Exterminate

This week Mick & I continued his first steps into Kings of War by playing the exterminate scenario. This sees both sides place a bounty marker on their two most expensive units which can be claimed by the opposite side by killing them in melee, this gives 2 victory points per bounty claimed. A control marker worth 1 VP is placed in the centre of the table.

We played the same 1500 point armies as last week and whilst I opted for a more spread out setup the Basileans formed more of a clump. The opening moves saw both sides make a cautious advance with neither player over committing.

In the middle the Basileans offered up some charges on their cheap infantry and mounted unit and the Herd chaff was pushed forwards on the flanks.

As the sun started to slip away the Herd chaff was stripped away from the flanks which allowed a double charge onto one of it's bounty units (Spirit Walkers) whilst a double Guardian Brute charge took out an men-at-arms Regiment. On the Herd left the Guardian Champion settled into a fight with a troop of Panther Lancers.

On the Herd's next turn they managed a long range Lycan charge to help out the Spirit Walkers and also double charged one of the Basileans bounty holders (Spearman Horde). The Spearmen held whilst the second men-at-arms Regiment was removed. Careful placement of the Spearmen Horde meant that one of the charges was hindered so the results were not devastating.

On the Herd left the Basileans Lancers were still going toe-to-toe with the Guardian Champion and the cavalry was flanking the Herd line.

The Basileans then removed the Spirit Walkers hence gaining 2 VP's for the bounty and the Guardian Champion freeing up their right flank force.

Fortunately for the Herd they managed to rout both the Spearmen and the unit of knights facing their other bounty unit (Lycans Horde) which tied up the scores and allowed them to turn and face the threat.

The Herd then pushed for the central objective knowing that holding it would win the scenario as the Basileans lined up for a final charge.

So on the last turn the Herd managed to get a unit onto the objective and throw a couple of Shamans in the way of the knights. The Shamans did a stirling job (or Mick's dice deserted him once more) and the knights bounced off the first one and did not get the chance to over-run onto the objective holding unit.

So in a very tight game it all came down to the last charge with the Herd sneaking away with a win, we will be expanding upto 2000 points next week.

I also managed to get some painting completed this week with a couple of carts being added to the terrain / objective pile.

The are a Gripping Beast kit which comes with the horses but no men to push to hand-cart.
They should add a little interest to the battlefield though especially when used with the piles of boxes I have already completed.

This Little Piggy

This week I completed the first stage of my special build project with the first of the Boartaurs (I'm not sure of the correct naming) being finished. The models started out life as Mantic Orc Gore Riders and then by removing the Gore's head and the liberal application of Greenstuff I attached the Orc torso to the Gore. I had some GW beastmen heads left over so I attached these instead of the Orc ones.

Whilst the impression of fur is not at the level of an expert sculpture I am happy with the overall resulting model. The should be able to trot out with heads held high and hopefully ride down a fair few enemies.

I also completed some more models to bulk out the Herd Vanguard army from GW Beastmen and when included with the Wrath of Kings models I have a sizable force.

At present the Herd only have one Command option who comes with a bow and inspiring so a banner bearing Chieftain with bow was a simple kit-bash. The spellcaster option is good in the list so I made up a second caster who can be spotted by his skull-headed staff. I also had some wings left over from the main Herd project so I converted one beastman into a Harpy and made the rest up with a mixture of spear & shield or straight hand weapon.

Mick and I also reconvened after the Christmas break to start playing again. 

Having played a fair bit of Mythic Battles pre-xmas Mick has put aside his dislike for fantasy and we are playing some Kings of War. The first few battles will just be a learning the rules exercise for Mick as he gets used to  playing KoW.

We are starting out small with 1500 points each and the initial armies had no shooting apart from spells to keep things simple. For some reason the pictures came out rather badly on this one.

After a good start for the Herd which saw me take out several Basilean units the Humans started to pull things back but not enough to claim a win by the games end. Playing with small forces meant that we actually finished a game very quickly even though we spent a lot of time initially talking about the rules.

