The Wizard's Bookshelf

Where we’re rat: Ratkin in the fourth edition of Kings of War

It’s been an eventful few months for Ratkin since fourth edition landed. The furry wonders have been rampaging across America, landing three of the top ten spots in the Masters, and duly attracting a bit of a nerf in the most recent Fracture update.

In the UK it’s been a very different story, with only a handful of players taking them to tournaments, and the top players from third edition yet to venture out with their rodents. The contrast is noticeable and shows there are some clear differences between the approaches UK and US players take. I’ve been experimenting with mixed arms lists, which have not landed anywhere near the same results as the horde heavy lists across the Atlantic, before pivoting to a more melee focused force for a recent event and having my best outcome to date.

A number of changes hit the vermin in Fracture:

there was an increase on the command activation from 4 to 5 for Strider

Plague Pots lost stealthy

Wretches lost access to the Ratkin Commands

a new trait was introduced to allow Wretches to still be targets for Eat the Weak and Vermintide can now be targeted as well

finally, Vermintide in combat with a Mutant Rat Fiend get a +1 to melee.

Despite doing great things in the US I’m not entirely convinced all the nerfs they’ve received are warranted. I’m generally supportive of the change that stops Wretches accessing Plague Pots and strider, but the change to strider and the removal of stealthy seem a little harsh for the other units. Unlike the Forces of nature Ratkin don’t have particularly reliable combat units that can access strider, and whilst Shock Troop Hordes work hard, their 4+ melee can definitely be a bit hit and miss. Not to mention that if a unit is choosing to use strider, they won’t have access to Plague Pots so there is a real trade off between the two commands.

The removal of stealthy from Plague Pots feels unhelpful is a game where shooting needs to be massed volumes of shots for it to be meaningful. With Plague Pot using units having at most a defence of 4 high volumes of shooting is going to take its toll quickly. I have yet to face a gunline force, but I’d be concerned with just how much damage it could do and the impact wavered hordes could have when moving lots of infantry blocks around the table.

Despite all this Ratkin continue to be a strong army with a varied roster to pick from. For anyone playing from a purely rule of cool point of view there is plenty of flexibility in the current list to choose a more traditional infantry list or a more tech-based list, and everything in between. In the more competitive space infantry lists are doing well and I thought I’d share my top five units based on a combination of my own experiences, other people’s lists, and how I think the Fracture changes might land. So, in no particular order:

Shock Troop Hordes

With high nerve, high attacks and access to the commands these elite rats do just about everything well enough. Three hordes have been a core of US Masters lists and since adding a third to my own list I’ve seen some great results.

Wretch Hordes and Warrior Regiments

I know I said this would be a top five, but I think the changes to Wretches in Fracture create a bit of optionality here. Wretches have higher nerve, lower defence, can’t access commands and need Cryza as a warlord to unlock other units. Warriors have a lower nerve, higher defence but can access commands and unlock other units, they’re also a little cheaper. As a result, I think both make great chaff.

Brood Mother

Rats have some great warlord choices. I think the Brood Mother feels the easiest to use. As she’s not a natural fighter, I’ve found myself less likely to allow her to get involved in combat early in the game. That means the army benefits from her commands and Radiance of Life for a lot longer. Giving her Scorched Earth increases her utility, allowing her to lend a hand with her magic earlier in the game and the spell synergises particularly nicely with Plague Pots making those Shock Troop Hordes even harder to remove.

Birthing Daughter

These agents of the Brood Mothers give a +1 to command rolls. In addition to that they have inspiring, a pretty decent nerve and aren’t yielding. I’ve found these individuals to be absolute gold dust, not only for their command and support abilities, but also how important they can be in the late game shutting down enemy units whilst the Shock Troops secure objectives and prepare for final charges.

Mutant Rat Fiend

I’m absolutely loving this fella. Whilst you have to be very careful about the combats you put him into, he’s proved himself to be a real problem for so many opponents so far this year. Having Slayer 6 is a massive benefit from his previous incarnation and as one of the few melee 3+ units in the army he provides a pretty reliable damage output when supporting the less reliable Shock Troops. So far, I’ve yet to trigger the Vermintide synergy, but under the right circumstances I could see it being reasonably handy.

Well, those are my thoughts on Ratkin so far this edition. I’m currently putting the final touches to my list for Clash of Kings and hoping that the fully fleshed out list isn’t too far away on the horizon.

