For the fifth and final round of New Year's Revolution, we were paired against the third team out of Poland, Kaer Morhen. Their BH player, Crusader, is the OG of Longhorn list construction, using them to great success in the previous tournament (The Gauntlet).
During pairing, no one else wanted to play against Crusader but my Longhorns have broad shoulders, so I luckily managed to land my list against his.
My List:
520 - Soothsayer, Raiding Chariot, Wizard Master, Shamanism, Light Armour (Trickster's Cunning), Hand Weapon (Ancestral Carvings)
450 - Soothsayer, General, Wizard Master, Druidism, Crown of Autocracy
305 - Centaur Chieftain, Shield, Heavy Armour, Hand Weapon (Hawthorne Curse), Obsidian Rock
250 - Beast Chieftain, Battle Standard Bearer (Legion Standard), Light Armour (Destiny's Call), Great Weapon
330 - 35 Wildhorn Herd, Shield, Standard Bearer (Legion Standard), Musician, Champion
325 - 3 Raiding Chariots
170 - 15 Wildhorn Herd, Shield, Ambush
95 - 10 Mongrel Raiders
633 - 32 Longhorn Herd, Great Weapon, Standard Bearer (Flaming Standard), Musician, Champion
451 - 14 Centaurs, Great Weapon, Standard Bearer (Flaming Standard), Champion
200 - 12 Longhorn Herd, Ambush, Great Weapon
140 - 5 Gargoyles
140 - 5 Gargoyles
490 - Gortach
4499
Crusader's List
565 - Soothsayer, Wizard Master, Shamanism, Light Armour (Trickster's Cunning), Hand Weapon (Ancestral Carvings), Binding Scroll, Potion of Strength
520 - Soothsayer, General, Wizard Master, Druidism, Seed of the Dark Forest, Crown of Autocracy
335 - Beast Chieftain, Greater Totem Bearer, Battle Standard Bearer (Legion Standard), Light Armour (Destiny's Call), Great Weapon
220 - Beast Chieftain, Light Armour (Aaghor's Affliction), Great Weapon
344 - 37 Wildhorn Herd, Shield, Standard Bearer (Legion Standard), Musician, Champion
180 - 15 Wildhorn Herd, Shield, Ambush, Standard Bearer
180 - 15 Wildhorn Herd, Shield, Ambush, Standard Bearer
104 - 8 Feral Hounds
95 - 10 Mongrel Raiders
671 - 34 Longhorn Herd, Great Weapon, Standard Bearer (Flaming Standard), Musician, Champion
636 - 34 Longhorn Herd, Great Weapon, Standard Bearer, Musician, Champion
210 - 5 Centaurs, Lance
160 - 10 Longhorn Herd, Ambush, Great Weapon
140 - 5 Gargoyles
140 - 5 Gargoyles
4500
Deployment is Marching Columns (ugh) and Spoils of War.
Initial thoughts:
- With his 2x longhorn units to my 1, spoils will be kind of tricky. Going first is definitely my preference, as I can take advantage of my centaurs to grab a spoils right from the start.
- The Gortach has been an absolute dumpster fire of a unit all tournament. Finally, paired against a list with lots of stomp-able infantry and limited shooting, is this finally his time to shine?
- The centaur with Hawthorne Curse will likely also be a strong piece this game, with no shooting to keep him locked down. He should be free to roam as he needs to.
Deployment
I won the roll for side and took the top so wouldn't be blocked by the building. Crusader then let me drop first (which I definitely wanted!).
Knowing that I was going first, I dropped the centaurs and gargoyles on the left flank. I was pretty sure he would deploy right of the building, meaning I could take the left spoils early on. The infantry units were then placed down the middle to fight for the center spoils. The Gortach hugged the cliff, allowing him to go left or right and the chariots took on the right flank, expecting to be paired against his centaurs on the hill. I had no intentions of grabbing the right spoils, but just to keep him off them while the centaurs ran away with their prize.
T1 (Doug)
On the left, the chieftain vanguards up and shoots gargoyles in the flank, killing four but they pass panic. The centaur unit (starting drunk) sits on the left spoils while gargoyles fly in front to block them. It's fortunate the chieftain was successful with his shooting as Crusader's plan was to simply kill the centaurs with both units of gargoyles which I hadn't really thought about!
Both Longhorn and Wildhorn units move up in the middle. On the right, the Gortach starts creeping around the cliff.
Magic gets off Break the Spirit on the left Longhorns to deter them from charging the gargoyles in front.
T1 (Crusader)
The second gargoyle unit charges my chaffing gargoyles, kills 2 but the rest flee and rally the next turn. His left Longhorns just pivot a bit with Break the Spirit active on them.
In the middle, Crusader intentionally takes a risky play (his team were down 2 games so far) and tries a charge on an 11 against my general's unit with his dogs but falls short.
