Finally, my first event of the year has come around, and it was all very exciting. I’m taking my Basileans to their first proper tournament after making a last-minute switch to rats at Christmas Carnage in December. So, let’s get into it.
Location, location, location
I headed down to High Wycombe, which meant a stop at the magical Reading Services on the way, and the event was held at the local games store Tabletop Republic. Venuewise, it was really easy to find, and there was loads of parking within a couple of minutes walk.
Some pretty buildings, shopping centres not pictured.
The store itself was clean and had good natural light, which is always nice. The town around it was very pleasant with a great range of food places. I opted for a quiet kebab at lunchtime covered in cheese sauce. What could go wrong?
The list
As with all the best tournament lists, I decided to make changes to the list I’ve been practicing with about a week before the event after a single game. So, I spent last week desperately painting a new regiment of mounted paladins and was really happy with how they came out. As a result, the list I took looked like:
A new knight regimentThe full force
Priest with Shroud of the Saint
Julius
High Paladin with Scythe of the Harvester
Phoenix
Mounted Paladin regiments (2) one with Caterpillar Potion and one with Sir Jesse’s Boots, both with Aegis Fragments
Elohi Regiment with Celestial Fury
Elohi Horde with Brew of Strength
Spear horde with Hammer of Measured Force
Gur Panther troop
How did the games go?
Game 1
Pillage, vs Elves, loss
My first game was against an Elf army that I’ve faced before, and that I have previously defeated, albeit in a lower point game. The army is a really nice mix of elite warriors and solid elf shooting which meant the pressure went on from turn one and didn’t let up at any point during the game. The biggest frustration for me was Julius getting held up by a troop of light cavalry for three turns as the rest of my army got battered. I’m not saying that having Julius available for more turns would have won me the game, but he is a significant amount of points that could have been more usefully deployed. Despite it all it was a fun game to start the event with.
The combined pressure of shooting and elite combat units took its toll
Game 2
Invade, vs Abyssal Dwarfs, loss
I would have been quite happy with this scenario and match up had the Abyssal Dwarf army not consisted entirely of cavalry and flyers. Since I’ve started playing Basileans I haven’t played another alpha strike list, and I did not cover myself in glory!
A poor set up, combined with some really revolutionary Elohi tactics, bearing in mind most revolutions fail, saw my Basileans swept away in short order. My approach to the game was diabolically bad, but sometimes you just do things wrong. Usefully my opponent asked me about the spearmen in my list, and what their role was. This has been a really useful challenge and has since got me thinking (watch this space).
A master class in how not to out alpha strike alpha strike armies
Game 3
Loot, vs League of Rhordia, win
This was my first game in 3rd edition against the League. It was a nice mixed arms force with a decent number of Halfings supporting, and structurally an army list I’m much more used to playing. All that meant the Basileans did what they do best, using their movement to stay out of the worst of the shooting and pick the combats they thought they had the best chances with.
An enjoyable game to finish the day off with
Final thoughts
As always, I had three fantastic opponents and three very relaxed games. It was an all-round enjoyable event, and I’m looking forward to attending more events around the South-East this year if I can find the time. I would definitely recommend this event to anyone thinking about playing in the South-East.
In terms of results, I’d say I was generally happy. I tend to pick armies based on units I like the look of and according to a loose narrative thread, which means they aren’t often as efficient as they could be. I find when I’m trying to build competitive lists its only when I start playing events with them I start to notice where the gaps are. My list has done well locally, so I’m not going to say it’s a bad list, but there are some improvements to be made. The first being the need to have a good think about whether the small amount of infantry I have are the best fit for the wider list.
So, with that, a final thank you to my opponents, the organisers, and of course all the friendly faces. Not sure how many times I should say this, but its still as true now as it was last year – its good to be back to face-to-face events.
The army is coming along nicely. With only seven models now with to do and a bunch of base related hobby it looks as though the Borthermark will be headed to the Throne of Ages at the end of February. I’m super excited. I might also get some updates into the King of Herts hobby campaign, but my approach to this army is proving… well… complicated.
Starting to look dangerously close to an actual army now.
I’m really enjoying this project because, whilst I hate painting cavalry, I’ve always loved the image of knights charging across a field. Let’s face it, it’s a pretty iconic sight and the Lord of the Rings films would never have made it past b-movie status if it wasn’t for the Riders of Rohan doing their thing. I mean there were no big charges in the first movie, then they add them into the next two – clearly this is pandering to the audience.
Cavalry is a really interesting proposition in Kings of War because whilst it can hit hard on the charge most units are not made for grinding, and there’s a whole host of cavalry traps that means a cavalry army is not a point and delete affair (although this can seem very player dependent at times!). The introduction of Scorched Earth is just the latest in a number of options people have to hinder the game’s hard(ish) hitters.
Cavalry armies are generally pretty elite, although the Halflings have opened up some interesting avenues to explore with loads of different light cavalry options. Cavalry rely of exploiting their speed and manoeuvrability to deliver multi charges, set up flank/rear charges and grab objectives. It’s an interesting way to play that requires a bit of thought, which is not so great for Sunday evening gaming, but rewarding when mastered (I’ve noticed this from watching my opponents immediately after I’ve been tabled by cavalry armies).
I’m having great fun so far pushing my brave knights down the flanks and crushing whatever is lurking down there under hoof, but that’s only part of the story. After that bit, its fair to say I’m having difficulty with my opponents’ centres – and that’s where I’m giving the games away.
So, I thought I’d dig into last night’s game and have a think about where I went wrong and the new initiate upgrade for Skirmishers. Last night I played a 2,300 point game against Steve’s Zombie Horde, there’s a link to the video battle report at the bottom of the page.