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Pannithor Ablaze: a Kings of War tournament report

It’s been a couple of years since I last went to Entoyment in Poole for an event. Since then, it’s moved sites and had a fairly material glow up. It was very impressive with a massive gaming space, great retail selection and well stocked café.

Determined to get one of my armies into a decent position before Clash of Kings, I’ve been focusing on my ratkin, simply because they are the favourites. After watching with interest what’s been going on in the USA (gaming, not politics) and failing to get mixed arms lists doing what I want them to do I thought I’d give this ago:

Whilst influenced by the USA Masters lists, I had no intention of trying to build numerous hordes of wretches, which worked out well due to their slight nerfing in Fracture. I’m generally pretty happy with what’s in the list, rule of cool and model wise, and it’s great to give the Night Terror a run out.

My first game was against Ratkin, and we were playing Compass Points. Excitingly my opponent’s list was very different to my own and I found myself facing a very speedy force built around four tunnel runner regiments and four of the melee impalers. If anything was going to test the resilience of my list, this was going to do it.

I adopted my usual refused flank set up, whilst my opponent spread out pretty evenly across the board. Not surprisingly, combat started quickly and by turn two even the shock troops that usually cover the back field were up close and personal with their own nightmare machines. To begin with chaff, plague pots and Scorched Earth kept my troops relatively safe as the first couple of Tunnel Runners were dismantled. However, the chariots that had been given free rein to manoeuvre around the end of my line hit hard.

With the combat starting so soon, I’d been hoping to have enough units freed up to face down the flanking threat. However, this is a dice game, and the dice were keeping things spicy. A couple of double ones had kept my troops in protracted combats, then, to add to the excitement, an impaler managed the almost impossible of routing my spear horde in a single turn, leaving the centre of my line looking very exposed.

How the tables had turned, before turning back almost immediately as my opponent suffered his first double one malfunction, putting about 30 wounds on a warrior regiment and taking two of his units out of the game for the next turn. It was the breathing space I needed to get back on track.

My rats managed to grab a solid victory before some very cheesy nachos for lunch.

Lunch out the way it was time to face the orcs, for the first time this edition in Portal of Peril. The Portal of Peril scenario sounds like a sci-fi film from the sixities but plays like Inception. Whilst I did play this scenario during its development, I was about as aware of what was going on then, as I was on Saturday.

Fortunately, a kindly Moonraker was there to help me get my head around the mechanics, which was helpful. Unfortunately, the orc army I found myself facing was a pretty solid list that wasn’t going to make life easy.

The army was a great mix of different units with both traditional and riftforge units. I decided to try and push through the flanks with a view to circling into the centre to grab the portal for the last couple of turns. My loot counters went on the shock troop hordes and largely just slowed them down. On the flanks the shock troops did push through, but not quickly enough, as the orcs had enough units to block them up, whilst directing their hardest units into my weaker centre.

Trying to buy time I moved my centre back, but all that did was invite my opponent into their scoring zone, and they quickly ramped up the points. The rats did not put on a good showing here, but I would largely put that down to my own preference for more defensive playing. This did give me a really good insight into the scenario though, and I’m looking forward to giving it a go in the future.

The final game was, confusingly, against another rat-based chariot list, but being played as ogres. The models for this army are absolutely stunning, so it was great to see it in person and on the table. In terms of what was in the list it was pretty straight forward, six chariot regiments, two mammoths some goblins, a sergeant and a warlord. The scenario was Pieces of Eight.

So, for the second time that day my poor old rats found themselves bracing for impact. Again, turn two brought contact, and it was relentless. Rat chariots have lower nerve scores and melee four, making them a bit easier to deal with and far less predictable than the ogres, who just push out a ton of reliable wounds, especially against defence four units. The plague pots did the hard work in the centre making sure the ogres couldn’t put out wounds fast enough to break through, letting the shock troops grind them down.

Fortunately, I quickly won the left flank and was able to turn towards the centre before the chariots on my right flank could get properly stuck into my line. However, we were burning through units at an alarmingly similar rate (although I did have a lot more). As the units in the centre started to rout my plucky Birthing Daughter and Brood Mother threw themselves in harms way, giving the shock troops in the centre just enough time to finish their combats and turn to face the ruinous wheels heading for their flanks.

