Hobby Update: Rebased Guardian Brutes

Ope, I am catching up on some posts. This is a little later than intended, but up now for the blog are some rebased Guardian Brutes for the Herd!

The models were some Farrow Slaughterhousers from the old Hordes line, which was a bit of an unfortunate choice as they were becoming scare even way back in 2017. Fortunately, I’ve chanced upon two additional boxes since (here and here), and been able to hobby them all up similarly, and the Guardian Brutes have been a pet unit of mine for the last few years, particularly from 2023 onward.

The first group, rebased!

I won’t get into all of their changes over the years – they’ve had a very tumultuous ride since their 2E debut. Since this update is for rebasing, I will gripe about their newest ones though! They miraculously survived the transition into 4E, but their debut stats were jumbled. They were an awkward “sidegrade” to Fire Elementals if the Herd Chieftain was taken, but were absolute combat powerhouses as the new edition started out. About 6 months later though, we have the Fracture update, and they have yet another very different stat line, different slot requirement, most of the special rules stripped away, and a new base size.

The second group, rebased as well!

From just about any customer perspective, these are frustrating changes. Most of the Herd didn’t make it into the placeholder Nature list. The only unit to not be significantly changed ~6 months later with the Fracture release are the Tribal Warriors, which just feels bad, and even they were touched, regaining the ability to pick up some spears. For the Guardian Brutes, the name has stayed the same, but everything else has changed -twice!- in about six months time.

The third group, you guessed it, reabased!

The base-size change is the most frustrating though, as multi-basing is a thing to celebrate and embrace for Kings of War, and rebasing can be no easy feat. Increasing the base size is better than decreasing it though, from a hobbying perspective. Thankfully, I had some spare bases, and after some mulling, just glued the old bases onto the new ones. While part of me wanted to be able to run smaller Troops of these, I just don’t think that’s going to be how I want to run them long term, given the new slot and their role as a hammer unit.

So, finally getting to the rebasing, we glued the smaller bases onto the larger one, tried to smooth out the join with milliput, then disguise the join more with cork and basing paste, and then try to mimic the painting process and colors to get them on their new bases. After all this, more baking soda snow was mixed up, new tufts added, and we’re calling all of these good!

The new Guardian Brutes are a smidge unimaginative. Again, their stats have had a wild ride over the years, but they are more or less “just” Molochs now. They aren’t bad by any stretch, just something we’ve basically seen before, and perhaps a bit underwhelming as a result.

Lots of Beasts!

It's been a long post already, but I'm not sure when I'll get to this otherwise... I happened upon the box above recently, and decided to treat myself. Apparently this was published around October 2022, and it looks like we had a sneak peak of the Herd within, with a minotaur-like model, that could be a Guardian Brute, as well as a sword-and-board faun (box has a sling, but he came with a sword. I donno). It was neat, and I completely missed this pseudo preview of the Herd.

It's a kind of neat glimpse, though also a bit of a shame, as the Guardian Brutes never got a hero pick, the Unicorns and Harpies have been voided, and the Beast of Nature is now has the Elemental trait for some reason. (I get that it's a new model, but you can't tell me that that thing doesn't look more like the concept for the Primal Chorus.) I picked this up solely for the badger, for a non-metal-but-still-Mantic Brock for a Berserker Lord to ride. Should be a nice kitbash, and we'll see if and how the other models might be used in the future!

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. There is still an immutable Objective Token in the exact center of the field, and now, the three placed tokens go into deployment zones. Oddly, you can place in either zone, but only Raze tokens not in your own 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 his tokens into his own deployment zone? 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!

