Hobby Update: KoM Mounted Heroes and Redone Militia

I hobbied up few more things for the Kingdoms of Men! I got to these a little quicker than I thought I would. I've been pretty busy and stressed and largely stuck at home near the end of May here, so managed to get these done over a few days.

Redone Militia Mobs

The Militia troops were some of my first attempts at legit multi-basing for Kings of War. It did not go all that well. The paste was very chunky, and I made a lot of mistakes. The paste got in a few spots along the sides, making the bases difficult to fit in any movement trays I needed to use for 3rd Edition. Also, my old paint job was lacking, with a lot of obviously errant brush strokes, so this rabble has been on my radar to renew.

The renewed crew. A whole legion's worth of Militia!

The original troops were mostly Foot Sergeants from Fireforge and some kitbashed musicians/ banner bearers from the Warlord Games Romans. Now, I have added in some of Fireforge's Byzantine Auxiliaries to both use up some of that plastic and add in a more "disorganized" or smushed look for the units, since those don't have stands and so can be fit in closer than usual.

One of the regiments.

With the renew now, I took care to repaint most of the white elements. Originally, I used a few layers of white, and it's just too jarring. Too bright. My white of choice these days is a generic gray base coat, Citadel's "Pallid Wych Flesh" and then a very thin final layer of actual white. This gives off a gentler, more muted white that looks better overall.

The second Regiment.

Additionally, I worked to break off a number of Sergeant heater shields. As I've hobbied on the Regnum over the years, I have shied away from the more medieval looking miniatures, and not much in the army still uses those styles of shields anymore. Some of the minis could only use those shields, given the shield arm bit used or the glue in place, but I managed to swap out about a dozen heater shields for ovals and squares from other Roman-themed kits. Overall, this increased variety really helps convey the disorganized look I was going for, while also preserving the distinct purple and white shields that has come to be this army's overall look. I am very pleased with how the mob looks now!

A third Regiment, composed of two Troops, to give me some flexibility and allow me to run a full Legion of rabble, should I ever want to.

Final touch-ups could be a few brush slashes against some of the shields? Just something to show a little wear and tear, or battle damage? And a few strokes to tidy up some splotchy wash work, but I'm not sure I'm up for anything that subtle or precise right now, so that will have to wait. These are looking far better than they were, and are ready to hit the table again! I still have enough old Sergeants, spare banner-bearers and Auxiliaries to do up at least two more regiments, but all this was already 40+ models, and I didn't want to add any more in, as I was out of hobby space. These are done and I'll get to the others sometime, if I want to.

On the table, these have been interesting. Not great, but they are cheap, and have surprised me a few times already. They are giving me a lot to consider when it comes to multiple small unit play and what that means in Kings of War. I should have some more developed thoughts after a few more games, at which point I can revisit some of that thinking here on the blog.

Mounted Heroes

Long ago, I hobbied up a few assorted heroes for the Kingdoms of Men. The mounted ASBs and Hero came from a command pack from Warlord Games. After a good showing by the Hero in Battle 004 to run up and remove some war machines, and a poor showing by the mounted Wizard cadre in both Battles 003 and 004, I decided to hobby up a few more Mounted Heroes.

The minis are Late Roman Cavalry, from Gripping Beast, which are very, very similar to the Knights I recently hobbied on made from the Elite Gothic Cavalry from Gripping Beast. In Late Roman Cavalry box, the horses are unarmored and there are more shields and different heads (a nice variety of "heavy" looking Roman helmets, some with nasal guards), but the rest of the kit is the same, with the same weapons and knightly torsos. 

I used the bodies from the kit, with shields and heads from Warlord Games. While hobbying on them though, I realized that the Heroes are Defense 5 and not Defense 4 like I was thinking, which meant that I suddenly needed some armored horses, and realized I probably should have just bought another box (or ideally just 1 more sprue) of the Gothic Cavalry. Oops. Getting wysiwyg is hard sometimes.

In lieu of buying more plastic, I eventually dug out some of the fancier looking horses from the Perry Mounted Men at Arms cavalry I had used for my AOE2 Cataphract Regiment. I had 4 left with this barding style, and used two of those horses to make up these two new Mounted Heroes.

Potato picture, but you get the idea. Hopefully I can do some rearranging this summer and bring back a hobby space and the light box.

I like how they turned out! The praetorian shield goes very well with the mini, and those bodies are still very dynamic for just three poses from the sprue. Having the same bodies as the Goth Knights, and the same horse armor as the old cataphracts, these are a nice blend of bits and should smooth out the look between all the various ranges included in the army.

On the table the Mounted Wizards just didn't deliver. Lightning Bolt was only dealing about 1 damage a turn, and they didn't really impact what my opponent did in either game; the Wizards were ignored unless he needed to charge through them to get towards an actual target. The Mounted Hero on the other hand was great for hunting those war machines, and with better stats but a more "in-your-face" approach, and I think these Heroes will be able to threaten and disrupt things more like I was thinking the Wizards would. Heck, even just throwing one at some Kin shooters and disrupting them seems like it would be well worth it. We'll see how these perform in some future games!

Hobby Update: More KoM Knights

I have a lot of melee-cavalry done up and available for the Regnum already - well over 1,000 points spread over a fair number of units. However, most of it was done up long, long ago and is now at least a little inconsistent with both general wysiwyg ideals and also the army aesthetic now, so I'm just retiring a few things as I hobby on a few new things to my Kingdoms of Men army here.

• Three troops of Mounted Sergeants from Fireforge will be retired. The Mounted Men-at-Arms box is a great kit, but just not consistent aesthetically with what I am going for with the Regnum as they are far too "medieval" in appearance.
• The unreasonable amount (4 troops and a regiment) of old Norman Knights from Conquest Miniatures will also be retired. With their unbarded horses they just don't seem to fulfill that Defense 5 look. Technically I guess I'd demote these to Mounted Sergeants? However, the lances seem more knightly, and I can't imagine I'd need to run this many Mounted Sergeants ever, and I'm not even sure if I want to test any out at all. Thunderous Charge 1 just doesn't seem all that threatening. So I'll box them up for now.
• The regiment of kitbashed AOE2 Cataphract Knights from Perry Miniatures will be kept on as a "special" unit of Knights. If something gets a magic item, I'll probably run these to set them apart.
• The new Goth Elite Cavalry from Gripping Beast here will be my basic knights going forward, and what the rest of this post will cover.