Spoiler alert – I lost. There was the obligatory inconveniently rolled double 1 that meant two regiments of Abyssal Hunt cavalry spent three turns essentially tied up with a legion of Zombies, but I’m not convinced that was what lost me the game.
Playing the scenario
We played push and my plan was to get my tokens into Steve’s half and then capture the central one, ignoring his tokens that were on a zombie troll horde in the centre of the table. The diagram below gives an idea of how I set up. And how the plan would be perfectly executed.
How the plan starts…The brave knight charge into the enemy…Destroy the flanks and turn on the survivors… that’s the plan
The theory was that I would crush the flanks and then ride around the back and up through the centre crushing skulls and taking tokens. It didn’t happen. What happened instead was my right flank got wiped out and my left flank took so long to chew through the zombies there wasn’t time to get at the central units with the tokens. The game ended looking more like this:
The Brothermark left flank achieves its first goal, but has no time to get the tokens. The right flank doesn’t manage anything.
So the question became – do I tear my list up and try something else – or do I try playing the list a different way?
Talking through the game last night it became apparent that the initiates, that I have two regiments of, may have held the key to a better outcome. The main reason for this being that they have nimble.
Nimble is an expensive ability in the game (check out the Wine of Elvenkind). It’s expensive because Kings of War is a movement game where manoeuvrability opens up so many opportunities from redeployment to flank/rear charges to last-minute objective grabbing. It also makes fast units much faster.
The best short-hand, to me, for the power of nimble in when a dragon moves 20 inches down the side of the table on the first turn, pivots 90 degrees and stares unnervingly down your flanks. It’s not the end of the world in itself, but it can certainly be a solid signal that its on its way if you don’t have a plan to deal with it.
My right flank consisted of 2 regiments of initiates, a dragon, a mounted chaplain and a regiment of Abyssal Hunt. All of these units, with the exception of the Abyssal Hunt, have nimble and move at least 16 inches on the march. That meant I could have brought a lot of troops over to the centre of the board by turn 2 that could have then started to contest the central token, leaving a token force to distract Steve’s shambling troops on my right in the hope of the undead maybe joining the game in a meaningful way in turn 8.
Sending a regiment of Initiates or two, and the dragon, off to hit the central token carriers would have been a lot more useful than doing what I actually did! Hindsight is a beautiful thing.
To add to the nimble, initiates have a nice combination of speed 9, 3+ melee and 14 attacks. That means they should be able to deliver quite a decent number of attacks to where they’re required quickly. I’ve added the Caterpillar potion to one regiment because I think it compliments nimble well, especially for redeployment moves where the double move/single turn is generally preferable to the single move/double turn option which woods and rough ground can force without pathfinder.
There’s obviously a whole lot more to nimble than just a chance to redeploy – there’s also a lot more to the initiates when you add in a chaplain – so I’m looking forward to exploring the opportunities all this presents. I’m hoping having a couple of reasonable combat regiments with nimble will makes it easier to get to grips with, just by virtue of the fact that more units with it should allow more opportunity to use it.
Ideally, I’d like to get to a position where I feel that I could get the full 40 points worth of value out of the Wine of Elvenkind, I’m sure the Order of the Abyssal Hunt wouldn’t mind a pre-game dram. At the moment though it just feels far too “situational” and without the confidence to make those situations happen virtually any item feels like it currently offers more value.
So for now the army list is staying as it is. I have three games lined up before the tournament with the next one being against ogres, which is where the knights should absolutely shine. We’ll see shall we?
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Battle Report link – my Brothermark face off against the Lazy Pirate’s zombie legions.
Brothermark 2,300 army list
Villein Penitent regiment
Order of the Abyssal Hunt regiments (3 with Brew of Sharpness, Brew of Strength, Sir Jesse’s Boots)
Villein Skirmishers troop (2)
Initiates of the Brothermark regiments (2, 1 with Caterpillar Potion)
Exampler Paladin, mounted with Scythe of the Harvester, Gauntlet
Exampler Chaplain, mounted with Inspiring Talisman, Aura of Fury
Exampler Hunter, mounted with Blade of the Beast Slayer, Gauntlet
War Wizard, mounted with Lightening Bolt and Curse Shadowbeast
The vision was hazy. There was panic. There were horsemen.
The vision cleared.
They would die by their hands if they did not run.
If they ran the horses and spears would bear down on them, blades and hooves slicked with their own blood.
The vision was gone.
The thunderseers watched with the confidence that only those who have already seen their victory will ever know, as the lone knight raised his axe and spurred his horse into a gallop towards them. They would survive.
They watched with contempt as his horned helmet lowered. Fool, they thought as one.
Clods of earth flew from the ground as the rider sped towards them. Tulgurt, the largest of the thunderseers, pushed to the front of their ranks. The great cyclops raised his hammers above his head and let loose a mighty bellow of defiance, naming himself as the champion who would swat this fly aside, so that the seers might prepare for the fight to come. The fight that would see them confront their visions.
Tulgurt found it hard to believe that this upstart had the temerity to ride alone against him and his brothers. He would have seen it as an insult had he not found the sterility of the rider strangely distracting. The knight’s face was hidden by a helmet that closed the window to the rider’s humanity, stopping Tulgurt from seeing the uncertainty and fear that lived in the hearts of the rider’s feeble race. Tulgurt also noticed the rider wore a simple white surcoat and shield, strangely uncluttered by the usual boasts of heraldry that so many men clung to in the face of their own deaths. Something about it unnerved the cyclops.
There were the horns though. Tulgurt allowed himself a brief smile at the horns that had been stuck onto the helmet. They broke the illusion the rider had clearly tried hard to create. The illusion that the knight was somehow above the vanity of lesser men, somehow purer. Somehow better. Tulgurt’s smile became a great roar of laughter. This was just a man, and like every other man he had crushed under foot so this one would fall as well.
