Kings of War 3rd Edition: #014: KoM vs Riftforged Orcs [Salt the Earth]

I managed to squeeze in another local game recently, against some mighty Riftforged Orcs! My opponent is big into 3d printing, and is currently amassing the army. Most of the units are in process and so proxied for this game, the characters are done though, and are looking amazing. I can't wait to see more of this smashy army! My opponent brought the following:

I tried to take some notes, but didn't have a hard copy of the list, so pestered my opponent with questions all game. I quickly internalized that just about everything was Defense 5, hit on 3's and had some Crushing Strength. The army was solid for stats! However, it was predominantly infantry, so I felt that if I could deny the Riftforged Orcs the grindy combats they wanted, I might be able to make something happen. Units to watch out for were the characters, the giant, and especially the frightening Helstrikers, an expensive horde of flying, armored manticores and Riftforged riders.

I brought the above. The list idea stems all the way back from Battle 004. There, I brought a lot of infantry regiments, many in pairs, and learned several major things. First, that I am paying a huge premium for running double regiments instead of hordes. This premium varies unit to unit. I took 15% as a shorthand at the time, but it ranges between 15% and 30%, with most premiums settling in at around 20% when I redid the math. Those premiums add up. Spamming is less viable and MSU a bit harder to do. I need to have reasons for running regiments over hordes, given this premium. Second, I started viewing list-building from an "unlock" perspective; paying a tax of a unit to get a toy, and wondered if this might be a viable Kingdoms of Men building tactic given our cheap units and access to a wide variety of stuff, like both Giants and Mammoths and cheap fliers, not to mention wizards and a selection of war machines. This list does not skimp on the units, running the army's more elite options, but does utilize all the unlocks, to see how that feels. So, up to test for me are:

• Double Flying General. I've liked one, but how would two fare?
• Double Giant. I don't think I've run these since Battle 002! The recent Mammoth tests were disappointing, so we'll head back to these and try them out again.
• Triple Knights. Three relatively quick hammers, but I've used these poorly in the past. Will any of them get to charge more than once this game?
• Double Hero. I've used these ok recently. Let's see what trouble they can cause!
• Delaying Elite Defensive Regiments. I needed things to unlock, and settled on these and Knights. With a mix of heroes and monsters though, hordes would still be more efficient choices! Sheesh. I may need to run some at some point. The idea of these is that they should be able to survive a hit and then let the toys to the heavy lifting. If they can survive, they can contribute later to grab objectives, add additional attacks to a combat, etc.

I brought the mat and terrain and just kind of tossed it around a bit haphazardly. As a result, the edges of hills got into some deployment zones. I don't think this is ideal, but no one had artillery, so this wasn't that bad. The Hills are Height 3. The Forests are Height 6 Difficult Terrain. The Graveyards are Hight 2 Difficult Terrain. And the Chapels are Height 9 Blocking Terrain.

We both decided that we didn't want to play Kill. We were getting ready to roll for a scenario, but settled on picking Salt the Earth, which neither of us had played before. I think we got it mostly right rules-wise, but neither of us had a plan going in.

The board. Lighting is a bit odd in this shop, and oh man, did I take a lot of blurry pictures.
Apologies in advance...

I decided to try and track the objectives more. He deployed the Blue tokens while I deployed the white ones. I didn't see any limitations on sticking to a side, so I went a little wild. I don't think my opponent had a strategy other than deploy them up so he could fight for them. Lacking hordes, I didn't feel like I could hold much, so placed one close by that I could hold and destroy as needed if my opponent went aggressive, and two near my opponent's line. 

All in all, we were both equally clueless, so it seemed like a good idea for me to foist as many decisions as possible onto my opponent! If he destroyed them, our vision narrows; if he passed them by, maybe my fliers could maybe secure them late in the game; if he stayed back to hold them, I get to advance and better secure the middle myself. 

