Regnum Aeternum - Written Battle Reports for KoW 3rd Edition

[TastyBagel]

I am very far behind on writing and posting and sharing here. I’ve gotten 5 games in with Command Dice. I’ll hold off on the majority of my commentary for now, but quickly, if one person has the physical dice, it’s not as big of a barrier to entry as I thought it would be. It’s still too messy and too complicated for the impact it has on the game imo. More testing (and blabbering) to come as I stumble forward and learn more. Up now though are two games from my Undead, playing two very different lists, and trying to explore the army roster more.

Battle 095 was the new Protect and Raze scenario, with Undead MMU (regiments of Skeletons and Soul Reavers) against Def6 Imperial Dwarfs.

• I didn’t even Shamble much, but the movement phase one turn broke my brain, as the Def6 Dwarfs had more units, speedier units, and killier units than me all at once. Rude. I should leading in the first category most of the time; I was just getting out-played a bit.
• Still, MMU looks viable (and fun), as cheap skeletons and zombies looks like a great way to get drops, board presence, and unlocks.
• They didn’t have good luck as the game progressed, but triple Soul Reavers seems viable (and fun) as well. Not so sure about Hann’s, but Chalice for Fury and Ale for Headstrong seems like two good takes for these. My opponent definitely underestimated them to start, which is unlikely to happen again, so we’ll see how they do in the future. Relative to other hammers (Wights), I think these are easier to hide, so a mix of hammer might be a good call in the future.
• Revenant Wyrms continue to impress. Non-shambling, Striding, and a longer charge-range is great, and they continue to play very nicely with Undead ASBs.
• Revenant Cavalry continue to be a nice pick for the extra threat too, and also have the nice interaction with the Undead ASBs. I really like the keyword interactions in the Undead list, and hope to explore that more (Zombies/Necromancer aura; Skeletons ASB aura; even Ghouls and Ghast aura) in future games.

Battle 096 was the new Compass Points, with my data-driven Undead (building off of the army review from Data and Dice blog) against the blog’s author and his jack of all trades Sylvan kin.

• The army analysis only addressed units, so there was still plenty of points to play around with, and I think I did a good job filling in the spaces. I think taking those analytics as a starting point isn’t a bad idea at all. Looking forward to some more army reviews!
• In both games I struggled with positioning and the Undead Skeletons in the mid-game. They are starting each game out ok, and think that’s a viable way to run them. More practice is needed to squeeze a little more juice out of them as the games go on though.
• I’ve been playing around with Celestial Restoration for a while, and this is the first game it’s really popped off. Towering monsters and units are good recipients, but have the main targets being higher defense units really helped out as the Resto could spike and keep good pace with the incoming damage in ways it couldn’t really do with the generally Def4 Herd.

Two great games against two great dudes. I had a blast exploring the Undead some more!

I just broke 100 games, so I’ve got more reports coming soon!

[DarkBlack]

@TastyBagel

Battle 095 was the new Protect and Raze scenario, with Undead MMU (regiments of Skeletons and Soul Reavers) against Def6 Imperial Dwarfs.

I like the skeleton theme and trying out regiments.
I’m taking spear regiments for the same reason.
I’ve been eyeing a giant skeleton model for my revenant on burrowing worm, as it’s basically a giant profile. So it’s interesting to see how they do.

The lich seems like a lot of points for one spell that’s tricky to use. I’d want more utility or to get cheaper healing.
Like a necromancer with periscope, drain life, surge and maybe veil of shadows.

That was a tough dwarf list.

[Boss_Salvage]

Strong agree on the under-equipped liche, a hero I’m otherwise more cool with than actual Undead players. Upon reading that report I was inspired to tweak the list, which has sat in my notepad until now:

Undead [2300]

