Intro and Lists
Schedules briefly aligned and I was able to sneak in a game against friend, fellow KoW blogger, now KoW app developer, and all-around good guy Trevor. With several years of experience now, he's back and revisiting one of his early, powerful builds for the Northern Alliance, messing around with Ice Elementals in addition to the newer Frostclaws. He brought the following:
I dusted off the Kingdoms of Men, which apparently haven't seen the table much in around *checks notes* wow, looks like eight or nine months. I considered them my main army for much of 3rd here, but it seems that in my never-ending quest to explore new lists they've really fallen by the wayside in favor of more challenging armies like the Herd. I have one more Masters prep game on the horizon against Rob and his ravenous Halflings with me proxying and fielding a "flying circus" style list that he wanted to face, so I wanted to run something in that vein ahead of time to wrap my head around things, so here we are.
Leading this list are three Generals on Winged Beasts, and we have the two new Wizards on Pegasus to support with some small Lightning Bolts. A ridiculous Knight horde is around to smash things, and we have three Pike regiments and a Shield Wall regiment to pin things down, supported by two ASBs. We have a Chariot horde to interdict, and a potentially strong shooting component with a horde of Crossbowmen and three Ballistae. Since it has been so long, we'll comment and evaluate everything:
- Shield Wall with Orb of Towering Presence. I had points left over. They might not last long in a fight, but and this seemed like a fun pick for scenario play, particularly objective play, and could pull off some sneaky tricks with abnormally high unit strength. We'll see how they do.
- Pike Regiments. Tried and true and tough for opponents to deal with in melee thanks to Ensnare and Phalanx. I haven't really played around with them and the Lifeleech 2 ASBs yet, so we'll see how sticky they can be. I unfortunately didn't have the points for Indomitable Will, so we'll need to trust in the dice gods to keep them steady and holding opposing units up properly.
- Crossbowmen horde with Fire Oil. I like my horde of Crossbowmen. It's not flashy or terribly strong, but as a horde they can be hard to remove, and often find ways to be useful for scenario play, and can usually contribute a damage or two at range too, provided they hold still. Trevor likes his Penitent Bowmen for similar reasons, so he's unlikely to completely ignore them or underestimate them, but we'll see what they can do.
- Knight Horde with Brew of Strength. I don't often run the Knight horde. It can be fun and devastating on the charge, but it is just so unwieldy. My plan here is to keep these back and just threaten charges to slow things down in order let my shooting do some work.
- Charioteers with Mead of Madness. I needed unlocks, and did not want to deal with infantry hordes. I'm investing a lot in my shooting, so I wanted ways to protect and interdict for them, and the Chariots fit the bill nicely, so we'll give them another try. We're even taking the shooting option try try and squeeze a little more utility out of them. We'll see if I actually use the bows, and how the unit does in general, as it's got a pretty wide base. The Mead was spare points, and I figured a little extra reach might not hurt on interdiction duty.
- Ballistae. I quite like these cheap war engines. Hitting on 4's is amazing, and for expected damage they should be our most points-efficient shooters. They are still war machines though, so they can be swingy, but hopefully weight of fire from three will help them out.
- ASBs with BC and Heal. I will again take this opportunity to say I don't like the conditional Lifeleech, even at Lifeleech 2, which is a very niche and unfluffy rule tacked on to a very generalist army. I haven't tried much Lifeleech 2 yet though, so we'll try and stick these near the Pikes and see how sticky everything can get.
- Wizards on Pegasi with Lightning Bolt. Newcomers! The a la carte spells are really neat, and while one could even run them without spells and just have a 65 point flying and scoring unit for scenario play, I opted for Lilghtning Bolts on mine, given the all the additional shooting I have.
- Triple Generals on Winged Beasts. I've run two for quite some time, and we're trying a meaner list, so we're bringing out the recently hobbied up third. They will wound most things on 2's, but really need multi-charges to effectively break anything. We'll try to use these as pressure pieces first, and hammers second.
I quite liked the list I came up with. The flying Beast Cavalry with all the upgrades is the new hotness for the army, but that's not my style, and really dig the emphasis on normal units I have going most of the time with my collection. Trading lists, I lucked out with the match-up, as he has some softer targets with the Frostclaws, and plenty for my Fire-Oil to interact with. I knew I wanted to deploy and play conservatively, and regardless of scenario, the hope was that I could slow things down long enough for my shooting investment to pick off some units, and then use my flying elements to take over later and play the scenario.
