Kings of War 3rd Edition: #013: Abyssals vs Brothermark [Raze]

I was fortunate enough to squeeze in a game recently! It had been a long week for me, so we agreed to a single game at 2300 pts, rather than a double-header. My opponent (and his boys) had added a fancy 3d printed Brothermark army to their growing home collection, and he was eager to take that for a spin. He brought the following list:

This list had it all! There was a legendary flying dragon, three strong war machines, and even some very strong shock cavalry units. An assortment of characters then supported a stunning three infantry hordes of varying unit quality ranging from poor (Penitents) to excellent (Monster Slayers). A human army can bring a lot of bodies and a variety of units, and my opponent certainly embraced this option!

The most dangerous units were the Monster Slayers and Righteous Defenders - very elite melee units with lots of bonuses and great Nerve. The supporting Penitent hordes and Men-at-Arms Spearmen did not seem like they could do a lot of damage on their own, and should only be dangerous if they catch me out of position, or tar pit me. These were possible weak points to exploit, but given their low cost and high Nerve, I was thinking it might be best to just avoid them and try to deal with the scary stuff first if I could. 

Most of his army (namely all the elite units and characters) had Iron Resolve, which would be a problem. The guaranteed heals would blunt any chip damage I might attempt, and the heal spell on three characters could blunt any halfhearted attacks I might make. I would need to try and be decisive.

The Legendary Lord would be trouble. It is a paladin on a dragon after all - a dangerous of words in any setting or game! I could only hope to get it out of position or feed it only small units as the game went on - I don't have a great strategy for dealing with these huge fliers yet myself.

The triple artillery would likely be trouble for me, given that there were three of them, and focused-fire was likely. My opponent even chose an artillery unit to rep his faction in the match-up picture as he felt like these were his wild card and would make or break the game for him. I was hoping to manage these by using any and every trick I could, like avoiding firing arcs, trusting in statistics for them to miss, getting into combat with other units, or exploiting the Indirect Fire drawback on the war machines with some of my faster elements. Depending on the deployment and scenario, these could be potent. 

While I was very interested to see how my humans would do against their crusading cousins, that match-up will need to be saved for later. While figuring out a date, I realized I could run an ok-ish Abyssals list with my current collection, and I decided give the Brothermark a very fluffy welcome to the blog with the following:

I had played the Abyssals only once before, so this is still essentially still a new army for me. Each and every unit in the list had a general "test this out, see how it feels" goal, and I'll dissect all that at the end. However, I did still have some things in mind to explore for the army and the list and the matchup:

• Titanic Fliers. I had one, as did my opponent. Who would use it better? Would anyone use a breath attack this game?
• Duelists. This was my first encounter with character-killers, and we each had a flying one. What is the best way to use this kind of hero?
• Hero-heavy. I am a bit light on actual Abyssal units, and needed to run way more points in characters and such than usual. How would each hero fare? Would I have enough sources of inspiring? Would anything stay close enough to actually inspire units?
• Gargoyles & Imps. I have doubles of two good chaff units. Will I use these well?

Some quick army comparisons: I had 14 drops and 22 Unit Strength to the Brothermark's 15 drops and 21 Unit Strength. I haven't been out-dropped much before, so this would be new for me! 

Nerve was a concern of mine. Looking at the total routing numbers my opponent had about 30 more Nerve than me. This isn't an exact stat, but the comparison meant that my opponent had a lot of Nerve (har har), and I felt that fights of attrition would probably favor him in the end. So, I should again try and be decisive.

With a deficiency in both drops and in overall Nerve, I figured that I would need to deploy conservatively and defensively, and be quick careful about what I drop and when. I wanted to try and get the Flamebearers across from infantry; to save the Gargoyles until the war machines were dropped; and to try and save the Archfiend for last, if I could.

My opponent had generated and set up a table by the time I arrived. Terrain was a little odd, and upon winning the roll off, decided the side with more terrain nearer to the deployment zone would serve me best, giving me things to hide behind in the early rounds. This was the only woods on the table, so I was hoping I could make good use of it.

We rolled for scenario and got Raze. I won the roll off for sides, and we traded token placements. I went for two on my right against the open field, and one on my left. My opponent did the same from his perspective, meaning we each had a 2:1 token side, and might be trying to circle one another. Tokens out, we then went into drops. 

My right flank got the early drops, with Flamebearers angled to face the center. With Steady-Aim, I figured they could reposition without much fuss if needed. My opponent countered with the Penitent Hordes. My center got most of my middle drops, as I figured these deployments would be obvious. The Despoiler Champion and Abyssal Horsemen came down in the middle as well. The Seductress and Dictator came down late and opposite one another, and I did save the Archfiend for last, with my opponent placing his legendary flier last as well, opposite mine as well.

My left.

Starting from the left for the final deployment, my opponent had some Defenders of Righteousness, the legendary High Paladin on Dragon, the mounted Priest, more Defenders, two siege artillery in the back field. He had his two tokens on this flank, very likely to be scooped up by his faster elements. Opposing these were just my Archfiend, and one plucky unit of Gargoyles. I had one token out on this flank, and wasn't sure if I would actually be able to claim it.

My center.

In the center, I had my both Molochs, both Imps, a unit of Gargoyles, my Abyssal Champion, and the Succubi. I was trying to use the forest to screen at least a little bit. The Moloch's were exposed, but with the sacrificial imp upgrade, I figured I could endure a round of artillery fire. Opposing my center was a long line of Brothermark units. 

