Kings of War 3rd Edition: #033: Varangur vs Salamanders [Plunder]

Intro and Lists

With the first game behind us, we decided to rerack and try again. The Scorchwings have a lot of potential, so my opponent opted to run the same list as before, giving them another try.

The Clan Lord and Rhinosaurs are here, as are regiments of Ancients and Primes. Closely supporting the sturdy units are an Ancient Phoenix, a medic Mage Priest, As-ever, the list is pretty strong on paper, with a lot of sturdy units and some nice supporting elements, like the Scorchwings, a Battle Captain on Rhinosaur, and some Ghekkotah Warriors. 

I switched a few things up for my second list, but the basic theme of my previous list was still here, with some cavalry units, cheap heroes, and some Draugr and Night Raiders to experiment with. Up to test in this game are:

• Draugr. I have two units, but no powerful infantry to support or block for. I wanted to see how this feels. Cheap Nerve and drops are good, but we'll see if and how they contribute.
• Night Raiders. They seem potentially awkward to use with their low Defense and low range on the Throwing Axes. We'll see how they do.
• Mounted Sons. I am taking these with no upgrades to keep it simple, and think a few regiments of these should be able to do some work. I really like the concept of cavalry with some Crushing Strength, as you should be able to do more and potentially grind smaller units out if the charges don't go as planned or even if you get charged instead. We'll take them for another spin!
• Frost Giant. I haven't played a larger game with the Kingdoms of Men in some time, so I haven't played around much with the new Cleaver/Club options for the Giants yet. We'll see how the Club does? Giants need to be supported, so we'll see how well I do at that, and if I get any Breath Attacks in.
• Lord with Stealthy Icon. As I understand it, this is more of a tournament meta choice. I had a model and wanted to try it out as another source of Inspiring. The Icon is likely not going to be too impactful, but there seems to be some potential for even just a basic Lord on foot, which is pretty neat. We'll see how he does this game.
• Thegn on Frostfang. The Lords are still demoted so I can focus on the positioning basics for these kinds of units. We'll see how tricky I can be with nimble in this game.. 
• Snow Troll Prime. I quite like the legendary Kruufnir, but felt that I needed to try out the basic version at some point too. So here we are.

As with the previous game, I had a slight advantage in drops (17 to 13), but my opponent had one with Unit Strength (26 to my 24, with a number of mine being monster-sized again). The first game went far better for me than I expected, but my opponent's dice were a little cold, stalling out some crucial attacks from the Rhinosaurs, so I was anticipating a tough rematch here.

Table and Terrain

We again used the Battle Maps website to help speed things up, generating the gist of a board and selecting Plunder for the scenario for us. We have some Height 3 Hills, Height 6 forests for Difficult terrain, some Height 6 Blocking buildings, and Height 1 graveyards.

The Salamander deployment, and my weak center.

My opponent opted for a pretty classical deployment of cavalry on the wings with infantry and  his titan-sized centerpiece units in the middle of his line. Left-to-right we have Rhinosaurs screening Scorchwings, Ghekkotah Warriors, Ancients with a Healing Brew Screening the Clan Lord, Primes, Ancients with the Aegis screening the Ancient Phoenix and medic Mage Priest, Captain, then Rhinosaurs screening more Scorchwings.

The chaff-heavy left flank of the Varangur.

I deployed rather haphazardly. My only goals was to get the cavalry near open terrain, and have the Night Raiders and Giant together to try and focus fire something. On my left we have two units of Snow Foxes, Mounted Sons, a Thegn and Magnilde.

My center has the Lord with Icon, Mounted Sons, Thegn, and Snow Troll Prime, and then my line continues on, with both Night Raider units, Frost Giant, Draugr and Skaald, Snow Foxes, and Mounted Sons on the right flank.

The stacked right of the Varangur line.

For these games, I throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks, rarely running the same list twice, and often not even following-up on things that performed well until a month or two later after a few other sojourns. I don't think in battlegroups, or optimize my lists very well. This deployment is ridiculous. I wasn't consciously aware of it at the time, but writing up the report, I am insanely looking to try and contest all the tokens. I even picked the left token as my two-pointer, really spreading things out for us across the board. 

I win the roll off for first turn. There is no long range shooting on the table, and I don't have an inkling of what my own strategy is going to be. With objectives in play, I decide to have my opponent kick things off for us.

Top of Round 1: Salamanders

My opponent is equally indecisive, and opts to just pass the turn back to me, and make big decisions my problem again. This messes with my sense of time throughout the report. I really need to finish up my report note template and start using it! Hopefully I get my act together soon in this regard.

Bottom of Round 1: Varangur

With the onus back on me now, I look to have a wider line, so decided to set about trying to envelop the Salamanders, still looking to contest every token. On the left, I respected charge distances, but moved up some Snow Foxes to screen things out, and everything of mine generally moved forward. 

Opening moves on the left.

My center also advanced, but was wary of the long charge range on the Clan Lord. Fortunately, he was tucked behind other units, and the center of the Salamander lines was infantry, so the Thegn and Kruufnir could move up a good bit while still being perfectly safe.

The center creeps up.

On the right, my units moved up as well. The Mounted Sons angle towards the center, the Draugr move up as far as they could with the terrain, and the Frost Giant moved up it's speed, just sticking its corner into the woods before needing to stop. The Night Raiders draw up nearby, but hold back, hiding behind their towering friend.

The right moves up, looking to collapse in on the Salamander line.

Top of Round 2: Salamanders

On the right, the Rhinosaurs inch up and the Scorchwings fly overhead. I forget that my Night Raiders are stealthy, and the flaming birds land 3 damage onto the raiders with no modifications. Oops. Stealthy is a nice rule for these and I keep forgetting about it!

Neither of us brings a lot of shooting, so we goof some rules.

The Salamander infantry will advance up, with some taking the hill. The Rhinosaurs over on the left will advance as well, with the Scorchwings flying up and over them to screen. Also out on the left, the Clan Lord will fly around, looking for good positioning to contribute in the coming turns.

Bottom of Round 2: Varangur

I am not sure what else to do, so on my left I charge the Snow Foxes into the enemy screens. On the left, a unit goes into the Scorchwings and deals no damage, while another unit goes into the Ghekkotah Warriors, dealing a few but the small lizards hold.

I am not used to having Snow Foxes around.

The Mounted Songs and Thegn awkwardly shuffle about and the Draugr clamber through the difficult graveyard. Magnilde comes through though, popping her once-per-game wings, and booping the Clan Lord, grounding him. 

The Varangur center moves on up.

The Varangur center moves up in lockstep. Fortunately, the Giant and Night Raiders all went their speed, and are all able to toss into the Primes just touching the Graveyard. They won't be getting cover from being inside the Difficult Terrain since the majority of their base isn't in the terrain piece, but the Primes should still get it against the Raiders from the terrain being Height 1, which I am certain we didn't account for as I am writing. Neither of us tend to have much shooting in our lists, so are a little rusty. This is a very unfortunate error as the Primes will take some above-average damage rolls and then eat two 11's for the Inspired Nerve Checks, and will be routed. The dice seemed to have it out for the Primes, but I should have caught this shooting goof.

