Four Foot Knucker and an angry Two punch Jon

So this weekend I attended the four foot snake tournament. I believe having spoke to the guys running it before this tournament is focussed on encouraging more hobby and sports into the uk scene.
the pack is below

http://www.fourfootsnake.com/grand-tournament/
I thought i'd give this flavour of event a try as a weekend fell into place which rarely does in my life these days and I frantically finished painting more units for my trident realm.
I went into the tournament with little confidence, ill be honest since I moved to TR i've taken more kick ins off people than at any stage in the last 30 years apart from my first year in warmachine/hordes.
Anyway after collecting all the learning from all my play testing different units I cam eto some conclusions for my playstyle.

1. Trident realm chaff is expensive and easy to remove or to slow to be effective in most scenarios, this doubles as a problem when you consider the reasonable price of Thuul.
2.  Trident realms have issues with flyers and cavalry so is really best not to have 2 separate lines of engagement and throw in many fast pieces in your list to account for this.
3. Unit strength is important for trident realms, consider as few items as possible.
4.  Trident realms can be cute but for the most part this should be on the table top not at list writing, the siren, a teleport mage, a surge mage, ekhter and some water elementals are great, but lets run through those points, this isn't Fallen formation from varangurr and it isn't points efficient.
5). Put pathfinder in the list wherever possible as its limited

I'm as always not telling others how to play but I have my own thoughts on what is needed to combat the current meta.
I started my journey with a testing msu shooting lists often with nature allies in COK 18, trident king, Heartpiercers, riverguard, talon riders etc with thuul to do most of the fighting and a couple of blocking characters.  This design of list was ok but was beyond dice dependant, its fragility led to results frequently swinging on one dice role, I was thus winning just under 50% of my games, which while not shocking is fairly bad as my records at wargaming and since I play kings would be around 80-90%, the dice swing is also an issue as nature, elves, abyssals and may others just shoot better and these matchups are dire.  This was dropped after a 2 day event in December where I finished bottom half for the first time in atleast a decade, maybe with the new formation its better now, however I feel naaids still have dire matchups into elves and abyssals and I think varanguur runs this type of army over.

So I quickly moved on to playing a monster mash, this was amazing fun, double krakens, elementals, wyrm riders all the toys, I have found these lists interesting, they were usually run with king of crabs or depth horrors in support, had great time running this list my winning went up to 70% or so and it felt better, I tried the full surge windblast sirens call trick but preferred a couple of extra monsters ultimately as this doubled down on the lists issues, which is lack of U/S at end of the game. We all know mosnters don't hit that hard except the kraken as the rest flounder around with 8 or so attacks hitting on 4s.  As I said an improvement, this felt more natural for trident realm and something they could do nearly as well as some of the best factions at it, the issue was the unit strength could be an issue and not having mounted asbs I found a problem until without spending 150points. It also frustrated me, on paper wyrm riders look like they should work, but they didn't seem to, I can count on 1 hand the amount of times they killed something even near their points without being soloed back by the unit.  Was still experimenting so moved on to

The new naaid formation, I like these guys its a perfectly reasonable start to an army, however I don't like its half your army at 2k. I want some heart piercer and a flying centurion in most lists but I don't want to pay the ensnarer tax for them.  A tactically flexible formation that i've run with king crabs, wyrm riders and knuckers and even a mini monster mash,  Its definitely a decent list but im frustrated by it, the lack of ability to shoot turn 1, the lack of resilience to shooting and a personal play style didn't suit me as im a grab all general not a vp difference guy.. Now it is important to state right now in a tournament using VP difference as the secondary scoring set I think that this formation may be optimal, however I think if you like to virtually table people which I do for a bonus on your kills only I think my list is worth 5-10 tournament points more.

The learnings and the list

So I took a massive gamble going into this event, I wrote a list, I played it once after submission and rocked up to the event now what I took and why.