There was Monster Slayer Horde, Men-at-Arms supported by the Exemplar Chaplain. In the rear was the third siege artillery unit. And then on my right were the two Penitent hordes, the High Chaplain Augustus, and the mighty Dictator with wings.

My right.

A building split my line. I placed my Seductress nearby. There were three individuals opposing here, but I didn't think it was likely that I'd be able to gank anyone, since most of the Brothermark had good Nerve and defense. I mostly wanted here here to counter the Dictator and try and hit the solitary war machine if the opportunity came up.

Supporting the Seductress were my two Flamebearer units, and then the Abyssal Horsemen and Despoiler Champion. I had two tokens here, to my opponent's one. Going into the game, my general plan was to forsake my token on my left, hopefully deny my opponent their token on my right, and then we should be 2-2 and have a fight for the center.

Top of Round 1: Forces of the Abyss

I fake my opponent out, doing nothing and passing the turn. Quickest turn I've ever played!

Just kidding. A few turns in, we got confused and needed to recalibrate the turn tracker. A few turns in, the details were fuzzy, and we discussed and both thought I won the roll and seized the initiative, but... when getting into the pictures to write up this report, unless I actually did do nothing at all, we were wrong and my opponent actually went first. A pretty big mistake here, but I didn't take notes, and since this is how we played it for the game, this is how I'm reporting it.

Bottom of Round 1: Brothermark

Perplexed but undaunted, the Brothermark move out. The Penitents advance, contesting both of my objectives on my right. This is a solid move by my opponent. The Penitents are weak, but have a lot of Nerve to hack through, and should take some time to dislodge. The Dictator spreads their wings and flies up to hide behind the hill. The Paladin Monster Slayers and their Spearmen squires advance as well. The artillery roars against the Moloch horde, and together, they deal 3 damage.

The numerous Penitents eye treasure and seek to contest it.

The Villein Skirmishers take the hill, but most of the Brothermark's cavalry wing just shuffle around, wary of the long potential charges of the Archfiend and the Gargoyles. My do-nothing turn had really shaken their confidence it seems!

The elite of the Brothermark advance with caution. 

In retrospect, I think my opponent was too cautious here. We talked about titanic fliers at a few points during this game, and we both were a bit clueless on how to deal with them. But, in writing all this up, he's got around double the points I have here and should be bullying the Archfiend. I anticipated moving back and delaying the first few turns. The positioning for his legendary lord is great, but I think my opponent should be moving the cavalry on the far flank way up. If he did that, he'd be putting me in a very hard spot. The cavalry could charge me next turn, so on my turn I'm stuck deciding if I want to: charge the knights and see what happens, fly around the knights and get charged by the Legendary High Paladin alone, or run away somehow. I was fine to play the waiting game on this flank, but I don't think my opponent should have. 

Top of Round 2: Forces of the Abyss

Good and ready now, the Abyssals sprung into action. Continuing on the left, the Archfiend and Gargoyles nimbly turned, moved 10" and pivoted back. With so much of my opponent's list here, I wanted to delay as long as possible. I was unfortunately a few inches shy of the 12" needed on the Archfiend's fireball. In lieu of a fireball, the Abyssal Champion threw lightning bolts at the Skirmishers, but all 5 bolts failed to connect in the end. No damage is done, and the Skirmishers sadly remain.

The Archfiend is just out of the charge range of the Defenders, marked by the dice.

My center reshuffles, with the imps making way for the Molochs and their wide pivots. I had deployed the Imps behind the Molochs, to hopefully preserve them until I needed them to take a charge. I think that's generally a good idea, but I deployed a little too close, and had trouble pivoting to face the speedy flank of the Brothermark. The brutes regenerate one of their damage while repositioning.

The table on my right-hand side.

My second unit of Gargoyles fly up, getting out of the charge arc of the Defenders as well, while still respecting the charge range of the infantry. My opponent didn't move too far up with their infantry, so my plan was to nimbly pivot and fly the Gargoyles 20" next turn, to start dealing with the artillery pieces. The Succubi, upgraded with the Lurker and Hammer of Measured force, hunker behind the obstacle, waiting to see what the enemy infantry would do.

On the right, I copy my opponent. My Seductress flies up to the hill, and hides behind it. I want to counter him for now, and am fine with a stalemate here. The Flamebearers moved up, tossing their firebolts against the other horde of Penitents. This seemed like a good use for them, and they did pretty consistent damage all game.

The Despoiler Champion moves up 6, but doesn't want to get too close. The Abyssal Horsemen advance, and might now be within charge range of the Penitents. I wanted these two to tackle this horde, and see what they could do. And here it is my too to be too cautious. I should have move the cheaper Despoiler Champion up more, to pressure this horde. Would they charge, opening themselves up to a charge from the Abyssal Horsement? Would they back off? etc. I had a significant edge here with the speedy Horsement and failed to take advantage of it.

Bottom of Round 2: Brothermark

The more central Penitent Horde shuffles back, but is still contesting the objective. The siege artillery sing again, dealing 4 damage and bringing the Molochs up to 6 now. The Paladins and Spearmen elect to hold, not wanting to draw out the Succubi just yet.

This flank is pretty static. 