4th Edition: Battle #047 Nature (Herd) vs Nature (Elementals) in Invade

Intro and Lists

He's a busy guy, painting up a lot of stuff and playing a lot of different games, but I had the pleasure of meeting up with Kenny of the Combat Phase podcast for a game of Kings of War. He is keen top play, but been a few months since his last game. Fresh off the Fracture release, he brought his Elementally-focused Nature army:

With a new book in front of him, he wanted some assistance in building his list. He didn't have a paper copy, but we did have my paper list to help with Command Orders. He was paging through the Fracture book, and keying stuff into the app to check slots, but for the life of me, sitting down to write the report up, I just could not figure out Kenny's exact list list and how we are somehow 30 points over. 

Kenny had played at the Northwoods GT in February, and then once around April (against me, in Battle 030!). In both the April game and now, the basis of the list was his older Northwoods List. However, Fracture has been released since he last played, and Gladewalker Druids increased from 125 to 140 points. I think he was working off of the outdated FoN List in the Companion, as it all looks to foot in the old version. I don't think this really changes anything - the Gladewalker lost the double-Surge from Elemental Affinity, which we did catch, so it all works out I guess? 

Given his time away from the game, the goal was to play a nice, clean, slow game and to be focusing on the basics, reinforcing good habits, like stating intentions and having proactive discussions to avoid any bad situations. Winning is explicitly not the goal here, for either of us. In the spirit of all that, I had given Kenny the option of playing against the Herd or the Dwarfs, and he opted for fighting the Herd, so that's what I brought. My favorite Guardian Brutes are still in the process of being rebased, so I took the opportunity to explore a bunch of other units and ideas:

• Chieftain. The Fracture update dropped his attacks from a strong 8 down to a mediocre 6. I liked how he could previously hold his own in fights, even in the midst of grinds, and he was a powerful combat individual, which is a rarity, especially nowadays. He gained Strider though, so perhaps he's better in bad situations, or in starting fights? We'll try him out and see how he feels.
• Druid on Foot, Banner, BC, Heal. We don't have a lot of speed in the list, so we've dropped the steed to save some points. Arguably, I could be running Veil, or Barkskin or even Blizzard, but I still like the basic Heal and Bane Chant, so we'll keep with those simple spells here.
• Mounted Druid, BC, Big Heal. For the Unicorn, we're keeping Shroud of the Saint for a larger heal, and sticking with the basic spells since so many other things are new. 
• Ydrin Thorncreeper. A newcomer! With 7 attacks, shaming the Chieftain. As mentioned in the Hobby Update, he's got some neat rules, but I still think his chances of survival in a given game is doubtful. Still, he's a new unit, and I'm keen to give him a chance.
• Tribal Spears. I am excited to be able to run these again! Hordes are probably better, but I am not super-confident with hordes, and with Pathfinder still not interacting with charges nowadays, I figured we'd seize the opportunity to try some regiments and MMU play. 
• Critters. They are the only real chaff I have, so we'll continue to take them. We have some powerful commands now, so I can understand design-wise why Nature might not get super-speedy chaff now, but this still sucks. 
• Centaur Bray Striders. I think Centaur Troops could be very powerful with some of the new Commands, particularly the Entanglement of Thorns, though Barkskin could be strong too. In order to play around with that idea, we'll take two troops of these as well.
• Grymbrocks! I thought Retaliate had been updated, but apparently they just changed the Dwarf command? That seems weird, and a bummer. Moving this kind of unit into the Specialist slot seems fine for balance, but I wish they had just kept the Longhorns, or given us the new version when 4E launched. This and especially the new base sizes for the Guardian Brutes just strike me as a bit mean-spirited. Griping aside, we're really indexing hard into the Grymbrocks. With TC3, they hit just like cavalry, so I really wanted to explore them, thinking there might be some things to learn about actual cavalry units in the new edition.
• Great Totem. Another newcomer! The Totem strikes me as a useful and very versatile support piece, but also a very high-skill unit. With Advance Deployment, I'll need to guess where it might be useful, and see what happens. I think we'll try to stick this by buildings or terrain for some extra protection, and just see what happens.

