting.

The Thegn fights the Elohi and lands 2 to ground them again, with a lot of things lining up charges against them for a potential Round 7.

However, we do not roll up an additional round. The Basileans have a deceptive 4 US in the center, but the Varangur have at least 6, without checking to confirm on the incoming Thegn.

A victory to the Varangur!

Game Conclusions

It was another very bloody game, but both Cavern Dwellers were able to grind it out for me despite some misplays on my part. It was great game, for both results and for feels, and an absolutely splendid way to end the event and the day. Trevor and I always have fun, and this match was no different. We came away with our second win for the tournament to end this with a winning record, and our first tournament win over our sparring partner Trevor! Not a bad showing at all.

Many prizes! Each baggy was an assortment of sprues and/or 3d prints.

I don't know or care about our exact rankings. The goal here was to have fun and indeed it was a good day. Joe, our TO is a leatherworker, and did up some unique bracers for the victor, which happened to be Rob and his Ravenous Halflings, who secured a victory against my Game 2 opponent Jeff in their final Game 3. 

Tournament Conclusions

Overall, despite a usual handful of errors from me each game, the list worked mostly as-intended, and put up some good results, especially considering I did not really practice much with the army, let alone the specific list. Flying Alpha Strike and Jeff were each going to be hard match-ups for me no matter what, so I was fortunate that they were rolled into one game to give me a winning record! Browsing, I think I had good chances against the rest of the armies, and in two out of three games both Cavern Dwellers indeed chewed through plenty of the opposing force, and I was able to get a lot done with all the Pathfinder and Strider that I had going for me. 

• Enjoy all three games. Overall, I did. Game 2 has a bit of an aftertaste now after some distance and reviewing things for the report, but it was still overflowing with lots to learn from tactically.
• Play 1 new player. With only three new players present, this was actually in doubt, but we did make it happen, finally taking a beating from Jeff in the aforementioned Game 2.
• Win 1 game. I won two, so we overperformed here! Huzzah! The overall aim was to have fun, and I certainly did. We had driven over and set up the night before, which was a lot of driving for me personally, but the event went well, we learned a lot, and got some good prep in and ideas for some future hosting ideas. 

A big tip of the hat to Joe for running a very fun and successful event!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #151 Varangur vs Basileans in Invade

Intro and Lists

The TO did a nice job all-around, but for match-making there was an extra touch. With 4 Minnesotans and 4 Wisconsinites playing, we all had someone from the other state for Game 1 to mix things up. for all involved. Amazingly, the (overall) less competitive Wisconsinites put up a solid showing, with three victories in the opening match-ups. With my own very solid performance in Game 1, I drew into the only Minnesotan with the win, Tyler's father, Jeff Schiltgen, who had been practicing up a storm for this little event, and was running the following:

Jeff has been to a all of our little tournaments, and at least one monthly meetup we've had over the last few years. He is a very serious player, and had a great run at US Masters this year despite what I believe was the toughest match-ups, in terms of strength of opponents. I had so far done poorly enough to dodge him at all of our previous events, but my luck had run out here.

The thinking behind my list was discussed here. Essentially, I wanted to play around with the terrain, and leverage some Striding and Pathfinding charges while trying to lean into the durability of two Cavern Dwellers with the following list:

I saw the TO's pairing scribbles as we were heading out to lunch, and made sure to really enjoy a nice dark beer before Game 2. Jeff's list was an elite, hard-as-nails list with some good innate healing with Iron Resolve, and getting the jump on it was going to be tough with all that speed. With such a skill differential I expected to lose hard, but hoped to put up a fight and just learn. I have always been a bit of an interdisciplinary approach to life, and even if 3rd Edition is on the way out and some of these specifics voided, I do think just thinking about how good players approach different games has value.

Table and Terrain

The tournament upgraded one piece of difficult terrain to a third forest, as a nod to Wisconsin history, and we were using our typical terrain rules, running the ruined 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 field as some Height 0 difficult terrain.