For deployment, my opponent went very wide, which seems pretty common for all kinds of orcs as I understand things. The formation of Iron Boots with their higher Nerve values all came down on my far left flank. The cavalry hero Thomar has a frightening blast attack as it turns out, and deployed in front of the Reborn Legionaries from the Iron Boots and near the Gore Rider cavalry horde.

I thought the Knight Horde was unique to mankind, but I also don't have a ton of experience with other armies, so I didn't think much about this in game, other than the Riders seemed to be underperforming a bit, given their stats. My opponent just had way too large a base for them as it turns out. That should have helped his line a little bit and gotten the Reborn Legionaries up at the starting line. I didn't have the experience to catch this in-game. So, he was using the regiment stats (since there is no horde option) on a horde-sized base. Oops.

Deployment, from my left corner.

Right of center, my opponent went pretty hard. The Riftforged Orc horde eyed the central objective, with another legendary hero Vohdler and the large Thunderseers supporting nearby. The Orclings screened the Storm Giant, and Morax protected it's flank. The menacing flying Helstrikers took a position on the far right flank, forming a very wide line.

Deployment, from my right corner.

I had won the side/deployment roll off, and so out dropped my opponent a little bit. I decided to be aggressive this time around, deploying most things up near the line. The Scouts came down first, which is a bit of a mistake. I only have the one unit, and it's my only quick chaff unit. The bows are not going to do much against Def5 units! Fortunately, my opponent deployed the Orclings (a target) and the Helstrikers (a treat to block) against them and I really lucked out.

My deployment was pretty modular, and I didn't have any particular plan or battle groups in mind. The Knights saw open ground and took it. The infantry ended up opposite the hordes (such as they were). The Giants and Generals came down late. I considered dropping both centrally to grind, but decided to try and tag-team a bit on the left flank instead and see what I could do there. My opponent won the roll off and decided to seize the initiative, being aggressive orcs and all.

Top of Round 1: Riftforged Orcs

The orcs were orcs, and moved up, though not too aggressively. With all the knights, fliers and giants on my side of the table, they opted to rein it in and respect my charge distances.

Respectful caution prevails along the Riftforged line.

The left was a little cagey. I didn't quite know how powerful the cavalry hero was, but generally liked my chances against all the infantry, who were keeping their distance for now.

The Stormseers were quickly replaced by an empty base to sit on the terrain,
with the real models all painted up lurking just behind.

The Riftforged Orcs on my right side were equally cautious. The Helstrikers held back, while the center and giant trudged forth, and despite controlling a lot of tokens, my opponent opted to destroy none of them at the end of his turn.

Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

The Kingdoms of Men moved up, also largely respecting charge distances. However, my units had some greater reach, so most of non-infantry stuff would be able to charge next turn if desired. 

The right side definitely had the more interesting units and match-ups, and we were both eyeing up a potential fight between our Giants. 

The Scouts moved up, to screen, shooting into the Orclings. The Scouts hit twice, but rolled two 1's, so did no damage. The General slotted in behind, using the Scouts as a screen, and the Knights did so as well. Looking at the picture, I don't know if the Helstrikers had range to the Knights. If they did, this positioning was a mistake and the Knights should have been pulled back a bit. Stuff to watch out for in the future.

A unit of Knights took the hill, while the unit with the Potion of the Caterpillar moved up on the low ground, joined by the Giant. The infantry all moved up, looking to support where needed. In my head, the infantry were supposed to take the initial hits, but having a speed advantage, I opted to try and use it, and had the slower infantry positioning to support as the game progressed.

The left and center, with more mundane match-ups.

In my center, the Pikes moved into the woods, with the two units of Foot Guard nearby. Thankfully the hill on my left was blocking some line of sight. I was feeling outnumbered a bit on my left, but still generally liked my chances against most of the infantry here. I felt like the trio of General, Giant and Pikes should give me a nice toolbox for delaying stuff here and make it hard for my opponent to plan around. And if all else failed here, I thought I should be able to just hop on by with the flier. I believe I destroyed the objective here this round (or maybe next). In any event ,the one I deployed near my lines does indeed get destroyed, to focus on the center and the stuff my opponent is passing on by..

