Alright, last practice game before the Crossroads GT and it’s a rematch against my clubmate’s Undead. This is essentially the final version of his list, and mine is pretty much there as well.
I’ve been feeling really ground out with the CS1 of the Forest Shamblers, and finding instances where my fancy Tree Herder doesn’t get to fight, so maybe he could buff a unit 1-2 times a game? Dropped the Druid’s staff for an *ahem* hoot of darkness :X (my fancy Herder has an owl on his shoulder, the true mastermind of the army)
Undead 2300 Wights Horde Wights Horde Wights Horde Soul Reaver Infantry Regiment – Chalice of Wrath Soul Reaver Infantry Troop Zombies Regiment Zombies Regiment Zombies Regiment Ghouls Troop Ghouls Troop Ghouls Troop Ghouls Troop Vampire on Undead Pegasus – Blade of Slashing? Vampire on Undead Pegasus Necromancer – Inspiring Talisman, Surge (6), Bane Chant (2) Undead Army Standard Bearer – Lute of Insatiable Darkness
Triple Wights! That’s a spicy meatball. Slightly fewer Soul Reavers but the reg is a crazy hammer and the troop one helluva glass hammer. I’m pretty sure the Vampasuses had no spells – they might have had Surge (4) each but I think he was smart and put it into fury on the big Soul Reavers. Honestly I’d put staying stone on the troop as well but I’m not sure that he did that here.
We rolled up Plunder (again), so that means super scout phase for me! I also nabbed the first turn.
BATTLE
Herd 0: Scouting phase! The Hallow pushes hard in the center, grabbing the central loot and a two pointer (glowy green).Herd 1: The forest advances on the deadites. The plan is to grab the right token and then grind the Undead on the left. The other Centaurs are hard to left beyond that wood.Undead 1: The main body of the Undead force moves forward en masse, while the right arm (ASB + Wights + 2x Zombies) backs up.Herd 2: The Hallow forms a second battleline across the board, as the rightmost Tribal Spears grab a third token. The Beast of Nature flanks the rightmost Zombies, knowing it can’t be seen by the Wights (the Zombies could have backed up 1″ less and she would have been in arc) and there’s no surge available. The Zombies hold on 8 damage.Undead 2: Here they come! Ghoul wild charge rolls see one unit into the Centaurs off shot to the left and another with a Vampasus into some Tribal Spears. Zombies counter the Beast, and more Zombies charge the central Shamblers. A slower Ghoul troop picks up a 2 point token. The Undead ASB fails to bane chant the Zombies fighting the Beast, and the Necromancer fails to bane chant the Ghouls fighting Tribal Spears 😀Big new Vampasus is big! Great mini, excited to see her painted next week.The Beast takes 2 damage, grounding her; the Shamblers take 2 damage; and the Tribal Spears take 4 after some rough rolls, but waver with some luck in the other direction. Way on the left, the Centaurs take 1 damage, disordering them.Herd 3: The Hallow strikes out at the Undead, with the hill Herder powering into the central Wights (out of arc of the Soul Reaver regiment) and the Zombies on the right eating Shamblers (loot dropped for distance) and Centaurs + Beast respectively. In the center, Shamblers counter the Zombies, Tribal Spears flank the Ghouls and the Centaur Chief rushes in to sit down the Vampasus. The Centaurs on the left counter their Ghouls. I forget to use the Lute Herders bane chant, but as it turns out the only meaningful target is the Centaur Chief, since everybody else is wounding on 2+ already. The Druid might have tried and failed to heal somebody.Left and central Ghouls rout, the Wights cop 5 damage, the Vampasus is sat down, the rightmost Zombies are smashed (Beast sidesteps or backs up out of Wight arc), but the Shamblers over there get bogged down in their Zombies. This isn’t great for outgrinding the Wights next turn …Undead 3: Wights charge Centaurs on both ends of the board, and the third counters their Herder. The disordered Vampasus just squeezes into a fresh Tribal Spear regiment holding a token, as the other combos with some Ghouls into the leftmost Shamblers. More Ghouls charge the hill Tribal Spears, Zombies counter the right Shamblers, and the Soul Reavers rev up to be a menace next turn. The ASB again fails to bane chant the Wights fighting the Herder, as does the Necromancer 😛Wights crush their Centaurs in both cases, but everything else is a grind. Left Shamblers take 3 damage, hill Tribal Spears 2 damage, Vampasus’ Spears 2 damage, Herder 5 damage, and the Zombies fluff.Herd 4: The Undead has left a couple flanks open, so the Hallow takes them. Most notably, the Soul Reaver reg is easily flanked by the central Shamblers (bane chanted). The central Wights are fronted and flanked by Tree Herders. The left Vampasus is fronted by Shamblers and flanked by Tribal Spears. The hill Ghouls are charged by more Spears. The other Vampasus is countered by Spears and reared by the Centaur Chief. And the back-right Shamblers counter their Zombies again while the Beast flits off to deal with the Undead ASB (behind that big rock). Yowza. The rightmost Tribal Spears scoop up the 2 point token, adding it to their 1 pointer.Yes, that’s double snake eyes against the Vampasus and the Wights, two important hammers. Sad times. The combat against the Soul Reavers actually goes terribly as well with very little damage dealt, but I crank double 10+ rout rolls through and pop them on an 11. So there is that. The ASB and Zombies crumble, and the other Vampasus is sat down at least (and robbed of nimble thanks to phalanx).Undead 4: Listen, be gentle ok? Vampasuses both counter-charge Tribal Spears, miraculously alive Wights head back into that beat up Herder, Soul Reaver troop charges the Shamblers that staked their brethren (and stole their 2 point loot token), and the last of the Ghouls charge the Shamblers on that hill too. Left Wights scooped up a 1 point token and right ones turned to face the Shamblers in the back-right. Let’s pretend the Necromancer bane chanted the Soul Reavers 😉Lots of damage but the only rout is the Herder to the Wights. Ghouls’ Shamblers to 5, hill Spears to 8, central Spears to 7 (wavered), and Soul Reavers’ Shamblers to 12 but miraculously no rout!Herd 5: On the hill, Shamblers flank the Vampasus this time, with Tribal Spears in the front. The Centaur Chief charges the other Vampasus to sit her down (she’s floating at 1 damage now after lifeleaching so often). The amazingly alive Shamblers hit the Soul Reavers, with bane chant behind them, while the Lute Herder flanks the central Wights – there must have been a reason he didn’t turn them to face? I think he was worried about the many things that could flank them if he did? I don’t think they were blocked in. Finally, the Beast of Nature comboes into the rear Wights with the Shamblers. Also the rightmost Tribal Spears quietly keep dragging their 3 points of loot away into that swamp …The central Wights and hill Vampasus are finally dusted, but that’s a third snake eyes on the Soul Reaver troop. Buguh. The remaining Vampasus is sat down and the right Wights are stomped for 10 damage but the single rout roll isn’t strong enough.Undead 5: The left Wights flank the poor Shamblers fighting the Soul Reavers and the right Wights aim to end the Beast’s reign of terror. The Vampasus heads back into the beleagured central Tribal Spears and the Ghouls on the hill scrabble against the Shamblers there.39 damage later!Those Shamblers evaporate into a fine green mist 😀 The Beast is also scythed down and the Vampasus finishes stomping the Tribal Spears into goop. The Ghouls do nothing to their Shamblers.
Quick Token Check: 4 Undead to 3 Herd
Herd 6: The back-right Shamblers charge and rout the Wights they’ve been grinding towards all game. The hill Shamblers scatter the annoying Ghouls. Their Tribal Spear buddies ramp off the hill and punch 8 damage into the Wights with 3 loot points (the Lute Herder helped a little). The Centaur Chief zips into the Soul Reaver troop to hold them in place, but the real magic is that Tribal Spear regiment in the center charging the single damage Vampasus and routing it. I was not expecting that! And am now holding 4:3 loot points.Undead 6: The Wights counter the Tribal Spears and wreck them handily, as do the Soul Reavers the poor Centaur Chief. The Wights drag their spoils a couple inches away … but there’s a Turn 7!Herd 7: The hill Shamblers flank and rout the Wights (with the help of bane chant), gobbling up all their loot. The Lute Herder powers into the Soul Reavers and pops them as well.Undead 7: Last deadite standing, the Necromancer tries to bop the 10 damage Shamblers and release their 3 loot points to the winds. Sadly he misses. With a hearty 7/7 loot points, this is a …
HERD VICTORY
It’s surprising to look back and see how this game almost fell apart as that Vampasus who plowed into my lines Turn 2 waded through an ocean of spears to snatch the tie-breaking loot token. Major cred to her tenacity! On the flipside, I did have triple snake eyes against Undead hammers, so my ability to reflect on tactics or what not is kind of limited. On the whole, this is a game where my strategy turned out sound and played out, thanks to bad as well as good luck (the odds of those spear bois dropping the vamp have to be next to nothing!)
