4th Edition: Battle #035 Varangur vs Kingdoms of Men in Protect and Raze

Intro and Lists

I was lucky enough to be out and about for a day of wargaming, and was even treated to a second game for the day. This one was against Rob, as he is getting as many games in for Masters Practice as he could, as the event is coming right up in a little under two months. He had the following:

I haven't faced Rob in a couple of months, due how other meetups have shaken out, with odd number of attendees and limited games played. While he qualified for Masters on the backs of his 3E Halflings, 4E has changed them, and without their Striding Aura and 16-19" nimble heavy cavalry, they aren't as potent, and his results at both the Northwoods GT and Adepticon were not anywhere near where he was aiming. Cannons caught his eye though, and he's swapped over to the Kingdoms of Men, building on his Renegade GT speed list from late last year, which won that event, and we helped him test out in secret. 

Overall, I'd say this is still designed to punish elite builds, and take advantage of some rather imbalanced things, with respect to Blizzard and Cannons. Blizzard is over-tuned, being a long-range magic missile that can blast and pierce and even slow things down. Cannons also seem over-turned, inexplicably buffed to hit on 5's now, before any modifiers. These, plus Rifles provide a lot of long-range pressure, and against unway elite builds, can start wavering or removing units quickly. He's got some Chariots and Light Cavalry to interdict for the shooters, and assorted "Goodstuff" otherwise, like core Knights and Dogs of War with the Hammer. It is a very intriguing force, with a lot of options and ranges to play with, making it tough to engage well, especially for the first time.

I had the Varangur, because that is what I brought out for the day. We're still messing around with Striding today, and swapping things over to more a slightly more expensive Frostfang Cavalry build, and up to test is everything.

• Magnilde. She is a mandatory warlord in order to play the Varangur. She isn't flashy, but is relatively cheap, and so that tax isn't too bad. We've been able to get some good use out of her in just about every game, so we'll continue on and see what we can come up with here.
• Ice Queens with Heal and BC. We're doubling down on these over Frostfang-riding Thegns in order to save some points. ...though I think these might be better Champions too. The army is generally on the slower-side, so we should be able to keep pace with most things, and we have some great spells to help support a more elite and fighty build. 
• Human Tribesmen Regiments. Our Core units are pretty expensive, but a few regiments of Tribesmen have been pretty good in the past as something to supplement the battle line, and it's something I have on-hand, so we'll continue on with it. 
• Human Tribesmen Horde. As should be expected, hordes of Tribesmen are rather expensive as well, but do hold a line nicely, being a sturdy unit with build-in CS. With support they should do well, and we'll see how the Ice Queens do in that role.
• Snow Foxes. A list still needs chaff and expendable units, and thankfully for us, the Foxes fit the bill nicely! Stealthy can be very nice, and Pathfinder lets them get where they need to be. They are good units, and hopefully we can get some good use out of them here!
• Hearthguard. The Hearthguard continue to be premier infantry hammers, and a very powerful option for the Varangur and Northern Alliance. We're only running one here, and will hope they can still butcher a few things for us.
• Tundra Wolves. We need the slots, but with an elite build, I also wanted a bit more mobility to help the rest of the list. Pathfinder has changed, but we should be able to get them where ever we need them to be, threaten things, and serve as chaff, as needed
• Fallen. These are not hammers, but are neat instigators and pressure pieces. We'll aim to use them to bully weaker units, thus taking advantage of Def5 and Iron Resolve, or for big charges alongside my heavier hitters.
• Double Frostfang Cavalry. These are some big purchases that warp the list a bit, so we are hoping for some big things from them! I feel like most folks are not buying Phalanx, so we're seeing if the Frostfangs have some play as a powerful hammer unit to exploit that. Brew of Sharpness of of Strength could be great buys for them, but they are already incredibly expensive and points are very tight, so no toys for either of them today.

We have some tools, but are unfortunately much more of the side of the elite builds our opponent is trying to punish. Should be a good game for both of us though - he gets to prove out and reaffirm his approach, and I get a game with tons and tons to think about.