He looked again at the horns, smiling, readying his weapons.
The rider was now closer, axe still raised, horse charging directly towards him, but the horns seemed to have grown. Tulgurt looked again. They were longer, sharper, but more than that they no longer looked like decoration stuck onto the helmet. It was as though they grew from it. The helmet itself had changed. No longer a shield to hide the rider’s humanity behind, it had fused with his face and the resulting mess of flesh, bone, and metal exposed and amplified the rider’s rage and fury. There was no humanity, no weakness, only the certainty of violence and death. The rider began to bark threats and challenges, not only to Tulgurt and his brothers, but also to the world. The rider demanded Garkan himself take to the field or be proven a coward for twice the length of eternity.
Panic ignited in Tulgurt and the seer lashed out with his hammers, but the blows fell too soon. They arched down and the horse danced to the right leaving them with nothing to hit, until they thudded into the ground. This brought Tulgurt’s head down. His single precious eye was now at the rider’s shoulder height. The rider raised a corner of their shield as the horse carried on past the cyclops allowing the rider to drive the shield home into Tulgurt’s face, blinding him and flipping him over with the force of the charge. The axe that had been raised dropped down by the rider’s side before arching up into the chin of another of the seers.
Confusion spread quickly through the ranks of the cyclops as the rider lashed out with axe and shield making of each a weapon equalled only by the other. Monster fell upon monster as screams, as much of bestial delight as anguish and pain, filled the air.
On a nearby rise the initiates held their horses steady, spears ready. The paladin leading them watched the hunter through the slits of his helmet. The example had been set. He raised his sword, barked an order and the horses started to canter forward.
Christina Henry tells a new tale of terror set in the village of Sleepy Hollow.
Who’s thewriter?
Christina Henry is a best-selling horror writer who draws inspiration from well-known stories and crafts them into new tales of terror.
What’s it about?
Tales of witchcraft and evil spirits abound in Sleepy Hollow. They always have, but now the village that seems stuck in its ways, where outsiders are rarely seen, finds itself in the grip of a wave of killings.
At the centre of the tale is Ben Van Brunt. Ben’s parents died when Ben was a baby. Ben now lives with grandparents who are wealthy landowners. Born a girl Ben identifies as a boy and must navigate the challenges this throws up in his relationships, particularly with his grandmother, whilst avoiding unwanted attention.
As Ben seeks to find out just what is causing the deaths of children in the village, he starts to uncover more and more about his own family history, including their relationship with the horseman, who has not been seen for some 20 years or more. Has the horseman returned, or is there something else out there?
Is it any good?
Absolutely. Christina Henry has a knack for taking a well-known story and then asking the question “What happened next?” or “What happened before?” or “What would happen if?”. She has shown off this talent previously in titles like Lost Boys and Alice. Horseman is yet another example of her ability to draw the reader into her dark visions and keep us nervously guessing about what wicked creature will come our way next.
“Plans never survive contact with real life.” were the words of wisdom from my first opponent delivered as my knights (at least what there is of them at the moment) charged into action.
He was right, of course, although the plan was pretty… erm… unique? However, at this stage in the project (yeap a whole week or so in) it’s obviously not really about the winning! It’s about trying to work out what works for me so that maybe, in the far-flung future the Knights of the Order of the Sparce Base (working title) might eek out a victory. So, what have the first couple of games taught me?
Army progress is happening, its just all a bit functional at the moment.
Game 1: Orcs
My first list was always intended to just throw a load of stuff on the table and see what, or how, they worked. The first game was a 2,000 point game of Loot against Orcs. It was quite a dramatic loss, 3:0 to the green dudes, and the list looked like this:
Villain Penitent Horde
Monster Slayer Paladin regiments (2)
Priest
Order of the Abyssal Hunt regiments (2) – one with Sharpness, one with Caterpillar
Villain Skirmishers troops (2)
Regiment of Initiates of the Brothermark
Exemplar Hunter – mounted, the Gauntlet, Gnome Glass Shield
Exemplar Chaplain – mounted, aura of Fury, Inspiring Talisman
High Paladin on Dragon
I think I over thought the tactics a bit and, for reasons I can no longer articulate, put the infantry on a flank and the cavalry in the centre. The Orcs were in their element and stomped all over my lovely clean MDF bases, however, despite this there were some helpful learnings to be had about the units I was using. Most importantly I had a bit of an epiphany about the sort of army I wanted to take and decided, having painted up lots of infantry, to focus on the cavalry. So, with that decision taken I started overhauling the list for my next game against Riftforged Orcs.
Good job I got these guys done.
Game 2: Riftforged Orcs
I was quite excited about playing the newest addition to Panithor, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. They are still Orcs in their hearts and those big infantry hordes just scare the hell out of me, taking them out is currently number one on my list of things to get used to doing. We played Dominate at 2,000 points.
This was a much closer game where a couple of fluffed nerve rolls by a regiment of knights on a regiment of Legionnaires (can’t remember what type) really became the difference between a win and a loss. So, what was the list?
Villain Penitent Regiment
Order of the Abyssal Hunt regiments (2) – one with Sharpness, one with Jesse’s Boots
Villain Skirmishers troops (2)
Regiments of Initiates of the Brothermark (2) – one with Caterpillar
Exemplar Hunter – mounted, the Gauntlet, The Blade of Beast Slaying
Exemplar Chaplain – mounted, aura of Fury
Exemplar Paladin – mounted, The Scythe of the Harvester
War Wizard – mounted, lightning bolt, Host Shadowbeast
High Paladin on Dragon
Overall, I was really pleased with the way the list played and this is the list that I’ll be aiming to take to my first tournament of 2022, and will serve as the base for my 2,300 list.
