Kings of War 3rd Edition: #033: Varangur vs Salamanders [Plunder]

Intro and Lists

With the first game behind us, we decided to rerack and try again. The Scorchwings have a lot of potential, so my opponent opted to run the same list as before, giving them another try.

The Clan Lord and Rhinosaurs are here, as are regiments of Ancients and Primes. Closely supporting the sturdy units are an Ancient Phoenix, a medic Mage Priest, As-ever, the list is pretty strong on paper, with a lot of sturdy units and some nice supporting elements, like the Scorchwings, a Battle Captain on Rhinosaur, and some Ghekkotah Warriors. 

I switched a few things up for my second list, but the basic theme of my previous list was still here, with some cavalry units, cheap heroes, and some Draugr and Night Raiders to experiment with. Up to test in this game are:

• Draugr. I have two units, but no powerful infantry to support or block for. I wanted to see how this feels. Cheap Nerve and drops are good, but we'll see if and how they contribute.
• Night Raiders. They seem potentially awkward to use with their low Defense and low range on the Throwing Axes. We'll see how they do.
• Mounted Sons. I am taking these with no upgrades to keep it simple, and think a few regiments of these should be able to do some work. I really like the concept of cavalry with some Crushing Strength, as you should be able to do more and potentially grind smaller units out if the charges don't go as planned or even if you get charged instead. We'll take them for another spin!
• Frost Giant. I haven't played a larger game with the Kingdoms of Men in some time, so I haven't played around much with the new Cleaver/Club options for the Giants yet. We'll see how the Club does? Giants need to be supported, so we'll see how well I do at that, and if I get any Breath Attacks in.
• Lord with Stealthy Icon. As I understand it, this is more of a tournament meta choice. I had a model and wanted to try it out as another source of Inspiring. The Icon is likely not going to be too impactful, but there seems to be some potential for even just a basic Lord on foot, which is pretty neat. We'll see how he does this game.
• Thegn on Frostfang. The Lords are still demoted so I can focus on the positioning basics for these kinds of units. We'll see how tricky I can be with nimble in this game.. 
• Snow Troll Prime. I quite like the legendary Kruufnir, but felt that I needed to try out the basic version at some point too. So here we are.

As with the previous game, I had a slight advantage in drops (17 to 13), but my opponent had one with Unit Strength (26 to my 24, with a number of mine being monster-sized again). The first game went far better for me than I expected, but my opponent's dice were a little cold, stalling out some crucial attacks from the Rhinosaurs, so I was anticipating a tough rematch here.

Table and Terrain

We again used the Battle Maps website to help speed things up, generating the gist of a board and selecting Plunder for the scenario for us. We have some Height 3 Hills, Height 6 forests for Difficult terrain, some Height 6 Blocking buildings, and Height 1 graveyards.

The Salamander deployment, and my weak center.

My opponent opted for a pretty classical deployment of cavalry on the wings with infantry and  his titan-sized centerpiece units in the middle of his line. Left-to-right we have Rhinosaurs screening Scorchwings, Ghekkotah Warriors, Ancients with a Healing Brew Screening the Clan Lord, Primes, Ancients with the Aegis screening the Ancient Phoenix and medic Mage Priest, Captain, then Rhinosaurs screening more Scorchwings.

The chaff-heavy left flank of the Varangur.

I deployed rather haphazardly. My only goals was to get the cavalry near open terrain, and have the Night Raiders and Giant together to try and focus fire something. On my left we have two units of Snow Foxes, Mounted Sons, a Thegn and Magnilde.

My center has the Lord with Icon, Mounted Sons, Thegn, and Snow Troll Prime, and then my line continues on, with both Night Raider units, Frost Giant, Draugr and Skaald, Snow Foxes, and Mounted Sons on the right flank.

The stacked right of the Varangur line.

For these games, I throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks, rarely running the same list twice, and often not even following-up on things that performed well until a month or two later after a few other sojourns. I don't think in battlegroups, or optimize my lists very well. This deployment is ridiculous. I wasn't consciously aware of it at the time, but writing up the report, I am insanely looking to try and contest all the tokens. I even picked the left token as my two-pointer, really spreading things out for us across the board. 

I win the roll off for first turn. There is no long range shooting on the table, and I don't have an inkling of what my own strategy is going to be. With objectives in play, I decide to have my opponent kick things off for us.

Top of Round 1: Salamanders

My opponent is equally indecisive, and opts to just pass the turn back to me, and make big decisions my problem again. This messes with my sense of time throughout the report. I really need to finish up my report note template and start using it! Hopefully I get my act together soon in this regard.

Bottom of Round 1: Varangur

With the onus back on me now, I look to have a wider line, so decided to set about trying to envelop the Salamanders, still looking to contest every token. On the left, I respected charge distances, but moved up some Snow Foxes to screen things out, and everything of mine generally moved forward. 

Opening moves on the left.

My center also advanced, but was wary of the long charge range on the Clan Lord. Fortunately, he was tucked behind other units, and the center of the Salamander lines was infantry, so the Thegn and Kruufnir could move up a good bit while still being perfectly safe.

The center creeps up.

On the right, my units moved up as well. The Mounted Sons angle towards the center, the Draugr move up as far as they could with the terrain, and the Frost Giant moved up it's speed, just sticking its corner into the woods before needing to stop. The Night Raiders draw up nearby, but hold back, hiding behind their towering friend.