The box is for 12 minis, and comes with 4 sprues. And In addition to the box, I picked up another sprue on ebay, to get my 15 models. Each sprue in the box is the same, with three dudes and three horses, and a variety of weapons and heads and other bits. It even has a pair of standards to choose from: a Dacian dragon or a cloth banner. The box contents are pretty good! 

I forgot to take a picture of any sprue, fortunately Gripping Beast has their own. See? Pretty nice. Dynamic poses and a surprising array of options. 

The barding of the horses definitely has more of the "cataphract" look I was shooting for with my knights. The riders leave a bit to be desired with regards to their armor, but I decided against any mini-swapping or conversion work on these. Overall they fit in quite well with the Bowmen and Pole-Arms units, which makes sense as all these minis are from Gripping Beast! With mixing and matching a few lines of minis in this army already, I opted to keep the riders as-is for some aesthetic continuity. 

First group, based as a regiment. A nice variety of poses from just 3 bodies.

Not much to say about the Knights on the tabletop. Being Knights, they are obviously good on the charge (if not hindered), generally ok taking a charge, but even with Headstrong and a good defense, can struggle in any grinding combat since they lack Crushing Strength. All in all, a fine unit, but one that does require some finesse to use well. I don't think I have quite got the hang of these on the table yet, but am learning a bit with every game I run them. And these already saw some action in Battle 003. These were actually hobbied up a few days before the game, and I am just getting around to the hobby post now. Life has been busy.

Second group, based as two troops, and messing around with a movement tray. It's a pretty tight fit...

As I'm looking at the pictures, I think the moustaches could use some more color, but overall I'm happy with the new Knights here and am not going to bother trying to touch them up right now. With nearly 6000 points currently, I am starting to wind down my Kingdoms of Men collection. There are still a few things I'd like to do with them hobby-wise, like redoing the Militia units, and maybe finally add in a more "Varangian Guard" style of a Foot Guard unit (or maybe two or three knowing me), but I am pretty happy with my Kingdoms of Men collection as it stands. I have plenty of options to choose from while exploring 3rd Edition, which is just perfect for me right now. No May game here as I have too much life stuff going on, but there should be some dice rolling come June, with these new knights likely hitting the table again.

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #004: KoM vs NA [Dominate]

This is the second of the two games play on April 30th. My opponent still wanted to explore the ranged options of their army more, and swapped over to their second list. This time they were fielding:

The list is pretty similar to the previous one, and again props to Tactical Wargames for the list builder they run. The Ice Elementals and Naiads return to form my opponent's main line. The new lists drops the expensive magic items on the Elementals, one unit of Ice Kin Hunters and one unit of Snow Foxes in favor of a new Horde of Snow Trolls and a third (!) Bolt Thrower. The list comes in at 13 drops 22 Unit Strength, on-par with their previous list. 

I brought the list above, again utilizing EasyArmy and some old list ideas. My list a another very wide list with 18 drops and 33 Unit Strength, almost entirely infantry regiments. When making the list I was curious if spreading a little Crushing Strength over a large number of units would be a viable alternative to a few very punchy units (Knights, Giants, Mammoths). I had the following things in mind that I wanted to explore, with admittedly a fair amount of overlap with the previous game's goals:

• Pole-Arm Regiments / Foot Guard / Fanatics. These are my infantry options with Crushing Strength, but which option would perform the best? 
• Bowmen Regiments / Crossbowmen. Bowmen provide some cheap unlocks and ranged attacks. Crossbowmen have piercing. Do I notice a difference in damage output? Are these worth taking?
• Wizards. The list lacks much actual chaff, and I figured the mounted Wizards with Lightning Bolt may be able to provide some good utility and roadblocks.
• Hero on Horse. He's been hobbied up for ages, but I can't recall if he ever saw the table. For sure he's not been fielded in 3rd yet. I figured I would add one in and see how he fared. 
• Infantry-focused. The Kingdoms of Men can field a lot of bodies. I decided to take no Knights and no Giants in this second list, to see if a very wide, regimental infantry-focused approach seemed viable. 

With lists out of the way, let's get on to the game!

Deployment and Set-Up

We continued working our way randomly through the established scenarios, and ended up with Dominate this time. This is a pretty classic king of the hill style scenario, where we are trying to control a central zone with the most unit strength.

We were using an app for placing terrain, and got a very cluttered central zone this time around, which would not only complicate the firing lines for my opponent's Bolt Throwers but also make contesting the central zone very messy. There would like be a lot of hindered charges in the middle. As I recall, sometime during this game we discovered the cover rule for an obscured base and started using it.

I decided to deploy aggressively again, and three factors fed into this decision. His various hordes were going to be hard to break, and I didn't want to be boxed out of the scoring zone. Second, even with limited firing lanes, three war machines seemed like a lot to overcome. I have so much stuff and I am unlikely to be able to hide it all. If I deploy too far back, I'll just be shot off. The third was my list being essentially all infantry. I am not speedy, so I felt I need to be a little closer to the line to start with to have a fighting chance in the game.

My general plan was to use the central building on my side to divide the field basically in two, and with it as an anchor, envelop the center, alligator-style when my opponent approached. It's not a bad plan, but I think I deployed a little haphazardly. With so many units, and such a high unit strength overall, I think I should have actually been more cautious, deploying more conservatively. The forests and hills can obscure most of my army. The war machines came down relatively early. I think I should have just left a token force here, whatever was already deployed, and just overloaded the safer right flank. I don't recall the drop order, and it's hard to say which approach would be best. I will say I struggled to come up with a good deployment plan given so many units. I think I overwhelmed myself a bit with the number of units I was running, and probably should have done some more prep before hand. I wasn't sure how likely we were to get a second game in, and this was by far the weaker of the two lists in my estimation.

