Kings of War 3rd Edition: #139 Herd vs Basileans in Invade

Intro and Lists

Kings of War Wisconsin had several birthdays popping up, and we tried to organize a quick meet-up to slake their thirst for dice rolling and gaming. My opponent was Steve, a newcomer to the blog, whose birthday was the day previously. The army was painted up by Joe, the other Birthday Boy, with my personal favorite being the "biblically accurate" Ur-Elohi. He had a long drive to the meetup, and said he actually hadn't played in person since the Northwoods GT. He fielded his Basileans, and had the following:

I did not catch this until I reviewed the list for the report, but he apparently purchased a Command Die, which we did not use. I have a suspicion this was the list he brought to Northwoods, and had we caught this at the time, we could have quickly swapped this out for 3 Veteran Spearmen upgrades. Alas, we did not, so he's playing down a smidge in points. 

I have not played against the Basileans much myself. The Spearmen, Foot Guard and Sisterhood Scouts are all easy to understand human units, supported by a single horde of Elohi. There was an Ancient Phoenix to support, the Ur-Elohi, and a bevy of unique units which I struggled to understand. Danor the Wizard has a neat suite of spells, and can keep casting as long as he doesn't fail; Trollcar the Seer can also chain spells with her special rule, and the Mother of Phoenixes has some nice utility as well, with a second Radiance of Life, and other spells. The regimental-focus greatly appeals to me, and aside from spellcasting, it looks like a very straightforward list to play. I like it.

I brought the Herd. I had liked playing with my Keith Conroy throwback lists recently, but wanted to move on from that. I like my Guardian Brute models, and wanted to see if tripling down on those might be viable. I had a single spear unit to hold tokens, but the list focuses on the Guardian Brutes, with three Hunter of the Wild troops to escort, two Harpies to interdict, two flying Beasts to flank, and then a BC Druid, Moonfang, and two Lycan Alphas, since I enjoyed the wolfen trio in my last game. We have run all these units before, but up to comment on is everything, as we are trying to see how the overall build works.

• Tribal Spear Regiment. I have definitely liked my Spear Hordes in the past. With a slower list I feel compelled to try and incorporate a token holder for scenario play, so we'll give a regiment of Spears a try here. The regiments are still versatile, so we'll see what trouble they can cause.
• Triple Guardian Brutes. I like the models and am intrigued by the unit. Lots of attacks, Brutal and Fury should make for a decent combat unit... though they are only Def4, and not good in a grind. Herd units are pretty expensive, so I think we'll eventually wind this down to just two hordes or somesuch, but I want to run three for my next handful of Herd games, and see what else I can learn about this unit.
• Triple Hunters of the Wild. Scout should let me play around with deployment and spacing a bit, and I'm taking three, with the general intent of sticking one with each Brute horde, and having these block for and guide the hordes into combats, allowing the Brutes to get the first charge. 
• Flying Beast of Nature. These are great when used well, and Pathfinder makes them hard to pin down and deal with if they are used wisely. They've worked well for me previously, and I want to try and keep using these for a while. 
• Druid with Bane chant and steed. The basic BC Druids are great, but the Herd doesn't have many Very Inspiring sources, and our units are so quick that I have found that I can have a lot of trouble with keeping things Inspired. We'll give the Druid on a steed, and hopefully she can get to where she needs to be while still slinging her spell.
• Lycan Alphas. I really liked my last throwback build, with double Alphas and Moonfang, so wanted to try that out again here. We'll see how the square heroic units do.
• Moonfang. I like him, but am still stress testing him a bit. We're taking him as well, and we'll see if we can instigate and hold things up for the Brutes to smash.

Table and Terrain

We were out at Gamer’s Realm in New Berlin, WI,  and if you find yourself in the area, you should check them out. As mentioned in other reports, they moved into a new shop at the start of the year, one which is far larger than their old place. It’s a bit of a labyrinth, and had a reshuffling of rooms at the beginning of the month, with separate rooms for board games, card games, war games, role playing games, in addition to being a normal shop selling all those products, plus hobbying supplies, and all sorts of things. They also have a (very dangerous) second-hand room, which got the better of me again this trip. It is definitely a shop worth checking out if you are in the area!

I used the Kings of War App from Data and Dice to generate a quick map, and 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 fields as some Height 0 difficult terrain. The shop is apparently short on 6x4 mats, so we were fighting on what can only be assumed to be the Rift that super-charged the Riftforged Orcs.

The app gave us Invade for a scenario, which seemed like a good one to pick up if Steve had not played in 6+ months. Whoever gets the most unit strength onto the opposing half of the table wins.

Overview of the table. 

For deployment, my opponent was cautious, but ended up going wide, and with some angles. The angels were final drops, but from left to right we have the Ur-Elohi, Paladins and Spears with the Mother of Phoenixes in support, a building broke things up, and then we have the Spears and Paladins with the aura upgrade, with Danor and the Ancient Phoenix in reserve. Hiding behind the hill were Paladins with Sisters in reserve, then Spearmen angled to avoid the obstacle, with Tollivar and more Sisters around. The Elohi came down angled very late, looking to outride the Herd line. I must compliment my opponent on his deployment overall. Regimental play can be difficult, and intermixing  of the various regiments served him well.

Deployment for the Herd.

Being the Herd, I wanted to avoid the obstacles, and given the scenario, decided to try a refused flank deployment, the thinking being that I should be able to punch through, and if I can pick up enough stuff along the way, that might just be game.