Despite a lack of commanders, and plague pots, the elite rats seized the initiative and reduced the orges to a single regiment, securing a maximum scenario points win.

The rats managed to squeak a very respectable fourth place, not to mention some bloody brilliant games and we left with joy in our hearts and cheese in our bellies.

I’d like to give a massive thank you to TO Todd, Ben, Jon and Mark for some cracking games, as well as recommending Entoyment to anyone in the Poole area who hasn’t managed to get down there yet.

I’m not going to talk too much about the list as I’m working on a bit of a Ratkin review, suffice to say that Shock Troop hordes are undoubtedly the workhorses of the army at the moment. Now I have a couple of broken hackpaws to fix and some final models to paint ahead of Clash.

Keep well peeps.

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Starting a new page: a first try of One Page Rules

Fantasy has always been my bag, but many decades ago a certain yellow covered book introduced me to a fiendish cult of mutants that caught my imagination and never let go. An insidious seed was planted, corrupt leaves flourished and hypnotic flowers bloomed. The Genestealer Cults first appeared, at least to my knowledge, in the Warhammer 40K Compendium. For those too young to remember this fabulous tome worry not it’s time to move rapidly from memory lane to the here and now.

Although I dabbled in 40K it never really stuck, and that was back when it was a much simpler game (or maybe I just played it wrong). Roll forward twenty years, and some change, and the cults of the Four-Armed Emperor resurfaced with some very nice miniatures. Games Workshop grabbed my attention, and several hours of painting later I found myself giving 40K ago. It didn’t last.

Missed, but happy to paint you all again given half a chance…

Being the diplomatic type I’m not going to be give you all the gory details, because whatever I think it’s a game that attracts a lot of players and they seem to really enjoy it. I’m also conscious I might have needed to give it a bit more of a go. It was just very complicated for my liking and based on recent Instagram reels I suspect that continues to be the case. Without a suitable set of alternative rules to take my insurrectionists to I decided to send them somewhere where they might get a chance of a game (of course in exchange for some hobby funds).

A few years later I found myself persuaded to give another sci-fi system ago. It was pitched to me as being a bit Kings of War like. To me that means a straightforward enough game that I can get my head around the basic mechanics of in a couple of rounds, sufficient depth to keep me interested, and most importantly a faction I can be a little too excited about.

The first game I played certainly hit the first couple of must haves. I played a human military faction (not unlike Imperial Guard) and faced off against big bugs that may, or may not, be driven by some sort of hive brain. We played at 2,000 points which gave a decent amount of flavour in the armies across a lush jungle world with a reasonably generic take and hold scenario.

The outcome was a pretty quick and engaging game, and when I say quick, I don’t mean I was tabled in the first turn! All in all, it was a really enjoyable experience. I’ve since been wading through the various army lists and have been rewarded with a not unrecognisable force that a certain set of multi-limbed lovelies would feel at home with.

So, the inevitable question arises… would any wargamer, of sound mind and body, need any more of an excuse to start a new project?

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Fracture and the Basileans

There’s been a lot going on over the past couple of weeks. So much I’m not really sure what to talk about first. As well as the second Kings of War book dropping, I also took the rats off to The Pride of the Shires tournament and we’ve had a really great announcement from the UK Masters committee.

Things seem to be pretty lively in the Kings of War world at the moment, and I couldn’t be more excited. Tournaments are filling up, new players are joining and it all feels pretty positive. In the background I’ve been finding my way around my armies and wondering what the future is going to look like for the game. After a few months of speculation, a player survey and a lot of changing my mind about which army is going to Clash of Kings with me Fracture landed, and frankly I’m impressed.

For anyone who’s not familiar, Mantic issued basic army lists for the twenty or so Kings of War factions and are releasing expansion books where they build on the basic lists for up to 4 factions at a time. Invasion was the first release for Xirkali, Halflings, Salamanders and Trident Realms. Fracture glows up Nature, the Abyss, Basileans and Ogres. In addition to this there are a couple of pages of relatively minor updates (unless you play Orcs apparently, and I’ll cover the Ratkin bits in my next post). I also feel compelled to mention there are some nice Xirkali updates which made choosing a Champions boxset for my Clash XL bag a bit difficult.

