4th Edition: Battle #050 Kingdoms of Men vs Abyssal Dwarfs

Intro and Lists

It had been a ridiculous week for me both at work and otherwise personally, but I had made it to the weekend, and was incredibly happy to be able to relax rolling some dice against Will and his Abyssal Dwarfs, who were practicing for a tournament next weekend. After a tasty home-cooked meal, we set up for a rematch.

As mentioned before, I like Golekh's angle of play for the Abyssal Dwarfs. Again, were were looking to get Will some practice with his list for a tournament, which was locked in already, despite neither of us really liking the fiddly items on the Gargoyles and such. 

Opposing me we have the splendidly painted Golekh on his chariot, two Iron Casters (without Surge) to heal and support things, a Horde of Blacksouls with CS1 weapon-swap, and the Brew of Sharpness to hit harder, two regiments of Lesser Obsidian Golems to take hits, two Gargoyles to interdict, and then Ratkin Death Engine and Tunnel Runners to round things out as other hammer-like units. 

I was running the Kingdoms of Men! While I have a large collection of humans, and considered this my “main” army for a quite a while, I really cannot make that argument anymore. So far in 4E they’ve seen the table just twice for me!

While I like a lot of the underdog human units, a “good” build has been hard for me to wrap my head around. The Warlords and Champions all felt really limiting and underwhelming. Reviewing my collection, I can’t really spam anything – I mostly have a varied collection for the humans, with a single horde’s worth of a lot of different units. Still struggling to find my own footing with the army, I decided to just embrace that variety, and channel some “Mantide” play inspired by things the Goblins or Ratkin can do these days. The Battalions are organized like a crazy person would, but essentially we have two of just about everything, some basic Champions to support us, Dogs of War and Knights as hammers, and a lot of counts-as Siege Artillery for indirect fire. We’re hoping to fill the board up with sticky regiments and hopefully just outlast our opponent in whatever the scenario happens to be. As-usual, up to evaluate is everything:

• ASB, Torc of Command. With a lot of regiments, Inspiring coverage might be an issue, so we’re trying the ASB for Very Inspiring, and the Torc to give out a longer Indomitable Will just in case.
• Mounted Hero, Trickster’s Wand. I like the kit, and the height of the Mount should help the Hero get line of Sight with the Wand. The Wand no longer forces a unit to halt to cast these days, and we’ll see how that feels. The Wand/Hex has shown up in a handful of lists opposing me, but I don’t think anyone has really gotten good uses out of it yet.
• Mounted Hero, Banner of Command. We don’t have a lot of Commands, but I hobbied up a Mounted ASB before realizing that the human ASB’s can’t take mounts, so we’re putting the model to use here. We’ll see how this feels.
• Uninspiring Wizard, Periscope, Celestial Restoration. An admittedly wild pick! Celestial Restoration is a siren song, and I wanted to try it out here. I don’t think it will be great here, but I feel the need to try. If we can have a regiment unexpectedly hold, and then get healed too,
• Shield Wall Regiments x2. I hobbied mine up as individual regiments, each with a standard back in the day, so we’ll put them to use here, and see how these base regiments feel for me.
• Halberdier Regiments x2. I like Halberdiers, as the cheap source of CS is really nice to have around. I’m excited for troops to return, but I just don’t have any hobbied up. We’ll split the old horde in twain, and see if these can’t cause some damage for me.
• Crossbowmen Regiments x2. We’ll split the dependable Crossbowmen horde up as well, and see if a little extra counter-shooting could be fun.
• Militia Mob Hordes x2. I just finished up a fourth regiment, so we’ll take two hordes, emulating the Ratkin Wretches. We don’t have great Orders for them like the Ratkin, but a horde is still a horde, and we’ll try to be a good tarpit.
• Knights, Boots. An odd pick, given the rest of the list. Splitting the hordes up, I needed a fourth Core unit, and just went with these. I felt like I needed some kind of hammer, and if I’m taking a regiment of Knights, I want to take the Boots too, unfortunately. We’ll try to play them more as a second-line or a sweeper.
• Dogs of War, 2H, Stone. I really like the basic Dogs of War. They aren’t crazy-strong, but they are a very cheap horde that you can then customize. Leftover points are wacky here, so we’re just giving them the Stone, to boost their Nerve just a bit. We’ll run these as a second line as well, and see if we can’t survive the game.
• Siege Artillery x4. Eh, we’ll succumb to some support spam here while we can. While the Goblins have been able to use Sharpstick throwers against me, and I would also like to run my old Ballistae, I am not practiced with this kind of list. We’ll try the potentially easier-to-use artillery and their Indirect Fire. We’ll deploy these last and just hope we can see something tall.