For deployment, my opponent placed all three Bolt Throwers on my left-hand side. The forests and Height 2 hills really limited his fields of fire. Supporting them was the Snow Troll Horde and one of the two Snow Fox packs. That arrangement with the Clansmen worked well in Battle 003, so we'll see how the stronger Trolls manage to defend the war machines.

Deployment, with my left side.

On my left side were regiments of Militia, both Fanatics and with Pole-Arms in reserve. I learned a little from the last game, but the Fanatics still aren't the best screens! My thinking here was that the Fanatics be more aggressive, with the Pole-Arms forming a bit of a second line as needed. The intrepid Hero was here on the left too with the Crossbowmen targeting the center. The ASB, Foot Guard and Pikes continued the line towards the building. Hiding behind that central building is my General.

Deployment, with my right side.

My opponent again had a strong center, which makes sense, especially given the scenario! The hordes of Naiads, and Ice Elementals were joined by the Clansmen, with Snow Foxes and the legendary hero behind, ready to support. On his left was the Lord on Frostfang and single regiment of Ice Kin.

Coming from the right of my General behind that central building were another regiment each of Pikes, Pole-Arms, and Foot Guard. I deployed the skewed Bowmen very early on, trying to get a good view towards the center, like I had tried with the Crossbows on the left. With the Ice Kin committed here, they were joined by the second regiment and inspiring Wizard on foot. When the Lord on Frostfang came down here as well, the other two mounted wizards arrived as well to try and mitigate. 

The scout move from the sneaky Kin.

It was a pretty concentrated list from my opponent, and a very, very wide list from me. The terrain will make things interesting in the center for sure! My opponent got a Scout move with the Kin, moving behind the hill, and then secured first turn again.

Top of Round 1: Northern Alliance

On my left, the Bolt Throwers loosed. One hit my Pikes on the left for 3 damage; one hit the Fanatics for 4, and the third either shot at the Fanatics as well or missed the Militia. Alas I did not track shots and this is a few days after the game! Nonetheless, bolts connected and damage was done.

Opening moves on the left-hand side.

The Snow Trolls moved up with the Foxes at their heels, to help zone out the threats to the war machines.

Not a great start to the archer war I wanted.

Then on my right, the Ice Kin took the hill, and with their steady aim, are able to inflict 6 wounds on a Bowmen regiment, wavering them. The Lord crept up, joining the elves on the hill.

My opponent's center advanced again in menacing unison, but did nothing else significant this turn.

Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

My plan on my right was to overload the Kin with projectiles, and then move on to the Clansmen. If the Lord on Frostfang committed to anything here, I should be able to counter him with my General. That was the plan at least. Little moved here, though the General did change facing to signal intent.

My opening moves on the right.

I moved one mounted Wizard up to roadblock, but this is arguably a bit premature? I could have moved them back as well with the same overall results. I think I was expecting the Kin to fall this turn, and wanted him aggressively forward to tempt my opponent's Lord into a charge and slow him down, or to carry things on against the Dwarf Clansmen swiftly on my next turn. Alas, the Wizards all threw their lightning, and the unwavered Bowmen regiment loosed arrows as well. A total of 4 wounds were dealt to the elves, who stuck around easily. So much for weight of fire...

Lining up some future charges on my left while the Hero uh... heroically moves out.

On the left, the mounted Hero moves speedily out, zeroing in on the Bolt Throwers. The Militia moved up to take a hit, with the Fanatics moving into support with charges next turn. The Pole-Arms moved up, but didn't commit anywhere yet. The Crossbows fired, and I think scored 1 damage against the Naiad Horde.

Top of Round 2: Northern Alliance

On the left, one Bolt Throwers fires into the wounded Fanatics (I think deals 6 damage) and removes them from the board. The second fires at the previously untouched Fanatics, dealing 4 damage. The third and final Thrower, nearer the center of the field, fires again into my Pikes, dealing 4 new damage and wavering them. The Bolt Throwers have done juuust over 20 damage so far!

A messy left flank as we posture for better positions.

The Trolls back up and the Snow Foxes slip out in front. The Foxes could not charge given the tall trolls in front of them at the start of the turn. This maneuvering gets the Trolls out of the wild charge range of the remaining Fanatics unit though. 

An unfortunate development on my right... that lord is very quick!

On the right, the surviving Kin charge the mounted wizard, dispatching him easily. The nimble Lord 

on Frostfang chargs as well, into the wounded and wavered Bowmen who break. He decides to overrun, and gets an inch or so out of charge range of my General. With all the sidestepping last game, I didn't remember or appreciate just how speedy the Lord on Frostfang could be and I was not anticipating him in my lines quite yet! This is bad, but hopefully salvageable, as thankfully the overrun means he will need to reposition next turn, giving me a little time to react.

Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

I can't get to the Lord, but if memory serves I can get to the Dwarfs in the front or the Kin in the flank. I decide to charge the Kin, and fortunately prevail over them. We measure it out, and I'd need a 2+ on the overrun to get out of the charge arc of the Dwarf unit. Unfortunately, I roll a 1 on the overrun.

You'd think the flying lord would be quicker... 

The remaining wizards on my right both maneuver to zap the Lord, dealing a combined 3 damage. With such a wide, fragile line, I really can't have him back here, but any damage I can do now should be worthwhile later. The Bowmen loose against the Dwarves, and it looks like they do 1 damage.

This area was just a mess.

On the left, I am definitely cowed a bit. There is a bright spot here though, in that the Hero is now in range of one of the war machines, and can start picking those off next turn.

