Sunday, 5 November 2023

Northern King Kon 2023

Having enjoyed myself last year at the UK Deadzone Championship I was on the lookout for another 2 day event to attend this year. When the Northern King-Con was announced it seemed like just the thing, 2 1/2 days of Mantic based gaming being run by an extremely experienced group of players. I immediately purchased a ticket and even managed to persuade Mr T to make the journey northwards as well.

Over the last few months we've been working our way through the Firefight scenarios to familiarise ourselves with them and honing our lists. We've not done much in the way of Deadzone preparation but having played a lot in the past I think we should be ok with that.


The Deadzone event consists of four games on Sunday at 180 points. I've essentially taken the same list as I ran at the UK Championship last year but dropped a Troop & Specialist choice to take me down from the 200 points of that event. As with that list the idea is to get onto objectives early and try to build a points lead before my opponent can get going. 

Deadzone 180 points

MASTER CREEPER * 1
[Leader / +20 / 2VP] Master Creeper
- - Ray Pistol
- - Det Bombs
- - Det Packs

NIGHTMARE * 2
[Troop / +20 / 2VP] Nightmare
- - Twin Combat Drills


STALKER * 3
[Troop / +9 / 1VP] Stalker
- - Ray Pistol

MALIGNUS * 2
[Specialist / +16 / 1VP] Malignus
- - Chem Spitter
- - [+2] Ammo [one-use]


CREEPER * 2
[Specialist / +14 / 1VP] Creeper
- - Ray Pistol
- - Det Bombs
- - Det Packs

TUNNEL RUNNER * 1
[Support / +33 / 3VP] Tunnel Runner
- - Twin Chem Spitters
- - Scythes


With the release of the Command Protocols book for Firefight the rules got a few tweaks to make charging from vehicles less devastating and also all the scenarios changed to progressive scoring. I'll probably do another blog on the scenarios as my previous one is now out of date after I've played at the event. My initial reaction has been that (as with Deadzone) getting early points on the board is crucial and being able to score from turn 1 puts you in the driving seat and pressure on your opponent to move quicker than they may want to do.


On Friday evening we have three quick and furious games of Firefight at 500 points, this isn't meant to be (overly) competitive but more of a way to meet up with people and make their acquaintance. I've put together a list that uses some of the models I'm already taking to ease with transport and rules learning.

Firefight 500 points

PROGENITOR (Command) [60]
PROGENITOR [+10] Chemical Grenade Launcher - - Chemical Shells** / Smoke Shells** / Claws

CREEPERS (Troop) [89]
CREEPERS x 6 - - Ray Pistol / Det Pack
CREEPER PACK LEADER - - Ray Pistol / Det Pack

CRAWLERS (Troop) [120]
CRAWLERS x 18 - - Ray Gun / Crawler Assault Weaponry
MALIGNUS LEADER - - Heavy Ray Gun / Assault Weaponry

STALKERS (Troop) [82]
MALIGNUS LEADER - - Chem Thrower / Assault Weaponry
STALKERS x 9 - - Ray Pistol / Stalker Assault Weaponry

TUNNELLER (Support) [145]
TUNNELLER [+25] - - Super Heavy Ray Gun / Tunneller Ramming
DEFENSIVE SHILEDING - - Defensive Shielding


The main event on Saturday is three games at 1500 points with the Scouting Pack Leader and Creeper squads being the main early scorers and pressure builders. They also give an option of charging on turn 1 and knocking out a high value unit or two which could catch a few people unaware. For the Tunnellers I've gone with the shielded version which start on the table rather than coming on via Subterranean Deployment on turn 2/3. Again, this choice is driven by the incremental scoring, I don't want to waste a good chunk of points off table when they could be scoring VP's. Three small units of Stalkers are included for sitting on objectives and the big Creeper unit is the perfect target for the one shooting Faction Order the Veer-myn have.

Firefight 1500 points

PROGENITOR (Command) [72]
PROGENITOR [+10] Chemical Grenade Launcher - - Chemical Shells** / Smoke Shells** / Claws 
CRAWLERS x 2 - - Ray Gun / Crawler Assault Weaponry 

PROGENITOR (Command) [66]
PROGENITOR [+10] Chemical Grenade Launcher - - Chemical Shells** / Smoke Shells** / Claws 
CRAWLERS - - Ray Gun / Crawler Assault Weaponry 

PACK LEADER (Command) [124]
PACK LEADER - - Pack Leader Razor Claws 
NIGHTMARES [+27] Default Loadout - - Twin Combat Drills 
NIGHTMARES [+27] Default Loadout - - Twin Combat Drills 

CREEPERS (Troop) [125] * 2
CREEPERS x 9 - - Ray Pistol / Det Pack 
CREEPER PACK LEADER - - Ray Pistol / Det Pack 


CRAWLERS (Troop) [125]
CRAWLERS x 19 - - Ray Gun / Crawler Assault Weaponry 
MALIGNUS LEADER - - Heavy Ray Gun / Assault Weaponry 

STALKERS (Troop) [70] * 3
MALIGNUS LEADER - - Chem Thrower / Assault Weaponry 
STALKERS x 7 - - Ray Pistol / Stalker Assault Weaponry 

TUNNEL RUNNER (Specialist) [170]
TUNNEL RUNNER x 3 - - Twin Chem Spitter / Tunnel Runner Scythes 

CLAWSHOTS (Specialist) [130]
CLAWSHOTS x 4 - - Long Rifle / Assault Weaponry 
CLAWSHOT LEADER - - Heavy Long Rifle / Assault Weaponry 

RUMBLER (Support) [60]
RUMBLER - - Rumbler Super Heavy Ray Gun 

TUNNELLER (Support) [145] * 2
TUNNELLER [+25] - - Super Heavy Ray Gun / Tunneller Ramming 
DEFENSIVE SHILEDING - - Defensive Shielding 


Whether this works or not will very much depend on the armies (and generals) I end up facing, there are plenty of factions I've not played against and I think my toughest match-up could be a good melee army, only time will tell!


2 comments:

  1. Are all the lists published in advance? Keen to see what Marauder and Enforcer builds people take

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, I think that only happens for big events like Masters. I'll try to gather some lists up on the day for you.

      Delete