The right moves up, looking to collapse in on the Salamander line.

Top of Round 2: Salamanders

On the right, the Rhinosaurs inch up and the Scorchwings fly overhead. I forget that my Night Raiders are stealthy, and the flaming birds land 3 damage onto the raiders with no modifications. Oops. Stealthy is a nice rule for these and I keep forgetting about it!

Neither of us brings a lot of shooting, so we goof some rules.

The Salamander infantry will advance up, with some taking the hill. The Rhinosaurs over on the left will advance as well, with the Scorchwings flying up and over them to screen. Also out on the left, the Clan Lord will fly around, looking for good positioning to contribute in the coming turns.

Bottom of Round 2: Varangur

I am not sure what else to do, so on my left I charge the Snow Foxes into the enemy screens. On the left, a unit goes into the Scorchwings and deals no damage, while another unit goes into the Ghekkotah Warriors, dealing a few but the small lizards hold.

I am not used to having Snow Foxes around.

The Mounted Songs and Thegn awkwardly shuffle about and the Draugr clamber through the difficult graveyard. Magnilde comes through though, popping her once-per-game wings, and booping the Clan Lord, grounding him. 

The Varangur center moves on up.

The Varangur center moves up in lockstep. Fortunately, the Giant and Night Raiders all went their speed, and are all able to toss into the Primes just touching the Graveyard. They won't be getting cover from being inside the Difficult Terrain since the majority of their base isn't in the terrain piece, but the Primes should still get it against the Raiders from the terrain being Height 1, which I am certain we didn't account for as I am writing. Neither of us tend to have much shooting in our lists, so are a little rusty. This is a very unfortunate error as the Primes will take some above-average damage rolls and then eat two 11's for the Inspired Nerve Checks, and will be routed. The dice seemed to have it out for the Primes, but I should have caught this shooting goof.

The Snow Foxes here charge the Scorchwings as well, and here too, the flaming birds are completely unscathed. My opponent got quite lucky with both Scorchwing units. Both were directly in front of the Rhinosaur Cavalry units, and both units are Height 4. Had either of the Scorchwings units even been just disordered, the Rhinosaurs would have been in a rough spot for moves and line of sight this next turn, especially on the right.

Top of Round 3: Salamanders

Since they were not disordered, the Scorchwings retain Fly, and are able to disengage and hop over the Snow Foxes do block other things up.

The Phoenix lands, making good use of the Cloak of Death!

On the right, the Scorchwings slip away, fly over the Foxes, land behind them, and shoot into the Mounted Sons while the Rhinosaurs mince the critters. The Ancient Phoenix joints the Captain in  frontal assault against the Giant, hoping to soften him up, since I cannot heal away any of my damage. The Cloak of the Phoenix deals a lot of damage, but the duo is unable to fell the Frost Giant in combat, who actually has the best Nerve values on my side of the table.

The Salamander infantry along the center move up, and we make sure to position them such that the Thegn or Snow Troll can't nimbly catch anything in the flank. 

No funny business. There's about 40-45mm between each regiment.

On the left, the Scorchwings also slip away, and hop over the Foxes, letting the critters die to the Rhinosaurs. Here as well the Rhinosaurs will easily win, and will overrun. The flaming birds will block out some Varangur charges here as well.

Typical, messy flanks.

The Clan Lord strikes back at Magnilde, dealing 7 but fails to rout her, so she Iron Resolves a damage back. The Ghekkotah Warriors cut down my final unit of Snow Foxes, removing all my speedy chaff pretty early in the game.

Bottom of Round 3: Varangur

The flanks are messy. On the left, the Draugr charge the Rhinosaurs to gum them up for a turn while the Mounted Sons charge the Scorchwings. I don't think I get them to devastated, but unfortunately, the Scorchwings are found to be insane, and they hold. I was hoping to set up a nice trade here by delaying the Rhinosaurs with the Draugr, but the insane Scorchwings throw a wrench into that plan.

Nice ideas from the Varangur, but lackluster results.

The Thegn is able to flank the Warriors and remove them, and will pivot to get the Clan Lord in it's arc. Magnilde lands a few more damage onto the Clan Lord, but I don't think she is long for this world.

Safe from the Clan Lord, I aim to tie up the enemy infantry. The Lord with Icon charges one unit of Ancients, while the Snow Troll Prime takes the other. With these units delayed, the Mounted Sons and Thegn charge in to try and remove the Primes, but will fail to do so since the Primes are found to be insanely courageous as well after taking a boatload of damage.

On the right, the Mounted Sons resign to taking out the Scorchwings, with the Draugr joining in with a hindered charge into the flank. The Mounted Sons will back up an inch, and the Draugr will reform to deny the Rhinosaurs a flank.

Lots of damaged units on this side.

The Frost Giant will choose to counter-charge the Captain, and rolls up 4 extra attacks from just being a giant, but none from the rampage-granting club, since the target does not qualify. The Night Raiders pile into the Ancient Phoenix with one getting in the flank, and I do get the mighty Phoenix into "insane courage territory" and will actually pop it! After the last few games, I wasn't sure it could be done, but apparently all I needed was 36 attacks. One of the Raiders is atop the Two Point Token nearby, and will pick it up.

