KOW - Ogres vs. Forces of the Abyss in Pillage

A couple of weeks ago I lent my WHFB Ogre Kingdoms army to a local player who was involved in an updated Warhammer Fantasy tournament. 

Citadel Maneaters repurposed as Siegebreakers

After getting it out I thought how easy would it be to port into KoW. So last week I racked up the models in movement trays and "voila" a new army to play.  

Lliam brought along his FotA (some small changes after his fight with my Varangur) and we rolled up "Pillage" with five objectives. Three of these were placed in the corners with two in the middle.

Hobby - Flagellant Unit

 As noted here a couple of weeks ago, I have no real active projects I am working on at the moment. However felt like I should have something on the painting desk so dipped into various cases of shame and pulled out 20 old metal Flagellant figures. 

These were a unit I was going to add to my WHFB Empire army but then....you know...the Old World was destroyed. As a result the figures got chucked into a box.

Last week I started painting the figures and here is my finished unit:

There are a limited number of sculpts (about 6-7) so you get some repetition across the unit.

I was trying to achieve the "Mad Medieval German Zealot" look so they are painted in pretty drab colours - tans, beiges, browns and khakis.

They have been based on a pretty bland gravel and grass (Woodland Scenics Burnt Umbre Fine Turf). This matches what the rest of the army is on. I thought about multibasing but I'm hedging my bets on what happens with "The Old World" and these being tabbed metals.

The plan is that these will form the start of some kind of Brothermark/Kingdoms of Men forces.

Really happy with the unit given it is 3-4 evenings work.

KOW - Varangur vs. Forces of the Abyss in "Control"

On Saturday Lliam and I got to play our first KoW game against each other in 4-5 years. He had his Forces of the Abyss while I used my newly updated Varangur. 

Rolled up "Control" for the mission. Each of six sectors worth 1 point with the exception of your opponent's central sector which is worth 2 points.

The FotA started with US21 while the Varangar had 18. Lliam had 12 drops to my 11.

Fallen and Succubi Slog It Out

In terms of terrain I selected 10 varied pieces and then randomly placed them using die rolls. LLiam chose to go on the far side of the table.

FotA had two Gargoyle units on the base edge and the two regiments of Succubi up on the deployment line (between which is the Temptress) On the hill are a Lower Abyssal Horde, marshalled by a Efreet and a Chroneas at the base.

From the far end of the table you can see the rest of the FotA forces. Two small units of Tortured Souls, the Abyssal Horsemen Horde and the Well of Souls

So I went in with a plan for this army of it working in two mirror image battlegroups. And immediately threw it out the window the first time I deployed it 😊

Instead of what I had envisaged, I split the army into three groups - fast chaff wing on my right (2x Horse Raiders, 1x Snow Fox), an Infantry centre (2x Fallen Hordes, Lord on Frostfang, Magos) and cavalry wing on the left (Korgan Regiment, Frostfang Horde, Lord on Frostfang and Snow Foxes). 

My thinking was predicated once I saw where Lliam had put his Tortured Souls. I thought that these two units had the ability to remove any of my chaff units and I needed these to grab sectors. I also felt that my cavalry wing could win the left of the table.

My Cavalry wing sitting on the hill, Snow Foxes behind.

Fall in centre with Lord and Magos. Chaff on flank

Lliam won roll off and chose to go first. He pushed forward with everything staying outside my charge range. I countered by pushing my chaff forward in an attempt to outflank the FotA but managed to lose a unit of Horse Raiders to a flank charge by the Temptress.


With the rest of his second turn Lliam charged one unit of Fallen with Gargoyles and parked the second in front of the other Fallen. He also charged the Frostfang Cavalry with Tortured Souls while putting the other unit in front of my Korgan. 

To me this was the key moment in the battle. In my Turn 2 I was able to remove both Gargoyle units and both Tortured Souls. This then heavily swung the mobility advantage to the Varangur. It also equalised the US of the two armies at 17 each.

My central Lord charged the Chroneas inflicting some damage on it.

The following picture shows the centre at the end of Varangur Turn 2. Lord in combat with the Chroneas, Raiders and Fallen facing off against the Succubi Regiments. At the top you can see the Lower Abyssals have moved to shore up the FoTA right.

Varangur are feeling happy with the current battle state.

Hobby - Adepticon-bound (hopefully, anyway)

 Tickets for Adepticon 2022 went on sale today. In August last year I managed to book a hotel room at the Renaissance Schaumberg where it is being held and in December booked flights.

