KOW - Decision-Making: Brew of Sharpness

With me pulling the Rats out again, I have been looking at my list and trying to decide if I should make some changes.

To quickly summarise the list - 2x Slave Regiments, Slave Horde, 2x Shock Troop Hordes, Blight Horde, 2x Weapons Team with upgrade, 2x Death Engines - Vile Sorcery, Swarm-Crier with Lute, Warlock with Bane Chant and Talisman, Daemonspawn with Wings. Not a lot of Magic Items or spare points in the list.

I decided to do some analysis on whether it was worth giving Brew of Sharpness (+1 to Hit in Melee) to a unit of Shock Troops. These have 25 Attacks, CS1, Elite and Vicious standard. For the purposes of this i'll assume I always have BC potential.

The table shows the number of wounds "expected" at different levels of Defence. As I said I will assume that they will always be BC if needed, making then CS2.

So you can see that the +1 to Hit has an effect doing 4.7 extra "expected" wounds at De2-4, 3.8 extra at De 5 and 2.8 at De 6. Ok.....that is obvious. It is however getting the added benefit of Elite and Vicious - only natural 2s to hit missing as 1s are re-rolled hitting 2/3rds of the time.

But is it a good use of points?

To determine this I worked out the Wounds inflicted per Points invested in the Unit. The cost of a Shock Troop Horde is the very princely sum of 230 points, while the Brew of Sharpness is 45 points.

You can see from the final in the table the difference in Wounds inflicted per point invested and at all Defences the difference is positive. This means that Shock Troops with the Brew are a more efficient killing machine for their points than those without it.

But should I buy it?

Well it does look attractive, however there are some things to consider:

• Points are being concentrated which makes the Brewed ST an attractive target to the enemy.
• You are forced to choose which of the Shock Troops gets it - Murphy's Law says it will always be the wrong one!
• Where in the current list do the points come from?

Any thoughts appreciated.

KOW - Ratkin Communard: Warriors

The Ratkin Warriors are meant to form the backbone of the Ratkin army (now there's an oxymoron) but strangely you rarely see them on the table.

My thinking is that the extra +2 Defence and lack of Yellow-bellied compared to Slaves, while nice, is not necessarily vital in a chaff role. The additional cost is best spent elsewhere in the list. Similarly the benefits Shock Troops get..... +1 to Hit, Elite, Vicious and +1 Ne..... make them worth the extra points as a frontline troop.

That said, I have built two Hordes for larger games.

The first unit sits huddled behind its rubble pile bravely squirting the musk of fear. A loud noise will likely have them bolting.

The second unit is a bit braver. At least they've made it to the front of the base!

They are trekking through sodden craters filled with "water" en route to the frontline. Unlike the Slaves they at least wear some of the Communard Red in their uniforms.

I'm guessing though that if they are still around at the end of the battle to celebrate the victory of the Proleta-Rat then the uniforms will be a mix of red and brown - fluids shed in the Ratkin Cause.

 

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Weekly Hobby Update

This week I finished the basing of the Orcs (sans tufts which I've ordered from Mighty Ape). I'm looking at my next rebasing project and tossing up between Varangur and Rhordia. Both will get done soon, it's just a matter of which one first.

I have been painting up the last additions to the Goblin army, six Herders (3x pipes, 3x stikkas) plus two NG Wizards Ken Dunford from Oz sent me. Expect they will be finished and based this week.

A Very Tight Ratkin Deployment Ahead of Their Battle With The Orcs

On Saturday I had a game with my Ratkin versus Josh's Orcs. I'm enjoying playing with the Rats again. It is nice to have some shooting in the army. Having played the Herd with no Ranged Attack for six months you realise how good combined arms is!

This weekend we have Runefang IX. Disappointed that we only good eight but it looks a very tight field. I'm taking the Rats so it will be interesting to see how they matchup against some of the new armies floating around.

 

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Runefang IX Lists

Runefang used to be a WHFB event I ran. Last year I ran it as two one day events which attracted 24 and 16 people respectively.

This year when Nicon did offer a Kings of War event I decided to run it on the June Holiday Weekend (this Saturday).

