Just downloaded the PDF of the KoW rules that I got as part of the Kickstarter.

So far... I am pretty danged happy with them.

Really need to try out the game, but it looks solid.

The Auld Grump

Definitely want to try the siege rules.

Now if I only knew where to get a decent cardstock castle.... (Yeah, CWU will be just about perfect.... )

The campaign rules also look decent.

The Auld Grump

Any massive changes? Not to say I've played the original...but still!

WOW! So a rather large expansion with some little touches as well. Very cool!

Some of my players are having a game tomorrow using a few houserules:

1. Fail a Nerve Test - Take a Drink.
2. Lose a Unit - Drain the Glass.
3. Lose the Game - Pay For the Drinks.

Jon out masses Chris by a lot, Jon is better than six feet tall, Chris is about five feet tall. Chris is, I think, playing to lose....

The Auld Grump

Got word back on how play has been going - they just finished playing five games with no rules arguments!

No ambiguities aside from a few 'can I see more than half the unit?' questions. And those were settled with die rolls.

Orcs vs. goblins.

Dwarfs vs. goblins.

Elves vs. dwarfs.

Elves vs. orcs.

Elves and dwarfs vs. orcs and goblins.

Their only complaint was a desire for more types of scenarios. In the base rules things are pretty much set up as set battles - no meeting engagements, no delayed reinforcements, just our side, your side.

Chris missed the randomness of orcs and goblins in WH, everyone else was fine with there being little silliness.

The Auld Grump

Anyone else playing? I have been enjoying the game quite a bit.

I would like rules for costing out things that aren't in the army lists - like undead dragons, as a not so random example....

Observations:
Without heroes the Undead have a very hard time of it. Try to have as many necromancers as you can, Dark Surge makes a huge difference.
Elves are very good all around - but some units are 'must haves' to the point where other units get ignored.
It takes a lot to make a big unit of Dwarfs fold.
Humans... are very versatile. Pike units are a must have, and the Armies of Men have the best unique character in the game - he gives some units the Vanguard ability.

The Auld Grump

Had a great game of KoW tonight - my undead vs. a combined army of dwarfs and elves.

We were using the Veteran's Challenge variant - I had a 1000 pt. army, they each had a 750 pt. army (though I would have preferred bigger armies that was what they had to field). My one army against their coalition.

The mission was Kill! - straight up victory points for units routed from the field.

The Elf Dwarf Coalition was badly hampered by the two armies not really supporting each other - I used a refused flank to roll through the elves (with a meaty *Squish!*) then continue through to the dwarfs at about the same time my slower moving troops hit his front line. Putting my necromancer on horse meant that he kept within range to use Dark Surge on the Revenant Cavalry - which in turn meant that the undead cavalry was able to charge rather than be charged by the Stormwind Cavalry of the elves. I think that charge was the turning point.

If the dwarf cannon had focused on the units charging at the elves then they could have avoided their biggest unit of Ironclads being charged in the flank by the Revenant Cavalry while their front was occupied with the Revenant foot. Instead they focused their cannonade on the hard to damage Revenant foot - admittedly not as hard to damage given the Piercing rounds of the cannon. But I was able to Heal most of the damage by the time my foot reached the Ironclads.

I was also surprised at how well by skeleton archers performed - 20 archers, with Jar of the Four Winds, for an even 100 points. Because they had the range on the elf archers they were able to soften up the Stormwind Cavalry before the main clash, then they were able to do the same to the Elf archers on turn four.

Less exciting was the performance by my catapults. My position for the catapults meant that both of my enemies had cover for a good portion of the game.

Overall... I think that the dwarf player would have done okay against me if he had been playing equal points, but being relegated to a support role by his lack of movement hurt. Plus, his luck with the Cannon was mixed - the turn that he managed to deal enough damage to matter the Revenant foot got a very solid Nerve test, and much of the damage was reversed by the necromancers.

The elf player on the other hand... split his fire between units rather than tying to inflict enough damage on my Revenant Cavalry to matter - instead he spent an extra turn moving in order to get within range of my Skeleton archers. And that turn meant that the skeletons were in range to fire at their pointy eared counterparts after the Stormwind Cavalry had been shattered. Ten Revenant Cavalry against five Stormwind was not a fair fight.

