Intro and Lists
We have a tournament coming up next weekend, and folks were keen to get some games in, if for nothing more than to keep skills and rules fresh in our aging noggins. I haven't gotten to play our local Mantic Pathfinder in quite some time, and jumped at the chance to do so. He's organizing the tournament, and due to a beloved local player needing to move away rather suddenly, also needed to be ringer for it. While he's been running Ratkin mostly, he needed something more straightforward if he was going to be playing and running, and opted for his Brothermark. He fielded the following to try and shake some of the rust off:
We haven't faced a more "typical" Brothermark army in quite some time! It's got a strong core of potent knights from the Order of the Abyssal Hunt, Ogre Palace Guard and Def5 Paladin Monster Slayers. A regiment of Bowmen are around for objective play, and a regiment of Villein Skirmishers are around to interdict. Two Siege Artillery pieces were fielded due to some models still being on the hobbying desk. A mounted Priest, a War Wizard with Wind Blast and the High Chaplain Augusts were around to inspire, with Basil the Dragon around to officially lead the force.
I brought the Kingdoms of Men. I probably should be running my Undead for a little more experience with the list prior to the tournament, but I'll get 5 games in with them next weekend, and wanted to run something else while I had the opportunity. I haven't actually played the Kingdoms of Men using the Command Dice yet, and figured I should take the opportunity to do so and test out an assortment of odd ideas. Up to test is:
- Pole-Arms Block. I needed a horde to unlock stuff, and didn't have the points for more Foot Guard like I wanted, so we're taking them. They haven't had great games previously. Def3 isn't a sustainable battle line, and they ate a lot of multi-charges in other games.
- Def5 Foot Guard Regiments. These have not seen the table in a long, long time. I want to explore defensive regiments and the Chivalrous Monarch, with its rally will make them 16/18, and hopefully pretty sticky.
- Militia Mob Horde. I've run and liked the 65 point regiments before, but they've fallen out of my lists recently. The KoM army analysis from Data and Dice brought them to my attention again, as they are cheaper than a Zombie horde. They don't unlock, but could be a neat way to gum up a battlefield cheaply. We'll see how one horde does.
- Crossbow Block. A pet unit for me. We'll see how they can contribute.
- Knight Regiment. Taken to try and play around with the "Precise Thrust" Order for Ordered March. I know how potent nimble heavy cavalry can be thanks to my fights with the Halflings, so we'll see if I can imitate that here, and how useful it might be.
- Triple rampage Giants. More pet units from me. I want to try them a few times alongside the new Command Dice and such before I switch gears with the army.
- Monarch with Rally. The Monarch is an honorary 4th Giant, comparable against everything except Def6. I like the variety of upgrade options.
- Outlaws. I think I have a better handle on the unit now.
- ASBs. We're taking two and a fair amount of infantry to try out Lifeleech 2, and each get a Red Die for trying out Command Orders as well.
- Command Orders. I haven't played with Command Orders and the Kingdoms of men yet, so we're trying them out. I like the concept of Precise Thrust // Ordered March to get Ordered March on something, but on just one unit, we'll see how impactful it is. I think it's only going to feel good when it is a flanking unit. I feel like Run Them Down // Ferocious Charge has too many restrictions in order to really be useful for this army, but I'm running some Foot Guard Regiments already, and might be able to test it out.
Table and Terrain
A table was set up by the time I arrived at the shop, and we had an additional forest to play around with the tournament's terrain assortment. We were using our typical terrain rules, running the building 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 crop field and grass field as some Height 0 difficult terrain.
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| Overview of the table. |
We got Pillage for our scenario, with a total of 6 objectives to fight over, and with my opponent placing the first token. I won the roll for sides, and reflexively was a lazy gamer. Writing up the report... this was definitely not a wise move from me. Had I gone with the other side, I'd have two objectives in my deployment zone, a third within striking distance, and plenty of shooting units to make use of this advantageous arrangement! Oops.
