4th Edition: Battle #011 FoN (Herd) vs Northern Alliance in Plunder

Intro and Lists

Schedules opened up briefly, allowing for a potential evening game, and I jumped at the chance to throw down against Trevor of Data and Dice and his Northern Alliance. He ran the following:

We are both gearing up for the second Northwoods GT, coming up in early February. The first pass in his unit effectiveness analysis had identified the Human Tribesmen as a very efficient unit, and he was interested in trying to show them off. We have two Dwarf Clan Warrior regiments, a horde of Human Tribesmen, and a horde of Ice Naiads as core choices. Two Snow Foxes are around to interdict and harass, with two Hearthguard regiments around to smash things and two Ice Elemental blocks to shoot and surge around the field. Leading the Barbarians is a Thegn on Frostfang, monitoring the Elementals is a Skald with the Tome of Darkness, and an Ice Queen was present to lead everything else, and keep them in fighting form. The last pick was a Cavern Dweller, which despite some nerfs, Trevor is still keen on, due to the general stat-line, Lifeleech 3, and Strider.

I brought the Herd, which is largely dialed in for Northwoods unit-wise, though I’m still playing around with my two Champions slots and some various items. Here, we’re trying a double Druid approach, to hopefully finally explore my spell options sufficiently enough to see what I like.

• Warlord with Torc. I need the Warlord to get my Brutes, but that “tax” has been fine, as he’s been doing well in his own right. I think the item is good, but I’ve not been really leveraging the range, so we’ll try to keep an eye on that here.
• Mounted Druid with BC, SE, and Amulet. I still like SE, but have had trouble casting it, as Bane Chant kept winning out for priority. The Amulet looks like a great solution though, so we’ll see if we can get the combo off this game.
• Mounted Druid with BC, Heal, and Banner. I have good Command Orders, so think I want to fit in the Banner somewhere. We’ll try that here, alongside BC and Heal.
• Tribal Warriors with Ale. The Warrior unit is necessary for core taxes, and to free up points for the champions. They are mostly around to hold tokens and take up space as an expendable unit, but we’re trying out the Ale to help against wavering from shooting. Shooting has changed a lot, and Headstrong seems very strong against it.
• Longhorns. I like their return to 20 attack little discount blenders. They can do work, but can struggle a bit against high Nerve or High Defense, so we’ll try to find some good match-ups for them.
• Critters. They are my only chaff option, so I’m stuck with them. At least they are cheap! Speed 6 has been an issue, as if they waver, like from shooting, they can’t really get out of the way usually. We’re still figuring out how to use them, and I think behind (reasonably protected, and ready to run out as needed) or alongside (ready to join in charges, gum things up, and limit retaliations) seem like the best uses, but we’ll keep trying.
• Guardian Brutes. They were very fun Berserkers in 3E, but despite nearly halving the number of attacks, they feel more competent in 4E, and serve as a nice all-purpose hammer, and now with Def5, can be a decent anvil too. They are just a good generalist unit, and we’ll see how far they can carry me.
• Tree Herders. My Herd is unfortunately exclusively Speed 6, and I felt like I needed something to threaten and pressure, so everything could not be avoided all at once, and the Herders have fit the bill as a durable instigator. They need support, so I’ll try to give them a unit or two to help out, and we’ll see how we do.

Table and Terrain

Trevor was hosting, and we made use of his table and terrain. I gotta say I'm getting spoiled with the ping pong setup. It's so darn spacious! We 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. The Pond is height 0, and the sowed Field could be Height 1 now if we were feeling adventurous, but I don't know if we explicitly gave it a value. Height 0 or Height 1 is immaterially different for this game, but I'll try to get a little better at addressing terrain and mixing it up a bit. 

Overview of the table.

We got Plunder for the scenario. We have a central Loot token, and each place 2 more on the dividing line, twelve inches away from other tokens, as-usual. Especially with larger 40mm tokens, I don't think there is much variation we can achieve with the setup here. Once placed, we each nominate a token to be worth 2 points, and the remaining three are just worth 1 if held at the end of the game. The edge tokens were both upgraded. 

