Monster March 4 - Part 1

Greetings!

Welcome to Monster March 4 first post! It is with great pleasure that I would like to introduce you all the participants in this year painting challenge. There are some veterans joining the ranks again and there are some new painters too!

I can tell you that all participants chose some really great models. You will see by yourself soon but I just wanted to say that thanks to Monster March challenge I learned about models I didn't know anything about it. This is yet another benefit of participating in painting challenges. You get inspired by other people's choices, ideas and models.

Before I start introducing the participants, I would like to add that you can join the challenge at any time! Please let me know whenever you are ready!

Monster March 4 - Introduction

Hello!

I can't believe it is almost March! Time flies, seemingly faster with every passing year. However, the good thing about March is that we are about to embark on yet another painting challenge, fourth year in a row!

What is Monster March? In short, it is a painting challenge where you choose one big model from your collection and paint it during entire month. It's the opportunity to paint that centre piece of your collection that perhaps was waiting a bit long for you to start working on it. Or maybe you have just got a great model and can't wait to paint it! Whatever the reason and whatever the model (although the bigger the better!), it is your opportunity to enjoy painting and sharing progress on weekly basis with other participants. 

To have a better idea what it may look like, here are the links to the Monster March challenges from previous years:

Monster March 1 - 2017

Monster March 2 - 2018

Monster March 3 - 2019

If you are interested, please continue to learn about a few more details on how to join!

Clash of Kings Australia 2020 - Summary - 2020/02/17

Greetings!

In this post I would like to summarise my experiences during the Clash of Kings Australia 2020. However, while the series of the battle reports focused on the games, there is much more to that event than battles. 

I am still going to discuss my observations about the army I took to the event of course! But I also would like to spend some time talking about other, very important aspects of this unique tournament.

In short, I spent fantastic two days with other Kings of War enthusiasts and came home greatly inspired by the armies people prepared with such a great level of creativity and dedication. Happy to catch up with those I met before and meet new players, hopefully forging new friendships. And in general, full of optimism about Kings of War as a great game of mass fantasy battles! 

A lot of people contributed to this overall fantastic event. The battle reports and in particular this post, is dedicated to all of them as a way of saying "Thank You!" for making it such a wonderful experience. I am sure I am not the only one who would share this point of view!

Game 139 - Forces of Nature - 2020/02/16

Greetings!

In the final, 6th round of Clash of Kings Australia 2020 I faced the army of Forces of Nature commanded by Ken - regular Masters participant and a winner of last year Clash of Kings Australia!

I have played against Ken only twice so far and I lost on both occasions. I hoped I would be able to change the current standings to be a bit more equal. Luckily, one of my very few practice games was against this faction so I wanted to use my experience and apply the lessons learned to this game.

Of course, no two armies are the same and no two players would use even exactly the same army in similar fashion, so I had to come up with a good plan against Ken's Forces of Nature anyway. The army had quite a few units I played against before, be it in the army from the same faction or from another one. Earth Elementals are very good example of these and you could see them featured in the previous battle report. 

In general, Ken's army had tough units, fast units and shooting units, which made it versatile and flexible army for sure. Here are the details:

Game 6 - Forces of Nature - Ken

Naiad Ensnarers Horde (NE), Infantry, Hammer of Measured Force, Frenzied Otter - 255

Earth Elemental Horde (EE1), Large Infantry, Mace of Crushing - 225

Earth Elemental Horde (EE2), Large Infantry, Mace of Crushing - 225

Centaur Bray Strider Regiment (CBS), Cavalry, Frenzied Otter - 165

Centaur Bray Strider Regiment (CBS), Cavalry, Frenzied Otter - 165

Woodland Critter Regiment * (WC), Swarm - 80

Greater Fire Elemental (GFE), Titan - 175

Tree Herder (TH), Hero (Titan), Hann's Sanginary Scripture - 270

Forest Warden (FW), Hero (Large Infantry), Inspiring Talisman - 110

Unicorn (U1), Hero (Large Cavalry, Wings, Lightning Bolt (5) - 165

Unicorn (U1), Hero (Large Cavalry, Wings, Lightning Bolt (5) - 165

Game 138 - Dwarfs - 2020/02/13

Greetings!

In the fifth round of the Clash of Kings Australia 2020 I met another new player, Brent, who commanded army of Dwarfs. It was thus another classic duel between archetypical armies of many fantasy worlds!

