4th Edition: Battle #048 Nature (Herd) vs Kingdoms of Men in Raze

Intro and Lists

The August meetup for Kings of War was upon us, though there was an ill-timed morning storm that came a-rolling through. While we weren't really rained on all too much, traffic was stop-and-go the entire time following in its wake, extending the commute to a surprisingly harsh 2 hours. Rolling up to the shop later than intended, I was tossed into a match against Rob and his humans, who were practicing for a 2,000 point event.

It's a pretty typical list for Rob's humans, which a few iterations. We have Cannons, Rifles, and a Blizzard Wizard to shoot at range, and Chariots and a Knightly regiment to interdict. A Shield Wall regiment returns to play scenarios, and his Baron on Winged Beast returns as well, with the Brew of Haste to push him back up to Speed 10. Newcomers is a Shrine, which Rallies the shooters and can put out a boosted Lightning Bolt, Knightly troops to also help chaff things up, and a Hero (Bob, obviously), on horse, with the Tricksters Wand to Rally and Inspire.

I brought the Herd, as there is plenty left exploring in the new Fracture update. I am veering wildly between list ideas, just trying to explore as much as possible, and see what might catch my interest. Per the usual, up to evaluate is everything:

• Chieftain. The Chieftain, with his horn of Dread and Wild Charge, was a popular pick in 3E, though he didn't really jive with most of my lists, as my pet unit of Guardian Brutes had innate Brutal. In 4E he was essentially literally mandatory given the limited roster, but was a combat beast and not really a tax. Now, he's gained Strider at the cost of two attacks, and is not required to run a predominately Herd army. Being now optional and a bit nerfed, I don't know how often he will show up in my lists, but wanted to get some more games with him to see how he feels.
• Mounted Druids, with Stuff. I like my Druids. This was a special game, and I am defaulting to some older kits as I didn't have the time to really tinker with the list idea here. We'll see how the old approach fares!
• Tribal Hunters. The odd pick for this list are some regiments of Tribal Hunters. They have a neat bunch of abilities with Piercing attacks, Scout and Stealthy, and can hit on 4's at range if they hold still to take aim. They are neat, but expensive, and I don't know if their price is worth it, so we'll test them out and see how they feel.
• Tribal Warriors. We're taking some Tribal Warriors to help fill Core, as they have done in the past, like with my Northwoods GT list. There though, my list had some more teeth. I think a more durable horde would generally be better, but such is the list and the points. We'll see how they do!
• Critters. There are basically our only piece of chaff, so we're taking my whole collection of three units, and we'll see what we can accomplish. 
• Centaur Strider Regiment. Swapping Centaurs over into Core was one of the wiser design choices the update makes. Recently, I liked Troops a lot, but we're bouncing around, and we'll give a Core regiment another try as well.
• Spirit Walkers. Another weird pick are the new Spirit Walkers. With Traits replacing Keywords, I guess they are not Phantasms anymore? I do kind of like that, as it was a bummer to have Def6 Undead Wraiths and Def3 Herd Spirits. That said, the unit has changed a lot, losing their Wild Charge and the ability to be taken as a horde, swapping Fearless to Headstrong, but gaining Stealthy and Dread. It's a unique mix of abilities, so we'll see how the new unit feels.
• Guardian Brutes. My Hobby Update post isn't finished yet, but these have indeed been rebased for 4E on the larger 150mm base! They've changed a lot over the last year, and this is their third brand-new stat line. They're mostly just Molochs now, which isn't terrible, if a little stale of an idea, not to mention the forced rebase. We'll see how the rebased unit does!
• Great Totem. The Great Totem is a really interesting unit to me. It comes down after deployment but before Scout moves, and has a slew of neat auras and supporting duties. Unfortunately, while sitting down to write the report here, I was rereading things, and see that I have misplayed this here, as well as in the previous game. I got the timing right, but it needs to come down anywhere on my half of the board. I did not do that here, so apologies to my opponents.

