Intro and Lists
The second annual Northwoods GT is coming up quickly, and I've been trying to organize meet-ups so folks can get a few games in with the new edition and their new lists ahead of time. I was the odd man out for a smaller meetup recently, but was able to get in on the second game again Joe and his new Orcs! Joe had the following:
Over December, Joe had hopped on the Forces of Nature train with me, though with a very different build from mine. Unfortunately we never got to have our mirror-match. That list was doing well in his Universal Battles games, but was just not panning out on the table, so mid-January, he fired up his 3d printer and got to work on a different UB list of his, going in the opposite direction and running with a very unit-focused Orc list, which I think is a much stronger choice overall.
One of the Command Orders for the Orcs grands "exploding" attacks, with hit results of 6's (and sometimes 5's) generating an additional hit. With a good high-quality unit, it is not uncommon for the damage to surpass the units base attack value, which is scary, and Joe is really trying to leverage that here. He has Thonaar and two Riftforgers around to help liberally toss the Command around, along with a supplementary Godspeaker, with Bane Chant, Hex, and Host Shadowbeast, to also issue orders, while helping things do even more in combat. The Shrine is around to do some heavy lifting at range with a chain-lightning effect, and three Ambrox monsters were new additions to be tested out here, shifting over to some longer range fire over heavy Fireballs. The rest of the list was three regiments of Ax, and six regiments of Riftforged Legionaries, all good, reliable units able to handle a variety of threats.
Contrary to my normal approach for gaming, of bouncing wildly from army to army, with the GT coming up so soon, I am still focusing on the Herd, trying to squeeze in a few more practice games and dial in my own final choices ahead of the event. Unit selections are essentially all made, but we're still messing around with items and spells. This section is probably getting rather repetitive, but up to evaluate is still everything:
- Chieftain. We need the Chieftain around to take the Guardian Brutes, but with 8 attacks and great stats, he's generally been holding his own and would be worth taking anyways. He's good, and often has the Torc, but I haven't really needed the extra range, so we'll see how this feels.
- Druid on Steed with BC, Heal, Shroud. Items and spells for Champions is what I am trying to dial in. I like the Steed and BC already, and will try Heal plus Shroud to boost it, and will try to focus on the heals this game.
- Druid on Steed with BC, Celestial Restoration, Banner. This will be the Unicorn mini, and we're leaning into heals with the white whale of healing, Celestial Restoration. When it's hot, it's hot, but Indirect makes it very finicky to use, but with Brutes and Herders, I feel obligated to dust the spell off again and test it.
- Tribal Warriors with Dwarven Ale. We have the points, so we're going to try the Ale as well, the thinking is that the weaker Warriors are likely to draw fire, and this could help them stick around if they are zoning things out or holding tokens. A little more survivability never hurt, but it's hard to say if it is worth spending it on them.
- Longhorns. These reverted to an older form, and I really like them with their 20 attacks. Rallying is fine, but these have been great at carving up units with Def4 and below.
- Critters. I need chaff, so we're taking two units.
- Guardian Brutes. These were a pet unit of mine in 3E, and got quite the glow up in 4E. They are "gross" according to my clubmates, and can really put the hurt on anything with a clean charge.
- Tree Herders. Late additions to the list, I needed something to help me instigate. While Scout has been shrunk, the Herders have still been able to get ahead of things for me, and we'll continue to try and let them start fights here too.
Table and Terrain
We were out at Gamers Realm in New Berlin, WI. The shop is still dealing with some terrain upheaval, but we made do, and followed the new terrain rules. Woods and Buildings were Height 8, and we'd use the footprint for the buildings, as it was a little cleaner, even if the buildings were rather large. We played the Hills at Height 3, the obstacles at Height 1. The Pond is height 0, and the rough patch was Height 1.