I largely try to avoid "mirror" matches in the blog, but with two drastically different sub-factions at play here, this seemed interesting, and worth pursuing. Despite having the "same" army, not a single unit is shared between our lists! It should be neat to see us both adjusting to and dealing with all of the new Commands. 

Table and Terrain

We were out at the wonderful Valhalla Hobby in Verona, WI. I've actually been here a few times, but very irregularly. It is a phenomenal little shop with a huge selection of stuff, and with an online store as well! Kings of War has not been a huge hit for them, and the club has cleared them out of most things over time, but they've still got a few nicely discounted boxes for this, and many other games. If you are looking for deals on miniatures, check them out!

Kenny had beaten me out to the store, and was making use of the box of terrain he keeps with him, apparently at all times. You can't forget stuff if it is always in your car! His mat was from Mantic, but is apparently 44 inches deep and about a foot shy width-wise as well. I'm not sure what the original games was, but you can see the difference between it and the MDF table topper clearly. We opted for "realism" and playing on the smaller mat.

Overview of the table, with a small matt and very large terrain pieces! 

The terrain selection is a bit of a catch-all for many of his other games, large skirmishing and narrative ones. We lacked obstacles, but had enough to fill the board.We had Forests with Height 10, the blocking Buildings at Height 7, ponds were Height 0 Difficult Terrain, and the massive hill was just height 3. 

With an odd board and terrain, we shrunk our deployment zones appropriately, and opted for the more straightforward "Invade" scenario. Victory will go to whomever gets more unit strength over the center line, which from my vantage point is marked by the far edge of the 75mm base and running essentially just beyond the base of the hill.

I shared my default "grab 2/3rds of the board" advice and my opponent sort of took it to heart. Left-to-right for the Elementals we gave the Water Elemental troop screening for the Greater Air Elemental, and an Earth Elemental Troop screening for a Gladewalker and the Scorchwings.

The bulk of the Elementals.

In the center the Elementals had Shamblers, the Greater Water Elemental and the regiment side-by-side and blocking for the Fire Elementals, then another Earth Elemental Troop blocking for the Gladewalker Druid with Blizzard, and the Air Elementals in reserve, a bit behind the building. On the right, able to overshoot the building was the last troop of Forest Shamblers.

Herd on the left.

The Herd had a drop and Unit Strength advantage, though against multiple Monsters and Warlords, it actually wasn't as big as one might expect just looking at the board.

Herd in the center.

The Herd went wide with Spears, Ydrin, more spears, and Critters screening for Grymbrocks out on the right. The center had Centaurs screening for the mounted Druid with the Shroud, a Grymbrock regiment, Spears, the Chieftain, the other Grymbrock regiment, Centaurs screening for the Druid on foot, Critters and more Spears in the puddle, and the last troop of Grymbrocks in reserve.

Herd on the right. 

I had won the roll for sides, and overall, liked my deployment. I think the characters are placed sensibly, the Great Totem is protected for now, and the only nitpick is two Tribal Spear units awfully close together on the left, but that's fine.

I don’t have Scout moves, but my opponent does, and both Shamblers move up their speed, with one getting into the woods, and one huddling near the building to protect the flank of the bulk of the Elemental line, in the middle of the field.

Scout moves! Always fun.

Winning the roll for turn order, my opponent is really inclined to go second, and hunker down, but I convince him otherwise. Going first is often the right play in Kings of War. He’s got a Shambling army, and really needs to get some early ground, especially with this scenario, and even more so with all my Pathfinder. He’ll take my advice and kick things off for us!

Top of Round 1: Elementals

In reserve, the Scorchwings shuffle around on the left. The Water Elementals move up, blocking for the Greater Air Elemental near the pond. 

The Earth Elementals shamble up, and they get hit with a Surge 5 from the Gladewalker Druid, and lurch ahead, getting about even with the Forest Shamblers in the center, who inch up their speed again in the first movement phase.

The Elementals move up as far as they can.

