Kings of War 3rd Edition: #096 Undead vs Sylvan Kin in Compass Points

Intro and Lists

After a handful of missed connections, Trevor from the illustrious Data and Dice and I finally managed to meet up for another game. He wanted to test out the Sylvan Kin with the new Clash 2025 changes, and ran the following:

As-ever, the Kin are a frightening army for me to face. Aside from being very competently commanded, they are generally doing a little bit of everything and hard to predict or contain. Unfortunately for me, they have the stats to do well at all the different things they are trying to do! Facing off against me is a powerful scouting Wiltfather, three strong shooting heroes, two scouting Gladestalker Regiments, a troop and a regiment of Silverbreeze Cavalry, a pathfinding regiment of Stormwind Cavalry, three troops of Wild Gur Panthers to interdict, scouting regiments of Hunters and Forest Shamblers to gain early ground, and lastly a horde of Forest Guard to hold the line. As-ever, Trevor is running a competent and balanced list, looking to leverage shooting to maim threats first and speed to then charge them before the lines can really close.

I brought the Undead, with a bit of a treat for my opponent... I had wanted to play a list like this for a while, though our games had been infrequent enough that I wasn't able to run it as soon as I had hoped to. Months ago, Trevor took a data-driven look at the Undead, in a bit of an army review. Therein, he had highlighted a few units that were cost-effective. I really liked my Revenant Wyrms and Teutonic Mummies already, and took note of the other units. I'm running them all here! The treat here is that if he wins, his own tactical acumen clearly bested me, but if I win, it is obviously Trevor's analytics that are on point! Since I am only a few games in with the Undead, up to evaluate and comment on is everything:

• Skeletons with two-handers. As mentioned in their Hobby Update, these units are inspired by Trevor and his own Penitent-spam! I think the Undead version (Fearless, +1 Nerve, LL1) is worth the 10 points to remove the possibility of wavering them, but as I discovered last time, they can still be a bit rough to maneuver. These aren’t on Data and Dice’s list, but felt like a great inclusion here.
• Zombies. I didn’t have the points for a third smashy Skeleton unit, so we have a lowly regiment of Zombies instead for their unlock. We’ll see if there’s a token to carry or an objective for them to hold. 
• Skeleton Spearmen Horde. I like Spear Hordes, but this one doesn’t have the output of my usual Tribal Spears, or even Spears from the Kingdoms of Men. Hitting on a 5+ to start from is rough! They are on the data list because hold well for their points, so we’ll try to protect them a bit and see what all they can hold up.
• Mummies. I’ve been bringing A lists with Revenant Cavalry and B lists with Mummy troops recently the last few time's I've tried the Undead, but not getting to play the B lists. Since both unit sizes appear on the list from Data and Dice, we’ll finally get to try the troops out, and then compare them to the regiment.
• Zombie Trolls. They are on the list, but I’ve used them (I think) once before, but poorly. Death has stripped them of their Regeneration, but Fearless and Def5 should hopefully help me anchor my lines for a few turns, and with CS2, they might even be able to grind out some damage too.
• Liche King with Celestial Restoration. A pet unit of mine that I’ve been trying across the Undead and Herd to supplement smashy Titans. With a number of Hordes here, I should have some good targets, and we’ll see how it does this game. 
• Undead ASBs. I still like them, and I still want mine to be carrying items whenever possible, and I think that the Tome (Surge5) and Shroud (Heal 3) are decent items to default to. I haven’t been doing much with Surge moves, so this looks like my only Surge caster this time. We’ll see how that works for me, and how much Heal can contribute as well. 
• Vampire on Undead Pegasus. I like my KoM Generals on Winged Beasts… but these cost more and somehow hit softer. These are definitely not on the list, but do seem like I unit I would run. I don’t think I can rely on these as actual hammers, but we’ll see what else we might be able to do with them. Just threatening blocking charges while I advance seems like it might be an ok use, so we’ll try to give that a try. 
• Revenant Wyrms. They are also on the list from Data and Dice, so they’re back in my list again. Their output isn’t always great, but they’ve proven very useful in all my Undead games so far. We’ll see if the other units highlighted by the analytics are as impactful as this one has been.
• Command Orders. I like both of the ones for the Undead, but this will only be my second outing with the new optional rule. We’ll see how the Orders to this game.
• Command Dice. My first foray with the Orders and the dice was a little underwhelming, as I didn’t generate enough Swords to do much of anything, though it appears one should get about 4 successes per turn with just the base 3-dice, and I was just really unlucky. We’ll see if my luck is better this game, or if one really does need to buy extra dice to make this optional rule work.
• Lifeleech. I’ve been doing good at remembering this for the Undead. We’ll keep at it and see if that trend continues! 

Table and Terrain

Trevor was kind enough to host us, and we were using his table and terrain. We were using our typical terrain rules, running the building and bones as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, stone fences as Height 2 Obstacles, and Hills as Height 3, and the ponds and field as Height 0. 

We wanted to try out a new scenario, and settled on Compass Points. There are objective tokens on the table's main axes. The wording was less precise than we'd come to expect from Mantic. We read it is the side objectives are worth 1 point each, your "home" objective was worth 2, and your "away" objective worth 3.  

My opponent won the roll-off for sides. I felt like the forest with the token would be a nightmare to dislodge Gladestalkers from, so I was very happy to get this side. I figured the Gladestalkers would end up in the opposing woods, and tried to plan around that, and I wanted the flying Vampires or Revenant Wyrms as my last drops. I had the slimmest of drop advantages, made ever-so-slightly better with my opponent deploying first. 

The table, and deployment.

Left-to-right the Sylvan Kin had isolated Wild Gur Panthers out to harass the left token. A building and a forest gave both Gladestalker and the King a nice and protected nook. The Forest Guard were just outside the woods with Wild Gur Panthers and the Archmage in reserve. Hunters of the Wild, the Master Hunter, and the Forest Shamblers all hid behind the hill, ready to make use of Scout. The Wiltfather lurked nearby, with the Silverbreeze regiment behind, partially in the field. The Silverbreeze troop screened for the third Panther unit, and the nimble, pathfinding Stormwind Cavalry took the far flank.

View from the left.

Left-to-right I have Zombies, Skeleton Warriors and the Surging ASB to fight for the left objective. A flying Vampire came down very late nearby, to either boop the Panthers to help win the objective, or help pressure the center. 

View form the center left.

I figured the Gladestalkers would take to the woods more than the field, and preserved my Wyrms until I knew that was the case. Both Wyrms ended up behind the pond. Celestial Restoration needs to target stuff more than 12 inches away, so the Liche ended up way in the back in case early shooting was hot.

View from the center-right.

The center was going to be important, but I am befuddled as to how to deploy the Undead. The battle line continues with Skeletons to help support the Wyrms, Zombie Trolls to anchor, and the second flying Vampire to help interdict and dissuade the Kin from moving up too far too early. The Skeleton Spearmen ended up in the woods, as I figured it would be defensible. The second horde of Zombie Trolls ended up on the far flank with the Healing ASBm as I think I need to push (surge) on the left and hold (heal) on the right. I have no idea what to do with the Mummies. The blue troops were drops in the middle, and I just tried to “bricklayer” they so they could see around the units in front of them. The red regiment was a later drop. The Skeletons are my chaff, and I figured they’ve be moving up quickly to make blocking charges, and a regiment behind them and the Zombie Trolls to help reinforce and plug gaps in the line might be useful. 

View on the right.

I’m the shambling Undead, and need to play more compactly and reservedly. My overall plan is to ignore the objective on the right, claim the left one with Zombies or Skeletons, hold my home objective, and assault the away objective. 

Scout moves.

My opponent scouted up reservedly with everything, and then I won the roll for turn order. It’s just bow shots, but there are a lot of quality shots against me, so I opted to go first.

Top of Round 1: Undead

I roll up 2 swords for my Command Dice. We're off to another bum start, and I don’t need rerolls, so don’t do anything with them.

On the left, I am looking to zone out and control this objective. The Zombies and Skeleton Warriors shamble up, along with the ASB. The Gur Panthers should have a charge into either of them, but that’s fine. The Panthers can get around me, so as long as I am wary of the table edge, this push should work. I opt not to Surge anything, but probably could have safely surged the Skeletons up. 

