Kings of War Ambush Game 1

Kings of War Gaming

I had a couple of small games of Kings of War with Bodvoc recently. It's been a little while since we played, but we've both got the new Red Book and fancied trying the Ambush style games. It's not really a new idea for us, we tend to start new armies at 500 points and our Clash games of Kings of War Historical were very much in this vein. Still, it's nice to have the idea formalised.

Small Scale Campaigning

We both took the opportunity to try out new armies, I used my new Kingdoms of Men and Bodvoc has started a Sylvan Kin army, using mostly Oathmark minis.

I based a couple of games on a short campaign I wrote years ago for Warhammer Fantasy Battle where Wood Elves were trying to drive Imperial settlers out of their woods. Nothing special, I simply wrote some story around a couple of the scenarios in the book, but it gave a bit of background and allowed us to develop a story.  We decided that if we enjoyed the games, we could start a small slow grow campaign.

Game One

The first game was an Invade scenario, representing the elves attempting to drive the humans out while they pushed back.  I used the same 500 point force I've used in various training games (Artem, Hero with Inspiring Talisman, troop of Mounted Scouts, regiment of Bowmen and two regiments of Spear Phalanx), Bodvoc had a Master Hunter (unsurprisingly called Emyn Lockharn) to lead his elves, a troop of Silverbreeze cavalry, a troop of Sylvan Gladestalkers and a troop of Kindred Tallspears.  

Both forces deploy, but the sneaky elves have a trick or two up their green-sleeves

The Sylvan Kin amass for battle.  There may not be many of them, but they are all staunch warriors, and damn good shots too!

Emyn Lockharn and the Gladestakers had slunk forwards before the battle (Scout moves) to hold a commanding position raining arrows down on the hapless humans.  By turn one they had routed my Mounted scouts who I had hoped to ride ruin down on the elven flank.

Artem led his Spearmen towards the waiting elves, right into volleys of arrows.  By turn three the first phalanx was routed by the elves' concentrated missile fire.  Artem then decided to take cover in the village.  Meanwhile my Bowmen set off on a fruitless flank march to try and get in position to shoot at the Tallspears.  They fell to the elven arrows before doing anything worthwhile.

The elves dress their ranks and make towards the village.  I try to adjust the colour on my phone camera.

Artem and his remaining troops take refuge in the village.  

The Silverbreeze are able to manouver round to the village gateway and shoot at the phalanx.  Fortunately for me they can't quite get rid of them.

The view of the marauding elves from the village.

Results and Conclusion (I feel like I'm writing up O-Level chemistry experiments)

By the end of turn six I had one hero and one regiment left, and hadn't managed to hurt the elves at all.  The combined elven shooting had seen off all the rest of my force.  However, I had a regiment worth 3 VPs on the other half of the table, whereas only the Silverbreeze were on my half, giving me an unlikely victory.  Clearly the elves found the humans just a little too hard to dislodge (yeah, right) so backed off, no doubt to try some other sneaky trick later.

The revised Shoot 4+ is nasty to face, but highly appropriate for elves.  It certainly held them in good stead, especially when I lined my army up for Bodvoc to focus his shooting on them so effectively.  I also deployed very badly, especially given the aim of the game.  Better tactics would have been simply to march a Phalanx up one flank to safety rather than waste the Bowmen, though I was never going to win a shooting match with them against the elves.

Lessons learned, possibly, and it was still great fun to play.

Bodvoc has written his account of the two games on his blog here, you 'll have to wait a little while for my account, but I can say that we had a lot of fun, and are already planning some reinforcements to our armies.  I'm in a bit of a quandary here though.  The aim with my army is to sell it once I've got 500 points painted up; the money going to a suitable charity working in Ukraine.  My next unit will definitely be the missing Spear Phalanx, that's why one of my old GW Empire regiments made an appearance.  I'm not sure if I should do another force using the Oathmark Humans (I have quite a few, but not enough to re-do this army without buying more), or get back to painting my many GW Empire troops.  Choices.

*EDIT* My report of the second game is here.

3rd phalanx finally finished.

It has taken a while but I finally finished painting the third phalanx of greek hoplites. I also include a group shot of all the hoplites so far...

A Greek Tragedy

The other day I got another of my infrequent game days in against Merlin.  I hosted this time, and we managed to get in two games, a Clash! game and a 1520 point KoWH game.

I used my newly painted, never before seen Greeks (with a couple of units of Scythian allies) and Merlin used his Spartans with mythological help from a regiment of Centaurs plus hero.

The Clash game was a straight up fight, with honours going to my Greeks.  My two phalanxes of hoplites gave me a strong core to my army, and along with the incredibly lucky chance of routing his cavalry early on, the game went very  much my way.

The two Clash! forces face off, Merlin's Spartans at the top, my Athenians at the bottom.

