Year in Review for 2025

It is that time of year again, and once again, with so much else going on these days, I almost missed the annual check-in. For 2025, we kept the goals rather modest:

1. Play 36 Games, and Write 36 Reports. Crushed it! We needed to hit 142 games by the end of the year, and even with some slow spots, we hit that number in August with room to spare, ending up with 157 3rd Edition games, plus a handful of 4th Edition ones we're not counting just yet. 
2. Attend two tournaments. Achieved! We knocked one event off in January with the Northwoods GT, and then one in November with the smaller Northwoods Melee. That was about all we can manage this year though.
3. Run a mega battle. Failed! I was hoping to line something up with the Brian formerly known as Milwaukee Brian over the summer, as he and I seemed quite simpatico on the spirit of such of game, with my intent being just celebrating models and collections and tossing things on the table regardless of effectiveness. Now he is Santa Fe Brian, and this is probably dead in the water, as I don't think there is much interest in a big battle, and what there is seems geared more towards power-gaming than a celebration of hobbying efforts.

Overall, we did pretty good, especially in the reporting department. While getting in multiple games at shop meetups wasn't always possible, we had enough meetups going on that we were able to surpass this goal yet again this year, playing and learning a lot throughout the year, especially with the Herd.

The other go goals are what they are. I attended what I could, but Kings of War Wisconsin did not do a doubles tournament in 2025, Dragonfall didn't have an event, Adepticon wasn't for me, and I didn't have the funds or time to travel at all.

Hobbying-wise, I again skimped on an explicit goal as I was happy with my collections. Looking back on the post history though, I still hobbied up a surprising number of things! The biggest recipients of stuff in 2025 were the Abyssals, with my catching up on their refresh from late 2024, but every army got a few things this year, and I got games in with all of them, though the Herd continued to rack up a lot of table-time again this year.

On a more personal detour, I had added cat pictures to many of the previous updates. However, our very elderly cat Athena passed in the spring. It was not unexpected, but still more sudden than we'd have liked. My wife had her for ~20 years, with me around for the last 8 or so. Athena was supremely confident, always comfy and pampered, and had the loudest purrs I've ever heard. It was nice to be the cause of those purrs from time to time, and she is still missed. 

Later in the summer, our house was too quiet, and we foolishly adopted two new cats from separate fosters/shelters, both about 1 year old. The tuxedo is Junji and the all-black one is Juan. I did not grow up with pets, and in my limited experience with them, I had come to understand that female cats are named after goddesses and male cats are named after food items. It's weird having cats with people names, but we all seem to be taking it in stride and adjusting fine. 

Going into 2026, the elephant in the room for the blog is 4th Edition. The game largely plays the same, but army construction has drastically changed, and a lot of units and armies have been culled or otherwise consolidated. The blog has addressed the changes in a haphazard and scatter-brained approach, and that's the plan going forward! We have a lot to test and learn and we'll address things as they pop up, as there is just too much to cover in a succinct and organized manner.

We're going to be a little wishy-washy for goals, and with 4E launching in December, have this month as our jumping off point for our 2026 goals. 

1. Run 6 Demo Events. I became a Pathfinder for Kings of War back in August, though that was immediately pushed into limbo given the impending new edition. I am obligated to run demo days periodically throughout the year, and I believe Mantic was upping those responsibilities up from once a quarter to every two months, though the coordinator for the program seems reasonable. The short of this is goal is that I will strive to meet these new Pathfinding obligations.
2. Play 39 games of 4th Edition and write 39 reports. We actually broke an average of 4 games a month for 2025, but with the new Pathfinder duties and deciding not to report on any of those demo games to better the new player experience... we'll keep this at a reasonable 39 games from December 2025 through December 2026.
3. Attend two Tournaments. The small tournaments over the last few years have been fun, though the hyper-competitiveness nearing the top tables has dampened my enthusiasm, and we'll keep to more local events still. Two seems doable this year.

There we have it! The metrics say we had a successful 2025! We'll keep the goals modest again and see what 2026 and 4th Edition have in store for us! Cheers.

Hobby Update: Rebased Magnilde for Varangur

Up now is a rebased Magnilde for the mighty Varangur! I honestly had not planned on actually rebasing her properly anytime soon. I stuck her on a new 40mm base for some recent learning games though, and well ... ok, I'm intrigued, and she has earned a quick touchup, on behalf of the Varangur. 

Magnilde.

Nothing fancy happened with the hobbying. She was on a 25mm Mantic square, so I distressed the edges, trying to make it more of a slope, then added putty to build up a mound to help disguise the old base, and then added paste atop the putty to get a nice heroic hill thing going. Once all dried, I painted it up black, dark gray, and light gray, and then added more snow effect to match my army basing. The character was not touched up, but remains a Wizkids Orc gal, picked originally as the face looked similar to the Warmachine Skorn units I was using as my Varangur Fallen. 

From the front.

Leaving 3rd Edition, my Varangur had about 9,000 points of stuff. Being rolled into the master-list Northern Alliance now, many units do persist, but all of the units that made the Varangur really fun and unique - Draugr, various Magi, Jabberwocks, and cavalry options - are all voided or at best severely limited. In all, well over 2,000 points in my collection has been voided, and with the army-specific choices devastated or completely voided, the army is a shadow of its former self.

This is not to say the edition has fully killed them off generally - they definitely lost a lot of things, but a motivated hobbiest could do a lot with the faction still. Older Varangur Reavers and such transition easily to Half-Elf Berserker units, and Abyssal Dwarfs could be used as eeeevil frozen dwarfs with a darker take on the Alliance. There is plenty of proxying and hobbying that could be done, but I am just not motivated. They will see the table, but we are just going to be using the army as-is, with no additions planned.

From the side. 

But speaking-of, I did take the actual Varangur out for an inaugural stroll into 4th Edition and was intrigued. I wanted a more elite, fighty list to explore things with, and they delivered. Magnilde is a shadow of her former self, (who in turn pales to the ridiculous Herja of the Fallen from 2nd Edition). She's a combat Warlord, but without the fly or special rules, she's going to struggle a bit. I think many combat Warlords are going to be in similar rough spots though, as you need to get them into combats for them to be useful, but they aren't going to solo much by themselves, and you can only engage two-units per facing now, so sending multiple units in is almost always going to be the much better call. But I need her in order to unlock the two unique units the Varangur get. We'll just need to find her good fights and units to bully in the coming games. 

