KoW- Orcs vs Kingdoms of Men

 I popped up to Timaru today and had a game of Kings of War vs my old gaming mate Nigel. Nigel hasn’t played since Onslaught IV in 2023 and was using the force he ran then, so no upgrades from the last couple of years of rules/army list churn. Nigel’s army is beautifully painted by Tony Rippin and has am awesome samurai/ Japanese inspired theme. It is truly breathtaking the detail that Tony has brought out in the miniatures and my army felt decidedly shabby lined up against it (which for orcs isn’t such a bad thing)

His list had roughly:

• 2x foot guard regiments
• 1x Pike horde
• 2x regiments of rifles
• 1x Knight regiment
• 2x giants
• 1x war engine
• 2x assassins
• 1x wizard
• 1x captain
• 1x general  

 

I faced him with 2000pts of my newly finished orcs.

• 1x longax horde with blessing of the gods
•  2x greatax regiments
• 1x troll horde
• 1x giant
• 2x wardrums
• 1x Krudger
• Ulpgar the mad
• Gakamak

To keep things simple we played the invade  mission so the objective was to get more units across the enemies side of the table. 

Deployment

Humans await the orc onslaught

Orcs prepare for war. 

 I won the first turn and with no shooting the orc army surged forward to engage the Samurai.

Nigel threw a giant forward to slow down the trolls, while a combination of rifles, lightning bolt and a war engine pt 8 wounds on the gore riders.  

On the far left flank Nigel sent the footgaurd forward to flank my longax while his pikeblock also advanced. 

In my turn 2 I "closed the door" on the exposed giant with my giant and the Oni giant was destroyed. On the far right of the screen Gakamak has charged the knights, done a few wounds and so prevented them from charging next turn. While in the centre the gore riders charge the rifles and destroy a unit. 

In his turn the second giant charged my giant, rolled maximum number of attacks (+12) so had 20 attacks and did 11 wounds but my giant survived. In the background footguard have attacked the greatax. The assassin and general attack the gore riders near the last surviving rifle regiment. 

Poor Gakamak. The assassin got treble attacks and did 11 wounds before the cavalry got invovled and chpped away with another 4 wounds. The assassin then cut poor Gak's 'ead off.

Turn 4 and things are getting messy. My giant did 6 wounds on Nigel's giant. My longax reformed rather than charge the pike block. My greatax in the centre charged a character (a wizard I think), killed it but ended u half an inch short of slamming into the rifle regiment. My great ax on the right did 5 wounds on the footguard- not enough!

A stunning army! 

A slight mistake here, we forgot the pike were hindered so my longax may have survived without being wavered had we remembered. Oops!

My gore riders get lucky vs the giant when Nigel rolls snake eyes for his nervetest. 

Another close up of Nigel's gorgeous army

Turn 5- the trolls charged the pike block not trealsiing they were pikes and not spears and needed 6s to hit. They caused 2 hits then rolled a double 6 to waver the pikes! In his previous turn Nigel ahd charged the pikes back across half way to do 90 attacks vs a wardrum (lets jsut say we hand waved the dice rolling) and with a waver was now too far out of positon. 

End of trn 6- the great ax have beenw avered agaon, everything else papart from them and the trolls were dead but i had 6 unit strength on Nigel's half. Nigel had 6 US on mine and so it was a draw! 

So there we have it. Nigel's first game in 18 months, my first game with my orcs and a well deserved draw. A very entertaining game and thoroughly enjoyed it. i will try to make it up to Timaru a bit more frequently to give Nigel a game

Craig 

Orcs for Kings of War

 A wee summer project.

I have decided to replace my current orc army with one based n GW models. The initial concept was (is) to run an all mobile Gore Rider force based around 4 regiments of gore riders and some chariots but I  also want to build up my infantry forces as well to run a more balanced combined arms force.

