And a merry Fall to you as well, gentle readers! With a lull at work I’m finally getting around to reporting some battles again, and rather than wade into a year of Herd tournaments, I figured I’d punch out my annual coverage of the Crossroads GT. In its current format, Crossroads is a 2300 point two day tournament using teams of four players, taking place late September in Elmira, NY. There’s some jiggery-pokery involved in determining match-ups, but my goal as captain of Team Cuddle Time has always been to give most of my players the least painful games possible. Not necessarily best, mind 😅

I tend to do quite well at Crossroads (probably because I have some control over what scenarios I play), however personal records are a moot point when the rest of your team is getting slagged. Spoilers for this year: Cuddle Time did just about the same as it always does, although our painting and sports scores keep climbing, even if our round results aren’t. Good on ya, lads.

This Crossroads also saw me premiere a new army, which seems to be a tradition for me as well. Printed last winter and painted mostly in the summer, I present my FREEFORGED:

Free Dwarfs
Earth Elemental Horde – Brew of Sharpness
Earth Elemental Horde
Earth Elemental Horde
Earth Elemental Regiment
Earth Elemental Regiment
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment
Greater Earth Elemental – Craggoth & Kholearm, Fireball (10)
Greater Earth Elemental
Greater Earth Elemental
Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Blade of the Beast Slayer
Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Orb of Towering Presence
Free Dwarf Stone Priest – Surge (8), Bane Chant (2)
2300 (13/21)

The main goal was to 3D print an entire army, for which I chose a single set of not-Warforged by Artisan Guild, one of my favorite sculpting houses but one that historically does not print well for me. Originally I was going to stay the course and use a third large robot lad, but ended up using a converted automaton scorpion from Cast N Play for Craggoth, partially for my own sanity and also to stand out. It’s an understatement to say I’m happy with the big critter.

As for the list, I feel like I’m back in the 2E days of Bloodfire, strapped for unlocks and starving for unit strength 🙃 But I also wanted to run some De 6+ skew, in response to the high speed hammers + low pierce shooting that’s flooding the meta, and I’d say that was a success. I sacrificed the Mastiff’s throwing dogs to juice up the DLOLBs, which I knew from facing Dwarfs need some items to really tune up, and splurged on +1 to hit for a horde rather than Martyr’s Prayer on the Stone Priest. As punishing as that would have been with such high defense, I really wanted a horde that could do something.

I finished basing the army two nights before the tournament, so like with my crabs I would be enjoying a single prep game on the Friday before the event. Clubmate Bill likewise had a brand new army he didn’t understand either, so off we went …

Game 0: Northern Alliance

I don’t remember what’s in Bill’s list but it’s a decent mix made from the refreshed NA line. The opening gambit of the game saw me scouting Craggoth into charge range of both of his Frostclaw hordes, daring them to have a go. Surprisingly Bill did just that! The birds very nearly broke my new toy, but the scorpion clung to life and Craggoth killed one horde while the other was driven off by a Beast Lord and some amount of Earth Elementals. Side Comment: As much as I love universal pathfinder on my Herd, nigh-universal brutal is great as well. Ogre players know.

Anyway, Bill’s heart left the game once the birds were gone. I weathered his shooting in the middle, including my first taste of frozen vs Sp 5 units, and felt the pain of Hrimm one-shoting a horde of Earth Elementals to the front, but eventually forced a concession about mid-game. I’m not sure how Bill did in the tournament but hopefully his birds served him better!

After this we had some drinks and played obligatory board games into the AM, as is customary for Kings of War events.

Game 1: Elves

Palace Guard Horde – Brew of Strength
Drakon Riders Horde – Helm of the Drunken Ram
Drakon Riders Horde – Mead of Madness
Stormwind Cavalry Regiment – Quicksilver Lancers
Kindred Gladestalkers Regiment – Fire-Oil
Silverbreeze Cavalry Troop – Staying Stone
Forest Guard Troop
Forest Guard Troop
Tydarion Dragonlord
Elven Archmage – Inspiring Talisman, Lightning Bolt (5)
Elven Archmage – Alchemist’s Curse (4), Bane Chant (2)
Elven Archmage – Lightning Bolt (5)
2300 (12/20)

Round One sees Cuddle Time up against the Ithaca Lakers! The way pairing works, you end up choosing the match-ups for half of your team and the scenario for the other half. My goal was to always choose scenario if possible, on the assumption that that matters way more for a Sp 5 brickhouse of an army. I successfully got myself Dominate this match, and as a reward I was up against Bryant’s Elves. He’s running a pretty late 2E style list with some decent De 6+ cracking power – for those playing at home, please mark a 1 next to the number of AC (4) casters I’ve faced in this tournament so far 😐

Bryant is a good guy who I’ve faced at other Crossroads. He was running OOGL last year (before they were cool) and you can read about our game somewhere on this blog. A game which he’s still kicking himself for, as he told me. Anyway, I won first turn and took it because Sp 5 brickhouse.

BATTLE

Turn 0: Bryant forms a fast wing and a slow wing while I try not to go pure deathball. Then I scout Craggoth up the flank and he suddenly has a concern.