Overview of deployment.

The Northern Alliance won the roll for sides, and was lazy, and wisely nominated the token protected by the building for the upgrade. He largely deployed from right-to-left, so we'll approach it this way too. We have Dwarfs in the corner looking to grab the 2-pointer, the Thegn nearby, the Human Tribesmen horde, both Ice Elementals, a Cavern Dweller, and Hearthguard. The Snow Foxes were both late drops out on the left. Behind the front line, again, right-to-left, was a regiment of Hearthguard between the Ice Elementals, the Skald, the Naiad Horde behind the Dweller, and Ice Queen out on the left.

Deployment on the left.

My left had Tribal Warriors and Critters, with a Tree Herder nearby, and the hope was to make use of the Warriors and grab the token out here without too much fuss.

The Herd center.

I had two buildings on my side, and tried to fit as much as I could between them. The building on the left split my line, and the Herd had Brutes with Critters, and then Longhorns with the Unicorn Druid, with the Banner, Bane Chant, and Heal. The Chieftain was central, and the line continued with Brutes and Longhorns in the pond (yay Pathfinder), and more Brutes, the second Druid, with Bane Chant and Scorched Earth and the Amulet, the Tree Herder, and more Critters in reserve.

The Herd right, with a scout move.

The Herders had Scout moves, and I remembered to use them. On the right, we hopped the full 6 inches to threaten the very valuable token. On the left, the Herder had come down out here to help, but up against just Foxes, moved up, pivoted, and then continued on ahead, passing the building to see around the woods. I can't get into the woods to see out of it, and Foxes can definitely hide behind the trees, but I am threatening the entire woods, and projecting more into the center, and this felt fine.

Scout move on the left.

I had lost the rolls for placing tokens and choosing sides, but won for deciding turn order, and happily took the initiative.

Top of Round 1: Herd

On the left, things go to plan. The Tribal Warriors run up their full 12" and pivot. They are just out of range of the Foxes. The Critters flitter up as well, and will also be safe. The Tree Herder moves cautiously into the woods, keeping the Foxes in front arc, and not moving up far enough to grab the token nearby. I can't let myself be scared of Foxes, so they have a charge into the Herder. Yes, I can be delayed with a sticky charge, but should be able to bring the Critters in to help if needed, and I'd rather thump on Foxes early then let them actually chaff anything important up. We're happy on the left.

Opening moves on the left.

On the other side of the building, things moves out. The Brutes and Longhorns slowly advance. I think I'm ahead about as far as I can while still being safe from the Foxes on the left, and Ice Elementals on the right. I want to be aggressive, but don't want to give Ice Elementals free shots if I can help it.

Moving up in the center.

Critters supporting the Brutes take the hill. My hope is that if the Foxes do scamper up, I can back up with the line and let the Critters scrap as-needed. The Unicorn Druid also takes the hill, but we have no Commands to cast, and no worthwhile spells either, so we're just looking to keep things Inspired and supported.

The rest of the center moves ahead, giving the Ice Elementals a good, additional half inch buffer for sportsmanship. They can move, but still can't shoot. Once could get Surged into range, but if they can fling I can charge, and this seems like the best way to engage them.

The Herd, moving up on the right. Unfortunately, the Herder is outnumbered here.

On the right, the Tree Herder moves up a bit. I am giving up a charge to the Then. The Critters flap onto the obstacle, and the Druid hops up. I cast Scorched Earth onto the Thegn, to make him think twice.

Bottom of Round 1: Northern Alliance

On the right, the Dwarfs move up as far as they can. The Thegn has a charge and stays put, safe and content. The Tribesmen move up their full speed, and then think better of it, inching back so that only the Herder has a charge into them next turn, and has a choice between the Dwarfs and the humans. 

Northern Alliance pressure on the right.

The Ice Elementals move up their speed, as does the slightly speedier Cavern Dweller. The Dwarfs spring ahead, eager to fight and start a piece trade.

