Thanks!
2 Likes
Ope, thanks @Boss_Salvage! Been a busy couple of days here. Three more reports coming soon!
Yep, Wizkids Griffon Hatchlings. I don’t have a 3d printer so am always picking up random minis that look fun. Wizkids has tiny Gargoyles that are similarly-sized that could work for a slightly more menacing tone. Or if you know someone with some Mantic Abyssals, all the extra bits in those kits that could be used for winged Imps actually look really neat as little fae that could fit the bill for Critters too. Saw someone post those the other day (maybe in a FB group?) but didn’t have the brains to save the picture for future reference.
2 Likes
The reports took some extra time this week, because I got a whopping three games in last weekend. Huzzah! We are still pursuing the Herd builds, and will essentially continue with those for the next two weeks to take us through the second Northwoods GT (though there is a doubles tournament that Friday, which I will run something else and have a random partner. More on that later).
Battle 011 was Herd vs Norther Alliance in Plunder
Deployment goofed up the NA a bit, and then getting first turn was big, allowing things to generally bounce our way. With some of the NA units out of position, and the Brutes really able to pulverize Def5 regiments, we ended up with a strong win.
Battle 012 was Herd vs Goblins in Salt the Earth
The deployment and overall plan was ok, as was the scenario. Unfortunately while my opponent was a US Masters level player, he has been away from the game for a while, and for five of the 6 turns his four Sharpstick Throwers were shooting 3 shots instead of two. I still don’t think we win this, as the Goblins are very high in unit strength, but this revelation in Round 5 was definitely a bummer for me. Super cool to see Goblins like this out and about though! It is a rare army for me to face, and just tossing Rabble regiments around and not caring about Inspiring was neat to see, and very cool, as Goblins are a neat army, which I have aspired to collect, but so far, ultimately declined to do so, for all the hobbying reasons my opponent gets into, as most of his regiments are proxied.
Battle 013 was Herd vs Basileans in Control
We face another Masters level player! We’ve played Grant sporadically over the last year, and he has easily gotten the better of me in all out meetups so far. He’s a bit dear to my heart in that our initial meeting about a year ago, my blog broke 100 reports (Battle 100!), but he also was a great resource for understanding Keith Conroy’s Herd, having played against it in that legendary run, and his insight led me to those lists and exploring that list and alpha strike style more myself in 2025. However, this time I was able to exploit several mistakes from him, really press my advantages, and actually table him! If we play at the GT, I think the results are likely reversed, but it was gratifying to not only recognize those opposing mistakes, be rewarded by my dice while trying to exploit them, and then ultimately walk away with an overwhelming victory against such a strong and competent opponent.
I am still figuring out the list, but what is left of my Herd in 4E is working out well for me, and the Brutes are delivering, with some nice support from the Longhorns.
I am messing around with the final build ideas for the GT, and hoping to get in a few more games this weekend to narrow down my last choices. While I think a variety of Champions/ Heroes is probably generally wise, the Centaur Chief is not being used well. like the idea but am too passive with him, as I want to keep him around to utilize the Orders, so will be shifting towards double mounted Druid. Scorched Earth is not being used well either, so likely trending towards Bane Chant and heal spells, which should work well alongside the Command Orders, and play nicely with Def5 Brutes and the Def6 Herders. More to come!
4 Likes
You’ve been busy (generally terrorizing your region)! Thanks for keeping up with reports, you’re really putting me to shame 
Might try to recap my Abyssal experiments as they happen but I don’t have your level of coverage in me thanks to job stuff. Anyway, appreciate the recaps and great work!
Nature is really a force to be reckoned with, which is a bummer for me as I miss my Herd but I’m too much of a meta snowflake to play a good army 
3 Likes
Cheers Boss. The new Herd has been doing pretty well for me, but it has helped to get my pet unit buffed to ridiculous heights. The Brutes are just terrors now! We’re going to try and keep it casual and not aim high for the tournament, but it will be interesting to see how they do there.