Moves on the left. The Wyrms have good charges next turn.

The flying Vampire moves up, but hangs back. The Panthers have the inches, but cannot fit in against him.

The pair of Wyrms happily wade through the pond, and should have charges into both of the Gladestalkers next turn. With Gladestalkers on the left and Silverbreeze on the right, if I can quickly deal with some of the Kin shooting, I should be in a better position as the game progresses.

Moves in the center.

I don’t know what I am doing in the center, and wasn’t feeling great about my deployment, so I am kind of winging it. On my center-left, the Skeleton Warriors, Zombie Trolls, and Mummy regiment move up an even 5”. The loose plan is to trade what I can and hopefully the Mummies can grind and survive in the late game, battling for the away objective.

The Liche lazily moves towards the right. With the Sylvan Kin largely ignoring the left, I just need to get a little to the right in order to have range for all the important areas.

Moves on the right. The Zombie trolls are exposed, but safe from flanking charges right now.

I want the center-right to hold my home objective, but Shambling is tough. The Mummy troop hop the line, but that means the flaying Vampire and Skeleton Spearmen need to hold. The other Mummy Troop was also deployed back, and pivots and moves up, looking to support the Zombie Trolls out on my right. The ASB with heal tucks in out here.

Bottom of Round 1: Sylvan Kin

My opponent rolls up 3 for his Command Dice, and I think uses them on a variety of rerolls.

On the right, the Silverbreeze regiment swings wide, ending up by the objective token. Gur Panthers move up, screening the Silverbreeze troop. Both will shoot into the horde of Trolls, landing 1 damage. Everything stays just over 12 inches away from the trolls.

Shooting on the right.

The Wiltfather moves up slightly, staying out of charge range, and the pathfinding Stormwind Cavalry hang back.

The Forest Shamblers take the hill, along with the Master Hunter and the Hunters of the Wild.

Shooting from the Kin.

Shooting from the Gladestalkers will go very well, landing 13 damage onto some Skeletons. The unit is probably done for (and will be at the end of the phase), so the Master Hunter, King, and Archmage will fire into the Zombie Trolls, landing a surprising 7. With good Ranged stats plus Elite, the Kin can definitely deliver at range. With Piercing on the Lightning Bolt and shots from the Master Hunter, who has a lot of rerolls, so it’s some a great rolling out here as well.

The Forest Guard lurk, and the Gur Panthers hop up to prevent a multi-charge into one unit of Gladestalkers, who hold, shoot, and land 8 damage into the Skeleton Warriors. The other unit backs up, preventing a multi-charge into them as well, and will shoot with a penalty into the Skeletons as well, landing 5 damage. It’s hot rolling, and the Skeletons crumble.

Sneaky Gur Panthers.

On the right, the Gur Panthers sidestep to hit the table edge, looking to zip up and around my line.

Top of Round 2: Undead

I roll up a fortuitous 5 swords on my Command Dice.

I pivot and then move the Zombies up, blocking the path of those Gur Panthers. The ASB will sidestep towards the Wyrms, but will surge the Zombies forward a few more inches to clearly deny that table edge path for the Panthers.

The Skeletons move up, and pivot slightly, to keep the Gur Panthers in the front arc. I’m feeling good about this token.

Movement, plus lots of solo charges over on the left.

Due to backing up, the Gladestalkers are just out of charge range, and I needed to get the ASB over for the Wild charge. My opponent did a good job at preventing multi-charges. I don’t like making solo-charges, but feel it’s worth it here.

One Wyrm makes a Striding into the furthest Gladestalkers, the flying Vampire makes a hindered charge into the other unit of shooters, and the other Wyrm charges the Gur Panthers. I chose this because this puts the move vulnerable Vampire in between the titans, and he should survive and Inspire them to get me the best chances of holding.

Close-up of the charges.

I use 4 swords to cast a Drain Life into the Gladestalkers fighting the Wyrm. I think any unit can cast this, but just in case, the flying Vampire is the one to cast it. The spell does 3 damage, nothing needs healing here, but this does help tip the combat math in my favor. I should use the last sword on a reroll, but forget about it.

The Wyrm fighting the Gladestalkers flubs and does just 4, but at 7, I am able to get a lucky waver.

The flying Vampire lands 2 to disorder his unit.

The Wyrm fighting the Panthers decides to spike the dice and lands 10 against them, breaking them easily. I was hoping the Wyrms would perform opposite of how they did, as the units are tight here and wavering Panthers would prevent the Palace Guard from charging next turn.. Oh well. If I overrun more than 1 inch, that should put the Forest Guard into the titan’s flank, so it just pivots to face them.

Reform for the Wyrm. We'll see if he survives!

The Mummy Regiment gets most of their Shambling move up, but is slightly blocked by the Zombie Trolls, who are moving up to support the Wyrms, as is the other flying Vampire.

The Liche lands a Celestial Restoration onto the Zombie Trolls, healing for 5, and bringing them from 7 down to just 2 damage.

The Undead center pushes out.

My original plan was to camp the home objective, but I feel like I need to commit more to the upcoming fights. The Mummy Troop moves up, as does the Spear Horde. I believe the Mummies and the Zombie Trolls are just out of charge range of the Hunters of the Wild. 

Good healing from the Undead.

On the right, the other Mummy Troop moves up, looking to support anything that goes into the Zombie Trolls. The Wiltfather was wary of the Trolls, and my goal is to delay here, so the Trolls sidestep onto the obstacles. They don’t get close to the Wiltfather, so we’re safe from him next turn. The ASB with Heal lands 2 to remove the 1 damage from the Zombie Trolls out here.

Bottom of Round 2: Sylvan Kin

My opponent rolls up 4 swords for his Command Dice. A unit can only benefit from one Command Order per turn, and we adhere to that, but I can’t track what gets what for Orders. Suffice it to say, he spends it all on rerolls this turn.

On the right, Gur Panthers run up to block up the Zombie Trolls. 

Lots of blocking units from the Sylvan Kin.

The Silverbreeze troop dances around, with the nimble Stormwind Cavalry unit moving up and pivoting to see down the battlefield. They will shoot into the Mummies supporting the Zombie Trolls, but the armor of the Mummies proves too much, and only 2 damage slips in.

The Wiltfather moves up to now threaten the Zombie Trolls, and the Forest Shambler regiment leaves the hill in order to block for him.

The Silverbreeze regiment bides their time, and sidesteps onto the hill. I make a bit of a goof here, thinking the Stormwind cav are on the hill, and both shooters are out on the right-flank.

The Hunters of the Wild inch up, and should have charges next turn.

Shooting from the Sylvan Kin this turn.

The Master Hunter, King and Archmage shoot into the Zombie Trolls again, and again roll well to bring the unit from 2 up to 9 damage, but it’s a Fearless, Inspired horde, and the unit doesn’t budge.

With a clear route to the Wyrm, the Forest Guard don’t even need Pathfinder. Elite pays dividends, and they hit 22 times, resulting in 12 damage. Two about-average checks are all it takes, and my first Titan is bested. My opponent feels like they need to face-forward. Doing so gets the Zombie Trolls well into front arc, but should deny the Mummy regiment the inches to join in. 

The unfazed Gladestalkers fight the flying Vampire, with the King joining in. Together, they land 4 damage and ground him.

The wavered Gladestalkers fighting the Wyrm do nothing.

The Gur Panthers decide to depart.

On the left, the Gur Panthers will pivot and nimble run away, giving up on the left token.

Top of Round 3: Undead

I roll up another fortuitous 5 swords on my Command Dice.

On the left, the zombies move and pivot to zone out the space between the building and the table edge. I don’t want the Gur Panthers coming back. It’s Round 3, and they’ll be able to move and pivot to control the token any point going forward.

Movement on the left.

The Skeleton Warriors move up to secure the token for now, and will be around to contribute in the fights if needed. The ASB runs up behind them. I think I surge the Skeletons forward for a mighty 1 inch.

Lots of charges this turn.