With the extra pivots, Fallen looked like good units, and getting Strider makes them very attractive, since those charges seem hard to come by for most armies. Limited to CS1 limits how hard they can carry, but it seems like they could find some good uses in lists, and probably do very well carving through core-tax infantry.

The Hearthguard Thunderers, formerly Mounted Sons, are knights. Relative to normal knights, say with the Kingdoms of Men, the Thunderers are cheaper by 5 pts, and have an extra Nerve. That's weird considering their vaunted formula, but a lot seems to have shifted this edition, and inter-army balance seems a little harder to gage. Even with the rules buffs, I think cavalry is going to be rarer on the battlefield to start out the new edition. So far it seems like heavy cavalry could be impactful, but needed a lot more finesse to pull off, since any hindered charge will blank their effectiveness. I feel like I'm only ever going to want to take one regiment of knights, and the J Boots will be mandatory for quite some time.

Overall, the new edition has dealt a very significant blow to my Varangur, but the army was still fun to play and seemed viable, albeit only as a very elite list now and few unique units. So I guess I'm mostly just discussing my collection. We probably have a points "sweet spot" to be run at now, where I'm maxing out the single Varangur battalion with all the fun stuff I want, but I haven't quite figured out where that would be just yet. More testing is needed!

4th Edition: Battle #003 Varangur vs Basileans in Control

Intro and Lists

During this busy holiday season I was fortunate enough to have a very brief alignment of precious free time with Trevor of Data and Dice, and we were able to get a quick series of 4th Edition games in to see how things worked for ourselves. Trevor was continuing on with his exploration of the strong Basileans, running the following for our third and final quick game of the day:

As before, the goal was to explore some basic lists and general ideas, while trying to get a handle on the new rules. His list for the final game had a small core tax with the Man-at-Arms, then two beefy specialist regiments of Ogre Palace Guard, an Elohi troop in support, and a War Priest leading things with a few spells. It's a pretty elite list, but with a good number of regiments and a lot of staying power.

For our final game of the day, I continued with the Varangur. I don't think they will be in regular rotation for me, so I wanted to get some good low-stakes testing in for them while I could, and up to evaluate and discuss is everything.

• Magnilde. I need to take her if I want to officially run the Varangur, so she's leading the list here as a full-fledged warlord. However, she's not as versatile or powerful as she was in 3rd Edition, and combat characters seem to be at a bit of a disadvantage in 4th. We'll see if she can hold her own or what insight we can get.
• Human Tribesmen. We now need to pay a core tax, but these have done very well so far! Having a good generalist unit like this has been handy. It seems like the horde is probably better since this is Kings of War and you do get a discount, but two regiments seem like great starting blocks for a quick list, as they are able to do a little bit of everything.
• Snow Foxes. A list still wants chaff, so we are taking the trusty Snow Foxes.
• Snow Trolls. For the last game we swapped out Hearthguard for Snow Trolls since they were the same points. The Hearthguard were as killy as ever, and we're hoping that despite the general adjustment to Large and Monstrous Infantry with fewer attacks now, that the Snow Trolls kept their edge and can grind and regenerate to win their combats.
• Fallen. With Strider, they are the more interesting Varangur unique unit. Fewer attacks and only CS1 makes them a little weird to use, so we're trying them with the Brew of Strength to actually be more of a hammer unit. We'll see how they do.

Table and Terrain

Trevor was kindly hosting our games, and had set up a quick table with his Kings of War App. Terrain  heights and such actually shifted slightly. We did not shift over to using the new heights, though it didn't seem to matter here. After this first trio of games, I'll try to remember to adjust, but for now, we're still working from our old 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 and fields as some Height 0 difficult terrain. 

At 1,000 points, a full table seemed a bit much. Having both sides of the original table, we generated a new setup, and then randomly voided a section, so that we're playing on a 4'x4' space. Here, we were back to voiding the left third, and will be playing on the right sections, which for better or for worse has both large buildings.

Wanting to keep things relatively simple while we grappled with the new lists and new rules, we opted for a modified Control for our final scenario, with each quadrant being worth 1 point.

My opponent won the roll for sides, and was lazy. He largely castled in the left corner, with Men-at-Arms on the line with the Paladins, the Wizard central and supporting, and the Ogres back more, in reserve. After some discussion, the cannon came down centrally, and Elohi landed on the far right.

Deployment, with the Varangur spreading out.

...And for the third game in a row, I get to determine turn order! You guessed it, we're being very unsporting for our games here and I will be going first yet again.

Top of Round 1: Varangur

Looking at the board, I think I can press left and hopefully cause a lot of trouble. The overall goal for me is to try and draw the Ogres and Elohi out, and then try to quickly smash the rest. 

Movement for the Varangur, pressing hard on the left.

On the left, the Fallen run up, looking to pressure the Ogres with the Brew, but stay safe. We don't want to get charged by that. The Snow Foxes move up and pivot, safe as well. That would be a tough reform, but I don't want to give the Foxes away if I don't have do.

Tribesmen and the Snow Trolls move up, but are a bit tentative about it. I don't want to over-extend and get flanked by the Elohi. Magnilde moves up as well, staying safe, and trying to make use of her extra charge inches.

On the right, the Trribesmen inch up and timidly pivot. We don't want to be caught out, but don't want to let the Elohi gain a bunch of ground for free. Here we're zoning out a bit past the half-line, and hopefully slowing them down or drawing them out in the coming turns.

Bottom of Round 1: Basileans

On the right, the Elohi and Ogres go for it. The Ogres moves at the double, and the Elohi go forth a good ways as well. It's aggressive, with 400+ points bearing down on a 140 point unit. I am ultimately ok with this, especially if this lets me win fights and apply pressure elsewhere.

The Basileans move out.

The Ogres actually can't back up to escape, pivot-move-and-pivot, scooching out towards the right, ending the phase just a bit ahead of the starting line. The Men-at-Arms regiments go concave a bit. They should be safe from the Snow Trolls, and looking to mitigate incoming charges in future turns, buying time for the Elohi to get back into the fight.