Absolutely love the GW Boar boys models, light years ahead of the mantic gore riders, and have been happily putting together a few infantry regiments as well. I picked up some second hand orcs as well as a boar boys set and have been happily hacking arms off the old monopose 2 hand weapon orcs and adding weapons arms from the orcs boyz mob to make the figures more interesting.

I’ve never actually been a fan of the GW cartoon orcs much preferring the LoTR/Mddle Earth/D&D (1e/2e) orc aesthetics and so wanted to avoid the BAH (boring as hell) Goblin green skinned orc look. Tolkien described orcs as sallow skinned or swarthy so I’ve gone with a a sallow skin tone based on Vallejo Ochre green with a wash of GW Athonian Camoshade to give it a greenish hue which is then  highlighted with yellow ochre. I am quite happy with the way they are turning out

My plan to differentiate infantry units is as follows:

• Great ax- Two hand weapons armed orcs
• Longax: Spear armed orcs
• Ax- axe and shield armed orcs.

 The Gore Rider regiments. The boar boys are large minis and 6 fit on the base comfortably and doesn't look too spares. 

The first infantry regiments- a regiment each of Greatax and Longax. In front are two wardrums which are very importnat for the orcs in KoW to boost their nerve. The wardrum on the left is by Mantic the one of the right made out of some of the second hand mini's I bought for this project. 

A couple of characters on gores lead the gore riders.

The army so far. 

Craig

KoW- reinforcements

 I've decided to add some red goblins to my ogre army for Kings of War. I am not a fan of many of the Mantic ranges but the new goblin range is one I do like. The sprues come with options for bows, spears or hand weapons and I've used many of the spare weapons on various other figures such as Oathmark gorcs and goblins.

I tried a spitter (bow armed goblins) horde the other night and was quite pleased with its performance- not stellar but very useful. So I used the last of the goblins I had an some reinforcements from Gordon to make a horde of Sharpsticks (spears) as well. Not sure if they'll get used much in my army but now have the options to do so.

Mobile Orcs

I enjoyed playing Gordon's all mounted dwarves the toher day and thought, how could I do this? The answer? Orcs! When I started an orc army a couple of years back I had wanted to make a mainly mobile orc army but ended up making more of a typical infantry based combined arms force. But Gordon's Brock rider force got me thinking, maybe my orcs could do that style of army. So yesterday I had a bit of a rummage around in my gaming shed and found my orcs. I've added a few extra Gore Riders to finish a second troop and then painted up some Oathmark orcs to mount the chariots. 

Originally the chariots were part of my ogre army but now I've upgraded them to the boar rider models which I prefer meant I could replace the ogres with orc crew to create the orc formation.  I've just added a few Oathmark Goblins as crew, repainted the bases of the entire force in a lighter brown and finished off the last few units and a war drum on a chariot to represent Molgurk. 

Not sure how effective it will be on table but it should be a laugh, especially vs Gordon's brock rider forces.  

2300pt mobile orc army

• 4x Gore Rider regiments
• 2x Skulk outrider troops
• 1x Wardrum 
• 1x Krudger ona  gore
• 1x Krusher on a gore
• Gakamak
• Krudger on Winged Slasher

Molgurk's Mad Mob 

• 2x Gore chariot regiments
• 1x War Drum

I hope to give them a game in the next week while. 

Craig 

KoW- Ogres vs Dwarves

 A great game of KoW last night vs Gordon’s latest  list- mobile imperial dwarves. 6 regiments & 4 troops of Brock Riders, 2 lords on brocks and 2 lords on beasts. 14 drops and everything moving at 8”.

I had made some changes to my Ogres, adding a horde of splitters (I liked Nick’s spitter horde in his Goblins at GOATcon), a chariot troop and Slashy McSlashface a Goblin Slasher. The mission was push.

The game started well for the ogres with my taking off 2 troops and a regiment of Brocks in turn 2 (thanks to an ogre warrior regiment getting hits and 8 wounds to take out one troops single handedly) but the canny dwarves came back- taking out my sergeant then next turn.