As for the list, clearly the lute isn’t for me. I had a single chance to use it, and not only did I forget but it wouldn’t have meant much. My final list drops it back down to pipes of terror, gives the Druid her conjuring staff back as well as lightning bolt (2). I popped that on her right before submission, so here’s hoping it comes in handy! My thought was that the army could use just a little something in Turn 1 to pop low Nv chaff or Turn 6+ to pop mangled units fleeing my all combat army.
I’ll be back in a couple weeks with news from the tournament. Until then!
The Crossroads GT is next weekend! Happily I was able to get a couple more practice games in, which also means I’ve got batreps to clear out before the tournament report. Here’s one where my Ogre opponent busted out his other army …
This is almost the final list. Brutal is my preferred Herder upgrade, since they’re the closers of the list, and whenever I don’t have duelist on the Centaur Chief I always regret it. I think it’s a weak army overall, but it’s got some tools for me to work with, which in the end might be enough.
Varangur 2300 The Fallen Horde The Fallen Horde Snow Trolls Horde – Chalice of Wrath Huscarls Regiment Mounted Sons of Korgaan Regiment Mounted Sons of Korgaan Regiment Snow Foxes Regiment Snow Foxes Regiment Draugr Regiment Magus Conclave Jabberwock Lord on Frostfang – Snow Fox Lord on Frostfang – Snow Fox
I love it. Everything scores, everything is great at what it does, or else it’s a Magus Conclave 😉 Great pressure list looking to do a murder, and very often doing it too. I love how item light it is as well (note: I’m guessing on the last 15 points, but I think the Trolls had a Nv fixer, which is what I would have done at least).
We rolled up Salt the Earth, so I’d have another chance to burn my own tokens and then regret it. The Hallow scouted forward but Varangur grabbed the first turn, rapidly devouring the distance between us!
BATTLE
Herd 0: Scouting phase! Varangur units L2R = Fallen, Foxes, Mounted Sons, Frostlord, Trolls, Magus Conclave (the blue screamer), Huscarls, [House],Draugr, Mounted Sons, Jabberwock (the blue reaper thing), Fallen, Foxes. My Beast of Nature is hard on the left.Varangur 1: The Chaos hordes roll forward, doing a threat. The Conclave pings 1 damage on the winged Forest Shamblers. The left Fallen + Foxes are cagily zoning out the incoming Beast.Herd 1: Alright, alright, cool, cool, I got this – chaff is pushed forward to buy me a moment, the Beast hops forward on the left as much as she can to be out of Fallen charge but prepped for Turn 2 jump into the Varangur lines. I overthink the Centaur Chief and cause myself a real problem (spoilers). The goal was to have him not be hindered by that fence for his charge-block next turn, knowing the Trolls are in charge range if they want it but they’d totally clip that fence and have to hit him on 5+, which Kings of Maths tells me is 4-8 damage so maybe he can wear it?? And since there’s no flyer to sit down what else would he be doing?? (So much else :|)
I burn the token on the right by the fence.Varangur 2: Whelp, here they come … Frostlord into Centaurs on the left, Trolls unhindered into the Centaur Chief because I’m dumb, Mounted Sons + Jabberwock into the Brutal Herder (green proxy base), Foxes into his righthand Shamblers, Frostlord + Fallen into right Centaurs. Conclave whiffs. Awkwardly, the left Centaurs take 5 damage from the Frostlord but are fine and the right Centaurs take only 7 and waver The Herder cops 7 as well and the Centaur Chief explodes, particularly gruesomely.Herd 2: The Hallow starts digging out on the right – Tribal Spears into Fallen, more Spears into Foxes’ flank with Shamblers grudgingly in the flank, Shamblers + Brutal Herder into Sons. The left feels more like damage mitigation, but I’ve got a play with the Beast, who has enough to hop the Fallen’s arc and menace the Sons, who some Tribal Spears pin down. More Spears hit the left Foxes, and the Centaurs try really hard to hit the Trolls but end up countering the Frostlord. (I guess I could have sidestepped 1″ or so over to the Trolls? But I really wanted the Herder to slam off the hill into the Frostlord, which wasn’t a thing thanks to the Centaurs living.)On the left, Tribal Spears kill the Foxes and hurt the Mounted Sons, while the Centaurs gore 2 damage into the Frostlord. On the right, the other Sons are broken, the Foxes scattered, and the right Fallen take 6 or 9 damage with bane chant’s help.Varangur 3: It’s a full court press as just about everything gets stuck in. Left Fallen charge some Tribal Spears, Sons counter their Spears, Trolls flank the Centaurs, Frostlord uses the power of nimble to get that charge on the hill Herder, Huscarls switch direction and plow into the central Shamblers, Jabberwock charges the wounded Brutal Herder (+6 attaks!), right Frostlord charges mangled Cenaturs, and right Fallen charge yet more Spears. The Draugr lurk, as is their want.
