I’ve probably spent more time than is healthy thinking about Kings of War tournaments. There’s a fairly wide range available, with different ways of rewarding everything from hobby skills to smashing your opponents. I have no problem with a day of games, it’s convenient and straight forward, and given tournament organisers for Kings are doing it for the love it’s also eminently sensible. You also don’t have to read the tournament pack.
There are though those organisers who go above and beyond, who have events that I would file under cult classic. Steve Hildrew’s Bullrun series (that has some of the nicest trophies going), Mark Cunningham’s Shroud of the Reaper (my Christmas is no longer complete without a visit to Bexley) and The Rushden Rumble (some seriously engaging scenarios). There are others that I’ve not had the pleasure of attending, such as Battlemasters and The War of The Roses, but these are the events I’ve had some great memories from.
So much have I enjoyed the variation and twists these events introduce, I’ve really wanted to find a way of bringing something new to my own events. The thinking process began before Christmas, and a couple of failed attempts later I’ve just opened the entry gates to The Field of Kings, and I’m nervous, so I’d thought I’d share a bit of the thought process behind it.
My starting place was asking myself what sort of event would I really want to attend. I love a good themed event, something with a story. One of my favourite events last year was Roll Out The Barrels where we brought two separate factions, played the first game with one, the second with the other and the final game with both. Trying to find the tenuous link between my Ratkin and Halflings led to the birth of my Halfling’s back story as The Grand Mercenary Company of Mimos.
The next thing I wondered about was the scoring system. What was I going to reward and how? There is so much debate as to how to score various aspects of gaming and crafting excellence I decided to stop listening and sit down in a dark room with a fresh piece of paper. Eventually I turned the light on and decided a new piece of paper would be helpful. Slowly it dawned on me that regardless of what anyone else was doing, I wanted to reward based on how people reacted to the theme of the event and that opened up so many new ideas (at least to me). As I picked through each one it became apparent that I could create an event scored equally on game play and hobby skills, but there was a down side, it meant I would probably have to throw out the traditional game scoring and there wouldn’t be any points on offer for those attendees wanting to increase their standing in the masters rankings.
There is a logic (or so I’ve heard) which says this is the fastest way to stop people attending, but I feel, based on what I hear from podcasts and read on blogs, that there is thirst in the Kings community for something a bit fluffy. More than that, I’m not trying to rival Clash of Kings (well not this year at least) in terms of numbers. If I can get a few like minded souls together, that works for me.
Central to the idea around the scoring is that it’s more about enthusiasm and engagement, particularly on the hobby side of things. Read through the pack, create a couple of units that really fit the theme, and anyone could grab max points. The scoring for games is a little different, but I’ve tried to reward behaviours that contribute to telling the story, so I’ll be really interested in seeing how that’s received. Genuinely, I think it will make for a massively fun day, the biggest risk though is whether anyone will read the pack…
Fortunately, since unleashing the pack on Saturday night I’ve had some great feedback and a third of the spaces are gone. What’s more everyone seems to have read the pack… there is hope.
Over the next couple of months, I’m going to do some follow up articles going a bit more into the hobby scoring and providing some hints and tips on how to make the judges happy.
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Command dice have become a pretty interesting proposition for me at this point. Based on the games I had in Gloucester, I don’t think everyone agrees. I play three factions reasonably regularly which all have a faction specific ability that gives them access to +1 thunderous charge. Over the few command dice games I’ve had I’ve quickly realised just how useful being able to add this is to a unit anywhere on the table is. As a result of this I always make sure to spend 20 points on a white dice which means most turns I will get the requisite 4 points required, but freeing up the points for this meant having to play around with the horde heavy list I took to the last event.
The changes weren’t drastic, one of the Mutant Rat Fiends was dropped, a spear horde got promoted to shock troops and a troop of scurriers was recruited. The scurriers were the experiment for this event. I was hoping the large amount of rallying in the army would keep them reasonably alive and their shooting would nicely support the war engine teams.
Game 1, Compass Points vs. Forces of the Abyss
At first glance I was very nervous about this list. Loads of berserker hordes and a couple of flying archfiends massively concerned me. I had visions of flanks being found and rats being torn apart by blood thirsty demons. After a bit of reflection though I started to wonder if the demons would have it all their own way. My phalanx could limit the effectiveness of the archfiends and, whilst it’s important not to underestimate 30 attacks with crushing 1 from melee 4 or 5 troops, it occurred to me that my weight of numbers could also create more than a few problems for the denizens of the abyss.
Compass Points didn’t feel like the best scenario for me. The big points are won by crossing the table, and with nothing faster than a speed of 7, against an enemy that could threaten me from any number of directions there was a real concern that I might get boxed into my half of the table for the duration of the game.
I was slightly relieved when my opponent split his forces equally on either side of the table. Two hordes of berserkers, archfiend and support went on either flank with the lower abyssals and the warlock holding the centre.
I set up everything going from my left flank to the centre, with spears defending the ends and shock troops in the middle. My scurriers and the death spewer went into the centre with the war engine teams. I decided I would try and shoot the lower abyssals out the way, get the scurriers onto their objective whilst the hordes did their best to hold out against the rest of the demons, hopefully securing my own objective long enough to stop my opponent scoring on it.
By about turn 2 it was evident that the plan was not going well. I had badly underestimated the enemy shooting (including the fireball command dice ability) and the scurriers had been shot off the table. What was more, the demons on my right were readying for a charge against my spears, whilst trying to sneak their agile units around the back of my lines.
On my left, a strike was looking imminent. The sharpness wielding beserkers with their vicious aura creating apostate were hauled up in the woods and things looked a bit grim. My plan was rapidly being recalculated to just holding onto my own objective in my half for as long as possible.
One of the berserker hordes to my right charged my spears, where a brute had been positioned to prevent a double charge against the rat warriors. As the demons went in the other horde broke off and headed around the rock with the arch fiend in support. I braced myself for impact. The slaughter just didn’t materialise. Not only did the beserkers fail to rout the spears, but their fight back, together with the brute that was now in the demon’s flank, quickly took the unit out of action. To make matters worse the war engine teams, and the Tangle converged on the creatures sneaking around the rock and reduced them to a stickly mess. Only the archfiend remained, and a failed attempt to destroy the Tangle left him at the mercy of the guns.
As the smoke on the right was clearing, very much in the rat’s favour, the left flank was strangely lacking in smoke. Part of the abyssal contingent on the left had been distracted by a horde of shock troops making their way down the centre of the table, emboldened by the collapse of the demon’s right flank, but the remaining berserkers were not to be sniffed at.
Taking an opportunity, I sent a brute enforcer into the sharpness horde in the woods to keep them there for another turn. This was followed by vermintide, and then anything else that would keep them away from the objective and the spear horde I was hoping would win the flank.