The table, and setting stuff up.

The tournament used a roll-off into veto and pick system, with three scenarios offered each round. The first roll of the game is for scenario, where the loser nixes an option, and then the winner player picks between the remaining two. Jeff unfortunately nixed Push, and I picked Invade over normal Raze.

Invade is pretty simple, with you just needing to get more unit strength over the center line and onto your opponent's side of the table, than they do to you. I wanted something simple here, to hopefully avoid over-thinking on my part.

Jeff had won the choice for sides, and after a few minutes of consideration picked the one he was on, and despite the low drops, ended up with two very distinct groupings. On the left was the Paladin on Dragon and Julius, the Dragon of Heaven, with Gur Panthers in reserve. I'm not super-familiar with the Basileans and was struck by the small base size of Julius. These were very late drops.

The left.

The center had angled knights and after a quick prod for intent, both apparently had leader points on the hill, its just a little deceptive with the bevel. Gur Panthers were in reserve here as well, and angled Elohi peeked out of the woods as well.

And the center/right.

For the Varangur, I again just wanted to try and leverage difficult terrain, and only play about 2/3rds of the board, and again that meant avoiding the building and the lane on the right. From left to right we have Draugr, Thegn, and Wolves in the field. Then we have Draugr, Kruufnir, a Cavern Dweller, and then Fallen, the second Dweller, and second Thegn all in the woods, along with the Snow Foxes in reserve, who also have their leader point in the terrain.

I won the roll for turn order, and up against so many fliers, and with the scenario being Invade, felt like going first made sense so I wasn't penned in.

Top of Round 1: Varangur

I was vaguely aware of the danger of the building at the edge of the board, and moved up a bit, trying to see past it to threaten, and staying out of reach of everything. Safe from charges and able to see around the building, I felt ok here.

My opponent is already computing charge ranges and such.

Both Draugr just shambled ahead, trying to offer some support.

With the fliers on either flank, I felt like I might be able to push into the center and make something happen. Kruufnir and the Cavern Dweller take the hill.

The Fallen move and pivot, and should be up near the Cavern Dweller to project real threat, but are not, and I'm not sure what my thinking was here. I think I was pushed back by the Elohi? They might have had a charge into the Fallen if they moved up at all, though that doesn't look right. I think it is just an error, unfortunately. The other Dweller and Thegn are slowed by the forest, the the Snow Foxes swing out to have a slightly better angle at blocking something.

Bottom of Round 1: Basileans

On the left, I am punished. I presented rather dead-on facing, which is a mistake, and not measuring things out, the High Paladin and his dragon are about to get out of arc of the Thegn, and put the Draugr into the flank, where that cannot align. 

Lots and lots and lots of game aids from my opponent.

A quick measure puts Julius nearby, but also completely safe, as he is out of arc of the Wolves, and the Thegn is in his flank, where I cannot align. Brutal stuff.

More game aids. His approach is very clinical.

I am also greatly punished in the center. Because the Fallen are back, the Knights outrange me, and all the speedy elements coming my way are able to line up some future charges.

Top of Round 2: Varangur

There is a huge skill gap here, and my wheels are off and rolling away already, so we are just going to try and scrap and hope and learn a bit while doing so.

On the left, the Draugr and Thegn back up. This gets them out of arc of Julius. Fighting a Dragon isn't going to go well, but it it takes him a few turns, maybe this takes him out of the fight. It's all I got.

The Wolves run away. From some things.

The Wolves are a more valuable unit here, and are not going to endure a double-charge, so they try to escape. They pivot and run past the obstacle, but inches are tight. They are safe from Julius inches-wise, but just barely, and are out of arc of the Gur Panthers. This move brings them in the center, which is looking like a meat-grinder.

The Varangur try a staggered line.

