Kings of War 3rd Edition: #120 Undead vs Brothermark in Protect and Raze

Intro and Lists 

Real life has been overwhelming both of us a bit, but our schedules aligned briefly one recent afternoon, and so friend, forum-goer, and fellow blogger Cartwright and I were able to connect and make the most of it! Opposing me was his newest take on combined-arms Brothermark:

He's back to a focus on infantry, with the latest iteration dropping the previous heavy cavalry orders and skirmisher units, as well as the mounted heroes. Returning from previous iterations are a quartet of Penitents to gum things up, Ogre Palace Guard to smash, Villein Bowmen and Arbalests to shoot, and two Phoenixes to support. Returning from long ago is a horde of Paladin Monster Slayers to also smash. New to the list are Ogre Palace Guard Captains (with refreshed Mantic hordes too, curtesy of the Vault), and a bevy of supporting individual heroes, notable a Dictator with wings, Paladin with Rally, Chaplain with Rally and a Fury aura for Villein units, and a War Wizard with Bane Chant, which is an odd pick from my opponent. Maybe we're winning him over on BC? Notably absent was High Chaplain Augustus, as he really wanted to explore the stacking Rally for the Penitents. 

I still have a handful of throwback Herd lists I still want to run, but given how little we've been able to play recently, wanted to mix things up, and ended up bringing some Undead MMU. I ran similar lists at the Northwoods GT back in January (link to that stuff here), and have been wanting to get back and try out some new ideas for the playstyle. With less terrain on the table, I left the Striding Wyms and Wraiths at home, and had the following to play and test:

• Skeleton Warriors with Two Handers. The idea for these was cribbed from Cartwright's own success with the Brothermark Penitents. They are cheap drops with good Nerve and CS1, so they can take a bit of a beating, but when they spike the dice they can actually land some damage. The Skeletons are Fearless and with better Nerve though, and have done well for me. 
• Soul Reavers. I upped my count to three since I lacked Wyrms or other typical hammers. We'll see how the infantry do. As-expected, I took the usual waver mitigation items to help them stick around, as well as the Blood of the Old King, which no longer hurts you when you pop it. I haven't really used the item before, and this seemed like a great unit to test it on! 
• Mhorgoth. Fly, double-casting and Dread all add up to a very mobile and potent unit. I can have a bit of a contrarian streak, but while you don't need to take him, I will readily admit that he has made things far easier for me in my Undead explorations, and unfortunately does essentially earn the "Must Have" moniker. If you aren't taking him, you can still win, but I think you want his absence to be a conscious choice.
• Liche with BC and Drain Life. I quite like the Liche especially with the new(ish) a la carte spells. I don't really need Surge here, so I like having the choice of not taking it! Since the Soul Reavers are my hammers, and I top out at CS2 with them, Bane Chant was important, and I wanted to try Drain Life more, so that's his kit.
• Mummy Troops. I've mentioned it before, but the Undead of a plethora of options around 115 points. The Wraiths (at 120) are nice, but we have Revenant Cavalry troops, Mummy troops, and Zombie Troll regiments here at 115, and I wanted to try out some of the other "chaff" options at this points level. While I call them chaff as I often want to use them to delay, this probably isn't accurate, as they are more expensive than the Skeleton Warriors! We'll try to revisit this idea more in this report and the next one. 
• Undead Scoring Heroes. Our meta really highly values scoring hero units, and they are indeed strong options, letting you double and triple attacks when applicable, as well as giving you just a few more units to carry loot tokens or score objectives in the late game. The versatility they offer is great, so I wanted to take my MMU shell of smashy Skeletons and Soul Reavers and explore the heroic unit options for the Undead. 
• Lykanis duo. We've seen the Lykanis before, and he's intriguing. He's a typical combat hero with 5 base attacks, but unlike the Snow Troll Prime (or even cheaper Ogre Palace Guard Captain opposing me!) we are paying a lot of points to get Speed 9. If I can make use of the speed (either outriding the enemy line, or dissuading the enemy from advancing by threatening delaying charges), I should do ok, but if I cannot make use of their great speed, I could be in trouble.
• Pegasi Vampire duo. I like my models, but the unit is more expensive than my Kingdoms of Men General on Winged Beast, but has worse output since he lacks the TC of the human unit. He seems a little too expensive to be worth it, but it is a great time to try him out again. Fliers benefit from having other fliers, so two of him plus two speedy Lykanis units might be enough to overwhelm my opponent's defenses, letting some of the heroic units get around and do the grim work I need them too. We'll see how they all work together.

