Hobby Update: Pathfinding Armies

Our club had some big changes in 2025. Our main meetup store shifted to the wonderful and newly relocated Gamer's Realm in New Berlin, WI. More importantly though, "Milwaukee Brian", the blogger behind the upbeat Nerd's Tale, the runner our our events, our local Mantic Pathfinder, and overall big heart, brain, and overall organizing force behind the club, moved far far away, way out to the Southwest.

A few of us are juggling FB posts and meetup duties; Joe spearheaded the successful and recent Northwoods Melee 1-day event, and back in very late August I decided to take on the mantle of a Mantic Pathfinder for Kings of War and try to grow our little club in the coming year. The Pathfinder Program sounded neat, but within days of signing, I was swiftly hit with two successive whammies.

Whammy the first was that while I do have a handful of armies and a heck of a lot of points for each of them... Pathfinding armies need to be all Mantic miniatures. Honestly, this makes sense, but unfortunately meant that my Abyssals and Undead needed some heroic additions at least, and my Kingdoms of Men, Herd, and Varangur lists were all going to be essentially useless for this little proselytizing endeavor. Furthermore, my "Stormcast Ogre" collection and their multi system movement trays were also going to be completely out of bounds, which was a bummer, as I thought they might be a good intro army generally and effective mental onramp for newer players as well, since they easily showed how you could port existing models over to try out the system. Oh well. 

While I was figuring out my heroic additions in September, the second whammy hit, which was the announcement of 4th Edition, along with affiliated rumors and spoilers. Given the launch of  the Champions game, I figured individuals were in for a revamp in 4th, so I had started skewing my heroic additions towards the larger options with Unit Strength where ever I could. 

Undead

My Undead army actually has a good number of Mantic models, with a mix of Skeletons, Zombies, and even Zombie Trolls now. Going into this, I could already cobble together a decent 100% Mantic list, with the exception of heroes. 

The Undead, to start.

Heroes moving to larger bases was revealed pretty far along into my efforts, and this type of hero is more difficult for the Undead to field, and I did not want to buy a proper Vampire on Pegasus for this project. Thankfully, I recalled Lady Ilona from a long-ago purchase, and was able to rebase here without difficulty. And then for additions, Trevor provided me with a Necromancer and a Goreblight from the Mantic Vault to help fill things out for this army for now. I also have Zombies to pull from, as well as a Mantic ASB from extra Skeletons, so while I don't have the full army roster yet, I think we should have enough to throw something mostly sensible together for the Undead.

Abyssals

My Abyssals were also in a pretty good spot, due to having a lot of Flamebearers from previous years and many purchases of the box. I also had a lot of Lower Abyssals, from more recent efforts. I decided to donate my Abyssal Ghoul conversions to the Pathfinding cause as Lower Abyssals.

Abyssals

For heroes, I was also in a bit of a bind, but I uncovered and then hobbied up Mau’ti-ba’su from another very old purchase, and finally dipped into some of the Imps from the Lower Abyssal sprues, to give the army some chaff. Trevor again provided me with some goodies from the Vault, including a proper Despoiler Champion, and a Warlock. 

As the spoilers rolled on, it seemed like the heroic picks would impact lists in 4th, allowing certain units to be fielded, so the eventual aim for all this is to have a few set lists for each army, and let the prospective player pick whatever hero looks appealing. The Abyssal collection is a bit hero-heavy right now, but I'm still stalling a bit for the official, detailed army lists. I can give them more Flamebearers, or Berserker regiments as-needed, but the Abyssals also have a good starting point here.

Northern Alliance!

Having played a lot with the Varangur, I discovered I didn’t like the Night Raiders with Axes much. I had two regiments mostly built from Mantic’s kit, which yes, could be Tribesmen as well for the Varangur, but I figured another demo army would be a better use of those minis. No work or touchups have been done on them yet.

My new Northern Alliance.

But I needed some more units. I dipped into the Snow Foxes from the Tribesmen kit, to build up some chaff for the army as well.

I picked up a few ebay bundles of Mantic Dwarfs over the years, with the idle intent of building a demo army, and/or starting an infantry-focused Free Dwarf army. We dipped into that pile for a small lot of heavily-abused Ironclad, which got slight conversions with fur around the weird neck and shoulder armor bits of the models, and per the fluff, more "Northerly," rounded shields, sourced from various human kits. These were my first Dwarves painted. They had a bad priming job, but I just wanted them done, and overall, they turned out well.

In September I also caved, and seeing two, mostly complete NA Ambush boxes for less than the price of one, picked them up on ebay as well, and used a sprue from it to build up a unit of Elf Berserkers. It turns out I do not really like these models! They are dynamic, but the cloaks are very cumbersome, and they have a lot of overhang, making them a bit difficult to multi-base. This troop is done though, and we can add more berserkers or elvish shooters as-needed.

Rounding out the heroes for the new Northern Alliance, Trevor again came to my rescue, with a Thegn on Frostfang, and a Snow Troll Prime, both printed off the Vault. They did not have the best joins, but a little green stuff fur smoothed it all out, and despite some imperfections, on the table, these all look fine.

Imperial Dwarfs!

I wanted at least 4 demo armies around. It seemed like a good number. 