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| View from the left. |
The Brothermark deployed in a sparse line, with Bowmen and a knightly Order out on the left, a super-Inspired center of a knightly Order, Ogre Palace Guard, the Priestess, Gus, and the Paladins with the War Wizard and third knightly Order in reserve. Height 0 terrain aligned so that the Siege Artillery could cover the center of the board, and the Skirmishers and Basil held the right.
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| View from the center. |
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| View from the right. |
My opponent won the roll but decided that I should go first. Since he has artillery, I disagree with this choice, but given my own side-picking error, will need to fight for tokens, and so I will gladly kick this game off.
Top of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men
I roll up 7 Swords for my Command Dice.
On the left, our respective bow units are out of range of one another, so my troop just camps the objective.
The Giant moves its speed to get behind the house. He’s in the woods, and inches-wise, can’t threaten anything unless it moves up, but is still zoning out some good space.
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| The Giant moves up to utilize the building to block and the terrain too dissuade. |
The center is a bit of a jumbled mess. The Pole Arms will be slowed by the woods. I want to try and protect them, so placed the second Outlaw unit in front of them, which now needs to awkwardly move and shoot so I can go claim some tokens. I can only see the Paladins on foot, but the obstacle is in the way. Nothing hits.
The Monarch and Foot Guard escorts move up, mostly through the terrain, and with the Monarch handing back slightly, despite its greater speed. There is about a 100mm span between the Guards to prevent cavalry from charging the Monarch.
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| Moving up in the center. |
The Crossbowmen need to advance in order to shoot. They take the hill, and try focus-firing into the Paladins on foot. While focus-firing is a good idea, this is an error. I should be shooting into the weaker war machines instead. Needing 6’s, the Crossbowmen land 1 hit, into 1 wound, which is then Iron Resolved back immediately.
I had angled the knights so they could move at the double and help instigate for me. I do so, and they are threatening a number of charges next turn. I could use Precise Thrust on them, but don’t need to, as I like the angle.
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| And moving up aggressively on the right. |
The Giants on the right were sort of safe from the war machines (only one could be shot at by both), but the blocking does complicate their movement. One angles to zip past it next turn to help a push through the center, and the other moves to help the Militia on the far right. Both the Giant and the Militia move 10” forward.
Bottom of Round 1: Brothermark
My opponent rolls up 4 Swords for his Command Dice.
On the right, Basil and the Skirmishers move away. I missed that these were skirmishers and not more knights, but that’s ok. We've chased them away.
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| Basil and his cheerleaders look to get away. |
The war machines shoot into the Knights, land 3 damage, and get a lucky waver. I've got Headstrong though, so it's not the end of the world. If they shake it off, we can even get into Basil if we want to.
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| Cautious moves in the center. |
The Paladins on foot hold, and the Ogre Palace Guard and the nearby cavalry seize the hill but stay out of charge range of my Giant this turn.
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| The Brothermark knights start a long trek. |
The knightly Order on the left moves up but is stymied by the obstacle, and has no charges next turn. They seem to be vying for the objective in my deployment zone, but I have a few turns before that is an issue.
The Villein Bowmen don’t budge, and just camp their objective.
Top of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men
I roll up 5 for my command dice.
The Outlaws on the token sidestep and shoot into the slowly advancing knights. I could have stayed still to avoid penalties, but figured bows weren’t going to do anything anyways. I wanted to create a little more space and maybe draw the Pole-Arms into this fight in the coming turns, so positioning seemed more important. With the obstacle providing a cover penalty, nothing hits, let alone wounds.
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| The Giant inches into range. |
The nearby Giant in the woods inches forward to get into charge range against the knights.
The Pole-Arms and screening Outlaws hold. The Outlaws shoot into the Ogres, landing no hits.
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| Moving up in the center. Slowly but surely. |
The Monarch and Foot Guard escorts move up. The unit on the left holds back to avoid a charge from the Ogres (the knights are already in), while the unit on the right moves up its speed, making its way through the grasses.
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| The Giants split around the windmill. |
My Knights have charges into the Paladins, either war machine, or Basil, but get a 1 on their Headstrong roll, so I need to spend all 5 swords on unwaver them. The just trudge forward so the Giants can continue pushing ahead as well.