I thought the extra day off might attract increased numbers but that wasn't the case. We have managed to get 8 attendees, five backing up from last weekend's Warlords Super Series.

Unlike last week where there was a lot of double ups on armies, Runefang will see seven different races:

• Forces of Nature x2
• Forces of the Abyss
• Varangur
• Orcs
• Goblins
• Undead
• Ratkin

You can download the lists here

I'm picking that it will be a hardfought event.

KOW - Ratkin Communard: Tunnel Slaves

I have recently re-based my rats on multibases signalling all-in on Kings of War.

My Ratkin are the "Ratkin Communard" because "All Rats Are Equal....Some Are Just More Equal Than Others".

Over the next fortnight I'll post up pictures of the army. Decided that the best way is Unit choice by Unit choice. The first out of the block are the frontline Tunnel Slaves. These brave souls spurred by patriotic zeal (and whips) take the fight to the enemy.

I love these guys. A Regiment is 60 points, a Horde 100 and the mighty Legion 145. I have three Regiments, a Horde and a split Regiment that I can convert the Horde into a Legion.

My Slaves ( I hate that word...let's call then the Proletariat) are probably my favourite unit. I take at least three units, four if I can fit them. What I like is they do what exactly what it says on the can. You can bolster their Nerve and they do stick around...brave souls!

My Slaves are so enthusiastic that they push a Screaming Bell of their own construction into combat. The components of the platform are made from the gnawings of their own beds/tables, helpfully destroyed dismantled by the Shock Troops.

The Slaves proudly wear the drab and colourless rags of their station....not for them the colourful, warm clothing of the rest of the Communard. That would distract them from their struggle against inequity.

The Fight will continue until (almost) everyone is free!

 

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KOW - Orc Multibasing: WIP

Over the week I have been multibasing my Orcs to complement the Goblins I finished last week.

I've managed to finish a Horde of Ax and Greatax, two Regiments of Morax and a Horde of Orclings. Unfortunately I have run out of grass tufts so I'll try and pick some up over the weekend to finish them. I thought I'd post some pictures to give you an idea where I am.

Ax Horde

Greatax Horde

Morax Regiments

Orcling Horde

From here I have the grass tufts to do but also a series of characters to base. Thinking the whole project should be finished this time next week.

 

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Warhammer 40k Starter Box

Games Workshop have announced the release date for the 8th edition of Warhammer 40,000 - June 17th - and the contents of the new Starter Set.

My expectation is that given this is the first availability of the new super-enhanced "Primus Space Marines" that this set will sell very well. It appears the Primus Marines can be used in every Space Marine chapter that these will have high demand while the Death Guard with their limited utility will be less sought after.

If any of the locals out there are buying the box set then I am keen to pick up the Death Guard items - minis and DG Rules leaflet. 

Drop me any email if they are surplus and we can work out a deal.

KOW - The Nudge: Proximity to Enemies

One rule that often gets played wrong in Kings of War concerns what happens when you contact a second unit as part of a charge. This often happens when the enemy has a battleline of 2 or more units.

The rules for this are covered under "Proximity to Enemies". This is Page 56 in the Hardback Edition, Page 11 in the softback "Gamer's Edition" and Page 141 in the Digital Edition.

Part of the reason for the confusion is that there is a discrepancy in the text of this section in the "Gamers Edition" which is the one you see most at events. It mentions that you should "nudge these enemy units away by an inch or as much as possible to ensure that they are no longer touching".

This is incorrect and Mantic have covered the discrepancy by including an errata in the KOW FAQ:

Page 56, Proximity to Enemies: 

The Gamer’s Edition text is wrong. The hardback book is correct. The hardback book text is:

Remember that when charging, units don’t have to stay 1" away from enemies, and this means that sometimes a charging unit may end up in contact with both its target and one or more enemy units it has not charged (e.g. when charging a unit that is part of a tight enemy battle line). In this case, you’ll have to nudge these enemy units away to ensure that they are no longer touching.

The reference to "an inch" has been removed and so now all you should do is ensure that there is a noticeable gap between the charging unit and the enemy who weren't charged. In the example above this is most easily achieved by moving the two adjacent (non-charged) units back 1mm. This should happen immediately.

