KOW - 2000 Point Varangur List for upcoming games

 Towards the end of v2 KoW, I built a Varangur list out of my WHFB Hordes of Chaos figures. It had Fallen units from Mortals, Daemons and Beasts as well as a mix of various mounted units.

Coming back there were undoubtedly some changes to the army, and while I couldn't find my old list, I was able shoehorn most units into what I hope will be workable.

Here's what I have come up with:

• Fallen Horde - Pipes of Terror
• Fallen Horde - Staying Stone
• Mounted Sons of Korgan Regiment - Helm of the Drunken Ram; Brutal
• Mounted Horse Raider Troop
  
• Mounted Horse Raider Troop
• Frostfang Cavalry Horde - Brew of Sharpness
• Snow Fox Regiment
• Snow Fox Regiment
• Magos - Mount; Conjuror's Staff, Bane Chant(2)
  
• Lord on Frostfang - Blade of Slashing; Snow Fox
• Lord on Frostfang - Mace of Crushing; Snow Fox

Army is very mobile and splits into self-supporting battle groups rather easily. It has a low number of drops (11) and also is towards the low end of comfort re Unit Strength.

I've just finished basing the Snow Foxes and the two Lords.

Hobby - KOW: Varangur Lord on Frostfang

 About a decade ago, Maelstrom Games had the rug pulled out from under them when Games Workshop introduced geographical restraints on selling their product online. Prior to that Maelstrom had supplied the world with WHFB and 40k from Mansfield. Free shipping and dodgy customs valuations (Gift GBP10) on every parcel meant that they were delivering the product, to Asia-Pacific in particular, at between 50-60% of local RRP. Most gamers couldn't ignore those types of savings.

And then it stopped. And Maelstrom Games who had reinvested all their revenue into a gaming venue and the establishment of Mierce Miniatures, went broke within 6 months.

In the last few months of their existence, they had increasingly desperate sales of stock to try and generate cashflow. During that time I bought up a lot of the Mierce range at between 50-75% off list price. Most of my The Herd is Mierce and the models have found their way into a variety of other armies.

So when I was looking for a Lord on Frostfang for my Varangur I opened up my cardboard box marked Mierce and pulled out a Giant Werebear I had purchased at that time. It stands 4"+ tall but is compact enough to sit on a 50mm square base.

A lovely model to paint and I'm quite pleased happy with how it has come up. I've tried to pick up the volumes that will catch the light.

Varangur Lord, Bjorn Ironside

Base coats laid down

Purposely left all what will be shadowed areas very dark

Bjorn has suffered some battle damage. He has an axe wound in his left shoulder

Think he fits the aesthetic for a Lord on Frostfang

KOW - Shifting the Odds

Over the break I Have been working on my Varangur army, bringing it in line with KOW v3.

In v2 I used a mounted Magos in conjunction with a Lord on foot. Reading the v3 army list, it is immediately clear that Lord on Frostfangs are hard to go past as characters but I was hoping to shoe-horn in the Mago as the model I have is one of my favourite sculpts.

At 90 points base with another 25 points for the mount, a Magos with Lightning Bolt (4) looks very pricey. It's probably not, but that's how it looks to me! There is an option to swap the Lightning Bolt out for Bloodboil but again, at the headline level, that seems very situational (particularly when it can't be cast into Close Combat).

I am of the general view that you can never have enough Crushing Strength AND, more importantly, the ability to bestow CS where it is needed is an extremely attractive proposition to have in the toolbox. That got me looking at the possibility of adding Bane Chant (2) to my Magos.

The key problem is that pesky (2). Each time it is cast there is a 25% chance of failure which if extended over five turns of a game, results in a likely 76%+ chance of at least one failure to cast. 

This got me looking at how to make the Magos more reliable - and there it was - The Conjuror's Staff. Having the ability to re-roll one failed attempt per turn changes the risk of a single failure to 12.5%, and increases the chance of being successful across five turns to above 50%. For a Varangur army a successful Bane Chant will likely correspond to an additional two wounds per combat, so tilting that balance can be significant.

The pricing of the Staff is 10 points. Mathematically, I determine the added value to be approximately 0.25 wounds/round of combat (best case therefore 1.25-1.50 wounds). I expect the real value is the confidence you would get when contemplating whether to commit or not.