The Great Water Elemental and accompanying regiment move up, and the Fire Elementals start to cross behind them. This Gladewalker Druid Surges the other Earth Elemental Troop for another strong 5 inches, and it gains a good deal of ground this turn as well. Normally, I am not a fan of blindly surging ahead myself. But I don't really have anything that can punish this, so well played to my opponent to get just a little more ground here!

The Earth Elementals are surged up!

The Air Elemental regiment hangs back projecting threat out into the center, and the Forest Shamblers on the right just continue plodding ahead, making their way around the building.

Bottom of Round 1: Herd

On the right, we want to bully the Forest Shamblers, and we move up to force a fight. The druid lands a hot Barkskin 3 with Commands and her Banner onto the Tribal Spears who move up into the terrain, and are baiting a hindered charge, and the Critters move up, also baiting a hindered charge, and the Great Rock/Totem is able to grant them the Entangling Thorns Command too.

Traps for the Shamblers.

Neither of those units is Inspired, but that is fine. I don't think it likely that the Spears will break, and with Thorns on the Critters, I kind of want them to break. Depending on where and if he goes, we should have some chances to catch the Shamblers in a trap.

Struggling with the hill.

In the center, the hill is a wonderful piece of terrain, just a bit awkward for our regiments. I fastidiously measure off of the Earth Elementals and the Shamblers in the center, with the Herd’s front line staying safe from them. They can't really move precisely here, so we call this good enough.

To the right of the hill, Barkskin 1 graces the Centaurs from the Chieftain, and the Grymbrock Regiment and Troop lurk, waiting to see who will spring the trap against the Shamblers. The mounted Druid lands a Barkskin 1 for the Centaur troop on the left as well, as the Herd center all inches ahead mostly together, struggling a bit with the hill. 

Layers of Herd on the left.

The building splits the line a bit, and on the other side, the Herd is pressing ahead here as well. The Tribal Spears both get up and out of terrain, baiting charges from the Greater Air Elemental and Water Elemental Troop, but stay safe from the Earth Elementals. Ydrin and the Critters stay back, and the Grymbrock Troop lurks.

Top of Round 2: Elementals

The Greater Air smashes into the Spears on the far left, but Phalanx blunts the charge from the flying monster, with 4 damage getting through. Ever-critical of my own play, the Grymbrock troop are probably in for the Greater Air Elemental, and it looks like I left a space for it. That probably would have been a better charge, but I did not see it to suggest it. Additionally, I don't think the Critters are up far enough, and there might be a landing zone into them as well. Or they could be out of range. I don't remember.

Charges on the left.

Additionally, a multi-charge is usually wise, but my opponent wanted to get a feel for how each unit does, so the Water Elementals get a Striding Command via Nature Trails and the nearby Gladewalker, and crash into the other unit of Spears. Phalanx does nothing here, but the dice are cold, and only 1 damage makes it in.

And more charges in the center.

The Earth Elemantals Shamble up, peering around the building, they’ll be surged a few more inches ahead. The Scorchwings flap around to protect the Druid, though I have nothing that can reach him.

Centrally, I was very diligent about measuring from the leading Elemental units, but am apparently in against the Waters. This is half intentional? I thought I was safe, but also made a point not to measure this, to set up a discussion about intentions. I’m just barely in range, and since this was not something I measured and confirmed, they can charge if my opponent wishes to. And he does! My intention with the units was to be uniform, though the hill made this hard. He’s got his choice of targets, and goes in against the Grymbrock regiment. The Greater Water Elemental lands a concerning 9 damage, while the unit contributes 11, and the Grymbrocks will be devastated and routed, as is proper!

Reforms for the Elementals after smashing the Herd center.

Setting everything up and talking thing through, the aggressive Elementals will be threatened by flank charges. Suddenly victorious, the choose to each sidestep to try and mitigate things. The Greater Water only gets and inch, and is still threatened in the flank by the Centaurs, though the regiment sidesteps 3 inches, getting firmly onto the hill and getting the Spears into front arc.