Today the tickets for each of the events went on sale and I scooped up 7 out of the 8 painting classes I wanted. Not bad given most were sold out in 3-4 minutes.

I've managed to get three airbrushing classes plus two on painting faces....so pretty stoked.

Obviously, the pachyderm in the room is our border situation. When the flights were booked (and as currently advised) they are slated to be open with MIQ self-isolation. However they have since delayed the opening of the border with Oz.

Hopefully, I'll be able to venture out of our cave. 

Easy Army - Nothing As Queer As Folks (KOW)

 Over on the KOW Fanatics FB group there is currently a post complaining that all the latest content from the Clash of Kings 2022 update hasn't been uploaded to the Easy Army list builder.

Some context. Easy Army is a list builder for Mantic Games maintained by a community volunteer. There is a free version available as well as a paid version ($2/month, $20/year) which gives extra features. One of those extra features is access to a version that is updated with new material sooner. Others include different save (and I believe share) options.

So you can use use the list builder free of charge and, in conjunction, with the free digital version of the rules, play the game for nothing, list build etc.

The debate at the moment is that this is not enough. There are sections of the community who believe that access to to all aspects of Easy Army should be free and that the volunteer who creates and maintains the service should not have any features behind a paywall.

To me, this is a choice issue. If you want the features - and think they add value - then you pay for the service. If you don't think they are worth the cost, you don't. But to expect them for free....well, let's say I don't share your world view.

In a game where you can easily drop $20 for a single figure, the annual cost for Easy Army seems a relative bargain. 

Hobby - Blank Slate

 For the first time in living memory I have a clean hobby desk.

By this I mean that I have no hobby projects backed up, staring at me accusingly. Sure, I have unpainted models......but a significant amount less than I had a year ago. Over the past year I've painted up accumulated armies - Death Guard, Yorkist WotR, Legio Vulpa - and added units to existing armies - Mongol Conquest, Patrician Roman, Norse Viking, Varangur, Ratkin, Dark Eldar - and that has seen the "pile of shame" dramatically diminish.

Not a Hobby Desk.....but a Clean Desk Nonetheless

The other major contributor to the reduction was a change in my buying habits. In 2021 I purchased a single 40k model....the Dark Eldar Sslyth. And he was painted immediately. Other than that the only other purchases from Games Workshop were the odd paint and the two boxed sets, Cursed City and WarCry. In a "Come to Jesus" moment in September/October I released I was never likely to paint them and sold them off to the local market...remarkably both held their original purchase value.

So what hobby in 2022?

There are 30 Poxwalkers I could paint for my Death Guard. I have the figures and bases and these could be an option. However, I have really lost interest in the current direction of 40k - recent upcoming rules releases from GW don't fill me with confidence that it will change - and so there is no pressing need.

For Xmas, I received 2L of resin for 3D prints from Jack. At present I'm perusing various creator libraries for a suitable project - there are some nice Crusader/Bretonnian/Medieval Knight figures available - that I could build into a KoW army if so inspired.

But for the moment nothing is jumping out as must do.....strange times indeed!

Hobby - KOW: Snow Foxes for Varangur

 The final addition I had to make to my Varangur to take them from v2 to v3 was to build a couple of units of Snow Foxes.

I had some leftover resin Fenrisian Wolves and decided that they would fit the bill.

Painting something up with such obvious white fur was quite stark (pun intended). I used a watered down blue wash to give some definition to the fur.

Based them using the same scheme as the rest of my army.

They are now ready to be mercilessly used as chaff to disrupt opponents' best laid plans. 

Hobby - Sam the Three-Toed Sloth (KoW)

 Continuing with getting my Varangur updated for the table, I have been working on my second Lord on Frostfang.

This, again, will be a proxy and for the Lord I am using the armoured three-toed sloth from Mierce. This was another of the stash I had in my box labelled "Maelstrom Demise".

The resin model is about 4" high with armoured pauldrons and mask. 

Tried to go with a blackened bone on all tusks and talons, while the metal have had a wash od AK's Streaking Grime.

He's mounted on a 50mm square base that uses bark chips as rock. Just waiting for the holidays to finish so I can pick up some tufts to round off the bases.

The last units I need for my Varangur are two regiments of Snow Foxes. For these I am using resin wolves I found surplus. They are currently about half way through being painted and have just been based so i can finish them off.

"Sam & the Snow Foxes"......it sounds like a really shit 90's boy band.