Tag: dwarfs

FREEFORGED 28-30: US MASTERS 2024 DAY 2

On By SalvageIn FREEFORGEDLeave a comment

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??

FREEFORGED 25-27: US MASTERS 2024 DAY 1

On By SalvageIn FREEFORGEDLeave a comment

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

THE HALLOW 38-39: ORC TOWN GT DAY 2

On By SalvageIn THE HALLOWLeave a comment

Dawn of the Second Day. I’m hungover, on the bottom table, playing an exceedingly nice dude whose brother had roped him into playing a tournament for a game he didn’t have a ton of experience with but was down to throw some dice. But also here’s his list:

GAME 4: DWARFS

Shieldbreakers Horde – Chant of Hate, Throwing Mastiff
Shieldbreakers Horde – Boots of Striding, Throwing Mastiff
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Ironbelcher Organ Gun
Ironbelcher Organ Gun
Ironbelcher Organ Gun
Steel Behemoth – Golloch’s Fury [1]
Stone Priest – Ej Periscope, Knowledgeable, Radiance of Life, Celestial Restoration (3), Hex (2)
Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Orb of Towering Presence
Dwarf Lord – Wings of Honeymaze
Faber Ironheart [1]
*Ironclad Horde – Throwing Mastiff
*Bulwarkers Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
*Bulwarkers Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
*Standard Bearer
16(28)

Seems good! A very hearty Dwarf list that shares many similarities with what in 2024 would become The Dwarf List, including the obligatory formation. Note that this is pre-Clash so none of these Dwarfs have ordered march. I hadn’t faced Organ Guns in a couple of years and can’t say I was too excited about facing three 😅 But at least they’re a known quantity, and probably worse than the triple Sharpshooters that have replaced them? Either way, I drank my energy drink and prepared to slam forward.

We played Salt the Earth, with the Hallow going first, one way or another.

BATTLE

I wouldn’t say my plan going in was to roll the right flank up, but that’s kind of what happened. I burnt the two rightmost tokens in the opening turns before ignoring the Beast Lord and churning through the Dwarfs to the right of the Organ Gun battery. Top marks to the Forest Warden who held up an entire Shieldbreaker horde (the CS1 kind) and lived, buying the Lycans time to blend an Ironguard regiment in the flank and then utterly body the Shieldbreakers to the front. We’re talking like 16 damage out of 18 dice. The Lycans would go on to kill the Beast Lord for good measure and score a point, free of damage. Total chads.

If I had a plan, it was to force through the left flank with double Brute hordes (arguably triple on that half of my deployment) and crumple the Dwarf line side on. I kept hitting speed bumps on the way in – Faber threw himself forward, which took two rounds of Bruting to clear up, and the classic flying Dlord did what flying Dlord’s do, blocking another Brute up (for a single round) – but my dice didn’t help. You’ll notice that that one horde of Shieldbreakers over there took the entire game and three rounds of Brute attaks (90 dice total) to go down. The snake eyes was certainly responsible but these guys really blunted my aspirations for that flank.

As for the center … the Dwarfs shot off my Tribal Spear horde first turn, which lit even more of a fire than I already had. I took his Ironclad horde in response, and we started trading back and forth, with Golloch bouncing around running my hammers over. But he got his own when my Lycan Alpha fear charged the big dude, delivering 10 or so damage and dunking the legendary contraption. The Alpha would end the game hard-modeing into the front of the last Bulwarkers, eventually killing them too, as a Tribal Spear regiment waded through the Organ Guns. With the Dwarfs tabled and the Herd on 5/5 points, this was a full points …

HALLOW VICTORY

It’s hard to say what went so wrong for my opponent – I don’t recall his dice being woefully bad (I’m the one who rolled snakes!) and his list has plenty of Dwarf Good Stuff in it. He was going to struggle a bit on the scenario but then again his Organ Guns were deployed to punish the tokens he wasn’t playing for, so well planned there. Mostly I’m surprised by how much I have left on the board, my Herd is usually pretty mangled come end game … All the same, the big win felt good and hopefully the dude learned some stuff from me getting all positional on him. He did go on to win the Best Sports trophy, which was well-deserved (and paid for in the blood of his Dwarfs, I imagine).

GAME 5: EMPIRE OF DUST

Skeleton Spearmen Horde – Hammer of Measured Force
Skeleton Spearmen Horde – Dragonshard Shield
Enslaved Guardians Horde – Blessing of the Gods
Enslaved Guardians Horde – Boots of Striding
Mummies Regiment – Brew of Haste
Mummies Regiment – Helm of the Drunken Ram
Mummies Regiment – Mead of Madness
Mummies Regiment – Pipes of Terror
Soul Snare [1] – Drain Life (9)
Monolith [1] – Surge (8)
Idol of Shobik [1] – Heal (5)
Ahmunite Pharaoh – Eternal Guard, Knowledgeable, Surge (8), Host Shadowbeast (3)
Cursed High Priest – Wither and Perish (3), Weakness (3)
Cursed High Priest – Ej Periscope, Hex (3), Weakness (3)
14(28)

Remember how the Dwarf player last game was roped into this tournament by his brother? This was his brother. Through the magic of tournament rankings, this guy would have the chance to reap sweet vengeance on the Herd what tabled his sibling … and frankly his list looked up to the task. Mummy regiments drive me a little crazy, so four it is. Spearmen hordes are particularly good against Herd (RIP my TC) and he’s got the full allotment of legends (remember that pre-COK Rahs wasn’t taken and (hot take) Sebekh-Rei has always been mediocre). That is a wild number of items but 2600 points be like that sometimes.

We played Dominate to end the tournament, with the Empire going first. The shot below is juuuust into his movement phase, those Mummies weren’t scouting (Mummies didn’t do that in 2023 :P). Also check out that terrain! What a map to play Dominate on when you’re a slow death blob being surrounded by angry tree creatures. Luckily the Stampede strides …?

BATTLE

I’d argue the play of the match happened at the top of Turn 2, when the EOD yeeted the Pharaoh (on foot, mind you!) into a Brute horde, cast Host Shadowbeast, rocked the damage (8-10 out of 10 possible) and then hot rolled the rout twice, removing the Brutes. To make matters worse, I had to put a second Brute horde into the Pharaoh to end his reign of terror, which cost two turns of grinding thanks to rough Nv dice on my part. This severely blunted my momentum down the middle and was all around a great move on the Empire’s part.

Of course, my game was always going to be about hunting for flanks and trying to crush the dusty heart of the EOD blob. To that end, I was forced to take hindered charge after hindered charge, with the obvious exception of the Stampede … who weren’t off the hook tho, spending every turn Weaknessed. Eventually I used the Centaur Chieftain to kick every Cursed Priest he could reach, stopping some of the Weaknessing, but once again my precious momentum had been robbed and the grind fully entered. You can taste my desperation clicking through the photos, especially on the right flank where I just couldn’t get through those Enslaved Guardians and Mummy regiment, even with him snaking the Stampede.