On my far left, the Archfiend was indeed out of range of the Defenders of Righteousness. However, the Skirmishers were quicker and closer. They elect to make a risky charge against the Archfiend, hoping to ground it. One of their attacks hit, but fails to wound, and I luck out. 

The dice are mine and unrelated. The Archfiend needs to be rebased at some point, but thankfully I have an appropriately sized base around. All this to say, man, I really lucked out not getting grounded this turn.

The Defenders of Righteousness both move up a ways and the paladin lord flies to threaten and contain the Archfiend. These are all good moves, but the Skirmishers unfortunately didn't get their requisite damage in to make the rest of the trap work.

Top of Round 3: Forces of the Abyss

Shrugging off the meager steel of the Skirmishers, the Archfiend disengages, then flies away. Mischief managed and this flank has been slowed down an acceptable amount. I will be at least another turn before they can threaten anything. The companion Gargoyle unit likewise bails, and is able to pivot and fly 20" and land just behind the Defenders. They even land on the token I didn't think I'd get! But the Defenders are close enough to contest it. Curses!

Goodbye! The Archfiend has a new lease on life. What will they do with it?

My center continues to regenerate and shuffle, turning to face the dragon The wounded Molochs roll well, and recover 5 damage, bringing them down to 1. The Abyssal Champion tosses lightning against the mounted Priest, dealing 2. 

Regeneration is doing wonders for me.

On my right, the Flamebearers continue to toss into the central Penitent horde, and continue to do respectable damage. The Chaplain (I don't remember if this is Augustus or not) is trying to put out the flames with heal spells, but with 20 attacks the firebolts are hitting too often and too quickly, and the damage is starting to accumulate.

The Flamebearers had an exceptionally ideal target, but still performed well.

With the other Penitent horde withdrawing a bit, I try to push the issue, and the Abyssal Horsemen take the hill, with the Despoiler Champion moving at the double, and nimbly pivoting to get that flank. Even with heroes around, I figure the damage output from the Brothermark here should be low enough to bully that unit. With Regeneration and the Lifeleech 1 artifact, I figured the Horsemen could instigate on this flank.

Bottom of Round 3: Brothermark

As it turned out, the Abyssal Horsemen were indeed enticing. Towering on the hill, the Dictator could see them, and he charged, joined by one horde of Penitents. All according to plan, and I figured I could hold against this. However, my opponent realized the second horde of Penitents were also in range, so we backed up and redid the charges and shuffles. My Despoiler Champion blocks some shuffling down on the Brothermark side, but not nearly enough, and the second horde is just in range and are just able to get a corner as well. The nearby Chaplain utters a Bane-Chant for the unwounded horde as well. The hordes roll average, the Dictator too, and each combatant unit contributes 4-5 damage, and the Horsemen are swiftly routed despite the Inspiring Seductress nearby. Fight instigated! This was poor positioning on my part. I had the movement to still threaten and be back a bit on the hill, and that would have made a world of difference here. Just poor positioning on my part, and as mentioned last turn, the cheaper Despoiler Champion should have been the instigator I think. With only 5 attacks, I was trying to get it into a flank and ultimately played myself here.

An unexpected charge from the wounded Penitents!

The unwounded Penitents will change facing to bully the Despoiler Champion now, and are close enough to still contest the objective. The wounded Penitents will change facing to state down the Flamebearers, and the Dictator will luckily withdraw 2 inches and back down the hill.

A costly loss for the Abyssals.

The artillery unleashes another barrage. With Indirect fire, the ranges are awkward, but my opponent deployed these pretty well and has some good angles, and is able to crisscross shots so that all still fire this turn. One artillery piece goes against some Flamebearers and lands some damage. The other two aim for the duo of Gargoyle units. One misses, but the other hits, dealing 3 damage, but they flying nuisances surprisingly hold firm.

The Paladins hold, but their Spearmen companions peel off to threaten retaliatory counter-charges if anything threatens the wounded Penitents.

The Defenders on the hill change facing, doing an about-face to chase after the Gargoyles and protect the artillery. The other unit of Defenders of Righteousness (on my far left flank) moves and pivots, begging a slow turn into my deployment zone with the rest of the elite wing. The Skirmishers move up to take any charges from the Molochs or Imps facing this contingent, and the Legendary High Paladin Lord slots in neatly behind the sacrificial, I mean, skirmishing screen.

Top of Round 4: Forces of the Abyss

The Archfiend pivots, and pivots again, making good use of nimble and then flies 10" heading back towards my deployment zone. He tosses a fireball into the mounted Priest, and turns them and their mount into a scorch marks on the battlefield.

We forgot Iron Resolve for the Priest! They should be sitting better at just 1 damage. New army whoopsie. Despite reading the rule the night before when writing the lists, I forgot about this rule in-game, and don't recall my opponent ever healing outside of the spells. I think we forgot all about it.

The Penitents are sitting on around 13 damage, and the Succubi move in, but with the Hammer of Measured Force, this is not a great target for them! Still enough damage is done to rout the Penitents, and the victorious Succubi now turn to help the Despoiler Champion, who has engaged the fresh horde of Penitents. 

The Hammer of Measured Force makes this like, the one match-up I didn't want the Succubi to take. But they kind of had to.

One unit of Gargoyles charges into a war machine, routing it. The Defenders of Righteousness had repositioned to chase them down. I could overrun, but since I can't pivot through the edge of the table later on, decide to just change my facing here and face the pursuers. If the Defenders want to charge back to the edge of their deployment zone, that's just fine by me! With the Defenders potentially showing up next turn, I decide to run the other Gargoyle unit towards the solitary war machine. They can't charge this turn, but should be set for a run next turn.

