Kings of War - Loot! Battle of Fru'bowl

Steedo and I got together for a civilised morning game of Kings of War. 

This is the 2nd game we have had - this time it was the loot scenario from the rule book.

It was Elves versus Hobgoblins (Orcs with some Goblin and Ogre allies) as these are the armies I have. We played 2000 points - mainly because of the quick pointing using http://kow2.easyarmy.com/

It also gave me the chance to use the new sabot bases - which are painted but not grassed yet. 

Initial deployment 

The Elves .... Under the command of Steedo. 

The Hobgoblins - lead by Morts. 

The vanguards have moved. 

Turn one - the Hobgoblins advance!

Turn 2 - the Elves react! Charging the Hobgoblin horde in the centre with knights and light cavalry. 

Some archery and magic is used but to little affect. The Hobgoblin vanguards are both eliminated. 

Turn 3 - The Hobgoblins counter-charge! Catching the Elves on the left in the flank! The Knights waver!

The Ogres pick up a loot token.

The end of Turn 3 - lots of issues for the Elves.

Turn 4 - the Knights drop back and the Dragon attacked the Horde!

The Dragon sees off the horde - can the Elves pull off the win?

Turn 5 - the Dragon is pinned by a unit of Hobgoblins, allowing the Wyvern to crash into the Dragon's flank! A CLASH OF TITANS!

The Dragon is chewed up and spat out! The Hobgoblins follow-up (note we didn't fight the combat indicated below - the Hobgoblins were shuffled back an inch). 

The Wyvern is now sitting on top on a loot marker. 

Turn 6 - the Elves make some missile, magic and counter-attacks across the front but by this time the Hobgoblins have picked up (or in the case of the Wyvern on top of) all 3 loot markers. The Hobgoblins also have a heavy cavalry unit and a horde of Ogres to unleash on the Elves .....

But Steedo rolls a 3 and the game is over - another victory to the Hobgoblins!

A really enjoyable game - Steedo didn't protect his left flank. 

I think for the next game the Elves need more fire power (- Mages) and perhaps a treeman. 

We did make a tiny error - the Hobgoblins were given vicious rather than the crushing strength they should have got from tribal might (but this probably benefited the Elves). 

Morts

Well I think l am clever .......

Well I failed to complete the Viking warband and for SAGA by Easter - still 8 to do, base coated and washed but I haven't done the detail! This failure is due in part to work commitments and being distracted by sorting out the sabot bases from last summer. 

By sorting I mean putting the backs on and texturing them - still got the painting and grassing to do!

The sabotting has been done so that figures can be used for HotT and Kings of War. 

These images show the HotT bases - 80mm frontages. The Vikings are on round 25mm bases the elves are on 20mm squares. 

I have also have done some bases with various numbers of 25mm round cut-outs and with 2 cavalry base cut-outs (some shown in the top picture). The depth on most of the bases is 60mm apart from the 20mm squares which have depth of 50mm - but this is so by rotating the miniatures 90 degrees two bases have the same foot print as a regiment for Kings of War!

A regiment of elves face off against human Knights in KoW. Also the basing means that they are over the minimum model count recommended by mantic. 

However my plans have been slightly stuffed up by some 20mm square bases being bigger than 20mm - which is a really pain. Will probably get some more bases cut or I have to sand the bases ...

Anyway got some games on this week so - might not get much further with this!

Morts

Whirlwind from the north ...... More Vikings

We I have repurposed some Vikings for SAGA (and anything else I can come up with). 

I have only painted 2 of these and redone the shields on the rest - trying to match the scheme with the previously painted Vikings (red/cream shields). 

Hirdmen - 3 old Citadel on the left, a metal and a plastic Gripping Beast.

Then the Hirdmen with 2 handed weapons and a standard bearer. 

4 Citadel in the middle and a metal and plastic Gripping Beast in the middle. 

Only have another 7 Vikings to paint to complete the SAGA force!

Quite a lot of Saxons to do mind you .......

Also managed to get a couple games of Odin's Ravens in against Steedo (won 2-1) last week. 

But lost Star Realms .......

Odin's Ravens - quick review

Well I managed to get the better half to play Odin's Ravens (2 games in fact!). 

Well I think is a a really good little game - Osprey have done well with the book style box and the quality of the components is very good. 

The idea is that the Ravens Huginn and Muninn fly in opposite directions around the world gathering information. The winner is the one who gets back to Odin first.

 

The game play is simple - play cards to move through the different areas of the world - line up matching areas and move further. Use your Loki cards for advantage or to sabotage, but think about where to play them because they might impact you as you go back around the world!

The game and winning strategies will improve with playing. 

Explained the rules and played two games in under an hour!

The better half described the game as "alright" and she would play it again ..... 

So a 5* game!! Recommended.

I also have to admit that she right royally thrashed me in both games! But I will have my revenge!