For me, it looks like something I will give a try - the extra 10 points seem worth it to maximise the initial investment.

KOW - Battle Report: Ratkin vs. Forces of Nature III (Up Close & Personal)

 Another chance for a game on Saturday and again it is against Forces of Nature. We are still easing back into the game and so are still playing "Kill".

Carson made small changes to his list swapping out Air Elementals for Scorchwings. I was keen to look at the damage dealing capacity of my Ratkin when faced with a wall of De 5/6. Out went the Warrior and Wretch Hordes from the list, replaced with a third Horde of Shock Troops and a third Vermintide Regiment.

Forest Shambler Horde with two smaller Forest Shambler units beside. Behind those are a Earth Elemental Horde. In the centre are the Treeherder, Fire Elementals (Owlbears) and a Greater Earth Elemental. In the right of the picture are a Unicorn, Pegasus, Scorchwings and Wyrmriders.

Two Vermintide in front of the three Shock Troop Hordes, massed monsters on the Ratkin right with Brood Mum and Tangle behind.

Pre-game Shamble. I win the rolloff for first turn and give it to Carson. Forward come the FoN lines, including their very mobile left wing.

KOW - Can Ratkin "Horde" With The Best Of Them?

One of greatest discoveries I made when I first played Kings of War, and in particular the v2 Uncharted Empires Ratkin list, was how much better the rats played as a horde army compared to my experiences in WHFB.

I found that the list really captured my perception of what a horde of rats would be like.

"Die-Die"

Coming back to the game after a break, I have been trying to consume as much material as possible to give myself a solid grounding in rules and potential tactics. One series of articles I've read was the series by Nick Williams on his adventures with Scarecrows (you can read the first article here). The premise here was whether you could overwhelm your opponent by sheer weight of bodies. I really enjoyed the series and was wondering whether it was transferable to Ratkin.

When I look at the "Scarecrow" solution, the base stats are:

Horde - 21 Nerve - 130 points - De 3+ 

Legion - 27 Nerve - 190 points - De 3+

The most obvious candidate are the Wretches:

Horde - 21 Nerve -115 points - De 2+

Legion - 27 Nerve - 170 points - De 2+

At a headline level this looks really promising. Cheaper by 15/20 points, worse De and lacking Stealthy.....maybe something I can work with. Perhaps the biggest downside is that, unlike Scarecrows, Wretches can be Wavered.

However, further investigation kills the concept DEAD. Unlike their Scarecrow friends, the units of Wretches are Irregular and must be unlocked. You can have some but nothing like the weight of Scarecrow units that can be brought to bear.

The next option is to look at Warriors. Their stats read:

Regiment - 14 Nerve - 85 points - De 4+

Horde - 21 Nerve - 145 points - De 4+

So in this instance, I dismissed Regiments and focused on Hordes. More expensive (15 points), susceptible to Wavered and no Stealthy is offset by higher De value. You also get to give them Rallying.

Perhaps this could work?

Checking through the rest of the stats, the rats are faster(ish). However, besides existing, these units need to do something....even if slowly. Unfortunately for Ratkin, the Warriors have 5 less attacks than the Scarecrows (both hit on 5s).

Wrap Up

I think that if you are looking for pure, pure Horde then a Scarecrow horde just does it better than what can be achieved by the Rats. Cheaper and better on the grind with no Wavered risk.

However, reading through Nick's full series, I believe he reaches a point where he suggests that rather than "full" horde, a nuanced "support" horde may yield better long term results. This may be the case but I do believe there is a certain value in the despair of your opponent when faced by so many resilient units (by despair, I mean more potential for indecision).

Certainly believe that he identified a "sweet spot" unit that in retrospect may be either a bit underpriced or potentially a candidate for "Irregular".

So can Ratkin "horde"? Of course they can. You can definitely create an extended frontage of Nerve 20+ which will occupy space. What it is lacking is damage-dealing potential. Therefore the "support" needs to be carefully thought through. The ideal tactics being to pin the enemy with the Horde and have dangerous and maneuverable units that can hit the flanks. Simple but the proof is in the execution 😉 

KOW - The Best Use for a Spare 5 Points?