In the centre, the demon attackers were being thwarted by a combination of terrain, plague pots and phalanx. Unit after unit was pinned and killed until the shock troops held the objective in the enemy’s half. All that remained now for the demons to try and claim was the left flank objective, but just as everywhere else on the table the demons had failed to break the rats, their only saving grace was the fight back had begun so late in the day the rats may have stopped the demons in their tracks, but they ran out of time to finish them off. The game finished with a victory for the rats.
Game 2, Stock Pile vs Ogres
There suddenly seems to be a lot of ogre legions in my world! Let’s not beat around the bush, they are horrible. Not only are they incredibly destructive, but they can also take quite a bit of damage. The legion, the Big Deal and boomers all stood in the centre of the table looking very menacing, whilst the rest of the ogre forces stretched over to my left flank with the siege breakers, Nom and Grok anchoring the line to the table edge. This felt like it would be an uphill struggle.
Goblin sniffs shot forward from the line to secure the first loot counter on the left of the table. With Nom they managed to waiver one of the war engine teams, but that did not stop Cryza, the remaining weapons teams and the scurriers removing both troops over the next couple of turns, and waivering Grok. Despite the chaos from the shooting the siege breakers managed to force their way forward, steal an objective and start slowly moving back towards their own lines.
In the centre things were a little more circumspect. The presence of the legion and the Big Deal put off any rash charges and the ogres were gathering tokens in relative peace, until an opportunity presented itself. The opportunity in question was a set of charges that would tie up the legion and allow the rats to deal with the warrior horde and paymaster protecting it’s left flank.
Shock troops dismantled the warrior horde swiftly before turning to face down the flank of the legion. However, in their haste they hadn’t realised they would end up presenting their rear to Nom. The evil ogre warlock threw himself, with just a little too much glee, into the charge and shock troops started dying. Fortunately, the scurriers were on hand, and just as Nom had found a cheeky rear, so the scurriers found a cheeky flank. Their melee 3 attacks came into their own, and by the time the shock troops had turned to face their attacker several poisoned daggers already protruded from him from various awkward angles.
Whilst the shock troops had blasted through the ogres, the mutant rat fiend had struggled removing the paymaster, unlike the ogre legion which had cut through rats like butter and were now able to turn and face the wave of vermin that had been hoping to get into the unit’s flank. A moment of quiet spread over the battlefield as the rats charged, the long front of the legion accommodating shock troops, scurriers, the mutant rat fiend and the brood mother. Blades struck out and seconds later the ogres were put to flight and the wave crashed forward, washing away the Big Deal.
The last bastion of ogre hope were the siege breakers, desperately trying to depart the battlefield. Unfortunately, in their rush they exposed their vulnerable flanks to the weapons engine teams, and Cryza darted between the burning bodies to secure the final loot counter and a second win.
Game 3, Hold the Line, vs Trident Realms
Trident realms have to be one of my least favourite match ups because of the ensnare. That being said, most of the army I found myself against had fly, which did mean my phalanx was going to come into play. Of course, the amount of nimble that was also coming for me meant I had to be very careful of my flanks, for a second time this event.
Having played Hold the Line at a number of events this year, I’m starting to realise that it’s probably the scenario I seem to play most poorly. Even with counters down to show the scoring zones I just didn’t quite get my head around my positioning. The game felt very close all the way through as both myself and my opponent struggled to inflict meaningful damage in the early rounds. The war engine teams, and the spewer were instrumental in removing giggas, by shooting into their flanks, whilst a flying flank charge from a frog regiment consigned one of my shock troop hordes to the bin.
Frustratingly though a combination of timings and wavers took their toll. I had forfeited the right flank early in the game, preferring to focus on the centre and the left. An unfortunate series of waivers in the closing turns on the left kept a full horde of spears out of the scoring zone, whilst a turn 5 and 6 that consisted of literal seconds mean the weapons engine teams lost out on a couple of turns of shooting. The game ended in turn 6, but with a turn 7 and a bit of time there was a chance, things could have worked out differently. Regardless of all that though it was a really great game, and the rats held up a lot better than I expected.
Final thoughts
The day was brilliant, the food was fantastic, and the games were brilliant fun – all you could ask for really!
In terms of the rats, well I’m still loving this structure of army. I’m finding the hordes pretty easy to play, they just move forward, so the smaller units in the army become the interesting ones. There are definitely some learnings to be had from the third game about how I space out my chaff, and manage Hold the Line, but overall, I think it’s a solid list.
The death spewer has to be the most interesting thing in it and I’m not really quite sure what it’s great at, but it seems to contribute in every game, just never in the way I want it to, or think it should. It’s definitely staying. I think there’s about 200 points now that I’m not sure about, but to be fair I think that’s quite exciting in it’s own way as it gives me opportunities to throw some different things into the mix. At the moment I’m torn between a couple of hackpaw troops and a couple of spear regiments. Hey ho, only time will tell…
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When I signed up to the Rushden Rumble I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Two weeks before the event I had a quick read of the event pack and all of a sudden I had questions… a lot of questions. The first revelation was that I needed a giant as a special character. This created an immediate problem as I had to secure one and paint it, it the sort of timeframe I would usually just about manage to build and undercoat a solitary Basilean man-at-arms. Fortunately, I’d already decided to use my rats, so when I happened upon the misshapened creature pictured below I only had to squeeze in a bit of painting (which for a GW model wasn’t too faffy).
The next discovery was that the event didn’t use standard scenarios, which then led to a flurry of emails to the organiser to check my understanding of what was going on. The TO, Warren, was brilliant with his engagement and by the time Saturday rolled around I was fairly confident I knew what I was doing… ish.
The list
Warrior Horde with Plague Pots
Spear Hordes with Plague Pots (2)
Shock Troop Horde with Heavy Halberds and Plague Pots
Vermintide Regiment
Death Engine Spewer
War Engine Teams (3)
Mutant Rat Fiends (2)
Brute Enforcers (2)
The Tangle
Brood Mother
Mother Cryza
For a while now I’ve been trying to play with more infantry. I love the look of massed infantry ranks and since I’ve managed to make up five hordes, I really want to be able to use as many of them as possible. The other thing I’ve been playing with are the Mutant Rat Fiends. Since the restriction was removed on their D3 Radiance of Life and they get to use it as well I’ve been keen to test them out in a competitive environment. I’ve always thought the fiends were great conceptually, fragile due to their defence of 4, but kept alive through their high nerve and regeneration. The problem I always had was the regeneration just wasn’t reliable enough. Would Radiance of Life going to D3 change that?
I also enlisted a Brood Mother, which I know is considered a must have in most Ratkin circles, but this is my first time taking one to a tournament. Unusually for me the list doesn’t feature anything faster than movement 7, which is possibly the most nerve raking feature of all, greater even than the inclusion of the almost universally panned Death Engine Spewer. How bad could it go?
Game 1 vs The Forces of The Abyss, Awakened Giants
Where to begin describing this scenario! The aim of the game was to kill the giants, which moved randomly and could only be attacked from turn two. You also needed to secure an objective counter in the centre.
