FREEFORGED 3-4: CROSSROADS GT DAY 1

On November 9, 2023November 9, 2023 By SalvageIn FREEFORGEDLeave a comment

Round 2 saw Cuddle Time up against a three player team whose name I forget! The upshot is that one of our players will be offered up in a random match up against the extra player from another 4v3 match. I end up paired into Mikael’s Empire of Dust (of Team Venereal Taint), but I’m able to choose Plunder, a totally acceptable scenario.

Game 2: Empire of Dust

Enslaved Guardians Horde – Brew of Haste
Enslaved Guardians Horde – Boots of Striding
Enslaved Guardians Horde – Sanguinary Scripture
Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Revenant Cavalry Troop – Skirmisher’s Boots
Soul Snare – Drain Life (9)
Monolith – Surge (8)
Reanimated Behemoth
Undead Wyrm
Idol of Shobik – Heal (5)
Cursed High Priest on Undead Horse – Alchemist’s Curse (4), Scorched Earth (3)
Sebekh-Rai the Accursed – Surge (8), Heal (5)
2300 (13/20)

With 4 out of 5 legends supporting a backbone of Enslaved Guardians and a white hot AC (4) caster (that’s 2 of 2 games for those playing at home), I could see Mikael being on the whole ok with my brick of an army. While I was happy to see a single Wyrm, I was also totally unaware of how good the Behemoth is in 3.5E 😛 I’ve no idea when that happened but damn, you go girl. (Long time readers will remember my efforts to make the Ankylodon Battle Platform shine, and we know how 3E has treated that cousin of the Behemoth!)

I scouted Craggoth up and grabbed a 2 point token before also claiming first turn and taking it with glee. (Mikael later checked the rules on Scout and showed me that you specifically can’t pick up tokens, making it the only move that is not a move in the game, including units that turn on the spot as a combat reform. Kooky but them’s the rules. It didn’t particularly affect our game but I appreciate knowing.)

BATTLE

Turn 1: Freeforged trundle forward, with the exception of Craggoth who drags his token backwards behind the woods and some Mastiffs that shoot forward and grab a 1 point token.

The Empire of Dust deploys measuring sticks and advances in a safe and orderly fashion. The Soul Snare drains 4 damage from the token Mastiffs, obnoxiously wavering them, and the sword Beast Lord is hit with scorched earth.

Free Dwarfs 2: Those wavered Mastiffs rotate out of the way, handing their token off to an Earth regiment, while the other Mastiffs hard to the left grab another 1 point token. Out on the right, Craggoth rips into the striding Enslaved Guardians, tossing its 2 pointer to the other Earth regiment. I punch it down in the center as well, sending the sharp Earth horde (bane changed) and the orb Beast Lord into the haste Guardians. The sword Beast Lord (scorched) powers into the lifeleech Guardians to hold them in place as well, and that’s all the Guardian hordes accounted for.

The sharp Earth horde detonates their Enslaved Guardians, backing up to keep Shobik in their front as the orb Beast Lord overruns awkwardly deep into the EOD line. The sword Beast Lord does an unknown amount of damage into the lifeleech Guardians, and Craggoth hammer slams 6 into his horde of can openers.

Empire of Dust 2: The sharp Earth horde cops a front charge from Shobik, a flank from Skeleton Spearmen, and a surge flank from the Wyrm. The beleaguered central Mastiffs are charged by the Behemoth, the right Greater Earth takes the Rev Cav troop to the front, and Craggoth is hit in the front by his Guardians and the flank by the other Skeleton Spearmen. Oh, and the sword Beast Lord is countered by the lifeleech Guardians.

The Mastiffs sneaking off with a token on the left are Soul Snared for 3 damage, the orb Beast Lord suffers 5 damage from alchemists curse (SIGH), and the Guardians fighting Craggoth are healed down to 3 damage and will lifeleech in a moment after the khopeshs begin to fall. Speaking of, the sharp Guardians are beaten into scrap and the Behemoth flattens its Mastiffs. In happier news, the sword Beast Lord takes 8(!) damage but only wavers, Craggoth goes up to 6 damage and doesn’t care, and the Rev Cav do nothing to their GEE.

Free Dwarfs 3: The grind is well and truly met this turn as charges erupt across the field. The left Greater Earth surge charges the Behemoth (with bane chant for CS4), the Wyrm is flanked by an Earth regiment and fronted by an Earth horde (who scoop up a 2 point token in the process), the lifeleech Guardians are comboed by the sword Beast Lord (who passes headstrong! (on my first time rolling it)) and another Earth horde, the other Great Earth counters his Rev Cav troop, Craggoth hits his Guardians again, annnnd the rightmost Earth regiment flanks the Spearmen assailing the big scorpion’s flank. Whew. In non-combat news, the orb Beast Lord turns to glare at the Soul Snare, as the Mastiffs on the left continue dragging their plunder backwards.

I wish I could say combat was decisive, but it really was not. The Behemoth takes only 4 damage from the Greater Earth, the Wyrm surprisingly lives with 8 damage, and both the Guardians to Craggoth’s front (7 damage) and Spearmen (8 damage) cling to unlife. The Rev Cav are turned to dust, however, as are the lifeleech Guardians.

Empire of Dust 3: Brace for the clap-back, dear readers. The Behemoth hits its Greater Earth in the front, with Spearmen into the flank (and off the hill). The Wyrm counters the Earth regiment to its flank, as Shobik saunters into their flank (and off the hill). Craggoth, meanwhile, takes a second round of Enslaved Guardian to the front and Spearmen to the flank.

In shooting, the Soul Snare snaps the Mastiffs up to 5 damage, wavering them, and while the orb Beast Lord escaped the alchemist curse this turn, the sword Beast Lord did not. He’s baked up to 11 damage but holds! Also the last of the damn Guardians are healed down to 2 (and thus 1) damage. In combat, Craggoth is shoved to 13 damage but triumphantly holds as Mikael’s dice betray him. The Behemoth’s Greater Earth Elemental likewise holds on 8 damage, however the Earth regiment in the center is handily flattened by Shobik and pet (handing their token to Shobik in the process).

Free Dwarfs 4: Having survived the grind, the Freeforged oblige the Empire and drop another round of hammers into them. The orb Beast Lord charges and shatters the Soul Snare, the slayer Beast Lord rears the Spearmen fighting the left Greater Earth and one-rounds them, and the Earth horde who fought the Wyrm before grimly finishes the job. Shobik fairs better, absorbing the charge of a bane chanted Earth horde, and the Behemoth continues to prove hard as nails, surviving another assault from a Greater Earth Elemental. Off on the right, the other Greater Earth arrives in the flank of Craggoth’s Guardians, pulverizing them, as Craggoth and the Earth regiment take care of the Skeleton Spearmen.