But why this list?
When I look at the Brothermark army list as a whole I think there are some really great units and options to draw on. The Northern Kings review of the Clash of Kings 2022 changes talk about these with far more eloquence, experience and competence than I ever could, so if you’re considering a Brothermark army I would massively recommend their Youtube video as a starting place.
Infantry vs Cavalry
The big change between the first and second list was dropping the infantry. That’s not a comment on the infantry, but much more a comment on the direction I want to take. As an on off Basilean player the Monster Slayer Paladins are very similar to Foot Paladins. They are undoubtedly solid troops, but ones that I’ve always felt need to have a bane chant around for, or in the case of the Slayers some rallying if you go for the Crush 1 option that lowers defence from 5 to 4. It’s probably worth remembering that Brothermark do have the option to get characters that will offer Rally 2 to these troops, but that’s expensive points wise. The point for me is to really make the most of these guys some support is required, and put simply, I want to spend points on horseys. That really meant just getting rid of the infantry, but I do think there’s some really good infantry builds which I would love to explore in the future. I just need to get excited about painting legions.
The Cavalry
I think there is a great selection of cavalry, with my favourites being the Initiates. To me they make this army work by filling a dual role of reliable support for the heavy hitters and as all important chaff. Having used Hackpaws a lot with my Ratkin I know just how irritating, and survivable, a move 9, nimble unit can be. Having melee 3 makes them more reliable in combat than the Hackpaws which is mightily welcome.
I don’t think there’s much to be said about the other cavalry options simply because they really do exactly what they say on the tin. However, what I think is really important to remember is the precarious nature of cavalry due to their thunderous charge, and the impact of terrain and phalanx. Even the Order of the Abyssal Hunt suffer from being hindered, especially against defence 5 units. So, it’s also important to watch out for the Scorched Earth spell, which can caused real problems (and did in the second game), even for the Abyssal Hunt when they’ve taken their Brew of Sharpness.
The Individuals
I love individuals in Kings of War. I think they add a really interesting dimension to the game, and the Brothermark individuals are no different. In the second list I beefed up my individual count with an Exemplar Paladin and a Wizard with Host Shadow Beast. Taking individuals does eat into the points for scoring units, so in some way it feels slightly counter intuitive. However, the Brothermark lack any fast moving units with a 40mm or 50mm base, think Breast of Nature or Lord on Frostfang. These models, not only score, but also provide really useful support by being able to fit into small gaps to help win combats, and creating awkward threats through side and rear charges.
Brothermark don’t have access to anything that really fills this role so the view I have is that individuals are really important to the Brothermark as a way of doing the same thing. Fortunately, in the Exemplars there are some really useful tools, but they need looking after, at least for the first few turns of the game. Of course there are pros and cons. They’re a lot more flexible in terms of directing their charges and can fit into even smaller spaces, but they don’t score and don’t benefit from the increased attacks to flanks and rears. On the plus side though, as they don’t score it does make some decisions easier where its a decision about potentially losing troops or an individual.
The Paladin is a pretty standard character, so no need to dwell on him.
The Chaplain has his obvious uses, and I think the Fury aura remains as important for a mounted Chaplain as it does for an unmounted one. One of the biggest issues I have with Hackpaw regiments is not their capacity to survive a couple of rounds of combat (because they will if it’s the right combat, in the right place), but the likelihood of them being wavered and not doing anything in the second round (I’m going to estimate this happens about 50% of the time). The Fury aura solves this problem which I expect to regularly encounter with my villeins (and have already in the game against the Riftforged Orcs).
The Hunter is probably the most challenging of them to use well, and its early days. In my first game I made the mistake of using him to hold up units, but you’re not spending loads of points for him to do that, as his profile suggests. A combination of his nerve and a lack of waver mitigation meant he got wavered and then got killed, even with the Gnome Glass Shield. My view is that this guy is all about combat support, and so I’ve tried to tool him up to do this role to the best of his abilities. I think the Gauntlet also makes sense as this gives him two more specific groups of units to target. In a way I think this, and the Slayer enhancement, make up for not having attack increments for flanks and rears. The challenge for me is that he really needs to be able to hit things without being hit back. That means thinking about the fights you put him into, such as putting him into a combat on a different side to which a target unit is already under attack. This also reduces the risk from over run.
The Wiz was a much-needed addition. A little bit of missile power can go a long way. He’s already done me proud with some rewarding end of game lightning bolt action, but I think Host Shadow Beast will go a long way with this army. I went for the eight dice version because that’s what I had points for. When I first chose it, I had the Hunter very much in mind to be the recipient of its benefit, and it certainly proved useful on the Wiz’s first outing, even without a massively spiked roll (I think on average I rolled 3 additional attacks). Its true that with Crushing 2 as opposed to Crushing 1 on the other Exemplars the Hunter will deliver the greatest value, but because all Exemplars have melee 3 and Elite they are all reasonable targets for the spell. This is also appealing so it doesn’t become an eggs in one basket situation where the only other target, if the Hunter meets with an untimely demise, is a banner bearer on foot with a magical lute.
Final thoughts
All in all, the first couple of games have been massive learning curves, albeit highly enjoyable learning curves. I’m not doing much in the way of battle reports at the moment because, well you’ve seen the state of the army. But I’m hoping it won’t be long before I get a bit more flesh on the bones.
The Brothermark appeared as a theme list for Basilea in third edition, just as I had started to build my Basilean army. At the time of building the army its fair to say the Basileans and I weren’t getting along for various reasons and the Brothermark list looked like a way of fixing that, so I started to play around with possible lists.