Table and Terrain

Will and his wife were kind enough to host the practice session, and we made use of his table, very thematic matt, and home terrain, with the help of an extra hill from the terrain box in my car. We had nifty basalt rock Forests (back left and middle) with Height 10, a ruined statue head and a skull monument for blocking terrain at Height 7, Hills with Height 3, two neoprene mats for Height 1 difficult terrain, and the Obstacles as Height 2. 

It was a weird generation, with the Skull monument largely in one deployment zone, and a hill in the other zone.

Overview of the table, with some units scattered about and not yet deployed.

We got Loot for the scenario, and will have three tokens along the center line we can fight for and pick up. Each token we hold at the end of the game will be worth 1 VP apiece. Nice and easy!

The Abyssal Dwarfs had won the roll for side choice and for tokens. They were lazy for sides, and I believe placed on the far left. 

View of the left.

Left-to-right for the Abyssal Dwarfs are Golekh and the Death Engine in reserve, Tunnel Runners perpendicular behind the woods, then both units of of Golems with the Iron Caster in reserve.

View of the center.

Both units of Gargoyles were hidden behind the skull monument, and then the Abyssal Dwarfs line continued beyond, with both hordes of Ratkin, and the horde of Blacksouls in reserve, along with the supervising Iron Caster, with Bane Chant, Heal, and the Crown.

View of the right. 

I greatly out-dropped my opponent, but without a clear game-plan, struggled a bit. I wanted to play for the narrow in, threatening the left but not expecting to take it, brawl for the center, and sweep through on the right. 

The delaying left got Militia and Shield Wall on the front, supported by the ASB, with Knights and Halberdiers in reserve. The center got Shield Wall, Halberdiers, and Militia supported by the Hero with the Banner, and then the Hero with the Trickers' Wand to the right of the Militia. The Dogs of War continued the line, and we had a strong shooting contingent on the right, with Crossbowmen, all the Siege Artillery jumbled on the hill, and more Crossbowmen on the far right.

Playing many regiments, the main goal was to split them up, so that like units were not fighting alongside each other. With Kings of War, larger units have a discounted price, so having two Halberdier units deployed or fighting next to each other is a very inefficient use of points, and something to be avoided,. I did well on this front, generally splitting stuff up and giving myself some options and a mix of units, but there are some larger goofs of mine to point out.

• I did not do a great job with my Champions / Inspiring coverage, and indeed even forgot to deploy the Celestial Wizard! (I will catch this quickly, and my opponent will graciously let him arrive on my turn). 
• I fixated on the hill. With my opponent giving me this side, it felt wise to put my war machines there, but ultimately do not like how I did this. Firstly, with these having Indirect, I don't need to get center-points on the hill like I was trying to, and just need to get a bit of the front-facing on the terrain to see. I'm ignoring Cover anyways, so I could have deployed these much better on the hill, and gotten a straighter line of war machines. Secondly, I out-deploy my opponent, and could have stuck these anywhere. We're wasting a lot of Piercing by targeting the infantry, and sticking them on the far left to target Golems might have been better. 
• The Knights came down late as well. With Thunderous Charge (3), they were one of my few options against the Golems, and I felt compelled to put them down out here, since the war machines were already down. However, the Scorched Earth Iron Caster is out here as well, so I'm playing into the strength and plan of my opponent, which is generally something wise generals try to avoid.