Empire of Dust 4: Shobik drops his plunder to juke the Earth horde he’s fighting by surging into a different Earth horde (off the hill no less). He delivers them 6 damage. The Behemoth smacks its Greater Earth up to 12 damage but the big guy continues to hold. And the Cursed Priest turns the sword Beast Lord to slag with alchemists curse 😥

Free Dwarfs 5: The Greater Earth Elemental fighting the Behemoth finally gets some help, in the form of a bane-chanted Earth horde thundering off the hill into its flank. The monstrosity is finally ground back into the sands. Shobik is reared by the orb Beast Lord, effectively crushing the old god against the anvil of another Earth horde, routing it. And the Monolith is hit by both a Greater Earth and a smoldering Craggoth, which level it quite effectively.

Empire of Dust 5: While he can’t win the game with just a Cursed Priest and Sebekh-Rai (cowering behind that ruined building and effectively dead to both of us), Mikael can at least kill my large metal children. Alchemist curse puts Craggoth into the dirt, making me sad.

Turn 6: I have little chance of catching that stupid Cursed Priest, but I can hold all the tokens in my grubby metal hands and try to prepare some emergency token grabbing in Turn 7. Mikael flubs his final alchemist curse in Turn 6, and with no Turn 7, that’s a …

FREEFORGED VICTORY

Wowzers. I did not expect to smash EOD so hard, but a combination of getting a jump on his army and receiving 2-3 really clutch low Nv rolls from Mikael’s dice cinched the game. Alchemist curse was definitely brutal this game but, as with the last match, I felt like there was little I could do about it, so just punched harder where I could. Seems legit.

Round 3 put Cuddle Time up against Best MM, a bunch of total gents also circling the bottom tables. Their captain put me up against Justin, a new player with a WIP 10mm (or smaller?) Abyssal Dwarfs army based up for 28mm Kings. We played Dominate as is my want.

Game 3: Abyssal Dwarfs

Lesser Obsidian Golems Horde – Charnox
Lesser Obsidian Golems Horde – Charnox
Blacksouls Horde – Throwing Mastiff
Blacksouls Horde – Throwing Mastiff
*Immortal Guard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
*Immortal Guard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff
Angkor Heavy Mortar
Angkor Heavy Mortar
Angkor Heavy Mortar
Overmaster on Ancient Winged Halfbreed
*Infernox
Ironcaster – Fireball (10), Surge (8)
Ironcaster – Surge (8), Lightning Bolt (3)
*The Damned Yaygar Formation
2300 (13/22)

It’s been a long time since I’ve faced Abyssal Dwarfs and longer still for triple artillery, and while AD aren’t all that scary anything can happen when it comes to artillery spikes! Apart from that he’s mostly very slow, but very tough and kind of wants the same thing as me. Also Justin has a dragon, even if he foolishly left the AC (4) mage at home 🫠

Craggoth punches up a flank per usual and I go first also per usual. The new usual.

BATTLE

Turn 1: Freeforged, roll out! Craggoth fireballs 1 damage into the right Blacksouls horde and I surge an Earth horde an extra 1-2.”

Our twisted cousins advance apace, with Lesser Obsidian Golems enjoying some surge boosts of their own. The first artillery volley targets a central Earth Elemental horde but only 2 damage is caused.

Free Dwarfs 2: The iron line shuffles along for the most part, although the orb Beast Lord joins Craggoth in a combo-charge on the right Blacksouls. They hold comfortably on 9 damage.

Abyssal Dwarfs 2: The Golems continue leading the AD advance, moving into Charnox range. Combined with the artillery barrage, 1-2 damage is dealt across the Freeforged line to no real effect. Shortly afterwards, the Blacksouls counter-charge on the orb Beast Lord does 4 damage. Not bad, stunities, but not enough. (Those central Golems may or may not have been able to flank surge the orb Lord, it looks like a hard cut and a fairly long charge to make it in. But I can’t recall if I couched him either way at the time.)

Free Dwarfs 3: I pile into his Golems, with the left one copping a front from sword Beast Lord and Greater Earth, and a flank from the sharp Earth horde; and the right one assailed by an Earth horde (bane chanted) and regiment in the front and a Greater Earth in the flank (off a hill no less). Both LOG hordes bite it. The left Blacksouls, meanwhile, are blocked by an Earth regiment (taking 2 damage in the process) and the right Blacksouls are driven off by the orb Beast Lord and Craggoth. I send the scorpion skittering towards the artillery in the backfield. Finally, the red Immortal Guard regiment takes a preposterous 9 damage from one very lucky horde of Earth Elementals.

Abyssal Dwarfs 3: Those Immortal Guard regen 1 damage (😬) and do 3 damage back to their Earth Elemental assailants. The surviving Blacksouls horde dismantle the Earth regiment fighting them, and artillery and/or fireballs push the other central Earth horde to 4 damage.

Notice that big white base behind the wall in his deployment zone? That’s the Overlord on Ancient Winged Halfbreed, just chilling. I confirmed a few times that he was not being forgotten, but content to make me nervous. The Infernox is behind the central building, looking to the left.

Free Dwarfs 4: Driven by an endless desire for murder, my robot dudes storm on. On the left, a Greater Earth Elemental and the sharp Earth horde blend the Blacksouls horde, as the sword Beast Lord bops just 2 damage into the Ironcaster babysitting them. Centrally, the red Immortal Guard are splattered by a Greater Earth in the flank and Earth horde (bane chanted) in the front, with the orb Beast Lord similarly slapping 3 damage into an Ironcaster. Then Craggoth eats his first Mortar.

Abyssal Dwarfs 4: The Overmaster descends! He swoops into the left Greater Earth’s front, and shockingly one-rounds the De 6+ titan with the help of the Infernox in the flank. Damn, Justin! The other Greater Earth cops some artillery damage (3 total), shortly before the surviving Immortal Guard push the central Earth horde up to 6 damage.

Free Dwarfs 5: Retaliation is, of course, swift. The sharp Earth horde hits the Infernox in the front (I explained the weirdness of facing a square to Justin when reforming after killing the GEE), but do only 4 damage despite bane chant. The same can’t be said of the Immortal Guard, who are given the same treatment as the previous batch, GEE in the flank and all. Craggoth eats his second Mortar.

Abyssal Dwarfs 5: Having appeared, the Overmaster swiftly flits off to the safety of the enemy deployment zone 😀 Leaving the Infernox to punch 2 damage into the sharp Earth Elementals. I wish I could say that Justin’s final mortar shot was impactful but I think it missed or failed to wound like most of the previous volleys.

Free Dwarfs 6: Infernox dies to a Beast Lord with CS3+TC2 in the rear. Poor guy. Craggoth eats his third and final Mortar, settling down to digest.