It didn’t really come to anything, because as much as I liked the idea of a knight army supported by some angry villeins and interesting characters, the lists I put together never quite finished up like that. I found myself seeing the Brothermark list more as an alternative Basilean list that allowed the option of tooled up mounted paladins instead of angels, which didn’t massively appeal.
The biggest smallest winner?
When COK 2022 landed I was absolutely amazed by what had been done to the Brothermark. COK 2022 has given so many more units a chance of getting to the table, but in the case of Brothermark I think it’s given the whole army an improved chance. On that basis I think its probably the army that’s benefited the most from the changes.
The best things in life are often the smallest and making Villein Penitents regular was probably the best change that could have happened to this army in my view. It gives it a really characterful, not to mention, cheap unlock. And this is really the key for me to wanting to play this force.
Making penitents regular and the addition of Augustus were my favourite changes.
Choosing the look
I normally try to include as much Mantic stuff as a I can in a Kings of War army, but there are quite a few holes in their ranges when it comes to supporting the Brothermark. I know its possible to convert, and much finer hobbyists than me have done so, but I just want something a little more straight-forward. So I opted to make the main body of the army from Fireforge Tuetonic Knights, Mounted Sergeants and Tuetonic Infantry.
They have a great range of plastics and some nice resin character models as well. I was particularly impressed with the “special bits” sprue in the infantry box that had some cloaks with wolf pelts that will help deliver a bit of monster hunting je ne sais quoi.
Fireforge Tuetonic Infantry sprues, including the special bits one.
There are options in Fireforge’s wider range to cover off the villein infantry, however, after a bit of thought I decided to try out some Oathmark human warriors. I’m glad I did. The models are great quality for a box of 30 for £25. They have loads of options but retain a beautiful simplicity. What’s best though, is that all the options allow me to use them, not only to throw together some penitents, but also for archers and men-at-arms. There are also a number of character models that will happily cover off wizards and exemplars. The only option the set doesn’t provide is for are crossbows, but if I really feel the need the Tuetonic infantry set can provide those.
The Oathmark Human sprue, simple, but with so many of options.
Aims, timeframes and next steps
As I write I’m currently umming and ahhhing over army lists ahead of my first game using the single-model-blue-tacked-to-a-base school of Kings of Warring. The plan is though that this year Brotherhood will be my tournament army (until I get cold feet and go back to rats). On that basis, I’m aiming to have a full 2k ready to go for the end of Feb for their first outing, which also makes choosing army mainly clothed in two colours (metal and dirty linen) appealing. Despite that it still suddenly feels like a tall order!
So, I think we can all agree that 2021 was a thing, in the same way that 2022 is likely to be a thing, because of wassit’s name. One of the impacts of living in such surreal times are the benefits I find in wargaming and community that supports it.
I’m sure many of us have stories to tell about how helpful online hobby sessions have been to get us through the lockdowns, and then how great it is when we manage to escape for a game and a catch up. My club, the Bristol Bigguns, have been absolutely brilliant. So, as we perch on the entry step to what is likely to be another precarious year, I want to say a massive thank you to my club mates and the wargaming community in general for just being fab in what are truly unfab times.
So, without further ado, let’s get on with looking at my top 5 highlights from the last twelve months:
5 – Face to face gaming
It was so good to get back to gaming this year. Quite apart from the fact I had loads of newly painted stuff for my opponents to remove from the table, it was also nice to get out and about to some of the UK’s premiere locations. I also want to give a shout out to my club, The Bristol Bigguns and Steve Evans for some fun games and enjoyable journeys. Looking forward to more off the same in 2022.
This is really short-hand for anything by Northumbrian Tin Soldier. Especially Giant Toad Knights. I fell in love with these models pretty much instantly and trying to find something to play with them led me to giving Frostgrave and Saga a go. They are awesomely fun games, with some great gaming groups in Bristol, that I’m looking forward to playing more of in 2022.
3 – Rats, by Mantic
Just some of the army I painted throughout the year – the most surprising addition being the display board.
Warbands are quick and easy to paint, and great fun to play with.
I love a good campaign and this year I managed to squeeze in three of them. Stargrave, Frostgrave and Burrows and Badgers. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of watching a band of plucky heroes developing their own narrative.
The various teams of Kings of War rules creating types have been labouring hard this year to really create something special. Clash of Kings sees every army getting some tinkering with to get neglected units (and armies) more table time. In true Kings style this means giving generals more balanced options, rather than making a bunch of super overpowered hotness that just makes previous army favourites redundant. Most of all though it means I can finally go all in on that Brothermark army I’ve been umming and aahing about since the 3rd edition rules arrived.
With that out the way let’s move on to my favourite models of the year.
This year has seen another awesome collection of models appear on the shelves and some have made it to my painting table. One or two have even made it as far as the finished pile. So, what have been my favs?
By the way, I should probably point out that these models aren’t necessarily new in the shops in 2021, but they hit my painting table in 2021.
Bad Squiddo
Part of a fantastic range, my new year resolution is to paint 3 Bad Squiddo minis in 2022.
Last year I painted one of Annie’s fabulous dwarfs and said I must paint more, so this year I got around to painting two! My favourite was this lovely amazon, who is now a wizard in my Basilean army for Kings of War. Bad Squiddo’s miniature range is fantastic, and service incredibly friendly and efficient. This year I probably need to make some kind of aspiration to paint a few more that are in the to do pile, if only there was a word for that!
Oathsworn
Just fab.
Burrows and Badgers occupies a very special place in my heart. Run by a small company that seem to pretty much excel at every aspect of making a wargame this fox from their Dark, Devout and Heroic kickstarter is yet another example of the great models they produce and my questionable painting.
Mantic
Mantic excelled themselves on this range.