The whole experience around the release has been pretty damn nice. First of all, the book arrived on time, it’s a small thing, but when I hand over money for a pre-order I like them to arrive when they’re expected. More importantly though the content of the book is absolutely fantastic. Mantic have done a great job of pulling together lavish artwork and beautiful photography, not to mention some great stories. In the past Kings of War background has been relatively thin on the ground (if you don’t read the novels) and easy to miss between gamer editions of rulebooks and the companion. Fracture picks up where Invasion left off and if Mantic keep this up I’ll be in for the rest of the edition.

From a Basileans point of view things are looking sweet. For a number of reasons, I’ve been underwhelmed by commands. However, if Basileans are an indication of things to come I can quickly find myself warming up to them. Firstly, of the 5 commands, 3 can be accessed on a 4+, making them reasonably reliable. Whilst many commentators have highlighted the 5+ command to get ogres flying around (yeap, you heard it hear fifth), I’m happy to see Cleanse come across from third edition giving Iron Resolve +1 and removing spell effects like frozen, or weakness.

The lingering influence of the Brothermark remains with 2 unique monster hunting units. Personally, I’m far too interested in the Order of the Abyssal Hunt, a cavalry horde has never looked more tempting! The fact it has Faithful as a trait is the cherry on top of a Paladin flavoured ice cream sundae that is only available in extra-large.

The arrival of Orion and Aestelle in the list was something I wasn’t expecting (their miniatures have been released in the Vault). These are characters from Mark Barber’s book series, and their profiles are massively fun. Orion looks like a solid character hunter, whilst Aestelle is a jack of all trades, and whilst she’s not inspiring her Iron Resolve Aura more than makes up for it in these resilient ranks.

The final point I wanted to highlight was Samacris’ ability to enhance a Phoenix to an Ancient Phoenix, allowing the blessed being Matyr’s prayer 5. What a way to heal things!

If every book hits this level, Kings has got a great future, and I’d like to raise a glass of something chilled and bubbly to all the play testing peeps who have worked with Mantic on this, and the future releases.

And what Champions box did I select for my XL ticket to Clash??? Well that’s for another day.

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More bases, scurriers and keeping the cold out

Living on the Ej is not only the title of the up-and-coming instalment of the annual Pride of The Shires tournament in the suitably green and leafy county of Oxford, it’s also how I’m feeling about getting the rats ready, possibly even finised.

My take on The Mother… I’m not a fan of the Firefight stuff

Progress has been made, a list has been written (and tested – kind of, well most of it has) and more and more units are getting their bases upgraded. I’m amazed at how much life the new aesthetic is breathing into the old collection. I’ve always enjoyed getting my rats on the table, but there’s nothing like the feeling of putting a brand-new army on the table for the first time, and I’m getting that vibe at the moment.

Cryza is back, Scud will be making an appearance and there are a couple of new units to add, a warrior regiment and a vermintide troop. I’m currently working on the bases for the rest of the infantry. At the moment it all seems pretty much in control, so because we can’t have that sort of behaviour I’ve decided to paint up a band new scurrier regiment. Obviously, this is a necessary use of time as I already have a regiment painted, and a troop. Long story short, whilst messing around with warrior paint schemes I came up with a bit of a ninja look which is frankly cool, so I figured doing a few more would be the best way to put unnecessary pressure on myself.

Last Sunday I took the rats out against the Northern Alliance and was really happy with their performance. We played Wrack and Ruin, arguably one of the more predictable scenarios to play (a 4:3 win to someone), and the rats managed to pull off the 4!

Over the past few games, where I’ve been messing around with weapons teams and clawshots, my lists have felt pretty underwhelming, without sufficient punch. With the new list I think I’m starting to hit the right balance between shooty stuff, hitty stuff and trash. I’ve also been avoiding taking Cryza because a new edition deserves at least a momentary departure from leaning too heavily into the same old stuff. My one concession is that I’ve not taken any wretch hordes, which have apparently become the scourge of the States, so at least I’m not jumping too heavily onto that particular bandwagon. I actually think warrior regiments are great chaff in an army that still requires big based units like shock troop hordes and tunnel runners to do the bulk of the fighting.

Of course, I’m sure you’re all wanting to hear how well the scurriers did? Well, they scouted forward before the game started, wavered some snow foxes in the first turn, put some wounds onto a tribal warrior regiment next, which enabled the mutant rat fiend to one shot them the next turn. They then finished the previously wavered foxes off in combat before lending their shooting to the death spewer tank to waver and then kill a frostclaw troop, all whilst holding onto the centre scoring point. Not bad for a couple of hours work.