Abyssal Dwarfs 6: The Overmaster flaps into the Dominate zone, ensuring that he’s got at least 1 US to his name 👍

Turn 7: Buuuuut then I surge and bane chant an Earth horde into the Overmaster, which yields just 7 damage. The Overmaster returns the favor in Justin’s turn, routing the already damaged horde and closing the points gap just a bit more. All the same, this is a convincing …

FREEFORGED VICTORY

I think this was Justin’s 4th or 5th game of Kings? He took his lumps like an absolute prince, here’s hoping he had some fun throughout the tournament and maybe even a win or two. (I asked Best MM’s captain why he paired Justin into me, rather than taking me himself, and he told me it was because he knew Justin would have a good game. I really appreciate that and hope it was true, as this looks like a real stomp writing it up!)

Next Up: Northern Alliance!

THE HALLOW 18: EMPIRE OF DUST

On January 13, 2023January 24, 2023 By SalvageIn THE HALLOWLeave a comment

Happy new year! Got my first game of 2023 in this week against Mike, a newer local player I’d never met until that night. He rocked up with EOD, a faction I haven’t faced in quite a while, and possibly never with Herd?

*Mantic Shobik looking regal af, with Monolith and Soul Snare / Well attending.*

Empire of Dust 2150

Skeleton Spearmen Horde
Mummies Regiment
Mummies Regiment
Revenant Chariots Regiment
Revenant Chariots Regiment
Scavengers Regiment
Scavengers Regiment
Skeleton Archer Cavalry Troop
Bone Giant
Soul Snare [1] – Drain Life (9)
Monolith [1] – Surge (8)
Idol of Shobik [1] – Heal (5)
Ahmunite Pharaoh – Eternal Guard, Knowledgeable [1], Surge (8), Host Shadowbeast (2)
Cursed High Priest – Surge (8)
14 (20)

Apparently Mike usually runs a more monster mash style EOD list, but he dropped the various wyrms to give chariots and a different hero mix a shot. We talked after the game about how to crank the list down a bit while still keeping the chariots in but bring back some of the punch he might be missing in this list – Mummy troops instead of Scavanger regs, for example. Minor spoiler there.

Herd 2150

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
Centaur Bray Striders Troop
Centaur Bray Striders Troop
Lycan Alpha
Centaur Chief – Blade of Slashing
Druid – Conjurer’s Staff; Bane Chant (2), Heal (2)
Great Chieftain
13 (24)

Savvy readers will note that I’ve brought back the Centaur troops as dedicated chaff. I’m not really in love with the Sp 6 or the De 2+ of the Woodland Critters, on top of not really posing much of a threat to anybody, especially compared to the Centaurs’ Sp 8, De 4+ and punchy handful of Me 3+ attaks. The cost was losing some extraneous items and downgrading a Centaur Chief into a Great Chieftain, which is a fairly even trade all told. Less speed but a little more fight and the same mighty annoyance.

We decided to play Plunder for this game, one of my favorites as well as one of the missions for our upcoming 2150 tournament at the end of the month. Mike won the roll for first and had me take it away.

BATTLE

Battlines! The EOD are (left to right): Spearmen with Scavengers and Cursed Priest; Chariots with Bone Giant to the left, Shobik to the right, Horsemen to the front and Monolith behind; Soul Snare with Scavengers; Mummies to either side of the wood with the Pharaoh straddling them; Chariots hard right. The Herd are (left to right): Centaurs (off shot to left), Stampede, Warriors, Chieftain, Brutes, Alpha, Warriors, Brutes, Druid, Warrior horde, Centaurs, Centaur Chief, Lycan hard right.

Herd 1: I think for a moment, having not gone first in a long time, and then punch it forward. Tribal Warriors grab the center three tokens, with Brutes mounting the hill in support and hammers otherwise lurking. We don’t crest the right hill to see what the Chariots are up to, tho the Lycan blender has LOS and range around the side of the little hillock.

Empire of Dust 1: Scavengers swoop down on both loot-bearing Tribal Warriors, and otherwise the dry undead shamble forward. I realize about now that he has Surge (16) into almost any unit he wants, with the exception of the right Chariots, who are outside the Monolith’s 24″. Speaking of surge …

… it scoots the Spearmen, the central Mummies and the right Chariots 4″ forward each. Mike had just bought a new dice block and it was rolling aggressively average. The Soul Snare rips 4 damage into the central Brutes, the Archer Cav tag a wound onto the Lycan Alpha that she will never regenerate, and in combat the Scavengers do 1 damage to the left Tribal Warriors and 2 to the central ones.

*This is a really long battlefield still, so here’s the left side (the green tokens are worth 2 points) …*

*… and here’s the right, moments before the blending begins.*

Herd 2: It’s all claws on deck as everybody charges who isn’t a square-based individual! The Stampede crashes into the Spearmen’s waiting embrace (losing TC2 and taking a -1 to hit that I shouldn’t have but forgot about chariots not counting for phalanx), with the Alpha pouncing on their flank. The left Centaurs flank the Scavengers harrying the left Tribal Warriors, while in the center the left Brutes help the other Tribal Warriors out with their carrion problem. The central Brutes juke past the Scavengers and Mummies in the middle and power into the central Chariots, and the Tribal Warrior horde tests their mettle against the central Mummies. Mummy regiments are the business, but with the power of bane chant and sharpness behind them maybe I can cook the dice that hard? On the right, the Lycan, the Centaurs and the Centaur Chief pile on the Chariots.

A storm of dice later and so many undead have been returned to the dust from whence they came, though arguably his anvils and real hammers are still kicking so it’s not necessarily as bad as it looks. But about those anvils, the Spearmen take 11 damage, 8-9 of which is from the Alpha going absolutely bonkers, and the Mummies are pushed all the way to 13 damage by the Tribal Warriors. I can’t seal the deal sadly, so I fully expect them to heal back down to nothing in short order.

Empire of Dust 2: The Empire of Dust are looking a little downtrodden but there’s still work to do. Shobik lines up an easy surge flank on the Tribal Warrior horde with the Mummies countering in the front, while the right Mummies try their hand at the Centaurs, on the theory that if they can break them, they can turn and grind out the Lycan horde. 12 attaks on hindered 5+ is a tall ask but very slowly trying to slink away is a worse feel. On the left, the Spearmen counter the Stampede and the Archer Cav I think were supposed to shoot-n-surge into the damaged Brutes but he left them behind the tower, blocking their surge but at least meaning their shooting suffered no negatives.

Easy surge is easy! The Soul Snare whips the winged Brutes up to 7 damage, wavering them (the Archer Cav I think failed to wound after all that). Shobik lays into the horde, delivering a solid beating and pushing them up to 15 damage. The Tribal Warriors manage to waver, which is awkward but real bad for Shobik’s idol.

Meanwhile the flanks are uneventful. The right Mummies don’t even wound the Centaurs, elite or no, and the Spearmen do a single wound to the Stampede, striping their TC2 again.

