THE HALLOW :: Herd Battle Reports

I’ll hopefully be there!

Also, here are a couple more reports:

3 Likes

Happy weekend! Burn that work clock out with the first day of my Orc Town GT 2023 run:

3 Likes

C’mon, ya gotta post the recipe for that Orcto Cooler!

Some great looking tables and armies! :astonished: Thanks for sharing! I would have loved reading a play-by-play on some of these, but it’s hard reporting on stuff from that far back. If I get more than a day out from a game, even with notes, things start to get hazy. :sweat_smile:

Real shame about the clock being so determinative. Events gotta keep things moving, but that seems like some pretty tight timings, especially for these larger games.

Also, whatever was up, I hope you are in a better headspace nowadays, my friend.

2 Likes

Orcto Cooler
1 part Grey Goose vodka
1 part Midori melon liqueur
2 parts sour mix
Pour over ice in a rocks glass, garnish with a maraschino cherry

It might have been 1.5 to 1 on the vodka/melon ratio but I’ll just say YMMV. By which I mean, your first day of the Orc Town GT (and how much the bartenders take pity on you) may vary :clinking_glasses:

2 Likes

Considering I’m headed to Orc Town 2024 in a few weeks, it’s high time I finished up the reports for Orc Town 2023 :expressionless:

4 Likes

One more 2023 Herd tournament report to go :cold_sweat:

4 Likes

For those interested, I crashed a few numbers together when designing my custom colossal’s rules, particularly around what healing mix to give him:

image
(damage healed on the Y and damage taken on the X)

While regen 4+ overtakes the other options at high levels of damage, it’s very similar to 5+ at more relevant low levels of damage and even surpassed by the combination of regen 5+ and radiance of life. The combo of the two does cost 10 points more than regen 4+ alone, but I was happy to factor that into the benefit that ROL has for the rest of the army.

I’ll also admit that of all the colossal models at the tournament, my enormous pile of sentient vines probably had the best argument to have ensnare yet ironically did not :sweat_smile: This was largely because of how ensnare’s cost scales with Def, and I didn’t want to go below De 5+ (or resort to big shield) or sacrifice my big dude’s combat abilities to become a pure sponge.

image

Here’s a reminder of where he ended up. Pathfinder because I’m playing Herd so no choice, Strider because he’s only Me 4+, CS (2) because he’s large and I wanted to avoid more TC in the army, and Fury because I wasn’t willing to push his waver to Fearless but wavering sucks.*

*you pay per pip on either side of the slash, becoming Fearless when they’re even

2 Likes

Thanks for the abbreviated reports! And uh cheers, lol. Been messing around with that Midori stuff the last few weekends lol. I think that’s going to be a hit at some cookouts this summer.

I was pretty thrilled that Mantic included the unit builder section in the book. It’s just a neat tool too have. I had seen some other reports where tournaments had bonus units attached to the lists one brought. A few of those events even had different options to take, but iirc everything in those other events was built by the TO to avoid the kind of min-maxing you ran into here. Neat to see this event embrace customization more, and see cool units hit the table (with some great names!), but a bit of a bummer things weren’t built more for fluff or hobbied for wysiwyg.

FoN Game 1
Oh wow, that is an elite list!
Wiltfather + Tree Herder had looked intriguing to test out for my own Herd, though they are so expensive I don’t think I could go so elite. Deployment goofs aside from your opponent, how did you feel facing off against both?

Northern Alliance Game 2
I really like the table from the Northern Alliance game. The stonework hills are a very neat idea. I grimaced when I saw 3 Cavern Dwellers, but it looks like an aggressive Herd can really overcome a lot!

Riftforged Orcs Game 3
I have only gotten to play against them once, but I dig the army and wish it was more popular. The Helstrikers can provide some great mobility to a more typical orc infantry line, and living war machines like their Ambarox (or the Salamander’s Komodon) can provide a crazy amount of utility, especially when a few are taken. Very cool to see these on the table!

That was indeed a bummer of an overrun and accidental flank on the Lycans though! Ouch. Looking forward to seeing what Day 2 had in store for you!

1 Like

Thanks for the comments @TastyBagel hope the Midori has been treating you well. Speaking of Orctocooler, check out this teaser we got last night for Orc Town 2024:

:green_heart: :face_holding_back_tears: :green_heart:

1 Like

As you can see in the report, once my Brutes went down I essentially chose to never fight his big De 6+ dudes if I could help it. I only charged the Herder later in the game because it meant I could escape the Wiltdad - slapping 10 damage on the Herder was a happy side effect and could have killed it but murder wasn’t really the intent. On the whole, the Wiltfather is rough for me to face, as I largely want to ignore or block him up, but he hits so hard that he can smash through even tough blockers and potentially outgrind anything I send into him. Plus his 50mm frontage is hard or even impossible to combo-charge depending on how he’s being piloted. All told he’s a tough prospect.

I am a pretty big fan of the normal Herder as well, long time readers will remember I used to run two when my Herd was a Verdant scouting force and not the aggro bag of hammers it turned into. There are plenty of cute things you can do with items on them too (pipes was my go to but nimble or haste can really add to the Scouting pressure).

1 Like

The min/max titan rules are a pity.
KoW does seem to lean toward that kind of competitive mindset. Fortunately KoW is balanced enough that it doesn’t ruin things, but it also doesn’t make KoW more fun for everyone either.

As far as I know, that’s the plan this year.

2 Likes

And that’s finally a wrap for my 2023 Herd tournament series:

2 Likes

Those were some great pics fighting against the legions of Halfling Braves! Thanks for the reports.

1 Like

Thanks for the run down. It’s interesting to see armies that I know in person on a battle report.

That halfling army is fantastic. The legions modeled as hobbit holes have 13 dwarfs in the front (between them).

2 Likes

The Basilean army is quite striking!
The light blue and high contrast wings really pop.

I get the sense that The Herd vs shooting is what nightstalkers would be like without stealthy.
At least you get to inspiring before closing the distance.

I am quite keen to hear about your Freeforged at Master’s and don’t think you should feel obliged to write everything up.
It’s very much up to you though.

2 Likes