I thought facing the Forces of the Abyss would be a really good test for my army. Given my rats will normally have to take punches before they react, testing them against such an aggressive army would give me a good idea of what the rest of the day was likely to bring. The rats went first, and I did my best to organise my lines so that if any of the giants came my way they would face multi charges that would get them out of the way as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, one giant headed directly towards the Abyssal ranks (happily taking down a troop of Lower Abyssals), and the second giant ran past the end of my right flank, out of sight of my units. Since I wasn’t going to be able to fight the giant in turn two, I wondered if I was going to be able to keep it alive. This was the first moment the lack of mobility in the army really hit home. With a horde of nimble berzerkers staring at the rear of the Giant I realised there was nothing I could do to protect the creature, all I could hope was that the demons fluffed the charge and I then got a chance at removing both the giant and the berzerkers the next turn.
Not surprisingly the demons did not fail in their task, and the second giant fell. This mean that the game had now essentially been won. My opponent scored four points for downing the giants and there was only one remaining point up for grabs by occupying the centre.
With that in mind I decided to throw my rats into the demons to give them the best road test they were likely to get. How they responded really surprised me. Shooting took down two of the Tortured Soul regiments and the Chroneas. Whilst a solid combination of plague pots and weakness from the Tangle blunted the demon attack and set up plenty of flank charge opportunities which saw unit after unit returned from whence they came.
A couple of times I noticed the healing in the army really shone through, with the Brood Mother’s Drain Life bringing the central spear horde back from the brink of destruction. As the battle raged on the army swept towards the centre, flooding it with vermin, and pushing the Abyssals back. When the fighting ended it became apparent that the rats had passed the test with just two hundred and twenty-five points leaving the table, compared to the massive losses sustained by the demons. It was quite an interesting outcome.
Game 2 vs Halflings, Something… something… loot counters in woods… angry spirits
The scenario involved four woods, each with a loot counter at the centre that had a randomly determined value. Picking the counter up could also result in the spirits of the wood attacking you. There was also a loot counter in the centre of the board worth three points.
The Halflings had a bit on an advantage going into the game as both of the tokens on their side of the board were in their deployment zone, which meant they were quickly picked up. The rats had one in the deployment zone on the far-left flank, whilst the other was more central.
The halflings put their flyers and the giant on the left flank, their infantry hordes in the centre with the Iron Beast and cavalry on the right. As I deployed, I wasn’t sure whether the best approach was to try and hold the left flank or abandon it in favour of deploying for a refused flank. After a little back and forth I decided I would put a token force on the left consisting of the warriors, an enforcer and Mother Cryza. My shooters deployed in the centre, behind a spear horde. The second spear horde went on the right with the giant, and everything else went in between.
In the first couple of turns the Halfling’s shooting was starting to make a dent. The rifles and the Wild Riders knocked three wounds off the Spewer and eight off the central spear horde. The Spewer managed to take down the Wild Riders whilst the War Engines dispensed with the Braves, but these were relatively minor skirmishes compared to what was happening on the flanks.
On the left Cryza attempted to lightning bolt the balloons, hoping for a lucky waiver to hold one of the units up, but it never came. The two regiments of floating menaces drifted into the warriors, and I held my breath as they hit. Fortunately, the balloons performed as well for my opponent as they did for me when I used to use them, and the warriors took a handful of wounds, but otherwise stood their ground. The warriors fought back against one unit, whilst Cryza, now supported by the Spewer waded into the other regiment. Despite their best efforts both units survived, although Cryza managed to waiver the regiment she was facing. By some miracle the waiver became the turning point for the fight for the left. In the following turn the rats pulled down the waivered regiment before creating a wall of bodies around the enforcer carrying the token, by luck more than judgement the warband managed to fend off the Halflings long enough to keep hold of the loot and stop the Muster Captain on the winged aralez jumping into the centre of the board, behind the Ratkin lines.
On the right flank the Halflings had their heavy hitters, and it was here I envisaged there being problems. If the Stalwarts and the Iron Beast could hold the centre long enough, the Wild Lancers and Juggers stood a good chance of sweeping around, catching some flanks and potentially breaking into the middle.
The Stalwarts made a play for the loot in the central forest, charging into the vermintide that had picked it up and wiping them out. Unfortunately, the response from the Ratkin was immediate and deadly. A Brute Enforcer and both the Mutant Rat Fiends charged the heavily armoured Halflings and tore them to shreds, picking up three points worth of loot counters in the process. The spear horde charged the Iron Beast, but failed to wound it, resulting in it becoming the target of a number of very angry people. The spears were surrounded by Ej Grenadiers, the Beast, the Harvester and the Wild Lancers. The Halflings would have their revenge. However, as the Halflings repositioned it became clear that the Ratkin had managed to sneak the loot counters behind their own lines, out of the Halflings’ reach. The Tangle had secured three points, whilst a Brute Enforcer had picked up the counter from the centre. As this happened the infantry hordes and fiends pressed forward, tearing the grenadiers from the sky and dismantling the Pride of the Shires. It was a dark day for the Halflings and a triumph for the vermin.
Game 3 vs Dwarfs, Hold the Line (the actual Hold the Line Scenario without any extras)
Dwarf armies these days seem to be delivered in a pretty standard package. There’s the formation, Golloch’s Fury, two Lords on Beasts, two infantry regiments (to taste), a brock regiment with a magic item, and some shooting of some type. On the plus side it means you know what you’re getting yourself into, on the not so plus side you also know what you’re getting yourself into.
In this case the shooting came from three sharpshooter troops, which happily were mounted on a hill, that happened to be in the middle of the Dwarf deployment zone… and… had a load of walls in front of it. This was the second time in the day where I wished I’d brought some speedier units (or Scud). Shutting the shooting down was going to be hard, so after a bit of a thought I decided I wasn’t. As I looked at the table I realised that the four houses on the table created reasonably well protected channels at either end of the table and so I did the unthinkable (for me) and split the army into two halves. I placed one half on the far-left flank, with the giant, and the other half on the far-right flank. I then took a deep breath and hoped for the best!
On the right flank the spear horde and Cryza led the advance. The houses shielded them from the shooting. Directly in front of them was the enemy rumble giant and the brock riders. Between the cavalry having to take a hindered charge, phalanx and a plague pot I wasn’t overly worried about the brocks. The giant though, that was a different matter. I was well aware there was a Dwarf Lord on a beast and a regiment of Shield Breakers making their way down the centre towards the channel between the two houses, so if I didn’t remove the giant quickly, I could find my flanks under a lot of pressure. Cryza’s lightning bolt promptly removed the battle drill hiding in the Dwarf ranks and a brute charged forward to start grinding down the giant.
I think it’s fair to say half the plan worked. The brocks didn’t make an easy task of dealing with the spear horde, and after the giant had removed the brute the Mutant Rat Fiend that replaced it easily soaked up all the damage dealt. Unfortunately, I underestimated the speed with which my troops could remove the enemy, and the damage just didn’t land. As a result, the fiend found itself pinned by the giant, allowing the beast mounted Lord a cheeky flank which brought the beast down. Eventually though the chaff of the ratkin warriors were removed and the shock troops pushed to the fore, smashing a regiment of Shield Breakers to pieces, before turning on the beast mounted Lord and removing him. Cryza kept the Bulwarkers out of the scoring zone whilst the Tangle cleared out the brock riders with a well time fireball. The rats had won on the right, and there was the sweet stench of hope in the air.