He was also kind of foolish to hold his Scouts back - they have Vangard, and could have done some damage, instead he tried to use them to protect his Bowmen.

At the end I had lost one unit of Ghouls, who were only there to harass the flanks, and one unit of skeletons. The elves were driven from the field, and the dwarfs lost one unit of Ironwatch and their big unit of Ironclads.

By far my most effective unit was the Revenant Cavalry, which wiped out three enemy units, taking only a few wounds in the process (not counting the damage that was Healed).

Least effective were the zombies, who were badly damaged by Ironwatch, and twice missed fleeing off the table by the narrowest of margins.

The Auld Grump

Today's KoW battle went much better - I lost!

Close fought, with both my opponents and I presenting a refused flank deployment. At midpoint two of our faster units ended up almost perpendicular to deployment, squared off in the middle of the field. Each of us trying to prevent the other from attacking our larger foot units.

This time the mission was Kill & Pillage!

My catapults were more effective, until they were silenced by the elf Scouts.

Revenant Cavalry again wiped out the Stormwind, but was left vulnerable in end game by damage taken from the remnants of the unit. The Stormwind was routed without ever wavering, so they managed to do a round of their own. I suspect that if the elf cav ever manages to get a solid charge against my Revenant Cavalry the results will not be as clear cut - trooper per trooper the elves are superior, but the wonky Nerve rules for undead....

The dwarf riflemen were out of range of the Revenant Cavalry, but both the Ironwatch and elf Bowmen managed to combine fire on the Revenant foot - which folded in the fifth round of the game, leaving a gap in my line. The elven Spearmen units took the opportunity to advance past the engaged Stormwind and Revenant Cavalry to assault my bowmen and my unit of skeletons. Amazingly, neither unit folded

The dwarf cannon did some damage to the Revenant foot as well, and also saw off the remnants of my Revenant cavalry.

The mounted elf hero did a real number on two of my necromancers - and did not suffer a scratch in return.

I ended up holding two objectives, and the alliance held two as well - the middle was contested. The loss of my catapults, Revenant Cavalry, and Revenant foot as well as two out of three of my necromancers spelled the end. I was unable to use Dark Surge to scoot my Skeletons into a charge, and them being tied up with the Spearmen prevented me from holding the middle objective.

The Auld Grump

Becoming very fond of these rules - I have played five games over the last three days - won three, lost two.

The best win was with my Ranger Dwarf army - took out the elves with ranged fire - only two of my units saw hand to hand, and I did better in those two than I did in the ranged combat - despite being outnumbered in both battles.

The battles against the orcs... won one, lost the other. (Same against the elves - though technically one of those was a tie.) My armor (Defense) was not all that effective - all the Orcs have Crushing Strength, and two of his units were Greatax. ((Crushing Strength 2)

The other battle I shot him to heck and gone, then managed to get in charges against his weakened units.

The one battle that was not much fun was going against a new Undead player - they are a tricky army to play. By 'not fun' I mean that I crushed him. No real challenge. Next week I am playing his army against him playing my Dwarfs - his biggest problem was not using his spell casters effectively. So, I will show him. And my dwarfs have no spell caster at all.

He was trying to use his necromancers as fire support - Zap! is nice, but I think that Dark Surge would have served him much better - his unit of Revenants was parked within range of two units of rangers for two rounds. If he had gotten even halfway decent on a Dark Surge then he would have trimmed one of those rounds off and been in hand to hand with me.

At least he listened when I told him that Undead needs lots of heroes.

And, a word to the wise, if you see a unit of Wights coming at you from across a KoW table - shoot them. Shoot them until they are gone. You do not want them to close with you. (I already knew this, and his wights... didn't get close.)

One downside - at this point it seems like everybody is getting the same Magical Artefacts, and using them the same way.

The Auld Grump

Heh - the Kings of War battle went exactly as planned - Megan played my traditional Dwarf army, I played my woodsy ranger dwarf army, against Jon playing Undead and Julie playing Twilight Kin (Dark Elves). Two teams of two players each.