I have a Beast along the edge, with Brutes supported by Hunters, then Moonfang, then Harpies. Then we have angled Brutes with Hunters, the Druid, and third unit of Hunters behind, then Brutes and an Alpha with their leader points on the hill, supported by Harpies and an Alpha angled to the right. The Spears were actually my final drop, plunked out here to react. Overall, I felt ok with my deployment. While I considered putting the spears on the far left to just run to the corner and play the scenario, I put them out there to "stress test" the unit a bit, and see how they might to against the Elohi, for example.

A lot of Scout moves, as it turned out.

Oddly enough, we each had some scout moves. All my Hunters scooted ahead the maximum 10 inches, and the Sisters opposing me did the same.

I won the roll for turn order, and being the Herd and given the scenario, happily went first. 

Top of Round 1: Herd

On the left, the Hunters of the Wild moved up, offering up a charge to the Ur-Elohi, but staying just over 10" away from the Basilean infantry. The Ur-Elohi is a bit back, so the flying Beasty and Brutes are able to scoot up pretty far while staying out of his charge range as well.

Go figure, but the Herd move up.

Moonfang enters the woods, safe, and projecting a lot of threat, with Harpies in reserve.

Centrally, the screening Hunters advance, but also stay out of charge range of the opposing infantry. The rest of the lines moves up.

Bottom of Round 1: Basileans

On the right, the Elohi moves as far as they can, stopping just shy of the difficult terrain. The various infantry regiments move up to support, but stay safely out of charge range of the Brutes.

Boxed in, the Brothermark approach cautiously.

The Sisterhood Scouts shoot into the Brutes on the hill, and the dice spike hard, with each unit contributing more than double the expected damage. The Brutes are suddenly brought to double-digits of damage, and double 10's on the Nerve check will ignobly see the unit off the field as the first casualties of the game.

More hesitation on the left.

Centrally, the Ancient Phoenix holds, and is too far away to contribute with any Firesparks. I don't think Danor attempts anything this turn, though it looks like he could have attempted a Lighting Bolt.

On the left, the Ur-Elohi holds and does nothing, while the Paladins move up as counter-bait.

Top of Round 2: Herd

With the early loss of some Brutes already, I am feeling behind already, and do not like it, and try to force some issues. 

The Elohi and Ur-Elohi are the speediest units in his list, and something I want to try and deal with. I can't pop them and ground them, but if I can draw them in, we can ground and pummel them. On the left, the Hunters charge the Paladins, and after some consideration, Moonfang goes in as well. Bane Chant hits the Hunters, and the Herd deals a combined 5, doesn't break the unit, and then the Paladins Iron Resolve down to 4. 

The Herd tries a stack to deal with the Ur-Elohi.

The rest of the left stacks up with a slightly kinked line, trying to grab as many inches as possible to get the Brutes close. The Ur-Elohi can charge the Hunters or the Harpies, but doesn't have the space to align to anything else, and the Druid in the woods is just out of range. It's aggressive positioning, and I'm trying to force the head-angel to charge or flee down the line.

The Herd try to command the hill.

Centrally, both Hunters look to instigate by getting charged, and have the remaining Brutes in tow here to avenge them. The Lycan Alphas pivot to project threat out towards the right, as does the Beast. Spears take the hill, overlooking the Hunters, and should be able to help next turn. 

Harpies go into some of the Sisters, trying to tie them up. I wanted to send a Lycan in with them, but don't have the space as it turns out. I deal a nice 4, but the Sisters have Iron Resolve as well, and end the turn on 3 damage.

Bottom of Round 2: Basileans

On the right, the Elohi again move at the double, back into my deployment zone. It's a whole extra turn they aren't threatening anything, so while not ideal, I am ok with it, as long as I can start picking up some units soon.

The unengaged Sisters on the right shoot now into the Spears on the hill, and again egregiously over-perform, landing 7 damage, though the Spears thankfully hold.

More hot shooting from the Basileans.

Centrally, I offered up a lot of charges, and my opponent takes me up on many of them. The Ancient Phoenix gets nice and central, hitting all my troops with Cloak of Death, and then over-performs with its sparks into the flying Beast, landing 3 damage. 

The Sisters counter-charge the Harpies, with Spears in the flank. The blocking Paladins get Bastion, boosting their Nerve, and the Spears get a Bane Chant, and the Harpies will get picked up.

Paladins charge some Inspired Hunters, and land 5, brining the troop to 6, and the troop of trees breaks.

Spears charge the other unit of Hunters, who are not Inspired. The Spears poke 2 damage in, and a hot check sees this troop break as well, as I was not able to keep this one Inspired. 

The screen of Hunters falls.

On the left, the Mother of Phoenixes tosses a Fireball into the Harpies, but mercifully lands just 1 damage. 

The Paladins countercharge the Hunters and slide down so the Spears can charge Moonfang. The Paladins land 1 damage, and the trees hold thanks to Moonfang's inspiring. Moonfang takes 3 from the spears but holds as well.

The Ur-Elohi escapes.

The Ur-Elohi declines to charge anything, instead pivoting slightly and flying 20" forward. Due to my aggressive stack, he is able to just barely get out of arc of the Beast. He's not threatening anything, so I guess it's ok, but the game is not going great for the Herd.

Top of Round 3: Herd

On the left, I need to be pushing, but really don't like things. With the Paladins and Spears forming a line, I can't really get any multi-charges in against anything, and have lackluster options. Moonfang disengages, withdraws and heads out to the right.

Moonfang departing lets the Brutes charge the Spears, which isn't ideal, but the Druid is able to get close to land a Bane Chant. The Brutes land the expected 12 damage, and will break this unit. Shoulder-to-shoulder reforms are wonky. I probably should have backed up, just in case the Paladins break the Hunters and get a hot overrun, but elect to hold.