We got Pillage for the scenario, with me winning the roll for first placement. I figured I would need to fight, and figured whoever won the roll for sides would be lazy, so I tried to keep all my tokens in the center, and my opponent dropped all his well on his side of the table. We are both dummies, and thought these were Loot tokens, and only catch that they are Objectives after our full deployment. It doesn't change much for my plan, though I am giving my opponent a lot more ways to hold and win.
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| Deployment, and circled tokens. |
My opponent has an advantage in both drops and unit strength, wins the roll for sides, and as predicted, is a lazy wargamer, staying on the side he's already standing on.
Left-to-right we have Ax, Ax with a Riftforger, Ax, an Ambrox and a Godspeaker. The blank bases are all Riftforged Orcs, which hold the center of the line of batter, with height 4 Ambrox littered among the line, Thonaar on the left, a Riftforger on the right, and the Shrine in the middle. |
| Deployment, again. |
I knew I wanted to try and play my 2/3s of the board, and knew I was going to be in for a very violent game, but I wasn't sure just how exactly to deploy. Early drops for my opponent were the Ax regiments, one by one, and I started intuiting that the sturdier Riftforged would be taking the center. While normally I have tried to go right up to the building and use it to anchor things, I was fine not fighting the Ax, and tried to push my main line units more into the actual center, to be fighting more between the hill on my side and the building on my opponent's. Against shooting, the Critters kept back a bit, and instead of on the wings, I tried leaving space for the Tree Herders among the main line, hoping to get more use out of Radiance of Life against any shooting.
Left-to-right for me were Critters, Tribal Warriors, Brutes with the Heal Druid and Critters in reserve, Longhorns, Tree Herders, Brutes, the Chieftain, Longhorns, the other Tree Herder, and then Angled Brutes, the Unicorn Druid with Celestial Restoration, and more Critters, hiding behind the green woods.
I scouted ahead with both Tree Herders, but did not get a picture. They just moved their normal 6", and then my opponent won the roll for turn order. Having long-range shooting, he opted to make use of it and go first.
Top of Round 1: Orcs
On the left, the Ax units move up and pivot, securing one token in the woods, and projecting threat onto another closer to my lines. The third Ax unit holds back, securing a second objective, and creating a nice concave arc of Ax regiments.
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| The Orcs move around, but are penned in by terrain and Tree Herders. |
The Tree Herders dissuade any aggressive moves in the center, and the Riftforged Orcs contort their line in safety, creating some defensible angles. The Shrine secures a third token, and the Riftforged near the building secure a fourth. The Orcs have shooting, and control the majority of the tokens, so the pressure is definitely on!
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| Overview of the shooting. It was hot, to spread out. |
And boy is the shooting hot! The left Ambrox hits with all three shots, and eventually blasts the Critters on the left up to 6 damage. The middle one targets the yellow Longhorns, hits with all three shots, and blasts them to 3 damage. The right one targets the red Longhorns, hits with all three shots, and blasts them up to 3 damage as well. The Shrine also rolls ridiculously, landing 4 damage (2 expected), into the Tree Herder, and then the chain lighting effect spreads to the yellow Longhorns, adding 1 more damage and taking them up to 4.
It's a cacophony of shots and some very hot dice, but only the Critters on the left waver, and all the important units hold firm.
Bottom of Round 1: Herd
On the right, the Critters are behind the woods, safe from the Ambrox shots, and will stay put and simply hide. They can reach the token out here to score it with one move, so my plan is to keep them here all game until needed at the very end.
The Tree Herder moves up, threatening the Orcs, and opening himself up to one (hindered) charge from the Riftforged nearest the building. The line of Brutes and Longhorns pulls up to support. The other Command Order for the Orcs is a Wild Charge, and we make sure I am just over 12" away as I can get in with Wild Charge and he needs to hop through several hoops to get to my actual units.
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| The Herd moves up, with heals going out. |
Command Orders go out, with the Shroud Druid into the yellow Longhorns for a heal, and the Chieftain into the red ones for another heal. The each get one success. The Shroud Druid will cast its Heal 6 for 2 successes into the yellow unit, and Radiance of Life getting them down to 1. Radiance of Life helps out the Tree Herder as well, and Celestial Restoration rolls well to remove the remaining 3 damage on the towering tree monster.