As-mentioned, over the years I picked up a few bundles of used Mantic Dwarfs from ebay. Taking an inventory of them all in the spring, I discovered that I had nearly 200 basic bodies (Ironwatch, Ironclad, Shieldbreakers)! I would still like to hobby up some Free Dwarfs (more on this topic in the coming months), but wanted them to be painted up well. Mantic minis tend to be a little goofy with consistency and details and how things are supposed to “read”, so with Pathfinding coming up, I diverted a bit of each pile in order to make a 4th demo army of Imperial Dwarfs. 

Imperial Dwarfs.

I would like my Free Dwarfs to have more complicated basing, so here I carved away the stands, to see how all that works. Overall, not well. I bought a Dremel tool for this, but I don't know if it's not powerful enough, or I was using it wrong, but it couldn't make a dent here, so I resorted to clippers and then hobby knives to trim off all the stands. Basing was just messing around with stuff. I had some plastic card stock and cut out some rocks, and then added some basic grass. I don't really like the basing here. Despite efforts to texture it, the card rocks look pretty bad. I may rip those out and start again at some point, but no desire to build up Imperial Dwarves much more, we will 

We have two regiments of basic Ironclad, one of Ironwatch with Rifles, and one Shieldbreaker regiment as well. Organ Guns have been a very attractive unit to me, but I have never run them in 3rd, so I hobbied one up here, and then grabbed a metal Warsmith from the Pile to lead the contingent for now. One of the bundles had nearly a dozen conversions, so we should be able to grab anything else we might need to help lead the force, like a Ranger, or a King, should we want those options once we get more of the rules released.

All of these armies were all built and hobbied up in advance of the reveal of the new Core-requirements for list building. Blindly building for a new edition, I think I did pretty well though, and each list has at least two of what should be a Core unit, with a handful of others units around to enlist to spice things up, and I should be able to figure out a few lists for each army... eventually. Pathfinders were supposed to get a version of the rules in early November, but those have yet to materialize. We're now just shy of two weeks past on the revised delivery date with no news. I'll organize these into some actual lists once I actually see some rosters and points... 

Terrain

Supporting all of these armies is a new demo table, since I need/want to be self-sufficient for my demo days. I picked up a 3’x3’ wintery mat and then threw together some more of my homemade terrain over the last few months. I didn’t go overboard since we didn’t need to populate a full, standard table, but we have a few small forests with removable trees, a few obstacles, a hill, and one piece of difficult terrain with some battlefield debris. Overall, this should should be a decent stage for any skirmish game, and give us a little variety for setting up. The mat is a bit small, but I figured we could shrink the deployment zones and have some nice, quick games.

Mat, and terrain for the Pathfinder games.

The last steps are tossing together a demo bag with rules, dice, measuring tapes, and such, and then figuring out how to transport all this! I am set on the former, but the latter is complicating things a bit. I would like to get some small lockable tower bins for all these, with something like a bin for each army, one for rules and game aids, and one for terrain, but haven't found anything worthwhile yet.

Thankfully, all of the units pictured today fits in one of my standard travel / storage bins. The mat rolls up, and rules / terrain can all easily fit into a smaller bin. I'm all set for now, and can upgrade whenever I see something that fits my needs exactly.

While to-date I have reported on every game I have ever played, good-or-bad, errors-or-no, I will likely break that streak here in 4th Edition. The experience of the new player needs to be prioritized, and I think a report is too much to ask of me in the moment, and despite new rules and tactics, the smaller games might also not be as interesting. Hopefully more demos off-screen will lead to more games to properly report on in 2026!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #156 Varangur vs Kingdoms of Men in Loot

Intro and Lists

We have a second secret battle report coming to light! Rob wanted some secret prep for a one day speed tournament attached to the Renegade GT in late November. The event rewards wins and time left on your clock, and a swift, elite meta has evolved around it. Rob was trying to attack the meta, taking the Kingdoms of Men:

The idea is that his shooting should outrange any hammer, giving him at least one volley of withering rifle-fire along with the Ballista and maybe even the Wizard too. The Hero and Chariots around to interdict and buy time for the shooting. And expecting monsters and large infantry / cavalry, the Giant with Slayer would smash anything that got close. Minimizing the movement and melee phases should save precious clock time, and hopefully this would all be enough for him to come out ahead in the event.

Our first game was me throwing something together on the spot with the models I had. The second game here was a little more thought out from me, though getting in the game when we did was unexpected and I needed to make one model substitution. I brought the Varangur, and up to test was:

• Draugr. They are a great unit, but against so much shooting, they will not last long, and probably won't even be threatening enough to draw a round of fire away from the rest of the list. We're taking them for the unlock, and to play the scenario, whatever it may be.
• Fallen. I like the Fallen, though haven't gotten to use them very much. I felt like a Speed 8 Nimble unit with Iron Resolve and Pathfinder would be good at pressuring the gunline, so we're taking them for a spin, and giving them the Staying stone to increase the odds of Iron Resolve coming into play.
• Tundra Wolves. I also like Tundra Wolves, and wanted to explore them. Again, we have a speedy unit with Pathfinder, and hoped I could bring some good Pressure. 
• Snow Foxes. I felt like the list needed chaff, so brought one unit of trusty Snow Foxes.
• Cavern Dweller. When I've faced them, if they are supported at all, I often feel like I have one chance at picking them up, or Lifeleech 3 starts contributing too much and they start running away with the game. I think Monsters can dominate small games, and wanted to bring the Cavern Dweller to test that out. 
• Thegn. The Varangur can take some nice scoring heroes, but the points means I cannot take any multiples. So we have a few singletons. We'll try to get the Thegn up front, making use of his longer charge range and Strider. Getting in this game was unexpected, so the Thegn is the counts-as Frostfang model with the raised sword.
• Snow Troll Prime. We'll take a Prime as well, and see what they can tank for us. The Prime will have double axes.
• Kruufnir. We had the points, so we'll give Kruufnir an outing as well, and see if we can't get him rampaging into some of the Riflemen.

Astute readers might notice that this list is very similar to my Northwoods Melee list. I was trying to build for that event and explore some units like the Wolves and Fallen, but doing my own secret testing and trying not to tip my hand to anyone attending the event. I had hoped to squeeze this game in during October, with some time to think on it, but my weekends filled up, and this game was played the night before the Northwoods Melee, after I had driven over to Milwaukee to help set up.

Table and Terrain

In preparation of the Northwoods Melee, we had set up all the tables. But since the speed tournament will be played on a square, 4 foot area, we randomized and then voided a chunk of it. We'll be ignoring the left-most section, and Rob blocks it off with game aids. We opt to try 20 minutes on the clock this time, getting in some practice for Game 2's time limit.

We got Control for the scenario, and went with it. On the smaller table, we'll have four 2'x2' zones, each worth 1 point, making it a little easier to tie.

Overview of the table. We're playing on Rob's farm table.

I lose the roll for sides, and after consideration, Rob stays where he's at. This is an actual choice and not just being lazy.

With a nice lane on the right, I was curious to see if he would go with his predetermined plan for deployment, with the Giant flanked by the two rifle hordes, and he did. Left to right for the Kindgoms of Men we have the Riflemen on the hill with the hero on Pegasus behind, Giant, and more Riflemen, with the ASB near as well. The Alchemist Curse Wizard on Pegasus hit behind the building. The Chariot Legion sat angled to see past the building, and the lone Ballista held down the firing lane.

Deployment.

Again, I had been hoping to pull double-duty here, helping Rob practice while getting in some secret practice of my own for the Northwoods Melee. It was going to be a weird list without any real battle line units, so I wanted to take the opportunity here to try and noodle out my general deployment for the list. 

Not being Nimble, I think I generally wanted the Cavern Dweller central, and to play a bit of a refused flank. Hopefully I could support the Dweller long enough for it to start feasting well, and then start pressuring from odd angles.

For the Varangur, I hiding behind terrain to minimize that first round of shooting. On the line we have the Cavern Dweller and Kruufnir, with Tundra Wolves hiding behind the woods as best they could, and Draugr back here as well. The idea will be to just leave the Draugr here for an easy point, while the rest of the list tries to brawl.

On the right, and we can't quite fit it all through the gap, so we have a stack of characters with the Thegn (sword) and Snow Troll (axes), and then Fallen with the Snow Foxes behind, to protect them from shooting. We do not want them wavering and holding things up, so we'll protect them until it is time for them to become a speedbump.

I win the roll for sides. It is tempting to make the humans go first and have a bad round of shooting, but ultimately I decide that I probably need to be aggressive, and grab what early ground I can. The Varangur will seize the initiative.

Top of Round 1: Varangur

The Cavern Dweller has Strider, but not Pathfinder. It pivots and moves it's 6" up, staying in the woods to get the cover bonus. Kruufnir tentatively approaches, keeping the Dweller Inspired. 

The Wolves just peak into the woods as well. I won't have charges, but they should actually be safe from the rifles, unless the shooters move. I was trying to give my opponent bad choices between a regenerating Kruufnir, a stealthy Cavern Dweller, and the Wolves.

The Varangur move up, but slow play the middle.

The Draugr sidestep, using the woods to hide from shooting. We'll try to keep them here all game if we can to play the scenario.

On the right, the Foxes zip ahead to block and protect the Fallen from the Chariots. The Thegn pulls up alongside the Fallen, with the Snow Troll proxy a bit behind the Thegn. The Chariots should have a possible charge into the Thegn, but will need to use their Boots, and will be giving up a flank to the Fallen if they don't remove my character. 

Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

The Ballista shoots into the Fallen, but lands no damage. The Chariots pivot and flee, and the Wizard will eventually come out from behind the building.

M-dmovement from the Kingdoms of Men. The Wizard will move to the left of the building.

The Riflemen move out, supported by the Giant, but take penalties for moving, and fail to damage anything. The Hero on Pegasus hides behind the hill.

Top of Round 2: Varangur

The Varangur try to keep the pressure on. The Snow Foxes can't charge this turn, but run ahead to threaten the Ballista next turn. The Thegn with the sword hops ahead as well, peering behind the building to pressure the Chariots and encourage them to flee more. 

The Fallen enter the woods, trying to use the terrain to their advantage, and the counts-as Snow Troll behind them will hang back and zone out the flier a bit.

Movement for the Varangur.