Table and Terrain

We trekked out to Warpstorm Games and Lounge a neat store in Greenfield, WI. Check them out if you need a place to play card games, board games, role playing games, or war games! We utilized their really nice wargaming tables and mats, and I brought a box with extra terrain.

And speaking of terrain, I actually proactively discussed this while setting up. We had Forests with Height 10, the blocking Buildings at Height 7, Hills with Height 3, the shallow pond as Height 0, the battlefield as Height 1, and the Obstacles as Height 2. 

Overview of the table.

We got Raze for the Scenario, which has changed since the introduction of Protect and Raze. Now, tokens go into deployment zones. Oddly, you can place in either zone, but only Raze tokens not in your deployment zone. I think this oddity popped up previously, but I guess there is the potential to drop tokens in your own zone to force your opponent to drop in his? But then you're both basically griefing, and I don't really see how this helps. Maybe I'll try this approach one day, but for now, we kept it simple.

My opponent won the roll for sides, and chose to swap. Cannons came down relatively late, and on the far left. There was a Chariot regiment and the Knight regiment nearby and defensively placed, with the Baron on the line. 

View of the left.

The Blizzard Wizard was nice and central, with two regiments of Rifles, the Shrine, and then the third regiment of Rifles on the line as well. Shield Wall were in reserve, but the line continued with both Knight troops, the mounted Hero supporting, and the Chariots on the far flank.

View of the center.

Left-to-right for me were Tribal Warriors ready to grab the terrain, supported by Critters in reserve, and the mounted Druid with the Banner. The line continued with more Critters, the Chieftain, Spirit Walkers, Guardian Brutes screened from the Cannons by being behind the hill, Centaurs, more Spirit Walkers, and the mounted Druid with the Shroud of the Saint. The building split the line a bit, and we have Critters and Tribal Warriors as some token resistance on the right.

View of the right.

Lastly, the Great Totem came down left of center, behind the building. The cannons could shoot it, but that seemed relatively safe. Again, I got Advanced Deployment wrong, and this should be somewhere on my side of the field.

I placed my tokens pretty evenly, but was favoring the right a bit. I wanted to concentrate my forces for a quick push, but overall, I wasn't thrilled with my deployment. I ended up not being able to scout into the forest on the right like I was originally hoping to, and ended up skewed towards the left which only has one token for me.

Scout moves from the Tribal Hunters!

I remembered my Scout moves, and took them, and was barely to get both center points just in to the woods. I don't have and targets this turn, but about we're as protected as we can be.

I win the roll for turns and feel like I gotta take it. I'm against a shooting list, and while there are a lot of Rifles that I could blank this round, he's still got a pair of potent cannons, and my list is at a massive speed disadvantage. I think I need to grab ground early here, especially because of the awkward deployment and sub-optimal token placement. I'll kick things off for us, and let the scrapping begin.

Top of Round 1: Herd

On the left, I am a bit overcommitted, but this could be a good exploration of the Hunters and a test against the Cannons. After playing against them in multiple lists, the frustrating bit is the Grapeshot, as it breaks all the usual interactions with war machines: they play the lottery and blast away from after, but if you get in close, you can disrupt them. Grapeshot lets them move, shoot, and still always be hitting on 5’s, not only punishing things that get close, but also hard-countering things with Stealthy or Individual (or both!), that are usually ideally suited to hunt war machines.

I had posited that something like Halfling Poachers could be good counters to Cannons, though don’t have the models to run that anymore, even as KoM Specialists. They aren’t quite the same, but the Tribal Hunters are close enough. They don’t have a target this turn, so they move their speed out of the woods, making use of the extra pivots to create a little space. One can fling into the far Cannon without Cover, landing 4 damage, and the other with Cover lands 1, and we go luck up and get the waver against the uninspired contraption!

The Hunters of the Herd venture out!

Critters scamper up to support the push, and a Druid enters the woods to keep things Inspired. She’ll try a Barkskin Command on something and fail.