I figured the Fanatics and their fearless might do ok here, blitzing up, taking a few hits but pressing on. But the Bolt throwers have been far more punishing that I was anticipating. With my opponent moving back a bit here, I decide to move the Fanatics towards the middle. As they didn't have a shot, the Crossbows also move up, taking some pot shots at the Naiads then but not hitting. That's expected though given the penalties involved. It's still nice to be able to move and try to shoot. The Pole-Arms stick around, waiting to be thrown towards the Snow Trolls to delay them, whenever the Trolls start eyeing up the the center.

Top of Round 3: Northern Alliance

The Snow Trolls immediately eye up the middle, and I regret pivoting the Fanatics away. That's an error on my part - they should have lurked here. It would be another turn . At least one Bolt Thrower fires at them, dealing two more damage to the Fanatics and bringing them up to 6 damage, though they do stick around. The middle Bolt Thrower fires at the wavered Pikes on my left, which hasn't been pictured much here in the report yet, and routs them. I had Indomitable Will on them, but honestly forgot about it last turn when I could have used it, and were inspired anyways by the nearby ASB.

End of the movement phase.

On my right, the picture got corrupted, but the Dwarf Clansmen do charge the General in the rear, dealing 4 damage and grounding him. Snow Foxes maneuver to prevent some possible double-charging, and the Ice Elementals both move up, firing two salvos of ice shards against the Pikes on my right, and blast them off the table. They too have Indomitable Will, but no chance to activate it. 

With regimental-style play, the Indomitable Will upgrade seems harder to use well. Most units don't seem sturdy enough to reliably use the ability in a reactionary way. I think I will drop it from most units for the next few games and see how the lists fare.

Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

On the right, the Wizards blast the Lord on Frostfang, getting him up to 6 damage. My General wheels the flying beast around to fight the Clansmen. The Bowmen flee from the menacing Lord on Frostfang to aid their general. The Foot Guard fight the Snow Foxes, and Pole-Arms bravely charge one of the Ice Elemental Hordes on their own. This is not how I wanted to engage the hordes, but the enemy Lord is complicating matters. I figured it's probably better to engage piecemeal here than sit back and get let the Lord take something out next turn for nothing.

No idea where the 1 damage came from on the Clansmen, as this should be a picture in the movement phase... Maybe the Bowmen landed a lucky arrow last turn?

When all is said and done here, the Foxes and Clansmen are luckily routed. The General backs up a few inches and the Bowmen pivot to face the enemy Lord. I don't know what to do with the Foot Guard, as they look screwed no matter what. With positioning, they couldn't overrun to safety, and pivoting was rough too.  They could face the Lord, which is the obvious threat, but the second Ice Elemental Horde could squeeze through for a shard volley or even a rear charge against them if my opponent so desired. The other Elemental Horde could easily win against the Pole-Arms without support.

The right flank is about about half of its starting strength.

I weighed options for a minute and then decided to have the Foot Guard assume the position. Tripling the Lords attacks was better than tripling those of the Elementals, and this should open up the Lord to a charge from the General at least, should he charge here. Honestly though, I've lost about a third of my army already, and feel like positioning the Foot Guard is akin rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Yeah, double-charging the Snow Trolls here would have been nice. 

On the left, the Militia attack the Foxes, dealing 1 damage, and the Pole-Arms charge the Snow Trolls, dealing 3. Had I pivoted the Fanatics here instead, this may have gone better. That definitely seems like an error on my part. This wouldn't have saved the game, but I needed every little bit here! One-on-one is not how I beat these large infantry hordes. I need something more like three-on-one to take them out with my infantry, even when I have some Crushing Strength.

Top of Round 4: Northern Alliance

The crack-backs are crippling, as expected. On the left, the Foxes counter-charge the Militia, dealing 3 and wavering them. The Snow Trolls chew through the Pole-Arm Regiment, and eye up the Fanatics next. The Bolt Thrower in the corner fires, and manages to score two wounds against the poor Crossbowmen, which I think is twice the damage they have done this game.

On the right, the Lord and Ice Elementals eat through both the Pole-Arms and Foot Guard, though I cannot recall what ultimately killed the latter regiment.

Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

My army is basically shattered at this point. Moves are made, but it's more for testing and my learning that putting up a real resistance. There is no way I can come back from this. 

The Fanatics are a bit of a letdown here.

On the left, the Fanatics charge the Trolls, seeking revenge, but only roll up 2 damage, which is an abysmal performance. The Militia are wavered and with no support, simply stay put. The Crossbowmen shoot, but I don't think wound the Naiads, even with a nice, full volley. The only highlight here is another war machine taken out by the Hero.

Archers are all that remain to really play the scenario on the right. Though the Kin are gone, so I guess technically I win the archer-war? Right?

On the right, the General nimbly repositions, taking advantage of the two pivots. I don't remember if the Bowmen freely but feebly shoot or scoot back and even more feebly shoot to try and draw things away from the middle. Either way, nothing hits with their volleys. The Wizards manage another two damage on the Lord, but they hold strong and this game is over. 

A victory to the Northern Alliance!

Game Conclusion

My opponent again played a great game with a solid list. This time the Ice Elementals were a little less impressive, but still quite strong and I think those will be sticking around in my opponent's lists. All-around good plays and decisions from him here. He seems to have a solid core concept for his army and is exploring around the edges here.

I on the other hand, am still finding my feet in 3rd and exploring my army. This list proved to be very soft, and really just lacked the tools to compete. 

