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.
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)!
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??
My warforged children and I had a pretty wild ride through the 2023-2024 season, ending up ranked 20th out of the Northeast region. Not too shabby for a player who routinely ends up just south of the halfway mark at tournaments. When it was announced that the US Masters GT would be held at the NOVA Open in Washington DC, I immediately made plans to attend the Best of the Rest side event. A manageable 6-7 hour drive for me, and I could stay at my brother’s place in Northern VA. Seemed like a great way to take in the Masters from a safe distance.
And then Justin Berg had to drop from the Northeast Masters team and I was next in line. I said yes with no hesitation, knowing that I was likely signing up for some serious heartache …
FREE DWARFS
Earth Elementals Horde – Brew of Sharpness Earth Elementals Horde Earth Elementals Horde Stoneclaw Riders Regiment Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Greater Earth Elemental – Craggoth & Kholearm [1]; Fireball (10) Greater Earth Elemental Greater Earth Elemental Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Trickster’s Wand; Hex (2) Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Mace of Crushing Free Dwarf Stone Priest – Conjurer’s Staff, Surge (8), Bane Chant (2), Scorched Earth (2) 13 (22)
If I had been better about logging my Freeforged games this year, this would probably look a lot like the natural evolution of the list. The rocky core is never going to change, the heroes are basically locked in (thanks to having so few unlocks but needing surge), triple Mastiffs just feel too good to quit, and Stoneclaws are rad as hell. I’ve got a possibly stronger alternate build with 2x birds + 2x dogs, and a definitely smoother brained version with brocks instead of birds, but this is the list that was painted and I had more or less practiced with.
My only concession to Masters was taking the Trickster’s Wand over my beloved Blade of the Beast Slayer, and kind of the throwing mastiffs as well. I had only played 2-3 games with shooting dogs at this point, an upgrade I continue to be on the fence about. Yes, it’s great! But the way I use chaff, they’re very often marching, charging, or dead. Not a lot of time to release the bees in there.
GAME 1: RIFTFORGED ORCS
Helstrikers Horde – Boots of Striding Riftforged Legionaries Regiment Riftforged Legionaries Regiment Unforged Orcs Regiment Unforged Orcs Regiment Riftwalkers Troop Riftwalkers Troop Stormforged Shrine [1] – Bane Chant (1+), Lightning Bolt (3+), Host Shadowbeast (2+) War Drum War Drum Stormcaller – Sacred Horn, Bane Chant (2), Veil of Shadows (3), Mind Fog (3) Riftforger on Mount – Blade of Slashing, Stormstrike, Host Shadowbeast (3) Flagger – Lute of Insatiable Darkness; Bane Chant (2) Flagger – Talisman of Silence; Mind Fog (2) *Riftforged Legionaries Regiment – Pipes of Terror *Riftforged Legionaries Regiment *Reborn Legionaries Regiment 17 (30)
As these things work out, I ended up driving a few hundred miles to face a dude from the Northeast, mercing for another region. Happily I’m not sure that I’ve ever played Nick? Maybe in Warhammer Fantasy days. Anyway, this year Nick was piloting the RFO struggle bus. Loads of chonky regiments, loads of individuals with loads of spells, the shrine, some cats. Very little that honestly concerned me from an offensive standpoint, but for sure a ton of scenario pressure!
So naturally we played Dominate 😉 The Freeforged went first, as I generally am want to do.
BATTLE
Just from the rip, Nick was really hemmed in by deploying in a continuous line of regiments, close to all of them beginning in difficult terrain. This let me really flood the middle and gave me time to complicate the RFO’s ability to get multi-charges. It also hurt that his Reborn were the leftmost regiment of the line, keeping them from being the anchor they want to be (Nv 18/20 with the drums behind them).
Early game, I hexed the Shrine a couple times (obvious target is obvious, sorry Nick!) and did a little preparatory shooting with throwing mastiffs and fireballs towards the middle, as Craggoth and the Stoneclaws worked the right flank and I watched the RFO left flank trip over itself. Despite Craggoth sleepwalking through this first game, my Mastiffs either held when not expected to or flanked Orcs with reckless abandon, ultimately winning me the center once my flankers arrived. On the left, after the Unforged chaff wave had been cleared away, I traded my sharp Earth Elementals for his Helstrikers and proceeded to collapse that flank in my favor as well. With several tons of iron in the center of the board, this was a commanding …
FREEFORGED VICTORY (20-1)
Not pictured above is our clock, which hit zero for Nick I want to say during Turn 5 and in Turn 6 for me. We both had some tortuously long second and third turns, especially with all those individuals and arcs to check. Nick would go on to place 53 of 64.
BATTLE 2: DWARFS
Shieldbreakers Horde Shieldbreakers Horde Berserker Brock Riders Regiment Earth Elementals Regiment – Healing Brew Steel Behemoth – Golloch’s Fury [1] Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Trickster’s Wand; Hex (2) Faber Ironheart [1] Garek Heavyhand [1] Flame Priest – Diadem of Dragonkind, Fireball (16) *Bulwarkers Regiment *Bulwarkers Regiment *Ironclad Horde – Hammer of Measured Force *Dwarf Army Standard Bearer 13 (26)
As these things work out, I ended up driving a few hundred miles to face a dude from the Northeast, mercing for another region. This time it’s Mike, the head of my club and long suffering (?!) Dwarf player. He’s brought a list that departs a little from the meta, by bringing two Shieldbreaker hordes, either of which can remove anything of mine in one swing (also he had Brocks but meh). Naturally Golloch, Faber, Garek and the formation (with hammer horde) are all in attendance as well. This may be the army most equipped to crack me in combat, especially any prolonged ones.
We played Pillage, with the Imperial Dwarfs going first.
BATTLE
Mike, the guy who convinced me to take the Trickster’s Wand on my beast lord, kicked off the game by destroying it with the Trickster’s Wand on his beast lord 🫠Thus began a wild scrum for the right flank, with me desperately trying to kill Mike’s hordes before they one shot all my dudes. An early triple charge of Greater Earth + beast lord + birds floundered, drawing the second horde into the fight and, I was sure, sealing my fate … until Mike rolled 3! double ones in one round, all on right flank combats. This let me keep swinging away, eventually shattering both of those Dwarf hordes at the cost of basically everything of mine on that flank. Bulwarkers would go on to hold a couple points because they’re consistently the best performing regiment every time I face them, go fig.
Some of the success on the right was due to going hard into Golloch and the Dwarf center in Turn 2. Not the wisest choice, but it bought me a lot of time and kept Golloch’s guns quiet until Craggoth eventually arrived to end his reign of terror. This after Craggoth had pressurized and pounded through the left flank, with two Earth hordes combining their power to crush the third Dwarf horde in one go. Faber was a major thorn in my side on that flank all game, but I did my best to ignore / mitigate his attentions, for a …
DRAW (10-10)
Ha! Always wild to come out the other side of a slobberknocker with a draw, but I’ll take it, especially against a clubmate. Mike would go on to place 25 of 64.
BATTLE 3: DWARFS
Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Sharpshooters Troop Sharpshooters Troop Sharpshooters Troop Sharpshooters Troop Steel Behemoth – Golloch’s Fury [1] Steel Behemoth Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Orb of Towering Presence Dwarf Lord on Large Beast Dwarf Lord on Large Beast 14 (25)
My reward for drawing against Dwarfs: more Dwarfs! Joe is a great dude who I seem to be playing with increasing regularity, and who has gotten better and better at the game. He had spent the year eschewing the formation for a more old school take on Dwarfs, which I appreciated from a variety standpoint. Would I be able to pound through my own ocean of De 6+ slowish bois? Only one way to find out!
We played Stockpile, with the Freeforged going first I believe because Joe handed it to me? A true gentleman.
BATTLE
I opened the game up by starting to dig out tokens with my Mastiffs and aggressing some of Joe’s Sharpshooters on the left with Craggoth, and was rewarded with dead Mastiffs and a snake eyes for the Cragster’s efforts 😐 I lost an Earth horde to shooting early on as well, so that when our lines crashed and the grind began in earnest I was on the back foot. I think top billing goes to Joe’s central beast lord, who bounced back and forth, rear charging multiple Earth hordes to death. Despite the early snakes, Craggoth kept an entire flank occupied by itself, shrugging off Ironguard and laser focused on scooping up tokens. It didn’t kill much, but being a tough distraction let the Stoneclaws rear charge through a couple of Joe’s units before behind silenced.
While Joe’s list looked like it was light on heavy lifters, all the shooting chip damage combined with some furious Steel Behemoth melee outpaced what my own wall of iron could output, ending up a …
FREEFORGED LOSS (3-18)
I’ll get you next time, Joe (which is indeed a spoiler for our game at Nerdhammer in December 2024). Joe would go on to place 20 of 64 and win third best Paragon!
So! First day of Masters and I’d smashed Riftforged Orcs, drawn against Dwarfs, and got hammered by more Dwarfs. Would I get a break from Dwarfs in Day 2? Perhaps play someone who lives more than one state away from me? Stay tuned for more lightning recaps of games that happened long ago!
After a night spent drinking beer from the local Clifford Brewing Co and playing Let’s Summon Demons, I was back at it Sunday morning to continue doing bad things to Canadians. Here’s my list, as a recap:
Go fast, hit hard, kill the enemy colossal and hopefully keep mine alive. While there were no tournament points on the line for those last two, I had made it a point of pride to destroy all monsters whenever able and was three for three on both counts.
