Category: BLOODFIRE

Fire Elemental-Themed Salamanders

GAME 06-10: UNPLUGGED GT 2017

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The Unplugged GT went down April 22-23 and was by all accounts a really superb tournament. Well-run with great sports all around, I was very happy that I finally made it out after missing out on the last four years. That said, my fire elementals had a pretty rough run of it, which I’m going to put down to poor luck with scenarios and some bad run-ins with the dice when it mattered (or all the time). Spoilers.

I actually took a ton of photos of each game, with the intent of doing standard turn by turn reports, however I don’t think I have five full reports in me. So buckle up for five brief recaps instead!

SALAMANDERS 2000

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Fire Elemental Horde – Blade of Slashing
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Greater Fire Elemental
Greater Fire Elemental
Herald on Raptor – Diadem of Dragonkind
Herald on Raptor – Healing Charm
Mage-Priest – Surge, Heal, Inspiring Talisman
Clan Lord on Fire Drake – Banner of the Griffin

Only change was dropping the Shroud of the Saint on the Priest for another source of Inspiring, largely so the diadem herald could go ham. And picked up that sweet Blade of Slashing, which I forgot all of Saturday – should have gone Healing Brew, but eh.

GAME 6: FORCES OF NATURE

Naiad Ensnarer Horde
Salamander Horde – Brew of Strength
Centaur Bray-Hunter Troop
Centaur Bray-Strider Regiment
Centaur Bray-Strider Regiment
Centaur Chief
Winged Unicorn – Lightning Bolt (5)
Winged Unicorn – Lightning Bolt (5)
Pegasus
Beast of Nature – Lightning Bolt (6), Fly + Speed 10, Vicious + 7 Attaks
Beast of Nature – Lightning Bolt (6), Fly + Speed 10, Vicious + 7 Attaks

There are 50 points in items somewhere in there (if it were me it’d probably be Hammer on the Ensnarers and Bane-Chants on the Unicorns? But maybe not in this case.)

SCENARIO: LOOT (aka PILLAGE 1)

Pillage is probably the worst scenario for my derpy red shambling castle, so I was prepared to be playing for the draw or minor loss in one to two of the matches this tournament. So prepared apparently that I mistook the TO calling out Loot to mean we were in fact playing the dreaded Pillage (in my defense they’re also on the same page in the OG book, meaning when I checked the rules I picked the wrong column to verify my suspicions). Loot would definitely have been preferred, though still up against a tough fight with all that lightning and speed. I didn’t realize my mistake until like Turn 4, at which point we were well into pillaging.

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I guess my plan is to dominate the right section of the board and try to smash through everything, then sit on whatever markers are left with whatever I have left?

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Except, being half-asleep and a little hungover, advanced my left wing too far, letting a Beast into the flank of two of my four Fire Elementals, along with Unicorn support. One horde died, the other was crippled, we fought on the most awkward hill we could for a long time, with the Beasts devouring things until I finally burned them down.

Stupidity on the left was matched with tough luck on the right: I had caught a break when both Bray-Striders bounced off a Greater Fire Elemental, letting a Fire horde eviscerate the flank of one of the units – and then snake eyes the break. You can see that horde getting rear charged by a unicorn here (that horn HURTS). So a collapsing Nature flank became a collapsing Salamander flank. And then his hordes descended and ground my center out, leaving just my heroes standing (and unable to contest much of anything).

BLOODFIRE LOSS (4/20)

—

GAME 7: UNDEAD + NIGHT-STALKERS

Ghoul Troop
Ghoul Troop
Ghoul Troop
Zombie Legion – Hammer of Measured Force
Werewolf Horde
Wight Horde
Revenant Cavalry Regiment
Vampire on Undead Pegasus
Liche King
Necromancer – Undead Horse, Inspiring Talisman
+
Spectre Regiment
Spectre Regiment

Plus like 140 points in items and spells! (Brew of Strength Werewolves, Cat Potion Cavalry, Lightning Heroes, Something-something Wights?)

SCENARIO: SCOUR (aka PILLAGE 2)

And so time to more or less officially play Pillage :facepalm:

My only practice against Undead is at tournaments, and Chris was running stuff I had never faced (Wights, Revenant Cav) combined with old classics and new items (Hammer on Legion!), with a side of allied firebolts. Anyway, a great guy with a beautiful Titan Forge army. Pity about the scenario, but at least we were playing the right one!

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We had an incredibly cagey game, where the first four turns (!) were spent with me advancing my line out in Reverse Death Crescent formation and burning his chaff off, as he enveloped from the left, with the Vamp on Peg pushing into my DZ to threaten rears.

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Turn 5 he pulled the trigger, and while some match-ups worked out for me (Revenant Cav, Wights), others definitely did not, especially the Hammer Zombies. Once the Werewolves and Vamp slammed in Turn 6 it was well over scenario-wise, though I had held my own in attrition, which is a thing. Plus side of such a dice-light game was finishing 15-20 minutes early and getting afternoon beverages sorted out ;D

BLOODFIRE LOSS (5/20)

—

GAME 8: UNDEAD

Revenant Regiment
Revenant Regiment
Zombie Legion – Hammer of Measured Force
Werewolf Horde – Brew of Strength
Wight Horde
Revenant Cavalry
Revenant Cavalry
Vampire on Undead Pegasus
Liche King
Necromancer – Inspiring Talisman
Necromancer

Plus 120 points in items and spells!