The Seductress flies her 20", making a move towards the solitary artillery as well. This is probably overkill. The artillery has been putting out consistent damage, but I have been regenerating most of it away. I probably don't need to focus this down. However, this move will likely draw the Dictator away, and better my chances on this flank for my objective tokens, so I decide to go for it.

The Flamebearers regenerate a few wounds, and with the wounded Penitents occupied, throw their firebolts against the oncoming Spearmen. The Abyssal Champion joins in a well with its lightning bolts, and the regiment is brought up to double-digit damage and scoured from the battlefield.

The forest is blobby. Even the Imps facing the center are out of line of sight from the legendary lord currently.

With my Molochs, I continue to trip over myself a bit with positioning, but the Imps continue to scamper out from underfoot. One Moloch Horde withdraws from the forest. With the forest and dragon both at Height 6, the Molochs are safe from the enemy flier, and my choice of side is helping me out. One unit of Imps lingers in the forest, to screen the withdrawing Molochs from the Defenders of Righteousness that are galloping through my deployment zone out of frame.

Bottom of Round 4: Brothermark

The mighty High Chaplain Augusts charges the Succubi, scoring two damage as I recall. I think he was the character here. The Penitents counter-charge the Despoiler Champion, slowly trading damage. 

The Dictator takes the opening, and rear-charges the Seductress, dealing 4 and wavering the sultry lady. However, we discover that she has Fury, so this isn't the reprieve either of us initially thought it was. The Seductress seems like a very tough disruptor unit! 

The Defenders of Righteousness retaliate against the Gargoyles, charging them and routing them and turning to face the center after avenging the war machine. The second unit of Gargoyles was sitting in a nice dead zone between the two remaining war machines and their ranges, but another Brothermark character, the one babysitting the Paladin Monster Slayers, charges them, and routs them, saving the other war machine.

The dragon lands, with quite an impactful first impression!

The Brothermark also move on my center. With no possible charges, the Legendary High Paladin flies around the forest and lands in the thick of my lines. The legendary lord doesn't look to actually have a breath attack. It has a ton of other rules though, including Shroud of Death, which triggers on my entire center. Given my recent comparisons with the Monarch proxy, I was surprised by the lack of a breath attack as I was writing. The High Paladin on Dragon certainly has a breath attack, and the formation doesn't look to say to drop it. Easyarmy looks to retain the breath attack, but Tactical Wargames dropped it for some reason. My opponent should look into this... I think the model had to move more than 10" to get here, but having the breath attack option and knowing about it might change how he uses this legendary warrior in the future.

The Skirmishers make a hindered charge into the Imps, joined by an unhindered charge from the Defenders of Righteousness. The Imps are trounced. The Skirmishers want to screen the more expensive Defenders, so choose to overrun, but only roll up a 1. If the Defenders advance any more than 1, the Molochs will be able to charge them instead of the screen, so the knights choose to back up.

Top of Round 5: Forces of the Abyss

The Defenders of Righteousness in my deployment zone are in a rough spot. The are indeed safe from the Molochs, but the Archfiend is still lurking. I don't think any repositioning would have saved them this turn; either the Molochs or the Archfiend was going to get them. 

An epic series of combats.

In my deployment zone, the Defenders of Righteousness take a rear charge from the Archfiend, and fold. The Villein Skirmishers take a hindered charge from the Molochs, take only 4 damage, and hold with Insane Courage. The Legendary High Paladin takes a feisty multi charge from the Abyssal Champion and the Molochs. The Brothermark Lord takes 13 damage and his resolve wavers... 

The Flamebearers move up, throwing against the Paladin Monster Hunters, still dealing pretty consistent damage turn after turn.

Wavered but Furious, the Seductress turns to face the Dictator, counter-charging and retaliating with 4 damage of her own. I am keeping pace, but don't expect to win this fight currently. If I wasn't wavered, I was considering just ignoring the Dictator and taking out the artillery in a yolo action. In most situations, I think this might have been the play, but here, I think this would have been a mistake, as I was healing through the barrages, so it was more important to injure the Dictator. Getting wavered and limiting my options helped me I think. 

The Succubi look to try and disengage from the hero, and then charge into the Penitents. I don't think I can connect into their flank like I want, and my opponent points out that positioning wise, I would need to connect with the rear of the horde anyways, something I just can't do with the angles. I resign to just counter-charging the hero instead. However, with only a handful of turns left, my opponent suggests I still disengage, but then pivot and move to grab the objective nearby. I take the advice, aiming to just ignore the hero in the coming turn, hoping the Despoiler Champion can secure the token on its own. I think this might have been a mistake on my part. Checking the math, with their kit, the Succubi have a lot of attacks, and are likely to do 11ish damage per round. I had decent chances to fight and remove the hero, and then consolidate this flank in the coming turns. In hindsight, I think I should have attacked the hero instead of ignoring them.

The lonely Despoiler Champion slams back into the Penitents, and luckily wavers them. Hopefully he can grind them out over a few turns. 

Bottom of Round 5: Brothermark

The Defenders will start trotting back toward the center, looking to contest my left objective again and threaten anything that tries to take the center in the coming turn.

Before movement.