 Back in the 'before times" when I played WHFB, there was a Dwarf item - the Oathstone - that when deployed meant the unit couldn't move but had no flanks. Stunty generals used to use it to anchor their lines. As a proud and particularly devious Rat War Chief, I hated that item!

In my continued search through the KOW artefact list while tinkering with my Ratkin list, I came across the Staying Stone. This seems to reprise this hated item and isn't race locked.

"This Stone's Not For Turning"

Staying Stone (5 points)

The unit gains +1 to its Wavering stat value

For a Ratkin general with a spare 5 points in his pocket, this looks like an absolute bargain. The ability to reduce the potential of a Wavering result - particularly on Horde units - is immeasurable. But let's try 😉

Hopefully the table is self-explanatory but just in case, I'll run through an example.

If you normally would Waver on a roll of 7 or 8 then with the Stone you only Waver on an 8. This effectively takes all the dice outcomes of 7 out of the equation (6/36 or 16.7%). By having the Stone in this particular instance you have increased your chance of a non-damaging roll from 41.7% to 58.3%....pretty good value for 5 points. The headline value drops away as you increase/decrease the required roll, however I'd argue that at the benefit of reducing a disadvantageous outcome is enormous at higher levels.

But as with everything context is important. For me, it feels "right" that the item is best used on a unit I know is going to be in the fight. In this situation I "know" I am likely to get some value - particularly if the unit has high Nerve values to begin with. So to me the obvious beneficiary is a Horde of Shock Troops who with maximum Rallying benefit become 23/24. That means an enemy has to do at least 11 wounds to put me in "danger" - and even then it is only Double 6. That requires enormous commitment to make a beneficial combat and the Staying Stone makes a meaningful contribution to lasting an extra turn.

Others may see some benefit in placing it on a Character and again I can appreciate the value.

To me, it looks a bargain at 5 points....it's real cost is it takes the Artefact slot.
 

KOW - Is This A "Get Out of Jail Free" Card?

 Over the weekend I was revising my Ratkin list in light of my recent games. At the end of that tortuous process I arrived at a place where I needed 15 points but only had 10 points left.......life is always so unfair!

That got me looking at the various 10 point items I could choose and whether I could console myself with one of them.

A Must-Have Item for every Brood Mother this Xmas?

The one that jumped out was:

TORC OF DISSONANCE - 10 point item for a Hero

Once per game, at the start of one or your Ranged phases, choose an enemy unit with a spellcaster tier within 12". Choose one of the spells known to that unit. During the enemy player's following Turn, the unit may not use the chosen spell.

Immediately there were a number of things that stuck me:

• It is NOT a Ranged Attack - it just occurs in your Ranged Phase - so does not have the restriction associated with Ranged Attacks nor does it impede your ability to make a Ranged Attack as normal [WIN]
• There are no targeting requirements on it apart from a range of 12" - so effectively a 360 degree sphere of influence [WIN]
• It is certain. The spell is immediately turned off in the following turn. There is to barrier to meet...e.g. pass a 4+ die roll....it just doesn't happen [WIN]
  

I'm sure that there are numerous situations where it could prove useful - remove Heal or the ability to Fireball etc. However, the place where I can really see some value is turning off movement shenanigans around the use of Surge. This could literally be a game decider - for instance where an enemy unit does not have LOS to the flank at the start of the turn.

It doesn't have to be a "Gotcha" either. Having this ability in your toolkit could really play on the mind of your opponent if you are upfront about having it. The range and targeting requirements are also very advantageous given - in my case - it sits on a model that sits behind my battleline and is only Height 3 (so it could switch off a caster behind a cavalry unit for instance).

On the surface it looks like a very useful item to trial.

KOW - The Value of Ratkin Plague Pots

 Rainy Sunday afternoon so I was indulging in some list building with my Ratkin. As I expect is always the case, I was seeking to pare points where possible.

This got me looking at Plague Pots. The 15 point upgrade that gives you Ensnare and Stealthy for a turn. This is a "one turn only" item and must be deployed at the start of your turn. Generally it seems to be viewed as a must take so I was keen to look at the maths behind it.