Looking at the lists as we starting deploying, I had no shooting to speak of, and a deficiency in both drops and in Unit Strength. However, I had an edge in speed, mostly thanks to my heroic units. Still, a speed advantage is a very weird spot to be with playing the Undead. Hopefully it would be enough!

Table and Terrain

Cartwright was kind enough to be hosting our games, and a table from the Epic Dwarf map pack was set up when I arrived. We were using our typical terrain rules, running the buildings as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, fences as Height 2 Obstacles, and Hills as Height 3, and the ponds as some Height 0 difficult terrain.

Big shot of the table.

We decided to play an objective scenario to start, and settled on Protect and Raze, one of the newer options. There is a central objective token, and then we each place 3 more objective 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 here 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 than the original version.

View from the left.

Left-to-right from my perspective the Brothermark had an Ogre Captain, the flying Dictator, then the Bowmen horde with the three heavy Arbalests behind. This wing was meant to delay, and the Brothermark committed everything else on the right, with a Ogre Palace Guard Horde, Phoenix, individual characters and the Paladin horde all in reserve, and a front line consisting of a Phoenix, all four Penitent Regiments, the Ogre Captain, and the second Ogre Palace Guard Horde off on the edge of the board. The Brothermark greatly out-deployed the Undead, and were able to save both Captains, the Dictator and all three war machines for deployment after the Undead had fully committed.

View from the center.

With such a large drop disparity, I tried my best! The general plan was speedy things on the flanks no matter what, and to try and pair up Skeletons and Soul Reavers whenever possible. Left-to-right for me we have a flying Vampire and Lykanis, Lykanis, Mhorgoth, Soul Reavers with Ale, and a Skeleton regiment alongside. We then have Mummies, two regiments of Skeletons blocking for the Soul Reavers with the Blood of the Old King, Soul Reavers with Chalice of Wrath hanging out behind the hill, and more Mummies in the gap between the hill and the building. The building was close to the table edge, but did have space enough for the second flying Vampire. 

View from the right, with the stalking flying Vampire.

My opponent won the roll off. The Bowmen wouldn't have the best shots this round, but with war machines, going first was still too good to pass up, and he kicked things off for us.

    

Overview of the table again.

I have goofed up token deployment before, so I defaulted to putting the first two tokens very close to the center, and then the third where ever seemed appropriate. I probably could have been more cagey (putting tokens on your side of a building is often very clever), but the default approach worked well enough here.

Overall, I was pretty happy with my positioning and deployment. As the Undead, I wanted to contest his tokens more, and so favored my right with my units. I figured I had decent chances to pick up my own pair of tokens on the left with what I had there, and it seemed like that would be a good test of the scoring heroic units I was bringing.

My opponent won the roll off, and with war machine shooting, opted to go first.

Top of Round 1: Brothermark

Out on the left, the Dictator and Ogre Captain inch forward, but make sure to avoid giving the flying Vampire any charges. With the Vampire out of range, the slightly less speedy Lykanis units don’t have any charges either.

A tepid advance on the left.

The Bowmen move up enough to protect their flank with the building while contesting the nearby token. Taking a penalty for movement, they loose into a Mummy Troop, and land a hot 4 damage. With the movement, the Arbalests can draw line of sight to the same unit, and all loose as well, landing 2, 3, and 0 damage to bring them to 9 damage. The troop is uninspired, my opponent chances it, and they do flee.