The Harpies fly out, and try hide behind the building.

The Beast out here is out in the cold with little to do as it just can't fit in to help. If it charged either of the infantry, the Brutes and their one pivot wouldn't be able to connect with the Spears, which seemed like the more important unit to get it. I don't like it, but it solo-charges the Mother of Phoenixs, landing 3 damage and getting the disorder, but little else.

Charges for the Herd, but my numbers are already greatly reduced.

Centrally, I also don't have great options. Given the sky-high Nerve of the Paladins, I think I need to make a triple charge into them if I am going to break them. The Brutes underperform and deal 7, the Beast deals 3, but the Spears overperform, contributing a stunning 9 damage, and enough  to devastate the opposing unit. Everything opposing me is in front-arc, so the Beast is the only one to reform, backing up an inch so that it cannot be charged.

One Lycan Alpha charges the Sisters out on the right, will land 3 damage and get a boxcar waver on the uninspired unit, preventing them from healing.

The other Alpha pivots on the hill, looking to boop the Ur-Elohi next turn. It's a scary unit, but if I can keep it to front charges only, I think the Alpha can tank for a few turns, and we'll see what we can do later.

Bottom of Round 3: Basileans

On the right, the wavering Sisters hold. The Elohi finally turn and head towards the center. The Ur-Elohi does the same, getting past the woods to spy the rear of my center line.

Some good charges for the Basileans.

The regiment trip each other up a bit. Paladins can get into the Spears, and will get a Bastion and a Bane Chant, and the Paladins will nearly devastate the Spears and then pick them up.

I didn't see it, but the Ancient Phoenix can apparently catch a sliver of Moonfang's frontage in-arc, and it goes in with a delaying charge to make use of the Phoenix's towering height. Cloak of Death hits him, the Druid and both of the Brute units. The Phoenix lands 1 in melee, and then gets boxcars for the Nerve check to waver Moonfang in an unfortunate turn of events.

The Sisters and Spears charge the Guardian Brutes, and mercifully only land 9 new damage, and the Brutes even hold with a low check. 

The Basileans look to stall out on the left.

On the left, the Mother of Phoenixes lands 1 to ground the Phoenix while regenerating 1 and using Radiance-of-Life to get rid of the last point. The Paladins again fight the Hunters, will land 2 damage, and will waver the trees on 3 damage. 

Top of Round 4: Herd

On the left, the Beast is grounded, and looses Nimble. Without fly or Nimble, and with a cluttered board, I can't really get away. It's not great, but I am pretty well stuck here now, so I countercharge. The damage is low, but we again ground the Mother of Phoenixes again, and have a unit advantage here, hoping to pick her up next turn.

Reforms for the Herd.

The wavering Hunters of the Wild disengage and back up another inch. The Brutes make a nice, clean flank charge into the Paladins, and will devastate and route the unit. I have units scoring, but am really far behind. I don't think these Brutes can do much besides score now, so in victory, they sidestep an inch, looking to make sure that I can pick up the Mother next turn.

I forget to move the Harpies, which is an error. I was hoping to get them around the back field and into some Sisters, but donk this up.

Wavering, Moonfang just holds.

The other Alpha charges the Ur-Elohi, but stuffs it overall, landing just 1 damage, which is immediately Iron-Resolved back. It's a bummer, but the Ur-Elohi is technically grounded now, so I guess mission accomplished.

The Brutes countercharge the spears, and get a Bane Chant from the Druid. It's close, but we are able to pick them up with some average checks. In victory, they spin as much as they can, and are actually a few inches out of range of the Elohi.

A blurry shot, but I wanted to show the positioning of the Elohi.

The flying Beast in the center doesn't have good options. My opponent is claiming the intervening Paladins are majority on the hill and blocking line of sight, which is a little dubious. I can't charge Tollivar, or the Spears, nor the Sisters on the far right, which is what I really want to be doing with the Beast this turn. With no great options, the Beast nimbly flies over things to threaten their rears.

The other Lycan Alpha continues on against the Sisters. I want to swiftly beat this unit and threaten the Basileans from another angle, but I cannot reinforce this fight to speed things up. This time the Lycan lands 2, and while the Sisters are uninspired, the check is low, and they Iron-Resolve down to just 4 damage, and are fresh and ready for more.

Bottom of Round 4: Basileans

On the right, the Sisters fight back, landing 2 damage into the Lycan Alpha, who holds.

More centrally, the Spears and Paladins claim a majority on the hill to block line of sight of my Beast again, with the characters hiding behind. Heals and Bastion might be attempted, but I do not recall.

The Ur-Elohi goes hard and goes 6/6 into the Lycan Alpha (3 expected), and will get a nice check to waver him as well. Ouch. With the intervening hill, the Elohi can't help out in this combat, and so fly centrally to threaten chat remains of the Herd center.

The Sisters charge the Brutes. I believe they catch a Bane Chant, and will land 4 damage to take them to 14, and rout the unit. Sticking around was unlikely, but with them fleeing the game is slipping away, and I don't think I have the killing power to remove anything else. 

Both remaining Brute hordes fall.

The Ancient Phoenix can't withdraw, but is a flier and is not disordered. The titan can see the Brutes, and surprisingly can just fit in against their rear. The bird charges out. Cloak of Death hits them to bring them to 2 damage, and the Phoenix contributes a four more to take them to six damage. I believe Moonfang is just barely Inspiring them, but two more blazingly hot checks will see the Brutes taken off the field. I think the Herd is done.