Top of Round 2: Varangur

On the left, the Fallen and Magnilde will charge the Ogres, and the latter is not hindered. The Foxes excuse themselves, heading out towards the left, and looking to play the long game with the scenario if they can. I debated gumming up an opposing infantry regiment with them, but that didn't seem worth it, as should be hindered if indeed things do go wrong. The current charge is risky enough without contributing more units to that push.

Charges from Magnilde and the Fallen.

The Tribesmen on the left move ahead and pivot hard, and should be able to support whatever happens. The Snow Trolls move and pivot to do the same, and are safe from the Elohi next turn, being just a little too far away.

On the right, the Tribesmen actually can't escape either charge by backing up. I do so anyways, and the building should limit charges into my unit to just one opposing unit, due to frontage issues.

Victory and reforms from the Varangur!

Miraculously, the charge pays off. Magnilde only contributes 2, but the Fallen and their Brew thump 10 onto the Ogres. It's a bit of an overperformance, but I will gladly take it, and we are able to get the 5's needed to rout the Ogre Palace Guard and the Brew of Sharpness before it can be used. That's a big win for the Varangur in such a small game!

Reforms are better for me in this game. Magnilde can pivot to get stuff in front arc, and the nearest Men-at-Arms can't get around her into the Fallen, and the Fallen are able to just pivot strongly to see the Basilean line.

Bottom of Round 2: Basileans

After a lot of thinking, my opponent opts not to take the Tribesmen bait on the right. With the other Ogres breaking, he's in trouble and needs to help the Men-at-Arms. The remaining Ogres are actually able to use the building to block line of sight, ending atop the obstacle. 

The Elohi move the full 20 with pivot to stare down my lines. Fliers and speedy things are super scary this edition, and really controlling the tempo of these smaller games.

Elohi setting up for next turn.

The Men-at-Arms make some hindered solo-charges, which is not ideal, but it is all they can really do here. The regiment charging into Magnilde gets a Bane Chant, but still only lands the expected 3 damage, which is Iron Resolved down to 2, and the other unit lands 2 into the Fallen, which is Iron Resolved down to just 1. I'm stuck in combat, but I think that's fine.

Top of Round 3: Varangur

The Varangur look to make use of the additional units. While I'd like to keep the Foxes around to score for the scenario, if I clobber the Basileans, we can win in other ways. The Foxes go into the Elohi. In 3rd, this would be risky! I'd need to disorder them and hope for the best, but here, just engaging them take the angels out of doing important things for next turn, meaning I have two turns here to make progress before they can be a bother again, and I think I can clean this up in two turns with all my extra units. Still, the Foxes go crazy, landing 3 damage here.

Magnilde tries to order the nearby Tribesmen around, but to no avail. She'll land 5 back onto the Men-at-Arms, who will Iron Resolve down to 4, but she is winning this race for now.

Charges from the Varangur, with almost everything fighting.

The Fallen hold, letting the Tribesman slam into the front to assist, and together the Varangur will savage and devastate the Men-at-Arms unit. In victory, the Tribesmen sidestep, trying to keep in a defensive posture to support in the coming turns and zone out the Elohi, and the Fallen back up, trying to get more room. They are no longer Nimble, so I need to be more careful in their positioning to get the most out of the unit.

The Snow Trolls cleanly charge the Ogre Palace Guard, landing 5 damage which will get Iron Resolved down to just 4. The output is close to expected, but the fewer numbers attacks in the new edition is definitely noticeable here.

A few reforms from the Varangur.

The other Tribesmen unit clears the building and pivots, threatening the rear of the Ogres next turn, before the Elohi can come to their rescue.

Bottom of Round 3: Basileans

The War-Wizard tries to command the Men-at-Arms, but also fails his order to give them Elite. Still, they roll well, and poke 6 back into Magnilde, though she is able to hold, and Iron Resolve down to 7 damage.

Oh geez, the Snow Trolls fall.

The Elohi are able to land 7 damage onto the Foxes, and will best them. Wary of accidentally overrunning into charge range of the Tribesmen, the angels hold fast in their victory.

The Ogres fight back against the Snow Trolls, landing 8 damage and secure a surprise rout against my unit! I was expecting to grind out and explore regeneration a bit, but while High CS units seem harder to come by now, they can definitely still land some solid damage, and it appears that the Ogres didn't get hit with the fewer attacks all other similar units are dealing with. Surrounded, the Ogres overrun, but only get a few successes.

Top of Round 4: Varangur

The Varangur continue to try and press their unit advantage, going for a few more multi-charges and hoping to clean up. 

Magnilde will Reform, whose rule then refers back to the rules for a multiple charge, with her sliding over to create space. The Tribesmen come to the aid of Magnilde, but are just barely hindered. We'll fail the Vicious order again, but will take the the unit up to 12 damage, and then will best them and reform, with the Tribesmen and Magnilde spinning to face the Elohi.

More multi-charges from the Varangur.

The Fallen can't reach the Eholi, but hit the injured Ogres in the front, with the Tribesmen joining in with a hindered rear charge, stumbling over the obstacle. We'll take the Ogres up to 18 damage to devastate them, and then rout them, as is proper!

The Fallen will spin to face the Elohi, and the Tribesmen will want to back up and get off the fence and out of arc of the Elohi, but my opponent concedes. The Elohi will have no good charges, and an uphill battle given the scenario.

A victory to the Varangur!

Game Conclusions

The dice were kind and the game went according to plan, with the Varangur able to barrel through most of the Basilean forces quickly and mostly without incident. We got lucky getting first turn again, and were really able to put it to good use this time.

The extra pivots in the movement phase continue to amp up the positional pressure early on, but defensive pivots found their uses here as well, like with the bait Tribesmen. The movement phase definitely feels more dynamic and unpredictable in the new edition, and we're liking the changes to line of sight overall. They are messier, but allow for move moves, which seems to be a good thing! 