We give a staggered line, trying to protect the Cavern Dwellers. The Snow Foxes are wary of Elohi jumping the line, but I think this is silly. They are a horde and here to fight. So I hang the Foxes back, safe, zoning out a run-by and ready to scamper up to disorder, when I should be tossing them ahead to block for the Fallen.

Bottom of Round 2: Basileans

The center erupts in violence. With a lot of easy decisions now, the Basileans movement phase is very quick, and they descend upon the Varangur.

The Knights take a very easy charge into the Wolves. They'll land 7 damage and get a waver. Gur Panthers run in against Kruufnir, and will land 2 damage.

Lots of charges from the Basileans.

Just given inches and frontage, I assumed that the Fallen were relatively safe from a multi-charge, but apparently not. With the hill, I was a little imprecise, and am taken to task with a multi-charge from two hammers. I thought the Thegn on the right was up a smidge to prevent this, if the Thegn was angled at all, this is also prevent this, as the Elohi would not be able to align here. Alas.

A cramped victory.

That said, even if I did space and angle things correctly on the right, Kruufnir is indeed back a bit, and my opponent can make this multi-charge into the Fallen regardless of any fiddling on the right. The biggest error was not running the Foxes ahead to block and simplify the whole matter.

With two big hammers hitting them, the The Fallen take 13 from the Knights and 6 the Elohi, and are devastated and routed, as is proper. The angelic unit granting Elite to the knights was a huge swing for output, and it appears as though neither victorious unit moves, as he is wary of the Dwellers and their arcs.

The Draugr take a beating, but hold.

Out on the left, the Paladin charges the Draugr, and goes bananas, landing 9 damage, but fails to rout the chilly zombies. Good job, Draugr. 

Top of Round 3: Varangur

On the left, the Draugr and Thegn fight the Paladin on Dragon, and land a ridiculous 7 damage back, and even manage to waver him! We're getting a little lucky here. Still, I should point out that the Thegn is too far back. If I am concaved a bit, and more even with the Draugr frontage, I could be threatening a flank charge here instead of a front. Lots and lost of mistakes from me this game, but hey, that's how we learn, and this has been enlightening already. 

Charging the Paladin.

The wavering Wolves withdraw, and back up, nimbly pivoting away to prevent a rear charge from Julius. This felt clever at the time, but this is a mistake as the unit is doomed, and I should be trying to get in the way of things.

Kruufnir regenerates nothing, and fights the Panthers, but I forget about Rampage triggering for cavalry and swarm units. With just 5 attack rolls, only 2 damage lands, and the Panthers are fine.

The Cavern Dwellers go into the Knights, will have a varied performance but will land 12 damage, and pick the unit up. Julius can just reach them both. The Nearer Dweller turns to face, and the other stays put, in the flank of the Elohi. This arrangement gives Julius a front charge into one, and prevents alignment into the other.

The Thegn runs in, and thumps three into the Elohi horde. They Iron Resolve down to just 2 damage, but are grounded. With a Cavern Dweller in the flank, we might have a scrap on our hands!

Bottom of Round 3: Basileans

On the left, the Paladin on Dragon has Headstrong, which is passed. He then overperforms again, landing 8 damage onto the Thegn, and breaks him. Hot dice from my opponent out here.

Gur Panthers from the left rear charge the Wolves, will land 4, and will pick the Wolves up. This is a great move as he picks up an important unit a minor commitment. I forgot about the Panthers entirely, and again, should have been gumming things up with the doomed Wolves.

With the Wolves backing up, the Paladins can easily see and flank the Draugr, and will easily hit them, and pick the zombies up, and knights are now in my backfield.

Kruufnir didn't break free, and is rear-charged by Julius, and 13 new damage lands, and the legendary troll is ignobly picked up. The Gur Panthers disengage, withdraw, and charge a Cavern Dweller, landing no damage, but without nimble, my options here with the monster will be limited. 

Combats in the center as the Varangur are picked apart.