Testing Conclusion

• Pole-Arm Regiments / Foot Guard / Fanatics. None were great performers, but I think the more balanced, elite Foot Guard will have the most promise in this particular match-up, and I'll start with them in future lists, tapping the Pole-Arms if I have the points and/or need some nice cheap unlocks.
• Bowmen Regiments / Crossbowmen. I wasn't expecting much and I'm still disappointed! The firing lanes were a bit awkward for the Crossbowmen; ideally they shouldn't have to move much in-game, so I definitely used these rather poorly. With more experience the Crossbowmen and their piercing bolts could have some promise. I think this match-up is particularly bad for Bowmen though, given the higher armor NA units typically have. I was even able to get into a bit of an archer war this game, supported by a trio of wizards, which didn't go well at all for me. Again, could be nice for a cheap unlock, but neither of these are a huge priority to fit into future lists, unless I desperately need that unlock.
• Wizards. I was intrigued by the wizards, but they mostly just felt bad both games. Granted both games found them reactively dealing with the tough Lord on Frostfang instead of say, hunting the other character, so they weren't used optimally. But yeah, these were underwhelming. Lightning Bolt 3 seemed only enough to do 1 damage reliably, and there was still a handful of times when nothing connected. I think in the right list these could be good, but this was not the list.
• Hero on Horse. One bright spot in this particular list was the hero, who hunted the war machines like a champ. That was a very good use for him. 
• Infantry-focused. I thought disbursing Crushing Strength all around the list might work, but this was not a good showing. The units I ran were pretty weak to any and all shooting, and I quickly lacked the strength to tackle even one of my opponent's hordes.

I would say that emphasizing infantry regiments isn't really a viable approach as it turns out, though I will definitely admit with a little more experience I could have used the list better. The infantry I was was relatively weak and cheap, but not enough to spam and overwhelm like I was hoping. Things got bled away pretty quickly, and in both games just the infantry couldn't really compete with stuff like the Ice Elementals, and I think those kinds of units (Large and Monstrous Infantry Hordes) pose a unique problem for infantry in that the relatively small footprints make it difficult to pile in on them like I was hoping to do with this list. I think the Kingdoms of Men definitely have the tools to compete; I just didn't bring any in this second game. 

Infantry-focused (so kinda Dwarf-style) might be viable casual playstyle for the Kingdoms of Men, but I think we would want to run hordes instead of regiments. You pay a tax for regiments (and troops), and had I run hordes of all these double regiments instead, I would have saved over 200 points, all while increasing their nerve and damage output on anything that happened to connect. I'd run mostly hordes with war machines were I to try an infantry-focused list out again. 

Still, lump-taking aside, this was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday. I definitely learned a lot from both of these games and came away with a lot of ideas for future lists and tests. Many thanks again to my opponent for hosting and for a great day! And congrats on the win!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #003: KoM vs NA [Control]

I was fortunate enough to get a pair of games in on April 30th against my usual Northern Alliance  playing opponent. They wanted to explore their army's ranged options more, and brought the following for the first game:

Making their debut in these reports are a pair of Ice Elemental Hordes, supported with double Ice Kin Hunter Regiments and double Bolt Throwers - all of the ranged options to test out. The rest of the list was pretty typical for my opponent, with some pesky Snow Foxes and the ever-present horde of Naiads, and the stalwart regiment of Dwarf Clansmen. He took the usual Lord on Frostfang, but also took Serakina, a legendary casting hero with only Surge and Windblast, but came with some nice special rules too, letting her passively heal some units, for instance. The list has 13 drops, 23 Unit Strength and two sources of Inspiring, those being the Lord and Ice-Queen. Overall this seemed like another very solid list from my opponent, and all the various ranged options seem quite strong. Finally here, a quick plug to Tactical Wargames and their list builder, which my opponent used. They've had several recent updates, and that program just keeps getting better and better!

I brought the list above, made in EasyArmy. It's a pretty wide list with 16 drops and 33 Unit Strength. I was hoping being cheap and wide I could lose some units and still have enough to multi-charge in and win fights. I had the following things in mind for things that I wanted to explore:

• No Giants, only Knights. The Giants had gone very well in previous games, but I don't want "crutch" units, and wanted to see if a similar number of Knights could shoulder the burden of killing things.
• Pole-Arm Regiments. These are cheap and have Crushing Strength. How would they perform though?
• Bowmen Regiments. Cheap unlocks and ranged attacks. No piercing... and unlikely to do too much, though I wanted to test them out, and was hoping to draw my opponent into an archer war, as mine are cheaper by far.
• Mounted Scouts with Hammer of Measured Force. This loadout was suggested by a reader on Facebook. I was brainstorming lists at the time of the suggestion, and decided to fit this in. At 175 it's only a little less than a knight regiment, which should hit way harder, but we'll see.
• Low Inspiring. I took no Indomitable Will, and only two sources of Inspiring, one being a Flying Lord who was likely to be out on the offensive. Would that be enough?
• Wizards. The list lacks much actual chaff, and I figured the mounted Wizards with Lightning Bolt may be able to provide some good utility and even roadblocks as needed.
• Going Wide. The Kingdoms of Men can field a lot of bodies. Are infantry regiments viable?

With lists out of the way, let's get on to the game!

Deployment and Set-Up

My opponent and I are still interested in trying to work our way through the established scenarios without repeats. So after all the rolling off here, we ended up with the Control, where the board is divided into six 2'x2' squares and if you have the most unit strength in a square you control it, getting points at the end of the game. 

The left flank had my General, a Regiment of Knights and a Regiment of Militia squaring off against  some Snow Foxes and the Dwarf Clansmen, protecting both Bolt Throwers. With both Throwers in the corner, I decided it was worth it to plop the General here. I wanted to "use him better" this game, and in my head, that meant giving him an immediate task to work for turns 1-3, and anything that happened 4-6 was a bonus. I figured if I was aggressive on the left, I could hopefully silence the Bolt Throwers quickly, and then could play for the scenario, securing zones or contributing to fights elsewhere.

The left. Kinda split off by the building from the center.

In the center, my opponent had his two Ice Kin Regiments, and his three hordes, with the two Ice Elemental units flanking the Naiads. The legendary hero was behind the Naiads and some Snow Foxes behind the Ice Elementals. I knew I couldn't do anything against these in their front without taking immense damage back. With Surge, it was debatable if I could even get around them to engage at a different angle, since they could just change facing and then get surged around. Surging units are great anti-flying tech, so that factored into where I placed my flying General too.

The center, where most of my opponent's stuff is.

