April was a bit rough. Work is busy, and I had a lot of demo days during the month which really drained me, and our go-to shop shuttered at the end of the month too, causing some stress. I didn’t get much reporting in, but I was still very busy and very burnt out. May has opened roughly too, with a lot of other commitments for me, and all my efforts to spearhead some meetups at new, alternative venues falling hard and flat so far.
Unexpectedly free, Trevor from Data and Dice fame came to the rescue, using some of his own precious free time to host a quick game in between a lot of other commitments from each of us. Trevor continued exploring the Basileans, and fielded the following for our game:
He's liked the shooting he's done previously, so the new list continues exploring that, and I like this approach quite a lot. We've got two powerful Cannons with a weaker Arbalest. Alongside shooting, Blizzard and Bloodboil have both been nice, and he's managed to fit in both into this list. Inspiring Sources are pretty cheap, and he's running spellcaster Champions over expensive Warlords in order to run more units. Playing around with slots, regiments pay the Core tax, but he's still got some chaff in the Gur Panthers, some generalists in the Paladins, and heavy hitters in the Ogre Palace Guard. Despite their potency with the extra pivot, Elohi are expensive, so he's continuing to just run the one troop and use them as deterrence, which has been strong previously. I like the list and approach a lot!
I finally brought out the Kingdoms of Men, which I am about 6 months overdue for fielding! The army is still very versatile and I am a little overwhelmed with all my options. None of the models are from Mantic and thus verboten in all the Pathfinding Demo games I’ve been trying to schedule, so with their true and actual debut here for 4E, we’re taking some awkward units in weird numbers with an odd build, trying to push some limits, and up to discuss is everything:
- Barons on Winged Beasts. These were staples of many 3E lists, but we are now limited to a maximum of 2, and only if we take a second battalion. Multiple battalions is not hard to do as the Kingdoms of Men, but I am finding a lot of my collections now have a lot of superfluous hero options, which is a bit of a bummer, but probably good from a gaming / fun / balance perspective. These also got some adjustments for 4E, losing a bit of Speed, Nerve, TC, and Height, but do gain one attack. Those are a lot of nerfs, but they goal will be to pressure with them over everything else, and we’ll see how they do.
- Mounted Wizard with Bloodboil and BC. A version of the list has been percolating for 6 months, and this guy replaced a simple hero after some Forum discussions (thanks Boss!) surrounding my Undead shooting efforts. We’ll try Bloodboil for finishing off injured units, and see if BC can help the knights or Barons at all.
- ASB with Boomstick. Many characters are all in a really rough spot. Seemingly everything got big price hikes, which particularly hurts armies with placeholder Command Orders, like the Kingdoms of Men. With multiple fliers and Warlords, this list is also particularly odd, and I still need something to hang back and support things. With so much other shooting, we’ll give him the Boomstick, stick him near the Crossbowmen, and see how he does.
- Crossbowmen. My shooting horde got a nice discount going in 4E, and we’ll see how they do. They should feel pretty similar, as the Aim rule is pretty straightforward with them, and we’ll use them for scenario play and area denial.
- Knights x3. We are definitely over-doing it. I really think one unit of cavalry with the J Boots is the way to run the TC-only cavalry units right now, but if anyone can make multiple knightly units work, it is probably the Kingdoms of Men! I think we'll actually be trying to use the infantry to instigate for us, with the idea being that if we draw the opponent to us, we should more reliably get clean retaliatory charges for the Knights.
- Shield Wall Regiments. It’s a weird build, and we need to fill Core, so we’ll take a few regiments of Shield Wall to do so, and see how the boring base unit for Kings of War fares now. In particular, we’re going to be on the lookout for chances to use Commands to Brace with them, and see how that feels.
- Militia Regiments. We don’t really have a front line, so I figured a few more regiments would be a good approach, moving up and instigating while Knights threatened reliably thundering, retaliatory charges.
- Ballistae x4. Like my Balefire Catapults, I actually hobbied 4 up back in the day (probably optimistically thinking I’d get in a mega-battle sometime), so we’ll finally field all 4 in a game. They need to hold in order to shoot, so the new Aim rule works well with them too, and we will still be hitting on 4’s which still seems worth exploring. We’ll see what the terrain and firing lanes are like though.
- Light Cavalry with Bows. With a new Edition, I really want to try these out again, though I don’t have high hopes for them, or anything in this vein of unit design. With the new Aim rule, moving and shooting is pretty unharmonious, and losing TC for Bows is tough. We’ll see if we can use Feint though.
