My clubmate Drew is feverishly working on loads of terrain for our Dead of Winter GT in January, but he’s also playing in it and figured he should probably see if he still remembers of Kings works. I’m always down to smash so had him over one recent Sunday afternoon.

FREE DWARFS
Earth Elementals Horde – Brew of Sharpness
Earth Elementals Horde
Earth Elementals Horde
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Greater Earth Elemental – Craggoth & Kholearm
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 – Conjurer’s Staff, Surge (8), Bane Chant (2)
2150 (12/21)

Yea baby, Craggoth is back! I realized I could get my large resin son on the table at 2150, so even if the Stoneclaws are god tier units I couldn’t resist the temptation. Taking so many triples at an event that only allows triples seems kinda spammy but big ol’ shrug there. Also I took throwing mastiffs again because it was that or bloat up the Stone Priest, which I was still hesitant to do.

UNDEAD
Wights Horde – Brew of Sharpness
Wights Horde – Brew of Haste
Wights Horde – Boots of Striding
Soul Reaver Infantry Regiment – Chalice of Wrath
Zombies Regiment
Zombies Regiment
Zombies Regiment
Wraiths Troop
Wraiths Troop
Vampire Lord on Undead Pegasus – Surge (4)
Vampire Lord on Undead Pegasus
Necromancer – Inspiring Talisman; Surge (6), Bane Chant (2)
Necromancer – Surge (6), Weakness (2)
2150 (13/22)

Drew hasn’t played his Undead in 18 months and as far as I can tell this is basically the same list as back then. Triple Wights make me endlessly salty (spamming mediocre things is cool, spamming amazing things is boring), but when I spend any time thinking about their drawbacks (i.e. very high points and irregular) I grudgingly can see that they aren’t broken. And Sp 7 puts them on the back foot when it comes to alpha-ing things … except when you’re fighting a Sp 4-6 army 🙃 There are things I’d do differently in this list (trash all the items to upgrade the Zombies to Skeletons or turn the third Zombies into something that does something) but Drew can’t paint anything new so is kind of stuck. And he refuses to play his beautiful Gnollgres any more into the modern meta, because “Ogres suck” 😛 Regardless, this list has 4 units capable of really mangling my metal children, plus the Vampasus nonsense.

We tried out Stockpile this game, one of the new missions from Clash ’24. It’s like Loot but each of the three Loot markers can generate 2-3 tokens each (3 for the center, 2 for the other two). After they’ve been ‘dug up’ or whatever they work the same as normal Loot tokens, as far as carrying them around, etc. goes. Drew won first turn and took it.

BATTLE

Turn 0: Undead deployment worth noting = the surge Vampasus is on the left, the inspiring bane chant Necromancer is in the center swamp, and the Wights are (left to right) Sp 8, strider, and sharpness. My sharp Earth Elementals are in the center. Craggoth scouts forward directly into the right Vampasus’ face, generally making his life difficult.

Turn 1: The Undead creep forward! After some debate, the right Vampasus abandons the flank, not able to hop past Craggoth. But a Necromander weakens the big robot scorpion for good measure.

The Freeforged stumble forward in response! All three Mastiff Packs scamper up and dig tokens out of the Stockpile markers. I’m essentially doing the dirty work, assuming Drew will smash the dogs and take my tokens, but I’d rather we were fighting over something so may as put some tokens into play.

Undead 2: Drew refuses to commit any hammers 😐 Instead it’s a chaff off, with two regiments of Zombies swarming off the hill into Mastiffs on the left (3 damage) and bane chanted Zombies and Wraiths dismembering the pack in the center. Those Zombie units pull more tokens out of the Stockpiles while they’re at it. Also Craggoth is weakened a second time.

Free Dwarfs 2: While they aren’t the trades I want, I figure I might as well go hard and see just how much the premier Undead hammers can lift. Starting on the left, the orb Beast Lord grounds the fast Wights (4 damage), while the Earth Elemental horde on that flank joins up with the Mastiffs to do 6 damage to some Zombies (…). In the center, the sharp Earth Elementals charge off a hill into the 2 token Zombies, doing 15 damage from 18 attaks and obliterating them. They dig up a token in the process, going to 3 tokens and pretty much guaranteed to die next turn. They face the Soul Reavers so at least the strider Wights have to use a surge to flank them. Unfortunately, the Greater Earth and Earth horde (bane chanted!) to their right only manage 8 damage into a troop of Wraiths, then snake eyes the roll. So I don’t even have a reprisal when the sharp rocks die. Boo.

Over on the right, the surviving Mastiffs dig up a second token, step into the woods and unleash bees at the weakness Necromancer! Decent damage is dealt through the magic of throwing mastiffs receiving no negatives to hit. Craggoth skitters forward and hits the decrepit heretic with fireball 10, which adds a couple more damage (and shattering) despite being weakened. The Necro incinerates, which is Very Cool.

Finally, I hold the other Greater Earth on the left/center back, 12.5″ away from the Soul Reavers but unfortunately within range of the other Wraith troop. I legit forgot that they charge 14″ and thought I was being cagey 😦

Undead 3: So naturally those Wraiths charge the GEE to block him up. They do no damage but bleh. In other news, the Wights on the left chunk 6 damage into the Orb Lord, wavering him, while the Zombies on that flank mob the Earth horde (0 damage) and the Mastiffs (up to 5 damage). The sharpness Earth Elementals are indeed front charged by Soul Reavers and surge-flanked by the strider Wights. Despite being De 6, my dudes are absolutely wrecked, with their 3 tokens going to the Soul Reavers because Wights lose a lot by picking up a token (-2 Sp, no fly, no surge). Also the Wraiths in the center do a sterling 2 damage to their Greater Earth Elemental.

