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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| ...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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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