An advancing center of Ice Elementals.

The reserve units of Hearthguard and Naiads inch up as best they can, slowed by terrain and the cautious front line of warriors.

The Foxes on the left, reposition, and don't charge anything just yet.

Top of Round 2: Herd

On the left, the Tribal Warriors should be slightly slowed by the loot they carry., but will run ahead and pivot to threaten the Foxes. Critters try to do the same, but don't have the inches to do this safely, and the nearer unit of Foxes can actually see and get into the front, if they choose. We are just trying to force them to do something this turn. 

The Herd presses up far on the left.

Nearby, the Critters move as far as they can. They hop up, so the Longhorns can multi-charge the Dwarfs. The Longhorns both align, both landing atop the token, and the unit on the left picks it up. I don't know what to do with the Chieftain, so tuck him in behind, so the the unit with the token can back up, if victorious.

No Command Orders are needed here, and the Unicorn Druid lands a Bane Chant onto the unit with the token. The Longhorns will savage the Dwarfs, each landing 9 damage, and best them. As-planned, the unit with the token backs up, 1", and then I measure. The Hearthguard on the hill are in front arc, as is the Dweller, and nearest Elemental. I should hold, but I sidestep 1" to let the Chieftain see things, and open up a flank to the Hearthguard because I was not thinking.

Rather poor reforms from the Herd.

Thankfully, the Longhorns are Inspired, and both Brute units are standing by, ready to thrown down on the open field, with the unit on the left moving and pivoting about to make sure they can move past them on the left. 

However, these are some big goofs from me. The second unit of Longhorns should have just held, and the Critters should have moved up further last turn, as they came very close to not being able to block for me here.

The Herder charges the Dwarfs to keep them from their prize.

On the right, I am feeling a little exposed. I think the Herder can probably beat the Dwarfs in two turns, and measuring things, the Thegn would be in front arc, so the Herder takes the solo charge here, with the Druid landing another Scorched Earth into him. The Herder lands 5, which seems right, but I think I've miscalculated, and am going to need some help or luck to break the unit in a timely manner.

Critters have the inches, but we agree that they'd end up to the right of the Herder, which I do not want, so they flit up to prevent the scarier Human Tribesmen from flanking the Herder, and more Brutes lurk, threateningly out here as well.

Bottom of Round 2: Northern Alliance

On the right, the Dwarfs fight, and the Thegn's order for viciousness falls flat. They land no damage into the bark. The Hindered Thegn rushes in to help, but also fails to break through the high defense of the tree. 

The Tribesmen make a hindered charge into the Critters. I am a jerk and do my my opponent roll this, just to test my gut feeling, as I don't think they are goners, but I don't think they're going to be devastated. A total of 10 damage lands, and they are indeed bested without being devastated. In victory, the Tribesmen back up an inch, trying to escape the Brutes.

Reforms from the Human Tribesmen.

Ice Elementals move up, and fling into a unit of Brutes. One rolls very hot and one rolls very low, with 7 damage landing in total, a shade less than expected. The Brutes are Rallied and Inspired, and hold. The Hearthguard behind the Elementals are slowed by their volleys, and the terrain. They try to just see behind the units to hopefully help out next turn, but it feels bad to have a combat unit gummed up like this.

After some hemming and hawing on how to engage the Longhorns, a safer two-on-one is decided upon, with the Hearthguard taking that flank, and the Cavern Dweller hitting the front. The Dweller lands 7, the first back of flank attacks land 10 more, and we fast forward, but the Longhorns are indeed found to be insane. Since I have healing, we need to backtrack, and the Hearthguard land 12 more, taking the insane Longhorns up to 29 damage. 

The Longhorns take a ton of damage, but are insane.

The Naiads can't really fit in anywhere to fight, and so reposition. The Foxes charge the blocking Critters with a front and a flank, and will pick the unit up. One overruns, and goes pretty far, hoping to block up some Brutes, and the other spins completely around to get the Herd coming from the left into front arc.