The Elohi will withdraw in order to make a flank charge in the other Cavern Dweller. I admit I am flabbergasted. 

His argument comes in two parts. Firstly, is that this is how it is on the table, and his immediate move shows that he can indeed connect with that millimeter there. To my credit, I do contest this view at the time. The Knights and Elohi were indeed charged separately by me. However, even if we nudge the separate combats away for clarity, you can't nudge for advantage, so this should not have been possible, even if that is how it appears on the table here during his turn.  

Getting around this, secondly, he asserts that in victory over the Fallen, the Knights and Elohi pivoted slightly towards each other, giving this millimeter overhang for him to exploit now. Essentially arguing that this exploit, for lack of a better word, was his plan. Getting tabled here seemed inevitable from the jump given the skill difference and all my misplays. It is a disastrous turn for me regardless. At the time, I'm losing, flustered, and still otherwise stunned we're arguing over a charge like this with a millimeter connection for frontage. I couldn't remember how things ended up, and if anything indeed pivoted, and so I simply acquiesced here, not wanting to be a sore loser, as I do see the writing on the wall for me for this game, and do see it arriving this turn, regardless of how this exact combat goes. However, writing the report and revisiting things, the Fallen were multi-charged, with the Elohi and Knights aligning flush to make the charge. Neither side-stepped, so neither gets to pivot at all for a reform there as there is no space between the two units to allow this move. 

The nail in the coffin for this game is the result of the dirty combat. The flanking Elohi should be taking a withdraw penalty, as the height 3 angels were grounded by the Height 4 Thegn, so they would lose fly, and will thusly need to withdraw to get the inch to see and to make the pivot in order to make the dirty charge. Hitting and wounding on 4's only 9 damage should be expected here, but they deliver 19 damage, to then break the Cavern Dweller.  

I do play through another round, but concede afterwards. We agree that the Snow Foxes will scamper away, but I agree that I will otherwise be tabled.

Game Conclusion

I don't play against a lot of alpha strike regularly. With a relatively new, unpracticed list against what is still a relatively new army for me opposing me, it was a game full of best guesses and attempts, passing the turn, realizing my most egregious mistakes, and then being punished for them, as well as a handful of additional ones I never saw coming! The skill discrepancy was real and clearly evident, and I know Jeff actually prepared a fair amount for this event. I learned a lot tactically, but I think the biggest takeaway for me here was that our respective approaches to the game could not have been further apart. I never want to be passionately arguing for millimeter advantages for myself in a game, let alone for charges, let alone in a game I am already clearly dominating. Even in a tournament setting like this, that uber-competitive approach did not sit well with me at the time, and sat even worse while writing this up and going through the facts and sequence of things. 

In a word, Jeff is intense. Even in just chats with him, he leans in and you have his full attention. He was polite but focused at the table, and a real pleasure to talk to, away from it. He generously took the time both after our game and throughout the day as we crossed paths to talk tactics, and share ideas about multiple armies and styles, and like I said at the top, I enjoy thinking about how people think and approach things. As someone who bounces from army to army, I always like learning new things, and as a Herd player, I was especially grateful to get a lengthier discussion and some perspective on his odd loss at US Masters to Keith Conroy's legendary Herd. Before we had even packed up, he was already following up with the TO for detailed info so he could be calculating and updating the US Masters Rankings for his Minnesota contingent, and for Rob. As mentioned in the intro, Jeff had a strong, but difficult run at the title earlier this year, and appears to be a man on a mission for 2026.

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #150 Varangur vs Ogres in Hold the Line

Intro and Lists

Kings of War Wisconsin was running a one day event, the Northwoods Melee, a quick 1-day event at 1500 points. Facing me was Tyler, whom we last saw in Battle 111, or Game 2 of the Northwoods GT where he was running Northern Alliance. This time he was running his dad's old "Snowgers" this time, fielding the following list:

Orges are very sturdy, and it looked like a very fun, elite list, leaning into all the fun things Ogres can do well. We have three regiments of effective Warriors, two hordes of Siege Breakers, 2 Sergeants with Heavy Crossbows, and two very fun unique characters with Grok and his Blast attacks, and Nomagarok with his boosted spells, all of which play well with the rest of the list.