My Crossbowmen hold and shoot into a war machine, landing 3 damage and getting a waver.
One Giant moves up to support the knights. The other pivots, blocking off a landing spot for Basil behind the Militia, who are pressing onward, hopping over the objective.
Bottom of Round 2: Brothermark
My opponent rolls up 4 Swords with his Command Dice.
The Villein Skirmishers head into the flank of my Knights. There was a copy of his list around, but I didn’t realize the upgrade at the time, and figured it would be 4’s into hindered 5’s. It’s 3’s into hindered 4’s though, and the initiates land a solid 6 damage into my knights, bringing them to 9 and wavering them again.
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| Movement and a flank charge. |
Basil at the doubles and lands in front of the Crossbowmen on the hill. I did a pretty good job at zoning him out, but my opponent cleverly found a spot for him.
The war machines have Indirect Fire, so could not shoot my Knights or the neatest Giant. This was unplanned by me. One war machine is wavered and does nothing, and the other shoots into the Monarch, but doesn’t land any damage.
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| The Monarch is pushed back, and the Knights wavered again. |
The Knightly Order in reserve moves up to threaten my Knights should the Skirmishers fail to break them.
The War Wizard hops ahead of the Paladins, and Wind Blast pushes the Monarch 2 inches back, just barely denying him a charge next turn.
The Ogres and the Knights hold on the hill.
On the left, the knightly Order hops the fence, and with their move and pivot, is 15.5” away from my Outlaws. It’s in for now, but I still have time to deal with them.
The Villein Bowmen start a fire, officially camping the objective.
Top of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men
I roll up 5 for my Command Dice.
Instead of running away, the Outlaws move up, daring a hindered charge. I move them up so they can prevent the knights from turning and running around the building. The Pole-Arms pivot, hoping to brawl the Knights for the token back here.
Since the Knights did not move backward, the Giant has a charge into them. I don’t want to solo-charge, but can’t really think of anything better to do, and need to get him away from the outriding knights on my left, so I go in. They are not Inspired, so maybe I’ll get lucky? I roll up 3 extra attacks on the Rampaging 2d6, land 5 damage, and do get a surprise Waver, but the Knights have Fury (and Slayer), so this long-shot is a bust.
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| The Outlaws set a trap. |
The screening Outlaws hold, shooting into the Ogres without penalties. They land 1 which is Iron-Resolved back. Against all this Def5, I should be using these as chaff and moving up, not trying to shoot stuff.
The Foot Guard to the left move up slightly to dare a hindered charge from the Ogres. In retrospect, I probably should have been more aggressive here.
The Monarch moves up again, moving its speed, and threatening charges again.
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| The center tries shuffling forward again. That was a big field. |
I am trying to be tricky with Foot Guard on the right. They are able to get out of the grasses with their move, and could be a great target for the Run them Down Command Order for Ferocious Charge next turn.
The Crossbowmen charge off the hill into Basil, getting a Bane Chant while doing so. This feels great, but only 4 damage lands, which will spin down the just 3 after Iron Resolve. Still, the dragon is grounded, and I think contained.
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| The Kingdoms of Men swing around the flank. |
The knights fail another Headstrong check, getting another 1. I don’t think they do anything.
One Giant hits the Villein Skirmishers in the flank, dealing 14 damage and routing the unit. I think I victoriously pivot, looking for options next turn.
The ASB with Heal hides near the windmill, keeping everything Inspired out here.
The second Giant moves and pivots to stare at the war machines, and the Militia move up and pivot to make way, while threatening a charge of their own.
Bottom of Round 3: Brothermark
My opponent rolls up 4 for his Command Dice. He’s had pretty good results for not buying any additional dice, but isn’t really spending them on anything. Basil gets healed down to 2.
And it turns out Basil is not contained. There isn’t 75mm between the front of the Crossbows and the corner of the Giant. However, the inch from Withdraw changes the angle, and Basil slips away, shooting the gap and utilizing speed 10.
