Chillcon & Chills of War 2017

Now that I have a moment, I thought I'd reflect on my trip south to Chillcon and their Kings of War tournament that I played in. Long story short, it was great. I had a blast in the tourney, got to pick up some nifty stuff at the convention, and even got a slice of cake at the end of the day. I definitely plan on attending next year, and will recommend that others do too.

I figured it'd be good to reflect on how the tournament went, so I'll give some thoughts. My memory won't allow for anything approaching detailed battle reports, and I didn't manage to snap any pics (other than the cake above), so I've pulled the following from the Chillcon facebook events page.

The tournament was 3 games at 1500pts. My list was:

Horde of Blight w. Caterpillar Potion
Horde of Brutes w. Brew of Courage
Horde of Shock Troops
Horde of Warriors
Horde of Spear Warriors w. Healing Brew
Horde of Vermintide
Weapon Team
Death Engine w. Vile Sorcery
Swarm Crier w. Healing Charm
Swarm Crier w. Lute of Insatiable Darkness

Hooooordes! The basic plan for this list was to eschew chaff and massed shooting for overwhelmingly high nerve, moving in tight formation and layered. The warrior horde would be front and centre, their demise inevitable, with the shock troops behind for counter punch.

Game 1: Undead

Game 1 was Push, and against an interesting (and great looking) undead list. I don't have any of my opponents' lists, but from what I can remember David's list included:

Horde of Revenants w. Hammer of Measured Force
Horde of Werewolves w. Helm of the Ram
Regiment of Soul Reaver Cavalry w. Wine of Elvenkind
Troop of Revenant Cavalry
2 Troops of Wraiths
Mounted Revenant King
Mounted Necromancer

This is the only in-game pic available, and it looks like the end of turn 1 I believe. You can see the formation that would be essentially the same in my 3 games, varying only slightly in response to my opponents drops. David put his token on his Soul Reaver cavalry, forgetting that it would drop their speed and nimble, so was forced to abandon it early. I was able to maintain my formation, 'push' the two tokens onto his side of the board and stay there. I think I played this well, but must admit the dice were pretty hot for me in this game. This was my first game against undead, although given how popular an army it is in youtube battle reports etc. it didn't feel that way - despite this David was still able to catch me with a few wraith-to-flank surges, ouch! Lesson learned. David was a great opponent and, as with everyone I played, I hope to run into him again.
Win.

Game 2: Ratkin

It's a rat-off! As far as I remember, Ian's list included:

Horde of Spear Warriors
Horde of Brutes
Mutant Rat-Fiend
Death Engine w. Vile Sorcery
2x Scurrier Troops
Weapon Team w. Storm of Lead
Demonspawn
Warlock

Quite a different list (gotta love that Kings balance) that went for the Ratkin's great shooting potential while still packing a punch. Game 2 was scour, and we rolled up 6 tokens. This was a close game, possibly the closest game I've played. Aside from the odd error, we were both playing a tight game. Ian caught me with a corkscrew charge from his demonspawn on my brutes that took them out early. From here we traded pieces, and by the end of turn 6 it was draw, with both of us holding 2 objectives and 1 being contested. We rolled for turn 7, and yes, there would be one final turn. I had won the 1st turn dice off and elected to go second, and so with his turn 7 Ian nabbed the uncontested objective. I had a dilemma, my blight were very likely going to finish off his spear warriors and claim the contested objective, which would put us back to a draw. I could charge my own spear warriors off of an objective into the flank of his Death Engine and, if I beat it, hope not to roll a 1 on the overrun in order to take that objective and win. If they didn't kill it, or if I rolled that 1, it would be a loss. Throwing caution to the wind I went for it - the blight cleared out the spear warriors, the swarm crier threw a bane chant on the spear warriors, and they overwhelmed the death engine. Now for the overrun... a 2. Phew! Thanks for the close game, Ian.
Win.