As a TO, I make sure that the errata is pointed out to participants before the event so that everyone is aware that Mantic have addressed the text discrepancy.

KOW - Call to Arms Players Pack

Rob Higgins is umpiring Kings of War at Call to Arms this year. Call to Arms is the Warlords annual convention and attracts around 200 gamers across a multitude of systems.

Higgins has forwarded the Players Pack to me and you can download it here. There is also a copy in the Event Calendar on the FOB Banner.

Armies will be 2200 points giving it a point of difference from other local KOW tournaments.

Sign up now. It should be a great event.

Weekly Hobby Update

As well as WSS Autumn tournament, I got another game in versus Carson's Forces of Nature army during the week. Carson has a beautifully painted army and it was disappointing that a gardening accident on Friday meant he wasn't able to make it for the tournament. Moral of the Story: Stay away from outside - it's a scary place.

The Goblin basing was completed and I've now started on the Orcs. They have all now been given a Coelia Greenshade wash and had pins put in their feet ready for re-basing. I'm waiting for the mdf bases to arrive from Sarissa - hopefully today.

Speaking of bases, one of our locals has bought a laser cutter and I had him make some Kings of War bases which he brought along to show the players at WSS Autumn. They look really good and he will be supplying me with a price list in the next few days. Local supply at competitive prices means we should see more armies transition over to multibasing.

This week I'm hoping to get the Orcs based as well as paint a Ratkin hero, two Goblin Shamans and some Goblin Herders. There is also a Goblin Chariot unit that I may look to add to the Goblins. Later in the week I need to pick up more basing supplies - especially tufts - as I am motoring through them.

Blog Milestone

Today was a milestone for the blog. It passed the 2,000,000 threshold for page visits.

While this is not big in the scale of a lot of social media, it does reflect an average of 1000-1500 page views per day over the last 7 years.

It started with a focus on WHFB/40k and now is skewed towards Kings of War, though it keeps a wider hobby view.

Thanks to all that have read the blog over its life. Thanks to the locals who have featured on its pages. And special thanks to Jack for keeping the technical aspects on the tracks.

KOW - Play Examples From Norway

The Giant Dwarf Podcast have posted a couple of videos that illustrate in-game examples of mechanisms that come up regularly. I thought I'd post the videos here so that those that haven't seen them can benefit from their efforts.




These videos by Fred and Lars are well worth checking out.

KOW - Detailed Matchup Breakdown

The KOW Rules Committee likes to collect results from tournaments to inform their discussions on balance so I'm detailing the results from WSS Autumn here.

All the list can be found here

Points were as follows:

• Win 12
• Draw 8
• Loss 4

There is also a modifier for Attrition difference as follows:

• 0-200: 0
• 201-500: +/-1
• 501-1000: +/-2
• 1001+: +/-3

There is also a -1 modifier if you timeout giving a score between 0-15.

Dominate

• Undead-R v Orcs-J 13-3 +310
• Herd v Undead-K 15-1 +1400
• Varangur v Dwarfs-D 15-1 +1335
• Orcs-R v Dwarfs-T 14-2 +595

Invade

• Dwarfs-T v Undead-R 14-2 +840
• Dwarfs-D v Orcs-J 10-6 -635
• Herd v Varangur 12-4 -30
• FoN-P v Orcs-R 14-2 +695

Push

• Orcs-R v Undead-R 12-4 -120
• Dwarfs-D v Undead-K 13-3 +295
• Dwarfs-T v Varangur 13-3 +420
• Herd v FoN-P 15-1 +1125

Scavenge

• Undead-R v Undead-K 13-3 +470
• Orcs-J v Varangur 10-6 -795
• FoN-P v Dwarfs-T 14-2 +595
• Orcs-R v Dwarfs-D 13-3 +420

Only one civil war - Undead in the last round.

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KOW - The Herd at WSS Autumn

Over the weekend we had WSS Autumn here in Wellington. It was four rounds, 2000 point armies with 55 minutes each on the clock.