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| The Monarch takes a big, surprise hit. |
The War Wizard Wind Blasts the knights back for 4 inches, pushing them more than 12” away form the war machines, who put the knights out of their misery.
The Paladins need to pivot a bit, but this lets the knightly Order move up and they can just barely connect with the Monarch’s corner, allowing for a charge. I think they catch a Bane Chant, and the Monarch takes 10 and wavers.
The Ogres choose the flank of the Giant, and will nearly devastate it all by themselves, so we fast forward, and the lone Giant on the left is bested.
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| The knights manage to escape. |
On the left, the outriding knights realize they can’t get away without being harassed, and so take the charge into the Outlaw troop, and my hopes run high. The trap was poorly set up though. They will best the Outlaws, but if they can back up the 3”, my Pole-Arms will be out of range. Luck is with my opponent, and get gets the 3” and is safe.
The Villein Bowmen start making smores.
Top of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men
I do not like my position. I figured the Giant would fall, but Basil escaping, the knights backing up and the Monarch wavering is a lot to try and overcome. I need a big turn to get back into this, and my dice oblige with a mere 3 Swords on the Command dice…
On the left, the Pole Arms enter the woods, still itching for a fight over this token.
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| The Pole-Arms try to instigate. |
The Outlaws make a hindered charge into the Ogres, landing 1 which is Iron Resolved back. With the Ogres and Knights stacked, the goal is just to stuff them both up for a turn.
The Monarch is wavered, but holds, and I spend 2 Swords for Endurance on him, as he is the only thing with damage. He stays engaged. I make a hindered flank charge with the Foot Guard, who catch a Bane Chant. I don’t think they can do it alone, but don’t want to commit a ton here. I don’t like the shots for the Crossbows, so charge them into the other flank. It’s two hindered charges, but a lot of dice, and I am able to bring them to 13 damage and get the rout.
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| Flank charges. |
The Crossbowmen and Foot Guard both victoriously change facing towards the Brothermark line. Someone recently shared that if you are part of a combat, you can reform too, so the Monarch reforms as well, looking to try and help with dealing with the Ogres and knights on the hill in the coming turns, and maybe fight for the token out there too. However, rereading the rulebook, only "Charges and Counter charging units" can victoriously reform. So I think the Monarch should still be facing forward.
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| One too many reforms. |
Run them Down and Ferocious Charge is off the table, but I still think it’s worth the risk to charge the War Wizard. Unfortunately, my dice continue to disagree, and I deal 2 damage (4 expected), and fail to even waver the caster.
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| The war machines are charged. |
One Giant goes into the war machine, easily obliterating it. The Militia are hindered, but still manage to underperform, dealing just 4 damage to the war machine, but thankfully still manage to rout it. I don’t know what they did in victory.
The Healing ASB is wary of a breath attack, and circles around the building. The second Giant was squeezed between the Militia and building and couldn’t charge if memory serves, which is why he just moves up.
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| More reforms. |
It’s been some rough turns for the Kingdoms of Men, but trying to play faster, I’ve been a bit sloppy, and I did myself no favors. I don’t think charging with the Militia was wise. I don’t remember if they were threatened by Basil, or looking to avoid him or what the situation was that led to me charging out with them. Them spinning around to make their way back toward the token (Basil can dance and breath if he wants to contest) and both Giants charging the war machines seems like it would have been better plays.
Bottom of Round 4: Brothermark
My opponent rolls up 2 Swords for his Command Dice, and uses them on Endurance to heal Basil down to 2.
Free, Basil nimbly spins around, and stalks the Monarch, landing 3 damage with his breath attack, and brining him up to 12 damage. The Nerve check is thankfully low this time, and the Monarch holds on for now.
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| Movement from the Brothermark. |
The War Wizard limps away, just trying to complicate flank charges into the Paladin horde.
The Paladins charge my Foot Guard and land a strong 6 damage against my regiment. I was not expecting this, but this looks to be about right, since hitting on 3’s removes a big bottleneck.
