The New Moon was a few weeks ago and that means I’ve had time to reflect on any changes I want to make. A couple of things have happened since that event. I’ve had a bit of time to think about how much my final position was the fault of my army selection over my use of it. I’ve played another couple of games and halflings won the UK Masters (not mine for avoidance of doubt).
Whilst I don’t have any particular aspirations to make it to the Masters, I do like to see what better placing players do with the armies I play to see if there any lessons to be learnt. For what it’s worth I really liked Radek’s list. It’s one of those lists that just doesn’t look particularly tough and pulls together some of my favourite units, such as Wild Lancers, multiple Iron Beasts and Greedyguts. It’s the sort of list I’d love to be able to play well but know I wouldn’t!
What was of particular interest to me was the inclusion of one sauceror with a hot pot and Greedyguts. Since I first started playing halflings I’ve always used Gastromancy and always brought two saucerors to the table. By its very nature Gastromancy is fickle. I’ve heard it described as a trap (i.e. not worth the points), but I’ve never signed up to that particular view, but I have increasingly questioned just what the right number of saucerors should be.
I tend to get seduced by Gastromancy in its more aggressive forms, brutal and wild charge, but throughout the New Moon there were too many times when the better choice for a number of turns would have been lifeleech or rally. My rationale for this is that halflings aren’t super killy, so my experience has been that even when brutal 3 is in play it often gets wasted as the fighters just can’t deliver. On that basis you might as well just throw some rally up and wait for the counterpunch. I further frustrate my forces by putting one of my saucerors on an aralez, and I’ve slowly come around to realising that much mobility isn’t necessarily needed. So, taking Radek Bry’s example I’ve played a couple of games with just one unmounted sauceror with a hotpot. It definitely felt more proportionate. The hotpot has been great at levelling out the uncertainty of Gastromancy, and whilst I have had to put a bit more thought into where I place the sauceror and how they move it definitely seems the resource spent on Gastromancy is now more appropriate.
That means I have some extra points to spend. Happily, I’ve made two further changes which have shaved a few more points from the list. Whilst I think the Heroes of Hoedenberg is a great update I just didn’t find it was really used in my games. I’m not expecting my Stalwarts to kill things, they are a roadblock, so elite isn’t adding much, and the Iron Beast is generally quite close to them, so the inspiring isn’t needed either. Finally, the shooty trolls just haven’t really used their guns, so they’ve been changed to regular forest trolls (which we all know are the best types of trolls). All in all, these savings add up to about 115 points, which is the exact cost of a Greedyguts.
I’ve always loved his rules, but the defence 4 made me nervous. I think this is more because I thought his stats were not dissimilar to a Mutant Rat Fiend, and that little beastie has a habit of disappearing from the table very quickly if you aren’t careful. Having played against Big G though and seeing him in Radek’s list definitely made me want to give him a try. Fortunately, the model is a delight to paint up, which is always nice.
So far, I’ve run him out twice and he’s done brilliantly. I still have my reservations but there is nothing more satisfying than watching him munch his way through one thing after another. Clearly, whilst there are some similarities between the Fiend and Big G more fundamental differences around movement and points cost make Big G a very different prospect. I’m really looking forward to seeing just what he can do once I’ve got a bit more practice in with him.
Aswell as messing around with the list I’ve also ordered a few extra basing bits. The army is a work in progress in a number of ways and I wouldn’t call any of its units completed at the moment, but I’m hoping to share some complete units soon.
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