In the centre the game devolved into a series of bloody melees. I managed to “win” the right flank, or so I thought, thanks to the intervention of my Boomers and in the centre a devastated bully shrugging off the wounds meant the siegebreakers were set up for an unexpected rear change on another brock regiment and the ogres were feeling confident of a long overdue victory!.

Still on the left flank the brock lord and a couple of regiments played smart clashing with the hunters and the chariot troop. In the end the brock lord abandoned the brocks to their fate and took off with a token to claim 2 VPs and threw his followers in to the fray to chaffed up any possible pursuit.

After sterling work the token carrying goblin spitters came to a messy end being charged in a swamp by 2 units of brocks- even hitting on 5s 78 attacks wasn’t going to be fun for the gobbos and they were crushed. Then on turn 6 Gordon used his last brock riding lord to chaff up a warrior horde racing to the rescue and grabbed the token formerly owned by the goblins to take the win.

Deployment

Turn 1- the dwarves advance

Ogres prepare for the onslaught

Dwarven brock rider troop crests the hill and becomes target of the goblin spitters and slasher. 

On the right the warriors advance to form a screen

The new slasher waits.

Brock riders smash into the slasher- the combat lasts a couple of rounds. 

The ogres get lucky with a snakes eyes nerve which saves the bully and seals the fate of the brock regiment. 

Using the wood for cover the ogres hold the left flank and make progress in the centre. 

The battle devolves into a number of skirmishes.

On the left flanks the brocks attack the hunters but do little damage thanks to being hindered and entangled. 

On the right the spitters face off vs two regiments. 

Things are looking gri for the spitters

Even with terrain the goblins are overwhelmed. 

They had dropped the token to prevent the dwarves taking it. 

Turn 6- the brock lord acts as chaff to slow up the ogre warrior horde. The seigebreakers have an objective and the brocklord at the bottom left is about to scurry off to safety. 

End of turn 6 the warriors advance after killing the brocklord the warriors fall just short of following through to the brock regiment. 

Result: 4-2 to the dwarves

A fun, close game and Gordon never took his eye off the ball (the scenario objectives). A damn fast dwarf army that is for sure! We will be having a rematch soon vs their Free dwarves brock riding cousins.

Well played once again Gordon

GOATcon Day 2

 Game 4: Loot vs Eric’s Salamanders

• 4x Salamander prime regs (2 regs with 2 hand weapons)
• 1x Salamander unblooded horde
• 2x ancients regiments
• 1x fire elemental reg
• 1x greater fire elemental
• 2x Ghekkotah slashers
• Mage Priest with diadem of dragonkind (fireball 16)
• Clan lord of fire drake

(13 units, 31 US)

The one game (apart from Gordon’s dwarves) that I was really dreading. I really, really liked the balance in Eric’s list and didn’t really want to have to face it. Eric had plenty of spell support and some hard hitting infantry, lots of hard hitting infantry. Oh and did I mention the two Slashers? I’d just built a Red Goblin Slasher for my army so really, really liked the fact Eric was rocking two of the Salamander’s equivalent… and a Clan Lord on a  firedrake (aka a dragon). The 2300 pts really had enabled people to unleashed their inner monster and almost everyone had one or more titans, monsters or dragons.  

One unit in his list I was wary of was his mage priest with a diadem of dragonkind which gave him fireball 16! Add a fire elemental with 8 fireball and I’d be facing fireball 24. The individual mage priest could be a real pain wandering around dropping fireballs left right and centre so I decided to try to target him (her? it?) as quickly s possible with my Goat.

Eric’s army is stunningly pretty too. Extremely well painted and colourful. A real joy to play. The one advantage I had? Eric had been at a beerfest all day Saturday (Mark ran a Slyvankin army as part of Team Meric on day 1) so was a little under the weather .

After spreading my army too wide in game 3 vs the halflings I aimed to keep my deployment much more focused in game 4.

Once again there was a giant in the centre of the table and this time the giant had one of the 3 loot counters which were the objectives of the game so the giant would need to be dealt with!