All in all, things are looking pretty positive, and I’m looking forward to the next run out (this time of the full list) this coming Sunday.

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Fracture, bases and surveys: Kings of War hobby joy

I’d love to be one of those organised hobbyists (I’m certain they exist, if only to be the exceptions that prove the rule), the ones that can stick to a plan and see things through to the end regardless of everything going on around them. Since the start of the year, I don’t think I’ve played a game of Kings of War with a completed army (excepting the third edition tournament on the third of Jan).

Part of me thinks it would be nice to have stuck to one faction and now have a nice shiny army finished to march off to tournaments with and not leave me under any painting pressure ahead of Clash of Kings. I sometimes wonder if that self-applied pressure was to disappear if I’d enjoy it all quite as much? I don’t think I’d get any more painting done, which would probably see me move into negative painting territory, whatever that looks like.

Having dropped focus on the Kingdoms of Men for a bit, I’ve been doing a bit of rebasing on my rats, ahead of The Pride of The Shires in Banbury next month. Rats are going for two reasons, the first is that it’s 2,400 point (up from the traditional 2,300) and they have the extra units to play around with, secondly, I think I’m getting close enough to a reasonably fun build and want to try it out. I’m really chuffed with the way this is going, swapping out the darker bases for light ones seems to make the units pop a bit more. The new basing is also far easier to put together which will make me more enthusiastic about expanding the force! I’m particularly proud of the Hackpaws, they’re a great looking set of models and should be interesting on the table.

This month we’ve got some info about the new Fracture book. Obviously, the nature release is the big thing, but there’s sufficient Basilean news to make me excited about trying to get the forces of the Hegemony to the table as quickly as possible. I’m intrigued by an order that will supposedly help Basilea grab objectives, I genuinely hope that this is suitably reliable (activates on a 4+) to be a characterful component of the army. The far bigger question is which of the new warlord models I’m going to be taking out onto the table first. I really like the new Gneaus model and would love to build an army around him, so I can’t wait to see what he brings to the table.

How will the happy lion fit into this mob?

The final thing to mention is the survey, and what a survey it is! I’m really glad Mantic has chosen to ask the community to have their say. I quite like the design of it as it focuses on faction depth, inviting us to contribute ideas for new commands and new units, and finally gives a nice big free text section to give warts and all feedback. As someone who is really invested in my armies it was great to focus on them through the first set of questions. Mantic have done a great job with their Ratkin range (specifically the fantasy units, I’m not a fan of the Firefight models, but I can largely avoid using them), but the feel of the army has taken a massive step backwards moving into fourth edition so I’ve suggested a few commands that might help, and I made some suggestions on how Scurriers could find their place (something I spend far too much thinking about).

Whilst I’m enjoying the games I play, I’m not convinced fourth edition has anywhere near the depth of third edition because of changes to movement, line of sight and shooting. I think it’s one of those counter intuitive things where we might be able to do more, or see more, but the easing of restrictions reduces the challenges in the game. It would be fantastic to see the results of the survey published in some form as I’d love to have an indication of the direction of travel as Mantic see it. Has the feedback said that the vast majority of people love the game as is and they just need to tinker around with commands and points values, or is there some other areas they’ll be focusing on?

That’s it for now, as it’s back to basing.

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Old toys, new game: Getting ready for Clash of Kings

Occasionally Serendipity visits my hobby den, and even more occasionally I acknowledge she may have a great idea. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been trying to get my head around what I should take to Clash of Kings. I was hoping to take Basileans, but the timing of the new book landing is probably going to leave me with too little time to settle on what I want to do and get it all painted.

So, after a bit of back and forth between rats and Halflings, I’ve decided the time has arrived to give Kings of Men a whirl. I’m not aiming for any trophies, but I do want an army I’m going to feel comfortable playing for six games across two days. At the moment I’m not convinced I’m comfortable enough with the new edition to get an army on the table I’m both excited about and won’t get me tabled in most games, from my existing factions.

Clearly there is a way to go, but they’re ready for their first game.