SCENARIO: CONTROL

Up against one of the Unplugged dudes in a game that isn’t Pillage! Plus Undead were pretty fresh in my mind from last game. We both refused our left flanks and prepared for a long shamble into the center …

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Early action on my left saw Vamp and both Cav playing with a GFE and two FE, with stunningly bad rout rolls on both our parts keeping that engagement going for too long, even with multiple flank charges going on. Eventually the rest of the lines slammed together (though note most of the fighting is in his central section, as was my plan):

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We ground for ages, over which the Werewolves showed some real prowess at putting out fires, until being surged in the rear by yet more Fire Elementals. End game saw Salamanders with an unbeatable scenario lock, thanks largely to cheeky Ember Sprites camping the NE sector the entire game, although we nearly tied on attrition (1075 vs 1080). All told a great throwdown of a game to end a rough day on. Then I drank all the vodka and played all the board games – King of New York ftw!

BLOODFIRE VICTORY (15/20)

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GAME 9: GOBLINS + ORCS

Spitter Regiment
Troll Horde – (Item)
Troll Horde
Mawbeast Troop
Mawbeast Troop
Mawbeast Troop
Big Rocks Thrower
Big Rocks Thrower
King on Chariot – Blood of the Old King
Biggit on Fleabag
Wiz on Fleabag – Bane-Chant (2), Inspiring Talisman
Giant
Slasher
+
Ax Horde
Krudger on Winged Slasher

Plus a smattering of items / spells! (Greg’s army got I think Second Best Painted? Losing out to an amazing Ratkin army with stunningly smart multibasing throughout.)

SCENARIO: EXTRACT? (aka PILLAGE 3)

We played the other not-Pillage scenario from COK 2017, where counters are worth different weights. Before I start complaining about yet another round of Pillage, because our counters were all worth 1 except for two near each other that were worth 3 it dawned on me at some point that this was actually winnable for me, if I could hold out and not be dumb.

Given how hungover / exhausted I was, that was going to be a tall order 😐

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Fire Elementals on the fire table! Sweet! The markers that matter are by the mausoleum and in front of my dudes. Opening turns, I bowed out, he enveloped and advanced Mawbeast chaff, then I stumbled: 1-1 to clear one Mawbeast pack in the center, followed by huge flop by a GFE to clear another (1 wound, no luck on the rout). While this stalled my line, it also screwed over the parts that were going hard:

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Those two fire hordes had punched out a unit of trolls, with the intent of both turning to accept some painful frontal charges but ultimately either pound through them or set up friends to counter-charge in. Unfortunately because those Mawbeasts lived, I couldn’t rotate the two hordes back to back, so the Slasher flanked in, liquefying the left unit before it’s time. Which in turn lost the second unit, and so on – that Slasher chewed through several units, including the Mage-Priest some turns later.

And yet somehow this game hung in the balance even in later turns, as one of the last fire hordes was able to charge into the Ax horde and break them with the help of the CLOFD, giving me 6 points in counters. Until the Krudger, who I just failed to waver with a wall of breath attaks, teamed up with Slashy to shred much of what was left.

BLOODFIRE LOSS (3/20)

Despite the crushing defeat, Greg’s a pleasure to play (and probably the Unplugged guy I meet on the table the most during tournaments), and I was a lot more engaged in this not-Pillage than most, as I felt I had a chance, even after the early kerfuffles with chaff sticking around.

—

GAME 10: ELVES + FORCES OF NATURE

Kindred Archer Horde – Jar of the Four Winds
Forest Shambler Horde
Forest Shambler Horde
Stormwind Cavalry Regiment
Bolt Thrower
Bolt Thrower
Master Hunter – Piercing Arrow
Tree Herder – Soul Drain
Tree Herder – Soul Drain
+
Air Elemental Horde

Plus 40 points in items (the Stormwind did not have Cat Potion!)

SCENARIO: INVADE

Whew, just one game left, and it’s on the bottom tables versus a very nice dude playing an unoptimized Elementals + Shooting army. And it isn’t Pillage! And I’m going first (for the first time all GT)!

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A lot of this game would come down to using the plentiful cover to advance, while keeping some dudes who could handle the Elf firebase. In the end this worked out, with Diadem Herald going ham and blowtorching Bolt Throwers down, Ember Sprites lending their breath / mobile screen powers, and generally overloading the Elves with targets.

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Come game end, almost everything had been smashed apart, including the Archers thanks to a Turn 7, though the Forest Shamblers took a painfully long time to dismantle, thanks in large part to horrible rout dice. (This shot is actually not the very end, as he was able to kill the GFE with his GWE (after 5 turns of slugging it out!) and take down the CLOFD, a first for the tournament.) A great slugfest with some funny small moments – the Master Hunter vs Healing Herald support fight was particularly dramatic – and a happy way to finish the GT for me.