Skeleton Warriors (Infantry) Regiment [85]
– Two-handed Weapons [0]
Skeleton Warriors (Infantry) Regiment [85]
– Two-handed Weapons [0]
Skeleton Warriors (Infantry) Regiment [85]
– Two-handed Weapons [0]
Skeleton Spearmen (Infantry) Horde [185]
– Undead Giant Rats [10]
– Hann’s Sanguinary Scripture [10]
Soul Reaver Infantry (Infantry) Regiment [245]
– Chalice of Wrath [15]
Soul Reaver Infantry (Infantry) Regiment [245]
– Dwarven Ale [15]
Soul Reaver Infantry (Infantry) Regiment [235]
– Staying Stone [5]
Revenant Cavalry (Cavalry) Troop [115]
Revenant Cavalry (Cavalry) Troop [115]
Liche King (Hero (Infantry)) 1 [175]
– Talisman of Silence [15]
– Mind Fog (2)
– Surge (10) [40]
– Heal (6) [40]
Liche King (Hero (Infantry)) 1 [170]
– Surge (10) [40]
– Heal (6) [40]
– Mindfog(2) [10]
Undead Army Standard Bearer (Hero (Infantry)) 1 [80]
– Shroud of the Saint [25]
– Heal (3)
Undead Army Standard Bearer (Hero (Infantry)) 1 [80]
– Lute of Insatiable Darkness [25]
– Bane Chant (2)
Revenant on Undead Great Burrowing Wyrm (Hero (Titan)) 1 [200]
Revenant on Undead Great Burrowing Wyrm (Hero (Titan)) 1 [200]

More healing! But the kind that allows you to be within 12" Also the liches have other things to do when they aren’t healing, and while I think Surge (20) feels like more than the list needs, since it’s relying on vamps to do the lifting, it’s also on two very good chassis and allows for some jank with those CS1 skellies and, of course, the rev cav. By the by, really dig the bonky skellies, nice work on the modeling too.

Anyway! Enjoying the reports, nice to see command dice make an appearance. Saw you caught the limit on duplicating orders in a single turn

One other rules thing, if an attak has a set value (like the mansplitter’s throwing axe), you can’t add +D3 to it using the scythe/axe. This was an errata some time back targeted primarily at Goblin bangits IIRC.

[DarkBlack]

@TastyBagel

Battle 096 was the new Compass Points, with my data-driven Undead

That game was amazingly close.

A data driven approach sounds like a good idea!
It was interesting to see how well the cost-effective zombie trolls and worms did. Definitely makes me more interested in those units.
I’ll try out a skeleton spear horde too. Although I think multiple regiments offers tactical flexibility that’s hard to quantify.

[TastyBagel]

Thanks gents! Covering a lot with my replies here…

With Speed 7, Inspiring and Spellcaster 3 to start with, I am very interested in trying out the Liche, but I think you are both correct in that the Celestial Resto is just too finicky a spell, and given his steep base cost, he needs to be doing more than hanging back and lobbing out weird heals. If I tool him up too much I might as well take Mhorgoth, but I’ll definitely experiment with him more going forward. Thanks for the feedback on him.

Lol, thanks for taking notes @Boss_Salvage ! And thanks for the Scythe/Axe correction. I always appreciate pointing out these rules foibles. I’ll hop back and add a little disclaimer there.

Our playgroup are all slowly wrapping our respective brains around Command Dice. I think there is a little more stumbling in the upcoming reports, but we’re all doing better. We have a local tournament in January that will be using them, so for whatever it’s worth, we’ll hopefully have some more informed opinions on them after that. I want to see if we can slip in a survey question or two for the attendees to try and quantify feelings at all… but we’ll see what can be worked in.

I have a few oddball Undead list ideas to test (a Ghoul-heavy list and also a Wight-heavy list), but I dig the Liche idea and the duplication, and I will try to fold that and some of your suggestions into testing soon. Higher Surge would play better in with the Wights and stuff anyways. I think the Horde is probably the better way to run the Skeleton Spearmen as a way to really block off a section of the table, and I really like your idea to use Rats and Hann’s to give them some more staying power.

I want to agree with @DarkBlack that multiple Spear Regiments have value. I think in terms of deterrence, I think there is a better-than-usual case to be made for the Undead, as 100 points for a Fearless 15, US3 regiment with Phalanx is pretty nice, but depending on both your list and the opposing list, it can be hard to keep them around as your late drops to get them where they need to be. I’m going to try to fit in some Spear Regiments a few more times, but my meta is mostly no cavalry / TC or super-extra scary Halfling cavalry (especially with the Command Orders for the Halflings…) with very little in between, so it ultimately they might not work for me. I’m currently hobbying up a few more units of Warriors with two-handers, which I think will be the direction my army goes for trashy space-taking regiments, but we’ll see. Spears may have a place.

