Game 88 - Forces of Nature - 2018/05/28

Greetings!

In this battle report I will describe the game I had against another living legend of wargaming, Charles. I had a chance to play against him only once before and it was a few years ago. 

Charles has recently won Briscon tournament with his melee orientated Ratkin army but for our game he brought something different. He is currently in the process of basing and modelling his impressive collection of Lord of the Rings models into Kings of War army. This time he created a list from Forces of Nature faction but the modelling theme is Mines of Moria. As he explained, the idea is to have bases with underground water flowing. There are some interesting ideas about the models to represent units too. 

In addition, we decided to test the rules for the upcoming local event called Kings of Capitol 2 . This is quite an interesting tournament because this time armies have to be composed without magic artifacts or allies. Hence, I had to review my usual army list too!

Here is what Charles brought to the field this time:

Forces of Nature - Army List

6 Water Elementals, Horde, Shambling, Crushing Strength (1), Shambling, Regeneration (5+), Speed 7

- Beast of Nature, Monster, Crushing Strength (2), Lightning Bolt (6), Fly, Vicious

- Winged Unicorn, Hero, Large Cavalry, Fly, Heal (7), Lightning Bolt (5), Wind Blast (5), Inspiring, Thunderous Charge (2)

6 Water Elementals, Horde, Shambling, Crushing Strength (1), Shambling, Regeneration (5+), Speed 7

- Beast of Nature, Monster, Crushing Strength (2), Lightning Bolt (6), Fly, Vicious

- Druid, Hero, Mounted, Individual, Inspiring, Bane Chant (2), Surge (7)

 

3 Water Elementals, Regiment, Shambling, Crushing Strength (1), Shambling, Regeneration (5+), Speed 7

 

3 Water Elementals, Regiment, Shambling, Crushing Strength (1), Shambling, Regeneration (5+), Speed 7

Sylph Talonriders*, Horde, Bows, Fly

Sylph Talonriders*, Horde, Bows, Fly

Game 87 - Trident Realms - 2018/05/27

Greetings!

During most recent Australian Clash of Kings I had a chat with our current Master (and defending champion!), Jeff, about pros and cons of using Universal Battle as an additional way to play Kings of War.  I highly recommended the platform because I have been using it for a few years already. For me it is a great opportunity to play against players whom I may not have a chance to play otherwise. In particular, if they are located on the other side of the world! 

Universal Battle is also great for trying new army lists and units before committing to buying and/or painting them for your collections. I found that it often helped me choose the next painting project better. Besides, you cannot go wrong with just playing more games of Kings of War. 

Jeff was very interested in trying that out and we had a few Skype sessions where we simply went through features of the program, then building and saving units/armies and finally we decided to give it a go for a proper battle. It was also a fantastic opportunity for me to play against Jeff as we have not yet played against each other despite attending a few events together.

Apart from being a fantastic player, Jeff is also known for bringing huge variety of armies to the tournaments. Not only by often playing each event with a different faction but also bringing unique lists in the frame of particular army. 

This battle was no different as Jeff brought Trident Realm force that I have never played against or seen before. I was very curious about it and it was fantastic to be a sparring partner for Jeff in the test of both, Universal Battle and new army. Here are the details of this force:

Trident Realms - Army List

6 Depth Horrors , Horde, Crushing Strength (1), Fearless, Ensnare

6 Depth Horrors , Horde, Crushing Strength (1), Fearless, Ensnare

6 Gigas , Horde, Big Shield, Crushing Strength (3), Height 1

6 Gigas , Horde, Big Shield, Crushing Strength (3), Height 1

20 Thuul, Regiment, Stealth, Ensnare, Speed 6, Hammer of Measured Force

- Thuul Mythican, Hero, Individual, Crushing Strength (1), Stealth, Ensnare, Inspiring (Thuul Only), Aura of Heroism, Wings of Honeymaze