Shooting for the Brothermark. The Teutonic Mummies will crumble.

Gambling on the Mummies, the Phoenix flaps up and sprays sparks into the Skeletons, landing 5 damage, but the bones do hold firm. Still, this is a surprisingly strong round of shooting for the Brothermark, and a great start for them.

On the stacked right, the Penitent line kept in strict formation as it advanced into the woods. The Palace Guard and Paladins in reserve kept pace, as did the second Phoenix, which did not have any shots.

Movement on the right from the Brothermark.

On the far right, the Ogre Captain dallied slightly, in order to deny a charge from the flying Vampire over on this flank. The Palace Guard Horde moved up and pivoted, presenting a frontal charge opportunity, should the vampire dare to fly in.

Bottom of Round 1: Undead

I know enough to know that the flying Vampire wants no part fighting the horde of Ogres right now. I do move up to threaten things with my longer range, but stay a little over 12” from the Ogres.

Positioning on the right.

The remaining Mummies shuffle up holding the gap between the ruined building and the hill while the Soul Reavers with the Chalice do take the hill, with the hope being that that can use the TC against the Ogres or something down the line.

Another shot of the stacked wings facing off.

The other two Skeleton Regiments shuffle up as well, still protecting the Soul Reavers with the Blood, and the Liche gets nice and central to keep this all Inspired.

The third unit of Skeletons pivots and then moves, peeling off towards the right. I think I have enough on the left to get things done.

Positioning near the center, at the end of the movement phase.

Mhorgoth flies over towards the right, looking to avoid the Dictator. He gets a Surge 5 onto the Skeletons, propelling them towards the right, and lands a Mind Fog onto an Arbalest, though the crew shakes off the magic without issue.

The Skeletons get surged forward a little bit.

The Soul Reavers as slowed by the woods, but get as far as they can. I want to get them fighting the Bowmen, and then contest the center in the late game.

The Lykanis units hop up to project threat while remaining pretty safe themselves. The Ogre Captain can’t reach them, and if the Dictator goes in, I might be able to come out on top.

An aggressive move from the flying vampire.

The flying Vampire out on the left flies up ~20” and pivots. I don’t think I have the inches into any of the war machines next turn from here, but I am out of arc of the Ogre Captain, so will be forcing some decisions. With three speedy heroic units here, I am trying to apply pressure and think I should be able to make something happen.

Top of Round 2: Brothermark

The Oge Captain hesitates, and doesn’t have good options, especially if the Dictator can’t ground the Vampire. So, the Captain backs up slightly, keeping both Lykanis units into front-arc while still contesting the token, and forcing a hindered charge from the Vampire should it find itself free to fly.

Positioning on the right. Bringing out dice brick tops to maybe help with balancing on hills.

The Dictator clicks his heels and charges into the flying Vampire, and does deal the 1 damage needed to ground my flier. I am ok with this. The Captain can’t help this fight, and I still have both Lykanis units free.

The Bowmen and arbalests shoot into the Skeletons peeling away, landing 6 damage. 

Both Phoenixes are able to spray into the previously singed unit of Skeletons, landing 7 more damage to bring them to 12, and will get the rout. 

Using a game aid box instead to help the Phoenix. Another strong round of shooting for the Bromark!

The Penitents continue their advance, and exit the woods. The Ogre Horde behild them takes a hill, and the Paladin horde starts traversing the woods themselves. 

Out on the flank, the second horde of Ogres holds, still daring a frontal charge from my Vampire while threatening reprisals into anything fighting the Penitent front line.

The Penitents emerge from the woods.

Measuring moves so far, my opponent realizes that my flying Vampire could instead jump his battle line. That was my hope, but with some of his last movement decisions, the Ogre Captain backs up and nimbly pivots in order to to deny me a safe landing zone. Additionally I don't think I can just charge the Captain.