Mrs. Mullens Enjoyed Her Supply Contract For Ratkin Plague Pots

Breaking out the calculator:

Crushing Strength/Piercing = 0 then Plague Pots reduce 0.083 wounds/attack

Crushing Strength/Piercing = 1 then Plague Pots reduce 0.11 wounds/attack

Crushing Strength/Piercing = 2 then Plague Pots reduce 0.14 wounds/attack

What this means is that they will probably save you just over 2 wounds per 20 shots with Piercing 1 (8.9 vs. 6.7 hitting on 3+ normally). For a Horde of Shock Troops with Rallying(2) and Inspired then the use in that situation is marginal. 

However if you are charged by Fire Elementals with 18 CS(2) attacks then those extra 2.5 wounds combined with Brutal may prove critical - suddenly you are potentially Wavered on a 10 (one in 6 rather than one in 36).

So are the Plague Pots worth 15 points? Certainly they are far better value on Shock Troops than Warriors where you are getting the same protection for point investment on a more valuable asset - Warrior Horde is 145 and Shock Troops 220....both receive same cover for 15 points.

There are other things to take into account. The are completely proactive. You must choose to deploy them before you know whether they are necessary. Can a similar "advantage" be gained by managing the separation of battlelines more effectively to maximise Ratkin speed? What is the psychological impact on opponents once you deploy them - does it make them hold off charging?

The key thing with Ratkin Shock Troops - to my mind - is that you want to ensure that they are survivable to fight twice in every combat (if necessary). Plague Pots can help that.....but I'm not sure whether they can necessarily ensure it.....however they certainly don't harm it.

Is the 45 points across an army a digestible tax to pay?

Love to know people's thoughts.

KOW - Unit Options Within My Ratkin

 Now with the grand total of TWO games of v3 Kings of War under my belt, I am looking at my list and seeing what changes I would make.

Currently I am running two Hordes of Shock Troops and I am wondering whether to try an squeeze in a third - my poor v2 Blight are sitting on shelf squeaking loudly that they are being ignored.

A Horde of Shock Troops costs 220 points. A Plague Pot upgrade seems a no-brainer so the cost is 235 points.

To fund this from my current list the most obvious choice would be to replace a Horde of Warriors (with Pots) at 160 points and a Vermintide Regiment at 65 points. This means I'm 10 points short but I'm currently looking at whether I persevere with the Caterpillar Potion on a Shock Troop Horde. An alternative is too replace a Mutant Rat Fiend (220 points) with more Shock Troops and use some of my Caterpillar Points.

So to analyse the choice:

Warriors + Vermintide vs. Shock Troops

• Requires +10 points
  
• US agnostic - both US4
• One less drop
• Vermintide are a battery for Drain Life/Eat the Weak from the Brood Mother rather than a frontline unit - in a pinch with Nimble can threaten a flank (but limited damage potential - hits on 5s/9 attacks base - expect 1 wound vs. De 6 if in flank or 2 vs. De 5
  
• Warriors - 25 attacks at 5s - 8 hits whereas Shock Troops - 30 attacks at 4s - 15 hits and at base CS(1)
  
• Similar DE
• Shock Troops have +1 Nerve

At a headline level - an assuming good gameplay - the Shock Troop option appears to offer more hitting power. However the unknown is whether the reliance on a single Vermintide Regiment for recharge is too limiting.

MRF vs. Shock Troops

• Requires 15 points
  
• Replaces US1` with US4
• MRF has speed advantage of +1" - so 2" charge, a smaller footprint and has Strider
• MRF self-heals through Regen 5+ and Radiance (1 wound/turn) and can't be Wavered. Heals Vermintide an average 2 wounds/turn
  
• MRF - 10 attacks at 3s - 6.67 hits at CS(2) equates to ~3.5 wounds on De 6; The Shock Troops would do 5 wounds against the same target
  

The swap in this case is not really like for like - and as such is less compelling for me. I worry about the MRF's De 4 as it doesn't take much for it to be wounded on 2s and at the risk of a poor Nerve roll.

Wrap Up

When I look at the numbers I quite like the first option - swapping out the Warriors and Vermintide - and think as player ability improves it offers additional bang for buck. The issue is the loss of a second recharge battery.

