My buddy has been waffling on the Undead army he’s currently painting for the upcoming Crossroads GT, so I summoned him to my place to smash out a couple games in the name of hobby science. I also rebuilt the core of my list to gain a little more defense – and a handful of points – at the cost of offense I was rarely getting much out of.
Swapping the Spirit Walkers down to Tribal Spears feels good for the Def4 (relevant in a world of Piercing(1) shooting), plus the phalanx buff for whenever it comes into play (spoilers: not really yet), but keeps the 15 attaks so I can work some dice magic, especially in a flank. The Walkers WC(D3) didn’t really matter – 12+D3″ outranges Sp6 enemies, which is cool, but not really much else – and while the Me3+ is groovy, getting punched or shot first isn’t. I also really like getting them down to 135 pts, these regiments feel like the versatile chaff / scorers I wanted. Also the Beast makes her reappearance, and I think this is the first Centaur Chief? Who is damn amazing.
Undead 2300 Wights Horde – Maccwar’s Potion of the Caterpillar Wights Horde – Sir Jesse’s Boots of Striding Soul Reaver Infantry Regiment – 10 Point Item Soul Reaver Infantry Regiment Zombies Regiment Zombies Regiment Zombies Regiment Zombies Regiment Zombies Regiment Ghouls Troop Ghouls Troop Ghouls Troop Vampire on Undead Pegasus – The Boomstick, Lightning Bolt (6) Vampire on Undead Pegasus – Surge (4) Necromancer – Inspiring Talisman, Surge (6), Weakness (2) Necromancer – Shroud of the Saint, Surge (6), Heal (6)
His goal is to have trash control the field and objectives while the high quality Undead hammers smash things, which seems legit to me. Wights are honestly pretty frightening, between fly and Me3+ and so on. Soul Reaver blender regs are of course the hotness but I’ve been dealing with non-flying hammers for a long time, so a bit more of a shrug. I’m also a big fan of the Vamp Pegs and give them far more respect than Vamp Dragons.
We rolled up Plunder, which I dig as a scenario, bit more dynamic play involved. The Herd scouted and then took first as well.
BATTLE
Herd 0: Scouting phase!Herd 1: Scooting phase! The Hallow take up position / grab almost all of the loot tokens (there’s one more hard to the left by the rock). The Beast menaces some angles from the lower-left, and in the center-right some Shamblers shelter behind a wall and tempt the Undead to try to unpack the right Soul Reavers and see what they’ve got when hindered. The Hex Herder pinged the weakness Necromancer as well.Undead 1: The deadites scoot forward, with some Zombies ultimately slapping uselessly against the Shamblers on the wall, after trying to finagle a double charge with the Soul Reavers. Lightning however spikes into the Druid and wavers her!Herd 2: With control of 6/7 loot points, the Hallow creeps back in the center, while charging out on the flanks. Zombies are flanked by Centaurs on the left and combo-charged by Tribal Spears and Centaurs on the right; to control the chaff game, more Spears jump on the leftmost Ghouls, and the Centaur Chief speeds off to sit down the surge Vamp Pegasus.Herd 2: Right Zombies and those Ghouls get mulched, but the left Zombies hold the Centaur flank. The Vampasus is sat down.Undead 2: The rage of the unliving is poured out all over the Hallow – Zombies counter Centaurs, Vampasus counters Centaur Chief, Soul Reavers + Zombies charge Tribal Spears, Vampasus 2 + Pathfinder Wights charge leftmost Shamblers, Ghouls charge center Shamblers (to get out of the way), and Zombies + Soul Reavers manage to hit the rightmost Shamblers. Whew.Undead 2: Huge amounts of violence later, and only the Tribal Spears hit by Soul Reavers + Zombies rout! And the Centaur Chief is wavered. The Shamblers taking only 8 damage from Vampasus + Wights was certainly the biggest upset.Herd 3: Made to bleed their own sap, the Hallow grabs as many flanks as possible and prepares for murder. L2R – Centaurs counter Zombies, Centaur Chief nimbles backwards to get in the way of the Soul Reavers, the Beast of Nature pounces on the flank of the lightning Vampasus, Shamblers + Tribal Spears hit the exposed Wights with a Tree Herder in the flank (!), center Shamblers counter their Ghouls, and right Shamblers counter the Soul Reavers with a flank from the Tribal Spears (their 2 pt loot tossed over to the Centaurs). The Druid bane chants somebody (gonna guess the Shamblers fighting the Wights), and the Hex Herder hits the weakness Necromancer again.Herd 3: The left side of the board sees great success, with all combats routing the Undead. The Ghouls only wavering in the center is an insult, but the Soul Reavers wavering on the right is marginally acceptable.Undead 3: The second wave of the dead hits the green line. L2R – the Soul Reavers can’t get past the Centaur Chief and into the Beast so grudgingly charge him, Zombies however can get in on her so charge the Beast, the surge Vampasus charges the mangled Shamblers on the hill (holding a 2 pt loot!), Ghouls charge the Tribal Spears near them, Wights blow their j-boots and hit the left Herder in the front, some Zombies fight some Tribal Spears, and more Zombies fight the right