Kingdoms of Men, or at least some sort of human faction that isn’t Basilea, has really appealed throughout third edition. The problem was the various different lists just didn’t seem to offer the right combinations of units to support the sort of army I really want to play. However, the new list hits all the right notes, what’s more the games I’ve played against Kingdoms of Men have convinced me that they have a really solid selection of units.

Excitingly this army is going to give me the opportunity to resurrect the first army I ever played, when I started rank and flank gaming, namely The Empire, all the way back in the fourth edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle (is that a sign of some sort?). Sadly, I don’t have the army to simply rebase. Happily, I have been picking up a few of my favourite models from back in the day, and the return of The Old World means it’s much easier to come by the rank-and-file troops. The cherry on top of all this is that since those days there have been a range of other cool Empire models which I can also add into the army, creating an aesthetic best of all world’s force.

Over the next couple of months I’m going to be sharing progress as I get ready for Clash and spend absolutely no time at all wondering if I shouldn’t be working on a completely different faction.

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Holy smoke: Mantic pre-launch new Basileans

With Fracture now confirmed for launch in the coming months and the Basileans confirmed alongside Ogres, the Forces of the Abyss and Nature, new models were expected. The cover photograph for this blog came from Mantic’s website and is frankly brilliant, showing the Basileans in a vibrant light with a real sense of drama.

The new models are now live and up for pre order, so let’s have a look. Basilea has a pretty full range of models currently and Nature is the big launch for the new book, so I wasn’t expecting a massive overhaul. That being said, a handful of the kits currently available are pretty old and not great to work with, so I was hoping at least one of the regimental kits would be refreshed.

The biggest thing I wanted from new models were Elohi, the angels of the army. These are a solid in most Basilean forces, the current kit is not fab, and the extent to which Mantic have improved their sculpts over the past few years means I think they could do a great job of reimaging them. The other unit I’d like to have seen with a new kit for are the Foot Paladins. With the new direction fourth edition is taking by putting infantry at the heart of the army building process, and the great job Mantic did with their mounted cousins, I think this could have been a real treat. Whilst they aren’t at the top of my list I know there are people out there that would love to see a Halfling style sisterhood kit (which I wouldn’t object to) and then there is the new cannon in the list.

This release though focuses on characters, and in particular warlords. We see the return of Gnaeus Sallustis (dude on the lion), an absolute beast of a unit in third edition and regular in many tournament lists, the Ur-Elohi finally gets a model and then the High Paladins (on foot and on dragon) get a glow up.

I was surprised to see Gnaeus appear. He wasn’t in the starter army list, which wasn’t the greatest surprise given the Pannithor timeline has moved on about fifty years, and I’m sure someone mentioned somewhere he was dead (I might be very wrong on this, so apologies if so). That being said, it’s great to see him revived and a bit beefier, whatever he’s been up to its clearly working for him!

The Ur-Elohi is an interesting model, and I think it might not be everyone’s cup of tea due to the cloud around the feet. It’s an interesting design element which I don’t think is replicated anywhere else in the army. Personally, I find it a bit Monty Pythonesque, in a good way, and I’m a fan. It would be great if he had some like-clouded Elohi to hang out with, but I’m more than happy with leading my forces.

The high paladins are both improvements on their current models and I’m looking forward to adding them to my collection. The dragon in particular is both imposing and dynamic and the £42.50 price point makes it a justifiable addition to any number of fantasy human armies. This release does raise an interesting question about the new army list structures. All these models (except Gneaus who currently isn’t in the lists) are warlord choices, which makes it difficult to fit more than a couple into an army. I’d love to be able to put the dragon, Ur-Elohi and Gneaus (which I think is reasonable to expect he will be a warlord) on the table, currently though the starting point for doing this means ten sword regiments!

Regardless of the rule stuff, I think this is a great release, and I’m looking forward to them arriving in July.

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Kings of War in Cardiff: a tournament report

The rats haven’t been to Cardiff since the 2021 Clash of Kings, my first Clash of Kings. It was a memorable weekend, not least because I got to play the fabulous Steve of Youtube Channel Death by Dragons for the first time. That game has since been immortalised on the aforementioned channel and is well worth a watch (it’s highly amusing and I sometimes give it a watch if I’m feeling a little down).

