Kings of War on a Day Off

 I hadn't played Kings of War in quite a while. Then my friend, Mark, invited Beth and I up to his place for a game, some lunch, and time for Beth to talk with Carrie. So we went and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

I have a Kings of Men army based on a real mixed bag of troops I've collected over the years. Mark has a very nice Dwarven army. Since we didn't have much room (Kitchen table), we set our armies to 1500 points. (2500 to 3000+ points is more the usual size.)

So off we went. We finished before lunch (baked Quesadillas... Yum!) and before Carrie had to go to her place of employment for the afternoon/evening shift.

The table as the battle progressed. Mark's Dwarf rangers hit my Black Company which was
guarding my right flank. We both got hurt. You can see the cannon on both sides.
Cannon in KoW are often quite useless. This day, they were deadly.
The huge tree trunks were for Mark's forest world of Endor in a Star Wars game.

Mark's rangers led a flank attack.
My musketmen and the artillery sent one unit packing.

My cavalry flank
Mounted scouts with pistols led and were smashed quickly.
Knights followed and fought a melee war badgers and the Dwarf General.
Didn't do so well. The Mounted Sergeants didn't last long either.

Mark's main force on a nicely detailed multi-figure base.

The pride and spine of my army - a horde of pikes.
Mostly Old Glory Italian Wars pikes with a few Warlord Landsknechts added.

Pikes close up.
The dice peaking into the bottom the photo indicate casualties.

The Pikes from the front

Mark's main force from the front.

My muskets hold off the Dwarf archers while
the Black Company have a dust-up with the rangers.

My knights fight against the Dwarf general and the war badgers.
The badgers would get thrown back while the general held her ground.
(Yes, the general was female.)
Because of that maneuver, my knights were pinned and got slapped around.

Well, I lost the game. Dwarves are hard to crack. I should have taken more shoot-y units to do damage at a distance. Live and learn.

I enjoyed the day and my time with Mark and Carrie... and with Beth. 

Father's Day Slaughter

the Phoenix of my wife's Basalian Army

My son came to visit this past Sunday for a Father's Day gathering. I was happy to see him. He also brought his newest Kings of War army --- Ogres. So after my usual morning's work and lunch, we set up a game... 3000 points on a side, my Kings of Men vs. Robb's Ogres and Katie's Sylvan Elves. I haven't done well against Robb since our first outing, but we all wanted to play and off we went.

6 turns and the scenario had to do with the unit values who were close to the centre of the board at the end of turn #6. It was messy to say the least.

The living room filled with figures, family... and cats.

Like I said... "and cats."
Mab makes herself comfortable... usually on top of a regiment or two.

Finally! A decent photo of my pike block! (Mostly Old Glory 25mm Italian Wars range)

I discovered that Ogres are tough... discovered "the hard way."

I was charged with moving first and I was hampered by the area I had to deploy in. My two hordes of pike-armed infantry were stuck behind a stream and a small house. I had placed mounted scouts on the far flanks and had two regiment of knights on the field, on to each flank. Katie's Elves took the right flank and Robb's small but mighty Ogres took the left of the allied army. My cannon were not able to do much which makes we wonder about the wisdom of taking them at all. I'll speak of the lessons and ideas further on in this writing.

Katie's "River Guard" fighting a regiment of bowmen. A strange match-up!

My mounted scouts face off against some Elvish horse archers.
My second unit of knights moves up in support.
The small dice show casualties; the yellow bead shows the unit to be shaken by losses.

Same outfits... view from the other side.

My view of the pikes.

Galoglaich serving as foot guards follow a unit of fanatics and provide support for some archers.

The centre of the board as we start to mix it up.
The black card is a unit stand that the figures kept falling off of.

Elvish bow and Silverbreeze heavy cavalry.

The River Guard and the bowmen continue to fight.
My son show his colours, declaring his allegiance to Gotham City.

My other horde of pikes (GW Empire figures painted as Stirland levies and as the Black Company)
A rifle regiment and a cluster of RPG launchers (serving as a ballista) precede them.

A circus cannon? I used this as a siege gun.

Believe it or not. this is the bulk of Robb's Ogre army.

The Circus Gun prepares to fire again. (GW Crew & D&D pre-primed gun)

Katie's Elven Magic User (GW Warhammer figure)

Robb's Ogre general/champion "Grok M'Grok" (or something like that) goes into single combat
with Tiny the Giant assisted by my wizard, Dermot the Inevitable.