The Revenant Wyrm is untouched since it wavered its Gladestalker unit, and it uses 4 swords from the Command Dice to cast Drain Life into the Gladestalkers fighting the flying Vampire. The spells lands 3 damage, and heals the Vampire up nicely.

The Wyrm thumps 4 damage onto the Gladestalkers, to bring them to 11 damage. He’s done about half the damage he should have, but it’s still enough to rout the archers on the second attempt. The titan will back up, keeping the Panthers in front arc, and keeping an eye on the other Gladestalker unit.

Aftermath of the combats.

The flying Vampire lands 4 damage onto his Gladestalker unit. With the Drain Life landing 3, the unit is taken to 9 damage, and I get a lucky rout against them. The Vampire turns to face the King. Between Drain Life and Lifeleech, he’s back to full. He’s mostly around to Inspire, so I don’t mind spending another turn here fighting.

The Mummy regiment impotently moves up towards the fights, as it cannot charge this turn.

The Zombie Trolls charge the Forest Guard, and deal 6 damage. Celestial Restoration hits again, healing 4 to take them from 9 down to 5, and Lifeleech 1 gets them down to 4. 

In the center, the other flying Vampire and a Mummy Troop charge the Hunters of the Wild, and do a combined 5 damage. I spike the Nerve check a bit, and get a lucky waver against them. 

The Spearmen make a hindered charge into the Forest Shamblers. I need 6’s to hit, 5’s to wound, and I am not going to move them. Thinking its the Stormwind Cavalry on the hill, with my spears pointed at them, I was fine with a blocking charge. I retrospect, just moving them up would probably have been a better call. Yes, the Shamblers could be surged into something, but it’s probably better to get the Wiltfather into the fight, so I think not charging would have been the wiser move.

Charges on the left.

The Mummies and Zombie Trolls multi-charge the Gur Panthers, with my Zombies hindered. They each deal 4 damage, we take the unit to 8, and do get the rout.

The Zombie Trolls back up, and the Mummies I think hold, with everything in their front arc. Between Heal, Lifeleech, and Regen (I don't remember what actually contributed), the Mummies heal up their 2 damage, and end the turn healthy.

Bottom of Round 3: Sylvan Kin

My opponent rolls up 4 Command Dice, and spends it all on various rerolls again.

On the right, the Wiltfather makes a striding charge into the Zombie Trolls, ending atop the obstacle but not caring. We move his off-center for ease of play. Cloak of Death triggers, and the tree is able to land another 6 damage on the Trolls to bring them up to 7, but they hold. 

Charges on the right.

My mix-up between the Stormwind and Silverbreeze regiments is now realized as the Stormwind Cavalry make a devastating flank charge into my Spearmen. They deal 21 damage with the Shamblers contributing 3, and the unit is picked up.

The Silverbreeze troop shoots into the unengaged Mummy troop, but isn’t able to land any damage. They will take 1 from Cloak of Death though.

The Archmage throws a Lighting Bolt into the Liche, but only 1 damage makes it through, and the Undead Spellcaster shakes it off. He lost Regeneration in a previous Clash update, but with Inspiring, Def5 and -14, he’s still pretty resolute.

On the hill, the Master Hunter and the Silverbreeze regiment charge the Mummy troop, dealing 2 and 4 damage respectively. At 6 damage and Inspired, the Mummies hold. The wavered Hunters of the Wild do nothing, not wanting to give the flying Vampire free rein. Given we are fighting so near the edge of the hill, we elected to leave units off of it, rather that mess with stars for everything.

Combats for the Kin. I've popped a head and cape off of the Mummies, but they are at full health.

The Forest Guard countercharge the Zombie Trolls, with the King disengaging from the other flying Vampire to join in. The hits from the Guard are amazing again, but without Thunderous charge, the damage is lessened. They do 6, the King does 1, and at 12 damage, my opponent needs a 5 to rout. He gets it the first time, but rolls up a 4 on the Inspired reroll, and the Zombie Trolls continue to stick around.

The Gur Panthers rear-charge the other flying Vampire, and viciously land 4 damage against him. 

Top of Round 4: Undead

I Roll up 3 command Dice.

With the Gur Panthers committed, and now dealt with, the Zombies move up to secure the objective. They will spend the rest of the game here.

The Wyrm will flank the Gur Panthers and trounce them. It will then reform by pivoting 90 degrees to face the rest of the Sylvan Kin army.

Positioning on the left.

The flying Vampire doesn’t need to withdraw from the Panthers to charge the Forest Guard, but will be hindered. He gets into their flank dealing … 2 damage. (5.8 expected, but c’mon, man.)

The Skeleton Warriors are able to get in and deal two damage as well, and the Zombie Trolls countercharge, making up for the Vampire and dealing 9 damage. The Forest Guard horde is on 20 damage, but I roll a 3, and they are just wavered, tying up three of my units. Still, the Vampire will Lifeleech 2 from 4 down to 2, and the Zombie Trolls will Lifeleech 1 from 12 down to 11.

Combats, with the Mummy Regiment eyeing the Archmage.

The Mummy regiment can’t contribute with a legitimate charge, but pivots and moves close to the Archmage. I need 2 success with Surge on 5 dice, and the ASB obliges with 3. The Teutonic Mummies land 5 damage. The Archmage isn’t actually Inspiring, so one good Nerve check takes him off the field. The Mummies overrun, but only 1 inch.

The Hunters of the Wild are only on 5 damage, but I opt to send the flying Vampire in again. On 3’s and 3’s he lands just 2 damage, taking them to 7, and the Nerve check is low enough for them not to care this time. This is a bummer, but par for the course for the Vampire’s damage output. This does protect the Mummies from a flank charge off the hill however, so isn’t terrible for me.

After some hemming and hawing, I sent the Mummy Troop into the Stormwind Cavalry to disorder them. I land a surprising 5 damage, but the cavalry are fine. Regeneration doesn’t hit, but I Lifeleech from 2 down to 1 damage.

Good healing for the Undead again.

I may have spent 1 sword on a reroll, or I may have forgotten about it. I do spend 2 on Endurance to heal up the Zombie Trolls fighting the Wiltfather, from 7 down to 6. I point Celestial Restoration at them as well, healing up the remaining 6. Topped off, the Healing ASB can’t heal them anymore, and can’t see past them to help the Mummies, but this is still great. I cannot complain in the slightest. They thump 2 damage into the Wiltfather, but again I am just trying to delay, and this is all going great.

Bottom of Round 4: Sylvan Kin

My opponent rolls up 4 for his Command Dice. I think everything is spent on assorted rerolls again.

Charges on the right, plus Cloak of Death.

The Wiltfather counter-charges the fully-healed Zombie Trolls. Cloak of Death Triggers, he lands 6 and the flankin-but-hindered Forest Shamblers deal 3 to take the unit to 10 damage. It’s 7’s to rout the Fearless and Inspired unit, and he does it! I believe the Wiltfather will pivot fully towards the center, and Forest Shamblers will spin completely about.

Reforms, though I think the Wiltfather was pivoting even more. Silly fence.

The Stormwind Cavalry will countercharge the Mummy troop, landing 3. Cloak of Death hits the unit, and the Silverbreeze troop flanks, but contributes only 1. The Mummies are Inspired, and do hold.

Fighting in the center.

The Silverbreeze regiment charge the Mummy regiment, but only land 2. The high Defense of the Mummies has been working out nicely for me.

The now-unbothered Hunters of the Wild will countercharge the flying Vampire, with the Master Hunter joining in. The Vampire is taken up to 5 damage, but holds.

The second Zombie Troll horde falls.

The King is able to poke the Zombie Trolls a bit, and is able to rout them too, and my opponent rejoices in removing both of these hordes.

The Forest Guard are wavered, and engaged on multiple facings, and do nothing. 

Top of Round 5: Undead

I roll up 3 for my command dice. I believe I used Endurance on the remaining Mummy Troop, and when Regeneration doesn’t remove the last pip, the ASB with Heal will top them off. The last sword may have been a reroll, or may have been unspent.

Movement on the left.

The Zombies will hold, protecting the token.