GAME 4: HALFLINGS
Braves Legion – Relentless Braves Legion – Relentless Braves Legion – Relentless Forest Troll Gunners Horde – Fire-Oil, Relentless Wild Lancers Regiment – Staying Stone, Relentless Aeronauts Regiment – Blade of Slashing Aeronauts Regiment Aeronauts Regiment Ej Grenadiers Regiment – Relentless Ej Grenadiers Regiment – Relentless Ej Grenadiers Regiment – Relentless Iron Beast Sergeant – The Standard of Hodenburg Sauceror Sauceror + Titan(ic Ent) 16(32)
Check out that list! Obligatory triple Aeronauts and Grenadiers, but backed up by triple legions (!), an Iron Beast without Pride of the Shires (!), and a single source of inspiring! (His colossal has very inspiring but still.) For those not in the know, the Standard of Hodenburg grants Aura (Elite (Melee) – Infantry only) … which definitely came in handy rerolling fistfuls of dice for those legions, but I can’t say it led to much more damage 😅 All the same, a rad army that looked amazing on the table, really loaded with thematic details.
Yep, another brickhouse of a treeman. He would provide a nigh immovable anchor to the left side of the board, guiding in waves of flyers hovering around his branches.
We played Control, with the Hallow going first. Note that I did choose sides and stuck Nathaniel with the enormous house in his half of the table 😛
BATTLE
Thanks to that imposing gatehouse, this one turned into a real tale of true halves. On the left, my fast chaff escorted a selection of fast hammers to take down Nathaniel’s Ent and every fast mover he had, apart from one unit of Grenadiers on the other flank. I did what I could to ground flyers and piece-trade while sweating bullets about the triple Aeronauts ominously floating towards me. Luck broke my way when double Aeronauts gently caressed the Stampede, allowing my hammers to descend and eventually surround the titanic treeman. That flank ended in my control, with the Ent attaked on three sides by the remnants of the Hallow’s speediest units. Shout out to the Lycan horde for dropping Aeronauts, Grenadiers and the Iron Beast before ending the game assaulting the titan.
In stark contrast, Nathaniel deployed a wall of nerve and unit strength to the right of the house, with all three Brave legions and the Troll Gunners amassed with their support staff. It should not shock readers to hear that, when presented with a line of legions, I spent my Turn 2 crashing directly into it. The sharp Tribal Spear horde (bane chanted) and some Brutes smashed into the central legion, dealing 21 of the 28 expected damage and biffing the rout check. Balls. The legions closed around my assault force, with the unhindered Braves devouring the Brutes (possibly off a hill as well), while the Tribal Spear horde copped a very unfortunate waver (looks like box cars happened). Eventually the Spear horde would shake it off and end the legion it started, before succumbing late game to the legion in its flank.
The rest of the story on the right involved my Vine Hydra powering into the Troll Gunners (with fire oil!) and eventually pulling them apart, regen be damned. The Grenadiers were grounded by a Centaur Chief and finished by a Tribal Spear regiment, and eventually these Spears and the Hydra had a couple goes at Nathaniel’s other Brave legion, who kept backing up (into my central Control zone). The Hallow bois got the Halfling throng well past 20 damage but once again couldn’t manage the pop. All the same, I had more units in more sectors for a …
HALLOW VICTORY
A pretty wild start to Sunday morning, with some dice angst on the right slowing me down but lots of positional action on the left. Credit to Nathaniel’s Ent, the only colossal I didn’t kill all tournament …
Saber-Toothed Hunting Cat Count: 2 (Sauceror)
GAME 5: BASILEANS
Elohi Hord – Wine of Elvenkind, Celestial Fury Ogre Palace Guard Horde – Chalice of Wrath Ogre Palace Guard Horde – Dwarven Ale Paladin Foot Guard Regiment – Orb of Towering Presence, Aegis Fragment Sisterhood Scouts Regiment Sisterhood Scouts Regiment Paladin Knights Troop – Skirmisher’s Boots, Aegis Fragment Heavy Arbalest Heavy Arbalest Phoenix – Heal (5) Phoenix – Heal (5) Priest – Conjurer’s Staff, Heal (3), Bane Chant (2) Julius, Dragon of Heaven – Fireball (8) + (Battle Sanctum) 14(24)
And as has been foretold in the scripture, if Chris Murphy and I are at a tournament we will (almost) always play each other at some point. This version of his Basileans featured all the shooting he had added earlier in the year with Julius around to provide a bit more punch, at the cost of Samacris and the Elohi regiment he usually runs. Nifty and never an easy match for me, especially my soft-bodied Herd.
As for Chris’ colossal, I don’t have any details apart from that it was Sp 6+, De 6+, ensnaring and not particularly fighty.
We played Loot to end the tournament. Chris scouted his Sisters up and happily took the first turn.
BATTLE
Looking back through the photos, I deployed very wide, sending quite a bit of stuff down the right flank across a killing field of shooting and Sp 10. I absolutely should have played for the left two tokens and let him drag the other one around. Ah well.
Chris punched his titan forward on the left, picking up an early token and daring me to take it. And take it I did, hitting his walking brickhouse with the Vine Hydra and Brutes in the front, more Brutes in the flank and Lycans in the other flank 😎 It died and I prepared to piece trade the Ogre Palace Guard away … except that Chris juked a horde back to the central token. As far as that token went, I had grabbed it in my Turn 1 with the Tribal Spear horde, challenging Chris to come and get it. His Elohi + Foot Guard bounced and I ate the Elohi horde in return (nice!), but lost the Tribal Spears to the OPG from the left.
Meanwhile on the right, Chris opened the game by shooting a Tribal Spear reg to death before it had moved. I sighed, then scampered the other Spear reg forward to grab the token, before they were obliterated by shooting in Turn 2. At this point Julius pinned down the Stampede and the Lycan Alpha was jumped on by the troop of Knights. Julius eventually KO’d the Stampede by himself (!) and my right flank consisted of the Centaur Chief endlessly sitting down a Phoenix or turning off Sisters’ shooting while the Alpha ran away from Julius until she couldn’t. Brutal stuff to revisit.
By Turn 3, I’ve got quite a lot of power to work with on the left flank, but not a lot to apply it to without marching into the Basilean shooting. The Vine Hydra and Lycans dunk the OPG horde that Chris has distracted me with, and eventually I’m allowed to fight the other horde but the Brutes cock that up and die late in the game (Chris has at this point shuffled the central token into safe hands). At some point I blitz his Arbalest battery with the Lycans and Centaur Chief but it takes a long time to kill them (snake eyes drags the process out) and I lose that tag team as well. Come end game I’ve just got the Vine Hydra wrapped around a token with the Druid babysitting him, for a …
HALLOW LOSS
I hear shooting is strong against the Herd! But I also feel like I played into it, as well as not going first really hurting my ability to saturate the board, which is typically how I handle running full tilt into shooting. Credit as always to Chris’ good play and great dice, and I continue to really love his army (just maybe not facing it :P)
In the end I went 3-2, played a lot of new people, and managed to kill 4/5 titans while never losing my Vine Hydra. Feels good. Sorry for how long these reports have taken to pull together! For some context, I’m a copy editor / ghost writer by trade and the last year has seen me doing a lot of writing for work, so writing batreps in my down time has clearly not been a priority 😛 This does, however, conclude my 2023 run with the Hallow. I’d like to recap with some Herd thoughts but who has time for analysis with more events in the pipeline?
UP NEXT: I’ve got a ton of Freeforged reports for you, including my time at the 2024 US Masters. I’m considering jumping straight to those? If I don’t find the time to speed recap the other events first. Anyway, stay tuned!
We’ve arrived, at long last, in sunny Hamilton, Ontario for the end of my Herd’s 2023 tournament run. This was the fourth King Beyond the Wall GT (and my first), which was run at 2300 points with a free 300 point colossal titan (The Thing Beyond the Wall) built using the rules from the Legendary section of the KOW BRB. While I had thought about using this as an excuse to finally paint my Mierce Root Beast, painting time is hard to come by in the summer so I defaulted to building a better hydra …
If you’ve never built a colossal before, you start at a very minimal statblock with no special rules and pay for everything as you go. The TO had imposed some restrictions for the event’s things: no flying, no nimble, no shooting over 12″. The downside of restricting long range shooting titans and fast moving alpha strike titans is that virtually all titans defaulted to being nigh invincible tarpits loaded with auras (rally, cloak, radiance). I was honestly pretty frustrated at how many people saw the massive points saving of taking an ensnaring De 2+ titan with big shield and slammed that button … and then didn’t actually bring a titan with a shield or a shell or tentacles or spinnerets or grabby mechanical claws or whatever 2+ defense looks like. What was presumably supposed to be a hobby celebration or an adventure in unit design felt more like an exercise in min/max powergaming to half the field. Feels bad.
Then again, those of us who didn’t go the big shield exploit rout ended up often doing some version of being tough with varying potential for damage too. While there was quite a lot of true De 6+ to be had, I wanted to stick a little closer to the original hydra profile:
My large resin son survives ok, fights ok, and represents his model very well. Game-wise, he would hopefully be the anvil my Herd lack. Which is a whole lot like what I wanted the Hydra to do for me at Orc Town, on top of hoovering up tokens and carrying them around. Not the most exciting colossal, but one that I was happy to put down and felt reflected the spirit of the rules and the hobby.
That’s right, I finally caved and took Moonfang to a tournament. Despite being high on most people’s Herd Good Stuff lists, I’m pretty cool on her(/him/them/it). With the way I run Lycan heroes, I rarely get much from her vicious combo-charge ability, and she’s far less survivable than I expect her to be, for a 210 point De 5+ regen 4+ legend. I guess I figured if I weren’t running the Horn of Always Taken, I may as well give the other auto-include a try at my last tournament with The Hallow (for a bit). Speaking of not taking the Great Chieftain, you can see that I’ve baked brutal into the Stampede and wild charge into some Brutes (the ones with wings), both units that would have benefited from the Horn previously. Finally, I took duelist on the Centaur Chiefs for, at this point, unknown reasons. Att 4 x2 isn’t that great and we’ll find out together if it ever came up!
