Battle Report: Kings of War - February 28, 2016

So I finally grabbed a little time to play a practice game of Kings of War. My buddy and I sat down on a cold Sunday afternoon to play a short 1000 point game to try and get the basics of the game down. We settled on just using the models that were already sitting around in my display case and play a simple game between the Ratkin and the Kindred Elves.

My buddy played the Kindred Elves and I took control of the Ratkin for the game. These are the quick lists that I put together:

Kindred Elves - 995 Points
Kindred Archers (Horde) (Brew of Keen-Eyeness - +1 to standard ranged attacks) - 295 points
Gladestalkers (Troop) - 130 points
Gladestalkers (Troop) - 130 points
Bolt Thrower (War Machine) - 90 points
Elven Mage (Individual) (Lightning Bolt, Scarletmaw's Fenulian Amulet - +2 to Lightning Bolt) - 145 points
Hunters of the Wild (Regiment) (Brew of Haste - +1 to speed) - 205 points

Ratkin - 1000 Points
Blight (Horde) (Brew of Haste - +1 to speed) - 220 points
Death Engine (Monster) (Vile Sorcery - ranged attack) - 210 points
Blight Lord (Individual) (Bane Chant) - 115 points
Weapon Team (War Engine) (Pierce 1) - 80 points
Warriors (Regiment) - 90 points
Weapon Team (War Engine) (Pierce 1) - 80 points
Warriors (Regiment) (Chant of Hate) - 115 points
Enforcer (Individual) - 45 points
Swarm-Crier (Individual) - 45 points

Note - After we played the game, I realized that the Ratkin list is illegal because there is an additional individual for which there is no base regiment or horde unit. So that 45 points should have been put into another unit (or combined with the Enforcer to grab a new unit of 90 points). Luckily, that sole individual did absolutely nothing in our game but die.

Let's take a look at how our first game went!

Deployment:
We took turns placing terrain, and after we finished I realized I made some major mistakes placing the river and bridge so far into one-side's deployment zone. The woods and the building on the right flank also made that particular deployment zone very small (which wasn't a problem for the Elven Kindred units thanks to the Pathfinder special rules, but were especially devastating to the Ratkin force).

I lost the roll of and so got stuck with the shortened deployment zone. From left to right, I deployed the Death Engine, one weapon team on the bridge, the Blight Lord next to the Blight horde with a warrior unit and swarm-crier in front. The remaining warrior unit was closer to the right flank but positioned to move around the trees supported by the Enforcer and other weapon team. My opponent deployed his units with a split flank, dividing his forces into two shooting flanks. On the left flank was one unit of Gladestalkers, the elven mage with lightning bolt (7!!!) and the archer horde. On the right flank was the bolt thrower, the other unit of gladestalkers, and a hunters of the wild regiment to protect that flank.

Deployment

Turn #1:
I won the roll-off to go first and started moving my units forward as quickly as possible. Most units moved at the double when able to, while the units that were blocked by terrain or had a bad angle (due to my bad deployment) advanced to better positions. As all the shooting units had moved at the double or were out of range, I simply passed the turn over.

Ratkin Turn 1 - all ahead forward

My opponent's turn 1 was slightly more eventful. He had vanguarded some of his units into better positions, and moved the Hunters further into the trees on the right flank. Massed shooting managed to push through a few scattered wounds on a weapon team, the Enforcer, and the front unit of warriors though none of the units were wavered by nerve tests.

Turn #1 - Kindred Elves - wounds start piling up

Turn #2:
Still several turns away from reaching combat I advanced with my combat units in the hopes that I would be able to get into combat soon. The only shooting attack that I had came from the Death Engine, but it caused several wounds on the gladestalkers on the left flank. Unfortunately, a poor nerve check roll kept the gladestalkers ready to shoot the next turn.

Turn #2 Ratkin - the rat hordes march on

Looking to really press his advantage, my opponent moved several units towards the center to maximize his shooting on my front warriors unit. After a highly successful shooting turn, the front unit had more than 15 wounds on it and was wavered, locking it into place for the next turn. On the right flank the Hunters continued to push forward looking to flank a unit if I pushed to far forward (the unit's +1 speed allowing it to out charge the warriors unit on the right flank).

Turn #2 Kindred Elves - the rats are starting to feel the pain

Turn #3:
Well, that sucked. The foremost warrior unit got wavered and now has to spend an entire turn just sitting there waiting to die. Even worse, they would have died on an average roll. I think they were sitting on something like 18 or 19 wounds at this point so they are pretty much out of the game. This left me having to advance the blight horde forward through the warriors while trying to move everything else up. The hunters on the right flank were a big worry as I didn't want to get charged by them so the second warrior unit had to stay more than 12" away. I moved the weapons team forward hoping for some good rolls but failed to cause a single wound. Luckily, the death engine just moved forward and caused the last wounds needed on the left-most gladestalkers to kill them outright. First points, Ratkin!