The Snow Foxes here charge the Scorchwings as well, and here too, the flaming birds are completely unscathed. My opponent got quite lucky with both Scorchwing units. Both were directly in front of the Rhinosaur Cavalry units, and both units are Height 4. Had either of the Scorchwings units even been just disordered, the Rhinosaurs would have been in a rough spot for moves and line of sight this next turn, especially on the right.

Top of Round 3: Salamanders

Since they were not disordered, the Scorchwings retain Fly, and are able to disengage and hop over the Snow Foxes do block other things up.

The Phoenix lands, making good use of the Cloak of Death!

On the right, the Scorchwings slip away, fly over the Foxes, land behind them, and shoot into the Mounted Sons while the Rhinosaurs mince the critters. The Ancient Phoenix joints the Captain in  frontal assault against the Giant, hoping to soften him up, since I cannot heal away any of my damage. The Cloak of the Phoenix deals a lot of damage, but the duo is unable to fell the Frost Giant in combat, who actually has the best Nerve values on my side of the table.

The Salamander infantry along the center move up, and we make sure to position them such that the Thegn or Snow Troll can't nimbly catch anything in the flank. 

No funny business. There's about 40-45mm between each regiment.

On the left, the Scorchwings also slip away, and hop over the Foxes, letting the critters die to the Rhinosaurs. Here as well the Rhinosaurs will easily win, and will overrun. The flaming birds will block out some Varangur charges here as well.

Typical, messy flanks.

The Clan Lord strikes back at Magnilde, dealing 7 but fails to rout her, so she Iron Resolves a damage back. The Ghekkotah Warriors cut down my final unit of Snow Foxes, removing all my speedy chaff pretty early in the game.

Bottom of Round 3: Varangur

The flanks are messy. On the left, the Draugr charge the Rhinosaurs to gum them up for a turn while the Mounted Sons charge the Scorchwings. I don't think I get them to devastated, but unfortunately, the Scorchwings are found to be insane, and they hold. I was hoping to set up a nice trade here by delaying the Rhinosaurs with the Draugr, but the insane Scorchwings throw a wrench into that plan.

Nice ideas from the Varangur, but lackluster results.

The Thegn is able to flank the Warriors and remove them, and will pivot to get the Clan Lord in it's arc. Magnilde lands a few more damage onto the Clan Lord, but I don't think she is long for this world.

Safe from the Clan Lord, I aim to tie up the enemy infantry. The Lord with Icon charges one unit of Ancients, while the Snow Troll Prime takes the other. With these units delayed, the Mounted Sons and Thegn charge in to try and remove the Primes, but will fail to do so since the Primes are found to be insanely courageous as well after taking a boatload of damage.

On the right, the Mounted Sons resign to taking out the Scorchwings, with the Draugr joining in with a hindered charge into the flank. The Mounted Sons will back up an inch, and the Draugr will reform to deny the Rhinosaurs a flank.

Lots of damaged units on this side.

The Frost Giant will choose to counter-charge the Captain, and rolls up 4 extra attacks from just being a giant, but none from the rampage-granting club, since the target does not qualify. The Night Raiders pile into the Ancient Phoenix with one getting in the flank, and I do get the mighty Phoenix into "insane courage territory" and will actually pop it! After the last few games, I wasn't sure it could be done, but apparently all I needed was 36 attacks. One of the Raiders is atop the Two Point Token nearby, and will pick it up.

The Skald does nothing this turn, as I was eager to get into combat and forgot about the spell until we were in the middle of the melee phase. The fights against the Phoenix and Captain didn't need the buff, but I could have used him better, say to help the Snow Troll Prime or even the hindered Draugr. This is definitely an error on my part.

Top of Round 4: Salamanders

On the left, Magnilde will fall to the Clan Lord, as will the Draugr to the Rhinosaurs. The insane Scorchwings will fight back, dealing an amazing 4 to the Mounted Sons. With the insane Scorchwings doing work, I think my opponent has a very good chance to take this flank from me. 

The Salamander infantry counter-charge, disordering everything but breaking nothing. The Ancients fighting the Lord with the Icon pop their Healing Brew and heal to 0, and the other Ancients, who have recovered some using the Aegis, heal more from the Mage Priest. The Ancients are doing well with heals, as should be expected with a Def6 unit! The Primes choose to disorder the Mounted Sons, popping the Thegn out of combat.

On the right, the Rhinosaur Cavalry will obliterate the Mounted Sons here, turning to face the center of the field. The Captain will continue to fight against the Giant, landing 2 more damage against it.

Bottom of Round 4: Varangur

On the right, the Draugr will charge the Rhinosaurs here, hoping to just delay them. The Giant and both Night Raiders pile in against the Captain, and will drag him down. The Giant and one of the Raiders will turn to face the Rhinosaurs and try to win this flank, while the second unit of Raiders will turn towards the middle. 

The Varangur are making some progress on the right flank.

In the middle, the Snow Troll Prime took 5, regenerated 1, and strikes back against the Ancients, dealing 3 and they should heal that down to 2 with the Iron Resolve item. The Mounted Sons and Thegn get another attempt at the insane Primes, and will finish them off this time. Both will move back to try and get options next turn, but both will only back up one inch. The Lord with Icon will land some new damage against the other group of Ancients while the Thegn charges into the Clan Lord, slowly ticking up the damage against the flier and keeping it grounded.

Mid-combat at the bottom of Round 5.

On the left, the Mounted Sons will finally cut down the insane Scorchwings, but the victory is a turn too late for the Mounted Sons on this flank, and the Rhinosaurs are eagerly eyeing my cavalry up. 

Top of Round 5: Salamanders

On the left, the Rhinosaurs indeed ravenously crash into the Mounted Sons, destroying them in one go as I've come to expect. As-ever, wounding on 2's is pretty great and the Rhinosaurs are a heck of a unit! They will pick up the Two Point token nearby. The Clan Lord eyes up the new challenger, but looks to have a very bad turn, only landing 2 damage against the Thegn.

The Salamanders grind out the left.

The Ancients will countercharge their respective adversaries, and will waver both the Lord and Snow Troll. Each will pick up the One Point Loot Tokens they are standing on, which we had both largely been ignoring until this turn.

On the right, the other Rhinosaurs will crash through the Draugr with just what they needed on the Nerve check, and will grab another Loot Token as well. 

At the end of the top of the round, I have 2 Points and my opponent has 5.

Bottom of Round 5: Varangur

On the right, the Frost Giant and Night Raiders crash into the Rhinosaurs. The giant again only rolls up 1 on his extra attacks, and will still get nothing from the club. Thanks to Brutal, I am able to just rout the Rhinosaurs, here, and the Giant will secure their One Point token.

The Varangur prevail on the right flank.

Undaunted, the Thegn continues swinging against the Clan Lord. The Clan Lord has taken some hits, but is still around, if grounded. In the center, the Mounted Sons take the flank of one unit of Ancients, while the Thegn takes the flank of the another. Both units of old-timers are felled, and their tokens secured for the Varangur.

It was a big swing for the Varangur in the center.

At the end of the round, the Varangur have managed to wrest control of a few more tokens, flipping the score to 5:2 in favor of the old gods. We went into the round thinking it was Round 6, and had agreed to end it here, so the Varangur do not make any reforms as we resolve combat.

Yes, unfortunately, we appear to have donked up round count for this game, and this is as far as we managed to get. I wasn't diligent about the tracker in this game, and Salamanders doing nothing for Round 1 really got in my head with my internal pacing. We must have moved it twice at some point. 