The sole goal of magic was to stop Swarm... but I can't stop a 4-dice cast with 5 dice and it does 3 wounds on the Gortach, with the mongrels adding a fourth. Gortachs are TERRIBLE.
T2 (Doug)
The centaurs on the left turn around and prepare to RUN AWAY with their loot! The second unit of gargoyles blocks the left Longhorns to buy them time. The centaur chieftain fails his march test, so slips forward a bit and shoots and kills the remaining gargoyle as he does so with his Curse.
In the middle, the Longhorns kill the gargoyles who ran in front of them last turn, whereas the Wildhorns move forward on top of center spoils. The Gortach redeploys around the cliff, in preparation for the Wildhorns to be charged. The chariots and shaman chariot back up a bit to give some ambusher zoning coverage.
On the right, both units of ambushers arrive and come in to block the centaurs on the hill.
Magic gets off another Break the Spirit, this time on the right Longhorns as they prepare to charge.
T2 (Crusader)
No picture was taken for this phase.
The right longhorns charge the wildhorns but lose 13 to Break the Spirit. This would be the only time they would easily take damage this game!
The left longhorns charge the chaffing gargoyles and kill them.
Two units of ambushers arrive. Longhorns on the left to threaten the centaurs with the spoils, and wildhorns on the right to threaten my ambushers.
The centaurs redeploy to the center of the board, whereas the big unit of wildhorns faces my ambushers.
Magic gets off Stoneskin on the longhorns fighting the wildhorns.
In combat, Crusader's longhorns remove a rank of wildhorns but they stick on steadfast. He reforms into a wider formation in preparation for the Gortach's counter charge. It was impossible to avoid as he started 6 wide versus 5 wide wildhorns.
T3 (Doug)
In goes the Gortach, clipping a corner where he just touches the shamanism wizard.
On the left, the centaurs turn to face their longhorn ambushers. The chieftain prepares to counter-charge, but misses with his Curse.
In the middle, the longhorns choose not to charge in with the Gortach, and back up a bit to buy time. I figured they would likely only kill a few and would invite a counter-charge by the centaurs if they did so. The recently rallied gargoyles throw themselves in front of the second longhorn unit.
On the right, the ambushing wildhorns simply back up to pull his wildhorns back. The ambushing longhorns turn to face his ambushing wildhorns, with the chariots ready to counter charge.
Magic is particularly powerful, and gets off Beast Awaken on the Gortach and Stoneskin on the Wildhorns.
Combat is... not nearly as exciting. The Gortach fluffs entirely and does just 1 wound. Fortunately, the shamanism wizard misses with his potion of strength, allowing for the Gortach to stomp... 1 more wound. Despite the stoneskin, the wildhorns lose almost 2 full ranks this time but remain on steadfast.
T3 (Crusader)
No picture was taken of this phase. The left longhorns charge and kill off the chaffing gargoyles (again).
On the lower right, his big wildhorn unit charges my ambushing wildhorns but collectively engage in a pillowfight and the combat is tied.
On the upper right, the ambushing wildhorns charge my ambushing longhorns, and lose badly but only run a few inches up the map (towards the chariots).
In the middle, the centaurs redeploy again to look right, without a target to charge this turn.
Magic is powerful again, and this time the longhorns in the middle get both Healing Waters and Stoneskin.
In combat, the gortach decides this, FINALLY, is his big moment.. and fluffs again, and does 1 wound. He's then promptly cut down by great weapons. His epitaph will be quickly forgotten and the words "Gortach" will never be mentioned again in my list building.
Fortunately, the Wildhorns decide that they're ok with losing ranks every turn despite never doing wounds back. They lose another. Do no wounds back. No big deal. They stick on steadfast.
T4 (Doug)
In the middle of the excitement now, no pictures were taken of T4.
The Shaman chariot charges in right where the Gortach died. The Longhorns also finally join in, relying on the centaur chieftain to chaff the left-most longhorn unit to buy them time. I'm hoping their flaming banner will pay dividends now that he has Healing Waters up.
On the left, the centaurs charge the ambushing longhorns off the board.
On the right, the chariot unit charges the fleeing ambushing wildhorns and bounces them through (my) ambushing longhorns. This doesn't quite take below 25%, so the longhorns charge them as well, and kill them. Unfortunately, limited by the awkward wheel, they cannot get out of charge arc themselves.
The big unit of wildhorns and (my) ambushing wildhorns on the lower right continue to pillow fight, but finally my wildhorns decide one feather is too much and flee. His wildhorns pivot to remain behind the hill.
Magic gets off Stoneskin on my Wildhorns again, as well as Awaken the Beast on the Longhorns.
Despite the big magic phase... combat whiffs... again! The MIGHTY Shaman on his chariot does.. 1 wound. The EVEN MIGHTIER longhorns with their flaming banner and Awaken the Beast do... 1 wound.