BLOODFIRE VICTORY (15/20)

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Those game photos are finally uploaded, but rather then blowing this thread up with 600+ MB of eerily similar pics you can check them out in slideshow mode here: http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/bo…PLUGGED%202017

I promised some concluding thoughts from the GT, so here are some bullets where I try to do that:

  • The Unplugged GT was as successful an event as it could be (great players, very well run, lunch included and on site, nice hotel, etc) and it was great to see so many familiar faces again
  • Painting was judged hard but I knew it would be (because the Unplugged Gamers made their rubric clear as well as their intent to judge hard in an effort to raise the overall level of painting in the scene)
  • I expected to have a rough time of some of my games, due to my skewed list, but I guess I didn’t expect to play the worst scenario for me three times (even if we ignore that the first time was my fault!) and lose so badly at it three times
  • On the flipside, I heartily won versus the lower tier dudes who I played non-Pillage games with, so I guess that says the army / me does have some ability
  • Whatever my successes or failures strategically and however bad my dice felt the whole time, I made tactical mistakes that could have been avoided with more careful movement, particularly in regards to giving easy flank charges to fast, flanking monsters
  • I’m pretty up on the competitive KOW meta, but this GT really showed how important units that are both fast and reliably fighty are over all other factors (spoiler: I feel like my army has 0 of these)
  • An army of fearless D5 NV17-18 dudes continues to feel nowhere near as tough as it seems on paper, especially when it comes to grinding (CS is everywhere / NV is everything)
  • Throwing 18 attaks @ 4+/3+ or 4+/2+ continues to underwhelm
  • Despite only having a game within 18″, this army’s 66 breath/fireball still makes for some fun and effective tactical play

Despite Unplugged being super legit, I ended up leaving the weekend exhausted beyond measure (having hardly slept) and fairly frustrated with all the pillaging and with the limits of the Bloodfire skew in general. But then I remember that I’ve played like 11 games with this army? And that it’s a skewed theme list, and that pillage was always going to suck, but even then I had a chance in the weighted pillage, and I made several cataclysmic-yet-derpy mistakes and had some atrocious luck when I needed the opposite.

GAME 05: VARANGUR

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And we’re back with another edition of Tuesday Night Fights! My club is headed to the Unplugged GT in Hartford, CT next weekend with lists due this Friday, so this was very much a list testing affair. Also minor celebration for reaching 2000 painted points! Not bad for just about 3 months’ work from start to finish.

BLOODFIRE GAME 5: VARANGUR + HERD

Salamanders 2000

Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Greater Fire Elemental
Greater Fire Elemental
Herald on Raptor – Diadem of Dragonkind
Herald on Raptor – Healing Charm
Mage-Priest – Surge, Heal, Shroud of the Saint (+2 Heal)
Clan Lord on Fire Drake – Banner of the Griffin

Dropped the fourth Sprites to afford some items on the heroes, particularly the Heralds, who didn’t seem to do much beyond stand near things, fail to disorder shooters, and valiantly delay terrible things.

Varangur + Herd 2000

Bloodsworn Regiment – Gift(Brutal), Healing Brew
Sons of Korgaan Regiment – Gift(Brutal), Blood of the Old King
Cave Troll Regiment
The Fallen Horde – Brew of Strength
Mounted Sons of Korgaan Regiment – Gift(Brutal), Brew of Haste
Horse Raider Troop – bows
Skald – Banner of the Griffin
Herja of the Fallen
+
Spirit Walker Regiment
Stampede Horde
Tribal Totem Bearer on Mount

#BRUTAL (he had wanted to bring Herd to Unplugged but wasn’t going to be able to get everything repainted in time, so took the best the Herd had to offer and combined with alot of nasty from the Varangrr side of the chaos coin)

We played Push, a scenario I’ve read about often in batreps but never played myself. Rolled up 3 tokens, which went on both GFE and rightmost FE for me, and Spirit Walkers, Bloodsworn and foot Sons for him (i.e. the already slow things).

BATTLE
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Battlelines! He won and took first, making this match extra rough for my slow, red butt.

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New Mage-Priest to finish the first 2k off ❤

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Chaos dudes shove forward, with very fast right flank being particularly intimidating. The Horse Raiders on the left land a wound on the left Sprites and get a lucky early waver. Redementals respond by bowing their line out around the tower, being extremely cautious on the right.

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Chaos inches their grindy center forward, idles the fast flanks, and lands a few wounds on the central Sprites (who are unphased). In return the red tide shuffles its breath weapons / fireballs into range, roasting the Spirit Walkers to death and lightly singing the Trolls.

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Fwooosh!

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As anticipated, Chaos brings it, especially on the left. Ember Sprites cop charges from the Raiders, Bloodsword and Trolls, as the Stampede bears down on the left GFE.

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It’s a bounce across the line, as Sprites take wounds and either waver or don’t care (take that Trolls!), and the GFE absorbs 11 wounds but holds firm.

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The GFE counter-charges the Stampede (for 3 wounds, managing to disorder it) on the left, while the right wing gently shuffles and hits the Trolls with 22 breath attaks, for no appreciable impact (these Trolls regenerated like bosses throughout the game). Although the Diadem gator fluffed against the Horse Raiders, the Mage-Priest put the Shroud to work and healed 4 wounds off of the GFE struggling against a horde of angry pigs.