The Cavern Dweller moves up, threatening a charge next turn, with Kruufnir supporting.

The Tundra Wolves also move ahead to threaten charges from the woods, meaning all my important units (Wolves, Dweller and Fallen) are threatening multiple charges next turn. That fees good for pressure.

The Draugr hold, playing the scenario and holding this zone.

Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

The Chariots continue to flee / reposition, getting past the building and out of line of sight of the pursuing Thegn. The Wizard flaps around the building, and shooting is exceptionally hot this turn, with . Alchemist Curse landing 6 damage onto the Thegn, and the rest going into the Cavern Dweller, taking him up to 16 damage, and routing the monster.

The Cavern Dweller is gunned down.

The Hero on Pegasus is able to fly over, and get out of arc of the Tundra Wolves. I had honestly mixed up the fliers, thinking the Wizard was on the left. They are clearly modeled, I just goofed. With just 3 attacks from him, this isn't the biggest deal, but it is good positioning and pressure from him.

Top of Round 3: Varangur

I'm starting to crumble a little bit. I was hoping for more from the Cavern Dweller. The Snow Foxes will charge the Ballista and barely pick it up, landing the expected 6 damage but getting a good Nerve check.

The Thegn will hide behind the building now, wounded, but continuing to threaten things. The Fallen use the building to block. The Chariots should be in the flank, but not be able to align. Kruufnir repositions to tank. 

Positioning for the Kingdoms of Men.

The other Troll enters the woods. He's threatening the Wizard, and continuing to try and support as best he can.

The Wolves have charges, but nothing great. Their best charge is into the far Riflemen, but the Giant is there. Currently the Giant has no charges, so I opt to just reposition slightly. No reason to bring the Giant into the mix just yet.

The Draugr pivot, still using the trees to block.

Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

The reposition of the Wolves is not great, as I put a majority of their base outside the woods. One of the hordes of Rifles hits them for 6 damage, but they do hold. The other Horde has been shooting through the weird but charming gap in the obstacles, but has no shots this turn.

The Hero on Pegasus flaps to interdict, and the Wizard on Pegasus flaps behind my lines to cast Alchemist Curse on the Snow Troll Prime hiding in the woods, dealing 1 damage.

Positioning for the Kingdoms of men.

The Chariots charge Kruufnir. I don't remember if my opponent uses the Boots. I would. With so many units surrounding them, this is probably going to be their only instigating charge. They'll deal 4 damage, and the legendary Troll will hold.

Top of Round 4: Varangur

The Snow Foxes go and hide behind the building, while the Thegn is able to get out of arc of the Giant to pressure things.

Overkill into the Chariots.

Kruufnir will counter-charge the chariots, joined with a hindered charge from the Snow Troll Prime, and a clean charge in the flank by the Pathfinding Fallen.

In a snap decision, we discuss, and the Wolves should be able to Nimble charge around the Hero, pivoting one to get around, moving a big ahead, and then pivoting again so they can hit the other flank of the Chariots. 

In retrospect, I do not like this decision - it is overkill, and the Chariots are devastated before I can roll for the Wolves. I would have been better off charging the Hero and trying to bully him a bit. He's uninspired, and looking at expected damage, I should be able to waver him at least.

Reforms from the Varangur.

The Giant is not Nimble, so will be a little gummed up next turn. The Snow Troll overruns, and the Fallen and Wolves change Facing. Kruufnir holds, as I want to baby him a bit, and hope that he can regenerate something next turn, as he did nothing this turn.

In my backfield, the Draugr change facing to spy the Wizard, though they cannot reach him. It just seems sensible to not give him an open flank. 

Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

The Kingdoms of Men charge out! The Giant hits the Snow Troll Prime while some Riflemen make a hindered charge into the Fallen. Looking at the arrangements, I believe I had the proxy Troll slightly ahead, so the Riflemen are crammed over, allowing the Giant to sneak in his charge. I could have been a jerk, or adjusted things slightly better to prevent this, but the pressure is on with the time contraint, and fights are fun. Bring it on!

Positioning from the Kingdoms of Men.

The Riflemen shoot into the Tundra Wolves again, landing a hot 10 damage, and will pick them up. The Wizard will land 3 more damage onto Kruufnir with Alchemist Curse, and the Troll barely holds, and is surprisingly unbothered.

The Wolves break, but everything else holds firm.

The Giant rolls poorly overall, hitting the Snow Troll Prime for just 4 damage, and the Troll holds firm.

The Riflemen are hindered, and deal no damage to the Fallen.

Top of Round 5: Varangur

We got Riflemen to charge, so I feel like we're doing ok! The Fallen counter-charge the Riflemen, landing 9 damage, but they are a horde of dudes, and hold on.

Positioning for the Varangur.

The Thegn makes his way up a bit, threatening rear charges into the Giant and a flank charge into the Riflemen. Kruufnir hops ahead, regenerating a few damage to end at 5, and is pressuring the Riflemen as well. I am playing quickly and just trying to pressure and make him do math

For the scenario, the Snow Foxes continue to cower behind the building, and the Draugr continue to hide in my deployment zone.

Bottom of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

I miss a picture. The Riflemen counter-charge the Fallen, and will land 1 damage, which will be immediately Iron-Resolved back. I will admit, that does feel great, and it is nice to be on the other side of that for once!