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| Aftermath of the turn. |
In some clever moves, Gus hits the Outlaws in the flank, going 4/4 and wavering them. The Ogres sidestep, not charging anything this turn, in an unusual move for Ogres.
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| An unfortunate flank charge into the Pole-Arms. |
They do this because with the Pole Arms entering the woods… the knightly Order by the hill is about 15 1/2 inches away from the flank of my horde, and can see their back corner. Sheesh. We’re technically fighting for the objective I guess, but my Pole-Arms are devastated and routed with both a front and a flank. The Abyssal Hunt gets CS1 innately, so everything is wounding me on 2’s, and it’s a lot of attacks.
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| Reforms from the knights. |
The Villein Bowmen take a nap while still guarding the objective.
Top of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men
I roll up 6 Swords for my command dice, but struggle to use them. Due to terrain slowing things down, Ordered March isn’t helpful, and Run them Down / Furious Charge can only impact my Foot Guard Regiments, who are disordered and will be hindered, respectively.
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| Charges for the Kingdoms of Men. |
I have nothing on the left. With the side-step, the Ogres are not in arc for the Monarch anymore, so he has one (hindered) charge into the knights that flanked my Pole-Arms. I don’t like it, but feel like I gotta take it. At least the inches finally break my way, and the Monarch finds itself a splendid 20 ½ way from Basil.
The combat takes the knights from 2 to 6, with the earlier damage being lessened by spells and Endurance over the last few turns. In a surprise, the knights are wavered, but have Fury (and a d3 Slayer) so should be just fine.
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| Combats in the center. |
The Outlaws disengage and withdraw, but wavered, cannot do anything. I think I consider unwavering them to sidestep, but do not do so. I don’t have notes on any Swords being used actually.
The Crossbowmen are actually standing on a token, which I forget about. They hold to shoot without penalties into the Ogres, landing 3, which Iron Resolves down to 2. Basil is in their rear and it looks like the Ogres are in their flank, so in the middle of the field is not a good place for a Crossbow horde. Who could have guessed.
With the angles, the Foot Guard unfortunately can’t get past Gus to make it into the Ogres to block them up. I’m not going to move Gus, so they go into the Paladin horde, though Gus might have been the better choice, in retrospect.
The second Foot Guard joining in pushes the injured unit into range for Lifeleech 2 from the ASB, and Heal lands for 2 as well to take them down to just two damage. A Giant joins in the flank, against the Paladins, with the second Giant into the War Wizard and threatening an overrun into the flank of the horde as well, if I can get a 3+ on that overrun.
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| A single reform from the only victorious combat. |
The Militia need to change facing to allow the Giant to charge the War Wizard. They are facing the objective now, but are way too late since they are slowed by the woods. They won’t get their until a potential Round 7.
I roll up the War Wizard combat first, getting 11 extra attacks, and landing 10 damage to take her to 12 and rout the wizard. Taking stock of the field, I feel like my Crossbows are gonners, and if I’m playing for a Round 7 need to try and get into a place where I can avenge them. I am also worried about reforms if I do make it in. Instead of risking the overrun, this giant merely pivots to eye the Crossbows so it can hopefully join in on any Round 6 fighting.
The triple Charge into the Paladins goes poorly. I don’t have the inches to BC the counter-charging Footies, so the hindered newcomers get it. They deal 4, the counter-chargers deal 3, but the Giant in the flank only rolls up 3 extra attacks, and just 7 damage himself, plus the Brutal. The Paladins have great Nerve, and hold.
Bottom of Round 5: Brothermark
My opponent rolls up 3 Swords for his Command Dice.
My opponent switches into scenario mode, and instead of charging, Basil nimbly spins and flies towards the objective my Militia are gunning for.
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| Basil safely claims a token. |
The Paladins charge the injured Foot Guard unit, taking them from 2 to 7, but the regiment holds.
Gus foes 4/4 again into the Outlaws, picks them up and overruns.
The Ogres are all about scenario play as well, and instead of charging anything, turn tail towards another objective. I had my photos and a quick sketch in my notes about the tokens, but I think my opponent forgot the Crossbows were standing on a token until late in his turn.
