Intro and Lists
I had resolved to have a do nothing weekend, but I could not say no when Trevor of Data and Dice had some unexpected availability and asked about a game. Trevor is back with the Northern Alliance, running the following for our first game:
The Northern Alliance were pretty well known in 3rd for sturdy infantry, but also some good synergies and combined arms play, and he wanted to see how shooting and that kind of list might fare in the new edition. Two regiments of elite Ice Kin Hinters and a Bolt thrower were around to test ranged shooting from afar, with two Ice Elemental regiments to pile it on if things got too near. Inspiring is low, with just Serakina and the Ice Queen. There is a duo of Human Tribesmen regiments and just one Dwarf regiment supporting the usual Naiad horde. And like many Northern Alliance and Varangur lists, two Hearthguard units made their way in, along with a few Snow Foxes to interdict and harass.
I regretted not getting the Herd to a tournament table in 3rd Edition. I don't get out to tournaments much, so over the summer I gearing up to run them at our local GT in February 2026, and while 4th Edition made me hesitate, my pet unit of Guardian Brutes did actually survive, so I feel the need to trust in fate a bit and follow though with my original plans. We're about a month out, and up to test is everything here:
- Chieftain. I need the Chieftain to get my Guardian Brutes, so he’s a must-have for this endeavor. He’s on foot but… honestly, has been doing ok for himself, with a wild 8 attacks that if they can hit, are usually wounding things on 2’s with his CS2TC1. The Wild Charge has been ok too, though more as a cushion, making it easier to get in, than as a playmaker, getting me into places I normally couldn’t.
- Druid with BC and Surge. The Chieftain is in, as a Warlord, but I need other heroes. Druids on foot with Bane Chant were boring but great previously, so we’re exploring them a bit here as well. We have an Elemental component here, so we’re taking Surge too.
- Centaur Chieftain with Tome of Darkness. I think I want three heroes at 2300. The list is geared towards melee, so I really want my fighting units Inspired. The Centaur Chief did get a few extra attacks, and has a good speed, so I am interested to try him out. Because of the Elementals, we are also giving him the Tome.
- Tribal Warriors. I will mention it until they fix it; the Herd should have Tribal Spears! Their use of them is explicitly called out in the new army fluff. Alas, we’re down to just Warriors. The Warriors look great on paper though, and are very cheap. While I would like to run all Longhorns for my Core, I don’t think the points will ultimately support it, so I wanted to try out a normal Warrior Regiment here. I don't have a normal Warrior unit painted up, so have a few minis strewn onto the appropriate-sized base.
- Longhorns. I have a set of troops made up already. I was poised to paint up a few more regiments up in 3rd when the unit got suddenly transmogrified into a mediocre, regiment-max anvil, which wasn't doing it for me. Reverting back to their primal selves, I like their look a lot, and want to try them out. Cool dice and hindered charges put the damper on their debut a few reports back, so we’ll endeavor to position them a little better today! I don't have a third unit ready yet, so am faking it with a few troop bases atop tegiment bases.
- Critters. Forces of Nature have lost both Harpies and Gur Panthers, and it sucks. I am not speedy, so I do need chaff, and unfortunately all we have are Critters. Thankfully, they got a points decrease, but are still just Speed 6 and hard to use. But use them I must, so we’ll do our best and see what we can learn.
- Guardian Brutes. They survived the edition shift. I liked throwing 30 dice at a problem, but unfortunately, they are no longer Berserkers. Fortunately they are more elite, with Def5, and CS2TC1, making them pretty nice hammers, even if they are impacted by the changes to the number of attacks most Large Infantry get.
- Greater Air Elementals. The concern with my Herd is the same as I was having at the end of 3rd Edition, namely speed. Everything I’m running is Speed 6, meaning I can catch infantry fine, but will likely need to get charged by cavalry and fliers. I’m hobbied these up to see if maybe they could project a little more threat for me, though I am feeling a little taxed needing to add in Surge.
