4th Edition: Battle #010 FoN (Herd) vs Halflings in Seek and Destroy

Intro and Lists

We had an even number of players at the January meetup for Kings of War Wisconsin, with everyone able to to get two games in, which felt great. We opted to have the winners play each other, meaning I was up against Rob and his Halflings. He ran the following:

Auras are much reduced in the new Edition, and the Halflings are a very different army, and Rob is experimenting. As-ever, the Halfling heroes demand the most attention, and have a trio of characters to inspire and issue orders. The Warlord is a Muster Captain on Winged Aralez, which looks like quite the beat-stick, though very expensive; Mama Beata is a legendary cook which can issue double orders, and on 3 dice (with some restrictions), and finally we have a Saucer with the Banner of Command, meaning that the Halflings can generate 4 orders off three characters, all with 3 dice. The Halflings also have five Command Orders and 3 Gastromancy Orders, for 8 total orders, which is too much to cover succinctly here. In short, it's good to have your book out, and the Halflings still have a lot of tricks up their tiny sleeves.

The rest of the list is a pair of unconditionally Inspiring Iron Beasts, now with better guns, the fat, belching dragon, two non-nimble, non-striding Juggers, two Grenadiers, a unit of Braves, and four regiments of Halfling Rifles. 

I am gearing up for the Northwoods GT in early February. The majority of the list is blocked in by necessity already. I like the double Tree Herder, so am mostly just fiddling around with the Champion choices now, but up to evaluate is everything:

• Chieftain with Torc. We need the Chieftain to get Brutes, but the Herd’s Command Orders are good, so it’s nice to have a Warlord and that third dice. He’s been working out fine, and we’ll try the Torc out now to get the extra range on the Command Orders.
• Druid on Steed with BC and SE. We’re still exploring Champions, and trying a duo of mounted options now, but with only one Druid.
• Centaur Chieftain with Banner of Command. We’re bouncing around, trying out the Centaur Chieftain again. Fighty heroes aren’t great, but having some additional disruption around could be nice, so we’ll just keep experimenting.
• Tribal Warriors with the Orb. We’re keeping the cheaper Warriors around to save some points, but I had an awkward amount of points left over, so we’re trying out the Orb of Towering Presence, and we’ll see what we think.
• Longhorns. The 20-attack Longhorns have been doing well for me, and working nicely alongside the Guardian Brutes too, with Rally to bolster the Nerve, and deal with smaller targets so the Brutes can focus on the big threats.
• Critters. They are what I have, so we’ll continue using them and see what we can learn.
• Guardian Brutes. The Brutes have been doing well, able to punch through harder targets while being supported by the Longhorns. We’ll continue running them in an alternating fashion and see how that does.
• Tree Herders. These have been doing fine for me as instigators and support pieces. Self-inspiring with Def6 is great, and scout, while more tame in the new edition, still lets them get ahead of things and apply some nice pressure, allowing the Longhorns and Brutes to advance a little safer. Deploying them on the wings has been good, so we’ll continue to play around with that general deployment.

Table and Terrain

We were out at Gamers Realm in New Berlin, making use of their tables and terrain, and tried to follow the new terrain rules. Woods and Buildings were Height 8, and we'd use the footprint for the buildings this time around, as it was a little cleaner. We played the Hills at Height 3, the obstacles at Height 1, but tried the field as Height 1 here.

We got Seek and Destroy for the scenario. Before rolling to choose sides, we roll off to place seven Loot counters on the board. Units can pick these up like normal, but if you rout a unit in combat, you can choose to destroy that token. Tokens held at the end of the game are each worth one point.

All the tokens that we need to go ... seek ... and destroy.

I lost the roll for token placement. I think I dropped the three on the left, and he went with the box of four on the right. I then lost the roll for sides, and Rob stays where he's at for simplicity. 

Overview of Deployment.

The Halfings came down in all over the place. They can still fill the field when they want to! On the narrow edge to the left of the building we have the Muster Captain on Winged Alarez, and the Juggers with the Pipes. The blank bases are all Riflemen. So on the other side of the building we have two units of Riflemen with the mounted Saucerer and Grenadiers in support, and more shooting with the Belcher and Iron Beast on the line. Mobile Grenadiers held the center, with another Iron Beast, and two more Rifles continuing. Juggers with the Boots were partially on the hill, and Braves were out on the far right.

There were a lot of tokens on the right, but with the building in the middle of my deployment zone, I did not want to split up, and still figured just taking 2/3rds of the board like usual would be the play for me, and this game should really put that general strategy to the test.