That said, the Herd did get work done, particularly when the surviving Brutes made it into combat. Even hindered, the Lycans were able to lift two regiments of Mummies, and eventually juked Shobik to flip over a Spearmen horde come end game. Thankfully the game ended here, with my 10 US to his 8 (the last of the Mummies were juuuust out). Which by Dominate rules meant this was a …

HALLOW VICTORY

What a grinder to end the tournament. I felt ok going in and was ready to hard roll my way through, but I don’t think I was mentally prepared for how painful that much hindering and Weakness would actually feel to push through. On top of the Pharaoh’s hero charge! Also a note on clocks in this game and last: I’m almost sure we went to time and had some spastic last turns. You can tell by how my dice are everywhere when I’m taking the photos 😉

And that’s a wrap for Orc Town 2023! A fairly cursed first day followed up by trouncing two brothers put me somewhere in the bottom third. So be it. I scored a couple treasures from the raffle afterwards, including this gem from the curling club’s bathroom that now lives in one of mine:

All hail Skullface!

UP NEXT: The King Beyond the Wall IV – The Thing Beyond the Wall

THE HALLOW 28-30: THE PILGRIMAGE GT DAY 1

On By SalvageIn THE HALLOWLeave a comment

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.

SCUTTLIN’ REALM 31: DWARFS

On By SalvageIn SCUTTLING REALMLeave a comment

Last game of Unplugged 2022 and I’m up against Pat and his gorgeous Dwarfs, as was very likely our destiny. We face each other at just about every tournament we’re at, and it’s a minor miracle that we missed each other at Dead of Winter back in February. He’s changed things up since we played at Crossroads 2021, but then COK22 has hit since then as well.

Dwarfs 1995
*Ironclad Horde – Throwing Mastiff, Hammer of Measured Force
Berserker Brock Riders Regiment – Potion of the Caterpillar
*Bulwarkers Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
*Bulwarkers Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Sharpshooters Troop
Sharpshooters Troop
Sharpshooters Troop
Steel Behemoth – Golloch’s Fury
Berserker Lord on Brock – Blade of the Beast Slayer
Stone Priest – Ej Periscope, Radiance of Life, Mind Fog (3), Scorched Earth (3)
*Dwarf Army Standard Bearer
*The Royal Guard Formation

For those not in the know, the Dwarf formation adds +1 Me and Nv and gives the ASB aura (Elite (Melee) Infantry) and Very Inspiring. I’m going to say that qualifies as very rad. Around this core are a cloud of shooty chaff/scenario pieces, a fast flanking force and one serious shooty / buffing monster-chariot. Altogether a tight Dwarf build looking to keep up with the meta.

Final round was Control, with the Dwarfs going first one way or another.

BATTLE

Battlelines! My heroes are Centurion > Bastion > Hex.
Dwarfs 1: Roll out! Sharpshooters target the left Placoderms (no regen + no cover) and a central Heartpiercer unit (no cover).
It’s distressingly effective! 2 and 5 damage respectively.
Trident 1: The big crabs move into menacing positions while Heartpiercers take aim at the left Bulwarkers (a ‘softer’ Dwarf unit :P), doing them 5 damage. Also that one unit regens back to 1 damage.
Dwarfs 2: The heavy center shores up its line to avoid any sneaky flanks, and the left flank shuffles a bit to keep the Brocks safe and bring their dogs up. Sharpshooters tag a couple more damage on the left Placoderms (to 4) and those damaged Heartpiercers (to 3), and the Stone Priest whips scorched earth on my Water Elemental horde to blunt potential double charges with the Kraken.
Trident 2: I press the issue on the left, moving Placoderms up (secure in their phalanx) with the Kraken providing pressure. The Heartpiercers over there stick 4 damage onto the pups and waver them, stopping them from tossing their smaller, angrier dog next turn.
Speaking of dog violence, on the right I see an opening and punch a Kraken into a Mastiff pack, exploding them and turning to be a problem for the Dwarf castle. I’ll note right now that I’m quite concerned about having the big lug running around without inspiring, however the Dwarf options for dealing with him at range are quite low, and he is a big boy. Centrally, Heartpiercers continue raining barbs into the left Bulwarkers, pushing them to 9 damage.
Dwarfs 3: I’m getting pretty nervous about a mass throwing mastiff event – last time we played Pay deleted a fresh Shambler horde with 5-6 dogs – but he’d have to overcommit to make that happen / I’ve been keeping his Mastiff units occupied. For example, the rightmost pups rear charge my aggro Kraken 😐 On the left, the Brock lord flanks the other Kraken, keen to use his beast slayer blade.
The dulcet tones of hubris can be heard tolling across the field.
A single mastiff does not a dog tossin’ festival make.
When the smoke clears, Sharpshooters waver the left Placoderms (on 5 damage) and combine fire with a throwing mastiff to do 4 to the other Placoderms. The Brock lord rips 5 damage into the left Kraken, while the brutal Mastiff rear charge on the other Kraken only does 2 (27 on 5+/4+ but also they fluffed quite badly).
Trident 3: On the left, the Kraken can easily get to the corner of the Brock Riders, so goes for it. The Heartpiercers and Centurion move up in support / to end the Mastiff menace on that flank. On the right, I continue to be both aware that I’ll have to grind the Ironclad to kill it and that it will very likely kill whatever it swings at. But I also remember just how slow Dwarfs are … The Placoderms saunter up to tempt the Bulwarkers or better yet pressure the horde if the Heartpiercers can end them this turn. The Kraken on the right deigns to front charge the Bulwarkers who had turned just enough to face him, instead sidestepping to continue to be a problem and potentially crack that Dwarf backfield.
Shooting does see those Bulwarkers off on the right, but a snake eyes on the leftmost Mastiffs keeps them in the game on 13 damage. In combat, the Kraken does an acceptable 7 damage to the Brock Riders.
Dwarfs 4: The Kraken on the left is countered by Brock Riders, flanked by (devastated) Mastiffs and reared by the Brock Lord. No pressure, buddy. The Kraken on the right is faced by Bulwarkers and Mastiffs, as you can hear the sound of throwing mastiffs powering up … The Ironclad wander forward, keeping threats in their front arc, as Golloch’s Fury continues to hover within firing range of the Placoderms (who it was probably shooting occasionally, to limited effect).
Kraken in Predicaments: Part One
Kraken in Predicaments: Part Two
Sharpshooters remove the left Placoderms with some spicy Nv dice (!), and the right Placoderms are pushed to 5 damage by more Sharpshooters and likely Golloch’s. The right Kraken weathers the storm of dogs fine. In combat, the left Kraken is savaged up to 15 damage but holds with nary a waver.
Trident 4: With enough blood in the water (crabby or otherwise), I guess it’s finally time to really go to work. On the left, the Kraken counters the Brock Riders (and regenerates 11 damage), Heartpiercers rear charge the mangled Mastiffs and the Centurion duels the Brock Lord. On the right, the Water Elementals launch out of the woods into the flank of the Bulwarkers, with the Centurion thundering the 1″ into their front. The Placoderms attempt to back away from the Ironclad but ironically can’t escape their reach, so a Heartpiercer unit sprints forward to jam them up.
The shooting I have goes into the Ironclad, for 2 damage, iron resolved to 1 and radianced off next turn :/ In combat, the Brock Riders and Mastiffs are driven off, tho the Brock Lord takes a single damage because Centurion. The Bulwarkers on the right are shattered and the big crabs turn to thoroughly complicate the Dwarf castle.
Dwarfs 5: While he may be running low on units, the Dwarf general still has quite a lot of guns at his disposal, as well as US. The Ironclad shrug and head into the Heartpiercers offered up to them, the last of the Mastiff packs pounces on the hex Envoy babysitting the big crabs (ensared + hindered), and the Brock Lord grimly hefts his blade and charges the left Kraken before it launches into the Sharpshooters.
Sharpshooters and maybe also Golloch crack the right Placoderms, bastion be damned! Then in combat the Ironclad pulp the Heartpiercers and the Brock Lord does a solid 5 damage to the left Kraken, lucky wavering it and saving the left flank for at least another turn. Bravo, slayer! Oh, the hex Envoy takes no damage from the Mastiffs harrying it.
Trident 5: Still not wanting anything to do with the Ironclad horde, the Water Elementals flank charge Golloch’s Fury and the right Kraken skitters into the flank of some Sharpshooters. The hex Envoy scampers away from the Mastiffs to tempt the Ironclad into wasting time. On the left, the Heartpiercers back up because somebody has to score the back left section and those Sharpshooters are scary, but also they prepare to shoot the Brock Lord with the Centurion’s help. And because of course he did, the left Kraken regenerates all 9 damage on him.
Shooting skewers the Brock Lord to 3 damage, the Stone Priest to 3 (wavered!) and the Mastiff pack to 3 as well. In combat, the Water Elementals hammer 12 damage into Golloch’s Fury, wavering it, shortly before the Kraken rampages through the Sharpshooters and prepares for the next one in line.
Dwarfs 6: Golloch’s Fury headstrongs and counters the Water Elementals, as the Brock Lord charges the left Kraken again. The Ironclad push forward to claim my central section and toss their dog at some Heartpiercers, the Mastiffs hopefully position themselves in the bottom right section, and Sharpshooters scoot around to claim sections or face their towering destructors.
#kaijubigbattle
The Ironclad’s mastiff does 2 damage to the Heartpiercers, then the Brock Lord and Golloch do a respectable 5 damage to their targets, if to no effect.
Trident 6: The left Kraken smashes the flank of the top left Sharpshooters, claiming that section. The Water Elementals overwhelm Golloch’s Fury, claiming my two point section regardless of how the Kraken did front charging the Sharpshooters. Heartpiercers give the Ironclad a wide berth, shooting Stone Priest and Mastiffs in the process (possibly unto death, not that they could contest, at all or enough). With 5 points to 2, and no Turn 7, this was a very solid …