In the rear, the Forest Shamblers exit the woods, and the Fire Elementals move ahead, and will be Surged another 6 inches to get close to the fighting. The Gladewalker Druid hangs back, with the Air Elementals lurking safely behind the building, with it and the Earth Elementals blocking for them.

The Forest Shamblers go in.

On the right, the Forest Shamblers should get a Striding command, and choose to charge the Tribal Spears, though the dice are cold and nothing lands.

Bottom of Round 2: Herd

The Spears push back on the right against the Forest Shamblers, landing nothing. The Druid fails, but the Totem is able to get Strider onto the Grymbrocks, who do have a nice flank charge into the Forest Shamblers. The Grymbrocks land 12 damage, and we’ll break the unit, with the regiment of Spears overrunning, and the troop spinning around to try and help against the Elementals diving my line.

Springing the trap against the Shamblers for a quick win.

The Critters can’t do much, but do flank charge the Earth Elementals, and I Bane Chant them for fun, and just in case. They do land 1 damage, which is fine. They’re just there to get in the way for now.

Centaurs and the Chieftain move ahead so the rest of the Herd can deal with the Water Elementals.    

The Centaur Troop from the right can get in against the Fire Elementals, but not much else can help them, so we turn them into a sacrifice. The Chieftain runs ahead to prevent a bit of a slide down, and grants the Centaurs some Entangling Thorns as they charge out into the fiery regiment. The Centaurs land 4 damage. Boxcars is the result, and they’d still be safe, so we get to deal… 1 extra damage. Oh well, this was a still a good result for teaching.

The sidestepping Water Elemental regiment gets hit in the front by Spears, and the flank by the remaining regiment of Grymbrocks, and are devastated and routed, as is proper. The Spears sidestep to the left, granting some space, and the Grymbrocks will reform.

Reforms for the Herd.

The Centaurs flank charge the Great Air Elemental, and will land 8 damage, which is about as expected  for damage. The mounted Druid gives them the Entangling Thorns command as well, as I want to play around with the order, and see what my opponent will do. The Centaurs are Inspired, and I think they can hold. If the Greater Air turns to face, win-or-lose, it will be in a rough spot. A flank from the Shamblers could easily tip the scales, but the Greater Elemental should still be in trouble. 

I think it's a good plan, and a good test, but another hot Nerve check will ruin it, and will scatter the uninspired Greater Air Elemental. The Centaurs reform to face forward.

The Herd pushes back on the left.

On the left, Critters also get the Entangling Roots command, and flap up and over the building to fight the Earth Elementals. One damage lands, which is pretty good for the stats involved!

The Spears are able to reform and let the Grymbrock troop aid them. Each deals 4 damage, and I’ve got Brutal 2 on the Grymbrocks, but another hot boxcars will scatter the elementals here. The Spears overrun, and the Grymbrocks adjust, threatening the Greater Air Elemental (just barely), and standing by to alternatively fight the Earth Elementals too.

The Herd takes some lucky victories!

It’s close quarters, so Ydrin just supervises, and is the one to bless the Critters over here. The Spears poke at the Greater Air Elemental, landing a strong 5 damage, despite starting the turn engaged.

Top of Round 3: Elementals

The Greater Wind Elemental will slam 9 damage onto the Tribal Spears, taking them up to 13 damage, and will break them, and then overrun to relative safety. Phalanx only works on the charge now, but I thought I might have another turn of holding them up thanks to Ydrin being so close and the Spears being Inspired.

The Greater Air Elemental whooshes past the Herd line.

The Earth Elementals will hit 8 times and smash the delaying Critters to paste, though with the Thorns, the Earth Elementals are stuck.

The Scorchwings bounce.