Herd 3: Listen, I came here to roll dice and chew bubble gum, and I was all out of bubble gum at this point (fittingly because I was chewing it during this game 😅) The Stampede hits the Spearmen again, with Alpha flanking support. The wavered Brutes rotate in place enough to allow the other Brutes to flank Shobik. The Lycan flank the right Mummies, with Centaurs in the front. And the Great Chieftain solos the Archer Cav troop like a boss. Far on the left, the other Centaurs go grab a 2 point token.

*a chorus of blenders can be heard in the distance* The Empire takes another round of heavy hits as Spearmen, Mummies and indeed Shobik all fall. Plus the Great Chieftain one rounds the Archer Cav with a perfect 5 of 5 damage. At this point both Mike and I are wondering the same things: Is the Soul Snare that good? Will the Mummies out tough the whole Herd army? Can the Bone Giant recapture his former glory days as the EOD hammer? Or most importantly, when will this face melting end??

Empire of Dust 3: Despite running low on tools, the EOD have some moves left. The Bone Giant strides into the Lycan Alpha as the better of two options, with the Cursed Priest charging in along side because it’s that kind of game and he’s only got surge anyway so YOLO! The central Mummies charge the Tribal Warrior horde to finish them off, while the Pharaoh chooses discretion and slinks off toward the EOD backfield.

The Tribal Warriors are shattered by the Mummies, who take their 2 point token and lifeleech off their last damage, healing to full. Woof. Shortly before this, the Soul Snare punches the winged Brutes up to 11 damage but flubs the Nv roll. Speaking of flubs, the Bone Giant bops the Lycan Alpha up to 5 damage, for no result.

Herd 4: There are still EOD on the table, so I just keep that pedal to the floor. The Stampede hits the Cursed Priest, with an easy overrun into the Bone Giant’s flank, currently being counter-charged by the Lycan Alpha. The Great Chieftain continues his journey through the EOD DZ, charging into the Soul Snare. However the real carnage is the middle, where the Mummies cop Brutes and Tribal Warriors in the front, both off the hill, and Lycan in the rear, possibly also off a hill but I didn’t remember at the time, plus they were bane chanted anyway.

The Stampede pulverizes the Cursed Priest then delivers ~20 damage into the Bone Giant. The Lycan Alpha blows on him and he crumbles away. The Mummies similarly are devastated down to the molecular level before routing. The Soul Snare takes a hearty hit from the Great Chieftain but holds together, albeit disordered.

And with that, Mike graciously concedes, which combined with holding all the tokens makes for a …

HALLOW VICTORY

Pun and all 😐 We talked for a while after the game, and Mike’s feel was that he was too spread out and his army couldn’t support itself like he’s used to – the Pharaoh being pulled away from the Mummy regiments, for example, and having to choose one. I did deploy quite broadly, except my stuff is fast and can reinforce itself as needed, plus isn’t trying to win through combined arms. I do feel like the EOD suffered in list building, not quite having the hammers to dig themselves out, as well as probably misused the Scavengers, who could have helped get the Chariots some charges where they could have done some work. I quite like the EOD Chariots after the bows were made optional, -/16 De 4+ isn’t terrible and I had assumed they hit on 5+ like other skellies (in fact Me 4+). Sounds like Mummy troops are inbound, which I hear are great and punchier than I think.

I keep wondering how this game snowballed so hard, and giving me first was probably the first mistake. Yea, I got to grab early objectives so scenario-wise it was a misplay, but really I was able to crest the center hill immediately plus mobilize my chaff up, staggering them with hammer support as is my general plan. I can see why Mike let me go first – indecision as a new player and desire to be reactionary as a Dust player – however it did feel quite decisive quite quickly.

As for my list, the Hallow continues to feel strong, or at least fun. Brutes are terrifying with me behind the dice, the Lycan blender is a menace (and should be at 300 points) and I really dig the ‘cheap’ item-less Stampede. Funny to think of it as one of my anvils but at 16/18 and De 5+ it kind of is!

I’ll catch you next week with another report, I should be getting another game (or two?!) in this weekend as we continue tournament prep. Until then, merry gaming in the new year!

BLOODFIRE 45: EMPIRE OF DUST

On January 11, 2022 By SalvageIn BLOODFIRELeave a comment

Happy new year! Hope it’s been good, or at least relatively free of plague. This last Saturday we had a (masked + vaxxed) Learn to Play Kings of War day at the very new gaming center in town, and had great turnout with quite a few people interested in the game and in minigaming in general. Plus a few members of our club came out who haven’t been spotted in the wild in years, which also bodes well for the future of KOW in our area. Exciting times ahead, pandemic-willing!

After the first couple rounds of intro games, there was a free table so I challenged a clubmate to a fast little game of Kings:

Salamanders 1000
Fire Elementals Horde
Fire Elementals Horde
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Greater Fire Elemental
Mage-Priest – Fireball (10), Surge (8), Heal (3)
Herald – The Boomstick

I have some regrets about not taking Scorched Earth instead of Heal and giving the Herald the Shroud instead, but not a lot else to say. In theory, LB(3) should be great for clearing chaff and adding to the general firepower of the list. In practice though …

Empire of Dust 1000
Skeleton Spearmen Horde – Brew of Sharpness
Mummies Regiment
Mummies Regiment
Bone Giant
Sebekh-Rei the Accursed – Heal (5+), Surge (5+)
Revenant Champion – Surge (5)

Chaff? What chaff? Solid EOD package, although he really wasn’t feeling Sebekh-Rei (agreed!). Rev Champ is a real workhorse however, giving them surge option is so good for the army.

We chose to play Dominate, since all the intro tables were running either Invade or Dominate and we had just helped run an Invade game. Bloodfire scouted, won the roll for first, then gave it away.

BATTLE

Salamanders 0: Ember Sprites scoot up the field to get ready to spit and to tempt him to engage.

Empire of Dust 1: The dry undead shamble forward, maintaining their frontage on the left and surging a couple inches forward on the right.

Salamanders 1: Ember Sprites advance and angle a bit, as Fire Elementals hover behind them and prepare to counter (the left horde has been surged up to close its frontage off from the Bone Giant, forgetting that it could probably walk up and surge into their flank). Ember Sprites spit at the Bone Giant, doing 3 damage. The Boomstick Herald tries the same and fails.

Empire of Dust 2: Mummies descend upon the Ember Sprites! The left regiment is driven off but the right holds on 5 damage (given how few attaks Mummies have on 4+, holding was a distinct possibility). The Skeleton Spearmen continue their inexorable flank, the Bone Giant plays it cool while Sebekh-Rei fails a 5-6 dice heal on the big guy 😐

Salamanders 2: As planned, the Sprites have left at least one of the Mummies with their flank open, which a Fire Elemental horde cheerily plows into, with Greater Fire in the front. The other Fire Elementals head off to slowly burn down the Bone Giant. The surviving Sprites had to disengage and sidestep to make space for the Fire Elemental charge, but have been surged back into the Mummies at this point. Finally, the Herald tried to lightning bolt Sebekh-Rei but failed.

