Intro and Lists
I was fortunate enough to be able to stop by and play three League-adjacent games over the weekend. The league has some complexity to it, with a map and moves and supply lines, and both the games and their results grant gold, to then purchase your starting list or buy a new unit. Not being part of the League, I don't get benefits like upgrading units and such, but I also am not stuck running the same list over and over! I would go broke with how I build and test my lists. The day had started strong with 8 players, but our numbers had dwindled as the day progressed, and by the third game, we were down to just 4 players. Two were looped in to a special scenario contesting the halfling's farmstead, so my initial opponent Joe and I met up again for our game three.
Joe was running the same immensely sturdy Imperial Dwarf list as before, with the powerful Royal Guard Formation, and lots of armor and Mastiffs.
My third Herd list was testing Lycan hordes, and while that did sound fun, we decided to take advantage of me not being in the league and switch things up, since my opponent had already faced the Herd once today. In addition to the terrain we didn't end up needing, I had brought 5 armies. My thinking was that with me not actually signed-up for the league, my games don't matter as much, and I could be around for demos and rules questions if we happened to have an odd man out. No demos were run, but my Herd and Kingdoms of Men armies were in the same box, so I took the humans out for a go to close out the day.
I tried to make the list generic and straightforward, as I was expecting someone else to play it, or me to play it against a newcomer. Nothing here is new to test, but it was run with some twists.
- Foot Guard with Blessing of the Gods. Kicking things off is a misclick! A Def5 unit with the Hammer is a popular pick in the league, and I was trying to copy that here. Against the high Defense of the Dwarfs, this wasn't likely to be a good pick!
- Crossbow Block. Plain. I just wanted to give them another try without Pot Shot.
- Ballista. Taking the crossbowmen, adding a war machine seemed like a good idea, particularly for a newcomer.
- Giant with Slayer. I like Rampage, but opted to give Slayer here and encourage a monster-fight. Unfortunately, my personal approach would have been a much better choice, as he has no slayer targets here, so that's a bummer for me!
- ASB with War-Bow. Thinking I had the Hammer on the Foot Guard, I didn't need the Lute, and opted to try out the 5 point Bow, thinking a newcomer would place them near the other shooting units, and have a shooty battle group and a fighty battle group.
- General on Winged Beast. Kings of War has a lot of focus on positioning, and figured the General would be a good option to have. I like them, and since I'm the one that ended up running the list here, I was happy to have him around!
Table and Terrain
We were back on the homefield of the Imperial Dwarfs. We followed our usual terrain rules, playing the buildings as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, the fences as Height 2 Obstacles, and the Hills as normal Height 3 hills. I tried to set up a pretty fair table, and we got Dominate for a scenario, marking the center of the board with a purple token so we could reference the zone as needed.
I forgot to snap a picture of the board and of the initial deployment, so we'll get into that during the opening round! The Dwarfs won the roll for deciding first turn, and decided to stick me with it.
Top of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men
For deployment, the Dwarfs had the Ironclad units and ASB known as Hansel the Pretty out on the left, with the Royal Guard arrayed in the center, with the Ironclad horde known as Marko's Marauders flanked by the Bulwark regiments. Heroes were late drops for the Dwarfs, so the Stone Priest Markos Longstones took the interior, while the feisty Flame Priest known as Scrotash Firestones was out near the flank.
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| Opening moves for the Kingdoms of Men. |
The humans had the Knights and Giant out on the left, and a building protected the Crossbowmen, ASB, and Ballista. The Foot Guard deployed at an angle pointed towards the center of the field. Instead of deploying him with the Knights and Giant, the General ended up on the right. My opponent didn't like the Beast of Nature previously, and I decided to distract with the General, to hopefully get more shooting in, and I should be within range of a Mastiff toss.
For Round 1, the Crossbows and ASB moved up one inch. The Crossbows shoot with a penalty into the Bulwark unit on the flank, dealing 2, and the Ballista fires in as well, landing 1.
Bottom of Round 1: Imperial Dwarfs
The outer Bulwarks toss into the General, landing 4 damage. My opponent is able to get the Flame Priest Scrotash close enough to contribute a fireball as well, contributing 2 damage, and the dwarfs get as waver out of their opening shots against my General.
The Marko's Marauders, the Ironclad Horde, move at the double into the center, and the Bulwarks start to cross behind the horde to shore up their defenses on the flank against my cowering general.
Both Ironclad move up, slowly.
Top of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men
The wavered General can't do much, so opts to move backwards.
The Ballista fires into the same Bulwark regiment, with no hits. The ASB tries as well, with no hit. So the Crossbows are forced to fire into them too, landing 4 damage, and securing a waver this time.
The Knights and Giant inch up, but are wary. The Ironclad have a 4" move and a 12" toss, making the charge distances tougher here. If the General were here I could instigate better, but I got greedy with deployment.