And good luck to you in your event this weekend! I dig your approach with multiple hordes of Lower Abyssals, I think going wide like that with heavy hitters (Molochs maybe) in support could be really gnarly with the new withdraw rules, and I am definitely interested to hear the highlights of the weekend. I sat down this week and now have a few full Abyssal lists to test out now, but the army just befuddles me still.
4 Likes
Got just one game in this weekend.
Battle 014 was against Orcs in Pillage
I like the Orcs, and think the army should be poised to do very well this edition. Joe likes his toys though, and his 4E lists have been very hungry for powerful support slots, to the detriment of everything else. Zooming out, this list has the same struggles as my Herd. With essentially everything in his list being Speed 5, the Orcs had a tough time instigating and getting the engagements they wanted. My Herders were able to instigate for me, hold, and then my slightly better speed was able to really drive things home over the next few turns, as the Herd seem poised to just devour other regiments.
I played around with some heavier healing this game, and really prioritized it over everything else… which happened to do well as I was against a shooting list. I don’t think I got a Bane Chant off all game, actually. I also tried Celestial Restoration, which I did not play correctly, but oddly enough, still felt ok. I really lucked out being against an infantry-heavy list though, and think I do need to drop it to help with my brain for the event. It will be wayyy easier to just keep the Druid with the battle line and doing stuff rather than figuring out how to be more than 12" away from a target for the big spell, within 12" of things for a Command Order and within 6" of things for Inspiring while all safe from any enemy charges or hexes or magic.
3 Likes
It’s been a busy year for me already. 
Though I have gotten some painting done, I seem to be having trouble keeping up with just reading battle reports.
I have played one game of 4th with my dwarfs.
For all the hate combat individuals are getting, my dwarfs need them and the fancy Brock Warord is doesn’t play the role are brock lords did in 3rd.
It definitely is easier to enact the plan in your head in 4th, which nice for the play experience.
For the Varangur vs Basilean games, the new dynamic where flyers/fast things are extra manouverable but also much easier to tie up was evident and curious.
3 Likes
On The Herd reports, the pathfinder change is rough.
I noticed a similar problem with my dwarf rangers, they don’t quite function the same way in terrain. They got a bunch of other buffs and synergies though.
Obviously it’s more of a problem with The Herd.
Moving faction capabilities from “army special rules” to command orders sounds cool on paper, but going from just having a capability to having to roll dice for it a limited number of times is a big downgrade. Especially when that limited number is related to how many heroes, that cost extra points for the privilege, you have.
Yes. This is why Ambush has extra restrictions.
I am curious to see what The Herd look like after the upcoming Nature revamp.
Hopefully the lore bit about “the humble spear” is a hint. 
4 Likes
Hopefully the move went well and the new locale is enjoyable! Not to add to your plate but I still really want to hear about your tournament victory with the Undead sometime! 
Yeah, we’re still goofing things up from time to time, but the more dynamic movement has been great, and everyone seems to be vibing well the overall rules. Army rosters and balance are another story, but it’s a wargame, and comes with the territory!
Yeah, it’s been an adjustment, but I think I’m getting there with the Herd. Similarly, I saw someone griping about Fearless being useless for the Undead now since it doesn’t work in combat… but man, Fearless seems great against shooting now, as does Headstrong for your Dwarfs. So many little fundamentals to the game have been tweaked that I find I’m hurting myself trying to bring old lessons in. Lots and lots to explore in the new Edition!
4 Likes
I wanted to give my dwarfs a go first, but I’m keen on Undead for 4th too. When I, eventually, get some KoW games again I’ll bring out my dead.
“Dig out” or even “dig up” seem more appropriate than “dig in with”, though. 
As it happens, I won my only game of 4th (by 1 US) so far because brick riders are fearless and could get in the Dominate circle despite having a lot of damage and a horror pestering them with lightning bolt.