Top of Round 5: Herd

The Herd seems truly broken now, and I am just scrap mode to see what else I might be able to learn or salvage. 

The Beast goes in against the Mother, again, with the Hunters of the Wild Joining in the flank. She starts on one damage, and the Herd dishes out 8 more. I need 6's twice and don't get it, and she Iron Resolves down to 8.

The Harpies hold. I have misused them this game, but it is purposeful this time. With so little on the field now, I want to hide them, which admittedly seems a little futile by this point.

The Herd goes experimental...

Moonfang regenerates a few, and has some options. I feel like I need a multicharge to break anything, but don't think I can spare it, so go with some bad single-charges. Wary of the Elohi, Moonfang charges in, and lands 2 for the disorder.

The Beast again has very limited options. I don't think I can break the Paladins and their high Nerve, but I have a flank charge, and want to test things. The Druid hops up as far as she can. She can't get the Beast into Inspiring range, but is able to land a Bane Chant. I should get around 9 damage, but underperform for 7, and the Paladins easily hold. They are inspired, so this was unlikely, and foolish.

On the far right, the Alpha continues to struggle against the Sisters. I take them to 10, and they aren't Inspired, and I again fail to get a good check. They hold strong and Iron-Resolve down to 9.

Bottom of Round 5: Basileans

The Sister knock 2 back into the Lycan Alpha.

The Paladins counter-charge the Beast and the Spears join in the flank. Bastions, Bane-Chants and multi-casts go out, and the Beast is devastated and routed with the Spears landing a whopping 16 damage all on their own. We skip the Paladins rolling as I already need snakes, and don't get it, and the Beast flees.

...and the Basileans punish.

The Sisters charge the Druid, land 2, and waver her.

The Ur-Elohi ignores the wavering Alpha before him, and has a sliver of Moonfang in-arc, and charges in. The angel has a nice item, and amazingly goes 12/12 to hit Moonfang in the flank. The Elohi contribute 10 as well, and Moonfang pops.

The Phoenix rear-charges the Hunters out on the left, lands a few damage, and picks them up too with a good check.

Top of Round 6: Herd

There is nothing really to do. The Beast on the left does in against the Mother of Phoenixes, takes her to 11 damage... and fails to get the rout with a 3 on the Check. The Harpies fly away. The Ancient Phoenix is facing them, and I guess they are running scared.

The Herd is on the board, but barely.

A Lycan alpha can flee into the woods to score.

The Wavering Druid backs up.

The other Alpha on the far right takes the Sisters to 12, and again fails to rout the uninspired unit. 

The Herd are scoring for 4 with the Beast, both Alphas, and the Harpies.

Bottom of Round 6: Basileans

The Basileans do still need to do things to win, but unfortunately have plenty of options.

Final positioning for the end of Round 6.

Arrows from the Sisters and Lighting and Fireballs from Danor devastate and then rout the Harpies for the win, and then some Paladins are able to move at the double over the center line to also increase my opponent's score. Spears move too, but aren't able to even reach the dividing line.

The Basileans win 7:3!

Game Conclusions

Well, Steve's dice apparently missed him, and/or had some belated birthday magic that they really needed to impart. I am biased, but I feel like I had three sets rolls break my way; a strong showing from the Spears in Round 3; a hot but immaterial waver against the Sisters on the right in the top of Round 3, and the center Brutes holding on 10 damage in the Bottom of Round 3. Otherwise, the dice were astronomically one-sided this game, with units consistently putting out double the expected damage, and seemingly endless hot Nerve checks coming from the Basilean side of things.

Dice are dice, but I also definitely did not play my best game here. I admittedly spent the game a bit tilted after the surprise loss of the Brutes in Round 1. The stack on the left was ok, but I was ultimately too aggressive with it. Firstly, I'm not going to break the Paladins, so I shouldn't engage with both the Hunters and Moonfang, and should have kept my options open. Additionally, the stack should be further back so as to actually lock down the flier, or I should have kept my own flier back and safe to threaten things while the Brutes and such pushed up. Elsewhere, offering up both Hunters in the center at the same time was foolish, and in Round 5 I should have double charged to remove the Paladins and scrap, forcing tougher decisions for my opponent as the Elohi finally either tried to enter the fight, or stayed back to score; delaying the Elohi didn't really matter here. Other errors abound as well, but those seemed like the big decision points from my perspective. Overall, I let myself get bogged down in fights that I never actually even won.

Not that any of the above takes anything away from my opponent. He had plenty of chances to make silly moves himself, but he deployed exceptionally well given all the regiments, and was very patient with how he engaged. He played a strong game and deserved to come away with the win.

