Since really taking the dive into Kings of War a few years ago Clash of Kings has become a real highlight to the year, and it’s taken me on some interesting journeys. As someone whose first army is Ratkin I haven’t really seen any massive changes to the faction over the last few years, probably the biggest being the introduction of the formation. That being said the smaller changes have definitely provided some interesting opportunities to explore different aspects of the army and keep me coming back to them.
This year I decided to really commit to playing the rats, and they’ve come to every tournament with me, whereas in previous years I have jumped between a number of different factions. I think playing Ratkin has given me not only a better appreciation of the army, but also Kings of War, and it’s for this reason next year’s focus will be on the Halflings!!!
The spark of inspiration for this has come from seeing the points reduction on Saucerors, at 30 points its pretty damn significant, and the introduction of the optional command dice rules. I’ve had a Halfing army for a couple of years but have never quite gotten around to finishing a full force. The reason is that I’ve never thought I’ve fully understood the army. On the surface it feels a bit like Ratkin with loads of synergies and a number of units with subpar stat lines, but it plays so differently. Ratkin synergies are so reliable that they really need to be factored in at list building stage. Whereas the Gastromancy synergies are so random they really shouldn’t be relied upon from one turn to the next (I doubly feel this because I generally play with two Saucerors). But whilst Gastromancy is not a guaranteed recipe for success, many of the Halfling units have elements of competency that the Ratkin could only dream of, there are units you want to take with melee 3, defence 6, terrain mitigation and more nimble fliers than you can shake a baguette at. All this makes for very different dynamics when it comes to hitting the table. One of the things I really believe about the command dice is that they are going to really add to the Halfling flavour.
Another big driver for trying out the Halflings is just how much I’ve enjoyed playing against them over the last couple of years. I think without exception all the games I’ve played have been really good fun, and really quite challenging. They’ve also made me question my previous attempts at list building, which have generally focused on Juggers, flying dogs and Forest Trolls (not the shooty ones). In play I’ve found my own lists quite fragile, however, my experience against Halfling lists is that they are incredibly resilient and can really put out some damage, particularly from shooting.
So inspired by the joy of those games, and the desire for a slightly different challenge, I’m going to work on getting an army finished for my first event in January next year. And just to make things interesting I’m going to see if I can put together an enjoyable, reasonably competitive list with no repeat units, and by this I mean that not only will there not be more than one of any unit type, there will not be more than one size of any unit type, i.e. if I take braves I can either have a regiment, horde or legion, but not all three, or even two. I think Halflings will manage this quite well as it always seems to me that most armies have duplicates of maybe one or two units at a max. I have a couple of lists in mind and I’m looking forward to giving one a test run next weekend.
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