Game Conclusions

It was not the cleanest of games, rules-wise. 

The round tracking error was unfortunate, but honestly, this was probably not that determinative. By carrying the token, the Rhinosaurs are reduced to Speed 5, and are unlikely to reach another combat to claim another token. 

My opponent played a good game here, getting a lot of value out of the very lucky Scorchwings, and getting both of the Rhinosaur units into meaningful some combats and cutting down a fair number of Varangar units in the process.

Overall, I was pleased with my play. Deployment was a mess, and there were some lapses in planning and judgement, like not utilizing the Skald, but as the game progressed I developed a decent fighting plan, and it mostly worked out! The insane courage on the Scorchwings messed up the desired trade over on my left flank, allowing my opponent to emerge victorious with the Rhinosaurs, but with a bit of luck, my delaying units did enough that I was able to win elsewhere, and trying to fight everywhere worked out this time.

Testing Conclusions

• Draugr. Two throwaway tarpits proved nice to have around! I was thinking they might be too slow to contribute, but that ended up not being the case  here, and they took the hits to protect important things like the Mounted Sons. For an infantry-focused list, I could definitely see the merit adding a third unit, but two seem fine for any general Varangur list.
• Night Raiders. They did well in this game too, though the rules goof benefitted them a lot. Their axes rolled a bit hot both games, so I think more testing is needed to see how they will typically perform. They still definitely don't want to face off against cavalry, but from the look of things can definitely apply pressure to infantry. 
• Mounted Sons. Deployment weirdness aside, these did work ok. I was feeling the pressure both games with only three real smashy units, but that is my haphazard list building at work. The units themselves did wonderfully.
• Frost Giant. The club ended up being the wrong pick this time! It didn't come up at all, and the Giant did not generate as many attacks as I would have wanted. The club seems to be a nice pick though? With CS4, the Giant is likely to wound anything that hits a monster, so you might want the club to make sure it doesn't get bogged down by infantry and the like, such as Draugr. Both options are nice to have, and this will be fun to explore more down the road.
• Lord with Stealthy Icon. He's proving to be resourceful! The higher-tier characters (like the Lord, or Magnilde, characters with 15+ Nerve) are proving to be decent delaying units. I got a lot of utility out of him both games, and the Icon is a pretty cheap upgrade. I can see why some tournament players would run him! 
• Thegn on Frostfang. With more drops than my opponent, these were able to operate without much interference. Still, they continued to do well, and cheap units to support and disrupt.
• Snow Troll Prime. I see the appeal? It is cheap, it regenerates, it Inspires, and it can throw around a few damage to help swing combats. I could see many lists running 1-2 of these for the utility, but for me, Kruufnir seems way more fun to run.

It's been a busy month for me, and it was good to finally get out and roll some dice! A big thank you to my opponent for fitting these games in.

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #032: Varangur vs Salamanders [Push]

Intro and Lists

March has been quite stressful for me and very hard on my schedule, so I was very excited to fit a few weekend games in recently against some Salamanders! My opponent brought the following:

My opponent generally kept with the sturdy units and heals approach. The centerpiece model of the mighty Clan Lord on Fire Drake with the Brew of Sharpness returns, as do the double units of scary Rhinosaur Cavalry hordes. The Prime regiments and Ancient regiments return to hold objectives. For heals he has the Ancient Phoenix and kitted Mage Priest. For new supporting units he has a Battle Captain on Rhinosaur, some Ghekkotah Warriors, and two regiments of very versatile Scorchwings!

I continued to experiment with my lists. The Mounted Sons did not do well on their last outing, but I maintain that it was not their fault! There is not much they could do against so many Insane Courage results, and I think the cavalry unit still has potential to form the backbone of a list. I decided to bring them, play around more with cheap, Nimble heroes to learn the basics there, and keep on trying to figure out my Draugr and Night Raiders. Up to test are:

• Draugr. I have two units, but no powerful infantry to support or block for. I wanted to see how they do on the own. Cheap Nerve and more drops are good, but they aren't likely to be out in front taking charges, so we'll see if and how they contribute.
• Night Raiders. I want to like them, but they seem awkward with the low Defense and low range on the Throwing Axes. I just need to keep trying them out! We'll see how they do here.
• Mounted Sons. I think cavalry with some Crushing Strength will do well still. I usually forget about magic items, so I am taking all these without upgrades. 
• Jabberwocks. With no real shooting in my list, and up against a list with healing, these seem destined to underwhelm, but we'll see how they do. 
• Lord with Stealthy Icon. I wanted to squeeze in one more source of Inspiring. In the tournament meta, this pick seems to have started gaining some traction. My opponent here doesn't tend to have much shooting, so we'll see how effective the upgrade is and if a little foot Lord is worth looking into more.
• Thegn on Frostfang. My Lords flubbed their attack rolls so hard, I'm keeping them demoted for a few more games. I will continue to focus on positioning and basics for Nimble monster-sized units, and see what they can get up to this game. 
• Kruufnir. I like the design of the Legendary Snow Troll, so wanted to try him out again. We'll see how well he gets used this time.

I had an edge in drops, but my opponent had an advantage in Unit Strength. Five of my Unit Strength this game is tied up on monster bases with US1 as well, so his units should be outclassing mine. I figured this was going to be a tough battle, but I am always wary of the Salamanders. Their innate, high defense makes it hard to break units without overwhelming force, and in a unit-trading game, I can quickly run out of fighting units to commit. Up against heals as well, there is a real danger of the Varangur being ground out if I don't target and then break Salamander units efficiently.

Table and Terrain

We've been to this shop a few times. It is new, and is better with every visit, but the terrain is still being built up, and the selection is not great for Kings of War needs. I brought my own again, with Height 3 Hills, Height 6 forests for Difficult terrain, Height 2 obstacles, some Height 6 Blocking buildings, and Height 1 graveyards.

We've used this before, but this was my first time remembering the name of the website. We used the Battle Maps website to help generate a map. Ta-da. It's a neat little site and even picked the scenario for us. I wish there was a little more customizability with it, like you could input the terrain you had and it would try to generate something balanced, but for quick-starting a game, this was pretty slick, and we made it work. 

The site gave us Push, and we set about deploying. Left-to-right my opponent had Primes with the Headstrong item, Ancients with the Healing Brew screening the Clan Lord with the Brew of Sharpness and the medic Mage Priest, Ancients with the Aegis screening the Ghekkotah Warriors, Primes with the Staying Stone screening the Ancient Phoenix. Out on the flank, Rhinosaurs had Boots and then the Lifeleech Scripture, and both units screened Scorchwings. 

The Salamander line, and my center.

I did not have a real plan. Seeing infantry early from my opponent, I aimed to preserve my Night Raiders and a Jabberwock for my far left, and was able to achieve that, with those as my final drops for deployment. The aim was to give the Night Raiders a fighting chance against an ideal target while everything else slugged it out. The Clan Lord could complicate that, but Magnilde deployed here too to Inspire and hopefully occupy the Lord for a time. Everything else of mine deployed a bit haphazardly, as I tend to do... 

The shifty left flank of the Varangur, eyeing up the enemy infantry.

My center had Snow Foxes, a Thegn and Kruufnir. We had rolled up just one 1 more Loot Token each, so the Draugr here held mine. I was able to juuust fit two regiments of Mounted Sons over here without getting blocked by the building. I was thinking I'd deploy them more on the left, in front of the Foxes, but felt I should deploy more here to fight the Rhinosaurs as they came down.