The centre of the table was a much quieter affair. By moving between the houses, the sharpshooters spent most of the game chipping away at whatever target they could find, which tended to be the odd war engine team that didn’t quite make it into cover. By turn five they had given up on shooting and had moved off the hill to claim the centre.
That meant the left would decide the game. The rats slunk around the buildings, towards the enemy lines. The dwarfs held still. In an usually bold move the warriors broke cover and charged, with a spear horde, into the Ironclad horde. I figured that if I could wear it down I might have a chance of holding onto the scoring zone just by weight of numbers. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised that the double charge barely scratched the horde, but it’s really easy, once the game is done, to step back and realise just what you should have done. Despite the failure of the charge, I continued to press my troops, sending the Mutant Rat Fiend into the beast rider, before setting it, together with the giant, on Goloch’s Fury. The dwarf lords fell, but the horde endured, and whilst I had lost my infantry, I still had a solid amount of unit strength floating around on the left side. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the right place. I’d let myself get carried away and lost focus on the scoring zone. Any thought of a win was dismissed in the seventh turn when the second Bulwarker regiment entered the right flank scoring zone and took if for the Dwarfs.
For a game that I had gone into thinking I was the underdog, it had ended up being incredibly close. With the benefit of hindsight I think I could have played much better, sending the giant and war engines forward first, followed by the characters and the infantry hordes to sit in the scoring zone, forcing the Dwarfs to come to me. I would like to think that things might have turned out a little differently. However, one of the joys of this game was facing a situation I had never faced before with an army list that I’m still getting my head around.
Final thoughts
What a massively fun day, with three great games. The scenarios were really engaging, although I have to admit playing Hold the Line for the final scenario was a nice wind down before the drive home. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the Rushden Rumble next year.
In terms of the list. With the benefit of a few hours driving home, and a bit of decompression I don’t actually think I could fault it. I faced three very different armies, and the list had ways of dealing with all of them. The Mutant Rat Fiends performed brilliantly, with the extra Radiance of Life making them work the way I always imagined they should. Not only do they have great models, but they now have a stat line to match.
The other new joiners were the Spewer and the Brood Mother. I have a bit of a hot take on these and it’s something along the lines of: rats, in gaming terms, are a bit below par when it comes to comparing their stats to the equivalent Kingdoms of Men from which all other units are derived. Yet for some reason I expect great units to achieve great things, and when it comes to the Brood Mother I’ve just never bought into the hype. I definitely wouldn’t say that she was an MVP, in fact I would find it difficult to describe her as a VP. Now in part I will absolutely accept that I may not have played her as well as other players would have but looking back on the day I can honestly say that there is no other unit I can think of that would be a better fit for this list. She brings a little bit of everything to the table, and it’s the capacity for rat units to be equally okay at a number of different roles that make them so interesting to play. I’ll definitely be taking her next time.
This theory also explains my view on the Spewer. I fear it’s been unduly maligned for a few years now, despite the fact that it does both shooting and combat quite well, and all because it doesn’t have Steady Aim. Whilst it is a little unpredictable at times, it is a beautifully flexible addition to a mixed arms list, which I look forward to playing with again.
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Tomorrow my rats will be heading up to Northampton for a one-day event and I thought it would be fun to do a bit of a breakdown of my list, and the models making it up. For experienced ratkin players it will be a great opportunity to giggle at my ineptitude, but for those newer to Ratkin I’m hoping this gives a bit of an insight (regardless of how misguided) into the sort of mechanics that make rats a fun, if slightly mind-boggling army to play.
The optional hordes
There is a perception that Ratkin should be played as a horde army. It’s really not the case, but I do believe ratkin need a solid lump of nerve anchoring their lines. I’m an infantry fan (except when it comes to painting) which is why I’ve gone for four hordes. One horde of warriors, two of spears and one of Shocktroops. They all have plague pots and as much phalanx as I can get my hands on. My experience with rats is that speed 6 means you can avoid most infantry-based threats, but you’re really susceptible to mutli-charges from fast units, phalanx helps deal with these threats.
The other massive thing about these hordes it that they have the rally special rule that really bolsters the rest of the force.
I’m like the mantic rat warriors and the ambition is to upgrade the GW spears, but at my painting rate it’ll be a few months off yet. I also love the little plague pots on the warrior sprues, which is another great reason to use them.
The vermin
Consisting of the big and the small, a regiment of vermintide, the Tangle and two Mutant Rat Fiends. These units have a lovely radiance of life interaction, with each of these units able to pick up D3 radiance of life from the Mutant Rat Fiends. The Fiends are absolutely the powerhouses of this list. Thanks to strider they reliably deliver about 6 points of damage a turn to most things, and their rallying compliments the radiance of life.
They are massively squishy though, so they have to pick their fights, but with a potential -/20 nerve and regen they can easily survive to the end of a game. The Tangle gets extra magic dice from all these units, as well as the hordes, which makes it a really reliable magic source, and in return the Tangle offers a source of weakness which can really take the edge off an attack, especially when combined with phalanx or ensnare. My one concession to the lovely mantic range for these beauties is the Grey Seer from the original Screaming Bell who I prefer to Mantic rider.
The guns
Ratkin have some of the best short-range shooting in the game. My 3 war engine teams can be absolutely devastating working together but are not so expensive that they can’t be thrown away to block up the opponent. When fully rallied to 10/12 nerve, together with defence 5, there’s no guarantee they’re going to break quickly if an individual goes in to try and shut them down.
The Death Engine Spewer is a recent addition. Piercing 2 shooting is always welcome in a list, piercing 2 shooting on a height 5 chariot is just brilliant. Admittedly it’s not got steady aim, but in an infantry army I don’t think it should be the biggest ask to get it parked up with charges from enemies blocked and no cover to have to worry about. It’s also not too shabby on the offensive with crushing strength 1. I’ve only used this a couple of times, but I’ve been impressed both times.
The bosses
The two brute enforcers are real must haves in any Ratkin list. They are incredibly versatile and surprisingly survivable, model wise I love the Mantic one far more than the GW one, but for characters I don’t like to repeat models, so I’m keeping the GW one until another Mantic option arrives. So many people rave about Brood Mothers, personally I’m not a fan so this is the first tournament I have ever taken this model to. I know she is a good pick, I’m just a little contrary, and I’m looking forward to her proving her mettle and leaving me wondering why I haven’t taken her before.
She who must be taken
Mother Cryza is, for me, an absolute must have. I have to admit it took me a bit of time to really appreciate her, but now I’ve crossed the Rubicon I find it odd to write a list without her. Fully rallied she comes in at 15/17, combined with her ensnare she is an incredibly reliable roadblock, which means you get the most out of her Cloak of Death.