Brent came down from Sydney and he told me he has only recently started playing Kings of War. Excellent! Great to know there are new players joining the ranks! 

The composition of his army was very intriguing. He had some units I knew are tough as I faced them before. For example, Earth Elementals or Ironclad Horde. I was intrigued by Shieldbreaker Regiments as these were similar to Palace Guard, by Brock Riders after changes and the very new Steel Juggernouts. Brent also mentioned that Jeff himself helped him with the design of this army. It is great to have such an experienced and great player in your corner! Here are the details of the army Brent took to the tournament:

Game 5 - Dwarfs - Brent

Ironclad Horde (I), Infantry, Hammer of Measured Force, Throwing Mastiffs - 215

Earth Elemental Horde (EE1), Large Infantry - 220

Earth Elemental Horde (EE2), Large Infantry - 220

Shieldbreaker Regiment (S1), Infantry, Throwing Mastiff - 140

Shieldbreaker Regiment (S1), Infantry, Throwing Mastiff - 140

Berserker Brock Riders Regiment (BR), Cavalry, Brew of Sharpness - 230

Mastiff Hunting Pack Regiment* (MHP), Swarms - 65

Dwarf Lord on Large Beast (DL), Hero (Large Cavalry) - 200

Steel Juggernaut (SJ1), Hero (Large Infantry) - 150

Steel Juggernaut (SJ2), Hero (Large Infantry) - 150

Stone Priest (SP), Hero (Infantry), Bane Chant (2) - 110

Berserker Lord (BL), Hero (Cavalry), Blade of Beast Slayer - 160

Game 137 - Undead - 2020/02/09

Greetings!

In the game 4 and the first battle of the second day I played against a really nice looking Undead army commanded by Andrew.

Andrew was one of the players from Direct Misfire team! It was great to meet a new player from Melbourne!

Undead seemed to be quite a popular faction during Clash of Kings but I have not played against them so far and it's been a while since I played against this army as well. I was thus very curious what Andrew decided to choose for his force and here are the details:

Game 4 - Undead - Andrew

Soul Reaver Cavalry Regiment (SRC), Cavalry, Sir Jesse's Boots of Striding - 265

Revenant Cavalry Regiment (RC), Cavalry - 165

Soul Reaver Infantry Regiment (SRI), Infantry - 250

Revenant Regiment (R1), Infantry - 125

Revenant Regiment (R1), Infantry - 125

Wight Horde* (W1), Large Infantry, 260

Wraith Troop* (W2), Infantry - 120

Wraith Troop* (W2), Infantry - 120

Revenant King on Undead Great Flying Wyrm (RK), Hero (Titan) - 250

Mhorgoth the Faceless (M), Hero (Infantry) - 230

Necromancer (N), Hero (Infantry), Inspiring Talisman, Bane Chant (2) - 90

Game 136 - Orcs - 2020/02/08

Greetings!

In the last round of the first day of Clash of Kings Australia 2020 I had a great pleasure to play against Matthew who commanded an army of Orcs and friendly Trolls!

It was the second time I played against Matthew, as we did so a few months ago during a local event. It was, thus, a great opportunity for a re-match, although under 3rd edition of Kings of War this time. I was very curious what would be the composition of Matthew's army. I noticed some very interesting changes and as usual, great looking models on the other side of the table! 

Gore Chariot Legion was obviously the first unit I noticed, as it was really intimidating! But all elements of Matthew's army looked really great! Here are the details of the army he brought to the tournament:

Game 3 - Orcs - Matthew

Gore Chariot Legion (GC), Chariot, Sir Jesse's Boots of Striding - 290

Ax Horde (AH), Heavy Infantry - 215

Troll Horde (T1), Large Infantry - 190

Troll Horde (T2), Large Infantry - 190

Longax Regiment (L1), Heavy Infantry - 155

Longax Regiment (L2), Heavy Infantry - 155

Skulks Troop* (SO1), Heavy Infantry - 85

Skulk Outriders* (SO2) - Cavalry - 105

Orclings* (O), Swarms - 60

War Drum (W), Monster - 80

Godpeaker (GS), Hero (Heavy Infantry), Heal (2), Shroud of the Saint - 115

Krusher (K), Hero (Cavalry) - 75

Flagger (F), Hero (Infantry) - Lute of Insatiable Darkness - 75

Gakamak (G), Hero (Cavalry) - 230