The right of the Varangur, squaring up against a lot of monstrous cavalry units.

My right ended with the Lord with Stealthy Icon, Draugr, Thegn, Mounted Sons, Jabberwock, and Snow Foxes in reserve.

We rolled up only 1 additional Loot Token each. My opponent gave his to the Ghekkotah Warriors, and mine went to the more central of my Draugr units. My plan was to fight, and hopefully the Draugr would keep ambling forward as the game went on.

I won the roll off for first turn decision. With no long-range shooting on the table, and no clear idea what I actually wanted to do, I figured my opponent should be making all those hard decisions and opening moves instead.

Top of Round 1: Salamanders

And I immediately forgot to take a picture. Everything moved up, but remained cautious, and stayed out of my potential charge ranges. Nothing of his was in range to shoot, so it was a quick turn. The flying Clan Lord and Phoenix both started moving over towards my right side though, and the token-carrying Ghekkotah Warriors just hunker down for now.

Bottom of Round 1: Varangur

My right moved up, with the Snow Foxes an inch or more ahead of the Mounted Sons to let them pivot, and protecting the Sons and the Jabberwock from anything scary. Draugr took the hill while the Lord with Icon and Thegn lurked nearby.

The Varangur's right flank moves up. 

My Mounted Sons in the center moved up, but out of the Clan Lord's charge range, but able to see around the building. A unit of Snow Foxes zipped forth, hoping to be ignored and chaff up some Rhinosaurs in the coming turns. The Thegn and Kruufnir moved up, looking for any openings in the enemy infantry line while the Loot-carrying Draugr just side-stepped. I wasn't ready to push forward yet, but it probably would have been better to change facing a move up to get around the fence fully.

The Varangur center awkwardly tries to reposition a bit.

Over on the left, the Night Raiders moved up a bit, but will be out of range this turn for their throwing weapons. The Jabberwock moves up and pivots, peering around the forest. 

Tricky moves over on the left. With no cavalry and no Clan Lord, I think I should be able to win this.

With the Salamander infantry unable to make any charges here next turn, and the Clan Lord looking elsewhere, my developing plan is to try and pen the Salamanders in with the threat of flank attacks from the Jabberwock, and let my Night Raiders throw some axes in the coming turns.

Top of Round 2: Salamanders

On the left, the Salamander infantry was indeed dissuaded, with the Primes on the end pivoting to get the Jabberwock into their front arc. The Ancients with the brew marched up alongside in moral support, again, keeping things in the front.

The Varangur lines are all blocked up.

The other Ancients moved up to stare down Kruufnir and the Thegn, while the Clan Lord spit fire at the latter, dealing 3 damage. The Primes take an awkward charge into the Foxes, spinning around. The Primes would pulp them and would barely reform, liking their position very much.

The Varangur's right flank is entirely stalled out as the turn concludes.

Over on the right, the Scorchwings flew up and over to block out the two central Mounted Sons units. I thought my opponent might shoot with them more, and was not expecting them to be so aggressive, but I think this was a pretty good move, occupying the attention of two powerful Varangur units. 

The Phoenix would throw fire at my most central unit of Mounted Sons, but only slips in 1 damage, thanks to the Lord with Stealthy Icon nearby. Joining the Ancient Phoenix in the reserves are the Battle Captain and the unit of Rhinosaur Cavalry with the Boots.

The second unit of Rhinosaurs will slam into the Draugr. The rolls were rather cold, and the Zombies hold after sustaining 8 damage, and will then Iron Resolve down to 7 damage. Typically the Rhinosaurs by themselves will delete anything they touch, so the zombies really lucked out here. Lastly, the Scorchwings will charge the Snow Foxes near the table edge, rout them, and will then change facing, effectively screening the Rhinosaurs from my third unit of Mounted Sons.

Bottom of Round 2: Varangur

With all three of my potent Mounted Sons mostly blocked up this turn, I set about trying to protect them this turn, so they can strike next turn and get some value. On the right, the Lord with Icon charges the Rhinosaurs in reserve, dealing a few damage and disordering them, while the Draugr countercharge the other enemy cavalry unit.

The lucky Draugr counter attack, but don't do anything as I recall.

The Thegn, Mounted Sons, and Jabberwocky all charge the Scorchwings, dealing a ton of damage, and will remove them. The Thegn will just change facing to try and box in the nearby Rhinosaurs (more difficult to pivot through and around the Thegn), while the Mounted Sons and Jabberwock will both overrun a mighty 1". Still, they are out of the charge arc of the Rhinosaur Captain, so that definitely counts for something, and even the Thegn is safe from the Captain, due to the intervening Rhinosaurs.

Centrally, the Draugr with my Loot charge the Ancients, opening up space for one of the Mounted Sons to make a hindered charge into the Primes and then slide around into a better position. The other unit of Mounted Sons charges and trounces the Scorchwings. 

The Mounted Sons are able to charge, slide to center, and get some better positioning.

On the right, the Night Raiders both throw into the Primes, with a good number of axes landing between the volleys of the two raiding units. The unit is Wavered with a lucky roll. Meanwhile, the Jabberwock, Thegn, Magnilde, and Kruufnir will all charge into the Ancients. Everything has multiple modifiers to wound, and this seemed like the best chance to break the Def6 unit. 

The Salamander infantry take some heavy hits from everything. 

The Ancients are indeed routed with a lot of damage an average Nerve check. The Jabberwork turns to face the wavering Primes, Magnilde overruns, and both the Thegn and Kruufnir will turn to face towards the center, eying the flanks of the rest of the Salamander line.

The Ancients are broken, and a contingent of Varangur characters are breaking through.

Top of Round 3: Salamanders

The Primes shake off their Wavered status with the help of their item, and with their courage restored, will charge into the Jabberwock, dealing a respectable 4 damage to it, but the frenzied beast has some good Nerve values and is out for blood. It holds, putting the Primes in an awkward spot, given the Raiders nearby.

The Salamander infantry are in some trouble. 

Centrally, the Ancients counter-charge the token-carrying Draugr, and will deal 5, but the zombies will resolutely hold for now. The Draugr continue to impress with their decent Nerve and Fearless.

The Cloak of Death hit everything but the Thegn from the looks of it. 

The right is more exciting. Threatened now with some rear-charges by the Varangur breakthrough on the left, the The Clan Lord makes a charge into some Mounted Sons. The Varangur Cavalry take the hits, but will hold defiantly despite a close Nerve check.

The Ancient Phoenix lands over among the scuffles on the right. The Salamanders here are all rather healthy, but the Varangur units take a fair amount of incidental damage from the Cloak of Death. It is a disappointing turn for the Rhinosaurs though. Disordered, one horde only does 3 against the Lord with Icon. The other horde will shred the Draugr and change facing to stare down the Thegn. The Captain has no charges, and puts the scaly lives of his soldiers first, and will move up to block the Mounted Sons on the far flank and protect the Rhinosaur hordes, similar to how the Thegn was used on my turn.

Bottom of Round 3: Varangur

The Jabberwock's extra attacks are calculated at the start of the Melee Phase. The Primes are maimed already from the turn before, and the Jabberwock feasts. Both Night Raider units will assail the Salamanders in the flank as well, hitting very hard with their Thunderous Charge and removing the unit. 