Merlin's Spartans (L to R): Light Cavalry, Kryptea, Commander, Spartiate hoplites and Slingers

My Athenians (L to R): Skirmishers with a Phalanx of Hoplites behind, Commander just peeping out from behind a second Phalanx and Slingers

Sadly, the dice gods deserted me then, that or my planning and tactics were poor.

We played a variant of the Loot scenario, since I had enjoyed it so much against T'Other One in KoW.  This time we were trying to capture, or save, three civilians.  Had it been necessary to determine an outright winner, one of them would randomly turn out to be a spy.  In the end, Merlin won so comprehensively this was unnecessary.  Alas, we wree so tied up in the game that I only took a couple of photos.

The game started with Merlin grabbing one objective with his Criptea Vanguard moving into contact with it.  One of my skirmishing units quickly claimed another, but soon lost it to the marauding herd of Centaurs, these, plus there hero, were a tough proposition, and thoroughly destroyed my attempt at a flanking maneuver with my Skythian allies.  On the other flank, the Spartan cavalry easily snatched the remaining civilian, and held onto him, despite running down a couple of my units plus my poor priest.
It was only in the centre that I really had any luck, and my three phalanxes held out almost until the end against Merlins Spartan king and routed all his main infantry.  Still, it was far too little too late.

A great fun day of gaming, and we both decided to do more KoWH.  it was, perhaps, a mistake to go to just over 1500 points; if we had kept it back to 1250 or so we could have fielded entirely historical forces.

We have both given a lot of thought since the battle to how the lists are built, and have, inevitably, drawn up our own lists in an attempt to reflect how we believe armies of the time were fielded and would fight.

Spartan Light Cavalry

Just completed some light cavalry for my Spartan army. 15mm Westwind/Forged in Battle figures.

More Spartans

I just finished a couple of new units for my Spartan Army, some hoplites and a unit of slingers. I thought it was about time for a group shot. I am really pleased with how this army is coming together with more yet to come.

Something Ancient, Something New

A quick aside from the War of the Crown AARs.
As I mentioned recently, I was due a day's gaming with Merlin.  Well this happened last week and we got the opportunity to try not just KoWH, but our Clash variant (details here).

Merlin used his Spartans and I used my Scythians.  After the usual 'show and tell' we got down to the first of three Clash games.  As we had both anticipated, it was a pretty quick game, with my cavalry running rings around his infantry.  The game was an Ambush scenario, with one of Merlin's units hidden somewhere in a patch of Difficult Ground.  I managed to stay away from most of the potential hiding places, and pulled of a convincing victory.

This is what can happen when an entire cavalry army takes on a largely infantry force.

The second game was closer, and the third game, where we both had flanking forces was a Spartan victory as Merlin's flanking force was able to take out mine.

We really enjoyed the scale of these battles, and the KoWH system generally.  Being able to get three games comfortably in four hours gaming time (including chat etc) was a bonus.  It occurred to us that this would be ideal for a multi player club game, with each player bringing their own Clash force.

Scythian Cavalry part 5

At last, I've finished the minis I need for a Clash force for our small scale KoWH variant.  Here's the last troop, actually the second half of the cavalry regiment, and the hero who leads the force.

This troop can be fielded as a Troop, but the intention is to place it behind the troop I did here to make the mandatory regiment for a Clash force.  I only used four minis here, I wanted to easily differentiate between the different cavalry units, since the Scythians will have quite a few different types.  So heavy cavalry have five minis to a troop base, cavalry have four and light cavalry and horse archers have three.  (I based up the first cavalry base before deciding this).

The Scythian leader.  For Clash games he is the standard Hero with a mount, but in larger battles I can upgrade him.

I have a couple more units ready to varnish and base up, but this is the minimum I need to play, and it will form the core of my larger KoWH Scythian army.  Its going to appear on the table top as a Varangur force in KoW as well.

All the minis in this army so far are by Falcon Figures UK (which is now US based).  I really liked them when I got them, over 20 years ago.  I guess they don't stand up that well today, compare them with the War and Empire Forged in Battle minis or Xyston for instance; and what is it with the tiny horse heads on some of the minis?  Still, they have a certain charm, and certainly a great variety of pose and equipment.

Spartan Cavalry and a couple of photos of the Spartan army so far.

I completed two units of cavalry for my Spartan army today, so now I have actually painted more figures than I need for my 500 point force for Clash-our small scale KOWH battles.

I can't wait to get these little guys on the gaming table.

Watch out, the Krypteia are about!

So in KOWH you can only have one troop of Krypteia (a sort of Sparta secret police) and the sword armed Spartans from the Death of Leonidas set work perfectly for this unit. I bent a few arms to vary the poses a bit. So those Scythians had best watch out, these guys are pretty tough.