Bottom of Round 2: Undead

On the right, I know how the Penitents work on the table, and want to just delay as long as I can here. The flying Vampire even backs up an inch or two, safe but is threatening charges himself; and the Soul Reavers on the hill have charges as well, but are also safe. 

More delaying from the Undead.

The Penitents are skewed slightly. While they have kept a pretty tidy line, the Penitents are near the center are going to be able to charge my Skeletons next turn. Still, that isn’t a guaranteed rout, and the Soul Reavers in reserve back up so they can see around their boney companions. The Soul Reavers on the hill are safe for now, and threatening reprisals.

View from the center.

The Skeletons continue shambling towards the right. With their slow movement they are safe from the Ogres on the hill, and might be able to get in against something with a sneaky surge charge next turn.

The Soul Reavers with the Ale continue their trek through the woods, and are lining up a charge into the Bowmen next turn.

Mhorogoth flies up, I believe as far as he can, but I think he falls a little shy of reaching the war machines with Dread of Drain Life. He hits a war machine with Mind Fog, and spell lands, but again the crew shakes it off. Mind Fog has Shattering, but with 10/12 Nerve I am still effectively fishing here. 

For his second spell, Mhorgoth casts Drain Life into the Bowmen to try and speed up this combat, as one Lykanis charges in to disorder them. The horde ends the turn at 8 damage, which isn’t a bad start.

On the left, I ignore the Ogre Captain. Any fight with him will take a few combats, and I don’t want all my speed tied up against him. The second Lykanis zips ahead and pivots to spy the back field and war machines.

Movement on the left.

The grounded Vampire claws against the Dictator, lands 4 damage, and gets a lucky waver against him, which should make things interesting out here next turn.

Top of Round 3: Brothermark

On the left, the wavering Dictator cowers. 

The Ogre Palace Guard hops ahead to make a play for his own token. Moments later, my opponent realizes that with the Dictator disordered, my Vampire will have a free hand next turn. The Captain holds back, stopping near the pond. Should I take the offered rear charge, I will be hindered. I think this was a clever play as it’s giving me some hard choices.

The Ogre Captain delays for a moment.

The Bowmen counter-charge the Lykanis, landing 2 damage, but the werewolf holds.

The Heavy Arbalests don’t have great shots into any of my units, and so fire into Mhorgoth, taking a penalty but landing 5 damage against the Unholy Levitating Arch-Liche. 

Phoenixes shoot off more Skeletons.

The Phoenixes are disciplined, and shoot into the injured Skeletons eying the Brothermark flanks, and will shoot them off.

The Ogres leave the hill, eager to fight some Soul Reavers. 

Charges from the Penitents. 

The two Penitent units that can charge do charge, and just barely out of the woods, so they are not hindered. My Skeletons are brought up to 8 damage, but hold. We should be fighting on a token here, and two Penitents are able to overpower the Skeletons to secure the token for the Brothermark. The supporting Chaplain and Paladin and War Wizard disburse among the infantry units. 

The other two Penitent units advance, forcing decisions from me next turn, as they are now threatening charges themselves. The Paladins continue their own advance, but are still in the woods. 

Positioning elsewhere on the right.

The other Ogre Palace Guard start moving up as well, threatening a charge into my flying Vampire again, as well as the Mummies. The Ogre Captain remains behind to continue to deny the Vampire a safe landing zone as his comrades advance.

Bottom of Round 3: Undead

I was trying to keep the flying Vampire dead-ahead to more easily threaten a good line hop, and I think the Penitents actually got out of arc with their advance. I still want to deplay, and so the flying Vampire on the right nimbly backs up and pivots.

The Mummies charge in to delay the Ogre Horde. 

The Mummies charge while the vampires hesitate.