Kruufnir will make a nimble charge into the flank of the other Primes, with the Mounted Sons counter-charging in the front. With the legendary troll in the flank, this unit will fall as well. 

I mistake with the Thegn, and forget about Magnilde too, but things are going well here.

The Thegn does nothing this turn. Kruufnir could have moved up 1" and then started his pivoting and charging, but I did not do that, so had to have the Thegn back up to make room for the troll. This is definitely an error by me. I also look to have forgotten about Magnilde entirely, which is another error from me, she should definitely be doing something this turn, and definitely had some options. 

The Salamanders 

On the right, the Jabberwock swings wide, eyeing up the rear of the wounded Rhinosaur unit while the Lord with Icon lands a few more damage against them, and disorders them again. The Mounted Sons break through the regiment of Primes, while their brothers land some good damage in against the Clan Lord, who should be in double-digits right now. The Thegn charges into the other unit of Rhinosaurs, and the Sons charged with the Battle Lord, but my opponent taps out before we fully make it through the Phase.

Game Conclusions

My opponent had some good opening moves with the Scorchwings blocking out my important cavalry units early on, but it unfortunately wasn't enough. Some cold dice on from the Rhinosaurs stalled him out, and I was able to put him on the back foot across the board as the battle lines clashed. Round 3 may feel a little soon to call it, but my opponent had quite the task ahead of him, so we opted to just reset and start up a new game.

Testing Conclusions

• Draugr. This was an ok scenario for them, though we only rolled up a single token! While theory-crafting, I was unsure how they would do, but they gummed things up nicely and let my other units do well. I was impressed again by their performance.
• Night Raiders. They apparently got a dream match-up, being uncontested against other Speed 5 infantry, and were really able to leverage their offensive abilities this game. I was impressed! The Axes (with Piercing) really helped against the high defense, so this was a good loadout for this particular matchup.
• Mounted Sons. I think I need to spread them out a little more in the future, but they worked well this game. Like any hammer unit, they need some protection, but I was thankfully able to do that  job well enough for them to get some good damage in.
• Jabberwocks. Surprisingly, these weren't bad. I would even call them good! Speed 7 was more than enough to exert some pressure, and their Nerve was surprisingly high. I didn't have much shooting to help them out, so their special rule didn't come into play much, but a tiny, fierce (and rather cheap) monster was run to have around. 
• Lord with Stealthy Icon. Surprisingly the Stealthy Icon came into play! I still think this option is likely the best all-comers choice, and is a very cheap way to protect a few important units. Lifeleech may have potential in some grindy lists, but paying for an aura of Brutal seems silly since he's an individual and likely to be charging in alongside other units, and the ability doesn't stack. I figured he would hold for just a turn against the Rhinosaurs, but being disordered was very tough on them as it turns out. He worked well and I may need to look at a plain Lord on foot sometime in the future.
• Thegn on Frostfang. I am still liking these cheap versions for now. I paid for, and remembered the 6 attacks this time, and they did some nice combo charges and disruption work. I like being able to bring more units too, so these Thegns might be sticking around for a while. The conga-line with Kruufnir was an error though, and something I will need to keep in mind for the future.
• Kruufnir. I still really like this pick. Rampage will come up against most armies, and you should be able to give him a good match-up. I have yet to use the "Bring me their Head" special rule because I misread it until I went to look it up just now, so that will be up to look at in the future sometime. Magnilde could have been really going to town in Round 3. Oops.

It was a brief but brutal game. A big thank you to my opponent for fitting both these games in. A report covering our rematch game will be up soon.

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #029: Varangur vs Salamanders [Raze]

Intro and Lists

For the rematch, we both kept the same armies, but switched over to some different lists. My opponent went back to the double-flier list he had been experimenting with recently, running the following.

As-ever from my opponent, it is a very sturdy Salamanders list! Only the Ancient Phoenix is below Defense 5, and it drags the average Defense of the list down to an astonishing 4.9! Heals abound to keep the very elite units in fighting shape. Two regiments of Ancients and two regiments of Ceremonial Guard will hold the line while two powerful, flying Clan Lords and two Rhinosaur Cavalry units should do the killing that is needed.

This list leaned more into Varangur heavy cavalry and played with running different quantities of more familiar units, though there were still plenty of things up to test:

• Draugr. The non-shambling zombies are quickly growing on me. I think they are best alongside of infantry, but depending on the scenario, they could be useful. If nothing else, they are cheap, mostly inconsequential drops. We'll see how they do in this list.
• Horse Raiders. If they are just being used as blocking or sacrificial chaff, Snow Foxes are much cheaper, so I think I need to get some use out of their offensive stats to justify running them. Unfortunately, their stats aren't particularly great, so oddly enough, unless I am against a very soft target, I think generally I should prioritize positioning and threatening spicy charges over actually committing and fighting with them. We'll try that approach today and see how I do.
• Night Raiders. The Draugr are good, cheap chaff, and cost about half of that the Raiders here cost, so I need to get some offensive use out of the Raiders to justify running them. I think the Night Raiders are going to be similar in practice to the Horse Raiders, assuming I an evaluating them both correctly. Like the Horse Raiders, I do not want the Night Raiders in sustained combat, but fancy maneuvering is going to be harder with the infantry here, so I'm not quite sure how to use effectively use these. We'll see what I come up with.
• Mounted Sons. I have really liked these so far. The stats are good and have Crushing Strength on cavalry is pretty great! I had 30 extra points, so they all got a Brand as well. Brutal seemed like a good place to start there, and we'll see how they do.
• Snow Foxes. I am down to just one regiment in this list! I tend to bring a lot of chaff in my games, but often bleed it away a little too freely. I want to try and really purposefully use this unit, and see how I do and what I block up. Will one be enough, or should I have run more instead of running the Horse Raiders??
• Magus Conclaves. These are really cool war engines since they have mobility! They are still war engines though, so I think one wants to run the max you can. But we'll see how just two feel for damage output this time around.   
• Skald with Lute. I wanted more sources of Inspiring and recently painted him up, so we'll give him a try again today. The stats of the Mounted Sons are good, so hopefully a Bane Chant or two can help them decisively push through things.
• Thegns on Frostfangs. My full-fledged Lords have been rolling poorly and failing to do the damage I really need them to be doing. I have also not made good use of Nimble to-date with them. As demoted Thegns they should still be able to still threaten a couple of damage on anything and be able to apply some pressure, but the demotion should save me a significant amount of points. Less of an investment in these will hopefully let me focus on positioning and the basics of fielding using such a unit.
• Kruufnir. With the I points saved from demoting the Lords to Thegns, I was able to afford a troll for the list, which should give me 5 sources of Inspiring - several more sources than usual for this army. Running the legendary version of the troll is just for fun - I'm not sure if a d3 Wild Charge and Rampage is really worth the extra points, but we'll see how the deluxe version performs!

Coming off of a win with my infantry list, I was feeling quite confident with my triple Mounted Sons Regiments. With an advantage again in both drops and unit strength, I hoped to save the heavy cavalry for my last deployments, and really get some leverage from the deployment phase. With faster hammers this time, I was hoping to deploy well, apply pressure, and hopefully snag another win with good play.