I bounce between armies wildly, but this was a very hard shift from my more usual playstyles. We've still learned a lot already though, and we'll see how the game unfolds! I win the dice roll for turn-order, and will kick things off for us.

Top of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

On the right, I'm realizing some of my goofs already. I like the Crossbowmen against the Ratkin, but we've got all of our shooting out here, and don't have great early shots with the hill. The regiment from the far right moves as far as they can with their pivot, eyeing to token nearby. The other regiment just moves up normally, and looses into the inner unit of Ratkin, landing 2 damage.

Human shooters take position on the right.

The artillery have possible shots into any of the infantry, and I choose to focus on the Blacksouls. In retrospect, fishing for a waver at the inner horde of Ratkin might have been a better strategic approach right now, as three hordes is going to be hard to for me to deal with, given my disposition of units out here. The artillery shots hit twice, and will result in 6 damage. 

The Dogs of War squared up opposite the Blacksouls, and inch ahead for now.

The human center trudges ahead.

The Hero with the Wand tries to hit the Iron Caster with his Hex, but the spell flubs and misses completely. Terrain slows me down in the center, but the Militia start their trek forward. The Halberdiers and Shield Wall keep pace, and the Hero with the Banner stays nearby.

The human left is more daring, but probably shouldn't be.

On the left, the Militia sprint ahead with a slight pivot at the end, looking to grab some early space and take some early hits. The terrain good me up a bit here too, with both the Shield Wall and Halberdiers unable to clear it. The Knights hang back on the left, waiting to see what happens, and the Celestial Restoration Wizard joins near the edge of the table, behind the ruined statue head.

Bottom of Round 1: Abyssal Dwarfs

Golekh hangs back, but distributes a Mutated Mastiff to the Death Engine, and it inches up to toss into the Militia. The Tunnel Runners get a Mutated Mastiff from the Iron Caster, and 7 damage total hits the Militia, though they hold.

Mutated Mastiffs maul the Militia.

The Golems shuffle ahead, and one of the Gargoyle units flaps over the skull monument.

The other unit of Gargoyles flies out to the right, looking to cause some future trouble, and out on the right, the Ratkin units move up, though a bit tentatively. With their greater speed, they don't want to give my infantry a chance to charge first.

The Ratkin advance, making good use of their greater speed.

The rounded hill proves to be a bit of a problem for one of the hordes, but was can talk through intentions and agree that they are doing the same, threatening some charges while staying safe.

The Blacksouls keep pace, and get a hot 3/3 Heal gets them down to 3 damage. 

Top of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

Yeah, against three hordes, we really don't have enough over here. The Ratkin have their choice of charges, so the inner unit of Crossbowmen run up to block, and will get the other Ratkin horde in arc as well for good measure. Unfortunately, the Hero with the Wand will land an Indomitable Will on them to help them out.

The Kingdoms of Men try to slow the opposing hordes.

The other unit of Crossbowmen hold, and take aim at the blocked Ratkin, firing, and landing 2 damage. Clean shots into them seemed better than penalized shots into the Gargoyles.

Overview on the right.

Short on units, I realized I need to be fishing for those wavers to buy time, and the artillery all loose into the Ratkin blocking for the Blacksouls, landing 8 damage. The Dogs of War either hold or adjust slightly. I think the blocking Ratkin do have a charge into them, but there is nothing I can do about that.

The human centers tightens up.

Centrally, the Militia move ahead, and the Halberdiers and Shield Wall consolidate, moving towards them. The Hero with the Banner tucks in behind. With Gargoyles right there, we are trying to limit what they can get into. The Hero tries a Brace Command for the Shield Wall, but fails.

The Kingdoms of Men take a looser approach on the left.

