Tag: Order of the Green Lady

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??

SCUTTLIN’ REALM 46: ORDER OF THE GREEN LADY

On By SalvageIn SCUTTLING REALMLeave a comment

After a late night of playing Kill Team, watching board games, talking about Warmachine 4E and obligatory drinking, I passed out only to rise far too soon 😩 It’s Day 2 and time to slam into the bottom tables, Cuddle Time style.

ROUND FOUR: TEAM BIG DEAD ONE

  • Order of the Green Lady
  • Trident Realm
  • Empire of Dust
  • Undead

BDO was made up of two dudes whose team fell apart plus two of my clubmates (the Empire of Dust and the Undead (yes that’s Jeff from all my scrumming beforehand)). True to my captaining plans, I matched our Ogres into Trident Realm, Riftforged into Empire of Dust, Ratkin into Undead, and took the Order of the Green Lady for myself.

Brotherhood: Order of the Green Lady 2300
Order of the Forsaken Horde – Boots of Striding
Earth Elementals Horde
Earth Elementals Horde
Order of Redemption Regiment – Brew of Strength
Order of Redemption Regiment – Mead of Madness
Order of the Brotherhood – Banner of the Green Lady [1]
Naiad Ensnarers Regiment
Centaur Bray Hunters Troop
Centaur Bray Hunters Troop
Pegasus
Exemplar Redeemer – Blade of the Beast Slayer
Druid – Shroud of the Saint, Heal (2(4)), Bane Chant (2), Surge (4)
Devoted – Heal (3), Surge (7)

Bryant was super excited to play me, as we’d either always narrowly avoided each other or played once back in 2E or even Fantasy times. I’m a fan of his army, great Bretonnian feel and a faction I very rarely face. The list itself seemed legit? If hamstrung by cavalry’s middling place in this edition.

We played Pillage (or maybe Salt the Earth without any salting), with the Brotherhood going first one way or another.

BATTLE

Battlelines!

Green Lady 1: The Order canters forward, with caution on the wings and a trudging wall of rock in the center.

Trident 1: Crabs respond with a generalized scuttling. I’m content to make his life hell on the left flank, as he’s put a ton of points over there when the only token is the one on his side. Heartpiercers punch 2 damage onto the Centaur troop hanging out on the upper right token.

Bun Bun, Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, prepares to sate her hunger for crab flesh.

Green Lady 2: Indecision racks the Order’s lines, ultimately seeing the right advance a bit, the center widen its coverage, and the left mobilize Centaur chaff while preparing to thunder into combat next turn.

Trident 2: Placoderms advance on the right, being a terrible charge target for the cavalry over there, as I try to swap the Coral Giant and Water Elementals without touching the forest. Heartpiercers back up and put 6 damage on the strength Redemption reg on the right and 1 on the annoying Centaurs on the left. The slayer-trident Centurion fires at the Forsaken horde and fails to get a single damage, leaving them free to fly. What a champ. The Kraken don’t take the bait, letting the Order deal with their own chaff.

Bunny Pegasus with the #promove block.

Green Lady 3: While the right side of the Order line faffs around – and heals all the damage on the Redemption cav! – the left goes hard. Redemption knights (hindered) and Forsaken horde (striding boots) slam into the Kraken in the woods, ensnare be damned, as the Pegasus charges the other Kraken to block him up. Despite taking 11 damage, the multi-charged Kraken only wavers. And the Peg does a tight 3 damage from 3 attaks, nice.

Trident 3: The right arm of the crab war machine grudgingly pumps Heartpiercer rounds into the strength Redemption (2 damage, which I know will vanish), presents terrible Placoderm charges and unjams the Coral Giant / Water Elemental situation. We’re both still avoiding the LOS blocking void that is that forest.

Over on the left, the wavered Kraken skitters 4.5″ backwards and regenerates down to 3 damage (hahaha I love it). The other Kraken bops the Pegabun for 6 damage but flubs the rout (might have wavered her). Heartpiercers and trident Centurion combine fire into the Forsaken, doing a bunch of damage and wavering them. I’ll take it.