I bashed the character together from a Ratkin warlock and a Vermyn character to replace the classic GW Thanquol and Boneripper that had previously represented the maleficent matriarch.
The special character
This event features an extra giant character, and whilst it would have been nice to add another Mantic beastie to the ranks this GW monstrosity fits perfectly.
Can wait to unleash the rats once again. Keep your eyes peeled for the tournament report. You can always drop your email below and subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it.
It’s fair to say 2025 has been proving to be pretty fun. Mainly unexpected fun, which is okay, although I tend to favour tried and tested fun with a decent amount of preparation time.
The biggest change has been stopping Sunday night gaming, and not surprisingly the amount of time I have to play Kings of War has reduced considerably. However, as a result of this I’ve had a bit more time to invest in other, broadly related avenues. Currently, I’m managing to sneak out for a tournament most months and I think I’m now enjoying them even more than I have previously. So far this year I’ve been playing with my Halflings quite a bit, but I have two other armies I’m keen to get out of the cupboard and decided to give the inhabitants of the Kings of War Fanatics Facebook Group the decision on what I play next weekend. They decided it was time to get the Ratkin back out again, so I’m taking what I think is a fun list of hordes and war engine teams up to Northampton next weekend. I’m really interested to see how it all works, although I’m not expecting big results.
The Kings of War Champions release has proven to be an amazingly welcome diversion. My son has been dipping his toe into Kings for a while, but a whole range of challenges (although principally time) has made it difficult to get games in on anything approaching a regular basis. Champions has really changed all of that. I really wasn’t sure about it when I picked it up. I’m not a fan of Ambush, there are a lot of things that don’t work for me (but I understand the role it fills, and I can see why people enjoy it). Champions blows it out the water and provides a really slick intro to rank and flank with the fun of a smaller, faster game. Last week I picked up the Nightstalker faction, as that’s my son’s favourite, and I’m really looking forward to finding out how the game plays with another force. Having read their rules, I think the creatures from the void are going to be really interesting to play. I’m massively looking forward to the Halflings coming out, and, of course, hoping that rats are not too far away.
The most exciting thing this month, has been picking up the beautifully produced second edition of Burrows and Badgers. This is probably my favourite skirmish game because of how beautiful the models are. In addition to this the small family run operation is one of the best in the business with fantastic customer service and a great overall package. I’ve not had time for anything more than a cursory overview of the book, but the key changes seem to be around faction organisation and objectives, with quite a few new scenarios. I really welcome this because the first edition was starting to become quite spread out with rules across a number of journals that all added to the game, so I really wanted to use them. I recommend everyone to have a go at this game because it’s simply brilliant.
Something I really want to do on the blog in future is to do some write ups of Burrows and Badgers, and Champions games. There are a couple blockers, such as getting the games themselves in, but I’m also trying to work out the best format. We’ll have to see what the future holds.
Finally, a quick note on the second book in the Amzharr series. It’s progressing. I am getting some regular writing time in, although there also seems to be regular distractions, but the first 20,000 words are in the bag and the story is filling out nicely. I’m having a little continuity problem with a certain drinking establishment now having at least five different names, although I think I’m edging towards The Lapsed Penitent.
That’s it for now. Although you might get a bonus post in the week banging on about how great rats are (and other scientifically established facts).
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Two things immediately struck me as I read The Tainted Cup. The first is that I love the increasing number of fantasy and science fiction stories coming to the market that take inspiration from around the world. The second is there is a very specific reason why I’m not keen on science fiction (something for another time because I wouldn’t consider The Tainted Cup to be science fiction). That being said, it’s also not you’re run of the mill fantasy novel either, I prefer a classification on the lines of Plant Punk (I’ve also seen Bio Punk used as well).
The author takes us to a Japanese inspired world where the coastlines are ravaged by mighty leviathans that humankind must successfully repel or face the destruction of towns and cities as they rampage inland. However, the book doesn’t primarily concern itself with the creatures. They are ever present, not just because of their attacks, but also because their fallen bodies form a part of the landscape.
The story focuses on an investigator whose memory has been enhanced to the point where he remembers everything he sees. The young man works for a highly intelligent, and seemingly eccentric detective who spends much of her time alone and blindfolded. He is her eyes and ears in the busy outside world.
As you’d expect from any high performing literary crime fighting duo, they are not above bending the rules when it suits them, and their relationship with authority can be complex. And there’s a good supply of zingy one-liners, but ultimately, they are sincere in their mission and support for humanity.
This is most definitely a solid example of its genre (genres if you want to separate the detective element from the Plant Punk). Everything I would want, and expect, from this sort of story is there in absolute spades. The story twists and turns in a reasonably expected manner, but it is definitely not boring. The setting of the story and the plant-based technology employed in the Empire is fascinating and applied in interesting ways, elevating the overall offering. It adds a really novel twist to every part of the story and elevates the investigation by creating additional intrigue and complexity. The investigation itself becomes a great tool to help the reader explore the setting. I’ve already started on the second book, A Drop of Corruption, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys crime genres in amazing settings.
That’s all for this week. Toy soldiers will return next week!
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Over the past few weeks there has been pretty much only one thing being talked about on the various Kings of War podcast: Champions. The game is intended to replace Ambush (a scaled down Kings of War ruleset for small games) as an entry point into Ranks and Flanks by clapping back (which I believe the young people say) to the main barriers to entry for people, of all ages, interested in Kings of War, but not necessarily ready to commit to painting that full model count Goblin army with the ten legions of Rabble (that’s 600 Goblins if you’re after a quick translation).
From what I understand (from listening to the podcasts, I don’t have a relationship with Mantic other than really liking Kings of War, and I did purchase this game myself so I can be as rude as I like) Champions is meant to address the following reasons for not seeing the Kings of War rulebook and immediately purchasing half a ton of Goblins and five litres of Dulux Rotting Horse Emerald (other paint companies exist, named colour does not):
Needing to purchase loads of miniatures for rank and flank armies
Needing to paint loads of miniatures for rank and flank armies
New players getting overwhelmed by a choice of 28 armies with around 30 different unit options per army
Complexity of a couple of key rules, i.e. multi-charges
Finding space and time for a full game of Kings of War
Reacting to the hype
One of the things I like about Mantic is that they can communicate things really well, which they did on this occasion. Listening to the various podcasts I really felt I understood exactly what the purpose of the game was, and what had driven the choices they made in the design process. As a dad with a child who is just starting to dabble in wargaming this ticked a lot of boxes from me. One thing that I wasn’t sure about was how Champions would relate to me with my more experienced gamer hat on (and I had expected it not to), so when I bought my copy I only did so seeing it as something to play with my son.
Does it hit the design brief?
There is an argument that Champions fills a niche that’s already filled by Ambush. I disagree, because if you believe that all the reasons listed above are barriers to people playing Kings of War (which I do) Ambush doesn’t answer all of them (army selection and rules being two very important ones). I see Ambush as being quite flavourless, as the points limit don’t really let you explore opportunities in the wider lists.