20 Thuul, Regiment, Stealth, Ensnare, Speed 6

- Thuul Mythican, Hero, Individual, Crushing Strength(1), Stealth, Ensnare, Bane Chant (2), Inspiring (Thuul Only), Speed 6

 

20 Thuul, Regiment, Stealth, Ensnare, Speed 6

- Envoy, Hero, Individual,  Inspiring, Pathfinder, Regeneration (4+), Lute of Insatiable Darkness

20 Thuul, Regiment, Stealth, Ensnare, Speed 6

20 Thuul, Regiment, Stealth, Ensnare, Speed 6

20 Thuul, Regiment, Stealth, Ensnare, Speed 6

(Edit: I think there were two more items, Banner of Griffin and Staying Stone somewhere, but I cannot tell where at this stage. I will try to update this information later).

Mortem et Gloriam - Game 4 - 2018/05/19

Hello!

Leigh and I decided to establish regular Mortem et Gloriam gaming and the aim is to play every fortnight.  Hopefully, there will be more people interested in time too. For now I am very happy he is willing to spend his time as well in order to play more games and learn the rules better.

I am still using my 7000 points of Seleucids so hopefully Leigh is not bored with my army yet! My aim is to keep playing with this force for some time, expand it to 10000 to be ready for the event in July and then see if I want keep adding to it or if I want to invest in something new. 

But these are the long term plans. At the moment it is important to keep learning and trying to get more efficient so that the games can be resolved in given time. 

Leigh brought his Franks this time and I was very curious about the re-match as that was the same army he played with at the small tournament a few weeks ago.

Early Merovingian Frank - Army List

Commanders

Army Commander - Competent Instinctive

Subordinate General - Mediocre Instinctive

Camp

Camp - Poor, Protected

TuG's

4 Noble Cavalry - Cavalry, Formed Loose, Superior, Protected, Short Spear, Melee Expert

4 Noble Cavalry - Cavalry, Formed Loose, Superior, Protected, Short Spear, Melee Expert

4 Cavalry - Cavalry, Formed Loose, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Melee Expert

4 Cavalry - Cavalry, Formed Loose, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Melee Expert

6 Warriors - Infantry, Tribal Close, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Devastating Charger

6 Warriors - Infantry, Tribal Close, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Devastating Charger

6 Warriors - Infantry, Tribal Close, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Devastating Charger

6 Warriors - Infantry, Tribal Close, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Devastating Charger

6 Warriors - Infantry, Tribal Close, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Devastating Charger

6 Warriors - Infantry, Tribal Close, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Devastating Charger

SuG's

4 Light Cavalry - Cavalry, Skirmisher, Average, Unprotected, Javelin, Experienced, Cantabrian

6 Archers - Infantry, Skirmisher, Average, Unprotected, Bow, Experienced

6 Javelinmen - Infantry, Skirmisher, Average, Unprotected, Short Spear, javelin, Experienced

Mortem et Gloriam - Argyraspides - 2018/05/13

Hello!

I have recently started playing with Mortem et Gloriam rules and I used the collection of my 10mm miniatures to learn the new rules. However, I noticed that 15mm is more popular and since I don't actually have a fully painted army in 10mm I was wondering if I should start one at a bit larger scale.  

I must admit that 15mm models I saw at the recent event looked much nicer. I also had a chance to inspect some of them during one of the visits to Olympian Games. Hence, when I finally decided I would like to continue playing with Mortem et Gloriam I also wanted to start an army in the "proper" scale. Fortunately for me, Argyraspides from Xyston Successors range were available and I had my first models to paint. I have never painted 15mm ones before so I was very interested in checking if what I learned in painting both 28mm and 10mm miniatures would be helpful.

In this post I would like to do two things. First, I would like to share the way I painted my models. I hope it will be useful for others. And second, by showing the steps and the approach to painting and modelling I hope to receive some comments how to improve it. I am happy with the result as it is but I also want to challenge myself and keep getting better, so any feedback will be very much appreciated!