Table and Terrain
Trevor was kind enough to host our game, as I've been dealing with two new cats the last few weeks, and I wasn't sure how they'd react to a big table with miniatures, and my gut said "not well". He had set up a table by the time I had arrived, using his new app, and we got down to it, with him winning the rolls for sides, and placing the first tokens for Protect and Raze, a new(ish) version of Raze from the big 3rd Edition book.
For Protect and Raze, 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.
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| Overview of the table. Being a smaller guy, it was hard to get a decent overview shot! |
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.
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| View from the left. |
Left-to-right the Northern Alliance deployed on the line, and had an Angled Cavern Dweller, eager to advance towards the NA token on the far left, then a Snow Troll Prime, both Ice Elementals, with Snow Foxes in reserve behind one, Serakina betwixt the hordes, and the rallying Thegn hiding behind the other horde. The Naiad horde was bare-bones and was found next, with a Snow Troll Prime supporting, and some Dwarf Clansmen holding down the wing. The second Dwarf Clansmen regiment was out on the right hiding behind the woods, and wary of my shooting, the Frostclaw Champion came down beside, and a Frostclaw horde behind, all hidden from my shooting elements. On the far right, the second horde of Frostclaws came down, as far away from my shooting as it could.
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| View from the center. |
I had a drop advantage. Wary of the Frostclaws, I started deploying just about everything back enough so that they wouldn't have any first-round shots. On the left, defending a narrow corridor, we have the Chariot horde, and Pikes, with the Healing ASB and my newest flying General. The building split the line a bit.
The Naiads were an early drop, so I countered with my Crossbowmen, and set up a strong shooting contingent centrally, since there was a wide field of view. We have a Wizard, Crossbowmen, second Wizard, and all three Ballistae around. We then have the Knight horde pretty centrally, with Pikes ready to claim the woods, and with a second flying General in reserve, along with the Bane Chanting Army Standard Bearer.
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| View from the right. |
My right was rather sparse, with the Shield Wall, third flying General, and the third Pike regiment way out here. Against the Frostclaws, this isn't ideal, but the plan will be to layer up and try to tie them down. As we've seen before, once they are disordered and grounded, they are easier to deal with.
For deployment, I wanted to use the building to protect the flank of the Crossbowmen, but I figured I'd have to move them eventually, and didn't want to deal with the leader point in terrain, so they ended up pretty far over. This had a cascading effect on my line, with the Ballistae nice and central, but not wanting to mess with their ling of sight, they unfortunately pushed the unwieldy Knight horde out to where they would need to deal with the woods. This isn't ideal, but I was looking to pressure with them and explicitly not looking to make any early charges, so I figured I could probably deal with this inconvenience. Overall, I was ok with my deployment, and deploying my shooting early had scared the Frostclaws away, which was a nice bonus.
My opponent won the roll for deciding turn order, and opted to go first. This would let him gain a little ground before my shooting could begin, and if he is quick enough, might be able to box me off of my objectives.
Top of Round 1: Northern Alliance
On the left, the Cavern Dweller and Snow Troll Prime move up, but tentatively. The 19” threat range on the Chariots has him concerned as he doesn’t want to get gummed up and delayed yet.
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| Overall, a cautious advance from the Northern Alliance on the left, |
The Ice Elementals shamble ahead, but have no shots, and he’s wary of blindly surging ahead, so they stay put.
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| A ponderous center. |
Centrally, the Naiads, Snow Troll Prime and Dwarf Clansmen all tentatively advance as well, keeping pace with the Speed 4 Dwarfs.
On the right, the Dwarf Clansmen tiptoe through the woods, and the Frostclaws look to set up some future trades.
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| A daring Frostclaw Champion, but the hordes are squeamish. |
The Frostclaw Champion gets into range of the flying General on the right, daring a solo charge from me. The Frostclaw hordes don’t have any shots, so advance tentatively, projecting threat and waiting to see what I will do.
Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men
I want to try and contain the Frostclaws out here. My flying Generals don’t typically break anything on their own, but the Dwarfs are too far away to help next turn, so the General goes in. Pikes in the woods pivot to support him, and present their front arc to the Frostclaw hordes. Dealing with the woods, the Knight Horde moves slowly into the woods, getting their leader point into the terrain, in order to see protect the fighting flying General fighting solo.