I took the Herd, the army I have been playing with most recently, keen to give it another tournament run. My list was as follows:

• Spiritwalkers Horde
• Lycan Horde - Healing Brew
• Lycan Horde - Helm of the Ram
• 4x Beast Pack Troops (including The Little Beast Pack Who Could)
• Stampede - Blood of Kittens
• Stampede - Brew of Sharpness
• Chimera - Wings
• Shaman - Heal
• Tribal Totem Bearer - Lute of Insatiable Darkness

The key thing with the list is that it is a glass cannon. It hits hard but only the Chimera is more than De 4+. There are only two sources of Inspiring which means you need to play very tight and methodically, and in particular be careful where units will end up after combat. The other quirk/weakness in the list is that there is no Ranged Attack- magic or shooting - in the list which means that you must commit to Melee to cause every wound.

I played a practice game during the week and I lost a Stampede as it was un-Inspired so it was a good lesson going into the event.

Game One - Kent Jackson (Undead) - Dominate

A couple of months ago I played Kent's Undead and lost when a series of combats went against me. This was largely due to my piecemeal attack where I went in unsupported. In this game I chose the side of the table with the unimpeded path into the centre of the circle.

My dice were good in this game - consistently rolling up - and that helped my supported attack plan. Pretty much every combat had at least two units as I used my superior mobility and speed to engineer advantageous melees. Chimera, Stampede and Beasts (in flank) took out Zombie Legion, Stampede and Stampede (in flank) removed Revenants, two Lycan Hordes (one in flank) got Wights etc. Throughout I ensured I was pretty much removing a unit if I charged it.

On the flanks my Beast Packs held off the Werewolves Kent had until late in the game. However even then they only made Hindered charges and I was able to deal with them in the subsequent turn.

At the end of the game Kent had only a Liche King and Standard left (270) while I had much of my army still intact (1670).

Win 15-1

Game Two - Neil Williamson (Varangur) - Invade

In started with a significant Unit Strength advantage in this game; 19-13. Neil's army is all-Nimble with four Regiments of Horse Archers, three Devourers, Fallen, two Magos with LB and Bloodboil plus a Standard Bearer.

My plan here was to sacrifice my Beast Packs to get the bulk of my army into Neil's Far corner. I knew his Devourers needed to get into charge range of my hard hitters to inflict damage so if he didn't attack straight away they would prove ineffectual. My biggest concern were the Horse Archers and LBs causing damage enough for Bloodboil to come into play.

I felt I played really well in this game. Pretty much every shot Neil got, I had cover and I used my Shaman to heal where necessary. I caught one unit of Horse Archers that Neil had deployed by themselves on a flank and sacrificed three Beast Packs to delay any aggressive intentions Neil had. The game was very tactical but once I reached his board edge I could turn my Lycans and Chimera to control the distance between us.

At the end Neil had 1820 points left and I had 1790.

Win 12-4

Game Three - Peter Williamson (Forces of Nature) - Push

Williamson the Younger is an excellent player and was attending with a gap of six plus months since his last games of KoW. His FoN had two Hordes of Ensnarers, a flying Beast, Unicorn, Druid, Water Elementals, Tree Herder, Naid Wrymrider Horde, Regiment of Centaurs and Hunters of the Wild Troop.

This is the game where "The Little Beast Pack Who Could" did! [See yesterday's blog]. It held up the centre while battle raged around it. Peter put his Loot counters on his two Ensnarers while I put both mine on my Spiritwalkers, who I then placed on a flank. My plan was to remove the BoN and Unicorn which would make it had for Peter to get flanks on my Spiritwalker Horde. On Turn 1 I grabbed the central objective with the Beast Pack and left a Lycan Horde as bait for the BoN. Peter charged it, it survived and then I hit it with two Lycans killing it. I also got a sly flank charge by the Chimera into the Unicorn but failed to break or Waver it. However it retreated to the side of the board away from my Spiritwalkers.

In the centre a Stampede removed the Tree Herder but was in turn jumped on by a Horde of Naiads and it broke. I charged the other Naiads with two Lycans and a Chimera (in the rear) but after inflicting 30+ wounds rolled Snake Eyes on the re-roll. I couldn't complain though as I was benefiting from the Beast Pack's heroics. The Naiads removed one Lycan Horde before dying next turn. The second Stampede had to take a charge from the Centaurs but held and destroyed them next turn.