GAME 1: FORCES OF NATURE
Forest Shamblers Horde Forest Shamblers Horde Greater Earth Elemental Greater Air Elemental Tree Herder – Wiltfather [1], Surge (8) Tree Herder – Surge (9) Gladewalker Druid – Wings of Honeymaze, Ring of Harmony, Surge (8), Spell (?) *Air Elementals Horde – Brew of Sharpness *Air Elementals Horde – Brew of Strength *Greater Air Elemental + Blocking Terrain 11(18)
The list above is 25 points shy, which must have at least partially been another spell for the flying Gladewalker Druid? That’s a lot of points to only have two surges on command, as rad as that is. All the same, this youngun’ was running a hyper elite version of the Nature list that was still plaguing us in 2023, including double pre-nerf GAE. Along with his colossal, he had quite a lot of De 6+ to hold me up with as he buffeted me with winds both strong and sharp. Which is not at all how his deployment shook out!
We played Pillage to kick things off, with the Hallow going first one way or another.
BATTLE
As it turned out, all his fast windy stuff ended up on the left and his slow tough stuff on the right, with his colossal trundling down the center unsupported. My plan was to smash into the colossal as hard as possible, splitting his line in two, while I kept the air cadre contained and knocked out a couple of the tough units (starting with the Forest Shamblers) and prepared to grind the De 6+ bastards. This was swiftly complicated in the center when I pushed his colossal to 13 damage (of 15 expected) and only wavered it, and then thoroughly borked on the right when both hordes of Brutes failed to break Forest Shamblers on the charge (thanks in part to a snake eyes). The center was less of an issue, even with him regening 10 of the 13 damage, but I was put very behind on the right, where you’ll notice most of the tokens are
The left wasn’t super great to begin with either. Air Elementals big and small were a real terror in 2023, especially with combat items on them, and I ended up trading my Lycans to kill both Air hordes. One of the Greaters was eventually worn down by my Vine Hydra, despite originally being flanked for a shaky 10 damage waver, and the other was indeed pummeled by the Stampede, as was the original plan. I never did kill (or possibly even fight?) any of his De 6+ dudes apart from the colossal, but all the same the Herd ended the game on 5 points to Nature’s 2, for a …
HALLOW VICTORY
My opponent piloted his handful of elementals really well, grabbing some clutch flanks with the air portion and supporting the heavy end well, with big guys poised to flank in against whatever got stuck against the Forest Shamblers. On my part, dice kerfuffles slowed my roll a bit but the Hallow was able to smash it out, plus killing my first tarpit colossal felt good. How many more would fall before my run was over??
GAME 2: NORTHERN ALLIANCE
Ice Elementals Horde – Blessing of the Gods Ice Elementals Horde – Chant of Hate Snow Trolls Horde – Dwarven Ale Dwarf Clan Warriors Regiment Dwarf Clan Warriors Regiment Cavern Dweller Cavern Dweller Cavern Dweller Lord on Frostfang – Snow Fox, Blade of Slashing Lord on Frostfang – Snow Fox, Mace of Crushing Ice Blade – Wings of Honeymaze, Snow Fox Ice-Queen – Surge (8), Spell (?) + Crazy As Frost Giant 13(21)
Was this using the updated NA rules? I know Crossroads did a few months later but I suspect this was the old rules – so no Ordered March on the Dwarfs, no Tundra Fighters to worry about, no Chilling Presence, but +1 attak on the Frostlords. As above, there are 50 unaccounted for points, which must be at least one more spell on the Ice-Queen? I feel like she had blizzard … Serakina would make the points work out but I’m not 100% that I was ever windblasted. Regardless, it’s the pre-Tribesfolk core of large infantry and short range shooting with some great squares scooting around threatening to punch holes in things. Including triple Cavern Dwellers! Man that is cool, and a lot to keep track of.
Note that his colossal, who is not Hrimm, definitely has shambling. Because I certainly did not. Minor spoilers.
We played Push, specifically the pre-COK version. He put all three on his Snow Trolls, as was the fashion of the time, and I put two on my Vine Hydra and one on some Tribal Spears on the left. The Herd went first, by choice or otherwise.
BATTLE
All told, my plan for the left half of the board went swimmingly. Lycans and a Centaur Chief escorted my Tribal Spears reg with one token up the flank, combo-charging some Dwarfs to death and then trapping and killing the Frostlord who had aspirations of doing a flank. This went quickly enough that the Tribal Spears and the Lycan were able to help envelop the Snow Trolls, who I had planned on at least delaying on his side of the board if not outright killing once hammers could be brought to bear. Low and behold, we did them a murder and stole their tokens, giving them all to the Tribal Spears horde who had also grabbed the center token, for a great many Push points.
Rewind to the right half of the game. All those Cavern Dwellers and their Frostlord pack leader were always going to be tricky to contain, and they certainly did work, with only one Dweller dying by game end! Thankfully I was able to mostly pen them in early with one Centaur troop, as they had advanced in a line, which gave me the space to Brute off some Ice Elementals and the other Dwarfs before all his squares descended upon me. And descend they did, including a very surprising surge flank from his colossal into Moonfang, that I felt stupid about as I watched the legendary werewolf get stomped into paste. We did kill the colossal in return but bad feels. Despite that, I enjoyed some low rout checks from the NA side that kept my hammers on the right hammering a bit longer than maybe they should have, and ended the game with the Vine Hydra endlessly chomping on a Cavern Dweller, which was entirely copacetic as he had two of my Push tokens and was across the center line. With 14 points to 0, this was a decisive …
HALLOW VICTORY
I’m pretty sure this was my opponent’s first time facing Herd? And he was a little shook by how aggressively I came at him. We had a bit of a discussion about that Moonfang flank that I can’t remember the details of, compounded by it being an 18″ nimble flank charge which seemed to come out of nowhere, but whatever bruised feelings we had dissipated when Moonfang was surge-flanked and I got to feel dumb too All the same, he took his beasting like a champ and was a total gent at Crossroads soon after. And another round of props on the triple (Mantic!) Cavern Dwellers, very cool flex.
Saber-Toothed Hunting Cat Count: 1 (Ice-Queen)
GAME 3: RIFTFORGED ORCS
Fight Wagons Legion – Brew of Sharpness Fight Wagons Legion – Brew of Strength Helstrikers Regiment – Boots of Striding Tundra Wolves Troop Tundra Wolves Troop Ambarox Ambarox Ambarox Thonaar [1] Stormcaller – Sacred Horn, Lightning Bolt (4), Veil of Shadows (3) Riftforger on Manticore – Blade of Slashing *Riftforged Legionaries Regiment *Riftforged Legionaries Regiment *Reborn Legionaries Regiment – (10 Point Item?) + Riftforged Orcling 14(24)
Is this really my first battle report against Riftforged?? Madness. I’ve played them in a couple practice games (usually UB) and have extensively tinkered with them myself, but I guess never bumped into them at an event. Probably checks out, given their scarcity. All the same, I knew what plenty of his list did or wanted to do, tho I’d be lying if I said double tooled up Fight Wagon legions wasn’t horrifying. What I didn’t know, however, was how good Ambarox are, or how much trouble a single regiment of Helstrikers could cause.
Mathew’s colossal was more like what I expected to face. Big shield means you save points on De, headstrong means you save points on Nv, ensnare means you’re doubly great to the front, cloak of death is always tasty, regen 4+ forever (and is cheaper on De 2+), and brutal 3 is very cool (and what I was looking at for my Root Beast too). The most noteworthy thing is going to Sp 8 at the cost of having more attaks, which if you’re leaning on brutal 3 is less of an issue. The model is the big purple troll, keep an eye on him in the slideshow as he gets around.
We played Dominate, with the Riftforged going first. Boo.
BATTLE
This is a tough game to summarize, so let’s focus on Mathew’s four problem units: the Helstriker regiment, the Riftforged Orcling colossal, and the two Fight Wagon legions. It is crazy-making to see how much effort I put into failing to contain those Helstrikers … So Mat holds the Helstrikers back for his last deployment, then pushes up first turn to neuter my Lycan’s speed advantage, as well as the Stampede’s really. I advance my fast flanking hammers a little bit, getting into range of some Tundra Wolves too but I’m not sure I care. Mat surprises me by double-charging my Lycan with Wolves and Helstrikers, which is mathematically a little shaky but on the whole ok? They do 10 damage and waver my ultra-hammer. The Stampede flanks and evaporates the Wolves, and I kneejerk a Centaur Chief into the Helstrikers to sit them down, which is what these heroes are there for. Except on the counter-charge Mat kills the Centaur Chief (not the most likely result but s’ok) … and overruns into the flank of the Lycan horde. He commiserates with me that it’s a bad rule before removing the Lycans and turning to face the rest of my line with what amounts to a piece of thicc chaff. The Stampede roll out of their mind in coming turns to one round some Riftforged Legionaries but are also killed by the freakin’ Helstrikers (after accumulating lots of shooting damage on the way in). I finally smash the Helstrikers with my Spear horde but what a mess that caused.
The Riftforged Orcling is a simpler story but has its twists thanks to being so fast. Mat’s colossal stalked up the middle of the board, frustratingly wavered a Spear reg with the help of some Tundra Wolves (so I couldn’t use my second line to fight either unit), then murdered that regiment and spun to face my Brutes grinding up the left flank. I had become stuck on some Riftforged Legionaries, then suddenly flanked by the Orcling and exploded. The Orcling spun back to the center, stopping my Vine Hydra’s advance until finally being popped like a balloon when my (hindered) Spear horde flanked it. Turns out De 2+ big shield ensnare isn’t great side-on!
