Intro and Lists
The drop of the new Fracture book actually took me a bit by surprise. I know that it had originally been targeted for a June release, but I guess I just wasn't believing it, and (being an American) didn't think they would actually release it until after the US Masters, so they wouldn't be cannibalizing any hype in this market. But release it they did, and it's got some neat stuff. While I had been planning on attending the Best of the Rest, and trying to learn the Dwarfs under some tournament pressure, unfortunately I ultimately could not justify going as the sign-in period closed. However, now not needing to learn or practice anything, I was completely free to explore the new book, and more than fortunate to get in a quick weekend game against Trevor of Data and Dice! Eager to try out some of the new offerings himself, my opponent had the following new Basilean list:
It looks like fun, and they have a number of nice new orders to explore! Men-at-Arms fill most of the core, but can be quite sticky with Iron Resolve and ways to boost it. Gur Panthers are around to chaff and interdict, along with some Elohi to do the same with more strength behind them. Ogre Palace Guard return as beat-sticks, and Paladins are reinvented as a unique horde, which I really like. They look great generally, but can have a specialist role as well, with Slayer and Commands to boost it. War Priests are around to heal and support, and he's trying out the new Holy Lance spell too, which is strong, zaps units harder the closer they are to the caster. Rounding things out is Samacris, the Mother of Phoenixes, with strong spells, auras, and supporting duties, as well as a normal Phoenix and Ancient Phoenix. The Phoenixes got nerfed going into 4E, losing the Heal spell, but can still be tough to deal with. We'll see how they do!
We only had time for one game. While I really wanted to let the Abyssal Guard loose and explore the new Tortured Souls, but I didn't have a succinct one-off list for the Forces of the Abyss, so I ran an oddball Herd list instead, looking to get some older units back on the table, and celebrate their return to legality and/or viability. Up to test and comment on is everything!
- Avatar of the Father. He lives! And still has Flying! And gained Strider! I like my lightly converted Avatar, so his return to the roster is cause for celebration. His cost went up, but considering some of the price hikes for characters, he still seems like a good buy. Monsters have US2, so he's not missing out on anything for scenarios, and should be a smidge easier to protect with the smaller base size. An Aura for Vicious in Combat is nice, but Vicious is pretty common in the Herd, and might be redundant depending on the list.
- Druids. With hero slots so limited now, I think Champions are greatly incentivized to be Inspiring spellcasters, if you can, so you aren't locked out of that portion of the game. Druids Inspire, have Heal, and have Bane Chant, making them good in this role. I like our Orders, and have more to explore now, so we're taking the Banner on one, and the Periscope on the other.
- Tribal Hunters. The old Trappers return as new Hunters, losing TC, but gaining Piercing. I was hoping for Ensnare or the return of the old Deadly Snares rule from the 3E formation, but this still looks like a neat unit to pressure and instigate for the rest of the list, and might give me some insight about my new Dwarf Rangers too.
- Critters. Frustratingly, we lost both Harpies and Gur Panthers in the edition shift, and the army is really hurting for good, quick chaff. These are on the slow side, but still all we really have.
- Centaur Bray Striders. I think the best move the book makes for the Herd is making these Centaurs Core. Troops can give you some relatively cheap, speedy pressure and scenario players, but having regiments around actually makes them viable with the slot system.
- Centaur Bray Hunter Troops. Taking the Tribal Hunters already, I wanted to mess around with some additional shooting without going completely overboard. I have really liked these fast, hybrid units for many years, across several armies, but I have continually struggled to get effective use out of them. In 3E I think they needed to have some kind of modifier to really be useful (TC, or Piercing, or just amazing hitting value, like with the Elves and Elite). In 4E I think they are in a bad spot since all their hitting values got dinged to work with Aim, and as a result, all their mobility was lost in the Ranged phase, alongside some massive price hikes. However, these recently got a significant reduction in price, so we'll see how they feel now.
- Guardian Brutes. The Brutes have been a pet unit of mine over the last few years, with many games spent trying to learn them in 3E. They got a ridiculous glow-up going into 4E, albeit in a weird approach to get them, and I had a great run with them at the Northwoods GT, but admit they felt a little over-tuned. We've now got a third stat line change within 6-7 months, and I'm eager to see how they do now.