I forget that the Wizard can issue Commands, despite being uninspiring, so he does not help out the cause in this regard. He is able to land a strong Celestial Restoration onto the leading Militia on the left though, bringing them down to just 2 damage. The ASB with the Torc tries to give them Indomitable Will, but fails. I was hoping to move them up aggressively again, but it was not to be.

As a result of the failed Command, the Militia are cautious, making sure to stay Inspired, and the strong heal should test their durability well, I think. The Halberdiers are able to get out of the terrain, and the Knights lurk nearby as well. The Militia adjust to face front a bit, though everything should still be in front arc, even the nearest Golems. The plan here was to eat the charges next turn, and leave open the potential to Withdraw, and let the Knights and Halberdiers cycle into the fights and give the Militia a chance to heal.

Bottom of Round 2: Abyssal Dwarfs

On the left, the Death Engine charges in against the Militia, accompanied by the Tunnel Runners, who I believe pop their Boots, looking for a quick victory out here. The Engine rolls up 10 extra Attacks, and the Militia take 18 new damage, and will break. 

The chariots punch right on through.

In victory, the Death Engine falls back, hoping to let other units block for it, and indeed the Tunnel Runners overrun a fair amount. Unfortunately for me, the Iron Caster is able to get into the woods, and barely glimpse the Knights, and does land a Scorched Earth against them.

The Lesser Golems press out, and we are able to clean things up to prevent some potential flank charges into them. I don't have anything that can really hurt the Def6 units, but I know this is something my opponent really tries to prevent, so we're trying to help him out here.

Ope, a blurry picture, but the only one I have this turn. Sorry!

Centrally, the Ratkin charge in, hindered against the Militia, and the Gargoyles flap in behind them, landing atop the Loot token and grabbing it. The Blacksouls then lock-in behind the Gargoyles. While this is fine, I don't really like this, as this is a heavy stack of units. It's nice to grab the token, but there is no rush right now.

The Ratkin poke 2 damage onto the Militia, who hold. 

And the Ratkin claw through as well!

On the right, the Ratkin get a Bane Chant, and body the Crossbowmen, landing 10 damage (7ish expected, even with the Bane Chant), and the Rats are able to shred the unit and then reform. The Gargoyles from the far right are in range of the other unit of Crossbowmen, and take this charge as well, clawing 3 damage in, though this regiment holds.

Top of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

Yeah, things could be going better, but we're trying a new playstyle, and the game is definitely not lost yet! We'll persevere. I need to clean up my backfield, so the Crossbowmen fight on against the Gargoyles, landing 3 damage, while the Hero hits the unit in the flank, contributing 1 damage. 

The Kingdoms of Men attempt to push back.

The output is not amazing, but looks to be about as-expected, and the uninspired unit does break, with the Crossbows overrunning for 1, and the Hero side-stepping for 1 as well.

The humans are only moderately successful...

The Heroes are no longer Very Inspiring, so this Hero lands an Indomitable Will onto the Dogs of War, who charge out into the Ratkin Horde ahead of them. This horde doesn't have Last Breath, so if we can pop them here and then face the injured Blacksouls, that would be great. The humans smack 15 new damage onto the Ratkin, taking them up to 17 damage, but the Rats are found to be Insane!

I forget my Siege Artillery, but while it is a practice game, it's still a friendly one, and my opponent lets me backtrack and fire into the Blacksouls as I had intended to. The artillery hits a few times, and takes the Dwarfs up to 9 damage, but they do hold on. At the end of the .. uh.. adjusted Ranged Phase, I realize that in efforts to hurry up, my brain had defaulted to d3 hits instead of d3+1, but I must roll with that mistake now. 

The Militia do as good as they can on their own.

Celestial Restoration heals the Militia completely, as they strike 5 damage at the Ratkin, taking them up to 13 damage, but we don't break them. This isn't great, but at least we don't trigger the explosion.

The hindered knights and Halberdiers struggle against the Tunnel Runners.