Trident king.  220
This guys isn't quite ubiquitous to the faction n my opinion, however I'm here to tell you that if you're not taking him seriously consider why not.  Nimble speed 8 charges are very effective in trident realms, the ability to support knuckers with inspiring and something that threatens front charges and the ability to tease or support other missile fire can be key. Can work alone and sometimes solo a flank now he has regen, is pathfinder sure of being ubiquitous, even without he's money and in my opinion the mini kraken as I call him is better than the real deal for pure adaptability in an army that is less adaptable than some. (also my model is converted/kitbashed and I really love the fluff so hes going in)

Naaid Centurion with wings of honeymaze.  150
this is a very specific tech piece that after trying everyone who I could with wings or high speed I settled on this guy.  Possibly 20 points over what I want to pay but he's class.  Mobile inspiring is something I enjoy with combat armies, however this is the key piece to disrupting flying, shooting and cavalry which are the 3 banes of TR.  The fact hes pathfinder, ensnare, regen and for a reason only mantic know def 5 is all the logic you need to play this guy, I've locked down units at key times for extended periods or even till they die, grounded flyers or killed warmachines and shooting for fun with this guy. I genuinely believe a flying character for board control is critical as TR, you cant do better than this guy, however the mythican is a good bit cheaper if you are nearly at budget

Naaid envoy, shroud of saint, heal and surge  140
The armies support guy, I would think with the exception of surge this is very common load out as heal 6 is big enough to change games at times. Surge makes her seriously expensive, I cast it twice, however I think the threat is real and its the threat that you rely on with stuff like this, also its more anti flyer control

Thuul mythican, bane chant, critters call 110
grounds flyers, bane chants an army that's not high CS for the most part, inspires thuuls and adds shooting, cav and flyer control, in a pinch also fights, what more do you want for that points total ?

3 Thuul regiments 420
this is something I saw under Cok18 (but with the much worse troops) in the formation. I must see something many have forgotten in 2019.  So what they are speed 6 that doesn't matter, yes in some match ups these guys venture off and want to hit something and die but its not their main role in my play style.  These guys are blockers or the chaff if you like in a game where people can one hit Gigas and where they can these guys work as a trio and cause chaos.  20 attacks, stealth and ensnare is exactly what supports gigas best, arguably the depth horror is as good but its tendancy to be deleted at range and extra 45 points means I tend to go for thuul. Try the depth horrors if you like but id probably put dwarven ale, or staying stone on these guys before you did.

King Crabs 400
Gigas do what TR were meant to do best you sacrifice whatever you need to, to keep these guys fighting till the end in 8/10 match ups. The formation has bought them to life, I don't think they need items but if I had the points I guess, ale, stone and chalice would be high on my list.

Water elementals 220
So the thuul hit the high nerve low defence, the gigas fight the high value and these support either, add a moderate threat range and control enemy positions and flyers, am always underwhelmed with the damage and its another unit where thuul regiments being in the list means this can thrive by always having possible flanks to aim for and not themselves having to take any charges.

Greater water elemental 190
loved the concept of him, loved the model, did virtually zero damage and height 4 means he got picked on, if I had the points would go second elementals, but as is this guy got in the way a few times and hes ok for that and the small base is useful.
Again partly taken for the model

Knucker 145

a really weird piece, people want to stay out of its threat and I don't know why, its another flying disrupting, shooting lockdown, cavalry stopping piece that if someone lets it round the back cause much bigger issues. I like him and luckily the tournament gave me

Knucker Jon Free
(two punch jon faulkes see rule pack)

Love this fella in the last game did 17 damage in one round to an ancient dragons flank, obviously not as good as a knucker in defence or movement, but was super fun with blasts into combats, they valued this guy at 150, and I wish I could take him instead of the water elemental :)

Brief Tactics

So the plan for my list was if I was going to be alpahed with high cs or tc,  use the thuuls as a first line with gigas and elementals behind. If i'm against high volume low quality attacks it'll be gigas up front and the rest behind.  Equally if playing against mass trash armies then use thuul up front to decimate all they can.
The Knucker and trident king generally try and dominate a flank the breathe presence and speed with nimble are big and the trident king will often tank the first hit if they are out paced.
I tend to deploy the envoy behind the water stuff with a gigas near by so they can always threaten surge flanks if someone gets stuck, this is likely to be near a wood or field. Around a hill I tend to deploy the water formation near the thuul and use them as bait. The naaid just does whatever she likes tbh all the fast pieces vary in role game to game.