The Herd have definitely suffered from some recent whiplash. They survived by the skin of their teeth into 4E as an explicit subfaction of the Forces of Nature, with some very narrow but very-strong options in some wonderful slots. Now, just a few months later, we have a completely revamped army list, with an expanded, if greatly rejuggled roster alongside the Elementals and Brotherhood. The impending overhaul was mentioned by Mantic, but details were obviously not given, and I empathize with any Herd player caught off guard, as the changes are indeed quite significant, and this it the third roster in under a year for the army. It is a real shame that units like the Longhorns (now Grymbrocks) or Guardian Brutes couldn't have arrived in their final form when the edition launched. I think had we gotten more of a teaser, folks might be more welcoming? I think the army looks like a lot of fun now, and seem much more fair, but again I commiserate with anyone trying to pick up the army recently.
Both armies are in the recent update, and so have a bunch of new commands. We talked through the Herd's "Entanglement of Thorns" which had some dumb wording. As-written, this could only take effect if the FoN player had first turn. That could be a neat design space for Commands, but I also really dislike it for complexity reasons. This is not what the game needs. We agreed that this is probably just a dumb error, and would play it that the Thorns would last until the start of my next movement phase, regardless of turn order.
Seeing this situation pop up in the new book was frustrating though, as Rules-as-Written vs Rules-as-Intended disagreements are just miserable. Over Covid, I played, and then published, a lot of D&D 5E materials online. To do so, even in just a dinky online marketplace, you needed to adhere to WOTC's publication guidelines, or risk being taken down and forced to revise things into compliance. Among other things, their source doc provided all the language formats and sentence structure and such to use, so that you weren't reinventing the wheel if you were creating a new spell or monster or something, and all your workings would slot neatly into existing setting and works. This uniformity also makes translations far easier. Barkskin is already utilized in the same army, with the same kind of timing restrictions, and it's frustrating that those words were not copied over. Mantic has had so many other little missteps that we are unfortunately second-guessing a brand new release now.
Table and Terrain
We were at his place, making use of his luxurious table-top setup, and home terrain. We had Forests with Height 10, the blocking Buildings at Height 7, Hills with Height 3, fallow field and shallow pond as Height 0, and Obstacles as Height 2.
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| Overview of the table. |
We got Salt the Earth for the scenario, and we will be working with objectives. We have an objective token in the center which can't be touched, but the other objectives that we have scattered around the field can be destroyed
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| View on the left. |
Left-to-right for the Basileans is their Holy Lance Priest, Men-at-Arms screening for a Phoenix, Gur Panthers screening for the Paladin Monster Slayers, a Men-at-Arms horde in the pond and blocking for Ogres and the Ancient Phoenix, Samacris in the pond, Men-at-Arms blocking for Ogres, and then a small contingent of the Elohi, Priest with Heal and Gur Panthers out on the right.
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| View in the center. |
I won the roll for sides and was lazy. Left-to-right for me are Bray Hunters screening for Critters, Tribal Hunters, two units of Brutes supported by the Druid on foot, more Tribal Hunters in the field with the mounted Druid, the third unit of Brutes, Centaurs in reserve, and Bray Hunters screening. The Avatar was a late drop as it looked like the Gun Panthers were not in the forest (spoiler, they are), and on the far right are more Bray Hunters screening for Critters.
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| View on the right. |
Overall, I was pretty happy with my deployment. The Bray hunters are all spread around, but can hopefully pressure as the game goes on, and it should be a good test of their abilities. I have been playing a lot with Dwarf Rangers, and the Tribal Hunters are similar. It might be a bad call, but I wanted to split the shooting units up a bit, and see how that might feel for the Dwarfs.
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| The Scout moves were remembered. |
I had scout moves, and remembered them! Both units of Tribal hunters moved up and pivoted. Since distance is measured from shortest distance, this should give them an opening volley.
We tied many times, but I eventually lost out for deciding first turn. However, after some consideration, my opponent chose to give it to me. He's got a lot of healing, and my shooting doesn't have a ton of strength behind it, and getting to make final plays for the objectives seemed like a good call.
Top of Round 1: Herd
We're both working with overhauled armies and a lot of new Command Orders. The turns take a long time for us to think through.
On the left, the Bray Hunters move their 8, and will plink 3 damage into the regiment of Men-at-Arms, with the Tribal Hunters holding, and landing 4 of their own. The Nerve check is low, and they Iron Resolve down to 6 damage.