SCUTTLIN’ VICTORY (20-0)

While this dunking couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, it felt good to get a heavy win and feel like I played competently while doing so. I certainly showed more patience with my punchy stuff than maybe ever, and while my Heartpiercers didn’t dictate the game as in the last match, I used them as the scenario pieces I designed the army around, which is a good feel of its own. I’m sure Pat and I will rematch soon enough 😀

So with this big win I ended up 2-2-1, getting the 50% record I always try for. Happily I also got 4th best sports, which helped put me at I think 11 of 18 in the final ranking? Not bad at all for how heavy the field was.

Thanks for reading all these, and big thanks to the crew at Unplugged Gamers for putting the GT on. I’m thrilled I could make it out after a few years away, looking forward to next year.

UP NEXT: 2600 points of mayhem at the Orc Town GT early June!

THE HALLOW 10: DWARFS

On By SalvageIn THE HALLOWLeave a comment

After my Game One drubbing, I plummeted down to the bottom table and got to face one of my favorite people to play, and a dude I very often play somewhere around mid-tournament for score-related reasons 😀

Dwarfs 2300
Bulwarkers Horde – Staying Stone, Throwing Mastiff
Earth Elementals Horde
Earth Elementals Horde
Earth Elementals Horde
Berserker Brock Riders Regiment – Potion of the Caterpillar
Berserker Brock Riders Regiment – Boots of Striding
Sharpshooters Troop
Sharpshooters Troop
Sharpshooters Troop
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Berserker Lord on Brock – Blade of the Beast Slayer
Berserker Lord on Brock – Mournful Blade
Stone Priest – Conjurer’s Staff, Surge (8), Bane Chant (2)
Dwarf Army Standard Bearer – Lute of Insatiable Darkness

I’m always happy to fight Dwarfs, as I very reliably out-threat them, so get to play the more control oriented game I prefer. His list seems legit? And looks great on the table. I dig the double Brock Lords, and this would be the first time I’ve faced Earth Elementals with my squishier Forest Shamblers.

Game Two is Salt the Earth, and the Herd wins and takes the initiative.