The great thing about Champions is that it not only meets the design brief, answering all the points above, but it also works as a game in its own right. At the heart of the ruleset is Kings of War, but there’s some lovely twists that really elevate the game play. My favourite amongst these are that every unit is essentially Nimble (a rule in Kings of War that allows units to move and pivot twice). Additionally, the restriction on multi-charging that means only one unit can fight on each facing of an opposing unit, brings a core dynamic from Kings of War to life in an interesting way.
One of my main concerns going into Champions was that it would be fairly static, with opponents trying to set up that killer front facing multi-charge that takes out a key unit and unlocks victory (my personal experience of playing Ambush). These alternative approaches to movement make for a really fluid and thoughtful game. So, my view is that Rob Burman, the game designer, has really done a great job. Not only breaking the key barriers but adding in some elegant rules tweaks that make the game a recognisable entry point to Kings of War, and a really interesting standalone game.
What about setting up the miniatures and the game?
This was a great experience, the best I’ve ever had with Mantic models. To get started I’ve just built one of each model and stuck it to the correct size multi-base. All the troops are modern Mantic plastics and are super easy to work with. The Champions are a new type of resin, and frankly they are beautiful and super easy to build, I’m looking forward to getting some paint on them.
Will I ever play the game again?
Absolutely. This is a really smart attempt to bring rank and flank gaming to a small scale, and provided I can get some games in I can quite easily see me justifying picking up more faction packs (I’m already considering painting up troops of Goblins and Halflings to get ready for their faction releases).
What does this mean for Kings of War?
Clearly, I think this is a great entry game in terms of getting people rolling dice. However, I also think this creates a really solid way for future player to make an informed choice about their first faction. The warbands in the box, rules and miniature wise, really capture the essence of their wider army. The Basilean faction tips it’s cap to Iron Resolve and Divine Fervour, whilst the Abyss are all about rampaging and regeneration. If I attended multi day events I would definitely be happy to take a warband along to play a few games in the evening. I’d also be really happy to demo Champions, so I’m hopeful we’ll start to see more players crossing the Kings of War Rubicon.
More generally I suppose there is the question as to whether we’ll see Champions making their way into Kings of War, and I don’t know the answer to that. They are absolutely lovely models and that’s always welcome on any tabletop. I don’t think I’m alone in wanting to see more character models and special characters made available, so at the very least the new models meet the first of these points (although I’m not sure how straight forward it is to find proxies for them in the current rules as Alanis is on a 40mm base and doesn’t strike me as the best representation for an Ogre Palace Guard Captain). The big thing is though, I’m not in a rush for them to cross over. Frankly, I’m just enjoying Champions for what it is, a really solid game.
Congrats to Rob and the team at Mantic.
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After a victory in game one against the Forces of the Abyss and a narrow loss in game two to the Dwarfs the Halflings prepare for game three. As fate would have it, this game would be against the Ratkin Slaves that absolutely tore them apart at The Hinckley Heist in February, but had they learnt any lessons?
I think Ratkin Slaves are a really underrated army (and I’m not just saying that because of what happened in Hinckley). Whilst they certainly don’t have the range of units and builds of other factions, they do have a couple of really sturdy lists, of which my opponent was using one. The army is built around three hordes of nightmares, which I think are often underestimated in both Ratkin and Slave builds because as an individual unit on paper they look expensive for what you get. However, there is definitely a return on investment for multiple units and when you factor in available synergies you can build a truly terrifying battle group. Then there are the multiple impalers, with their massive charge range and chariot bases mean multi-charges are hard to avoid, with rampage making them particularly terrifying for infantry and cavalry. Combining these two elements creates a lot of pressure from the get go.
Kicking off
We played Hold the Line and the Halflings went first. I can’t remember whether it was my choice or not, but I was really happy as the various threat ranges the slaves can deploy allow them to put a lot of pressure on from the first turn of the game, so I wanted to deny them that initial movement opportunity.
Set up had brought some interesting decisions because the placement of a very large piece of blocking terrain made easy access to a third of the scoring zones, on the left, difficult. I decided that rather than contest that section of the board I would let it go and focus on the remaining scoring zones. The plus side of this meant that my opponent would likely use one unit to secure it, taking them out of the game and giving my full force a slight advantage in the killing stakes. Happily, the slaves deployed Cryza’s Impaler and a vermintide regiment in the deserted left flank, meaning that both would be out of the game for at least three turns.
Everything else the slaves brought to the table was deployed in the centre of the board with the nightmares dead centre and the impalers, with Golekh and the flying Overlord, deploying on my right. The Halflings stretched out across the board with the infantry in the centre and the cavalry out on the right.
The first couple of turns were all about positioning. My cavalry make great targets for impaler multi charges and I didn’t want them breaking too early in the game. In addition to this the impaler base sizes make them really difficult to get mutli charges against, so whilst the cavalry were doing their best to keep out of the reach of the impalers, the infantry and the pigs were doing their best to close the gap with the nightmares as quickly as possible, massively helped by stealthy from the command dice.
Engagement
My grenadiers are always the MVPs playing the slaves as they can outrange both the impalers and the nightmares. Dropping them into combat with one of each of these units created opportunities to close. An iron beast and the trolls smashed into one horde of nightmares, whilst the braves moved to block the other two nightmare hordes from getting a flank charge on the iron beast in case the charge didn’t break the hulking rat gunners. Fortunately, the charge prevailed, but in an all too reminiscent pattern of behaviour, the reform resulted in me exposing the protected flank of the beast which was punished immediately by a hindered flank charge from the nightmares and a front charge from some slave warriors.
The follow up charge to the grenadiers distracting the impalers was no way near as successful. My cavalry wasn’t in the best position, and I could only get a troop of wild lancers in with Greedyguts. This game saw me use Greedyguts particularly ineffectively and I threw him away supporting the wild lancers, rather than using him in about a hundred different ways that would have all, in retrospect, been so much better. The wild lancers and Greedyguts failed to do much to the impaler they charged and were then destroyed in the following turn.
The damage they did allowed a charge from one of the Jugger regiments to take the impaler off next turn, but there were still a lot of heavy hitters hanging around that had to be treated with extreme care.
Threats from the flanks
With the battle joined in the centre, both armies were now grinding hard, conscious that the pressure was about to ramp up. Cryza’s Impaler was making its way behind the massive piece of blocking terrain, and my lines, on the left. On the right my muster captain on his winged aralez was hovering just outside the charge range of Golekh and the Overlord waiting for an opportunity.
The presence of these threats created a number of challenges, which resulted in some interesting decisions. In an attempt to break through the halflings Golekh charged the mounted muster captain but failed to break him. This created a golden opportunity to remove a real lynch pin unit (rally 2, dread and inspiring on one unit is so good). The trolls had a flank on him, but I couldn’t trust them to do the job, so the flying muster captain went into the other flank. The angry dwarf disappeared, and I breathed a sigh of relief, which was quickly tempered by the impending charge from Cryza’s Impaler on a regiment Juggers.