My army was split on the two flanks, Megan held the center. Because of the composition of my army there was no fast flank - both flanks were light infantry. I had the flanks because I am more experienced in wargaming - I could be more flexible in my tactics. (Kings of War and Mordheim are the only wargames that Megan has played.)

Megan's center was riflemen, heavy infantry and cannon. The anvil to my hammers.

We were set up for a pincer, if Jon and Julie cooperated by pushing towards the center.

They did, so we rolled them up, both ends towards the middle, where her cannon tore them both to little pieces. I managed to come up behind them - catching their main units from both front and rear. Both the Revenants (Heavy undead infantry) and the Darksome Guard (Heavy Twilight Kin infantry) were squished in the same round.

We further annoyed Jon and Julie by not conferring during the battle - we knew our roles, had discussed them before the battle, and just did it. Two of my units of rangers sitting on the flanks softening the enemy before they reached the center, the other two moving around to take them in the rear.

We played Kings of War using a chess clock - each side had an hour and a half. Megan and I had a half hour left, Julie and Jon had five minutes....

Jon & Julie are married, and spent some time squabbling about what to do once they were engaged in the center. Megan and I just followed our plan.... Dwarfs are a straightforward folk... no real surprises needed. Not all that well suited for flanking, but my entire army had Vanguard, which gave them extra movement at the beginning of the game, and Megan didn't need the extra movement - her riflemen and Ironclads (Dwarf Heavy infantry) could soak up enough damage and still remain solid until I could close the pincer.

Don't know if they will be challenging us any time soon... I think that we unnerved them. Our plan had been in place since yesterday. Afterwords we just laughed....

I just had sooo much fun tonight.... And I think that this went a long way towards showing Megan that wargaming can be fun.

The Auld Grump

Hunt of Herneas (1500pts)
1500pt Dwarfs Roster (Standard)
Dwarfs (Standard) Selections:
Solid Units (1370pts)

Rangers Horde (385pts)
Crushing Strength (1), Vanguard
banner (15pts), Jar of the Four Winds (30pts) (Jar of the Four Winds), Light crossbows (treat as bows), musician (10pts)
Jar of the Four Winds: The unit's normal ranged attacks gain + 12" range.

Rangers Horde (400pts)
Crushing Strength (1), Vanguard
banner (15pts), Heartseeking Chant (45pts) (Heartseeking Chant), Light crossbows (treat as bows), musician (10pts)
Heartseeking Chant: Grants Piercing (1) or increases the unit's current Piercing value by 1. Normal ranged attacks only.

Rangers Horde (375pts)
Crushing Strength (1), Vanguard
banner (15pts), Blasting Arrow (20pts) (Blasting Arrow), Light crossbows (treat as bows), musician (10pts)
Blasting Arrow: Roll one of the unit's ranged attacks separately. This one attack only counts as Blast (d6). Can only be used by normal ranged attacks.

Rangers Regiment (210pts)
Crushing Strength (1), Vanguard
banner (15pts), Light crossbows (treat as bows), musician (10pts), Piercing Arrow (10pts) (Piercing Arrow)
Piercing Arrow: Roll one of the unit's ranged attacks separately. This one attack only counts as Piercing (4). Can only be used by normal ranged attacks.

Heroes/ Monsters (130pts)

Herneas the Hunter (130pts)

Crushing Strength (2), Individual, Inspiring (Rangers only), Piercing (3), Stealthy, Vanguard

Skewerer (counts as bow)


Roster Rule Summary:
Army Special Rule: Headstrong: Whenever a unit begins a turn Wavering, it rolls a die. On a 4+ it shrugs off the effects of Wavering and can act normally that turn.

Selection Rule Summary:
Crushing Strength (n): Melee hits have a +n modifier when rolling to damage.

Individual: The unit does not have any flank or rear facings. When shooting against this unit, enemies suffer an additional -1 penalty on their rolls to hit. The unit also has the Nimble special rule.

Inspiring (Rangers only): If the unit or any friendly units within 6" of it are Routed, the opponent must re-roll that Nerve test.

Piercing (n): All ranged hits inflicted by the unit have a +n modifier when rolling to damage.