The Skald does nothing this turn, as I was eager to get into combat and forgot about the spell until we were in the middle of the melee phase. The fights against the Phoenix and Captain didn't need the buff, but I could have used him better, say to help the Snow Troll Prime or even the hindered Draugr. This is definitely an error on my part.

Top of Round 4: Salamanders

On the left, Magnilde will fall to the Clan Lord, as will the Draugr to the Rhinosaurs. The insane Scorchwings will fight back, dealing an amazing 4 to the Mounted Sons. With the insane Scorchwings doing work, I think my opponent has a very good chance to take this flank from me. 

The Salamander infantry counter-charge, disordering everything but breaking nothing. The Ancients fighting the Lord with the Icon pop their Healing Brew and heal to 0, and the other Ancients, who have recovered some using the Aegis, heal more from the Mage Priest. The Ancients are doing well with heals, as should be expected with a Def6 unit! The Primes choose to disorder the Mounted Sons, popping the Thegn out of combat.

On the right, the Rhinosaur Cavalry will obliterate the Mounted Sons here, turning to face the center of the field. The Captain will continue to fight against the Giant, landing 2 more damage against it.

Bottom of Round 4: Varangur

On the right, the Draugr will charge the Rhinosaurs here, hoping to just delay them. The Giant and both Night Raiders pile in against the Captain, and will drag him down. The Giant and one of the Raiders will turn to face the Rhinosaurs and try to win this flank, while the second unit of Raiders will turn towards the middle. 

The Varangur are making some progress on the right flank.

In the middle, the Snow Troll Prime took 5, regenerated 1, and strikes back against the Ancients, dealing 3 and they should heal that down to 2 with the Iron Resolve item. The Mounted Sons and Thegn get another attempt at the insane Primes, and will finish them off this time. Both will move back to try and get options next turn, but both will only back up one inch. The Lord with Icon will land some new damage against the other group of Ancients while the Thegn charges into the Clan Lord, slowly ticking up the damage against the flier and keeping it grounded.

Mid-combat at the bottom of Round 5.

On the left, the Mounted Sons will finally cut down the insane Scorchwings, but the victory is a turn too late for the Mounted Sons on this flank, and the Rhinosaurs are eagerly eyeing my cavalry up. 

Top of Round 5: Salamanders

On the left, the Rhinosaurs indeed ravenously crash into the Mounted Sons, destroying them in one go as I've come to expect. As-ever, wounding on 2's is pretty great and the Rhinosaurs are a heck of a unit! They will pick up the Two Point token nearby. The Clan Lord eyes up the new challenger, but looks to have a very bad turn, only landing 2 damage against the Thegn.

The Salamanders grind out the left.

The Ancients will countercharge their respective adversaries, and will waver both the Lord and Snow Troll. Each will pick up the One Point Loot Tokens they are standing on, which we had both largely been ignoring until this turn.

On the right, the other Rhinosaurs will crash through the Draugr with just what they needed on the Nerve check, and will grab another Loot Token as well. 

At the end of the top of the round, I have 2 Points and my opponent has 5.

Bottom of Round 5: Varangur

On the right, the Frost Giant and Night Raiders crash into the Rhinosaurs. The giant again only rolls up 1 on his extra attacks, and will still get nothing from the club. Thanks to Brutal, I am able to just rout the Rhinosaurs, here, and the Giant will secure their One Point token.

The Varangur prevail on the right flank.

Undaunted, the Thegn continues swinging against the Clan Lord. The Clan Lord has taken some hits, but is still around, if grounded. In the center, the Mounted Sons take the flank of one unit of Ancients, while the Thegn takes the flank of the another. Both units of old-timers are felled, and their tokens secured for the Varangur.

It was a big swing for the Varangur in the center.

At the end of the round, the Varangur have managed to wrest control of a few more tokens, flipping the score to 5:2 in favor of the old gods. We went into the round thinking it was Round 6, and had agreed to end it here, so the Varangur do not make any reforms as we resolve combat.

Yes, unfortunately, we appear to have donked up round count for this game, and this is as far as we managed to get. I wasn't diligent about the tracker in this game, and Salamanders doing nothing for Round 1 really got in my head with my internal pacing. We must have moved it twice at some point. 

Game Conclusions

It was not the cleanest of games, rules-wise. 

The round tracking error was unfortunate, but honestly, this was probably not that determinative. By carrying the token, the Rhinosaurs are reduced to Speed 5, and are unlikely to reach another combat to claim another token. 

My opponent played a good game here, getting a lot of value out of the very lucky Scorchwings, and getting both of the Rhinosaur units into meaningful some combats and cutting down a fair number of Varangar units in the process.

Overall, I was pleased with my play. Deployment was a mess, and there were some lapses in planning and judgement, like not utilizing the Skald, but as the game progressed I developed a decent fighting plan, and it mostly worked out! The insane courage on the Scorchwings messed up the desired trade over on my left flank, allowing my opponent to emerge victorious with the Rhinosaurs, but with a bit of luck, my delaying units did enough that I was able to win elsewhere, and trying to fight everywhere worked out this time.

