Kings of War
So the Kings of War Campaign has begun! The first round seems to be a bit more league like, which is fine since everyone is learning the rules. My goal for this just like the 40k campaign is a fully painted army for all official battles. So as previously mentioned I went with Ogres.
Small model count for the win!
So for my two unscheduled games I learned how brutal a horde of archers backed with cav and a flying Lord can be to face. My opponent was playing the Brotherhood, think old Bretonians.
Can't be that bad! Ogres squash puny human armor!
First game was over by round two. We played to three but stopped there. His rolls were good plus shooting combined with a flyer that can easily get rear/flank charges while you deal with shooter overwhelmed my army. At a thousand points I hadn't really thought of a good counter with Ogres. But always need to learn a new game and see how the ropes work.
We did a rematch which I still lost but it came exceptionally close down to the last turn. Probably should have picked a different priority targets, but dice also didn't go with me. I did return shooting fun with taking out a regiment of knights! I now have a better feel for the Ogres. I also have a better understanding how essential the magic items are in this game for a none casting army (undead have other fun).
Scheduled Game - Month 1 Ogres vs Kingdoms of Men
Funny enough both Bill and I are neutral armies, bit of a side skirmish to the campaign or battle because our allies want us to? Maybe my Ogres figure to get some gold during the commotion. You can read my opponents view at his blog. One of the best parts of Kings of War is the fact that the rules are straight forward enough we can catch up after not seeing each other in a long time and still get the game in despite being new players.
The river would be a game changing terrain piece. We counted it as an obstacle.
So my list consists of
-regiment of red gobbos
-horde of ogre warriors
-regiment of ogre warriors with pathfinder
-horde of shooters with bonus to hit (36" range, 4+, and piercing 2!)
-giant
-standard bearer with a BOOMSTICK! (lighting spell 3)
His knights and carbine cav were on the flank, countered by my giant and gobbos. The remaining forces were to the center right (from my view). The game started with moving forward some firing between units but nothing too substantial turn 1. Turn 2 saw the ultimate surprise the first kill went to the goblins! The Ogres would later claim it was the giant but the goblins shot and drove off the carbine cav!
We be goblins ye be food!
The ogre shooters would in two rounds take out his elite swordsmen. His Ballista would take out my standard bearer. His knights would take out the gobbos, while they spent the rest of the game hiding from the giant.
The river would wind up dividing my ogre units leading to the charge into the pikemen not being strong enough allowing them to hold, his standard bearer healing didn't help. The pikemen have ensnare plus the obstacle charge meant I was attacking at -2, lesson learned! The pikemen held my ogres in place long enough for a berserk horde to get the flank and well 60 attacks will take out most units! However, it also would slow his crossing allowing my shooters more time to eliminate the horde and standard bearer.
Damn you river!
Thank you river! Ogres are so fickle.
The pikemen engaged the Giant in the river, which was wiser than getting shot! The giant would waiver them but not manage to kill them. At this point it was the end of turn 6 and the roll said the game was over. The game ended with a difference of 70 points in favor of Ogres, not enough for a win. So a fun draw.
The gobbos will carefully tease the giant, since he didn't do his part and they did theirs! Probably not actually in his ear shot or better yet when he is sleeping.
The game was fun and I definitely learned the fun of ensnare combined with terrain! Overall I'm happy with KOW, tactics matter but the game isn't bogged down with rules that slow the game.
Hordes
I also got a quick 25 point Hordes game in. I'm a little annoyed with the cards being invalidated within a year of mk3. It seems to me they knew this was coming and should have playtested or made the decision before a new edition. On the side direction I do like war room so I'll just use it instead.
Either way did a mission where you needed to be in the center. I went continued with the days Ogre theme and did Thagrosh and his blighted ogrun buddies (not fully painted). My opponent went with his Grissel list.
So much thinking and positioning forgot to take pictures!
We both rolled pretty poorly, but I had a number of lucky tough rolls. The check mate was when I made my warspears immune to fire and had typhoon and Thagrosh deliver 4 sprays (through my warpsears) to hit Grissel and kill the dire troll. Due to fire immunity the warspears survived and held Grissel in place. The next turn I lucked out and managed to hit with the final blow. Fun game but a lot of positioning. Not sure I really want to play 50 points any time soon.
Both my opponents were great this week, hope to get more gaming in. (and yes I will talk about the 3d printer and terrain, but wanted to test the buildings first).