The Soul Reavers on the hill inch back. Measuring things, if I charge the Penitent unit on the left, there is no way I can escape, and will likely eat a multi-charge from Ogre and Paladin hordes, as well as a Penitent unit in the flank. If I charge the unit on the right, I’m bringing the Ogre Captain into play. In short, I am outnumbered here. My opponent hasn’t claimed any token yet, so my plan is just to delay and make him work for it.

Combats here.

The maimed Skeletons countercharge a Penitent unit, and shuffle down. With the Penitents side-by-side from their charge, and the Skeletons aligning, I don’t think the Liche can draw line of sight to the unit the Skeletons are fighting. 

Reforms, with the fighting Soul Reavers backing up nicely to safety.

The Liche steps up and the Soul Reavers with the Blood charge the other Penitent unit. I am forced to Drain Life this unit, and heal the Skeletons via the spell. The Soul Reavers shred the Penitents and then back up to safety. The Skeletons fight their unit, landing just three damage. I believe I get a lucky Waver, but Chaplain and his aura of Fury for Villien units is nearby, so it doesn’t matter. 

An adventurous Lykanis.

The Lykanis fighting the Bowmen disengages and withdraws. He then pivots once and scampers away toward the right. I want to make use of his speed instead of fighting the Bowmen again.

Speaking of, the Soul Reavers emerge from the woods with a hindered charge into the Bowmen. They finally underperform for me, and land a measly 4 damage (half of what is expected, even with the hindered charge!) and the Bowmen are left wavering on 12 damage. This is a bummer but not too concerning. The Bowmen are wavering and nothing is threatening the Soul Reavers, and I do have a little time to finish them off.

Mhorgoth repositions slightly, regenerating 2 damage and hitting one war machine with Drain Life. I will land a few damage and will rout the unit thanks to Dread, and it looks like we get a Mind Fog waver on a second war machine.

Post-combat on the left.

The Lykanis in the backfield charges the third war machine and dismantles it, victoriously changing his facing to spy the final machine and the rear of the Bowmen.

As discussed, the flying Vampire has some options. A hindered rear into the Ogre Captain doesn’t seem great, and measuring things, the Captain can’t get at the token if he does straight at it. My opponent does point out that he can Nimble pivot and come at it from the edge of the woods, but in the end, I decide that that’s ok. If I fight and fail, the Ogre can still grab the token, so I opt for what I think of as the safer play against, the Dictator, but fail to best him. The hero is steady, and Iron-Resolves a point back as he readies himself for another round. 

Top of Round 4: Brothermark

The Dictator stabs at the Vampire again, and again grounds him. 

The Ogre Captain nimbly sprints up to secure a second token for the Brothermark.

The wavering Bowmen stare down the Soul Reavers unconvincingly.

The Ogre Captain proves his worth, grabbing a token.

Nearer the center, one Phoenix flaps up to mostly block line of sight for the Lykanis, spraying sparks into him as well to take the werewolf up to 6 damage. 

The Penitents utilize the Fury aura and continue fighting the Skeletons, and the Ogre Palace Guard moves in to help mop up and kill things. If memory serves, the Lykanis can’t see the Ogre unit, but can spy the rear of the Penitents, however, if I take that charge, I will slide down to align, and stop right in front of the Ogre unit. More hard decisions for my heroic units!

Charges form the Brothermark.

The second Phoenix moves up and sprays into the Soul Reavers with the Blood, landing 3 damage. My opponent positions things well here, and the Ogres have range and can see me between the Penitents and Phoenix, but my Soul Reavers cannot reach the Ogres.

The Soul Reavers on the hill take a Penitent multi-charge. Bane Chant lands, but the vampire unit holds firm. Still, we are fighting atop a token, and two units of Penitents are enough to secure it for the Brothermark, making it 3:0 in their favor.

Lucky reforms from the Brothermark.

