Planning and re-planning

Cancon is fast approaching (it's a little over a week away), and I am not really prepared. I sort of know what is happening, but I have not done much in the way of ensuring that I am ready for it. I posted a while back that I was going to be playing Warhammer 8.5 this time, but that plan kind of fell through when low numbers combined with a crush from other events for extra space, and the event was cancelled.

So now I am playing Kings of War. Along with 61 other players, apparently. What army am I using? I have no idea yet, beyond the fact that it will have to use models I already have painted. I don't have time to paint anything else, because my available time will be spent working on these guys.

One Chaos Blood Bowl team in the making

Kings of War: The Deep Fields - Part 2

And so we continue our report of the Deep Fields Kings of War game. You can find the first part here.

Orcs Turn 5

Things were starting to look a little thin on the West side of the field. I charged my remaining Goblin King into the flank of the Elven Army Standard Bearer in an attempt to slow his advance toward my war machines. I failed to even wound him however, so achieved little. With the Slasher finally falling in the centre of the field, the path was opened for my Trolls to have a go at the oh-so-frustrating Tree Herder, whilst the Goblin Sharpstick legion swept on past and engaged the Palace Guard. Unfortunately neither of these efforts were very inspiring, despite doing my best with Bane Chant (I think I failed at least one attempt every single turn. I need Elite re-rolls like the fancy Elf Mages). My remaining Slasher attacked the Archer troop for the second time, but somehow still only managed to waver them. That was bad. There was a purple Tree Herder looking at my flank...

Kings of War: The Deep Fields - Part 1

New Years has come and gone, and despite being suitably distracted and disorganised, I eventually bowed to pressure and organised the annual "big game". It was nothing quite as colossal as some of the previous epic battle reports, but it was still larger than your average game. I had been musing for a while about what a game of Kings of War would look like if the armies were further apart, thus giving things more room and time to maneuver. I decided this was a suitable opportunity to find out. 

In the end I settled on 8,000 points per side, played on a 6'x12' table. The real difference here was that despite being 6' wide, the deployment zones were still only 12" deep - meaning that the armies started 48" apart. So twice as far apart as is normal. It was not a fancy layout, but it would serve to assuage my curiosity.

In an effort to ensure most of the field was relevant, we played Pillage! and scattered 16 markers around (it happened to be how many Halfling and Gnoblar models I had lying around). The game would go for 9 turns with the possibility of a 10th, in order to compensate for the extra distance between the armies.

I shied away from some of the armies that have featured most heavily in our larger games, and instead opted to make the battle between my Orcs and Goblins (with a dash of Ogres) against Elves with Dwarf allies. I threw together lists with few magic items to try to keep life simple for the players.

There ended up being 2 players on each side. Pete and I have played the most KoW, so it was decided that we would be opposing each other. Owen then joined Pete, and I ended up with Nick, who had never actually played a game of KoW before. But he'd heard of it, so was experienced enough to meet our exacting criteria. Given I had made the lists, I let Pete choose which army his side would take. He chose the "Good Guys", essentially revealing them for the bad guys they really were. They just have good publicists. Sneaky gits...

This will be another trimmed down report without maps or anything. Just army lists, pictures (frequently blurry ones) and captions. Hopefully that will be enough to make sense of it.

The Armies

Bad Guys (Nick and me)

(who are really the good guys in this story, since I was playing them)...

Orcs

• Horde of Ax
• Horde of Ax
• Horde of Ax
• Regiment of Morax
• Troop of Morax
• Horde of Greatax
• Regiment of Greatax
• Regiment of Greatax
• Regiment of Gore Riders
• Regiment of Gore Riders
• Regiment of Gore Riders
• Regiment of Gore Chariots
• Krudger on Winged Slasher with Ensorcelled Armour
• Krudger on Winged Slasher with Medallion of Life
• Krudger on Winged Slasher
• Krudger on Winged Slasher
• Flagger on Gore
• Flagger
• Godspeaker on Gore with Bane Chant, Heal
• Godspeaker with Bane Chant, Heal
• Godspeaker with Bane Chant, Heal
• Giant
• Giant
• Giant
• War Drum
• War Drum

Ogres

• Horde of Warriors
• Horde of Warriors
• Horde of Warriors
• Regiment of Boomers
• Captain
• Warlock with Fireball

Goblins

• Legion of Sharpsticks
• Horde of Sharpsticks
• Regiment of Spitters
• Horde of Trolls
• Regiment of Fleabag Riders
• Regiment of Fleabag Riders
• Regiment of Fleabag Riders
• Troop of Fleabag Riders
• Troop of Fleabag Riders
• Big Rocks Thrower
• Big Rocks Thrower
• Big Rocks Thrower
• Big Rocks Thrower
• King on Chariot
• King on Fleabag
• Wiz with Bane Chant
• Wiz with Bane Chant
• Troll Bruiser
• Slasher
• Slasher

Good Guys (Pete and Owen)

(who are in truth the baddies of our story, boo-hiss)

Elves

• Horde of Kindred Archers
• Troop of Kindred Archers
• Regiment of Palace Guard
• Regiment of Palace Guard
• Regiment of Palace Guard
• Regiment of Palace Guard
• Regiment of Palace Guard
• Horde of Therennian Sea Guard
• Regiment of Kindred Tallspears
• Horde of Kindred Tallspears
• Regiment of Hunters of the Wild
• Regiment of Hunters of the Wild
• Regiment of Hunters of the Wild
• Horde of Forest Shamblers
• Regiment of Stormwind Cavalry
• Regiment of Stormwind Cavalry
• Regiment of Stormwind Cavalry
• Troop of Stormwind Cavalry
• Bolt Thrower
• Bolt Thrower
• Bolt Thrower
• Bolt Thrower
• Army Standard Bearer on Horse
• Army Standard Bearer
• Elven Mage on Horse with Bane Chant, Fireball, Lightning Bolt
• Elven Mage with Bane Chant, Fireball, Lightning Bolt
• Elven Mage with Bane Chant, Fireball, Lightning Bolt
• Elven Mage with Bane Chant, Fireball, Lightning Bolt
• Dragon Kindred Lord with Ensorcelled Armour
• Dragon Kindred Lord
• Drakon Rider Lord
• Tree Herder with Medallion of Life
• Tree Herder
• Tree Herder

Dwarves

• Regiment of Berserkers
• Regiment of Ironguard
• Regiment of Ironguard
• Regiment of Ironwatch Crossbows
• Regiment of Ironwatch Rifles
• Troop of Rangers
• Horde of Shieldbreakers
• Horde of Earth Elementals
• Horde of Earth Elementals
• Army Standard Bearer
• Stone Priest with Bane Chant
• Stone Priest with Bane Chant
• King on Large Beast

The Battle

Deployment

Yeah, it was a bit squeezy. But we made it work. Orcs on the left, Elves on the right.