So many cool things have come out of Mantic this year, Rats, Salamanders, Halflings, Orcs on Manticores (because Orcs need encouragement). If I were a rich man I’d be working on about half a dozen new armies at the moment. My favourite model of this year has to be their Brute Enforcer.
Northumbrian Tin Soldier
There are no other words.
Giant Toad Knights. I think this speaks for itself.
So that’s it for 2021. It’s done. So, what are the plans for 2022?
Well, that would be telling. But I would love to hear any thoughts in the comments below about things you might want to see in the blog. Let me know.
And, you’re still reading why not give us a like and a follow!
After a pretty hectic year I thought it would be nice to do one final battle report, and since its Christmas/New Year I thought I’d take a list that, for me, was pretty unusual. My Ratkin list was structured around the medium range shooting game where rats really excel. As this was quite an experimental list, I decided to give the newly enhanced Scurriers a run out and some new magic, in the for of the Alchemist’s Curse. I also wanted to try out Shock Troop regiments as I’ve seen them appearing in some well placed rat lists and am generally intrigued – maybe this alternative approach to shocks will stop a horde with sharpness appearing in every list I write?
Points: 2,300
Scenario: Dominate
Armies
Ratkin
1 – Warlock with Knowledgeable and Alchemist Curse
B – Broad Mother with Ranged Attack
Ta – Tangle
Sc – Scud
T – Weapons Teams (2)
TW – Tunnel Runners with Brew of Sharpness
Vt – Vermintide Regiments (2)
Nm – Nightmare Horde with Blessing of the Gods
Hp – Hackpaw Troop
Sc1 – Scurrier Regiment with Blade of Slashing
ST – Shock Troop Regiments (2) both with Plague Pots
Warrior – Warrior Horde with Plague Pots
Undead
1 – Necromancers with Bane Chant (2)
2 – Cursed Pharaoh
3 – Undead Army Standard Bearer
L – Lykanis
B – Balefire Catapults (2)
Wi – Wight Horde with Hanns Sanguinary Scripture
Ww – Werewolf Horde with Chant of Hate
SB – Skeleton Archer Regiment
Mu – Mummy Regiment
Wr – Wraith Regiment
Rev – Revenant Horde with Brew of Strength
Spears – Skeleton Spearmen Horde with Brew of Sharpness
SW – Skeleton Warrior Regiment
If you do the maths the Undead list is a few points short where I’ve left out some items, but the main troops involved are all included.
TerrainDeployment
The golden sands stretched out as far as the eye could see, with only the occasional clump of palm trees to break up the otherwise featureless landscape. Warlock Trigzered of the Fyrefur Clan stood in silent contemplation, his eyes twitching nervously between a piece of parchment and a non-descript area of sand.
“You’re lost.” Broodmother Chalax scolded.
“Am not.” the warlock replied, although he was pretty sure he was, and if he wasn’t he had no idea where he was meant to be.
“So where is it then?” Chalax asked.
“Well…” Trigzered replied.
“Well?” Chalax pressed.
“Well… we dig.” Trigzered said confidently, knowing that this would buy him some time to work out where they were and which way they should actually be going.
“This better not be another one of your wide rat chases.” Chalanx replied looking suspiciously at the warlock, whilst trying to catch a glimpse of the parchment which she could have sworn was blank.
Before she could issue orders to the ratkin host to begin digging three figures appeared in the distance. They walked slowly towards the rat lines, sand starting to whip up around them. A ragged creature, swathed in soiled bandages, taller than the emaciated men that walked on either side of it wore a tall crown of golden serpents that writhed and hissed. The creature raised its arms and a sandstorm exploded up and out throwing tiny, sharp pieces of grit and sand, cut with a piercing blue light over the entire area forcing the rat warriors to raise their shields in a vain attempt to prevent the sand getting into their eyes and nostrils.
Trigzered and Chalax watched in silence as bleach boned skeletons, and a host of other warriors, a long time lost to the world, rose from the desert and started to shamble towards the ratkin. A catapult in the centre of the undead lines launched a pot of flaming oil that crashed into a regiment of shock troops nearby to Chalax as werewolves ran from a distant hill howling and hungry.
Turn 1
The undead took the first turn and started to shamble forward. The catapult in the centre scored a hit on the Shock Troop regiment at the end of the ratkin line, wavering them. Fortunately, the regiment was out of sight of the second catapult on the hill which had turned in an attempt find something to shoot at.
The rats crept forward whilst the wavered Shock Troop regiment turned to face the werewolves lopping towards the crop of palm trees to their right and a Vermintide regiment moved in front of them. The Broodmother then cast Drain Life, using Eat the Weak, on the Vermintide to restore some of the Shock Troop’s damage.
On the ratkin’s left flank Scud flew forward and, in unison with the warlock, released lightening bolts at the Wights on the end of the undead line.
End of turn 1
Turn 2
The undead continued their slow advance, the catapults once again firing, but this time failing to hit anything.
The rat’s left flank started to push forward with the Hackpaws and Vermintide ranging forward to provoke a response from the silent warriors in front of them, whilst the rat lines opened to allow the Scurriers forward to shoot at the skeleton spears. Finally Scud and the Warlock again launched lightening at the Wights, continuing to chip away at them.
End of turn 2
Turn 3
The undead finally broke ranks in an attempt to close with the rats. The Wights charged forward into the Hackpaws sending them scattering and the Wraiths charged the Shock Troop regiment in the woods wavering them. The Pharaoh also charged into some Vermintide, but failed to remove them this turn.