Going into the last turns my Chimera was charged by the Wyrmriders but held. He countercharged with flank support from Lycans while the remaining Stampede followed up its defeat of the Centaurs by breaking the other Ensnarer Horde - I rolled 3-4 more wounds than expected.

On Turn 6 the Spiritwalkers routed the Hunters of the Wild, leaving Peter with just his Druid and the Unicorn. I caught these on Turn 7 removing the last of his models. My army had 1125 points remaining. Although on paper this was a big win, it was far tighter than the score showed. I had the better of the luck - Beast Pack and Stampede into Ensnarers - although the Double 1 on the other Ensnarers balanced it somewhat.

Win 15-1

Game Four - Bye - Scavenge

We had had a withdrawal on the morning of the event - Spider bite - ouch! This had left us with a bye which is never great when people are paying to enter an event.

Looking at the scores at this point, the gap between me and the second placed person after Round Three was such that unless I was beaten by over 1000 points in the last round or timed out, nobody could catch me.

I spoke with the players and offered to take the bye so everybody else got a game in the last round. Everybody was happy with this given the gap. This also meant that the other top four players were playing each other giving the final round some further excitement.

The bye was worth 13 points in the event - 12 for the win, one bonus.

As TO I thought this was the best outcome and was glad all the players agreed. I hate telling people they've got the bye reducing their enjoyment and gaming opportunity.

Aftermath

So I won my three games and as noted above I felt luck was with me on the day.

I felt though that I had played pretty well especially with regards to the right plan in each game and then its execution. What I was particularly happy about over the course of the three games there were only two instances where I did not have a re-roll on a Nerve check for my Stampedes, Lycans, Spiritwalkers and Chimera. Both happened in my game versus Peter - once on the Chimera (charge by Wrymriders) and once on Stampede (charge by Centaurs). I was very happy with this as given I only had two sources of Inspiring- both on foot - it was testimony to good, well thought out placement.

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KOW - Facebook Group for Wellington Kings of War

I have set up a Facebook group for Wellington KOW. You can find it here

The main purpose of the group would be as a message board where Wellington (and surrounding) KOW players can communicate easily with one another. Facebook - though I hate to say it - has benefits over email strings.

I'd see it as a place where we can arrange games, talk about events, post pictures etc. My thinking some sort of message board would benefit the local community and acts as a hub.

I've made it a Closed Group but entry is open to all.

If you're not a regular FB user, you may find it worthwhile to create an account and use it purely for this board.

KOW - The Little Beast Pack That Could

This is the story of the Little Beast Pack that could.

Picture the scene dear reader - the top table at WSS Autumn, Round 3 - the Herd versus the Forces of Nature. The two armies clash in "Push" and on Turn One the brave little Beast Pack rushes forward and sits on the central objective.

What follows next is a heroic tale of epic proportions deserving of a saga to be told around fires for the next thousand years.

Turn 1

A Horde of Water Elementals charge the Pack inflicting 9 wounds on it. They roll the Nerve Check and break the unit. The Beast Pack see the Shaman and the test is re-rolled Snakes Eyes. Next turn the Beast Pack (oh and a Stampede) remove the Elementals.

Turn 2

The Winged Unicorn cast Lightning Bolt on the Beast Pack inflicting one wound. The Nerve Test is rolled and Snake Eyes.

Turn 3

The only unit that can charge the Beast Pack is a Druid. The Druid wounds the Beast Pack who fail the Nerve Test. This time the Pack sees the Tribal Totem Bearer and re-roll the Test .... Snakes Eyes

Turn 4

The Beast Pack charges the Druid but fails to wound. In response the Druid reciprocates whiffing all its attacks.

Turn 5

Dropping their Loot counter the Beast Pack countercharges the Druid and wavers it.

Turn 6

The Beast Pack stands in front of its counter. The Druid decides it has better things to do than bother the dogs and retreats. Unfortunately for the FoN, all their other units are otherwise engaged.

Turn 7

The Herd remove the last of the FoN army while the Beast Pack stands where it has from Turn One.

And that my friends is the "Tale of the Little Beast Pack who Could". Seventy points of awesomeness that stood their ground and would not be bowed, no matter what the odds.