Close-up of the Herd. 

On the left we have no shooting opposing me, so we have Critters screening for Warriors, and the Centaur and Tree Herder on the line, all intent on zipping up and trying to contain the enemy flier. We have Brutes slightly angled on the hill, slightly more angled Longhorns, then Longhorns in the terrain for cover, supported by Critters, also in terrain, but offset so they can see. The Chieftain is central, with a bit in the woods to see out, and slightly angled Longhorns are nearby. Contained by the building, my last contingent is more Brutes, and the Tree Herder, supported by the Mounted Druid and more Critters.

Scout moves from the Herd!

I remembered my Scout moves again, with both Herders moving up. I then lost the roll for turn order to the a third hot 6 from the Halflings, making all the early decisions a clean sweep in his favor, and all with 6's. After some consideration, he chose to go second, which I think it wise. All his shooting is 18" and given my experiences with Abyssals and the 18" Flame Bearers over the years, I think this is probably the play with this "medium-range" shooting, as you don't want to go first and lose out completely on a round of shooting. Had I gotten to pick he would have gone first. So here, he'll willingly be giving up some early tempo and early positioning, but in exchange he'll actually get to use his guns. 

Top of Round 1: Herd

I’m a little uncertain how to approach all this. On the left, the Critters run out ahead of the Tree Herder and pivot slightly, to get their corner in range to charge next turn. The Tree Herder inches up and pivots, narrowing his frontage.

Herd on the left.

Trying to contain the flier, the Tribal Warriors languidly march ahead, but are safe, and the Centaur Chieftain does the same too. No Command Orders are issued.

Herd in the center.

Slightly more centrally, Brutes leave the hill, but respect the 20” charge range of the flying doggo. Critters hop the line at the double, with the rest of the line in-tow. The Chieftain hops up into the woods, and Longhorns move through the woods at the double, grabbing a token as they go.

The mounted Druid enters the woods to see out and maybe cast Scorched Earth eventually, and the Brutes enter a narrow path between the forests, hoping to make use of the choose your own charge path change.

And Herd on the right.

Out on the right, the Tree Herder sidesteps, allowing the Critters to hop up and grab another token.

I have two tokens, and my general plan right now is to fight for the remaining two on the left, delay elsewhere, and just hope for the best.

Bottom of Round 1: Halflings

On the right, Braves hop up and grab their first token. Juggers leave the hill, respecting the Herder’s charge range, but threatening him with one.

The Halflings, pushing up on the right.

The Halfling Riflemen move up and both shoot into the Herder, landing 3 damage, and their Iron Beast turns towards the center.

Centrally, Grenadiers hold, as does the other Iron Beast.

A tentative advance from the Halfling center.

The other Halfling riflemen move up, keeping an orderly line with the Belcher. While two of the units enter the field, they’ll get their center points into the terrain to ignore the cover penalty. They’ll land a combined 10 damage into the Critters, which is short of devastating them, so they’ll waver.

The Halflings feign a retreat on the left.

The Captain on Winged Alarez will think better of fighting on the left, and turn to face the center as well.

The Mounted Muster Captain will continue to hide behind the building, and seeking to delay on the left, the Juggers will back up, getting out of charge range of the Herd.

Top of Round 2: Herd

On the left, we try to press in. The Critters hop their 12 inches and the Tree Herder pulls in behind to force something next turn. Given the width of the lane here, the Juggers can't make it past me and will need to charge or flee.

The Herd, moving in on the left.

The Centaur Chief lingers, wary of the flyer hopping over the building to threaten, or flying 20” and hopping my line. In retrospect, I should be bringing him over to the left corner of the building, to try and take advantage of his speed, as he has a decent charge range too.

The wavering Critters slow things down.

The center is already a bit of a mess, and the Wavering Critters gum things up. Speed 6 is a limiting factor, as I can’t back up past anything besides another Troop, but more importantly, I am out of position. Nothing has charges right now, even with the Chieftain’s Aura, so we shuffle about, waiting for Round 3.

On the right, Critters drop their token and hop up, trying to keep the Iron Beast in front arc. With one pivot, it can’t past them to charge anything juicy. The Brutes inch up, wary to keep out of the woods. The token is picked up by the Mounted Druid.

The Herder demands some attention.

On the right, the Tree Herder hops up the threaten the Juggers and force the Juggers to do something.