The Hero with the Banner hangs around, and I believe issues a Tenacious Command to help out the Militia in their fight. I could have charged in with the Halberdiers, but it would have been Hindered, so I don't. They Halberdiers are close to the Golems, and I don't think I had a good reform to keep them safe, so we trust in the Militia alone, and it doesn't work out. The Shield Wall and Halberdiers don't do much this turn.

Out on the left, the Shield Wall do get a Brace Command, though the Wizard fails and the ASB is forced to try it again, and the regiment gets things into front arc.

On the far left, I feel like my hand is forced. The Death Engine is Height 5, so can see over the Tunnel Runners, and has enough of a channel to get in against the Knights if they hold back, so under the effects of Scorched Earth, they charge the Tunnel Runners, joined by the Halberdiers. The Runners are uninspired, but dealing 3 damage apiece, the Nerve check is not high enough to break the unit and help me out.

Space are tight, but looking at the pictures, I probably could have played this more cagey. The Halberdiers can charge in, and not slide too far. Then then Knights should be able to change facing, keeping the Death Engine in front arc, but denying space for it to align. That said, with Golekh lurking and reforms possible, I could still be caught out here. I opt to go down swinging here, and it doesn't pay off.

Bottom of Round 3: Abyssal Dwarfs

On the left, the Tunnel Runners hold, with the Death Engine slamming into the Knights, and Golekh hitting the Halberdiers, and the Engine and the Runners both get a Tenacity Order, and the Tunnel Runners getting a Heal 2 as well, ending on just 4 damage.

The Knights are broken.

The Death Engine rolls up a lot of extra attacks, and cuts well into the Knights. The Tunnel Runners throw almost all of their attacks into the Knights as well, and will pick them up, with the free Death Engine backing up. A few attacks go into the Halberdiers, but don't wound, and Golekh only manages 3 damage onto the Halberdiers, who hold.

The Golems tentatively press ahead, but don't grab too much ground due to Shambling. 

Centrally the Rats hold, and get Last Breath from the Iron Caster. They'll roll hot and carve up 8 Damage onto the Militia. With the stack of Ratkin, Gargoyles, and Blacksouls, the Gargoyles can't get away with their prize, and my opponent starts puzzling over what to do which puzzles me, so we pause and talk it out.

Referring back, this is why I would not have grabbed the token with the Gargoyles - with everything flush, even with the wacky FAQ saying you can just ignore stuff, the Gargoyles are causing a headache here, and there was no time crunch to grab this. My opponent is trying to create space with the Blacksouls to let the Gargoyles out, which is not a wise decision to me, as he is giving up the huge gift of the Insane Rats against the Dogs of War. 

There we go! The Blacksouls take advantage of the Ratkin's moment of insanity.

The Blacksouls will be treating the Gargoyles and Ratkin ahead of them as Blocking Terrain, but while units can't move straight through this terrain, units can pivot through Blocking Terrain, even while charging, so the Blacksouls should definitely be taking the flank into the human mercenaries. The Gargoyles will sidestep to make this pivot a bit easier, but still keep safe from the Halberdiers nearby, by keeping their corner behind the Ratkin. Then the Blacksouls will come to the aid of the Insane Rats, pivoting through the back corner of the Gargoyles, and then moving straight ahead to hit the flank of the human unit, and then slide down to align properly.

It's hindered, but they'll get a Bane Chant, and will land 24 damage onto the Dogs of War, and we don't bother rolling the Ratkin. The humans are broken, and my other hammer-like unit is now gone. 

Reforms for the Ratkin.

The Ratkin reform, and the Blacksouls initially spin around, to face the center of the field. Again, we talk it though, and I suggest that they stay put or even overrun. He's got enough on the left and right going well, and if he is going for a strong victory, should be prepping for the fall of the Insane Ratkin.

Top of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

Out on the right, things aren't going well, and I look to have forgotten to move the Hero, but we have some prayers and ideas to keep this competitive? The Crossbowmen charge the insane Ratkin, land 3 damage to bring them up to 20 damage, and do break the horde. While doing so, they end atop this Loot Token, and pick it up, technically tying the game up for me.