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| The General flies out to challenge the Frostclaw Champion. |
The central general comes over to help zone things out, but stays out of range himself, and eventually the Shield Wall turn to deny any easy landing zones. Forcing the issue, the Pikes on the far right march up as far as they can, while keeping both hordes in front arc.
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| A quick victory for the General! |
The single combat out here goes very well, with the General landing 5 hits, converting that into 5 damage, and then some hot Nerve checks will even rout the Frostclaw Champion. The General will reform to face the Frostclaws hordes. The Champion was the only source of Inspiring out here, so this feels great.
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| Positioning in the center. |
As mentioned, the Knights stuck their leader point into the woods. This isn’t ideal, but they’ve got a wide base, and are still actually threatening the Dwarfs as well as protecting the General.
All my shooting goes into the nearest Ice Elemental horde. One Wizard lands 1, the second lands 0, the Crossbows roll hot with 5 damage, and a few Ballista shots connect and Blast into 4 damage. It’s close, but the unconditional Rally from the Thegn saves the unit when I go to test.
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| Positioning out on the left. |
On my left, the Chariots, Pikes, General and ASB all moves up a bit. I stay just over 20” away from the Ice Elementals. They can move and shoot to threaten stuff 18” away, but I want to force a Surge out of my opponent and not give them a free target just yet.
Top of Round 2: Northern Alliance
With my hesitation to move out, the Northern Alliance seize the initiative on the left. The Snow Foxes scamper ahead and will burn a token. The Cavern Dweller moves forward aggressively, but is angled. The wide base of the Chariots means I cannot multi-charge the Dweller, as they can’t shuffle off the table to make room. The Prime moves up, safe from everything but the General, and the uninjured Ice Elementals lumber ahead. My opponent does try to Surge them, but needs 3 successes to get them into shooting range, and only lands 2 with the spell.
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| The Northern Alliance closes in. |
The maimed Ice Elementals back up slightly, and Serakina will Radiance of Life them down to 9 damage. Backing up give them cover from much of my shooting, and more importantly, will get them out of range of my Crossbows, and this move will give me some hard choices next turn with target priority.
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| Overview of the left and center. |
The Naiads move up, providing cover. The Snow Troll Prime repositions, and I think the Dwarfs back up a half inch to deny my Knights a potential charge over here.
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| Movement on the right. |
On the right, the Dwarfs move up, and should now be threatening my victorious flying General, albeit with a hindered charge.
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| Aftermath of shooting on the right. |
The Frostclaw Hordes get (most) things in front arc, and keep away from most of the infantry charges. They shoot and land a combined 11 into the only infantry unit threatening to charge them, the Pikes on the far right, and the unit will indeed be popped, with the Northern Alliance getting the first rout of the game.
Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men
The Frostclaw units avoided the infantry, but my Generals are in range, and one even has a flank charge into an opposing horde, that my opponent didn't catch. The Generals solo charge the Frostclaws, as the intent is to ground them and then reinforce with infantry in the coming turns.
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| Both the Generals go in, with one getting a sneaky flank. |
The Pikes move up, and the Shield Wall is forced to end on the obstacle, as I need to be presenting a front to the far horde for safety reasons.
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| Another victory to the General on the gray bird. |
Combats out here again go well enough. In the front, one general lands 4 damage, grounding his horde. The flanking General lands 9, and is able to pop his uninspired horde with a good Nerve check. He spins around to face the flank of the other horde.
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| The Knights horde gets out of the woods to be extra threatening. |
With the Frostclaws grounded, the Knight horde is able to pivot and move up and out of the woods, threatening the Naiads, Prime and Dwarfs while being safe themselves. Being a huge unit, I was using a spare base underneath to mark their true location.
My shooting is unfocused this turn, as I am splitting fire to be shooting at stuff with the least penalties. A Wizard flits up near the knights, and eventually shoots into the Snow Foxes, landing 1 damage, with the Chariots contributing another 2, but the Foxes hold fast when it is time to check.
Crossbows land 6 into the Naiads, with a Ballista contributing 2 more, but as the horde, the Naiads hold. Yes, they have regeneration, but my hope is that enough damage should stick round-to-round to soften them up, at least that is the hope.
