My warforged children and I had a pretty wild ride through the 2023-2024 season, ending up ranked 20th out of the Northeast region. Not too shabby for a player who routinely ends up just south of the halfway mark at tournaments. When it was announced that the US Masters GT would be held at the NOVA Open in Washington DC, I immediately made plans to attend the Best of the Rest side event. A manageable 6-7 hour drive for me, and I could stay at my brother’s place in Northern VA. Seemed like a great way to take in the Masters from a safe distance.

And then Justin Berg had to drop from the Northeast Masters team and I was next in line. I said yes with no hesitation, knowing that I was likely signing up for some serious heartache …

FREE DWARFS

Earth Elementals Horde – Brew of Sharpness
Earth Elementals Horde
Earth Elementals Horde
Stoneclaw Riders Regiment
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Greater Earth Elemental – Craggoth & Kholearm [1]; Fireball (10)
Greater Earth Elemental
Greater Earth Elemental
Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Trickster’s Wand; Hex (2)
Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Mace of Crushing
Free Dwarf Stone Priest – Conjurer’s Staff, Surge (8), Bane Chant (2), Scorched Earth (2)
13 (22)

If I had been better about logging my Freeforged games this year, this would probably look a lot like the natural evolution of the list. The rocky core is never going to change, the heroes are basically locked in (thanks to having so few unlocks but needing surge), triple Mastiffs just feel too good to quit, and Stoneclaws are rad as hell. I’ve got a possibly stronger alternate build with 2x birds + 2x dogs, and a definitely smoother brained version with brocks instead of birds, but this is the list that was painted and I had more or less practiced with.

My only concession to Masters was taking the Trickster’s Wand over my beloved Blade of the Beast Slayer, and kind of the throwing mastiffs as well. I had only played 2-3 games with shooting dogs at this point, an upgrade I continue to be on the fence about. Yes, it’s great! But the way I use chaff, they’re very often marching, charging, or dead. Not a lot of time to release the bees in there.

GAME 1: RIFTFORGED ORCS

Helstrikers Horde – Boots of Striding
Riftforged Legionaries Regiment
Riftforged Legionaries Regiment
Unforged Orcs Regiment
Unforged Orcs Regiment
Riftwalkers Troop
Riftwalkers Troop
Stormforged Shrine [1] – Bane Chant (1+), Lightning Bolt (3+), Host Shadowbeast (2+)
War Drum
War Drum
Stormcaller – Sacred Horn, Bane Chant (2), Veil of Shadows (3), Mind Fog (3)
Riftforger on Mount – Blade of Slashing, Stormstrike, Host Shadowbeast (3)
Flagger – Lute of Insatiable Darkness; Bane Chant (2)
Flagger – Talisman of Silence; Mind Fog (2)
*Riftforged Legionaries Regiment – Pipes of Terror
*Riftforged Legionaries Regiment
*Reborn Legionaries Regiment
17 (30)

As these things work out, I ended up driving a few hundred miles to face a dude from the Northeast, mercing for another region. Happily I’m not sure that I’ve ever played Nick? Maybe in Warhammer Fantasy days. Anyway, this year Nick was piloting the RFO struggle bus. Loads of chonky regiments, loads of individuals with loads of spells, the shrine, some cats. Very little that honestly concerned me from an offensive standpoint, but for sure a ton of scenario pressure!

So naturally we played Dominate 😉 The Freeforged went first, as I generally am want to do.

BATTLE

Just from the rip, Nick was really hemmed in by deploying in a continuous line of regiments, close to all of them beginning in difficult terrain. This let me really flood the middle and gave me time to complicate the RFO’s ability to get multi-charges. It also hurt that his Reborn were the leftmost regiment of the line, keeping them from being the anchor they want to be (Nv 18/20 with the drums behind them).

Early game, I hexed the Shrine a couple times (obvious target is obvious, sorry Nick!) and did a little preparatory shooting with throwing mastiffs and fireballs towards the middle, as Craggoth and the Stoneclaws worked the right flank and I watched the RFO left flank trip over itself. Despite Craggoth sleepwalking through this first game, my Mastiffs either held when not expected to or flanked Orcs with reckless abandon, ultimately winning me the center once my flankers arrived. On the left, after the Unforged chaff wave had been cleared away, I traded my sharp Earth Elementals for his Helstrikers and proceeded to collapse that flank in my favor as well. With several tons of iron in the center of the board, this was a commanding …

FREEFORGED VICTORY (20-1)

Not pictured above is our clock, which hit zero for Nick I want to say during Turn 5 and in Turn 6 for me. We both had some tortuously long second and third turns, especially with all those individuals and arcs to check. Nick would go on to place 53 of 64.