They are the example to all of us that if your cause is true and you are stout of heart then you can achieve anything!

 

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KOW - Warlords Super Series "Autumn" Results

Yesterday we had the second of the Warlords Super Series here in Wellington. The WSS is a series of four events hosted by the Warlords over the course of the year.

There were ten players signed up but unfortunately on the morning of the event we had a withdrawal after one player was bitten by a spider [Don't worry, I checked and we are 99% sure that the spider wasn't radioactive]. This meant that we had to juggle a bye which is never the most appealing proposition.

Here are the results:

You can see how tight the fighting was with a three way tie for 4th and a two player one for 7th. The fact that over half the field was within 5 Battle Points (out of a total of 60) meant there was significant movement in the midtable region over the course of the last round.

Best Presented went to Josh Barton's Orcs while Ryan Lister picked up Best Sport after receiving three Best Opponent votes from his four games.

Thanks to everyone who attended. The next event is Runefang in two weeks followed by WSS Winter on July 22nd. The first weekend in August sees Call to Arms, the Warlords' Annual Convention which will feature a KOW event.

KOW - The Pale Orcs

Around 4 years ago I purchased a WHFB army from one of our locals. While this was generally played as the typical "Green Dwarfs" of the era by the original owner, the army was interesting as it included both Black Orcs and Orc Boyz as well as the obligatory Savage Orc horde and war engines.

The other thing that was interesting was that they were semi-albino Orcs coming from the cooler climes. They were effectively a stone colour with no green pigment and mounted on mountain snow bases.

After finishing the Goblins I thought I'd move onto multibasing the orcs and so last evening I removed 100 Orcs from there plastic bases. My intent is to create a Horde of Ax, a Horde of Greatax and two Regiments of Morax (with some Morax left over for Fight Wagons).

100 + Orcs Waiting For Their New Homes

As part of the process, I am going to take the opportunity to alter the skin tone of the Orcs. They will still be Pale Orcs but with an underlying tilt to green orcy heritage.

Here you can see the change I am effecting. On the left is the Pale Orc and on the right the same paintjob but after a wash of Coelia Greenshade from Citadel. I tried the Biel-Tan Green Shade, the Waywatcher Green Glaze and even a watered down wash of Warboss Green paint but preferred the Coelia finish. 

The wash provides better definition and I prefer the greenish tint over the pure stone finish.

I'm now waiting for my MDF bases to arrive from Sarissa so I can get these multibased and on the table.

KOW - Zero Sum Game

Over the last week on both the Fanatics page and also the Mantic Forum there has been a discussion about scoring systems.

Largely this has been about the mix of scenario points versus kill points with a secondary discussion on granularity of scenario victory. Personally I am all in favour of distinguishing between the decisiveness of scenario victory and that feeding through into the game score. For example, I feel that you should score more in Loot if you win 3-0 over say 2-1 or 1-0. The Rules Committee have said they are looking at this with interest. That is a good thing!

One aspect of the discussion that I have a major problem with is in the determination of "kill" points. The common situation is to determine kill points on the differential between points killed by both players. One suggestion is to dispense with that any just determine bonus points based on enemy killed.

The problem with this alternative methodology is that it is not zero sum. By this I mean that each game is not worth the same number of points. I'll illustrate this with an example:

Differential Situation

Bono beats Sting in the scenario and scores 15-5. He also scores more kill points than Sting - who is a miserable bastard anyway - inflicting 1500 points to 1200. This gives a 300 point difference and under the scoring matrix this gives Bono +1 TP and Sting gets -1 TP. The final score for the game is 16-4 to Bono.

On the next table Adele is playing Cher and again wins the scenario - it is Cher's first tournament after all. Again the differential is 300 points. Adele kills 400 and loses only 100. The score is 16-4 as well.

In both cases the game is worth 20 points total.

Kills Only

Bono gets his 15 points for winning the scenario but in killing 1500 points of Sting's army he gets +8 points. Sting also gets bonus points because he killed 1200 points, in this case 6 TPs. The final score is 23-11 (the game being worth 33 points).

Adele gets the 15 points but in this case only killed 400 points so gets 1 bonus. Cher gets nothing as her 100 pts falls below the threshold. The score is thus 16-5 to Adele (the game is worth only 21 points).