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Chaos finishes what it started on the left, routing both Sprites and the GFE, and leaving that flank feeling pretty dire.

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Meanwhile the right flank finally starts cooking, with Herja and her Fallen slamming into the waiting FE horde, as Trolls head back into their Sprites.

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Though the Sprites are wavered, the FE hold the line with 10 wounds.

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After a heavy think, the Redementals see what they can salvage: FE counter-charge the Fallen with a second FE horde surged into Herja, with half a hope of pulping her and flanking in to support; as the left FE trundle into the Bloodsworn and their Diadem Herald diverts the impending Stampede. The Trolls receive another 22 breath attaks, finally wavering. It should be noted at this point that the Rally(1) Skald has been hiding behind the tower, buffing up the Bloodsworn and Trolls the whole game, and will continue to do so.

All of those combats bounce, although the Fallen are wavered.

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The Stampede plows into the Diadem Herald, the Bloodsworn counter-charge their FE horde, and Herja charges the wounded right FE horde, who are no longer benefitting from that little smidge of woods they were keeping between them and Varangur death. The rest of the Chaos dudes smash forward, making sure they’re on the red side of the board. Also the foot Sons pick up the central Push marker.

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It’s super effective! Herald dies, Bloodsworn bop some bloodfire dudes, and Herja dissolves some other bloodfire dudes.

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Sallies continue the late game panic with more desperation plays: left FE horde corkscrews into the Stampede (calculating that a flank from the Bloodsworn is only about 6 wounds), the Push FE charge Herja, and more FE flank the Fallen. The CLOFD and the Mage-Priest hit the Bloodsworn with 26 elite or vicious shots but can’t waver them (though they get close).

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Herja is a rock, Stampede are wavered (and *just* fall short of routing), and the Fallen are obliterated.

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Turn 6! The Bloodsworn flank the left Fire horde, the Horse Raiders crash through a hedge and charge the Mage-Priest, the Trolls head back into the Sprite roadblock, the Mounted Sons slam the Fallen-killing Fire horde, and Herja jumps into their flank as well. The Mage-Priest takes a single wound, disordering her (all according to plan), and everybody else dies. It helped that the flanking Bloodsworn rolled hot on wounding and routing.

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Redementals don’t have a lot going for them right now, but there’s always vengeance, and Turn 7! The CLOFD dances through the gap between Bloodsworn and Raiders and punches the Stampede, ending its reign of terror. Herja is similarly finally put down by angry bloodfire things, although the pesky Trolls are left alone, to continue clogging the center in case it matters.

Spoiler: it doesn’t. The game ends here, Varangur come away with 6 points to Bloodfire’s 3.

BLOODFIRE LOSS

GAME 04: THE HERD

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Saturday night fight with another clubmate, who has put his Varangrr aside for the time being to give his Herd another shot.

BLOODFIRE GAME 4: HERD

Salamanders 2000

Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Ember Sprite Regiment
Ember Sprite Regiment
Ember Sprite Regiment
Ember Sprite Regiment
Greater Fire Elemental
Greater Fire Elemental
Herald on Raptor
Herald on Raptor
Mage-Priest – Heal, Surge, Banner of the Griffin
Clan Lord on Fire Drake – Healing Brew

Same list as last time!

Herd 2000

Spirit Walker Horde – Helm of the Ram
Spirit Walker Horde – Brew of Haste
Stampede Horde – Blood of the Old King
Lycan Horde – Brew of Strength
Tribal Chariot Regiment
Beast Pack Troop
Harpy Troop
Chimera – Wings
Shaman – Heal
Shaman – Heal
Lycan Alpha – Healing Brew

Solid troops with smart items, especially BOTOK (which was made for Stampedes) and Helm of the Ram (which feels particularly nice on beastmans). Chuffed to see chariots on the table, and impressed by the stats on Tribal Chariots in particular.

We chose to play Scour (5), as we’’ll be playing it at the Unplugged GT at the end of April, and I’’ve never played it. Herd won the initiative and took it. (Apologies for so many blurry shots – I was impatient and didn’’t let my phone accommodate for the lower light.)

BATTLE

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The Herd rolls out! L2R = Alpha, Lycans, Spirit Walkers (+1Sp) + Beast Pack, Stampede, Spirit Walkers (+1TC) + Harpies, Chariots, Chimera

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The thick red line bows forward! And the Harpies die to Ember Sprite + CLOFD breath, for first blood.

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Lycans and their Alpha get the party started properly by slamming into the leftmost Fire Elemental horde, which holds despite 13 wounds. Meanwhile the Beast Pack disorders some Sprites and the Tribal Chariots plink a wound off the rightmost Fire horde.

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Fiery blood things go aggro, with the left Fire horde + flank-surged GFE charging the Lycan, Beast Pack being mobbed by a Fire horde + Sprites, and Stampede getting suicide-charged by yet more Fire Elementals (through a pond no less :P). Red dudes on the right prepare to receive Chariots + Chimera, and CLOFD + Sprite screen position to vomit on Spirit Walkers.

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The Lycan are burnt to cinders, the Stampede gently tickled (5 wounds?) but at least disordered, and the right Spirit Walkers take breath wounds but can’’t be wavered anyway. Oh, Beast Pack is turned into mist.