On the right, the sharpness Wights (hinder) charge Craggoth and do 7 damage, and the non-surge Vampasus (hinder) charges the 2 token Mastiffs in the woods and does nothing. I’ll take it.

Free Dwarfs 3: I am feeling distinctly behind at this point, with all the counters I setup to retake the middle stuck on stupid Wraiths. To wit, both Greaters counter-charge their Wraith troops and slaughter them (the Earth horde in the center helps out in a flank because they have nothing else to do). The Orb Lord fails his headstrong, freeing the fast Wights to do whatever they want (!!), but at least the Earth horde on the left flank routs some Zombies, taking their token. The Mastiffs over there chomp 3 damage into the other Zombies.

On the right, the Blade Lord flank charges (hindered) the sharpness Wights after the 2 token Mastiffs back 3.5″ away from the Vampasus in the woods. The Blade Lord and Craggoth smash 8 damage into the Wights but can’t nab the rout (Math-centric readers will note I should have done 10-11 damage, which is pretty gnarly with brutal tacked on, but my damage dice have been anemic this game.)

Undead 4: The Blade Lord is flanked by a (hindered) Vampasus and countered by the sharpness Wights, and is reduced to slag. Rip that guy. The Mastiffs on the left are also torn apart by Zombies, who scoop up their token, and the fresh Earth Elemental horde in the center, a De 6 -/18 unit, is one rounded by the strider Wights. What the living hell, Drew! But it’s not all bad news as the fast Wights don’t even waver the Orb Lord on 12 damage, and the Greater Earth charged by Soul Reavers holds firm on 9 damage, which is the first time Drew has rolled a statistically average round of damage.

Also the surge Vampasus on the left flies over and blocks the other Greater Earth from flanking the Soul Reavers and saving his buddy.

Free Dwarfs 4: I feel like I need a miracle to combat Drew’s insane damage dice at this point, but you what, I’ll take hot rout dice instead. The last of the Earth Elemental hordes (!) charges the fast Wights alongside the Orb Lord, putting the super ghosts to bed. Shortly after this, the Greater Earth in the lower left obliges the Vampasus and charges in, but I slam a double 10+ rout through and one round her! The other Greater Earth doesn’t work the same magic (5 damage on the Soul Reavers) but bane chanted (hindered) Mastiffs in the flank and Craggoth in the front does see the terror of the sharpness Wights ended as well. Two Wight hordes and one Vampasus is a heavy hit but Drew has two healthy hammers and two objective holders left to work with.

Undead 5: The Zombies (1 token) scramble 10″ into the flank of the triumphant Greater Earth, who takes 2 damage and cannot be bothered. The Soul Reavers (3 tokens) finish off the other Great Earth and prepare to receive his brother’s wrath, and the surviving Wights (their strider boots popped so they’re “just” a horde of Wights now) easily remove the last of my Mastiffs, scooping up their 2 tokens. The Vampasus once more spends a turn getting out of Craggoth’s LOS.

Free Dwarfs 5: The Orb Lord thunders into the rear of the Zombies, decimating them and taking their 1 token. The Greater Earth Elemental finally charges the 3 damage Soul Reavers, and routs them with the authority born of vengeance. He scoops up their 3 tokens (also the Stone Priest rear charged them to help but couldn’t wound). And Craggoth crashes into the last of the Wights, dealing 5 damage before he goes down.

Undead 6: With a Vampasus in the flank and Wights in the front, Craggoth succumbs to his wounds.

Free Dwarfs 6: I think for a while about just consolidating my position and winning 4-3, but realize that my Greater can’t escape the Wight’s 14″ charge, so may as well play for it. The Greater Earth drops his 3 tokens, ripping off into the Wights and dunking them too. He claims their 2 tokens, while the Orb Lord marches up and adds the GEE’s previous 3 to his 1.

Turn 7: Of course there’s another turn. Unable to see the Orb Lord, the Vampasus can either hinder charge a 2 damage Greater Earth Elemental or GTFO. He chooses discretion this time around, and the inspiring Necromancer flees for the hills as well.

I send my Greater powering after the Necromancer, forget that you can’t surge if you have tokens, but fall 1″ short of adding another kill marking to this Greater’s hull. Regardless, that’s 7-0 so a commanding …

FREEFORGED VICTORY

What a wild smashfest, and a real killing spree for that Greater Earth Elemental! He killed something like 800 points once he was allowed to move, single-handedly (cause he’s only got one 🙃) winning the game for me. Madness. It was certainly frustrating early on when Drew’s dice were hot fire, so my De 6 meant nothing, and my damage output was so bad that I had to trade down more than I already do. Happily we had all those rout spikes in Turn 4 and dug back out.

As for the list, I did decide to drop the throwing mastiffs and invest in the Priest a bit after this. I’m thinking of giving Wither & Perish (3) a try, still doesn’t give him anything to do on the way in, but does help me grind by making my dude’s effectively De 7 plus pushing some damage through against weak targets with a lot of nerve.

Until next time, happy holidays!