In that same game I kept a regiment of fiends off my flank by shooting and wavering them. Repeatedly.
The third time they were one away from being devastated.
A dwarf captain or similar combat hero could have seen them off 2 turns earlier.
Alternatively, if they were fearless the fiends would have wrecked that flank and I would have lost the game.
Alright, a bit of an update here then.
The move went well, as moves go. Thanks for asking.
We’re settled in enough for me to figure out how to fit wargames into the new routine/life.
Including which games I can and/or want to play how often.
3 Likes
Getting into The Herd reports:
The command order strider looks better in bigger games with several heroes.
Making guardian brutes the tough brawler unit like other large infantry (though they look quite elite) is a much better idea than shoving longhorns into that role.
The heal from the commands with tree herders is a great combo.
Why not have centaurs and/or beasts of nature for speed and threat projection?
The have the herd trait.
2 Likes
Mostly slot limitations and stubbornness!
It took several rereads to catch that my Guardian Brutes actually survived the edition change, thanks to the Chieftain, and darn it, I wanted to run all three for the tournament. Three “dibbsed” specialist slots is a big ask though, particularly with most of my core units nuked, so this obstinate choice then rippled through the rest of the options for the current list.
I was pleasantly surprised to see both Centaurs and Beast with the Herd trait. Both benefit from the Chieftain’s Wild Charge Aura and the Rally from the Longhorns. However, neither have Strider, and neither meet the criteria for the Command Order to help them out here. Both are fighting for dibbsed slots, and unfortunately, Troops of Centaurs still occupy a specialist slot too. Taking the Centaur Chieftain doesn’t give them any benefits, nor make them Core (or troops Aux). I just don’t have the space for either given the goal of taking all three Brute units.
…technically, I now have 4 regiments worth of Longhorns, so could go full Herd and add in Centaurs or a Beast, but I am liking my current builds with the Tree Herders more. And I think if I were to be making additions to the collection , I’d be more keen to explore Elementals. Water and Air Elementals, both as units and as titanic monsters, are both looking real nice to me.
I really want hard plastic centaurs! A glow up in the list and hard plastic would be great. I don’t think there are any other hard plastic centaurs on the market.
3 Likes
@screamingaddabs there is actually a really solid plastic Centaur kit made by RDG Gaming. I would recommend them, and it’s what I used for all of my units.
Centaur Bray Striders
Centaur Bray Hunters
The box is just a basic sprue repeated, but while it is pretty reasonable-priced, it also comes with some bonus sprues from the company’s Faun kit. Their Faun box does the opposite, tossing in a few Centaur sprues in. The kits are designed to be inter-changeable for easier kit-bashing. With the exception of bows, you get a good variety of weapons, and both male and female torso options for each model. The lack of bows isn’t much of an issue in 4e, as we lost the Tribal Trappers and the Centaur Hunters aren’t very attractive! The boxes can be a bit hard to find in bulk, but with some searching and patience, are amazing buys for anyone looking to jump-start the Herd with Tribal Warriors or Centaurs.
2 Likes
They do look good!
I play dwarfs and insist on taking rangers, so I can’t argue with that.
Guardian Brutes have an impressive profile, so I’m not sure taking them is all that stubborn. 
The tree herder does support them really well too.
I’m very surprised that beasts of nature are not support.
The assumption seems to be that making something specialist instead of support is a buff, but specialist slots are sometimes so crowded that it makes it harder to take something. Especially if the support options are sparse.
3 Likes
…oof, yeah, totally a fair point! 
While it started out as a stubborn idea, my pet unit getting a lot of bonkers buffs in 4e is admittedly doing wonders for my Herd in the new edition.