Testing Conclusions

• Magnilde. She did well again with instigating, and works really nicely alongside the Fallen, and I would imagine she'd perform similarly with the mounted Thunderers, given her speed. She can hold her own and contribute! Still, combat heroes are a little concerning, and seem hard o use well. They are valuable, so you don't want them fighting strong things themselves, but these Def4 core units seem like great targets for this kind of warlord to be fighting.
• Human Tribesmen. Again, having a strong generalist unit in the core is nice, and helps the Varangur out more than I was anticipating. Without Draugr, the list is much more elite, but it can still definitely work. 
• Snow Foxes. They did a great job here, and I used them well. The sticky combats have made disrupting chaff way more important as they don't actually need to land that critical point of damage to occupy something scary for a turn.
• Snow Trolls. It definitely feels weird that every unit but the Ogres were hit with the reduced number of attacks. With regards to piece trading, things worked out, but they definitely got unlucky here, and we unfortunately didn't get a great test in for them.
• Fallen. Again, the item pushed the unit over the top, and turned them into a real threat. I liked that, though again we didn't really make strong use of Strider. I'm not sure I'd like the unit without the item, as it would somewhat relegate the Fallen to chewing through lesser units, and they'd need to chew through 2-3 to get their points back most of the time, which doesn't seem viable for most game states. It's been a fun unit though, and at some point we'll see how it does in some larger games.
• Varangur, generally. Magnilde needs to be included, but seems to do ok in brawls. She only unlocks two unique units for the Varangur, so I think there is probably a "sweet spot" to run the army, something like 1500-2000 points, where I get to pack everything unique into one big battalion. This was actually really neat to see on the table, and despite the hits to my collection, the army does still seem fun and viable, just different now.

And that's that! We had the full spread of game outcomes, and thankfully it was trending nicely in my favor! Any day pushing models around is a good day, and I am elated we were able to get this in. A final, big thank you to Trevor of Data and Dice for fitting these games in. It was a great afternoon, with plenty to think over, and I'm excited to see what else 4th Edition has in store!

4th Edition: Battle #002 Varangur vs Basileans in Dominate

Intro and Lists

During this busy holiday season I was fortunate enough to have a very brief alignment of precious free time with Trevor of Data and Dice, and we were able to get a quick series of 4th Edition games in to see how the new editions works for ourselves. For the second game, Trevor was continuing on with the strong Basileans, running the following for the rematch:

The smaller games were deliberate, trying to get us to run a variety of things and go wild with exploration, and this time Trevor had a very elite list, with Men-at-Arms and Paladins, and this infantry core supported by a titanic High Paladin on Dragon and an expensive regiment of Elohi.

I mixed things up entirely, fielding the Varangur, the theme list within the Northern Alliance. The army  generally and my collection specifically is in a bit of a rough spot with the edition change, but I still wanted to try them out a few times and see what the possibilities might be. Up to evaluate is everything:

• Magnilde. She's a step down from her 3rd Edition self, losing the one time fly, but still retaining good stats and speed, making her a better (if more expensive) Lord-like option. As a full-blown Warlord though, she's a little expensive for a game this size, but I need to take her to have this be a legit Varangur list, so she's leading the charge here. We'll see how she performs, and if she is worth it, or more of a tax.
• Human Tribesmen. We need a couple of units for the core tax, and while my collection's core options are rather limited, the Tribesmen are very solid. They've done well in all their demo games as well, and still seem like a great all-comers kind of unit with good Nerve, CS1 and Def5. 
• Snow Foxes. A list still wants chaff, so we are taking the trusty Snow Foxes.
• Hearthguard. The Sons of Korgaan have been great no matter what their actual name happens to be. As infantry, they've gotten a nice points reduction despite being as killy as ever, and I'm excited to see what they can do.
• Fallen. The Fallen are one of two unique units the Varangur can currently field, if you run Magnilde as your warlord. The other unit is a generic Knight regiment, so the Fallen are by far the more interesting pick, as Strider is rather hard to come by for most armies. They only have CS1 though, so while I often take units stock to try them out and get a baseline, we're giving them the Brew of Strength to actually make them threatening.

Table and Terrain

Trevor was kindly hosting our games, and had set up a quick table with his Kings of War App. Terrain  heights and such actually shifted slightly. We did not shift over to using the new heights, though it didn't seem to matter here. After this first trio of games, I'll try to remember to adjust, but for now, we're still working from our old 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 and fields as some Height 0 difficult terrain. 

At 1,000 points, a full table seemed a bit much. So we had set up a full table, and then randomly voided one of the outer thirds for the last game, so that we're playing on a 4'x4' space. Previously, we voided the left third, so we voided the right third this time, and will be playing on the left sections, which has the flat(ish) difficult terrain, with just the tips of the woods and obstacles 

Wanting to keep things relatively simple while we grappled with the new lists and new rules, we opted for Dominate for our scenario, where we will need to get more unit strength into a circular zone in the center of the board, than our opponents. We do not mark the center point of the zone, as the mat has nice lines splitting the board up. The zone originates in the woods though, which is kind of neat.

Overview of the table.

For deployment, the Basileans won the roll for sides, and were lazy again. They ignored half the table. The center had both Men-at-Arms regiments, and the Paladins, with the Dragon in reserve. The Elohi deployed straight-on out on the right.

Out on the left, the Varangur have some Tribesmen, and in the center, using the woods for cover, the other unit of Tribesmen. The Hearthguard and Magnilde ended up on the left, with the Fallen and Snow Foxes on the far right, with the Foxes back, in reserve. 

It looks weird, but I actually don't hate my deployment. I was expecting the fliers to be spread way out on either flank and aiming to pincer me, and had spread out accordingly, trying to force solo fights and prevent the important units from being enveloped. With the Basileans turtling up, there was a risk of being multi-charged by the fliers, but also now a chance that I could envelop the Basilean infantry.

I won the roll a second time for determining turn order, and wanting to gain ground against the fliers, opted to go first.

Top of Round 1: Varangur

With a wider line, the Varangur want to try to envelop the Basileans, and thankfully, because of the new pivots, I felt like we had a good chance to put the pressure on.

From the left, the Tribesmen moved ahead and pivoted. I could have been a little more aggressive here, pivoting earlier and keeping closer, but the idea was to get them around the woods next turn and be able to pivot at the end of that march, to have a better facing later on. 

Opening moves from the Varangur.

The Other Tribesmen are near the woods, but don't have the inches to get into it. I pivot them. It's awkward positioning, but enlightening. Previously, a unit in this position would be blind, with line of sight coming from the leader point. Now, with a corner open, they can still techically see around the woods, which is neat, and would be very useful if I was going second! It's hard to have "blind" units now, and the new line of sight rules are nice in this regard.

Layered defense from the Varangur to try and deal with the fliers.