The Ogre unit counter-charges the Mummies with the Paladins joining in with a hindered flank charge. The Mummies are devastated and routed, as is proper. Against a troop though, reforms are tricky. Luckily, the Ogres overrun for 6”, allowing the Paladins room to swivel and reposition too.

With my Vampire pivoting last turn, my hopping the line isn't as likely, so the Ogre Captain pivots as well, zoning out a different landing spot now.

Bottom of Round 4: Undead

The flying Vampire takes this moment to spring out. Using the woods, the Ogre Captain can’t see him, and so the Vampire lands to see the flanks and rears of a number of Brothermark units, while being safe from any actual units. 

Movement from the Undead.

The Soul Reavers with Wrath counter-charge some Penitents, landing 10 damage, but the double-rally pays off, and the unit holds, wavering.

The Soul Reavers with Blood flank-charge the other unit and devastate and rout them, as is proper. 

The Liche essentially held to prevent the Reavers from sliding down to align. He casts a Drain Life to aid the Skeletons, who deal a couple damage as well, and will waver their Penitents.

Reforms for the Undead, with more Penitents surviving that I would like.

In victory, the flanking Soul Reavers will change facing. Looking to proactively address the board state, we determine that the Ogres can still reach just the Reavers next turn, should the Phoenix move. Pesky angles.

The singed Lykanis decides to charge the Phoenix. Grounding and disordering it seems fine.

Mhorgoth lurks, casting a Drain Life into the remaining Arbalest, but the unit sticks around unbothered, and either he regenerates the rest or I remember to apply Drain Life this time. I think the second spell goes to waste. This is an error. With Drain Life connecting, the war machine is already taking a test, but Mind Fog would contribute Shattering, so I should have done that. 

Fighting out on the left.

Now unhindered, the Soul Reavers tear through the Bowmen, devastating and routing them, as is proper. We are fighting on a token here, and the Soul Reavers are able to secure it at the end of the turn.

Reforms out on the left.

The flying Vampire brings the Dictator to 10 damage or thereabouts, and is able to get the rout. Unfortunately the overrun is just 1”, so I will need to spend another full turn with the flying Vamprie to claim this token.

At the end of the round, it’s 3:1 in favor of the Brothermark, which isn't where I want to be, but I think I still have a chance to keep this competitive.

Top of Round 5: Brothermark

The angles do me no favors this turn, though I also didn’t help myself any. The full pivot with the flying Vampire splits the Chaplain and Paladin on foot into to facings. Both individuals charge in, ground the flyer, and then lock him in, since he’s fighting on two fronts.

The Paladin Horde pivots and moves, eyeing the center of the field, as well as the grounded Vampire.

Charges for the Brothermark.

With the Ogres having overrun so far last turn, and the Soul Reavers failing to rout the double-rallied Penitents, the Ogre horde finds themselves in the flank of the vampiric unit, and will smash their way on through. The Penitents change facing in order to clean up the other Soul Reaver unit next turn. The Ogres will sidestep into my deployment zone, but roll low and can’t see around the hill to help next turn.

It’s close, but with the help of a spare base, the Ogres are able to get in against the Soul Reavers with the Blood of the Old King, and they’ll land 10 damage, and waver the Vampires. This the one Soul Reaver unit without a waver mitigation item, so they are screwed.

With the Chaplain called away, I don’t think the wavered Penitents fighting Skeletons get the aura, so hold, waiting for the slap fight here to continue.

The Phoenixes strongly contest my token.

The disordered Phoenix disengages and withdraws from the Lykanis, allowing the other Phoenix to shoot, landing 2 damage and wavering the werewolf!

Having secured the token out here on the left already, the Ogre Captain starts making his way around the woods, to help fight for the center in the late game. 

Bottom of Round 5: Undead

I’ve done a good job at delaying, but it mostly seems like I’ve just postponed the inevitable, with both Soul Reaver units taken out of commission on the right without having killed much. Still, we persevere.

