Kings of War Campaign Month 1!

This week I managed to get four games in! Possibly a fifth this weekend.

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 each month we have one assigned game then can get in side games, good versus evil are tallied for the win each month to see how the Battle of Tyris Gate is going.

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).

Some old and new...

So, as normal with the first month of a new year, a big drop in gaming. However, got a few games in.

While my Pathfinder campaign hasn't met, my other group has started our Descent Campaign. The four of us went with the main campaign, myself as the overlord. We also used the Conversion Kit since I have so many random DD models.

Of course the one picture I take is with mostly unpainted models.

We played the intro quest, the vampire's masquerade, and the fat goblin quests. The heroes won the intro and masquerade, I won the goblin quest. Both quests came to last minute runs. In the Goblin case I did a little maneuvering to get the big Guy out in time, last minute card to move a second time. In the Vampire case the players worked in a great formation to hold of the monsters and catch the vampire lady. A lot of fun.

General Thoughts:
1. It seems the Overlord is at a slight disadvantage but not enough to lower enjoyment. Maybe that will change as the campaign goes on.
2. I like that the overlord and the characters level up after each mission. It is simple and clean, giving new abilities without going overboard.
3. While it will be almost two months between sessions, the rules are easy enough it shouldn't take long to get back in character.
4. Overlord has to rely on his cards, monster can only do so much. Trip can be great!
5. I like this so much better than 1st edition, has a nice flow and mission structure.
6. Imperial Assault should be awesome skinned on this. For those who don't know that is the Star Wars using the Descent style rules.

So the new is Descent. The old is Hordes. I started Warmachine with the old black and white Prime book and old starter sets. My wife and I each have multiple armies. I've kept up with the rules (and fluff) but haven't played in a year or two.

One of my normal gaming buddies stopped by and was a tad frustrated with the newest GW grey Knight codex. He wanted to try his Trollblood again. So, we decided start slow and do a box set game. His Troll Impalers, Axer and Warlock Madrak versus my Legion shredders (4), Carnivean, and Warlock Lylyth.

I really miss playing this game. At these low point levels it becomes a game of positioning and setting up the best runs of attack. The warcaster/warlock is always so powerful and influential to your army, but if lost costs you the game. How much do you risk? The Fury/Focus mechanic makes so many choice each turn. The boosting to control your odds versus the synergy of your enemies defense.

Of course I'm not sure I'm ready to play in stores again with it. I love the game, but I'm not sure I can play enough to keep up to speed with weekly players. Then again depends if my rpg games pick up again or not.

Speaking of which I will end with this Kickstarter advertising, mostly since I'm excited to run it




Game on.