The Hearthguard move up, but stays safe, as does Magnilde, and so do the Fallen. The Foxes scamper ahead, grabbing a few extra inches, and are threatening to tie something up next turn with a sticky combat.

Bottom of Round 1: Basileans

The Basileans opt to ignore the Tribesman. Neither have charges next turn, so they push out towards the right, hoping to take advantage of their speed to win some early fights, and then grind out the slower Tribesmen in the center.

The Men-at-Arms move ahead, hiding behind the forest, and they stay out of the Wild Charge range of the Hearthguard.

Movement, plus a flame breath from the Basileans.

From the right the Elohi inch ahead, save from the speedy Fallen. The Paladins move up, and the Paladin on Dragon pulls in behind. The Dragon did not move at the double, and unlike many heavy fliers, it actually kept its breath attack, and is just in range to reach the Foxes. I did not factor this in! Mercifully, only 1 damage lands, and the Foxes are Inspired, but a hot 11 will still waver them! Shucks.

Top of Round 2: Varangur

The wavering Foxes really gum things up for me. Against two heavy-hitting fliers, I need to be decisive, but I've lost my interdicting chaff for the turn. After much hemming and hawing, we agree that I'm on a bit of a clock against these fliers, and I decide to fight what I can anyways.

The Snow Foxes need to back up, but they can't go too far back due to the table edge being the right-third of the big board here. Still, they get far enough back to be safe from the Paladins, and could be annoying next turn if they aren't dealt with.

Already a pretty desperate charge from the Varangur.

Magnilde is mostly just a Lord now, but she still has a bit of extra speed, and she and the Fallen are able to connect against a regiment of Men-at-Arms. Both have the inches into either regiment, but the regiment on the end is a little ways back, and I can't physically fit both of my units against it. So, we're unfortunately charging the middle unit...

The Hearthguard get the everything in front arc, while the Tribesmen are able to continue on. One moves ahead and then pivots in the forest, getting out of arc of the Men-at-Arms on the end, while the other regiment of Tribesmen move at the double towards the fighting, seeing around the forest as intended. 

Fortunately, the Varangur are eager and the risky fight goes well! Magnilde slams all 6 damage down thanks to Elite, and the Fallen contribute 9 damage, and the unit is obliterated. The Fallen reform, to face the fliers, but I am at a loss with what to do with Magnilde. 

Reforms from the Varangur.

I choose to sidestep, getting an awkward 3 inches. The Elohi can't fit, and she's out of arc of the Dragon, but it's not great. The hope was to get 1-2 and prevent the Men-at-Arms from being able to pivot past her and then rear-charge the Fallen, turning their only legal charge into one against Magnilde and into her front, but the dice were not having it.

Bottom of Round 2: Basileans

The Basileans collapse in against the Fallen, with the Elohi and Paladins in the front, and the Men-at-Arms able to pivot past, connect with a rear-charge.

A triple charge into the Fallen!

The Glory for the Hegemon command order for Elite is attempted and failed by the Basileans. The rear-charge contributes 1, the Paladins 6, and double-digits from the Elohi will devastate and then rout the Varangur's fun and unique unit, as is proper.

Reforms from two victorious combats.

The Paladin on Dragon opts to force harder angles, and charges the Snow Foxes to remove a unit this turn, and does so, turning around and safe from most charges this turn.

Top of Round 3: Varangur

Things are looking a little dire again! 

The Tribesmen coming from the left are unfortunately just out of range of the Men-at-Arms. They will move ahead and then pivot, getting out of arc of the opposing infantry.

The other regiment does have a charge, but that looks... foolish. I'm going to be hindered, and definitely won't remove them, so I opt to inch ahead and while getting everything into front-arc.

Charges from the Varangur.

The other units have some hard choices. I go greedy, trying to make use of sticky combats. Magnilde has a tough angle, but as an individual gets a free face-anywhere pivot at the start of the movement phase, and using the new line of sight rules, can see around the Paladins and charge them to gum them up, landing 5 damage, which will then Iron Resolve down to just 4. 

And a lucky break! The Hearthguard still got it.

She'll successfully issue a For Talanaar order to give the Hearthguard Vicious, and the Hearthguard deliver, landing a silly 13 damage against the angelic horde, and we will pick the angels up, and then turn to face the Paladin on Dragon.

Bottom of Round 3: Basileans

The reform was just enough to protect Magnilde's flank from a reform and smart charge. The Dragon just barely can't get in against her, and I luck out here.

The Paladins retaliate, landing a super-hot 9 damage into Magnilde, and will pick her up, and then reform to be extra threatening.

Fights from the Basileans.

The Men-at-Arms decline to spring the trap, and just chance facing, to get both of the Tribesmen into front-arc.

The High Paladin and his Dragon charge the Hearthguard, will land 6 damage, but the now uninspired Hearthguard will hold.

Top of Round 4: Varangur

We are still on the back foot, but scrapping as hard as we can! No command orders for us though, now that Magnilde has actually fallen.

The Tribesmen from the left finally get into combat, charging the Men-at-Arms. We'll land 6 damage, and get a hot check to rout them. I can't remember if they were a bit out of Inspiring range of I got really lucky here, but they are gone nonetheless.

Charges from the Varangur.

The Hearthguard hold and fight the Dragon, joined by Tribesmen emerging from the woods to harry the towering Basilean commander in the flank. The dice are poor. The flank does 3 damage (6 expected, even hindered), but the Hearthguard do contribute their expected 9. There's a chance, but with Inspiring, the Paladin and Dragon hold.

Bottom of Round 4: Basileans

The Paladins are free, and choose to rear-charge the Hearthguard. Statistically, they should devastate the Hearthguard, and these being quick, friendly games, I offer to fast-forward this combat so we can improve our chances of getting a third game in. That was sporting of me, but we should have slow-played this, as we got this situation wrong with the new rules. Neither of us has a hard-copy of the rules yet.

The Dragon wants to face the flanking unit, since the Hearthguard are likely going to die. Previously, he could do so, and simply countercharge that unit. However in 4th, this would be a reform, and engaged on two facings, the Dragon cannot actually reform. 

Reforms from the Basileans.

While the Hearthguard are routed, and the Paladins should get a victorious reform as they are unengaged now, but the Dragons a) cannot reform in the movement phase, and b) is engaged, so cannot victoriously reform, and so should still be flanked by these Tribesmen. Oops.