Table and Terrain
Trevor was hosting us, and had used his app to generate a table and scenario for us. Since our previous meeting, I had printed out a reference sheet for the terrain changes and a few other things so we could try out the slightly different terrain heights. Of note here for the setup is that both buildings ended up on the left, which did feel like it cut off that edge of the board, and we got a fence atop a hill.
For the Scenario, the app gave us Raze. I’ve derided the Scenarios in the book a bit as at first glance it seemed like they dumped everything into the new book without curation, but as I was about to suggest the more dynamic Protect and Raze instead, as we looked this up, Raze has changed a lot, and we kept it.
As before, one Objective Marker is in the exact center of the board, and we each place three tokens for us to fight towards and then Raze for a point. However, instead of 6” off the center line, our target tokens are in the opposing deployment zone. We still Raze them for a point, but progressive scoring was also introduced, with the central Objective granting a point at the end of your player turn if you control it. These are some big changes, and we were excited to try them out.
The objectives still need to be 12” apart and 3” from any blocking terrain, but dropping them back the deployment zone gives a surprising amount of additional room, and you are no longer limited to a 2:1 arrangement.
I dropped all mine near the line, favoring the right sight of the board. My opponent largely did the same, but stuck one way back at the very far edge of my deployment zone, I think hoping me to keep something back to guard it.
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| Tokens, and the table. |
For deployment, the Northern Alliance put one unit of Snow Foxes on the far left, ideally hoping to slink on by and play the scenario, and they were unsupported. The building helped spit the line, and we had both Tribesmen units, Dwarfs, and Naiads at the front, with more Snow Foxes, the Ice Queen, and Hearthguard in reserve.
My opponent agonized on where to put the Ballista, as it could get all of its front facing onto the hill. But rereading the terrain and line of sight, we felt like it could see, but without the center point on the hill, things could be really goofy, and we felt like the hill would count as intervening terrain and provide cover. He could remedy this by spending a turn moving onto the hill, but ultimately, he opted to ignore this potential kerfuffle, and deploy the war machine a bit farther back and hope to shoot around the hill. Rereading the cover rules while writing up the report, ranged line of sight still cares about the old Leader Point, now the “front facing mid-point”, which we did not catch at the time.
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| View from the left. |
The rest of the Northern Alliance ended up in the corner. Ice Kin Hunters were angled and ready to get their unit center points in the forest, and were flanked by Ice Elementals, ready to fling into anything approaching the archers. Hoping to make use of the Withdraw rule, more Hearthguard were deployed in reserve here, and Serakina was tucked in behind the archers to supervise the position.
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| View from the center-right. |
For the Herd, I wanted to try and alternate Longhorns and Guardian Brutes, and keep the Greater Air Elementals on the wings, where they would hopefully be more of a deterrence.
Also a bit boxed in from the buildings, I avoided the far left. We have Critters and a Greater Air Elemental, Guardian Brutes, and the Chieftain. The loose line continued with Longhorns, Brutes angled to fight for the center, Critters in reserve, more Longhorns, and then Tribal Warriors near the woods. With their center points in the woods we have the Greater Air Elemental supported by the Centaur Chief with the Tome, angled Longhorns, and then Brutes with Critters in reserve.
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| And scout moves from the Ice Kin Hunters. |
The Ice Kin scouted ahead, getting their center point into the woods so their shots would ignore cover, and then my opponent won the roll for turn order, opting to go first. It's the first big game with the Herd in 4E, but I think I am ok with my deployment. We’ll see how things go!
Top of Round 1: Northern Alliance
On the right, the Ice Elementals trudged up, with Serakina nearby and the Hearthguard supporting from behind. The Ice Kin halt and loose their arrows into the exposed Guardian Brutes way out here, landing 4 damage. The Ballista rolls well despite shooting through the obstacle to land an additional 4, and Serakina piles it on with a Lighting Bolt for 2 more to bring the Brutes up to 10 damage, but only wavers them, since the Brutes are not devastated. Still, this is a strong volley to start the game, and I am already feeling the pressure from my opponent's shooting.