The Scorchwings start in the pond, and should get a Strider command to mitigate that. My opponent wants to try and stem the Herd's push and go into the Tribal Spears, but I suggest the Centaur troop instead, as the Phalanx of the Spears would hinder the charge, and the troop is far more likely to break, and give him options. They fly in, and land 3 damage onto the Centaurs, who hold. Still good advice from me, I think.

The Shamblers charge the Chieftain, landing 2 damage. Meanwhile, the Fire Elementals land 10 into their troop of Centaurs, break them, and are stuck, thanks to the Herd's thorny Command order.

The Elementals continue to crash into the Herd line.

From the backfield, the Air Elementals and their Hammer whoosh onto the hill to fight the Grymbrock regiment, and will land 9 damage, which looks to be about expected. I keep thinking the Air Elementals hit on 4's, but no, they are on 3's/ We are at least Inspired by the Chieftain, and might actually be covered by the Great Totem as well, and thankfully, we do endure this and hold on. 

The Earth Elementals opt not to reform to fight the Critters, and thump 3 damage onto the scamps, but they hold.

Bottom of Round 3: Herd

The Tribal Spears make use of Pathfinder, and hop out of the pond, ending behind the building with a pivot. They are very clearly scoring for me already, and not threatening to circle back and envelop the Elemental line very soon.

The Critters continue on against the Earth Elementals, landing another damage in their flank, and I think the command order for Thorns for them fails this round. 

With the crises being mostly dealt with, the Grymbrock troop from the right just pivots and moves ahead, getting near the Great Totem to stand ready. The Grymbrock regiment pushes back against the Air Elementals. We cannot use Retaliate, but do get a Barkskin 2 from the Druid with the Banner, as well as a Bane Chant from the same Druid to help with the grind.

The Air Elementals are flanked by the Tribal Spears, and get a Barkskin 1 from the Chieftain, as he lands 3 damage into the Forest Shamblers, who will hold.

The mounted Druid gets a Barkskin 2 onto the Centaurs fighting the Scorchwings, and is able to land the Bane Chant to help the Spears flanking the Air Elementals as well. The duo land 16 damage into the Air Elementals and scatter them. The Centaurs will land a hot 6 damage, but the Scorchwings hold.

Reforms for the Herd, making ready for the Fire Elementals.

The Earth Elementals by the building get charged by the Grymbrocks, but my dice are not as wild as my opponent’s dice, and only manage 2 damage. There is a Brutal 2 involved, but the Earth Elementals hold. 

Tribal Spears spin around to try and deal with the Greater Air Elemental.

Pushing in from the right with a strong lead, the Spears on the left move and pivot twice, spinning around to try and deal with the Greater Air Elemental. 

Even more hot Nerve checks for the Herd...

Trying to pin it down for a turn, and maybe utilize Feint, Ydrin charges the Elemental, takes it up to 8 damage, and then yet another hot check will see yet another uninspired Elemental unit fleeing the field.

Top of Round 4: Elementals

The Earth Elementals slam 2 onto the Grymbrock troop, with Barkskin blanking one of the damage. We hold.

The Scorchwings fight on against the Centaurs, landing 3 damage, though Barkskin blunts 2 of it. The Centaurs go up to 4 damage, but are also still holding for me.

The Herd troops hold.

Hoping to send a message, the Fire Elementals flank the Chieftain, who will be devastated and then routed, as is proper. Reforms are tough though. The Shamblers are pretty safe, and so just spin around to face the Centaurs, and the Fire Elementals reform to get stuff into front arc.

The Chieftain is charged.

The Earth Elementals will smack another 4 onto the Critters, who will break. Since the Command failed last round, the Earth Elementals reform.

The Chieftain and Critters fall.

The Druid with Blizzard moves and flings with cover into the Grymbrocks on the hill, as the Fire Elementals are also on the hill. Two hits blast into … 2 total hits, and unfortunately no damage is actually dealt to the unit. 