Testing Conclusions

• Draugr. Two throwaway tarpits proved nice to have around! I was thinking they might be too slow to contribute, but that ended up not being the case  here, and they took the hits to protect important things like the Mounted Sons. For an infantry-focused list, I could definitely see the merit adding a third unit, but two seem fine for any general Varangur list.
• Night Raiders. They did well in this game too, though the rules goof benefitted them a lot. Their axes rolled a bit hot both games, so I think more testing is needed to see how they will typically perform. They still definitely don't want to face off against cavalry, but from the look of things can definitely apply pressure to infantry. 
• Mounted Sons. Deployment weirdness aside, these did work ok. I was feeling the pressure both games with only three real smashy units, but that is my haphazard list building at work. The units themselves did wonderfully.
• Frost Giant. The club ended up being the wrong pick this time! It didn't come up at all, and the Giant did not generate as many attacks as I would have wanted. The club seems to be a nice pick though? With CS4, the Giant is likely to wound anything that hits a monster, so you might want the club to make sure it doesn't get bogged down by infantry and the like, such as Draugr. Both options are nice to have, and this will be fun to explore more down the road.
• Lord with Stealthy Icon. He's proving to be resourceful! The higher-tier characters (like the Lord, or Magnilde, characters with 15+ Nerve) are proving to be decent delaying units. I got a lot of utility out of him both games, and the Icon is a pretty cheap upgrade. I can see why some tournament players would run him! 
• Thegn on Frostfang. With more drops than my opponent, these were able to operate without much interference. Still, they continued to do well, and cheap units to support and disrupt.
• Snow Troll Prime. I see the appeal? It is cheap, it regenerates, it Inspires, and it can throw around a few damage to help swing combats. I could see many lists running 1-2 of these for the utility, but for me, Kruufnir seems way more fun to run.

It's been a busy month for me, and it was good to finally get out and roll some dice! A big thank you to my opponent for fitting these games in.

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #032: Varangur vs Salamanders [Push]

Intro and Lists

March has been quite stressful for me and very hard on my schedule, so I was very excited to fit a few weekend games in recently against some Salamanders! My opponent brought the following:

My opponent generally kept with the sturdy units and heals approach. The centerpiece model of the mighty Clan Lord on Fire Drake with the Brew of Sharpness returns, as do the double units of scary Rhinosaur Cavalry hordes. The Prime regiments and Ancient regiments return to hold objectives. For heals he has the Ancient Phoenix and kitted Mage Priest. For new supporting units he has a Battle Captain on Rhinosaur, some Ghekkotah Warriors, and two regiments of very versatile Scorchwings!

I continued to experiment with my lists. The Mounted Sons did not do well on their last outing, but I maintain that it was not their fault! There is not much they could do against so many Insane Courage results, and I think the cavalry unit still has potential to form the backbone of a list. I decided to bring them, play around more with cheap, Nimble heroes to learn the basics there, and keep on trying to figure out my Draugr and Night Raiders. Up to test are:

• Draugr. I have two units, but no powerful infantry to support or block for. I wanted to see how they do on the own. Cheap Nerve and more drops are good, but they aren't likely to be out in front taking charges, so we'll see if and how they contribute.
• Night Raiders. I want to like them, but they seem awkward with the low Defense and low range on the Throwing Axes. I just need to keep trying them out! We'll see how they do here.
• Mounted Sons. I think cavalry with some Crushing Strength will do well still. I usually forget about magic items, so I am taking all these without upgrades. 
• Jabberwocks. With no real shooting in my list, and up against a list with healing, these seem destined to underwhelm, but we'll see how they do. 
• Lord with Stealthy Icon. I wanted to squeeze in one more source of Inspiring. In the tournament meta, this pick seems to have started gaining some traction. My opponent here doesn't tend to have much shooting, so we'll see how effective the upgrade is and if a little foot Lord is worth looking into more.
• Thegn on Frostfang. My Lords flubbed their attack rolls so hard, I'm keeping them demoted for a few more games. I will continue to focus on positioning and basics for Nimble monster-sized units, and see what they can get up to this game. 
• Kruufnir. I like the design of the Legendary Snow Troll, so wanted to try him out again. We'll see how well he gets used this time.

I had an edge in drops, but my opponent had an advantage in Unit Strength. Five of my Unit Strength this game is tied up on monster bases with US1 as well, so his units should be outclassing mine. I figured this was going to be a tough battle, but I am always wary of the Salamanders. Their innate, high defense makes it hard to break units without overwhelming force, and in a unit-trading game, I can quickly run out of fighting units to commit. Up against heals as well, there is a real danger of the Varangur being ground out if I don't target and then break Salamander units efficiently.

Table and Terrain

We've been to this shop a few times. It is new, and is better with every visit, but the terrain is still being built up, and the selection is not great for Kings of War needs. I brought my own again, with Height 3 Hills, Height 6 forests for Difficult terrain, Height 2 obstacles, some Height 6 Blocking buildings, and Height 1 graveyards.

We've used this before, but this was my first time remembering the name of the website. We used the Battle Maps website to help generate a map. Ta-da. It's a neat little site and even picked the scenario for us. I wish there was a little more customizability with it, like you could input the terrain you had and it would try to generate something balanced, but for quick-starting a game, this was pretty slick, and we made it work. 

The site gave us Push, and we set about deploying. Left-to-right my opponent had Primes with the Headstrong item, Ancients with the Healing Brew screening the Clan Lord with the Brew of Sharpness and the medic Mage Priest, Ancients with the Aegis screening the Ghekkotah Warriors, Primes with the Staying Stone screening the Ancient Phoenix. Out on the flank, Rhinosaurs had Boots and then the Lifeleech Scripture, and both units screened Scorchwings. 