Table and Terrain

The Club is exploring some different shops, and today we were out at Warpstorm Games and Lounge in Greenfield WI. It's a very cool shop, with a lot of neat shop terrain, but not quite what we need for Kings of War, so we're still using some that I brought out, and we had a bystander rearrange things for us. Again, we're got a table with some dividing tape, and we're just ignoring it. 

Overview of the table.

Rob had the Scenario list for Masters, and we got Protect and Raze for our practice game here, which apparently I have been played incorrectly. 

This is an Objective Scenario. There is a token in the center, and we each place three more Objections 6" from the center line, on our opponent's side of the battlefield. If we control a token we placed (by having more Unit Strength near it), we can raze it for a point. At the end of the game, we have a point for each token we razed, plus one if we control the center objective, plus 1 for each token our opponent's placed that we control. 

The rub I learned here.  is that with larger tokens, it's harder to get stuff down right on that 6" life from the center, and 12" away from another token. With the larger tokens, we seem to almost be forced to have a 2:1 on one side and a 1:2 on the other, and there seems to be potential to really mess up and influence where you opponent has to place.

Situation on the left. 

Left-to-right for the Kingdoms of Men were Chariots, Rifles and Shield Wall, with the flying Baron and Knights in reserve, and the Chariots, Knights, and Baron were all the final drops, looking to catch me off guard.

The Giant was next down the line, and on the deployment line, supporting three regiments of Rifles, with an ASB behind. With the hero tax, the ASB is carrying no items, but Very Inspiring is still nice to have. The Dogs of War deployed on the line, mostly behind a hill.

Then we has Elsa the Blizzard Wizard, four Cannons at angles, and then Chariots and Light cavalry out on the far right.

Stuff in the center.

Bouncing between armies can be tough, and wanting to give a good practice game, I took a long time in between drops, and really tried to think a few drops ahead, though it didn't quite pan out.

On the left we have Tundra Wolves, Frostfangs, and Snow Foxes, and the cavalry should just be able to zip past the difficult terrain.

We have Fallen on the other side of that terrain, supported by an Ice Queen.

We have Hearthguard and a regiment of Tribesmen supported by the other Ice Queen, and then the horde of Tribemen in the center.

And everything else, out on the right.

My right was Frostfangs with Foxes, Magnilde a smidge back, Tribesmen on the line, and Tundra Wolves on the wing.

The overview of the table, again.

It was a difficult deployment. The Cannons came down mid-way though, and I figured the obstacle and hill should probably protect me a bit. I have some stuff to distract and maybe deal with them, and then the main line is on the left, starting with the horde of Tribesmen and continuing on. 

Hearthguard have terrain ahead of them, isn't great, but that is a minor complaint. I could be doing a lot of little things better, but overall, my deployment seems ok.

I win the roll for deciding turn order, and against shooting, happily take it.

Top of Round 1: Varangur

Against so much shooting and interdicting speedy units, I think need to be very aggressive, and decisive with where I am pushing into. Thankfully I have a few units of chaff. Out on the left, I want to try and force fights pretty quickly. Foxes scamper up baiting charges. I think I goof this up slightly, in that I am measuring 20" from the Baron, who actually got his Speed reduced slightly in the edition change. Old habits die hard.

The Varangur push out on the left. 

The Fallen push up very far, and after double checking things, I am a few inches into the Giant's range, and will back them up to get safe. I don't think the Giant would solo-charge, but it seems dumb to risk it, if I am not actively setting a trap. It is helpful to double check things! We're safe, and with our extra inches, the Fallen are still threatening a few things next turn.The Ice Queen keeps pace, moving up behind the Fallen.

A more cautious center. The Infantry can only get so far.

The Hearthguard move up, getting as far as they can, but are stopped by the terrain. The Tribesmen move at the double, hoping to instigate for the Hearthguard. The Ice Queen keeps pace here, hiding behind the Tribesmen.

The Horde of Tribesmen move up, hoping to brawl with their Dogs of War cousins soon. We pivot to just get off the hill, but this does get a corner closer to the mercenaries, and we might be able to be tricky seeing around the hill or something. 

Snow Foxes run up here as well, utilizing Pathfinder to run through the woods. The Frostfangs enter the woods, and go as far as they can forward, threatening a few Cannons already, with the obstacle intervening.