More Critters hop up, screening for the Chieftain. As a Warlord, he’ll land a Barkskin 1 onto the Spirit Walkers on the hill, and eventually, the Rock will land 1 onto the Guardian Brutes as they move up the field as well. The Centaurs advance a bit, I believe moving up far enough to threaten charges next turn. With TC1, fighting a Def3 Riflemen regiment seems like an ideal target, so the Spirit Walkers to do the same by moving full ahead, and then taking a small pivot.

The Herd in the center press onward.

The mounted Druid with the Shroud moves up to support, and gets another Barkskin 1 Command onto the leading Spirit Walkers.

The Herd's token resistance on the right hesitates, barely moving.

On the right, the Critters and Tribal Warriors futz around. Against two Knight troops and a regiment of Chariots, I don’t really have a prayer, so we’ll try to slow this down and make sure it takes a few turns for my opponent to claim this token.

Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

Unopposed on the right, the Chariots swing in to lead the push with the knightly troops hanging back to avoid a long charge from the Spirit Walkers and be ready to clean up after the Chariot crashes into something. The Hero keeps pace, and the Shield Wall regiment camps around my token on the far right.

Unthreatened, the Kingdoms of Men move out in force.

The drive fried me a little more than I thought. The goal was to move up, but not a lot, to make it harder for the flying Baron to hop the line. The Guardian Brutes and such are back enough to deny a landing zone, but I’ve misplaced the Mounted Druid, and the unicorn is just within range of the speedier-then-normal Baron, and he happily goes in, but flubs a Brace Command for some of the Rifles.

Unfortunately, my positioning mistake is costly, with the Baron rolling hot and smacking 7 damage onto the Druid, and breaking them. The Baron will spin around to wave at the other humans, and be ready to rear-charge any push through the center now.

The speedy Baron spots and opening.

The Blizzard Wizard lands a Brace Command onto the Rifles, and threatened by the Spirit Walkers too, will back up before casting Blizzard into the Centaurs, landing 1 damage and freezing them. With humans boosting it, the Height 5 Shrine isn’t taking cover penalties, and is up to Lightning Bolt 9, and zaps 5 damage onto the Centaurs, with the three Rifle regiments contributing 4, 3, and 2, with the last one taking a cover penalty. It’s a hot round of shooting, but not enough to devastate the Centaurs, who are stuck and wavering on 15 damage.

The Chariots reposition, as a single Cannon fires.

The unwavering Cannon can’t get line of sight to the Centaurs, so fires into the Guardian Brutes, hitting once, blasting into 3 hits, and dealing 3 damage. Barkskin blunts this a bit, and they take 2 damage, and hold.

Top of Round 2: Herd

On the left, the unit of Tribal Hunters with the clear shot holds, and rocks a hot 7 more damage into the damaged Cannon, enough to devastate it and pick it up. The other unit move up, but can’t get its center point into the terrain to avoid a cover penalty. It will land another 1, into the fresh Cannon.

One Cannon falls!

Critters move up on the far left and pivot hard, getting into range of the token to Raze it and put me in the lead! The Druid moves up to Inspire here. Having lost the other Druid, this is probably a mistake.

The other Critters hop ahead and between them and the building, neither the Chariots nor the Knights can fit in against the Spirit Walkers. The Druid lands the Entanglement of Thorns Command on the Critters here.

The Guardian Brutes awkwardly position.

The Centaurs are in trouble, and can’t really do much. They ultimately hold. Unfortunately, the Chieftain is a few inches away from reaching the flying Baron, so he just gets closer, trying to zone him out.

The Guardian Brutes move up to try and help in the coming turns, and use the Great Totem and the building to anchor themselves, and the Chieftain gets them another Barkskin 1.

The Tribal Warriors move over to shoo the Baron away, but only move their speed. I was wary of overcommitting, but should have gone further ahead I think. The Critters likewise awkwardly shuffle around, and get out of charge range for the Chariots.

The Herd on the right also awkwardly arrange themselves.