What do you think?

KOW - Ratkin vs. Forces of Nature in "Kill" Mark #2

 So last evening Tane came over with his Forces of Nature. Again, given we are both quite rusty, we agreed to play "Kill".

Below are the two deployments. The house on the hill, the crypt and the rock were blocking terrain.

Tane has Centaurs, Shamblers and a Beast of Nature on his extreme right, Salamanders, Earth Elementals, Greater Fire Elemental and Fire Elementals in his centre, with Greater Earth elemental on his left. His character support were two druids and two unicorns (one with wings). 

Out on my right is a Mutant Rat Fiend, the centre is Shock Troops, Warriors, Wretches with more Shock Troops behind. On the left are the Daemonspawn and a second Fiend. In the centre, backing up the army are a Brood Mother, the Tangle and two Vermintide units.

Turn one and the Shamble begins.

Matched by a lurch from the Ratkin 😃. Both sides through some handbags but no meaningful damage done.

Hobby - Housekeeping: We all Have To Do It!!

 One of the things you acquire when you run tournaments regularly is a stock of tabletops. These are generally 6' x 4' MDF or chipboard and at times I have had up to eighteen of them stored in my garage.

With me stepping back from organising as many events, I have been reducing that stockpile. Also, for those that know my place, when I host multiple games at my place I need to move the board up three floors.

So yesterday I decided to make that easier. I selected the four best boards and cut them in half. This gives me 8 4' x 3' boards which are much easier (and lighter) to maneuver. And as you can see from the picture are much easier to store.

I've offered the other boards to the Properly Cocked guys to give them a starting stock of tabletops for their events. Win-win.

KOW - Mutant Rat Fiend Crew

 Had the opportunity to paint up the crew for my Mutant Rat Fiend. These were two of the 3D resin printed rats from Jack.

The crew I chose are different from the ones that come with the model but I think suit both the MRF and the rest of my army.

One has two hammers and I like to think of him as a drummer smashing the barrels on the Fiend's back, while the other is some sort of priest, carrying a scythe and his head in a cage. 

Striking models and it gives my Ratkin more of their own unique flavour.

The army is due to get a run again this evening. In its first outing the Mutant Rat Fiend managed to kill a Winged Unicorn......imagine what it will do with crew!!

40K - The Changing Nature of Competitive 40k

 Quietly, over the past two years - masked in no small part by Covid-19 - we have seen a revolution occur. There has been a major changing of the guard in competitive 40k with the balance of power shifting from Europe to the USA.

In my mind there are two drivers for this. The first was the appointment of Mike Brandt as GW's Events guru, responsible for the community outreach of events. The second is the creation of the professional wargamer tying competitive performance to content creation.

For as long as I remember - let's call it 20 years - the American 'preference' in all  games has been to remove as much risk and uncertainty as possible. To generalise, they like to focus on resource management rather than risk management. As such they have generally been less enamoured with soft scores, hate the concept of comp, etc. The move has been to creating and rewarding a more MTG environment rather than 2000's GW Hobby experience.

This has seen a push for set missions, known win conditions with little jeopardy. Lately, this has increased into set terrain line ups, set terrain pieces etc. A recent quirk has been to let the player place the terrain to ensure that he gets the working parameters he wants.

This push culminated in the Chapter Approved GT Mission book with its 9 missions, three deployments and a set of essentially 15-20 secondaries, of which about 10 are workable (and honestly for most armies default to a choice of 3-4). If I was uncharitable, I'd say that the nine missions are really only 1-2 missions with minor tweaks

And this has given the punters in the biggest market something that they want - a game that is inherently solvable. They want to walk up to a table...play their standard list....follow standard flow process....win.

In tandem with this backdrop has been the rise of the professional coaches/players/content creators whose skills/services you can purchase to help you succeed. With the homogenization of thegame, this makes the solvable product easier to package and sell , and you know if the purchaser follows the process flowchart he can become a 4-2/5-1 player.

In this environment, innovation is effectively disruption. Therefore "cutting edge" 40k has become a process of trawling the latest release looking for an edge and trying to extrapolate that edge exponentially by applying a factor that the rules writers have overlooked to achieve "Unintended consequences". This likely lasts two months before an FAQ nerfs it.