- Chariots with Bows and Boots. In my experience, Chariot regiments were not a great way to run the unit, but we don’t have a choice right now, having lost out on the Troop, Horde and Legion options. We’re also paying for mandatory 6+ bows, which is a bummer, but probably still amounts to just 5 points, and not a huge deal. Their one saving grace is that Chariots no longer interact with Phalanx, which now just impacts Fliers, Cavalry and Large Cavalry, so they have a nice niche in fighting against Spears. I don’t think a Chariot regiment will reliably bust these units (Large Infantry seem better suited, though KoM lack them), but it could be a nice way to tie those unit-types down for a turn to then hit them with something more potent subsequently, and instigating will be our approach with the Chariots today.
Overall I think I am committing the same list building sins from the Undead, and that multiple Warlords and 4x war machines are probably too much to jam in to a single list, but we’ll see! Having multiple armies, I am wary of throwing the same army at the same player, even if the lists and approach are different from me. We ran Abyssals the last few times against Trevor, so I took a gamble with bringing the Kingdoms out this time. We've got pretty similar lists, but this should actually be pretty insightful, since we're approaching it in rather different ways.
Table and Terrain
Trevor was hosting, and we made wonderful use of his terrain and spacious ping-pong table setup. We again forgot to explicitly reaffirm the new heights, but I don't think there were any impactful game moments, so we can say that we had some Height 10 Forests, the blocking Buildings were Height 7, Hills with Height 3, fallow field and shallow pond as Height 0, and Obstacles as Height 2.
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| The table. |
We got Hold the Line for our Scenario. At the and of the game, we create an imaginary corridor across the center of the table, 6" off the center line, thus creating a 12" corridor down the middle, in no-mans-land, and then we divide this into thirds. The left third is worth 2 points, the middle third is worth 3 points, and the right third is worth 2 points as well. Players control each zone with Unit Strength, and the majority of your units footprint needs to be in the zone to score..
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| View from the left. |
Left to right, the Basileans have Elohi on the line but hiding behind the hill, then a front-line of Men-at-Arms in triplicate, then Paladins, then the Ogre Captain, and Bloodboil War Priest. The second line had angled Men-at-Arms, the Blizzard War Priest, Ogres with the Brew of Sharpness, Gur Panthers, Ogres with the Blessing, Paladins, the Heavy Arbalest and Cannons in the woods with Gur Panthers in reserve.
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| View from the center. |
I had won the roll for sides, and was lazy. Left-to-right for me, we have Chariots and a flying Baron, with Militia in reserve. Crossbowmen behind the woods. Angled Knights with angled Shield Wall. The ASB on a base-extender near the field, Ballistae in the field, Shield Wall in a lane with the second Baron in reserve, then Knights in a lane with the Bloodboil BC Wizard in reserve, Militia set to trip over the obstacle, then Knights were in a far lane, with Light Cavalry and their Bows in reserve.
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| View from the right. |
With all the war machines around, deployment proved to have a lot for each of us to consider. My opponent's early drops were all his war machines, and all in the woods. I generally like this approach, as you can stake a claim on the battlefield, and usually line up your ideal early firing lanes.
My first big decision was whether or not to counter-deploy with my own war machines, in an attempt to fight his battery. I figured that was bad, as he was going to have the terrain advantage due to cover from being in the woods, and I should follow my own plan, instead of being reactive. My plan was to try and push out through the lanes with my Knights to pressure, so dropping units into various lanes (after measuring the width!) was my early approach.
Seeing so many regiments coming down centrally, I knew I wanted my Ballistae central as well, and in the field as we had forgotten to clarify if this piece was Height 1 or Height 0. The Crossbowmen were a weird thing here. I did not want them central too, as I figured that would be weak to a strong push, so tried to stick them off-center. They probably won't get much early shooting in, but should be in a good spot to play the scenario in the late game from the relative safety of the woods.
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| Overview of the table. |
With terrain being what it was, I could quite ignore an entire third of the table, like I might like to, so I went wide. As the table developed, I knew I wanted to push hard from my left to try and outflank the Basileans, and leave the Militia back to hold that zone. I wanted to shoot and pressure the center zone and fight for it with the Crossbowmen, and just delay on the right with the Knights and such, and hopefully a push from here would draw things out of the middle.