A Look Ahead

With nothing quite being completed this week on the painting front I thought I'd have a quick look ahead at the models I have incoming. Since becoming aware of Kickstarter I've backed a few projects and have been very happy with the results, you tend to get a really good deal for backing a company early but of course you need to be careful to avoid the dodgy deals and companies that never deliver.
At present I have three KSer projects I have backed and am awaiting completion, all of which in theory should deliver in the next 4-6 months.
The first of these is the re-issue of Mythic Battles:Pantheon. Having got the core set the first time around I decided to add some of the expansions this time which should give a few more maps to play on and lots more heroes and monsters to paint up.
Having seen the quality of the product the first hand this was an easy one to back and I cannot wait to get the new stuff.

The two big expansions are Poseidon & Hera with Poseidon looking like the most interesting one to play and paint. They should add a chance to try out some water bases with Scylla looking like a good model for a mini-project. Hera adds some interesting monsters and upgraded versions of old favourites Achilles and Heracles.

On the monster front I also picked up the Manticore who comes on the same size base as Hydra so promises to be a big model.

I can see scope for some of the models to make it into a Kings of War army though Mythic Battles is a fun game in itself.

The second KSer is being run by Mierce Miniatures who make excellent if somewhat expensive models and this one was rather an impulse buy. At the time the plan was to use the Starter Host set to fill out my KoW Herd Chariot Horde but this has now been done with GW miniatures.

I believe that all the bow armed models will be coming with a melee option as well so perhaps they could be made into either Lycan Hordes for KoW or counts as Ogres for a KoW: Vanguard army. At present I'm not sure but they should find their way onto a table at some point.

The final project I am waiting on is from Fireforge Games and this again was an impulse buy because I liked the look of the Undead Peasants so much. The range as a whole has a Game of Thrones vibe about it and being plastic kits they should offer plenty of chances to mix and match. The KSer is still accepting orders so there is still time to bag some models on the cheap.

The obvious use for these is  for KoW and KoW: Vanguard Undead armies and with some of the Nightstalker models I already have and perhaps the Werewolves from Mierce I probably have 2,500 points worth already.

The other option is for use with SAGA who will be bringing out an Age of Magic universe book which will bring large scale fantasy skirmishes to a really good set of rules. This may also offer a route for the Werewolves to hit the table as they are going to be including monster units, but we need to get the book to be sure.

All in all that should be a good amount of painting, basing and playing, so it would be madness to be even considering taking on an entirely fresh period and set of rules, I do like the sound of the French Indian Wars however and the Blood & Plunder rules look fun.....

Kyron's Hunt

This week Mantic updated the KoW:Vanguard lists to include all the factions from the Uncharted Empires book which meant that the Herd got a list. These lists are still the basic ones so may be added to in the future so the options aren't as varied as the ones for the Nightstalkers and Basileans whom we are currently playing. The biggest miss for me is a Beast option which I had expected to be included so it is missing a fast beast / cavalry unit such as a large wolf.

Despite these limitations adding some equipment such as mounts can still give a varied warband composition. In general the Herd units are low armoured but generate plenty of attack dice with a reasonable chance to hit. They also have a warrior unit that generates a power dice, the Spirit Walkers. This unit also has an interesting explode mechanic when it dies. This unit along with the Shaman who also generates 2 red dice means that you could run a warband that consists of 1 Chieftain, 2 Shamans, and 6 Spirit Walkers that generates 11 red & 1 white dice at 200 points, thats a lot of power to use up.

The Herd units are all pretty fast and the faction special ability Kyron's Call means they can get places extra quick and not be hindered by rough terrain, very handy for those smash & grab style scenarios.

The launching of the lists gave me the impetus to base up the models I painted a while ago which can as part of the Wrath of Kings boxes I bought last christmas in the CMON sale. The elephant models have already seen action as a unit filler & Brutox and now the rest of the models can be used.

I'm not entirely sure what they will be used as but the four on 25mm bases would be best used as Longhorns and the three on 20mm bases either as Spirit Walkers or Tribal Warriors.

I also based up a Hordes Argus model but with no beast/cav option in the list he will have to sit on the sidelines for the moment.

I've also made some progress on my special secret project this week and can share a little snap-shot of what is going on.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks the model(s) should be ready to show.