The Critters move up a bit. I was trying to keep space between them and the Bray Hunters, in case the centaurs got wavered, but in retrospect, they should have the speed to back through (or use the new Tactical Retreat Order) to get clear of the Critters. With just Speed 6, I really want to maximize their movement as much as possible. The Centaurs get a very nice Barkskin 2 from the Druid channeling a Blessing of the Lady.
The forest seems like it will be a pain, even with the new line of sight rules. The Brutes both inch up, but don't go too far, and the Druid on foot just keeps pace. |
| Movement on the left. |
The other Tribal Hunters hold, and loose into the other regiment of Men-at-Arms, and their volley is joined by one from the center Bray Striders, and this regiment is also brought up to 7 damage, holds on a low check, and Iron Resolves down to 6 damage.
The Druid on steed and with the Banner keeps pace, granting a Barkskin 1 to the center Bray Hunters. We then try Life Awakening, the new unique spell, targeting the pond. We get two successes, and manage 2 damage onto the horde of Men-at-Arms, who pass and end on 1 damage, and no damage lands against Samacris.
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| Opening moves in the center. |
The center Bray Hunters had moved up to shoot, but they are also trying to contain the Elohi. I need to push hard but the Elohi and the Gur Panthers are speedy. The centaur troop offers themselves up, while the Brutes and Centaur Striders remain safe.
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| The Gur Panthers slow everything down on the right. |
I was excited for first turn as I thought the Gur Panthers were not in the woods, and I could get the Avatar into a nice position. They are in the woods, and thankfully, I do catch this. Here as well the Avatar stays safe, not wanting to get bogged down, while the third troop of Bray Hunters gallops had from the right to pressure and offer themselves up. The Avatar is able to land a third hot Command for me, granting them 3/3 Barkskin Blessings. Looking at the pictures, I think I goofed, and gave the Bray Hunters shots. They are on the midline, and moved over their Speed. My bad. It is with cover, and it looks like 1 damage makes it onto the Gur Panthers, erroneously.
On the right, the Critters dawdle. Holding an objective is a great use for them, but I think I might need them to contain things out here, so they destroy the token.
Bottom of Round 1: Basileans
On the right, the Gur Panthers back up, easily getting out of charge range of the Bray Hunters on the right. The Elohi sidestep, and still controlling the other token out here, will choose to destroy it. There's nothing to fight for on the right now, but the Basileans have the speed advantage, so could greatly delay the Herd's push to outflank the main Basilean line if I am not careful.
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| The Panthers keep themselves safe. |
The healing Priest from the right starts moving over towards the main Basilean line, and tries and fails to Cleanse the injured Men-at-Arms. Still, they catch a Radiance of Life, a Heal from Samacris, and a Heal from the Priest, ending on just 2 damage.
Samacris could fly up and Fireball something, but would be rather exposed. She bides her time, healing the aforementioned Men-at-Arms, while the sturdier Ogres move up to pressure.
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| A Holy Lance scorches, and Firesparks singe. |
Samacris does land a Cleanse onto the Men-at-Arms horde, giving them a +1 Iron Resolve as they move up and over the obstacles. The Ancient Phoenix pulled in behind, and spews 2 damage onto some Guardian Brutes.
The Paladin Monster Slayers move up at the double, looking to gain ground and zone out the woods, and the Holy Lance Priest lands a Cleanse Command on them as well, boosting their Iron Resolve. The Ogres pull up behind, and the Phoenix flies up as the injured Men-at-Arms regiments simply holds, guarding the token.
The Phoenix sprays 2 damage onto the stealthy Tribal Hunters, with the Holy Lance contributing 1 damage as well, but the hunters hold.
The Gur Panthers are wary of being shot up, and so they charge the Bray Hunters, munch 1 off of the Barkskin, but drawing no blood.
Top of Round 2: Herd
Given their meager 6 attacks, I was not expecting the Gur Panthers to come barreling in, especially not against the Centaurs with Barkskin. We're chatting, and he felt like he needed to get some use out of them before they were shot off. We're thinking maybe charging the Hunters and shooting the Centaurs might have been a better play, but honestly, this isn't terribly bad either.