I decided to take my Ratkin, because with everything that’s going on it’s increasingly looking like I’m going to be using them for Clash of Kings this year. I’d been hoping to take Basileans, but with the timing of the new book, not to mention any new releases that might need painting, I don’t think I’ll have time to work out what I want in the army and get it all painted. That means it’s a toss up between rats and halflings, and we all know where my priorities are.

I’ve been finding it hard to adapt to the new edition in terms of army selection. I’m a heart over head gamer and fourth is a different edition that needs a different approach. I’ve been trying a close approximation of my old list, which relied on short range shooting, but the changes to shooting means it just doesn’t work. For this reason, I decided to give long-range shooting a try, bringing along some clawshots, adding in the ever-fabulous Blizzard Wizard and upping the scurriers from a troop to a regiment (because they have performed pretty well so far). The list looked like this:

The first game was against Salamanders, and the scenario was Loot. I’ve played this scenario three times in the last few weeks, and I have yet to go first. So, for the third time in a few weeks, I watched my opponent scoot up the board and grab the objectives in the first turn, and that was pretty much the last I saw of them for the rest of the game! However, this did not stop me from having a really enjoyable first game.

As a list writer, I’m pretty bad, regularly creating passion projects that aren’t killy and get killed far too easily. So, I focused on seeing what the rats could do damage wise, and I was pretty damn impressed. In the first couple of turns my combined shooting managed to get a fire elemental regiment up to devastated (unfortunately rolling a double one and allowing it to block up a warrior regiment and Shock Troop horde that I thought was never going to make it into the game).

The Scurriers played an absolute blinder, contributing heavily to the downfall of both fire elemental regiments and using feint to clear the path for my Shock Troops to join the fighting. I was really glad to have them on the roster for this game.

The fighting on both flanks was pretty ferocious, with the rats tearing through most of the units thrown at them on the left side. The middle of the board was difficult to navigate with two buildings creating a pinch point that the Salamanders made good use of to shelter from my shooting. On the right things didn’t go quite as well. Another devastated unit (this time the Rhinosaur Captain) prevented my Mutant Rat Fiend and Shock Troops from getting at the regiment of Tyrants. This felt a bit more impactful than the double one on the Fire Elements. However, despite the scenario outcome and the double ones I chalked this game up as a massive success. We both managed to make the same number of kills which gave me the confidence, that at the very least, I’d found an army that can take things down.

Game two saw the rats face Undead with the Control scenario. The undead army is an absolutely fantastic piece of conversion work built entirely from Mantic models. It’s always brilliant to see work like this on the table.

As we set up, I was starting to get a feel for how my army should work. As with the previous table there were two buildings in the middle of the table creating a pinch point (I would find in game three that this approach had been replicated on that table as well!). I set up with my long-range shooting aiming between the buildings whilst the shorter ranged units were further over on the left flank. The plan was to try and do as much damage to the undead emerging through the buildings, hold them up in the centre whilst my right flank swept round the back.

The first couple of turns things went according to plan. Vampires were shot up and a troop of ghouls was removed. Then the undead were upon us in the centre. Zombie trolls ploughed into spears whilst the wraiths took on the Shock Troops. Over the course of the next two turns rats overcame corpses thanks to some sneaky flank charges and it looked like the troops that had pushed forward through the gates were starting to run out.

On the left flank, things had gotten off to a slower start as the rats held back to stop a wight troop from getting into combat and blocking things up. I think my opponent would have been quite happy for my troops to sit where they were taking pot shots at the defence six unit, but after a couple of rounds even the resilient spirits were starting to fade. They launched a final desperate charge at the Scurriers who survived, before returning them to their rest. This then let my left flank move forward. Warriors and the Mutant Rat Fiend destroyed more ghouls whilst Shock Troops took on the Revenants. Zombies joined the combat, but the veteran rats held their ground, allowing the Fiend to get a flank charge on the brain munchers which wiped them out.

By this stage the rats had secured the whole of the left flank and were starting to rally in their central zone, until a fresh charge from the vampires (all of them) began a wave of slaughter that drove the rats back, denying them any chance of a win, but still leaving them with two areas secured.

Finally, the rats faced off against the Kings of Men, with a list that absolutely terrified me and a scenario (Raze) which felt so far out of my comfort zone I began considering whether I had any space left at home for another wooden spoon! With so many fast, hard-hitting units I was worried that my opponent would simply bulldozer his way into my half and burn through his objectives.