Table and Deployment

We generated another table, got Raze for a scenario, and got down to it again. As before, we chose to ignore the topography of the board and treat the corner hills as open terrain. Hills were Height 3, Graveyards Height 1 Difficult Terrain, Buildings Height 9 Blocking, Fences Height 2 Obstacles, and Forests were Height 6 Difficult Terrain. 

I won the roll-off for sides, and made him deal with the obstacles that ended up near that deployment zone. Rhinosaurs hate terrain after all. With my drop advantage, I was able to save all the Mounted Sons for the end. 

A very compact deployment from a very elite Salamanders list. I took this as my opponent was finishing up... and then forgot to take pictures of my own, final deployment.

My opponent deployed very compactly, only occupying about 2/3s of the board. From my left-to-right he has Ancients with Brew, Ancients with Aegis and two Ceremonial Guard. The infantry are screening the Mage with Heal, Ancient Phoenix, Mage with Bane Chant, and Clan Lord with Blessing of the Gods. On the far right were the Rhinosaur hordes and Clan Lord with Brew of Sharpness.

The scenario was Raze. We can contest but not control or claim tokens placed by our opponent. For our own tokens, if we control it at the end of our player turn, we can claim it, removing it from the field and gaining a victory point. As the game goes on, our tokens should dwindle and our attention should be drawn to the center of the board, where there is a neutral token that cannot be picked up. If we both pick up all of our placed tokens, it comes down to who can control the center for a 4:3 split. For said tokens, I laid one in each section of the board, but generally favored my left. My opponent opted for one in the center, and two off on my right flank. 

I forgot to get a picture of my own final deployment, so we'll cover mine in more detail at the game gets going. My opponent won the roll off for first turn, and opted to go first, hoping to set the pace and gain some ground before my Magus Conclaves could open fire. And with that, the rematch was on!

Top of Round 1: Salamanders

On the stacked right, the Rhinosaurs and Clan Lord scoot forward, out of or around the terrain and avoiding the possible 15" charge range from the Thegn in the front of my lines. 

There was a lot that ended up over here.

Out here for me are a lot. There are some Draugr, Magnilde and the Skald, Horse Raiders screening my single unit of Snow Foxes, a Thegn, and two Night Raiders screening two regiments of Mounted Sons. I opted to deploy two of the Mounted Sons regiments here, mirroring the harder flank of my opponent. I was hoping with some layers I could set up good trades and beat up on this flank. If I can remove the Rhinosaurs, I should hopefully be able to deal with everything else he has. 

A pretty open center with the slow Ancients opposing the Conclaves and some Draugr.

In the center, the Ceremonial Guards stalk through the forest, and the Ancients move up slowly as well, with one unit looking to contest my objective in the central zone and the other looking to stake a claim to the central objective marker and/or his own central token. All in all, it was a slow and steady advance, and a very typical opening turn.

My center was quite weak. Kruufnir babysat the Conclaves for now, but they were all were looking to bully some aging Salamanders in the coming turns.

The left. The Sons were thankfully angled to avoid the graveyard.

Finishing up my deployment stuff, my opponent had placed nothing out on my left flank, giving me free rein. Horse Raiders were poised to start grabbing my objectives quickly, while the angled Mounted Sons and nimble Theign should hopefully move fast and sweep the Ancients with Kruufnir in the coming turns.

Bottom of Round 1: Varangur

My overall plan was for my two Draugr units, in the center on on my right, to contest two of the objectives of my opponent, while the fighting on the hard flank should hopefully prevent them from easily claiming their third objective. 

So much for using the offensive abilities of the Horse Raiders. Die well! 

On my right, Horse Raiders and Snow Foxes ran up to delay the Rhinosaurs. The layered Night Raiders and Mounted Sons moved forward, but the range was too great for any throwing weapons. The Thegn, Skald, and Magnilde all moved in more to support this flank, knowing its importance. The Draugr scoot forward a few inches, but don't even move their speed, wary of giving the elite Clan Lord and good flying charge.

In the center Kruufnir moves up brashly. The Ancients are far too slow to threaten a charge, so he can afford to be very aggressive. The Draugr here move up to contest this objective for my opponent, while the Conclaves toss their magiks into the Ancients on the far flank, and will land an impressive 6 damage at range. The Conclaves are off to a great start!

As my left flank moves out, the Conclaves roll very well for the first volley!

On the left, the cavalry all move up aggressively. The Horse Raiders move 16" and pivot. They unfortunately can't claim the objective until the end of my Round 2, but should be in a position to swing through the enemy deployment zone in the coming turns. The Thegn and Mounted Sons move up, hoping to mince some Ancients next turn after the devastating volley from the Conclave this turn.

Top of Round 2: Salamanders

Seeing the pressure from my left, my opponent chooses to fly the second Clan Lord over to support, and between popping the Brew of Healing and a spell from the Phoenix, should heal up most of the damage on the Ancients. The race begins... The center units shift defiantly in front of Kruufnir, wondering who the troll will charge.

The Clan Lord reinforces, with a lot gunning for the ancients on the flank.

On the right, some Rhinosaurs punch through the Horse Raiders, while the other Rhinosaur unit and a unit of Ceremonial Guard cut down the Snow Foxes. The Foxes tanked a lot, so I guess this was a good use of them? 

Ouch! That is unfortunate.

The Clan Lord is just in range for a flame breath attack against the Night Raiders. The rolling was above average, as was the Nerve check, and they are wavered! 

That's a lot of angry Salamanders...

Unfortunately, this really jams my units up! The hill was a bit of a balancing act, and I am very close together with my units. This positioning should be considered an error by me. I am seeking to block out any long charges from the flying Clan Lord against the Mounted Sons. The Clan Lord is 75mm, so I can be nearly 3 inches back from the edge of a screening unit and still accomplish that goal. Positioning error for sure here.

Adding salt on the wound here, in-game, we did not give the Night Raiders cover, due to the towering height of the Clan Lord. However, I forget about the Raiders being Stealthy, so the damage results are far better than they would normally be. A lot went wrong here, and it can all be traced back to player errors on my part. Hopefully I've learned some lessons from this!

Bottom of Round 2: Varangur

My right is all jammed up now, but I try to make the best of it. The untouched Night Raider unit charges the Rhinosaurs near the table edge, slipping some damage in and occupying their attention, but most importantly freeing up some space. The Mounted Sons behind the charging Raiders charge the other unit Rhinosaurs, and are joined by the Thegn. My Bane Chant on the Mounted Sons misses, but I am still able to cut down the Rhinosaurs with the multi charge!

A pretty decent recovery, if I do say so myself. One unit of Rhinosaurs down!

Magnilde charges the Ceremonial Guard, landing a few damage and will prevent the phalanx unit from contributing to the savage combats here on the flank for now. The wavered Night Raiders can only hold, since things are so darn close, I can't even really pivot. The second unit of Mounted Sons move up, interpenetrating the wavered unit, getting in front of them, and occupying that space. They will be protected from a Clan Lord charge next turn, limiting the options of the flier a tiny bit. I have enough units here I can hopefully grind out my opponent and recover.

A quite unfortunate result with the Clan Lord looming near by...

In the center, the Conclaves have shifted fire into the unengaged unit of Ceremonial Guard, dealing just a few damage this turn. 

Kruufnir has a nimble flank charge into the Ancients, deftly avoiding the two units that were ready for him. The legendary troll is joined by the Mounted Sons and Thegn in the front of the unit. The Ancients are brought to the edge of devastation for damage taken, and are as good as gone, when I roll up Insane Courage for them. This result leaves me a bit exposed here...