In the center, the Herder looks to instigate as well, getting just within 12, with the other Herd units pulling up to support and bolster him.
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| The Herd center squares up, taking the middle of the field. |
Critters hop up behind the Brutes, ready to run out, and the Druid hides behind the hill. Tribal Warriors help secure the hill. I am not threatening any charge here, but that is ok. I don't think my opponent will give them any charges, so I just want the Tribal Warriors out here to slow things down.
The Critters on the left are also very sneaky. Wavering, their options are limited, but that's ok. We back up, pivot, and back up a little more, looking to use the building as cover, and hopefully we can block line of sight to them in the coming turns. I don't think I need this unit to help me instigate fights, so I want to try and preserve it right now, to help play the scenario later. It tanked a big volley already though and survived, so any other use I get out of them feels amazing.
Top of Round 2: Orcs
The trio of Ax regiments move up, and the intent is to create a flush line, and prevent and any tricky corner flank charges. I personally try to avoid those anyways, so no problem there. Everything hangs back, more than 12 inches away from the Tribal Warriors. The Ambox out here shoots into the Tribal Warriors, and just converts 1 damage.
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| The Orcs move up, playing it safe, and try to contain the Herd. |
Thonaar moves out a little bit, and the Riftforged regiments continue to contort themselves. The center Ambrox hits with one shot and converts it into a nice 3 damage into the yellow Longhorns, but they will hold.
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| More shooting from the Orcs. |
The right Ambrox hits with all three shots again, landing 5 damage. Thankfully, the Shrine's Lightning Bolt only lands 2, and the bounce to the Brutes does nothing. On 9 damage, Rallied and Inspired, the Longhorns hold, though the first check is just shy of wavering them.
Bottom of Round 2: Herd
My opponent had been asking for the Speed of my units during his phase. I'm Speed 6, but do have a while charge from the Chieftain... I realize in his ranged phase that I did not stress the Wild Charge. This is a big "gotcha" by omission, but thankfully I have enough charges to consider already without being a jerk... We can charge a few Riftforged units already, and after some consideration, I opt to push more from the right, and hopefully keep the left delayed for a bit more.
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| Charges from the Herd. |
On the right, the Herder can make a pretty safe charge into the Riftforged Orcs near the building. The front unit doesn't have arc to him, and it looks like the reserve unit might... but it would be hindered, and I think this is worth the risk. The Herder goes in, lands 5 damage. I don't remove the Inspired unit, and shouldn't, but we're in against the Orc line.
Brutes and Longhorns pull in to support, and continue to press in, while trying to stay safe from the Orcs. The angles are going to be rough for the Orcs, so I gain what ground I can here. The front unit can only get into the other Herder since it can't pivot cleanly past him, and the back unit is potentially rather gummed up, as noted already.
Brutes and Longhorns get into a unit of Riftforged Orcs on the hill, with Critters running up and pivoting, to limit retaliatory charges. The Brutes land 10, the Herder does 6, and we are able to pop this unit in the melee. The Herder sidesteps to the right, to really block the other Riftforged regiments up, and the Brutes hold.
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| Reforms for the Herd. |
Command Orders are heals again, though I do this inefficiently again, and the Unicorn on the right can't issue any order. We play with positioning of the Druids, for a crisscross heal. The Unicorn lands a small Celestial Restoration onto the yellows Longhorns, taking them down to 2, while the Druid lands a nice Heal onto the red Longhorns, after a nice Command from the Chieftain, getting them down to 3 at the end of the phase.
It's another good turn for healing, and while we are damaged, it's decently spread out. Critters are still lurking on the left and right, and with things fighting I am feeling ok.