The left Mummies are incinerated, the right Mummies take 2! damage from enraged Ember Sprites, and the Bone Giant takes an anemic 4 damage from his Fire Elementals (up to 7). Yikes.

Empire of Dust 3: Gentle readers, we’ve entered the grind. The Mummies regen their 2 damage then corkscrew the looming Fire Elementals. The Bone Giant counters his Fire Elementals, rolls max attaks and pummels 8 damage into them. Double yikes. Between heal and lifeleech he returns to 3 damage. Meanwhile, the Skeleton Spears flank and skewer the poor little Ember Sprites.

Salamanders 3: At this point, it’s pretty obvious that the Bone Giant fight isn’t going to go my way, and the Skeleton Spears are going to be a problem very soon, as well as a scenario winner in themselves. My only option is to punch harder!

Smoldering Fire Elemetals head back into the Bone Giant, again doing a terrible 4 damage (7 is average) and getting him back to 7. Central Fire Elementals counter the Mummies, but not before the Greater Fire steps into surge position, hence the strange alignment (the big girl couldn’t combo-charge with them, due to not having Nimble. Also I just realized she could have toasted Sebekh-Rei out of spite before surging in!) While they do damage, it isn’t enough to rout the Mummies in one go. Also the Herald tries and fails to lightning Sebekh-Rei.

Empire of Dust 4: The Bone Giant stamps out his Fire Elementals, the Skeleton Spears stab the other Fire Elemental horde up to 10 damage, and the Mummies bap 5 damage onto the Greater Fire. Everybody lifeleeches, regens or heals as is their wont. Looking like Bloodfire’s best option is to punch. even. harder.

Salamanders 4: One of my favorite things about playing Sallies is the late game shooting that happens when Mage-Priests are called upon to rain elite fireball (10) down on fools. To whit, the Mage-Priest roasts the Bone Giant back up to 7 damage (the Herald probably tried to help too but I’m not giving her any credit), but the rerolled 9 rout test doesn’t come through. In combat, the Greater Fire Elemental burns up the Mummies and faces the rampaging Bone Giant, while the Fire Elemental horde continues to be terrible, dishing out 6 damage to the Skeleton Spears (of 9 expected). RIP, fire boys.

Empire of Dust 5: The Bone Giant powers into the Greater Fire Elemental, in the kaiju big battle I know I was waiting for (the Rev Champ gets in on the action as well while Sebekh-Rei lets them fight). The duo chunks her up to 12 damage. The Skeleton Spear horde meanwhile dissipates the Fire Elementals. A bunch of healing happens.

Salamanders 5: Hear me out – if the Greater Fire can wreck the Bone Giant and hold against the Spears, I might actually pull this out … The Greater Fire gets the Bone Giant to 11 damage but can’t land the double 6 rout (4 on the first roll, actually). The Mage-Priest and Herald try to dunk the Skeleton Spears but roll very poorly, taking them up to 7 damage.

Empire of Dust 6: The Greater Fire Elemental is torn down by the combined aggression of the Empire, to simmer until she may once again scorch the mortal plane.

Salamanders 6: I’ve got just one plan left – pop the horde with the Mage-Priest and tip the Bone Giant over with the Herald. While the Mage-Priest slams the horde up to 13 damage and the Herald actually manages 1 damage on the giant, neither of the rout tests come through for me. With no Turn 7 (which would see both Bloodfire casters surge-charged anyway), that’s a resounding …

EMPIRE OF DUST VICTORY

In a game that revolved almost entirely around rolling 4+s to hit, the Bone Giant far outperformed, reminding me of my 2E games where Bone Giants were easily the best thing in the EOD list and caused me endless pain. On the flipside, my Fire Elementals were aggressively poor this game, and the Herald’s Boomstick was laughably bad, with I believe 1 damage dealt all game. Being 1000 points makes these sort of dice skews stand out all the more, I suppose.

All told a fun romp, thanks for reading! Hope to get some more games in, likely at 2100 points as my club is running its own GT at the end of February and we’re all chomping at the bit. Stay tuned.

SCUTTLIN’ REALM GAME 18: EMPIRE OF DUST

On March 11, 2020 By SalvageIn SCUTTLING REALMLeave a comment

It’s the final round of the GT and I’m 2-2 and firmly on a lower-middle table. Sounds about right, and I’ve already accomplished my goal of two wins, so however this rampage ends I’m content. Up against EOD for the first time in 3E, helmed by a dude I’ve seen around for a while now but never played.

Empire of Dust 2300

Revenant Horde – Blessing of the Gods
Enslaved Guardian Horde – Casket of the Damned
Enslaved Guardian Horde – Casket of the Damned
Mummy Regiment – Casket of the Damned
Mummy Regiment – Casket of the Damned
Bone Giant
Monolith
Empire of Dust Balefire Catapult – Scarab Jars
Empire of Dust Balefire Catapult – Scarab Jars
Idol of Shobik
Revenant King on Undead Great Flying Wyrm – Surge (8)
Cursed High Priest – Undead Horse, Surge (8)

The EOD general was pretty down on most of his units who aren’t being repped by a towering bronze statue of Set (obviously Shobik!), however I still rate Enslaved Guardians (Me 3+!) and have distinct memories of being rocked by Bone Giants and struggling to pound through Mummies fast enough in 2E. Also I’m really bad at accounting for Caskets, and they’re everywhere here.

Aside: This game really showed how badly we’ve missed EasyArmy, as both he and I were misremembering EOD stats left and right, and had to keep going back to the giant 3E hardback to double check things. Really the worst.

Found 5 was Raze. Scuttlin’ Realms go first, not by choice.

BATTLE

Battlelines! Scorpions are Catapults, pyramid is the Monolith, other stuff is pretty clear.

Scuttlin’ Turn 1 sees the stranded left flank push as hard as it can through difficult terrain / shambling, and the right flank kinda chill out. You know, get some shooting in first.

The Empire doesn’t do a ton of moving in response, but a horde of Enslaved Guardians is launched up the table and stops 1” short of the right Heartpiercers. Whoa. Catapults splash 4 damage into some other Heartpiercers. And suddenly I’m reminded what Undead surge is like, except with caskets and Monoliths added to the mix.

Scuttlin’ Turn 2, and I’mma need those flanking assets in here pronto, m’k? The leftmost Kraken burns a token (1:0), as does the Water Elemental horde (2:0). Central Hearpiercers begin raking the Revenant horde with harpoons while Gigas prepare to receive. But really it’s about the cccccombo charge on the right: Kraken + Depth Horror Eternal + Heartpiercers into Enslaved Guardians … for 7 damage?! It doesn’t work out 😐

CURSE! CURRRRRSE! Guardians counter-charge the Heartpiercers, the Bone Giant thunders into the Eternal, and Shobik is surged into the flank of the Kraken. Balls. Also Catapults slap those central Heartpiercers back to 6 damage.