I feel compelled to throw the Spirit Walkers at some Rifles. I’m at all sorts of disadvantages this game, and they are threatened. With Def3, I don’t think they’ll survive a charge against much. They’ll get a Strider command, though there probably was a way to get them around without needing it. They’ll hit the unbraced Rifles for 10 damage, with Dread in play. The Rifles are Rallied and Inspired though, and hold with a 3 on the second check.

Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

On the right, with the woods, the Chariots can’t quite get to the token to claim it with their pivots, but it’s Round 2, and they have plenty of time. They’ll reposition slightly, still threatening to charge in while avoiding the meager range of the Critters.

The Kingdoms of Men swing into the midfield.

Bob the Hero presses ahead, as the Herd has nothing that can catch him. He pulls a troop of Knights ahead with him, and a regiment of Rifles moves up at the double to create space, with the Shield Wall departing the token as well.

The Rifles fight back against the Spirit Walkers, landing 3 damage. The Walkers are also flanked by a troop of Knights, who get the Tenacity command, and will land a hot 14 damage. We are uninspired, devastated and routed, as is proper.

The Brutes take a beating.

Rifles land 1 into the Centaurs, whish isn’t quite enough to break them, so the Shrine repositions, and zaps another strong 5 damage into them.

With the Centaurs gone, the Blizzard Wizard throws into the cowardly Tribal Warriors, hitting thrice, blasting into 7 damage, and sticking 4 of it. They hold.

I didn’t have room to position much, and it turns out that the Knight Regiment is just able to fit in against the Guardian Brutes, and get their with their pivot. They’ll pop their Boots, and pivot around the building, and then align. They get a tenacious order as well, slamming 12 damage into them, though Barkskin blocks 1. On 11 damage, the Brutes hold.

Without much to charge, the Baron flies away, hiding behind the building.

The Critters fall, but the Chariots are stuck.

The Chariots crash into the Critters, landing 6 damage, and will scatter them. However, with the Thorns Order, they can’t reform.

The Cannon on the far left pivots and moves to escape the Critters, and then pivots back to Grapeshot them, landing 4 damage, but the Critters hold with the help of the Druid.

Top of Round 3: Herd

On the far left, the Tribal Hunters hold, and thwip 4 more damage onto the remaining Cannon, taking it to 5 damage and getting a waver. The Critters move into the woods, and are just trying to zone out the Baron up here.

The Hunters get a waver against the second Cannon!

The Druid’s Command for Striding fails, and the other unit of Tribal Hunters makes a hindered charge into the Chariots. Entangling them was an ok idea, but with their wide frontage, the Spirit Walkers are still in their front. Still they go in as well, and the Great Totem will land a nice Barkskin 2 onto them.

Reforms, after the melee.

The hindered Hunters still land 3, but the Spirit Walkers flub a bit, landing just 7 damage after a clean charge. Dread is involved, but I forget about it, and I think I forgot about Vicious as well, granted by the Great Totem, though we still break the unit.

Reforms are a bummer with the Baron there. The Spirit Walkers are actually out of arc, and hold. The Tribal Warriors turn to face the Baron, and dare a charge.

The Brutes struggle to effectively push back.

Maimed but holding, the Guardian Brutes are just in range to be Healed, though we only get 1 success. Trying to protect them, the Tribal Warriors offer themselves up to block and isolate this combat, and the Chieftain pushes ahead to try and complicate alignment, should we win, as with positioning, the wide Brutes can’t slide down to let the Chieftain help in the fight, and he’s just stuck. He tries to Barkskin the Brutes, but just gets one success again. The Brutes will slam 10 damage onto the Knights, but they’ll hold.

Critters, getting in the way.

On the far right, the Critters move up, using Pathfinder to get into the woods, and gum up the movement for the Chariots next turn.

Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

On the far right, the Chariots take their hindered charge into the Critters, landing 2, and the little guys will hold, despite the Brutal and being uninspired.

A hindered charge into the Critters.