Scythian Cavalry part 4

I'm still playing around with the new light box, and I think I need a bit more light.  Still, here is the latest Scythian unit.

This is a troop of Heavy Cavalry, the best cavalry KoWH allows, barring special types.  Strictly they aren't available to the Scythians, according to their themed list (page 80), however, I have a few issues with those themes. Certainly the archaeological evidence suggests a cadre of heavily armoured and well equipped, probably noble, cavalry.  They may not be as well protected as a 15th century knight, but against contemporary foes, they should be pretty tough.  Also KowH doesn't allow bows for the heavier cavalry (balance issues probably), though it is thought that just about every Scythian carried a bow.  I'll ignore them for the purposes of the game, but I have included a bow firing model in the troop.

If you've looked at Merlin's 'Clash' ideas (if not, why not?) then you will realise that I am missing the free hero and the mandatory regiment.  Those are next on the painting table (assuming I can resist the lure of more D&D monsters).

For KoW Varangur I'll use these as Mounted Sons of Korgaan.  Fun Fact; Kurgan is not only the name of the adversary in the first Highlander film, but also the name given to the burial mounds in which the Scythians buried their dead, and which provide a feat of archaeological treasures and evidence.  This similarity in names helped me decide to use Scythians for my Varangur.
I'll need a few more units for the 1000 points I am aiming at for my Varangur.  I am investigating the possibilities for a mounted wizard, and there are a few historical types that would fit in well with the theme.  I'd also like a few extra units, just to give some variety when choosing a force.

Scythian Cavalry part 3 (and a new toy)

I finished the next couple of troops of Scythians earlier this week, but I have held off showing them as I was expecting a new toy; a small fold up light box (complete with LED strip) in the hopes that I could improve my photography.  It arrived today, so I have been experimenting and have the results of the first test pictures.

A troop of Scythian Horse Archers.

The hope was that the lighting would be better.  I think there is some improvement, but I will play around with extra lighting (I still have some LED lamps from my previous set up,which was a converted cardboard box.  One thing the new light box has is it folds up into a small bag, very easy to store.

The miniatures are once again from my old army, so just needed some repair work to the old paint jobs, plus a bit more detail adding. 

I'll post the other completed unit soon.  I was more interested in trying out the new light box.

I only need one more troop to complete the 'Clash' force, plus the hero to lead them.  These will be started from scratch though, so might take a little longer.

Clash: small scale battles for KOWH

The pair of us have been busy working on a system to allow us to play small scale battles using the KOWH rules. Inspired by WAB's Border Patrol rules with an added chart to randomly select a scenario we present: 'CLASH'. Players get to choose a 500 point army and add a hero to lead them for free.

CLASH v2.

A set of guidelines to help create smaller battles with the Kings of War Historical rules. .

1: You may choose an army of not more than 500 points. Your points total may include the selection of one ‘Veteran’ ability to give to one of your units.

2: You may have a single Hero character from the Master List to lead your force (for free). He may be on foot or mounted as you wish, but you pay the extra points if he is mounted. Your hero also gains ’Inspiring’ for free.

3: Your force must consist of at least 3 units.

4:  You must include at least one regiment of 20 infantry (or 10 cavalry). You may select as many ‘troop’ size units as you wish. Hordes are not allowed. If you take a second regiment you may select another hero either from the master list or the army list, but unique Heroes (1) are not allowed unless specified by a scenario such as ‘Kill the King’. 

5: Your force should be a balanced force and should follow any army list restrictions.

6: Your force may not include war machines unless playing an agreed scenario that involves capturing the enemy artillery for example.

7: All games are to be played on a 4’x3’ board, with the scenery being arranged by a neutral player or umpire. Players then dice for table edge, highest throw having the choice.

Quick Scenarios: For the length of a game throw 1xd6, score of 1,2 = 6 turns, 3,4 = 7 turns and 5,6 = 8 turns unless the game is decided earlier. Throw 1xD6 for scenario type…

1-2: Capture: forces vie for control of a vital bridge, ford, hill, temple, etc…Throw 1xd6, score of 1,2 = ford, 3 = bridge, 4 = crossroads, 5 = hill, 6 = temple/church. The piece of terrain being fought over must be placed as centrally on the table as possible.

3: Flank Attack: each force secretly assigns between 50 and 150 points of their strength as a flanking force and note which flank it is intended to arrive on. Units may not be split between the main group and the flanking force. At the start of turn 3, players may roll to see if their flanking force arrives, needing 4+ on a D6, adding +1 to your throw each subsequent turn until they arrive.

4-5: Meeting Engagement: deploy both forces up to 12” in and fight it out.

6: Ambush: one side is allowed to deploy one unit in Ambush anywhere in their own table half. The Ambusher must write down the position of the concealed unit. All other units deploy up to 12” in.