The Gur Panthers are alone, but the Critters can't see to help out. If I join in with the Tribal Hunters, I don't have any reforms I can do to possibly save them, and it seems too early to pulling the trigger and brawling and bringing the Paladin Monster Slayers into the fight. The Critters adjust, and the Bray Hunters swing on the Panthers. Bane Chant from the Druid fails, and the centaurs land 3 damage, but are unfortunately unable to break the Panthers.
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| The Herd hesitates. |
The Paladins aren't threatening me yet, and actually don't quite have the inches to reach the Bray Hunters either. It's not great, but the Tribal Hunters hold again, and loose into the buffed Paladins. We land a hot 6 damage, but this is Iron Resolved down to 4, thanks to the Basilean Command. A Command Heal from the Herd fails to help the Tribal Hunters.
The Brutes inch up, looking to maybe force a commitment from some of the opposing infantry soon, and the Tribal Hunters to the right also hold and loose, firing into the horde of Men-at-Arms. The slings will land 4 damage, but the humans will Iron Resolve down to just 2 damage. The Mounted Druid attempts a Command Heal into the injured Brutes, fails, and then is forced to use the spell to top them off. It may seem neurotic, but I don't think shooting is going to do much for me this game, so I really want to prioritize keeping the Guardian Brutes healthy, as their potency seems like the only way for me to remove opposing units.
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| The Herd sets some traps in the center, hoping to break through soon. |
In the center, we try to safely push in and force the Elohi and Gur Panthers to commit to something so the rest of the Herd list can react. The Guardian Brutes in the center of the field peer around the hill, threatening the Ogres, but keeping the Elohi in front arc.
I am wary of the Gur Panthers. They backed up a bit, but still have a crazy charge range, and can see a long ways around the woods. The central Bray Hunters run up a bit, and loose into the Elohi, landing no damage. The Avatar of the Father flaps up and lands behind them, out of sight of the Gur Panthers, and my Warlord lands the Entanglement of Thorns on them - any unit that routs the centaurs can only hold and bask in their victory. The Centaur Bray Striders hang back in reserve, just zoning out the Elohi and trying to force a commitment. If the Elohi do commit against the Bray Hunters, I should be in their flank for a nice trap.
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| The Herd presses in from the right. |
On the far right, the Critters move at the double, trying to gain enough ground to help in the future. The other Centaur Bray Hunters move up and shoot with a cover penalty around the woods, hoping to spook the Gur Panthers. Another 1 damage lands, but legally this time, taking them up to 2 damage, though they easily hold.
Bottom of Round 2: Basileans
The Gur Panthers gladly make a hindered charge into the offending Bray Hunters. The Panthers manage to claw 2 damage onto the Hunters, and a hot check sees my troop flee the field. The bloodthirsty Panthers reform, keeping the Herd Critters in front arc.
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| Aftermath off Round 2 on the right. |
The Elohi do take the bait, with the Priest giving them Elite via an Order. The angels will thump 5 damage onto the thorny Centaur Bray Hunters. Under the watchful gaze of the Avatar of the Father, the Nerve check is reasonable, and these Centaurs hold.
The Basilean main line is a jumbled mess though. The Ogres turn to face the Avatar of the Father and the Guardian Brutes. Eventually, wary of the Brutes, the Healing Priest runs up, giving the Brutes a frontal charge as well, and although Yielding, his positioning prevents the Brutes from being able to align, and unless I missed it, Individuals no longer align to face the charger.
The Avatar can still reach the flank of the Men-at-Arms horde though, the the Basileans scramble to contain my warlord even more. Some injured Men-at-Arms hop up, making a tidy line with Samacris and the horde. All are giving flanks to the Avatar, but he cannot align. The Phoenix moves up, getting flush with the rear of the horde, and using the Ogres to keep itself safe. ...and with all that, the Avatar is contained. He can charge the Ogres in the front, or the Men-at-Arms regiment in the flank, and that's it.
Samacris tries a Fireball into the Brutes, but it results in no damage, likewise, the Phoenix's sparks land nothing. But Radiance of Life does get the horde down to 3 damage.
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| More shooting and positioning on the left, but the Herd holds. |
On the left, the Paladin Monster Slayers inch up, threatening things now. Ogres wait patiently, as do the reservist Men-at-Arms regiment, who continues to guard a token. The Phoenix repositions, and Firesparks and a Holy Lance zap the Tribal Hunters for some more, taking them up to 7 damage.