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| Aftermath of Round 5. |
The knightly Orders counter-charge the Monarch, and will devastate and rout him. They overrun, and roll high enough (4+) to get out of the woods.
The other regiment claims the objective in my deployment zone.
The Villein Bowmen doze, peacefully.
Top of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men
I decide that I am playing for Round 7 and a hopeful draw. I roll up 6 swords, can’t find a good use for them, and decide to save them all.
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| The Brigand tries to frustrate the knights. |
The Brigand goes into the flank of the knightly Order, but Bane Chant fails. On 3’s and 4’s, the hero lands no damage. I was hoping for 1 and a chance to rout, but no luck.
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| Just a pivot from the Crossbowmen. |
The Crossbowmen pivot but do not move. This is an error. I have 5 inches, and should be trying to box the knights out, but simply don’t, and the objective is exposed. Knowing I was playing for a round 7, I think I wanted to make sure I had a flank into the knights with the Footies (and the dice for Ferocious Charge to test it out), but this is still an error.
They shoot with a movement penalty into the Ogres on the hill. I land 1 damage, and boxcars gets a very lucky waver to hold them up. Since they are shook, they don't Iron Resolve it.
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| Reforms from the Kingdoms of Men. |
Heal fails to connect with the injured Foot Guard, and they only land 1 damage, so can only Lifeleech themselves down to 6. The other regiment contributes only a few. The Giant does about the same, but we’re still at 20+ damage, and will rout the horde on the second attempt. With the Ogres wavering, and me playing for a Round 7 anyways, the Giant overruns, and the hope is to catch them next turn and then overrun towards the token. Unfortunately, the overrun is 1” and I might not even have range to charge in.
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| Reforms from the Kingdoms of Men. Hoping for a Round 7. |
With nothing to charge, the other Giant turns, looking to help the Militia push through against Basil. Speaking of, the Militia move towards that objective, but are still dreadfully far away from it.
Bottom of Round 6: Brothermark
My opponent rolls up 6 Swords for his Command Dice.
Basil will flap forward to keep the Militia more than 3” away, so I cannot contest the token without a victory, but that’s why I am brining the Giant over.
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| Basil blocks out the Kingdoms of Men. |
The knightly Order is US 3, as is my Crossbowmen, so they charge in, hindered from going over the obstacle, but still are contesting the token. No one can claim this, and they land 9 damage into my Crossbows.
The Ogres are unwavered through Command Orders, and they run over to claim another objective, are safe from the Giant.
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| The knights charge to negate an objective for me. |
The knightly Orders in my deployment zone hold an objective.
And the Villein Bowmen wake up, still camping and claiming their objective.
With the central token contested now, it’s 4-1 in favor of the Brothermark at the end of Round 6.
Game Conclusions
What a heartbreaker! I was repeatedly screwed over by tiny measurements this game: Basil having clearance in millimeters to run away; Pole-Arms getting flanked; Abyssal Hunt getting the final inch to get away… but I also didn’t play a great game. Picking the sides I did put me at a big disadvantage going into the game, and while I was trying to set traps, I was also trying to be mindful of the time and play quickly. A few of those measurements could have been stopped with cleaner play from myself.
Rolling up the Swords to unwaver the Ogres was a big development to firmly put my opponent ahead as the game concluded. I think I could have reclaimed the center with the Ferocious flank charge, but probably not bested Basil to tie it up in a Round 7 unless my Giant really brought the heat, and I only have myself to blame for wanting to get the Militia into combats in the corner there.
All in all, I was not lucky, but was also clearly outplayed by a very survivable list. Congrats to my opponent on the well-deserved victory!
Testing Conclusions
- Pole-Arms Block. Ouch. I tried to preserve them but their trend at just getting rolled continues as strong as ever. It was my half in error here, and I thought I had those knights blocked up for a bit. Overall, I really want to like the Pole-Arms. It’s pretty cheap, it’s got CS, and decent nerve, but the damage just accrues and I’ve yet to make use of their attacks.
