Kings of War Battle - The Last Battle - Gobins vs Ogres, 1000 points

I had another very enjoyable battle with Merlin, once more my ogres took to the field against his goblins, and we were both trying out some new stuff.  We decided on a fairly small battle (1000 points) as we wanted some time to discuss our plans for the campaign we hope to start once we have got the hang of the new rules; in fact this may well be my last game of Kings of War second edition, as with a bit of luck, the new rules will arrive next week.

Anyway, Merlin had once again done a stirling job of designing a scenario for us to play.

'By Eck', Grab the Loot: adapted from 'Push', from p76, COK 2019.

Pulling hard on the reigns, Skrel hauled his mighty wolf to a halt. Sent on patrol by King Krag, Skrel and his large patrol had come across a band of merchants trying to cross the lower slopes of the mountains undetected by the goblins. Before him now, the human merchants fled dropping their goods all around. Beyond the humans, Skrel watched what had caused him to halt. Appearing over the river Eck was a large force of Ogres, now seen by the panic stricken humans who fled in all directions, their merchant goods scattered and forgotten in their rush  to escape both Skrel's goblin host and the ever nearing Ogre Warband. 

By Eck was where the spoils would be fought over. 'By Eck' thought Skrel 'my blade will taste Ogre blood this day' and urged his wolf forward.

After both players have deployed their forces, roll a D3. Each player places that many Loot counters within their set-up area; giving them to units to carry if they wish-rolling a dice to see who places a counter first.

An additional Loot counter is also placed in the exact centre of the board. The aim of the game is to capture as many Loot Tokens as you can.

Victory Points: are awarded as follows...

2xVP for each Loot token you hold in the opposing side of the board

1xVP for each Loot token you hold in your own half of the board.

(use the rules on p75 regarding Loot Tokens).

Game Length: is 6 turns, throw a dice at the end of turn 6, on a score of 4+ play a final seventh turn. 

Skrel's Goblin Host consisted of;

Skrel, Goblin Biggit

Reet, Goblin Flagger (with Boomstick)

Wort and Rakki (Magwa and Joos)

1 Stone thrower war machine

1 horde of Goblin Rabble

1 horde of Trolls

1 regiment of Goblin Spitters

1 regiment of Goblin Sniffs

1 troop of Goblin Fleabag Riders

My ogres were;

Hobbla-a-Habb, Ogre Captain

Gurr-n-Durr, Ogre Warlock (with fireball upgrade)

1 horde of Ogre Warriors

1 horde of Berserker Braves (with brew of haste)

1 horde of Red Goblins

1 regiment of Ogre Shooters

We rolled for loot tokens, and only got 1 each, plus the central one.  We each gave a token to a unit, then set to.  Apologies for the blurry photography, I struggled to get good overhead shots for this, but you should get the idea of what was where.  I tried to get a picture after each movement phase and at the end of each player's turn to better follow the action once things hotted up in the middle phases of the battle.

Fully deployed, the goblins and ogres face off and trade insults

Skrel's mighty goblin host

The goblins advance, apart from their new big rocks thrower. Initial goblin missile fire causes a few casualties, though the big rock thrower misses.

The new ogre shooters and the red goblins combine their fire against the sniffs, while Gurr-n-Durr's lightning bolt singes a few trolls.  Strangely, the ogres refuse to move (in the excitement I forgot to move them and went straight on to Shooting).

The fleabag riders try to flank the ogres, hoping to bring their loot across the battlefield, whilst the goblin rabble claim the loot in the centre of the table.

Goblin missile fire causes more casualties to the ogres and goblins, but they refuse to break.

Ogre warriors charge the rabble, while the berserker braves try to flank the goblin army.

Ogre shooting wavers the fleabag riders, but the warriors can't break the rabble.

Skrel shoots Gurr-n-Durr, wavering him and putting an end to his fireballs for a while, while the rest of the goblin shooting sees off the Red Goblins and wavers the shooters.  On their other flank, Wort and Rakki fail to stop the oncoming berserker braves.