Kraken getting pumped to power lift a second time.

Green Lady 4: The Order pushes the center at last, with the strength Redemption finally giving up the right flank and skirting the woods to reinforce the middle. On the left, the mead Redemption charge back into the Kraken they’ve been hunting, with the support of the Forsaken again … which was illegal, as he forgot they were wavered and when we remembered during my turn, he rolled their headstrong test and failed it. The Kraken held solid on 10 damage (hindered and ensnared is rough), so vaguely a moot point, but Bryant tore himself up about it all game.

Trident 4: The whole Forsaken issue is cleared up when Bun Bun’s Kraken corkscrews their flank and smashes them into man/horse/bird parts. Heartpiercers from the center punch across and kill Bun Bun, while the trident Centurion strips the TC from the Brotherhood knights. The other Kraken counter-charges the mead Redemption, slapping 5 damage into them, but ominously only regening down to 8 damage himself.

Elsewhere, Placoderm invite the Order to have a go in the center, the Coral Giant breaks the wood line to become a Problem next turn, and the Water Elementals attempt to punch through the Exemplar Redeemer and into the flank of the strength Redemption. It’s a tall ask, so of course the gigantic crab/horde does next to no damage 😀

And finally, the Heartpiercers on the right skewer the Ensnarers that had dared to come into view around the house.

The sweet, sweet overrun that was not to be.

Green Lady 5: With about 10 minutes left on their clock, the Order lets rip. Mead Redemption and pathfinder Brotherhood knights on the left crash into a Kraken each, thunderous be damned. Both Earth Elemental hordes bash into the waiting claws of the Placoderms (one hindered), and the Redeemer counter-charges the Water Elementals.

It took three charges, but the Order of the Redemption finally drop the titanic crab beast they’d spent the game dueling. The other Kraken lucky wavers on 7 damage (box cars!), however that luck doesn’t hold for the Earth Elementals, which do a paltry 6 damage to the central Placoderms. The Redeemer carves 3 into the Water Elementals.

Trident 5: Vengeance is swift as the Water Elementals batter down the Redeemer, even if regrettably missing the ~4″ overrun into the strength Redemption regiment behind. No other combat is as decisive, with the Coral Giant tearing chunks out of one Earth Elemental horde, the Placoderms poking the other, and the central Heartpiercers and trident Centurion pushing the mead Redemption up to 10 damage but only finding a waver.

Green Lady 6: The last 4 minutes of the Order of the Green Lady’s clock is largely spent frantically rolling combat dice. (The mead Redemption reg failed their headstrong, though the strength Redemption hit the Water Elementals with Centaurs in the flank.)

The Water Elementals are triumphantly torn down, but that signals the last of the Order’s momentum. The Brotherhood knights waver their Kraken again and Earth Elementals waver the Placoderms and apparently do nothing at all against the Coral Giant (he may have clocked out before rolling it).

Trident 6: Heartpiercers shoot off the mead Order of the Retribution, the Coral Giant dunks his Earth Elemental horde, and the Heartpiercers on the right I believe tried and failed to remove the Centaur troop they started the game shooting at. With no Turn 7 and 3 objectives to 2, this is a decisive …

TRIDENT VICTORY

All told a very fun match against an enthusiastic player. Bryant was really down about his play not being clean that morning – the waver token, undoing moves without marking corners, etc – and despite me assuring him it was cool he felt pretty bad. Regardless, I hope to face him again some time in a non-team event.

Speaking of teams, Cuddle Time did very well this round, scoring the maximum 60 points or just shy of it. With this hearty bounce buoying our spirits we headed into the final match-ups.

UP NEXT: Eager Beavers!

SCUTTLIN’ REALM GAME 14: ORDER OF THE GREEN LADY

On By SalvageIn SCUTTLING REALMLeave a comment

The US Masters tournament for the 2019 Kings of War season was held at Tioga Downs Casino in Western NY, just shy of three hours west of me. More awesomely, there was a side tournament held at the same time in the same room, conveniently called The Best of the Rest. It followed the same rules, points values and scenarios, but blessedly was only five games and not the grueling six of the Masters.

