Halpi’s rift tourney – list analysis

Introduction:

Recently, I played a Halpi’s rift tournament in Deurne – the Netherlands. It was a nice and friendly afair. Lots of great people and over the course of my four games no rules discussions and only friendly and gentle behaviour. A pleasant surprise after my last tournament experience, WHFB more than 15 years ago.

I met quite a few new players and I love the diversity of the armies I faced.

Army list

In this blog post, I describe my army list and how it performed. I feel I hit gold designing this army list, since I’ve had only positive experiences with the tools at my disposal. That said, my performance certainly can improve on the battlefield as I made a few mistakes here and there. During the games, I made several errors that should have cost me more battles than it did.

I used the following 2,300 point army list.

Infantry

The army features three hordes of infantry: 2x polearms, 1x spears. Due to model availability, I chose spears for my 3rd horde, otherwise I would have picked 3x polearms. This would have been a grave mistake as the spears have saved me at least two times, most noticably agaist a powerful brotherhood army.

As I have quite a few units, the possibility to delay placing the spears until after (most) of the enemy cavalry allowed me to deny a whole flank with them. Combining them with a 2nd horde of polearms a few inch behind them also made it impossible for flyhorses to jump over them, which shut down 2 regiments of brotherhood and a horde of forsaken at the cost of less than 400 points. So switching out the 3rd horde of polearms for spears was a masterstroke.

Other than facing cavalry, polearms trump spears. I faced CS/TC and bane chant quite a lot and the difference between def 4 and def 3 is noneexistent against units with CS/TC 2. On the offside, the difference between CS(1) and none is huge. Finally, the polearms are 25 points cheaper, so generally the polearms are better than spears.

All three have indomitable will, which I only used twice during the four games. But these two times it was the difference between having and losing 25 attacks (at CS 1/ BC) , so each time it was invalueable. Frankly said, for units of infantry the upgrade is mandatory because it migitates risks. Though it hasn’t happened to me yet, it also migitates the unlocky double six early in the game, staggering a whole battleline.

For the purposes of unlocking characters, I also had to add in two regiments of infantry. I chose bowmen @100 points and fanatics @145.

The bowmen simply were chaff and several of my opponents misunderstood them for a serious threat. It’s a 100 point block of 13/15 that also unlocks, has unit strength and (in some cases) can actually get a shot off. Most of the time, they went at the double in front of my battle line absorbing whatever kind of alphastrike the other army had available.

I learned that 13/15 is not a guaranteed rout for many hammers (11 wounds for a double 1, 9 wounds for a “4 or less”) which made them hold (albeit wavered) in two cases where my opponent expected them to be routed and reposition. In both cases, the enemy lost a valueable hammer to my counterattacks. The difference between def 3+ and def 4+ was neglible in most cases and the ability to fire shots made people actually fear it. I think they even did a wound or two with their shooting during the tournament. All in, golden unit.

Finally, I chose a regiment of fanatics, mainly because I recently painted up the unit. @145 points they are pricey (at least in KoM) and I felt their defense of 3 let me down in the one game that actually mattered. When they attacked, they were solid, but they were routed a bit too easy for those points. Still, the availability of a solid number of attacks on a regiment base did help me out once too, so I’m on the fence with this unit. Of all the units in the list, this is the one I have slight doubts about. I might switch them our for a unit of nimble cavalry instead.

cavalry

I chose a single horde of knights. The potion of pathfinder is a must, since you *will* hit terrain at 250mm width. The unit is 350 points and serves one big purpose: It’s a giant sledgehammer that forces my opponent to deal with them. (or suffer 32 attacks @ melee 3+/TC2) While my opponent focusses on this threat, the rest of my army can do what they should – dismantle the enemy army.

So basically, it’s a giant diverson. and 21/23 nerve @def 5+ makes them damn good at them. For instance, I once accepted a flank charge from a beast of nature for the purposes of scenario play and knew I would probably survive that.

The role I chose for them (getting hit a lot) they excelled in. The only game I drew was when my opponent neutralised them with minimal resources and focussed on killing the other parts of the army.