Morts

Norse times .......

Well I have managed to finish a Viking unit for SAGA.

This is a mixture of old and new painting, metal and plastic figures (Citadel, Ral Partha and Gripping Beast). 

I have tried to make a clear base colour scheme for the unit (and probably the whole Viking force) - hopefully it works and will look ok on the table. 

The metals

The plastics 

Together 

The basing should finish them off nicely.

Also arrived and looking good - with clear rules. 

Hopefully to a table soon ....

Morts

The battle of Dini'Tabal - Kings of War play through

I pointed out two 2000 point armies for a Kings of War first play through with Snake-eyes and Steedo.

Steedo took command of the Hobgoblins (Orcs) and Ogres, while Snake-eyes lead the Elves and Men. 

The scenario was Invade from the rule book.

Initial deployments - below. 

Steedo moved first and fast! Had too really as only 2 troops of archers and one wizard!

Snake-eyes unleashed an arrow storm ..... We'll sort of and charged the Orc horde in the centre!

The elven light cavalry were unable to destroy the Orc wizard. 

The Hobgoblins put many hits on an Elf spear unit only to see it hold wavering (double 6!) on the re-roll due to the inspiring rule! It got worse for Steedo when after inflicting 16 hits on the Elf artillery he rolled double 1 - steady! Much amusement was had!

However the Elven Knights did have to withdraw wavering....

Then shock horror for the hobgoblins - now up to 28 hits on the Elf spear unit and Steedo roles double 1 and they are steady and can attack on Snake-eyes turn! This unit eventually took 41 hits before being routed!

Mean while over on the other side of the battlefield the humans are making steady progress to invade the Hobgoblins' side of the board ....

Turn 7 and the Elven left flank and centre has creased to exist! Only the Prince and Mage are on the table!

The Hobgoblins are closing in .....

In a final flurry the Elf Prince sees off the Hobgoblin horde, human Knights ride down a unit of Ogres and the Ogre Captain. 

At this point time was called (although Snake-eyes had roll a 6 so we could/should have played another 2 turns) - 8 turns played in about 2.5 hours - not bad considering this was the first time any of us had played Kings of War. 

According to the victory conditions - basically have 200 more points on your opponents side of the board than they have in yours - meant that Steedo and the Hobgoblins were the winners!

So what did I think of Kings of War?

It was a fast playing game with lots of dice rolling. The different traits for the races were interesting and added to the fun. The horde units are tough to kill and the flank attacks were generally lethal. The rolling of double 1 or 6 caused some interesting situations - but created the cinematic fighting to the last man against hopeless odds! And much laughter as Steedo managed a double 6 then a double 1!

Although Snake-eyes managed snake-eyes in the horde which meant they were able to destroy his Knights. 

All in all Kings of Wars if a fast and fun game - will have to work out a set of games to play and get it to the table again. 

Other games we managed to squeeze in - 

Codename - a nice little word association game. Will consider getting this as the Better-half and Things might play it! Win to Morts and Steedo

Dead of Winter - a cooperative game about surviving a zombie attack in the Winfer. This was a tough game, where we lost due to the order I did things in the last turn! Lots of things to do without enough resources or actions to it!

And we played a couple of rounds of a dungeon builder game - lots of bluffing. Cant remember what it was called. Anyway Steedo won, so a good night for him 3 out of 4 wins!

Morts

3 hours and 5 games*

*Well 2 games played 3 and 2 times respectively. 

Went around DK's yesterday and played W1815 (3 times!)

This is a cracking little game - where you have to decide which card to use - if you should counter attack. The dice gods need to be favouring you but there are lots of tactical decisions to make - leave in square and roll for Prussians or get them back in line so the Grand Battery don't get bonuses. 

And when to use the  Allied reserve ...... Should you let Hougomont fail?

Basically you decide what to do - roll a dice and see how this effects both sides with morale and or casualties losses. The higher the roll the better. The Allies can use reserves or put troops back into line. 

Anyway we played 3 games - in the first one I was Napoleon and upset history - persistently attacking on the Allied right.

For the next 2 games I was Wellington holding on the the Prussians - who are lethal once you take Plancenoit which I did one the 2nd of these.

 The dice gods were with me 3 wins! Go Morts ....

Then we had a go at the intro scenario in Dungeon Saga .....

This was a disaster for me as the Overlord as DK smashed up all the skeleton warriors without taking a single wound! The dice gods were laughing at me now!

As DK has the Dwarf Kings Hold games which Dungeon Saga was developed from this went fairly quickly, so we played again swapping Overlord for Heroes! 

To be honest this game didn't go much better for me - I did open the door but DK did injury the Barbarian. We then played out the rest of the game and continued poor dice rolling meant that the Barabarian died! Arrrrggghhh!

DK wanted a picture..... As there is a rumour that I only post pictures and report games when they go my way! Lies I say! Lies!

Morts