Ratkin shooting rang out for the third time that day routing some light cavalry and putting some wounds on the infantry regiments that would seek to hold the centre scoring token. I decided the best approach was to try and break up the army, so I wouldn’t have to deal with it all at once. In order to do this, I put a warrior regiment and the Mutant Rat Fiend on the far right of the table, to distract my opponent and give me a chance of grabbing an objective on the opposite side of the table. The monstrosity and its little cousins made their way up the side of the table, forcing their way through a troop of light cavalry and regiment of knights to grab some points.

On the left flank the Scurriers and another warrior regiment kept a regiment of beast cavalry penned in, whilst the rest of the army focused on dealing with the bulk of the humans in the middle of the table. Fortunately for me the buildings in the centre of the table forced the enemy to break their forces up into smaller groups, as they attempted to move around them. This gave me plenty of opportunities to hold them up with chaff before bringing in the big hitters to break down the beast cavalry. By the fourth turn the spear horde had secured the central objective and hope rose through the ranks of the rats.

From this point on the rats focused on holding the humans back. The Fiend charged to certain death amongst regiments of knights, whilst the clawshots abandoned their sniper positions and threw themselves at any enemy that presented itself, no matter how briefly. Their bravery stopped the Kingdoms of Men from reaching their objectives, or recapturing the central objective, giving them their first win.

Final thoughts

Overall, it was a massively enjoyable day. Despite finding challenges with list building, I’m really starting to enjoy fourth edition. I’m convinced I’m on the right track with rats, although there’s still a little way to go. Some people will be surprised to find out that I think the Scurriers are doing a pretty good job. They are absolutely owning the Jack of All Trades role. They might not have the best stat line, but they contributed in just about every turn in each game, so I’m looking forward to seeing them in action again.

I’m not convinced that either short- or long-range support shooting is as effective as it could be, so that will be where I make my next changes. I think I need a bit of speed to help with scenario play, and fortunately there are quite a few great options in the army list that I’m looking forward to testing out over the next couple of weeks in time for the next event. In fact, I already have the next iteration of my list in mind and at least a couple of games lined up to give it a try. So, all that remains is for me to thank the TO for a great day out in Wales and my opponents for some really fun games.

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Sheep and Shepherds: a Carcassonne expansion review

In February I optimistically said we were going to try to play and review one of the many Carcassonne expansion packs every month. I was, of course, hopelessly optimistic. Whilst I managed to secure a pack in March, finding time to sit down and play it was the usual kerfuffle… but we managed it last week, and now you’re reading the results.

Sheep and Shepherds adds a new game mechanic, in the form of a lovely lucky dip bag, and a new meeple, which is the Shepherd (although one of the team took to calling him Gandalf, and I will concede there is more than a passing likeness).

Not surprisingly Shepherds work in the fields and they herd sheep. The premise is simple, place your Shepherd and as you grow your field you can increase the size of your flock by drawing sheep counters from the lucky dip bag. Beware though, there are wolves in the bag, and if they get amongst the flock the sheep are lost. In addition to the sheep, there are also some Vineyard tiles which can increase scoring for Bishops and Monks, and geese that help the Shepherds up their points.

The team were a little despondent upon the first reading of the rules because this expansion requires players to use fields. For some reason fields have never really gone down particularly well, so we don’t play them very often. Personally, I find them harder to keep track of through the game and the thing I like most about Carcassonne is its simplicity, so it’s a little jarring experience wise.

However, once we got into the game things actually felt reasonably straight forward, and most of all fun. Lucky dip bags are a great risk and reward mechanic and the wolves definitely showed up for some players more than others. I would say the sheep were so entertaining we had to concentrate a bit more than usual to remember that the vineyards were also in play. The geese are a really nice tactical twist for players wanting to squeeze out as many points as possible from the new meeples.

Overall, it was a hit with the team and thoroughly enjoyed. But one of the things I want to do with this series is workout a bit of a top ten of expansions (there are more than that though), so eventually the question had to be asked… what was better – dragons or sheep?

The verdict was not unanimous. For one player the lucky dip mechanic took the win, they’re a big fan of that sort of game play (absolutely loving the Quacks of Quedlingberg for that reason). For two of us though, the Dragon wins – for me it’s because the Dragon is a little more predictable and I can make dragon growls as it stomps around the board. So, for now, at least, Dragons top the chart with the Sheep in a close second.

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