Mortem et Gloriam - Game 3 - Lydians - 2018/05/12

Hello!

When I attended the MiniMeG event last month I met a few new players. It was one of the reasons for the tournament, to let people meet each other and spread the interest in Mortem et Gloriam system. One of these players was Leigh, against whom I played in the second round. We quickly found out that we are located in the relatively close distance from each other and decided to catch up for a casual game in the local store. 

It was 3rd game with Mortem et Gloriam for both of us but we were very interested in continuing to learn the system. Hence, we both brought 7000 armies again. Mainly due to the fact that I do not have models to field a larger army. But also because we thought that learning the rules with smaller forces would help us to understand things faster.

Last time Leigh had his Franks but this time he went back in time almost 1000 years and decided to bring the army of Lydians. It was a very interesting force for me because this period of history is not well known to me. At the same time, the composition of the army itself was also very intriguing and different from Leigh's Franks as well as my Seleucids. 

Lydians - Army List

Commanders

Army Commander - Competent Instinctive

Subordinate General 1 - Competent Instinctive

Subordinate General 1 - Competent Instinctive

Camp

Camp - Poor, Protected

 

TuG's

4 Kings Retainers - Cavalry, Formed Loose, Superior, Protected, Short Spear, Devastating Charger

4 Provincial Cavalry - Cavalry, Formed Loose, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Devastating Charger

4 Provincial Cavalry - Cavalry, Formed Loose, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Devastating Charger

4 Scythians - Cavalry, Formed Flexible, Average, Unprotected, Bow, Experienced

6 Spearmen - Infantry, Tribal Close, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Shieldwall 

6 Spearmen - Infantry, Tribal Close, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Shieldwall 

6 Spearmen - Infantry, Tribal Close, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Shieldwall  

8 Karian Hoplites - Infantry, Formed Close, Average, Protected, Long Spear, Shove, Shield Cover

6 Bithynians - Infantry, Tribal Loose, Average, Protected, Short Spear, Javelin, Experienced

SuG's

6 Phrygians - Cavalry, Skirmisher, Average, Unprotected, Javelin, Experienced

6 Phrygians - Cavalry, Skirmisher, Average, Unprotected, Javelin, Experienced

6 Skirmishing Archers - Infantry, Skirmisher, Average, Unprotected, Bow, Experienced, Combat Shy 

6 Skirmishing Archers - Infantry, Skirmisher, Average, Unprotected, Bow, Experienced, Combat Shy

Game 86 - Dwarfs - 2018/05/09

Greetings!

I have recently missed the opportunity to participate in the local tournament. As if it was not bad already, I was not able to play against Matt (famous Dwarf general, known for his Brocks, Rocks and Glocks style and a fantastic tournament organizer), after accepting his challenge to settle our score. 

Fortunately for me Matt had a free spot in his busy schedule and we decided to play our challenge in the local store. We set at usual 2000 points and randomly chosen map and scenario with the help of Epic Dwarf Map/Scenario Randomizer. 

We both wanted to test some changes to our respective army lists, as we are both adapting to new rules released with Clash of Kings 2018. While Matt kept his famous theme with the army, there were some interesting additions I have never played against before:

Dwarfs - Army List

6 Earth Elementals, Horde

- Organ Gun, War Engine

- Stone Priest, Hero, Martyr's Prayer

6 Earth Elementals, Horde

- Organ Gun, War Engine

- King, Hero, Wings of Honeymaze

20 Iron Guard, Regiment

- Army Standard Bearer, Hero, Bane Chant

20 Shieldbreakers, Regiment

10 Berserker Brock Riders, Regiment, Pathfinder 

- Berserker Lord, Hero, Mounted

 

10 Berserker Brock Riders, Regiment, Crushing Strength (1)

5 Mastiff Hunting Pack, Regiment 

5 Mastiff Hunting Pack, Regiment