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| Lots of shots into the Guardian Brutes resulting in lots of damage. |
In the center, the Ice Naiads move up, with the Hearthguard mostly cresting the hill behind them. Foxes scampered up, screening for the Dwarfs and both units of Human Tribesmen, ready to run ahead and block since I don't have any shooting to threaten the chaff.
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| The Northern Alliance pushes up on the left. |
On the right, the other unit of Foxes zip ahead, looking to threaten some flanks.
Bottom of Round 1: Herd
The Foxes were a little overzealous. I had put the Critters out here to block for the Greater Air Elemental and fight the Foxes, but as it stands, the Greater Air Elemental just whooshes out to fight the Foxes for free. We'll land a lucky 7 damage, pick them up, and now be threatening some nice flank charges with the Elemental monster.
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| A lucky charge and pickup to start the game. |
On the left, the line contorts to make things hard to engage. The Critters take the hill, but can only be reached by the Foxes and Naiads, The Chieftain is up but the Naiads shouldn't be able to fit in against him, and the Longhorns should also be safe from the Naiads, thanks to the angle of the Chieftain and the Critters in the center.
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| A messy line to dissuade the Naiads. |
The center for the Herd moves up, and out on the right, the Tribal Warriors inch up, keeping their center point in the terrain for cover, and the Air Elemental moves up to threaten things, while also keeping its center point in the woods.
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| Positioning for the Herd on the right. |
The Longhorns move up, but are too far away for the Ice Elementals to just move and shot at them, and they also keep their center point in the terrain, as does the supporting Centaur Chieftain.
The Wavering Brutes halt are ordered to heal by the Centaur Chief, and heal 1, getting down to 9 damage. The Critters Scamper ahead, hoping to provide cover.
Top of Round 2: Northern Alliance
On the right, the Ballista lands another 2 with Cover penalties into the Brutes, taking them to 11. Serakina tries a Lightning Bolt, buy the hits don't wound. The Ice Kin shoot over the Critters but don't care about the cover penalties, landing a bonkers 12 additional damage. The Brutes end on a silly 23 damage, and are found to be insane, but devastated. Unfortunately, they have no charges next turn
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| Devastated and insane. The Brutes stick around for another round. |
The Ice Elementals scoot up slightly, but have no shots, and the Hearthguard out here bide their time, allowing the Kin to shoot.
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| The Foxes move up to also complicate charges. |
My opponent wisely doesn't want to charge the Naiads out to be dog-piled, but moves them up to secure the center. With progressive scoring for the center Objective, this puts him into the lead with a solitary point. He also runs his remaining Foxes up to block for the Naiads. While there are lot of things with inches into them, it's all in the front, and only one Herd unit should be able to actually fit.
Bottom of Round 2: Herd
On the right, the doomed Brutes are Frozen and slowed, but hop ahead to threaten things, and more importantly, eat a charge or yet another round of shooting.
The Longhorns, Greater Air Elemental and Centaur Chieftain all adjust slightly in the woods, but all keep their center points in the terrain. They are all threatening charges next turn, and I'm realizing that with the left getting gummed up, if I can keep the Northern Alliance in this corner, victory could be mine, as getting to the tokens will be hard.
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| Herd positioning on the right. |
The Tribal Warriors move up, getting out of the woods. I believe they are threatening a far charge into the Ice Elementals ahead of them. The thinking here being that yes, I could be charged, but the Elementals aren't likely to break the Warriors, and if they do charge, they can't be shot, and this is a lot of success needed to do any Surge and shooting tricks. Safe from any Ice Elemental shooting, Longhorns are also nearby to support the Tribal Warriors with a helpful flank charge, and just pressure things.