Rifles will reform to prevent the Herd from sweeping past the building and into the backfield. The one that moved up to make ways spins around to get back towards the Shrine to help the Lightning Bolt, and the other two regiments form a line to protect the token, joined by a troop of Knights.

Fights in the center

The Lighting Bolt zaps the Stealthy Spirit Walkers, and will land 3 damage, breaking through the Barkskin 2 to deal 1 in the initial attempts to prevent the Herd from swinging into the backfield.

Centrally, the Hero races ahead to raze a token, tying the game up 1-1. A troop of Knights get a Tenacity order, and charge the injured Tribal Warriors, landing a fresh 5 and taking them up to 9, though the Warriors do not break. The Knights will reform to command the center.

The Guardian Brutes fall.

The Knightly regiment also gets a Tenacity order, and rolls up enough to punch a fresh 7 damage onto the Brutes, who will break. The Heal 1, Barksin 1 was not enough, and I think the Bane Chant might have been the better spell for me.

The Baron excuses himself to focus on the token in the corner.

The Baron flies away to my bottom right to make plays for tokens.

The wavering Cannon does nothing.

Top of Round 4: Herd

The Tribal Hunters hold, and fling into the Cannon again, landing another hot 7 damage and seeing the war machine off.

Safe, the Tribal Warriors fling some stones, scattering the war machine.

Critters utilize Pathfinder to flit out of the difficult terrain, and try to gain some ground, with the Druid keeping pace. With the Banner, she’ll land a Barkskin 1 on the nearby Spirit Walkers, and a Heal 2 onto them as well, leaving them with 1 Damage and 1 Barkskin token.

Fights in the center.

The Tribal Hunters run head, staying just over 10 inches away from the Rifles, to mitigate what can charge them, and the Spirit Walkers will jaunt ahead, though they seem awkwardly positioned. I think the Knight troop forced me into a weird spot, lest I be flanked by them.

Well, the Herd claims the knightly regiment, at least.

The Chieftain lands 3 damage onto the regiment of Knights, and will break them, avenging the Guardian Brutes. Wary of being tagged by Bob the Hero, he’ll stay put, and grant a Barkskin 1 onto the Tribal Warriors, who are able to still thump 3 damage onto the troop of Knights.

The Critters are still holding out.

On the right, the Critters land a surprise 3 damage onto the Chariots, but they’ll hold.

Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

Out on the right, the Chariots will land a solid 6 damage in the scrum, break the Critters, and then overrun a hot 6 to spring ahead and Raze this token, putting my opponent in the lead now, 2-1.

The Chariots break through. It was just a matter of time.

Bob the Hero will gallop back towards the center, while the Knights are assisted by the arriving Shield Wall against the Tribal Warriors. The Shield Wall lands 4, and the Knights still land 5, and the Warriors will break. The Shield Wall pivots, and the Knights hold.

Fights with the Tribal Warriors.

In the backfield, a unit of Rifles runs up to block up the Tribal Hunters. A regiment comes to take their place on the loose line defending the token, and the other regiment adjusts to really box out the token from the Herd's clutches. Meanwhile Blizzard pushes 4 damage through and onto the Stealthy Hunters, with the boosted Lighting Bolt contributing an additional 3 damage.

A lot of action in the deployment zone for the Kingdoms of Men.

Further back in the backfield, the troop of Knights charge the Spirit Walkers, with Tenacity coming in to help from the Blizzard Wizard. Barkskin blocks 1 damage, but 5 still makes it through.

The Baron makes it to the token.

The Baron does go for the token in my left corner, but can't claim it within his speedier 10 inch move, so only gets one pivot. Still, Razing this token, pushes the game 3-1 in favor of the Kingdoms of Men now.

Top of Round 5: Herd

Free of the Cannons, the Tribal Hunters start making their way towards the center, moving as quickly as they can. They can't help the backfield push, but can be making a play for the center.

The Herd continue their push.