The hero on the hill charges down into the Flamebearers, but deals no damage. He should have had Thunderous Charge from running down that hill, but I don't think we caught that in the game. 

The Brothermark's push into my deployment zone stalls out.

In the woods, the Skirmishers disengage and back up, forcing the Molochs to make another hindered charge next turn. Very crafty! The Legendary High Paladin fails his headstrong check. Though rereading the rule while writing, I think we thought this was on a 4+, not the 3+ it really is. The High Lord eventually choses to disengage, but I don't remember the reasoning. 

The duel continues to continue!

The Dictator continues against the Seductress, though now that she is facing him, the righteous warrior finds himself ensnared. Still, the duel continues and 5 damage is done this time. Again, the Seductress is wavered, and again she does not care.

Top of Round 6: Forces of the Abyss

I am down 2-1 for objectives, so I need to take the center objective to pull out a draw. The Imps move up to just within 3" to contest the center, but their unit strength it pitiful and cannot secure it without removing the Paladins first. So, I put most of my efforts into removing the Paladin Monster Slayers this turn, and into positioning for a possible Round 7. 

For the duel, the Seductress retaliates with her own 5 damage to the Dictator, and surprisingly puts the warrior to flight. The Succubi are out of position to charge or contest anything, so they move to threaten the center if there is a Round 7. 

Fierce combats continue as the game draws to a close...

The Despoiler charges the Penitents again, and wavers them again. The abomination has done very consistent work against them, dealing about 4 damage every turn from those 5 base attacks, but the Penitents can certainly take a hit. I unfortunately don't have anything to contest the unit strength, so just need to cut them down. Unfortunately, time is against me. If I can get a turn 7, I might have a chance to wrest the objective away by turning the Flamebearers against the Penitents, but for now, the firebolts need to go into the Paladins to try and get the draw. 

So close!

So, the Flamebearers inch forward. They throw their bolts and the Abyssal Champion throws lightning again, and the Paladins are wavered! Just shy of the rout I needed, as I recall, though I believe they forgot to wipe a damage from Iron Resolve last turn though, so this seems fair. 

The Molochs deal with the Skirmishers and the High Paladin Lord, and now turn to face the center, making for a very violent potential Round 7. The Archfiend tried to move only, but could not get into range to throw the fireball against the Monster Slayers. I was just a few inches short! So, the fiend instead gets out of the Defender's charge arc for now, and hopes for a Round 7.

Bottom of Round 6: Brothermark

The wavered Paladin Monster Slayers simply hold, still contesting the objective even in their injured and pitiful state. The hero nearby heals them a little, but the unit is still wavered.

The hero by the Penitents will heal them for 5 or something silly. About a whole turn's worth of damage from the Despoiler Champion is undone! Wavered as well, the Penitents contest my objective. 

The center, as the round concludes.

The Defenders of Righteousness simply pivot. They are contesting my left objective still, and want to either deny me that objective or get stuff in their front arc if this goes to a Round 7. Unfortunately, this is where we leave it. My opponent gives me the honors, and I did not roll up what we thought would be a Round 7. 

The Brothermark took 2 of their objectives. The Forces of the Abyss took only 1. The Brothermark holds the center for the 2 additional points, giving them a 4-1 victory!

Game Conclusion

I didn't realize we got the turn order wrong until I sat down, wrote "Top of Round 1: Forces of the Abyss" and saw my first post-deployment picture had the Brothermark moving. Alas! I am working up a sheet for game notes for myself, which should hopefully weed out these errors in future reports and give me some more material to draw from for writing these things up.

Error aside, I don't think I played the scenario particularly well. Or rather, I got outplayed for most of the game when it came to the scenario. The Penitents camping the two objectives that I actually wanted to take was rough and was not something I saw coming, and was a very good use for them. Despite their weak stats, they have a lot of Nerve to munch through! My opponent was very cognizant of the objectives all game and played very well to keep me from mine, so definitely outplayed me in that area.

The siege artillery landed shots all game, but didn't have any big spikey rolls. When it is just 3-5 consistent damage against regenerating targets like the Molochs... they just were not doing enough damage to make a difference. My opponent might have been better targeting the Flamebearers I think, which had lower Nerve, though they did have Regeneration as well. Against my Kingdoms of Men or something, the artillery would have been shredding things, but against the Abyssals, I was able to regenerate through the volleys, which was not something I expected, but was a very welcome surprise for me this game. Regeneration does work!

We had a lot of small "forgetful" moments this game, which is to be expected learning new armies. I forgot about the Blade of Slashing on the Archfiend, but it did some good work anyways. We look to have forgotten about Iron Resolve in all instances, which definitely short-changed my opponent a bit in the duel of duelists and with the Flamebearers chipping away Paladins near the end as well. Reviewing lists, the Paladins also had the Healing Brew, which I am not sure ever got popped. So lots of small goofs here and there it seems. It happens, but this is why I don't usually run many items.

With each of us learning a new army this game, I won't dissect things too much more. We each made some mistakes but played a pretty even game between us, and had a great time. It was neat to play at a slightly higher points value, and especially neat to see some new armies moving around the table!