Top of Round 3: Orcs
It's a bit of a brain-melting turn for my opponent, as the right is all gummed up for him. To his credit, he marks some units, and fiddles, eventually settling on a plan to lets him flank the Tree Herder on the right.
Essentially Riftforged charge the more central Tree Herder, with an Ambrox hitting the flank to just get out of the way. The other Riftforged regiment reforms, but doesn't move, allowing the flanking unit to ignore them, and just just in, and are just able to fit.
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| Charges from the Orcs. |
The left Ambox hits twice, and manages to Blast 4 damage into the Tribal Warriors, who are Inspired and hold, though the first check is again tantalizingly close. The center Ambrox and Shrine shoot into the Brutes, with the lighting chaining out to the Chieftain for 1, and leaving the smoking Brutes on 7 damage. We are Inspired, and will hold.
The Green Rage is uncorked, but the concoction is unstable. Thonaar fails to buff the Ax regiment fighting the Critters, as does a Riftforger, but the Godspeaker comes in clutch. They'll go to Bane Chant the Critters, but it doesn't matter, as the Critters are Def2. The Critters will be picked up, and the the Ax regiment will reform to gets stuff into front arc.
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| And the reforms from the Orcs. |
The Tree Herder in the middle takes 2 from the Riftforged regiment, with the hindered Ambrox contributing nothing, and the Herder holds.
The other Riftforger aids the unit flanking the Tree Herder. It's hindered, and I think we get 4 or 5 conversions, and solid 6 damage from the flank, and the front unit smacks rather hard as well, landing 4 more damage, but the first check is a 7, and the Orcs fall short of besting the Herder out here.
Bottom of Round 3: Herd
With the Herders holding, the Herd strikes back hard, looking to remove some units this turn. On the right, the Herder is engaged on multiple angles, and cannot reform (I think we've played that wrong before), and so holds, with Brutes gaining a Striding charge from the Unicorn Druid, and coming to rescue the Herder. The Unicorn Druid gets about 13" away, and tries a Celestial Restoration but gets no successes here for the Herder.
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| Charges galore from the Herd. |
Longhorns get a Striding Order from the Chieftain, and goes into the Ambrox, in the flank. The Herder holds here as well, with Radiance of Life helping the tree and the Longhorns, bringing them from 3 down to 2 damage. Eventually, the Brutes will hit the flank here, as I want to try and break through on the right, and this charge allows the Chieftain a lane to take a stab at the central Ambrox.
Centrally, the Brutes lit up by shooting charge the nearby Ax regiment. The Druid tries to Command Heal the Brutes for 1, and I opt to cast a Heal Spell into them for 2 more, getting them down to 4 damage. Not a ton, but it should help.
I do make a bit of a cheeky multi-charge into the inner unit of Ax, with the Longhorns and the Tribal Warriors, and the Warriors don't have a ton of overhang, but the intent was to keep those units flush, and so I'll take this, as don't want to spare the Bane Chant here, looking to aid the Brutes instead, as-mentioned already.
I had the option to take the Critters from the left into the flank of the Ax unit on the far left to just tie them up for a turn, and ultimately decide not to, as as the Tribal Warriors aren't likely able to make of of the turn to then remove them next turn, so I try to keep the Critters safe and around for the late game still.
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| Big pick-ups from the Herd! |
I don't make the best choices for what combats to roll first, but overall, combats do break my way nicely. On the left, I roll the multi-charge first, with the Longhorns landing 8 and the Warriors 5, and we will break the unit, but don't have great reforms. The Tribal Warriors sidestep, and any reform is bad for the Longhorns, so they stay put, but are very exposed...
The Brutes thump on the Ax regiment, and will pick them up ,and then back up, I believe.
The Chieftain lands 4 damage into the Ambrox, but the monster holds firm.
The Herder and flanking Brutes in the center pulverize the Riftforge regiment, with the Herder backing up and the Brutes reforming slightly to face the Shrine.