That Kraken is dropkicked and the Heartpiercers blended, but the Eternal only takes 2 damage. Time to flex, bro. The EOD burn my right token (2:1).

Scuttlin’ Turn 3, the anvils rotate to receive the dead and hope we’ve got all the surge angles covered. Heartpiercers continue concentrating on the Revenants, getting them to 7 damage for future reasons. The Eternal chooses to hack into the injured Enslaved Guardians, for token damage.

Whether through magical means or their own cantankerous willpower, the Revenants flank the Gigas (I don’t remember seeing this, but I also wasn’t worried, since it was 5+/5+), the Eternal is flanked by the Bone Giant and countered by the Guardians, the Mummies fall short of the other Gigas, and Shobik lumbers into the central Kraken …

Things turn out pretty well, with the Gigas only taking a predictable 5 damage, the Kraken taking 9! damage from Mega Shobik, and the Eternal getting pulverized and lifeleached.

Scuttlin’ Turn 4, time for crabby vengeance. A catapult gets Krakened (it dies), the Revenants get flanked by Water Elementals + Heartpiercers (they die), Shobik gets countered by the Kraken and flanked by the Revenant’s Gigas (it dies!), and those lower Mummies get charged by the Gigas (they will never die, but also take 2 damage).

Gigas, prepare to face-tank! One horde takes Mummies + RKOUGFW + Guardians to the front, while the other receives Mummies + Bone Giant.

That triple charge is super effective! But the other combat is a fluffer, just 4 damage.

Scuttlin’ Turn 5 – you know, I think that central Kraken has a flank on that Wyrm? Ah well. Instead he combo-charges the Mummies alongside the Gigas (who are shoved onto a fence from whence they will never escape). Up top, the other Kraken + Water Elementals take on the other Mummies, leaving it to some Heartpiercers to ground the Wyrm. Now that’s generalship. Other Heartpiercers put some rounds into the unhurt Enslaved Guardians.

While the bottom Mummies die, the upper ones hold, and the Heartpiercers fail to land the one 5+/5+ they were hoping for.

The RKOUGFW hopes into a further back Heartpiercer regiment, letting some Guardians flank the ones trying to poke him. More Guardians front charge the lower Kraken, as the Bone Giant tackles the Gigas and the upper Mummies counter the Water Elementals.

Lots of things get damaged, nothing breaks … because he snaked the Guardian’s Heartpiercers with 20 damage on them! Now that’s generalship. EOD is able to burn another token (2:2).

Scuttlin’ Turn 6! Heartpiercers mob the Wyrm and counter-charge the Guardians (10 damage regened!), along with a lot of counter-charging from bigger dudes into Mummies / Guardians / Bone Giants. The upper Mummies rout and the Water Elementals + Kraken overrun, burning my final token (3:2), but otherwise everything holds tight, and the Wyrm fends off the 16 5+/5+ little stabs trying to ground him.

Everybody back in!

The Wyrm breaks through the Heartpiercer wall, but otherwise everybody wavers … except for those central Heartpiercers, because yes, those Enslaved Guardians got them back to 20 damage and snaked them again! Hahaha!

Scuttlin’ Turn 7! The Gigas, thanks to fury, counter-charge the Bone Giant and cut him down at the knees. The Kraken regens furiously (9 of 15), while the other Kraken shoots into those Guardians harassing those HEROMODE Heartpiercers and ends them (said Heartpiercers regen 11 of 20 damage). Finally, the free Heartpiercers luxuriate on the central token and shoot the remaining Catapult off the table.

Happy to be done with this farce, the RKOUGFW flies off and burns a token (3:3), and the Guardians swing into their Kraken one more time and wavered it. Crabs take it thanks to the center objective (4:3).

SCUTTLIN’ WIN (15-6)

While I started this GT with terrible play and frigid dice, I happily ended it with some actual strategy and deliciously hot dice – particularly if we count my opponent’s double snake eyes, thanks for the assist, man! Good smashy game to end my first 3E GT, and a better run with the crabs than I had expected to have, frankly.

When everything was totaled up, I ended up placing 26 out of 48, just missing the Counter Charge award for dead middle of the pack. But putting the numbers aside, Best of the Rest was a great event that I’m thrilled to have happen in the first place, as it was wonderful to be some small part of the US Masters and share in this amazing KOW community.

Speaking of meeting great players and seeing some of my favorite online armies in person, you can catch some shots of my favorite armies / units (and more of my own) in this album here: BEST OF THE REST #0

GAME 23: EMPIRE OF DUST

On November 28, 2018 By SalvageIn BLOODFIRELeave a comment

During Black Friday I caved and bought not one but two neoprene game mats I ended up going with FLG Mats because USA + decent quality + sick discount.

And yesterday I finally busted one out for a game 😐

BLOODFIRE GAME 23: EMPIRE OF DUST

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
Ankylodon Battle Platform – firebolts
Herald – Banner of the Griffin
Mage-Priest – Surge (8), Heal (3), Inspiring Talisman
Mage-Priest – Surge (8), Heal (3)
Clan Lord on Fire Drake – Dwarven Ale

Gotta say, 2k is bit awkward with the new item costs, compounded by my new double priest list taking up more hero points. Came down to BOTG or Healing Charm, and I had to go with Rally. Just makes too much sense in general, but especially when youre running high defense / low nerve (relatively) monstrous things. Dwarven Ale because I had an awkward 10 points and the CLOFD wavers way more than Id like, especially in an army of fearless things.

Empire of Dust 2000

Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Crossbowmen Horde – Banner of the Griffin
Mummy Regiment
Mummy Regiment
Enslaved Guardian Horde
Swarm Regiment
Revenant Chariot Regiment – casket
Balefire Catapult
Balefire Catapult
Balefire Catapult
Bone Giant
Cursed High Priest – fireball & vicious, mount
Cursed High Priest – fireball & vicious, mount

Bones are as tuned up as theyve been, with lots of tried and true choices, including the horrific possibilities offered by triple catapults. Chariots were the new inclusion, pretty sweet package or 125 points with casket, and rally on the Crossbows instead of a mediocre shooty item is a neat choice.

We diced up Scavenge (COK17), a mission Id not even heard of until the last week or so. Markers went down center and 12 to either side. On the terrain, my home collection isnt great, so the books are hills.

BATTLE

Battlelines!

Bloodfire seizes the initiative and rolls out, not keen to weather more catapult fire than needed. Fire Elementals hard right are surged forward 4.

The wall of bone shambles forward, Mummies cresting the facing hill as all the undead firepower targets one of the central Fire hordes.