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| Charges on the left. |
In the center, Critters fly into the Naiads to hold them up, and Brutes and the Chieftain charge into the delaying Foxes and will devastate and rout that chaff, as is proper. The Chieftain will sidestep, allowing the Brutes to reform.
Coming from the left, the Critters flap up to delay the Human Tribesmen, and block a bit for the Greater Air Elemental as it flank charges the Dwarfs, with the Guardian Brutes hitting them cleanly in the front, and the Dwarfs are devastated and routed as well. The thinking here was to use the Critters to protect the Greater Elemental, so the charge fail, but that was not needed! The Brutes will back up, and the Greater Elemental will just change facing to see the humans. With the Dwarfs now gone, one regiment of Tribesmen will clearly be able to get in, and I want them in the front.
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| Aftermath of the opening clash in the center of the field. |
Lurking in reserve are some Longhorns on the hill, who can see both Tribesmen units. I will need a Command order to get a Striding charge, but on 3 dice from the Warlord Chieftain, I think I got that next turn.
The Herd has pushed into the center, wresting control of that central objective token, bringing this to a tie game.
Top of Round 3: Northern Alliance
On the left, the Tribesmen strike back, leaving the field with some hindered charges into the Critters and the Greater Air Elemental. They land a strong 6 into the Critters, and will pick them up and overrun, but only land 4 into the Elemental, who will not be moved.
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| Charges from the Northern Alliance. |
After some fiddling, my opponent realizes that the Hearthguard are too close, and can't get in anywhere he wants with their one pivot. The Naiads reform, squaring up with the Critters, and they will slap them down, and reform. We were both eyeing the Greater Air Elemental from the right, who had inches but barely just not arc last turn. He's got both now, but it will be in the front.
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| And reforms from the Northern Alliance. |
The Hearthguard lurk, and the Ice Queen charges some Guardian Brutes to prevent them from getting into the Hearthguard or the flank of the Naiads, but no damage lands.
Shooting goes into the Tribal Warriors, the Kin dealing 5, the Ballista missing, one unit of Ice Elementals landing 6, and Serakina landing 3 to take them to 14 damage... but they are Rallied and Inspired, and are just wavering.
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| Shooting picks up the Brutes and damages the Warriors. |
The other Ice Elemental hold and shoot into the doomed Guardian Brutes, and will pick them up.
Bottom of Round 3: Herd
The Druid attempts to order a striding charge for the Longhorns and fails, but the Order succeeds from the Chieftain. I have a good number of options on the right, and I'm wracking my brain for optimal charges.
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| Charges on the right. |
In the end, the Greater Air Elemantal slams into Serakina, with the Critters hindered into the flank of the Ice Kin Hunters, and the Centaur Chieftain and Longhorns going into their front. The goal is to stuff the Northern Alliance back make a mess of things, since I like how the fights on the left are going.
The Greater Air Elemental does a strong 8 to Serakina, and we'll pick her up, removing Inspiring and Surge over here. Things are in my front, so the Elemental holds.
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| Serakina falls out on the right. |
The Critters are hindered, but Bane Chanted, and land a ridiculous 8 damage, with the Centaur Chief contributing 3, and the Longhorns a whopping 13. They are just Archers, but this is hot dice from everything but the Longhorns. However, the Kin are devastated, but Insane.
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| Charges on the left. |
On the left, the Chieftain successfully commands the Longhorns to get their striding charge, and they come in against the Tribesmen, with the Greater Air Elemental halts, fighting the other human unit, keeping out of arc of the Hearthguard, and the Guardian Brutes halt and fight the Ice Queen.
The Naiads take the Chieftain in the flank, and Brutes and Longhorns Ensnared in the front.
The fights go really well here too, actually.
I roll the Brutes against the Ice Queen first, again looking to removing Inspiring. We are Ensnared, but land 6 damage, and thanks to Brutal, we are able to pick the Queen up, and overrun.