The Salamander line, and my center.

I did not have a real plan. Seeing infantry early from my opponent, I aimed to preserve my Night Raiders and a Jabberwock for my far left, and was able to achieve that, with those as my final drops for deployment. The aim was to give the Night Raiders a fighting chance against an ideal target while everything else slugged it out. The Clan Lord could complicate that, but Magnilde deployed here too to Inspire and hopefully occupy the Lord for a time. Everything else of mine deployed a bit haphazardly, as I tend to do... 

The shifty left flank of the Varangur, eyeing up the enemy infantry.

My center had Snow Foxes, a Thegn and Kruufnir. We had rolled up just one 1 more Loot Token each, so the Draugr here held mine. I was able to juuust fit two regiments of Mounted Sons over here without getting blocked by the building. I was thinking I'd deploy them more on the left, in front of the Foxes, but felt I should deploy more here to fight the Rhinosaurs as they came down.

The right of the Varangur, squaring up against a lot of monstrous cavalry units.

My right ended with the Lord with Stealthy Icon, Draugr, Thegn, Mounted Sons, Jabberwock, and Snow Foxes in reserve.

We rolled up only 1 additional Loot Token each. My opponent gave his to the Ghekkotah Warriors, and mine went to the more central of my Draugr units. My plan was to fight, and hopefully the Draugr would keep ambling forward as the game went on.

I won the roll off for first turn decision. With no long-range shooting on the table, and no clear idea what I actually wanted to do, I figured my opponent should be making all those hard decisions and opening moves instead.

Top of Round 1: Salamanders

And I immediately forgot to take a picture. Everything moved up, but remained cautious, and stayed out of my potential charge ranges. Nothing of his was in range to shoot, so it was a quick turn. The flying Clan Lord and Phoenix both started moving over towards my right side though, and the token-carrying Ghekkotah Warriors just hunker down for now.

Bottom of Round 1: Varangur

My right moved up, with the Snow Foxes an inch or more ahead of the Mounted Sons to let them pivot, and protecting the Sons and the Jabberwock from anything scary. Draugr took the hill while the Lord with Icon and Thegn lurked nearby.

The Varangur's right flank moves up. 

My Mounted Sons in the center moved up, but out of the Clan Lord's charge range, but able to see around the building. A unit of Snow Foxes zipped forth, hoping to be ignored and chaff up some Rhinosaurs in the coming turns. The Thegn and Kruufnir moved up, looking for any openings in the enemy infantry line while the Loot-carrying Draugr just side-stepped. I wasn't ready to push forward yet, but it probably would have been better to change facing a move up to get around the fence fully.

The Varangur center awkwardly tries to reposition a bit.

Over on the left, the Night Raiders moved up a bit, but will be out of range this turn for their throwing weapons. The Jabberwock moves up and pivots, peering around the forest. 

Tricky moves over on the left. With no cavalry and no Clan Lord, I think I should be able to win this.

With the Salamander infantry unable to make any charges here next turn, and the Clan Lord looking elsewhere, my developing plan is to try and pen the Salamanders in with the threat of flank attacks from the Jabberwock, and let my Night Raiders throw some axes in the coming turns.

Top of Round 2: Salamanders

On the left, the Salamander infantry was indeed dissuaded, with the Primes on the end pivoting to get the Jabberwock into their front arc. The Ancients with the brew marched up alongside in moral support, again, keeping things in the front.

The Varangur lines are all blocked up.

The other Ancients moved up to stare down Kruufnir and the Thegn, while the Clan Lord spit fire at the latter, dealing 3 damage. The Primes take an awkward charge into the Foxes, spinning around. The Primes would pulp them and would barely reform, liking their position very much.

The Varangur's right flank is entirely stalled out as the turn concludes.

Over on the right, the Scorchwings flew up and over to block out the two central Mounted Sons units. I thought my opponent might shoot with them more, and was not expecting them to be so aggressive, but I think this was a pretty good move, occupying the attention of two powerful Varangur units. 

The Phoenix would throw fire at my most central unit of Mounted Sons, but only slips in 1 damage, thanks to the Lord with Stealthy Icon nearby. Joining the Ancient Phoenix in the reserves are the Battle Captain and the unit of Rhinosaur Cavalry with the Boots.

The second unit of Rhinosaurs will slam into the Draugr. The rolls were rather cold, and the Zombies hold after sustaining 8 damage, and will then Iron Resolve down to 7 damage. Typically the Rhinosaurs by themselves will delete anything they touch, so the zombies really lucked out here. Lastly, the Scorchwings will charge the Snow Foxes near the table edge, rout them, and will then change facing, effectively screening the Rhinosaurs from my third unit of Mounted Sons.

Bottom of Round 2: Varangur

With all three of my potent Mounted Sons mostly blocked up this turn, I set about trying to protect them this turn, so they can strike next turn and get some value. On the right, the Lord with Icon charges the Rhinosaurs in reserve, dealing a few damage and disordering them, while the Draugr countercharge the other enemy cavalry unit.

The lucky Draugr counter attack, but don't do anything as I recall.

