Game 162 - Forces of Nature - 2022/04/23

 

Greetings!

Welcome to my most recent battle report! It took me some time to organize a game (again!) but fortunately, I was able to do so. It was played on a freshly updated Universal Battle 2 platform. This time I had a great pleasure to play against Ed and his Forces of Nature army.

It's been a while since our last game so I was really happy to catch up and play again. Ed has been running variations of the Forces of Nature army for some time, including the formation. However, this time he did not use this particular option. The army list offers nice variety and provides a lot of options to choose from. 

Here is the army Ed chose for our game:

Centaurs & Elementals - Army List

Earth Elementals Horde (EE1), Large Infantry - 220
Fire Elementals Horde (FE), Large Infantry - 220

Earth Elementals Regiment (EE2), Large Infantry - 130
Centaur Bray Striders Regiment (CBS), Cavalry, Frenzied Otter - 165
Centaur Bray Striders Regiment (CBS), Cavalry, Frenzied Otter - 165

Hunters of the Wild Troop (HotW), Large Infantry - 90
Hunters of the Wild Troop (HotW), Large Infantry - 90

Beast of Nature (BoN), Monster, Wings, 7 Attacks - 205
Greater Fire Elemental (GFE), Monster - 175
Greater Air Elemental (GAE), Monster - 180

Druid (D), Hero (Infantry), Conjurer's Staff, Bane Chant(2), Surge (4), Heal (2) - 105
Gladewalker Druid (GW), Hero (Infantry), Tome of Darkness, Ring of Harmony [1], Heal (4) - 135
Unicorn (U), Hero (Cavalry), Lightning Bolt (5) - 120

Game 159 - Night Stalkers - 2021/12/28

 

Greetings!

It's been a while since my last battle report. I had far less spare time for hobby in general, let alone for playing games in 2021. That's what happens when you welcome a new family member in your life :) Fortunately, Erasmus (aka DarkBlack on forums and UB2), who seem to be in a similar situation, came up with a brilliant idea of how to help another new dad not to lose touch with the hobby completely. He reached out and suggested we use Universal Battle 2, with its great feature of saving games, to ... Play By Email! 

If you have never hear of this way, I recommend you check this video by everyone's favourite KoW community member:

Death by Dragons - How to use UB2 to play KoW by email! 

In short, you play on UB2 one turn at a time, on your own, whenever you have a bit of a spare moment to do so. It is obviously not the same as playing a full game in one go. But when you are not able to reliably lock 2-3 hours at particular time of the day, then this is a perfect solution. 

A huge "Thank You!" to Erasmus for reaching out and suggesting we play this way. And even more so for being extremely patient, as it took me quite a long time before we could finally begin our first game. However, when we finally started, all went smoothly and we were able to play a turn each almost every day. 

I must admit that there are some aspects of this way of playing the game I like a lot! For example, I really like that I can take it easy and think a bit about my moves without time pressure. Interestingly, it does not result in me spending a lot to make the moves. It is more about the comfort of doing it at the pace I wanted. This was quite important when everything else in life seemed to be quite hectic, changing fast and quite unpredictable! Hence, a bit of peace to enjoy the hobby was exactly what I needed. 

For our first game by email, my opponent chose his Night Stalker army. I consider this faction to be an archenemy for the Elves so I was thrilled to fight against it. It can be equally fast but is also significantly different in many aspects. Perfect enemy for an interesting game!

What is more, COK2022 was released just prior to when we decided to begin and we both modified our armies accordingly. Erasmus tells me he didn't change much in his force but since a number of units in the Night Stalkers list were updated, there was a lot to try out as if it was new! For me, I also tried to keep my army as similar to the one I used last time as possible. But as you will see, the same units may have gained some new options and I was curious how would they do this time.

We decided to play at 2000 per side. Here are the details of the Night Stalker army:

Tentacle Street Sneakery Club - Army List

Scarecrows Horde (SC), Infantry, Screamshard - 135
Butchers Horde (B1), Large Infantry - 205
Butchers Horde (B2), Large Infantry - 205

Dopplegangers (D), Infantry - 145
Shadowhounds* (S), Cavalry, Chalice of Wrath - 205
Soulflyers* (SF1), Large Cavalry - 165
Soulflyers* (SF2), Large Cavalry - 165

Planar Apparition (PA), Monster - 165
Shadow-Hulk (SH), Titan - 225

Dread Fiend (DF1), Hero (Large Cavalry) - 135
Dread Fiend (DF2), Hero (Large Cavalry) - 135
Butcher Fleshripper (BF), Hero (Large Infantry), Blade of Slashing - 115

Game 130 - Elves - 2020/01/12

Greetings!