Hobbla-a-Habb leads his warriors in against the rabble while the berserker braves charge into the sniffs.  Elsewhere the ogre shooting and spells has been shut down by goblin missile fire.

Despite horrendous casualties, the rabble hold, the trolls are less fortunate; the few remaining creatures routing off the field (doubtless to find a hole to regenerate in for next battle).

The fleabag riders turn to menace the warriors flanks while the sniffs continue to shoot  the shooters.

The shooters take out the fleabags in a devastating volley of huge bolts.  Hobbla-a-Habb and the warriors make sure of the rabble this time, and the berserker braves barely pause to trample Wort and Rakki into the blood soaked soil before turning to threaten the remaining goblins.  The ogre warlord moves forward to claim a second prize.

The sniffs gain revenge for the fleabags by wiping out the shooters.  Reet moves to the relative safety of the ogre flank and tries his boomstick, to no avail, while Skrel continues to neutralise Gurr-n-Durr

The warriors charge the spitters, eliminating them, while the berserker braves advance towards the action.  Gurr-n-Durr withdraws in an attempt to lure Skrel away, while Hobbla-a-Habb sets off towards the stone thrower, lugging his treasures behind him.

The goblins manage to waver the ogre warriors, otherwise they position themselves ready for the inevitable onslaught.

The berserker braves make short work of the spitters, while Hobbla-a-Habb dismantles the goblin war machine.

Reet bravely tries to defend a treasure, but his boomstick fails to hurt the berserkers.  Skrel realises that Gurr-n-Durr might still be a threat and backs off.  The berserkers make short work of Reet and a quick fireball dispatches Skrel.

At the end of the battle the ogres hold the field (and all the loot).

Another great fun game.  Although the end result was very one sided, it seemed as though it could swing either way for quite some time.  I was very lucky to keep the Berserker Braves in the fight for the whole game, by rights they should have been destroyed by turn three or four.  As it was, Merlin's unlucky shooting meant they held on and wiped out a lot of goblins.

I have no idea why I didn't move my ogres in the first turn, perhaps I was too focused on trying out the new shooters and the horde of red goblins?

There were several incidents where a nerve test was failed by just one, especially early on when the damage was mostly caused by shooting.  We were both amused by the poor goblin flagger, Reet, who for the second half of the battle either missed or failed to damage anything with his boomstick.  Clearly he has relied too much on it and it is out of power.  By that point the berserker braves had taken so much damage that it seemed a valid tactic to stand off and shoot them, sadly (if you're a goblin) it was not to be.

This was almost certainly our last game of Kings of War second edition.  We both have the third edition now, and  since I have been particularly slow in getting the blog updated, I have actually played two games with the new ruleset.  Expect a post discussing this soon(ish).  I've actually got a couple a battles to write up finishing our League of Rhordia vs Herd campaign.  I think I'll just show the pictures and comment on any highlights though, as the games were several months ago now.

League of Infamy Kickstarter

Mantic have launched their latest kickstarter to fund a new board game, League of Infamy.
This is a similar game to Dungeon Saga, but with villains infiltrating (in the base game) an elven stronghold to stop a Dracon breeding project.

I played a test game of this at a previous Open Day, and had a great time; being villains, the characters are out for their own reputations as much as the mission goals.

As always, there look to be some stunning minis in the game, and the two expansions currently mentioned feature some of Mantica's (or Pannithor's) less well represented creatures; halflings and some of the Trident Realm creatures for which we currently have no minis.  I'm sure we will eventually see some of these appearing in Vanguard sets, just as Star Saga minis have been packaged for Deadzone.

Here's the campaign page if you want to check it out.

Kings of War Battle - 1250 points Ogres vs Goblins

I've been off on holiday, and although I haven't done any painting, I did get in a battle with Merlin.  One advantage of 15mm is being able to fit a decent sized army into a small box.
Both Merlin and myself have increased the size of our armies since last time they clashed.  (Here are better pictures of my reinforcements).  As is traditional, Merlin, as sort of host (it's complicated; we were up in his neck of the woods, but actually played at the holiday cottage I was staying in), came up with a scenario that continued the storyline we started a while back.