The flying Vvampire in the flank of the Forest Guard is wasted here, and fresh, he flies out of the woods and into the flank of the Hunters of the Wild, with the other Vampire counter-charging. The smaller trees are on 7 damage, and I deal another 7 damage combined, taking them to 14 and getting the rout. The flanker sidesteps Lifeleeches from 2 down to 0, and the counter-charging Vampire pivots, and Lifeleeches from 5 down to 3 damage.

Aftermath in the center.

The Wyrm will flank the Forest Guard, and then devastate and rout them, as is proper. I overrun, but only my soon-to-be-patented 1 inch.

The Skeleton Warriors will withdraw to get the inch, pivot, and then be surged into the King. I should still take a Withdraw penalty, and am fishing for 6’s, and will land no damage.

I don’t have notes on the Liche. I thought I healed something, but can’t figure out what. I think I wanted to heal up the injured Vampire, but I think Celestial Restoration finally fully
whiffed.

The Liche finally misses it seems.

The Mummy regiment counter-charges the Silverbreeze regiment, landing 4, and getting a very lucky waver. 

The Mummy troop continues against the Stormwind Cavalry, looking to keep them disordered. They land a measly 1 damage to bring the cavalry unit up to 6 damage, but I get a second lucky waver this turn against the Sylvan Kin.

Bottom of Round 5: Sylvan Kin

My opponent rolls up 4 for his Command Dice.

Three is spent on the flanking Silverbreeze troop, letting them tactically retreat after they disengage and withdraw from the Mummy Troop. They zip backwards, and move far enough to get them out of charge range of the flying Vampires. Well done! However, it looks like they do shoot at the ASB with Heal, landing 2 damage after he gets hit with a Cloak of Death. If they use this order, they cannot shoot. This doesn’t impact anything, but should be pointed out.

The Silverbreeze troop tactically withdraws.

The King flees from the Skeleton Warriors, and both he and the Master Hunter decide to commit against the injured flying Vampire instead of trying to ground both. Even if they disorder the second one, he’s still got some good charge options. The injured Vampire is at 3, each hero deals 1 (oof) but on 5 damage, my opponent rolls well and still gets a waver.

The wavering Silverbreeze regiment withdraws, and then backs up, trying to draw the Mummies out and away from my home token. 

More backing up from the Sylvan Kin.

The wavering Stormwind Cavalry withdraw from the Mummy Troop as well, and then look to have pivoted to get the flying Vampires in front arc. They are wider than they are deep though, and look to have backed up a bit far.

End of Round 5 with all the shooting damage and combat reforms and such.

The Wiltfather and Forest Shamblers rear-charge the pesky Mummy troop, and will devastate and rout them, as is proper.

Top of Round 6: Undead

I roll up 5 for my Command Dice. Unfortunately, the Skeletons need to pivot so won’t benefit from any of the moving Command Orders, so won’t be able to reach my home objective. Likewise, the Mummy regiment could sidestep, but even moving their speed with an Order, would still be several inches short of claiming the home objective for me

The Wyrm grabs a token, the Skeletons move, and things fight.

The unimpeded flying Vampire has some options. I consider flying over to contest the right objective, but the Stormwind Cavalry are nimble, and could easily wrest the away from me if they aren’t dealt with. So the Vampire charges into the Stormwind Cavalry. We place him on the hill for gaming simplicity again. They are on 6 damage, and I spend 4 swords for Drain Life, which fizzles and contributes nothing. The Vampire rolls well though, brining them to 10 damage, and I get a good rout against them.

The wavering Vampire does nothing, but gets hit by Celestial Restoration for 4, bringing him from 5 damage down to just 1. I think the ASB points a Heal at him to get him down to 0.

The Mummies countercharge the Silverbreeze regiment, taking them from 4 to 9, but the shooty cavalry are found to be quite insane.

The Wyrm moves to claim the away objective.

Positioning around my home objective.

The Skeleton Warriors moves towards the home objective, but claiming it even in a Round 7 is not currently feasible. The objective is just over 3” from the forest edge. Even in a Round 7, using fancy orders, I’m not going to be able to move at the double to get close enough, and I’d need a crazy Surge roll to get there in Round 7. But we make the effort anyway.

Bottom of Round 6: Sylvan Kin

The Silverbreeze troop holds, securing a token.

The Wiltfather goes into a flying vampire, and goes hard. Cloak of Death triggers, and he damages with 9 of his 10 attacks, and gets a waver.

Both flying Vampires are grounded.

The King and Hunter again double-team the other flying Vampire, and take him to 5 damage. He'll be fine, bust still disordered this time.

The Liche takes some hits but holds strong. Still, he cannot contest this token.

The insane Silverbreeze disengage, and then withdraw to create enough space to pivot. They then go to move into the woods and claim my home objective… but this initial plan is thwarted, as they do not have Pathfinder, and will run into the same complications as my Skeletons. Still, they can see the Liche, and will make a very penalized charge into the spellcaster. A stunning 3 damage makes it through, but the Liche will hold. Still, routing is not the goal, and the cavalry are brought close enough to overpower the spellcaster for the scenario and secure he objective.

At the end of Round 6, it’s a tie game, with the Undead holding the left token with the Zombies; the Sylvan Kin holding the right with the Silverbreeze Troop, and each of us holding our respective “away” tokens. But my opponent rolls up a Round 7 for us.

Top of Round 7: Undead

The Liche disentangles himself from the Silverbreeze unit, and while the Skeletons can’t move close enough to claim the token, they do have the chance to charge. No damage lands, but we’re each US2 here, and no one controls this objective now.

The Mummies are just in range to try and pick up the Forest Shamblers for fun. We charge in, but don’t do it. These -/14 chaff units are surprisingly sturdy.

Final charges from the Undead.

Likewise, the Vampire charges the weaker Hunter, but doesn’t best him. The wavering Vampire fighting the Wiltfather cowers.

Bottom of Round 7: Sylvan Kin

The Wiltfather and Forest Shambler fights are inconsequential, and neither are rolled, even for bragging rights.

The Silverbreeze regiment counter-charges, landing 5 damage into the Skeleton Warriors, but they are Inspired, and hold firm, keeping this objective unclaimed. 

The Skeletons hold strong.

With that, the Undead hold our away objective for 3 and the left objective for 1, while the Sylvan Kin only hold the right objective for the 1 point. It’s a 4-1 victory for the Undead!

Game Conclusions

Trevor’s analytical skills win out! It was really neat to take his findings and try to put them into action for a game. He's only evaluating units, so there was a good chunk of the list (sources of Inspiring, etc) open for experimentation, and I think I filled those chunks in well, and came away with something worthwhile.

We're both getting better at scenario play, and for better of for worse had similar ideas on how to approach this. The Celestial Restoration really came through for me though, keeping the Zombie Trolls in the game for much longer than they should have been. The Undead proved to be a bit messy for me to position, but getting a Round 7 let me take the win. If you've read all they through though, you know that the game was far, far closer than the final score represents. 