The flying Vampire turns to face the weaker Chaplain, and this also lets him change facing to get the incoming Paladins into front-arc. I land 2 damage and the Chaplain holds, but I also Lifeleech down to just 2 damage to give a fighting chance. 

More fighting and delaying on the right.

The wavering Soul Reavers unfortunately do nothing.

The Liche hides behind taller units, while casting another Drain Life into the Penitents fighting the Skeletons and healing them down to 2 damage. They will cut the Penitents down and Lifeleech down to just 1 damage. In victory, they pivot, looking to delay as the game concludes.

The Soul Reavers with the Ale move towards the center to fight for it, and will be able to secure it next turn. I need to protect them, so Mhorgoth remains near the heavy Arbalest, casting Drain Life again, and securing the rout this turn. Again I think the second spell went to waste, and again, casting Mind Fog into here for Shattering (or into a Phoenix to fish for boxcars) would have been worthwhile.

The Soul Reavers eye the center.

I think I can endure a little Phoenix shooting in the endgame here, but throw the untouched Lykanis into one to mitigate things and protect the Soul Reavers with the Ale that are hoping to take the center. The other unit is wavered, and backs up himself I think, to threaten delaying charges as the game concludes.

On the left, the flying Vampire reins it in, flying just far enough ahead to claim the token for me this turn, making it 3:2 in favor of the Brothermark.

Top of Round 6: Brothermark

The Ogre Captain from the left makes it around the woods to threaten the center for a possible Round 7.

The engaged Phoenix hits the bothersome Lykanis for 1 damage. The unengaged Phoenix sprays into the other Lykanis, landing 1 more damage and securing another waver. The Phoenixes are diligent at camping this objective and making use of their titanic 2 Unit Strength.

Attention turns towards the center.

Damaged, and with a horde of Ogre Palace Guard in the front and Penitents in the flank, the Soul Reavers with the Blood fall, having not used the item. The Penitents overrun, and the Ogres will victoriously reform to try and face the center.

The second horde of Ogre Palace Guard start making their way around the hill, but their usefulness is limited now, this late in the game.

The Undead take some charges.

The Ogre Captain on the right enters the woods, since he no longer needs to zone out the flying Vampire, since it has been grounded.

Reforms for the Brothermark.

The Chaplain excuses himself, allowing the Paladin horde to make a charge into the flying Vampire, with the Exemplar Paladin joining in on the flank. The flier is felled, but with all the characters around, the Brothermark isn’t able to gain any ground with an overrun

Bottom of Round 6: Undead

The flying Vampire from the left stalks, hiding behind the trees while spying the central token for a possible Round 7.

The Soul Reavers move in and secure the center, making sure to pivot to get the Ogre Captain in front-arc, and the wavering Lykanis holds, keeping the Reavers Inspired for now. 

I need to make a play for my final token. The Lykanis counter-charges. The Liche hops up and readies Drain Life, though the spell fizzles entirely. Skeletons move into position. I can’t remember if they had an innate charge, or if Mhorgoth had to Surge them in, but they do get into the flank of the fiery Bird, and Mhorgoth does fly up to add his Drain Life (and maybe Surge) here as well. The Undead will devastate and rout the Phoenix, and the Lykanis and Skeletons are able to overpower the remaining Phoenix and secure the token for the Undead. 

All tokens have been razed, but the Undead control the center for a 4:3 score at the end of Round 6.

End of Round 6.

…but I do roll us up a Round 7!

Top of Round 7: Brothermark

There’s a prayer, but a lot needs to go right for the Brothermark to win. 

The Paladin and Paladin horde charge the Skeletons, though we realize this fight doesn’t matter.

The Brothermark try to claim the center.

The Ogre Captain makes his charge, with the Phoenix joining in the flank. This brings 3 Unit Strength into the center, to equal the claim of the Soul Reavers. Four damage is done, but the Vampires hold. 