So my point is that there has been a shift in competitive 40k to accommodate the preferences of its largest market. This has allowed a whole secondary market to flourish in the supply of services to that market. And innovation/chaos is limited to an unexpected mutation....... 

A bit like life really !

Hobby - A Nice Surprise

Yesterday I called into the Properly Cocked 40k tournament which was substituted in when the 2021 40k Masters couldn't go ahead.

Over the past year I have actively been stepping back from organising/playing 40K events as competitive 40k in its current guise, isn't really doing it for me. Number of reasons for this but that's by the by. What is great, is that there are a number of other people willing to step into the role I had previously filled.

While visiting the event, the organisers presented me with a plaque (and a nice bottle of Pinot Gris) as thanks for the work in helping them put on their event and as a thanks for the efforts over the past 15-20 years.

Really appreciated the acknowledgement so thanks to all involved.

And if I was a Primarch.....I'd be Konrad Curze!

KOW - Game: Ratkin vs. Forces of Nature in "Kill"

Yesterday I had my first KoW game in four years - and obviously first game of v3 - versus Carson and his Forces of Nature.

Because it was first game back, we decided to play "Kill" so we could focus on the game mechanics and ease back in.

The terrain was set up thus. That is a piece of blocking terrain on the left - burnt out building on a hill, a couple of woods, couple of H4 hills and another piece of blocking terrain towards the middle.

Carson chose sides and I ceded first turn to him. His lines make immediate progress across the table - a Horde and two Regiments of Forest Shamblers. Behind them are the Tree Herder in front of a Horde of Earth Elementals. Beside that (in the top right) are Owlbears (Horde of Fire Elementals), a Regiment of Scorchwings Air Elementals and a Horde of Wyrmriders.

Facing them are a Horde of Wretches, a Horde of Shock Troops in front of the Brood Mother and two Regiments of Vermintide. On the right are a Horde of Warriors with the Tangle behind them. Out of shot on my far left is a Mutant Rat Fiend.

Here you can see the rest of my deployment (actually end of Ratkin T1), the Daemonspawn behind the Warriors, second Horde of Shock Troops and out of shot on my right, another Mutant Rat Fiend.

KOW - WIP of Mutant Rat Fiend

 Over the past week I have been working on my new Mutant Rat Fiend for my Ratkin army.

My aim is to get him on the table tomorrow , even if not completely finished.

The sculpt is from Archvillian Games "Affliction Outbreak" and is a model Jack printed for me on his resin printer. 

I painted it up in a classic mole rat skin suit 😊. Generally during the process, I like to take a few photos as it highlights the work I need to do....my rat now has some nice red eyes....and provides detail I have missed (some of the metalwork on the leather yoke).

Not shown - and definitely not ready for tomorrow - are the crew for the howdah. I started work on them this morning prior to work.

The base is 75mm square to give some idea of scale. Since these pictures were taken I have worked up the river of ooze flowing from the sewer.

Hobby - NZ Masters "Missing" This Week

 This week has been tinged with a little sadness. For the past fourteen years the first week in December has seen me preparing for the NZ Masters. Unfortunately the Covid response has put paid to that this year.

Organising the Masters has been one of the highlights of the year for me. I set the NZ Masters up as a "reward" for those people who supported the NZ tournament scene by attending events through the year. Qualification required attendance at at least three events to get the necessary ranking points. I have no doubt that the existence of the Masters helped overall attendance at events throughout those 14 years.

When the Masters kicked off it encompassed 40k, WHFB and Fields of Glory (Ancient/Medieval). Over time, as games fell in and out of favour, we saw Flames of War and Kings of War added and dropped. That 40k was a constant is a testimony to its popularity

Of course, it wouldn't be NZ wargaming without politics, and the Masters suffered from that from time to time. But dickheads will be dickheads - and they were....in the end ruining it for their game.

Thanks to all those people that have attended in the previous years, it was great to be able to facilitate something that people obviously enjoyed. Hoping we can see it back in 2022.

KOW - Return of the Ratkin

This weekend I will be having my first game of Kings of War in four years. Since I last played the edition has changed and the supporting army lists have also been updated. 