Testing Conclusions

• Skeletons with two-handers. As before, their performance was on a spectrum, and that still seems fine for a chaff-like unit. One unit ate some very hot early shots, and the other charged in to contest an objective token and secure the win for me. These seem like promising units for me. 
• Zombies. We found an objective for them to grab! Pretty mundane, but this was a great use for a Zombie regiment, especially against an army with a lot of bow shooting.
• Skeleton Spearmen Horde. Misused since I misevaluated the units opposing me, and they got flanked by the heavy cavalry! A clear error there, but not a bad unit though. I want my spear hordes to be cordoning off sections of the board though, and think this is best run in multiples. I could probably learn a thing or two from our local Ratkin player! It’s not going to grind anything out, and needs some hammers to support it, but it is still a decent unit to hold ground and seems to be at a good price.
• Mummy Troops. It was nice to finally get the troops on the table, and to get the regiment out again. I kept them Inspired, and the troops performed very well, contributing some damage while shrugging off a lot of basic attacks. The Undead have a lot of options around the 115-120 point mark (Revenant Cavalry troops; Mummy Troops; Zombie Troll regiments; and even Wraith troops). All look to be good options with slight niches, and I look forward to playing around with these smaller units more!
• Mummy Regiment. The Troops rated high than the Regiment, and that seems fair. You only get a few attacks and a few Nerve for the increased cost, both of which is handy, but neither of which feels really impactful. Run what you want; both sizes seem good and useful, but the troops look to be a better buy with a higher skill ceiling.
• Zombie Trolls. We were both surprised at just how effective these were, but the elephant in the room is that Celestial Restoration propped the units up very effectively, and they got lucky on a few Nerve checks too. At under 200 points, these seem like good units to have and build around as they can hold well with Def5, and grind ok with CS2. Lacking Regen like the living trolls, then can definitely be ground down though.
• Liche King with Celestial Restoration. I think this is the first really great showing of Celestial Restoration. 
• Undead ASBs. As-ever, these are nothing fancy, but seem to be good generic takes. If you aren’t running skeletons I think these are far less interesting. Maybe on a horse with Trickster’s Wand (Hex) could be a third option? I donno. As-is the duo and the items still feel good and useful.
• Vampire on Undead Pegasus. I debated a bit whether to put them out on the flanks or among my line, and the latter seemed like a much better choice here. They are expensive, but not powerful enough to be real hammers, and they are prone to wavering, like we saw here.  Being closer to your own lines and just threatening to charge out to block up some things up proved to be a good use for them. 
• Revenant Wyrms. The analytics say they should do well, and indeed the Wyrms had another pretty good showing.
• Command Orders. This is my second game with Command Orders, and they felt more impactful for me this game. I had better dice, and was able to get three turns with 4+ successes to play with using just the basic dice. The army-unique orders were fun with the Undead, and we got to see the movement Orders in action to help the Sylvan Kin stay in the game. It's neat, not too impactful, but I think the Orders add too much complexity to an otherwise easy to pick up game, and I worry about barriers to entry if this becomes the norm. Very few people like having to buy system-specific dice. The dice were originally from Vanguard, so part of me hopes that this is just Mantic experimenting and trying to clear out old inventory, and this won't be the direction of the game.
• Command Dice. The Command Dice were nicer to me this game. I still think you need to spend 20 points or so if you want to make the Orders a focal point of the list, but that doesn’t seem like too steep an investment. 
• Lifeleech. Damage still accrues, and on its own it doesn’t do a lot, but the rule still pairs nicely with other sources healing. It’s still not a rule I particularly like, but I am getting much better at remembering it, at least with the Undead.

A big thank you to Trevor for printing out the Zombie Trolls for me, the army review which gave me the idea for this, for the game, and for hosting us. 

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #085 Kingdoms of Men vs Sylvan Kin in Raze

Intro and Lists

There is a "local-enough" convention coming up in early October (this weekend, actually, since it took a little extra time to finish the report up) with a small, 1500-point, one-day Kings of War tournament as one of the many events. The doubles tournament back in June was fun, so with this event close enough for a relatively easy day trip, it felt silly to not make the effort, and I eventually committed to going. 

With the event on the horizon, I was hoping to stretch some analytical muscles, get some practice games in, and maybe even run something wild, like the Undead or Varangur to explore one of those armies more. Early September saw me getting in a good number of Herd games in, but before I could transition to any event prep, reality and various responsibilities fully reasserted themselves, dashing (almost) all of those hopes for any serious preparation. Very fortunately for me though, the stars and schedules miraculously aligned for one late afternoon game with Trevor from Data and Dice on the weekend prior to the tournament. I am not good at fine-tuning lists, so my goal wasn't to drill down on anything specific for our game, but to just play a game, and brush up on some rules and tactics so I wouldn't be as extra rusty going into Game One of the tournament. We played at 2300 points, with Trevor bringing the Sylvan Kin and the following list:

We run a lot of "near-mirror" armies, so when Trevor's Sylvan Kin hit the table, I take notice on behalf of my Herd. When I've run the Herd, it's always been exploring something, and doubling-or-tripling down on that something to get an idea of how that unit or tactics works. There is a lot to love about this list! At a high-level, above all, this list is balanced. It has just a small portion of everything, including Scout moves, which should gives it a lot of options on the table.

Running through the list quickly, we have three Gur Panthers as wonderful and speedy chaff, a horde of interesting Forest Guard to hold the line, Silverbreeze to harass, Gladestalkers to scout and shoot, Awakened Forest Shamblers to hold the line and scout, and the Wiltfather to beat face and scout. We also have the Quicksilver Lancers, the upgraded Stormwind Cavalry regiment, to hit hard on the charge, and a number of more unique picks. These include the Windborne, to push things around to take advantage of the good range and speed of the Kin units, keeping them safe from enemy charges, and two Elven Kings with Bows. One goes even harder, grabbing the Shardblade to hit on 2's in Melee, and Axe of the Giant Slayer, to get some Slayer triggers against monsters. With no piercing on the bow, and Just CS1, I'd prefer the Scythe and its Rampage trigger better (like I tried in Battle 082), but with so many other shooting units, a high volume of good, elite bow fire might just do the trick.

I’m just getting my toes wet with tournaments, and don't plan on traveling much at the moment, but I want to approach these events similarly to my usual games: that is, running a variety of armies like a maniac. I don't necessarily want to be testing things, or running a new unit for the first time at an event, but running a variety of armies and lists is definitely a goal. With less prep here than I wanted, I opted to run the simple and rather familiar Kingdoms of Men for this tournament. I wanted to use our game to mostly check back in with the army. I ran the following:

We’ll dissect the tournament list and my thinking separately, in posts for those reports. For this game, very little is “new”, and that's the point. I wanted to fall back on something mostly familiar, so I could just brush off the rust. Here, I wanted to see how the humans felt without their Flying Generals, as well as contemplating a few things for constructing the tournament list. Up to test is:

• Pole-Arms vs Foot Guard. The Pole-Arm Horde has rarely had a good outing for testing, so I wanted to try and compare my “smashy” hordes a bit on the table. Is Melee 3+ and Def 4 worth the price increase, or are cheaper Pole-Arms the way to go?
• Crossbowmen vs hypothetical Bowmen. Trevor has used a single Brothermark Villein Bowmen Horde to great effect against me. It contributes a little at range, but usually survives to the late game to contribute to scenarios and hold tokens. Getting only one game in, I didn't get to compare them to the Bowmen in an alternative list of mine, but we'll still see if Crossbows feel like worth the investment for that Piercing 1. 
• Rampage Giants. I’ve been running Rampage on my Giants for a while now, and wanted to try that again here. With Crushing Strength 4, anything they touch should feel it, regardless of whether Rampage or Slayer triggers, but Rampage should help them cleave through tar pits better. We have three Giants, so we’ll see how much stuff we can actually chew through.
• Monarch (honorary forth Giant). Essentially the only new thing, though he has appeared with some other upgrades previously, like fly. With Melee 3, his output should be slightly better than a normal Giant, but still serve a similarly smashy role, helping me smash through any high-defense target.
• The Captain. I have always liked the concept of the Captain, but struggled to get any real use out of him with the lists that I tend to run. He's neat, but hard to use well. We'll keep a close eye on him, see what can be redeployed, and where Rally might be useful.
• Triple Ballistae. I’m bringing three here, just to get more experience with them and with evaluating firing lanes. I think war machines like these can be approached one of two ways: deployed early as area denial or deployed late for dedicated monster hunting. We'll see what seems appropriate. 

Table and Terrain

We were out at his place, so I arrived to a table nicely set up and ready already. We were using our typical terrain rules, running the buildings as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, fences as Height 2 Obstacles, and Hills as Height 3, and the field as Height 0.

I won the roll for sides, and did the ungentlemanly thing and switched, to hopefully deny him good use of most of the woods. I didn't like the idea of having to dislodge two Gladestalker regiments from difficult terrain.

We got Raze for the Scenario. We'll take turns placing tokens 6" back from the center and 12" away from any other token. You burn tokens you place to score a Point, but can only contest the tokens your opponent placed. Ideally, things get whittled down to a fight over the center token in the late game.

Tokens and deployment.

I immediately donk up my token distribution. I wanted to do what my opponent did and do 2 on the left, but unfortunately, the left-most token was my first, and the spacing happened to preclude placing another token on the left, meaning I ended up with two on the right. I need to place one behind the building to get two tokens over here, so yeah, we are not off to a great start. 