The Snowgres.

The thinking behind my list was discussed here. Essentially, I wanted to play around with the terrain, and leverage some Striding and Pathfinding charges while trying to lean into the durability of two Cavern Dwellers with the following list:

The Ogre can take quite the beating. I should outrange everything against me for charges, but they have a good shooting component while I have none. We'll see how the game goes!

Table and Terrain

The tournament upgraded one piece of difficult terrain to a third forest, as a nod to Wisconsin history, and we were using our typical terrain rules, running the ruined 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 field as some Height 0 difficult terrain.

The tournament used a roll-off into veto and pick system, with three scenarios offered each round. The first roll of the game is for scenario, where the loser nixes an option, and then the winner player picks between the remaining two. I forget the particulars, but we ended up with Hold the Line. A line is drawn down the center of the table, with 6" on either side. This zone is then split into three sections, with a left, right and center. Unit Strength in each zone determines who controls it, with the center worth 2 points at the end of the game, and the left and right each worth 1 point.

The Ogres won the roll for sides, and were lazy. They has a rather loose, staggered formation, with the three regiments of Warriors on the line. Sergeants guarded the flanks, and Nom and the Siege Breakers took the center, with Grok on the left.

Deployment, for both of us.

I didn't get in any real practice games with this, so going into the tournament, my deployment aim was trying to just play 2/3rds of the given board, and play for narrow victories. While I have a lot of Strider, I chose to ignore the right section this game, as the building would split my line.

The Tundra Wolves were my last drop, and they ended up way out on the left, angled, and ready to take the hill. We then have Draugr on the left, the Cavern Dweller, Thegn, Fallen and reserve Snow Foxes both in the woods a bit. The Cavern Dweller was also in the woods, with Kruufnir, the other Draugr and the Thegn completing the line, and ready to zip up past the building.

I won the roll off, and happily took first turn to kick off the tournament.

Top of Round 1: Varagur

The Varangur moved up, aggressively. 

The Cavern Dweller moves ahead at the double to take the hill, and is joined by the Tundra Wolves. The nearby Then pivots and moves, threatening things all the way to the Ogre line.

Lots of pressure against lots of smaller units.

The Fallen move up a ways, with the Snow Foxes in tow. They have Stealthy, but against shooting, I wanted to protect them a bit.

I regret sticking the Cavern Dweller in the woods now, as it can only move ahead 6". Just outside the woods, Kruufnir and the Draugr move up, with the Thegn projecting threat from my right wing as well.

With no shooting or magic, it is a quick turn.

Bottom of Round 1: Ogres

The Ogres are apparently eager to throw down, and cavalierly march up the field, keeping the lose formation. 

Defiantly, the Ogres move up.

I donk up my positioning a bit, and it turns out the Fallen are not majority in the woods like I had assumed, so they take 5 from a Sergeant and Nom. The Sergeant on the right takes a pot-shot at the Thegn on the right, but he holds.

Top of Round 2: Varagur

The Ogres move up to get charges, and so can be charged by me. My opponent was very cavalier with his moves, so I make sure to measure and demonstrate everything, to show that this is on the up-and-up.

For the scenario, the Draugr on the left peel off to start making their way to the left zone. We're trying to hide behind things and just take it slow with them.

The Tundra Wolves have a flank into the Sergeant on the left, and the officer is hit in the front by the Fallen. A combined 13 damage lands, and the hero is picked up with the Wolves side-stepping into the Ogre's deployment zone, and the Fallen overruning to get out of line of sight of Grok.

The Varangur slam into the flank of the Ogres.

The Dweller on the left is just shy of a charge, so it moves its speed into the field, trying to get in place for the future.