The striding Longhorns pick up the Ambrox, and then back up, the striding Brutes on the right roll crazy, landing 13 damage into their unit, allowing the Herder to allocate all his attacks to his original target, landing another 5 damage, and will pick them up with a pair of good checks.
It's a pretty nasty turn, with the Orcs losing 700+ points of stuff, including 5 regiments. So far, my opponent has claimed two units of Critters, so things are going well for the Herd.
Top of Round 4: Orcs
On the left, the Axes fight the Tribal Warriors. I could have used the Critters to stop this, but I think this is ok, given all the successes elsewhere. They will get a Green Rage from a Riftforger, and will pick the Warriors up, and reform to face the center of the field.
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| Pushback from the Orcs. |
Riftforged Orcs make a flank charge into the Longhorns. Due to poor combat ordering last round, there was nothing I could really do to stop this. Thonaar goes into the front, and eventually a Riftforger joins in the front as well. The Godspeaker's grants the flanker a Bane Chant, and Thonaar gives out his extra spicy Green Rage, lettings both 5's and 6's explode into additional hits.
The Longhorns start on 2 damage, but disaster strikes. While 23 additional damage lands, with 19 of that coming from the flankers and their exploding attacks, the Longhorns are found to be insane, handing around, and tying up three very important units for the Orcs.
The left Ambrox shoots but misses into the Brutes, thanks to cover penalties from the intervening Riftforged regiment. The center Ambrox withdraws from the Chieftain and is able to go far enough to get clear of the unit behind them, and takes shots with cover into a Tree Herder, with cover from the towering Shrine, and with penalties, no shots land here either.
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| ...and a very unfortunate Insane Courage showing. |
The Riftforged Orcs on the hill fights the Chieftain, with the Shrine joining in. The Shrine is not bad in combat, and despite Def5 on the Chieftain, both units roll well, landing 6 damage in total. The initial check is just shy of doing anything here though, and the Chieftain sticks around.
Bottom of Round 4: Herd
We still have Critters waiting in the wings, and on the left, we look to hop the line next turn to right for the token in the woods as the game concludes.
The devastated Longhorns will thump 4 damage into the Riftforger, and Brutes will flank the flanking Riftforged regiment, devastate them, and pick them up, and then sidestep, to get more Orc characters into view. A Command Order fails to heal them from the nearby Druid.
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| More charges from the Herd. |
The Chieftain reforms, shuffling down and trying to get the Riftforged unit into his front, but cannot. It was worth a try. Changing facing is an option, but would not work, as I'd spin and then he'd simply halt and be engaged with my flank. The Chieftain just needs to tough it out and wait for help. The Shroud Druid lands a hot 5 on the Heal though, taking my warlord from 7 down to just 2 damage.
After some consideration, Longhorns peel away to go to deal with the Orcs on the left, and two units of Brutes his the flank for the Shrine. The first unit deals a ridiculous 25 damage, devastating the Shrine, we don't roll the second, and the units will side-step in victory.
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| The Shrine is toppled. |
A Tree Herder charges the isolated Riftforger character on the right, will land a hot 7 damage, and bash him down, and then reform.
The injured Herder just hangs around to support, and Radiance of Life gets him from 9 to 8, and Celestial Restoration soothes him for another 1, taking him down to 7.
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| Critters move out to secure an objective. |
On the right, with the Ambroxes mostly dealt with, the Critters hop up, ready to play the scenario.
Top of Round 5: Orcs
The Ax regiment tempts fate, getting a Green Rage from a character, and flank charges the devastated Longhorns. We fast-forward this, and they, the Riftforger, and Thonnar prevail, with the Ax regiment changing facing, Thonaar overrunning for 6 inches, and the Riftforger overrunning for 4 inches.
The left Ambrox moves and shoots into Brutes, taking them from 2 up to 4 damage. The other Ambrox moves to shoot at a Herder, though I don't think any damage lands.