Bottom of Round 2: Halflings

On the far right, the Braves hop up and grab their second token. Rifles charge the Tree Herder, tying him up, and the Juggers aren't Nimble anymore, but I space out, because everything is pseudo 3E Nimble, getting an two pivots in the movement phase if they just move their speed, sidestep with a pivot. The Rifles even smack the Herder for 2 damage on 5’s and 6’s, which is like, double what is expected.

Whoops. Perhaps I did not think this through.

With nothing to shoot at the second unit of Rifles enter the woods, again getting their center point into the terrain, and shoot into the flank of the Guardian Brutes, landing 4 damage, which is also about double the expected damage.

The other Grenadiers hop up, keeping both the Longhorns and Brutes in front arc. With the Brutes being shot in the flank by the Rifles, some shooting on the left goes into the Critters to devastate and pick them up, and then the Longhorns are lit up by everything else. I am in the terrain and in cover, but can only get it from one source, and 9 damage makes it in.

For charges, and Iron Beast goes into the Critters, he’s just in the flank when he’s measuring, but intentions matter, and he does into the front. Max attacks are rolled up, but the dice choke here, and only 3 damage makes it into the Def2 Critters.

My opponent measures elsewhere, and the other unit of Grenadiers have the range and measuring from anywhere on the front facing, are able to get the laser between the Brutes and the Woods into the Mouted Druid, and he takes this charge, after Mama soupes (soups?) them up with a Brutal +3 order. The Grenadiers are hindered, but don’t roll like it. About 1-2 damage is expected, but 5 lands, and the Grenadiers generate some base Brutal of their own, making this at least Brutal +4. The Druid is popped and the token stolen.

Mama lands her second command to Bear Trap some Rifles, and the mounted Sauceror lands a Bear Trap Command on the other unit of Riflemen.

The Halflings dig in.

On the left, the Juggers with the Pipes charge the Critters, best them and reform, and the Captain on Winged Alarez wheels around to now face the Herder.

Top of Round 3: Herd

I will admit I am flustered and tilted. Maybe a little hangery. I’m getting got for millimeters, and then hit with hot dice to twist the knife. The Critters holding was a plus last turn, but really, only 6-7 damage is expected even with max attacks, so with them Inspired, that looks like more of a toss up. Chaff is fun sometimes. But yeah, I am a little grumpy about the situation here.

Charges and some reforms for the Herd.

On the left, the Winged Aralez is up and essentially even with the building, and with the Juggers backing up, it looks like the Tree Herder can get in, but there is a millimeter of overlap with the building. I must give Rob his flowers here. His intent was to be sneaky, and lay a trap with the monster a bit back, but he does give this to me, and admits he should be back further more to really make that positioning intent clear. If you are pushing for millimeters, I feel like you gotta give one on occasion, and I absolutely must give him his credit here, as grounding the flyer is a big get for me, and keeps me in the game.

So the Tree Herder goes into the Alarez, landing a strong 7 damage into the flier, but the Captain is a competent Warlord, and holds. The Tribal Warriors get a clear charge into the Juggers, but only land 2 hits, and 1 damage. They aren’t a good combat unit, but 4 damage is expected, so this is rough. With just 1 damage, the Juggers will Iron Resolve it right off.

The Centaur Chieftain wanders over, trying to keep things Inspired. He bumps into the rear of the Brutes, and then lands a Striding order onto the same unit, who charge Riflemen, so I can experience Bear Traps. I knew I was risking some damage, but I thought there would be more interaction with the traps. It’s just a flat d6 of damage with no other interaction. Not hits, damage. Ouch. The Brutes take 5, land 9, and do manage to best the Riflemen and reform. The wavering Critters slowed the rest of everything down, so the supporting Longhorns and Brutes move up, just getting out of terrain for clean charges next turn.

Another angle of the charges and reforms...

The Critters held against the Iron Beast, and I think I want that? I could Withdraw and get in with some Brutes, but I’d be hindered, and I just opt to take the little win there. The Brutes and hindered Longhorns go into the Grenadiers, and we go to fast forward things, but they are insane. The dice are cold too, with each unit underperforming, though I do at least get them into double digits of damage.

The individual Chieftain commands the stalled Brutes to heal, getting a hot 3 and taking them down to just 1 damage, and makes a hindered charge into the tricky Grenadiers. Luck bends my way, and he rolls well to land 5 damage, but won’t pick the unit up. Still, he’s Inspiring things and still nice and central, so that’s ok.

The Tree Herder opts to fight.