Eric took turn 1 and immediately fired and fireballed the giant. Brilliant I thought! So  in my turn I too focused fire on the giant with my Boomers and got it up to 17 wounds before rolling a double 1 for the nerve check. Doh!

One area I did get lucky was turn 2, when the firedrake charged Nom Nom, only did 3-4 wounds and was then overwhelmed by my counter attack. I was then able to slow down the oncoming slanders and control the tempo of the game a built. The giant died on turn 2 and I claimed that loot token. I wavered the mage priest with alightning bolt then my goat charged him and kept him occupied for a few turns till I eventually ground him/her/it into dust.

I ended up concentrating my forces on my centre and right flank and a combination of the giant, a bully, hunters and siege breakers eventually overwhelmed this flank and from there I was able to turn back towards the centre and reinforce my defence of the centre. I was surprised at how well my tactic worked and in the end the Salamanders were routed.

The game was an overwhelming victory to the ogres.

Battle is joined. 

Eric's army is extremely well painted. Love the fire elementals!

Turn 2. Uh oh. This isn't good- luckily the giant wanted along the fornt lines and not though either army.

The firedrake waits to pounce. 

The firedrake charges Nom Nom but is hindered by the terrain. Spotting an opening I charge the salamanders on the hill on the right hoping to deal with them before reinforcements can arrive.  

Up and at em! 

The firedrake is isolated. Let's get him boys! 

Hunters flank a regiment of slamanders, the warlord on the chariot chaffs up some ancients. The giant lends a hand. The wariros though are waverered and prevent the siegebreakers from charging (not for the first time this happens over the weekend!)

Boomers use terrain for cover and I senfdout the boomer sergeant and warrior regiment to slow down the iniital charge of the salmanders

Battle is joined and much to my surprise both the warriros and boomer sergeant survive- but the boomer sergeant is wavered. The flying chicken is no more. In the forst at the back a slasher is trying to stomp my Goat to protect the mage priest. A zero point unit tying down about 300 points of lizardsies.  

At last the siegebreakers get into combat. 

Erics flank has been crushed. The warlord is in the flank of the Slasher. Having killed the hunters the fire elemental is about to be overrun by sigebreakers and a bully and or the giant. 

Eric launches one last attack on the centre

 Eric's turn 6, my troops hold. In the background the Goat had killed the mage priest and survived the slasher stomping. My turn 6 and without rollng a die I've won the game by holding to two of the loot tokens and so call it there. 

A great game. Didn't go the way i expected it to and was glad to get away with a win. Those slashers ahd been terrorising the lcoal gamers over the past few weeks apparently. 

MVP: Siegebreakers, the hunters.. and the goat.

Game 5: Hold the Line vs Gordon’s dwarves

The last game and my big win had put me back in second place so I was up against the undefeated Gordon and his dwarves. With 4 wins Gordon had already won the event without the need for a 5^th game!  Furthermore, the dwarves had smashed my ogres in our previous three games in Oamaru prior to the weekend and so I knew I was up against it.

• 2x Ironguard Regs (Def 6)
• 2x Shieldbreaker hordes
• 1x mastiff hunting pack
• Goloch (Steel behemoth)
• 2c Battle driller (annoying monsters)
• Dwarf stone priest- radiance of life and shroud of the saint (heal 3)
• Faber Ironheart
• Formation: Bulwarkers
• 2x Bulwarkers regiments  
• Ironclad horde
• Dwarf army std bearer

(14 units, 27 US)

He also had 7 or 8 of the annoying throwing mastiffs to try to avoid.

My plan? Try to concentrate on one flank and the centre and smash at least 4 regiments and hordes of dwarves, and try to win the centre and one flank!

However, Gordon matched my deployment and I ended up not concentrating on my right after Goloch’s fury was placed opposite my initial units and I ended up spreading wider than I’d originally intended as I treied to switch my focus to my left flank. Still, I hoped to refuse my right flank and slow Gordon down so that I could use the extra mobility of the hunters and warlocks to reinforce the centre and hopefully overwhelm it.