2 Likes
Played against Forces of Herd this weekend with my Abyssals, and I’m more and more convinced that Guardian Brutes are just really undercosted. It should definitely cost some points to upgrade from Fire Elementals, who are cheap but balanced out by having shambling, and that’s ignoring everything Brutes get in addition to removing shambling! The Chieftain is feeling like one of the most competent combat warlords out there (and so cheap compared to his peers in other armies), so I don’t buy that his price is factored in. Brutes hit like 250 point hammers in other lists, they should be priced for it too.
Rant over 
I’m just getting tired of Brutes one rounding my dudes on the clapback without charging. I fed 1 regiment over 450 points to keep it occupied as I stole all the loot around it to win the game, without ever hitting the Brutes hard enough to overwhelm Nature’s healing, free and otherwise.
3 Likes
Alrighty, the Northwoods Doubles event was last Friday, with the GT happening over the weekend. And the Doubles reports are all up and posted already!
Our lists are here.
Game 1 here
Game 2 here
Game 3 here
My partner for the day was the wonderful Kenny Lull, who bounces between wargames like I bounce between armies. He had played one demo game back in December, but had otherwise been occupied with other things, so these were his first “real” games of 4E! He had Elemental-themed Forces of Nature, with every unit represented, and I had Undead… so we have a rather slow and reactive army.
With no advance coordination or planning… things went about how you’d expect them to. Most of the field was pre-paired teams, with the exception of our opponents in Game 3, who were the TO forced to be ringer while running the event, and Rob, the halfling player whom I heartlessly declined to group with, in order to embrace the random. Kenny learns by doing, and is impulsive, but his energy was just what I wanted for the event, and it was a great time.
- Zuinok was a neat pick. If you want a warlord or unique spell, he seems like a fine choice, even though I wasn’t smart enough to get the most use out of him. Elite with spells meant he never missed once.
- Revenant Hordes didn’t get any special support, but even as just the basic unit, held the line very well.
- Skeleton Spears were ok. I was expecting solitary cavalry units with Boots, but no one I saw ran any cavalry for the event, and the Spear/Phalanx upgrade was not impactful here.
- Zombie Trolls have fewer attacks now, so they don’t grind nearly as good as in 3E, but they are still nice ways to fill up the board cheaply with some muscle.
- Wights took a few games to get used to. Running them on the edge and pressuring from the flank worked much better than putting them central to potentially aid my ally.
- I’m still bullish on the Undead, but being a Shambling army, think they are missing out on a lot of the dynamic moves that 4E is bringing. With the GT done, I am super-excited to start bouncing around again and we’ll hopefully get a few Undead games in soon to see more of what they can do!
- Earth Elementals are tough, but they lost a lot of attacks. Maybe troops could be a neat way to run these?
- Fire Elementals are “boring” Guardian Brutes. I’m not very interested in them for my FoN/Herd, but they seem like a decent combat unit for anyone running Elementals.
- Air Elemantals are wild! Brew of Strength pairs nicely with Druids and Bane Chant. I think I would only give items to Regiments though, to make them real threats.
- Water Elementals also look great. They are hitting on 4’s, but have a lot of TC/CS, and Def5 plus Regenerating means they could be great grindy power-houses for Nature in the right hands. I’d be most interested in these or Air Elementals for my Herd, so it was neat to seem them in action and get some “free” tests in.
It was a great little event, and had just the energy I was looking for. The GT games should be up over the next week.
3 Likes
Enjoyed the reports! And FWIW, I think you did it right, random doubles ftw. Many years ago I played in a random doubles tournament with my fire elemental army, where you have a random partner every round. It was a lot of fun, tho IIRC my one win was the one where I was paired with an all knight army, so we finally had some balance going on, instead of being Oops! All Shambling or Oops! All Slow Hammers 
I lolled a couple times at Kenny’s insane dice, and my jaw dropped when Rob managed a casual Brutal 5 on those Grenadiers, WTH 
(Also y’all didn’t mess up the Water slide in Game 3, your photos look to be taken after the troll hero died, which kept the Water Elementals from sliding further)
2 Likes