The other two Ballistae shoot into the Ice Elementals, landing 3 to bring them to 12, but the Nerve check is low and they hold on too. Focusing-fire is usually very wise, especially against any healing, but spreading it out wasn’t terrible here as my shooters are not under pressure yet. Spreading it out was more akin to gambling, and I just didn’t get any lucky wavers or routs here.
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| Shots go into a wide variety of things, and the Pikes make a delaying charge. |
On the left, spacing is tight. I wanted to put the Pikes into the Cavern Dweller and the Chariots into the Snow Foxes, but I can only make one charge. So the Pikes go into the Dweller, landing 2, and the chariots hold and shot.
In retrospect, the Chariots have Steady Aim, so I should have sidestepped the Chariots to prevent the Snow Foxes from being able to charge my General, and/or repositioned the General out to the edge of the table.
Top of Round 3: Northern Alliance
Ever-cognizant of the scenario, the lucky Foxes eschew fighting, and nimbly pivot and scamper away, to claim a second objective for the Northern Alliance, making the game 2-0 in their favor.
The Cavern Dweller thumps 5 into the Pikes and wavers them. I forgot to mention Ensnare here, but it was the Nerve check not the damage that stung me here, so we let the result stand.
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| The Cavern Dweller tears into the Pikes while the Ice Elementals fling their shards. |
The maimed Ice Elementals shamble up into range, and we let the other horde back up but keep their leader point onto the hill to see things, though I believe this one gets a penalty. Both will shoot into the Chariots, landing just 8 damage, and the unit holds.
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| A bit of a standoff in the center. |
The Naiads give a front, but with the Thegn on one side and the Snow Troll Prime on the other, I cannot align the very wide Knights to them, nor can I really slip past the Snow Foxes. The Naiads regenerate a few damage, and get a Radiance of life heal from Serakina, and end the turn at just 5 damage, and are safe from charges.
The Snow Troll Prime moves up a bit, but the Dwarf Clansmen move up more, protecting him, and since the Knights cannot get to him with one pivot, the Prime is safe from knightly charges too.
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| Scrums on the right. |
On the right, the Frostclaws thump 4 damage back onto the flying General and ground him, but do not break him. The Dwarfs reposition in order to face him.
Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men
On the right, a flying General has a Flank charge into the Frostclaw horde, and with everything else, that is probably a rout. I think I have the unit advantage here though, especially if I can get the Bane Chant ASB over, so he flies 20” away to threaten the rest of the Northern Alliance while the other units slug it out over here for the single tokens.
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| Some charges on the right. |
The grounded flying General goes back into the Frostclaws, with the Pikes joining in with a hindered charge. The General lands just 3, and the Pikes land 2 to bring the horde to 9, but the horde holds on. I forget to move the ASB up, and the Shield Wall unit awkwardly leave the fence.
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| Charges in the middle. |
The Knight horde gathers up speed and makes a clean charge into the Dwarf Clansmen, and will obliterate them. There is no way anything gets into my flank, so they overrun for two inches.
The Wizard near the Knights teams up with the Chariots on the left to shoot into the maimed Ice Elementals. The Wizard contributes 1 and the Chariots land 2 to bring them to 14. They are still Rallied, but I think 4’s is enough to pick them up, and it turns out to be correct.
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| Reforms in the middle, still preserving some of the firing lane. |
Firing a Ballista or two into the Ice Elementals would have probably been wiser to lock in the rout, but instead all shoot into the Naiads, landing 5 damage total, and a stray Lightning Bolt contributes another 1, bringing them up to 11 damage, but the horde holds. Again, the horde has Regeneration, so this damage isn’t going to stick, but we are accruing more and more on them, so I guess this is working alright, even if it isn't great.
Instead of shooting, the Crossbowmen make a hindered charge through the field into the flank of the Foxes. We’ll bring them to 9 damage total, and will get the rout. After the fight, the Crossbowmen are just within charge range of the Snow Troll Prime. Disordering them would be an amazing job for him, so the Crossbows back up in victory, and escape.
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| A lone charge on the left, due to the Pikes wavering and the Chariots not being Nimble. |
On the left, the wavering Pikes catch a Heal 1, getting down to 4. The Chariots hold, shooting into and routing the Ice Elementals as mentioned already. Again, they have Steady Aim, so I should be moving them around a bit here to create space for them to be threatening charges.