While I very much didn’t fancy my chances, I felt I owed it to the crabs to give them at least one more event before packing them away for the inevitable Clash of Kings buffs at the end of the year (Wyrmriders, I’m looking at you guys!) This also meant I would finish painting more of the army’s stockpile instead of, you know, never getting back to it.

Trident Realm 2300

Water Elemental Horde
Gigas Horde – Chalice of Wrath
Gigas Horde – Staying Stone
Naiad Heartpiercer Regiment
Naiad Heartpiercer Regiment
Naiad Heartpiercer Regiment
Naiad Heartpiercer Regiment
Kraken
Kraken
Kraken
Depth Horror Eternal – Inspiring Talisman
Naiad Envoy – Lute of Insatiable Darkness
Naiad Envoy – Bastion (2)

Despite proving scientifically that Kraken are speedy yet pillowfisted pseudo-anvils (aka not hammers), I still wanted to bring all three of the big guys, particularly as I had just finished painting their big little brother, the Deep Crab from Mierce (the Kraken are Mierce’s three Scuttling Nucránca). At some point in my testing I abandoned trying to make Wyrmriders work and had switched to a Water Elemental horde for my unlocks and facebeating purposes. It’s sad when 18 CS1 attaks is your hammer but, well, Trident are like that. Also being natively Def 5+ and Strider (and Regen 5+) are groovy things, as well as putting him roughly in line with the Kraken’s abilities, which is aesthetically nice as all four minis look related.

I kept all the Heartpiercers in, since I made the army around them originally, afforded some anti-wavering tech for the Gigas (being wavered is the worst, especially when you don’t have regen or heal) and grudgingly gave the Eternal true inspiring. It’s always a bad feel to upgrade self-inspo for 20 pts but I really wanted him in there – the only two games I’d won of 3E so far had been because of him – and needed the third inspiring.

I did have a bit of regret going into these games, as a couple days before I realized that I should just give the Water Elementals brew of strength, as they were the lute target 90% of the time … and spoilers, my lute didn’t work 50% of the time. Also CS2 would just fit the model better.

Anyway, while I was sorta ok with Scuttlin’ Realm 2.0, my goal for the event was just two wins. You know, doubling my record for the new edition.

Order of the Green Lady 2300

Order of the Brotherhood Regiment – Banner of the Green Lady, Blade of Slashing
Order of the Brotherhood Regiment – Sir Jesse’s Boots of Striding
Men-at-Arms Retainer Horde
Men-at-Arms Retainer Horde
Order of Redemption Regiment – Brew of Strength
Order of the Forsaken Horde – Maccwar’s Potion of the Caterpillar
Pegasus
Pegasus
Exemplar Redeemer – Winged Unicorn
Exemplar Redeemer – Winged Unicorn
Unicorn – Wings, Lightning Bolt (5), Heal (5), Shroud of the Saint
Unicorn – Wings, Lightning Bolt (5), Heal (5), Boomstick

Table #1 baby! Fun fact: I watched this army play my Round 4 opponent the night before the tournament kicked off, as I liked both armies a lot. Smart list with six extremely useful flyers. I obviously didn’t realize how great Exemplar Redeemers are, very reminiscent of pegasus vamps, which are one of the flyers I respect the most in the game. Except these regen, and headstrong, and CS2, and etc.

Round 1 was Dominate, and the Scuttlers kicked things off. Grudgingly.

BATTLE

Battlelines! Most relevant notes are the Redeemers stacked on the left flank and the ultra-hammer Order of the Redemption in the second wave on the right flank.

Headed into Order Turn 2. Turn 1 I must have advanced, without being able to shoot my 18” guns, then he advanced, lightninged some Heartpiercers, who regened and returned fire at the offending Unicorn. Worth noting that my dice were ice cold at this point and my brain extremely fuzzy from no sleep / being out of practice (I mean, check out that 10AM Monster :X)

Despite leaving a Kraken over there to intercept one of them, both Redeemers are able to hop my lines. I am well and truly fakked. (The TO walked by at this point, watched the heroes fly over the Kraken, looked at me and shook his head …) Some Brotherhood knights run over some Heartpiercers while the Unicorn zzaps that other unit more, wavering them. Pegasus either try to get in the way or prepare to later.