Testing Conclusions

• Tribal Spear Regiment. A Spear unit with TC is still quite fun, and they did good once they reached the combat, but I don't think I used these well, or that a singleton is worth it. I think I need to take a horde over early regiments of these.
• Triple Guardian Brutes. Overall they were profoundly unlucky this game, but that is also a risk of Def4. It may not be a unit worth spamming, and maybe eventually these whittle down to two hordes, but still want to try the triplicate for now. Unlucky here, so we'll keep after it and see how we feel after a few more games.
• Triple Hunters of the Wild. I liked my deployment, and my Scout moves, but I was too eager to get these into combat and so ultimately I just threw them away. I don't like the escorting chaff approach for the Brutes. I think the Herd is almost always going to be at both a drop and unit strength disadvantage, and throwing units away to get the Brutes into combat isn't going to work, so we'll drop these and this approach and try something else in the next build.  
• Flying Beast of Nature. Neither was used well. I confused the Mother and Tollivar, thinking the fight on the left wasn't great but wasn't bad and could be quickly won given the low Nerve. That's a reading error by me, and by the time I realized my error, I was grounded. Ultimately I couldn't even win that fight. The other had line of sight issues which felt like bad sportsmanship to contest in a casual game since his intent was to be on the hill. Overall, lesson learned / relearned here. and next time I will endeavor to use them more conservatively and bide my time, waiting for good multi-charges.
• Druid with Bane chant and steed. I still like them, and I think a Druid in any form seems like a good take. Given the army's general weakness to shooting, I'm going to try to give her Veil of Shadows in the future.
• Lycan Alphas. I still like the unit, but they certainly are expensive, and without equally speedy Lycan units to immediately support, they can't really do much besides disrupt for me. This is bad, because they also need to be my Inspiring sources. I could see maybe taking one with the Wingbane Cloak or something; projecting threat but sticking near my lines to help out, or keeping both but adding in a Lycan unit down the line. But I will try exploring other things, as I am paying for a lot of speed that I am not making use of with the slower Brutes.
• Moonfang. Moonfang is a better, more-expensive Alpha. I want to explore him some more, and will at least try him and some kind of Druid as bespoke slots in some future builds. If I run any Alpha, I think he gets the nod since the Regen4+ should make him better at surviving after charging out and instigating for me.

Looking at the blog history, I have technically played the Basileans once before, but that was a smaller game against a rather generic army. This list brought lots of legendary units and Elohi, which was more interesting to see. It was a tough match, but it was also good to get a newcomer to the blog! A further belated happy birthday, plus a big thanks to Steve for making a very long drive out to the meetup.

Hobby Update: Undead Deathpack

Up now are some long-awaited Deathpack for the Undead!

Two regiments of swarms. 

They caught my eye a long time ago, back in 2023 when Trevor from Data and Dice and I were both dabbling with the Undead as an "extra" army that each of us had around but didn't really play or understand much ourselves. At the time, they struck me as decent chaff for the army, since they didn't Shamble, and a worthwhile delivery system for Soul Reavers, as the Reavers could see over them when it came time for charges.

After my more serious foray with the Undead at the Northwoods GT, I splurged and secured a grouping of older GW Dire Wolves. I had a friend playing Vampire Counts back in the day, and they just looked like such cool models, that decided that I really wanted some of my own for this unit. 

Regiment the first. 

The models were second-hand from ebay, as is a lot of my stuff nowadays. Assembly on a few looks a little off, like they were using the wrong halves, but I think that adds to the disheveled look of the unit. I had cleaned them up and re-primed them long ago, but leisurely hobby time has been in regretfully short supply this summer. 

Things slowed down a bit in late July, allowing me to bring out paints and sit down for a few hours here and there again, and I was able to crank these out in a very productive evening session, since the colors are so basic.

Regiment the second.

I put them on bases long ago, using some Reaper Dire Rats to add a few more minis and points of interest to the unit. Everything was assembled, then primed black, and then with with an overbrush of dark grey Skaven Dinge and then a drybrush of a lighter grey. The mice got fleshy tails, feets and noses, and the wolves got a dark red for exposed muscle, a flesh tone for what I presume is skin, and then tan for bones. I hit the colors with washes, and then the base got all its assorted browns for mud effects. The following morning I added my easy fog effect, and called this finished.

We've only seen these twice on the table. First, as regimental swarm chaff by Trevor in Battle 025, and then as tar-pit hordes about a year later in Battle 105, as part of a significant beast contingent in a wonderfully painted list. The units look ok when combined, but I still think chaff as regiments is the way to go for these, so that's the rout we'll be trying out in the future. Hopefully we'll get them on the table in short order!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #138 Varangur vs Halflings in Plunder

Intro and Lists

Heavy rains hit the southern Wisconsin overnight and continued into the morning. We braved crazy traffic, continuing storms, some major flooding and some significant detours to make it out to the shop for the monthly meetup. The storms seemed to deter some folks, but I was able to sneak in a league game against Rob and his Ravenous Halflings. Fresh off a great showing at US Masters, and with rumors of 4th Edition on the horizon, he's sticking with the Halflings for now. He brought the following:

Rob had hoped for larger games, but I didn't bring extra stuff to oblige, so he had thrown together a quick list. I am a few points shy, which could be an item, some Relentless upgrades, or possibly even nothing at all, as he is a strong enough player to play down a few points. The above is close enough, and has all the pieces we have come to expect from the Ravenous Halflings plus one, a new Gunnery Sergeant codename "Cinnamon", riding her new troll "Crunch". The addition came at the suggestion of a regional teammate, so Rob is trying it out, and committing to it with the Orb of Towering Presence to further help the newcomer with scenario play.

I ended up bringing the Varangur. Having played both with them and against them the previous weekend, I figured exploring them again so soon would be beneficial for my thinking. After some finagling, bringing them would also let me explore several other ideas at once that I was long overdue to explore, like Tundra Wolves, Fallen, and Double Cavern Dwellers.