The Crossbowmen charge! This isn't ideal.

The Crossbowmen will reform, to face the rear of the Blacksouls. I recheck line of sight, and one of the Siege Artillery actually can't see the Blacksouls any more, and is forced to move off of the hill. The remaining three fire, will land a combined 5 damage, and take that horde up to 14 damage, though we don't get lucky to the waver.

The Militia will get a Celestial Restoration for just 3, and then land 8 against the Ratkin, taking them up to 21 damage. The Ratkin rout, and then explode, dealing 7 damage to the Militia and taking them up to 12 damage. I was hoping for a big heal and low explosion, but so it goes.

The Kingdoms of Men are ... trying.

I think the Mounted Banner Hero tries a Brace Command and fails. The Halberdiers move up, and the Shield Wall attempted to Brace against the Golems and such. There is only three tokens in-play, so the hope is to make things messy, and eventually trap the Gargoyles to get this middle one before all the Abyssal Dwarfs on the left can come and help.

Stuff in the center.

On the left, the Shield Wall do have a flank charge into Golekh... but realistically, that's not going to do anything. The long-shot hope is to just tie things down for a turn or two, so I'm trying to engage as many enemy units as I can, and the other Shield Wall charge the Lesser Golems with the Pipes.

Sheesh, another Insane unit.

On the far left, the Halberdiers land another 3 damage onto the Tunnel Runners, taking them back up to 7 damage, but instead of just holding here, they are round to be Insanely Courageous as well. 

We were unlikely to break the Inspired unit, but this is just putting me further and further behind. The list isn't killy, and I've definitely struggled to take units, but am also not losing mine slowly enough to feel good about the direction of the game.

Bottom of Round 4: Abyssal Dwarfs

The Death Engine can see my ASB, and makes a charge out into the flank of my Champion. It's hindered, but a silly amount of extra attacks are rolled, and then doubled, and the Champ takes 12 damage, being devastated and routed, as is proper.

The bloodied left of the human line basically evaporates.

Golekh and the Tunnel Runners are able to shred the Halberdiers as well, with the runners able to back up several inches to land atop the Loot Token and secure it, and the extra space being enough for Golekh to reform comfortably. 

The Golems manage only three damage onto the suddenly-uninspired Shield Wall, and thankfully, they hold for me. The Golems are healed completely thanks to the Iron Caster's spells.

The Golems clean up the Militia, instead of fight a fresh unit.

Centrally, the Gargoyles turn and run, and the Golems make a surprise hindered charge into the Militia, who start on 12 damage. The humans take 5 damage, and will break, with the victorious Golems turning to face the remaining regiments.

The Blacksouls claim a token.

On the right, the maimed Blacksouls continue on their bloody path, landing 13 damage onto the Crossbowmen while getting a small heal themselves. In victory, they'll claim the token the humans were holding, putting the Abyssal Dwarfs in a strong lead with all three Tokens.

Top of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

It's certainly rough, but I do still see a glimmer of a chance, so we're playing on! Per the July FAQ, individuals can gain claim / carry Loot Tokens, though while carrying them, they can only be given a Halt or Change Facing movement order. The plan is to pen in the Gargoyles now and break them next turn with a hero, as well as waver/rout the Blacksouls this turn, so the other Hero can get their token next turn. The Heroes will be grabbing tokens, and the units will be blocking, and then we pray the game ends.

The Heroes for the Kingdoms of Men get nice and central.

The Celestial Restoration Wizard can't heal anything because it's all dead. He'll spring on, heading out to my right, and will try to help as the game goes on.

The quarter of war machines fire into the Blacksouls, and we'll land a combined 7 damage, taking them up to 20, and getting a waver, as-planned. 