The Ice Elementals are scariest when they can shoot and surge, so I want to limit that. The flying General on the left makes a solo charge into the untouched Ice Elemental horde, landing 3 damage and getting the disorder. Getting the first hit, I can probably last at least one round against them, and hopefully that is enough.
Top of Round 4: Northern Alliance
On the left, the Cavern Dweller will counter-charge the Pikes. He’s properly Ensnared this time, but lands another 5 and will break the regiment and then overrun. My opponent lucks out as the overrun is long enough that the Chariots are boxed in, but not far enough that I’ll get a flank charge into the Dweller.
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| A victorious overrun from the Cavern Dweller. |
The nearby Snow Troll Prime turns to face the rear of the flying General, who takes 6 from the counter-charging Ice Elementals, but holds.
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| A delaying charge from the Snow Troll Prime. |
The Naiads reposition, regenerating a few and getting back down to 9 damage while protecting a token, and the Snow Troll Prime goes in to tie up the Knight horde, landing 2 damage and getting a disorder.
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| Separate charges from the Northern Alliance. |
On the right, the disordered Frostclaws countercharge the flying General, overperform, and land 6 damage to bring him to 10 damage, and good Nerve checks see the General broken! The Dwarfs make a hindered charge into the Pikes, and are Ensnared. They slip two damage in, and spike the Nerve check for a Waver.
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| And some great Nerve checks! |
It’s a very lucky turn for my opponent, especially our here on the right. In retrospect, keeping both Generals out here might have been a better call.
Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men
The right is a mess now. The Pikes are in the way, and the Shield Wall can’t reach anything. The Shield Wall are also too far way to get over to protect the last token from my opponent, so they shuffle, facing front. The Pikes hold.
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| The Wizard zaps the Frostclaws and manages to pick them up even! |
The nearby Wizard on Pegasus wheels around, keeping out of arc of the Frostclaws. The Wizard zaps the Frostclaws for 1 damage, and uninspired, I am thankfully able to rout the horde, relieving a ton of pressure. If I can bring the ASB around, I think I can still bully the Dwarfs for both his token and mine. However, the ASB holds for now. I couldn't really move him closer to the infantry blocks without providing an easy out and possible charge to the surviving Frostclaws. So he stays put, with the intention of casting a Bane Chant on the Knights, but I forget to do so.
The Knights counter-charge the delaying Snow Troll Prime. They are disordered, but overperform a bit, landing 12 damage. Unfortunately, the Nerve check is a 3, and the Prime is just wavered, while still holding the horde up. Bane Chant probably would have made this combat all but assured, but alas. With the Frostclaws gone now, and a great shooting phase, things still going well for me overall.
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| The Knights stall out. |
One Wizard peeled off to zap the Frostclaws. The other goes to do the same, but the Frostclaws are farther away than I thought, even with a proper fly to get close. Instead this Wizard stays central, attempting a Lightning Bolt into the Naiads but landing no hits. The Ballistae and Crossbowmen loose into the Naiads as well, landing 8 new damage in total, bringing the horde up to 17. This Nerve check goes better, and the Naiads are shot and scattered.
I’m busy shooting to deal damage, and realized I forgot to cast Heal on the left as well as Bane Chant this turn. Oops. I’ve already tested some units in the ranged phase, so force myself to roll with it.
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| Fighting on the left. |
On the left, the General goes into the Ice Elementals again, looking to keep them disordered, and does, while bringing them up to 5 damage.
The Chariots finally make a charge, crashing into the Cavern Dweller, but land just 4 damage when the dust settles and Brutal won't be impactful here.
Top of Round 5: Northern Alliance
The Cavern Dweller crunches the Chariots and then reforms. However, in writing the report, it looks like my opponent did not Lifeleech the monster, as they are on 4 but should be down to just 1 damage.
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| The Northern Alliance cleans up the left completely. |
The Ice Elementals crash against the flying General again, with the Snow Troll Prime getting a rear charge in against him, and the general will be dragged down. Both units will reform to face the oncoming but delayed Knights.
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| The Snow Troll Prime stands alone. |
Serakina Wind Blasts the Crossbowmen, injuring them for 1 and pushing them back an inch.