It's a friendly game, but since I am trying to do some mindful tournament prep, I'm largely rolling with things, to see where there might be weak points in my play, and places to improve on, and things to keep in mind. I think the way to do this next time would be to deploy from the inside-out. Unless there is blocking terrain complicating things, either side can generally handle two tokens, and going the minimum distance outward from the middle keeps you from donking things up like this.

Left-to-right my opponent had the shooty Silverbreeze Regiment, and a building isolating them. The center had the mighty Wiltfather, a Gladestalker Regiment, the Master Hunter, the Awakened Shamblers with Gur Panthers in reserve, a King, and the Forest Guard with more Panthers in reserve. The right had the Windborne, Quicksilver Lancers, King with the Shardblade, the other Gladestalker regiment, and some more Panthers in reserve.

Looking at the lists, I was going to out-deploy my opponent, but not by much. With Scout (and Def6), the Wiltfather would be hard to hunt. I'm am still learning war machines, but it didn't seem like we had any commanding firing lanes, so I chose to deploy the Ballistae centrally to get some early shots in and pressure the center as the game progressed.

Left-to-right we have Crossbows, angled, to be ready to hop up and fight for these tokens. The Foot Guard started behind the hill, with the Healing ASB, while two Giants and the Monarch watched the woods for signs of the Wiltfather. The Ballistae ended up centrally, with the Captain, the thinking being that his Rally might help them survive any early counter-fire. The thinking is that longer I can preserve the war machines, the more chances they have to spike some dice and deliver. My right had some reserve Pikes to go for the center or the right, and the Wizard with BC and Mindfog sat nearby as well. A Giant held the woods, more Pikes ended up nearby, with the BC ASB, and the Pole Arms were on the far flank, hoping to make use of the hill to help screen their advance.

Redeployment and Scout

I was largely happy with my deployment, but then rolled up 3 redeploys from the Captain. I tied myself in mental knots, trying to wring use out of the ability. My center was weak, so I wanted to get the Foot Guard Horde more central, but couldn't quite fit them in without blocking up the war machines. I ended up moving a war machine and the Captain more to the right, to shoot around the woods and let the nearby Pikes protect them more. This still didn't create good space for the Foot Guard to go centrally, so I ended up just angling the Foot Guard so they could more at the double and help zone out the woods for their first move.

In retrospect, with three redeploys, I think I take the middle-most Giant and swap him with the Foot Guard, and then can still move a Ballistae to maintain lanes of fire. This would have helped me contain the Silverbreeze and still zone out the forest with some nice striding charges, while strengthening my center, which, just being Ballistae, was a little concerning.

My opponent then had scout moves. which caused him about as much mental troubles as my redeploys did to me. On the right, the Gladestalkers got their leader point onto the hill, to get line of sight and some turn one shots. Centrally, the Master Hunter, Awakened Shamblers Gladestalkers and Wiltfather all moved a uniform 12" up, which I was initially really excited about. 

Final positioning, after the redeploy and the Scout moves.

My Giants are Speed 7, so if anything entered the woods, I could see and multi-charge it. Slowly,  my opponent realized this. Trevor inched back his Wiltfather, and then the Gladestalkers. He then double checked, and confirmed that the Awakened Shamblers were in charge range as well, and then inched them and the Master Hunter back too, to avoid the early charges. This was a bummer for me, but obviously the right call.

I won the roll-off for deciding turn order, and with war machines, opted to go first.

Top of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

Out on the left, the Crossbowmen move forward their speed, and then fire with a penalty into the Silverbreeze regiment, hitting a wonderfully hot 5 times, but only pushing 2 of those hits into actual damage, bringing the final results back to something more typical. The regiment is unsupported, so I like my chances of bullying them over a few turns, and I just need to not give them a good out via a flank charge or something.

The Foot Guard move at the double to hop over the hill. With their charge range of 10 inches, they can reach anything hops into the woods to try and peak out. They are able to keep the Silverbreeze in their front, and while the nearby Giant moves up as well, he holds back a few inches, so as to not give the Silverbreeze a flank charge, while also pressuring the forest.

Movement for the Kingdoms of Men.

With the Wiltfather, Gladestalkers and Forest Shamblers all holding back with their Scout moves, I opt to hold back a bit as well, with the aforementioned Giant, Monarch, and other Giant playing with angles and inches to make things messy and prevent many multi-charges from the Kin. Given the intervening forest, the Wiltfather isn't going to have a charge next turn unless I entered the woods, and delaying him feels like ta good thing right now.

It turns out the Ballistae might not have the best long-term shots. The Gladestalkers have Stealthy, and Forest Guard have cover from the terrain (and from the intervening obstacle for a few shots). The Ballistae all shoot into the Forest Shamblers, landing 1 damage apiece, which is consistent but felt underwhelming at the time! Rubbing my face in it a little, I get boxcars for the Nerve Check, which means nothing on this Fearless unit.

Straight to dice jail with you!

The Pikes both move up, one towards the center and one towards the right. Both get partially through the woods. The Wizard in the woods attempts a Mind Fog on the intrepid Master Hunter in the center field, but the spell doesn't connect.

On the right the Giant moves up, but the woods stymies his progress, along with the Pikes. With first turn, the weak Pole-Arms moves at the double, looking to force some quick decisions around the hill way out here.

Bottom of Round 1: Sylvan Kin

Across the line of battle, the Gur Panthers get the zoomies. On the right, they zip up to mess with spacing, as the King, and Quicksilver Lancers all take the hill. Given the spacing, my Pole Arms can't squeeze past, so I am stuck hitting the Panthers. Likewise, the Giant will have the inches but not the space to slide in against the front of the Lancers. Great use of chaff. Well played!

Great use of chaff by my opponent.

The Gladestalkers, King, and Windborne all shoot into the Pikes on the right, landing 4 damage in total, with the Windblast arrows pushing them back three inches, putting them out of charge range against the Gur Panthers.

Centrally, the Gur Panthers zip up as well, making things positionally very messy. They are currently gumming things up, while also threatening charges into the Ballistae next turn, since they are so darn speedy. If I want to keep the war machines around, I will need to react. The Wiltfather lurks, avoiding the woods still, and the Awakened Shamblers move slightly, with my opponent looking to reinforce and avenge anything that I decide to charge next turn.

The Hunter, Slayer King and Gladestalkers all shoot into a Giant, landing 5 damage. This is all non-piercing arrows from bows, so is a little disconcerting! 

End of Round 1.

On the left, the Silverbreeze back up, getting out of shooting range of my Crossbowmen, while loosing into the Foot Guard, landing 2 damage themselves.

Top of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

The Crossbowmen are forced to move again, but are firmly contesting my opponent's token. They fire again into the Silverbreeze, but land no hits this time. 

The Foot Guard move up, cautiously still, as they are still wary of presenting a flank to the speedy Silverbreeze. They are still looking to swing around the woods soon if they can, but zoning things out of the woods is still ok. 

The left-most Giant can't do much this turn, and so moves into the woods, daring a frontal charge from the Wiltfather, while pivoting to avoid a flank from the Silverbreeze as well. I think my thinking here is that I am about to start losing the Ballista, and need to start instigating.

The Monarch and other Giant have some options, but none feel particularly great. I don't like my odds, even in a multi-charge against the Awakened Shamblers. Last turn, with no potential reprisals, I would have taken it, but here, even if I win, something is getting hit, hard, and the something would very likely be the Monarch. I opt to hold the Monarch near the edge of the woods.

The other Giant goes into the Gur Panthers. Rampage triggers, and we get 7 extra attacks from 2d6, dealing .... 4 damage when the dust settles, and we just barely waver the Panthers. I forgot about Brutal, which I need to do better at, especially for these flub combats, but I'm at the lower-end of the Nerve here, and the bonus would still have resulted in a waver. Not impactful, but still something to try and do better at remembering.

Efforts to protect the war machines.

The Pikes are about a quarter inch shy of flanking the other Panthers, so they just move up. The mighty Captain moves up as well. The Panthers are nimble, but should have trouble shooting the gap, and this should (hopefully) limit their charge options. I think these were some of my final moves, so I probably didn't need to move the left-most Giant just yet. 