Top of Round 5: Varangur

The Varangur fight on, with both Tribesmen piling into the Paladin and his Dragon. The injured unit will deal 5, while the flanker deals 7, and we will pick the titan up!

More charges from the Varangur.

Both Tribesmen will victoriously swivel, getting the haughty Paladins into front arc. The Paladins can't really run, and are outnumbered. If they don't rout their target, the Paladins will be flanked.

Reforms from the Varangur.

It's a small game, and we're down to the wire now! Still, the Varangur have done a fine job scrapping back and getting us to this spot.

Bottom of Round 5: Basileans

The Paladins wisely choose to charge the injured Tribesmen, and will take them up to 12 damage, and will then get the rout. The Paladins will reform, spinning to face the remaining Tribesmen.

Reforms from the Basileans.

The scenario is Dominate, with the center point of our little table in the woods. The 12" radius ends just between the two opposing units, with the Paladins fully within and scoring, and the Tribesmen completely out of the zone.

Top of Round 6: Varangur

Given the state of the game with the scenario, I can't really fight. Charging won't get the majority of my footprint into the zone, so I would need to rout the Paladins and then overrun a few inches. Hypothetically doable, but not very likely.

Movement from the Varangur.

I can however, make use of the extra pivot. We pivot, move and pivot, getting past the Paladins, threatening their flank, and are scoring for the scenario. 

I will also note that we don't need to respect the 1" rule anymore, though I look to have done so out of habit. 

Bottom of Round 6: Basileans

The Paladins reform, spinning to face the Tribesmen. They can't pull the same maneuver, as it will take them out of the scoring zone.

A standoff in the bottom of Round 6.

So, both of our respective units are scoring, and both have the new regimental unit strength of 2. We are talking things through, and I believe we decide to just call it here and not roll for a possible Round 7. There is obviously a chance something spikes, but a a tie is always welcome in my book, and we'd rather get a third learning game in than quibble over the result of a learning game like this.

The game is a tie!

Game Conclusions

Going first helped me out here, even if I donked up the positioning of the Foxes a bit. With the extra pivot, fliers and speedier units do seem very strong, and able to project a lot of threat. I think with the extra pivot it will be a little harder to contain them in 4th, but with sticky combats they might be easier to take down once they are engaged. Fliers seem like they need a lot of finesse in order to avoid sticky combats, and needing finesse on strong units seems good in a game like this!

As in the previous game, dice can be a bit more impactful than tactics in these smaller games, but we both had some lucky breaks, and while things were swingy, it was a see-saw and everything felt even overall. A tie feels great here.

Testing Conclusions

• Magnilde. Combat heroes are in a weird spot on paper. With only two units able to be engaged on a given front, you want them in combat to do their thing, but it will almost always be better to send in another unit. She is about as good a combat character on foot as you can get, but still struggled against a competent combat unit. Still, she had her uses, and the speed played very nicely with the speedy Fallen. I think she's got a place, but I think I need to be sending combat heroes into chaff and tar pits, not trying to brawl with real units.
• Human Tribesmen. I have these two regiments, and should have a horde around from my old WHFB transitions, and I think both will see a lot of use in future 4th Edition games for the Varangur. With both CS and Def5, they are pretty elite, but just great generalist units, and if you can pay your core tax with more potent units, you should be in a great spot.
• Snow Foxes. They were a little unlucky, but even wavering and not getting to charge and chaff things up, still did an ok job drawing out the Basilean list. 
• Hearthguard. They are one of the few infantry blenders that survived the transition, and with CS2, they can still really carve through things. They should be very popular in 4th.
• Fallen. I really liked them with the item as the additional CS makes them a much more threatening unit to really make use of Strider. The Mounted Sons / Hearthguard Thunderers would have actually been both better and cheaper here, since I didn't get to make use of Strider, but that feels good from a balance perspective. 

It was another great game, with a lot to learn from and consider. A big thanks to Trevor from Data and Dice for playing and hosting! Very glad we were able to get these in, and we still have one more report to come!

4th Edition: Battle #001 Abyssals vs Basileans in Invade

Intro and lists

So far in December I have run two demo days for 4th as a new Mantic Pathfinder for Kings of War. I have seen parts of about a dozen different games played, and commanded an army in about a third of those games. Overall, I am liking the new edition, but 600 points is very swingy, and most of the lists I've played and seen have all been done by me, working with the official Mantic armies and models that I have, in order to be compliant with the program. The core tax is definitely a thing now, I am struggling to get out of my own head and see what armies can effectively do. Thankfully, Trevor of Data and Dice and I had a break from the holiday craziness at about the same time, and were able to connect for some smaller-scale, learner games to try and start to grapple with some of the bigger changes the new edition is bringing. Picking up right where we left off, Trevor was running Basileans:

We were set to play a few games at 1,000 points, and Trevor wanted to start off with a mix of options for the Basileans, having Men-at-Arms for some cheap core choices, Paladin Foot Knights as some expensive core, and now with extra attacks and both CS and Def5, and then a big regiment of Ogre Palace Guard, as well as a troop of Elohi for specialist beat-sticks. The Basileans also recently got Cannons, so he's taking one of those as well, along with a cheap Champion War-Priest to lead things.

Also picking off right were we left of was me, as I was running Forces of the Abyss for my first reportable game of 4th Edition. I brought the above, and up to test was (you guessed it) everything!

• Warlock. The Warlock was a great little platform in 3rd Edition, able to cast a variety of spells but absolutely fine run without fineries, as it had a unit strength, Firebolts, and was Inspiring, which all made for a nice supporting piece. We'll see how they do in 4th!
• Flame Bearers. The Flame Bearers got a points decrease, which was nice, but also a nerf, with their Shooting going up to 5+. If they Halt, they can get back down to 4+, but their strength previously was moving and shooting in that medium range. Mobile shooters like this look to have taken quite the hit with the new changes to both shooting and movement.
• Gargoyles. They got a price hike, but I still like them. Disordering isn't a think anymore, so throwing a unit up to block and delay is more viable than ever. We'll see how they do.
• Imps. With the Gargoyles getting costlier, I think the Imps could find a nice in the new edition, as they are still very cheap, and should do well supporting any kind of infantry list.
• Berserkers. They are still strong, and still somewhat competing with the Molochs, but these feel better at Speed 7. They should be good brawlers, and we'll see how they do.
• Abyssal Horsemen. I am really interested to see how cavalry can do this edition. While cavalry generally got nice buffs with extra attacks most Cavalry being TC3, as well as some nice indirect buffs by being able to choose your charge route, I don't know how viable they will be. Hindered charges now strip all TC, and I think they will require much more finesse to use well, and I think they will be a one-of in most lists, with the J Boots essentially mandatory.