In response to the removal of the Hackpaws the Nightmares, Weapons Team and Warlock opened fire on the Wights killing them. The undead had exposed two flanks that the rats could not resist. The Tunnel Runners swept down the hill and wiped out the Wraiths whilst Scud ploughed into the side of the Mummies returning them to the sand. Finally, with the Werewolves disappearing around the back of the woods the Vermintide on the right flank charged into the Revenant horde, but failed to do any damage.
End of turn 3
Turn 4
The Skeleton Spears turned to face Scud and the Werewolves emerged from behind the woods to threaten the rat’s right flank. The Revenants destroyed the Vermintide and the Skeleton regiments continued to move up. In an act of defiance the Pharaoh turned and charged Scud in the flank, hurting him and stopping him from flying, but not doing sufficient damage to stop his rampage.
There was a kerfuffle in the rat ranks as the Scurriers moved forward to allow the Shock Troops to turn to get out of the way of the Tunnel Runners, allowing them to charge the Skeleton Spears with Scud. Despite the Tunnel Runners being hindered and Scud being impacted by Phalanx, damage already done by the Scurrier’s shooting meant the skeletons quickly collapsed.
End of turn 4
Turn 5
The Revenants turned before being surged into the Tunnel Runners. Despite their best attempt Scud’s presence stopped the rat chariots from fleeing. The Werewolves charged the Shock Troops on the left flank easily wiping them out, despite the original damage from the catapult all being healed by the Brood Mother. The Pharaoh switched its attention to the Warlock, unexcited about being a potential target for the Alchemist’s Curse.
Scud and the Scurriers joined the Tunnel Runners in their fight against the Revenants driving the unit from the field. The Warrior horde charged into the Skeleton Warriors whilst the units at the back of the field ordered themselves to prevent the Werewolves from running riot in the final turn. The Tangle charged the horde, but failed to do any damage whilst the remaining Shock Troops dropped their plague pots to reduce their appeal as a potential target to the Lycan.
End of turn 5
At this point we decided to call the game as the Undead had lost their main scoring units and would have been unlikely to pull the game back even with a seventh turn.
Final Thoughts
This was a really relaxed game which was exactly what I was looking for to try out new units. With the benefits of hindsight both the undead player and I would have done things differently, that being said I would definitely take this army list again.
One of the things I was really glad about was the werewolves deciding to hang back behind the woods until turn 5. This was a pretty big deal because had they pressed their attack sooner they would have easily overwhelmed the Shock Troop Regiment on the right flank and quickly got into the warriors, which would have put one of my big scoring units in danger.
That’s not to say I didn’t think very much of the Shock Troop regiments. Quite the opposite. With the Tangle and Brood Mother they were incredibly resilient, but by splitting the two regiments it meant the Tangle had to chase between them rather than supporting them both at the same time. If I had placed these units in the middle of the line with the Warriors and Vermintide as flank buffers they would have been far better placed to respond to the Werewolves even if the wolves had started to attack in turn 2 or 3.
I was pleasantly surprised with the Scurriers. They happily plinked away at anything that was in range, and although their only charge was hindered the melee 3 meant they still hit on 4s when they got into the Revenants. I certainly didn’t help them by hiding them behind the lines for the first turn. Whilst they are expensive I can’t help but thinking that Fire Oil would be great little extra for these guys. Yes, its situational, but it would certainly have created an interesting option for dealing with mummies, let alone Pharaohs. I really didn’t use these guys as well as I could have, and some helpful feedback from the rat FB group has given me some useful titbits on how to get a bit more out of them.
So I guess all that’s left to say is that I hope you had a fab Christmas and best wishes for the new year.
I’m a bit of a hobby butterfly and over the last few months I’ve built up quite an array of partially finished projects. Having quite so many different things on the go has made it hard to decide what project to focus on and when. So I thought I’d give the 30 day challenge a go to see if I could scratch the surface.
The rules
The 30 day challenge is very simple. Paint for 30 minutes a day for 30 days. However, I decided to add in some extra rules to help me meet my particular goals of moving multiple projects forward. To that end the extra rules I added in were:
1 – Have at least one model from each project on the table at any time – but no more than five
2 – Add paint to each model every session – no matter how little
What to focus on?
The models will come from the following projects:
Ratkin expansion – Mantic – Earlier in the year I completed a 2,300 point fully Mantic Ratkin army. I now want to add in some additional units to give me some more options for gaming.
Heroic Kickstarter – Burrows and Badgers – This year’s kickstarter was too good not to go all in. At around 30 models it’s far from an overnight job. I’ve finished the Devout group and now I want to make some headway with the Heroes.
Northumbrian Tin Soldier joy – I’m a big fan of NTS so really just want to keep on top of my pile.
Stormcast Eternals – Games Workshop – I’m slowly working through my first 1,000 point army so any advances are welcome.
How did it go?
My first ever video, so please excuse everything!Not bad for half and hour a day.
I have to admit I was really impressed just how much I got through in what felt like quite a small amount of time. With a new year, and no doubt new projects, on the way I’ll definitely use this approach again to hammer through my WIP box and would recommend it to anyone.
On Saturday I headed down to the local games store for my last event of the year, the perennial Christmas Carnage. Being on home ground, as it were, it was good to have some extra club representation. Not only was Steve Evans playing his Empire of Dust, but another club mate made his debut tournament performance with his Orcs.
The venue was Bristol Independent Gaming, which moved to new premises in September this year. Whilst packed lunches were the order of the day the venue is a definite improvement on the previous warehouse which was a tad on the cold side (the dress code at this time of year used to be hot water bottles and thermals).
For a full event experience, I decided to go sans packed lunch to see what could be scavenged and ended up with a Beef and Tomato Pot Noddle for lunch, an oddly nice blast from the past. Fortunately, there seemed to be a near never ending supply of mince pies on hand which more than made up for the foamy noodle experience.