Neither of us had any Scout moves, and with deployment done, my opponent won the roll for deciding the order of the turns. Both of us had a lot of shooting, and so he chose to seize the initiative and kick things off for us!
Top of Round 1: Basileans
Starting out on the right, the Gur Panthers scampered ahead, projecting threat very far ahead. Speed 10 chaff is still very useful! The Cannons roared but missed their shots into the Knights on my far right, but the Heavy Arbalest landed 3 damage. Going first was wise, but this wasn’t the impactful Shooting Phase my opponent was seeking.
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| Shots and movement on the right. |
The Bloodbooil Wizard holds, and the Paladins reposition to face the Knights, as does the Ogre Captain and the unit of Ogre Palace Guards in reserve.
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| The Basilean center moves up. |
The central infantry blob inches ahead, keeping a rather uniform line, though the terrain slows them. Blizzard blows into a war machine of mine, landing 4 damage with some good dice, though the crew is found to be Insane, and do not waver.
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| The Basileans have little to do on the left. |
The Elohi sidestep, seeing around the hill, and some men-at-Arms take the hill, wary of my speedy things out here.
Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men
On the left, the Militia run up their full 10 inches, but starting in reserve, they don’t make it very deep into the field. The Chariots move their full 18 inches and pivot, getting past the building and into a lane between the building and the obstacle. The winged Baron does the same, as my spacing is a bit off and I can’t get around the building with an earlier pivot. Unfortunately for me, with just 18” on these, only the Baron is threatening anything next turn, and only the infantry on the very edge of the line.
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| The Chariots and Baron speed ahead while the Crossbows durdle. |
The Crossbowmen do not have good shots. Er, any shots, really. The goal was to spend the early turns getting into the woods though, and so we press on despite this not being the bst of plans. We do some measuring, and get to a spot where we can move our 5 inches next turn and get the center point of the horde into the terrain. We hang back a back a bit in case the Basileans move out next turn and I somehow do get some goofy shots.
In the lane, I opt to hop the Shield Wall forward, through the Knights. The Knights project much better threat, but the plan was to try and instigate with the Shield Wall, bring the enemy to me, where I can hopefully get cleaner charges, so we’re adhering to that plan.
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| The center adjusts while the Ballistae loose. |
Target priority is tough. I do have a number of targets, but ultimately opt to shoot everything into the second unit of Men-at-Arms from the left, who are screening for the Elohi. The Ballista are only Piercing 2, so their Def4 is juicy, and they also get no cover benefits here. The Boomstick’s aim is deadly, and the Ballistae do some great work overall, but when the dust settles, the Men-at-Arms are on 15 damage, just one shy of being devastated, so they are merely wavering.
The Hill and Building have some overlap, so our war machines can’t see each other easily. The Shield Wall here hold, while the winged Baron hops ahead to project threat into the Basilean center.
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| The Light Cavalry speed ahead to instigate and block for the Kingdoms of Men. |
On the right, the Knights inch up, staying out of range of the Ogre Captain. I’d like to cross the Mounted Wizard over and into the center to use Bloodboil, but that seems too risky right now, and he needs to be around to Inspire here, so he hides behind the Knights.
The Militia hop onto the fence, and the Light Cavalry zip ahead to screen for the Knights, though they move at the double, and cannot use their bows this turn. I’m anticipating getting charged by the Panthers though, and hopefully I can use Feint to be sneaky ang get away.
Top of Round 2: Basileans
On the right, the Gur Panthers do run up, but unfortunately not to charge. He’s looking to box in the Light Cavalry and waver them. An Arbalest does another strong 4 damage, the Cannons contribute a few, and he’s just close enough to Bloodboil the unit as well, taking them up to 10 damage, and they are wavered.
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| The Light Cavalry is lit up by opposing shooting. |
Most of my games have been demo games over the last month, and I usually ignore Command Orders for those, so I had forgotten about my Command Orders last turn. Indomitable Will would have been fantastic here to help the Light Cavalry, but we still have a chance to try it out next turn.
The rest of the units on the right adjust slightly, if at all, just looking to contain me here and win the zone. My goal was to draw things in and delay over here, so I suppose this is all fine.
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| A Ballista wavers, but does stick around. |
Moving towards the center, we agree that the Paladins can get behind the hill, and out of sight of the Knights, and they keep the flying Baron in front arc.
The infantry move up slowly, with the Men-at-Arms keeping their center points in terrain for cover bonuses. The Ogres with the Brew of Sharpness do the same. After some consideration, the Gur Panthers hop the line to threaten my war machines.