One of the upsides of the Orcling’s foray into my left flank is that I need to put my Brutes into his Fight Wagons to kill them, and thus win the game. This was successful on the right, but wow was it not on the left. I out-chaffed Mat on the left flank … until his Ambarox battered down my unit advantage. I don’t have much time to piece trade over there, when suddenly the Orcling appears and removes the Brutes entirely. Luckily my Centaur Chief over there is a boss, killing the Riftforger, finishing off the Legionaries, and eventually sealing the deal on the left Fight Wagons at the end of the game. However, at that point I’m just out of dudes and Mat’s Reforged can saunter into the scoring zone, for a 1 to 5 …
HALLOW LOSS
Credit to Mathew on the Helstriker play, and whatever the opposite of credit is for the same 😛 Looking back, I can see things I could have done differently – like reversing the Lycan and nimbling pivoting so I could at least trade the Centaur Chief for the Helstrikers – but ah well. Third games be like that and Mat played really well.
Saber-Toothed Hunting Cat Count: 2 (Riftforger)
UP NEXT: Day 2! In which we see the return of a suspiciously familiar face …
Dawn of the Second Day. I’m hungover, on the bottom table, playing an exceedingly nice dude whose brother had roped him into playing a tournament for a game he didn’t have a ton of experience with but was down to throw some dice. But also here’s his list:
GAME 4: DWARFS
Shieldbreakers Horde – Chant of Hate, Throwing Mastiff Shieldbreakers Horde – Boots of Striding, Throwing Mastiff Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Ironbelcher Organ Gun Ironbelcher Organ Gun Ironbelcher Organ Gun Steel Behemoth – Golloch’s Fury [1] Stone Priest – Ej Periscope, Knowledgeable, Radiance of Life, Celestial Restoration (3), Hex (2) Dwarf Lord on Large Beast – Orb of Towering Presence Dwarf Lord – Wings of Honeymaze Faber Ironheart [1] *Ironclad Horde – Throwing Mastiff *Bulwarkers Regiment – Throwing Mastiff *Bulwarkers Regiment – Throwing Mastiff *Standard Bearer 16(28)
Seems good! A very hearty Dwarf list that shares many similarities with what in 2024 would become The Dwarf List, including the obligatory formation. Note that this is pre-Clash so none of these Dwarfs have ordered march. I hadn’t faced Organ Guns in a couple of years and can’t say I was too excited about facing three 😅 But at least they’re a known quantity, and probably worse than the triple Sharpshooters that have replaced them? Either way, I drank my energy drink and prepared to slam forward.
We played Salt the Earth, with the Hallow going first, one way or another.
BATTLE
I wouldn’t say my plan going in was to roll the right flank up, but that’s kind of what happened. I burnt the two rightmost tokens in the opening turns before ignoring the Beast Lord and churning through the Dwarfs to the right of the Organ Gun battery. Top marks to the Forest Warden who held up an entire Shieldbreaker horde (the CS1 kind) and lived, buying the Lycans time to blend an Ironguard regiment in the flank and then utterly body the Shieldbreakers to the front. We’re talking like 16 damage out of 18 dice. The Lycans would go on to kill the Beast Lord for good measure and score a point, free of damage. Total chads.
If I had a plan, it was to force through the left flank with double Brute hordes (arguably triple on that half of my deployment) and crumple the Dwarf line side on. I kept hitting speed bumps on the way in – Faber threw himself forward, which took two rounds of Bruting to clear up, and the classic flying Dlord did what flying Dlord’s do, blocking another Brute up (for a single round) – but my dice didn’t help. You’ll notice that that one horde of Shieldbreakers over there took the entire game and three rounds of Brute attaks (90 dice total) to go down. The snake eyes was certainly responsible but these guys really blunted my aspirations for that flank.
As for the center … the Dwarfs shot off my Tribal Spear horde first turn, which lit even more of a fire than I already had. I took his Ironclad horde in response, and we started trading back and forth, with Golloch bouncing around running my hammers over. But he got his own when my Lycan Alpha fear charged the big dude, delivering 10 or so damage and dunking the legendary contraption. The Alpha would end the game hard-modeing into the front of the last Bulwarkers, eventually killing them too, as a Tribal Spear regiment waded through the Organ Guns. With the Dwarfs tabled and the Herd on 5/5 points, this was a full points …
HALLOW VICTORY
It’s hard to say what went so wrong for my opponent – I don’t recall his dice being woefully bad (I’m the one who rolled snakes!) and his list has plenty of Dwarf Good Stuff in it. He was going to struggle a bit on the scenario but then again his Organ Guns were deployed to punish the tokens he wasn’t playing for, so well planned there. Mostly I’m surprised by how much I have left on the board, my Herd is usually pretty mangled come end game … All the same, the big win felt good and hopefully the dude learned some stuff from me getting all positional on him. He did go on to win the Best Sports trophy, which was well-deserved (and paid for in the blood of his Dwarfs, I imagine).
GAME 5: EMPIRE OF DUST
Skeleton Spearmen Horde – Hammer of Measured Force Skeleton Spearmen Horde – Dragonshard Shield Enslaved Guardians Horde – Blessing of the Gods Enslaved Guardians Horde – Boots of Striding Mummies Regiment – Brew of Haste Mummies Regiment – Helm of the Drunken Ram Mummies Regiment – Mead of Madness Mummies Regiment – Pipes of Terror Soul Snare [1] – Drain Life (9) Monolith [1] – Surge (8) Idol of Shobik [1] – Heal (5) Ahmunite Pharaoh – Eternal Guard, Knowledgeable, Surge (8), Host Shadowbeast (3) Cursed High Priest – Wither and Perish (3), Weakness (3) Cursed High Priest – Ej Periscope, Hex (3), Weakness (3) 14(28)
Remember how the Dwarf player last game was roped into this tournament by his brother? This was his brother. Through the magic of tournament rankings, this guy would have the chance to reap sweet vengeance on the Herd what tabled his sibling … and frankly his list looked up to the task. Mummy regiments drive me a little crazy, so four it is. Spearmen hordes are particularly good against Herd (RIP my TC) and he’s got the full allotment of legends (remember that pre-COK Rahs wasn’t taken and (hot take) Sebekh-Reihas always been mediocre). That is a wild number of items but 2600 points be like that sometimes.
We played Dominate to end the tournament, with the Empire going first. The shot below is juuuust into his movement phase, those Mummies weren’t scouting (Mummies didn’t do that in 2023 :P). Also check out that terrain! What a map to play Dominate on when you’re a slow death blob being surrounded by angry tree creatures. Luckily the Stampede strides …?
BATTLE
I’d argue the play of the match happened at the top of Turn 2, when the EOD yeeted the Pharaoh (on foot, mind you!) into a Brute horde, cast Host Shadowbeast, rocked the damage (8-10 out of 10 possible) and then hot rolled the rout twice, removing the Brutes. To make matters worse, I had to put a second Brute horde into the Pharaoh to end his reign of terror, which cost two turns of grinding thanks to rough Nv dice on my part. This severely blunted my momentum down the middle and was all around a great move on the Empire’s part.
Of course, my game was always going to be about hunting for flanks and trying to crush the dusty heart of the EOD blob. To that end, I was forced to take hindered charge after hindered charge, with the obvious exception of the Stampede … who weren’t off the hook tho, spending every turn Weaknessed. Eventually I used the Centaur Chieftain to kick every Cursed Priest he could reach, stopping some of the Weaknessing, but once again my precious momentum had been robbed and the grind fully entered. You can taste my desperation clicking through the photos, especially on the right flank where I just couldn’t get through those Enslaved Guardians and Mummy regiment, even with him snaking the Stampede.
That said, the Herd did get work done, particularly when the surviving Brutes made it into combat. Even hindered, the Lycans were able to lift two regiments of Mummies, and eventually juked Shobik to flip over a Spearmen horde come end game. Thankfully the game ended here, with my 10 US to his 8 (the last of the Mummies were juuuust out). Which by Dominate rules meant this was a …
HALLOW VICTORY
What a grinder to end the tournament. I felt ok going in and was ready to hard roll my way through, but I don’t think I was mentally prepared for how painful that much hindering and Weakness would actually feel to push through. On top of the Pharaoh’s hero charge! Also a note on clocks in this game and last: I’m almost sure we went to time and had some spastic last turns. You can tell by how my dice are everywhere when I’m taking the photos 😉
And that’s a wrap for Orc Town 2023! A fairly cursed first day followed up by trouncing two brothers put me somewhere in the bottom third. So be it. I scored a couple treasures from the raffle afterwards, including this gem from the curling club’s bathroom that now lives in one of mine:
All hail Skullface!
UP NEXT: The King Beyond the Wall IV – The Thing Beyond the Wall
Ah, the Orc Town GT. Crown jewel in the Northeast tournament circuit. Held at the Cape Cod Curling Club in Falmouth, MA, Orc Town is five big games of Kings of War (2665 points) on a surprisingly tight clock (69 minutes), but with amazing prize support, themed tables and great vibes. I had a banging first day in 2022 with my crabs and ended up with Best Sports, would I be able to repeat some of this success in 2023?
Find out in these especially sketchy recaps. Sorry, dead readers, this was almost a year ago and I was in a rough headspace that weekend due to life stuff that happened the week of. Which I suppose is more spoilers!
I talked about my list changes in the last post, but the summary is: Tribal infantry got spears, third Brute horde was windmill-slammed into the list, Hydra saw his first event outing. Wingbane Cloak drinking game is in effect (but you may want something to sip on while you wait for the cloak to matter :P)
I hadn’t played Brian in quite some time and wasn’t sad to face him off the rip. His Abyssals looked great, with a very cohesive scheme and almost entirely Mantic, including possibly the only official Tortured Souls I’ve seen in person. As the list went, it was basically perfect. Top flight Abyssals for Summer 2023 with no fat on it. The Celesto Resto was an interesting touch but Brian knew that the Molochs were the lifters and they didn’t really need any help beyond arriving alive.
We played Raze, with the Hallow going first, as is my want.