The Snow Troll Prime regenerates from 12 down to 6, but is wavering and does nothing, as he is doing more than enough just holding up the knightly horde.
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| The Dwarfs slip another damage into the Pikes, though they hold firm this time. |
On the right, the Dwarfs fight the Pikes, but are Ensnared, and land just 1 damage. The Nerve check is average this time, and the Pikes hold on their 3 damage.
Bottom of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men
On the right, I am able to get both regiments in against the Dwarfs, and remember to move the ASB over, slightly. With a unit advantage, I opt to move slowly and Bane Chant the Pikes, and am not able to bring the arua close enough, nor get the regiments Inspired. The infantry fight, but the Dwarf Clansmen easily hold.
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| The Dwarf Clansmen hold firm against two regiments. |
The lone remaining flying general nimbly flies out in my opponent’s deployment zone, threatening some different angles of attack against the remaining units.
The Knight horde crashes back into the Snow Troll Prime, and will pick him up on the second try. I think I need 2 on the die to overrun and secure the nearby token in order to get on the scoreboard, but don’t get the distance. The Northern Alliance are still winning at 2-0.
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| The Kingdoms of Men still have two objectives out here on the right... |
The Crossbowmen have surprisingly clean shots into the Snow Troll Prime, and land 4 damage, and we do get a lucky waver against him. The Healing ASB starts making his way back towards the Crossbowmen, and will heal them for 1 and get them back down to 0 damage.
The Ice Elementals took some scratches from the General, but they have been assisted with Radiance of Life those turns as well. The Ballistae all shoot into the unit, most of the shots miss, and we just bring him up to 7 damage. I think we fish for a Waver and target Serakina with Lightning Bolts, but everything zaps past her.
Going into Round 6, the Northern Alliance is still leading 2-0.
Top of Round 6: Northern Alliance
The wavering Snow Troll Prime holds on the hill. The Ice Elementals move into range, get a Radiance of Life to get down to 6 damage, and then fling into the Knights, who end the turn on 6 damage themselves. I think Serakina needed to Surge the Elementals into range though, as I cannot recall what else she may have done.
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| Movement on the left. |
The Cavern Dweller moves up as much as he can, threatening the Knights. I have flank charge into the monster with the Crossbowmen, but it’s hindered, and I won’t be able to delay the monsters, so this is a fine move.
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| The Dwarf Clansmen aren't fighting, but continue to be excellent roadblocks. |
On the right, with a 1v2 regimental fight, the Dwarfs are on 5 damage, and opt to disengage but stay put, and keep both of my units in front-arc. He’s blocking me from this token, and I can’t get around the Dwarfs, so they are doing a great job out here. I’ll need to chance it and fight my way through.
Bottom of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men
On the right, The ASB moves up to assist, but Bane Chant fails to manifest. I think I am just out of range for his Lifeleech Aura too, which is a bummer. Both regiments go in, and bring the Dwarfs up to 11 damage, and will rout the uninspired unit. I need a 3+ to get close enough to claim the token. The Shield Wall flub with an overrun of 2, but the Pikes come through with a 6 to land atop the objective, and will burn it to get me on the board.
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| Messy positioning from me. These should be shoulder to shoulder. But the Pikes make it to the token! |
In the center, I measure, and the Cavern Dweller is 16 inches or so from the center, and essentially won’t be able to claim it, and so my goal is to position to deny the monster good charges. I’m at the bottom of the Round, and this positional game is enough for a Round 6, but I am wary of Round 7, so my shooting lights him up. Unfortunately, I am almost certain my opponent forgot to Lifeleech the Dweller after his fight against the Chariots, so the monster starts on 4, and most of my shooting goes into him, bringing him up to 13, and I do get the rout.
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| The Crossbowmen and Ballistae lock and load. |
The Knights charge the Ice Elemental horde cleanly, as they just miss the pond for shuffling down to align. We land 19 damage to bring them up in the 20’s, and the horde is devastated and routed, as is proper. Victorious, the Knights spin, helping to claim an objective.