Top of Round 3: Herd
On the left, I have half a plan formulated. The Centaurs use Feint to withdraw, and I think this is the first time I've gotten to use the new rule! Neat. They roll well, and back up, letting the more expendable Critters bring the fight to the Gur Panthers, who will hit cleanly land a strong 5 damage, break the Panthers, and then overrun a few inches.
However, I was a dummy, and used the Druid's Command Heal to help improve the chances of the Centaurs getting away. Firstly, you don't need to test thanks to Feint, which I only remembered after committing to the Order, and secondly, I really needed to use the Druid's Command options on the Tribal Hunters, who moved up to block up the Paladin Monster Slayers. I wanted to give them Thorns.
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| Positioning on the left for the Herd. |
Guardian Brutes pivot-move-pivot to get behind the blocking Hunters, and eventually, the mounted Druid is able to get close and land the Thorny Command on the Hunters, making it so that anything the routs the Tribal Hunters is stuck.
More Brutes poke into the woods, and the other Tribal Hunters hold, loosing into the Men-at-Arms horde again, though no damage is done. We've both spent a lot of time positioning for shooting without all too much to show for our efforts.
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| The Centaur Striders pounce! |
The Brutes from the center go in against the Men-at-Arms regiment, and get Thorns from the Avatar of the Father, who opts to just jump the enemy lines and force my opponent to scramble to try and mitigate him for a second turn. The Brutes land a silly 15 damage, will break the regiment, and overrun three inches, basically getting up in the face of the ogres.
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| Unfortunately, only the new Brutes are victorious... |
With the Elohi taking the bait, these Centaur Bray Hunters also utilize Feint, and back up, allowing the Centaur Striders to flank the angelic unit. We're on 3's and 3's but my dice are a little cold, landing just 11 damage, where 14 is expected. It doesn't matter though, as the Elohi are found to be quite insane, and will then Iron Resolve down to 13.
The Bray Hunters don't have any shots, and the Critters are hindered, landing nothing into the Gur Panthers.
Bottom of Round 3: Basileans
The Gur Panthers again claw 2 damage onto one of my troop units, and again spike the Nerve check to remove it. The Critters are scattered, and the Gur Panthers eagerly reform to safely threaten more things. There is nothing to fight for over here, but the Panthers are still a nuisance that I feel I need to deal with.
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| Fortunately, the combat results from the Basileans are middling as well. |
The Elohi reform to better fight the Bray Striders. The Priest fails to grant the angels Elite, but does heal them for a few damage. They'll thump 4 damage onto the Striders, but the regiment holds for me.
The Ancient Phoenix has the inches to reposition to get in front of the Avatar of the Father. We're the same height, and with the wider base, the Phoenix will prevent the Avatar from seeing anything else, and Firesparks lands 4 damage onto the Herd's Warlord. Clever! Even the new line of sight rules cannot help me out, and the Avatar is dealt with for a turn.
The Ogres were considering fighting the Centaur Striders, but they can't quite get around the Guardian Brutes in front of them. They charge the Brutes instead, and apparently are grumpy with the match-up, and greatly underperform, landing just 6 damage. There's Brutal involved, but the Brutes hold for the Herd. I commiserate, and my gut says he should normally win this. Looking at the math, 10 damage is expected, and with Brutal, this should still be slightly favored for my opponent, and this is just some bad luck with the dice.
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| The Basileans crash in. |
Samacris flies up to block up the Tribal Hunters, and lands 3 damage from her Fireball onto the Stealthy unit. The Men-at-Arms horde makes a hindered charge into the Guardian Brutes, getting a Cleans from Samacris, and her Radiance of Life gets them down to 0 damage as well.
I didn't really plan for this, but the other Phoenix is able to be a nuisance and get in to block up and delay the Guardian Brutes, booping them for 1 damage.
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| A Thorny Entanglement stops the Ogres and Paladins. |
This move allows the Ogres to come in Hindered against the Tribal Hunters, with the Paladins joining in as well. The Ogres here underperform, landing just 1 damage, while the Paladins compensate with 20 damage. I believe the Lance Priest helped with an Elite order here, probably for the Paladins. They are victorious, but with the Thorns command active, cannot reform.
The Holy Lance Priest hides from the Critters, and the Men-at-Arms regiment in the back continues to hold the objective and stay out of the way.
My opponent really used the Phoenixes well this turn, tying up two very important units of mine, and gumming things up.