The Giant thumps into the Snow Troll Prime again, taking him up to 7 damage, but the Prime holds on bravely.

The maximum pressure approach doesn't work on my opponent. Measuring, the Thegn is in range of the Hero, the Thegn is charged. Just 1 damage makes it through though, but the Thegn wavers.

The Rifles roll hot again into Kruufnir, and with Alchemist Curse adding a few as well, the legendary Troll will need Insane Courage to stay, and doesn't get it. 

Top of Round 6: Varangur

If memory serves, Rob learned after our initial practice game that the tournament doesn't actually roll for Round 7, so this is it.

The Fallen fight and best the Riflemen. I don't think they do anything, given this is the last turn.

Final positioning for the Varangur.

The Thegn does nothing, and not knowing we were only playing to Round 6, the Foxes have been a little too patient. The hope was to leave them here, and throw the Fallen into my opponent's left corner in a possible Round 7. Oh well.

The Snow Troll Prime bravely fights the Giant. We've taken far more than we've dealt, but are still holding on.

Bottom of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men

The Rifles move and shoot into the Fallen, but land no damage. I believe the Fallen were getting a cover benefit, making this really hard on the shooters.

Looking to save time on the clock, the Hero doesn't roll attacks against the Thegn.

Final positioning for the Kingdoms of Men.

The Giant does thump 4 more damage into the Snow Troll Prime to bring him to 10 damage, but again, the Snow Troll Prime is a glutton for punishment.

The Wizard flies over into my left corner to score it for the humans. The Riflemen, Hero, and Giant all score his left corner. Fallen and Foxes hold my opponent's right, and Draugr hold my right.

With a hard cap after Round 6, it is a tie game!

Game Conclusions

Against Rob, I am always happy with a tie. And heck, if the speed tournament only goes to Round 6, then the previous practice game for this would have also been a tie! Great news for me, especially considering all my misplays in both games, but less so for him. I still think his approach has merit though. It’s a small event, and the list is sure to catch someone off guard, and it doesn’t take much for all of that shooting to start doing work against an elite list.

This game was also quite helpful for me. Still coming away with a tie despite losing the Cavern Dweller before it could contribute anything felt great. I didn’t have much time to really reflect on my tactics in detail, but this game validated my list and general approach for the Northwoods Melee coming up the next day, and was a big confidence boost.

Testing Conclusions

• Draugr. They hid and simply played the scenario. I might have been able to eek a little more value out of them moving them up and zoning out and threatening the Wizard and such, but these already did great this game, doing just what I needed them to do.
• Fallen. They are relatively quick and relatively durable, and can apply some great pressure with smart positioning. They were used well enough this game, and were certainly a fun unit to have around! 
• Tundra Wolves. I should have been more mindful with them, and was pressuring when I should be cautious, and cautious when I should have been pressuring harder. They were definitely not used well here, but they were definitely fun to use! I can see squeezing them into more lists, as without shooting to scare them away they can really get into nasty positions thanks to Nimble and their good speed.
• Snow Foxes. Had I known we were stopping at 6 earlier, I maybe could have gotten a little more use out of them, but they killed a war machine and played the scenario and they had a very good game.
• Cavern Dweller. Like the Wolves, the Cavern Dweller was also not used particularly well, and the monster didn’t get to contribute at all to the violence, but the dice against them were pretty hot. My opponent took his chance to deal with the monster, and it worked out for him this time.
• Thegn on Frostfang. The extra speed was good and it was fun to see him zipping around the table being a menace. Strider didn’t come into play here, but it can be very strong. 
• Snow Troll Prime. The game was a nice showcase of the durability of the Snow Troll Prime. The Giant was getting his Slayer d6, but the results just weren’t there and the Nerve checks kept swinging low on the Inspired rerolls.
• Kruufnir. Not regenerating anything really damped what the legendary Troll could accomplish, btu he still took the charge from the Chariots like a champ, and enabled that strong (if overzealous) pushback into the center. He did fine.

I was really hoping to get one more practice game in for the speed tournament, trying the 15 minute timer and running yolo Abyssal Berserker spam, or Lycans or some kind of flying circus... just something more elite and in-line with exactly what Rob was expecting to see at the event, just to better gauge how his plan was, as well as tie these reports off neatly, having played at every time limit. Alas, this was it for the secret games for Rob.

I tidied up our first practice game and posted it last night once the tournament was officially underway. Tidying this second report up the morning after, I read that Bob not only won the speed event, but won it decisively, being the only one to go 3-0! The attack on the meta worked out. Congrats Rob!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #155 Undead vs Kingdoms of Men in Loot

Intro and Lists

When I started writing more numerous reports for the Blog, I had a worrisome moment. With each battle report being numbered, what would keep things from posting out of order? Thankfully, the madness was momentary, and reality quickly asserted itself.  I am a one person operation, so I can number things and schedule posts as I darn well please. No worries. Nonetheless, here we are with an odd, secret battle report!

