I took my Hallow Herd to four grand tournaments in 2023: Dead of Winter (January), The Pilgrimage (March), Orc Town (June) and King Beyond the Wall (August). You can read about my Dead of Winter run already, but my goal is to finish reports for all of these events before the year ends eventually! Strap in, dead readers, slideshows and recaps are incoming.

The Pilgrimage GT (March 4-5) was five games at 2300 points held in Philadelphia, PA. Of note is that this is a different KOW region from my own, so me and a handful of the Northeastern lads would be raiding the Mid-Atlantic for a change. With decidedly mixed results 😅 It’s worth noting that Pilgrimage used Modified Bullshroud scoring, which gave 10-5-1 points for W-D-L with additions for scenario points and attrition earned, not scenario or attrition differential.

HERD 2300
Lycan Horde – Brew of Strength
Guardian Brute Horde
Guardian Brute Horde
Minotaur Chariot Regiment – The Stampede [1]
Tribal Warrior Horde – Brew of Sharpness
Tribal Warrior Regiment
Tribal Warrior Regiment
Tribal Warrior Regiment
Centaur Bray Striders Troop
Centaur Bray Striders Troop
Lycan Alpha – Trickster’s Wand; Hex (2)
Great Chieftain – Horn of the Great Migration [1]
Centaur Chieftain – Blade of Slashing
Druid – Conjurer’s Staff; Bane Chant (2), Heal (2)
14 (27)

In the two months and +150 points between Dead of Winter and The Pilgrimage, all I’ve added is a third regiment of Tribal Warriors and given some tasty upgrades (Wand, Staff, Blade) to the support staff. The concept worked great at DOW, why mess with it? Honestly one of the reasons I went to Pilgrimage was because I wanted to play a 2300 singles event. It sounds weird to say, but those are extremely rare in the Northeast region currently, where we do different points levels or doubles instead.

GAME 1: VARANGUR

The Fallen Horde – Chalice of Wrath
The Fallen Horde – Brew of Haste
Mounted Sons Regiment – Helm of the Drunken Ram, Guise of the Deceiver
Mounted Sons Regiment – Boots of Striding, Guise of the Deceiver
Night Raiders Regiment – Bows
Snow Foxes Regiment
Draugr Regiment
Draugr Regiment
Magus Conclave – Famulus
Magus Conclave – Famulus
Frost Giant – Giant Club (!)
Magnilde of the Fallen [1]
Lord on Frostfang – Snow Fox
Skald – Lute of Insatiable Darkness
14(21)

Mike had taken a fairly standard fast Varangur list for this event, with an emphasis on punching as hard as possible but with the usual scenario doers and some shooting of his own. I gave him props for taking a Frost Giant outside of Northern Alliance (with rampage no less!), however he assured me that ‘Frosty the Pillow-Fisted Freakshow’ was mostly a liability. I also took a brief moment to laugh in Herd at his Mounted Sons’ investment in stealth 😅 Note that this is before the Northern Alliance buffs, so the Skald doesn’t grant Ordered March (to the Draugr??) and the Frostlord is still on 9 attaks.

We played Pillage, with the 2 point tokens center and just to the left. The Hallow went first, by design.

BATTLE

The Herd grabbed four of the five tokens immediately and implemented Operation: Bait the Giant All Damn Game on the left. On the right, I used the 19″ charge of the Lycans (1″ longer than Mike’s Sp 9 Fallen, thanks to the Horn of the Great Migration) to force the Fallen to engage, which helped me trade hammers until I had cleared all of the Varangur menace from the board.

HALLOW VICTORY (12-1)

What happens when two hammers smash into each other? The faster hammer with more junk wins, I guess! This was a wild start to the GT and catapulted me to the top table 😐

GAME 2: VARANGUR

Human Clansmen Horde – Norj-Bik (De 5+)
Mounted Sons Regiment – Guise of the Deceiver
Mounted Sons Regiment – Guise of the Deceiver
Mounted Sons Regiment – Guise of the Deceiver
Night Raiders Regiment – Bows, Wolf Handlers
Night Raiders Regiment – Bows, Wolf Handlers
Draugr Regiment
Draugr Regiment
Lord on Frostfang – Chalice of Wrath, Snow Fox
Lord on Frostfang – Staying Stone, Snow Fox
Magus – Lightning Bolt (4), Drain Life (6)
Magus – Lightning Bolt (4), Drain Life (6)
Magus – Lightning Bolt (4), Drain Life (6)
Kruufnir [1]
14(24)

So this event had two Australian guests in attendance: Ken Ferris (the then Australian Master) and Jeff Traish (the now Australian Master). After dunking Mike, I had the pleasure of facing Ken Freakin’ Ferris 😵 His Varangur had taken several pages from the elven playbook (recall at the time that Gladestalkers of all flavors had just been buffed, so Night Raiders are doing a pseudo-stalker thing, except with smashier friends), emphasizing shooting with very strong counter-punch and a little sustain thanks to the Magus’ transfusion ability. Again, I took a moment to laugh in Herd at the stealthy knights but let’s be real, it was a nervous laugh.

