Magical Artefact Selection

As part of trying to understand KoW better I took a look at the four Top UK lists I posted in the last post to see what artefacts people were using and - more importantly - work out how and why they were using them.


Running an eye over the lists, I was pleasantly surprised to see the breadth of use there was in regard to artefacts. There are 40 artefacts in the rulebook and 16 of them (40%) were present in just the four lists. Admittedly, these were 2500 point lists and you'd expect more use of artefacts (both because of greater points limit and also because a lot of people were travelling to the event).


Five artefacts were selected multiple times - all of them 25 points plus. When expensive items are receiving multiple interest then it is definitely worth investigation.


Blessing of the Gods (25 points) - this bestows "Elite" onto a unit allowing them to re-roll all "1"s to hit. It was used on a Regiment of Wraiths (flying Undead) and a Horde of Abyssal Riders. Both these units are very mobile and can be used to exploit a weak point in an enemy army. The ability to re-roll "1"s increases their efficiency.


Heart-Seeking Chant (30 points) - +1 "Piercing". Not unexpectedly this went on Hordes of archers. Tailor-made item that requires little explanation. Particularly useful vs. high Defence units/individuals.


Ensorcelled Armour [Hero only] (35 points) - increases "Defence" by one and was put on high cost Hero Monsters where greatest efficiency could be gained. Moving such a model from 5+ to 6+ increases survivability markedly and insulates the hero from all the Heart-Seeking Chanting that's occurring.


Wings of the Honey-Maze [Hero only] (40 points) - gives a Hero the "Fly" ability. In this instance it was used twice on the Cursed Pharoah. Effectively you use it to make a hard-hitting character extremely mobile. By all accounts the Cursed Pharoah is extremely hard-hitting! I've seen it used on a Dwarf Berserker Hero so I expect it does was it says on the tin.


Brew of Keen-Eyes (45 points) - +1 to hit on all ranged attacks. Again used to enhance shooting and so placing it on bigger units/those with high number of ranged attacks makes sense. On an Elite unit it would also greatly enhance the damage output.


So nothing particularly startling or surprising on investigation. And this is one of the things I quite like about Kings of War. With a limit of one artefact per selection there is less focus on trying to build multilayer combos and more on enhancing one characteristic to hone a battlefield role.


Over the next couple of weeks I'll look at some of the other artefacts.