In the first game of 2020 I played against one of my regular gaming opponents, Michael. In fact, it just occurred to me he is also one of players I met for the first time at my very first CanCon event, 9 years ago! I am really grateful we are continuing our gaming friendship for such a long time and it is only fitting that the first game in 2020 would be against him.

Michael is currently building his brand new Northern Alliance army so it was a great opportunity for me to get a bit more familiar with this new faction. I was really curious about it because it is a new army and one of the forces that heralded the arrival of 3rd edition with the Night Stalkers.

Northern Alliance - Army List

Human Clansman Horde (HC), Infantry, Chalice of Wrath - 245

Ice Naiad Horde (IN), Infantry, Blessing of the Gods - 260

Frostfang Cavalry Horde (FC), Large Cavalry, Brew of Haste - 285

Dwarf Clansman Regiment (DC1), Infantry - 115

Dwarf Clansman Regiment (DC2), Infantry - 115

Huscarl Regiment (H), Heavy Infantry, Brew of Sharpness - 260

Tundra Wolf Troop* (TW1), Cavalry - 115

Tundra Wolf Troop* (TW2), Cavalry - 115

Ice Kin Bolt Thrower (BT1), War Engine - 95

Ice Kin Bolt Thrower (BT1), War Engine - 95

Lord on Frostfang (LoF), Hero (Large Cavalry), Snow Fox - 200

Ice-Queen (IQ), Hero (Infantry), Bane Chant (2), Icy Breath (10) - 100

Game 128 - Forces of Basilea - 2019/12/01

Greetings!

In the last round of the first Australian Universal Battle tournament I played against Jeff who commanded Forces of Basilea.

We played against each other long time ago when Jeff was trying out Universal Battle for the first time. It was thus great to have an opportunity to play again.

What is more, that was my last game of 2nd edition and it looked like it would be the same for Jeff. So we wanted to make it a really epic battle to farewell 2nd edition of Kings of War in style!

When I checked Jeff's list I noticed that he has quite a number of ranged attacks. In particular in the form of a few highly mobile Phoenixes as well as War-Wizards. Add to that Crossbowmen, Arbalest and Spells from Ur-Elohi and you can see this army is really good at dealing damage before the melee even begins. Here are the details of that army:

Forces of Basilea - Army List

40 Crossbowmen (C), Horde, Infantry, Iron Resolve, Piercing (1), Reload!, Jar of the Four Winds

- Phoenix (P1), Monster, Breath Attack (10), Crushing strength (1), Fly, Heal (6), Inspiring, Iron Resolve, Regeneration (4+)

- Heavy Arbalest (HA), War Engine, Blast (D3+2), Iron Resolve, Piercing (3), Reload!

- War-Wizard (W1), Hero (Cavalry), Fireball (8), Individual, Iron Resolve

40 Penitent Mobs (PM1), Horde, Infantry, Crushing Strength (1), Headstrong, Iron Resolve

- Phoenix (P1), Monster, Breath Attack (10), Crushing strength (1), Fly, Heal (6), Inspiring, Iron Resolve, Regeneration (4+)

- War-Wizard (W2), Hero (Cavalry), Fireball (8), Individual, Iron Resolve

40 Penitent Mobs (PM2), Horde, Infantry, Crushing Strength (1), Headstrong, Iron Resolve

- Phoenix (P1), Monster, Breath Attack (10), Crushing strength (1), Fly, Heal (6), Inspiring, Iron Resolve, Regeneration (4+)

- War-Wizard (W1), Hero (Cavalry), Fireball (8), Individual, Iron Resolve

10 Paladin Knights (PK1), Regiment, Cavalry, Headstrong, Iron Resolve, Thunderous Charge (2), Brew of Haste

- Ur-Elohi (UE1), Hero (Large Infantry), Blizzard (2), Crushing strength (2), Fly, Heal (3), Inspiring, Iron Resolve, Thunderous Charge (1)

10 Paladin Knights (PK1), Regiment, Cavalry, Headstrong, Iron Resolve, Thunderous Charge (2),  Macwar's Potion of Catterpillar

- Ur-Elohi (UE1), Hero (Large Infantry), Blizzard (2), Crushing strength (2), Fly, Heal (3), Inspiring, Iron Resolve, Thunderous Charge (1)

Game 117 - Night Stalkers - 2019/06/16

Greetings!