More aggression on the right from the Varangur.

On the right, the Magnilde momentarily hides behind the building. The Tribesmen run up, baiting a charge from the Chariots, but are safe from the Light Cavalry. The Tundra Wolves hang back, safe from all charges, and ready to zone out and respond.

I admittedly don't really have a solid plan here. I'm not contesting the far token yet, and my general thinking was to that if I could bait the Chariots and or Light Cavalry out to get it, I should be able to punch through with Magnilde, the Tribesmen and Wolves, and then use these pieces in the coming turns to occupy the attention of the war machines.

Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

The Light Cavalry seize their moment to help with the scenario. After getting an Indomitable Will command to become Fearless and self-Inspiring, they gallop out to secure the token, and pivot to see the flanks of my line. 

The Light Cavalry respond with some pressure of their own.

Shots rung out across the field. On the right, a Cannon fires into the Wolves, hitting, blasting into 3 damage, getting a 3 on the d3 Shatter, and a pretty average check will waver them, despite being Inspired. Ouch.

The Snow Foxes are in against the other cannons, and I think I am in a pretty good position here.  To my surprise, they all move, arranging to block for the more important Blizzard Wizard. All three will fire Grapeshot into the Snow Foxes, which surprises me. However, I learn that Grapeshot always hits on 5's, so they actually don't care at all about holding still, the Obstacle, or the Stealthy of the Foxes. Geez. Grapeshot contributes 6 damage, Blizzard lands 1, but the Inspired Foxes are found to be Insane on the reroll. Some mixed results on the right, but I suppose I cannot complain too much.

The Kingdoms of Men are patient in the center.

The Dogs of War sidestep slightly, creating a little space for an otherwise very tightly packed line, and looking to protect the Cannons a bit too, I suppose. 

The trio of Rifles all shoot cleanly into the regiment of Tribesmen leading for the Hearthguard, landing 6 damage in total. One regiment is threatened by the Fallen, and gets a Bracing Command, to boost their defense.

And the left keeps things orderly, while poised to respond.

The Shield Wall also get a Bracing Command, and move up to mitigate where the Fallen can go. The Giant waits in reserve, and the Knights inch up to be on the line.

The last unit of Rifles shoot into the Stealthy Foxes, landing 1 damage, but they hold.

Top of Round 2: Varangur

Out on the left, with a tidy line... the Foxes go into the Rifles to muck everything up. The Foxes are wider than the Rifles, so while we pay a few damage into the Rifles, the real aim here it to box in both the Chariots and Knights as well. 

Go Foxes go!

The Tundra Wolves hit the flank of the Shield Wall, and I am conflicted. I don't have a great feel for the unit, and don't think I will break it. I consider sending in the Fallen to make sure I break the unit, but the reforms look rough, so the Wolves go in alone, land 7 damage, and though the unit is uninspired, we don't get lucky. I unfortunately can't get the spellcaster in a position to Bane Chant the Wolves. 

The Fallen get into the woods to make use of Strider and pressure, while the Frostfangs move up as well to be scary. I could have have pressed in farther to claim the token, but was wary of giving the Baron too free of a hand. We'll see what unfolds.

The infantry arrive to pressure.

Centrally, I get the Hearthguard into the terrain. I am safe from the Giant, and will have cover from any  Shooting, but being hindered is probably going to be a bummer. 

The injured Regiment of Tribesmen get behind the hill to hide from the Dogs of War, and threaten a regiment of Rifles. The nearby Ice Queen will eventually land a heal, taking them from 6 down to 4 damage.

Moving in on the war machines too.

The horde of Tribesmen scooch up, staying just over 10 inches away from the Dogs of War, while within 11 inches themselves, to make use of Wild Charge. The Frostfangs position around the building, also staying safe, while threatening things with their longer charge range. The Snow Foxes should just be able to get into the the cluster of war machines near the Blizzard Wizard, and do so, hindered, eventually landing 3 damage, which is not enough to do anything. And with Grapeshot hitting on 5's no matter what... they aren't really even going to be giving me cover or anything. Nuts.