My whole meta thinks Blizzard is a touch too strong. I share that view, but don't think it really works amazing with my opponent's list. He could be using it to slow enemy fliers down to make sure his Air Elementals get the charge, or maybe alongside more Scorchwings or the Life Awakening spell, but "just" as a ranged attack spell, it doesn't seem worth it.

Bottom of Round 4: Herd

The Tribal Spears behind the building can get a flank charge into the delaying earth Elementals, and take it, with the Grymbrocks charging into the front of the rocks. The Druid on the hill can see the fight, and lands a Barkskin 1 onto the Grymbrock troop, a Bane Chant onto the flanking Spears, which Manage 9 damage, with the Grymbrocks landing 5, and the unit will be routed.

Multi-charges from the Herd.

The maimed Grymbrock regiment will get a Barkskin 1 to try and stay in the fight just a little longer, and more Tribal Spears will join them with a charge into the Fire Elementals. The Spears poke 4, and the Grymbrocks land 11, and with Brutal 2 in the mix as well, we’ll break this regiment of Elementals.

It’s close quarters, and awkward with the hill, but in victory, the Spears will sidestep to get the Forest Shamblers in front arc, and the extra space will let the Grymbrocks reform slightly.

Strong victories for the Herd in Round 4.

The remaining Centaurs will charge the Scorchwings, and will prevail this turn, and reform to threaten the Forest Shamblers.

On the far left, the Grymbrocks fight on against the Earth Elementals, but have no TC, and Retaliate doesn’t trigger against just the one unit. The Unicorn druid swings around the try and help with a Bane Chant, but it fizzles, and no damage at all connects. The Druid does land an Entangling Thorns command though, and the Tribal Spears will back up and pivot, putting themselves into the flank of the Earth Elementals. We should be able to deal with them next turn.

The Grymbrocks push back, but Def6 is still Def6.

Ydrin doesn’t have too much to do. Since the Grymbrocks are wider than the Elementals, I can’t get him into the fight here, so he’s supervising again, but staying close. Next turn he might have a charge into the Gladewalker, or reposition to hunt, and between him and the mounted Druid, we should be able to get Strider, and hopefully a Bane Cant, onto the Tribal Spears to help break the Earth Elementals.

Top of Round 5: Elementals

On the left, the Earth Elementals slug the Grymbrock troop. A Gladewalker Druid commands them to rampage, getting two success on the dice, while also landing a Heal 2 in the ranged phase. The Elementals will land 4 damage to the Grymbrocks, and take them up to 5 damage total. It is just a troop fight, but the Grymbrocks are rather stalwart, and they do hold. 

The Elementals fail to break out.

The Forest Shamblers opt to change facing, spinning around, and will then be Surged into the injured Centaurs. A Druid commands them to rampage, getting 2 successful dice for another Rampage 4, but Kenny’s dice are forever inconsistent, and no damage lands here, and with the Centaurs holding strong, the Shamblers have Tribal Spears eyeing their flank. 

Bottom of Round 5: Herd

I like rolling dice as much as the next wargamer, but this is over. The Herd have multi-charges into everything left opposing us, and I think  even the Spears on the hill can hit the flank of the Forest Shamblers too. And if that wasn’t dire enough, we have enough units to spare that we can probably just park them for the victory without actually caring about how the combats even go. 

We’ll call it here, so we have more time to chat. We’ve both had a lot of fun, and learned a lot, and this is a strong victory to the Herd!

Game Conclusions

My opponent and his Elementals had some very strong plays, but erratic dice and a lack of Inspiring for their pushes ended up biting them. The Herd had some lucky dice to swiftly break those uninspired Elementals, but were really able to leverage their advantage in drops, US, and Champions/ Commands for the win here. 