While I have not been able to travel around to tournaments, my clubmate Rob and his Halflings have been all over the place this last year, and we have helped him prep whenever we can. Having placed 1st at the Michigan GT back in October, Rob was already eyeing up his next big tournament, the Renegade Open in November. It’s a 2-day weekend tournament with special character rules, and with a 1-day speed tournament tacked on Friday evening, and Rob wanted to practice for the latter. The speed tournament is three games at 1200 points, with less time on the clock each round. The scoring for the event is a combination of your wins and your remaining clock time. The event and the speed tournament have been going on long enough that a bit of a meta has materialized around it, with speedy and elite lists. Rob played last year, and wanted to bring a list to attack that meta, but didn't want me blabbing about it. I think he overestimates the reach of the blog, but we did accommodate his wishes, and the tournament should be underway (or even finished) by the time this actually posts. For the event, Rob settled on an army dear to me, the very versatile Kingdoms of Men:

The points level makes things a little tight as you can only run one of a hero or monster or war machine. It's a neat list, running two hordes of Rifles, a Giant with Slayer since he’s expecting a lot of monsters, a Chariot Legion (!) with J Boots to interdict things, and then singletons of an ASB for Inspiring, a Wizard on Pegasus with Alchemist Curse, a Ballista, and a Hero on Pegasus. The idea is that all the shooting should be able to maim or even delete a unit a turn, really punishing the very elite builds, and everything else in the list should be able to interdict or buy time for the shooting to do the heavy lifting..

I was not gearing up for this event, nor did I see his message before I left home earlier that day. But after Battle 145, we still had some time before the shop closed, so I cobbled together an Undead list with the models I had, for him to fight and test out his ideas before he spent more time hobbying things up. I brought the following:

I was limited by the models I had with me, but still, a little more insight on Undead MMU wouldn’t hurt for me to have! Up to evaluate was:

• Skeleton Warriors with two handers. These are my pet unit for the Undead. They are a great chunk of Nerve for their points, and a cheap, versatile drop. The two-handers and CS1 are nice, as they have just enough attacks to be able to disorder things reliably, and clever Surges and such can let them punch above their weird. With no Surge casters here... I don't think we're going to pull off anything tricky with them, so they are around to eat a turn of shooting. If they can do that, I'll be happy.
• Wraiths. I like Wraiths, but without Surge, these are also around for chaff and blocking duties., and we'll see if Def6 can eat a round of shooting or catch my opponent off guard at all.
• Soul Reaver Infantry. These were the best units I had with me, so needed to at least double-down on them. Wary of shooting, one got the Dwarven Ale to hopefully let them shake off any wavers from shooting, and the other got the cheaper Staying Stone.
• Deathpack. I wanted more experience with them after their debut, so we squeezed in both units. 
• Lykanis. I was limited by my models, and my opponent was anticipating a meta of speedy things, so I like like the Lykanis and Vampire would be better than something like Mhorgoth, especially given the rest of the list. We'll see if we can utilize the speed to do anything cool.
• Vampire on Undead Pegasus. Same as above, it's not ideal, but it's what we have, and we'll see if we can use these to pressure.

Going up against heavy shooting, I wanted to try and play more of a refused flank, and be aiming for a narrow win on half the table. Hopefully my concentration of force would let me punch through and do things.

Table and Terrain

We set up a full table, but since the event will be played on a square, 4 foot area, we then randomized and voided a chunk of it. We'll be ignoring the left-most section.

I won the roll for sides and was lazy, though this side did give me some nice terrain to hide behind.

Rob had given a lot of thought to his approach. The Kingdoms of Men deployed with a strong brick of Rifleman, Giant, and Riflemen, supported by the Wizard and ASB. With not a lot of firing lanes, the Ballista set up shop nearby in the backfield, looking to shoot around the forest, and the Chariots eyed said forest. The Hero deployed behind the building, safe, and ready to interdict.

Deployment, for everyone! There are some benefits to playing on a smaller table.

Knowing a bit about his plan, the Undead castled pretty hard in the corner, tying to use the terrain to my advantage. We want to push up, grab two tokens, and call it good with a narrow win. Skeleton Warriors and both Soul Reavers, were on the line, with the Lykanis and a unit of Deathpack in reserve. I only need two tokens to win, so this group would push for the center. On the right, I had a stack of flying Vampire on the line, non-shambling Deathpack, and slightly angled Wraiths, and this group would try to push up the far right of the table, grabbing the token here and hopefully negate the enemy flying Hero.

There were no Scout moves, and I won the roll for turn order, eventually opting to go first. Yes, would unfortunately give the riflemen some shots by moving up, but the hope was that the extra ground gained and pressure applied will be worth it, especially with my flying Vampire on the far right.

Top of Round 1: Undead

On the right, the flying Vampire races ahead. The Deathpack lingers behind a bit, with the shambling Wraiths behind them. The layered positioning would hopefully deny the Hero on Pegasus any safe landing zones. At the end of my turn, I ended up pivoting the Vampire pretty hard, in order to face the center, assuming that the rest of the stack can proceeded and apply pressure.

The Undead move up. Some of them go pretty far!

The Soul Reavers trudge forward, keeping the forest between them and most of the enemy shooting.

On the left, the Lykanis stays pretty close, and the Skeletons and Deathpack scoot ahead a bit at speed. Hopefully, the Skeletons could tank a turn or two of shooting, and the Deathpack can gain enough ground to chaff for the Soul Reavers, and get them into a combat.