I do have a good here though, in that the Foxes are Nimble, and I have some space. I could have used a pivot to get parrallel to the fence, zip down alongside it and past it, and then use the second pivot to turn and charge in. I forgot they had Nimble, so this didn't occur to me at the time. Even if we bump this up and deal the expected ~6 damage, it's still not a guaranteed break. But, this would have been better than a Hindered Charge for sure!

Some panicked responses on the right from the Varangur.

The Wolves are wavering, but Magnilde is still around. She has a charge into a cannon... but I feel like I need to deal with the Light Cavalry before they can claim another token. As an Individual, she can change facing and then charge out. She lands just 3 damage as well, and is unable to break the unit.

I wanted to move the Tribesmen over to block and protect Magnilde, but I don't have the inches to do that and pivot them forward again, so they move up and pivot. I don't think I used these well. I was lazy and didn't mark their starting position, so didn't want to be fiddly with the unit. I definitely can't protect Magnilde up close, but I should be able to either continue moving up to claim the token or get in the face of the Chariots more, to maybe prevent the Chariots pivoting past them and also getting into Magnilde, should that fight go poorly, which it did. Error on my part here. My original plan wasn't viable, but I didn't mark my unit, and just fumbled this.

Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

My fumble with the Tribesmen and inability to best the Light cavalry lets the Chariots hit Magnilde cleanly in the flank. Fortunately for me, 4's are swingy, and with the Cavalry landing nothing, Magnilde only takes 7 damage, which Iron Resolves down to 6 when she holds.

The Chariots slam in against Magnilde.

The engaged Cannon will withdraw, and land some Grapeshot damage into the Foxes again, taking them up to 10 damage.  Another Cannon pivots, moves, and pivots to take that cannon's place, and Grapeshots into the Tribesmen, landing 1 damage, with Blizzard landing 1 as well. The remaining two  Cannon opt for cannon balls, landing 5 damage, and getting another Shattering 3, taking the Tribesmen up to 7, or 10, with Shattering. We waver. 

The Dogs of War back up slightly, avoiding the horde of Tribesmen. The rest of the line is a mess for the Kingdoms of Men.

Rifles ... charge?

The Shield Wall pass their Nerve check to withdraw, and shoot clear through the human line to the center of the table, out near the Dogs of War. 

The injured Tribesmen are charged by a group of Riflemen, trying to buy some time, though no damage lands against the Barbarians. Another Regiment Braces and takes aim against the Hearthguard in the terrain, and rolls hot, landing 3 damage.

The Kingdoms of Men charge the beasts, trying to break free.

As-mentioned, the Shield Wall withdrew, and rocketed through the line. This move lets the Giant and  some Rifles charge the Tundra Wolves. The Giant rolls hot with 18 attacks, and the Wolves are smushed. The Giant reforms, wary of the Hearthguard, and the Rifles overrun 6 inches, mucking everything up for me.

Reforms from all the multi-charges.

The Baron is able to nestle in between the Frostfangs and the Fallen. The Baron has a bit of extra move, but wants to be just barely safe, so we agree that he is. The delaying Snow Foxes are dog-piled with a flanking Chariot, Rifles in the front, and Knights in the flank. I don't make my opponent roll this, though I think we could have had a real contender for the record for most damage dealt to a unit here. 

The Rifles back up to create space, the Knights are penned in by the Giant, but the Chariots do look like they are able to reform well enough to get free. Before flying away, as I recall, the Baron did give the Chariots Indomitable Will, which will show up as a yellow card.

Top of Round 3: Varangur

It's messy, but interesting! I am outnumbered here, but we can easily avoid the Baron for a turn, and hopefully I score some combat wins to even the scales with regards to units.

The Frostfangs charge the Chariots. A nice, 12 damage is expected, but my dice are cold. Just 8 damage lands, and the (Inspired) Nerve check doesn't break my way even once. Unfortunately, 4's are swingy, and this is heartbreakingly bad for me.

Charges from the Varangur.

The Fallen flank charge the Rifles, will land their expected 17 damage, and will break the shooters, and overrun, getting out of arc of the Baron. 

Mixed results on the left.