BATTLE

Herd 0: Scouting phase! It’s hard to see, but the seventh token is on that hill back-right, guarded by double Sharpshooters. My fourth Tribal Spears are hard to the right just off shot.
Herd 1: The Hallow rolls out, mobilizing chaff on the left, tempting the Brocks in the middle, and blitzing the hill on the right. Some Tribal Spears take up residence on the token in the fountain, content to never move again.
Dwarfs 1: On the left, the pathfinder Brocks jump on the chaffing Centaurs and the BotBS Brock Lord charges into the Tree Herder, while the Earth Elementals maintain their menacing wall of rock and grind towards that flank. In the center, the Mastiffs (+ Bulwarkers) trot forward and prepare to unleash themselves / bees, and the Sharpshooters hold their ground on the right.
The storm of tossed dogs shreds the central Forest Shamblers (!!!), and Sharpshooters put 2 wounds on the left Tribal Spears and 1 on the Centaur Chief.
The Centaurs are torn apart by angry badgers, but the Brock Lord fails to damage the Herder. And then those Sharpshooters on the hill to the right burn their token 😐
Herd 2: Despite that, the Hallow chooses murder, as is their want. Beast and Centaur Chief charge into a Sharpshooter troop each, while their Tribal Spear escorts go be useful elsewhere. In the center, the Brutal Herder holds the boot Brocks in place to give the Centaurs and Shamblers time to clear the Mastiffs (except the Shamblers have to plow through a fence, hindering them). On the left, Shamblers (bane chanted) and Tribal Spears combo-charge the pathfinder Brocks. I spend a ton of time deciding what to do with the left Herder – because the Brock Lord failed to wound him, the Herder could walk over him if he wanted, tho the 1″ rule makes things weird around the Brocks and etc, etc, and so I just turned him to face the wall of rocks headed in … and forgot I could just charge him. It totally won’t come back to haunt me that I didn’t put 9 3+/2+ swings into that Brock Lord. No chance.
Happily, the pathfinder Brocks pop! And on the right, the Beast kicks her Sharpshooters to death, while the Centaur Chief is content to gnaw his down. The center is less conclusive, with neither Mastiffs breaking (5 and 6 damage respectively, which is pretty superb considering the odds involved), and the Brocks taking 5 damage.
Dwarfs 2: Rock meets Wood as the Earth Elementals crash into the left Shamblers and Tribal Spears. The beast slayer Brock Lord takes another swing at the Herder disrespecting him. In the center, Mastiffs counter the stick-things assaulting them and the Brocks counter the Brutal Herder. And on the right, the duelist Brock Lord goes in to sit down the Beast as the Sharpshooters strike at the Centaur Chief with their rifle butts.
The leftmost Shamblers are pummeled into goo by ambulatory stone statues, but other charges just result in damage – or not in the case of the Herder, who is just too tough for the slayer Brock Lord! The Tribal Spears go up to 6, the Centaurs to 5, the central Shamblers to 2, the Brutal Herder to 6 (!), and the Beast is indeed sat down with 2 damage. The Centaur Chief escapes without damage as well.
Herd 3: My positioning with the left Herder pays off, as it powers into an Earth Elemental flank, with (bane chanted) Tribal Spears in the front. Everybody counter-charges in the center, however the twist is the Beast using her Sp 7 + Nimble to juke the duelist Brock Lord and flank charge the Brocks. The Centaur Chief takes another bite out of the right Sharpshooters. You can see the Tribal Spears making a cautious play for the center objective – at this point I’m doing some math and realizing I need another token to pull a win off, despite my tight grip on two of the objectives.
All combats go the Hallow’s way, such is the fury of the dark fae. The left Herder is facing that way to swing the Earth Elementals into his front if they charge or use up a surge if he wants a flank, and in the center the Centaurs jam the Bulwarkers with an overrun. The duelist Brock Lord on the hill is faced with a choice: sit the Beast down again or prepare for glory. Also I burn the token on the left.
Dwarfs 3: The left Earth Elementals are surged into the Tree Herder flank (the follow-up bane chant must have worked, with the Conjurer’s Staff on hand), with the slayer Brock Lord charging in for a third round. The Bulwarkers make to clear out the Centaurs so they can address the incoming trees, and the duelist Brock Lord, well …
He chooses glory 😤
The Centaur Chief is mulched under those 14 attaks, and the Centaurs don’t fare too well either, but both of their missions are complete. The Tree Herder astoundingly only takes 6 damage (my opponent historically has terrible dice, and the tradition has continued here).
Herd 4: The grind continues! On the left, the Tree Herder + Tribal Spears (bane chanted) hit the Earth Elementals in the front. In the center, Shamblers + Brutal Herder + Beast combo-charge the Bulwarkers … and I realize later that the Beast is probably better used trying to kick the ASB to death, removing the reroll. I also don’t turn the rightmost Tribal Spears to face the duelist Brock Lord, despite them having phalanx and him obviously being cavalry.
8 damage on the Earth Elementals isn’t bad, but I can’t reach that -/18 Nv. Likewise the 12 damage on the Bulwarkers is solid enough, with a ways to go. Note that I’ve been watching his movement in the center, and those Tribal Spears are 16″ away from those Earth Elementals, to make him walk the whole way and not give a speed boost thanks to charging.
Dwarfs 4: Let’s just tear the bandage off – the slayer Brock Lord drops the left Tree Herder 😦 Well fought, tiny dude on badger that I ignored all game. The Earth Elementals bash the Tribal Spears up to 7 damage (wavering them), the Bulwarkers (bane chanted) stab the Brutal Herder up to 9 damage, and the duelist Brock Lord puts 3 on the right Tribal Spears desperately holding a point with no inspiring to be seen. The central Earth Elementals begin to crest the hill.
Herd 5: The wavered Tribal Spears back up to protect the Druid / expose the Earth Elementals to her lightning bolt (!), the Bulwakers receive another round of Brutal Herder + Forest Shamblers, the Beast pounces on the Dwarf ASB, and the right Tribal Spears counter the duelist Brock Lord (but most importantly point their sharp bits at him).
The Druid does wound the Earth Elementals with her LB(2), getting them up to 9 damage … but I can’t manage the double 9 to rout. Still awesome. The Bulwarkers are smashed into the dirt and the duelist Brock Lord takes a shocking 6 damage from small pointy tree things.
Dwarfs 5: Tiring of this grind, the left Earth Elementals trundle away to sit on a token, letting their compatriots take the hill and the token there. The Brock Lords both charge Tribal Spears … and do 0 damage on the left and 1 on the right O_O The ASB tries to ground the Beast but misses her.
Herd 6: Those left Tribal Spears rear the Earth Elementals who dared leave them to their fate, and the right Tribal Spears stab the duelist Brock Lord again. Really though it’s about mobbing the central Earth Elementals to pull the game away from his 3-2 token lead. I also punch the Beast forward in preparation for a Turn 7 run on the Sharpshooters’ token.
The Tribal Spears shatter their Earth Elementals, overrunning to take a point from the Dwarfs. The right Tribal Spears don’t kill their Brock Lord. Magic doesn’t happen in the center and the Earth Elementals hold … and we measure and discover that the Forest Shamblers are 4″ from the point thanks to combo-charge sliding. I can’t burn the point, and my 3-1 lead isn’t long for this world.
Dwarfs 6: The slayer Brock Lord ends those Tribal Spears, and the Earth Elementals swing hard and kill the Tribal Spears on the hill (a tough ask for his dice!) The duelist Brock Lord can’t rout his point-holding Tribal Spears, putting the game at 2-2. With no Turn 7, this is a …

DRAW (10-10)

Attrition put us at less than 500 points apart, for a true draw, which is apparently possible in Blackjack Scoring. It felt a little bad to have things slip away like this, as I had taken an early lead and had a lot of control – and some luck – in my favor, but even during the game I was seeing places where I simply was forgetting to do things (turn to face the Brock Lord on the right) or choosing obvious things (Beast putting a few wounds on Bulwarkers instead of kicking the ASB to death OR threatening the Sharpshooters on a point a turn earlier) rather than smarter things. In retrospect, I think could have won by not charging the Tribal Spears in on the center, as the fresh Forest Shamblers would have slide over fully to a) contest the point and b) block the Tribal Spears from the Earth Elementals, allowing them to score in safety or at the least contest, either of which would have done it for me, without a Turn 7. Instead I tried to punch for the stars per usual, and lost that win by an inch.

NEXT UP: Nature!

SCUTTLIN’ REALM GAME 16: DWARFS

On By SalvageIn SCUTTLING REALMLeave a comment

Mid-tables, baby! After bouncing off the bottom table, I faced off against a new player to the game and his Imperial Dwarfs. A note about this game, I helped him out quite a bit, pointing out for example how corkscrew charges work and when he’d set himself up for some, letting him back that out and in general learn while we wrassled instead of just taking his breaks. This isn’t a humble brag thing, more a comment on how ‘this is a tournament, play as hard as possible’ isn’t particularly interesting to me, nor I think to the KOW community at large. High five, us.