Top of Round 2: Riftforged Orcs

Staying with my left, the Pikes took a multi-charge from the hero and the Gore Riders. I probably should have positioned them better. Looking at the previous picture too, if the Gore Riders were a horde, this may have been a flank charge even but units were moved quickly into the front and I don't think we ever considered otherwise. The Iron Boots all moved up, with the Riftforged Legionaries getting into their charge range. A little off the frontline, the inspiring Reborn Legionaries from the formation brought up the rear. The Reborn units seem really neat. I think the Salamanders have a similar inspiring infantry unit, and that seems like a very cool way to get some Inspiring coverage for a melee-focused army.

I like Pikes vs Cavalry!

The Pikes are well-suited for the task, taking only 6 Damage, and only Wavering after some high Nerve rolls. I was quite happy with this result! I was surprised at how little the (not) horde did, but just assumed I inferred some wrong statistics for them and they were hitting on 4's naturally. Nope! Just a cavalry regiment here as it turns out.

A little more aggression on the right.

Nothing really happened in the center, with the staring contest between the Horde of Riftforged Legionaries and my infantry. I think the Legionaries moved up a bit, but were still out of charge range themselves. The fancier units moved up on the right. With a lot of things shuffling about with some weird angles around the Storm Giant. The Storm Giant did land a Wind Blast of 2 against my Knights on the hill, pushing them back slightly.

On the far-right, the Helstrikers decided to force a decision from me, annihilating the Scouts, and then repositioning to get the two nearby Knight units and my General here into their front arc.

Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

I decided to go for some more daring plays. We had talked some stuff out on my opponent's last turn given the graveyard terrain. My general was in the flank of the Stormseers, and could get line of sight to them, and there was space behind the Storm Giant to hit and land, so that's what I did. I think that was all legit. Joining their brave General was the Knights with the Potion of the Caterpillar, charging the unit in the front. They had to position around the Orclings, but could. Then, my Giant charged the legendary Vohdler, hoping to make use of the Slayer rule against the monster-sized hero, hitting a little off-center given the positioning of the nearby knights. Positioning was a little awkward with the graveyard, but this should all be legitimate. My other two regiments of Knights took the frontal charge against the Helstrikers.

The Thunderseer models look on as their stand-in base is attacked.

When the dust settled, the Helstrikers were trampled. The regiment nearer the table edge overran 5" to get pretty far away, while the other regiment repositioned to stare down the Morax and Storm Giant.

The General and Knights were also victorious over the Thunderseers. The Knights were a little jammed up though, unable to overrun due to the Orc hero, and the victorious General also stayed relatively put. Thankfully, both were out of the Storm Giant's line of sight.

My Giant tried, but only landed a handful of damage against Vohdler, who was entirely unimpressed. I even Bane-Chanted him! Not sure why. I think I might have been out of range for the pathfinding Knights, or just spaced out like a dummy. If I could have reached them, giving BC to the Knights would have been the better play for sure.

Some stunning victories.

Not sure how the combat would go, I ran the hero up and popped Indomitable Will to try and roadblock the Riftforged Legionary Horde. The Pikes left the woods and were out of range, while one unit of Foot Guard moved up into range of and against the Legionary Horde.

On my right, my goal was to not get my flier grounded. So I opted to sort of sacrifice the Giant, charging him into the regiment of Iron Boots nearest the table edge. The General could have charged as well, but opted to fly 10 and pivot. Since I was in the front, even together, I wasn't sure if I could break the orc unit on the charge with its good stats and extra Nerve. With the Pikes soon to fall, this seemed like a good idea to make sure my flier did not get grounded. As it happened though, this Giant rolled far better than my other one, and got a lucky rout against the enemy regiment.

Surprisingly, the Giant prevails!