The Ice-Queen gets into the forest, and Heals the Hearthguard down to 3 damage. They charge the Giant, and even hindered, will land an astonishing 9 damage. We weren't expecting to break him, but not breaking the Chariots is huge. We had chances here, but we appear to be slipping.

Fights in the center.

The Tribesmen regiment fights back against the Rifles. They catch a Heal as well, getting down to 2 damage, will thump a silly 8 damage back, break the unit on the check, and overrun for a mighty 1 inch.

The horde of Tribesmen doesn't have any charges, which feels bad. they move up, to threaten things next turn. The Frostfangs charge out and into the Dogs of War to pin them down. This unit lands the expected 10 damage expected of them, though we're still not going to break the horde in one combat.

The Tribesmen regiment bests the Rifles.

The wavering Foxes do nothing, and the wavering Tribesmen do little, pivoting slightly, as this just gets them in range to control the token, and then raze it, putting me on the board.

I'm floundering over here as well. I don't think it makes sense to send the Wolves into the Chariots, as I am in the front, and likely won't break them, even if I send all Magnilde's attacks into them as well. So I choose to go in against the Light Cavalry, landing 3 damage. Magnilde swings on them as well, landing another 3, and we are able to pick the unit up. 

Since Magnilde was engaged on two different facings, she could not reform to face the Chariots, and despite winning against the Cavalry, she's still engaged with the Chariots, so doesn't get a victorious reform here either, and is in trouble.

Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

A Grapeshot lands 4 into the Foxes, devastating them. Two cannonballs miss, though Blizzard lands 6 and another high Shatter die, and the last cannonball pushes the Tribesmen up into Devastated status as well, breaking them too.

Suddenly, the Varangur right is rather sparse,

Weight of attacks in the flank pulls through, and in combat, Magnilde gets up to double digits of damage, and falls, thanks to Brutal from the Chariots. I misplayed things a bit out here, and after some very bloody turns, have recovered as best I can hope to, though it doesn't seem like it will be enough.

It turns out that the Dogs of War were uninspired last round, so the Blizzard Wizard rectifies this with a command order, and they use the Hammer of Measured Force to punch back against the Frostfangs. The Damage is minimal though, with only6 going through.

More Riflemen charge, with the Shield Wall readying-up.

More Rifles charge my Tribesmen regiment in the center of the board, and will slip in 2 damage against them, taking them up to 4. The Shield Wall have recovered, and join the queue to fight my Tribesmen. In actuality, I was considering running a spellcaster up a bit to burn the token, and my opponent wants to prevent this.

The Knights take a flank charge into the Frostfang Cavalry...

The Riflemen from the left move at the double through everything, and emerge nearby, to support the Shield Wall.

The rampaging Giant swings into the Hearthguard, though rolls duds on his extra attack dice. The Hearthguard have gotten some heals, and end the turn on 5 damage.

More big overruns and reforms.

The Baron flies out a bit, securing my opponent's token out here, and keeping eyes on the center.

With the Frostfangs failing to break the Chariots, they are flanked cleanly by the Knights, and obliterated. The Hearthguard holding, but things are not looking great out here.

Top of Round 4: Varangur

The Fallen have some options, and I decide to send them in against the injured Chariots, as I need to actually remove some units out here. They do have a flank into the Giant, but I need to pick up these wounded units, and I think the Hearthguard can do it on their own.

Brawls on the left.

The Fallen flub, landing just 4 damage into the Chariots, but on 12 damage, we are still able to pick the unit up. The Chariots are gone, but the Knights are just in range to unfortunately contest the token. The Hearthguard are fighting, and are now unhindered. They do alright, landing 7 damage against the Giant, taking it up to 15 damage... but I can't break the titan. I probably should have gone with the Bane Chant if I wanted to really guarantee the rout, but went with Heal here, getting a big result and down to just 2 damage on the Hearthguard.

The Fallen pick up their second unit!

The other spellcaster is able to get into the woods, and lands a fat heal onto the regiment of Tribesmen in the midfield, putting them back down to 0. They continue their slaughter, landing better-than-expected damage, and breaking another uninspired Rifle Regiment. Wary of the flying Baron, they choose to reform this time, getting things into front arc.