The Wildhorns with their Stoneskin lose a rank. Do no wounds in return. Decide this is the way of things and stick on steadfast. I use reform to move them to the right and put the Longhorns into line formation with more of them ready to fight next round.
T4 (Crusader)
The left longhorns continue mulching through chaff and kill the centaur chieftain. I have centaurs with spoils in the upper left, and the big fight in the middle. He chooses to face the middle afterwards meaning the centaurs are now free for the rest of the game.
On the upper left, he had a third unit of ambushers that haven't been mentioned yet. They came on to the board the previous turn and rear charged my centaurs who were occupied by his ambushing longhorns. The centaurs chose this as a very fortuitous moment to pass their primal fury, and promptly killed a ton of wild horns. The wildhorns fled, rallied the next turn, but were otherwise out of the game.
In the middle, the centaurs redeploy again, to give options to go for spoils or charge in to help in the middle.
On the right, his big wildhorn unit charges my ambushing longhorns. They lose by a fair amount but stick on steadfast.
Magic is powerful again... and both Healing Waters and Stoneskin are again applied to the middle longhorn unit. It's like I wasn't even trying to dispel at this point!
Combat is more of the same pillow fight.... but finally the steady 1-2 wounds per phase are adding up. Crusader's beleagued longhorns are so exhausted by 5 cumulative combat rounds of killing Stoneskin'd Wildhorns (1 rank per round!) they whiff... and the sheer number of banners (3!) I've brought is enough to win the round, however they pass their stubborn.
T5 (Doug)
There's not a lot of pieces to move this phase as most stuff is in combat. The druidism general detaches from his unit, as they move to the right spoils. This is a little risky with his Master of Earth, but my logic was that after 5 really awful rounds of combat, I was very worried about losing the center spoils now that I had no more chaff to feed his left-most longhorns. The intention of the mongrels was to block him from grabbing the right spoils, so we would at least tie (as the centaurs were safe by now). I figured a single Master of Earth was very unlikely to kill my wizard.
Magic is powerful again (this was the theme...). I get Stoneskin again, and Battlefocus, and put them both on the longhorns.
Finally, it's combat. The fight in the middle has being going on for 5 long combat rounds. My longhorns figure it out. Oh, this is the sharp end of the axe! And with Battlefocus and their Flaming Banner they cleave through every remaining enemy Longhorn, leaving just his BSB and Shaman wizard, who promptly flee.
My Chariot Wizard cannot pursue as he's no longer touching anyone. The remaining Wildhorns (all 10 of them!) and the BSB pursue, and hit the enemy wizard general and his mongrel unit. They will need to survive a flank charge by some centaurs next turn, but here we go!
Unfortunately, his Wizard and BSB run 12 and are safe.
The longhorns are buffed to the horns with Stoneskin and Battlefocus, so turn to face his leftmost longhorns, and block them from counter-charging my BSB.
T5 (Crusader)
His centaurs counter-charge my BSB. His longhorns charge mine.
His BSB + Shaman wizard who ran 12" last turn, decide they enjoy rolling high, and fail to rally but stay on the board.
On the right, my ambushing longhorns are finally torn down by his big unit of wildhorns.
Magic has been powerful all game, but this turn is especially potent. Crusader gets off Throne, Healing Waters, Master of Earth AND Stoneskin... all in the same turn. I did roll dispel dice... it's not like I LET them go!
Remember when my wizard general left his unit because I figured Master of Earth was unlikely to get him in one shot. Yep... he died. 850pts... good bye. Plus, secondary was no longer a concern with the unexpected win in the middle... oh, the irony!
In the longhorn vs longhorn fight, the Healing Waters is key. My longhorns are juiced to the horns with Battlefocus and do 17 wounds... of which 14 are saved. Despite their Stoneskin, they promptly take 13 in return and run. They are now exactly at 25% so are essentially destroyed.
Fortunately, luck is on my side where it counts. My BSB and his brave 10 Wildhorn companions are locked in epic combat with the enemy general while Stoneskin'd centaurs are hacking at their flanks! I can't think of any of any other description, but after losing 1 rank per round, every round, while doing no damage for most of the game I think the Wildhorns just had enough? All that pent-up frustration lashes out and they kill most of the mongrels. The mongrels stick on stubborn, but the centaurs flee!
T6 (Doug)
You can't have a BH last turn without some last ditch charges. Both the chariot unit and the chariot wizard charge his big wildhorn unit (both on 10's). The chariots miss but the wizard makes it... breaks them (they were just outside general's range), and pursues into the fleeing centaurs killing them as well. The wildhorns then fail to rally. This unexpected last turn rampage mostly makes up for a mediocre performance by the guy all tournament.