• Draugr Horde. I still think Draugr horde could be a nice way to get multiple unlocks for cheap, and could really help with Magus Conclave or Monster play for the army, since those toys are expensive and unlock-hungry. I’m only bringing one here now, since we have another horde in the list to provide the other unlocks required by the build. I’m bringing more support units this time though, so we’ll try to either protect these better and avoid big multi-charges against them, or offer them up and threaten better reprisals. We'll see what the game demands.
• Fallen with Iron Resolve 2. With Def5 and Nimble, these have been on my radar since forever, though I don’t think they’ve hit the field yet in 3rd Edition for me? Maybe once? Like I said, I am still grabbing list ideas from February of last year for the Varangur... Shooting Varangur was one army idea I wanted to explore but didn’t last year. Speedy Varangur, with these and Mounted Sons and Frostfangs and such was the other, with the Fallen being a Nimble outriding unit that doesn’t care about terrain. We’ll see how they do in that role, and since I am still smarting from playing against IR2 last week, we'll see how that does for me here.
• Reaver Troops with Lifeleech. Being a league game, I want to bring goofier things, and since 20 attacks is fun to roll coming from a troop, we’re giving them a try again, and even giving them Lifeleech, to see how that feels in practice. Since I am bringing chaff this time, the goal is to keep these back and protected if at all possible, and use them to counter-punch. and with double Dwellers, the goal is to get at least one use out of Tundra Warriors. 
• Tundra Wolves. Speed 9, Pathfinder, and Nimble had all caught my eye a while back. I had done up some Night Raiders list to play around with the interaction, but Joe’s triple regiments recently really intrigued me, and jostled things around to fit in a unit to try out.
• Snow Foxes. After my stumbles last weekend, I discovered that I really want some chaff, so am bringing some Foxes, who should be able to scamper in front of anything scary. 
• Double Cavern Dweller. I have faced them many times, and continue to be a terrifying unit to me, and so I want to get more experience with running them. Two seems a bit mean, but the rest of the list is pretty weird, so hopefully this still comes across as sporting.
• Thegn on Frostfang. Given the points-level for the league games this month, I can’t triple-up on Snow Trolls, and didn’t have the points for the wonderful Kruufnir to "cheat" a third troll into the list here. Lords on Frostfangs appeared a lot early in my 3rd Edition games, but the Thegns quickly took over, both for and against me, doing similar things for much cheaper. Jeff Schiltgen’s Varangur made a few appearances at meet-ups and events over the last year, and although we haven’t played, seeing his Master’s list in action I appreciate them even more, as Strider and Height 4 give them a lot of extra versatility when run alongside the Primes. I don’t want to just ape his list or playstyle, but do want to explore this interaction a bit myself now. So, we're running one, and the general idea will be to stick him with the Fallen and Wolves for a speedy flank that doesn't care too much about terrain.
• Snow Troll Primes. Yeah, these are still a steal for what you pay. I already know that I like them, but we’re going to keep exploring them a bit as we continue to stumble around and explore what the Varangur have to offer.

Table and Terrain

We were out at Gamer’s Realm in New Berlin, WI,  and if you find yourself in the area, you should check them out. As mentioned in other reports, they moved into a new shop at the start of the year, one which is far larger than their old place. It’s a bit of a labyrinth, and had a reshuffling of rooms at the beginning of the month, with separate rooms for board games, card games, war games, role playing games, in addition to being a normal shop selling all those products, plus hobbying supplies, and all sorts of things. They also have a (very dangerous) second-hand room, which got the better of me again this trip. It is definitely a shop worth checking out if you are in the area!

I used the Kings of War App from Data and Dice to generate a quick map, and 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 wavy grass as some Height 0 difficult terrain.

I need to play more token-based scenarios, and we agreed on Plunder. There are 5 Loot Tokens spread across the centerline of the battlefield, each worth 1 point. We each nominate one token to be upgraded to 2-Points, and we score whatever our units are holding at the end of the game. I won the roll for sides, and was lazy, and then nominated the the middle token on the right, and my opponent then picked the one on the very far left, hoping to spread me out. 

Setting up! The upside-down tokens are worth 2 Points. 

For deployment, the Halflings went wide, as they quite often do. The Grenadiers were an early drop, followed at the end by the angled Juggers and Muster Captain. The Stalwart troop was a pretty early drop too though, eyeing up the nearby "middle -left" token.

A building split the line, and the halfling line continued with a harvester, Poachers, the new Gunnery Sergent on Troll, more Poachers, the other Harvester, then the Heroic Horde of Stalwarts supported by the Sauceror, and the second Stalwart troop way out on the right.

Overview of the table, with the Varangur cowering. I mean lurking.

Setting out my army to go over my list with my opponent, I realized that I had no idea now I wanted to deploy it. The scenario wants to spread out, which I felt favored the Halflings, with their speedy and punchy Jugger cavalry. I tossed out my “fast flank” idea, and I opted to just play for three tokens and the narrow win, with a layered defense on the left to hopefully slow down the Juggers. 

The left had a line of a Thegn on Frostfang, Cavern Dweller, Snow Foxes, and second Dweller all on the line. Behind were more Foxes, and both Reaver troops. The Draugr horde was angled behind the hill, hoping to hide from early shots, and an angled Prime sat nearby to help them out. On the right we have the other Prime, and Fallen, which with Pathfinder, should be able to find something fun to do with the woods. Wary of shooting, I put the Tundra Wolves in reserve on the right. 

Most of the scouting. The Poachers will eventually move up to end even.

The Poachers scouted up onto the hill, with the left one electing to move further ahead after the picture was taken. This should be a commanding position to shoot from, but I managed to win the roll for turn order, and gladly took it.

Top of Round 1: Varangur

I was quite lucky to get the first turn, as it grabbed me a lot of board space. On the left, the Thegn moved up to project threat and slow down the Juggers, and Snow Foxes crept up behind him. 

Both Cavern Dwellers sprung forward, moving up around 10 inches, and staying just out of the maximum 13” charge range of the Halfling contraptions. 

The Varangur push out.