I had managed to kill about 1/3 of the Riftforged army in one massive turn, and was feeling pretty good overall. But each orc unit was pretty strong on their own, and there were still a number of scary units around. Additionally, there were still a number of objectives in play. Wo this was a great turn, but the battle was far from over.

Top of Round 3: Riftforged Orcs

The Riftforged Orcs swung back. We tried measuring around, and the Reborn Legionaries of the Iron Boots were just a little gummed up. Reviewing the pictures though, we were trying to get it around the other unit, moving it out and around towards my side of the table. We goofed this up! Rereading the sections for a multi charge, we should be going off of leader points of the attacking units relative to the target unit. The Reborn are closer towards my opponent's side, and should have slotted in on that side instead, and should have been able to multi-charge as well. This side of the table was against a wall, and we both forgot to reorient ourselves to the Giant's perspective, rather than the charging units. So, we got this wrong. Apologies to my opponent!

Oops. The Giant should definitely be in more danger.

The hero and Gore Riders finished off the wavered Pikes, and turn as well to deal with the Giant. The Gore Riders are a little unwieldy, and we just agree that the Foot Guard would not be able to hit them in the rear to be sporting. Given that they should be on a smaller base, I am very happy we decided things this way.

Ah! Orclings in the flank!

The pesky Orclings flank charge my pathfinding Knights, and do slip a wound through, disordering them. Vohdler swings back against the Giant, but whiffs a bit, only dealing 2 damage to the towering creature. The Legionary Horde deals double digits to the Hero, and even though he was briefly inspired by his own actions, the horde dispatches him. The unit reforms to face down the Giant, and get the nearby General into their front arc.

The Storm Giant and Morax pummel a regiment of Knights, battering them into the ground. In victory, my opponent hesitates a bit. Even if he turns to face my Knights (who will not have a charge next turn), he thinks I'll just run away. He decides to face the center with both, and I do confirm for him that withdrawing would have indeed been my play. Knights need to be charging, and I did not want to get into a grind against orcs.

Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

The Knights don't have a charge, but with the Morax and Storm Giant both turning, they decide to just change facing to give chase next turn. It's a bit of a rough spot for my opponent! Maybe pursuing with the Morax and repositioning the Storm Giant would have been the play, forcing me to flee? 

The General leaves their "will I fit" base behind, charging against one of the legendary enemy heroes.

The Giant countercharges Vohdler, and is joined by the General this time. The General is hindered. Still, the duo manage to break the enemy hero. The General will overrun and the Giant changes facing to face the enemy giant. The pathfinding Knights charge the Orclings, deal some damage, and see them off. It is a little gummed up, and the General is protected, so they simply hold in victory. 

The Foot Guard and Pikes multi-charge the Legionary Horde. I forget to Bane-Chant, but my opponent lets me walk it back. I whiff though. Some damage slips in, but against Defense 5 my defensively-inclined infantry is struggling a bit.

Ooops. Sorry Reborn Legionaries. We'll read the rules better next time.

On the left, my plan continues? Staying and just flying 10" to help anywhere around here puts the General in enemy charge arcs, so they fly 20" forward and away to try and deal with the horde and such next turn, leaving the Giant to grab the attention of all these Riftforged units for now. 

I want to be tricky, and disengage with the Giant to charge in against the powerful legendary cavalry hero Thomar, but the angles just aren't there for me. The frontage on heavy-infantry orcs puts my angle a few millimeters off from connecting with the hero. Nor could I get a good connection against the Gore Riders, with the enemy hero in the way. Just disengaging and moving away might have been an option. But with no nimble and just speed 7, I think this would have just put the giant in the sights of the Gore Riders no matter what. Thinking they were still a horde but just having a rough time against Pikes... this didn't appeal to me. So the Giant just counter-charges the remaining Riftforged Legionary regiment. It is not as lucky this time around, the the Orcs hold.