The Longhorns flub, dealing just 5 into the Tribesmen, but a hot 11 will break the uninspired unit, and the Longhorns will reform, looking for future flanks. The Greater Air Elemental just lands 4 into its unit of Tribesmen, and the check is more reasonable, and they stick around.
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| Several important units break for the Northern Alliance. |
The Chieftain does 6, the Longhorns 10 and the Brutes 6, and the Naiad horde is popped. The Chieftain is exposed and changes facing, to spy the Hearthguard, and the Brutes overrun into him. The Longhorns here are in a rough spot. They are threatened in the flank by the Ice Elementals, and can't reform without putting the Hearthguard into a good spot. I opt to overrun. Just about anything will protect the Brutes from the Hearthguard, but I roll high, and put both the Hearthguard and the Ice Elementals into a flanking position against these Longhorns.
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| Aftermath of Round 3. |
At the end of my round, I haven't burned any tokens, but I am in control of the center, gaining a point, and taking the lead 2:1
Top of Round 4: Northern Alliance
On the left, the Tribesmen land another 4 into the Greater Air Elemental, but it is Inspired, and holds.
The Longhorns are sandwiched by the Hearthguard and Ice Elementals. The Elementals started in the woods and are hindered, and land only 4 damage, but the Hearthguard deal a mighty 13, and the Longhorns are broken. The Hearthguard reform awkwardly on the hill, as do the Ice Elementals.
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| The Hearthguard claim a unit of Lonhorns. |
On the right, the Hearthguard are ready for action. The devastated but insane Ice Kin see to sacrifice themselves and reform, but manage to pass their Nerve check with another bout of Insane Courage. They pop back and end near the token in the corner here.
The Ice Kin and Hearthguard have hindered charges into the Longhorns, and taken them, with the Kin landing 3 and the Hearthguard 6, but the inspired Longhorns hold.
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| The Northern Alliance are gummed up on the right. |
The Ice Kin did not get a Halt order, and the Withdraw move took them clear of friendly units, so they should not be wavered. They are devastated, and will shoot at the Greater Air Elemental, who is in cover, but will land no damage. The Ice Elementals on the right land will halt and fling shards into the Elemental with the same cover penalty, and will land 6 damage, but the Elemental is Inspired and will hold firm for the Herd.
Bottom of Round 4: Herd
Since the Greater Air Elemental is not engaged on the right, it will charge out into the now doubly-insane Ice Kin. Being a monster, it has US2 now, against the devastated 1 of the Kin regiment. The Greater Elemental would be able to burn this token regardless, but it does thump the Kin and rout them for good measure, turning about to threaten the remaining units out here.
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| Movement for the Herd. |
The Chieftain runs away, and a command will heal the Longhorns for 1. The Longhorns hold, and throw everything into the Pathfinding Kin. Pathfinding is my opponent's only real chance to claim any of his tokens, and they will be easier to pick up as well. The Longhorns land 9 and will pick the uninspired unit up. However, because I am still engaged with the Hearthguard, I do not get any reform. That's fine.
The Critters have a flank charge into the Hearthguard, but that seems silly. They fly out, but can't quite claim the objective token this round. Either They or the Centaur Chief will be able to do so next turn.
The lucky Tribal Warriors run up to threaten the other Ice Elementals. Without Surge, the Ice Elementals will only be able to shoot or charge, and are pretty outnumbered.
Two units of Brutes will charge the Hearthguard, taking them up to 15, and routing them, with one sidestepping to get out of arc of the Ice Elementals, and the other turns to face them.
The Chieftain order the Elemental nearby to heal, then sprints ahead, burning a second token this turn and threatening the war machine.
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| Conclusion of Round 4. |
Lastly, the Longhorns and Greater Air Elemental charge the remaining Human Tribesmen, with the Elemental landing 4 and the Longhornd 8, and we'll devastate and rout this unit, as is proper.