The mounted Heroes get central, and the Halberdiers charge the Golems, looking to occupy their attention. They are given Indomitable Will, to hopefully help them out. The Halberdiers deal no damage, but that's doesn't matter to the plan.

The unengaged Shield Wall sprints after the Gargoyles, looking to pen them in, or charge the Blacksouls next turn.

Humans on the left do their best to delay.

Buying-time for the shenanigans on the right, the other unit of Shield Wall fight on against their regiment of Obsidian Golems, actually landing a few damage against them! Hoping to exacerbate the delays to the Abyssal Dwarfs, the departing Wizard is able to grant them Indomitable Will.

Bottom of Round 5: Abyssal Dwarfs

The Tunnel Runners have done great, and are moving with their token out into the back left corner. I don't think there is any way I can reach them with the artillery, but we're not on a clock and it pays to play it safe and such. 

The Shield Wall will fall. 

The Death Engine slams into the flank of the delaying Shield Wall, and the human unit will be dutifully obliterated, and in victory, the wide Golems hold, to allow the speedier Death Engine to overrun a few inches, getting closer to the final fights of the game.

Golekh scoots around this fight, also looking to get close enough to help as the game concludes.

The Gargoyles turn to face the Shield Wall, and drop their token in their right corner, from my perspective.

The Golems fighting the Halberdiers suddenly roll hot, landing a surprising 10 damage, and will break my regiment. Only around 7 damage is expected, so this is unfortunate, but not the end of my gambit just yet.

The Blacksouls retain their token, and while wavering, turn around, and an attempted Heal fizzles, keeping them on 20 damage.

Top of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men

I was really hoping the Halberdiers would hold. There is actually no Surge on the other side of the table, and Shamblers only get one pivot, so probably just moving the Halberdiers and demanding a hindered charge from the Golems might have been better. Alas, it did not occur to me, and just charging it to get them engaged seemed sufficient.

The Humans make their final play.

With the Halberdiers falling, I cannot devote a Hero to charging the Blacksouls now, and we transition to playing for a draw, playing for the token beneath the Gargoyles, and shooting the Blacksouls off this round.

Positioning for the humans.

The Hero with the Wand charges the Golems to get them engaged. The Shield Wall Charge the Gargoyles, with the Hero and the Banner of Command flapping as he hits the fliers in the flank. The Hero looks nice, but contributes no damage to the fight, though thankfully the Shield Wall roll hot and stick 6, making up for their leader. 

With the token dropped in the corner the Hero is in, I can just pivot in victory to pick it up. However, the Inspired Nerve check results in a 3, and the Gargoyles hold on, though technically without their token.

The Siege Artillery all fire into the Blacksouls, but dice abandon me. Seven of the eight shots miss, and that one only blasts into 3, and while all 3 deal damage, the Blacksouls are just wavered again.

Bottom of Round 6: Abyssal Dwarfs

The Shield Wall take a flank from Golekh, and a rear from the Death Engine, and their blood greases the Gears. The Gargoyles get a Bane Chant, pick their token back up, and claw 4 damage onto the Hero, who holds.

The last Shield Wall falls.

The Golems will land some damage onto the other Hero, and the wavering Blacksouls will hold. 

We do not get a Round 7, and the Abyssal Dwarfs maintain their lead for a 3-0 Victory over the Kingdoms of Men!

Game Conclusions

Across the table, we gotta give Will his flowers. He took the learnings from the previous game, and applied them here, punching through unit after unit for the win. Basically everything in his list worked this time: Scorched Earth nullified my Knights; Golems shrugged off multiple waves of men; Gargoyles were tricky; Ratkin exploded gloriously; chariot contraptions smashed; and the Blacksoul horde was an absolute powerhouse of a unit against me and my lower defense.

On my side of the table, we had plenty of errors, misplays, and little mistakes, which we've touched on already here and there in the report, and I won't dwell on, as this is a pretty new style for me. Overall, we adapted well as the game progressed, and I'm actually pretty happy with this! My list was intended to be a bit scrappy, and despite the errors and incredibly heavy losses, we actually still had a decent chance to claw our way back to that narrow victory right at the end there! Unfortunately for the humans, the dice absolutely forbade it!