A long while back when I was looking at getting into Free Dwarfs, there was (I think) a UK list that was using Spear Levy troops as its chaff, which was quite interesting. I ultimately decided not to emulate this with the Undead, since the draws for the Free Dwarfs in that list were that they could Scout (and did not Shamble). Skeleton Spear troops are -/11 for 65 points though, and a little picket line could be a wild alternative to try out down the road to throw in front of some cavalry units or help extend lines to connect battle groups of the Undead.

Overall, the data-driven basis was a very interesting jumping off point. I’m looking forward to digging into that a bit more with other armies as he (hopefully, nudge nudge) continues those, but even the general “meatgrinder”
summary had some neat things to consider, especially for the Forces of the Abyss. Keeping with the Undead though, both the Goreblight and Burrowing Wyrm popped up as efficient takes, so I would definitely recommend the Burrowing Wyrm to DarkBlack! A boney giant would fit right in. Striding charges, CS3, and the ASB interaction has made it a really strong and enjoyable pick for me so far.

[TastyBagel]

Then, catching up on a little more reporting is Battle 097, with the Kingdoms of Men facing off against some Abyssal Dwarfs in Pillage. This was some tournament practice for my opponent, with the tournament being the Renegade GT (which was several weekends ago now… I am still very behind on everything), where you must spend an unlock slot on an allied hero (a Renegade), with a handful of special rules and such.

• The Chariot Troops were pretty good at instigating and starting the piece trade, but did not have the luck to actually make the trades I was hoping for.
• The Rampage Giants did not have great luck, with one getting maimed and wavered by shooting, and the others ultimately used recklessly. In retrospect, since charges into the Greater Golems would have been a better choice I think.
• Outlaw Formation was neat. One of my mantras is to not run regiments, as the larger the unit the better the discount. This applies to troops as well, and I spread the Outlaws out this time. The Hero is usually great but had poor targets here, but the Troops are growing on me. With other shooting in the list (mainly the Crossbow horde, which continued to do well), the additional bow shots feel more impactful, and running them a ways apart felt much better too. They are still not the best formation as the troops still feel so expensive for still just hitting on 5+, but the formation has more uses than I gave it credit for a few years back. I could see it being used more often.
• The Spear Hordes held ok, but were clearly outclassed, mostly fighting various Golems. The Def6 was tough, and the Golems have CS2 (CS3 with the titans), so were quickly losing combat instead of grinding. I think the double horde could be ok, provided I make better decisions in the early game.
• Fanatics. The TC aura from the Mansplitter was neat, but the Fanatics are mostly a one-use unit and can’t really grind either, which was really needed against the Abyssal Dwarfs here. It was a fun build, but warping the list to include these was not a competitive choice.
• Renegade Mansplitter. Boss already noted that the Scythe won’t trigger on the ranged attacks, so I got that interaction wrong. I did not use him well (should have been multi-charging with him a little more), but it was a fun build to try out, and a neat idea for a tournament. I have yet to see either attendee yet to ask how most people approached the Renegade option, but will try to update the reports with those thoughts, in the coming weeks, whenever I happen to see them next.

[Cartwright]

@TastyBagel

Overall, the data-driven basis was a very interesting jumping off point. I’m looking forward to digging into that a bit more with other armies as he (hopefully, nudge nudge) continues those

If only I could convince my boss that this is truly where my time should be spent…

[DarkBlack]

@TastyBagel

Then, catching up on a little more reporting is Battle 097, with the Kingdoms of Men facing off against some Abyssal Dwarfs in Pillage.

The Abyssal Dawrfs are very unforgiving. Which is on brand, but makes for a rough game if your early charges don’t pay off.

[TastyBagel]

@DarkBlack

The Abyssal Dawrfs are very unforgiving. Which is on brand, but makes for a rough game if your early charges don’t pay off.

Uhh… spoilers, I guess, but these are wise words.

…And up now are some more Herd reports, finishing up some more unwieldy builds.

Battle 098 was Herd Centaurs against generic Undead in Dominate.