The Herd have burned two tokens, and are still holding the center, putting them up to 5 points to the 1 of the Northern Alliance.
My opponent concedes here. While he will likely claim the maimed Tribal Warriors and Longhorns and perhaps even the Greater Air Elemental on the right this round, he is unlikely to get out of the woods and claim any tokens himself, and the scenario is looking pretty out of reach, and we'd rather get in a second game.
A victory to the Herd!
Game Conclusions
The changes to Raze made it was more interesting, and peeking ahead, Protect and Raze has another, different token deployment configuration, so there seems to be more going on for scenarios than I was assuming based on some quick looks. That's exciting, and hopefully we can explore more scenarios soon!
Obviously, the game went really well for me. The opposing shooting really softened things up, but I got lucky, and it took a little too long for my opponent to rout what he wanted to and then get out of that corner. My opponent did not like the shooting approach here. The only idea I had was to spread it out more? In 3rd having units around to focus-fire was good - that's still a decent idea in 4th, but needing to devastate the unit before you can rout it can be tough, and requite a lot of extra shots and attention. Sprinkling it around, and using it to add a few damage onto something before it gets charged seems easier to do, and would probably be more effective.
Testing Conclusions
- Chieftain. You know, he did fine again here, and is really winning me over. The number of attacks is great compared to many other foot characters, and the army does have some good command orders, so it’s nice to have a Warlord around. We need him, but he’s doing well, so that’s all good news for me and the Herd.
- Druid with BC and Surge. The Druid is fine? She has a nice Rally to Elementals, which is actually great with these Greater ones, though it did not come up. Surge on her is also fine, but I didn’t really get to use it. A mount could be very good if you’re running the Greater Air or Water Elementals though.
- Centaur Chieftain with Tome of Darkness. The speed is nice, and Pathfinder lets him get to where he needs to be. Combat heroes are harder to pull off, but he’s doing ok as support, able to Inspire and help and charge in mostly as a last resort. With Shamblers not getting extra pivots, super-sneaky charges are harder to pull off; and Surge spell values seem to be trending down as well, and there are few heroes around, making even normal Surge charges harder to pull off. I probably don’t need the Tome on him, but it seems silly to not take it alongside the Greater Air Elementals
- Tribal Warriors. They ate a big volley of shooting, wavered, and then pressed on. Shooting is tough this edition if you can’t follow it up with a combat on the next turn. These did fine to block and support. I have to imagine the Spears are coming back eventually, though they probably aren’t a top priority, and I would guess this presumed oversight continues until they get their full book release (which, again, is a release approach I do not like).
- Longhorns. They did perfectly fine. Dice were better here than their debut, and they were able to carve through a few units. I would love to spam these as Core, but I think that’s probably a little too taxing on the rest of the list, so we’ll play around, but probably 2 Longhorns and 1 Warriors for Core for the tournament.
- Critters. They were chaff, and we used them pretty well. Two units were sacrificed to get me some good combats on the left, and on the right, they survived and were having a great time making a play for my last objective token. Speed is still a concern, and I wish they were quicker, but this was a good game for them and I got a better feel for the unit.
- Guardian Brutes. Brutes! Brutes! Brutes! I still miss their old berserker form, but the new Brutes are very punchy and they had a great game, enabled by some good chaff use.
- Greater Air Elementals. Immediately catching the Foxes on the left probably shouldn’t happen, nor should breaking Serakina on a front charge in one go. They did phenomenal, but I can recognize they got all sorts of lucky breaks here.
The list worked as intended, but I am a little uncertain about the Greater Air Elementals overall for this specific list. I like that the Herd gets them, and both they and Greater Water Elementals look amazingly fun to play around with, but I don’t know if that’s right for this tournament. Building by slots is harder, and without a cheaper Tribal Core, I think adding Surge stuffs in might be a little too hard for me.
A big thanks to Trevor for hosting and for the game! We had an immediate rematch in which I tested some other ideas, which should be up soon.
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