Testing Conclusions

• ASB, Torc of Command. It worked ok? We attempted some longer Commands, though they weren't always successful. Not a fantastic pick here, but a sensible one.
• Mounted Hero, Trickster’s Wand. Again, not a bad item, but we just could not successfully cast the spell. Not a bag buy for 15 points, and not a bad kit, even if it was unimpactful in this particular game. I forgot Heroes Rally until midway through the game. It doesn't work with Militia, and wouldn't have saved any combat that I was aware of, but it's a bummer to overlook.
• Mounted Hero, Banner of Command. Again, not a bad item at all, and the Extra Dice should help with the Brace Command and such in the short term. It's a bummer ASB's cannot take mounts, but it looks like we'll get some use out of the model after all. 
• Uninspiring Wizard, Periscope, Celestial Restoration. He surprised me, and overall, I liked ths little wizard. Unfortunately, my plan for him failed. Nothing important of mine could hang around for him to heal, and despite some nice early boons to Militia, he wasn't very impactful. I like the idea, but not great here. Go figure, but the ever-popular Barkskin or Blizzard might have been better choices for me here.
• Shield Wall Regiments x2. The Shield Wall did ok? They took some hits, dished out a few damage, and were generally ... whelming. Which I think is the feeling Mantic wants to have when dealing with Core units - good, reliable, but not the stars.
• Halberdier Regiments x2. They had a rough time against Def6 Golems and such, but they likewise did fine for a basic, cheap Core unit. 
• Crossbowmen Regiments x2. I am a little less sold on these. Honestly, I do like them, and have a soft spot for my Crossbowmen, but they were not used well, and I really needed some other unit on that side of the board to run up and take those hits. 
• Militia Mob Hordes x2. This list didn't quite have the hammer tools to treat these like the Undead would treat their Zombies, and they were awkward, but generally, I liked them. I think some cheap US plopped here or there might be useful nowadays, and we'll keep testing them out.
• Spears. No, I didn't take any, but it does seem worth commenting on. Up against a bunch of Chariots, Spears would not have helped me here at all. Phalanx only works when taking the initial charge now, and at 20 pts a Regiment, I don't think MMU spears is going to be a wise investment, and I think it's going to be hordes of Spears or not at all for me.
• Dogs of War, 2H. I still like the Dogs of War conceptually as a cheap, quality hore, and the item was fine, though not needed. They just got very unlucky this game! We tried all we could, but the dice just weren't there this time.
• Knights, Boots. It was a big conundrum where to put these, and ultimately I chose to play into my opponent's list and plan and try to fight the Golems. That was a big mistake, and the Knights paid dearly for it. Neat to see Scorched Earth doing work though!
• Siege Artillery x4. Admittedly I had one round of Blast errors, but I gotta say these felt very unreliable and underwhelming, but such is the curse of most war machines, even when taken as quartets, it seems. I think these should have been deployed elsewhere, and really leaned into Indirect for a better test, but so it goes. We'll give them another chance sometime, and see how they do with a little more experience! I am a little reluctant to spam war machines, but these definitely did not seem overpowered or oppressive. 
• Goblin-Style. I was just using what I had, and not really pulling deeply from any Goblin lists or tactics. We don't have the Wingits or the Mawpups command or a lot of the little synergies that make Goblins so scary, but I think there are definitely some things a KoM player could learn from studying or emulating a more Goblin-style of play. I don't think 

During some good-natured grumbling about a month or so back, Will had informed me that he had never won a game against me. Despite that apparent record, he's always been an incredibly good sport, and a great opponent. My luck finally ran out against him, and so we'll give a hearty congratulations for the well-deserved victory here, and wish him the very best at the tournament next weekend. Thanks to Will and his family for the game, and for their wonderful hospitality!