Testing Conclusion

• Titanic Fliers. I kept trying to make use of the Fireball. Unfortunately, the range isn't as great as you think it is, and with most things avoiding fliers, I only managed to position myself to connect once with the spell. I think the breath attacks on these big fliers are underrated, so will continue to try and look for openings to use this ability when I run them. I definitely got the upper-hand in the titanic aerial battle, and think my general experience with fliers helped me out here. I don't think I have killed any big fliers before, so dragging down the legendary High Paladin of the Brothermark felt really good.
• Duelists. Neither of us had experience with any flying duelists, but I am seeing the appeal now. They are quite versatile! I won out in this fight as well, but it was luck that saw me to victory over the Dictator. 
• Hero-heavy. Generally this went ok. Things like the Molochs were inspired, and even the Horsemen were as well, though they did not survive that rough triple charge.
• Archfiend. I did not use this well to start, and was very incredibly lucky this survived. I lucked out a few times, and the Archfiend was able to survive and help deal with that heavy Brothermark flank as the game went on. 
• Seductress. I liked this option. I can see why Honeymaze is such a frequent suggestion online! Giving a character fly really enables some potential shenanigans. The Seductress is very strong and I'm curious to see if giving her magic would be worth it for future games. In an objective-focused game like this, pushing a unit even 1" would have made the difference a few times for me. 
• Abyssal Champion. I really liked this option. Lightning Bolt 5 is expensive, but felt way better than my usual Lightning Bolt 3. This is an expensive upgrade, but really gives the character some great utility.
• Despoiler Champion. I still love the model, but it felt a little weak. Had the Abyssal Horsemen survived, I'm sure I would be singing a different tune though. This was used poorly, and needs to instigate fights I think.
• Gargoyles & Imps. I generally used these both well. The Gargoyles tried to pressure war machines and force choices from my opponent and did both duties well. The Imps screened the expensive Molochs. Acceptable uses all around for these this game.
• Abyssal Horsemen. I was hoping to get them into a grindy combat to make use of Hann's Scripture and their Regeneration and their Crushing Strength, but was not expecting the triple charge! I should have used the cheaper Despoiler Champion more aggressively to occupy the Penitents and instigate that fight.
• Molochs. I used these very defensively, and it paid off in the combats. My opponent targeted them pretty frequently with the artillery, but they were able to regenerate through it, and I never had to pop the sacrificial imps either. Unfortunately, the violence in my deployment zone came a little too late for them to make it to the center for the objective and help close out the game.
• Succubi. I think this is a good loadout for them, but a bit expensive. I don't think I used these well, but the enemy infantry was on the weak side, so the fights they got were not good targets.
• Flamebearers. These units were little MVPs doing pretty consistent damage every turn. The 18" range Piercing 1 really puts the hurt on enemy infantry, and I had some great targets this game which allowed the Flamebearers to really shine.

My opponent was a great host as always and I had a fabulous afternoon stressing out a little about dice and charge arcs as well as seeing some new armies on the table. I was happy with my play overall, and had a laugh when I realized our first turn mistake. With that error in mind, I am very happy with my play! Congrats to my opponent for the win, and I look forward to our next rematch!

Hobby Update: KoM Dragon / KoM Monarch

One of the newer players I've been introduced to over the last month has already jumped in signed up for a tournament. It is the Dragonfall GT, where you field your army plus a special dragon on a titanic base for your games. I lack stats details, but was looking for a hobbying palette cleanser after all the shiny Stormcast Ogres I've been hobbying on the last few months, so I decided to pick up a Wizkid's dragon for the Regnum. I don't plan on attending the event, but figured this would be fun to paint up, and then I could give them some better practice games if they desire.

The mini is Nolzur's Young Blue Dragon on a rock, since I didn't want to futz around with the opaque flying stand the other variations had. Not a bad mini, but it comes firmly connected to the rock, which does complicate the painting a bit. It is a very big rock. Given the close quarters, I decided to try out some more of the Army Painter Speed Paints I got back in March 2022. I was hoping the more liquid nature of this paint would help get it into all these hard to reach places. I ended up trying out three new paints this time: Hive Dweller Purple, Pallid Bone and Crusader Skin.

I failed to take any WIP pics, so you just get the finished mini. It's even got tufts already.

Since this was to be for the Kingdoms of Men, I wanted to get some purple and white going. I quickly decided on a purple hide. The rest took some time to decide. So to begin, I used a few passes of Hive Dweller Purple to get good coverage for the hide, and ultimately decided not to to do any additional wash or shade. After I painted up the rest, I went back and added a few strokes here and there of Hive Dweller Purple to clean up a few things that got some errant brush strokes, like along the wings and claws. So, this color kind of "book-ended" painting on the miniature, both starting it off and finishing it up. 

I liked the final look of the wings. The slightly off-white should match nicely with the rest of the army. The wing's "fingers" have slightly better coverage that the picture shows. The coverage with this style paint isn't great, but the final acrylic spray seal also gives a bit of glare with the kitchen's overhead light.

The dragon had a number of armor plates, and a very armored tail. I was considering light purples or pinks, but eventually went with a dark beige / dark bone color for this. I did a dark beige base coat and then a light beige dry brush. This was followed by a layer of the Pallid Bone speed paint, followed by another light beige dry brushing pass to make it all pop. The mini has a surprising amount of details and these Speedpaints could really pick up. 

The mouth was a bit odd, being a large gaping mouth. I did not want this purple, but felt red or dark flesh color wouldn't look well. I went with a thin layer of Crusader flesh to test out that paint. I actually liked the gradient it made as it dried, and just decided to keep it. I think this paint would be too pale for lots of flesh across an army, but applied over an existing flesh tone I think it should give some good results. 