Artillery

I chose four pieces (ouf of a maximum of six in 2,300) of indirect fire artillery for the sole purpose of applying pressure on the enemy. They hit on fives (two attacks each) with ignore cover, blast d3+1 and a lot of piercing. Their damage is not as much as people fear, but their threat is real. Collectively, they will do on average only 6.7 wounds a turn, which they will not rout most units, even when focus-firing. The units they usually target are the larger, more valueable units, in the 2nd line of battle. No one likes it when their expensive cavalry or monster gets several cannon-balls to the head, so there’s an incentive of getting them into melee. And that’s where I want a damaged heavy hammer to be, preferably after wasting an alpha charge on a wizz on pegasus or unit of bowmen. If that fails, very few hammers will kill a 20/22 horde outright and the countercharge will kill these damaged biggies.

In short, four guns make enemies come towards me or lose their valueable biggies. That said, that one turn when the guns were ablaze, doing 12 wounds divided over 2 units, was a game-winning turn for me. Just be aware that there will be turns when only a single gun will hit for a wound or two.

In retrospection, four guns make for an ideal amount. Four guns gave me two firing platforms of each two guns (4 shots) which is quite a decent threat on most of the battlefield. Fewer guns would compromise this and five or six guns would have the same effect for more points and unlocks. I take one cannon and 3 siege artillery since the siege artillery is 10 points cheaper, but I use them in the same way.

So guns =yay for threat. Dont expect them to delete units on their own. Except for that one unlucky dragon.

Fliers

The list includes four fliers. Two generals on winged beasts (5-point sword/mace) and two wizards on pegasi. These four 50×50 monsters were bloody nasty for my opponent. The generals on winged beasts could usually (due to too much attention to either the guns or the knights) get a flank or two during the battle, killing off quite a few units on their own. After this initial charge, 14/16 def 5+/inspiring means it’s hard to shift and a threat you have to ground or it will fly away and do the same thing again.

People underestimate them, but 7 attacks on 3+ with CD2/TC 1 will rout on average a regiment if they can get a flank. The 5 point upgrades are a lot of value on these high CS models and their 200 point cost is very affordable. i’ve thought of taking 3 instead of two, but I fear the 3rd will not have enough room to operate, so it’s best to keep at two. (Also: points)

While the generals on winged beast gets underestimated a lot, the wizz on pegasus gets overestimated even more. It’s 85 points for a LB(3) dude on a peg. One has the boomstick for 30 to upgrade the lightning to (6) and I’m not sure if this is worth the points. The amount of hate these dudes get thrown towards them is enormous with people checking charge lanes and flanks even when I reminded them they only have one attack at melee 5+.

Their proper role is to stand in the way and die when needed, until that time they can deal with enemy chaff with their lightning. As my first opponent noted: “being a wizard in this army s*cks”

Would I take a peg on my 3rd wizz? Probably not, since I need one for inspiring/bane chant too. But if I could take five, I would probably do so. In this case, the 3-of-a-kind limit is helping spam a lot. The alternative (captain on pegasus) costs 90 points and loses the ranged ability in exchange for decent melee which could be a serious option if only I had more unlocks……

Individuals

I have two, which are more or less the same and furfil the same role.

• The banner gains the bane chant artifact making it (very) inspiring and bane chant (2)
• The wizard gains the inspiring talisman and the bane chant upgrade, making it inspiring and bane chant (2) in addition to the lightning of 3.

Bane chant is more or less required in this list since my main killers (infantry) are frankly said a bit mediocre. On itself a unit of 25 attacks @4+/Cs 1 or 30 attacks at 4+/no CS will not do enough damage to rout an undamaged enemy unit. On average a horde of polearms will deal 6 wounds and a horde of spearmen 5 to a def 5+ unit, even when not hindered. Bane chant will aleviate these limitations a bit, so the prerogative is keeping these dudes alive.