In what might be the play of the game, the Magus Conclave scoots around and lands 4 damage on the looming Beast of Nature then wavers her. Sorry, Tribal Spears / the left flank.A lot of damage is dished out, but only the Centaurs fall. The right Tribal Spears waver. Shout out to the Spears actually getting to use ensnare against those Mounted Sons!Herd 3: Lots of counter-charging where able, with the fresh charges being Shamblers into Trolls (a charge I hated to take, buy the Fallen must have been just out / I didn’t want the Herder flanked by the brutes), Shamblers into the Jabber’s flank (hindered), and Tribal Spears into the Frostlord to try to pin him down. I’ll tell you right now that I forgot that phalanx removes nimble if you cause a wound …Frustratingly, nothing routs, not even the Jabberwock – that Shambler flank was horrific, especially as I debated bane chanting it but was like naw, they got it, 36 on 5+/4+ is easy. The right Frostlord was wounded once, thanks to said bane chanting.Varangur 4: Loads of counter-charges, including the Jabberwock into the increasingly beat up Brutal Herder. Draugr do zip in to rescue their Frostlord tho, props to the little dudes. Blessedly the Conclave misses the Beast this turn.Sap coats the field as the Hallow is scythed down. All four Tribal Spears die this turn, and the Huscarls finish blending their Shamblers. Amazingly the Brutal Herder holds firm against the Jabberwock’s flailing.Herd 4: The main decision this turn is who the Beast is going to delete. Ultimately I choose the Fallen flank, as the Son’s front was diciest and the Shamblers could spike and drop the Trolls themselves, putting me in some control of the left. The right was more obvious: Brutal Herder into hurt Huscarls, hindered Shamblers (with bane chant this time) into Jabber flank.Happily the right pays out as planned! The left tho … Shamblers can’t get anywhere with the Trolls, while the Beast’s 7 damage into the Fallen doesn’t cut it (9 total). Crap.Varangur 5: Mounted Sons plow off the hill into the Beast’s flank, Fallen surge into the Shamblers’ flank, the Frostlord grinds on against the hill Herder, the other Frostlord nimbles into the Brutal Herder, and the Druid cops a Fallen charge for her trouble. The Draugr caper off to score a token. The Conclave boops 1 damage onto the right Shamblers.The left crumbles, except for the Herder on 7 damage. The Brutal Herder holds on 11 damage, and somehow the Druid lives as well!Herd 5: Herders counter-charge Frostlords, while the last of the Shamblers flank the right Fallen (hindered as ever).The hill Herder drops that Frostlord at last! And those Shamblers wreck the Fallen and prepare to nab that token in Turn 6.Varangur 6: The hill Herder receives Mounted Sons + Trolls to the front, having effectively stood still since he scouted into position. The Brutal Herder is counter-charged shortly before the Conclave ploops 2 damage on the Shamblers.Both Herders fall in the same turn. Now that’s poetry.Herd 6: Shamblers trudge to a token, their damage wicked off by the Druid. Blessedly there’s no Turn 7, so with 2 tokens to 1 that’s a …
VARANGUR VICTORY
What. A. Grind. Writing this up, I’m surprised at how well I almost did. I had a couple good plays and just one monumental misstep with the Centaur Chief. I doubt he had the distance to charge the Conclave and save the Beast, but most of what he was going to do in this game didn’t involve caring about the wall, or could have been fixed by deploying anywhere else so he could double move and go block a charge. He’s a really key piece for me and I not only threw him away, but pulled the Troll tarpit in even closer. Blech. I know blaming dice is also really easy to do, however my Nv dice were terrible. I generally enjoy very good dice on routs, but these were like rolling 1D6 bad most of the time.
Thanks for reading, I’ve got one more practice game vs the Undead to report on!
The Herder cops 7 as well and the Centaur Chief explodes, particularly gruesomely.
BLOODFIRE 