Bottom of Round 7: Undead

My opponent concedes on his turn. While the center is indeed tied currently, my remaining flying Vampire has a flank charge into the Ogre Captain. Even if I don’t best the Ogre, we’re fighting right on the token, and the charge itself will swing this back into my favor for the final possible turn,

Positioning upon concession.

That makes this a 4:3 victory for the Undead!

Game Conclusions

Watching the lead slip away was concerning, and the midgame was rough. I thought I had a tie in me, but the Undead managed to pull off a win! I gotta be happy with my play and decisions. Even though I did not get the Soul Reavers into meaningful combats, they were a threat that the Ogres needed to stay and deal with (the Penitents couldn’t do it alone), and delaying on the right meant that the Brothermark was pulled into a corner and unable to make a strong play for the center at the end. I lost most of my units, but ended up winning the scenario, which always makes for an interesting game!

Looking across the table, I really liked this approach for the Brothermark. The previous calvary facet was interesting, but this approach felt more focused: intent on shooting and supporting a slow push. The Ogre Captains did well, as expected, and I’m sure they’ll be a staple of the list soon enough! We’ll see what the next iteration looks like, as combined arms looks like a really fun and engaging way to play.

Testing Conclusions

• Skeleton Warriors with Two Handers. It was neat to face off against the Penitents, and neat the see the differences in use. With Auras and such, the Brothermark went compact and layered more while the Undead spread out the
• Soul Reavers. Ultimately, they played the scenario and not for kills. They weren’t flashy and exciting to use here, but they got me the win, so they did well. I need to give the items and actually use the Blood of the Old King before I can decide on if I like this item assortment or not, but three regiments was fun to use, and playing low-to-the-ground helped me avoid the Brothermark shooting and play some line of sight games.
• Mhorgoth the Mandatory. It unfortunately not a unique pick, but I think I need to go with the flow here and run him as he does so much for an MMU style list like this.
• Liche with BC and Drain Life. I only used Drain Life this game, as I didn’t need BC vs Penitents. I did recognize that I was not using Conjurer’s Staff at all, and unfortunately just had to accept it. It is a good item, and I like the loadout, I did not have the brainpower to remember this, and positioning was more important. 
• Mummy Troops. As-mentioned at the top, they are not exactly chaff,  but often used in that role due to their small footprint, and I did put them in that role here. I think Undead troop-heavy play probably works better with a Shambling-focused list, where you are actively hunting for tricky Surge charges. I did not dislike them this game, but think there are probably better options for this playstyle. More thoughts to come on this in the coming months, I think.
• Lykanis Duo. The Lykanis is a fabulous tool for fighting Phalanx! They wavered a lot this game, but my opponent needed to commit stuff to waver them, so they were still threatening things and drawing attention. I’ve bemoaned their price before, but after a few games now, think they are probably at a decent price point since the high speed can be so darn impactful.
• Pegasi Vampire Duo. I still think these are a bit overpriced for what you get though. I think part of that would be nebulous balance reasons, where you make the Undead pay a premium for a unit that goes so hard against the style of rest of the army. These didn’t shine, but applied good pressure given their speed. 
• Undead Scoring Heroes. Having run the duos separately and been whelmed, I think the double duo was key. Having four small-but-speedy heroic units was a lot for my opponent to track. The Dictator or something would interdict one, but it was hard to contain or account for everything. 
• Undead MMU. I have other, more typical things I want to try with this army, but this has been a very fun playstyle for the Undead, and I’ll be returning to it far more often than not.
• Reporting. We wanted to fit in two games, so I was trying to play fast. Note-taking suffered slightly, but I got the gist, and picture-taking was mostly complete as well. I’ve played fewer games, but been forming better habits here, so we’ll count that as a win.

It was a great game and it felt good to be rolling dice and stressing just about little dudes for a bit. A big thank you to my opponent for fitting this in and for hosting too! We were able to fit in two games, and the rematch should be up soon!