The Battle of Fyngore’s Keep

Krag hawked and spat. Ogres,how he hated them, even though he had only first met any a few weeks ago; that day they had left him bloody and battered. Today he would have his revenge. He glanced up at the giant next to him; Kral Kral Kan would help him gain that revenge. Surely no ogre could stand against the mighty giant and his huge blood soaked club. 

Krag had assembled a mighty goblin host and headed south. His scouts had told him the ogres were camped near the remains of Fyngores Keep, an ancient ruin west of the River Thynn. Now the two armies were close, the ogres, having spotted the goblin army were hurriedly forming ranks. Drums beating, horns blowing, Krag waved his army forward, this was a good day to kill some ogre...

This battle is played as Scenario 6 (p87) from the main rulebook, ‘Kill and Pillage’ with each army totalling 1250 points.

Objective: At the end of the game each side totals the points value of all enemy units they routed. There are also 3 objective markers on the table each worth an extra 125 points to whichever side controls them at the end of the last turn.

To place the markers each player should throw a d6, the highest throw places the first and then alternate until all 3 markers are placed. The markers should be at least 12” apart.

Game Length: 6 turns, then on a d6 throw, 1-3 the game ends, 4-6 play a 7^th and final turn.

Victory goes to the player with the highest points total as long as that total is at least 10% higher than the enemy total, otherwise the game is a draw.

My ogres consisted of a Warlord, a Warlock, a horde of ogre warriors, a horde of warriors with two handed weapons, a horde of berserker braves, a regiment of  red goblins and a regiment of red goblin scouts.

Merlin's goblins consisted of a goblin King (Krag), a giant, a regiment of trolls, a regiment of fleabag riders, a regiment of fleabag sniffs, a troop of mawbeasts, a regiment of sniffs and a regiment of goblin rabble, an army standard bearer with boomstick and Magwa and Joos.

The two armies face off

The goblins advance.  Early bowfire damages the red goblins

The red goblin scouts charge the fleabag riders

Clash of the goblin cavalry with King Krag looking on.

In exchange the goblin king and his fleabag riders attack the scouts. 

Ogre berserkers take advantage of the Potion of Haste to smash into the mawbeasts, wiping them out.  

The goblin spitters loose their bows, but hit nothing, showing them how its done, King Krag and his fleabags finally destroy the red goblin scouts.  The rest of the goblin line smashes into the ogres.  The giant proves completely ineffective, but the trolls and Magwa and Joos cause huge casualties on the warriors with great weapons, wavering them.

The Ogre line takes the charge

The berserkers charge King Krag, barely pausing to trample him, they continue their rampage into the goblin cavalry, finally turning to face the standard bearer.  The Warlock shifts to see the goblin rabble and casts a fireball, singing them, but they hold. The warriors try their hands against the giant, wounding him, but not enough to stop him. The Warlord also charges in, hurting Magwa and Joos, but not severely.

The goblin standard and the spitters face the berserkers and shoot, but are unable to slow them down.  The goblin sniffs. Magwa and Joos and the trolls execute a neat pincer movement on the great weapon wielding ogres, who fall beneath their weapons, the triumphant greenskins then turn to face the diminishing ogre line.  The giant fares a little better against the ogre warriors, but the rabble are unable to hurt the Warlord, even with a flank attack.

The berserkers advance through the swamp, facing the spitters and the goblin standard.  The ogre warriors charge the giant, and pull him to the ground (I have an excuse to use a giant now, I'll say they captured rather than killed him).  The Warlock once again toasts the rabble, while the Warlord makes short work of Magwa and Joos.