• I ’ll have to try the Strider horde again at some point, but right now, they don’t seem worth it. They are expensive, cannot really grind (just CS1 and Def4), and don’t really have the attacks to be worthwhile hammers. The stats remind me a bit of Free Dwarf Shieldbreakers actually, but the Centaurs are paying a lot (roughly 10 pts an inch; it’s not exact since there are other differences between the units) for that extra speed, but still seem unlikely to catch things in the flank given the wide frontage and lack of nimble.
• The regiments are ok for their points, but still not amazing. If you need an unlock, these aren’t bad, but aren’t hammers, and will want things charging in alongside them.
• I do like the Strider troops. (Thanks again for the tip there, Boss.)
• I like Hunter Regiments and prefer them to the troops, but the troops were ok as well. I’ve always like the concept of this kind of unit, but it’s been hard to get them to work. It’s just bow shots, but TC1 gives them some nice options as the game progresses.
• Flaxhoof was not used well. Therefore more testing is needed! Herd Heroes have continually tripped me up, but in a more balanced list with some Centaurs, he seems worth exploring, and could really make flanking Hunter units scary, provided one is clever enough to set up those kind of traps.
• Hydras were meant to be sticky, but I hesitated to commit them, given an overall lack of Inspiring in the list, and ultimately, were not used well. Neat idea, but I needed more inspiring, and if these are meant to make the initial charges, these would pair better with Spears and Brutes. As I get into more “balanced” lists, I think a Hydra could be a nice pick.

Battle 099 was against some Abyssal Dwarfs in Protect and Raze.
Battle 100 was against some other Abyssal Dwarfs in Compass Points.

In both games, I was trying out triple Guardian Brutes, supporting them with either double Greater Earth Elementals or Double Tree Herders to get some better CS and Striding charges to help cover some counters to the army. Playing the games back to back was really informative for me.

• I don’t like the Herd’s Command orders. Neither really fits the army well, and with Ferocious Charge flatly not interacting with Pathfinder, on top of all the Order’s other targeting restrictions, seems like a slap in the face. The orders could be a neat vector to play with balance, but theme lists like Herd and Varangur get peanuts compared to the Orders of their Master counterparts.
• Triple Brutes was fun, but they are still Def4, and I had a number of shooting-related wavers and routs in each game.
• Greater Earth Elementals and Forest Wardens were a lot of fun. Together they are more expensive than a Tree Herder, but provide some great versatility, especially in a scenario with loot tokens.
• Tree Herders had a rough go, due to misplays. I want to run two for extra redundancy and pressure, but I think two Herders is probably prohibitively expensive. I simply need more units on the field and fewer monsters. Maybe just one as the Wiltfather is the way to go, especially if I am not leaning into any other healing in the list? We’ll play around more with this as I get into more “balanced” list ideas with the Herd now.

I had early missteps in all three of the Herd games:

In Battle 098 I goofed a distance and my Strider horde got charged, and most of the game was spent trying to get that unwieldy unit back into fighting form, but it ultimately just didn’t have the killing power to knock out enemy units quickly, and the numerous Undead were able to just hang around and win.

In Battle 099 I was sort of able to correct my mistake with Loot and Objectives, and combats went very well, but a poor Nerve check from me let an Abyssal Dwarf Taskmaster run away with the scenario. With my melee-focused list, I couldn’t catch him, contest, and it was only a greedy play from my opponent fizzling in a Round 7 that got me the victory. The game was still a big struggle despite the major combats going very well.

In Battle 100, I had some back-breaking missteps and errors in judgement, which I couldn’t recover from, and the game was over quickly. This opposing list felt much stronger than the other Abyssal Dwarf lists I’ve faced recently, so I was a little apprehensive from the start, and then punished harshly for my errors. The Herd struggles against high defense, and with Weakness in the mix now, besting anything in combat felt extremely difficult. The Grotesques were impossible to deal with due to my mistake, and as speedier, stronger, striding Hammers, they were going to be hard to deal with no matter what. I went for a different deployment here, but think the staggered line I had in Battle 099 would have served me better, but this was going to be a tough game no matter what, and I could feel the difference in list level and player level almost immediately.