Game 3: Rhordia

Tom's list included:

Horde of Dogs of War w. Brew of Strength (I think)
Horde of City Militia w. Healing Brew
Horde of Honour Guard w. Caterpillar Potion
Regiment of Halfling Knights w. Holy Hand Grenade
2x Halfling Volley Gun
2x Halfling Sorceror w. Soul Drain (1 mounted, 1 w. Griffon Banner I believe)
Duke on Winged Aralez

So at this point in the day, the hall was boiling, and I was pretty drained from how close game 2 was, so even after the lunch break I had no idea how to think of Tom's list, and I just started doing my thing. The game was Control, but with the board in quarters instead of sixths, so the plan I had worked on involved pushing up the centre with my killers looking to take the two point square on the right and my 'blockers' just holding up the left. This immediately began to fall apart: my positioning was sloppy in the extreme, whereas Tom was playing an effortlessly tight game. As I began to make major errors, such as forgetting to move key units, my frustration (with myself) grew, and my grasp of the rules slipped, revealed by my bizarre questions to Tom ("Can I touch that obstacle to gain cover?" among others haha). By the end of his turn 3 it was clear that it was over, so I decided to just enjoy the pasting and see what I could learn. I believe I was wiped in turn 5, it may have been 6 but either way it was a total rout, the worst defeat I've thus far received and a lesson in humility! I felt bad that I hadn't even presented a challenge in this game, however I later learned that (as of writing) Tom is the no.1 ranked UK player. Fair enough!
Loss.

By the end of the day, the table was as follows:

So 3rd place! Not too shabby methinks for my second ever singles tournament, and the second time taking 3rd too. Clearly there is much for me to learn in this game, but if the learning is always as fun as it was at Chillcon then that's no bad thing.

Thanks to Hal for running the event, which despite starting late due to folk getting delayed in arriving still ended ahead of schedule. All the armies looked great, and thanks again to my opponents for the games.

See you next year, Chillcon!

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1st Mittelerdian War: Game 1 - Ambush at the Border

On the far-flung frontiers of the Grand League of Rhordia lies a province known to its inhabitants as Mittelerde. Once a rolling, green land of peaceful folk, men and halfmen alike enjoyed a life largely untroubled by the outside world. However, recent incursions from goblin and ratkin raiding parties have rendered this a distant memory, with the slow response of the League to the growing threat leaving the residents of Mittelerde desperate and fearful. At times they have taken to hiring ogre mercenaries to defend their lands, but the itinerant nature of the great tribes makes them an unreliable source of safety.

Fortunately, the goblins and ratkin have been equally occupied with fighting each other as with terrorizing the locals, with warlords vying for ultimate control of raiding rights. This has bought Rhordia time, and there are signs that a response may soon be marshaled, but the question remains: will the armies of the League arrive in time to save them, or merely to avenge them?

Into this tense situation comes a new element: the elves of the Sea-Kindred seek to reassert their presence in the world. Outposts long abandoned are once again garrisoned and undergoing restoration, and emissaries of King Ariandaras are sent to establish or reaffirm links among the many Kingdoms of Men.

Iólon, Mage of Therennia Adar, is one such emissary, and is on his way to establish relations with the Rhordian Schools of Magic. Signs of devastation become increasingly apparent as he leads his escort through the abandoned fields of Mittelerde. The wind changes direction, and the smell hits: goblins! Within mere moments the sounds of many vicious cries intermingled with the roars of beasts reach elven ears; to battle!

Welcome to this blog's first battle report! My brother (blog) and I decided to start a narrative campaign to give some context to our many battles, as well as allow us to play around with some of the less competitively-minded possibilities in KoW (although we both love competitive play). We have a lot of ideas for it, and while it won't have anything coming close to a regular update schedule it should hopefully grow into something pretty epic.

Links to other games in the campaign: Game 2, Game 3, Edge of the Abyss

We started off with the "Flanked!" scenario from Destiny of Kings, a pretty small game with 500 points for the defenders and 750 for the attackers. The game lasts 7 turns, if defenders are wiped out then attackers win (obviously), if defenders kill 60% of attackers before being wiped out it's a draw, and if any elves survive the game then defenders win. Normally it's if 20% or more of defenders survive then it's a win, but at this points level, and with elves, that means it's wipe to win for the goblins.

This shows both deployment and our lists. The goblins went for units over artifacts, whereas the elves brought a few toys to the field. The compass is there to indicate which flank of the battlefield I refer to throughout the report.

A close up of the goblins to the east:

And to the west:

Elf deployment:

The rules for this scenario seem pretty harsh on the defender. Not only do they have to deploy everything first, they go second too. With that in mind I put the tallspears so that they weren't facing either enemy zone, so that they could have the option to pivot 90 degrees and move to where they were needed.