The fact that they also have inspiring hides the fact that my only other inspiring flies usually around my enemies’ battlelines in the form of both generals. I felt my enemies underestimated my dependance on these two individuals or didn’t have the tools (mounted individuals, mounted lightning or individual fliers) to deal with them.

Unlocks

The army fits together like a jiggsaw with my 4 hordes unlocking 4 fliers and 4 guns. The two regiments unlock the final 2 characters, leaving me with little room to change anything.

If I were to add anything, it will have to replace another unit of the same kind. For now, I think I keep it as it is.

Results

I won 3 battles and drew one. While the results look like I did great, the reality is that the wins are mostly due to luck and good matchups and the draw was a very lucky one (due to my opponents rolling low on critical nerve rolls) and I should have lost that one.

Battle one was against a beautiful dwarven army centered about defense 6+ golems and ironguard. (picture on the right).

One can immagine that an army with 4 war machines and a horde of TC(2) cavalry is not the ideal matchup for a slow army consisting of statues, so I felt a bit of an iconoclast here.

My opponent JP took it all in stride, compliments on his great sportsmanlike behaviour!

Battle 2 I faced against and elf list consisting of 3 archmages with all the lightning shenigans, 3 regiments of archers, 3 units of palace guard (horde, regiment, troop) a single regiment of stormwind, of silverbreeze, a mounted king and a dragon. His playstyle was very much like mine (counterpunch) but I quickly learned why KoM are a better list for this playstyle.

• The dragon quickly sported a number of cannon-ball sized holes and only managed to eat a pegasus wizard before being blasted from the table. Even if it wouldn’t have died, one of my generals was high on its tail.
• A stormwind regiment will lose to a horde of knights, especially if it’s under threat from the same cannons that previously killed the dragon.
• In a match of shooting attrition, the one with the most nerve wins. My opponent had to deal with 3 advancing hordes and 2 regiments of infantry and chose to damage these over killing the mages and generals on winged beasts. In return, my mages blasted his wizards with lightning, killing one a turn.
• The total damage of 3 regiments of archers and 3 mages was sufficient to rout the archers and a horde of polearms. The remaining hordes and fanatics supported by two generals on winged beasts ate the palace guard for breakfast ending the game in an overwhelming victory.

My opponent was a father who came to the tournament together with his daughter (she was playing Nothern alliance) and it was great to see father and daughter having so much fun together! I only hope that in a few years my girls also want to go with daddy to a tournament!

Battle 3 I faced against a great Order of the green lady army featuring two hordes of retainers, two regiments of knights, a horde of forsaken, two flying beasts of nature and two unicorns. The army is painted to high detail featuring a lot of vintage GW bretonnians.

I won this game in the deployment. I had quite a few drops more than my opponent and deployed my generals earlier (usually my last drops before the knights) in favour of my spearmen. The spearmen were deployed after he deployed all three units of knights on the rightmost flank, facing them. As I supported the spearmen with polearms behind them, a unit of bowmen to guard their flanks and a general on winged beast behind them, this created a wall he couldn’t deal with.

Behind this wall, I and two cannon blasting at the knights, dealing a bit of damage each turn. One unit of knights were in range of the guns from the other side too, so the first turn the barrage of artillery was quite devastating dealing 8 wounds in single turn. This is in fact only slightly over average for 4 guns (6.7 damage) but the shock was quite serious.

Many compliments for my opponent for keeping on fighting and despite my initial advantage, he almost managed to snatch victory from defeat a few times if he would have had a lucky nerve roll or two.

Battle 4 was the battle I learned most from. My opponent was obviously very experienced playing a vintage elven army painted to very high standard.

I was greeted by a wall of elven units with a combination of melee and missile units none of which was a serious threat by itself but combined they could deal a surprising amount of damage. Also, the army did not have many juicy targets for my guns.

My opponent prioritized and dealt with my softer units quickly, then sent his only unit of stormwind to delay (and seriously damage) my knights and generally managed to get the first charge in most combats. Only a lucky “double one” on one of my combat units prevented me from a defeat.

In the end, we had three loot counters remaining but only individuals and war machines left so no one could claim anything. A lucky draw for my side.