I lost some warriors on my right flank early, and sent out my Goat to try to slow down Goloch while I tried to redeploy the hunters and warlocks to reinforce the centre before my right flank collapsed. On the left flank, Gordon retreated his troops to stay out of range of my boomers which suited me though his character, Fabian Stoneheart, used his superior range to good effect, sniping away. Gordon also kept backing his right flank up and keeping hs units out of range of the boomers.

Eventually I managed to engage the centre and the seigebreakers, warriors and hunters doing some damage to the dwarven regiments and hordes but Gordon was able to sweep his left flank in and I slowly but surely lost the battle of attrition. At the end of the game Gordon controlled all three of the scoring areas for a convincing win though I did take soe satisfaction in destring more dwarven units than in our previous games.

As usual Gordon played well. Clinical is how someone at the weekend described his game play and I think is a very apt description. He plays smart, always is well aware of charge angles and distances and is very hard to catch off guard. My plan to slow down his left flank kind of worked but in the end Gordon was able to counter this and capitalise on mistakes I’d made.

MVP? Probable the warrior horde that spiked spectacularly vs a dwarven infantry horde and enabled me to take the off in one turn. 

Deployment. I wanted to avoid the left flank originally but when Gordon countered my initial deployment I changed my mind...

Bloody tough propostion. Gordon covers his squisher hordes well with bulwarkers and ironguard. 

'Ere the come.

Send forth the goat to tie down a flank? Yeah, right. 

My attempted switch and bait. Hunters reinforce the centre. I made a mistake here though by not putting the leader point in the wood. Damn! The warlocsk have also made a "jump to the left". 

Tis a bit constricted but.... follow meeeeeee!

I've managed to take out some ironguard and using a bully to chaff the dwarf horde

. The arriros had kiled another regment and Iu'd wavered the horde in the foireground but with headstrong this isn't likely to matter.

And it doesn't. A horde in the flank of my warriors. Maybe I should have turend to face a bit more...

Giant and woarlord tag team! 

A horde of dwarves into the flnak of the warlord. That is 50 dice! Ouch! 

Siegebreakers take out the horde. i forgot the battledriller was an individual so I could charge into it. But even so, Gordon ad got enough unit strngth to control the centre and comfortbvle claim the game 7-0. 

Well played Gordon. My plan nearly worked. Well, I killed mroe dwaves than ?I'd amanged i any previous enocunters with them. 

Overall results:

My crushing defeat dropped me back down to 5^th by a point (losing out to those pesky slamanders!) maybe I should have tied to get a horde into one of the other scoring areas on turn 6 of the last game, but by that stage I wasn’t thinking about the wider event and simply trying to kill more of the annoying dwarvsies.

I picked up the best sportsman award which I was chuffed with. I’d had some really good fun games where win or lose we both had an absolute blast and at the end of the day that was all I was wanting to do. I won one less game than I'd ben aiming for but the game vs Arthur changed on a single throw of the dice so can't relly compalin. My overall aim tohugh was to get my army on table, roll some dice vs players I don’t usually get to play and hopefully have a laugh. I think I succeeded in this. 

My goat also had the most kills but came 2^nd (the focus is on sharing prizes round) and my army also was one of the top ones chosen in the best painted comp. I don’t think individually the army would have got a prize for this but I’d spent a lot of time working on my basing, and completing new units, to ensure that the army looked unified so was happy that this was acknowledged.

Finally, as always Mark ran a great weekend. I loved the narrative he’d come up with and the GOAT characters (there were three versions of the Goat) added a wee bit of additional flavour to the games. I loved the additional randomness of the giants bought to games 2 and 3 and felt that they really added to the event and hope he does more of these type of things in future.

2300 points was a success too, and the extra 300 points to what we usually play meant that there was often and additional monster added to lists which I think was awesome.

I look forward to the more KoW gaming next year.