I Mindfog the Panthers, and then evaluating my options, shoot the Ballistae into them. This is a large procedural error on my part. I should have shot first, and then figured out what to Mindfog, since nothing is really damaged and I am fishing for boxcars. One Ballistae lands 3 damage, the others roll up nothing, and the second unit of Panthers are only Wavered. 

On the right, I don't need Bane Chant against the Panthers, so don't attempt it. Over on the left, I do forget to attempt Heal on the Foot Guard though, which is an error. I am not used to having that spell around.

On the right, the Pike's can make the charge, so I opt to send both the Giant and the Pole Arms in, risking the Insane Courage and mostly just looking to gain ground. The Panthers are devastated and then routed, as is proper, with this Giant actually doing work.

Combat on the right.

For reforms, I want to overrun and get onto this hill. I overrun Pole Arms a mighty 1 inch, just getting their leader point on the hill. I consider backing up with the Giant, but the Quicksilver Lancers are nimble. I can't hide him behind the Pole Arms at all, so I choose to overrun with the Giant as well. 

It's the dice jail for you as well!

I roll up a mighty 6 inches for the Giant's overrun putting the Quicksilver Lancers firmly into the Giant's Flank. 

This overrun decision was a pretty big error. I wanted to gain ground, but I already have a good charge range, and should be able to hit something next turn. I can't avoid the nimble heavy cavalry, but they aren't on the hill, so aren't getting additional TC. I probably should have just stayed put.

Bottom of Round 2: Sylvan Kin

The Lancers eagerly flank charge the Giant, with the nearby King joining them, and the Windborne hitting the Giant's other flank. Looking at the pictures, I maybe could have contested the Windborne's positioning, but with the more important Lancers already in the flank, the Windborne don't matter much. The King here went 7:7 per my notes, and the Giant is devastated and routed when we get to this combat. 

Not a great start for combats.

The Gladestalkers charge the Pole-Arms horde, landing 3 damage.

Centrally, the Gur Panthers relax while the Forest Guard move up, getting ready for combats once the Panthers scatter.

The central Gladestalkers back up, and are able to see around the forest and into the Foot Guard. On the left, the Silverbreeze sidestep, and both units loose into the Guard, landing 5 more damage and bringing them to 8 damage (the original, unhealed 2, plus 1 from Cloak, plus the 5 new damage), and we get a second, unfortunately more impactful Boxcars for the game.

That's two giants triple-charged and easily dispatched in nice and early in Round 2.

My positioning with the other Giants was equally sloppy, and I can't blame the dice out here! The Wiltfather does take the frontal charge, with a King joining in the front too. The Awakened Shamblers were right there, but I blanked on factoring them in, and it turns out they have a flank into the Giant as well, able to squeeze in against a corner. Cloak of Death triggers, hitting a bunch of things, and this Giant is brought up to 18 damage and then dispatched. Definitely a huge blunder here on my part.

Top of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

I brought a physical token to help me out, but didn't place it with the Foot Guard, and I forgot about Indomitable Will. They are staring at the flank of the Wiltfather, but Wavered, the Foot Guard just reposition. After forgetting about it last turn, Heal is attempted, but nothing connects. 

Two hordes on the left.

The Crossbowmen don't need to move this time, and fire into the Silverbreeze. I've managed to deny them flank charges all game, keeping them pretty isolated. The Crossbowmen overperform this turn, landing 7 new damage and will rout the uninspired unit with a good check.

With two Giants down for basically free (one did help beat some Gur Panthers), I am not liking my odds for this game. 

The maimed Giant continues against the Gur Panthers, and bests them this time, turning to get the Wiltfather and the Awakened Shamblers into front arc, as he cannot get away.

Lots of fighting in the center.

The Monarch doesn't have good options. I didn't like his chances against the Shamblers with a Giant, so don't want to send him in now all alone with the Wiltfather still right there. The safest charge is into the Forest Guard. Unfortunately, there is no Rampage trigger for the Monarch, but he does hit them for a splendid 7 damage, and will strip them of their Thunderous Charge.

We finally clear the Gur Panthers up.

The Pikes protecting the Ballistae make a front charge into the other wavering Gut Panthers, and will best them, but I forget to reform them in victory. The Captain doesn't have the inches to join in any fighting, but runs up to try and support this central push with his Rallying.

With all the combats in the main firing lane, the Ballistae all shoot into the Awakened Shamblers, who are in the woods, and have cover. I deal a total of 2 damage, bringing them to just 5 damage.

On the right, the Pole Arms counter-charge the Gladestalkers, but I forget about Lifeleech 1 from the ASB. They will land 9 damage, and do secure the rout result against the shooters.

The Kingdoms of Men are finally fighting back, but they still have quite the points deficit to dig themselves out of!

Bottom of Round 3: Sylvan Kin

Centrally, the Palace Guard counter-charge the Monarch, with the Gladestalkers hitting the flank. The Monarch had taken 2 from Cloak of Death. With no CS but just an overwhelming quality attacks, about 10 new damage would be expected normally, not great for the longevity of the Monarch by any means, but likely survivable. The Elves overperform, and the Monarch is brought to 17 damage, and dispatched as well without issue.

The Sylvan Kin flee the forest, easily avoiding my Foot Guard. 

The Wiltfather and Shamblers charge the maimed Giant in the front. Cloak of Death triggers, and then 13 new damage is done in the melee, about as expected, and the fourth and final titan for the humans falls! The Wiltfather turns to face my left flank and the token there, and the Forest Shamblers pivot. 

The Pole-Arms are scattered as well.

On the right, with the Giant gone, the Windborne, Quicksilver Lancers and King triple-charge the Pole Arms, land 17 new damage, and best the unit with ease. The King will overrun, and both cavalry units will turn to face the Pikes.

Top of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

I have lost all the titans, which are close to 40% of my army? Given the scenario, I do try to play it out though. Battling the Wiltfather is out of the question now, but there might be something to salvage since I still have the war machines operational.

The Pikes try to charge uphill.

On the right, the ASB can't escape the King's Line of Sight, but is able to cast Bane Chant on the Pikes, who charge the Windborne. I again forget about Lifeleech for the infantry, as I have never been good at remembering the rule, despite badmouthing it so frequently. I deal 4, and do manage to pick the unit up with some hot Nerve checks! The Pikes will sidestep 2" blocking the King's line of sight to the ASB, and stalling out this side just a little longer.

Let's try the Awakened Shamblers again, eh?

Having not victoriously reformed last turn, the central Pikes aren't in a good spot this turn. They pivot, making sure that anything charging them will land on the obstacle when things shuffle to center.

The Ballistae shoot into the Awakened Shamblers again, finally spiking some dice, dealing 6 total and bringing them to 11 damage, but they are Inspired and thee Nerve Check is a flimsy 3, so they stick around. 

The Foot Guard pivot, getting their footprint out of the woods, and getting the Wiltfather out of charge range. The forest will complicate things a bit, but they should be decently protected, and be able to battle for the two nearby tokens in the coming turn. It is around this time that I realize that they have Indomitable Will. I'll hit them with a Heal for 1.

Nuts. All I can really do is delay.

The Crossbowmen move at the double to secure a token, and burn it for the Kingdoms of Men, making the score officially 1-0 in my favor.

Bottom of Round 4: Sylvan Kin

The Wiltfather will move up to control and then burn the token in front of the Foot Guard, getting just close enough to hit them with Cloak of Death. The score is now 1-1.

The remaining Gladestalkers turn to shoot into the Foot Guard. I'll have a charge into them as well, which will also take me out of arc of the Wiltfather. That's the new goal, the get the Foot Guard around the Wiltfather, and into a position to contest the central token for the late game. The Gladestalkers land 3 damage, with the nearby King landing all 7 hits, and that results in a spicy 6 damage. I've since remembered Indomitable Will, but am routed here and won't get to use it, putting an end to to most of my scenario plans.

The Forest Guard make a hindered charge into the central Pikes, landing 5 damage while the Master Hunter charges the Captain, dealing 3.