The Blizzard War Priest holds, and the spell lands another 3 damage into my damaged Ballista, and we are wavered.
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| The Basileans position as best they can in the face of the speedy units opposing them. |
The wavering Men-at-Arms get a Command heal, and the Elohi turn to face the threat coming from the left wing of the Kingdoms of Men. The other unit of infantry hold on the hill.
Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men
From the left, I can only get into the Men-at-Arms on the hill, and only with the flying Baron. So far, the infantry are uninjured, and I don’t like that idea. The Chariots move up, staying safe from the infantry, are able to create a pocket between them and the building for the flying Baron to hide in. The Chariots loose their bows into the unit on the hill, landing 2 damage, and my Ballistae all shoot into the same target, without penalties. The shooting is cold with no hits, no hits, and one hit blasting into three turning into 2 damage. On just 4 damage, the infantry hold.
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| With no multi-charge, the Chariots block for the flying Baron. |
The Crossbowmen enter the woods, and loose into the maimed Men-at-Arms. They land the 2 damage I need now to devastate them, and we’ll pick the unit up.
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| Positioning in the center, with the Ballistae shooting into the unit atop the hill. |
I didn’t want to commit a lot of shots into the Gur Panthers, but do try a Lightning Bolt against them from the Boomstick, looking for a lucky waver, and will land just 1 damage. They hold. I try the Indomitable Will Command onto my wavering Ballista, hoping to then pass Headstrong and get some additional shots off, but will fail the Order here.
To deal with the Gur Panthers, both units of Shield Wall move up. There is not enough space between them for the Panthers to fit in any orientation, so my war machines are protected for now. Basilean infantry have charges into the Shield Wall, but we are Inspired, and just have to take it, as I don’t have spare characters to try out the Brace command.
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| A mess on the right... |
On the far right, my initial Indomitable Will Command from the Wizard into the wavering Light Cavalry fails, and I ultimately decide to commit the flying Baron out here to try that again, though I am exposing him to a charge from the Ogre Captain. I will successfully issue the order, and then luckily pass Headstrong, and charge in against the Panthers, getting a Bane Chant from the Wizard to help.
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| The Light Cavalry seem doomed, but do push on through. |
The Knights near the Baron slightly adjust, staying just out of the Ogre Captain’s range. The Militia hop off the obstacle, and I think the Knights just pivot out here.
With Bane Chant, the Light Cavalry trample the Gur Panthers, and I choose to overrun, getting a nice 5 inches… and get really close to the war machines.
Top of Round 3: Basileans
We’re thankfully not playing on a clock, as these turns are melting our respective brains. Targeting priority is tough, especially in the midgame when shooting lanes can get clogged up.
Ultimately, the Basileans choose to split fire. I overran into Grapeshot range, and 4 damage peppers into the Light Cavalry from one of the Cannons, taking them up to 14 damage. Bloodboil adds another 8 damage, forcefully devastating them, and they will rout. The other Cannon and the Heavy Arbalest shoot into the Knights behind them, landing a combined 5 damage and taking them up to 8 damage, though the Knights hold.
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| The Light Cavalry are blasted away. |
The Paladins and Ogres with the Blessing play it safe, continuing their containment, with nothing able to get in against them.
The Ogre Captain charges in against the flying Barron, and 2 damage lands.
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| Several multi-charges from the Basileans. |
Centrally, Men-at-Arms and Paladins make a multi-charge into my Shield Wall on the right, with an Elite Command landing for the Paladins. Meanwhile, Gur Panthers make a multi-charge with some hindered Men-at-Arms into the other unit.
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| One unit of Shield Wall breaks. |
I feel like I have decent chances to hold for each, but that doesn’t happen. Both the Paladins and Men-at-Arms roll above average in their fight, taking me up to an astonishing 14 damage, and I will easily break here.
The other combat goes better for me, but the dice are still hot, with 5 damage landing against the other Shield Wall. The Ogres with the Brew keep their leader point in the terrain, to mitigate potential shots into them next round. Overall, it is a strong push from the Basileans into the center!
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| The Elohi bounce off of the Chariots. |
On the left, the speedy pieces from the Kingdoms of Men are concerning, and my opponent opts to commit with the Elohi against the Chariots, while moving the Men-at-Arms up as far as they can to try and box me in. The Elohi will land a few damage, and strip TC from the Chariots.
Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men
The Chariots were bait, but I was lucky the Men-at-Arms didn’t have another inch or two to spare. The aim is to tag-team the Basilean units with my own. The Chariots reform, sliding over to allow the flying Baron to flank charge the Elohi, despite the attempts of the Men-at-Arms. The combats go well, and I luck up with a few extra damage, with the Chariots contributing 3 and the Baron a nice 8, and we’ll pick the Elohi up. The Chariots back up, getting off the obstacle their reform shifted them onto, and the Baron can reform to get the Men-at-Arms into Front Arc, and unable to get around into the Chariots. The tag-team is going well!
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| Reforms, after besting the Elohi. |
The Crossbowmen take aim against the Ogres, but with the center point in the pond, the efforts are negated, still they overperform, landing 6 damage against them, which does get Iron Resolved down to 5 when to do hold.
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| Some rather desperate charges from the Kingdoms of Men. |
The Shield Wall are engaged, but with both units in the front, they could withdraw, but I don’t want either unit to have free reign. I then want to reform them into the Men-at-Arms and allow a clean charge into the Gur Panthers, but as I am talking this out, this doesn’t seem legal, since I can get in without the reform. Ultimately, the remaining Shield Wall hold, and the Knights make a hindered charge into the Gur Panthers. Revisiting this while writing up the report, a reform would actually be legal here, but not in the way I was originally hoping. The Shield Wall would scoot down enough to allow split frontage against the Gur Panthers... which is not very far, and would not be enough to make a difference in my charge with the Knights.
It’s rough, but the Wizard is able to start sneaking out from the other side of the building, and is just in range to Bane Chant the Knights for good measure. They will pick them up, and back up, minimizing what can get into them next turn, though I’m still stuck in the field.
The ASB is able to make use of his Individual status and charge the Men-at-Arms without being hindered… though this is a bit silly. The model is my old Outlaw from the 3E formation, which had decent fighting stats, and my goal here is to protect my war machines. This guy is just a Yielding, 1-attack ASB though. I’m in, but do no damage, and am Yielding, so I can just be ignored.
The Ballistae all shoot into the nearby Paladins, and will land a total of 7 damage from the four war machines. The Paladins will not be budged, and will Iron Resolve down to 6 damage.
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| Moving around on the right. |
I choose not to reform my flying Baron, so the incoming flank charge from the Knights puts them closer towards the center of the field. I’m threatened by the Ogres either way, and this will make reforms much easier for me. The clean flank into the Ogre Captain takes him to 15 damage, and the Baron will clean up. The Knights pivot, keeping some things in front arc, and the General sidesteps, getting into another little pocket between the front corner of the Knights and the building. Angles-wise this seems dicey while writing the report, and despite my efforts, the Knights may not have pivoted around their true center point.
The Militia had moved up to be a nuisance, but I do return later in the phase to back them up a bit, as after some fiddling and measuring, I can’t really box anything in. Ultimately this is a mistake - I failed to think through the rest of the turn, and I could have used them to protect the flank of the Knights in their expected victory. Had I reformed the Baron, their position makes more sense, I think I was just tripping over myself.
The injured Knights in the back adjust slightly, staying out of range of Grapeshot, and aim to support the Militia. Both the Militia and the Knights get the Indomitable Will Command, and I’m hoping Fearless will let the Knights survive and do something next turn.
Top of Round 4: Basileans
The first Cannon shot against the injured knights is hot, landing 5 damage and taking them up to 13. A Bloodboil will contribute a strong 7 damage, and the Fearless, self-inspiring Knights will be blown away.
The lucky shots allows the other contraptions to shoot elsewhere, and the fire over into the center, against my Knights stuck in the field. Each machine lands 2 damage, and Blizzard contributes 1 as well, taking them up to 5 damage and Freezes them. They do not waver, but it’s a great round for Basilean shooting.
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| The Basileans pick up unit after unit after unit out on the right. |
Still on the right, the Ogres roll hot into the Militia, hitting all 18 times. The damage dice even it out, with a silly amount of 1’s, but 11 damage still sticks, and the Militia fall.
Paladins get into the Front and Flank of the Knights here, and will devastate and rout them, as is proper. In retrospect, the Militia could have gotten far enough to protect the flank of the Knights, but it was a little tough to plan that far ahead this game, and we’re at a deficeit for both unit quantity and unit quality here.