The Varangur go into the Dogs of War, determined to break them.

I am starting to struggle with the elite list. I just don't have the unit numbers to trade out, especially against unyielding war machines.

I opt to send the Horde of Tribesmen into the Dogs of War, joining the Frostfang Cavalry. The Cavalry should be able to do this on their own, but I don't really trust them. The multi-charge will shift the Frostfangs down, and the new plan is to send the Frostfangs to my left to help clean-up and reinforce, and send the horde to the right to tank war machine shots for as long as possible. If the Tribesmen can continue holding in the center, that does give me a shot.

Reforms for the Varangur.

The multi-charge is successful, and we buddy-cop this, adhering to the new plan, with the fresh horde of Tribesmen ready to step up. 

The Wolves ... try. A little too late, unfortunately.

The Tundra Wolves charge the Chariots, land 1 damage. Oof, that is not what I needed. Three is expected for damage. The Nerve check is boxcars though, and 5 extra damage goes through. I got the check I needed, but unfortunately not the initial damage here.

Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

The Chariots land some damage onto the Wolves. It's not too bad, but they have Brutal, and the Nerve check is hot enough that they will break the beasts, opening the way to my opponent grabbing his last token.

The Chariots prevail.

One cannon I think opts to hold this round? The rest aggressively move, and are all able to get within 12 inches of the Frostfangs, who start on 6 damage. Grapeshot always hits on 5's... so 7 damage lands shooting over the heads of the Tribesmen into the backs of the Riders. Elsa takes her Individual facing change, but does not move, and lands 4 with Blizzard into the cavalry as well, taking them up to 17 for the almost-certain waver. Sheesh.

The Frostfangs get shot up, and the regiment of Tribesmen take a beating in combat.

The Baron and Shield Wall multi-charge my Tribesmen in the center, and both over-perform. The Shield Wall spike and land 4 damage, and with the Blade of Slashing, the Baron converts a nice hit holl into 5 damage. We hold, but barely.

The Giant swings hard, but again fails to break the Hearthguard.

The Giant readies to slam into the Hearthguard again, landing 7 damage and taking them up to 9. The Rifles here can just spy the corner of the Guard, and charge in to help, contributing 3 more damage. On 12 damage, it's good chances to break, even Inspired as they are, but the Hearthguard turn out to be Insane here.

The Knights get another clean charge, overperform, and with the damage spike, easily pick up the Fallen. So far they've assisted in beating some Foxes, flanked Frostfang Cavalry, and now broken the Fallen, all without needing to use their boots.

Top of Round 5: Varangur

It's technically still a tie game, but things feel rather dire at this point. On the left, the Hearthguard are bogged down, but Heal lands 2, taking them down to 10 damage. The Giant is on 15 damage, and the flanking Rifles on 5, so we'll try to split our attacks. 

The beleaguered Hearthguard fight on.

We'll toss eight into the Giant, landing 2 damage, and twelve into the Rifles, landing 8 damage, and we'll pick both units up! In victory, we'll change facing, and try to force the knights to burn their Boots on the charge. With any luck, burning the boots now will effectively strand the Knights out here as the game concludes.

...it did not occur to me at the time, because the rule is so niche as rarely come up for me, but this is the ideal time to utilize Retaliate! I am engaged by multiple units, and could actually use the extra CS in the fight against the Giant. Oh well. The Hearthguard still prevail!

The Hearthguard ready themselves.

Centrally, the wavering Frostfangs adjust, just in case. The regiment of Tribesmen have been absolute champs, and get a small heal, going from 9 down to 6, as they continue their butchering, cutting down the Shield Wall with some hot dice. This probably shouldn't have happened, but against Rob, I need all the luck I can get, and won't complain!

The Tribesmen fight on, and will manage to claim a third regiment.

The Cannon in the deployment zone got out of arc, so the horde of Tribesmen charge a different cannon, picking it up, and just try to get in the way to protect the regiment of Tribesmen in the center.

The horde of Tribesmen menace the war machines.