The Quicksilver Lancers don't like it, but they charge the Pikes on the right, joined by the King. The Lancers struggle, but even Ensnared, the King helps greatly, and 4 damage total is done, taking them to 8, and besting them.

Top of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

I took notes, but not great pictures it seems. With not much to do in-game, I guess I am just moving too quickly and not filling the thinking time with picture taking? I'm not sure what the impediment is, but will try to just take more and more pictures in future games.

The Crossbowmen pivot, and can shoot into the Gladestalkers, but I forget to do so. Moving, and against Stealthy, I'm hitting on 7's, which means I'm hitting on 6's with just half my dice. That doesn't feel great.

The Ballistae shoot, and struggle, but manage to land a few more damage onto the Awakened Shamblers and finally pick them up.

The Captain lands a few hits against the Master Hunter, and secures a Waver.

As-ever with Trevor, we're talking things through. I want to just back up with the Pikes, but with the Foot Guard gone, we figure that the central Pikes need to try and push through that horde if I have any chance at winning. The Wizard tucks in by the building, misses the Bane Chant, and the Pikes deal just 2 damage (looks like 3.8 is expected, even without the spell).

The ASB with the Lute is all alone, and opts to charge the Quicksilver Lancers, in an attempt to disorder and hold them up. His single attack misses; it is a long-shot. 

Bottom of Round 5: Sylvan Kin

We're still talking things through. With the terrain, the Crossbowmen aren't going to be able to make it back to the center, as the woods will slow them down. It's 1:1, but I have nothing to really reach the center, or grab anything on the right.

We are overthinking things. I can't get close enough to score the center, so his Guard just need to hold for a turn (very likely), or he just needs to burn one more token to secure the win (also pretty likely).

Since he stopped a little short of the token here, the Wiltfather can't reach or contest the other token on the left, so turns around to help fight for the center as the game concludes.

The Gladestalkers and a King will shoot into one Ballistae, land a frightening amount of damage on it, and will secure the rout.

With the ASB having failed to land a strike, the Quicksilver Lancers have a very free hand. Again, we are over thinking things. They could just go grab the token, but I point out that they have the speed to hit the Pikes in the flank, and in Round 6, they'll still have the inches to turn around and grab the token for a commanding win. So the Lancers hit the flank of the central Pikes, with my Wizard preventing them from shuffling down for a Hindered charge. The Forest Guard join in as well, in a strong attempt to clean them up. The Guard alone take them up to 14 damage (not quite devastated, but close enough), and we opt to fast forward, and do get Insane Courage! We'll count the Pikes as devastated, as rolling all the dice seems silly.

Top of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men

The devastated Pikes counter-charge the Forest Guard, landing just 1 damage, and bringing them to 10 damage total. They hold.

Popped out of combat, the two Ballistae shoot into the Lancers, dealing 3 damage, but the cavalry holds as well. 

I'm not used to having shooting, and skip over the Crossbowmen again after firing all the war machines. We do back this up, in case I can Waver the Gladestalkers, but I land no hits with the horde.

Bottom of Round 6: Sylvan Kin

Again, we are over thinking things.

The Wiltfather and the Gladestalker move in to help control the central token, and the Forest Guard counter-charges the Devastated Pikes, and will pick them up. 

Final picture of the game: damage on the Pikes is approximate. They are beyond saving.

The Nimble and unengaged Lancers can just run and burn a second token, putting the Sylvan Kin ahead 2:1. Then controlling the center at the end makes it 3:1 for a strong Sylvan Kin victory!

Game Conclusions

As-always, I enjoyed myself immensely, but as you can see, I absolutely did not play a good game, and had much more rust in my play (not to mention reporting) than I was expecting after just a few weeks away. We both had errors, but the difference was Trevor caught and corrected his, like with the overly-aggressive Scout moves, before moving on to the next phase or passing turn. Hopefully, this debacle puts me in a bit of a better spot going into the tournament!

Token placement was an issue, but not the end of the world at our skill level, and I wanted to see if I could make it work still. I think playing it cagey was the right approach, but I had compounding tactical errors in Round 2 that quickly put the game out of reach. Losing two Giants in Round 2 put me in a very desperate position, and things did not get better for me from Round 2 onward.

Sylvan Kin Lessons for the Herd

These armies do have some unit overlap via the options from the Nature list, and that's why I've taken notice when they are across the table. Aside from those shared units though, these are pretty radically different armies otherwise. That is to say, that any direct comparisons can only go so far, and really only be applied to the shared units. The Herd just can’t play the Gladestalker / shooting game, nor do they have bananas individuals like the Wandering Kings, nor do they even have access to heavy cavalry. The only unit-specific takeaway I can really glean is that I should probably give the Forest Shamblers another try. I used them many months ago, and was not really impressed, and other units and styles have continually cut in line for testing the last few months. However, in my last few battles against the Sylvan Kin, they have often caused me headaches. I used them more as my main-line unit, which was not a good role for them, given their lower Nerve relative to a normal infantry horde like the Tribal Spears. However, having them as a supporting piece seems to be a great way to use them.

There are a number of general takeaways though, the biggest being the value a more balanced list, if I can used a very imprecise term. Yes, Trevor’s list had a lot of versatility, but I am more drilling down on the unit variety as the lesson: he’s not spamming stuff. With the exception of maybe Penitents, he doesn’t really spam things, and that’s been a hallmark of his list building. I have found some fun stuff and some effective stuff for the Herd, but am still experimenting wildly with the Herd to see how some units even work, unwieldly doubling or tripling down on a unit to try and test it out, ie. Spamming a unit to an extent. Here, Trevor took a variety of units with differing roles, and used them all well. I have a handful of “unwieldy” lists to test out still for the Herd, but a more measured approach could be good to keep in mind in the coming months.

Testing Conclusions

• Pole-Arms. Placing them near the table edge was a positional mistake, as my opponent showed me with that protective pocket, but trying to be aggressive with them was the right call. I still like the idea of the cheap unit overall, but they continue to not have the best performances on the table. At Def3, so much damage just lands against them, and as-such, they don't seem able to really function as your main line unit, and definitely can't do it alone. Running multiples seems like an option, but they aren't quite bad enough to get the points discount for a trash-style army. 
• Foot Guard. I won't dwell on forgetting IW.  A hindered flank into the Wiltfather would be amazing, but probably wasn't going to break him. Had they survived or just been wavered in Round 4 I could have made up for forgetting it early on. Positioning is where I failed with them. Given the scenario, I know the center is going to be up for grabs, so I should have had them more central from the start, and planning that way. 
• Crossbowmen vs hypothetical Bowmen. About the only thing that went well and according to plan for me this game was containing the Silverbreeze with the Crossbowmen! Unlike the Villein unit, I don't have Phalanx or anything to help my survivability. If I have the points, and want to run a 5+ shooty horde, giving them Piercing does seem worth it.
• Rampage Giants. I wanted to try a strong push with the Monarch, ideally against the Wiltfather, but didn't have a good way to instigate a piece trade. None of these were supported appropriately or used well. 
• Monarch (honorary forth Giant). They got in one desperate charge, and then got really unlucky on the retaliatory charges. I couldn't trade my titans for anything this game, and just lost them all, which felt really bad. The base Monarch seems like a fine unit, but was not used well here.
• The Captain. I didn't plan my Inspiring coverage well, but putting him with the Ballistae seemed best call, and I am not displeased with how I played him overall. I had some decent ideas, but not the experience to take advantage of the generous Redeploy. Redeploy is a lot of fun, but if you aren't really familiar with your own list, it seems as likely to trip you up as your opponent! Not used well here, but should pay dividends the more you run them.
• Triple Ballistae. With Scout, I figured I was never going to be able to hunt the Wiltfather effectively, so area denial was the right approach, and targeting the center was the right call too., but this still didn't feel very effective. As mentioned, I could probably have found some better angles. Good ideas, but the execution needs some work.
  

I big thank you to Trevor for fitting this game in! While I liked his previous Sylvan Kin lists, having dropped the Greater Air Elementals and need to invest into Surge, this one seems more versatile and much more fun for him to play! Hopefully we'll see it across the table again soon!