The plan was to delay on the right, but having lost everything by Round 4 with nothing to really show for it is not a success. The flying Baron is free, but doesn’t have many great options next turn.
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| Fighting in the center, with more Kingdoms of Men units falling. |
The Men-at-Arms choose to ignore the ASB, and instead make a hindered charge into one of the Ballistae. A stunning 10 damage lands (even tripled… looks like 6 is expected) and the war machine breaks. Reforms are a little silly. Technically, his leader point is in the flank of the other war machines, but he cannot get in, so he’ll need to sidestep if he wants to fight more machines next turn. Instead, he chooses to spin around and threaten the Knights. My shooting investment hasn’t paid big dividends, and it’s more important to try and remove Unit Strength for the scenario.
The Men-at-Arms are joined by a hindered charge from the Ogres and their Brew into the Shield Wall, and the injured unit will be easily picked up. The infantry side-step to create space, and the Ogres reform slightly, ultimately choosing to keep the Crossbowmen in front arc, as my opponent knows me, and a dumb flank is absolutely something I would try.
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| The Baron holds against the Basilean infantry. |
On the far left, the Men-at-Arms charge the flying Baron, landing 1 damage, but things look dire here, and I should be able to break through.
Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men
On the left, the General reforms, sliding a bit to the right, and letting the Chariots join in cleanly against the Men-at-Arms. Each units lands 5 damage, and with Brutal we are lucky enough to break the uninspired unit. The Chariots overrun for 6, while the Baron trots ahead for 2 inches. Hey, we’ve broken through! We haven’t really mentioned it, but Militia are holding the left zone for me, so this flank is going ok for me.
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| Positioning for the Kingdoms of Men. |
My Knights backed up a bit previously, so have some inches to work with for pivots and charges and such. It’s a bit desperate, but we’re hindered no matter what, I opt to charge the Ogres, who are a bit more injured. The Wizard is able to get near enough to cast Bane Chant, and we’ll take the Ogres up to 11 damage, and get some lucky checks to break them and reform to face the Basilean infantry.
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| Victories for the Kingdoms of Men! |
The Crossbowmen move further into the woods, and are contesting the center zone for me. Their only target now is the Men-at-Arms in my field, though the latter does have cover, so we’re down to just 10 shots on 6’s, and nothing lands. Three Arbalests fire, landing just 3 damage, with Lightning Bolt contributing just 1. The Men-at-Arms endure, easily.
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| And the Baron picks up the War Priest. |
On the right, we’ve lost almost everything, but I do see a pick, and the flying Baron is able to land a flank charge into the Bloodboil War Priest, land a strong 10 damage, and will pick him up. We reform to face the rear facings of everything out here, besides the war machines.
Top of Round 5: Basileans
It was a nice pick, but the Baron is in some real danger. The other War Priest positions to cast Blizzard but nothing lands; the Arbalest contributes another strong 3 damage out of nowhere, while two Grapeshot charges land a combined four, taking the Baron up to 9 damage, and he is wavered. With so many potential rear charges, this is a bummer, but we ate a full round of shooting, and are back to delaying out here.
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| The Baron's resolve falters. |
My opponent had a few conundrum out here. The first was whether to shoot the nearby Baron or the remaining Knight unit over in the center. Shooting the Baron seemed like the right call for me as well, as just wavering him seems like enough to free up the Paladins and Ogres, and let them move towards the center. The second conundrum was that one of the Cannons could start scooching out of the woods now, and could be scoring the right zone next turn. He opted to hold and aim and shoot grapeshot instead, really trying to rout the Baron. Now, something will need to hang back to hold the zone, and he’ll need a Round 7 to get a war machine over to help.
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| Charges from the Men-at-Arms |
The injured Paladins back up off the hill, trying to hide for a turn, while the other unit moves towards the center, with the Ogres in their Blessing in tow.
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| The damaged war machine falls, but the Knights survive! |
The Men-at-Arms are all jumbled up. One charges into the field and into the damaged Ballista, while the while the other crosses out of the field and into the Knights. The damaged war machine is easily picked up, with the infantry again pivoting to face the Knights, who take a few damage from the infantry, but hold.
It is a very scrappy game! My shooting is in tatters, but it is still very close.
Bottom of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men
The Militia hold the left zone for me. The Chariots are actually Height 4, so can easily see the Blizzard War Priest, but I opt to move them towards the center. We try some bow shots into the Paladins near the hill, but don’t land anything.