Top of Round 3: Herd

Having kept the reprisals to just two units of Critters, I am feeling pretty great going into Round 3. On the left, Critters move up, staying just over 11 inches away from the Naiads and their Wild Charge. The Tree Herder goes into the Foxes, lands 4 damage, and fails to remove them. They aren't even Inspired, but I am ok with this. The Tribal Warriors are again slowed a little, but start running through the woods, hoping to pick up a few more tokens before the game is done.

Charges from the Herd. The Hearthguard juust in frame are soon-to-be casualties on the blank base.

Brutes keep it simple and charge the Foxes, and will pick them up, and victoriously pivot to see and threaten the Naiads. 

The untouched Longhorns hit the flank of the Hearthguard, represented by the blank base. No Commands are needed, but they do get a Bane Chant, and will take the elite warriors of up 18 damage, and best them. They are out of arc of the Naiads, and so reform hard, keeping their corner behind the corner of the doomed Longhorn unit, which does manage to land a hot 5 damage into the Cavern Dweller, despite being devastated. The hard pivot puts the remaining Hearthguard into front arc, but no where to align.

Reforms from the Herd. 

In the center, the individual Chieftain can see the taller Ice Elementals, and he charges them, with the injured Brutes hitting the front, landing atop a token, and picking it up. The Heal Command Order is tried, landing 1, and the Heal spell from the Unicorn gets 1 as well, taking them down to 5. The Chieftain lands 3, and the Brutes overperform with 12, plus Brutal, and the first unit of Ice Elementals are popped. The Chieftain changes facing to stare down the Elementals, and the Brutes sidestep to their left. While a unit can pivot through things, it needs to end its pivot clear of all units and buildings and such, and as it stands, the Hearthguard are going to have a tough time getting in here to help, since they were angling to get past and behind the Elementals last turn.

A fuzzy photo from the right, with a semi-victorious Tree Herder.

On the right, the Herder should be able to reform, to align more with the Thegn. This puts the Dwarfs and their higher-attacks into the flank of the Herder if my opponent reforms, but without Bane Chant or innate CS, I am ok with risking this. The Herder throws all his attacks into the Dwarfs, lands 6 more damage to take them up to 11, and I do break them this turn. Already engaged, I don't get a reform against the Thegn, but he's in front arc already.

The mounted Druid pops the amulet, landing a Bane Chant into the doomed Longhorns and a Scorched Earth into the Hearthguard, which I immediate realize is dumb, as they are already going to be hindered by being in the woods. The Ice Elementals are not engaged and would be a better target here and I'm just spacing out.

Still on the right, the Tribesmen are troublesome, and could be flanking the Herder or my central combats if I am bot careful, so I send some Brutes in to tie them up. The Brutes have a clean charge, but underperform with just 8 damage, and the Tribesmen will hold strong and Iron Resolve down to just 7 damage.

Bottom of Round 3: Northern Alliance

On the right, the Thegn reforms to align with the Tree Herder, and he thumps 2 damage into the bark, finally. The Tribesman fight the Brutes, landing 7 damage, but also fail to rout the Inspired unit.

Fighting on the right.

The Ice Elementals fling into the Chieftain, hoping to damage him, then get Surged in to finish him off, and some of this goes to plan. The shards slice 5 damage onto the Chieftain, and there are a few successes on Surge to get the unit into combat, but the melee dice are cold, and no damage makes in into the Chieftain in the melee phase, so no test it taken.

More delaying form the Northern Alliance. They are on the back foot.

The Cavern Dweller shreds the doomed Longhorns, Lifeleeching 3 back. The Naiads opt to not charge the Herder, can't reach the Critters, can't fit in against the Brutes, and can't see the Longhorns with the token, so they reform on the hill.

Top of Round 4: Herd

On the left, the Herder fights the Critters, lands another 4ish damage, but will pick the unit up and reform to face the Naiads. I am not scared of the horde, and with things going well elsewhere, want to try and pin them down. The Tribal Warriors move a bit ahead, grabbing up a 1-point token, and they are too far away for the Naiads to reach. They could have squeezed another inch or two out of this move, and probably should have.