The Thegn, Mounted Sons, and Jabberwocky all charge the Scorchwings, dealing a ton of damage, and will remove them. The Thegn will just change facing to try and box in the nearby Rhinosaurs (more difficult to pivot through and around the Thegn), while the Mounted Sons and Jabberwock will both overrun a mighty 1". Still, they are out of the charge arc of the Rhinosaur Captain, so that definitely counts for something, and even the Thegn is safe from the Captain, due to the intervening Rhinosaurs.

Centrally, the Draugr with my Loot charge the Ancients, opening up space for one of the Mounted Sons to make a hindered charge into the Primes and then slide around into a better position. The other unit of Mounted Sons charges and trounces the Scorchwings. 

The Mounted Sons are able to charge, slide to center, and get some better positioning.

On the right, the Night Raiders both throw into the Primes, with a good number of axes landing between the volleys of the two raiding units. The unit is Wavered with a lucky roll. Meanwhile, the Jabberwock, Thegn, Magnilde, and Kruufnir will all charge into the Ancients. Everything has multiple modifiers to wound, and this seemed like the best chance to break the Def6 unit. 

The Salamander infantry take some heavy hits from everything. 

The Ancients are indeed routed with a lot of damage an average Nerve check. The Jabberwork turns to face the wavering Primes, Magnilde overruns, and both the Thegn and Kruufnir will turn to face towards the center, eying the flanks of the rest of the Salamander line.

The Ancients are broken, and a contingent of Varangur characters are breaking through.

Top of Round 3: Salamanders

The Primes shake off their Wavered status with the help of their item, and with their courage restored, will charge into the Jabberwock, dealing a respectable 4 damage to it, but the frenzied beast has some good Nerve values and is out for blood. It holds, putting the Primes in an awkward spot, given the Raiders nearby.

The Salamander infantry are in some trouble. 

Centrally, the Ancients counter-charge the token-carrying Draugr, and will deal 5, but the zombies will resolutely hold for now. The Draugr continue to impress with their decent Nerve and Fearless.

The Cloak of Death hit everything but the Thegn from the looks of it. 

The right is more exciting. Threatened now with some rear-charges by the Varangur breakthrough on the left, the The Clan Lord makes a charge into some Mounted Sons. The Varangur Cavalry take the hits, but will hold defiantly despite a close Nerve check.

The Ancient Phoenix lands over among the scuffles on the right. The Salamanders here are all rather healthy, but the Varangur units take a fair amount of incidental damage from the Cloak of Death. It is a disappointing turn for the Rhinosaurs though. Disordered, one horde only does 3 against the Lord with Icon. The other horde will shred the Draugr and change facing to stare down the Thegn. The Captain has no charges, and puts the scaly lives of his soldiers first, and will move up to block the Mounted Sons on the far flank and protect the Rhinosaur hordes, similar to how the Thegn was used on my turn.

Bottom of Round 3: Varangur

The Jabberwock's extra attacks are calculated at the start of the Melee Phase. The Primes are maimed already from the turn before, and the Jabberwock feasts. Both Night Raider units will assail the Salamanders in the flank as well, hitting very hard with their Thunderous Charge and removing the unit. 

Kruufnir will make a nimble charge into the flank of the other Primes, with the Mounted Sons counter-charging in the front. With the legendary troll in the flank, this unit will fall as well. 

I mistake with the Thegn, and forget about Magnilde too, but things are going well here.

The Thegn does nothing this turn. Kruufnir could have moved up 1" and then started his pivoting and charging, but I did not do that, so had to have the Thegn back up to make room for the troll. This is definitely an error by me. I also look to have forgotten about Magnilde entirely, which is another error from me, she should definitely be doing something this turn, and definitely had some options. 

The Salamanders 

On the right, the Jabberwock swings wide, eyeing up the rear of the wounded Rhinosaur unit while the Lord with Icon lands a few more damage against them, and disorders them again. The Mounted Sons break through the regiment of Primes, while their brothers land some good damage in against the Clan Lord, who should be in double-digits right now. The Thegn charges into the other unit of Rhinosaurs, and the Sons charged with the Battle Lord, but my opponent taps out before we fully make it through the Phase.

Game Conclusions

My opponent had some good opening moves with the Scorchwings blocking out my important cavalry units early on, but it unfortunately wasn't enough. Some cold dice on from the Rhinosaurs stalled him out, and I was able to put him on the back foot across the board as the battle lines clashed. Round 3 may feel a little soon to call it, but my opponent had quite the task ahead of him, so we opted to just reset and start up a new game.

Testing Conclusions

• Draugr. This was an ok scenario for them, though we only rolled up a single token! While theory-crafting, I was unsure how they would do, but they gummed things up nicely and let my other units do well. I was impressed again by their performance.
• Night Raiders. They apparently got a dream match-up, being uncontested against other Speed 5 infantry, and were really able to leverage their offensive abilities this game. I was impressed! The Axes (with Piercing) really helped against the high defense, so this was a good loadout for this particular matchup.
• Mounted Sons. I think I need to spread them out a little more in the future, but they worked well this game. Like any hammer unit, they need some protection, but I was thankfully able to do that  job well enough for them to get some good damage in.
• Jabberwocks. Surprisingly, these weren't bad. I would even call them good! Speed 7 was more than enough to exert some pressure, and their Nerve was surprisingly high. I didn't have much shooting to help them out, so their special rule didn't come into play much, but a tiny, fierce (and rather cheap) monster was run to have around. 
• Lord with Stealthy Icon. Surprisingly the Stealthy Icon came into play! I still think this option is likely the best all-comers choice, and is a very cheap way to protect a few important units. Lifeleech may have potential in some grindy lists, but paying for an aura of Brutal seems silly since he's an individual and likely to be charging in alongside other units, and the ability doesn't stack. I figured he would hold for just a turn against the Rhinosaurs, but being disordered was very tough on them as it turns out. He worked well and I may need to look at a plain Lord on foot sometime in the future.
• Thegn on Frostfang. I am still liking these cheap versions for now. I paid for, and remembered the 6 attacks this time, and they did some nice combo charges and disruption work. I like being able to bring more units too, so these Thegns might be sticking around for a while. The conga-line with Kruufnir was an error though, and something I will need to keep in mind for the future.
• Kruufnir. I still really like this pick. Rampage will come up against most armies, and you should be able to give him a good match-up. I have yet to use the "Bring me their Head" special rule because I misread it until I went to look it up just now, so that will be up to look at in the future sometime. Magnilde could have been really going to town in Round 3. Oops.