Top of Round 4: Riftforged Orcs

I take a series of very blurry and very unusable pictures. But the surviving Iron Boots are now able to double charge the Giant, just a turn later than they should have been. They each slip a few wounds through, brining the Giant into double digits of damage. They get lucky, roll high, and get just what they needed on the Nerve check, and the titan is brought low, and they both change facing. This needed a bit of a high check, but the rout is arguably deserved for our goof on the last turn!

A sneaky rear-charge from the legendary Thonnar!

The (not) horde of Gore Riders change facing, holding down the objective while the legendary hero Thonaar does what cavalry heroes do, and nimble charges around and into the rear of my nearby General. Luckily, she whiffs hard and no damage lands. The General remains airborne! 

The horde of Legionaries countercharge the Foot Guard, deals a few damage, and again rolls exactly what they need to rout them. They are still engaged with the Pikes, but change facing to focus on them in the turn to come.

On the right, the Morax now turn to face down the Knights near the edge, and the Storm Giant charges into the pathfinding Knights that just bested the Orclings. Mid-combat, we remember that the Storm Giant has the Cloak of Death, and it pings my Giant and the Knigths is is fighting. The Storm Giant rolls amazing, and the Knights take 10 (!!) more damage, but Inspired, the second check is low, and they are only wavered.

Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

Unfortunately, the pathfinding Knights fail their check for headstrong. With no great place to go, and no way to get out of the way, they sit tight, content with occupying the Storm Giant for another turn...

The remaining unit of Knights gladly takes a frontal charge into the Morax. These knights roll well, and the regiment is crushed beneath hooves and steel as the victorious Knights overrun, eyeing up the rear of the embattled Storm Giant.

The flying General escapes the clutches of the legendary Thonaar, flying another 20" away, and eying the objectives on the right-hand side of the field that my opponent did not destroy.

After combat against the Legionaries.

The second flying General joins the Pikes and Foot Guard against the Riftforged Legionary Horde. The General does most of the work, and the unit is scattered. The General overruns, smacking into my soldiers on the other side. The Foot Guard and Pikes are forced to change facing; side to-side there isn't much space for anything else. At the end of the turn, I am just barely securing an objective with the Foot Guard, and decide to destroy it.

The Hero runs up, and decides not to pop the Indomitable Will. This is a mistake, but one that harkens back to the unit being on the wrong base size. Given how the last Hero vs Horde fight went, where I only would have survived by Insane Courage, I figured it was pointless. Since this is just a regiment in reality, I probably should have charged the Hero in an attempt to disorder the cavalry unit, and popped the Will to give me good chances to hold for a turn. So, a bit of a mistake from me I think.

Top of Round 5: Riftforged Orcs

The Storm Giant's Cloak of Death triggers again, and then the monster attacks the pathfinding Knights, and routs them this time. It merely presses on and overruns, eyeing up my Giant now.

After movement on the Riftforged Orc's Turn 5.

The Gore Riders easily obliterate the Hero, and overrun as well. The Riftforged Legionaries of the Iron Boots move up to secure that blue objective, while the Reborn Legionaries shuffle towards the white objective to do the same before the game ends. Thonaar tries her luck against the other general, and most of the hits blast into multiple hits, and I believe the General is Wavered. 

Bottom of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

The Pikes and Foot Guard get things into their front arc, and the wavered General sits tight.

My Giant and my last unit of Knights hit the Storm Giant, with the Knights taking the titan with a big charge from behind. The Knights do some 26 damage to it, and then I go to roll for my giant, and my opponent suggests we just test now to save time. The Storm Giant is removed from the table. 

My surviving Giant changes facing to threaten the center, while the Knights back up to secure an objective. The unwavered flying General flies out to secure another one.

Top of Round 6: Riftforged Orcs

Thonnar weights their options, and decides to continue their fight against the disordered and grounded General. If he isn't dealt with, my opponent reasons that I am likely to fly away and might even snag another objective as the game ends. The hits balloon again and the General is indeed slain!

