2019 Summary - Part 2 - Kings of War

Greetings!

In this year I decided to write a summary a bit before the end. Simply because I managed to finish all my battle reports and have a bit more spare time to reflect on my Kings of War experiences in 2019.

I started with checking my previous blog post from 2018 so if you would like to see what I hoped to achieve in 2019 by the end of the previous year, here is the link:

2018 Summary - Kings of War

2019 marks more than 4 years of Kings of War experience for me and I can again say I really enjoyed playing this game. In fact, just before the release of the 3rd edition, I think I got to the point where I thought I have finally found the army list I want to play with, without any further tweaks. But more on that later :)

As it is often the case, there were a few things I managed to achieve, some that I didn't and a few more that were simply unexpected. However, that is probably the pattern every year in many if not all aspects of life so let's see in details what happened before I get too philosophical!

2019 Summary - Part 1 - Mortem et Gloriam

Hello!

Although 2019 is not over yet, I managed to finish all my battle reports and I wanted to use the opportunity that the break offers to reflect on the passing year in the context of Mortem et Gloriam.

I wrote a brief article about my experiences with MeG in 2018 (2018 Summary - Mortem et Gloriam). I hoped that 2019 would be even more eventful and I am happy to tell you that it was indeed!

I would like to share my experiences with other wargamers in all aspects that were related to this system. I will write a bit about my games, of course, but not only. After all, this hobby involves a lot more and I think that is also worth sharing and discussing. There are probably as many approaches to it as there are people enjoying this hobby. For me, sharing these experiences is one of the most important aspects. 

I hope you will find this article interesting. I also aim to pave a way to progress my hobby in a new year 2020. I already have a few ideas I would like to make happen!

Game 129 - Elves - 2019/12/14

Greetings!

This is the battle report from my very first game using 3rd edition of the Kings of War rules. I was very intrigued how it would go, both in terms of impressions on the new edition and on the new army list.

I decided to try out the army that was as close to the one I used under 2nd edition. If you are interested in some of my thoughts about the adaptation process, here is the link to the blog post I wrote shortly after the release of 3rd edition:

MSU Elves in 3rd Edition - First Impressions

This game was meant to be an experiment to see how would I do with the similar army in new environment. 

Interestingly, Michael, my opponent for this game, decided to bring Elves as well. It was good because his army composition is different to mine. Thanks to that we could see how different units from the same faction can operate. Here are the details of his army list:

Elves - Army List

40 Palace Guard, Horde, Infantry, Unit Strength (4), Crushing Strength (1), Elite (Melee)

- 6 Drakon Riders*, Horde, Large Cavalry, Unit Strength (3), Thunderous Charge (1), Crushing Strength (1), Fly, Elite (Melee), Potion of Caterpillar

- 10 Silver Breeze*, Regiment, Cavalry, Unit Strength (2), Nimble, Shortbows: 18", Elite (Ranged), Steady Aim

- Tree Herder, Hero, Monster, Unit Strength (1), Crushing Strength (3), Inspiring, Pathfinder, Radiance of Life, Scout, Strider, Surge (8)

20 Shield Watch, Regiment, Infantry, Unit Strength (3), Crushing Strength (1), Elite (Melee)

- Dragon Kindred Lord, Hero, Titan, Unit Strength (1), Crushing Strength (3), Elite (Melee), Fly, Inspiring, Nimble, Dragon’s Breath: 12”, Steady Aim

20 Shield Watch, Regiment, Infantry, Unit Strength (3), Crushing Strength (1), Elite (Melee)

- Archmage, Hero, Infantry, Individual, Lighting Bolt (5), The Boomstick

10 Stormwind Cavalry, Regiment, Cavalry, Unit Strength (3), Elite (Melee), Sir Jesse’s Boots of Striding

Mortem et Gloriam - Game 54 - 2019/12/13

Hello!

In my last, sixth game of Mortem et Gloriam tournament during MOAB 2019 event I played against one of my most regular opponents, Stephen. Many battle reports were created after our games and most recently, Stephen's Romans were proving superior to my Seleucids.

However, for this competition Stephen brought another favourite army of his, Mamluks! I must admit that among all the armies present at MOAB, I considered this one the most challenging to play against. I have already witnessed first hand how deadly their shooting can be in one of our previous games. The army is highly mobile so catching it is very difficult. But unlike many horse archers based armies of antiquity, this force fights very well in melee and has a good break point of 5 too!

Here are the details of the army Stephen brought to the tournament:

Mamluk Egyptian - Army List

Mortem et Gloriam - Game 53 - 2019/12/11

Hello!

First game of the third and last day of Mortem and Gloriam tournament during MOAB 2019 was against both, a new opponent and a completely new army. This time I had a great pleasure to play against Pat and his beautifully looking Muromachi Samurai. 

Pat's army is almost finished but looks great already! I like his way of distinguishing between units under particular command. He has magnetised standard bearer with a different colour of a banner that he attaches to the front rank of each unit. In this way he can switch between commanders accordingly and it makes the units even more visually awesome! I wish I was able to take proper photos of his fantastic army.

I have seen a few Samurai armies but I have never played against one before. It was interesting to notice it is another army with as low breaking point of 4 as mine. It had fewer units too but mainly because all but one, superior cavalry of skilled Bushi, had 9 bases each. However, they also had mixed elements, with the first rank formed by superior Samurai and the rest of the unit comprised of Ashigaru.

Here are the details of Pat's army:

Muromachi Samurai - Army List

Mortem et Gloriam - Game 52 - 2019/12/09

Hello!

Second game of day two of Mortem et Gloriam tournament during MOAB 2019 event and I faced another Longbow heavy army, this time of English flavor. My opponent, Stephen, against whom I had a pleasure to play against before, brought the army from Edward IV English army list.

However, while Andrew's Welsh were very numerous but unprotected army, Stephen's English had more elite feel. Especially when you added these nice, little single bases of heavy armoured Men-at-Arms in Longbowmen units.

Here are the details of the army:

Edward IV English - Army List

Mortem et Gloriam - Game 51 - 2019/12/07

Hello!

In the third game of the Mortem et Gloriam tournament during MOAB 2019 event I played against one of my regular opponents, Paul. He was also very kind to offer me a lift to and from the event, which I am extremely grateful for! 

Paul brought a completely different army this time, the one I have never played against before - Josean Korean. I must say I did not really know what to expect. 

However, Mortem et Gloriam as a system allows even inexperienced player to assess basic roles of each units, regardless of the army and period. Hence, I decided to keep it simple and think about Paul's army in the generic terms. Based on that he had a very well balanced army with the shooting infantry that also had a front rank of polearm wielding warriors. He also added some more units equipped for ranged attacks alone. But he had a strong contingent of cavalry as well, with three TuG's of Charging Lancers and two TuG's of skilled bow armed horsemen. Here are the details of his army list:

Josean Korean - Army List