The layered approach does me in a little, as I have no real plan, and am going to struggle to protect the Reavers from shooting, and I try to hide them as best I can. The Snow Troll Prime nimbly pivots and moves out to support, but this then complicates the moves for everything else, and the Reavers bumble about.

The Draugr move nearly at the double to firmly take control of the hill. The second Prime moves and pivots, getting his leader point into the woods to see out. Also lurking are the Tundra Wolves, who stay to the right of the Draugr to see. 

On the right, the Fallen move up aggressively, and nimbly pivot to face and pressure the halfling line.

Bottom of Round 1: Halflings

The Sauceror goes for Rally, getting Rally 3. 

On the right, the Stalwarts charge the Fallen, landing a damage, which is then Iron-Resolved back. 

The Stalwart horde moves up, getting partially into the difficult terrain, and the Harvesters and Gunnery Sergeant move up, but stay behind the units to protect themselves. 

A long charge from the halfling line.

We talk it out, and one of the Poachers should get a cover penalty from the intervening Dweller, and the Gunnery Sergeant takes a penalty for moving, but the other Poachers have a majority on the hill, and clean shots into a Reaver troop. All the dice trend low, and only 2 arrows bite into the Varangur berserkers. 

Grenadiers doing Grenadier things.

On the left, Grenadiers cheekily fly over the woods, landing on the token and pick it up. The Juggers reposition, and get as close as they can, while also picking up a token.. Their innate charge range is 16, vs the Thegn’s 15,  so my opponent is pressuring my left already.

Top of Round 2: Varangur

On the left, the Snow Foxes scamper ahead, and the Thegn moves up a few inches as well. My opponent is a precise player, and great with confirming intentions, so I am trying to match. The Thegn keeps the Harvester in front-arc, but the Snow Foxes should prevent alignment. 

The nearest Reaver is injured, but gets the max result on the Wild Charge. It’s super-close (we probably should have used a stick – way easier than a tape measure), but I deem that the Poachers are out. The Reavers both move up, looking to fight next turn, and the Snow Troll Prime moves up to threaten things, and keep the charging things Inspired.

Charges from the Varangur.

The Snow Foxes have some charges, and choose to fight the Poachers to disorder them, and land a surprising 4 damage into the archers. 

It’s a little cheeky, but if the Harvester is back far enough to not be charged, we agree that the Cavern Dweller can get a flank into the Stalwart Horde, with the other Dweller hitting them in the front.

The dice spike, with the flanker getting 5 extra attacks, doubling up to 22. He then overperforms a bit, landing 16 damage (14 expected). The Dweller in the front is no where near as lucky, with only a few attacks, and only contributing 4 damage. However, this does bring the Horde to a staggering 20 damage, and while the horde is Rallied, the Varangur are able to pick the horde up in Round 2. The flanker turns to face the Harvester, and the other pivots to keep the pressure on.

And two big victories for the Varangur!

The Fallen hit the Stalwart troop in the front, and the Prime makes a hindered charge into their flank. The math is in my favor, and my opponent asks that we just check for snake eyes, which do not pop up, and so we will claim this unit as well. I choose to pivot the Prime and side-step the Fallen, to keep both units facing the Halfling line. 

The Draugr shuffle about, and the Tundra Wolves get into the woods, projecting threat into the center of the field.

Bottom of Round 2: Halflings

On the left, the Grenadiers trudge forward, carrying their token. The Juggers consider dropping their for a charge, but reconsider, backing up and staying away from the Thegn. The Stalwart troop moves up but also keeps away, and the Muster Captain grimly surveys things.

The Halflings are very concerned, and the Saucerer goes for Brutal, getting Brutal 3, and hides behind the hill over on the right. 

The Halflings can't engage the Thegn to play it safe.

My opponent courteously offered to speed up the Stalwart fight last turn, so I return the time-saving favors here as he battles the Snow Foxes.

A Harvester takes a flank into the Foxes and chews through them, pivoting to keep the Thegn and more importantly the Reavers in front-arc.

Charges from the Halflings, mostly into Snow Foxes.

The unengaged Poachers charge off the hill into a Snow Troll Prime, and will land 3 damage. 

The Gunnery Sergeant moves ahead, and shoots, landing 2 more damage into the Reavers, who hold.

With space freed up, the engaged Poachers counter-charge the Foxes, a unit of Juggers hitting the chaff in the flank coming from the left, and are also not insane, and will be quickly picked up.

Reforms for the Halflings.

The Harvester charges the towering Cavern Dweller in front of them, but is only able to get 3 damage in, and the monster holds.

Top of Round 3: Varangur

On the right, the Prime will reposition slightly to pick up a token and get me on the board, and the Draugr Horde shuffles, patiently waiting to keep space free in the middle for all the fighting. 

I do some measuring, and the Fallen are in against the Harvester, and the nearby Cavern Dweller hits the flank. Damage is good, and this unit is picked up.

Many multi-charges from the Varangur.

The engaged Cavern Dweller withdraws, in order to charge into the Poachers. He gets a few extra attacks, and even with the penalty for withdrawing, manages to land 5 damage into the archers to bring them to 9 damage. They are inspired, but decent checks will still pick the unit up.

The Tundra Wolves will charge out of the woods into the Poachers, with the Snow Troll Prime regenerating 1 and counter-charging, and yeah, this unit routs as well.

I send the Thegn and a Reaver unit into the front of the Harvester. The Reavers overperform like mad, landing 10 damage themselves, and the Thegn will contribute a few more, and rout the Harvester too. The Thegn will pivot and I believe the Reavers sidestep.

And many more reforms for the overwhelmingly victorious Varangur.