I start getting hazy on the rest of the details. Pictures are sparse it seems... The Riftforged Legionaries from the Iron Boots secure the blue objective. The Gore Riders and the Reborn Legionaries from the Iron Boots look to charge the Foot Guard, and rout them. But, Thonnar is in the way of any significant overrun.

Bottom of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men

I think this is in the running for the worst picture I have ever taken! Unfortunately, it is the last picture of the game. I thought I took a few more pictures, and even some unit perspectives, but they are not on my phone, so I guess they didn't take...

Every battle report needs one. At least one.

The Pikes ready themselves for a potential charge from the Gore Riders and/or Reborn Legionaries. My opponent convinces me to attack the Thonnar with the Giant, but I don't roll well enough to remove the legendary leader. The Pikes and Giant are boxing things off the central objective while securing it, so overall, I am liking my chances on a potential Round 7. However, we fail to roll up a Round 7, so we leave the game here.

Both my Pikes and Giant are holding securing the central objective. My Knights are holding one, as is my General. For the Riftforged Orcs, the Riftforge Legionary regiment holds one objective for their faction, giving the Kingdoms of Men a 3-1 Victory!

Game Conclusion

This was a great game! I had met my opponent briefly at the July event, but did not get to play him then. I was expecting him to run Salamanders, since that was what he played then, so I was quite surprised to see him roll up with the Riftforged Orcs! The red skin he's going with reminds me of Warcraft 3, with Grom Hellscream and the Chaos Orcs, so the army hits me with a bit of nostalgia. He's printing the rest of it out soon, and I can't wait to see what this army is looking like next time we play!

The Riftforged Orcs seem like a really neat faction. I like my infantry checkerboards, and the orcs seem good at that. The Reborn Legionaries inspire, which is super-cool, and I think I'd try to include at least two as some primary sources of inspiring. Normal orcs seem like they should just drop a bunch of stuff on the board and fight. These fancy Riftforged Orcs get way more toys and even some redeployment tricks, so they seem like a lot of fun. They seem like a nice army to play and have some fantastic options for modeling and hobbying. I am very much looking forward to seeing these again!

My opponent hadn't played much with Individuals, and I hadn't played much against them, so Thonnar from Round 4 and on was exciting for both of us. I'm used to heroes as nuisances, not significant  threats themselves, so this was a lot of fun and think we both learned a lot throughout the game. This hero is a surprising threat with the blasting melee attacks. Very neat!

I still don't have a clue about the scenario, but I think I like it? Destroying tokens seems like a very neat twist to a scenario, so I am excited to try this out again in the future.

Testing Conclusion

• Double Flying General. I liked running two! Especially with less of an infantry-focus. The Knights and Giant gave my opponent more to consider, which let these run around with a little more impunity. These weren't used perfectly, but I am pretty happy with my efforts this game.
• Double Giant. I liked them. The higher Nerve and Crushing Strength just makes them feel so much better. Plus, most of the scary things in this game are the larger and more monstrous units, so these seem like solid choices still.
• Triple Knights. Everything got to charge at least once, and taking the Storm Giant from the rear was quite satisfying. That one particular unit charged three separate times and helped remove the Helstrikers, Morax regiment, and Storm Giant, for almost 700 points, and then secured an objective. I think that unit would be in the running for MVP.
• Double Hero. I don't think I used these particularly well, but they did ok as sacrificial units. 
• Delaying Elite Defensive Regiments. These also did ok. The infantry struggled against the Legionary Horde, but that's typical since I lack CS. These seemed ok as unlocks too.
• ASB with Lute. I still think there is a bit of a hierarchy for ASB items, and that the Lute should be quite high for KOM. I was running into some minor line of sight issues though all game. I might consider sticking this guy on a horse. Doing so should solve those issues, and turn the ASB into more relevant late-game chaff.

We had the base-size issue for the Gore Riders, and goofed the potential multi-charge in the Top of Round 3, but overall had a pretty smooth game. This was a pleasure to fit in on a weeknight, so many thanks to my opponent for making it out to the shop and playing a game!