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Terrible overview shot is terrible. TL;DR: Lots of charging, including Chariots + Chimera into right Fire horde (fire dudes hold, spoiler).

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The sacrificial Fire horde receives its comeuppance. Also those TC(2) Spirit Walkers are healed some.

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GFE face-tanks the other Spirit Walkers (who are bane-chanted), as the wounded Fire horde prepares to be ended by the Alpha.

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Yep: GFE holds with negligible damage, while the Fire horde poofs.

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HOWEVER the overextended Fire horde takes 31 wounds (!) and sticks on snake eyes (!!) ​

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Vengeance! Haste Spirit Walkers are flanked by a Fire horde, Lycan Alpha is surge-charged by reforming GFE, Ram Spirit Walkers are counter-charged by the miraculously still burning Fire horde in the center + flank-charged by a GFE, and the Tribal Chariots are counter-charged by the right Fire horde.

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Combats are a mixed bag after dice happen. The Ram Walkers and Tribal Chariots die in a literal fire, moments after the Stampede receive some sweet breath loving from Sprites + CLOFD. On the other hand, the Haste Walkers soak up 10 wounds from the flanking Fire horde (of 15 anticipated) and don’t care, and the GFE thumps the Alpha up to 7 wounds but it doesn’’t care either. Butts.

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The Herd retaliates: Stampede into their rapidly dissipating Fire horde, Chimera into gently battered right Fire horde, and Haste Walkers into Mage-Priest on the way into rearing the GFE. I lament being stupid and putting her in harm’s way, as she had no business wandering into that spot … Also the Alpha shoots out to be a pain in the rear / flank next turn, regening or healing back to 1 or 2 wounds.

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Boom! The Stampede gets their Fire horde up to 43 wounds, exploding them back to the Blood Fire Land Place from whence they came.

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The Mage-Priest doesn’’t manage to hold the Haste Walkers, who carry on into the GFE ……

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…… and tear him down too. Sad times. (Also: the Chimera managed 3 more wounds on the right Fire horde, but 9 wounds wasn’’t enough to rout them.)

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Fire hordes go into the Haste Walkers (wounds happen (up to 15) but not enough to rout that -/23) and the Chimera (it gets beat up (up to 9?) and is wavered). The Stampede is bathed in 34 breath attaks, most of them with vicious, and is also wavered!

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Turn 5 arrives! The left Fire horde gets sandwiched between mountains of attaks, and is dispersed handily as their Herald Chompy watches in dismay. The Haste Walkers are healed down to 12 as well.

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Also the Chimera backs up, simply to pull its Fire Elementals away from markers.

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The last of the Fire Elementals power back into the Chimera, as various red things make sure they’’re within 3” of markers and prepare to unleash hot breath attak action upon goat / pig / wolf dudes. And Chompy blocks the Haste Walkers in case they survive the incoming torrent.

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Lol, nope D: The Haste Walkers evaporate under the CLOFD + impressive rout dice, the Stampede becomes delicious pork roast thanks to Ember Sprites + GFE breath, and the Chimera likewise is fricasseed courtesy the Fire horde. And the left Shaman took an unexpected number of wounds from the leftmost Sprites.

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Turn 6 desperation! The smoldering Shaman wavers some Ember Sprites! The other Shaman disorders some other Sprites! The Lycan Alpha tackles the Clan Lord for a few wounds!

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Clash of the Titans! The Clan Lord goes ham and tears the head off the Alpha (or maybe it just wavered him, I can’t remember – regardless legit pile of wounds from the CLOFD). Chompy tackles the left Shaman and whiffs, and the other Shaman may or may not have vanished under 12 breath attaks. Regardless, no Turn 7 and Salamanders sit on a lot of markers.

BLOODFIRE VICTORY

GAME 03: EMPIRE OF DUST

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With time to burn, Albanyadriel and I re-racked after the last match and headed back in!

BLOODFIRE GAME 3: EMPIRE OF DUST

Salamanders 2000

Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Greater Fire Elemental
Greater Fire Elemental
Herald on Raptor
Herald on Raptor
Mage-Priest – Heal, Surge, Banner of the Griffin
Clan Lord on Fire Drake – Healing Brew

While elite on the CLOFD sort of helped him get work done, the heart of the army is all these -/17 hordes and -/18 monsters, which the Mage-Priest is babysitting anyway. So may as well get some synergy going on with Rally (1).

Empire of Dust 2000

Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Crossbowmen Horde – Blood of the Old King
Enslaved Guardian Archer Horde – Chant of Hate
Swarm Regiment
Scavenger Regiment
Scavenger Regiment
Skeleton Cavalry Regiment – Casket of the Damned
Revenant Worm Riders – Dragonshard Shield
Balefire Catapult
Balefire Catapult
Bone Giant
Cursed High Priest – Fireball, Vicious, Mount
Cursed High Priest – Fireball, Vicious, Mount

No change from last game, in which BOTOK was pretty neat when it came time for the Crossbows to go ham, vicious Guardians was ok, and the Dragonshard wasn’t used.

We chose to play another unit strength scenario, this time Dominate. Once again the EOD took first turn.