Bottom Top of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

The Wizard flies ahead and pivots, looking to get safely behind enemy lines before casting spells, and the bloc of Riflemen and Giant reposition a bit. Shots flew out into the Lykanis, but only 3 damage hit, and he was found to be steady.

Movement for the Kingdoms of Men.

We check, and there is actually only about 90mm between the table edge and the building out on the right, so the Hero on Pegasus is able to get in and threaten charges for free now, which is not ideal for me. I wasn't going to be able to reach him next turn, but being able to eventually get past the building is something I had just assumed. Now, the effectiveness of my stack is pretty diminished, especially with the pivot of my Vampire last turn.

Top of Round 2: Undead

I try to keep the pressure on. The flying Vampire pivots and flits over the building, and will have charges into the Chariots, Ballista, or a horde of Riflemen, unless my opponent does something.

Wraiths hang back to deny a landing zone to the Hero on Pegasus, while the Deathpack from the right moves up to block. The Skeletons advance too, and the line is jumbled enough that the Chariots can’t see the Deathpack, can’t fit into the Soul Reavers, and can only charge the Skeletons.

Movement for the Undead.

The other Deathpack reposition, looking to zone out the Wizard on Pegasus for another turn.

The injured Lykanis is brazen, and runs ahead. I am out of the Giant’s arc, so am hoping to just cause some trouble out here.

Bottom Top of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

Trying to play fast, I apparently miss a picture. The Riflemen just unload into the Lykanis, landing a hot 6 damage, while the Wizard veers back and Alchemist Curse contributes another hot 5, and the lycanthrope is obliterated.

The Giant repositions, but is careful not to block the leader point of the other Rifle horde. This other horde will hold, and shoot into the stealthy Deathpack, landing 6 damage. The Ballista tries as well, but lands no shots, and the Deathpack do amazingly hold.

The Chariots change facing, preventing a charge into the Ballista since my flier won’t be able to align. The Hero on Pegasus spins around, landing near my Vampire on Pegasus, to force a decision out of me.

Top of Round 3: Undead

The flying Vampire hops around, getting out of arc of the flying Hero and Chariots.

The Wraiths pick up the token on the right.

The Vampire on Pegasus gets into another threatening spot.

The maimed Deathpack scoot ahead, blocking for both Soul Reaver units, and the Skeletons shamble ahead as well, threatening a charge next turn if they are not dealt with, and to make things interesting, they move far enough to get out of arc of the Chariots.

Movement for the Undead.

The other unit of Deathpack scamper ahead, and should be threatening a charge into the Riflemen on the left, or the Wizard if he doesn’t move. The pressure is on!

Bottom Top of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

The Hero on Pegasus inches ahead but out of arc of my Vampire on Pegasus.

The Ballista shoots and misses at some Soul Reavers as I think it takes a penalty from the intervening melee. The Chariot charged the Deathpath, but did not use their boots. They will sidestep in victory.

Good pick-ups for the Kingdoms of Men.

The Giant backs up, and both hordes of rifles shoot into the Skeletons, joined by Alchemist Curse from the wizard. A total of 9 damage lands, and the Skeletons break apart as I am low on Inspiring coverage with the cobbled-together list.

Top of Round 4: Undead

I guess the Deathpack might not be threatening a charge into those Rifles, as they zip out and grab a token for some reason. This is not a great play from me, and I think an error from clock pressure.

In the back field, the Vampire continues to dance around the hero. We flit around again, threatening other units while avoiding his charge arc.

Movement for the Undead.

The Soul Reavers make a pair on hindered charges into the Chariot Legion. One rolls hot and one rolls cold to end up at the expected 16 damage, and unfortunately we only waver the unit.

The Wraiths and their token move up, ready to assist next turn.

Bottom Top of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

I miss another picture due to time pressures. Thankfully, it's a small game and things should still be relatively easy to follow.

The Deathpack with the token did not get out of arc of the Riflemen, so the infantry horde charges out, beat them and steals it. Oops. Really not sure what I was thinking there.

The Giant and Rifle horde turn to face the flying Vampire. I think the Riflemen shoot, but land no damage into the Vampire.

The Ballista lights up the Wraiths, landing 4 damage and following up with Boxcars to best the uninspired unit.

The Charioteers disengage, and withdraw an inch, to force more hindered charges from me.

Top of Round 5: Undead

I’ve been too weird with my flying Vampire, and with the Hero and Giant starting to constrict him, I fly away, landing on the token so I can pick it up if needed.

Movement for the Undead.

The shooting has indeed whittled me down, and both Soul Reaver regiments again go into the Charioteer Legion, to hopefully pick them up, and I do. In retrospect, this is crazy overkill, and one should have considered doing something to threaten the central token.

Reforms for the Undead.

In victory, one will sidestep towards the center, and the other will back up 2 inches, land atop to token here as well, and pick it up.

Bottom Top of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

The hero can spy the tiniest sliver of the Soul Reavers from around the building, and takes the charge, ending up in the flank of the Soul Reavers. The Giant is also just in, against them, and charges in to bully them for their token. Fortunately, the Hero misses entirely, and while the Giant rolls up some extra attacks, few connect, and the Soul Reavers survive on 5 damage. These have the Staying Stone, and are just shy of wavering, but hold steady, thanks to the item.