Bottom of Round 2: Imperial Dwarfs
The Bulwarks shrug off the waver with Headstrong, and swing around the Ironclad. Both regiments re on that outer flank now.
The Ironclad units inch up, also wary of the charge range of the Knights, and we are at a bit of a standstill.
The Flame Priest Scrotash is able to Fireball the General again, landing 3 damage, but the General is found to be insane this time.
Top of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men
I remember to start taking picture again! Sorry about that. I kept diligently taking photos of the turn dice, but not the actions themselves... In my defense, not much was moving in these early turns!
I decide to press the issue on the left. The Knights and Giant move up. Both are in charge range, and I just hope I can endure double-mastiff tosses. Statistically I can, but I am uninspired over here.
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| The Knights and Giant move up to face the Ironguard. |
The shooting contingent fires again. The original Bulwark unit is mostly blocked by the building, so we fire into the second regiment instead. Again the ASB and Ballista contribute 0, and the Crossbows land 3 damage.
Having gotten something knocked into him, General can't charge anything good, so flies 10" away, positioning to threaten the flank of the Ironclad horde. The distraction is working, but the shooting dice have not delivered so far!
Bottom of Round 3: Imperial Dwarfs
The Flame Priest Scrotash is able to torch down the flying General with a third boosted fireball.
The Bulwark regiments form up behind the fences. Phalanx won't help them against the Foot Guard, but the fences definitely will!
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| The Imperial Dwarfs take the center of the table. |
The less-damaged Bulwark regiment still has a Mastiff, and tosses it into the Foot Guard, but something spooks the dogs this turn, and this lands just 1 damage.
The final two mastiffs go into the Knights, landing a total of 2 against them. Checking the math for the report, all the dogs here do about half of what would be expected, but 2 into the Guard and 4 into the Knights would still be manageable. Still, I am a bit lucky here!
Top of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men
The Foot Guard pivot. given the short legs of the dwarfs, neither Bulwark unit can reach them next turn!
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| Marko's Marauders prove a more tempting target than the Ironguard. |
I consider grinding against the Ironguard units, but opt to go big against the Ironclad horde after checking the angles. For added reasons to do this, the Ironclad are about even with the horde, and won't have the KoM units in the front arc to charge anything next turn, so the Giant hits the front with the Knights able to hit the flank, safe from reprisals.
The Giant doesn't have its usual Rampage, and while it rolls up 4 extra attacks, only 3 damage is done, with some bad dice. The Knights to better with 13 damage, for a total of 16 damage. The formation gives them a 22/24 Nerve, and I get the waver, but not the rout against the Marauders.
The shooting continues, with the Ballista contributing 1 and the crossbows landing 6 into the newer Bulwark unit, and bring them to 9 damage, and get a waver here as well.
Bottom of Round 4: Imperial Dwarfs
The Dwarves are Headstrong, and pass all of their checks again. The Stone Priest Markos has Radiance of Life, and is able to assist both of the recovering units with a small heal.
The shaken Bulwarks gather their wits and hop the fence, with the other unit also moving up to threaten the Foot Guard.
Markos Marauders will shake it off, and countercharge the Knights. I think this is the right call. They are already damaged, have less Nerve than the Giant, and have Thunderous charge. The Ironclad have the Hammer, and roll pretty well to land 10 damage on the Knights, and do get the rout, since they are uninspired.
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| Ouch! Not the outcome I was hoping for against the Marauders. |
The Ironclad will make use of their Ordered March to start moving towards the center.
Top of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men
The Giant charges the Ironclad horde, manages to slip 5 damage in, and at 20 damage total now, will be able to secure the rout against Marko's Marauders! He'll turn to face the Ironclad.
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| Some important victories for the Kingdoms of Men! |
The Bulwarks hopped the fence, so the Foot Guard have a clear charge into them, and will take it. They were at 8, and it looks like I land just 2 damage, but I am able to get the rout here as well. (While Lifeleeching down to 3 damage! I remembered!) Looking at it all beforehand, the charge has them just out of the arc of the Bulwarks, so the Foot guard is able to victoriously side-step and still remain safe.
The Ballista is out of the charge range of the Bulwarks, but unfortunately also has no shots. Also safe for now is the ASB, who takes aim at the incoming Bulwarks, hoping to land a point of damage and force a Nerve check, but he fails to hit again.
The Crossbows move up, and manage to stick 1 damage onto some Ironclad. Looking at the picture, I should be taking a double-penalty here. The obstacle shouldn't block line of sight, but should be providing cover, and the move and shoot penalty applies here as well.
Bottom of Round 5: Imperial Dwarfs
One Ironclad regiment is within range, the other is not, so only one makes it into the Giant, but both are close enough to score for the scenario. Combat delivers 3 damage to the Giant.