I’ve learned a lot from these three games, which were all very fun, but also very tough. Above all, my play has gotten a little sloppy at times, and I should be vocalizing even more with my opponent to confirm my intentions (and my understanding of their units and ranges). Especially in these friendly games that are not timed and only matter for enjoyment, taking 30 seconds to have them look at something and confirm it would have saved several headaches for me. The second observation is that the Herd remains a very demanding army to play! Sheesh. Even when things were going well I felt behind. These were some oddball lists though, so we’ll see how things go with some of the more “balanced” lists I have brewing.

[DarkBlack]

@TastyBagel

Battle 098 was Herd Centaurs against generic Undead in Dominate.

That was an interesting battle, nice to see how those undead units and centaurs worked out.
I agree with your assessment on the centaur unit sizes.

This games seemed to be a case of the undead hammers doing their thing, while your hammer got tripped up.

As wev’e seen the zombies folded quickly, but also drew shots and fire. While the skeletons held on fairly well. Nice to see how the soul reavers, trolls and wights preformed and were handled.

• On a sort of related note: does anyone knows of nice models (or stls) of undead centaurs?

[TastyBagel]

@DarkBlack

On a sort of related note: does anyone knows of nice models (or stls) of undead centaurs?

I remember seeing someone kitbash that back in Warhammer Fantasy days, but that was ages ago. Even with newer / cheaper plastic kits like Wargames Atlantic, that’s a ton of wasted plastic and money. Etsy looks to have these, and you might be able to splice some models together for printing, but I am no whiz at printing or sussing out alternatives. Centaurs look popular, but their unique skeletons less so!

[Boss_Salvage]

Those are the very ones I came here to link to, well done TB The files are here: https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-hemocentaur-squad-264770

[DarkBlack]

Thanks! Those centaurs look suitably horrific.

[TastyBagel]

Up now is Battle 101 with some new Abyssals vs the ravenous Halflings in Plunder! I was enjoying my janky Abyssal MMU style previously, and wanted to test that out here, with a bit of an unwieldy list, exploring that style, plus a handful of things from the recent army rework.

• Four Abyssal Guard was too much, and CS infantry regiments against a more mobile army was a little rough. I think the Def5 version is going to be a better take for most people.
• The new Nagarri don’t have great stats, so they need to be protected. Their Regeneration 4+ bubble is neat, and I tried to protect them, but they got unlucky here, and the regiments didn’t have the staying power (or luck) to stick around like I had been hoping.
• Despoiler Champ is now Inspiring, which is neat, as an Inspiring, scoring unit is always nice to have. He isn’t much of a tank, and didn’t have a great game, but charging in alongside stuff could still be useful, and he at least seems more viable now, which I like.
• Abyssal Horsemen got Fearless in the update, which is good, but one unit isn’t a good take all on its own, and they need a bit more speed to help support any charges they want to make. I think I failed to support them previously as well, so I’ll try and do better going forward!

[Boss_Salvage]

Thanks for all these reports! Appreciate the morning reads at work, even if they remind me that I have like a score of unwritten reports myself

On the optimal command dice, it seems to be +2 red dice. Better average results and weathers character lose over a single larger die, while keeping the investment in points low.

[TastyBagel]

Yeah, I think I’d agree with ya @Boss_Salvage . After playing a handful of games with the Command Dice, I think one needs to buy additional dice if you want to have consistent access to the Orders, especially the army-specific ones, most of which need 4+. Since you can only use an order once per round, 20ish points seems like a reasonable cost to play, and defaulting to Two Reds seems like a great place to start. Whites seem alright if you really want the Orders, and have survivable heroes. Blue seems like a bit too of a steep investment, and a little too risky unless you have a very survivable hero. I’m slowly making my way through my armies, want to get two games in with each before I try to form too strong of an opinion on the orders.

But speaking of games, I snuck a second game in with the Abyssals, exploring more of the revamp. Battle 102 was against @Cartwright in the new Stockpile.

