Dear, Long-Suffering Readers: Let’s finish this thing. I’ve made the cut for the 2025 Northeast US Masters Team at this point, plane tickets are bought, housing is arranged, and I’m trying to decide whether I take my crabs (mostly titans and guns) or my rocks (almost exactly the list here) … But y’all have been waiting patiently to see how 2024 went, so enough preamble.

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)

Just a reminder of the list. Big rocks, smaller rocks, dogs that shoot dogs, supportive friends large and small.

GAME 4: DWARFS

Shieldbreakers Horde – Brew of Sharpness
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Sharpshooters Troop
Sharpshooters Troop
Sharpshooters Troop
Steel Behemoth – Golloch’s Fury [1]
Garek Heavyhand [1]
Faber Ironheart [1]
Steel Juggernaut – Healing Brew
Steel Juggernaut
*Bulwarkers Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
*Bulwarkers Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
*Ironclad Horde – Hammer of Measured Force
*Dwarf Army Standard Bearer – Sacred Horn
14 (24)

Yep, Day 2 opens with me facing my third Dwarf army in a row. Bit of a cursed run but kind of par for the course for the Freeforged. Randy’s a super nice guy, apart from the Me 2+ Shieldbreaker horde stapled onto The Dwarf List we know and love. Yeowch.

We played Control, with the Freeforged going first, one way or another.

BATTLE

Starting with deployment, Randy really under-committed on my left flank, letting Craggoth and the Stoneclaws run roughshod over that part of his army, eventually scoring both left segments as well. The rest of the game was probably always going to come down to if/when his infantry hordes went down. The Shieldbreakers (rightmost of the two) chewed up an Earth horde early on, eventually dying to both Beast Lords and a (surge?) flank from a Greater Earth late game. The Ironclad horde was absolutely piled into by rocks … but I snaked it This cost me another Earth horde before they too were taken out.

Despite the snakes, the pressure from the left flank and barrage of stone meant this was a …

FREEFORGED VICTORY (20-1)

A great way to start the day, and a game possibly lost in deployment – he had never faced Craggoth or the birds, so probably didn’t know what he was in for 😛 Randy would go on to place 54 of 64 and win third best Sports (and my vote as well)!

BATTLE 5: OGRES

Siege Breakers Horde – Chalice of Wrath
Siege Breakers Horde – Dwarven Ale
Siege Breakers Horde – Staying Stone
Warriors Regiment
Warriors Regiment
Boomer Chariots Troop – Sacred Horn; Black Powder Guns
Giant – Slayer (D6)
Giant – Slayer (D6)
Nomagarok [1] – Bane Chant (3+), Heal (4+), Lightning Bolt (4+)
Ogre Warlock – Lightning Bolt (3+), Drain Life (5+)
Ogre Warlock – Lightning Bolt (3+), Drain Life (5+)
Ogre Warlock – Lightning Bolt (3+), Drain Life (5+)
Berserker Bully – Blade of Slashing
13(23)

A big win sends me rocketing back up the tables to Table 4 or so and right into the arms of The Ogre List. In one of those funny tournament twists, I was getting lunch at a sushi place next to the convention when pairings went up … and the dude next to me looked up from his phone and was like, who’s Harry?? Anyway, Justin’s Ogres are/were a highly tuned killing machine, with full Warlock conclave and Siege Breaker horde backbone. He had brought along two Giants instead of the third Warrior reg and additional heroes, and I agree that they’re a great pressure mechanism, demanding you deal with them as the rest of the throng goes to work. Spoilers I guess.

Pretty sure we played Invade, with the Ogres regrettably going first.

BATTLE

Check out how wide I deployed! Bit painful on the review, my right flank spent so many turns dragging itself over to the fight, just to die piecemeal. Justin’s Giants did exactly what we expected them to do, applying immediate pressure with a 14″ kill zone that I dutifully entered, jammed, and failed to break through. Meanwhile his Warlocks kept my birds at bay (and then dead), leaving everything down to the grind.

Unable to break either Giant and shoved back into two square feet of board space, this was a clear …

FREEFORGED LOSS (3-18)

I am still very proud of those 3 points! I didn’t know who Justin was going into this, but turns out he’s quite the Ogre thinker – if you’d like to know his post-COK25 thoughts, Counter Charge had him on for a List Builder Studio in December. Justin would go on to place 2 of 64.

BATTLE 6: ORDER OF THE GREEN LADY

Order of the Brotherhood Horde – Brew of Strength; Banner of the Green Lady, Vial of Sacred Water
Order of the Forsaken Horde – Boots of Striding; Vial of Sacred Water
Order of the Forsaken Horde – Mead of Madness; Vial of Sacred Water
Order of the Forsaken Horde – Vial of Sacred Water
Order of the Forsaken Horde – Vial of Sacred Water
Order of the Forsaken Horde – Vial of Sacred Water
Pegasus
Pegasus
Avatar of the Green Lady [1] – Heal (6)
Devoted on Forest Steed – Inspiring Talisman; Radiance of Life (Sacred Water only), Heal (3), Bane Chant (2)
Druid on Forest Steed – Knowledgeable, Bane Chant (2), Veil of Shadows (3)
11(21)

Headed into my first Game 6 of any tournament ever, I was back in the bottom third against Aaron. I’ve read about Aaron Chapman’s exploits in battle reports for 10+ years, going back through various WHFB editions, so it was cool on general principles to face him at last. But holy hell, not when he was running this list 😅 He admitted it was a bit of an exploit list to out alpha the alpha strike lists … tho it’s worth noting that both he and I were on the same score, so Kings continues to be mostly ok from a balance standpoint. Ignore that both first and second place were variants of The Ogre List 😐

We played Hold the Line, with the Order going first.

BATTLE

Annnnd I start the game getting Craggoth double-charged and killed. He was out of doubling for the left two Forsaken hordes but not the third one in, which I thought was out of arc but those 150mm frontages are wider than I thought. With my large resin son’s untimely demise, my heart kind of left the game, and I struggled to make anything happen into Aaron’s many, many 20+ inch threat ranges. On the bright side, my Stone Priest somehow survived, so I wasn’t tabled! Plus I was able to chip a couple Forsaken hordes to death in the process.

FREEFORGED LOSS (1-20)

I’m pretty shocked I got a point out of this 🙃 Aaron would go on to place 16 of 64.

When both days were done and dusted, I emerged 39 of 64 with second best Sports! While the placing was extremely on brand for my 2024 tournament performance as a whole, the award was very rad to receive, many thanks to my opponents for voting for me. Overall, I was happy to be able to play in Masters, but feel like I might have enjoyed myself more in the Best of the Rest. That said, I’m looking forward to Reno this year, and trying to convince myself that it’s ok to bring the rocks again, because surely I won’t face three Dwarfs in a row, right? Right??