Dwarfs 2300

Berserker Brock Rider Regiment – Maccwar’s Potion of the Caterpillar
Earth Elemental Horde
Earth Elemental Horde
Earth Elemental Horde
Berserker Brock Rider Troop
Berserker Brock Rider Troop
Sharpshooter Troop
Sharpshooter Troop
Sharpshooter Troop
Steel Behemoth – Golloch’s Fury
Ironbelcher Organ Gun
Ironbelcher Organ Gun
Ironbelcher Organ Gun
Berserker Lord – Brock, Blade of the Beast Slayer
Stone Priest – Surge (8), Bane Chant (2), Tome of Darkness

Fairly classic Rocks n Glocks n Brocks, helped by the Earth Elementals getting more buffs than I thought (-/18 now?!), and maybe hindered by a little less inspiring than usual? Ah yes: there’s no flying King, but a third Organ Gun + Elemental horde.

Round 3 was Smoke & Mirrors, which we muddled through almost correctly. Dwarfs took first turn this time.

BATTLE

Battlelines! There’s a third Kraken hard on the right flank.

Dwarfs roll out! Except for Sharpshooters, who tag a wound on the leftmost Kraken.

Crabs roll out! Between range, cover or marching, Heartpiercers don’t get anything done. That right Kraken slams 14” up the table edge, intent to murder those Sharpshooters.

Dwarfs Turn 2, more plodding forward and setting up some traps, tho the right Brock troop throws itself into the right Gigas, hungry for crab meats.

Shooting puts another 1 damage on the left Kraken, 6 on the central Gigas courtesy the Organ Guns and 3 on the right Kraken. In combat, the Brocks gnaw 2 damage onto the right Gigas but they shrug it off.

Scuttle Aggression++! Two Kraken and their Eternal escort thunder into the Brock regiment over on the left, the Water Elemental horde slams into the central Earth Elemental horde (they needed to get away from Golloch’s Fury, and I assumed they could grind a couple turns) while the wounded Gigas bodyblock for them (I used their nimble guys!), the right Kraken thunders into the right Sharpshooters, annnd the right Gigas counter-charge their Brocks. Heartpiercers chunk 10? damage (!) into the leftmost Earth Elementals, in a stunning display of 5+ / 5+ rolling.

In combat, the Brocks evaporate, with one Kraken overrunning 1-2”; the Water Elementals do very poorly against the Earth Elementals (not seeing any damage dice!); the right flank Kraken one-rounds the Sharpshooters and spins to face the action; and the right Gigas do 9? damage to their Brocks but only waver their quarry!

Dwarfs Turn 3 keeps the violence up. On the left, a Brock troop + Brock lord charge a Kraken, while the other Kraken over there is surge-flanked by Earth Elementals. (A brief aside: because reforming is weird, that Kraken basically had to look at the Elementals’ flank or front, knowing it would be flanked in either case. I chose to make him use his surge, because while the Kraken would die, it would keep the bane chant off of the Water Elementals. Luckily for Dwarfs they can cast BC into a surge target, ensuring the Kraken’s demise.) Speaking of Water Elementals, they get counter-charged, and the right half stuff continues forward.

Rather unexpectedly, two Organ Guns finishes off the Gigas! Sadness! And in combat, the Brock troop + lord roll like maniacs and drop a 2 damage Kraken in one go! Less surprisingly, the other Kraken is flanked and killed by CS(2) Earth Elementals, and the Water Elementals cop 5 damage against their own elementals.

With the heavy hitters evaporating on the left, the Scuttlers have to reassess a bit and start mobilizing Heartpiercers for scenario duty. They also shoot the Brock troop for 6 damage and shoot and rout the Earth Elementals that killed the Kraken. Damn, little dudes.

Meanwhile, the Eternal charges the Brock lord (and whiffs?!), the Water Elementals regen 0 damage but carve a few into the Earth Elementals, the Gigas messily dismember their Brocks, and the surviving Kraken looms large on the right flank.

Dwarfs Turn 4, because that turn die has to be off after we used it to prop up some Brocks earlier. At this point in the game we’ve turned over all of the 0 and 2 tokens, so the objective situation is pretty clear – hence his Sharpshooters booking it for the left and central tokens, and Golloch and the right Earth Elementals consolidating around the token to the right of the house. (He’s also scared of the last Kraken …) Also the Brock troop charges some Heartpiercers (who are currently scoring the lower left token), the Brock lord counters the Eternal, and the Earth Elementals fighting the Water Elementals back off, because this dude knows what he’s doing.

Organ Guns ventilate the Water Elementals before the Earth Elementals surge (+ bane chant) back into them and slaughter the mega crab. The Eternal takes 4 damage from the Brock lord (awesome rolling from this model all game!), and the Brock troop noms 6 damage into those Heartpiercers but don’t waver them.

Scuttle Tactics++! Worth noting that the 2 point objectives are hard left, where his Sharpshooters are running too, and to the left of the house, where my Heartpiercers are clustering – you know, in front of 3x Organ Guns + Sharpshooters. Those Heartpiercers fighting the Brocks counter-charge, but don’t manage a single wound even with the lute’s CS(1). The central Heartpiercers must have shot somebody, but totally fail. The Eternal slaps 2 damage into the Brock lord but he cares not.

On the right, the Heartpiercers who spent the game backing away from Golloch’s Fury flank charge the big guy, failing to wound it but getting within 3” of a 1 point objective, which made him think long and hard about his options next turn, as the Gigas hove into charge range.

Dwarfs Turn 5, and we spend a long time talking out scenario end game (we thought it was Turn 6). Without a doubt, the Eternal has to die (otherwise he’ll flank charge those Sharpshooters, murder them and grab the other 2 pointer), and ultimately the Dwarfs trust in their guns to take him out. The Brock lord rides off to help the Brock troop drop those Hearpiercers and overrun to their 1 pointer. And Golloch’s Fury, seeing that the Earth Elementals have US 3 to the Heartpiercers’ 2, plows off into the Gigas to keep them (and their US 3) at bay.

Good calls are good. The Depth Horror Eternal disappears under a double Organ Gun barrage, then the Brocks rock the Heartpiercers and overrun within range of a 1 pointer, and Golloch’s Fury boops 4 damage into the Gigas. The Heartpiercers holding my 2 pointer also took some damage from shooting.

In what we thought was the last round of the game, I did a ton of figuring and balanced a lot of options, and ended up walking some Heartpiercers within range of the 1 pointer on the hill (took some shots at the leftmost Sharpshooters but to no avail), kept the central Heartpiercers within range of their 2 pointer but turned and shot the Brock troop off the table (denying 1 point), kept the surviving Kraken within 3” of his 1 pointer, and couldn’t hot dice off the Earth Elementals holding the 1 pointer to the right of the building.

We rolled but blessedly there wasn’t another turn, so we ended what we thought was Turn 6, 4:3 on objectives.

SCUTTLIN’ WIN (14-7)

Sorry about the janky turn die on this one, I think my count here is correct and we only played five turns. That said, great game that was more involved than I thought it would be, and I lowkey love when my Heartpiercers get to decide games since I originally build the army around them. Smoke & Mirrors was … fine. I think a bit needlessly complex, compared to the old version of Pillage with the different token values, but I suppose it did lead to fairly dynamic play as we were kept weighting our options. Also I had gotten my second win! Mission accomplished!