On the right, I consider withdrawing the Tree Herder, but will need some high rolling to get the Juggers out of my flank. They are only TC2, so I decide to risk it, and just fight the Riflemen, thumping 6 damage onto them. Mama is just within range to keep them Inspired, and they do hold.

Bottom of Round 3: Halflings

The Riflemen fight back against the Tree Herder, but land nothing. The Juggers take their flank charge, with Mama granting them Brutal 3. They land 9 damage (10 expected; they are still just TC2 against Def6)), but with all the extra Brutal, he is able to stick the Nerve checks and rout the Herder here. The overrun is a 6, and after measuring with three different sets of sticks and instruments, my opponent concludes he doesn’t get the last millimeter needed to get a corner into the woods, which is a nice break for me.

The Halflings fell a Tree Herder and overrun.

With a pivot and max move, the Braves make their wave over to the center of the field, eager to grab more tokens, and the Halflings have free rein on the right now.

The Rifles will hold to shoot into the Brutes again… but they are engaged, so we will rewind and let them make a hindered charge into the flank of the Critters with the Iron Beast and actually do something this turn. The Critters are picked up on the second attempt.

The insane Grenadiers fight back against the weaker Longhorns, landing 3 damage and taking them up to 10, Rallied and Inspired, they hold.

The other Grenadiers fight the Chieftain, land 2 and get Brutal 2 from themselves, but thankfully do not  have the dice to move my warlord.

Charges from the Halflings.

The unengaged Riflemen and Belcher in the field hold, and shoot into the nearby Longhorns with the token. The Riflemen can just barely see around the Iron Beast with the new rules, getting cover, but landing 3 damage, and the Belcher goes hard with elite, landing 6 damage and taking them up to 9. Rallied and Inspired, they fall just short of wavering.

The other Iron Beast strides into the Brutes near the building, still hurt from the Bear Traps, and they’ve not had a chance to heal. The contraption lands 6 damage, taking them to 11, and gets another Brutal +3 from somewhere (I think Mama’s second order?)

Reforms from the Halflings.

On the left, the Winged Alarez fights back against the Tree Herder, landing 1 from the look of it. So I have that going for me.

The Mounted Sauceror swings around the combats, greedily eyeing the token still unclaimed over here. He lands a Gastromancy order for Brutal +2, with the Pipes making it Brual 3 against the Warriors. They roll the expected 5, and then spike the Nerve check to rout them, as the Warriors aren’t be Inspired by the Herder, who only cares about his fellow verdant units.

The Halflings are pretty free on the left now too. Boo.

Top of Round 4: Herd

The Tree Herder fights the Captain again, land a fresh 6, will best him, and reform. Things are not going all that well, but at least the flier is down! The Herder will reform, spinning completely around to put the Juggers into front arc.

Charges from the Herd.

The Centaur Chieftain hides behind the building, but angles enough to see the token while staying safe.

The Longhorns and Brutes go into the Iron Beast blocking for the remaining shooting positions. They each land 6 damage, with the Brutes underperforming a bit, but we will pick the Iron Beast up.

Reforms from the Herd.

The other duo will fight (again) against the insane Grenadiers, with the Chieftain landing 2 onto the Longhorns, and the duo pick them up, but I am stalling out hard here. In victory, I overrun with the Brutes. I then pivot pretty hard with them, which in retrospect, I do not like. With the Brutes overrunning, I am safe from the Beast, and on the right. Things are injured, and I should be looking to face and fight the shooters right now with this injured unit. I come to this conclusion too late to take it back.

Bottom of Round 4: Halflings

The Braves hesitate, holding their loot. The Rifles back away with their loot too, and another unit of shooters lurks on the hill. The Juggers move around everything to see around the woods.

Movement for the Halflings.

The remaining Iron Beast grinds 4 into the Brutes, who hold.

The Rifles and the Belchers land another 9 damage into the Longhorns. This meets, but does not exceed their Rallied Nerve of 18, and they are just wavering.

Positioning for the Herd.

On the left, the Sauceror gets away, granting the Rifles in the field more Bear Traps.

The lucky Longhorns are just wavering.

The Juggers back up, trying to delay some more over here, and draw the Tree Herder away from the yet-unclaimed token over here.

Top of Round 5: Herd

The Tree Herder charges in on the left lands some damage, but cannot move the Inspired Juggers.

The Centaur Chieftain runs up to grab the token on the left, trying to keep me in the game. I believe we try a Heal order and I believe between Radiance of Life and the order, he ends on no damage.