• Stockpile was interesting! Having to slowly take tokens was a cool mechanic, but the Northern Alliance ended up fighting on the tokens, making it hard to contest, and easier for them to pick up. I need to get to the midfield sooner next time.
• Nagarri were tragically underwhelming again. A build around unit could be a lot of fun, and the Regen 4 Bubble is a really cool idea for the army, but with a massive footprint and terrible stats, the unit struggles to contribute in games. It then functions as a tax for the cool ability, but unlike a normal upgrade, it’s a unit and can be interacted with and shut down.
• Lower Abyssals. With the refresh, they got bumped to hitting on 5’s now, instead of 4’s. I tried a horde each of shields and two handers. Two-handers rolled well, but feel really bad hitting on 5’s. The shielded version seems better, as it just needs to hold, but for a “trash” style unit, it’s still pretty expensive.
• Imps seem like a unit worth exploring. They are cheap, scoring units and could be fun vectors for Fireballs from the Command Orders and such. However, they are just Speed 6, so one needs to be more thoughtful with them than I was.
• Manifestation of Ba’el and Zaz the Betrayer. I am a fan of running these together and trying to blast things with lots of lightning in the early game. To get the most out of him, Zaz needs a punching bag to Betray though. Early game that can be your reserve Gargoyles and such. Late game, he might struggle to pick on a a unit you don’t need. Both of these seem like interesting units that should really reward clever positioning at all stages of the game.

[Cartwright]

@TastyBagel

But speaking of games, I snuck a second game in with the Abyssals, exploring more of the revamp. Battle 102 was against @Cartwright in the new Stockpile.

That was a fun game and a fun scenario. The lower abyssals getting nerfed to 5s makes them tough to field, as they didn’t do much damage and were just a large tarpit–and a bit expensive at that role.

Tough luck with the Manifestation. I think your plan was good, but the dice thought differently, and that early break put you on your back foot going forward. You still made a good game out of it, but I don’t think the outcome was seriously in doubt when he was down and I had a flying duelist dancing around your backlines.

Thanks again for making the trip out! Always nice to get in a good game.

[DarkBlack]

It’s been a busy end of year for me!
On the Abyssal games:

Both games snowballed on you. Lesson learnt on supporting fancy hammers though. Your list in the second game didn’t seem to come together. Some getting used to and some tweaking should help. I’m also not sure how the nagarri are supposed to work in practice, though.

The Forces of the Abyss have changed quite a bit since I played them in 2nd edition.
It’s nice to see imps on the table. I considered them underrated in 2nd and was disappointed when abyssal ghoulds got added to take over their role.

I still have a soft spot for Abyssals, but the new units haven’t gotten me excited or otherwise interested in getting abyssals again. The models look cool, but their rules don’t seem to match for me.
Nagarri look like they should be a capable unit, but they’re sort of a support unit that’s too wide to get involved from the second line.

Fearless abyssal horsemen sound nice, but they already had Fury. It makes me worry that the RC are paying too much attention to people complaining about their armies.
Such complaints are often bias and lead to power creep.

There have been a few changes that makes sense in terms of rules, but not thematically. Should lower abyssals be worse warriors than “normal” humans? Should shieldbreakers really be as strong as trolls or ogres?

[TastyBagel]

Oof, I have neglected my replying and posting. It’s going to be a long one!

Quickly on the Abyssals, yeah, I was not thrilled with the overall revamp either. Oddly for them I am most excited to play around with Abyssal Guard units, and was really hoping for a plastic kit from Mantic. The army seems like a jumble of ideas resulting in missed opportunities. If memory serves there was a nice “re-centering” between 2nd the 3rd Edition with regards to CS and general stats, so hopefully the same happens for 4th?

Then, onto games!! I played a near-handful of games as 2024 closed out. We’ll split them by army since the chronology is messy. The first group of games was with the Herd at a holiday meetup.

Battle 104 was against the Ravenous Halflings. Terminology is funky as I’m trying game-by-game to make sense of things. The Herd lists of mine have been aggressive but not really alpha-strike. Mid-range, if that’s a term. Unfortunately here, it clicked for me that that’s essentially the game plan of the Halflings too, and they do it better, with nimble heavy cavalry and striding charges. I came away with a few ideas, but his list is so tuned that my crazed ideas tend to bounce off and fizzle, and this game was no exception.
Battle 105 was against a neat Undead list messing around with keywords and subfactions within the army. Like most Undead lists, it sought to tar pit stuff with Zombie Hordes and grind me down. Unfortunately for the Undead, almost all my charges this game were multi-charges, and unhindered.