Turn 1: The Freeforged stumble to war! The left GEE must have been surged a bit for extra distance, and Craggoth misses the leftmost Archmage (I want to say the LB only one) with his fireball / tail laser. Boo.

In response, the Elves back away on the left and move into threatening positions on the right. Classic Elves! The Gladestalkers and that LB Archmage tag a solid 3 damage into Craggoth while the advanced Greater Earth suffers 8, no doubt thanks to the loathsome AC Archmage.

Free Dwarfs 2: I send my big boys in to smash while they still can, with Craggoth slamming 7 damage into the Gladestalkers (wavering them) and the melted Greater into some Forest Guard, turning them into goop. The rest of my turn is spent on the right making sure that the only double charge open to the mead Drakons and Tydarion are some Mastiffs. This takes some time but does successfully lock Bryant into one off charges that I can respond to.

Elves 2: The Forest Guard in the upper left flank Craggoth, pushing him up to 11 damage but the scorpion holds. The same can’t be said for the melted Greater Earth, which is finished off by the AC Archmage in a classic flaming paper vs rock situation. Apart from these big guys being aggressed upon, the bulk of Bryant’s turn is spent deciding where and how to dive into the Freeforged lines. Ultimately he chooses to hit the center of the lines, which I think was as correct as it could be, with no Beast Lords in LOS and asked a little more of my surge than other options. Backing up again might have been better? But it is dominate and I was coming to grips with him slowly but surely.

Tragically both Drakons and Dragonlord stick on their Earth hordes, doing 6 damage each.

Free Dwarfs 3: Instead of finishing off the Gladestalkers, Craggoth counters the Forest Guard in his flank. Only 3 damage dealt but another waver should keep him in the game a bit longer. I send the Mastiffs on the right off the hill and into the flank of the Quicksilver Lancers, for an impressive 5 damage (pretty sure they hindered on that fountain). The Drakons are obliterated thanks to a bane chanted surge flank off a hill from the sharpness Earth horde, while Tydarion only takes 5 damage from his own Earth horde. Finally, I spend some time preparing a landing spot for the helm Drakons coming in from the right flank. There only charge is into a Greater Earth, with a slide that will hinder them on terrain. I’ll take it.

Elves 3: Craggoth is flanked by Gladestalkers and I pay for my hubris as they finally pull the machine down. Elf violence continues as the Palace Guard horde scatters a Mastiff pack and the AC Archmage dunks 6 damage onto the sharp Earth Elementals. The Quicksilver Lancers see their own Mastiffs off as Tydarion wallops his Earth horde to 13 damage, then flubs the Nv test. The play of the turn, however, is Bryant using the Silverbreeze to keep the Drakons from hindering on the terrain when they charged my last Greater Earth. My 5 damage calculation becomes 9, which Bryant spikes extra hard to one round the large lad. I am gently shook.

Free Dwarfs 4: The sharpness Earth Elementals and orb Beast Lord pound into the Palace Guard, delivering a ferocious 17 damage but only wavering the elite horde. The blade Beast Lord slams into the Drakon horde and is forced to go it alone when an Earth regiment falls 1″ short on their surge. The Lord still hammers 6 damage into the small dragons but that’ll have to do. Also Tydarion Dragonlord is flanked and fronted by Earth Elementals, ripped from his saddle and reduced to a red smear. RIP to that guy.

Elves 4: The Quicksilver Lancers plow into the sharp Earth Elementals’ flank, routing them handily. Elsewhere, the Earth Elemental reg that has been struggling up the left flank takes 2 damage from the Gladestalkers and their Archmage, shortly before the Drakons gnaw 2 damage onto the blade Beast Lord.

Free Dwarfs 5: The orb Beast Lord charges the mangled Palace Guard, finishing them off, as the (bane chanted) Earth horde next to him pushes the Quicksilver Lancers up to 9 damage but can’t seal the deal. Plucky Earth regiments make contact this turn, with the left regiment slapping a couple damage onto the Gladestalkers (wavered again!) and the right one helping the blade Beast Lord end the Drakon menace.

Elves 5: The Quicksilver Lancers disengage from the central Earth horde, letting the Archmages work their cruel magicks. Thankfully they hold on 10 damage. The Silverbreeze, however, slip a damage into the 13 damage horde and pop them! Otherwise the Forest Guard start heading towards the center because we are playing Dominate, after all.

Turn 6: The Gladestalkers are driven back to the glades by a very determined regiment of Earth Elementals, as the Quicksilver Lancers are flanked and wrecked by the orb Beast Lord. I make sure all 8 of my available unit strength is in the center and see what Bryant can do.

The Elves drop the last Earth horde and toss a few shots at the orb Beast Lord for just a single damage. With 2 US to my 5 US, this is a solid …

FREEFORGED VICTORY

Awesome first game against a friendly face, that I’m genuinely surprised went my way. I’d say Craggoth was the big standout for me, despite not killing anything at all. I knew he could be a pressure piece but wow what a distraction and a half. Also, I didn’t really consider how much Alchemist Curse and CS/TC 3+ in the game these days when I decided to run a De 6+ skew list, but as we’ll see my lessons were just beginning …

Next Up: Empire of Dust!