We played Pillage, with Ken I believe getting the side he wanted. Blessedly, the Hallow got the first turn and took it with gusto, since I had so much shooting to wade through. Note that this game was streamed live – I’m not sure where to or if it’s still around tho, so you’ll have to click thru below per usual.

BATTLE

The first half of the game goes great for me, as I start to roll up Ken’s left flank and remove two of three Mounted Sons regiments early on. I jam hard in the center, preparing to grind in my favor as Brutes pound into the Varangur line. I do have some concern when the Stampede’s early charge into the right Draugr completely flubs, letting a Frostlord start breaking them down, but I’m hopeful that that will hold Ken’s right up until help arrives. All told, the opening three turns have been amazing for me, against the Australian Master of all things!

Then Ken takes a moment to psych himself up – “You’re the fucking Master!” (a direct quote) – and slaps back. His Frostlords heat up and his shooting finally doesn’t have swamp monsters punching them in the face, spelling doom for me. The back half of the game is brutal, seeing my squishy dudes shot off and my harder hitters chased down by Frostlords. I end the game with a single Tribal Warriors regiment cowering on an objective, to Ken’s five.

HALLOW LOSS (3-10)

While it was an honor to play Ken, I will forever remember how close I came to cracking him, on the Internet no less 😤 After the event wrapped, he let me know I was his favorite opponent for taking that rise and fall in stride. What a gent.

GAME 3: DWARFS

Berserker Brock Riders Regiment – Boots of Striding
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Sharpshooters Troop
Sharpshooters Troop
Sharpshooters Troop
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment
Steel Behemoth – Golloch’s Fury [1]
Steel Behemoth
Dwarf Lord on Large Beast
Dwarf Lord on Large Beast
Faber Ironheart [1]
14(24)

I played Joe in the first game of his first Kings of War event (Keystone GT 2018), and it’s been great to see him do better and better as time has gone on. He’s been riding pretty high with Dwarfs as their star has risen, with Pilgrimage continuing that trend. His version of The Dwarf List eschewed the formation to go the Ironguard + Sharpshooter spam route, with the double Beast Lords, second Behemoth and Brocks giving it a bit more of a counter-punch feel than some versions. Note that this is pre-Clash 2024, so none of those Dwarfs have Ordered March. Thank the gods.

Pretty sure we played Control, with the Herd going first one way or another. Joe’s a largely reactive player, so he may have let me take it, but either way I was content to race into the Dwarven castle.

BATTLE

My takeaway from this game was that I shouldn’t have given the Dwarfs exactly what they wanted. Joe was clearly going to castle around the hill in the deployment zone he chose; I should have clearly gone hard on the other flank and swept in, forcing him to turn his lines as I scored the back end of the lower left section. Instead, I attempted to ford the gunfire on the left while hooking in from the right. That isn’t horrible … but became much harder when his totally incompetent Brocks couldn’t chew through the Centaurs escorting my Lycan super hammer into his lines, snaking them twice! When my Lycans finally did fight, they flopped hard (5 damage instead of 10 with a 3 to rout), dying for their efforts and leaving the right flank to the Centaur Chief to clean up. Fakk me.

Meanwhile, my assault on the Dwarf castle wasn’t going terribly. I had been pounding through all that De 6+ at a good clip, but Sharpshooters on a hill meant my dudes were not only bleeding from combat but being finished off after those combats wrapped. Come end game, I just didn’t have much left to score, with a lonely Tribal Warrior reg keeping me in unit strength.

HALLOW LOSS (3-10)

I’m not sure why I chose hard mode for this game – I vaguely wanted to give Joe a fun match? As fun as being the gallery part of a shooting gallery is! I kind of wanted to pressure test the Hallow as well, since this was one of my few matches into The Dwarf List, if possibly the first? All the same, Joe’s a good dude and a big fan of mine, and I had had a helluva first day.

UP NEXT: Day 2! Back to the bottom third where I belong.