Kings of War Undead vs Kingdoms of Men

My son and I managed a game the other day, 1000pts of his Undead vs 1000pts of my Kingdom of Karpath.

An opportunity for him to try out his new big nasty, and for both of us to see if we could still remember how to play. 

We played using 3rd edition; neither of us have yet tried 4th edition, although I do have the new rules. 

Partly because it's been a long time since we played, we were rather slow and had to stop after five turns.  We played the Kill Scenario.

Here's the photos I took, plus a very brief account of the game. 

And apologies to my Alt Text reading fans, there isn't much for you this time.

Set Up

The field of battle with the armies poised for action

The Armies

The human army consisted of a regiment of Bowmen, two Spear Phalanxes, a regiment of Knights (borrowed from my Empire army to make up the points) and a troop of Mounted Scouts. They were led by General Anichka, accompanied by Artem and the wizard Mayster

The Kingdom of Karpath

The Undead included a regiment of Ghouls, a regiment of Revenants, a Goreblight (a lovely Reaper Bones undead giant), a regiment of Skeletons with spears, a regiment of Mummies and a troop of Wraiths. They were led by a trio of necromancers.

Most of the Undead force ...

...plus the Mummies (a troop of Wraiths lurk off to the right)

Turn One

I moved first, though I kept most of my troops back, merely dressing the line somewhat as I tried to anticipate where the biggest threat would come from. The exception was the Scouts who set off on one of the flanking moves that I think are really clever tactics, despite all previous evidence to the contrary.

The enemy was too far away for any missile or magic use.

End of KoM Turn 1

The undead shambled forward, the exception being the Ghouls who swung round to meet the threat of the Scouts.

The Necromancers all used their magic to move certain units forward.

End of Undead Turn 1

Turn Two

The knights charged the Revenants, arrogantly expecting to wipe them out. Unfortunately they failed to do so, and this melee would drag on.

The Knights charge the Revenants, expecting an easy victory

Mayster responded to the advancing enemy by conjuring a wind to blast the undead spears backwards. 

I think I found this funnier than my opponent did. This is a sample of my rolling for Wind Blast.

Needing a 4+

End of KoM Turn 2

Fortunately for the Knights, the Revenants were unable to damage them (for two turns they were unable to crack that 5+ Defence). Meanwhile, the Goreblight circled round to their rear and the rest of the Undead force advanced, in some cases assisted by the Necromancers.

End of Undead Turn 2

Turn Three

The mounted scouts continue their ride, always managing to stay out of danger from the ghouls, who kept turning to try and keep them in sight, but never getting the chance to shoot at them. 

The Knights continue their combat with the Revenants, slowly whittling them down and eyeing the advancing Goreblight.

At the other end of the field, Mayster once again pushes the Skeleton Spears back, while the Bowmen discover that the Mummies are tough.

End of KoM Turn 3

The Undead continue their slow advance, the Wraiths flying dangerously close to the Bowmen. 

The Goreblight proves deaf to the entreaties of two of the Necromancers as they urge it to smash the Knights while they are trapped in melee (two Surge spells provided about 2" on top of it's normal move. I was delighted).

Adding to the Undead woe, the Revenants once more failed to damage the Knights.

End of Undead Turn 3

Turn Four

As the undead continue their slow advance, the bowmen try to pick off the Wraiths. Alas their targets are too tough, and very little damage is inflicted.

Mayster casts a Fireball at the undead spears, which proves much more effective (needed a double six on the Nerve test).

The Nerve Test

A Spear Phalanx (I must come up with names to differentiate between the two) charges the Mummies, but they are tough opponents and take little damage. The Bowmen frantically loose at the Wraiths, but most of their arrows pass straight through.

Having (hopefully) distracted the Undead for long enough, and no doubt leaving the poor Ghouls quite dizzy, the Scouts gallop off to the other side of the field to lend their doubtful help there.

The knights finally finish off the Revenants and turn to face the approaching Goreblight. They'd already felt it's presence sapping their strength. 

End of KoM Turn 4

The Goreblight finally charges the Knights, while the Ghouls turn to face the tasty humans in their metal cans. The Knights take a beating, but it takes more than that to break Karpath's finest (they benefited from their Indomitable Will).

On the far side of the field, the Wraiths charge the Bowmen, who, surprisingly, manage to hold.

End of Undead Turn 4

Turn Five

The Knights try to take down the Goreblight, but without the benefit of their lances, it's very slow going, and those Ghouls are lurking behind them.

Both the Spear Phalanx and the Bowmen continue to fight their opponents, but do little damage to the Undead.

End of KoM Turn 5

The combined might of the Goreblight and the ghouls finishes off the knights, allowing that flank of the Undead army to face the fighting on the far flank.

Over there the Wraiths quickly finished off the Bowmen, leaving the Foot Guard poised to charge them. The Spear Phalanx held out against the Mummies, but only under the stern gaze of General Anushka (Inspiring reroll requiring a double one).

End of Undead Turn 5 and end of battle

At this point we called the game. Technically it was currently a draw, if slightly in the undead favour, but I think the final turn(s) would have swung it to an Undead victory. The Ghouls and Goreblight wouldn't have made it over to the rest of the fighting, but with the Knights gone, I'd have been struggling against Mummies and Wraiths.

Final Thoughts

It's nearly a year since I played Kings of War, and I'd forgotten how much fun it can be.  We both thought of moves that we might have done differently, although luck seemed to play a big part in the game.

Once again I got stuck in combats that I thought I'd win first turn, I obviously need to readjust my expectations.  

We hope to get a few more games in soon.

What's Next?

Well I've got plenty to paint already, including more of those Wildspire Miniatures and some Undead of my own for the Dark Shadows campaign.

That said, I might take advantage of the Season of Scenery challenge to sort out a set of 28 mm Kings of War terrain, rather like the 15 mm set I did back in 2019.

And it would be nice to have a regiment of Knights that fit in with the rest of my Karpath army.

And a little Carrion Beast tells me that Bodvoc is getting interested in a new Kings of War army, for which he'll no doubt want an opponent.