In the backfield, the Critters have a flank charge into the Knights, and take it, trying to support the push and help the The Spirit Walkers break through. The Walkers get a Bane Chant and a Barkskin 1 from the Druid, and are able to hew their way through the troop of Knights, getting a strong the overrun, which allows the Critters to change facing. Both the Chieftain and the Great Totem attempt Barkskin commands this turn, but if memory serves, both fail.

Some small breakthroughs!

The Chieftain is able to see around the troop of Knights in front of him, and join the Tribal Hunters in a charge against the Rifles. The Great Totem should be granting Vicious, but the Hunters still land a hot 7 damage, with the Chieftain contributing 3, and the Nerve Checks break my way. We cannot get everything into front arc, so give the Shield Wall a hindered flank, while the Tribal Hunters get a hot Barkskin 3 from the Chieftain.

Bottom of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

From the right, the Chariots start making their way back into the center.

The Rifles that survived the Spirit Walkers in Round 2 get a Tenacity Order and charge the other unit of Walkers now, and will land 2 hits, bashing through the Barkskin 1 to take the Walkers up to 6 damage.

Chariots readying-up to make a play for the center token.

The Tribal Hunters are hit in the flank by Bob the Hero, who is hindered going over the obstacle. We have a Barkskin 3 on them, and ever-in tournament mode and wary of time, my opponent notes this, but doesn’t roll, since he can’t actually move them.

The Shield Wall take their flank against the Chieftain, get a Tenacity order as well, and land 3 damage.

Rifles can ignore the yielding Blizzard Wizard, and pop the Critters for 3, taking them up to 7. Lighting Bolt is down to 8 dice, but still manages another 5 onto the Critters, enough to devastate and break them.

The Kingdoms of Men are fighting fiercely, keeping the Herd at bay.

The Blizzard Wizard is then able to cast towards the Druid, landing 2 damage with the spell and freezing the Herd’s remaining spellcaster.

The Baron flies out towards the midfield. I thought I was out of arc, but both the Hunters and the Knights are smacked across the able this turn. It was something I just eyeballed, and as it is now, they are in, and will take the charge. They get a Tenacity, and have the Blade of slashing, and manage to land 7 damage.

This charge is a bummer, given the bumping but not really determinative. I think I smacked the Baron around three times on my turn, so bumps definitely happen.

Top of Round 6: Herd

The Tribal Hunters get a Bane Chant and a Barkskin 1 from the Druid as they fight the Knights. Surprisingly, are taken from 3 up to 7 damage, and broken. We overrun, but it is tiny.

In the backfield, the Spirit Walkers push through the maimed Rifles, and overrun for another tiny amount this time.

The Herd struggles to keep the push going.

The Tribal Hunters hold to fight the hero, and claw 3 damage in, though the Barkskin from the Great Totem fails.

The Chieftain holds, and smacks 4 damage onto the Shield Wall. He could have reformed, but I did not think to.

Bottom of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men

The Chariots will reach the center token, pivot, and stake their claim as the Herd scuffles around in the backfield.

The Baron flank charges the Spirit Walkers, with Rifles into their front. There was no way to really get them out on my turn with their reforms. The Walkers break.

The Chieftain takes another 4 damage from the flanking Shield Wall, but holds.

The Tribal Hunters take 3 more damage, but are Insane now.

The Blizzard Wizard moves to get a better angle, and tosses into the Tribal Hunters, who are Rallied and Inspired by the Great Totem. Barkskin blunts 1, but they take 4 new damage, with the Shrine moving and zapping for another 4, because who cares about Stealthy, apparently. On 15 damage, the Hunters are still around, but wavering.

As it stands, at the Bottom of Round 6.

We do not roll up a Round 7, and with the Chariots taking the middle, this is a crushing 4-1 victory in favor of the Kingdoms of Men!

Game Conclusions

The meetup was geared towards helping Rob with this tournament prep, but we had a handful of other players out too. I was hoping for a bit of a warm up game before facing him with this jank, especially after a draining drive, but did not luck out in that regard.