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| Final positions for Round 6, ready to raze some tokens for the win. |
However, I’ve buried the lede, and my fliers have already done good work for the scenario in the movement phase. With the Ice Elementals moving up, a Wizard is able to fly 20” and claim the far left objective, and the last flying General is able to fly up and grab the one the knights failed to overrun into last turn, claiming it now, and with their additional help. The second Wizard is able to claim the center while denying the Cavern Dweller a charge before it was shot off, and with the Pikes overrunning on the right, the Kingdoms of Men violently swing this into a 4-2 victory in the bottom of 6!
Game Conclusions
What to do in Round 3 with the grey General was a big decision point. The safer play would have been to fight and get a quicker rout against the remaining Frostclaws, but being greedy paid off for me, thanks to the Wizard.
I definitely had some misplays and forgetful moments, and my shooting was rather unfocused in the middle turns, but I had a good overall plan going into the game, and was able to keep to it.
Restating things, I wanted to deploy back and safe to mitigate early danger from the Frostclaws, and delay the Ice Elementals, and figured I’d be playing behind and defensively until my shooting could claim a few units. That eventually happened, and even with a lucky Round 4 for my opponent to scare me on the right, the Kingdoms of Men soldiered on, and preserved enough scoring units for strong plays as the game concluded.
Testing Conclusions
- Shield Wall with the Orb of Towering Presence. I tripped myself up a bit out on the right, first with terrain and then with units. I didn’t get any sneaky bullying plays in with the Shield Wall, but a little extra oomph if all I needed from them to prevail out here. They did fine, and while I won’t be scrambling to fit this into other lists, it could be a neat trick to have for the future.
- Pike Regiments. One was shot off, and the remaining two each had some wild wavers, so whenever possible, the Indomitable Will upgrade looks like a good buy for them. I didn’t need them to do much, just get in the way, so in the end they all did ok.
- Crossbowmen horde with Fire Oil. Unfortunately, playing so defensively they weren’t able to play the scenario at all, but with so much shooting in the list, they were still able to help throughout the game.
- Knight Horde with Brew of Strength. They are very expensive, but using them more conservatively while trying to leverage my shooting was wise. They definitely earned their points back, and ending the game on just 6 damage is no joke. Despite some early positioning concerns, these were ultimately used very well.
- Charioteers with Mead of Madness. Deploying a wide unit on the edge is a mistake, they got boxed in and struggled a bit as I was reluctant to move them, but I should have. That was a pretty tight corridor though, and since I was trying to delay out on the left and occupy the Cavern Dweller for as long as possible, this was ultimately fine. Giving them the bows was a good purchase though, letting them contribute after getting boxed in.
- Triple Ballistae. I considered spreading them around, but with more and more Northern Alliance stuff coming down on the left, placing them together and centrally, and near the Crossbowmen were all good calls. They had good lanes overall and only took a few shots with cover penalties. Given my longer-range shooting, these applied a lot of pressure even during deployment, and worked well overall.
- ABSs with BC and Heal. I was a little forgetful with them, and the items were hit-or-miss, as items can be, but these were ok overall. I also didn’t get any Lifeleech interactions this game. Again, it’s a frustrating aura to be given. For a jack-of-all-trades army, something like Rally, even conditional to just infantry and cavalry, or anti-keyworded to exclude Beasts would feel better for them.
- Wizards on Peagasi with Lightning Bolt. I’ve avoided them as they have a reputation for being strong, and they definitely delivered this game. My opponent wasn’t able to really threaten them with anything, so Lightning Bolts chipped away 1-2 damage a turn, and they survived to give me the late game win with their speed and maneuverability. Very strong picks for sure!
- Triple Generals on Winged Beasts. As repeated a lot in the blog, the more fliers and speedy things you take in a given list, the better they all tend to do as the angles and spacing and distances all get hard for an opponent to effective manage. I’ve avoided running a third General for a while, but it was very effective. My opponent stumbled a bit, accidentally giving me the early flank charge out on the right, which was enough to break that whole side open after already getting lucky to beat up and rout the Frostclaw Champion on a dare. I mostly used them to pressure and disorder and delay things this game, but that was just what was needed.
It was very enjoyable to slip away from everything for a few hours and play a game. A big thank you to Trevor for hosting and for fitting this in with me! With US Masters on the horizon later this month, be sure to check out Trevor's Data and Dice blog for some upcoming breakdowns and analysis of the event! I'm sure he'll have some interesting insights before and after, like he does with so many big events. Thanks again to Trevor for the game, and thank you for reading!
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