Up Next: Trident Realm Civil War II

GAME 29: DWARFS

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Bright and early day two, I’m up against Steve, another player I’ve played near for years but never actually faced (also Tim’s team mate). An added bonus is that Steve is a very chill, very patient dude. On my part, I was very, very tired from staying up way too late playing Rising Sun and chatting the night before. As one does at tournaments.

BLOODFIRE GAME 29: DWARFS

Dwarfs + Basileans 2250

Ironclad Horde – Brew of Haste
Earth Elemental Horde
Earth Elemental Horde
Berserker Brock Riders Regiment – Potion of the Caterpillar
Berserker Brock Riders Regiment – Healing Brew
Ironbelcher Organ Gun
Ironbelcher Organ Gun
Berserker Lord on Brock – Blade of the Beast Slayer
Stone Priest – Bane Chant (2), Martyr’s Prayer (7), Inspiring Talisman
Stone Priest – Bane Chant (2), Martyr’s Prayer (7), Amulet of the Fire-heart
Steel Behemoth
+
Elohi Horde

Pretty standard Dwarf fare, nothing too crazy, with pairs of important stuff where able. Fun Fact: There were 5 Dwarf armies at this GT, more than any other faction! Madness ​

Fourth round was Push, and with 1 token each it was blessedly simple. Dwarfs won initiative and get the push going.

BATTLE

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Blurry Battlelines!

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Dwarfs in the midst of rolling out. Getting that speedy flank a-flanking first thing. Pretty sure his push token is in the Ironclad horde at the moment.

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Bloodfire saunters forward in response, getting that battleline wheel a-wheeling. Push token is on the central Fire horde.

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Dwarfs continue encircling the elemental force – Elohi are to the left of that pond, facing inwards. Organ Guns and possible the Behemoth splatter two units of Ember Sprites. Rest In Pepperonis, little dudes.

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The Bloodfire battleline continues canting around. The Diadem horde on the far right and maybe the Sprites near them land some wounds on the rightmost Organ Gun. The tension is mounting!

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The Dwarfs refuse to engage! Organ Guns patter into the Diadem horde and the nearby Sprites, but only cause chip damage.

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Turn 3 and Bloodfire has potentially disastrous charges it can declare? Here we go! Two Fire Elemental hordes slam into the right Earth Elemental horde, reducing them to slag with the help of at least one bane chant. Meanwhile, the Diadem horde on the right charges and obliterates an Organ Gun, preparing to ride the obstacle into the next one. Sprite fire and hopefully the Clan Lord chips at the Ironclad horde, while Agnes heat rays the surviving Earth Elementals.

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Dwarf 4 and apart from giving a Fire horde a really bad time, the stunties for the most part continue to hold off. Elohi fly deeper into the Bloodfire DZ, with Brocks preparing to invade either side of the board as needed. Worth noting that the Brock Riders on the Bloodfire side of the table are carrying the push token at this point (and are the pathfinder Brocks).

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Yep, those Fire Elementals get dead. Their buddies nearby take some damage from the Organ Gun before it gets creamed next turn.

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Agnes and some Fire Elementals (bane chanted) slam into the Earth Elementals, reducing them to ash, while other Fire Elementals pound on the Behemoth and yet more Fire Elementals melt down the other Organ Gun. The CLOFD attempts to assassinate an Stone Priest but can’t roll hot enough.

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Post smoldering beatdown.

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The Dwarfs bring the pain Turn 5. Ironclad tackle Agnes in the front, Behemoth + Brock Riders + Berserker Lord hit the Behemoth’s Fire horde, and the Elohi sweep into the Herald, with an easy overrun into the CLOFD’s flank. I’m kicking myself at this point, I always seem to have a game where I setup such a stupid individual overrun. Brocks to the south also nom up some Sprites.

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Better to be lucky than good XD The mega charge against the Fire horde rolls snake eyes, leaving them at 22 damage! And the Elohi painfully fluff their hits against the Herald, dealing just 3 damage for no result. Agnes takes a pretty hearty 5 damage but seriously, Steve’s dice just saved my butt.

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Time to capitalize on the Dwarfs misfortune. The mangled Fire horde and the Diadem horde (hindered) slam into the Brocks, the Fire horde who had grabbed the central push token when they killed the Earth Elementals heads into the Stone Priest, Agnes grumpily counter-charges the Ironclad and the original push token Fire horde flanks the Elohi. The CLOFD doesn’t move (…) and preposterously neither does the Herald (SALVAGE, WHY???)

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The CLOFD + inspiring Mage-Priest incinerate the Berserker Lord whilst the martyr Mage-Priest heals Agnes down to 1 damage (snacking on her healing brew in the process). And then combat goes less awesome than anticipated. The Brock Riders take 10 damage, but that’s a far cry from their bravery, and the 9 damage on the Elohi is not as catastrophic as expected. I’m left feeling like I really messed that one up? Or maybe just overinflated what my Fire Elementals could do

(Math Time: 36 CS2 (1/2 of that hindered) into the Brocks = 12.5 wounds, for a 9.5 rout and no chance of a waver. 36 CS2 into the Elohi = 12 wounds, for a rerolled 5 with no chance of a waver. The Brocks were always going to be a grind, especially with the hindrance, but the Elohi wasn’t as foolish as I thought at the time. And there also wasn’t a lot of options, apart from shooting them with the CLOFD and then surging the Fire horde in, which would have left the Berserker Lord free to rampage. Obviously moving the Herald and rotating the CLOFD where possible was a thing that should have happened.)

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Dwarf 6 and we rinse and repeat. Brock + Behemoth back into the severely damaged Fire horde, Elohi back into the Herald (@_@), Ironclad back into Agnes.

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The B+B Fire horde erupts into warm goo, the Herald bites it, allowing the Elohi to flank the CLOFD for significant damage (12) but a failed rout (!), and Agnes goes back up to 5 damage. Inevitable but still ouchful turn.

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Bloodfire 6 and potentially the end game. The surviving Sprites are tossed a token and then the big boys and girls go to work. Agnes, her damage removed, bats around some more Ironclad (I really don’t think they broke). The northern Brocks are removed by the (still hindered!) Diadem horde, while a push token Fire horde punches a meager 3 damage into the Behemoth. And the Elohi are ended, thanks to Fire flank and CLOFD front.

With no Turn 7, this one somehow came down to a ……

BLOODFIRE VICTORY

Up Next: FILTHY. ELVES.

GAME 24: DWARFS

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We gathered together a solid handful of the club together for some Sunday scrums. Nature vs Herd on the far table, as I took on Dwarfs. Coincidentally both tables diced up Scenario 11: Take & Hold!

Fun Fact: Up until 30 min before this match I thought I was bringing my rats back – nope! Bloodfire can’t be stopped!

BLOODFIRE GAME 24: DWARFS

Salamanders 2000

Fire Elemental Horde – Blade of Slashing
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Ember Sprite Regiment
Ember Sprite Regiment
Ember Sprite Regiment
Ember Sprite Regiment
Agnih-Bhanu, Greatest Fire Elemental
Herald – Healing Charm
Mage-Priest – Surge (8), Heal (3), Inspiring Talisman
Mage-Priest – Heal (3)
Clan Lord on Fire Drake – Banner of the Griffin

I’m having trouble building 2000 point lists with this army, which I suppose shows the growing depth of my red fire thing collection. Dropped the second surge – which I’ve never taken advantage of – to free up some points. Was originally going to try Martyr’s Prayer out, but chickened out and went with the old Heal (9) setup. Really left the lil’ Priest feeling sort of underutilized, so next time I’mma get my Martyr on for real.