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| Reforms from the Orcs. |
The victorious but solitary Riftforged regiment reforms, moving to take the flank of the Chieftain, with a boosted Green Rage from Thoonar, and a Bane Chant from the Godspeaker. It adds 7 damage, taking the Chieftain to 9, and some good checks will best my warlord.
Bottom of Round 5: Herd
Critters on the left hop up to make a play for the token in the woods, as-planned. My opponent hasn't tapped out yet, and it still feels rare to have a lead, and with the tournament coming up, I'm then thinking though my charge options.
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| Potential charges from the Herd. |
A Herder is definitely going to get into an injured Ambrox. Fresh Brutes are definitely going into the injured Riftforged regiment on the hill. Longhorns have a flank into Thonaar, which looks tasty. Brutes have a possible clean charge into an injured Riftforger, and possibly the Brutes on the far side can get into the other Ambrox. I can't table him this turn, but the writing is on the wall, and seeing me scheme, out my moves, with the moral victory of having slain my warlord, my opponent concedes.
A victory to the Herd!
Game Conclusions
It was a bit of a shame that we donked up the scenario and didn't catch that these were Objectives during their placement and our deployment. We did catch it before we started playing, but honestly, I don't think our goof actually changes all that much here.
Orc players generally embrace playing Kill no matter the actual scenario, and I've been a little guilty of that playstyle recently as well with such an aggressive list. I would have spread things out more, but my general plan of punching things hard first and foremost, and then grabbing stuff in the late game with Pathfinder is the same regardless of our goof, and was a decent approach going into this.
The Herd were able to keep things Inspired and endure the hot Orc shooting early on, and then get into some favorable combats using my greater speed all while healing up, and ultimately the Orcs just struggled to hold, as the Herd seems uniquely positioned to just gobble up regiments with decent dice.
Testing Conclusions
- Chieftain. He fell, but did well. The Torc is a good item for a warlord, but I wasn't struggling for range and I think we can drop it. Slayer Axe might be a choice, as well as Pipes for Brutal though. We'll see how much more tweaking and testing I can get in.
- Druid on Steed with BC, Heal, Shroud. The spells felt good, though we could try her with the Amulet of the Fireheart instead, for a bigger turn, but this loadout felt fine, and having a big heal in my pocket paid off against all the shooting.
- Druid on Steed with BC, Celestial Restoration, Banner. I am not a whiz at magic or shooting, and unfortunately played Resto wrong! You take your three magical shots, and your successes blast for D3, and that total is what is healed. I added another step here, taking that total and then rolling for 4's looking for magical successes, making the spell way less efficient. Shucks. Resto is still a pet idea of mine, and honestly, worked pretty well here, though we lucked out playing against a completely infantry-heavy force. Against something like the Halflings and the Grenadiers, the distances and angles fall apart on me. So I think I still drop it for the tournament , as it's easier to keep the Druid with the main line and protected, rather than to try and do crisscross heals or decide between healing something and keeping it Inspired. Veil of Shadows is an option, but I don't know if I am worried enough about shooting to take it.
- Tribal Warriors with Dwarven Ale. These are around to take up space, and did fine in this role, deterring the orcs just enough to let the rest of the list punch through. The item was ok insurance, but shooting fell short of waving them here. The items seems fine to consider still, but might not be the most efficient pick in the long run.
- Longhorns. I think my opponent was wise to shoot at them, but thankfully, he wasn't able to really focus them down, so I was able to heal them up, and still get them each into a meaningful combat. We can ignore the Insanity result as an outlier, and they still did well ignoring that result.
- Critters. I think they were used fine this game. We used one to help our push, and the other two were able to be preserved for a dominating play for the objectives in the late game, all ideal uses for chaff units!
- Guardian Brutes. They continue to be all stars for me, and seem ideal for just eating opposing regiments with their stats plus Brutal. Fortunately, we've been running into a lot of regiments, and they continue to eat well.
- Tree Herders. They're doing well, and I'm getting better at using them I think. On the wings can be fine, but in among the line worked well here too. They are doing just what I need them to do.
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