Taking 9 damage a turn from shooting is eating me alive, but I got delayed, and then donked up my reforms, and now my options in the center are limited.

Movement from the Herd.

The Wavering Longhorns hold. The maimed Longhorns in the woods pivot now, to face the shooters.

The unengaged Brutes had a hard pivot too, and only have one charge, into he flank of the Iron Beast. We’ll underperform and land 17 damage combined (16ish expected with that flank charge), but will break the contraption.

Reforms.for the Herd.

The Chieftain adjust trying to get into a position to threaten the shooters, and to keep the Brutes Inspired, and lands a nice heal of 3 into the wavering Longhorns, taking them down to 15 damage.

Bottom of Round 5: Halflings

The Braves and Riflemen will turn and run with their 3 tokens. The unengaged Rifles out on the right will leave the hill and look to contribute some pot shots as the game concludes.

The Juggers will pop their boots and get a Brutal 1 from Mama. I take the expected 7 damage, going up to 11, but hold, thanks to Rally!

Charges from the Halflings.

Drawing line of sight from their corner, the Height 2 Belcher can juuuuust catch another millimeter of sight of the Longhorns chilling in the woods. I am in cover, and am mostly blocked for line of sight, but still can only apply the penalty once. It lands a consistent 6 damage onto the Longhorns, and gets the waver here at range.

Reforms from the Riflemen.

The Riflemen charge the wavering Longhorns. A mere 0.8 damage is expected, but 2 lands, and so grievously injured already, the Longhorns rout. The the Rifles opt burn the token, making this a tie game.

The Juggers on the Left get a Brutal 1 from the Sauceror, taking them to Brutal 2. They overperform, land 4 damage against Def6 (1.8 expected), but thankfully, can’t move him.

Top of Round 6: Herd

The Tree Herder things 7 onto the Juggers, will best them and then reform to see around the building. The Centaur Chieftain is slowed and holding a token, but moves as far as he can to see around the building.

The Brutes charge out.

The Chieftain tries healing the Longhorns in the woods, getting 2 successes and getting them down to 12 damage. Evaluating the center, if the Belchers lands another 6, I’m done for, so the Chieftain makes a hindered charge into the war machine, underperforming and landing just 7 damage, but will break it.

The Longhorns pivot, getting their corner out of charge range of the Riflemen.

With one unit of Brutes holding, the other again charges in to help mess up the Juggers, and we are able to pick them up. One overruns, and the other backs up.

We’re looking at a tie game at the top of 6.

Bottom of Round 6: Halflings

I forgot about all the Command Orders for the Halflings. The Sauceror goes for Wild Charge on the Riflemen, needing and getting the 2 successes to let them reach the Longhorns in the woods. It’s another hindered charge with another 0.8 expected, but they land the hits, deal the damage, and rout their second unit, and burn their second token, putting the halflings in the lead.

The Riflemen make a hindered charge.

Nothing else of consequence really happens. The Braves and the Rifles and their 3 tokens continue scampering away. The Chieftains for the Herd each hold a token for 2 points, but we’re short.

In Round 6, I forgot that I could have moved the Longhorns backwards with the pivot, and definitely should have to get out of range. That's a big error. Alternatively, I could have used the Brutes to move back and block instead of charging out, but the Juggers have caused me a lot of trouble over the last few years, and I got greedy, thinking I could have fun and fight and still get the tie here, forgetting about the Wild Charge Order. Even so, there were several hurdles for the Halflings to best to squeeze out a victory here: 2/3 successes on the Order; a hindered charge hitting on 6's; Def4; and a Nerve Check, and they cleared every single one, in a very impressive manner.

A victory to the Halflings!

Game Conclusions

I will admit to being salty in the early turns. I want folks to make the moves they want to make, and there is an argument for self-assertiveness to be learned, but I think it is a bit unbecoming to try and continually squeeze out millimeter advantages in order to do those moves. That said, if you are willing to press for a millimeter every time, you better give up a millimeter now and then. So again, I must give Rob his due for allowing the Herder to get in on the left there and letting us get in a more dynamic game in.

I definitely learned a lot here, in multiple aspects. For the Herd, against shooting lists, Critters are not good, as if they waver, they cannot get out of the way. They are fine for blocking charges, but I need another plan against shooting, which likely is to be more aggressive. Had I deployed a just little smarter, and gotten more things up to the middle line in Round 1, being able to threaten those 13” charges in Round 2 makes this a different game.