It has been ages since my last game of Kings of War so I am really happy to post this battle report! Even more so that this time I played against Simon, the gaming buddy from the times of Warhammer. We had a few games in Kings of War too. It was thus great to play another game, especially after a long break.

This time Simon decided to bring his Night Stalkers army, which he says he based on Forest Ghosts and Terrors model-wise. It would be fantastic to play against such an army from haunted forest with real models! For now, however, we were happy to play on Universal Battle. :)

One aspect of Kings of War I like a lot is that even in the frame of a single faction one can build various army lists that are significantly different from each other. It was certainly the case in here because I compared the force Simon created to those, for instance, that Jeff played with in our previous battles. It is truly amazing how many options are out there and it is a true testimony to a well designed game!

Here are the details of Simon's army (we played at 2000 points per side):

Night Stalkers - Army List

6 Butchers (B1), Horde, Large Infantry, Crushing Strength (2), Shambling, Brutal

- Shadow-Hulk (SH), Monster, 75 x 75mm base, Crushing Strength (3), Strider, Brutal, Speed 7

6 Butchers (B2), Horde, Large Infantry, Crushing Strength (2), Shambling, Brutal

- Butcher Fleshripper (F), Hero (Large Infantry), Crushing Strength (2), Nimble, Stealthy, Surge (3)

Butchers and Shadow Hulk are in Butcher's Block Formation.

20 Dopplegangers (D), Regiment, Infantry

- Terror (T), Monster, 75 x 75mm base, Crushing Strength (1), Ensnare, Regeneration (4+), Shambling, Stealthy

20 Scarecrows (S1), Regiment, Infantry, Shambling

- Portal of Despair [1] (PoD), War Engine, 75 x 75mm base, Advanced Deployment, Height 4

20 Scarecrows (S2), Regiment, Infantry, Shambling

- Horror (H), Hero (Infantry), Individual, Surge (6)

20 Phantoms (P), Regiment, Infantry, Crushing Strength (1), Fly, Shambling

- Funny Bone [1] (FB), Hero, Individual, Dread

3 Nightmares*, Regiment, Large Cavalry, Crushing Strength (1), Fly, Thunderous Charge (1), Windblast (5), This unit is not Stealthy 

Game 113 - The Herd - 2019/03/27

Greetings!

Soon after our first game Yan and I had a good opportunity for a re-match. This time we decided to go for armies a bit bigger than before, mainly because it seems that majority of the events announced are going to be at 2250 points.

Yan decided to make some changes to his army list in addition to the upgrade to a larger force. This time his Herd would also include some Elven trai... allies that is. :)

It meant that Yan added some ranged attacks to the army. At the same time, the horde of War Chariots poses a significant threat in melee. In general, it definitely added some more flexibility to his force. 

The changes to the core of the army list were not dramatic but quite interesting nevertheless. Let's have a look at the details:

The Herd - Army List

40 Tribal Warriors, Infantry, Horde, Pathfinder, Thunderous Charge (1)

- Beast Pack*, Height (1), Nimble, Pathfinder, Vicious 

- Beast Pack*, Height (1), Nimble, Pathfinder, Vicious 

- Beast Pack*, Height (1), Nimble, Pathfinder, Vicious  

- Chimera, Monster, Fly, Crushing Strength (2), Pathfinder, Vicious

- Shaman, Hero, Infantry, Bane Chant (3), Critter's Call (8), Drain Life (6), Individual, Inspiring, Pathfinder, Thunderous Charge (1), Myrddin's AMulet of the Fire-heart

40 Spirit Walkers, Infantry, Horde, Pathfinder, Thunderous Charge (1), Banner of the Griffin

- Shaman, Hero, Infantry, Bane Chant (3), Weakness (2), Drain Life (6), Individual, Inspiring, Pathfinder, Thunderous Charge (1), Myrddin's AMulet of the Fire-heart

6 Guardian Brutes, Large Infantry, Crushing Strength (1), Fury, Thunderous Charge (2), Brew of Sharpness

- Tribal Totem Bearer, Hero, Infantry, Individual, Inspiring, Pathfinder, Thunderous Charge (1)

20 Tribal Longhorns, Infantry, Regiment, Base size (25 x 25mm), Crushing Strength (1), Pathfinder, Thunderous Charge (1), Lute of Insatiable Darkness

6 Stampede*, Large Cavalry, Horde, Irregular, Crushing Strength (1), Pathfinder, Strider, Thunderous Charge (3), Dwarven Ale

Elven Allies

6 War Chariots, Horde, Large Cavalry, Bows, Elite, Thunderous Charge (2)

- Noble War Chariot, Hero, Large Cavalry, Nimble, Bows, Elite, Thunderous Charge (2)

Game 102 - Night Stalkers vs Abyssal Dwarfs - 2018/12/01

Greetings!