Top of Round 4: Herd
On the left, the Critters need to block what they can. We can't really charge anything, and with just Speed 6, we unfortunately can't really make it too far. They'll move up to try and delay the Paladins again, and the Druid on foot will stick Thorns on them.
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| Pushback from the Herd, with the Avatar of the Father looming large. |
The Phoenix is tall, but has low Defense. I opt to reform the Brutes, allowing the Bray Hunters to get in to help. The Hunters contribute 3 damage, and the Brutes land 11, and we will pick up the uninspired bird. We are trying to protect the Guardian Brutes at all costs, so they back up, and luckily get their two inches, getting behind the Centaurs, who can then sidestep to help mitigate what can reach the Brutes. In the ranged phase, the Druid on foot lands a Heal 1 into the Brutes to top them off again.
The Avatar of the Father doesn't want to get bogged down in melee against the Ancient Phoenix, so just flies over the fiery bird, landing near enough to the other Guardian Brutes fights to bring his Vicious aura to them.
In the woods, the Brutes slam the expected 13 damage onto the horde of Men-at-Arms, who are insanely courageous, and will Iron Resolve down to 11 damage. The mounted Druid gets close, but fails to land Thorns onto this unit, who is exposed to the Ogres. The mounted Druid does grant a Bane Chant to the other Brutes fighting the other Ogres. In that fight, the Brutes land 12 damage, close to the 13 expected here again, and we'll luck out and break the Ogres on the clapback. They got a Command Heal 2 from the Avatar, and safe from the Gur Panthers, they'll reform to face the remaining Brothermark units.
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| The Herd picks up a Phoenix, and now has some Brutes in the backfield. |
The Tribal Hunters charge Samacris, just looking to bog her down for a turn, and they'll poke 2 damage in against the Mother of Phoenixes.
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| Fighting out on the right. |
The Centaur Striders fight against the Elohi, and will deal some damage thanks to Crushing Strength, and will break the angels. The Striders hold, wary of being rear-charged by the Gur Panthers, who have been amazingly annoying! I really miss the Herd having the unit. The Bray Hunters move over to shoot the Panthers, but land no hits.
Bottom of Round 4: Basileans
The Panthers gleefully charge another troop of mine, but the statistics finally bounce into my favor, and no damage lands against the Bray Hunters. The Healing Priest does get close enough to both Cleanse them, giving them an Iron Resolve, and to Heal them in the ranged phase, taking them down to 1 damage.
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| The Gur Panthers finally run out of luck, and bounce. |
The Ancient Phoenix changes facing to spray sparks into the Guardian Brutes nearby. The Bird will land 2 damage, and the Holy Lance contributes 1, but the Brutes hold.
I was hoping to tie up Samacris, but disordered isn't a thing anymore. She passes her check to withdraw, backs up, and tries a Fireball into the stealthy Tribal Hunters as a parting gift, but with Cover from the Men-at-Arms and hill, plus Stealthy, no hits manage to land.
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| Victories, but no good reforms for the Basileans. |
The Holy Lance Priest is able to spy the Bray Hunters over the fighting Paladins, and zap them for 2 damage. The Paladins charge before anything else moves, and a slide down into the woods is prevented. They land 10 damage onto the Critters, which is a small underperformance, but they still break the unit. However, since the Critters got Thorns, the Paladins cannot move. By preventing the slide down, the Paladins also keep the Avatar of the Father in the flank, instead of the rear.
The Men-at-Arms guarding the token consider helping, but realize that if they get any closer, they're giving up an easy charge to the Guardian Brutes in the backfield. The pivot, but stay more than 15 inches away. With the new Wild charge rules, I don't think baiting the Brutes is all that bad - if I declare a charge and fail the roll, I cannot "redo" and charge Samacris instead, so there is something to be said about forcing decisions.
Top of Round 5: Herd
It's looking like a huge turn coming up for the Herd. The Paladins are stuck. The Druid on foot is able to grant the revised Nature Trails to the Centaur Bray Striders, giving them Strider on a 5+ as they hit the flank of the Paladins, along with Bane Chant and along with the Avatar of the Father.
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| Not a front charge in sight. |
The Brutes will take a hindered Flank into the Ogres that overran. I believe the Avatar of the Father attempts a Striding command for them as well but fails.
The other Guardian Brutes will take their hindered rear Charge into Samacris, and get Strider from the mounted Druid and their Banner.