- Def5 Foot Guard Regiments. With Rally and Indomitable Will, they could be pretty sticky, but I was not aggressive enough with them to find out. At 145 points, they aren’t bad but this needed a bit more finesse today.
- Militia Mob Horde. Their stats are terrible and they did not have a good game …. But I definitely see the appeal. They are about as survivable as the Pole-Arms for about 40% cheaper, so at holding the line and filling up a battlefield, this horde is are far more attractive. It doesn’t unlock, but troop unlocks aren’t an issue for this army, and I could see some builds, especially with our flying Beast Cav grabbing a few blocks of these to take up space. I think I need to bring Militia back into my lists more, and might need to get that 4th regiment going as well to try out two hordes in 2025.
- Crossbow Block. I should have realized the futility of shooting into Iron Resolve units quicker, and focused on the war machines first. I like them, but don’t think I used them well this game.
- Knight Regiment. Two failed Headstrong rolls and an unlucky waver to start the game. They were one supremely unlucky unit!
- Triple rampage Giants. I did not support them well, and could not because of the constraints of the rest of the list. This is just another example of how to come up short when using Giants. They really need something like Mounted Sergeants or even a knight troop to help instigate the fights and help them get in.
- Monarch with Rally. We joke the he is an honorary Giant, but after deploying the Monarch, I remembered that he does not get Strider, and with 10 attacks, he struggled all game and was not used well. Rally is a neat idea, but did not impact the game at all. I don’t think double Footies was the way to go though. Knights – Monarch – Foot Guard horde could be a decent pairing maybe, though just going for Slayer is probably a safe all-comers choice. I do like the upgrade options for fluffy build-around-me stuff, so we’ll see if and how we can fit him into future lists.
- Outlaws. They all really struggled this game. Had I gone with the other side, they could have just camped objectives for cheap, but that was not the case, and against Def5 Iron Resolve… they struggled to contribute.
- ASBs. For two ASBs, I liked the Lute and the Shroud was ok. Lifeleech 2 was useful, but I still strongly dislike it on the human ASB since it is a very limited boon to what should be a generalist-style army, and mechanically we should not be Vampires. I still think Iron Resolve should be the undead-adjacent rule reflecting their unkillability (like the Varangur Draugr), and then LL could be Fighting Spirit and the more relatable human approach of liking to be fighting a winning battle and pressing that advantage a bit. But as-is, I am still not a fan of Lifeleech on the human ASBs.
- Precise Thrust // Ordered March. Conceptually, I like this one the most for the army. Here though, with the extra forest, we struggled to even move at the double, so that it could be applied. It’s variability (infantry or cavalry, and at any unit size) is a big plus for me, since the army is supposed to be a jack-of-all-trades style army.
- Run Them Down // Ferocious Charge. The Herd shares this Command, and I do not like it in either army. Neither army is elite, and so want to run larger units to make use of middling stats, but then neither can make great use of the Order due to all the type and size limitations. A blanket +1 to hit on a unit is big, so all the limitations are definitely warranted, but I think this should be just Cavalry, Large Cavalry or Chariots, letting the troops and regiments hit a bit harder in the open field. A neat design space for reworking could be getting to pick your overrun move, instead of rolling for it? It’s a generic order given to us, but not meant for either army.
- Terrain, time, and tournament stuff. The game reinforced a lot of ideas already swirling around in my head related to the upcoming tournament. First, we had a lot of hindered charges between us. The extra forest makes me wish my Herd was in a better spot, but I am pretty happy with what I am bringing and know I will enjoy it. Second was that time will be critical. We have an hour each on the clock, while dealing with Command Orders, which seems incredibly tight. I was loosely timing my turns, and was doing ok overall, but this game took 3 hours to complete. I think that I will need to be really cognizant of the clock going into the tournament, as I think a lot of people will be clocking out earlier than they think.
I was a very tired grump going into the game, but the outing and meet-up definitely lifted my spirits, and was enlightening as well with the tournament coming up. Thanks to my opponent for the game, and I should have some tournament battle reports coming soon from the first-ever Northwoods GT!
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