***

King Aldrun's Anvil (1490pts)
1500pt Dwarfs Roster (Standard)
Dwarfs (Standard) Selections:
Solid Units (1115pts)

Ironclad Horde (290pts)
banner (15pts), musician (10pts), The Fog (40pts) (Stealthy), Throwing Mastiffs (15pts)

Ironclad Regiment (155pts)
banner (15pts), Blade of Slashing (5pts) (Blade of Slashing), musician (10pts), Throwing Mastiffs (15pts)
Blade of Slashing: Roll one extra dice in Melee.

Ironwatch Horde (315pts)
banner (15pts), Jar of the Four Winds (30pts) (Jar of the Four Winds), musician (10pts), rifles (15pts) (Piercing (2))
Jar of the Four Winds: The unit's normal ranged attacks gain + 12" range.

Ironwatch Regiment (175pts)
banner (15pts), Blasting Arrow (20pts) (Blasting Arrow), crossbows (Piercing (1)), musician (10pts)
Blasting Arrow: Roll one of the unit's ranged attacks separately. This one attack only counts as Blast (d6). Can only be used by normal ranged attacks.

Ironwatch Regiment (180pts)
banner (15pts), musician (10pts), Piercing Arrow (10pts) (Piercing Arrow), rifles (15pts) (Piercing (2))
Piercing Arrow: Roll one of the unit's ranged attacks separately. This one attack only counts as Piercing (4). Can only be used by normal ranged attacks.

War Engines (255pts)

Ironbelcher Cannon (85pts)
Blast (2d6+1), Elite (if within 6" of a Warsmith), Grapeshot, Piercing (4)

Ironbelcher Cannon (85pts)
Blast (2d6+1), Elite (if within 6" of a Warsmith), Grapeshot, Piercing (4)

Ironbelcher Cannon (85pts)
Blast (2d6+1), Elite (if within 6" of a Warsmith), Grapeshot, Piercing (4)

Heroes/ Monsters (130pts)

Warsmith (105pts)

Crushing Strength (1), Individual, Inspiring (War Engines only)
Da Boomstick (Zap (3))
Zap (n): The unit has a ranged attack. You roll (n) dice for this ranged attack rather than using the Attacks value of the unit. This attack has a range of 24", always hits on 4+ (regardless of modifiers) and is Piercing (1).

Roster Rule Summary:

Army Special Rule: Headstrong: Whenever a unit begins a turn Wavering, it rolls a die. On a 4+ it shrugs off the effects of Wavering and can act normally that turn.

Selection Rule Summary:

Crushing Strength (n): Melee hits have a +n modifier when rolling to damage.

Elite (if within 6" of a Warsmith): Whenever the unit rolls to hit or to damage, it can re-roll one of the dice that failed to hit/damage.

Individual: The unit does not have any flank or rear facings. When shooting against this unit, enemies suffer an additional -1 penalty on their rolls to hit. The unit also has the Nimble special rule.

Inspiring (War Engines only): If the unit or any friendly units within 6" of it are Routed, the opponent must re-roll that Nerve test.

Piercing (n): All ranged hits inflicted by the unit have a +n modifier when rolling to damage.

Stealthy: Enemies shooting against the unit suffer an additional -1 to hit modifier.


Need to clean this up later - I have mauled these, but they were generated using . A free utility for generating army rosters.

*EDIT* Cleaned up some of the mess.

The Auld Grump - I shoulda just copied and pasted, but it would have taken up too much room. Woulda looked better though....

Heh - I should probably mention that the pincer almost never works - but both Jon and Julie are very aggressive in their style of play, and the dwarf cannon made a tempting target in the middle of the field.

Typically, I prefer a refused flank, but dwarfs, without the Brock Cavalry in the Kings of War rules, are ill suited for it. With Brock and Rangers on the fast flank... might be able to pull it off.

For dwarfs I generally castle up - cannon on a hill, riflemen lower but with good FoF. Melee troops around the base. This is how Megan's element was deployed, as close to center as we could get.

If there is only a small hill then I intersperse melee troops and riflemen, retreating the riflemen between ranks of melee troops when the enemy is close to charge range.

Downside - no good at all for taking objectives - it relies on the enemy to come to you.

Anyone else have any battle reports?

The Auld Grump