The Tribal Hunters will just hit their corner on the woods, so I reposition things, preventing a slide down, but still taking a rear charge into the horde of Men-at-Arms. Bane Chant fails here though.
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| Massive victories as unit after unit is broken. |
It is indeed a bloodbath. The Paladins start on 2 damage, Avatar lands 13 in the flank, with the Bray Hunters contributing 9, and the horde is broken. The Avatar sidesteps, and the Hunters try to overrun to get out of arc of the Men-at-Arms, but only go an inch.
The flank-charging Brutes break the Ogres, and the rear-charging Brutes break Samacris, and reform to face the Phoenix, and guard that token from the flaming bird.
The Tribal Hunters land 10 new damage onto the Men-at-Arms horde, and the check breaks out way to rout this unit as well.
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| The Gur Panthers fall as well. |
Out on the right, the Centaur Striders abandon the center objective, but do so to flank charge the uppity Gur Panthers and relieve the Centaur Hunters. We rout the Panthers too, with the Centaur units reforming to spy the center. Both are injured, but at least one should survive any Phoenix Firesparks, and we should be able to make our way there to in Round 6.
Bottom of Round 5: Basileans
My opponent taps out. I had my gaming blinders on, but as I pass the turn, I realize that every single fight went my way on my turn, and the Herd are indeed in a very commanding position. Holy Lance and Firesparks might be able to waver or even remove a unit, but even with Individuals helping to control objectives, it's going to be a very tall order for the Basileans to claw their way back into this game.
A victory to the Herd!
Game Conclusions
Well, with their Command boosts to Iron Resolve, chip shooting into the Basileans is worse than ever, but the new Tribal Hunters are fun, and we managed to still stick a tiny bit onto a few opposing units while protecting our real win conditions, which were the Guardian Brutes. Once the lines clashed, my opponent's luck ran out, and everything started bouncing our way.
The Ogres flubbing against the Brutes in the bottom of Round 3, and then getting picked up in turn was a huge turning point in the game, and the Herd were able to remove one of the premier Basileans units essentially for free, and then have some very scary stuff in the backline, making life very difficult for their remaining units. Encircled, there were no good options for the Basileans in Round 4, and even their best reforms put them in bad positions.
Testing Conclusions
- Avatar of the Father. He had a splendid return! We had a bit of a slow start with him, and he did not carry the list in terms of points routed, but were able to use him very wisely, projecting threat turn after turn after turn and forcing lots of reactions from my opponent, which is a good use of a solitary flier. His cost did go up, but he's got some good utility to offer the new Herd.
- Druids. Both did ok. I still think Inspiring Spellcasters are the most desirable choice for Champions, and I still very much like mine for the Herd.
- Life Awakening. The unique spell was neat, and I liked the modality, but I did not get a lot of use here. With Pathfinder no longer granting clear charges in difficult terrain, the Herd has less reason to camp in that kind of terrain. It's neat, it's cheap, and we'll try it again sometime, but I was not very impactful here.
- Tribal Hunters. It was to try the new Hunters, and they are kind of fun. Shooting into Iron Resolve was still troublesome, but it is neat to have the option.
- Critters. My opponent got great use out of his Panthers, and without that super-speedy chaff option, the Herd is somewhat limited to slightly slower pushes in order to bring the Critters into the mix. They are our main chaff option, and did ok for me, but yowza, do I miss the Harpies and Gur Panthers more than ever now!
- Centaur Bray Striders. Again, I think making these Core is a great change for the Herd. As-ever, they are quirky units, and still not quite on par with a normal cavalry unit. However, they did get a few extra attacks for the new edition, and have CS, which is much rarer among cavalry nowadays, and the regiments seem nice to add a little more speed to the list. The troops are looking nice, to maybe force some odd angles and play around with the new command orders.
- Centaur Bray Hunter Troops. A tough game for them with the bows, but we were able to use them pretty well, and finally got to use Feint! That was fun. Mobile shooters are still in a very rough spot though, as the Aim implementation just does not play nicely with their mobility.
- Guardian Brutes. They are still a favorite unit of mine, and overall, I like the changes. Pure CS is nice this edition, and they still hit very hard. I wish the Brutes had Brutal still, to have some consistency between all their iterations over the years, but that is a small gripe. They still hit hard and deliver very well for the Herd!
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