I am going to use my Ratkin and so have spent the last couple of weeks painting the necessary new models and basing where required.

Decided to go with a pretty straightforward list rather than to get too "cute" while trying to re-learn the game. Here is the list I am using:

• Warrior Horde - Plague Pots
  
• Shock Troop Horde - Plague Pots & Brew of Strength
• Shock Troop Horde - Plague Pots & Caterpillar Potion
• Wretches Horde
• Vermintide Regiment
• Vermintide Regiment
• Mutant Rat Fiend
• Mutant Rat Fiend
• Brood Mother
  
• Tangle
• Daemonspawn
  

So all the units have Unit Strength of 1+, with a total of Unit Strength 21. I have 11 drops....which is possibly on the light side.

Looking to have some pictures of the finished army later in the week.

40K - Open War Mission Pack - Narrative Campaign Use

On the weekend we used the Open War Mission Pack cards to generate the missions used in our campaign games.

The cards give a number of different deployments, objectives and twists to provide a unique game.

However rather than have a totally random scenario, the guys in the group have adapted/created a mini-game around scenario generation.

This works by creating a grid of three cards by three cards.

The top row are Deployment Cards, the middle row Objective Cards and the bottom row are the Twist Cards.

The default selection is the most LHS card in the row.

DEPLOYMENT	D1	D2	D3
OBJECTIVE	O1	O2	O3
TWIST	T1	T2	T3

Each Player has two opportunities to remove a card (however they can choose to pass. You may only remove the most LHS card in each row. 

e.g. Player A can choose to remove D1, O1, T1 or he can pass. Assuming he removes O1 then when it passes to Player B then he can remove D1, O2, T1 or pass. It then switches back to Player A and then finally back to Player B.

After both players have chosen/passed twice you the most LHS card in each row is the specific card in play.

This gives you the opportunity to get the Objective you want, for instance, but then you have to accept you have no control over deployment and twist. 

creates an interesting game of bluff before the battle starts.

Hobby - The Week Ahead

 Well last week I managed to paint up both my Brood Mother and Tangle and got approximately 50% through my Mutant Rat Fiend. I'm keen to finish the beast this week ahead of a game on the weekend.

The other thing I did was order some MDF bases from Battle Kiwi. A few of my Ratkin units are now on different base sizes while others function in smaller units. The service from Battle Kiwi was great....ordered 8pm Thursday, with me lunchtime Saturday. Fully recommend them. Check them out here

I have a KoW game set up for this weekend (with the hope of a second one), and then one next week - so I have a deadline to get the basing done!

The Hellions are still waiting....

40k - Planetary Empires: First Forays

 On Saturday we had the first chapter of our 40k narrative campaign - The Battle for Kithrup - played using the Planetary Empires system.

The first forays were all about Chaos.

The Word Bearers ensconced in the Monza Hive City managed to seize a manufactorium back from the Necrons landing on the surface. This was then followed up by the Death Guard making planetfall and seizing territory from the Tyranids and then occupying an unoccupied hex adjacent to their territory.

In other conflicts, the Necrons in Hive City Boca pushed back the rapid response Ultramarines while the Tyranids and Dark Eldar battled to a stalemate.

The matchups played so far:

		Word Bearers - Josh	Death Guard - Jordan	Necrons - Harpreet	Tyranids - Alastair	Ultramarines - Kent	Custodes - Nick	Necrons - Louis	Dark Eldar - Pete
	Word Bearers - Josh
	Death Guard - Jordan
	Necrons - Harpreet
	Tyranids - Alastair
	Ultramarines - Kent
	Custodes - Nick
	Necrons - Louis
	Dark Eldar - Pete

And the current scoreboard:

	Force	Tiles
	Word Bearers - Josh	7
	Death Guard - Jordan	8
	Necrons - Harpreet	5
	Tyranids - Alastair	5
	Ultramarines - Kent	5
	Custodes - Nick	6
	Necrons - Louis	7
	Dark Eldar - Pete	6

To emerge successful in the campaign you must play the seven other players at least once and hold 10+ tiles.

The next round is scheduled for the weekend of 11/12 December.