Facing off against the Ice Kin and hordes were regiments of Foot Guard, Pole Arms, Pikes, and my two units of Bowmen, hiding in the forest. A Wizard on horse lurked on the left of this grouping, with the inspiring Wizard on foot to the right around to support either my center or my right. 

The right, though most of this could be counted as part of a very long center, I suppose.

And finally on my right, gathered nearby the Inspiring Wizard, is another grouping of Foot Guard, Pole-Arm and Pike Regiments. On my far right, the second Mounted Wizard looks to apply pressure to the Lord on Frostfang hiding behind the hill with regiments of Knights and Scouts looking to secure this flank.

With deployments done, I believe one of the Ice Kin had a Scout move, creeping about. My opponent  then won the roll-off for first turn, and with shooting on his agenda to test, my opponent did indeed elect to go first. 

Top of Round 1: Northern Alliance

On the far right, my opponent's Lord crested the hill, tentatively, of which I sadly did not get a good picture, either of it or of the view of the battlefield.

His strong center advanced in concert, presenting a unified front. Both Ice Kin units loosed against the weaker Pole-Arm regiment, dealing 9 damage to them and seeing them off the table.

On the left, the Snow Foxes and Dwarfs had advanced to hopefully zone out my aggression with threatened charges. The Bolt Throwers fired against my General, dealing 4 damage to him, and getting a "Wavered" result on the Nerve check.

I believe I may be off to a "less than ideal" start.

In-game, we had the height 3 Knights giving cover to their height 5 General. But it wasn't until later in the day that we reread / rediscovered the other part of the cover rules, where if the base face is mostly obscured be intervening units or terrain, that situation would grant cover as well. Here, one Thrower was penalized by cover, but the other not. I should have deployed the General firmly behind the Knights anyways in retrospect, but it bears mentioning that the Throwers might have been a tad more effective in this game than they probably should have been.

Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

With the General Wavered, the left pressed on still. I felt like aggression could still be the answer here. If I could tie up the other units, perhaps the General could recover, or perhaps I could get lucky and break on through to the war machines anyways.

In the center, the Foot Guard went to advance, but we found that they would clip the tower, so they moved and pivoted instead. This is a little unfortunate, and an error on my part. I wanted them, especially with the Pole-Arms gone, moving up to threaten the Kin. This delay meant it would likely be another two turns to pin them in a combat, which isn't great. Doing his best, the Wizard threw a Lighting Bolt against the Kin outside the forest, dealing two damage to them.

View from the center.

My Bowmen didn't have any great targets. While the Naiads were softer, they also had regen. I don't remember the target I picked, but looking at future pictures, either nothing landed or it was healed away, either by regen or the legendary hero's radiance special rule.

View from the right.

To take on three hordes of things, I would need a lot of attacks and a good number of units. On my right, I figured the building here would divide the field a bit as well, so I started to move the infantry up to face my opponent's strong center. The Pikes here didn't move too far up yet, as for now they just hoped to zone out and dissuade the quick Lord of Frostfang from blitzing past my cavalry next turn.

As I recall the Inspiring Wizard shot along with the Bowmen, but everyone missed everything. The Scouts and Mounted Wizard targeted the Lord on Frostfang, sneaking 4 damage in. The Knights advanced, hoping to bully the Lord into a fight soon.

Top of Round 2: Northern Alliance

The Lord on Frostfang did not commit, instead nimbly descending from the hill to end up facing the flank of my knights. Pinning down a nimble thing is a bit of a pain...

An aggressive center from the Northern Alliance! The Ice Elementals are no joke!

The lurking Snow Foxes moved up ahead of each of the Ice Elementals. My opponent then chose to Surge the Elementals on my right up, to get them in range for their ranged attack. The Snow Foxes blocked the Elementals from getting too far ahead. The Elementals then unleashed their ice shard attack at my other unit of Pole-Arms, and dealt them 5 damage.

Elsewhere, the second unit of Ice Elementals moved, and threw their shards into the Pikes, dealing 7 damage and getting a Wavered result on the check. I do not recall if the Foxes provided cover for those rolls, but I don't think we caught that rule until the following game though.

Very potent shooting from the NA. Though my units are pretty soft overall.

Both Ice Kin loosed against the Foot Guard near the tower building, dealing 7 damage to them, though they held. That's a lot of damage, and I am a little concerned that the Foot Guard are not going to make it close enough to charge them two turns from now... 

On my far left, the Snow Foxes moved to intercept the Militia, and the Dwarf Clansmen charged the Knights, dealing 2 damage and disordering them. The Bolt Throwers again fired at the General, one getting cover from the Knights, the other unimpeded, though probably should have been penalized by cover as well. Three more damage lands, but the Nerve check is passed this time.

Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

Freed from his little bout of hysteria, the General gently pivots to fly up to hide behind the Knights fully now, and this move is why I don't think we realized the other conditions of cover until later. He is still wounded, and is also a few inches shy of reaching either Bolt Thrower, unfortunately. He definitely had a task this game, and I think this is the right way to use him going forward... but he is not having much luck this game.

The Knights counter-charge the Clansmen, but without Thunderous Charge... deal only 1 damage to them. The Militia gladly take the fight with the Snow Foxes, and will dispatch them, getting my first unit kill. I decide to reform to threaten the Ice Kin, as the nearby mounted Wizard hurls a lightning bolt against one of the Ice Kin units, dealing two damage.

On the right, most everything scoots back to get out of charge range and to make my opponent work for any more shard volleys, and the Inspiring Wizard moves back even further to prevent getting trampled during any potential charges from my opponent. Preserving units seemed like a good call, so I opted to move a Wizard up to chaff things up, and I believe he scores two hits against the Foxes with another lightning bolt. The Bowmen do both shoot at something, but having moved are now hitting on 6's and neither scores any damage. 

My Knights and Scouts on the right both move and pivot to threaten the center, with the Scouts scoring another point against the Lord on Frostfang with their bows, taking him up to 5 damage, but the nerve check is easily passed.