BATTLE
I won’t bury the lead on this one: I clocked out on Turn 4. My game of positioning and piece trading took way too long to get moving (45 min spent on Turn 1+2), which didn’t leave me enough time to actually execute with my hammers. Despite me being firmly in control of this match, Brian had a cushy 19 minutes to decimate my dudes, who were now disastrously rooted in place, only allowed to turn to face.
HALLOW LOSS
Rough start to the weekend to say the least! Sorry to Brian for the poor time management on my part.
GAME 2: ORDER OF THE BROTHERMARK
Order of the Abyssal Hunt Regiment – Blessing of the Gods Order of the Abyssal Hunt Regiment – Boots of Striding Paladin Knights Regiment – Brew of Strength Paladin Knights Regiment – Blood of the Old King Paladin Knights Troop – Skirmisher’s Boots Oathsworn Guardians Regiment [1] Villein Bowmen Horde Villein Bowmen Horde Heavy Arbalest Heavy Arbalest Phoenix – Heal (5) Phoenix – Heal (5) High Paladin on Dragon – Blade of Slashing Exemplar Hunter – Order of the Lone Wolf, Mace of Crushing Priest – Conjurer’s Staff, Heal (3), Bane Chant (2) 15(25)
Mr. Kevin Spear, everyone! Always a pleasure and his army is a joy to look at. He was back on Brothermark from Rhordia last year (we played in a Round 1 grudge match as you’ll recall), with quite a bit more shooting thanks to the Phoenix buffs and everyone discovering that Arbalests are rather legit (the Bowmen were always there). If it wasn’t shooting, it was charging 16″ / 20″ into my waiting arms. I remember not feeling like I had the brainpower to stay in control of this one …
We played Control, with Kevin going first. Last turn is good for grabbing board sections, right? Here’s hoping I have an army left 🙃
BATTLE
This was a particularly rough second game. Losing the initiative and having my left Centaurs wavered held up my left flank quite badly, and you can see the moments where luck slapped my Brutes down. On the right, I failed a 3″ overrun off his Exemplar Hunter into a knight regiment, losing the Brutes next turn. In the center, I snaked a rout into peasants with more Brutes, losing the momentum and eventually that unit to Kevin’s dragon … although it’s very strange I didn’t rotate to put the dragon in their front? I’m guessing this is the moment I clocked out Because that also happened, tho going into Turn 6 this time. Hydra lived at least!
HALLOW LOSS
Going into this I felt like we were pretty well matched? Kevin and I are at similar skill levels and our armies have interesting answers to each other, but he grabbed the initiative and I couldn’t wrest it away from him, between wavers, losses to shooting and some floppy combats that I needed to go my way. Clocking out again didn’t help.
Surely this wasn’t the first time I’ve played Chris and his fishpeople? Soft spoken gent and a canny player, I’ve enjoyed chatting with Chris at basically all the NE events since he started coming to them. As for the list, it seems legit. As with most pre-2024 TR lists, the goal is to buff and deliver Thuul where needed, with a backbone of Gigas and sneaky problem solvers in the Knuckers and trident Centurion. Essentially everything ensnares, so I’d have to flex my dice rolling skills. (Ed. note: These skills had apparently not made it to Cape Cod yet.)
We played old school Loot, with the Herd going first. At least I’ve got that going for me.
BATTLE
Walking through my photos, you can see that basically everything took an extra turn to break – Brutes hitting on 5+ are significantly less great, and I was relying on them to carry me through the tournament. Plus there was that one snake eyes once the Stampede trapped a Knucker against the board edge 😛 Anyway, my Hydra grabbed a token and slithered away to hold onto it (doing his one damn job like a professional token holder), while Chris’ Depth Horror horde was handed the left token and was never really in any danger of losing it. Which meant we were fighting for the center token. I grabbed it immediately with my Tribal horde, and had it in control until very late game when the waves of Thuul wore my Tribal spears and then Brutes down. The Thuul weathered my Lycan horde’s late game dive thanks to layer upon layer of barkskin, clinging to life and winning Chris the game.
HALLOW LOSS
Fun fact, I actually clocked out this game too 😅 I had enough to launch the Lycans in and swing but not enough to roll any of the other extraneous combats going on. In retrospect, the clock played less of a role than I gave it credit for in my second two games of the day, but I was definitely scrambling throughout.
So! At Orc Town 2022 I went 2-0-1 the first day with my crabs, ending the day in the nosebleeds of fourth place. Day 1 of Orc Town 2023 saw me 0-3-0 with Herd and literally in last place … but you know what, the bartenders were great and propped up my flagging spirits with plentiful glasses of Orcto Cooler, one of the tastiest damn hangovers I’ve had the pleasure of drinking too much of 💚
As the tournament was being held offsite from the hotel, shenanigans were kept to a dull roar after day one wrapped and we collectively feasted. All too soon, it was time to rejoin the battle for the Mid-Atlantic. Having gone 1-2, my Herd were drifting down the standings, but I was gunning for that day two rally to shore my record up.
I almost never face Goblins, so that’s cool, but these gobs are being piloted by Steve Forster of Dash28 fame! I do enjoy throwing down with people I recognize from the Internet. Steve’s list seemed fine, free of the really egregious shooting spam I’ve heard about and a little more interested in fighting than being trash (i.e. two Troll hordes and double Slashers). The Slashers were the biggest wild card for me, having been freshly buffed in Clash 2023 and a unit I really like in theory.
We played Salt the Earth I think, except neither of us wanted to burn any so we basically played Pillage 😛 I did not go first this game! But not by choice 😉
BATTLE
I approached this game like most of my Herd games: junk wanders forward to prepare counters from my slower hammers, while my Lycan super-hammer hunts down a flank and applies pressure, with the Stampede forcing enemy hammers back. Versus Goblins this seems to run into an awkward situation where they too have a bunch of garbage pushing forward or holding objectives, except instead of hammers they mostly have short range guns. The twist here is that Slashers are very very good, IMO, and Steve’s dice were especially kind to them, in combat or when trumpeting.
The play of the game for me was spotting a Troll flank with my Lycans at almost full charge, which they nimbled into and suddenly Steve has a Lycan horde in his rear. I made the choice to reform the Lycans towards Steve’s center, rather than clean up the left entirely, but then was chaffed and lost the big worm’s targets. My other hammers similarly suffered to get much momentum going – I’d kill a thing, get shot, maybe wavered out of combat (I have a lot of fury that does nothing in that case), maybe fight again, but I’m bleeding to death and the Goblins don’t care. Come end game, I once again have very little left to score, while the Goblins have more than enough to take it.
HALLOW LOSS (4-9)
I don’t know how Steve got 9 points? It definitely doesn’t look like a draw in those last photos! All the same, well played by Steve and I seriously underestimated the Slashers throughout, and paid the price.
GAME 5: LEAGUE OF RHORDIA
Honour Guard Horde Honour Guard Horde Foot Guard Horde (or Dogs of War?) Knights Regiment Knights Regiment Pole-Arms Regiment Pole-Arms Regiment Halfling Archers Regiment Halfling Archers Regiment Battle Shrine [1] Duke on Ancient Winged Aralez Duke Hetronburg [1] Duke on Horse Baron 14(29)
I don’t have John’s list but this is my best recreation. There are 90 points of upgrades missing, which feels right between all the Indomitable Wills and typical upgrades for cavalry or hammers. John was a super nice dude, and a very low key end to the event. If not on the bottom table, we weren’t far from it!
We played Invade to finish the tournament out. The Hallow took the initiative, for a solid four out of five first turns to me. Not bad.
BATTLE
My memory of this game is the weakest of all of them, but I certainly took a lot of photos! Partially because John’s army looked great. The gist of this match is that I woefully undersupported the left flank – the Stampede wasn’t intended to crash through all that fast stuff, but without backup or hot dice it probably wasn’t going to do much, so was essentially delaying the hammers as long as possible … except it’s Invade, so I’m also just letting US3+ walk across the center line and win the game.
On the right, I needed to keep his knights penned in to get my Brutes into play, which only half worked (I wonder if that horde is Dogs of War? To have blunted the Brute charge or clapped back so hard). Plus my Lycans weren’t able to trade for even one knight regiment, a shameful turn of events to be sure. Duke Hetronburg also proved a real thorn in my side, with his Ht 4 hard for my short army to keep in check. In the end, the Brutes and the Lycan Alpha survived, however weren’t enough to offset John’s Honor Guard and couple infantry regiments – all three units that started the game in the upper left! Thanks Stampede 😦
HALLOW LOSS (?-?)
If I had to guess, I’d say I picked up another 3-4 points. Despite getting a trickle of points every game, a single win out of five games wasn’t the best feel to leave with. None of my games felt out of my control, even against Ken, but they all spiraled away in the late game as my soft bodies got bogged down or shot. It was also pretty clear to me that Tribal Spears would have been super helpful in all but possibly the Dwarf game, with so many cav hammers kicking around. Spoilers for the lists ahead.
Sorry for the wait on these Herd reports, and for their brevity. I’ll try to keep the momentum up so we can get back to 2024 🤦♂️
I took my Hallow Herd to four grand tournaments in 2023: Dead of Winter (January), The Pilgrimage (March), Orc Town (June) and King Beyond the Wall (August). You can read about my Dead of Winter run already, but my goal is to finish reports for all of these events before the year ends eventually! Strap in, dead readers, slideshows and recaps are incoming.
The Pilgrimage GT (March 4-5) was five games at 2300 points held in Philadelphia, PA. Of note is that this is a different KOW region from my own, so me and a handful of the Northeastern lads would be raiding the Mid-Atlantic for a change. With decidedly mixed results 😅 It’s worth noting that Pilgrimage used Modified Bullshroud scoring, which gave 10-5-1 points for W-D-L with additions for scenario points and attrition earned, not scenario or attrition differential.