Double catapult hits (8 + 7 blasts X_X) and a smattering of crossbow bolts slam into the elementals, but they hold thanks to the Griffin Banner! Meanwhile, the Ankylodon is shoved a few inches backwards by the Enslaved Guardians.

Salamanders count their blessings / Ember Sprites and jam the center with chaff, as the Ankylodon crashes through the forest into the Chariots and the CLOFD likewise uproots some trees on his way into the Swarm:

The Fire hordes all trudge forward, getting off the hill and slooooowly hooking in from the right.

The hindered CLOFD and ABP manage to trip and cause a few wounds to their targets, neither of which care. Combined with the lesser Mage-Priest healing a single wound from the battered Fire horde and that was a pretty lackluster turn.

The Empire responds by pouncing all over the poor central Sprites (spoiler: they die) and hammering down into the mangled Fire horde (6 blast catapult hit gets them up to snakes) and the Ankylodon (combo of crossbows + catapult puts 5 (-1 for Iron Resolve) wounds on him). The towering ABP is also shoved like 5 back by the Guardians.

The rightmost Spear regiment charges a flanking Fire horde as well, doing a couple points of damage, and the Swarm nibbles a wound off of the CLOFD.

Turn 3, time to increase the grind with charges down the line: CLOFD back into Swarm, ABP (hindered) into flank of Chariots, Fire horde surged into flank of Mummies, Fire horde into Spears and more Fire into more Spears.

And you know, despite that wave of raw boiling blood smashing into the deadites not much actually happened? The CLOFD managed to splatter the Swarm (-_-) and the Mummies died to the flank, but both Spearmen survived with average or below damage (5 + 7), and the Ankylodon continued to show how much he needs Strider. 20 attaks = 2 wounds, which happened to be the same or worse than what he did to the front (also hindered). And now he was going to get himself flanked.

Or not! The EOD piles on the central Fire horde, as Spears counter-charge their Fire bros and the Guardians make it personal and charge the Ankylodon. The Crossbows shamble towards the center to make their big rally bubble relevant

and a surge ensures it is. A catapult kills the right Sprites (Rest in Pepperonis, lil buddies), but its really about fighting. The besieged Fire horde survives with 9 wounds, largely thanks to the Chariot flank doing no damage and the Bone Giant fluffing hard. Neither of the Spears can make headway against their Fire hordes either, and the Ankylodon stands tall with 7 wounds (after IR).

Sallies retaliate as hard as they can. Fire hordes counter-charge Spears and Chariots (going for at least a kill in the latter case, and to free up some board real estate, though they may have been better punching the Bone Giant? Even knowing thats a grind they wont win), and for the first time all game the Ankylodon gets to fight something without being hindered, as he counter-charges the Guardians. The CLOFD digs up a loot token and charges through that damn forest to help his pal out.

The ABP is healed for two and a High Priest takes a fireball to the face, then all the Dust regiments are exploded. Unfortunately, 500 points of Salamander monster barely puts a handful of wounds on the Guardians, who hold with no issue. Holy hell guys.

The Empire piles on the pressure, throwing Mummies and Crossbows (!) into the smoldering central Fire horde, slamming the Bone Giant into the Ankylodons flank and counter-charging Guardians into CLOFD this time around.

Kaiju Big Battle 2: Monster Chiropractor

Catapult fire rains down across the board, wounding the last Sprites (on the left, looking to dig up more loot next turn) for 6 but for no waver, then slamming a Fire horde which, combined with multiple High Priest fireballs, nukes the unit. In combat, the Mummies + Crossbows manage only 2 wounds on their Fire Elementals, which cant get through the Griffin Banner boost. The Bone Giant goes in with just 16 attaks, with which he stuffs it and only wounds the ABP 4 times (healed down to 9 with IR). Likewise the Guardians rip the CLOFD for 4 damage but he doesnt care.

Turn 5 and its becoming apparent that the Bloodfire loot needs to be protected ASAP. The CLOFD and ABP (yay hindered!) head back into the Guardians looking to pop them or at least shut out the Bone Giant from the Clan Lord, while the remaining Fire hordes double team the Crossbows to remove a very big unit thats contesting multiple markers (also rally, etc). Sadly the flanking horde had to sploosh over a barrier, so would also be hindered. Magic sees two wounds healed from the Ankylodon and a few wounds from a fireball into a catapult, for no lucky break.

After a lot of smashing, the Empire holds strong. 17 damage to the Crossbows isnt enough to pop (Ive really lost my ability to roll average on rout tests, especially rerolled ones), thanks in large part to the flanking horde really struggling to hit on 5+. The CLOFD + ABP again team up to do token damage at best to the Guardians. Cripes.

Oh, those last wounded Sprites totally did dig up more loot, so theres that to manage now too.

Dust get another shot at blunting what really felt like a Bloodfire lead and happily take it. Bone Giant heads back into the Ankylodon flank, Guardians into the CLOFD, Mummies flank the rapidly dissipating Fire Elementals and the Crossbows counter-charge their buddies because reasons. High Priests fireball some wounds into the lesser Mage-Priest and Herald, wavering the Herald – but catapults either missed the Sprites or didnt have a shot. All the wounded Salamander stuff dies in combat (the horde fighting the Crossbows takes no damage), and the Guardians take the CLOFDs loot.

Sally Turn 6 and, after the last Fire horde digs up some loot of their own, its 2 to 1 on markers, with the Mummies clearly set to do some of their own mining next turn.

The Fire Elementals flame out and melt the Crossbow horde, the inspiring Mage-Priest fireballs off a Catapult, and the lesser Mage-Priest and Sprites combine to finish off the Guardians, destroying their loot in the process. 2:0 loot, at least for now.

Clearly the champion of the match, the Bone Giant powers into the Sprites, shattering them and stealing their loot. Meanwhile the Mummies dig up fresh loot, swinging the score to 2:1 in favor of the undead. The last Fire Elementals take 4-5 points of damage from Catapult lovin but dont pop.

And with that the game ends.

BLOODFIRE LOSS

All told this was a great game. It was a bit frustrating to see the lead I had Turn 3-4 just fall apart through incompetence on my monsters parts (ABP Strider plz!), but Scavenge is a really cool mission that Im happy to have finally played. I have no idea if its in COK18 but heres hoping.

GAME 13: EMPIRE OF DUST

On November 28, 2018 By SalvageIn BLOODFIRELeave a comment

I havent played KOW since July, when I closed on a house and instantly lost all my free time. And through a cruel twist of fate all the KOW events in the NE US happened to fall on dates I was already booked for music festivals and stuff like that. The struggle.

That said, before July I did play some games that went unreported, and in the interest of completion I wanted to share what details / pics I have of them. Also because I miss writing and reading KOW reports, which really seem to have dried up in the last months. Ill be trying to fix that again (hopefully by playing more soon).