Top of Round 3: Northern Alliance

The Lord continues to nimbly dance around, and again generally just sidesteps to threaten the flank of the Knights. Nimble was very worthwhile for my opponent here, who was continually able to both move and then threaten my knights each turn, regardless of how they were being positioned. My opponent expressed a smidge of dissatisfaction with his Lord this game, but really he's typing up around double his points of my stuff each turn and keeping it from combat. 

The Snow Foxes charge the chaff Wizard, dealing one point of damage. Given spacing and positioning, my opponent can't charge with the nearby unit of the Ice Elementals. I believe they do, however, use their ice shards against the Pole-Arms dealing 7 damage. This brings them up to 12 damage, and although inspired, they are easily routed at the end of the Phase.

Charges abound elsewhere this turn. The Naiads risk a hindered charge against the Foot Guard and they slam in, dealing 6 damage. Nimble Snow Foxes charge a regiment of Bowmen, though no damage is dealt here. The second horde of Ice Elementals use a shard attack against the wavered Pikes, dealing 9 damage, and are then surged into combat.

Near the end of the ranged phase.

We had a rules query here, with the Ice Elementals against the Pikes. As I understood it, and how we played it, the Pikes took damage in the Ranged Phase, so even if they are going to be in combat now, they would take a Nerve check at the end of the Ranged Phase. We did so and the Pikes were routed. This meant though that the Ice Elementals could not be victorious in melee, and so would not get a reform here. If we played this wrong, let us know. We did spend a few minutes looking in the rule book, but didn't come up with anything definitive quickly.

Over on my left, the Ice Kin surprise me, both charging against the Foot Guard. I was not expecting charges from the elves here! Both would have been hindered, as one was charging through the forest and the other off of the fence, but the Foot Guard starts the fight with 8 damage, and they are easily obliterated by the end of the close combat engagement. Their lack of good deployment did them in, and that is an error on my part.

Before the melee phase, unfortunately.

After the melee, my opponent was going to pivot both units to face the Militia and stuff on my left flank, but we figured that would not be possible without some illegal overlap. So one unit of Kin tried to advance to allow the other to pivot. Unfortunately both had been jostled at this point, so we just did our best on positioning.

Ta-da! 

The Bolt Throwers continue to target the General, and although all rolls are made with cover this time (from the Knights), the war machines deal another 2 damage and Waver him and his bird again. 

Fortunately, the Clansmen whiff their attacks against the Knights this time, meaning the Knights were not Disordered, and should get their Thunderous Charge ability back on my turn. Despite this, it was not a great turn for the Regnum here. I lost three more regiments with nothing besides a group of Northern Alliance Foxes to show for it.

Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

On the left, the Knights fight back against the Dwarf Clansmen. Now with Thunderous Charge, the Clansmen are utterly obliterated, and the path the the Bolt Throwers is open, but the plan here is behind schedule. The General is Wavered again, and he isn't even in charge range yet. I have him do nothing. Arguably, he could have used this chance to have him change facing, to (possibly) threaten the center in the coming turns. He doesn't have great Unit Strength, but might be able to remove something that does if he gets a good charge. However that seemed suicidal with his damage so far and the Bolt Throwers online, so for now, he's still on Bolt Thrower dispatch duty. The Nerve on the war machines is pretty low though, so my mounted Wizard here attempts a shot, but misses everything.

The path to the war machines is clear! Though only the Knights can charge next turn.

The Militia charge the wounded unit of Ice Kin Hunters, and surprisingly rout them. In Victory, the Militia reform slightly, facing the flank of the other Ice Kin unit.

A general overview of the battle.

In my floundering center, the Bowmen counter-charge the Foxes in the forest, dealing 3 damage, but the Foxes live. The Foot Guard and other Bowmen attack the Naiads, but only slip in a few damage, given the Ensnare.

The Pikes pivot and move, looking to run to the back end of the field. I elect to have the mounted Wizard here do nothing, as they are disordered, and I want this area gummed up for a while still. The Inspiring Wizard on foot though sneaks another 1 damage in against the Lord on Frostfang, 

Unfortunately, the Lord on Frostfang has done a great job slowing this flank down. I would have been able to breeze past him, but with his nimble ability, his little spin moves have let him not only avoid my knights but threaten in return, creating a game of cat-and-also-cat.

Alas, the Knights find that they cannot legally charge the Ice Elementals, as it would need to be a flank charge giving the starting position of the units, but there is no space to fit in such a charge with the building in the way. So they have no charges, and simply move up and out of the way of the Lord again, this isn't great, as they are not good in a grind.. The Scouts are unfortunately boxed in a bit too. With just a move they can't get away from the Lord on Frostfang in any direction, so with Nimble, I use one pivot to move them their full 18" away. 

Top of Round 4: Northern Alliance

The Lord finally completes the dance, and circles behind both the Knights and Scouts. 

The gummed up Ice Elementals change facing, and after a chat, I encourage my opponent to be greedy. The ice shards are flung into the weaker Mounted Scouts, and then the elementals are surged towards the Knights. But, my opponent rolls low on the Surge spell, and they do stop a little short. 

Just a few inches short of combat. Unfortunately, the black dice was not damage, but denoting that this unit had the Blessing of the Gods magic item, giving them the Elite special rule.

The Naiads choose to charge the Foot Guard, and rout them too. The previously pinned-but-safe Bowmen are now charged by the other Ice Elemental Horde in addition to the Foxes, and are routed too. The Foxes continue to chomp at the mounted Wizard, but no jaws find flesh.

On the left, the Ice Kin charge the Militia, but only do three wounds and my Militia hold. However, the Bolt throwers twang again, targeting the General, do some damage, and finally dispatch him. 

Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

Things are looking a quite grim for the Regum. I brought a lot of units, but have seemed to have lost of most them already. The Knights charge the Ice Elementals and deal 10 damage. The Nerve check is high, but they are inspired, and the reroll lets them stick around. Unfortunately, the Lord on Frostfang is lurking nearby, so they are not likely long for this world now.