HERD 2300 Lycan Horde – Brew of Strength Guardian Brute Horde Guardian Brute Horde Minotaur Chariot Regiment – The Stampede [1] Tribal Warrior Horde – Brew of Sharpness Tribal Warrior Regiment Tribal Warrior Regiment Tribal Warrior Regiment Centaur Bray Striders Troop Centaur Bray Striders Troop Lycan Alpha – Trickster’s Wand; Hex (2) Great Chieftain – Horn of the Great Migration [1] Centaur Chieftain – Blade of Slashing Druid – Conjurer’s Staff; Bane Chant (2), Heal (2) 14 (27)
In the two months and +150 points between Dead of Winter and The Pilgrimage, all I’ve added is a third regiment of Tribal Warriors and given some tasty upgrades (Wand, Staff, Blade) to the support staff. The concept worked great at DOW, why mess with it? Honestly one of the reasons I went to Pilgrimage was because I wanted to play a 2300 singles event. It sounds weird to say, but those are extremely rare in the Northeast region currently, where we do different points levels or doubles instead.
GAME 1: VARANGUR
The Fallen Horde – Chalice of Wrath The Fallen Horde – Brew of Haste Mounted Sons Regiment – Helm of the Drunken Ram, Guise of the Deceiver Mounted Sons Regiment – Boots of Striding, Guise of the Deceiver Night Raiders Regiment – Bows Snow Foxes Regiment Draugr Regiment Draugr Regiment Magus Conclave – Famulus Magus Conclave – Famulus Frost Giant – Giant Club (!) Magnilde of the Fallen [1] Lord on Frostfang – Snow Fox Skald – Lute of Insatiable Darkness 14(21)
Mike had taken a fairly standard fast Varangur list for this event, with an emphasis on punching as hard as possible but with the usual scenario doers and some shooting of his own. I gave him props for taking a Frost Giant outside of Northern Alliance (with rampage no less!), however he assured me that ‘Frosty the Pillow-Fisted Freakshow’ was mostly a liability. I also took a brief moment to laugh in Herd at his Mounted Sons’ investment in stealth 😅 Note that this is before the Northern Alliance buffs, so the Skald doesn’t grant Ordered March (to the Draugr??) and the Frostlord is still on 9 attaks.
We played Pillage, with the 2 point tokens center and just to the left. The Hallow went first, by design.
BATTLE
The Herd grabbed four of the five tokens immediately and implemented Operation: Bait the Giant All Damn Game on the left. On the right, I used the 19″ charge of the Lycans (1″ longer than Mike’s Sp 9 Fallen, thanks to the Horn of the Great Migration) to force the Fallen to engage, which helped me trade hammers until I had cleared all of the Varangur menace from the board.
HALLOW VICTORY(12-1)
What happens when two hammers smash into each other? The faster hammer with more junk wins, I guess! This was a wild start to the GT and catapulted me to the top table 😐
GAME 2: VARANGUR
Human Clansmen Horde – Norj-Bik (De 5+) Mounted Sons Regiment – Guise of the Deceiver Mounted Sons Regiment – Guise of the Deceiver Mounted Sons Regiment – Guise of the Deceiver Night Raiders Regiment – Bows, Wolf Handlers Night Raiders Regiment – Bows, Wolf Handlers Draugr Regiment Draugr Regiment Lord on Frostfang – Chalice of Wrath, Snow Fox Lord on Frostfang – Staying Stone, Snow Fox Magus – Lightning Bolt (4), Drain Life (6) Magus – Lightning Bolt (4), Drain Life (6) Magus – Lightning Bolt (4), Drain Life (6) Kruufnir [1] 14(24)
So this event had two Australian guests in attendance: Ken Ferris (the then Australian Master) and Jeff Traish (the now Australian Master). After dunking Mike, I had the pleasure of facing Ken Freakin’ Ferris 😵 His Varangur had taken several pages from the elven playbook (recall at the time that Gladestalkers of all flavors had just been buffed, so Night Raiders are doing a pseudo-stalker thing, except with smashier friends), emphasizing shooting with very strong counter-punch and a little sustain thanks to the Magus’ transfusion ability. Again, I took a moment to laugh in Herd at the stealthy knights but let’s be real, it was a nervous laugh.
We played Pillage, with Ken I believe getting the side he wanted. Blessedly, the Hallow got the first turn and took it with gusto, since I had so much shooting to wade through. Note that this game was streamed live – I’m not sure where to or if it’s still around tho, so you’ll have to click thru below per usual.
BATTLE
The first half of the game goes great for me, as I start to roll up Ken’s left flank and remove two of three Mounted Sons regiments early on. I jam hard in the center, preparing to grind in my favor as Brutes pound into the Varangur line. I do have some concern when the Stampede’s early charge into the right Draugr completely flubs, letting a Frostlord start breaking them down, but I’m hopeful that that will hold Ken’s right up until help arrives. All told, the opening three turns have been amazing for me, against the Australian Master of all things!
Then Ken takes a moment to psych himself up – “You’re the fucking Master!” (a direct quote) – and slaps back. His Frostlords heat up and his shooting finally doesn’t have swamp monsters punching them in the face, spelling doom for me. The back half of the game is brutal, seeing my squishy dudes shot off and my harder hitters chased down by Frostlords. I end the game with a single Tribal Warriors regiment cowering on an objective, to Ken’s five.
HALLOW LOSS(3-10)
While it was an honor to play Ken, I will forever remember how close I came to cracking him, on the Internet no less 😤 After the event wrapped, he let me know I was his favorite opponent for taking that rise and fall in stride. What a gent.
GAME 3: DWARFS
Berserker Brock Riders Regiment – Boots of Striding Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Ironguard Regiment – Throwing Mastiff Sharpshooters Troop Sharpshooters Troop Sharpshooters Troop Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment Steel Behemoth – Golloch’s Fury [1] Steel Behemoth Dwarf Lord on Large Beast Dwarf Lord on Large Beast Faber Ironheart [1] 14(24)
I played Joe in the first game of his first Kings of War event (Keystone GT 2018), and it’s been great to see him do better and better as time has gone on. He’s been riding pretty high with Dwarfs as their star has risen, with Pilgrimage continuing that trend. His version of The Dwarf List eschewed the formation to go the Ironguard + Sharpshooter spam route, with the double Beast Lords, second Behemoth and Brocks giving it a bit more of a counter-punch feel than some versions. Note that this is pre-Clash 2024, so none of those Dwarfs have Ordered March. Thank the gods.
Pretty sure we played Control, with the Herd going first one way or another. Joe’s a largely reactive player, so he may have let me take it, but either way I was content to race into the Dwarven castle.
BATTLE
My takeaway from this game was that I shouldn’t have given the Dwarfs exactly what they wanted. Joe was clearly going to castle around the hill in the deployment zone he chose; I should have clearly gone hard on the other flank and swept in, forcing him to turn his lines as I scored the back end of the lower left section. Instead, I attempted to ford the gunfire on the left while hooking in from the right. That isn’t horrible … but became much harder when his totally incompetent Brocks couldn’t chew through the Centaurs escorting my Lycan super hammer into his lines, snaking them twice! When my Lycans finally did fight, they flopped hard (5 damage instead of 10 with a 3 to rout), dying for their efforts and leaving the right flank to the Centaur Chief to clean up. Fakk me.
Meanwhile, my assault on the Dwarf castle wasn’t going terribly. I had been pounding through all that De 6+ at a good clip, but Sharpshooters on a hill meant my dudes were not only bleeding from combat but being finished off after those combats wrapped. Come end game, I just didn’t have much left to score, with a lonely Tribal Warrior reg keeping me in unit strength.
HALLOW LOSS (3-10)
I’m not sure why I chose hard mode for this game – I vaguely wanted to give Joe a fun match? As fun as being the gallery part of a shooting gallery is! I kind of wanted to pressure test the Hallow as well, since this was one of my few matches into The Dwarf List, if possibly the first? All the same, Joe’s a good dude and a big fan of mine, and I had had a helluva first day.
UP NEXT: Day 2! Back to the bottom third where I belong.
Round 4 dawns and, after some shuffling of match-ups, Cuddle Time is facing off against the cruel embrace of Venereal Taint! Yes, this does mean there’s a chance that Mikael and I rematch, but because he can control his fate this time, I’m matched into the new and improved Northern Alliance. I choose Loot as it’s the best option of those available (only six scenarios are in the pool each round).
Game 4: Northern Alliance
Frostfang Cavalry Horde – Tundra Fighters, Staying Stone Ice Elementals Horde – Blessing of the Gods Human Tribesfolk Horde – Tundra Fighters, Chalice of Wrath Half-Elf Berserkers Regiment – Boots of Striding? Ice Kin Hunters Regiment Ice Kin Hunters Regiment Ice Kin Hunters Regiment Frostclaw Riders Regiment – Ice Bombs? Snow Foxes Regiment Hrimm, Legendary Ice Giant – Icy Breath (12) Serakina, the Ice Queen – Surge (8), Wind Blast (6) Ice Queen – Blizzard (2), Bane Chant (2) 2300 (12/26)
I don’t have Brad’s list, so have made some educated guesses. There are 5 points left, so maybe the Berserkers had something else? The birds may not have had bombs either. All the same, loads of shooting and heaps of frozen to make me go even slower, with wind blast in there to make me go negative inches forward when possible. And I’ll say it right now: Serakina really is the worst.
Craggoth scouted up onto a token, at which point Mikael informed me he couldn’t pick it up, which was fine. Sad for what’s about to happen, but fine. Brad’s Ice Kin Hunters scouted into range, then he won and took first turn, and I begin to have a concern.