BLOODFIRE GAME 13: EMPIRE OF DUST

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
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

Empire of Dust 2000

Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Crossbowmen Horde
Mummies Regiment
Mummies Regiment
Enslaved Guardians Horde
Swarm Regiment
Balefire Catapult
Balefire Catapult
Balefire Catapult
Bone Giant
Cursed High Priest on Mount – Fireball (12), Vicious
Cursed High Priest on Mount – Fireball (12), Vicious
Undead Army Standard Bearer

*Plus a bunch of items where relevant. Caskets, ASB item, crossbow booster, those sorts of things.

It looks like we played Dominate, with Sallies going first.

BATTLE

Sallies go as aggro as they can, with the Ghostdroth overextending a tidge.

Ka-surge! Ghostdroth gets nabbed by a healthy Mummy surge, they rip into him with hot dice but he stays cool. Sallies respond with some jam for the most part.

Sprites gonna sprite! But meanwhile Ghostdroth is wrecked by smoking Mummy dice.

Retaliation is swift and overwhelming. For the Droth!

The Swarm is cuddled into molten bug goo too as Team Fire prepares to receive Team Dust.

The undead for the most part bounce off the wall of fire.

And are dispatched with uncharacteristic competence!

Cant stop this elemental train!

End game looks to be a tie by my count, with eight unit strength for both sides within range of the center.

BLOODFIRE DRAW?

GAME 11: EMPIRE OF DUST

On November 28, 2018November 28, 2018 By SalvageIn BLOODFIRELeave a comment

It took a while to get back in the saddle, but Saturday night I threw down with Albanyadriel. Despite telling him I wasnt batrepping the game, heres a quick and dirty rundown for completeness ;D

BLOODFIRE GAME 11: EMPIRE OF DUST

Salamanders 2000

Swapped the double Greater Fires for the Ankylodon and the return of the fourth Sprite base. This leaves 15 floating points, which will probably hover between +1 Sp or BOTOK on the one of the Fire hordes, as my keen analysis has told me that they most hurt for speed and actually hitting things.

Empire of Dust 2000

Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Crossbowmen Horde – Blood of the Old King
Mummies Regiment
Mummies Regiment
Enslaved Guardians Horde
Skeleton Cavalry Regiment – Casket of the Damned
Balefire Catapult
Balefire Catapult
Cursed High Priest on Mount – Fireball (12), Vicious
Cursed High Priest on Mount – Fireball (12), Vicious
Idol of Shobik

Newly finished Guardians replaced the oft maligned Worm Riders, and the Bone Giant transmogrified into the Idol! At the cost of the third Balefire (and no doubt other stuff, that thing is pricey).

I asked to play Loot, as I dont know if Ive done it with Bloodfire (and screwed myself out of it during the GT, because Im dumb). We basically went equidistant with the counters, despite confirming that you can skew them all onto one side given the 12 placement rules. Which is generally my armys thing O_O

BATTLE

Part of what I wanted to do this game was work in three battle groups, as opposed to one to two mega clusters, which happens to be what Loot wanted as well. So to that end we formed Bloodfire Squadrons 1 (Fire Elementals + Ember Sprites + Ankylodon + Healing Herald), 2 (Fire Elementals + Ember Sprites x2 + Diadem Herald) and 3 (Fire Elementals x2, Ember Sprites, CLOFD + Mage-Priest), theoretically based on where the Empire was projecting force?

With the general slowness and short range of this army and the spread out loot counters, this also meant that the battle groups didnt interact very much – which happily worked out in the end (spoiler).

On the left, Healing Herald kept the Fire horde fairly topped off as it advanced at the Crossbows, while the Ankylodon went aggro on the Spears over there. Despite copping a sick flank charge from the Crossbows (:P), the big lizard stomped the Spears out in two rounds, spun around and helped the Fire horde deal with the Idol, which had plowed into them earlier. 20 CS4 attaks in the flank ended the 350-point legend. Late game on the left saw the Fire horde eviscerate the Crossbows (18 attaks into 13 wounds!!!) and the Ankyldon scoop up both the left and the center markers.

The lightly-held center turned early when the Cavalry bounced off the Fire horde, batted around in return, then bounced off the Diadem Herald in a wood, and the Mummies failed to even waver the Sprites. This got the Mummies flanked by the Fire horde and the Cavalry vaporized by breath attaks and fireballs. However the grind with the Mummies would go into the late game, with the same burning out Fire Elementals finally ending them.

Meanwhile on the right, the Bloodfire was applied pretty liberally and did what it does: Spears were vaporized by 32 breath + 10 fireball, Guardians got charged in front and flank by Fire hordes (thanks +1 Sp!), and despite losing a Fire horde to flanking Mummies (I was dumb and overestimated the reach / potential of the Cavalry in the center, turning my flank to the Mummies inches away), burnt them down too.

In the end, the Empire had one Cursed Priest desperately scrambling to fireball things and one Balefire which stubbornly refused to hit anything (AA had maybe two hits all game between the two catapults?), to the red things three loot counters.

BLOODFIRE VICTORY

GAME 03: EMPIRE OF DUST

On November 28, 2018 By SalvageIn BLOODFIRELeave a comment

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 wasnt used.

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

BATTLE

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

EOD rolls out, and realizes how limited their shooting is at the moment, thanks to range and LOS blockers which doesnt 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 😐

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 GFEs flank – but largely just shoot all the things. Guardian Archers remove the wounded left Fire horde, Crossbows + Catapults pummel the central GFE (9 wounds).

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 cant quite scoot far enough into the woods to hinder the pain thats 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.

Post consolidation shot!

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.

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.

Having been patiently waiting, the left (and remaining) Scavengers flank the Guardians 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 cant 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.

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 its been a long day, this is game two, dice have been continually bad, and Im very tired sort of way.

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.

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 wasnt going to be able to touch my 7 unit strength in Fire hordes + CLOFD, and couldnt 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 didnt get one.

BLOODFIRE VICTORY

GAME 02: EMPIRE OF DUST

On November 28, 2018 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 isnt 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 Ill keep that up. Lack of notes makes turn-by-turn rough :X)

BATTLE

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

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.

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!

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.

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

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 couldnt lend their weight.

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 AAs crazy good dice, and the CLOFD wouldnt have been shot at all in that case). CLOFD and Ember Sprites load the Crossbowmen up with breath wounds but cant 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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Turn 6 Sallies sees the GFE and two Sprite regiments on the left back up to consolidate their positions (a mistake, as unhurt GFE wasnt 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 cant roll 5+ to hit.

Turn 7 happens! Crossbows mess with their Sprites, Spearmen prepare to surge into the SW quarter but fall 1-2 short, and Im 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 November 28, 2018November 29, 2018 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, its 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 dont have strong memories of this game, as it was like a month ago, so this is going to be pictures and commentary.

BATTLE

So red!

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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 thats them not shooting the incoming fire things).

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!