For the wings, I was also considering some light purples or pinks, but eventually settled on more of an off-white color. I started with a light beige base, and then dry brushed my way up from there, mixing in an ivory to the light beige for a few passes, then passes with just the ivory, then passes with white. The gradient looks nice, and I decided against any kind of wash, as the wing folds look fine and distinctive enough without adding anything else, and I wanted to keep the wings a lighter color and not add too much contrast to it.

And a shot of the wings and the darker, armored tail.

Aside from the purple hide, the dragon's colors match pretty well with the sand and rocks. This was intentional, as I was going for both a beast in their element, and wanted to link all the colors back to the Kingdoms of Men. I think it works.

When working with a "pre-primed" miniature like this, or something like with a Reaper Mini, you should definitely give it a good wash / rinse before you do any painting. I forgot to do so, and while painting the mini, the paint on the rocks started to rub off. I painted those again, and then hit the mini with the same acrylic sealer spray (Aleene's Acrylic Sealer) that I have been using for my terrain. I typically haven't been sealing my minis, so we'll see how that all works. So far, so good.

Outside of potential practice rounds for that specific event, the Dragon here could be used as a stand-in Monarch in the Kingdoms of Men list.

From what I've seen online, reception for the Monarch has been underwhelming. A base flying version will cost 285 points, or 95 points more than our usual General on Winged Beast. For that increased cost you get three extra attacks, and 3 additional nerve and switch from CS2 TC1 to a simple CS3. All good things, but that seems like a hefty price. Comparing it to a few other big and scary flying things though, the Monarch doesn't seem so bad actually.

The Clan Lord on Fire Drake (Salamanders) has been showing up across the table pretty frequently from me, and costs 5 points more than the baseline flying Monarch. It has far more attacks than the Monarch. However with 4+ to hit instead of our 3+, the difference in hits aren't too great, and against stuff with Defense 5 and up, our typical damage should actually start to pull ahead. The Clan Lord has a breath attack too, but it seems relatively comparable to the Monarch overall.

The Vampire on Undead Dragon (Undead), Dragon Kindred Lord (Elves), and  Archfiend of the Abyss  (Forces of the Abyss) are all heavy hitters. They are all quite similar to each other, having the same price point, and nearly identical stats. All have some kind of ranged attack and a few special rules are juggled around to differentiate them.

They are also pretty similar to our Flying Monarch. Many stats are the same, so roughly speaking, they are paying 20 points more than us for a breath attack and another minor ability (Lifeleech2, Elite, or Vicious), which seems about right. Breath attacks seem to go for around 15 pts, like with the Undead's Revenant on Undead Great Burrowing Wyrm or the Varangur Jabberwock. So, with these powerful titans all around the same points, our Monarch looks to be an OK purchase relative to them, getting a pretty suitable discount in exchange for lacking the versatility of a breath attack. 

In lieu of a breath attack, the Monarch has some other options, which if taken, can bring them up to 300-305 points and on par with these other heavy hitters. I do like the concept of these fluffy options to support Fanatic rabble or stately Knights, but these are very conditional and require you to build and run your list in a specific way. It could work and might be worth it, but I can't see getting enough use out of the auras unless you drop the wings and run your Monarch alongside those units. And then you're fighting stuff on a titanic 75mm base with 10 attacks. The Sword of Mercy for Slayer 3 seems like a decent option, since most things will show up with something that meets the target criteria, but this too is a rather conditional ability and should only translate to one additional wound against those units usually. So I think I'd run this with just wings to start. The Monarch is a bit expensive for my tastes, but could be worth trying out and I think is better than some have given it credit for. We'll see if it makes the cut for testing in any upcoming games!

Hobby Update: Last Ogres

And these are the final Stormcast Ogres! All 60ish of them are all painted and done now. Well, I guess technically some miscellaneous Gryph Hound minis are around and unpainted, but I'm deeming those as "extras" and not part of this little army project.

First, up we have a Warlord, which should be a Stormcast Lord Imperatant. Warlocks seem great for Ogre leadership, but I decided I wanted a legit leader, in case I did end up needing to use them army to trade games or to resell down the line. At around $9 on ebay, this seemed like a good buy for me, since I don't care about the AOS stats particularly.

The Warlord is not an individual, so positioning will be very important. I have a proper 40mm square base all painted up to utilize, but didn't have it on hand for this picture. I think more competitive lists would run the warlord on a chariot for the increased threat range, but I didn't want to deal with "counts-as" chariots for this army, so he'll remain on foot.

Bot bad! The speedpaint looks a little rough on large cloth, and I'm not 100% on the griffon cloak feathers, but all things considered, these were nice and easy to crank out over a few evenings.

Second, we have some Praetors, which I picked up new on sprue for fun as they were like $15, which I was ok with. There looks to have been a starter set of sorts, with these, the Imperatant and the Vindicators, but it still looks like I saved money buying things piecemeal, and saved some time since I am not prepared to try and resell anything. 

No clue what I would run these as, given the rest of my collection. These final units don't really fit with the Kings of War Ogre list. These could be Warriors with the weapon swap. They also seem like a neat Ogre Palace Guard from the Basilean list, though running them as allies and at a regiment size doesn't seem like a great choice. Regardless, they are here if I need them for something.