Testing Conclusions

• Chieftain. Getting hamstrung and dropping to 6 attacks is indeed rough for his combat prowess, and it’s a bummer than an upstart like Ydrin has 7 attacks too! The Chieftain is still fun and strong, but far more of a niche pick now. 
• Druid on Foot, Banner, BC, Heal. Druids continue to be a very strong choice for Champions, in my opinion. This is a fine kit as well. Running some “Intern” Druids of his own was probably my opponent’s biggest takeaway from our game. They are customizable with their spells, and can provide a lot of versatility with our new Command Orders.
• Mounted Druid, BC, Big Heal. This kit is fine as well, though I don’t think I really got to cast the larger heal at all – Bane Chant and pressing the attack felt far more important all game.
• Ydrin Thorncreeper. He mostly supervised this game, but did get a lucky break on the Greater Air Elemental in his only fight. Combat individuals are still nice for dealing with fliers and line-hopping! Not the most expansive test for him, but an ok start. Not needing the Chieftain to run the Herd anymore is nice, and he could see play as a cheaper alternative.
• Tribal Spears. They mostly took up space, and provided a smidge of extra muscle and Nerve across the battlefield, but that is perfectly fine for a Core unit! This was a decent return game for them. Having a few extra attacks was nice, and Phalanx did mess with some fliers even! Mass regiments is probably not the way to go long-term with the army, but it did give me some good flexibility here with the MMU play.
• Critters. Well, even bad chaff is better than no chaff I suppose? At least that was my takeaway here with them. They each battled Earth Elementals for several turns, and just keeping the more useful and more expensive Elementals out of fights was valuable for me, letting the rest of the Herd list isolate and brawl against the other units. Yeah, these did just fine for me.
• Centaur Bray Striders. These were fine as well. These aren’t full cavalry, but do feel more unique and useful than they have been previously. Crushing Strength was nice and noticeable in the grinds, and with the extra Speed, I felt like they did pair nicely with the new delaying Commands, like Entanglement of Thorns. 
• Grymbrocks. While I noted it in the report, I completely forgot about Brutal 2 throughout the entire game. That’s a pretty nice boon. Retaliate is unfortunately apparently still busted in a bad way, but these indeed gave me some nice insights for cavalry. While the fliers did outrange us, we were mostly able to keep these back and well-protected for some nice counter-punching. I’ve tried using cavalry like this before, but don’t think I gave them enough instigating units previously. Overall, like any TC-reliant unit, the charges were fine, but the grind is still a bummer.
• Great Totem. I lucked out with where the Air Elementals started, and was able to safely drop this down behind the building. While my opponent got first turn, he wasn’t able to really devote time to battling the rock. I managed to drop it in a place to score for the scenario, and it was able to issue a few commands even! I forgot about Rally though the math swung hard in both directions that it wouldn’t have changed anything, and I remembered Vicious about half the time. It definitely takes some extra thought to use, but this was a great debut for this super-fun pick! Edit: about a week later, I see I have misread the Advanced Deployment rule... it needs to come down on my half of the board. I misplayed this then.
• Elementals and other Traits. I’ve previously noted just how much was going on in the initial Forces of Nature list, with Herd, Brotherhood, Verdant, and Elementals are vying for attention in the original roster. Verdant stuff has now been rolled up into just Elementals, which makes things easier, and makes sense given that we only have a few units of woody things now. I really liked seeing the assorted Elementals at work, and was really impressed by the Water and Air Elementals in all forms. I’m trying not to add too much to my existing collections right now, but a few of these might be fun to try out, and the Greater Water Elemental is such a fun looking model too, with the broken keel and such around the spine. It was just great to see these models all on the table, and my opponent's enthusiasm and optimism for the game was infectious!

The “mirror” match was indeed neat to see here. I loved seeing all the Elementals on the table and working together! Having both of us working through the “same” new army was fun, and we both learned a lot, though the end result was unfortunately a bit one-sided. We’ll see if the Elementals can acquire some new interns, and I hope we can see them all across the table again soon! Thanks for the game, Kenny!