Thoughts on the Provincial Loot Battle

On Loot…

My opponent had already unpacked all his models on one side of the table before we rolled “Loot” up, so most of the objectives ended up being placed near the middle, in an effort to be gentlemanly. I think we both approached this as “fight for a few turns” and then use whatever is left to claim objectives in the last few turns… there is definitely a lot of room for strategic improvement on my part here, but that will come with more experience with the scenario and increased familiarity with my list.

On the game…

I think we both played a good game, each with our own ups and downs.

I think I was too aggressive with my left flank to begin with. I should have stayed in my deployment zone. I was hoping his speedy cavalry would advance ahead of his infantry, and I could pick each apart in turn. However, by moving my left flank forward... it allowed his forces to arrive all at once, which caused some trouble for me.

Additionally, I think I could have deployed a little better on the left. I think putting my Foot Guard at the table edge (instead of the chaffy Pole Arms) would have made for a better anchor for that section of my lines. Minor, but minor things add up.

In the center, I think I should have used my Foot Guard Troop more conservatively; deployed with and supporting the left flank, for instance, instead of brazenly trying to take the center all by themselves…

On the right, I think I deployed very well, and played an excellent early game. My “traps” worked as intended this time, and I bagged his units there without real issues. Everything started out according to plan… but I didn’t really have a plan for after I removed those two units. I felt I needed to try and deal with his ranged abilities (as they could potentially each pick off a tiny unit of mine per turn...), so I tried to advance, which was a gamble that didn’t really pay off, as the supporting fire of my artillery didn’t hit. I need to work on plans with back-ups.

My opponent commented in-game that he was having a rough time deciding what to do. He never felt like he had easy choices to make on his turns, which, was encouraging for me. Damned if I do/Damned if I don’t situations tends to be what my good MSU armies give my opponents. So if I’m making life a little rough for my opponent, I think I’m getting better at this game!

In general, I think I need to play a little more cautiously. Kingdoms of Men aren’t great fighters or shooters… so the wins will need to come from good judgment and tactics (and traps). The luck of having that extra set of turns saved me this time for sure.

On my List…

Overall, I think I played the list better than I did last time. I still really like the Pole Arm Troops. While the 5+ to hit still isn’t great with the Ballistae, though I do like having them in my list for the time being. I will be looking to drop the Bowmen for the next iteration of the list though. They have a place in the army, but aren’t synergizing and supporting my list as well as I’d like currently. Time to explore other things.

On future lists…

My list was a slight variant of my previous OCD MSU list, this time replacing a Regiment of Pike with one of Foot Guard with shields. The Foot Guard seems like a better choice for an all-comers list, given their Defense 5. I think they performed well. I’m eager to finish up these transition projects and to start work on my Praetorian Guard models as more defensive Roman-inspired Foot Guard units for this army...

On offense and MSU…

One thing I have noted in my games is that I don’t have any real way to leverage a potential deployment advantage. I can’t really catch my opponent off guard, as all my stuff is just “more humans, which aren’t really menacing.” And while I can win some fights through strength in numbers… I think that as the games get larger, the dog pile will rapidly cease being effective and I’ll need to up my offensive game with real honest-to-goodness offensive units that have keywords like Thunderous Charge, Piercing, and Crushing Strength.

While KoM does have some good ranged options (in terms of having Pierce); 5+ across the board to hit isn’t great to rely on... so while some more ranged units may find their way into my lists as support, I think I’ll be focusing more on adding more potent melee units for my offense punch.

A cavalry regiment with Maccwaw’s Potion of the Caterpillar is a popular choice for many armies it seems. While it seems like a reliable fall back option (I have two regiments of Knights already), I think I’d like to try out a Beast of War and some Troops of Mounted Sergeants in the coming games. The Beast of war can be a brutal final deployment, or just a powerful normal one, and I haven’t seen any lists with Mounted Sergeants and want to try them out as I think they have a lot of potential.

The elephant in the room is Bane Chant... which can theoretically just take any existing unit in my list and make it more deadly. While a pretty good option usually… BC doesn’t strike me as the best choice for an MSU list.

To be sure, a wizard with bane-chant (and the Talisman of Inspiration) will make his way into my future lists as the utility is just too darn good to pass up… but, playing MSU, as a rule, I want to invest my points in more units rather than in buffs for them.

Anyways, that's enough thinking and wording for now. Thanks for reading!