BATTLE

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Lines are drawn! Swarm vanguards! Ominous killing field in the center is ominous!

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EOD rolls out, and realizes how limited their shooting is at the moment, thanks to range and LOS blockers … which doesn’t stop a Catapult from pulping the leftmost Ember Sprites, and Guardian Archers from rolling out of their mind and putting 6 wounds on the left Fire Elementals. Also that Dineen photobomb 😐

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Fire Elementals go aggro, as is their wont, jumping on the Swarm as well as some Scavengers that thought they were safe from the right GFE (which they would have been if the GFE had to wheel to clear the tower … but this is KOW, so he just pivoted in place and zipped into them). The Swarm explodes, however the other GFE fluffs hard against the Scavengers, just doing a couple wounds. He is in A Bad Place.

[No Photo]
EOD prepare for charges next turn – Bone Giant and Spearmen shuffling up, Cavalry moving to the right GFE’s flank – but largely just shoot all the things. Guardian Archers remove the wounded left Fire horde, Crossbows + Catapults pummel the central GFE (9 wounds).

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Whether or not it was bait (the EOD may have been pulling the fire dudes’ frontage out of the woods and/or trying to garner a flank), the Fire Elementals and left GFE hammer the left Spearmen into ashes. The other GFE manages to finish his Scavengers, but can’t quite scoot far enough into the woods to hinder the pain that’s headed his way (needed 3+” got 2”). In shooting, the CLOFD and some Sprites combine to put a lot of hurt on the right Spearmen, however rolling a 5-7 rout is really difficult.

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Post consolidation shot!

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The Bone Giant ignores the wall of red in front of him and long bombs the (now) leftmost Sprites, while the Spearmen charge the right GFE in the front and Cavalry surge-charge his flank, happily unhindered. Shooting ends the left GFE and wavers the central Sprites. In combat, the Bone Giant manages to waver his Sprites as well, and the remaining GFE absorbs a lot of damage (11) but holds.

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Finally, the left Fire horde makes it into the Guardian Archers for some sweet, sweet vengeance. Also the GFE counter-charges his Cavalry oppressors, leaving it to the CLOFD to end the Skeleton Spearmen. Spoiler: they get vomited off the table. Oh, and Snappy the Herald launches himself into a Cursed Priest – the other Herald has been babysitting that beleaguered GFE on the right. Combat is not great, with the GFE barely touching the Cav, Snappy failing to hit the Priest (5+ is legit hard), and worst of all, the left Fire horde doing so very little to the Guardians.

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Having been patiently waiting, the left (and remaining) Scavengers flank the Guardian’s Fire Elementals, along with the Guardians counter-charging them; the Bone Giant charges back into the Sprites, and the Cavalry, who I really hope were at least disordered but I can’t promise that, head into the GFE. Shooting tries to put down a central Fire horde but Sprite screen is too stronk, although Snappy the Herald cops a couple wounds from Priest breath/fireball. In combat, the Fire horde takes a worrying amount of damage for dudes with no inspiring (Snappy was 7” away, as a calculated risk because I assumed Guardian death), but survives the rout. Unlike the Sprites or GFE (!), both of which are snuffed out.

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Those leftmost Fire Elementals assault the Guardians again, bereft as they are with the stink of desperation. But Snappy is with them. Chompy, on the other hand, has no more purpose in life, so charges into the other Cursed Priest in the hopes of shutting down his nonsense. After pausing to have the Sprites vomit all over the Worm Riders (to no effect), Chompy misses his 5+ vs the Priest, and the Fire horde somehow manages to put good wounds on the Guardians. They need a 4 with no reroll to end these *******s and turn around. I roll a 3 and lose my cool, in a “it’s been a long day, this is game two, dice have been continually bad, and I’m very tired” sort of way.

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The Bone Giant rears those unlucky Fire Elementals, and they are as dead as you think they are (27 CS3 red hot dice will do that). Also the Worm Riders finally sally forth into the red phalanx in the center, sensing the end of the game is looming. They charge some Ember Sprites, get them up to 13 wounds, and roll snake eyes! Which also helps lock out the Cavalry lurking to the right, as their charge space is fairly limited with Sprites gumming things up.

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Last shot of the game! Sally Turn 5 sees the token surge play of the game for me, as a Fire horde spins and is nudged into the Scavengers back there, obliterating them, but otherwise is tightening the phalanx and coating the Worm Riders in breath attak. Also Snappy finally made it into a Catapult! And whiffed 3 times! Brutal!

EOD Turn 6 had all the deadites collapse towards the table center, along with a lot of Ember Sprite death. However at that point he wasn’t going to be able to touch my 7 unit strength in Fire hordes + CLOFD, and couldn’t get enough of his own US in there. With 1 min left before the store closed, I passed my turn without doing anything. We rolled for Turn 7 anyway and didn’t get one.

BLOODFIRE VICTORY

GAME 02: EMPIRE OF DUST

On By SalvageIn BLOODFIRELeave a comment

Albanyadriel and I got together for a rematch last Wednesday, after postponing for me getting the flu and then again next week when the snowpocalypse happened around our part of the world. Anyway, we threw down with slightly revised lists!