Charges from the Herd.

The Cavern Dweller is pretty tall, and with the doomed Longhorns gone, the Brutes and Longhorns are able to see it, and now get into it. It Lifeleeched down to 2 damage last turn, but the Longhorns land 9 and the Brutes land 11 to devastate and rout the monster, as-is proper. Any overrun gets the closer Brutes out of arc of the Naiads, and so both units overrun.

The Chieftain fights the Ice Elementals, landing a few damage, but can't move them. The nearby Brutes can see the Hearthguard, and can pivot cleanly past the Chieftain to then get into them with a clean charge. You can't charge through a friendly unit, but we can pivot through blocking terrain, and we treat friendly units as blocking terrain on a charge, so this feels weird but seems correct. Backing up the Chieftain could have been an alternative though, to allow this in move a cleaner fashion. The Chieftain tries to order the brutes to heal, but only 1 damage is absolved.

Fights on the right.

The Brutes connect cleanly, and will overperform a bit, and land 13 damage onto the Hearthguard, best them, and reform to face the Elementals.

On the right, the Brutes catch a Heal order as well, as well as a Heal spell from the Unicorn, and Radiance of Life from the Herder, to get down to 2 damage. Bane Chant is attempted by the nearby Druid, but fizzles. The Brutes deal another 8 damage to take the Tribesmen up to 15, which then gets Iron Resolved down to 14.

Before I roll the fight against the Tribesmen, the Herder does fight the Thegn, just in case we can remove Inspiring. The tree thumps 5 damage into the barbarian, who holds.

The Druid out here runs into the field to grab the 2-pointer, and all the tokens are in control of the Herd at this point.

Bottom of Round 4: Northern Alliance

On the right, the Herder got down to 1 damage, but the Thegn continues swinging, landing 2 more. The tree holds.

The Tribesmen are ordered to be Vicious, but the command fizzles. The Tribesmen land 9 damage, taking the Brutes to 11, and while they are Inspired, the Brutes do break with some even checks. The Tribesmen have some tough choices though. The Herder isn't holding a token, and it will be hard to catch the Druid with the token, so they reform to hopefully fight something in the center.

The Tribesmen break the Brutes.

The Ice Elementals withdraw 6", backing away from the Chieftain. They then fling into the Brutes, landing 5 damage to take them to 11, and while they are Inspired and Rallied, they do waver with their token, and are presenting a rear to the Tribesmen. The Skaald forgot to toss, so we let him roll against the Brutes too, and he'll add 1 to take them to 12, and we'll just leave the Brutes wavering still.

A clever withdraw move from the Ice Elementals.

The Ice Queen is on the hill, watching things fall apart. She lands a Vicious order into the Naiads, as well as a Bane Chant, as they charge down into the Tree Herder, landing 2 damage. The Tree Holds.

Top of Round 5: Herd

On the left, the Herder halts, fighting the Naiads and landing a few damage. The Tribal Warriors want to pivot move and pivot to spy the flank of the Naiads, but I do not mark their original position move them 6", realize they are holding a loot token, and so nudge them into the front of the Horde. There should be a way to get them to threaten the flank still, but having not marked their starting position, this seems unsporting, especially with how thing are going.

Positioning from the Herd.

The Critters don't charge, but get uncomfortably close to the Ice Queen. We're not fighting, just shooing her away. The Longhorns spin to threaten the rear of the Naiads.

We're chatting, and the Skald could be a nice target, but he's yielding, so the Ice Elementals ignore him, charging through and past him to hit the flank of the withdrawing Ice Elementals. It's a clean charge, and the Brutes will land 20 new damage to the Elementals, breaking them, and the Brutes will reform to spy the incoming Tribesmen horde.

Meanwhile, the Chieftain will charge the Skald after the other charges have transpired, and will land 3 damage into him, and tie him up. I'm in his flank, but we're both individuals, so it doesn't matter.