Oh right: Agnes is back \m/

Dwarfs 2000

*Bulwarkers Horde – Brew of Strength
*Ironclad Regiment
*Ironclad Regiment
Earth Elementals Horde
Berserker Brock Riders Regiment – Maccwar’s Cat Potion
Greater Earth Elemental
Steel Behemoth
Steel Behemoth
Army Standard Bearer – Diadem of Dragon-kind
*King – Wings of Honeymaze
Stone Priest – Drain Life (6), Inspiring Talisman
*Wall of Iron [Iron Resolve]

Our club’s fearless leader tooled his previous 18 drop Dwarf list (!) down into this more compact, COK-ed up version, complete with double updated Behemoths and a shiny formation! He had his doubts about no shooting beyond 12”, but as that’s basically the name of my game we were well matched at least.

As noted, we diced up Take & Hold (COK18), another new mission for me. Markers went down center and clustered on one flank, ensuring we’d by rocking a 4×4 board at most.

BATTLE

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Blurry battlelines!

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Dwarfs grab the initiative and waddle forward across the line. Bloodfire shambles up in similar fashion, except for Ember Sprites on the flanks gaining range to some stunties. Brocks take no damage but the right Ironclads soak a couple wounds.

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The slightly faster Dwarf flank is brought into charge range, while Behemoths unload into the exposed Fire Elemental horde. 9 damage is no joke but the BOTG keeps them safe (barely!)

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Bloodfire enters the danger zone, advancing Sprites into the teeth of the Dwarf hitty flank. The Priests pull 4 damage off the exposed Fire horde, as the CLOFD splashes a single wound on the Greater Earth Elemental and Ember Sprites sear 9 wounds into the Brocks and 2 more into the right Ironclad. Then Agnes hits the right Behemoth with her heat ray, doing a stunning 7 damage out of 12 shots. Rout tests are fine across the board but the Dwarf general is visibly shook ​

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Turn 3, which means time for fighting (and scoring)! The left Sprites are charged by their dancing partners, while the right Ironclad at the double to jam the right flank and the King flies into Agnes to shut down her laser whatever the cost.

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Another double dose of Behemoth cannon finishes off that wounded Fire horde, with an assist from the ASB’s diadem, then onto combat. The Brocks evaporate their Sprites, however the Earth Elementals and Greater buddy both manage 4 damage against their chaff and can’t waver either. And the King bops Agnes for 2 wounds, officially drawing her ire.

Dwarfs score 2 points [2:0]

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The Bloodfire Supreme Bloodstoker thinks for a very long time about surge options . . . and there basically aren’t any, these Sprites have seriously gummed things up. We go with obvious charges: Fire horde into waiting Brocks, both Sprites into Earth Bros, Agnes into King, Fire horde + Sprites into Ironclad.

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The Herald grudgingly heals some Sprites for a couple wounds, and a Priest pulls one off of Agnes. The other Priest combines her fireball with the CLOFD’s gore cannon to do 2 more damage to the wounded Behemoth, bringing it to 9 but no lucky rout. In combat, the left Fire horde obliterates the wounded Brocks, Sprites bounce off of Earth Bros (1 damage to horde, nothing to Greater), Agnes slams the King for 4 damage, and the Fire horde + Sprites combo only gets the Ironclad to 9 but fail the easy rout.

Sallies score 1 point [2:1]

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Dwarfs grind on, sending left Ironclad into the Fire horde (hindered by the puddle they’re busily evaporating), Earth Bros back into annoying Sprites, King back into Agnes to keep her distracted, and wounded Behemoth and smoldering Ironclad into the right Fire horde. The other Behemoth unloads into the little healing Priest for no damage (!),the Stone Priest life drains a Fire horde for 1, healing up the Earth horde with that pip, and the ASB wavers the rightmost Sprites with his diadem.

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Combats don’t really go as hoped: left Fire horde takes 4 damage but doesn’t care, the Earth horde scatters their Sprites but the Greater Earth double ones on his, leaving them disordered but unwavered. The King boops Agnes again for 2 damage, as the Behemoth + Ironclad only manage 6 wounds on their Fire horde, which isn’t enough to force a rout through.

Dwarfs score 2 points [4:1]

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Bloodfire lines up to deliver some serious jabs to the Dwarfs in preparation for a late game points bonanza. Fire hordes jump on the left Ironclad and wounded Behemoth, as the third horde prepares to surge into the flank of the Earth Elementals (who couldn’t protect both flanks and chose the one that required the attention of a Priest, pulling resources from the right at least). Agnes flames up and descends once more upon the Dwarven King.

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The CLOFD forgets that he was supposed to snipe the Stone Priest (. . .) and instead tags a couple wounds onto the Greater Earth Elemental (3 total). Some healing happens (the surging horde is topped off and the right horde goes down to 5) and then the other Priest pulls off the 1” surge needed to propel the Fire horde into the flank of the Earth horde.

Things get off to a slow start in the combat phase. The right Fire horde does 2 wounds to their Behemoth, wavering it, and the left Fire horde tickles 4 into their Ironclad, doing nothing. Agnes swings next, obliterating the King with another 4-5 damage, and that momentum carries into the flanking Fire horde, who roll like the molten blood elementals they are, gouging 15 wounds into the Earth Elementals! The horde dissolves under such a furious display.

Sallies score 1 point [4:2]

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Dwarfs return the pain in Turn 5. Greater Earth Elemental + Steel Behemoth thunder into the marauding Fire horde, laying on the hurt but not breaking the elementals. Which is not the case to either flank: left Ironclads swing hard and break their Fire horde on the countercharge, as the right Ironclads team up with the smoking Behemoth to dispel theirs. The central Sprites are also scattered by the ASB’s diadem.

Dwarfs score 1 point [5:2]

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Monster mash! Agnes and the CLOFD see an opening and storm into the fresh Behemoth’s flank.

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It’s super effective! The Behemoth takes 9 wounds from both of the big beasties, detonating spectacularly on 18 damage. The other Behemoth meets a scalding death as well, pummeled by 20 fireballs from the Mage-Priests and finally succumbing to all the abuse. Less epicly, the last Fire horde beats 4 wounds into the Greater Earth (who doesn’t care), the last of the Sprites can’t wound the right Ironclad for a lucky rout test, and the Herald blocks the left Ironclad from flanking the Fire horde (whom she also heals for a couple points). After all the smashing is done, the CLOFD backs up 1” into range of a token, and with a metric ton of deliberation, Agnes turns to face the Bulwarkers, assuming they want to leave the safety of their token.