Lastly, we have some Stormcast Prosecutors, which I picked up back in the summer of 2020, once we stopped wiping down groceries. I liked the look of the models back when AoS launched, and figured I would pick some up second-hand just to play around with.

One unit of something.

They painted up ok, though the wings are a bit finicky. I think most folks paint the bodies and wings  up separately and attach them together later, but mine came assembled and I wasn't quite sure what the connection was, so just decided to deal with it. I started with gray wings, then dry brushed an off-white layer and then a white layer. My loose original plan was to then use a wash or speed/contrast paint on the wings, but decided to just leave them as-is. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, though think I might need to so back and repaint the meteors on the wings. The dark silver isn't looking as nice as I thought it would. Maybe some silver highlights or a switch to a fiery bronze might pop better?

A second unit of something.

These seemed like Elohi to me, but you can't ally those in, and these are an absolute nightmare to rank up! These three might need to be a horde given how much extra space each mini takes up. I have no clue how AOS works with these. So, I am a bit doubtful these will ever see play for Kings of War. I am kicking around some ideas for a mega battle though, with a reinforcement mechanic. Set these up  as good reinforcements opposite Wight reinforcements or something for the other side, and that might be dynamic and interesting. So hey, these may make it onto the table at some point, but not likely anytime soon.

And with that, I have paint on all my 60+ Stormcast Ogres! While writing up all the posts the last month or so, I have seen a few things I should touchup, and I want to uniformly paint up all the individual base rims still. This is my first "complete" army, with no other minis or units waiting in boxes, which is a kind of cool achievement after being in this wargaming hobby for a decade or more at this point! Even better for me, this all fits into a single storage box.

Excluding the Praetor and Prosecutor minis, since I don't know what I will run them as, I'm sitting at well over 2,500 points. The army is larger than I was shooting for! Still, this has been a good project, for two main reasons:

• While converting from 40mm round bases to 40mm square trays isn't difficult, this army has been a big help in figuring some of the pitfalls of conversion out. Adding tufts and such seems like a good move to help unify the bases with the trays, and this will be helpful in the upcoming multi-system armies (Twilight Kin & Elves) that I am hoping to get around to at some point.
• This army should be great for a loaner army or intro game. We're taking a well-recognized mini range and repurposing it for Kings of War, to highlight the unit-centric approach this game takes, as well as Mantic's openness to running other models, which I think is a big draw for the game, and I hope continues.

So, I will finish the touchups, and we'll see when some of these fancy Ogres might hit the table!

Hobby Update: More Ogre Warriors plus Hunters

Trickling in from my tiny hobby spot are some more Stormcast Ogres. The intent was to use these across gaming systems and explore some inter-game conversion ideas for basing, so these are painted up individually and put on movement trays for my preferred game; Kings of War.

The first up today are some Vindicators, which I will run as Hunters. I actually like these models and decided to pick some up new on sprue, unlike most of the minis in this army, which are coming assembled and second-hand from ebay. These have a nice heroic look to them. I am a little wary of  accidentally snapping off the spears, but the plastic shafts are pretty thick and hopefully running these as a unit and on a tray, they will be safe over time. I know I need one regular horde to get the unlocks for my Shooters for this army, so in a normal-sized game, either these or the Retributor Warriors are going to be that I think.

All the newer GW stuff is a bit of a pain to assemble, but I did like their poses. 

I have yet to actually play the Ogres, but I think these will be ok on the table. They have decent stats, Ensnare, and Slayer and should be ok as a dedicated anti-monster tool as well as an unlock. A lot of Monsters (Giants, etc) are just 4+ to hit, so these Hunters could do a lot of work to neutralize them, in theory at least. With only Def4 and CS1, I don't think they are likely to solo anything, and will likely need some aid to swiftly kill things.

The last of the stuff today are some more Warriors, made from Sequitors. I saw these released, but never "got" the need for them in AOS, since the Liberators were already a thing in the game with similar weapons. I think these do magic damage or something? I don't know. 

The great weapon option is short supply it seems.

The smashy two-handers are seem like a limited weapon option for the unit. For every 1 minis you want with a huge hammer, you tend to need to pick up a few of the shield-variants as well, which is how I ended up with these two units. I picked up an Easy Build trio for use in D&D, and then needed to find a good Ebay bundle to bring both units up to a legal size. The two-handers will be a Regiment of Warriors with the weapon-swap to get more crushing strength, as represented by the great hammers. I don't think they will be anything special on the table, but should be good to run in an intro-game to highlight how some Kings of War units have this swap / upgrade option, or run behind my Siege Breaker regiment to sort of demonstrate screening or a double-line to deal with something like fliers.

More Warriors with more shields. But now also with robes!

The shield version of the Sequitors seem pretty similar to their Liberator kin. So these are a unit of Def5 Warriors as well, likely run with a small magic item to justify their different look. These are some very dynamic models, which makes them a bit difficult to rack up. 

I am not super-thrilled with these new Warriors, but mostly because I already have 15 Warriors from old Liberators. Were I starting this project from scratch though, I'd likely suggest buying up of Sequitors to get a mix of options going, and the cloth should makes painting a little more interesting. 

From the picture, I look to have missed a purity seal ... thing on at least one of these shields, so I will have to touch that up later. I know I've also missed a few base rims as well, since I couldn't remember if I was doing black or dark gray or another color as I didn't have the full army nearby while hobbying on units. So, I will have some touchups to go back and do, but that is ok. Only a few more units to go!