The spitters inflict more damage to the Berserkers, but still can't slow them down.  The goblin standard slinks back, fearing what will happen if the berserkers catch him, he is the highest ranking goblin left.  The Sniffs move to get good shots off at the Warlock, but they only do minor wounds.  Not fancying their chances against the Warlord (and hoping the rolls will sort him out), the rabble turn to face the ogre warriors, the trolls do wound him, but not enough to stop him.

Despite charging through the swamp, the berserkers are able to make short work of the spitters, they then turn to face the goblin army, shouting threats at the standard bearer.  The warriors trample the rabble into the ground and then turn towards the remaining goblins, the Warlord hurst the trolls sufficiently to give them pause, and the Warlock's fireballs waver the Sniffs.

Having had the fight knocked out of them, the trolls retreat.  Similarly, the goblin standard bearer decides to run away, as do the sniffs.

Despite the goblins trying to escape, the ogres finish them off, the Standard falls to the berserkers, who run on towards teh trolls, just falling short.  The warriors manage to destroy them unaided.  The Warlock finishes off the sniffs, the air full of the smell of singed fur.

As the dust clears not a goblin remains standing (again, on either side).  The ogres are triumphant.

This was a great fun game. Despite the eventual solid ogre victory, in the early stages the goblins seemed to have the upper hand, with superior shooting, and taking out the Red Goblins and the warriors with great weapons.  The goblin superior numbers looked like they were going to bring victory, but the ogres hung in there.  The berserkers were especially effective, potion of speed giving them a better chance of making those charges, though by the end they were only just hanging in, Merlin was unlucky not to destroy them with his shooting.

I think we both started out thinking of objectives, but towards the end we were just trying to wipe out the enemy, I did make a token effort to move my units towards the objectives in the last turn though.

As there is a new edition of Kings of War due out soon, Merlin and I decided to do something special.  We are thinking about starting a campaign, more closely linked this time, rather than just having a vague linking story and the same names.

We will probably go for Ogres and Goblins, largely since our other armies, Herd and League of Rhordia don't get army lists in the new rule book, we will have to wait for the supplement in a few months.

We are still very much in the planning stage at the moment, and we will have to play a game or two of the new rules first, just to see what has changed.

Kings of War - 15mm Ogres Reinforcements

You've seen my first lot of 15mm Ogres here.  I've now painted enough to field  a legal 500 point force (and then some).  You can see them in their first battle here.

So what's new?  A horde (or two regiments) of Warriors, this time with two handed weapons rather than shields.

One ogre in each regiment is from the older set of Caesar Orcs, can you tell which?

A horde (or two regiments) of Ogre Braves.  These are all from the first set of Orcs.

As well as the ogres, I've been painting some more red goblins.  Some of these are for base decoration for the ogres, but I also got a regiment (or two troops) of Fleabag Riders done.  These are Ral Partha Demonworld again. 
I like the giant fleas, a great touch, and well within the rulebook description of the unit.  I can see them being the source of many bad puns along the 'hop to it' and 'coming up to scratch' variety, apologies in advance. 

The riders are one pose plus a leader, which I have kept as a Biggit on fleabag.

If I get another set I'll do a little converting so that they have a couple of standards, and the newer troops will go in front of these troops to make more obvious command troops.  But that's a while in the future I think.

Next up for the ogres I have some heroes to finish, including an Army Standard that needs a new standard, and at least one more regiment of Red Goblins.  I have also been looking at how to represent the two ogre missile units, I have a few ideas, but nothing I'm quite happy with yet.
Of course I will probably get distracted by a different army soon, so its a good job that 15mm units take relatively little time to finish.

Bones V

Reapers fifth Bones kickstarter launched yesterday, it's already over $1M!

There's some  nice stuff already, check it out here. and it's only going to get better.

D&D Monsters - Let's Hunt (and paint) Some Orc

As you may know, if your a regular reader, I am slowly assembling a collection of monsters to use in D&D.  I've already done kobolds, goblins and hobgoblins, and have some nice Reaper Bones gnolls, ogres and bugbears in progress.  However, I've struggled to find appropriate orc minis for D&D.