BLOODFIRE GAME 2: EMPIRE OF DUST

Salamanders 2000

Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Greater Fire Elemental
Greater Fire Elemental
Herald on Raptor
Herald on Raptor
Mage-Priest -– Heal, Surge
Clan Lord on Fire Drake -– Blessing of the Gods

Healing Herald became Raptor Herald #2 (Chompy), Mage-Priest learned Heal but isn’t inspiring any longer, and CLOFD got elite (and my only magic item!) in hopes of being more useful.

Empire of Dust 2000

Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Crossbowmen Horde -– Blood of the Old King
Enslaved Guardian Archer Horde –- Chant of Hate
Swarm Regiment
Scavenger Regiment
Scavenger Regiment
Skeleton Cavalry Regiment -– Casket of the Damned
Revenant Worm Riders -– Dragonshard Shield
Balefire Catapult
Balefire Catapult
Bone Giant
Cursed High Priest -– Breath Attak, Vicious, Mount
Cursed High Priest -– Breath Attak, Vicious, Mount

Scorpion returned to the sands, replaced by Skeleton Cavalry, a unit that I had no respect for, going by stats and what they did in WHFB (i.e. very rarely see the table) … Also COK items up in this!

We chose to play Control (= table quarters, right?), again using COK unit strength. Pretty certain the EOD went first. (The photos + text worked pretty well for me last report, I think I’ll keep that up. Lack of notes makes turn-by-turn rough :X)

BATTLE

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Battlelines form! Significantly more skeletons have risen from the sands since last game ;D

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Undead shooters struggle with the amount of cover present, even if the fire dudes appear to be busily deforesting their half of the table 😛 Meanwhile the Swarm goes aggro and charges a GFE, in hopes of holding him and his derpy 8 attaks up.

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Swarms are smooshed by CLOFD + GFE team up, and the rest of the red army advances into Tough, Smashy Crescent formation. The EOD move up to tempt charges across the line, while on the right Cavalry + Scavengers envelope their flank, and on the left the other Scavengers go ham into an Elemental flank. They land a wound of disrespect. Shooting hammers down on the central GFE and removes him!

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Elementals flame up and charge in: GFE into rear of left Scavengers, Fire horde into Worm Riders, Fire horde into Spearmen, Sprites into other Spears (for victory, but mostly to get out of the way), Fire horde into Bone Giant, and final Fire horde reforms and is surged into the right Scavengers lurking in the Sally zone.

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Big red dice roll cold: while the Scavengers were both obliterated, the Worm Riders and Bone Giant were barely scathed, and the Spearmen survived the sweet caresses of their horde despite all expectations (horrible hits and/or junk rout test). As for the Sprites vs Spearmen, maybe a Skeleton was wounded …

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Reprisal is swift on the right, with Bone Giant + surged Cavalry (to avoid behind hindered on the wall) eviscerating their Fire horde. Sprites also got poked to death (Rest In Pepperonis, lil’ dudes). On the left, the Worm Riders and Spearmen counter-charge, doing quite a bit of damage in the Worms’ case (and a token wound by the Spears). Shooting rips a few wounds into the rampaging CLOFD, but thankfully the Guardian Archers had to pivot to reorient on the action and couldn’t lend their weight.

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Vibrating with fury (sorry about the pic), the Elemental line strikes back: GFE + Fire horde into the Worm Riders, Fire horde back into the Spearmen, and right Fire horde into the Cavalry (hindered sadly). The CLOFD contemplates charging into the Crossbows to shut them up, knowing their existence likely means his death … but decides that being reared by the right Spearmen would be a bad thing (ED: I actually think he could have taken it, 45 @ 5+ @ 5+ is not great, even with AA’s crazy good dice, and the CLOFD wouldn’t have been shot at all in that case). CLOFD and Ember Sprites load the Crossbowmen up with breath wounds but can’t reach their -/23 nerve.

Combat sees the Spearmen vaporized by the Fire horde, but everything else sucks. The GFE + horde combo on the Worms is a flopfest, only surpassed by the other Fire horde doing a couple wounds to the Cavalry. Bad times ahead.

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The Worm Riders plow into the Fire horde that has been cuddling them, and shatters them handily. The CLOFD takes the full force of the EOD shooting, including a Cursed Priest breath attak, and is vaporized.

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On the right, the Bone Giant and the disordered, hindered Cavalry go into their Fire Elementals, but can only manage a few wounds.

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The Worm Riders are atomized (let’s admit: those two hindered Ember Sprites are what turned the tables).

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Meanwhile, the right Fire horde is healed up and heads into the Bone Giant, but sucks it up. Oh, and the cheeky backfield Sprites flank the Crossbows and pull off the single wound they wanted ​

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Turn 6 has arrived for the Empire of Dust. Spears back up, Crossbows counter-charge Sprites (for 1 sweet wound), Bone Giant and, after some surge to avoid the obstacle, the Calvary head back into the right Fire Elementals. Shooting removes the penultimate Fire horde, moments before the Giant and Cav beat up the last Fire Elementals but leave them clinging.