It was a brief but brutal game. A big thank you to my opponent for fitting both these games in. A report covering our rematch game will be up soon.

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #031: KoM vs Ogres [Invade] Demo Game

Intro and Lists

For the rematch, my opponent opted to try the list with the Boomers, subbing in some Trollblood minis with Javelins to fill the role. I am not too familiar with the Hordes game or factions, but the Trollbloods seem like a neat way to run Ogres. I was digging it. The list was as follows:

This was my original Ogre list for these introductory game, so I was especially interested to see how it would do. The same core is preserved, and we get to play around with the Boomers. My Abyssals (with Regeneration) also have an intro list ready to go, so the Fire Oil seems silly, but was meant to play into that potential interaction. I didn't want to switch things up on my opponent though, so I again ran the Kingdoms of Men.

Table and Scenario

We swapped terrain around the table. Graveyards were Height 1 Difficult Terrain, the Chapel Height 9 Blocking, Forests Height 6 Difficult, and the Hills were Height 3. We chose Invade for the scenario - and would just be trying to get the most unit strength across the center line of the table. 

My opponent opted to try a fuller experience this time. We rolled, I won and chose to keep the same sides, and then we started trading deployments. 

A very conservative deployment from the Ogres.

The Ogres ended up with another very conservative deployment 6" or more behind the line. From left-to-right we have Boomers, Warlock, Siege Breakers, Warriors with two-handers, the Sergeant, and shielded Warriors.

The Kingdoms of Men deployed at the line, and from left to right we have the Mounted Scouts troop, Crossbowmen, Ballista in the center, then the Militia, ASB with Lute, the two Foot Guard Regiments, and lastly the Mounted Hero on the other wing. I moved the Hero over here to disrupt, hoping to take a hit with him and then be able to punch through with both Foot Guard units. 

We rolled off for the decision on the first turn, and my opponent won, and decided to go first. With my Ballista in the middle, that seems like a good idea.

Top of Round 1: Ogres

My opponent had chosen to deploy pretty far back. Both units of Warriors and the Sergeant moved into the forest, slowing them down.

The Warriors were stymied by the woods, so the Sergeant probably should be that far up, but whatever. Little positioning goofs are bound to happen in these games. No big deal. 

The Siege Breakers, Warlock, and Boomers decided to keep pace with the Warrior side. All moved up their speed. Unfortunately, by deploying so far back, nothing was in range for even the Warlock and his lightning, so it was a very quick turn!

Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

I don't think the Crossbowmen had range to anything. The Ballista shot at the Warriors with two-handers. A majority of their base was outside the woods, so no cover for them! Some hefty bolts hit home, but the Warriors hold. 

The elite regiments of the Kingdoms of Men secure the formidable hill.

The infantry took the nearby hill. The Militia kept on going, while the Foot Guard remained, looking to charge down from the great height once the Ogres got close.

The Mounted Scouts moved up, but missed with their bows against the Boomers. This is a bad call on my part. Getting into range of them was never going to be worth it, and I should have tried to delay with the instead, keeping them back and safe, or even taking this turn to get them away from the enemy shooting.

Top of Round 2: Ogres

The Boomers move up and shoot into the Mounted Scouts. The Warlock does the same, and the Scouts are blasted off the battlefield.

The Sergeant remains in the woods and shoots at the Militia, but fails to wound. The Siege Breakers and both Warrior units all continue on, but are not yet within charge range of anything. 

Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

I don't like my chances currently in any melee, and so my infantry regiments all move move back some to wait on the hill for another turn. 

The humans back up, getting just out of charge range.

The Ballista and Crossbowmen shoot into the Warriors with big weapons, bringing them up to 3 damage and now get a lucky Waver against them.

Top of Round 3: Ogres

Leaving the shaken Warriors behind to collect their wits, the Siege Breakers and shielded Warriors continue on, though unfortunately have no charges.

The Sergeant fires against the Militia, and lands 3 damage against them. 

Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

The Ballista shoots over the heads of the Militia, miraculously scoring two more damage against the Warriors with two-handers despite the cover, and the unit is Wavered again. The Crossbowmen take aim at the Warlock out in the open, land a few damage, and they get a very lucky Waver as well!

The Militia have a flank charge into the Siege Breakers and I decide to take it. One damage slips in! 

The Militia, doing their part.