When I'm building a collection of D&D monsters I like them to fit the Monster Manual description, or represent the monster as I've altered them.  Correct depiction of equipment is important, as it gives the players visual clues, such as whether it has high strength or dexterity, which in turn might suggest tactics.  A poorly armoured creature that is hard to hit likely has a high dexterity, thus spells and effects that give it a dexterity save are probably not the best option.
It's also important that the miniatures be either already in my collection, or easily obtainable.
Finally, I'm a big fan of both the old WotC prepaints and Reaper bones, simply because of the durability of the figures when dumped in a box at the end of a session.  Hard plastic minis are great for wargaming where they are to some extent protected by their bases (especially if unit based), and I tend to take more care over the storage and transport of my armies, but the roleplaying minis get a fair few knocks.  Metal minis are pretty much out of the running for this reason.  I'll use metal for characters, where they might be better looked after (they have their own section of my D&D minis carry box), but for ordinary monsters, generally I avoid it.

I've looked at using Mantic's orcs, of which I have a load, unsurprisingly.  I've got even more of the Lord of the Rings orcs from GW.  I got the big collection of orcs in Reaper's first Bones kickstarter, and have also bought a few of the smaller orcs they also did in 'Bonesium'.  Finally, I have a fair selection of the WotC prepaints, in the various different designs (some truly horrible) that they experimented with over the years.

Taking each one in turn, the Mantic orcs are nice, but seem over armoured for the description in the monster manual (hide armour, battle axe and javelin).  They do have the right weapons, but I'd have to lose the shields.  Also being hard plastic, they lack the durability I ideally want.

Mantic orc from my Vanguard orcs.  Too heavily armoured (and hard plastic)

The Lord of the Rings orcs are also nice, and have a pleasing variety to them.   Some of them have heavier armour than I would like, and I'd have to do a lot of weapon swaps, and again, they are hard plastic, so less sturdy than I am looking for.  Proof of this is that my box of Mordor has a lot of orcs with half bows or no swords or spear ends.

LotR orc from my Battle Games in Middle Earth armies

The two Reaper orc types have issues with equipment.  The smaller ones have either sword, spear or bow, and are too well armoured.  They also look a bit skinny and feeble for how I imagine orcs. the larger ones are too big, approaching ogre size, though I don't mind my orcs being big.  They have a lot of metal plates or mail for armour, though the plates could be leather (and the Reaper Learn to Paint Kit does exactly this).

Small Reaper orc

Large Reaper orc

The WotC orcs have a lot of variety, but the first design they did, (way back in 2003) has a fairly chunky orc with a scimitar (which they tended to use back in 3rd edition days).  It wears a strange collection of straps, plates that could be leather or metal with studs, and has fine plaited hair.

WotC prepainted orc

I approached the WotC orc as a 'least worst' choice, though it has since grown on me.  It needs a bit of work to fit how I want it to look.  The scimitar is replaced with an axe, and although I have plenty of  spare axes, such as from Mantic orcs or dwarves, I went for something a little more elaborate with the axe from the Mantic salamanders.  This is pinned into place where the scimitar was cut off.  The mini also has an empty scabbard, which I carefully cut off, apart from the top part and belt on my test model.  I had ideas of adding a pouch from green stuff, or perhaps repurposing it to hold javelins.  In the end I decided to leave it as it was on later models and simply add some wire javelins so it looks like a sort of big quiver (is there a special name for a javelin quiver?)

Repainted and re-equipped WotC orc

I'm now at the stage of having four ordinary orcs finished and am working on a few more plus some 'specials'.  That should give me enough for any encounter, but just to make life difficult for myself, for the next adventure I need a handful of orcs that are recognizably orcs, but look different.

Of course, once the adventurers have finished, I might need the following, another WotC prepaint with scimitar swapped for an axe.

WotC prepainted orc skeleton

If you think I might have missed any potential orcs, bearing in mind the conditions above, please let me know in the comments.