In the centre things were getting tense. The iron beast had survived the flank charge from the nightmares, but it was in danger of getting overrun by the remaining hordes and rat warrior regiments. The Pride of the Shires charged the unengaged horde, and I crossed my fingers.
Two turns of fighting saw the Pride overcome its opponents before turning to face the last standing horde of nightmares that had just reduced the other iron beast to a pile of scrap. The slave warriors that had been engaged with the nightmares were now engaged with the forest trolls, and the trolls were not making much headway. This scenario played out across the field where the flying muster captain was butting heads with the final impaler and the last regiment of Juggers were held at bay by a regiment of vermintide.
The bloody battle had cost both sides dearly and as the rats entered their sixth turn it became apparent just how much of a stalemate the game had become. The rats had won the empty left flank with a regiment of vermintide. The combat had kept everything in the central section of the board, but the speed of the Halfling’s advance and their refusal to give ground meant that both armies only had one scoring unit in the central scoring zone. The rats had Cryza’s Impaler and the Halflings had the Pride of the Shires, meaning the Halfings had the win, however the rats had a choice to make. Cryza’s Impaler could take the right flank scoring zone and secure a turn 6 win, but in turn 7 the Juggers, freed from the vermintide would be able to also move into the zone and the chariot would not be able to respond to them as it would be facing the wrong way.
In the centre things were equally unclear, as the Pride of Shires would likely have been able to keep the last remaining nightmares out of the scoring zone and if the trolls killed the rats there was a chance for them to sidestep into the scoring zone. The downside was the Halflings had about 49 seconds on the clock, so lots to do in not much time.
Happily, the dice decided there would be no turn seven. I say this quite genuinely as 49 seconds would unlikely have been enough time to properly do everything I wanted to, as there was also an option for the Pride to shoot at the nightmares, which could have caused further issues for the rats either through a waiver or the removal of the unit. I’m not a fan of losing a game as a result of clocking out, I’d much rather lose it at the end of a game turn. The final photo might suggest the Juggers landed the scoring zone, but that was just a bit of wishful thinking.
All in all, it was an absolutely brilliant game with the rats taking a hard-fought and well-deserved victory at four points to three.
Final thoughts
I’m really enjoying my journey with the Halflings. They’re a very interesting army to play, and I can see why so many people are playing them. Although the wins and losses don’t necessarily bear this out, I feel that I’m definitely improving and every game feels close, which makes the very best gaming experience for me. It might sound a little self-congratulatory, but I think the inclusion of the second pig has really made my 1995 list about as good as it’s going to get, so I’m hoping that stays true for my 2,300 list. I’m already playing around with a couple of changes for the next event, which will be 2,300, because whilst I love the Jugger horde, it does still feel a bit like putting too many eggs in one basket. Interestingly, I feel as though the list I’m now building is tracking back towards my first tournament list back in 2023 (but without the balloons that I will not be putting back into the list under any circumstances – I’ve said it. I don’t like balloons).
All that remains is for me to say a massive thanks to Steve Hildrew for running a highly enjoyable tournament and my opponents for some really enjoyable games.
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Flushed with victory from Game 1 against the Forces of the Abyss, the Halflings found themselves facing off against the might of the Imperial Dwarfs. Until the end of last year I hadn’t played against Dwarfs that much, but I’ve now found myself facing off against them in three of the last four events (including this one).
What’s been nice is that aside from two Lords on Beasts the armies have all been sufficiently different that it hasn’t felt like playing the same list over and over again. Although this list brought the formation, Big G’s Fury and the aforementioned beasts neither of the special characters were there, which made a nice change.
The scenario was Stockpile. My instinct with this scenario is always to try and stretch the objectives out (because I have a few speed ten units I make the mistake of thinking my army is an alpha strike force, when in reality it absolutely isn’t). As a synergy-based army Halflings benefit from being closer together from the outset, and knowing how much punishment a Dwarf army can take I was really happy that the objectives landed where they did as it encouraged me to keep my units closer.
My Juggers and Greedy Guts went on the right flank, whilst the Iron Beast, trolls and braves went in the centre. Fully expecting there to be a beast mounted Dwarf Lord and phalanx regiment at either end of the Dwarf line I did commit the flying Muster Captain to the left, with a regiment of Grenadiers to, at the very least, keep the Lord busy for a short period of time. As it happened the Dwarfs didn’t disappoint with Big G’s Fury in the centre, a horde to either side, the Brock riders in reserve and of course a spear regiment and beast lord on either flank.
Getting started
On my left of the table the aim of the game was simple. I wanted to keep the Dwarf Lord on his bear busy long enough that he couldn’t make an early entry into the centre of the table. The flying muster captain and the Grenadiers made a good start, jumping around the flank and applying pressure on the creature with the threat of highly uncomfortable charges. Through this process the muster captain also found himself with opportunities to jump into the Dwarf’s back field, although the presence of the flame belchers dispelled any thoughts of hopeless heroics.
In the centre, the Iron Beasts and the infantry advanced cautiously, also keen to avoid the flame belchers, as well as early charges from either the brocks or Golloch’s Fury. On the right, similar caution was exercised. I was comfortable that there were more than enough units to manage the beast lord, the spear regiment and the horde of Shieldbreakers, but it had to be managed carefully.
As the Dwarf spears moved forward, Greedyguts broke ranks and charged, putting about four wounds on the unit. Often underestimated, my opponent responded by throwing the beast lord into the Greedygut’s flank. I was more than happy to trade Greedyguts for a combined charge with my Juggers on the defence six lord in the front, but the mighty Halfling survived the charge (far from inconceivable), and my Juggers got a combined flank charge on the beast, taking it down and putting the spears in an uncomfortable position, especially as Greedyguts proceeded to take another four wounds off them and waiver them. Unfortunately, the spears passed their headstrong roll and took their revenge on the cursed creature.
An opportunity presents itself
The flying muster captain and the grenadiers were doing a great job of keeping the other Dwarf Lord away from the fray. By now the poor creature was a bit out of breath and facing the wrong direction to be helpful for a couple of turns. The Grenadiers realised they had a flank charge on the Ironclad horde. They jumped into combat, but the performance was along way from what they had hoped. This started a series of tit for tat combats as the Ironclads and Golloch’s Fury smashed through Wild Lancers that had advanced towards the central hill, and the Brock Riders took down the Grenadiers. Needing to extract as much advantage from the situation as possible the flying muster captain, one of the pigs and the trolls hit the Brock Riders, whilst the Pride of the Shires and the braves took on the Ironclads. Millimetres and dice rolls mattered as the tired bear was turning back towards the centre and the run around it had been forced to undertake had made it angry.
Fortunately, the brocks were run to ground and the pig and the trolls turned to face the bear, whilst the muster captain prepared to jump to the far right of the table, using some command dice based stealthy to deter the flame belchers from wasting their shots on him. Instead, the belchers turned on the trolls and waivered them, and the bear mounted Lord charged the closest Iron Beast.
