Oh geez, replying 25 days later… time has definitely gotten away from me. Thanks for reading @Rune!
Yeah, I don’t know where the idea originally came from, but the TO has done this Veto/Pick selection at both of the tournaments he’s run over the last year, and I am totally here for it. It apparently is tougher to score on the back-end, since everyone is playing a different scenario so points end up just being W/L/T instead of a potentially wider spread, but picking the scenario adds a nice layer of planning game-to-game and I’ve enjoyed it. I’d definitely recommend folks try this out sometime!
Then, it’s been nearly 2 months away, but I finally made it back to the table recently. During my time away from the table I didn’t get much hobbying in either, but I did manage to repair my Lycans and so I wanted to test them out, and explore some troop-heavy play again, so I brought the Herd back out.
Battle 115 was against Joe’s new elite, human-centric Northern Alliance force. Joe’s got a lot of army ideas, and it was need to see one hit the table and look so good – I really liked all the plank bases he went with.
Battle 116 was against Rob and his Ravenous Halflings. This is always a touch match-up, but every Nerve check against me was 9+ and with a lot of small troops on my side of the table, it was a very quick game.
- As discussed in DarkBlack’s necromantic thread, Lycan units take some finesse, and one really needs to be using their speed to get around enemy lines instead of charging into the front sooner. I tried a few different approaches with them. The first was deploying on the wings to pressure and threaten flanks, which worked well. The second was centrally, trying to project threat through the center. The latter approach didn’t work, as I had nothing to really back up the Lycans, and no significant presence on the wings. Going forward I think I want to prioritize moving/threatening with them over charging, and think moving them to threaten flank/rear charges will do more for me than actually getting them into combat. Overall, I’d reinforce for takeaways elsewhere, namely that the Lycans are not a hammer and won’t hard-carry your list to victory with brute-force.
- Troop-heavy play was fun, but a little risky. It was a bit of a rock-paper-scissors result here, with troops besting the elite list since I can chaff them up, but losing to lists with more ranged damage output, since they can pick my troops off and turn them into a liability. Generally-speaking, 6 troops is probably a bit much, but Harpies, Trappers, and Hunters all have differing roles and I haven’t quite settled on exactly what I like yet.
- The Wiltfather continues to perform for me. Available in several armies, he’s got a reputation and demands your opponent come up with a plan. Even with my opponent actively avoiding him, Cloak of Death helped, and he was able to contribute.
- The Avatar of the Father is still alluring, but I have not found his niche yet. He’s been unlucky, but I also can’t help but also conclude I’ve been using him poorly. I think he gets better the more speed you have in a list, and that’s not something I’ve explored much. I think he might have some play with Lycans as well, so we’ll continue to swap him in here and there and see if we can find a home for him, and I’ve already got some ideas coalescing.