Overall, I still don't know how I want to run the Abyssal core tax, but this seemed like a great opportunity to explore the army's shooting options and gain some insights there on two of the neat Specialist units. In the demo games, since shooting can't rout, it all comes down to being able to focus fire and then luck out with a wavered result. If your shooting can stagger a unit or two, you're doing great in these smaller games, but the extra pivot and dynamism in the movement phase means this medium range (~18") shooting seems very hard to use well. We shall see how I do!

Table and Terrain

Trevor was kindly hosting our games, and had set up a quick table with his Kings of War App. Terrain  heights and such actually shifted slightly. We did not shift over to using the new heights, though it didn't seem to matter here. After this first trio of games, I'll try to remember to adjust, but for now, we're still working from our old 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 and fields as some Height 0 difficult terrain. 

At 1,000 points, a full table seemed a bit much. So we set up a full table, and then randomly voided one of the outer thirds, so that we're playing on a 4'x4' space. Here, we voided the left third, and will be playing on the right sections, which for better or for worse has both large buildings.

Wanting to keep things relatively simple while we grappled with the new lists and new rules, we opted for Invade for our scenario, where we will just need to get more unit strength over the center line than our opponent.

My opponent won the roll for sides, and was lazy. He largely castled in the left corner, with Men-at-Arms on the line with the Paladins, the Wizard central and supporting, and the Ogres back more, in reserve. After some discussion, the cannon came down centrally, and Elohi landed on the far right.

Table, and deployment.

It's Invade... I have a lot of 18" shooting, but still feel like I should try going first here, and will kick things off for us.

Top of Round 1: Forces of the Abyss

On the left, the Berserkers move up, with Imps in tow. I want to threaten with  them, but do forget that they are only Speed 7 now, and not actually threatening nearly as much as I think, and I should have been a bit more aggressive with them.

I don't know what I'm doing, but the scenario is Invade, so we're moving on up.

The Flame Bearers and Warlock move up, around 7 inches I think. In retrospect, I think I am being too aggressive with them. Yes, it's invade, and my opponent has lots of space to work with with the extra movement pivot. By moving up, I am limiting my options in the coming turns, and minimizing that amount my shooting can do. I have 6 turns, and should have been more patient here.

A light contain against the Elohi.

The Gargoyles  hop ahead from behind the building. They are safe from the Elohi, and I want to use them to zone the angels out, while then threatening the fliers with my Cavalry. 

The Abyssal Cavalry move ahead, and pivot slightly. I'm trying to get on the hill to see, but am forgetting that leader points don't exist, line is drawn from anywhere on the front facing. I could and should have just stuck the corner on the hill to see over it, and not pivoted. 

If the angels take the bait, I am not sure, but with the extra attacks and Regeneration, I think I can probably grind them out, and want to try. If not, the plan is to carry on with the Gargoyles to threaten the cannon, and pivot and run with the horsemen towards the center. With any luck, I'll be able to choose my own charge path into something worthwhile!

Top of Round 2: Basileans

On the right, the Elohi sidestep and pivot. The angels are threatening the Horsemen while staying safe themselves. The cannon can see the Horsemen, and will shoot, landing 2 damage, but the Horsemen will hold, resolute.

Positioning for the Basileans.

The Paladins linger behind, while the Men-at-Arms take the hill, with the Ogres supporting.

Top of Round 2: Forces of the Abyss

The Men-at-Arms should be just within range of the Berserkers, but a charge into them seems a little silly in Round 2. I brought a lot of shooting, and want to try and leverage and explore that.

The Imps scamper ahead, and I get both successes with the Burn the Sinners command order, netting 2 damage from the ensuing Fireball. Both Flame Bearer regiments and the Warlock hold to get the boon to their shooting, but the dice trend low, adding only 6 damage. Fireball also has shattering, but I fall just short of wavering the soldiers.

The Imps step up!

I should note that we got a rule wrong here... I didn't confirm it ahead of time, and didn't bother looking it up at the time. We had Fireball hitting on a 5+, but's is a spell and a Magic Missile. A Magic Missile spell hits on a 4+, even if you move, but then additionally gets the normal shooting boons and banes. If you move and throw into a unit with cover, your 4+ goes to 5+, due to the cover. If you Halt and throw into a unit, you could be hitting on a 3+ with no cover. Here, I moved and threw, and should be hitting on 4's not 5's. 

On the right, the Elohi didn't take the bait... but my pivot last turn screws me up. I have the inches to get the Horsemen away, but the angle is rough, and I'll clip the forest after about 9 inches, be stopped, and will be exposing my flank to the Elohi, which doesn't seem wise. The Horsemen will move up and out, arranging themselves to keep the Gargoyles in front arc. 

The Gargoyles inch ahead while I'm figuring things out, and will stay there.

Top of Round 2: Basileans

I look to be kicking 4th Edition off very professionally, and have apparently dropped a picture. Sorry!

The Elohi do not take the bait, and with a slight pivot, land in a dead zone between the arcs of the Gargoyles and Horsemen, and are safe. With a 20" fly and a small board, they are threatening the flank of the Flame Bearers next turn. Yikes.

The cannon lands 2 damage into a unit of Flame Bearers, but they hold.

The fighting units on the left don't have charges, but will move up to pressure, threatening them next turn and forcing an immediate response from me on my turn, as they are so very close. The War Wizard issues a Command to heal the singed Men-at-Arms, getting one success, and then will also heal them with a spell for another, taking them down to 6 damage at the end of the turn.

Top of Round 3: Forces of the Abyss

Staring down the advancing Basileans, the Abyssals double down, hoping to test out their shooting, but things are a little gummed up. Imps shuffle, and position and we will attempt another Command Order for the Fireball, but the order will fail. The Warlock and Flame Bearers all hold, but the Imps will provide cover for all the Firebolts, and only 4 damage lands. On 10 damage, we again fail to waver the closely packed infantry, and the Flame Bearers fail to regenerate anything.