With Cannons hitting innately on 5's and Grapeshot always hitting on 5's... it turned out that this isn't a great plan, as the Hearthguard can't really provide any cover modifiers, but unfortunately it's all I have for a plan. Maybe they can block line of sight as the game wraps up?

Bottom of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

The Cannon in the deployment zone has clear shots into the wavering Frostfangs, and 3 damage lands with another Grapeshot, exceeding the Nerve on the Wavering cavalry, and they will be picked up.

The other Cannons make use of their mobility with Grapeshot, and spread out. One runs up to slow down the infantry horde, until I advise against it. It's a practice game for Rob here, and the horde is my last free piece. I need to try and get that to the center, so I think it is better to move the Cannon back, and try to draw me away, or at least force a decision from me. 

The Cannons add 4 damage in total, though I don't recall if this was Grapeshot or not. Blizzard then adds 4 damage as well. The horde holds, but does have this tougher choice now.

Meanwhile, the Chariots get around, and are able to raze my opponent's last token, making this 3 to 1 right now. Ouch.

The Baron overperforms again, landing a fresh 6 damage onto the Tribesmen, taking them to 12 damage, and while Inspired, the Tribesmen will finally break in the center.

Boo. The Knights keep their boots.

On the left, my plan fails, with the ASB moving over to block the slide-down of the Knights, who get a third clean charge this game to pick up the wounded Hearthguard. 

And the Knights get a big overrun.

The Knights will overrun a fair bit into the center, and yikes, that looks like it's going to be game here. 

Top of Round 6: Varangur

At the time I thought my Fallen had burned the token on the far left, but yeah, they didn't. The Knights were contesting that, so this isn't as close as I was thinking it was at the time. My spellcaster on the white base runs up to burn the inner left token, putting my score at 2, but this also puts him in danger.

The horde turn to play the scenario.

Trying to play the scenario, the horde of Tribesmen spin around, hoping to endure Grapeshots and play for Round 7. I probably could have been trickier with them, and gotten out of arc of the Chariots, but that possibility did not occur to me until I had passed the turn.

Keeping me in the game are the Ice-Queens. The other one lands a 5/5 Heal onto the Horde, bringing them down to just 3 damage.

Bottom of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men

The Chariots charge the healing spellcaster of mine. I think I have decent chances to hold, but am thinking of the Varangur's 3E Magus with Def 5. Here, against a Def 4 Northern Alliance Ice Queen, it's more dicey. The damage is a little hot, and my spellcaster trampled, and the Chariots will finally wrest control of the center away from me and into the clutches of my opponent.

The Knights best another unit. 

The Baron flies away, biding his time. The Knights get another clean charge into my other Ice-Queen, and will trample them too. I was unable to get my token out on the far left, and the ASB will run and hold it for good measure.

A cannonball will add some damage and Shattering 2, with with two Grapeshots and a Blizzard, the ranged phase will land 9 damage, and take the horde of Tribesmen up to 12 damage. A very hot check will then waver the uninspired unit.

We get a Round 7, but I concede. I tried to give myself some last-ditch opportunities to compete, but with my very last unit wavering on the table in fear, there is nothing I can actually do, and the outcome is certain here.

My opponent razed all three of his tokens, the ASB contests one of mine, and he holds the center now, making this a strong 5-2 win for Rob and his Kingdoms of Men!

Gaming Conclusions

For a while in the midgame, I spaced out, and really thought that the Fallen had grabbed their token on the far left, and that we were playing for the win. That was a mental confidence boost for a while there, but I eventually realized the situation as the Knights hopped off my token. Unfortunately, we were actually behind all game long, and just scrapping hard for a tie that we couldn’t quite manifest.

The shooting was incredibly tough to interact with. Even when I did commit things and try to get close, Grapeshot and Blizzard just picked me apart with wavers. It is an incredibly prickly list.

It was a very dynamic game though, and I very much enjoyed it. This kind of elite, aggressive list is what Rob is hoping to fight most often, and all things considered, I think I played well. 

