Tactical Musings

This week I played my second & third games of KoW and the Kin once again emerged victorious. These games represented the second game for my brother and the first game for my friend Mick.
As I forgot to take any photos of the first game and didn't get many good shots of the second I thought I would pen some thoughts on the discussion I had with my brother about if the Kin are overpowered or the Rats under powered.
The Rat list was :
2 * Warrior Horde - 1 with healing brew
2 * Troop Shock Troops
2 * Clawshots
2 * Brutes - 1 Blessing of Gods, 1 Caterpillar
1 * Vermintide
2 * Weapon Team
1 * Mutant Rat-fiend
1 * War Chief - Wings
1 * Warlock - Inspiring
1 * Horde Naid Ensnarers
1 * Regiment Naiad Heartpiercers
1 * Troop  Naiad Heartpiercers
1 * Troop Riverguard
1 * Naiad Envoy - Lute

As this was a scratch force put together to make up the points we ignored the rules for allies and allowed the Naiads to be counted as being from the Ratkin faction. My list was the 2500 point list I posted earlier. The Rat list seemed to be reasonably balanced with some good melee options and a reasonable amount of shooting.
My reading and watching of material for KoW has suggested two things to me, having a good setup helps considerably and the concept of unit swapping must be kept in mind. This concept to me means always being willing to sacrifice a unit if it means you may get an enemy unit into a position to hit it with one of your better units. Having chaff units ( cheap & expendable ) helps with this especially if the chaff can project a threat so they cannot be ignored. At first glance the Rats have only the Vermintide as chaff but the Clawshots & Weapon Teams are both cheap and project a threat so could be used to draw a charge.

If we look at the setup for the last game then I think I would have done things a little differently, we decided to play push and Stu chose sides after I setup the terrain.

Long Shot

The Rats setup with there left flank consisting of almost all their shooting units, this was partly due to the Dragon Lord being put down and then the Clawshots being put down to face her.

Left

In the center the Naiad Ensnarer Horde, was joined by a Warrior Horde and the Shock Troops along with one Weapon Team.

Center

On the right this left the Brutes, Vermintide, Mutant Rat, Warrior Horde and the second Weapon Team.

Right

On the left the lack of melee troops led the shooters to not push forward with much vigor, perhaps they would have been better placed in the center to encourage the Kin to move forward more quickly or be shot in place. Even though the Heartpiercers only have an 18" range that would have been enough to out-range the Kin infantry. I would also have had the Shock Troops behind or on the flank of the Warrior Horde which could have tied up the Reaper Guard who instead took the charge and removed both units. Pushing the Ensnarers through the wood to make use of the Pathfinder they come with was a good move, as the cover also helped to mitigate their low defence value.
On the right I would have again had the Warrior horde to the fore along with the Weapon Team and Vermintide to draw the charge and then used the Brutes & Fiend to counter attack.

With the way that movement works unless you can force or induce the enemy to move into charge range without being able to charge then you would for preference leave only hindered charges open.

This gives you the best chance of surviving the initial onslaught and being able to get a counter charge in.

As with any new game it takes some time to understand the rules and how to play within the bounds that they set.