The Ancients insanely holding is bad news for the Varangur. Still, this turn I've taken out one unit of Rhinosaurs, and the Horse Raiders will nab an objective for me. With my greater unit strength, I will wrest control of the objective near the insane Ancients. This means that I am up by 2 points and the plan for the scenario is holding strong so far.

Top of Round 3: Salamanders

The offensive on my left has stalled out and is vulnerable, so the Salamanders counter-attack. The Ancient Phoenix moves up near the combat, healing allies and hurting foes with its auras. Its Heal spell should also give something a respite.

The Clan Lord takes Kruufnir in the flank, but deals just 6 total and the troll holds. We did double the attacks for the flank charge, but it was a dice flub of epic proportions, and incredibly lucky for me! The insane Ancients counter-charge, with their comrades joining in and hitting the Mounted Sons in the flank and receiving a Bane Chant too. The Ancients will cut down the enemy cavalry. One unit will side-step to try and box in the Thegn and the other will change facing to look at my Draugr that are currently contesting my opponent's objective near the center.

Yep, that'll be in the flank for sure. The Mounted Sons will be cut down. Ouch!

Out on my right, the the Clan Lord will charge and dispatch the regiment of Mounted Sons and avenge the fallen Rhinosaurs while the other unit of Rhinosaurs nearer the table edge dispatch the Night Raiders with ease. 

At the end of his round, my opponent controls no objectives, so claims none.

Bottom of Round 3: Varangur

Kruufnir disengages from the Clan Lord and charges into the flank of the Ancients again, joined by the nearby Thegn. This move hasn't come up in games yet, but if I'm understanding the rules correctly, this was always legal, as you aren't perpetually stuck in a combat. If the new (I guess optional) rules are applied here, it is just a matter of if there would be a -1 penalty to hit with the new charge or not. We do apply the new rule, and play it with the penalty, which overall seems fair in this instance.

The Magus Conclaves continue to shoot into the Ceremonial Guard. After a hot round 1, combined the Conclaves are only dealing about 2 damage per turn if memory serves.

Magnilde has been landing good hits against the Ceremonial Guard, and they should be at around 7 damage right now. Not in danger of breaking, but it is a possibility. Unfortunately, I roll up Insane Courage for them.

Not wanting to charge into the phalanx of the Ceremonial Guard and unable to see the Clan Lord for a flank charge, the Thegn opts to try and bully the Mage, and even lands a few goods hits. Unfortunately, I roll up Insane Courage for the Mage.

Some decent charges here, all things considered.

The other unit of Mounted Sons charge the Clan Lord. Even without Bane Chant though, the Clan Lord is pummeled up into double-digits of damage. Unfortunately, I roll up the third Insane Courage of the turn (the forth of the game), and the Clan Lord defiantly sticks around too. 

The formerly-wavered Night Raiders charge the Rhinosaurs, getting them up near double-digits of damage. I had resolved the previous combats first to give them the best chance of breaking. Like the Ceremonial Guard, they are not likely to rout, but it was a possibility... If I recall correctly their they have a "normal" Nerve check of 3 though and will stick around, completely unbothered as well.

Insane Courage for the Clan Lord.

Well, it was not the greatest of turns! The Mounted Sons rolled quite well despite not getting Bane Chanted, and Clan Lord should probably have been seen off with an average roll, so that result stings the most. The others were not likely to run, with the Rhinosaurs needing the highest with a 9 on the roll to lose heart. Despite the significant set-backs in my combats this turn, my plan for the scenario is still working out for now. The Clan Lord is too far up to contest my last objective, and the Thegn is able to claim that, bringing me up to a nice 3-0 for now for points.

Top of Round 4: Salamanders

The Clan Lord rips back into the Mounted Sons. Amazingly, they hold, but their doom is sealed. The surviving Rhinosaurs will shred the second unit of Night Raiders and turn to face the Mounted Sons. With the change in facing, they are able to get a corner close and claim my opponent's right-most objective. 

The Ceremonial Guard rolls hot and and lands something like 8 new damage against Magnilde, and will cut her down this turn. The Mage hit by the Thegn disengages and runs away, out of my charge arc.

Kruufnir is dragged down by the other Clan Lord, who rolls much better this time, and then victoriously turns to menace the weaker Thegn.

The Ceremonial Guard and Ancients will multi-charge into the Draugr contesting my opponent's centrally-placed objective, will land some damage, but will just fail to rout the zombies.

For the objectives, it is now 3-1 in favor of the Varangur.

Bottom of Round 4: Varangur

My turns were getting quicker and I have been bat at pictures it seems.

Off the right, my Draugr charge in against the Ceremonial Guard that felled Magnilde, just trying to keep them away from the objective. The Mounted Sons counter-charge the Clan Lord, I finally land a Bane Chant from the Skald, and the mighty lord is finally felled. The nearby Thegn has no charges, and just turns, joining the queue to try and fight the Rhinosaurs. My hope is to keep them away from my opponent's final objective.  

Not wanting to fight with a Clan Lord more than twice his points, the other Thegn charges the Ancient Phoenix instead, nimbly getting in. A couple damage is done, and so the monster will be disordered, but that is all I accomplish there.

My Horse Raiders unfortunately cannot join in against the Phoenix due to the angle and the woods, but are now galloping through my opponent's deployment zone, moving around the woods, and eyeing up the central, unclaimable objective for the late game.

In the center, the Draugr counter-charge the Ancients, so I can continue firing the Conclaves into the Ceremonial Guard. The ranged damage is consistently 1-2, so nice I guess, but the wizarding artillery have not really been that impactful after that hot first turn. The high defense of the Salamanders is doing a lot of preventative work I think. The Draugr will manage to slip 1 damage in against the Ancients and I get boxcars for the Nerve check! Unfortunately, that being the only damage they have taken, it is not enough to rout them, and being Fearless, they cannot be wavered, so are just fine, and will even heal back that one damage, utilizing the Aegis magic item. Harrumph. 

Top of Round 5: Salamanders

On the right, the Rhinosaurs will charge and trounce my remaining Mounted Sons. Safe for a turn, the Mage has recovered, and will heal them down to 1 or 2 total damage, if memory serves. As in our other games, heals and an elite, defensive force are a good pairing! The Ceremonial Guard will counter-charge the Draugr and land 7 damage, but the zombies hold. The surviving Clan Lord will fly over to menace the Draugr, but is unable to reach them this turn. Additionally, the Ceremonial Guard are too far away to claim that objective, and the Draugr have more unit strength than the Clan Lord, so that objective is still contested for now.

Centrally, the Phoenix disengages from the Thegn, and flaps over towards the center. The Ancients and Ceremonial Guard will triumph over the Draugr, and both turn to face the center. They are able to claim that objective at the end of the turn, bringing it to Varangur 3, Salamanders 2. 

Bottom of Round 5: Varangur

On the right, the Skald tries to get off a Bane Chant on the Thegn, but fails, meaning he is 1 for 4 in successfully casting the spell. Thanks, guy. The Thegn will still land a surprising amount of damage against the Rhinosaurs, but thanks to the strong heals, they should easily hold.

We know the Thegn should be aligned centrally, but the hill was precarious!