Today's report is going to be a bit different. Jeff and I have played quite a few games so far in order to help him decide on the army list he wanted to take to Australian Masters. He made a final call and submitted his army list. It was Night Stalkers force with Trident Realm allies. 

The interesting part about Australian Masters is that the first round is decided by the position in the ranking (so 1st player plays vs 2nd, 3rd vs 4th and so on) and it is also an army swap battle. It means that players are going to use their opponent's army to fight against their own force.

As a part of the preparation Jeff wanted to have a game in such setting. I was more than happy to play with his force! In fact, I got a chance to play with it before him, as he has not used it yet at that stage! Here are the details of his army list:

Night Stalkers - Army List

40 Scarecrows, Infantry, Horde, Shambling

- Void Lurker, Hero, Monster, Crushing Strength (2), Fly, Regeneration (5+), Thunderous Charge (1), This unit is not Stealthy, Darklord’s Onyx Ring
- 10 Spectres, Infantry, Troop, Firebolt, Pathfinder, Piercing(1)
- 10 Spectres, Infantry, Troop, Firebolt, Pathfinder, Piercing(1)

40 Scarecrows, Infantry, Horde, Shambling
- Dread-Fiend, Hero, Large Cavalry,  Crushing Strength (2), Vicious, Nimble, Staying Stone

- 10 Spectres, Infantry, Troop, Firebolt, Pathfinder, Piercing(1)
- 10 Spectres, Infantry, Troop, Firebolt, Pathfinder, Piercing(1)

3 Fiends, Large Cavalry, Regiment, Crushing Strength (1), Vicious

- Dread-Fiend, Hero, Large Cavalry,  Crushing Strength (2), Vicious, Nimble, Dwarven Ale

3 Fiends, Large Cavalry, Regiment, Crushing Strength (1), Vicious

- Dread-Fiend, Hero, Large Cavalry,  Crushing Strength (2), Vicious, Nimble, Diadem of Dragon-kind

Trident Realms - Allies

20 Thuul, Infantry, Regiment, Ensnare, Stealthy
- Thuul Mythican, Hero, Infantry, Crushing Strength (1), Ensnare, Individual, Inspiring (Thuul Only), Stealthy


20 Thuul, Infantry, Regiment, Ensnare, Stealthy

It turned out that Jeff would be playing with Abyssal Dwarfs with some Forces of the Abyss allies against his own force. Here is the list:

Abyssal Dwarfs - Army List

6 Abyssal Grotesques, Horde, Large Cavalry, Brutal, Crushing Strength (2), Regeneration (5+), Thunderous Charge (1), Vicious
- Ba'su'su the Vile[1], Hero (infantry), Crushing Strength (2), Fly, Individual, Inspiring (Gargoyles only), Regeneration (5+), Vicious
- 10 Gargoyles, Fly, Regeneration (3+), Vicious
- 10 Gargoyles, Fly, Regeneration (3+), Vicious

6 Abyssal Grotesques, Horde, Large Cavalry, Brutal, Crushing Strength (2), Regeneration (5+), Thunderous Charge (1), Vicious
- Brakki Barka[1], Hero (Cavalry), Bhardoom! (Extremely Inspiring - 12" range), Crushing Strength (3), Individual, Regeneration (5+), Vicious

6 Abyssal Grotesques, Horde, Large Cavalry, Brutal, Crushing Strength (2), Regeneration (5+), Thunderous Charge (1), Vicious
- Taskmaster: Slave Driver on Chariot, Hero (Large Cavalry), Base Size (50mm x 100mm), Inspiring (Slave Orcs only), Nimble, Thunderous Charge (2), Vicious

20 Slave Orcs, Regiment, Infantry, Crushing Strength (1), Vicious, Yellow-Bellied

20 Slave Orcs, Regiment, Infantry, Crushing Strength (1), Vicious, Yellow-Bellied 

Forces of the Abyss - Allies

40 Lower Abyssals, Infantry, Horde, Fury, Regeneration (5+)

40 Lower Abyssals, Infantry, Horde, Fury, Regeneration (5+)