The Tree Herder claims another unit, ending the round on 1 damage.

On the right, the wavering Brutes drop their token, and reform to face the oncoming Tribesmen. The Unicorn Druid picks the token up, and tries to top off the Brutes with a Heal Command and a Heal Spell, and gets them down to 7 damage with some good dice.

The Tree Herder thumps 6 into the Thegn, taking him up to 11, and I will break the champion and reform, to face the rear of the Tribesmen.

Bottom of Round 5: Northern Alliance

Going into the Bottom of Round 5, the Herd have all the tokens, for a massive 7-0 lead, and the Northern Alliance have nothing but hard choices ahead of them. On the right, the Tribesmen could charge the wavering Brutes ahead of them, but even if they break them, we're looking at a Herder and more Brutes threatening them. 

On the left, the Naiads are fighting the Tree Herder and pinned down, with Longhorns threatening their rear. The Ice Queen is the only free piece, and my intent was to force her to charge the nearby Longhorns or Brutes, and force her to choose what unit she wanted to save... but she's Yielding too, and reading the rules, it looks like we can ignore her for moving and shooting, even if engaged with her, meaning she won't actually be able to delay anything.

My opponent concedes here, making this a strong 7-0 victory to the Herd! 

Game Conclusions

Basically everything went right for the Herd here, and what is left of my army roster is doing well for me in the new edition! The Brutes are really coming into their own now. The Herd had a good deployment here, fine scout moves, and then got first turn to really pen the Northern Alliance in and keep the pressure on.

On the opposite end of the field, essentially the opposite happened this game. For science, we've both tried to set up Withdraw moves the last few games, and that was the intent here with the layers and the Hearthguard behind the Ice Elementals. Unfortunately, the taller Elementals and terrain just kept that unit of Hearthguard out of the game, and withdrawing with Elementals though other units is not a great idea anyways, as they then cannot shoot, which is the typically the reason to Withdraw. 

We chatted, and deployment really did my opponent in here. The Ice Elementals still seem fun, and can really shred infantry, and should be a nice counter to anyone trying to skimp out on the core tax, or field multiple battalions with some mediocre unlocking units, but layering up with them, with them at the front, was not a good plan. They need space to operate. 

Testing conclusions

• Warlord with Torc. The Chieftain continues to do fine for me. He gave and took some hits here, as-usual, and largely did what I needed him to do.
• Mounted Druid with BC, SE, and Amulet. I really forced the Scorched Earth casts this game, and ultimately, they weren't impactful. Maybe putting her on the left with more open field would have been better. Overall, I like SE as a spell, as it feels nice to force that asymmetry with charges and lean into my strengths, but it just isn't vibing with me list.
• Mounted Druid with BC, Heal, and Banner. I think the Banner is still worth taking, and probably best on a Champion, where I can just get a little more consistency out of the Strider order in particular. Heal seems fine, though Bane Chant is still winning out a little more frequently.
• Tribal Warriors with Ale. The Warriors were able to live the dream this game, pressuring lightly and bullying chaff while grabbing tokens. They had a rather ideal game here, and validated a lot of me reasons for taking them.
• Longhorns. Against the higher-armor, it seemed like the right call to start the piece trading with them, so that the Brutes could come in and clean up. The reforms were bad but the insanity covered for my poor choices there. While keeping Rally around is nice, using them to instigate here does seem to be the correct one.
• Critters. The Critters that died tied up more than their points while doing so, and gave me some good positional advantages. These were used well.
• Guardian Brutes. The new Brutes continue to deliver, and are really doing great work for me, especially against Def5. They and the Longhorns cover each other’s shortfalls a bit, and are working well together.
• Tree Herders. The Herders did well for me, starting fights and taking hits. They have been a great pick for me and this list, and did good work here stalling pushes and penning the Northern Alliance in.

It's always a pleasure to throw down against Trevor. A big thanks to my opponent for fitting this in and for hosting us on short notice!