Snow Foxes zip ahead to block as the Dweller from the Woods hits the front of a Warrior Regiment, with the Thegn joining in the flank. The Dweller has 1 extra attack, but a combined 12 damage lands here, with the Thegn doing the heavy-lifting to pick this unit up as well.

Very tight spacing for reforms. 

The Thegn sidesteps, trying to create space for the lagging Dweller to see stuff next turn.

On the right, Kruufnir, the Draugr and Thegn all back up, getting just over 12" away from the Ogre Regiments, trying to stretch out the Ogre line more.

Top of Round 2: Ogres

Things are a little gummed up. Grok has a few options, but eventually charges the Thegn nearby. The rolls seem mediocre, and he blasts it into 8 hits, which translate into 8 damage, and the Thegn wavers. 

Siege Breakers and Warriors charge the Snow Foxes, and will pulverize and reform.

The Ogres retaliate, with a lot going into those poor Snow Foxes.

Nom take a hill, but only has one Warrior regiment in range to boost his spells. He goes for Lighting Bolt into the Thegn on the right, landing 2 damage, and get a lucky waver against him. The Sergeant on the right tries to join in, but is shooting with a cover penalty over the intervening Siege Breakers, and nothing hits. 

Reforms for the Ogres.

On the right, the Siege Breakers advance, and the Warriors try to get in position to score the right zone while threatening supporting charges to help the Siege Breakers if-needed.

Top of Round 3: Varagur

On the left, the Draugr make a break for it, since I am able to tie up most of the Ogre shooting this turn, and they'll be scoring for the scenario now.

The Draugr, just playing the scenario and living their peaceful life.

The fierce fight for the center continues. The wavering Thegn backs up to allow a nice, striding flank charge from the Dweller that munched the Warrior regiment last turn. With roll up a good number of attacks, in the flank, and thump 16 damage onto the legendary warlord, and luckily pick him up.

The Dweller from the left makes a charge through the field into the Siege Breakers, with Kruufnir making a flank charge into the unit as well. We'll actually take them up to an astonishing 10 damage, given all the armor, but they'll hold firm. I think they are Insanely Courageous, though holding here is not out of the questions at all, even on 10 damage.

The Tundra Wolves had a flank charge into the Siege Breakers as well, but I chose to be greedy and throw them into Nom instead, hoping to break through the Ogre caster and take the hill with rear-charges next turn. They underperform for just 9 damage (12 expected), and Nom is then found to be Insanely Courageous.

The mad-ogre Nom holds his ground.

The Fallen struggle to get anywhere, and are forced to try and reposition, and keep close, threatening some charges next turn to help finish off some units.

The Varangur Push is not as decisive as I might have hoped.

On the right, the wavering Thegn backs up, but I don't recall if this actually gets him out of range of the Siege Breakers. I think he is just in.

Tempting the Breakers though are the Draugr, who make a delaying charge into the Warriors ahead of them, and the Zombies are able to somehow claw 3 damage onto the far-superior unit.

Top of Round 3: Ogres

I actually thought the Draugr were safe when I made the charge. But the Siege Breakers can spy the back corner, and will take the charge, with the Sergeant joining as well in the flank, and the Warriors in the front. The unit of cold zombies is dutifully devastated and routed, as is proper. The Warriors on the right adjust slightly.

The Draugr take a beating.

It's a minor error, but there is a little space between the Warriors and the Draugr due to overhanging minis, and I could have been more careful here. Still, a triple charge into Draugr is playing to my advantages this game, so I can't really complain. In victory, the Warriors hold, the Sergeant overruns for a lot, and the Siege Breakers change facing.

The other Siege Breakers countercharge the Cavern Dweller, and greatly underperform, landing just 3 damage. 

Reforms for the Ogres.

On the hill, Nom fights against the Tundra Wolves, and lands a solid 4 damage, but the hounds hold.