As it turns out, the Kraken is able to get into those rampaging Brotherhood, and combo-charges with some luted-up Gigas. Since this game has already gone sideways, I go hyper-aggressive on the right, sending 42 CS1-2 attaks into the Men-at-Arms. I know it’ll cost me the right Kraken but I want to break up his lines and start grinding. Heartpiercers pump rounds into the same Unicorn and the right Pegasus, for minimal results.

Both combats fail, despite the odds being in my favor / the best this army can muster. The knights may have wavered (then headstronged out of it) but the Men-at-Arms I couldn’t manage the rerolled rout. Bad times ahead.

The Order responds by jumping on all three Kraken: Brotherhood knights + flank Redeemer + rear Redeemer on the left, both Men-at-Arms in the center (including an ensnare-free flank), and more Brotherhood knights into a flank on the right. Heartpiercers are plowed into by Forsaken and Pegasus, while lightning wavers the central unit a second time. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Men-at-Arms holding has blocked the Order of the Redemption from descending.

After combat, all three Kraken drop in one turn!! But, uh, the Heartpiercers hold.

In Scuttler Turn 4, those left Gigas finish off the Brotherhood knights and turn to face the Redeemers, knowing they’re about to go rear charge somebody. The engaged Heartpiercers counter-charge, grounding the Forsaken (!) and killing the right Pegasus (!!). The free unit shoots the wounded Forsaken, praying for that waver. Finally, the Water Elementals swing at the Men-at-Arms again, who have been very healed at this point, and the right Gigas chunk some damage into the other Men-at-Arms, knowing they’re dead soon.

This is midway through combat in Order Turn 4. The Forsaken drop their Heartpiercers, that Redeemer in the center has just murdered some other Heartpiercers, the Water Elemental horde is vaporized by the Order of the Redemption (and a few relevant wounds from the infantry horde), but somehow the Gigas hold Men-at-Arms to the front, Redeemer to the flank and Pegasus to the rear! You can also see the Eternal on the right flank had snuck a flank charge on those Brotherhood knights, then was counter-charged here for really a lot of damage on 4+ then 3+.

Scuttler Turn 5, the Gigas turn around and eat the Pegasus in their rear, then turn back around. The Eternal nimblers out and hacks into the Order of the Redemption. And the remaining Heartpiercers try to finish off a wounded flyer (probably the Forsaken in the Gigas’ flank).

The central Gigas are torn apart, while the other Gigas hold a Forsaken charge and the Heartpiercers likewise repulse the fresh Redeemer. The Eternal is shredded by the Order of the Forsaken, while Unicorns rapidly heal the damage to the Men-at-Arms.

Turn 6 and I’m desperately trying to kill something else. The Gigas swing like champs but botch the rout roll on the Forsaken, while the Heartpiercers cutely slap two wounds on their Redeemer but whatever.

Those offending Heartpiercers are cratered by the Order of the Redemption, and I’m pretty sure the Gigas were torn down with excellent dice from the Forsaken. I end the game with just the Envoys kicking.

SCUTTLIN’ LOSS (1-20)

Amazingly I was able to kill enough to earn 1 point! Oh right: we’re playing Blackjack, which uses 14/7 for wins/loses and then modifies that based on how well you won the scenario, and then further by attrition difference.

Given all those flyers and how poorly my list handles them – if it’s a single dragon, I can just shoot it to death, but multiple smaller fliers is really difficult – I kind of felt the outcome was inevitable. Having those early combats where I applied fairly overwhelming force just peter out was sad, but my dice weren’t there for me, plus Trident simply don’t have the combat power to make any match up a sure thing.

This army would go on to win Player’s Choice, and the dude was a pleasure to finally face after seeing him around for years.

Up Next: Trident Realm Civil War