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| The other Baron gets a nice pick too. |
The Baron takes the rear charge into the War Priest, whose rear facing couldn’t quite get into the pond. The flier cleanly lands 12 damage, gets the rout and reforms, all without touching the pond, and we’ve got a nice mobile threat as the game starts to wrap up.
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| The Knights prevail again. |
The Wizard adjusts, and is able to land a Bane Chant on the Knights who fight back against the Men-at-Arms. The extra attacks prove to be strong, and we overperform a bit, landing 10 damage, and turning a 50/50 rout into an almost sure thing. We win and hold, since almost any overrun will expose them to the Paladins. The Knights are helping contest the center, so I don’t want to toss them away.
The Crossbowmen are also contesting the center for me, and shoot into the infantry in the field, but with Cover, land 1 hit and then no damage. The ASB needs to flee from the Paladins, and Lighting Bolt into the same unit lands nothing. The Ballista shoot, landing a total of 1 damage into something, but with Iron Resolve, it does not matter.
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| The Baron holds. |
The wavering Baron on the far right does nothing, as not wavering move really does anything for me. He can hold and eat another round of shooting for me.
Top of Round 6: Basileans
The Men-at-Arms in the field just move up, as he wants to shoot the Knights instead of charging them. In retrospect, it seems like an error to not at least charge the ASB, and I might even be giving up a flank here.
The Arbalest and a Cannon shoot into my central Knights, landing 2 damage and I believe do get the waver against me, despite being Inspired.
One unit of Paladins hangs barely back to score the right zone, while the other regiment along with the Ogres push into the center. We’re each holding one of the sides, but Crossbows (4) and Knights (2) beat out Paladins (2) and Ogres (2), so we should be ok going into Round 6, and my opponent is really playing for a Round 7.
The remaining cannon Grapeshots the wavering Baron out on the right, landing 2 damage, and taking him to 11 damage total. We add Shattering, getting 2, though that looks to be an error, and only works with the profile for the main shot. Still, the Baron gets what he needs here, and is found to be Insanely Courageous!
Bottom of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men
We’re in a surprisingly competitive spot for the scenario anyways, but the Insane result is the proverbial nail in the coffin for my opponent.
The insane and not devastated Baron is able to get into the rear of the Paladins holding the right zone. They were already injured, and with 9 damage getting in from the rear, they need Insane Courage to hold, and done get it. The Kingdoms of Men have decapitated the command structure of the Basileans, and any hot check is going to go through as the game concludes. Besting the Paladins, the Baron now holds the right zone for me, and the Basileans will need to both shoot him off, and move the Cannon again in a Round 7 to try and score this zone.
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| The important center, with an insane Baron making a surprise appearance. |
I believe the wavering Knights do nothing when they fail Headstrong, but I could be mistaken. Regardless of their status, they hold, as they are scoring for the scenario.
The Baron and Chariots charge the leading Paladins, since it is my only multi-charge. The Barons have been doing ok, but apparently want to remind me of their usual performance, and this time, just 1 damage is put through the high-armor of the Paladins. The Chariots land cleanly, but on 4’s with just 12 attacks, they only land 4 damage, and on a total of 5, the Kingdoms of Men don’t break through, though we do toss another 4 US into the center.
The Crossbowmen again hold and aim and shoot and again land nothing into cover, Lightning Bolt contributes 1, and an Ballista lands 2 into the nearby Men-at-Arms, and we do get the waver here.
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| The Militia hiding from the war machines and holding things down for me on the left. |
The Militia hold the left, and with 10 US in the center, the Kingdoms of Men hold the center, beating out the 4 of the Basileans, and preventing the other Men-at-Arms regiment from contributing with that waver. Meanwhile the insane Baron holds the right zone, and with an emphatic 1 on the Round 7 roll, the game concludes.
A surprise victory for the Kingdoms of Men!
Game Conclusions
We were only able to squeeze one game in, but that was fine my me. Our schedules were packed on the day, and my brain was simply fried by the end of this one. We had a lot to explore before any dice were even rolled! We each had a lot of shooting, but approached it from different avenues, so we have plenty to cover and consider here afterwards:
- I brought two battalions, while Trevor ran just one, but packed with units. A second battalion needs about 300 points of requirements (2x core, 1x hero), so unless you have some bonkers Core units you can really spam, or you really need the unlocks from that second battalion, the one battalion approach seems generally better, as you have several hundred more points to fit in stronger units, like the Ogre Palace Guard in the Specialist slots. The Kingdoms of Men could easily do this by promoting a few Ballistae to Cannon.