I wanted to explore more “balanced” games with the army, taking more steps to run a mix of units, though I was admittedly taking 3 Guardian Brutes Hordes to explore that a little more. My takeaways were:

• Wiltfather is nice, and more practical than the double Tree Herder approach I had been trying out.
• Hunters of the Wild troops proved to be nice blockers for the Wiltfather. I am not sure how viable they would be as chaff without the patriarch, but together and all scouting, they worked well. Forest Shambler Horde also worked well alongside the Wiltfather.
• Triple Brute Hordes is unwieldy, and you need to spread them out along your line. Shoulder-to-shoulder is asking for a traffic jam.
• Centaurs continue to be a weird subfaction for the Herd. Strider troops are still great, and depending on the match up, Hunters seem good as well. I still don’t know Flaxhoof’s abilities, and keep using him recklessly, but if you are running a contingent of centaurs, he seems worthwhile for his TC+1 Aura.
• Chieftain with the Horn was a cool hero choice, and I am glad I got to finally hobby him up and try him out. The Wild Charge aura is great, and Dread can be nice… but not with triple Guardian Brutes since Dread / Brutal don’t mesh together well. Cool option, but not in this style list.

The remaining games were with the Undead! I wanted to continue exploring the army, and played around more with the Skeletons with two-handers as my unlocks, since I hobbied up the last regiments.

Battle 103 was Undead fliers against an Ironclad-heavy (Def5) list. My opponent didn’t really use his powerful units well, or play well against the fliers. The game was mentally taxing for me, but I had a great time and a strong showing, but more-so due to exploiting mistakes than clever plays myself.
Battle 106 was a more typical Undead list with a mix of Soul Reavers and Wights, but using the regiments as unlocks, and battled @Cartwright’s Northern Alliance. My approach for the game was to brawl, but despite a strong showing, clever plays with Snow Troll Primes and a focus on the scenario let the Northern Alliance manage a commanding comeback. It was a great time!

I’m digging the Undead, and am enjoying trying to learn them. For me their takeaways these games were:

• Soul Reavers and Wights seem like the easiest primary hammers for the army. I’m not sure which I like more. Probably a mix would be recommended, and leaning into one over the other depending on if the rest of the list is Shambling or not.
• Revenant Wyrms are still good! Hitting on 4’s though, they cannot be your only hammers, and you need to be using them alongside other things, similar to Zombie Trolls. While it unfortunately does not inspire, I still like them both, but I like the Burrowing Wyrm more as Striding Charges are strong, and the flying version can find itself isolated since the rest of the army is usually quite slow.
• Zuinok is neat, but he’s not really doing enough for me. My lists don’t have enough other shooting for his Fireball to play with, and Heal 1 isn’t impactful when I am able to hit something. I like the idea of a skeleton-focused casters, but he’s falling short.
• Liche and Heal was better than Liche with Drain Life, since we’re playing with the Command Dice and I can get access to DL that way. If I have Wights, Surge is nice to have (thanks Boss). I want to try him supporting Soul Reavers now, but don’t know what additional spell I want to try out yet.
• Skeleton Regiments are working out just fine. Zombies are cheaper, but the CS adds a few damage here and there, and the unit plays really nicely with the ASBs and the Wild Charge. I am very much enjoying this more unique approach so far! We’ll see what else I can do with it in the future.

That’s a wrap for 2024! Tried to get this out the other day, but did not quite make it. The goal is to play 36 games in 2025, and we’ll see what trouble I can get up to.

[Boss_Salvage]

Caught up on your holiday games this morning as I returned to work, very appreciated Thanks for the many, many reports throughout the year too, even if they always remind me how far behind I am on my own reports

These last Herd lists have been great, good variety and some all stars from the faction. I’ve only taken triple Brutes in 2500+ games and while I initially felt dirty doing so, they didn’t really pan out and the third horde didn’t amount to much. This could be because in larger games there’s more shooting or fast hammers to take advantage of their De 4+, or like you found it can become a little harder to deliver all three Brutes with the same level of success.

Enjoying the Skeleton warrior regiment spam! What a fun unit to go hard on.