As expected, the event was well organised by Matt James, who was sadly absent from the event, which meant Nick Oftime stepped into the TO shoes and did a damn good job. Hats off to you both.
A handful of the great armies on display.
Presents
Because it’s crimbo time there were presents in abundance. The marvellous Moonrakers were in attendance with Andy’s massive display board and a box of treats for every player, rivalled only by those provided by Matt. I was massively excited to receive what can only be described as a popular best seller that no home should be without, and a book about Warhammer. I’m hoping no-one will be offended if I regift. Can’t wait to see my wife’s face on Christmas morning. Priceless.
A must have best seller and a Warhammer book.
Order of the day
The programme for the day was… eerm… ambitious. Four 2,300 point games, 50 mins each side (a ten minute reduction on the time allowed for Clash of Kings games). Wow. It definitely impacted my army choice. I had been thinking about playing Basilieans, but they’re still a relatively new army for me and completely different to my rats. After a few practice games it became painfully apparent that if I wanted to get further than turn three, in any of my games, I would need to use something a bit more familiar, so the rat wheels were dusted off.
My list
The list I settled on was pretty much my Clash of Kings (the event) list with a couple of swaps. After Clash I had a bit of a reflection on the games and what other rat players had taken. The main issues seemed to be an over reliance on a Warlock with Boomstick to deal with fast movers like flying titans and werewolves, as well as a general feeling I didn’t have enough units on the table (particularly to deal with Loot Counter scenarios). I felt my suspicions were confirmed when I had a look at the other rat armies in attendance to find that, at 14 units, I had the lowest unit count. So, the Warlock went, as did the Master Scurrier, and a Brute Enforcer, Vermintide Regiment and Hackpaw Troop were added in their place, leaving the list looking like this:
Scud
Warchief mounted on a fleabag with Blade of Slashing
Tangle
Brute Enforcer with Mace of Crushing
Warrior Horde with Plague Pot
Shock Troops Horde with Plague Pot and Brew of Sharpness
Hackpaw Regiments (2)
Hackpaw Troop
Tunnel Runner Regiment with Potion of the Caterpillar
Weapons Teams (2)
Vermintide Regiments (2)
Mutant Rat Fiend
Clash Rats 2.0.
Game 1, Control, Ratkin – loss
This is my first ever time playing against Ratkin, and what a way to start. The army was very different to mine, including the new shooting formation and no less than 4 infantry hordes (also no more, so basically exactly 4 infantry hordes). It was undoubtedly a hard slog that gave me a really useful insight into how annoying Broodmothers are. It was a real nail biter down to the final whistle where a turn 7 may well have swung the result, but didn’t get rolled. All in all, it was massively enjoyable and a great start to the day.
Game 2, Push, Nightstalkers – loss
Nightstalkers is another army I haven’t played against that much and it was absolutely rammed full of fliers. An early failure by my Hackpaw Troop to injure one of the flying units resulted in a Void Lurker and a Soulflayer Regiment finding their way behind my army and pulling it all apart. It didn’t help that the army was powered by one of the mighty Moonrakers which basically meant it became a bit of a masterclass in rat removal. Lots of lessons learnt, and each one painful!
Game 3, Pillage, Imperial Dwarfs – loss
Mistakes and bad dice followed me into this game from the last. In my second turn I mistakenly opened up a flank on a Hackpaw Regiment to a Brock Rider Troop (although to be fair the Brocks took about three turns to kill them which was the one respite in this game). My Warrior Horde then got taken down a turn earlier than expected thanks to a roll of double nine on the nerve test which opened up lots of flanks for Dwarf Regiments to get stuck into. Then to top it all off Scud failed to deal with a Dwarf Lord on a Beast before the Lord dealt with him in 2 turns. Basically, another tough game, which I have to admit, following the previous game, didn’t exactly have me jumping with joy.
Game 4, Dominate, Orcs – win
With everything going south for the rats I sort of knew that this match up was on the cards, and it wasn’t one I was looking forward too. The army belongs to friend from my local club, and I’ve found it a really tough list to pull apart. Losing to this list with my Basileans was what convinced me to go with my rats.
The game was really close, with some great Ork movement shenanigans that prevented my Shock Troops from doing as much damage as they usually would and meant that the Orcs probably would have taken the win if they didn’t time out. I’m never a fan of winning on a time out, but I guess it is as much a component of competitive play as scenarios and list building. It did mean though that I finished the day as it started, a closely fought game. My favourite kind.
Final thoughts
I came away with quite a few final thoughts, mainly around tournament prep. My first thought was just how differently my army behaved with the changes I made. Having the extra unit count definitely felt better, although half the time I had no idea what to do with the Brute and the additional Vermintide Troop. It was something of an odd experience to have them wandering around the board not really doing very much. It almost felt like some sort of practice might have been useful.
Connected to this was the issue that I hadn’t played with my rats since Clash of Kings. I don’t think this in itself was a problem, but because I’d been playing with Basileans I wasn’t as close to the army as I should have been. There were a couple of times I overlooked my shooting, amongst other things, which might have had an impact.
All in all, it was good to see so many faces, which in my second proper year of Kings of Warring, I’m happy to say are now becoming familiar and friendly. My fingers are crossed for lots more events in 2022 (I’m already booked into a doubles in January with Steve and have something lined up for February).
Thanks to the extension of the season, it means that I have managed to complete my Moonraker’s bingo card, playing and loosing to all four. So, a big thanks to everyone involved in making that ambition a reality.
And finally, a big thanks to Matt and Nick, and all the people I got to play Simon, Leo, Dan and Ken (I really did enjoy the day although, I might have been a little bit grumpy during games two and three). Now I’m off to fiddle with some new rat lists.
The Wizard's Bookshelf 