Magic has been powerful all game.. but with the loss of the druidism wizard last turn, my shamanism wizard has just lost his heart and fails to cast both Awaken the Beast and Battlefocus. There are no spells this phase. At least I think that was it. It's possible he was too busy bathing in the blood of wildhorns for silly things like "magic."
There's only one combat. The BSB and his now 6 Wildhorn buddies beating on a wizard and his mongrel friends. Due to a cagey reform by Crusader last turn, my BSB is only touching his wizard and not the mongrels... I can't quite kill the wizard or the mongrels either and they stick on stubborn.
T6 (Crusader)
Last turn of the game. Luck is not on Crusader's side and the BSB + Wizard run off the board.
Magic is powerful (AGAIN!) and he brings back back every goddamn one of the mongrels that I've killed so far.
The BSB and his 6 remaining Wildhorns buddies decide enough is enough. All game, every round, they've been beaten. And charged. They've watched their buddy the Gortach embarrass himself. And die. They've watched their Longhorn brethren flail around with the blunt side of the axe (Seriously, those guys are the "elite?!"). They had to sit through 6 excruciating rounds of combat against opposing Stoneskin'd Longhorns. ENOUGH is ENOUGH they say and they whip our their sixes and promptly kill the enemy druidism general. Take 850VP's from our fearless leader with an improbable Master of Earth will you, they say!? Will we take it right back.
Final Result 15 -5
Closing Thoughts:
I think the strategy of grabbing the left spoils with the centaurs early was the right decision. This allowed me to chaff the one unit of longhorns, while I tried to fight the second unit in the middle. It was VERY lucky that Break the Spirit did good initial damage when he charged in because for 5 of the 6 combat rounds that followed it felt like I was fighting with pillows.
Obviously losing my general and his 850VP's was silly to a single Master of Earth but I think that was the right play in hindsight. I really felt I was going to lose the center after my chaff was gone so needed something to prevent him from grabbing the right spoils, either with his centaurs or big wildhorn unit.
I think my play on the right flank wasn't great as the chariot unit mostly did not participate, and I sacrificed both units of ambushers. I couldn't even zone his centaurs effectively, as they redeployed to the middle, preventing me charging in with longhorns a turn sooner than I did. I think one of those ambushers would have been better used behind him in the middle, to pressure his druidism wizard sooner.
Luck wise, this was a very un-even game. It felt really, really tough to kill anything in combat. As an example, when his longhorns charged mine in T5, I had Stoneskin/Battlefocus vs Healing Waters for buffs. I lost 13 and did only 4 in return. And unfortunately that meant the unit was exactly at 25% and lost it's entire 600-ish points.
However, almost all of my points were from some terrible rally/steadfast rolls from Crusader. For example, when I finally killed the middle longhorns, his two characters fled 12"... but then failed to rally (twice) and ran off the board. That improbable occurrence gave me over 1000VPs.
These sort of things were all over... it made it a little tough to predict what was going to work and what wasn't.
Oh, and Gortach's suck.
General Tournament Thoughts:
- Finally, after finding an army with limited shooting, the Gortach... remains a dumpster fire of a unit. I will never take this monster again. Never, never, never. He may have been good in the ~2018 meta with the Spanish Chariot/Gortach/Druidism list but this tournament has too much shooting, and even BH shaman wizards with their swarm, are too much for an unarmoured monster. He's about 100pts over-costed these days, especially when you compare him to the DE krakens and hydras.
- The core block of wildhorns with BSB have consistently been an MVP unit, in this game and others. They don't do much damage but they are very, very tanky. I will likely continue to use these guys in the next event.
- The same goes for the big unit of longhorns. It was just bad luck that they got chased away so easily this game. Failed to dispel a healing waters that was cast on a 6... and then that spell saved 14/17 wounds when they were charged. If anything, the incredible resilience of Crusader's unit in the middle is a testament to how tanky they are with druidism support. 2 units may not be great, for example it was very easy to keep 1 one of Crusader's units chaffed all game, but the first unit in the middle of the board can't be easily ignored. I will likely continue using a block of longhorns and the recent price drop might have finally found the sweet spot for them.
- This list has been the first time I've used 2x wizard masters. The chariot was a last minute addition and I likely won't use it again (too vulnerable to cannons). Regarding the masters I really enjoyed the additional spell selection over the druidism wizard alone. For the next list, I will likely drop to a shamanism adept alone. While Break the Spirit was a key spell this game, most games I find myself casting the 1-4 spells instead so the lower cost could be justified to help improve the army's unit count.
- The centaur chieftain with Hawthorne Curse has been an interesting unit, and this was a particularly good game for him by killing a unit of chaff and acting as a key piece of chaff when needed. However, I think I need to provide him armour next time, as a 2+ mithril save would have meant he could easily fled from the longhorns rather than dying and conserved his points this game.