Ratkin VP: 130
Kindred Elves VP: 0

Forward rats, eventually you will find combat.

My opponent seized on his chance to grab some points and charged the hunters into the flank of the foremost warriors unit. Can you say goodbye warriors? He also moved the remaining gladestalker unit forward to give more shooting targets and pulled the mage, smartly, away from the death engine. Shooting and magic saw a few wounds through on the death engine, but not enough to cause it any problems (thanks to some poor lightning bolt rolls) and the blight horde came off largely unhurt from the kindred archers (I think I suffered only a few wounds on this large unit). However, the bolt thrower and gladestalker unit wiped out the weapons team on the right flank in a single turn of shooting. In combat, the hunters easily wiped out the warriors with double attacks and pivoted to face the second warrior unit.

Ratkin VP: 130
Kindred Elves VP: 170

Now the models start dieing fast

Turn #4:
Okay, time for some Ratkin retribution. After marching across the battlefield through a hail of arrows (though the shooting was overall less than average), I finally got to charge. The death engine and blight horde charged into the kindred archer horde hoping to wipe them out completely. The second warrior unit charged in with both the blight lord and swarm-crier into the hunter unit. The remaining weapon team them moved to bring its flame weapon to bear on the remaining gladestalkers. Shooting was decently impressive with a couple of wounds on the gladestalkers, but they managed to stay in fighting shape. The hunter unit was completely decimated between a successful bane chant and all the attacks. A high nerve roll (of 10) took the unit of the board allowing the rats to control the center of the board. Unfortunately, the combat with the archer horde did not go as planned as I managed to only cause six wounds on the unit despite hitting it with my two best combat units.

Ratkin VP: 335
Kindred Elves VP: 170

The first real attack of the rats begins to kill the elves, leaving dead bodies all around

Uh, oh. Now time for the backlash. The Kindred Archers counter-charged the blight horde allowing the elven mage to line up some lightning bolts against the Death Engine. Meanwhile, the remaining elves stayed put to shoot at the incoming rats. Magic saw the death engine destroyed completely thanks to some good lightning bolts and an above average nerve test. The bolt thrower also managed to kill off the enforcer with two successful hits! While the gladestalkers put some wounds on the remaining warrior unit. In combat, the kindred archers caused several more wounds on the blight horde but nothing could stop them as they were still outside of death range.

Ratkin VP: 335
Kindred Elves VP: 425

And the casualties just keep mounting up.

Turn #5:
After Turn 4, we both realized that now the game was really ending as there just weren't that many units left. The Blight Horde charged the archers and the warriors charged the gladestalkers. Both remaining characters moved to try and box the elven mage in while the weapon team chose to move against the bolt thrower (stupid move, I know). Shooting saw the death of the bolt thrower with average dice and combat saw the death of both the gladestalkers and the archers (thanks to Bane Chant on the horde). This left only the elven mage on the board for my opponent's turn.

Ratkin VP: 850
Kindred Elves VP: 425 

Die elves, die!

The elven mage moved to be able to lightning bolt the warrior unit trusting in his high nerve to survive any ensuing combats. And what a lightning bolt it was. With six wounds caused and a 10 nerve check the warriors were wiped off the field.
Ratkin VP: 850
Kindred Elves VP: 540

Stupid mages with stupid lightning bolt.

Turn #6:
The game was ending and I did what I could to try and get the mage. I managed a charge with the blight lord who then case bane chant on himself, but some poor rolling only caused two wounds and with an average nerve check the elven mage survived the game. Looking at it now I should have used the weapon team and shot giving me a better chance to kill the mage, but I didn't as I thought I could charge it with both characters. I was wrong, and so the mage lived to see another day.

Ratkin VP: 850
Kindred Elves VP: 540

Poor planning.

My opponent's final turn saw lightning bolt kill blight lord for his impertinence with another great round of lightning bolts and nerve checks. Lightning bolt is such a great spell, especially at lower levels. With that, we counted up end of game VPs.

Ratkin VP: 850
Kindred Elves VP: 655

The game ended up with a rat victory, so I'll take it. But the game choices and movement that I made clearly show that I need to get some more games under my belt before I start playing in some tournaments that are outside my local area. Hopefully I can get another game or two this month if I can get some stuff done in the yard and around the house.

Until next time, keep playing games!