One unit of Foot Guard charges off the hill and into the Shielded Warriors, but Bane Chant fails to land and will not help them in the ensuing combat. They are joined by the Mounted Hero, but the Hero contributes nothing and only 3 damage makes it past the Ogre shield wall. The other unit of Foot Guard are too far back to charge anything, so just move up, and should be able to contribute next turn.

It was a great round for my shooting, with some overly cooperative dice. Unfortunately the Melee Phase was not as good for me. Thankfully, the smashy Warrior unit was Wavered, giving me a little time to get back in this.

Top of Round 4: Ogres

I convince my opponent to move the Sergeant up and out of the woods, so he will be in a better position to score or support in the coming turns. The shooting is a great perk, but he is by far a better melee combatant! Having moved, he now has a line into the Crossbowmen, and lands a few damage. The Boomers move in and shoot as well, dealing 8 damage off of 9 attacks into the Crossbowmen, and the regiment is broken.

Everything on the table now fits neatly into one shot.

The Siege Breakers counter-charge the Militia, dealing 4 damage, but fail to break them. The shielded Warriors counter-charge the Foot Guard, also dealing 4, but also fail to break them. I believe Insane Courage was rolled for one of these tests, but cannot recall which one. 

Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

The Foot Guard on the hill have options. I think it is unlikely that I will be able to drag the Siege Breakers down from the front, so I opt to charge everything I can into the shielded Warriors instead, and just try to remove some enemy scoring units with certainty. They charge down from the hill, gaining Thunderous Charge; the other regiment gets a Bane Chant, and the Mounted Hero joins in too. The Kingdoms of Men push through! 

With the Sergeant towering menacingly nearby, I opt to overrun everything though, as I did not want to give up a flank to him. Unfortunately, one regiment and the Mounted Hero both get a 1" overrun, and I think a better choice for me would have been to hold. It's hard to pin down a nimble, square-based unit, and if I had held, I'd have still kept the Sergeant in my front arcs, and both regiments should have been able to fight back next turn if the Sergeant dared to charge in. 

Poor overruns from the humans.

Meanwhile the Militia try to delay, counter-charging and slipping another damage onto the Siege Breakers.

The Ballista shoots at something, probably the Warlock, but I don't remember the outcome. I think I did damage, but the spell caster should hold this time, and I think we just forgot to remove the Wavering token from before.

Top of Round 5: Ogres

The Warlock throws lightning into the Ballista while the Boomers move and shoot into it, and the war engine is ravaged from enemy fire. This duo has just torn through my own ranged units!

The Sergeant rolls very well, and is able to rip through the injured, lagging Foot Guard and then overrun, stopping just shy of the ASB with Lute. Honestly, this was a potential outcome here even if I did not overrun. 

The powerful Ogres dish out some beatings.

The Siege Breakers land some heavy hits against the Militia, and are able to beat them down and remove them this turn. They will overrun as well, trying to catch the remaining Foot Guard.

Bottom of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

I unfortunately cannot get out of the charge arc of the Siege Breakers. I need to pivot, and just can't get seem to get past, so the Foot Guard turns, to bravely meet their fate. Thankfully, they are over the line and will be scoring if they can hold.

Not looking great for the humans.

I didn't know what else to do with him, so the Mounted Hero decides to charge the Ogre Sergeant, getting a Bane Chant and dealing 2 damage to the his foe. 

Top of Round 6: Ogres

The Sergeant will counter-charge, but I don't think he manages to remove the Mounted Hero.

The Siege Breakers charge the Foot Guard, but will fail to break them.

The remainder of the Ogre force is scoring, and sits back, relaxing.

Bottom of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men

I counter-charge the Siege Breakers and Sergeant, but will fail to best either. 

The game is wrapping up.

The Majority of my Unit Strength 3 Foot Guard is over the line and scoring. However, my opponent has a total of 4 Unit Strength scoring between the Sergeant, Warlock, and Boomers, giving a narrow 4-3 win to the Ogres!

Game Conclusions

It was another introductory game, so we won't dig too deep to dissect play. We had no rules goofs that I was aware of, and we had another very close game! I'll count this as another success.

Testing Conclusions

As mentioned in the other report, with these demo games, I think I need to run familiar things instead of new things to help my brain out. However, as before, I do have some additional post-game thoughts, building on those of the previous game:

• Ogre Boomers. I prioritized softening up the Ogre infantry, and I think that was the right call, but that meant that the Boomers were untouched and we able to run away with things. Despite the short range on the guns, they were solid performers this game, and I was impressed. 
• Ogre Sergeant. As in the other game, the Sergeant is very versatile, and should be able to contribute to the game from start to finish. Elite really helped him out in a handful of situations, and this seems like a fantastic default hero to have around.
• Ogre Warlock. With a unit around to help boost the magic, the Warlock did better. Throwing more dice at things tends to work out. If you have spare points or need more inspiring, these should slot in nicely for larger lists. I think I'd rather run the more independent Sergeant for these smaller games though.
• KoM Scouts. Hah, these were not used well! With an 18" range, if they can hit the Boomers, the Boomers can move and hit them back. I was not thinking, and this deserves a call-out here. 
• KoM Ballista. The war engine continued to put out some decent damage throughout the day. maintaining good firing lanes is hard, but taking a few of these seems viable for a larger game. 

B big thank you to my opponent for fitting these games in! Hopefully we'll see you across the table again soon!