It was a slog. I did not play a great game, and tried to highlight my mistakes already. It is likely bias, but it definitely felt like the dice were favoring the Halflings, and there is also bias, but it did feel a bit like the Halfling “haves” vs the “have nots”. Yes, armies have changed, and we’re still figuring things out. I like the design choice to make Gastromancy stuffs into command orders, but having eight orders was nuts. Having three characters in one battalion able to issue 3-dice commands, with one issuing two just felt unreal, and yes the commands are gatekept a bit, but they are strong. Bear Traps being d6 damage instead of hits like the Crystal Pendant or the Abyssal Dwarf’s exploding slaves feels like favoritism, and from a design perspective, I really do not like the stacking of multiple variable Brutals. If Dread and Brutal can’t stack, then any variable Brutal ability should lose the plus too. A massive selling point for Kings of War was that nearly everything was created in concert, and updated all at once with the Clash updates. With the definitely-not-a-codex book cycle, we seem to be veering off that, which has me worried.

Lastly, complaining aside, as an interdisciplinary kind of guy, the Halflings were very intriguing to play against and see in action. The commitment to Rifles was intriguing to me personally, as I have just been struggling with how to possibly run my Abyssals now, and the Rifles are very nice analogs to Flame Bearers. While the Rifles did get some work in, it was the other shooting components that were making the difference. The only other shooters for the Forces of the Abyss are Warlocks and Harbingers, which don't add a lot, and the army lacks Lightning Bolt in favor of a thematic commitment to the shorter-range Fireball. Additionally, my go-to Fiends, (who served similar deterrence roles like the Iron Beasts here) are now in the Support slot, are non-Inspiring, and only Rally a specific Trait, which the Flame Bearers don’t have. That old approach looks like a bust. We could maybe do a pressure build with Flame Bearer core and any of the speedier specialist units, but I’m still wandering in the wilderness with ideas for that army right now.

Testing Conclusions

• Chieftain with Torc. My brain kept skipping on ranges this game. Inspiring is 6”, Commands are 12” and the Torc boosts the command to 18”. I kept internalizing 6” Commands, boosted to 9”, similar to Inspiring / Very Inspiring.
• Druid on Steed with BC and SE. Done dirty here, unfortunately. I still theoretically like Scorched Earth, but I am just not running into lists that I can use it against. With a range of 18”, 10” fliers like dragons and Elohi can still threaten her, but disordering anything with TC seems worthwhile, so I am loathe to drop this. I keep prioritizing BC most of the time, but I have also been up against a lot of Def5 and Def6. Maybe squeezing in the Amulet of the Fireheart is a play?
• Centaur Chieftain with Banner of Command. I liked having him here instead of another Druid, as something to ground scary fliers isn’t a bad thing to have, and having both him and the Chieftain around gives me some redundancy there, and with delaying charges. Perhaps him with the Slayer or Rampage fighty item?
• Tribal Warriors with the Orb. The Tribal Warriors were used fine, but the dice there were garbage for me. I wasn’t a fan of the Orb. Previously, there was a lot of gradation with US, with expendable Skeletons and the like, but 1 US doesn’t seem like a clever move here, as the list wins by punching. The Dwarven Ale though looks like a good pick on this kind of unit though, as a little insurance policy against shooting. Or even the Helm of Confidence, if they were going to pal around with selfish Tree Herders.
• Longhorns. They had a rough game getting shot up by a lot of piercing fire, and I screwed up their positioning a few times, letting them eventually get caught out, which cost me the game. We ultimately fell short here for the win, but Rally, after years of griping, saved my proverbial bacon here multiple times, which felt nice.
• Critters. Speed 6 really hurt, as a 3 inch scoot is not likely to make room very often. The pivot could help, but you’d need to be planning around that, in addition to trying to give cover, block charges and everything else. In short, these were not great against shooting!
• Guardian Brutes. Who cares about the scenario, they were out living their best life smashing through multiple Iron Beasts and getting some revenge on hamstrung Juggers, who actually feel much more balance in 4E with TC2, I mean, they are halflings.
• Tree Herders. They’ve been doing well for me, but holding entire flanks on their own was too big of an ask. They need support, and I was too cavalier with the one on the right. The only thing scary over there was the Juggers, and I should have just danced and kept them in my front.

It was a tough game, but those give you the most to learn from and reflect on. I definitely learned a lot, and had a good day with the army. Thanks for being a good sport, Rob!