Goblins turn one, on the east flank the rabble go at-the-double and the spitters hop into the woods. The sharpsticks only move a little to prevent blocking line the spitters line of sight to the elves. The war trombone stays behind the hill to prevent any chance of being targeted by elven archers.

Similar story to the west, sniffs inch forward to get in range while trolls and fleabags move forward together, the biggit keeping them in his inspiring bubble. Goblin shooting failed to damage.

Arrows whistled through the air, leaping from woods both east and west of the elves. Ducking behind walls and shields, the children of Walldeep moved to ready their defense.

Seeing the oncoming fleabags and trolls as the most pressing threat, the tallspears shift west. I hadn't measured the distance exactly when I deployed and it turned out that, as the deployment zones are 20 inches apart in this scenario, the goblin rabble regiment was going to get a turn 2 charge on my archers. In hindsight it would probably have been a smarter play to leave them where they were, but I elected to back up an inch and suffer the -2 for moving and now shooting over the obstacle. I also put Iólon in range to fireball while keeping him inspiring to all units, as well as outside of a turn 2 shot from the war trombone.

As it was, my decision to back up the elves didn't go too badly, as I rolled well enough that, combined with the fireball, the rabble took 5 damage. Not enough for even a waver unfortunately.

Despite not moving, the western archers only put one point of damage on the sniffs, but managed a cheeky waver!

The goblins push forward on both flanks, the war trombone getting on the hill and readying a shot at the archers...

...and score seven damage, enough to send the elves running!

Ears still ringing from the blast, Iólon was momentarily blinded by the wave of smoke that washed over the elven position, product of the foul goblin contraption on the hill. Behind him he heard sergeant Pennor give the order to charge. Turning to look, he spotted an authoritative looking goblin barking orders at the trolls from the back of his wolf.

I decide to put the tallspears into the fleabags; playing it safe wasn't going to cut it in this scenario. I side-stepped the remaining archers a couple of inches to prevent a flank charge from the trolls - once again I should probably have left them and had a better round of sniff-sniping instead, as they fail to score any damage. Iólon moves to fireball the biggit...

...and scores 5 points, but after a re-roll only manages a waver. His inspiring isn't enough to save the fleabags though, who rout before the elven phalanx. I reform the elves to face the trolls.

Turn 3 for goblins, my brother continues to push up, with the trombone now in range of my mage.

The spitters move up to just within range of the archers and score 2 points of damage, which clearly came as a shock to the elves as they routed!

The war trombone scores 5 on the mage, but he maintains his cool.

Being hindered really hurts the trolls, as they only manage 2 points on the tallspears, who remain steady.

Turn 3 for the elves, and things are looking dicey. My mage was lucky to survive the shot from the trombone, and so tries to make it count, but a fireball only wavers the war engine.

The tallspears do 3 points to the trolls, who're unconcerned.

Having finally put out the flames in his wolf's fur, goblin biggit Grotti-Khan cast his eyes across the battlefield, eager to get revenge on the knife-ears who had scorched his beast. Spying further bursts of magic beyond the brawl of elves and trolls, he spurred the wolf into action, skirting the combat and lining up his shot. Iólon never saw it coming - the arrow pierced his ribs. His vision fading, he saw Grotti-Khan, malevolent pleasure evident in the goblin's smile. He blacked out.

Uh oh. Just the tallspears left. Fortunately they hold firm against another round of attacks from the trolls.

Breaking formation briefly, two elves hauled Iólon's limp body back to the regiment and behind the shieldwall. Sergeant Pennor gave a blast on his horn, and the tallspears pushed hard into the trolls, determined to see their charge to safety.

Feeling motivated (no doubt by goblins pressing in from all sides) the elves manage to break the trolls, who Grotti-Khan had left out of inspiring in his eagerness to shoot my mage. With the rabble closing in, I gamble on an overrun to get the hell outta there. They go a healthy 5 inches, running along the obstacle.

Perhaps sensing my plan, my brother moves his units to block me in...

...but puts the sniffs too close, allowing the tallspears to chase them off!

Goblins turn 6, and unless his biggit can shoot me there is no way for him to catch me in combat. Grotti-Khan does manage a wound, but it isn't enough.

The elves continue to leg it, and the goblins remain in pursuit (mainly for cinematic purposes). The biggit has one last chance to force a nerve check, and he scores another wound...

...but it's not enough, and the elves get outta there. Elves win!