Shamblers. The weakness Necromancer pushes through the hex to weakness the right Shamblers, taking 4 damage for his troubles.Undead 3: Centaur Chief and hill Shamblers get wrecked, otherwise damage happens, including the Beast getting grounded by Zombies 😡 Of note is the Herder copping 7 damage from the Wight charge … which I guess is math but still high five. The 2 pt loot token was not picked up by the Vampasus.Herd 4: Sweet woodland carnage continues with another mass of counter/charges everywhere. Centaurs on the left flank Soul Reavers, the Beast pouts but counters her Zombies anyway, the hill Tribal Spears hit the Ghouls (sliding over and picking up the 2 pt loot token), the Herder hits the Wights, the central Shamblers aim to end their Ghouls, Tribal Spears to the right counter Zombies, weakened Shamblers counter more Zombies, and the Hex Herder charges the bleeding Soul Reavers with Tribal Spears in the flank. The Centaurs flanking the Soul Reavers enjoy the Druid’s bane chant. At this point I’ll note that the Vampasus is looking at a LOT of flanks and rears, so here’s hoping these combats work out!Herd 4: The right Soul Reavers and Zombies are finally ground out, turning to face the center, and the center Ghouls rout and those Shamblers can turn to face the Vampasus as well. The Tribal Spears wreck their Ghouls as well, being able to turn to face, and more importantly block the rear of the Herder whomping on the Wights (5 damage). Sadly those Tribal Spears fighting Zombies near the center don’t poke enough … On the left the Beast slaps some Zombies, but really it’s about the Centaurs wavering the Soul Reavers! Hell yea.Undead 4: Running low on both hammers and trash, the Undead grab what they can. Vampasus take that flank on Tribal Spears with Zombies in the front, Wights rev up to boop the Herder again, Zombies try to ground the Beast again, and Soul Reavers sadly turn to face their Centaur destroyers. The right Shamblers are weakened again.Undead 4: The Herder drops to the Wights! But the Vampasus gets stuck in the Tribal Spears. The Beast must have been disordered as well.Herd 5: The real question at this point is how to deal with the Undead hammers, and while the central Shamblers could have spun and been surged into the rear of the Vampasus, those Wights really needed to be held in place … So the central Shamblers hit the Wights, the right Zombies are flanked by the weakened Shamblers, the Tribal Spears see what they can do against the Vampasus (…), the weakness Necromancer is mobbed by hindered Tribal Spears, the left Zombies are flanked by more Spears in a bid to free the Beast, and the Centaurs hit the Soul Reavers in the front, despite Att6 being a really sad stat 😐 Bane chant goes on the center Shamblers, because they are gonna need it.Herd 5: While both Zombie units rout, neither the Wights (13 damage!) nor the Vampasus (2 damage) care. The Tribal Spears on the Necromancer do 0 damage, failing to even disorder the crone, and while the Centaurs get the Soul Reavers up to 6 they can’t get another lucky waver. Gulp.Undead 5: The Vampasus counters and explodes her Tribal Spears, the Wights one round the damage-less central Forest Shamblers (brutal tipped it over, plus me walking the Druid out of inspiring range), and the Soul Reavers get the Centaurs up to 18 damage but snake eyes it! What a swingy turn. The weakness Necromancer gets out of LOS and hits the right Shamblers with another weakness.Herd 6: The Hallow collapses on the remaining Undead units, with the Tribal Spears flanking the Soul Reavers getting bane chanted.Herd 6: While the Soul Reavers and Wights evaporated as anticipated, the Vampasus actually held the charge from Shamblers + Herder, albeit wavered.Undead 6: In a final act of defiance, the shroud Necromancer changes the devastated Centaurs, hitting with her one attak and ………. I can’t remember if she rolled the 4+ to wound and then 2+ to rout, but let’s give it to my opponent 😀 Because this was a resounding …
HERD VICTORY
Actually, this my first win with the Herd! I didn’t realize that at the time, but that’s awesome! It was a helluva grind that I dictated from the beginning, when I grabbed 6 of 7 loot points in Turn 1. There’s plenty the Undead could have done – I felt like he was tripping over his chaff units as he struggled to unpack them, and the Wights hidden behind the central wood also meant they couldn’t see to charge, and I wasn’t giving him the range to push forward 7″ then surge in either. I do feel justified for fearing the Wights as much as I do, and his future lists are looking to lean more on them and less on the shiny Soul Reaver blenders.
As for my list, it felt really good to have the Spears over Walkers. Def4+ kept the Zombies or Ghouls from getting too lucky in the trash grind, and while phalanx didn’t come into play really, still having 15 attaks was grand, as was TC1 for flanking and second wave. Also the extra points to bring the Beast in, except in a list where she’s another tool and less of a desperation play like in Game 2.
We reracked and played another game immediately after this one, so stay tuned for more Undead stomping action!
BLOODFIRE 