 

There are a number of problems arising from the system not being zero sum (each point gained is at the expense of your opponent). First is that it creates reckless play as there is no downside. In turns 6-7 you are rewarded for throwing units into forlorn hope combats if they will not influence the scenario. For instance, it is in my interest to commit to a combat where I likely need a 11 or 12 to rout you on a Nerve Roll as it has a net positive outcome (it doesn't matter if I subsequently lose the unit). I don't care about exposing my flanks or rear as long as I get a chance to break you regardless of whether it is low probability.

Secondly there isa huge opportunity for collusion. As there is no downside to losing units both players are happy to swap their troops as it increases both their bonus points. Don't think this will happen? Well you have more faith in human nature than me. Smart players will know that swapping units maximises their scores and will engineer the result that gives them most benefit. Yes, you can make such collusion illegal but if you do try policing it at a large event.

I used to play a lot of Games Workshop-run Grand Tournaments in 40k about 12-15 years ago. They loved a mission called Messengers where you had three markers you had to get off your opponent's board edge. If you did you got a TP. However there was now edit to stopping your opponent's. In 90% of games I saw, players would set up with their three messengers on opposite flanks and March them unimpeded off their opponent's edge. Both players got the three bonus points and then they'd play kill for the scenario. Dodgy? Maybe...but that was the outcome that provided the greatest reward.

Finally it favours some builds/races over other. Some armies dish out the pain but are a glass hammer - My Herd is a good example - whereas others win by inflicting death by a thousand cuts. By skewing the points on offer you incentivise certain builds.

Any non-zero sum scoring is open to abuse and/or incentivising suboptimal play or certain builds. I'd hate to see Kings of War - be it in a new edition or a COK supplement - adopt such a methodology in any official capacity.

 

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Kings of War at the Warlords

Just a reminder that there is a Kings of War tournament on at the Warlords this Saturday.

This is an opportunity for anyone to come along and have a look at the various armies on show and have a chat about the Kings of War game.

Kings of War is the last remaining commercial "ranks and flanks" Fantasy game. Anyone who has grown up with Warhammer will immediately recognise the blocks of troops being manoeuvred into battle.

If you are at all interested in seeing how a clean, quickplay ruleset works then please come along and have a gander.

The event kicks off just after 8am at the KPC Hall on Ganges Road in Khandallah (opp. New World).

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KOW - The Goblin Completion

Last October I posted some pictures of the 200+ Goblin infantry I multibased. You can see it here

The Goblins were an army my son Jack had painted in just over a week using a white undercoat and GW inks/washes.

The rest of the army has sat unbased over the past eight months but with a few wet days here in Wellington I thought I would finish it. The army also includes two Hordes of Trolls painted by local Sam. I also picked up a FW Colossal Squig cheap which I intend to use as a second Giant. It has been base coated but needs detailing.

Mawbeast Regiments

Mincers

Big Rock Throwers

War Trombones

Giant

Troll Hordes

Fleabag Troops

Giant

Next to be based are my Orcs. The MDF bases have been dispatched from Sarissa so some time next week they should arrive. At that point I'll have The Herd, Ratkin, Goblins and Orcs all multibased for Kings of War.

Weekly Hobby Update

Massive hobby week for me.

I started - and finished - the multibasing for my Ratkin and I am very pleased with the result achieved. My plan is to get some army wide shots up in the next few weeks.

Doing this allowed me to get them on the table in time for a couple of games on Saturday versus Josh's Orcs. In the first, I was a little bit rusty and made a couple of sub-optimal choices (that's mistakes for the rest of you). Came down to the last roll on the 7th turn so you can't ask for a closer or more fun game than that. Josh made a 2D6 roll of 10 to win.

I didn't have long to wait for my revenge. We re-racked and the Rats got their groove back managing a fairly comprehensive win.

It was great to have them out on the table. I had missed their silky whiskers and cheeky snarls!

Driven by the success of the Ratkin re-basing I threw myself into finishing the Goblins I started late last year. I have about 10 figures to paint for the army but the bases are all done and once I finish pinning the figures I'll have another full KOW army to join the Ratkin and Herd.

 

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