Sallies score 2 points [5:4]

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Dwarf Turn 6 and the stunties go for it! Ironclads charge the Herald and Sprites respectively, while the Greater Earth Elemental decides to clean up the Fire horde rather than surging into Agnes’ flank, leaving her to the Bulwarkers (hindered though they may be by the forest). The ASB breaths a wound on the inspiring Mage-Priest and the Stone Priest attempts a life drain, but really it’s going to come down to fighting.

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Whiiiiich is unfortunate because nothing works! The Ironclad don’t even waver their targets, the Greater Earth gently bats 3 wounds into the Fire horde, and Agnes is just too damn huge for the Bulwarkers, who manage just 2 wounds. Nobody cares . . . and no Dwarf scores 😛

Dwarfs score 0 points [5:4]

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Sally Turn 6 and things are looking great for Bloodfire. Everybody countercharges, there’s a brief musical interlude as the Dwarf Army Standard is fragged by the CLOFD’s gore cannon (and maybe some Priest fireballs, but I have a feeling they healed Agnes or the Fire horde as the CLOFD rolled strong) and pops, then fighting happens. Stuff got wounded, stuff hung around, but only red stuff was near tokens.

Sallies score 2 points [6:5]

The roll for Turn 7 is a 2, making this a . . .

BLOODFIRE VICTORY

GAME 19: DWARFS

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Another round, another clubmate. In this case Senator Rossi, who I haven’t played in over a year I’d reckon?

BLOODFIRE GAME 19: DWARFS

Salamanders 2000

Fire Elemental Horde – Brew of Haste
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Ember Sprite Regiment
Ember Sprite Regiment
Ember Sprite Regiment
Ember Sprite Regiment
Ankylodon Battle Platform – firebolts
Herald on Raptor – Diadem of Dragonkind
Herald on Raptor – Healing Charm
Mage-Priest – Surge (8), Heal (3)
Clan Lord on Fire Drake – Banner of the Griffin

Dwarfs 2000

Berserkers Troop
Ironclad Horde – [Magic Item?]
Ironguard Regiment – CS1/D5
Ironguard Regiment – CS1/D5
Earth Elemental Horde
Berserker Brock Riders Regiment – [Magic Item?]
Ironbelcher Organ Gun
Ironbelcher Organ Gun
Army Standard Bearer – Diadem of Dragon-king
Army Standard Bearer – Lute of Insatiable Darkness
King – Wings of Honeymaze
Stone Priest – Bane Chant (2), Banner of the Griffin?
Battle Driller
Battle Driller
Greater Earth Elemental

There are 45 spare points, which I’m guessing were items on the Ironclad and the Brock Riders, as there are plenty of good ones they might have had. Anyway props to Rossi on sticking with Dwarfs and trying to make mostly-infantry work – in the past he’s done the gyrocopters as Elohi thing, and I know he’s fighting against going back to that.

Second round was Push, with Sallies going first again.

BATTLE

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Deployment sees a flank denied, as the Bloodfire does. Wondering how often it’s the left flank I ignore, because it seems like most of the time. Push tokens are on the left Ironguard, the Earth Elementals and the Ironclad; and the Ankylodon, central Earth Sprites, and rightmost Fire Elementals.

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Roll out! Redementals scoot forward, trying to stick to cover where able. The central Fire horde is surged forward a few inches, because I already know they’re a target.

Dwarfs shuffle forward a bit, knowing they’re outpaced nearly across the board. And the Brocks hold still, not wanting to start absorbing breath damage when they don’t need to. Organ Gun fire plinks off a couple wounds from the leading Fire hordes.

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Sallies reach that 12” standoff band with the Dwarfs. Exploratory breath attaks can’t get much purchase in D6 rockementals 😐

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With a resounding cry of YOLO! the Dwarf line slams forward, with the Earth Elementals hitting the bait Sprites and the Brocks thundering off their hill into the token-bearing Fire horde, plus the flying King bopping the Healing Herald.

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The Sprites evaporate, as do the Fire Elementals (which was a bit surprising to me, given the 4+ and 4+ they needed per wound, although the Dwarven rout dice were definitely hot all game). The Herald also wavers, on a rerolled 11! The central Fire horde also copped more shooting damage from the Organ Guns.

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With the battleline getting cramped and not enough Dwarfs dying, things get a big drastic for the Sallies. The Ankylodon flanks the Greater Earth along with Fire Elementals in the front, with the understanding that he’s screwed if this doesn’t work. Meanwhile Fire hordes go into the Ironclad to begin the grind and the right Ironguard to hopefully break through next round. To protect their flank the Diadem Herald tosses himself in front of the Brocks, offset to pull them to the side when they align. Breath attaks lay a little damage into the Brocks but their nerve is far higher than I remember.

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The Ankylodon’s gambit pays off and the GGE is reduced to rubble, and happily the Ironguard fall to the speedy Fire horde as well, letting them scoot past the arc of the Brocks. Even more unexpectedly, the central Fire horde is able to waver the Ironclad! Headstrong or not, that’s pretty sweet.

[We then went into his turn and forgot the lucky waver on the Ironclad, which resulted in a lot of carnage and so on until I went and spotted his headstrong token. He failed the headstrong roll and, being an absolutely gent, we reset the game based on my photos …]

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Despite these setbacks the Dwarfs shoulder on, as they do. Earth Elementals piled into the waiting Ankylodon (for little result) and the Brocks ran over the poor Diadem Herald. A battle driller had a shot at the hasty Fire horde for a lark and the King continued to harass the Healing Herald. The Dwarven left flank crept closer and Guns tried for 6+ to hit vs something red.

That failed headstrong on the Ironclad is punished to the full extent when the Dwarven horde receives Fire Elementals in the front and the flank, as the speedy Fire horde smashes through a Battle Driller and follows into the Ironclad. They die. The Ankylodon faffs away at the Earth Elementals (his 4+ to hit being way harder to deal with then their D6) and the Brocks take another breath bath from the CLOFD, but likewise don’t care.

The Dwarf answer by hitting the speedy Fire horde with Brocks (tons of damage but no rout); flanking the Ankylodon with bane chanted Berserkers + Earth Elementals in the front (the ‘Serkers roll insanity and the ABP is toppled); and shooting the hell out of the central Fire horde (popping it). Brutal stuff. Also note that the King has been chasing the Healing Herald around all this time, bopping him for a single wound to disorder him.

Sally 5 sees the flanking Ironguard finally engaged by a Fire horde, the Earth Elementals receive some breath loving (for all the good it did), and the speedy Fire horde punch the Brocks, who still refuse to rout.

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The Dwarfs drop the hammer once more, double teaming the left Fire horde, running over some Sprites and dispersing the speedy right Fire horde. Somehow the left Fire horde survives the (hindered) Berserker blender in the flank! And the CLOFD is wavered after suffering focused Organ Gun shelling.

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Sally 6, the last Fire horde pounds into the Ironguard, triumphantly claiming their token.

Dwarf 6 sees the Fire horde extinguished by the Berserkers and a lot of stuff made dead – I think the King killed the Mage-Priest this turn, after a lucky 10 reroll on the Healing Herald the turn before. Well ahead on tokens, Turn 7 would have simply given the Dwarfs a chance to table the Sallies by shooting the CLOFD to death, but the extra turn die said no.

BLOODFIRE LOSS