The Flame Priest Scrotash continues bring a nuisance with his boosted Fireball, landing 4 damage onto the Foot Guard, a little better and average.
Top of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men
Things are a bit of a mess. Foot Guard don't have a charge, and need to change-facing to let the Crossbows maneuver. So they will turn around and then some to see the Bulwarks.
I have the inches, but cannot maneuver around things to charge the unengaged Ironclad with the Crossbows. They are just out of charge range of the Bulwarks. They move up, and should again be taking a cover penalty, but don't. I haven't run a ton of shooting, and I really only think of Obstacles in terms of charges, not cover. They deal 2 damage here, so apologies to my opponent for the oversight.
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| A very awkward movement phase for the Kingdoms of Men. |
The Ballista does have a clean shot into the Bulwarks, but misses. I think it has contributed 2 damage this game? Not a great showing for the war machine.
Bottom of Round 6: Imperial Dwarfs
Markos the Stone Priest and his Radiance of Life aids the Dwarfs again. The Ironclad catch Bane-Chants as they go into the Giant (dealing 4 damage) and Crossbowmen (dealing 5 damage). The Giant holds, and the Crossbows are found to be insane... a regiment vs a horde is unlikely to be resolved in one combat, but this is still a bit of a bummer for the Dwarfs.
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| The regiments struggle to move 20+ Nerve units. |
The Bulwarks charge the Foot Guard, and bring them to 9 damage, but the Guard holds. Due to line of sight, the Flame Priest could not buff them this turn.
Everything that can is scoring. At the end of Round 6, it’s dead even
at 9-9 (Dwarfs: Ironclad 3, Ironclad 3, Bulwarks 3 vs KoM: Giant 2,
Crossbows 3, Foot Guard 4). We do roll up a Round 7 though, and
things are looking good for the Kingdoms of Men.
Top of Round 7: Kingdoms of Men
The Giant lands 7 damage into the Ironclad, with CS4 doing work against the dwarven armor. They are brought to 10 damage, and luckily I am able to pick up the rout here.
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| Two important pickups for the Kingdoms of Men. |
The Foot Guard will counter-charge the Bulwarks, who start at 7 damage. Through weight of attacks, we are able to land enough damage to rout them off too, and they will victoriously turn to face the remaining Ironclad.
The Crossbowmen fight the Ironclad, and through sheer volume of attacks, will land 2 damage. They look to have left their old damage die behind, which is probably fitting, for the cover reasons discussed already! I also do not look to have done Lifeleech for them though.
Bottom of Round 7: Imperial Dwarfs
I think a spiteful Fireball from Scrotash goes into the Giant, but fails to get much through the defense.
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| Final moves for the Imperial Dwarfs. |
The Ironguard deal another 5 to the Crossbowmen in combat. I had forgotten to Lifeleech them, but they are still inspired, and in-game, my opponent needs boxcars twice to remove them, and doesn't get it. They stick around, and the Kingdoms of Men secure me my only victory for the day.
Game Conclusions
The game had some interesting dynamics. List-wise, I lacked Rampage and with the misclick, the Foot Guard weren't as offensive as I would have liked. However, I had more ranged options than the one-use Mastiffs, meaning I arguably still had an edge here. In-game though, my shooting refused to deliver. I got lucky with a few angles, and I was able to preserve both of my hordes into the late game. I would have been happy with a draw, but with the extra round, managed to secure the win.
Testing Conclusions
- Foot Guard with the Blessing. Not a great pick for this horde, and definitely not against this dwarf list! Thankfully I noticed this during deployment, and really tried to keep them back, hoping they'd be hard to move in the late game. That proved to be a good call, and they were able to stick it out to the end and score.
- Giant with Slayer. While there are still some arguments either way, this game supports my default choice of Rampage. If he hits, he's going to damage things, so the Giant really wants more attacks against things that can bog him down.
- General. He was a great distraction, unfortunately my opponent had the tools and rolls to see him off. Not a great showing for him, but given the scenario, he wasn't the worst thing to be eating Fireballs for half the game. He took the heat off my more valuable hordes, so he fulfilled his role here, despite it not being glamorous.
- Crossbows. A few rules goofs with cover, and not the best output from them. Still, I think this demonstrates some good use of a shooting horde; trying their best early and then playing the scenario as the game goes on.
- Ballista. Landed a few hits, but always Blasted into 1, and that didn’t always make it through. It can be a nice buy, but it didn’t have a great showing here.
- ASB with War Bow. He landed a few hits, but even with Piercing, needed 4’s to damage and could never bring it home. For 5 points, it was a neat idea, but not impactful, unfortunately.
Joe's list is quite tough, and I am quite enjoying playing against it! High-defense "spam" is definitely a competitive playstyle choice, and it's been really fun to play against that a few times now, and test myself a bit. I am loving his homefield board and the fluff he's going for, and can't wait to see more from him! Thanks for the games!