Top of Round 4: Varagur

Most of the Varangur units are injured, but we on the offensive, and keeping the pressure on the remaining Ogres.

More multi-charges from the Varangur.

Things are jammed up in the center. The Fallen don't have great options, as the spacing is tight and they cannot join the Wolves against Nom, nor can they get into the hill this turn. So, they end up flanking the beleaguered Siege Breakers, with both Cavern Dwellers in the front, and Kruufnir in the other flank, and the Siege Breaker horde is devastated and routed, as is proper.

And the Varangur mostly break through!

The overrunning Sergeant is hit in the front and flank by Thegns, dealt 11 damage, and bested.

The disordered Wolves charge Nom again, will land a spicy 7 new damage, and the warlock is devastated and routed too.

Top of Round 4: Ogres

Everything should be in the center band for the Ogres, but they are running out of units.

One one Warrior Regiment can fight this turn.

The Warriors on the right hold. The Siege Breakers have no charges, and so spin around.

...but it does get an improbable rout!

The Warriors charge the Thegn, land a few more damage, and then spike the Nerve check a bit to rout him and then reform.

Top of Round 5: Varagur

Scenario-wise, the Draugr are still on the left, still scoring, and still not bothering anyone.

Wolves charge off the hill into the Warriors on the right. They deal a very respectable 9 damage, but the Warriors are found to be Insane now.

More charges from the Varangur.

One Cavern Dweller doesn't have a charge, so hops onto the hill to threaten the remaining Siege Breakers. The other Cavern Dweller can spy them though, and will take the charge, and struggle with just 1 extra attack, and landing just 3 damage against the big shields .

And the Ogres mostly hold the line.

Kruufnir and the maimed Thegn fight the Warriors in the center, with the Fallen hitting the flank, and this unit is devastated and routed, as is proper. For reforms, the Thegn sidesteps, getting into the flank of the remaining Siege Breakers, and Kruufnir sidesteps as well, creating space for the Fallen to reform.

Top of Round 5: Ogres

The Ogre Warriors land 3, taking the Wolves up to 7, and the Nerve check is spiked to take the uninspired unit up.

Mixed results for the Ogres, and unfortunately the Cavern Dweller holds.

The Siege Breakers hit back hard, landing 9 damage onto the Cavern Dweller, but the monster holds firm.

Top of Round 6: Varagur

The Varangur move to try and bully the remaining Ogres out of the game. They are not on the hill, but the Fallen charge the Warriors on the right, and land 4 damage, and will break the unit and now be scoring the right zone for the Varangur.

Some big charges to end the game.

Both Cavern Dwellers and Kruufnir charge the Siege Breakers in the front, with the maimed Thegn hitting the flank. Kruufnir does 2, but the other units each do 5 damage, taking the Breakers up to 17 damage total, and the horde falls. At least a few of my things here are scoring to give the Varangur control of the center as well.

The Draugr watch the concluding carnage from the sidelines.

The Draugr continue to hold the left for me.

Top of Round 6: Ogres

The Ogres are tabled, with nothing to do here.

It is a 4:0 sweep for the scenario, and a full 1500 points killed, for the best possible opening game I can achieve. It is a very strong win for the Varangur!

Game Conclusions

Tyler tags along to a lot of tournaments with his dad. He's been to way more than I have, and apparently put up some decent showings as well, all things considered. He's around 14, so I have a few years on him. In each of our games, I've tried to be a good elder gamer, prodding him to clarify his intent with stuff, and pointing out my speed and facings on his turn to try and prevent silly flanks and any "gotcha's", but when the replies and rebuttals are explicative-filled dismissals, there is not much to do besides take a breath and then take those flank charges on my own turn. The Snowgers here were a little cavalier, and three insane courage results the only thing that really kept them in this game.

The Varangur list worked well, with a fair amount of Striding and Pathfinding charges, and it was a very bloody victory to start the tournament!