A little frazzled, we didn’t have a great plan going into the scenario, didn’t deploy well, make one big mistake with the unicorn Druid, and were just punished all game. I could not effectively take pieces this game, and with fewer to start, was effectively playing from behind the entire time, despite leading the score briefly. To have a chance against Rob we typically need a good plan and some luck, and despite some hot dice on both sides, I scrapped ok, but just didn’t bring enough of anything to really compete this game. 

Testing Conclusions

• Chieftain. I completely forgot about Hann’s, though it ultimately didn’t matter and it wouldn't have swung anything, and the Chieftain survived the game regardless. He was a little too slow to catch the Baron, and really struggled to contribute. The Wild Charge Aura was not really helpful against the quicker list and speedy interdictors, though could actually give me the edge If I had brought more Centaurs. He took hits but couldn't really strike too hard back. He's still useful, but not the little combat dynamo he used to be.
• Mounted Druids, with Stuff. The goal was to really lean into Barkskin and Heal and see how the Herd could grind, but early mistakes cost me the main Healing Druid, and Barkskin really struggled to help out, as it rarely got more than 1 success. These kits became my Herd Standard early on in 4E. It’s not bad, but the approach seems to be wobbling a bit, since I don’t have Tree Herders or Def5 Brutes anymore for the Heals to really feel impactful. I think we need to keep the Bane Chants, but can probably start exploring other spell ideas.
• Tribal Hunters. I think normally it would take three full rounds with both regiments to break both of the the Cannons. They impressed me, but had some very hot dice. It was nice to have some shooting, and to be able to mess with the Cannons, but these just felt so expensive. I think these would be better alongside hordes of Tribal Warriors, where they can operate more on the periphery and not have to be battle line units too. We were asking a bit much of them.
• Tribal Warriors. The one regiment was not used well. Previously, like at the Northwoods GT, it was ok for them to durdle around, as the old Longhorns and such were there to really pick up the slack and trade super-efficiently. Having a regiment like the Warriors, or the opposing Shield Wall is fine, but I needed more meat in the list I think.
• Centaur Regiment. I realized too late that that was kind of my only way to reach my opponent given his greater speed overall. I still like that these are Core now, but I really did not protect the regiment well. Even sticking with just the Herd, we have some nice and varied Core options now, so we'll play around more with those options in the future.
• Critters. Slower chaff can be fine, if you have important stuff to block for. We had a few nice plays with them, but failed to use them in the bigger picture. I spread them around, but not with the Guardian Brutes, and so these really struggled to contribute meaningfully for me.
• Spirit Walkers. They were neat, and better than I thought, especially here with the surprise Stealthy, but I didn’t support them well with this more elite, low-drop build. Like the Hunters, you want these supporting the line and any push, and not be the main line units themselves.
• Guardian Brutes. They were my one big hammer, but not particularly supported well. I should have stuck some Critters with them! This report precedes their Hobby Update and their rebasing post, but I’m a bit down on the new unit as it just seems so darn bland compared to its previous iterations. It still seems like a good hammer though, and like, the only viable unit to get the Stampede order, so we’ll keep exploring these.
• Great Totem. I was taking it as a silver lining that the Rock had deployed well, survived two games, and was finding ways to contribute… until I reread the Advanced Deployment rule to make sure I was getting it right. I write these reports to learn, but ouch. Forcing these onto just your side of the board is a big limitation. The Herd are an aggressive army, so it is a much bigger gamble to take, as you might be leaving it behind. It’s still neat and can definitely still see play, but it is even harder to use now. It won’t be a sure take now, but we’ll keep after it as well.

Opposite me, the updated Shrine looks really strong here, and I was really impressed with how everything fit together, and how nicely the Knight troops worked. It's still a strong list! This was not my best showing, but hey, you learn more from losses anyways! We kept up some decent pressure with a weird list, and were even technically winning there for a little while! 

It has been a while, and I was the odd man out at the meetup, so this was the only game this time. We've still got lots left to explore with the Herd, and this was a good time exploring just a few of the new options. Thanks for the game!