The Draugr will countercharge the Ceremonial Guard, and surprisingly, will land a few damage on them. Magnilde did a number on them already, so they are actually in danger of routing with an average check, but do stick around. The Guard are still too far away to claim the objective though, so I have that going for me.

The Phoenix model has a lot of trailing fire. Again, the Horse Raiders should be shuffled to the center, but can't get there with the pokey-outy bits.

Centrally, the Horse Raiders make a rear-charge into the Phoenix landing a fair amount of damage. The fiery monster is 16/18 though, and sticks around. The Thegn cannot charge anything, so tucks in behind that combat, looking to contest the center objective in the last turn.

The Conclaves continue to toss into the Ceremonial Guard. They've dealt the unit a consistent 1-3 damage from round 2 on, but continue to fail to rout their target. The Salamanders are quite sturdy!

Top of Round 6: Salamanders

In the center, the Phoenix again disengages and flaps a ways away from the Horse Raiders, regenerating nearly all of the damage taken so far. Regeneration on a 3+ is no joke! The Ceremonial Guard control the central objective. The Ancients slam into the Horse Raiders, wavering them if memory serves. They are just barely able to stake a claim to the central objective as well.

On the right, the Rhinosaurs charge the Thegn, but are disordered, and surprisingly don't deal enough to see him off the table. He is, however, wavered. When I am checking the stats, I finally discover that I paid the 10 points for the 6th attack, and that I've been rolling 5 base attacks for every combat all day with both of my Thegns. Running multiple armies is hard. We'll add this to the list of lessons hopefully learned today.

The Clan Lord hungrily takes the flank of my remaining Dragr, with the Ceremonial Guard continuing their frontal assault into the unit. Amazingly, the Draugr accumulate 20+ damage, but Insane Courage is rolled up.

We have a slight rules goof here - the Draugr should be Devastated due to the incredible damage taken. This would halve their attacks and their unit strength. They are still boxing out the Ceremonial Guard, so it is a US1 Clan Lord vs a US1 Devastated Draugr unit for control of this last objective. The goof has no impact on the game as the objective is still contested, but this is something to note. 

With 3-2 for placed tokens, it comes down to the central objective! Will the Varangur be able to dislodge the Salamanders and secure a win?

Bottom of Round 6: Varangur

Unfortunately for me, my forces are in tatters. The Horsemen are wavered. They should maybe disengage, or do so and then move back to try and draw the Ancients away... but they just stay put. It has been a long day of gaming and I don't think my opponent would actually chase them with victory within his grasp. The Thegn rear-charges the Phoenix, and I finally roll my full attacks for a combat. Unfortunately, the Phoenix is quite resilient, and having regenerated most of the damage taken so far, easily holds again after a second rear charge in as many turns...

The Conclaves land another few damage against the Ceremonial Guard, and do finally manage to rout them.

I have claimed my three objectives. My opponent has claimed two of his. With about an 8th of an inch, the Ancients still control the central objective. Round 6 is a 3-3 tie... but we do roll up a round 7.

Top of Round 7: Salamanders

We talk out the remaining moves. I don't think any dice were actually rolled for either of us.

The Rhinosaurs can just disengage from the wavered Thegn on the right, and move to claim my opponent's final objective. The Ancients can simply disengage from the wavered Horse Raiders to solidify their hold on the center, easily winning out over my Thegn in a contest of unit strength. 

Bottom of Round 7: Varangur

Two out of my three remaining scoring units would be wavered. My Thegn wouldn't have a charge into the Ancients, and the Magus Conclaves would need to exponentially step up their game to shoot the old Salamanders off the table. It's been a heckuva game, and I opt to tap out. The Salamanders take a 4-3 victory!  

Game Conclusion

I was feeling very confident going into this game. I think I had a solid plan for the scenario, and I had a nice edge with drops, chaff, and unit strength. However, the dice just did not cooperate! Four Insane Courage results was just too much for me to overcome. The final tally was still close, and I'm glad I was able to put up a fight, but my opponent played a good game overall. With some good fundamental plays and with luck on his side, was able knock aside nearly all my units and secure the win in the end. 

Congrats!

Testing Conclusion

It's hard to read too much into the testing and results here. Statistical norms seem to have clocked out a little early on the day. And yet... I somehow still have a lot of things to say about everything:

• Draugr. This was a good scenario for them, and really highlights their potential as cheap drops and objective holders. They didn't directly support the cavalry force in any combats, but did well just making things difficult for my opponent and the cheap drops were certainly good to have.
• Horse Raiders. I didn't have enough chaff to stop both units of Rhinosaurs early on, so one unit was conscripted to help pen them in. The other unit was used better, playing the scenario and even got a rear-charge! So, these were a bit of a mixed bag. I think if I have the points I might throw in one unit in a future list for fun, but I am not going to push it and fit two in again anytime soon. I need my chaff!
• Night Raiders. I'm bummed I forgot that they were stealthy, but so it goes with fielding a new unit. These did ok? No axes were thrown, but they did get in and do some damage before they fell. They actually seemed to do better here this game as a sacrificial front line? They are likely to do some damage, but their defense is bad enough that they are quite likely to die and make way for your actual hammer units. This is an intriguing role, but doesn't seem like a great use of 140 points. I'll need to play around with them some more. I still don't have a good feel for this unit. 
• Mounted Sons. The Brutal upgrades didn't come into play at all. I still really like the units and seeing my old minis. We won't hold this game against them and they'll be back soon! 
• Snow Foxes. As it turns out, one unit was not enough! With my playstyle I think I am going to want at least 2 of these most of the time. They are just great at delaying and my Varangur lists really seem to want to do that these days.
• Magus Conclaves. These might actually be better in an infantry list, with a bit more time to soften up targets. They did pretty consistent damage, but unfortunately it was usually just a combined 1-3 damage per turn. War machines have more hurdles than other units to get to the damage in (hit rolls, blast rolls, and then rolls vs defense), and si can feel disappointing and swingy in games. I think the high defense of the Salamanders played a significant part in their underwhelming showing here. All this to say that these two obviously didn't have the impact I was hoping for this game. So it goes with war machines. 
• Skald with Lute. He was theoretically nice to have, but was very underwhelming this game, failing more often than not to connect with the spell. That'll happen sometimes. I still want some cheaper inspiring sources around, so I think we'll keep him around for now. As an infantry model, he didn't have any trouble seeing things to try and cast the spell on, which was nice.
• Thegns on Frostfangs. I couldn't believe that I almost made it through the entire day before remembering I had a 6th attack! Finding that out while swinging into the rear of the Phoenix was fun, though that still resulted in nothing. The Phoenix, with it's high nerve and Regen 3+ was hard to deal with. I think you just gotta ignore it unless you can pop it in one go with multiple units, or just continually disorder it with something cheap. Anyways, here again, the Thegns performed about as well as my Lords typically do, so the demotion felt like a good move for the roster by freeing up more points. I felt like I was using nimble much better these games as well, so that was fun to explore and a step in the right direction for better play on my part.
• Kruufnir. Overall, I liked him. I noticed in between games that the Rampage is a straight 3 more attacks, and not a d3, which is a neat design-space. I liked the design of the unit, and thought he did ok overall. I like my mini, and will get him rebased and I will try him out again!

A final thank you to my opponent for fitting in these games. I had a great time and the dice certainly made this game memorable! I'm looking forward to our next meeting!