Strong positioning and combats all around for me, but this last one was a huge fluke. 

Bottom of Round 3: Halflings

The Sauceror goes for Brutal, getting Brutal 1 with the hot pot reroll.

On the left, the Juggers drop their token, and the Grenadiers will waddle ahead and pick it up, holding both a 1-Pointer and a 2-Pointer now. 

Charges into the Thegn.

The Juggers make a long charge into the Thegn, joined in with a flank by the Gunnery Sergeant. Just seven damage lands, which should be the output of the Juggers alone. They contributed 6, with the flanker really underperforming here. Brutal is in the mix, but a low check sees the Thegn merely wavering.

The Tundra Wolves are bested by the superior nimble cavalry unit.            

The Muster Captain goes into the Reavers though, will land all 5 possible damage I think, and will get the rout against them with some good checks.

Reforms for the Halflings.

The other Juggers shoot the gap, Nimbly charging the Tundra Wolves and will secure the rout. My opponent overruns, and does get past the Snow Troll Prime, but ends giving a flank to the remaining Reavers. He was eye-balling it, but looking at the pictures, it may not have been possible to avoid the prime and keep the Reavers in front arc. The Juggers end atop a two-pointer, but do not pick it up.

Top of Round 4: Varangur

The Draugr horde leaves the hill, charging the Juggers in the front, and the Prime joins them with a hindered charge. The Reavers take the flank, and with just their attacks will devastate the cavalry unit. 

Aftermath of the combats for the Varangur, with some insanely courageous Juggers.

The Cavern Dwellers leap-frog a bit, with one taking the hill to see things, and the other flank charging the stalled Juggers. Dice here are good again, and the Juggers are brought to 15 damage, but found to be insane. They would not be devastated, and would Iron-Resolve down to 14 damage. 

The Fallen make a dash through the backfield, eyeing the Grenadiers on the left.

The Snow Troll Prime hops up to secure another 1-pointer for me. 

Bottom of Round 4: Halflings

The Grenadiers take their 3-points worth of tokens and turn to flee. With two more turns, if not gummed up, the Fallen should be able to catch the Grenadiers, so the Stalwarts back up to try and delay.

Charges for the Halflings.

The Muster Captain rear-charges a Prime, and the Juggers Countercharge the Cavern Dweller.

The Gunnery Sergeant flank charges the wavering Thegn, and this is the first combat rolled. She lands 3 damage, but the Thegn is found to be insane, and my opponent concedes here, as he feels the writing is on the wall.

A victory to the Varangur!

Game Conclusions

First turn was very important, and I lucked out in securing it. I had a good plan of getting very aggressive with both of the Dwellers, and I really lucked out with good rolling in the flank of the Stalwart horde to pick it up Round 2. I had good combat choices throughout, and the dice really rewarded me.

The dice were pretty one-sided though, with most of the halflings rolls being on the cooler side of the expected distribution. The Reavers in Round 1 should have taken more damage, but would probably still hold given Fearless. However, only wavering and then snakes for the Thegn over two turns was really egregious. It was a very strong win for me, and a very rare one against Rob, but the dice were admittedly slanted in my favor.

Testing Conclusions

• Draugr Horde. It seems viable to use these to get the multiple unlocks, but more testing is needed, and I still think they need some good support in order to really thrive. I was trying to keep it back to avoid multi-charges, and this worked ok with the rest of the list going so hard.
• Fallen with Iron Resolve 2. Similar to Lycans, they aren’t going to typically break units, and the speed and pressure is the most important. They could probably hold any number of items well, or even get by without, so more testing is needed. Every charge was a multi-charge with them, and these had a great game, and getting first turn really let me put the pressure on. 
• Reaver Troops with Lifeleech. Unfortunately no Tundra Fighters instances here. Despite the speed and Wild Charge, and despite their luck here, I don’t think they are a good frontline unit, as Def3 is just too flimsy against any shooting list. I’m not sure what kind of list they might be good in. Maybe Tribesmen heavy, to force weird angles? They were not positioned or used well, but both still overperformed and had good showings. Lifeleech is going to be a niche upgrade. It could be impactful in some match-ups, and is something that I may buy if I have the points, but not a go-to purchase were I to run the unit again. 
• Tundra Wolves. Being a frequent Herd player, I am predisposed to like Pathfinder, and I really liked this unit! Troops look in in a pinch, but aren’t likely to do more this disorder things. Even stock, the regiments look like they can apply a lot of pressure, and is something I’ll want to check out in the future. 
• Snow Foxes. I maybe could have used these slightly better, but they blocked for important units, ate charges, and even got some damage in themselves. I won’t sweat the small stuff here, and they clearly had a good game.
• Double Cavern Dweller. Very strong, and very lucky! They had multiple flank-charges this game, and were able to really capitalize on these since they were multi-charges too. 
• Thegn on Frostfang. I forgot about the Pipes, but it did not matter given then insane result in his only fight. I forgot about his innate Tundra Fighters special rule too, though I did not have a chance to really use it. Overall he did fine, and I still really like the Thegn.
• Snow Troll Primes. They got to brawl a bit and each ended up holding a token when the game concluded, so a job well done from them. 

Dice were dice, but I enjoyed getting in the game. Thanks Rob! The severe weather depressed attendance a bit, but be also had a towering, notable absence from this meetup, as our Pathfinder was mid-move and heading out to New Mexico. That Brian has shared a lot of his thoughts at the Nerd’s Tale, and been the catalyst for Kings of War taking off in the Milwaukee area the last two years, so here’s to wishing him similar successes out there!