The Clash of the Titans continues!

Surprisingly, everybody survived this combat. Tiny often loses quickly.
This time he gave as good as he got.
Dermot helped with a Bane Chant spell once.

In the end, I lost. I couldn't do much damage to the Ogres and they carry a lot of points. I lost a number of units because human units in KoW are very lightly armoured and drop like flies in a cold snap. Still it was fun.

I think I'll try more and smaller pike units interspersed with missile troops, Pike-and-shot style. Using the Captain figure and rule, I can still move some units after the set up and before movement.

So how was your weekend?

Christmas Day Tussle - Kings of War

    It's almost a tradition for my daughter, Katie and I to have a game on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. This year it was Christmas Day with my son, Robb acting as rules source/referee and while he and Beth cooked our non-traditional Christmas dinner - Teriyaki Salmon and a vegetable stir-fry with rice. (Say what you will, Traditionalists, it was delicious!)
    Katie and I fielded Elves and Kings of Men in 10mm for Kings of War, a game set we all enjoy. Katie's 25mm army is still in the process of being painted and the Warmaster armies are available and adaptable. We use metric measure rather than Imperial, measuring in centimeters rather than inches. It works just fine for 10mm figs! There are a few other small adaptations we make as well. We even used the KoW 3rd edition, since the Uncharted Empires book arrived on Christmas Eve.
     After set up, I took the first move and it didn't take long to get into pike range. Robb advised me to make some interesting unit choices; I'd never taken Kings of Men berzerkers before. Katie conscripted assistance from her cat, Maeve, who insisted on smacking around a bolt thrower or dice when ever she could! We played a scenario called "Loot."

KoM knights and mounted scouts with a wizard on the far left.

A horde of pikes with muskets to left and right.
"The Captain" is in command.
A lot of the figures are from my collection of English Civil War/Thirty Years War
troops in 10mm (Either Pendrakon or Old Glory)

On the far right flank, behind a hill, a cannon, a troop of  musketmen,
a regiment of berzerkers (actually Galloglaich), and Tiny, the giant in his 10mm form.
(Old Glory, Pendrakon, and a GW giant)

Elves in opposition.
I don't know the Elf list very well, but I know it includes heavy cavalry, bows,
spears (there was a horde), and bolt throwers.

More Elven cavalry.
The stand turned sideways is light horse archers. GW's Warmaster originally mounted
all cavalry 2 wide by 2 deep. For KoW, 4 wide by 1 deep would be better, but I'm too lazy
to rip figures off the stands just now.

Elven bows and cavalry moving so fast the camera couldn't catch the action.

A 15mm "grasshopper gun" in service as a howitzer or siege artillery.

Elf spear horde vs. Mannish pike horde and shot

Elf cavalry caught the mounted scouts and destroyed them.
I almost always arm the scouts with "black powder" weapons.
3rd edition makes no distinction between pistols or carbines like 2nd edition.

From the Elvish side.
The Elf magic user rides a windstorm.
The small dice indicate casualties,

As Tiny and the berserkers advance against the Elvish cavalry, the muskets and cannon
hang back... because you can't move and shoot with black powder weapons!

{"I'm gonna get that bolt thrower yet! You'll see!}

Elves charge out of the forest. Believe it or not, the muskets held on.

The knights advance tentatively with the wizard on the flank.
Charging a spear phalanx is suicide since their formation nullifies
the cavalry's Thunderous Charge bonuses.

In a maneuver Robb said he'd never seen, the berserkers and Tiny charge downhill
 against an Elven hero, with Tiny taking the flank.
It was not pretty.
The dime coin is an improvised loot counter.

Spears and pikes mix it up. The spears got hurt.

As the musketeers hold on against the cavalry, the pikes wheel to flank the cavalry
and tear them up.

   After that flanking movement came, Katie conceded the game and I was declared the winner. I don't win often so this was a Christmas surprise.

"The Captain" (GW)
I use a different, less armoured figure in 25mm 

The human wizard whom I call Dermot the Inevitable (GW)

Tiny
Note the cringing figure on the ground behind his left foot.
A nice and very whimsical GW figure

 

The Elven Magic User (GW)
The whirlwind is a nice touch.

{"Where'd them fig'gers go?"}