Testing Conclusions

• Magnilde. Not really used well or proactively towards any kind of game plan, but she did help me scrap a bit on the right as I attempted to claw my way back. I wish there was a little more to her, but she's still cheap enough to not mind her tax too much. 
• Ice Queens with Heal and BC. Yeah, I really liked having these. Against shooting I was defaulting to Heal, but like with the Herd,  having access to both spells on an Inspiring spellcaster is wonderful.
• Human Tribesmen Regiments. The center one was MVP, rolling hot and picking up three opposing regiments before two rounds of hot dice took them off. Not a flashy pick, but these regiments are quite nice to have around!
• Human Tribesmen Horde. Not used well, though if they could have provided cover to the Frostfangs, I think I'd be much happier with them. They had a rough game and trying to scare away mobile war machines was not a good role for them.
• Snow Foxes. I was really putting a lot of faith in Stealthy, which very frustratingly, did not matter at all to the unit on the right, which was tossed away. The unit on the left made up for it though, gumming up 400+ points worth of stuff for a turn.
• Hearthguard. Powerhouses as always, though admittedly they got very lucky. I had the chance to use Retaliate against the Giant and totally spaced out, which is a bummer, but they still pulled through. Mantic slapped a limit on these for a reason, and they are very potent tools for us.
• Tundra Wolves. They are neat, but really struggled to actually deal damage, despite some clean charges this game. I think they would suffer the same as the Hellhounds in that they are annoying, but not really threatening. They are kinda glorified chaff in troops, which makes sense. They can definitely be useful, but their combat impact is going to be minimal.
• Fallen. I've said it before and we'll say it again, these are not hammers. They did ok, though with their Frostfang buddies failing hard, they could not pick up the slack.
• Double Frostfang Cavalry. A very fun pick, and we didn't need to play around Phalanx at all! Still, they did not have a great game here. Hitting on 4's is swingy, and the rest of the list is so darned expensive that running these even as a one-of is a little difficult. I think an actual Northern Alliance list, with slightly cheaper Dwarfs and Naiads and such, might have better success fitting these heavy-hitters in than I am having currently with the stubbornly Varangur approach here.

As long as were examining things, we’ll take a quick look at the Kingdoms of Men as well, since that is an army that I play, though in a very different style.

• 4x Cannons. My opponent was using these like War Trombones, very mobile and scatter-shoting everything, which was neat, but frustrating. I thought I was going to get a good engagement or two, but Grapeshot is wild, and being able to Withdraw and then Grapeshot too… Cannons are just insanely hard to engage well.
• Blizzard Wizard. A few months back we all agreed Blizzard is too strong, and probably needs to lose range, or blast, or Piercing, or the movement debuff. Like the Cannons, it is offensive spell able to do just about everything you’d want an offensive spell to do, which is not great for gameplay. We'll see if and how the spell gets tweaked in the future, but for now, we'll try to figure out how to play around it.
• Knights and Boots. As-ever, the Boots are a great item. Using the Knights as more of a counter-puncher was wise, and sheesh, he didn’t even need the Boots as the game went on. Very well-played here.
• Dogs of War. I think this is a great pick for the Kingdoms of Men. Our Foot Guard got buffs to the point they can no longer be taken as hordes, so this is a bit of a workaround, and can offer up innumerable hobbying opportunities. I think the Pikes are probably a trap, but I like Def5 with the hammer, or the swap to CS1, and I think even just basic Def5 could see play depending on the rest of the list.
• Rifle Regiments. Rob had been running hordes, but split them up to get the second battalion here. They are pretty cheap, and really provided a lot of flexibility this game. With Reload, they didn’t get a ton of shooting done, but were more dynamic than I was expecting, and that was neat to see. Encouraging regiments does seem like one nicety of the new slot-approach for list building.

Rob is always playing to win, and typically playing rather hard to do so. I'm not complaining, I actually do appreciate this, as he is a very skilled player, and this not only "checks" many off the weirder ideas of mine, but also forces me to tighten up my own play. Heading to Masters (for a second time!), and feeling the need to switch armies, he is keenly looking for every possible advantage he can in list-building. Blizzard and Cannons have both been identified by our little meta as very strong, and this is the furthest any of us have pushed this idea out so far. It was very effective when coupled with the faster elements to help interdict and control the pace of the game. This was a strong approach from a great player, and really neat to see in action! Thanks for the game!