BATTLE
Turn 1: The Northern Alliance advances on the wings, forming the classic death crescent. Ice Kin Hunters and the Ice Queen with blizzard spike 4 damage into the central sharpness Earth Elemental horde, freezing them down to Sp 4. Oof. On the left, the Ice Elementals and Serakina do 5 damage to Craggoth, freezing him to Sp 5 and wind blasting him several inches to the left (if he could have picked up the objective he would be immune to wind blast). Double oof.
The Freeforged shamble forward in response. Mastiffs provide some cover to the sharp Earth horde in the center, as well as stop them when the Stone Priest surges the slow horde forward a couple inches. Craggoth skitters back over to the token and picks it up. If his fireball was in range to the Ice Elementals, it completely fluffed.
Turn 2: Brad hardly moves, simply adjusting a couple facings and pulling the Frostclaws and Frostfangs back as reserves. Ice Kin Hunters and the Ice Queen deal 12 damage to the central Mastiffs, removing them. Serakina wind blasts the orb Beast Lord on the left backwards, freezing him to Sp 6, and the Ice Elementals push Craggoth up to 10 damage, freezing him again.
With Brad’s Ice Elementals rolling so well, I decide to evacuate Craggoth while I still can, scuttling him back towards my lines with token in tow. The rest of the iron line powers forward as fast as it can. Mastiffs on the right pick up another token, as the sword Beast Lord plows through the wood and charges the Berserkers (hindered). He does 2 damage (…) but has stripped their TC and is out of Hrimm’s LOS.
Northern Alliance 3: In which I discover that the Frostclaws can in fact fit into Craggoth’s flank. Good eyes, Brad! The birds charge the giant metal scorpion. The Berserkers counter-charge the sword Beast Lord, with the Frostfangs joining them. Hrimm’s frozen aura freezes the Free Dwarf hero for chad for good measure.
In shooting, the Ice Elementals, the blizzard Ice Queen and Serakina do 5 damage to the left Greater Earth Elemental, shoving him several inches backwards. The sharp Earth horde in the center goes up to 7 damage and is frozen thanks to the Ice Kin Hunter firebase, and Hrimm breaths on the Mastiffs, freezing and wavering them on 4 damage. In combat, the Frostclaws tear Craggoth apart, scooping up the token and overrunning 2 inches. And the Berserkers and Frostfangs do 8 damage to the sword Beast Lord, wavering him.
Free Dwarfs 3: Determined to rest some control back, I charge the orb Beast Lord into the Ice Elementals (hindered over the wall) and an Earth Elemental regiment into the waiting horde of Tribesfolk. The Greater Earth on that flank pushes up to the wall and hopes he gets to charge somebody at some point (Brad later told me he would have surged the GEE forward, and while I could maybe have gotten my Sp 4 caster into range, I think it would have pulled his inspiring away from dudes who needed it? Spoilers.) Neither combat is brilliant (3 damage to the Ice Elementals and 4 to the Tribesfolk) but those units are in one place now and not shooting.
On the right, my sword Beast Lord fails his headstrong (the Dwarven Curse strikes!), which sees an Earth regiment charge the Berserkers unsupported as the right Greater Earth charges the Frostfangs. I roll pretty great but 5 damage and 7 damage respectively isn’t enough to do much. You can see I’m already preparing to scoop up tokens with my rear Earth Elemental horde once the sharp Earth horde pops, which has claimed the center token for now.
Northern Alliance 4: Brad begins by backing up 2/3 of his Ice Kin firebase. Success 😤 Otherwise everybody counter-charges their dance partners, as the Frostclaws drag their token towards my table edge and Hrimm and the Snow Foxes mill about. Serakina freezes and wind blasts the left Greater Earth back again (*sigh*), before the Ice Kin Hunters and Ice Queen push the central sharp Earth horde to 11 damage, freezing them of course. Hrimm breaths on the Mastiffs again, and once again freezes and wavers them (on 6 damage).
In combat, the orb Beast Lord takes 2 damage from the Ice Elementals, losing his TC2. The Earth regiment next to him is, however, utterly dismantled by the Tribesfolk horde. On the right, the Berserkers chip 3 damage onto their Earth regiment, and the right Greater Earth takes a sterling 9 damage from the Frostfangs. Note that thanks to Hrimm’s chilling presence both units were frozen, which triggered tundra fighters (vicious) in the NA troops. Nice.
Free Dwarfs 4: A turn too late, I send the left Greater after the non-flying, non-nimble, Sp 5 birds carrying the token. It isn’t wonderful but I feel like it’s better than getting aced by the Tribesfolk when Brad feels like it. The orb Beast Lord hits the Ice Elementals again. On the right, the Berserkers cop a combo-charge from a Earth Elemental horde and regiment, as the Frostfangs receive the combined attention of the slayer Beast Lord and the right Greater Earth. The Mastiffs drop their token and the reserve Earth horde picks it up. Finally, the sharp Earth horde sidesteps 2.5″, dragging their token closer to my deathball.
Combat is decisive on the right, with both NA units bludgeoned into the snow. The orb Beast Lord on the left successfully disorders the Ice Elementals (4 damage total).
Northern Alliance 5: Serakina signals that it’s time for the Alliance to move this turn! Mostly! The Frostclaws drag their token into the leftmost woods, the Tribesfolk saunter towards the central token and melee, as the Ice Kin Hunters mostly decide they’re good where they are, except for one unit that charges into an Earth Elemental horde before they get charged. Hrimm plows into an Earth regiment (freezing everyone within 6″) and his pet Snow Foxes leap on the right Greater Earth.
Serakina freezes and wind blasts the left Greater Earth sideways, ensuring it can’t catch the birds this turn or next. And the two Ice Kin Hunters with the help of the Ice Queen’s blizzard finish off the sharp Earth horde after 5 turns of shooting it. Result. In combat, the Ice Kin Hunters do a single damage to the Earth horde (respect), before Hrimm obliterates his Earth regiment and the Snow Foxes preposterously drag down the wounded Greater Earth! Best Swarm 2019-2023. Also it looks like the Ice Elementals lost their damn minds and did 10 damage to the orb Beast Lord, but the dude held on 12 damage. Wow.
Free Dwarfs 5: The Greater Earth on the left stumbles forward 5″, honestly to get away from Serakina more than anything. Otherwise, the orb Beast Lord counters the Ice Elementals again, the Earth horde fighting Ice Kin Hunters fights Ice Kin Hunters, the sword Beast Lord gleefully charges into Hrimm (hindered), and the Mastiffs charge the Snow Foxes, fancying a chaff off. My reserve Earth horde scoop up the token dropped last turn, adding it to their other one.
The Stone Priest fails to bane chant the Earth horde fighting elves, then it’s on to combat. The orb Beast Lord continues to do 2 damage a turn to the Ice Elementals (5 total after Serakina’s radiance), the Earth horde does a solid 7 damage to the Hunters, the sword Beast Lord slams 3 into Hrimm, and the Mastiffs chomp 2 into the Foxes. Nobody cares but everybody is disordered.
Northern Alliance 6: Brad draws the noose tight, but will it be enough? The Tribesfolk flank the Earth horde embroiled with the Ice Kin Hunters, as more Ice Kin Hunters flank the sword Beast Lord fighting Hrimm. The Foxes counter the Mastiffs and the Ice Elementals do the same to the mangled orb Beast Lord. The Frostclaws drag their token through the woods, away from their giant, dogged pursuer. Sadly (for me), Serakina finds the angle and shoves the Greater Elemental sideways again, frozen forever.
In combat, the Earth Elemental horde holds on 10 damage! Helped I’m going to guess because bane chant on the horde failed? Hrimm and the Snow Foxes can’t fail tho, dropping the Beast Lord and Mastiffs. But the roller coaster continues as the Ice Elementals can’t wound the orb Beast Lord clinging to life.
Free Dwarfs 6: Unexpectedly, I might have this! I delightedly hit the Tribesfolk horde in the front and flank with Earth Elemental hordes. It lives when I beef the Nv test (IIRC I needed like a 4-6 and rolled very low). The orb Beast Lord hits the Ice Elementals yet again, but I don’t think broke them. And the left Greater plods after those damn birds, having never swung all game.
Thankfully there’s no Turn 7, making this a …
FREEFORGED VICTORY
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeew what a game, and pretty unique for Kings of War, with so many movement debuffs. Pretty sure I gave Brad my favorite opponent vote as well. Overall, it was really cool to see the new Northern Alliance functioning as the combined arms force it was designed to be, and I appreciate that while Frostclaws did technically do some really meaningful work, it wasn’t through spamming them or going hard alpha, but carefully timed play. Also special shoutout to Ice Elementals going to 12″ shooting as being one of the best hidden buffs, it synergizes really well with frozen’s -1 Sp. Finally, Serakina can go straight to hell.
Round 5 puts Cuddle Time up against Barry’s Bathwater Experience, somewhere just below the middle of the pack. I end up against Mike, a dude I actually played in the first round of Pilgrimage 2023, in a battle which some day you’ll get to read about 😬 While I was playing Herd last time we met, Mike is still rocking Varangur, except on the other side of the update.
Game 5: Varangur
The Fallen Horde – Brew of Strength The Fallen Regiment – Staying Stone Human Tribesfolk Horde – Chalice of Wrath Human Tribesfolk Regiment – Orb of Towering Presence Mounted Sons Regiment – Helm of the Drunken Ram, Guise of the Deceiver Mounted Sons Regiment – Boots of Striding, Guise of the Deceiver Night Raiders Regiment – Fire-Oil, Bows Draugr Regiment Draugr Regiment Snow Foxes Regiment Magnilde of the Fallen Kruufnir Magus on Horse – Boots of Levitation, Knowledgeable; Alchemist’s Curse (4) Skald – Lute of Insatiable Darkness; Bane Chant (2)
That’s 3 AC(4) casters out of 5 games! My plan for Mike’s is the same as the other ones: ignore them unless they get within 14″ of a Beast Lord (they won’t) and try to kill faster than they can melt my large metal children. Otherwise the list is fairly standard Varangur, with more variety than I’m used to but looks like he was trying out some of the improved infantry options. For reference, he had more shooting at Pilgrimage, as well as a Frost Giant which I did my best to frustrate and keep wandering around not doing much 😉
We’re playing Dominate because I chose scenario 😛 Craggoth scoots up a flank and I win and take first turn. Off to a good start.