Into the grind
A successful headstrong roll on the trolls gave the Halflings a glimmer of hope. The trolls flanked the beast mounted lord, whilst the Iron Beast went into its front. Many dice rolls later the Lord had gone and the Iron Beast was bearing down on the Bulwarkers who had been busily collecting counters. On the right flank one regiment of Juggers and their muster captain routed the other spears and claimed their two loot counters, whilst the flying muster captain flanked the Shieldbreakers and the other regiment of Juggers charged them in the front. As the flying muster captain was hindered the double charge was never going to be a sure thing, and in response the Shieldbreakers fought back and waivered the Jugger regiment. In the next round though the flying muster captain put a decent round of wounds onto the dwarfs, but a double one kept them in the fight and kept the muster captain away from the centre for another turn.
In the centre the Halflings also benefited from a double one that kept the Pride of Shires in the fight against the Ironclads. Sadly, the steam powered contraption could do little to hold up the inevitable erosion of the centre ground. If only there had been a flying muster captain and Jugger regiment on hand to help out…
With the Halflings reduced to one Iron Beast in the centre things were looking grim, despite the Halfings holding four of the seven tokens. The pig couldn’t quite kill the Bulwarkers fast enough and received a flank charge from Golloch’s Fury for its trouble.
The flying muster captain slashed at the Shieldbreakers again, this time sending them running, before turning to the centre and driving his golden furred aralez into the flank of Golloch’s Fury in a last ditch effort to recover the tokens stolen from the now destroyed Iron Beast, but it was too little too late and the Dwarfs won the day 4:2.
Final thoughts
This was an absolute cracker of a game, probably the best of the three (and the standard was incredibly high). Whilst Halflings aren’t an alpha strike army they can hit incredibly hard, and their command dice abilities are very useful in supporting the style of play I enjoy with them, which made the Dwarfs far more manageable. I’d also like to add that this Dwarf army went on to win the battle scoring, so really happy to have done so well against it.
Two down… one to go!
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Yesterday I packed up the troops and jumped in the car. We went to the fantastic Bullrun event run by the lovely Steve Hildrew. It’s a 1,995 point event, with command dice, and a real focus on hobby. As a result, before attending all players had to attest to the sort of hobby skills they had applied to their armies. I returned the form somewhat optimistically saying that my army would include conversion work, freehand design and advanced techniques such as wet blending. At that point the only part of my army that qualified was the vomit on Greedygut’s apron, which whilst technically was wet blending, didn’t feel like if fitted with the intention underlying the scoring. This led to a bit of a speedy completion of my Pride of the Shire’s project that has been sat on my desk for about eight months, better late than never I suppose.
Following the last event I’ve decided to experiment with two Iron Beasts, affectionately known as pigs, but to accommodate this I’ve replaced the Stalwart horde with braves and the harvester has gone. As this was a 1,995 event the cavalry horde has gone too, and this was a command dice event I decided to invest in two extra white dice, because being able to add an extra point of thunderous charge to Juggers is just the best feeling in the world.
Unfortunately, due to timings I haven’t been able to write up the whole event, so I’m planning on writing the three games up separately over the next few days. Without further ado let’s get into the first game against the Forces of the Abyss. By way of a little help in the photos the Abyssal Horsemen are the large flying bug things and the Berserkers are the single monstrosities on the big bases.
The game begins
The first scenario was Compass Points. I was more than a little concerned about this match up because of how fast everything was in my opponent’s list. It’s the sort of list that punishes mistakes quickly and terminally. In addition to this there was a bit of a mismatch in terms of styles that felt, in my opinion, more in my opponent’s favour. Halfings are great at delivering loads of chip damage and taking things off over a period of time. The Forces of the Abyss have loads of regeneration and each of the main units could potentially remove each of my units in one shot. Add to that the Well of Soul’s ability to also remove damage for injured units, I knew I had to do my best to get multi charges and remove units quickly. Brain power was going to be required.
Blocking charges was going to be the order of the day and doing what I could to kill off the gargoyles as quickly as possible. I decided to ignore the right flank as I wanted to be able to concentrate my units in such a way as to make multi charges as easy as possible. I was happy when one of the horsemen regiments was deployed on the far right as the terrain meant I probably had at least three turns before they could meaningfully get involved in the fighting.
On the left my Juggers moved slowly forward, keeping out of reach of the Berserkers and the Grenadiers positioned themselves for a blocking jump. In the centre, the fliers supporting the pigs, trolls and braves did the same. By turn two the demons were starting to close and action had to be taken. The grenadiers on the left found an uncomfortable position, in front of the Berserkers and horsemen that gave them only one option in the next turn, whilst the flying Muster Captain went into the central regiment of horsemen and the other grenadiers went into the central Berserkers. Not surprisingly, by turn three there were no more grenadiers on the table. However, careful positioning on the left meant the demons had not been able to stop a double charge from the Juggers into the Berserkers which saw the first abyssal unit leave the table, shortly followed by some gargoyles, thanks to the muster captain and Greedyguts.
In the centre things were starting to heat up as the chaff units disappeared and the core units faced off against each other. Fortunately, the braves managed to resist a charge from the horsemen who had crept up the right flank and even more fortunately the flying Muster Captain survived the first round of combat with his regiment of horsemen.
At this point the power of the Well of Souls became apparent as the five wounds done by the flying Muster Captain disappeared from the dark knights and he was facing another round of combat with fresh faced opponents.
Things start to break
The left flank was not in a good place for the abyssals. The remining unit of horsemen were backed into a corner and forced to make a hindered charge that failed to deliver anything meaningful. The result was a flank charge from a command dice enhanced Jugger regiment that sent them scattering whilst the other Juggers broke off and tried to run down one of the harbingers. Sadly, a double 1 stopped them in their tracks.
In the centre the pigs and trolls removed the remaining horde of Berserkers whilst the flying Muster Captain dug in for another round of combat. It was at that stage the Well of Souls charged the Wild Lancers in the centre and the horsemen from the right broke the braves. This meant all available halflings found themselves facing away from the beleaguered Muster Captain to address the new direction of threat.
Claiming the points
After three rounds of combat the flying Muster Captain was crushed beneath fire shod hooves and the horsemen turned to face the new line that had been created. Seeing the Muster Captain fall the Juggers that had chased down the harbinger turned their attention to those responsible. With a little help from the Sauceror, and more command dice, they spurred on their mounts and together with the Pride of the Shires smashed into the wrongdoers, turning them to mush.
The Pride of the Shires then claimed the three point objective whilst the Juggers turned their attentions on the final stand in the centre where the final horsemen and the Well of Souls found themselves facing off against the other pig and the trolls. The abyssal warriors had all but given up the fight by this stage, and as the Juggers flanked the horsemen and the trolls claimed the two point objective turn seven ended with a six to zero win to the halflings.
Not a bad start to the day.
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