A valiant try by the doomed Knights.

On the left, the Militia bravely charge the remaining Ice Kin unit, though deal only 1 damage against the Kin. Unfortunately, their performance last turn was not to be repeated! Still, that means the Kin are disordered, and can't simply back up and shoot at me, though their Melee hits is better than their Ranged hits, so melee is where they want to be anyways.

The Regiment of Knights finally make it into the war machines, and the mounted Wizard lands a few damage on the other, and both are destroyed. 

Untouched last turn, my remaining Bowmen are a bit trapped, and instead of backing up or changing facing, they opt to charge the Naiads and go out swinging.

My mounted Wizard made a withdraw move, and then as an individual, a pivot and then a normal move off to the side and then a final pivot to take a shot at the Lord on Frostfang. Unfortunately, nothing landed. We haven't had these kind of skirmishing fights much, but my opponent insisted this was doable for me, and the Disengaging rules seemed to support that. Neat little addition for Third Edition.

The Wizard on foot threw against the Foxes, dealing one point of damage and bringing them up to 3 damage total, but they stuck around.

Top of Round 5: Northern Alliance

And the Northern Alliance are on clean-up duty now. The Knights are pincered and removed. The inspiring Wizard charged by Foxes and wavered. The remaining Bowmen are massacred too. The Foxes overrun, and the Ice Elementals change facing so they can support the Ice Kin later on, though if memory serves, the Kin annihilate the Militia as well.

Bottom of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

And that is basically the last nail in the coffin. I have the Knights control one square, but all three hordes of my opponent are intact, and there is no way I am salvaging anything in this game. My army has been bled out. I take one last pot shot with the mounted Wizard against the Lord on Frostfang, but even that small victory eludes the Regnum as nothing hits. I concede.

A victory for the Northern Alliance!

Game Conclusion

Neither of us have a ton of experience with the various scenarios (hence our aim to play everything once), so we're both largely winging our strategies when it comes to that. Unfortunately, the scenario didn't really come into play here.

My opponent brought a solid, elite Northern Alliance list and played a very good game, which is proving quite typical for him! We did get the cover rules a bit wrong here, but overall the shooting was still very effective against my low-defense infantry spam. Against my low-defense humans, the Ice Kin also performed very well overall, though they are indeed quite expensive. The Ice Elementals seem like amazingly versatile units, especially when supporting one another so they can share surge/inspiring sources. Keeping them both together along with the Naiads was smart, and made for a very tough grouping to try and tackle.

I think this list had potential, especially in this scenario. But I lacked experience to really play this list well. For example, I could have played for the scenario smarter, deploying aggressive stuff to deal with the Bolt Throwers still, but then deploying the rest way back and spread out. The bulk of my army was Defense 3 and 4, and I should have protected them better with distance. By deploying everything more forward and aggressively, more of my stuff was in danger sooner, and I started bleeding units away too quickly and at too great a rate to be competitive as the game went on. Deploying back was a hard-learned lesson in 2nd Edition. I am not deploying on the line, but probably farther up than I should be with such a weak list. Lots was learned and this was still a great game!

Testing Conclusion

• No Giants, only Knights. The Knights are ok hammers, but can't grind combats. Which is kind of as expected as they only get Thunderous Charge! I think I would need to run three regiments to overcome this combat shortcoming, but I think this could be viable hammer alternatives in a no-monsters version of the army.
• Pole-Arm Regiments. These got shot off before they could do anything this game. Conceptually I still like them, but against an army with shooty options, they are coming across as pretty weak. With their weak defense, they should probably be deployed back more or even as a second line. Still, if I have points or need an unlock, these seem like a great option, theoretically. 
• Bowmen Regiments. Here, I think I made a mistake putting them in the forest as part of the battle line. I think either a) in the forest but ahead of the rest of the line back makes sense, as does b) just sticking them in corners/wings and playing the given scenario. I still like these conceptually as cheap unlocks as well, though I shouldn't expect much damage out of these, especially against a high-armor army like Northern Alliance.
• Mounted Scouts with Hammer of Measured Force. Unfortunately, this test did not go too well. I used the regiment slightly better this game, getting a few volleys out and generally making a bit better use of the unit this time, but the Hammer item never came into play. I think I was getting greedy with them a bit, looking for a flank or a rear charge, but I also think searching for those charges is required to make the best use of the unit, otherwise you're looking at just doing 3-4 damage, which though likely more than it would usually do, is not enough to be great. I am still intrigued by this, and will see if I can fit it in again down the road. 
• Low Inspiring. It wasn't bad, but wasn't great. Most of the stuff I lost already had a lot of damage, which is ideally how it should be! Inspiring is around to keep away those fringe cases. I think wider, regimental lists will want less Indomitable Will and more sources of inspiring since popping the Will can be hard to time, and regiments and their multitude of base have a more awkward footprint to cover than the fewer, larger hordes.
• Wizards. I was honestly a bit let down with the wizards, though most of their shots were against a Defense 5, high-Nerve lord, so they were up against a pretty hard target. Hitting and wounding on 4's isn't bad, but you need to be lucky with only three shots per model.
• Going Wide. I think this list had potential, but the infantry was a little too wide, compounded by some poor deployment. Making bowmen part of the battle line is probably not a good call, nor is having weak the Pole-Arms near the front. With some tweaking and experience, this kind of "combined arms" list has some potential I think.
• General on a Winged Beast. While not on the list of things to test, I figured I could chat about him a bit here. I think my plan of "give them a task turns 1-3" is a good way to use him going forward. Unfortunately, the Bolt Throwers had other plans for him this time and he was continually caught reflecting on his own mortality instead of moving and fighting. 
• Militia. Well, these were probably the MVP for me this game, being one of the few things to not only take out an enemy unit, make back their points! Very unusual for Militia, so kudos to them.

Thanks to my opponent for hosting and for the great game!