Oamaru Onslaught III- Varangur

 Next weekend is our third Kings of War competition being held down here at Kakanui. I’ve been working on a Varangur army after having purchased some GW Chaos Warriors online and deciding I “needed” an army to be built around them.

I’ve had a few games and been slowly tweaking things but each game find something ese that I must have in the army or want to include so there are always a few tough decisions to be made. 

I am hoping I’ve got a reasonable balance and a bit of a tool kit vs  wide range of opponents. The army I I’m at taking is this: 

So let's have a look at the units.

Night raiders

I quite like these guys. their shooting isn't bad, stealthy and pathfinder helps keep them alive (by hanging around in terrain. I didn’t have the points to add the Wolf handlers upgrade to add scouting and vicious. I find these units often last the entire game and with 12 attacks hitting on 4s doubled from the flank to give 24 attacks with thunder1 can be very handy in the later game.

The figures I use for these are the GW LoTR Rangers range.

Huscarls

The whole reason I built the army! These guys have a solid stat line: 20 attacks hitting on 3s, defence 5, wild charge 1, crushing 2 and fury (so can countercharge if wavered). What’s what not to like? Spd 5, that’s what. To mitigate this sightly I’ve added the mead of madness so they can charge 12” but even so they can be outranged and easily out manoeuvred so need to be used carefully. If you can screen them properly and they get the charge then they do a world of hurt to most units. They dislike terrain (my last game they wiffed badly by being hindered and hitting on 4s and ony doing 2 wounds) so again need to be used carefully and when possible need to avoid terrain if I can. As a central unit to act as an anvil they are solid too.

The figures I use are GW Chaos Marauders and as I’ve said they are the reason I built the army.  

Mounted Sons of Korgaan

18 attacks on 3+, thunderous 1, Crush 1, 8” movement, nerve 15/17. These are a very useful cavalry unit. So much in so I went form 2 regiments to three at the last minute (dropping my monster- I was contemplating between a Cavern Dweller or a Frost Giant. These guys are my fast(ish) hammers. They need to be protected form shooting and take the charge but with crushing they can grind better than some cavalry. I’ve not sued 3 regiments yet so will se how they go but the key is going to be concentration of force, hitting hard and making sure they are supported by other units whenever possible.

Previously I've added the guise of the deciever to the units to give them stealthy vs shooting but needed to save points so dropped the guide in the end. I have an answer though, the foot lord (see below) has an aura of stealthy they can benefit from so he will need to be nearby for them. 

Originally I had Gripping Beast Goths as my Mounted Sons but wanted the GW Marauder horsemen as the modes. There were none available in NZ so picked up a couple of boxes from the UK but the postage to NZ via NZ post was ridiculous so won’t be getting any more via that route. Spent a few nights painting last week and have just finished al three regiments and am very happy with how they have turned out. 

Tundra wolves

These are one of my favourite units in the army. I was vacillating between a regiment vs two troops but in the end when for the regiment. 18 attacks, hitting on 3s, Def 4, 18” move with nimble and thunderous charge with a 13/15 nerve. The tundra wolves again need to be used carefully but if they can get into a flank they can be deadly. The regiment recently they took out Manny the Mammoth in a game vs ogres with flank charge.

I am sure I’ll miss the flexibility of the two troops but a regiment is 50pts cheaper. It wil be interesting at the weekend to see if I miss the troops.

As for models, I used GW Wargs as my tundra wolves. 

Magus 

The Magus doesn’t appear a popular choice from what I see of Varangur lists and maybe isn’t the smartest use of pts but I’m hoping he will be a bit of a Swiss army knife choice. His lighting bolt hopefully will add a bit of extra fire to the night raiders shooting and Alchemist Curse is a great spell vs heavily armed troops, monsters and heroes. Ideally he’d also have the boots of levitation to add extra movement but in the end I stripped him back to the basic Magus + Alchemist Curse.

The model I use for him is an Artizan Designs Viking shaman. 

Lord

The second of my heroes is a bog stand lord. He has devoted icon (stealth) which gives a 6” stealth bubble for most of my units. He has 6 attacks so is a nice support unit. I’ve used him quite a bit with the wings of honeymaze giving him a 21” charge range but in the end stripped out most of the magic items to afford an extra unit. He performs well for me in most games. He is very insprng (9" range) which is important to my army. 

I use an Artizan Designs Viking as my lord. 

Thegns on Frostfangs

I’ve taken two thegns on Frostfangs as two of my leaders. Spd 7, melee 3+, Def 5 with 5 or 6 attacks and 13/15 nerve, they have Crush 2, inspiring, nimble, strider and wild charge 1. Not as tough as the very popular Lord on a frostfang but they are pretty flexible. I’ve taken one of them with the tricksters wand to try to shut down some shooting and the other has a snow fox to give an extra attack.

They are handy in difficult terrain and are a good support unit, especially if thy can attack from a flank. They will also be used as chaff if necessary. The two of them perform well in most games but again I need to make sure I use them to concentrate with other units whenever possible.

These are the only Mantic models in the army- not much to say except that they are nice resin sculpts. 

Snow Troll prime 

The last addition to the army- dropping a variety of magic items and taking the tundra wolves as a regiment rather than two troops meant I could squeeze in one more hero/monster. I haven't actually used him in a game yet! 

His stats are handy: Spd 6, 5 attacks hitting on a 3 with Crush 2. Nimble, regeneration and vicious melee are handy, along with wild charge 1. His nerve is a bit of an issue at times but hopefully he works out as yet another inspiring source, support piece in combats or if necessary an extra  medium chaff option.

 The model I use is a Reaper Bones Ettin.

 Final comments

So, there we have it my army for Onsight next weekend. 12 units, and 22 unit strength. Hopefully I’ve enough variety to deal with a 5 different missions and 5 different opponents. Is it a winning list? I doubt it but I’d be happy to win 3 out of the 5 games with them which is my goals. We will see if I can a manage that. 

Craig