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Turn 6 Sallies sees the GFE and two Sprite regiments on the left back up to consolidate their positions (a mistake, as unhurt GFE wasn’t in danger of dying, but could easily have made a Turn 7 charge into the Crossbows and ended them, along with their unit strength 3 in his quarter). The third Ember Sprites bop the Crossbowmen for another wound. On the right, the Fire Elementals slam the Bone Giant one last time, finally bash him within easy break range (16 wounds) … and roll snake eyes. Ugggggh. Their raptor Herald flings himself into the Cavalry to disorder them, but can’t roll 5+ to hit.

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Turn 7 happens! Crossbows mess with their Sprites, Spearmen prepare to surge into the SW quarter but fall 1-2” short, and I’m not sure if we even rolled out the combat in the SE quarter, as EOD had 2 quarters with no way to lose them, vs the Sallies’ 1. Regardless, I extended the hand rather than take my turn, whatever was left for it.

BLOODFIRE LOSS

GAME 01: EMPIRE OF DUST

On By SalvageIn BLOODFIRE1 Comment

I’’ve been working on a multibased Fire Elementals *cough* Salamanders *cough* army since early January (2017), and recently got within (flame) spitting distance of 2000 points! And have remained 160 points shy for weeks now, because painting 18 tiny red lizard things is a big turnoff for me 😛

But two blank bases hasn’’t kept me from finally getting in some full-sized games! All against clubmate Albanyadriel‘s own fledgling Empire of Dust. Needless to say, it’s been a learning experience for both of us …

BLOODFIRE GAME 1: EMPIRE OF DUST

Salamanders 2000

Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Greater Fire Elemental
Greater Fire Elemental
Herald on Raptor -– Blade of Slashing
Herald –- Healing Charm
Mage-Priest -– Surge, Inspiring Talisman
Clan Lord on Fire Drake -– Healing Brew

Empire of Dust 2000

Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Crossbowmen Horde -– [Shooting Better Item]
Enslaved Guardian Archer Horde -– [Shooting Better Item]
Swarm Regiment
Scavenger Regiment
Scavenger Regiment
Revenant Worm Riders -– [Melee Better Item?]
Balefire Catapult
Balefire Catapult
Scorpion Husk
Bone Giant
Cursed High Priest –- Breath Attak, Vicious, Mount
Cursed High Priest –- Breath Attak, Vicious, Mount

This game was played on the cusp of COK’’s release, hence the Brew on the CLOFD and the EOD shooters not having +1 to hit (most likely elite on Crossbows and vicious on Guardians).

We rolled up Invade and used COK’’s changes to unit strength instead of point cost. I couldn’’t tell you if my red dudes won the initiative – typically in Invade I really want it (because shambling and setting up chaff screen vs shooting), but I have a feeling I didn’’t get it.

I don’t have strong memories of this game, as it was like a month ago, so this is going to be pictures and commentary.

BATTLE

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So red!

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Armies shamble towards each other, whilst CLOFD points at stuff! (L2R = Spearmen, Worm Riders, Bone Giant, Scavengers)

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Redementals push forward, as the undead attempt to focus fire and the Raptor Herald (= gator, naturally) gets ready to go tie up the EOD shooters.

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A battleline shot?! The red tide has deployed Sprite screen and is weathering shooting well.

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The Scorpion and Swarms overextend (as seems to be the fate of vanguard troops) and get themselves killed by Elemental hordes. Meanwhile Snappy the Herald has launched himself out of the forest and into the unsuspecting Crossbows …

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… and he lands his single 5+ to hit with aplomb! The Crossbows are shut down!

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Meanwhile on the right, the fire dudes are in a standoff with Spears, Worms and Giant, but have plenty of inspiring and some healing to back them up, on top of abundant redness.

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Unsure of what to do with himself, the CLOFD charges into the Bone Giant … and commences a long grind. Eventually some Fire Elementals flank in and wreck the Giant, which pulls in the Worm Riders, who kill those Elementals but are covered in boiling blood and killed in return.

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Back on the left, things have degenerated into Sprites tagteaming some Spearmen – spoiler: they didn’’t get much done 😐 – as the Mage-Priest relentlessly chucks fireballs into a Priest who refuses to die (again). Eventually she burns him to cinders, but not before all those Sprites are speared or breathed to death. Also some Elementals made it into the Crossbow horde and smashed them apart over a couple turns, freeing up Snappy the Herald to pounce on the Guardian Archers, shutting them down for a turn.

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The other EOD flank has collapsed under hot, flaming pressure. You can see Snappy doing annoying things to the Guardians (and getting a little beat up for his troubles – he eventually gets clubbed to death with the second Guardian charge, but that’s them not shooting the incoming fire things).

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End game has some lucky EOD shooting finish up wounded Elemental hordes, dropping Salamander scoring strength fairly significantly. Despite these last gasps the Elementals win the match fairly handily.

BLOODFIRE VICTORY

Despite the victory, it was a weird experience playing an army so different from my Ratkin, with their oodles of attaks, massive nerve values, ability to project force (even in the striped down combat lists I play), and ability to at the double … I think what most gets me is how not tough an army of D5+ feels, vs my experience playing almost entirely D3+ or D4+, and how pathetic 18 attaks @ 4+ feels when I finally make it to combat. Plus I still feel like a total surge noob, though I frankly am! Which is all to say, more games please!