- I ran lots of smaller war machines, while Trevor prioritized Cannons with his slots. Cannons are super strong, and I think this approach was also better from my opponent. With Grapeshot, Cannons can help protect a battery / gunline by themselves, which is handy, and the Cannons are also slightly more slot efficient, and that seems to be a big deal in 4E.
- I deployed my war machines very late, while Trevor deployed his early. Either approach is ok, and depends on the match-up. Generally deploying war machines early seems easier on my own brain though, even when Indirect is in play.
- With double Battalions, I had two Warlords, while Trevor had cheaper Champions in his single battalion. While my warlords delivered good results this game, I think "warlords and war machines" is a bit too demanding for points, and think his approach is better. Having Inspiring Spellcasters is very strong in 4E, and not every army gets them. Fitting in both Blizzard and Bloodboil had strong results for my opponent this game.
Overall, I think my opponent had a stronger approach to shooting than mine. Somewhere around Round 3, while we were cheerfully bemoaning all the hard decisions we were having to make, he had remarked that things were close enough that one Insane Courage result would break things wide open, and that comment (unfortunately) proved to karmically seal his fate here! It was a tight game, I just got a little luckier when it really mattered, and was able to sneak away with the win here, despite a weaker approach to all this.
Testing Conclusions
- Barons on Winged Beasts. Even setting aside the Insane Courage at the end, they both had a great game, able to win some good fights and control space. I'll credit this to all my 3E use and experience prioritizing pressuring with them over disordering and solo-charging. Fliers should always be threatening something! Still, the changes are rough, particularly the nerf to Nerve. They were prone to wavering in 3E, and that's probably not getting better, and they seem a little expensive for what you are getting.
- Mounted Wizard with BC and Bloodboil. This was a neat idea, but I was not able to use Bloodboil well. Bane Chant was very impactful though, helping me push through multiple units throughout the game.
- ASB with Boomstick. The old Outlaw model got to my head, and I did not use him like an ASB! He's a 1-attack, Yielding, hero, and cannot gum up a combat nowadays, no matter what. He was used ok though, and the Boomstick was a nice pick considering the rest of the list, even if my dice were a little cold with the spell.
- Crossbowmen. This was a rough showing for them and their damage output, but their US definitely helped me win the center. It was good to have these on the battlefield again! Not used effectively, but they can still do good work for scenario-driven play.
- Knights x3. Simply put, my approach did not work. I think pressuring with the cavalry is better, with supporting infantry behind, ready to hop up and block as needed. Had I gotten first turn I might have been able to press ahead and do better, but I was not able to really use the lanes well, or instigate like I had hoped, and as a result, I had a lot of hindered charges, which is definitely disastrous for cavalry these days. I'll try multiples again, probably as one big battalion down the road, but so far, this really did not work well. One regiment with the J Boots seems easier to fit into a list (not everything has core Knights), and easier to use, and still seems like the best approach to running TC-only cavalry units, unfortunately.
- Shield Wall Regiments. They are ok unlocks, but they essentially just took up space. I guess that is essentially as-expected. I did not get to use the Brace command at all, though it would have helped them in their fights, and that still seems neat.
- Militia Regiments. Like the Shield Wall, we're not expecting much, but Cheap US is nice, and these did ok. We don't have quick chaff (excluding maybe the melee Light Cavalry), so these seem fine at holding tokens, playing the scenario, and taking some hits.
- Ballistae x4. It was worth exploring this approach, but it was difficult. These are cheap and hit on 4's but do care about cover. I think juggling shooting in a list is pretty hard, and
- Light Cavalry with Bows. We didn't get to use the Bows at all, which is a bummer, as they are a very expensive upgrade. All my gripes about this style of unit from 3E have just gotten worse for the Light Cavalry. The new Edition doesn't really let them move and shoot, and in order to get the Bows, they pay a fortune while also giving up TC, which just worsens their overall usefulness on the battlefield. It's a bummer.
- Chariots with Bows and Boots. Well, I was clever enough not to need their Bots in any fight, which sort of feels good, until I remember all the troubles my Knights had. Still, this was a good experience, with regards to testing. They do still care about terrain, so they can be a bit unwieldy, but they do have a neat niche now, able to fight Phalanx without their TC being stripped. Still, they are not hammers, and being forced into regiments-only is a bit rough.