Charges and positioning for the Kingdoms of Men.

Both Rifle hordes and the Wizard fire into the other regiment of Soul Reavers, though the Rifles take boatloads of penalties, and Alchemist Curse only lands 1 damage.

Top of Round 6: Undead

It’s top of 6 and I should really be playing the scenario better, but am struggling to do so.

The flying Vampire pivots, hoping to cleanup in a round 7. It's Round 6, and I think he should be flying out and grabbing the central token perhaps.

Movement for the Undead.

In retrospect, I probably should counter-charge the Hero, as I have a better change of routing him and removing opposing unit strength, but I do not. I charge the Giant, land the expected 8 damage, but do not budget the titan. They Lifeleech down to 3 though, and I am feeling ok about a grind here. Having used Giants a lot, 4's are swingy, and he's not kitted out to fight infantry, so this grind could definitely work out for me.

The other regiment of Soul Reavers make a hindered charge out into a horde of Riflemen, landing 9, but do not waver them either. 

This charge is a little dubious as well. It's Round 6, so I should probably be trying to grab the token. However, I don't have any other charges, and am wary of shooting, and think I can keep this evened up and get a tie. 

Bottom Top of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men

The Wizard lands just 1 damage with Alchemist Curse against my flying Vampire.

The Giant and Hero multi-charge the Soul Reavers again, and again we are able to keep the damage low with just 6 new damage. Still, this puts me at 9 damage, and I unfortunately waver, even with the Staying Stone.

Movement for the Kingdoms of Men.

One horde of Riflemen countercharge the Soul Reavers, landing 2 damage, and the other start trudging towards the central token to grab it in a potential Round 7. I had forgotten that units could take multiple tokens, so I'm suddenly really worried.

It’s shaky, but a tie-game in the bottom of 6. I’d be happy with this, but we do roll up a round 7…

Top of Round 7: Undead

I didn’t give myself a great shot here, so there isn’t much I can do with the extra round.

The Soul Reavers butcher the Riflemen horde on the second attempt, Lifeleeching down to no damage, which admittedly feels good. Had this happened a turn or so earlier (like breaking the Chariots on the first attempt), I'd be feeling great, but this is a pretty empty victory now.

The conclusion of the Undead efforts.

The other Soul Reavers are wavering though, and there isn’t much I can do to help them. They back up, and the flying Vampire is able to make a clean charge into the Giant. Unfortunately, I look to have done just 1 damage here. With 7 quality attacks, this feels pretty bad.

Writing up the report, this could also a questionable play, as the Soul Reavers are so very hurt. I could have dropped the token and then backed up, and then picked it back up with the flying Vampire... but the Vampire on Pegasus is exactly what the Giant is geared up to fight. Either move is a gamble, and my opponent put me on the ropes with that waver and the extra turn.

Bottom Top of Round 7: Kingdoms of Men

The remaining horde of Riflemen take the center token, and are now holding two for the easy win. The flying hero hops up to delay the Soul Reavers out of habit.

Pay no attention to the Soul Reaver casualties! The Kingdoms of Men close out the game.

Alchemist Curse finally skews towards average dice again, and the wavering Soul Reavers are melted, dropping their token.

The Giant charges the Vampire Lord, but my opponent realizes that he's playing on auto-pilot. The tournament apparently gives some incentive for remaining clock time, so he taps out in the ranged phase, and we don't get to see how the Giant performs against the Vampire on Pegasus.

The Kingdoms of Men win this 2:0 with a Round 7!

Game Conclusions

Like many of our games, I'm taking a goofy list into something much more thought out. It was fun, but the pressure definitely got to me a few times as I tried to cobble together something resembling a cohesive strategy. Mistakes were made, and I couldn't quite get things done.

Testing Conclusions

• Skeletons with two-handers. They are still a neat unit. They are cheap, and took the hits well enough, with even chances to stick around, luck just didn't break their way this time.
• Deathpack. Definitely a mixed bag, with one getting thrown away for nothing, and the other holding long enough to die well like a good chaff unit. I got lucky with these not wavering, but if the protected unit is back a bit, these can nimble-pivot and back away, creating a space. These are still fine chaff for the Undead, and as long as I am taking Soul Reavers, I will likely take a unit or two of these going forward.
• Soul Reavers. Hiding in the woods and being hindered wasn’t great for their output, but I protected them well enough I think, and got them a decent opening engagement. Giving them items the mitigate wavering also proved very worthwhile this game. They just weren't quite good enough to hard carry me with my other errors.
• Lykanis. Not used particularly well, though he did draw some fire, and that is ok since I was focusing on the Soul Reavers. Of the two speedy units I’ve been exploring, these are budget buys, and clearly struggle. I think they can have their place, but I’ve been asking them to do way too much, and should invest into more units for my MMU.
• Vampire on Pegasus. Not used particularly well either – it’s been a while since I had an aerial standoff! I should have zipped ahead and pivoted to outrun the human Hero, but we ended up dancing all game, and they favored the cheaper hero. Fun to use, but not used well here.

A speed tournament is a really neat idea, and this was a lot of fun to try out. This will probably post mid-tournament, so we'll hope Rob is doing well!