Well that's the prep now a brief brief run down of games

Round 1, Plunder, Adam Padley (uk master)

This I was worried about, the amount of shots and movement against me I thought I had few answers to, however on the positive side through analysis I realised to spread wide so as not to get clogged behind wavering units and offer every target as a threat, this will also stop the fast cav enveloping me.

Turn 1
The match was pretty much decided like this, I rushed across the board and adam shot me but not rolling spectacularly.

Turn 2
I rushed again but massively the knucker, trident king partnership dominated the right flank with the breath wavering a unit of fast cav, and leaving the other trapped. On the left the centurion was ready to tag the character rock lobber.  The mythican used critters call on a wizard to drop the fire rate.
The retaliation and the last turn of mainly uncontested shots was a huge turning point as from memory when the dust settled I think I had 2 units of thuul wavered but everything else was good, I had expected something to die.

Turn 3
The lines engaged, 2 giga units, two punch jon and the water elemental went into some rabble in the wood and failed to break it, everywhere else something charged something including the mythican. The right flank I got a slice of luck the king finished the wavered dudes, but the knucker charged the other unit and after only doing 4 wounds rolled the10 or so needed to pop them and free up both units on the flank.  The left side the centurion killed the catapult meaning his trombones etc were no longer safe.
On Adams turn I started to take losses and his dice woke up after my less than impressive previous engagement, he shot big, adam tried to target the gigas with the catapults and some spells, but then found out that their height was only 1 and he had to retarget the graeter elemental, he hit twice did something like 12 damage and then put some more on with trombones to seal the deal. The thuul fighting the rabble in the middle wavered and the wavered thuul died.

Turn 4
The trident king starts collecting tokens and the brawl continues, I cant remember every last kill, but I can remember 2 huge things and a weird little bonus, double 1s on a horde of rabble and a trombone, and a bonus slightly unnecessary double 6 on a horde of archers with just a mythican still fighting it.
Adams retilation was now limited, a couple of stone throwers missed the trident king and I think he finished another thuul unit, but ultimately it was looking short.

Turn 5
I started just killing whatever was in sight, gigas running around the left now  but  getting worryingly surrounded, Adams centre now collapsed due to a knucker joining in the rear, leaving my water elementals and a very battered thuul unit standing in the smoke, and the trident king tried to get safe with his 2 value coin.
Adam retaliated by killing the thuul and knucker jon.  Adam swung wide around the left with the remaining fast cav and his work now was all being done by individuals

Turn 6
My centurion heroically charged some fast cav, the gigas try their best with the envoy to stop the fast cav getting to the 2 left tokens, the elementals pick up another token and go right. The knucker kills a warmachine.
Adam kills my centurion and looks to try and reposition to get the 2 point token second from left.

Turn 7 starts im up 3-1
Gigas and envoy block him from the 2 point token, knucker kills a lobber, adam has 1 last chance to kill the trident king with a couple of individuals but its not happening and I seal the deal.

Thoughts height 1 gigas are a thing against warmachines but also because I can heal across them because my elementals are all bigger. Adam had a 1 bad and 1 very bad shooting round, obviously I mitigated and harassed and then the game nearly swung back on the double double 1 but the plan of sacrifice the thuul and the big chump to try and keep the resilient stuff till the end worked.

Anyway the next blog post will have games 2-5, because i'm tired
hope you enjoy and read the next one