BATTLE 2: DWARFS

Shieldbreakers Horde
Shieldbreakers Horde
Berserker Brock Riders Regiment
Earth Elementals Regiment – Healing Brew
Steel Behemoth – Golloch’s Fury [1]
Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Trickster’s Wand; Hex (2)
Faber Ironheart [1]
Garek Heavyhand [1]
Flame Priest – Diadem of Dragonkind, Fireball (16)
*Bulwarkers Regiment
*Bulwarkers Regiment
*Ironclad Horde – Hammer of Measured Force
*Dwarf Army Standard Bearer
13 (26)

As these things work out, I ended up driving a few hundred miles to face a dude from the Northeast, mercing for another region. This time it’s Mike, the head of my club and long suffering (?!) Dwarf player. He’s brought a list that departs a little from the meta, by bringing two Shieldbreaker hordes, either of which can remove anything of mine in one swing (also he had Brocks but meh). Naturally Golloch, Faber, Garek and the formation (with hammer horde) are all in attendance as well. This may be the army most equipped to crack me in combat, especially any prolonged ones.

We played Pillage, with the Imperial Dwarfs going first.

BATTLE

Mike, the guy who convinced me to take the Trickster’s Wand on my beast lord, kicked off the game by destroying it with the Trickster’s Wand on his beast lord 🫠Thus began a wild scrum for the right flank, with me desperately trying to kill Mike’s hordes before they one shot all my dudes. An early triple charge of Greater Earth + beast lord + birds floundered, drawing the second horde into the fight and, I was sure, sealing my fate … until Mike rolled 3! double ones in one round, all on right flank combats. This let me keep swinging away, eventually shattering both of those Dwarf hordes at the cost of basically everything of mine on that flank. Bulwarkers would go on to hold a couple points because they’re consistently the best performing regiment every time I face them, go fig.

Some of the success on the right was due to going hard into Golloch and the Dwarf center in Turn 2. Not the wisest choice, but it bought me a lot of time and kept Golloch’s guns quiet until Craggoth eventually arrived to end his reign of terror. This after Craggoth had pressurized and pounded through the left flank, with two Earth hordes combining their power to crush the third Dwarf horde in one go. Faber was a major thorn in my side on that flank all game, but I did my best to ignore / mitigate his attentions, for a …

DRAW (10-10)

Ha! Always wild to come out the other side of a slobberknocker with a draw, but I’ll take it, especially against a clubmate. Mike would go on to place 25 of 64.

BATTLE 3: DWARFS

Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Sharpshooters Troop
Sharpshooters Troop
Sharpshooters Troop
Sharpshooters Troop
Steel Behemoth – Golloch’s Fury [1]
Steel Behemoth
Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Orb of Towering Presence
Dwarf Lord on Large Beast
Dwarf Lord on Large Beast
14 (25)

My reward for drawing against Dwarfs: more Dwarfs! Joe is a great dude who I seem to be playing with increasing regularity, and who has gotten better and better at the game. He had spent the year eschewing the formation for a more old school take on Dwarfs, which I appreciated from a variety standpoint. Would I be able to pound through my own ocean of De 6+ slowish bois? Only one way to find out!

We played Stockpile, with the Freeforged going first I believe because Joe handed it to me? A true gentleman.

BATTLE

I opened the game up by starting to dig out tokens with my Mastiffs and aggressing some of Joe’s Sharpshooters on the left with Craggoth, and was rewarded with dead Mastiffs and a snake eyes for the Cragster’s efforts 😐 I lost an Earth horde to shooting early on as well, so that when our lines crashed and the grind began in earnest I was on the back foot. I think top billing goes to Joe’s central beast lord, who bounced back and forth, rear charging multiple Earth hordes to death. Despite the early snakes, Craggoth kept an entire flank occupied by itself, shrugging off Ironguard and laser focused on scooping up tokens. It didn’t kill much, but being a tough distraction let the Stoneclaws rear charge through a couple of Joe’s units before behind silenced.

While Joe’s list looked like it was light on heavy lifters, all the shooting chip damage combined with some furious Steel Behemoth melee outpaced what my own wall of iron could output, ending up a …

FREEFORGED LOSS (3-18)

I’ll get you next time, Joe (which is indeed a spoiler for our game at Nerdhammer in December 2024). Joe would go on to place 20 of 64 and win third best Paragon!

So! First day of Masters and I’d smashed Riftforged Orcs, drawn against Dwarfs, and got hammered by more Dwarfs. Would I get a break from Dwarfs in Day 2? Perhaps play someone who lives more than one state away from me? Stay tuned for more lightning recaps of games that happened long ago!

UP NEXT: US Masters Day 2