Charges from the Abyssals.

The Imps shuffling down lets the Berserkers charge the other Men-at-Arms unit cleanly. The Abyssal crazies are apparently eager to prove their worth, turning a ridiculous 13 hits into 11 damage and swiftly besting the humans. In victory, they will back up two inches, which limits incoming charges to just a hindered one from the Ogre Palace Guard.

Reforms and overview of the Forces of the Abyss.

The Gargoyles are in a bad spot, and can't interdict, and I feel the need to protect the shooters, and offer them up to the Paladins.

The Horsemen can't do much either. The nearby Elohi prevent me from running into the gap this turn, and I can't really turn to try and chase down the angels as they are quicker than me. I need to be aggressive with them, so they will get at far ahead as they can, and unfortunately, there was no way to get them into the forest with just their normal move. We still have some good line of sight from the right corner of the unit though, so we might be able to catch the Paladins yet, depending on what they do in victory against those upstart blocking Gargoyles.

Top of Round 3: Basileans

It's time, and everything that can, does charge for the Basileans.

The Elohi take the flank, land 14 damage, and will easily rout the Flame Beaters. The Paladins land a strong 13 damage against the Gargoyles, and will best them as well.

Charges from the Basileans!

The Men-at-Arms get Command Healed for 2, and then catch a Bane Chant in their fight against the Imps, will land 5 damage, and will best the nuisances with decent Nerve checks.

The Ogres make a hindered charge into Berserkers, but don't roll like it. Slightly over the expected damage is done, with 8 landing, as CS2 against Def4 is still very potent! Then the Nerve check is spiked twice to rout the Berserkers as well.

Disaster for the Abyssals!

Worsening the issue, the Cannon also gets a nice connection in the ranged phase, taking the Horsemen up to 6 damage.

Top of Round 4: Forces of the Abyss

Statistically, the Berserkers should have held, and I was curious to see what they might have done in response. Alas. The plan was to move the Warlock in front of the Men-at-arms, and slide the Flame Bearers over to protect the flank of the Berserkers for that grind, but this is a lost cause and my back is broken at the end of Round 3.

Still, I want to try one more thing before tossing in the towel. The Horsemen can indeed draw line of sight to the Paladins, and they are in arc. Unfortunately, no matter the path, I can't charge my way in without clipping the woods somehow, so I'm in the flank, but hindered, losing all my Thunderous Charge bonuses. I send the Flame Bearers into the front for fun, while the Warlock charges the injured Men at Arms for fun, who are on 7 damage.

"For science!"

The Warlock fails to damage the soldiers, and should definitely have shot instead, but I felt the need to try this out. The Men-at-Arms obviously stick around. Unfortunately for me, Heals have kept pace with shooting here, and Iron Resolve continues be great against shooting and chip damage.

The Horsemen deal just 8 in the flank, with the Flame Bearers contributing nothing in their frontal assault. The Inspired Paladins hold. The Elohi have line of sight to the Horsemen, and have them in arc for a flank charge, and there is no way I can dig my self out of this, and will concede at the end of my turn to save us some time after getting in this test charge with the Horsemen.

A victory to the opposing Basileans!

Game Conclusions

In smaller games, every move and combat matters, but dice can be even more determinative than the tactics employed. I did not approach this well, and decent dice against me swiftly sealed my defeat once the various melees erupted.

I think the only thing worth dwelling on this game is the turn order. The choice was mine, and I chose to go first and experiment with the new edition. Common wisdom, especially for this scenario, says one  should go first,  to gain early ground and tempo. However going first is still a huge weakness with Flame Bearers and their 23" effective range. Had my opponent gone first, even moving at the double, I'd get two turns of static shooting before he can charge. Going second puts me a bit behind, given the needs of the scenario, but would actually give my shooting a chance to do stuff to help out. I think with a list like this with mid-range shooting, the better play would be to just plan on going second, playing a bit from behind, and giving your list a chance to do its thing. Going first I was too disjointed.

Testing Conclusions

• Warlock. The Warlocks still looks very useful, as a few versatile, Inspiring Champions seem nice to have in lists, and should be easy to unlock in larger games. However, the ding to their Shooting stat makes just the Firebolts a little less attractive, and I think having some kind of spell would be good to have in the future.
• Flame Bearers. First, more testing is obviously needed, but I have not been impressed so far with the Flame Bearers, either here or in the various demo games. Being able to run and gun and really play around with inches and charge ranges while tossing some chip damage around was kinda their thing in 3rd, given their shorter effective shooting range. As with the Warlock, the ding to their ability to effectively move and shoot really hurts them, and I'm not sure the price decrease is enough to compensate. Hitting on 3's at range doesn't feel like Kings of War, so this seems like this was a conscious balancing decision, and I can understand taking them up to 5's. As a Core Tax, they might be an option, but like in 3rd, I don't think you really want to spam these. They feel weaker in the new edition so far, which is reflective of the price decrease, but more testing is needed, to see just what they can do and what their place might be.
• Gargoyles. They weren't used particularly well, but felt fine for the new Edition, and I think most lists will still want to run a few troops of these. Chaff is still great to have, and flying chaff like this is still very versatile.
• Imps. They did ok, but having invested into shooting, they mostly just got in my own way! We'll try to pair them with Molochs or something fighty next time. I think they could have a nice niche in 4th by chaffing for a melee list and carrying tokens.
• Berserkers. Overall, they were used decently, and definitely feel more balanced than their previous version. I would likely still ultimately lose the grind against Ogres, probably in the second round of fighting, but we got very unlucky, breaking after just one round.
• Abyssal Horsemen. As-predicted, cavalry are a little tricky to use well, and hindered charges really take the wind out of their sails now (as intended). I had some good ideas early on for mobility and pressure with them, but was stumbling my way through ideas and tactics in my first game with them, and these ideas wasn't executed well. The Abyssal Horsemen were used poorly here, and it shows. I think most generals across all armies are going to struggle with effectively using their cavalry, and lists are likely going to stick to one regiment with the J Boots.

It was a great time and a great game! A big thanks to Trevor of Data and Dice for hosting and playing. I definitely learned a lot, and fortunately, we had time for several more games, which should be posted soon!