BATTLE
Turn 1: The Freeforged stomp forward once again, with Mastiffs scampering ahead to be annoying as Craggoth scuttles up the flank more conservatively than usual, thanks to the Fallen’s presence.
The Varangur line advances apace, the standouts being the Fallen regiment cresting the hill and the Magus whipping down the left flank. Using the power of his horse’s magical boots (???), the Magus is able to cast while marching, scorching 5 damage into the leftmost Greater Earth Elemental. So it begins. Also the Night Raiders land a cheeky damage on Craggoth with their bows, the scamps.
Free Dwarfs 2: Declaring my hatred of the Fallen, I hit Mike’s regiment with Mastiffs and the sword Beast Lord in the front and Craggoth in the flank. They explode spectacularly. I overrun the Mastiffs to jam the Fallen horde but they only go 1 inch, which means I have to reform Craggoth in such a way that Kruufnir (and the Night Raiders) are in his flank. He’s a tough scorpion so how bad can it be? In other news, I punch the left Mastiffs up 12″ to be in the way of Mike’s Tribesfolk, who must be within 11″ of my sharpness Earth horde.
Varangur 2: Things start to get messy as the Varangur make contact across the line. The Tribesfolk regiment hits the waiting Mastiffs, Snow Foxes whip into the sharp Earth Elementals, Draugr hit an Earth horde and regiment, the Fallen horde obliges and charges the Mastiffs in front of them, and Craggoth is hit in the front by the drunken ram Mounted Sons regiment (so that’s CS1+TC2) and the flank by Night Raiders (who have TC1). Kruffnir abstains from combat, instead nimbling around the legendary titan. Finally, the Magus circles his Greater Earth target and Magnilde uses her once per game fly to land within the Freeforged lines, glaring at the Stone Priest.
There is a brief pause broken by the shrieking of superheated metal as the Magus curses the GEE up to 9 damage, after which the axes descend. The Tribesfolk deal 7 damage to the left Mastiffs, who hold. The Snow Foxes and both Draugr regiments deal a single damage to their targets, leaving the elementals unphased. The Fallen horde dunks their Mastiffs unceremoniously, and Craggoth takes only 10 damage from his aggressors.
Free Dwarfs 3: Craggoth, very much alive, kicks things off by flanking his Mounted Sons for great vengeance. I send the left Mastiffs in to block up the horde of Tribesfolk, and use that safety to put the central Greater Earth into the flank of the Snow Foxes. Earth Elementals counter the Varangur chaff down the line (Snow Foxes, Draugr, Draugr). I back up the sword Beast Lord to keep the Fallen horde, the Night Raiders and Kruufnir in his front, rather than charging, getting stuck and flanked / reared. On the left, I decide the melting Greater Earth is basically dead, so push him into the woods and invite charges from the Mounted Sons and/or the Tribesfolk regiment. I turn the left Earth regiment around and prepare to surge 4″ into Magnilde. It won’t save my Stone Priest unless they kill her but crazy dice happen … but I roll 3″ out of 8 dice and they fall short (seen in the left photo below).
After this turn Mike wondered why I didn’t charge the central Greater into the Tribesfolk horde? The Mastiffs could have easily protected his flank from Sons or the Tribesfolk regiment, and the sharp Earth horde did not need help against the Snow Foxes. I didn’t have a great answer apart from being scared of the horde killing my big guy … but would now like to know why I didn’t help clear off the Draugr to the GEE’s right? It would have been great to have that horde freed up a turn earlier, and very much looks like he can their flank.
Anyway. Craggoth splatters those Mounted Sons and turns to face the Fallen horde, showing his butt to the Night Raiders and yet again tempting Kruufnir. Those Snow Foxes are turned to mist, and the Draugr get slapped around (5 damage and 3 damage). The Tribesfolk horde takes a damage from the Mastiffs.
Varangur 3: Screaming Herja’s war cry, Magnilde charges into the Stone Priest lurking in the central forest. The cry is taken up throughout the Varangur host as the Mounted Sons launch into the damaged Greater Earth Elemental (they pop boots to avoid hindering), the Tribesfolk regiment charges the sharp Earth horde, the Fallen hit Craggoth in the front with Night Raiders in the rear, and Kruufnir lopes into the flank of the Earth regiment fighting Draugr. The horde of Tribesfolk deal with their Mastiffs and the other Draugr regiment flails against their Earth horde again.
The Magus sears 6 (!) damage into the orb Beast Lord, and then it’s on. The Mounted Sons down their Greater Elemental and the Tribesfolk horde bashes the last of their mechanical Mastiffs down. That’s the end of Mike’s good news, however. The Tribesfolk regiment does 1 damage to the sharp Earth horde, the Stone Priest holds after taking 6 damage from Magnilde, Draugr do 1 damage to the other engaged Earth horde, and Kruufnir only manages to get his Earth regiment up to 4 damage. The heartbreaker tho is Craggoth snake eyesing on 22 damage 🫂 Devastated but at what cost?
Free Dwarfs 4: Time to capitalize on Mike’s misfortune! The sword Beast Lord flanks the Fallen horde as fast as possible, with the mangled husk of Craggoth counter-charging the Night Raiders to his rear. Kruufnir is flanked by an Earth Elemental horde, as the Draugr receive another round of pounding from their Earth Elemental opponents. The sharp Earth Elementals counter the Tribesfolk regiment, the Earth Elemental reg that was trying to catch Magnidle charge into her this turn, and the central Greater Earth thunders into the Mounted Sons that killed its fellow, with the orb Beast Lord lending (hindered) support.
The Tribesfolk, Fallen and one unit of Draugr are brutalized and sent fleeing, but it’s not all roses for the Freeforged. The Mounted Sons waver on 12 damage (that’s me failing to roll a 4 with no reroll!), Kruufnir only takes 5 damage, Magnidle takes none, and Craggoth likewise can’t strip the thunderous from his Night Raiders.
Varangur 4: The Tribesfolk horde vaults the hedge and flanks the surviving Greater Earth (hindered but bane chanted), as the Mounted Sons disengage. Kruufnir has another go at the Earth reg’s flank, Magnilde goes back into the Stone Priest, and the Night Raiders envelope Craggoth and prepare to end the scorpion at last.
The Magus thankfully only manages to curse 2 more damage into the orb Beast Lord, putting him on a manageable 8. In combat, the Greater Earth is cutting down under weight of the Tribesfolks’ attaks, but Mike realizes he’s butted the Skald right up against the unit, making it impossible to reform to face my sharp Earth Elementals 😐 Moving past this, Magnidle decapitates the Stone Priest and overruns to stand in front of an Earth horde, Craggoth is stabbed into submission by Night Raiders, and Kruufnir faffs against the Earth regiment, bringing them to 9 damage but still no rout.
Free Dwarfs 5: The orb Beast Lord charges the very damaged Mounted Sons (hindered), the sharp Earth Elementals flank the Tribesfolk horde, Magnidle is mobbed by a horde and a regiment of Earth Elementals, Kruufnir is flanked by an Earth Elemental horde on one side and a CS3+TC2 Beast Lord on the other, and the battered Earth reg has one more go at the surviving Draugr.
Rocks fall, everybody dies.
Varangur 5: With very little left, Mike takes what he can but in the end we are playing Dominate … The Skald hides behind a hedge, the Magus cooks the orb Beast Lord up to 11 damage (he holds), and the Night Raiders put 3 damage on the sword Beast Lord (shrug).
Free Dwarfs 6: The orb Beast Lord hits the Skald for 2 damage (hindered), and the Night Raiders die to the sword Beast Lord and an Earth horde.
Varangur 6: The Magus successfully melts the orb Beast Lord using alchemist curse, shortly before the Skald fails to hurt an Earth horde. But of course there’s another turn.
Turn 7: The sword Beast Lord and an Earth horde charge the Skald, caving his skull in. The Magus I think tried to curse off the 9 damage Earth regiment, which regardless of the result, this was another heavy …
FREEFORGED VICTORY
What a smasher to end the tournament on. Before we started, Mike commented that he rolled three snake eyes in the game before … and so naturally he rolled four in this one 😅 Only one was really catastrophic but his dice in general keep getting worse and worse, especially around his alchemist curse – i.e. his strongest counter into my wall of iron that I could never touch. I heartily thanked his dice for the gift. Mike took his drubbing well and I suspect we’ll play again the next time our regions cross.
Despite my truly unexpected five out of five wins, Cuddle Time still ended up 18th out of 24 teams, scoring high in sports and solid in appearance even if our overall battle wasn’t great. Hopefully the rest of the lads had a decent time? I’m still riding pretty high from smashing everybody up, glossing over Game 3’s poor Abyssal Dwarf seal clubbing. I’ll always wonder how much I can write off my wins to choice of scenario? I played Dominate three times and Loot / Plunder for the other two, which seems pretty perfect for me (hell, I chose them!) Being teched into didn’t seem to matter a lot – Alchemist Curse (4) on mobile casters sucked but I pushed through. I think more mobile armies would have been more of a pain for me, at least play-wise, but you really need to be able to lift to take this army out.
Somebody averaged out performance by faction for this event, and well:
🪨🪨🪨
Looking to do some sort of wrap up for my 2023 Herd tournaments, I took way too many photos to not do something with them all. Til then, thanks for reading!
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.
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.
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!)
This cost me another Earth horde before they too were taken out.
BLOODFIRE 