Howls of frustration issued from the goblins as the elves settled into a steady pace, easily out pacing the greenskins and leaving them to cast blame among themselves for the failure. Pennor knew that Iólon would need medical attention soon or he would perish. On the horizon he spotted what appeared to be a small farming community. They would regroup there, and plan the next move.

That was not the result either of us expected! I should say that, so convinced were we that the elves were screwed, I planned every move obsessively while my brother was far more casual. Roleplaying goblin confidence a little too well perhaps?

Will Iólon survive his wounds? Who will the elves find in the farming community? Will the Goblins get their revenge? Find out next time, in the unfolding events of the 1st Mittelerdian War!

Edit: Click here for the next game.

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Second Elf Unit Finished - Kindred Archers

It has taken time, patience, and an ever-growing loathing for painting white, but I have my second elven unit(s) finished - two troops (or one regiment) of Kindred Archers:

These are the old GW elf archers. They are nice models I think, and it's great to be able to position them so they are all firing together in the same direction, which was pretty hard to do when they were all on 20mm bases.

Part of the plan is to follow the way list construction works in KoW to determine the order I paint; so since I now have a regiment of Tallspears and two troops of Kindred Archers I can paint up a hero, as I have both unlocked it in the list building sense as well as earned it, I feel, in the painting sense. So should have another update soon, and after that maybe a small batrep with my steadily expanding host.

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Beers of War - February 2017

Just returned from the Beers of War, a 1500pt doubles tourney held in Wakefield run by the Fellows brothers of Lukes Aps fame. It was a three game event held in a pub, and was a blast!

My brother and I formed 'The Screeching Masses' team with Ratkin and Goblins. In light of what we know about the upcoming changes/recommendations in the CoK book, we chose to build lists that crammed as much of the 'soon to be nerfed' options as possible, i.e. breath attacks, lightning, bane chant, and the Death Engine with vile sorcery. From some of what we saw in some other lists, we weren't the only ones!

The event was well run with a tonne of prize support. We had fun in all three games, which was very good as we did not score well at all! Two losses and a draw were not our finest showing, however twas all in good fun. In our first game the wonder team of Spud Tate and Mr Nick Williams himself gave us a master class in, well, wrecking face really. So definitely feel like we learned a few things, be they from the superior play of our opponents or the silly mistakes we made.

The next Beers of War is on the 8th of July, and we would've loved to attend but sadly can't. We'll be keeping an eye out for more in the future though, and I have no doubt it'll become a must-attend event for many in the Kings of War scene.

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New Kings of War Project - Elves of Therennia Adar

I've finally finished the first unit for my new KoW army, a regiment of Tallspears for a Sea Kindred elven host.

Multi-basing is so satisfying, it adds a whole new (very fun) element to the hobby. Here are some more shots of the battle-ready elves facing off against some of my brother's goblin rabble:

So these are of course the discontinued High Elf Spearmen from GW rather than Mantic elves. This is because, while building my Skaven army, I had always planned to follow up with High Elves, and had gone ahead and bought everything for the army. When the great betrayal came they were all still untouched in their boxes, so I figured I'd embrace the elf sub-faction that most resembled GW's Ulthuan elves in the Mantica setting, the Sea Kindred.

I have the paint plan for this army all mapped out; I'm going to start with the goofy 6th Ed Fantasy sculpts (are they supposed to be wearing clown shoes?) and then get to the sweet, sweet Isle of Blood minis. From 500pts onward through 250pt increments my brother and I will play a narrative escalation campaign, hopefully with batreps.

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Gun Drones Deployed

So as a (very) small side project I have a little Tau force I'm putting together, which only gets any attention as a break between higher priority work. Here is the first finished unit, Gun Drones:

For me nothing beats the classic Tau colours, so that's how I'm doing them.

Now, onward to my next KoW army...

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Final Engineer/Wizard Complete, and so is my Ratkin Army!

It gives me great pleasure to present the last model in my army, a Ratkin Wizard (or Skaven Engineer):

And so with him finished, time for some army shots!

I started this army nearly five years ago, and I'll admit at times it looked like an insurmountable task. But it's done! What a feeling, just great.

I've learnt a lot from this project (no more horde armies! Ever!) and feel ready to up my game on the next one. While I'm overall very happy with how this turned out, I regret not doing more with the basing, so that'll definitely be an area I'll improve upon in my next army.

As to what that'll be, watch this space...

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