Mark's Kings of War Battle Reports

The Herd of Khazbar the Magnificent vs Cormac’s Undead – KOW – 10/05/19


I haven’t played KOW in a good few years so I thought it was about time that I gave it another go and as usual that meant jumping straight into a club competition.

My opponent for my first game was Cormac and his undead. By a fortuitous stroke of luck, he was down at the club as his dad was playing a game and was able to bring along his army after my booked opponent had to cancel at short notice. This worked out nicely as it meant we would both get bonus points for fitting in our first game before the deadline.


Lists

The Herd

Khazbar – Shaman – Heal, Critter Call, Amulet of the fire-heart – 150pts

Wazzock – Shaman – Heal, Shroud of the Saint – 145pts

Spirit Walkers - horde – Brew of Strength – 260pts

Spirit Walkers - horde – Blessing of the Gods – 255pts

Guardian Brutes - horde – Potion of the Caterpillar – 250pts

Stampede – horde – Brew of Haste – 275pts

Beast Pack – troop – 70pts

Beast Pack – troop – 70pts

Harpies - troop – Staying Stone – 95pts

Brutox – 220pts

Brutox – 220pts

Tribal Longhorns – regiment – 145pts

Tribal Longhorns – regiment – 145pts



Total 2300pts



Cormac’s Undead


Liche King – Heal – 165pts

Necromancer – Heal, Grimoire of Darkness – 130pts

Undead BSB – 50pts

Barrow Wights – horde – 265pts

Soul Reaver Cavalry – regiment – Potion of the Caterpillar – 320pts

Werewolves – horde – Brew of Strength – 275pts

Zombies – Legion – undead rats, brew of sharpness – 245pts

Wraiths – troop – 140pts

Wraiths – troop – 140pts

Revenants – horde – Undead rats, pipes of terror – 225pts

Revenants – horde – Undead rats, mace of crushing – 215pts

Ghouls – troop – 65pts

Ghouls – troop – 65pts



Total – 2300pts



Prematch rolls

Terrain

Neil (the TO) had once again produced a terrain pack. It’s not like the Epic Dwarf maps but instead you roll a D6 and based on that, you have a set number of different terrain pieces. In each scenario one piece of the terrain is placed in the dead centre. We rolled Map pack 3 which consisted of:

2*Marshes height 0 but grants a cover save modifier)
3*Woods (all height 4 and one of which had to be placed in the centre)
2*Hills (all height 2)

With my army pretty much all having the pathfinder ability (ignore combat penalties when charging through/into terrain), I made sure to place as much of it in a line down the centre of the board as it would work in my favour.

After placing the terrain in looked like this:





Scenario

The scenario played was to be ‘Control’: At the end of the game, divide the board into 6 2*2’ squares. The player with the most unit strength in each section controls it. All squares are worth 1 point except the centre square in your opponents half which is worth 2 points.



Nominated Unit

The competition also introduced a limited experience table. Before the battle, each player could secretly nominate 1 unit (some restrictions applied to what you could nominate). If that unit survived, it could roll on a table that would give it an extra ability. Anything from +2 attacks to re-rolling 1’s to hit (Elite) etc. Nothing on the table was outrageous, pretty much it was just existing skills in the game and was a nice touch.

For my unit, I chose the Guardian Brutes, mainly as they were the only thing with any armour!



Deployment & Plan

With Cormac sporting 3 units of flyers and having been caught out by them before, I decided to deploy with a layered effect with the Longhorns set right behind my lines. Hopefully they could prevent the flyers leapfrogging my units and causing carnage from behind. With no shooting opposite me, the two shamans went front and centre to maximise their move before they needed to cast and the majority of the herd were placed around them in order to be covered by their healing and inspiration. The aim was to try and crush the centre, with my units being able to weather any attacks due to the concentrated healing. The Stampede and Brutox’s were set up on the flanks as a holding force.

First Strike



Sensing an opportunity, Khazbar unleashed his forces. The Beastpack countered the ghouls but make as much as an impact as the ghouls had the previous turn (much to Cormac’s disgust). One horde of Spirit Walkers crushed the ghouls in front of them, which allowed the Guardians to slip into a small gap and get the opening attack on the Revenants who had been sheltering behind the ghouls engaged with the Beast pack. The other beast pack moved up to block both the Revanent horde and the werewolves on my left flank (covering the advance of the Brutox and Tribal Longhorns).

On my right, the harpies also performed a blocking move whilst the other forces moved up.











Having make the opening attack, the herd were soon to feel the counter blow. The left flank was the first to feel it with the two units of wraiths each targeting a unit. It was a smart move by Cormac, as although they had almost no chance of removing the units attacked, they did disorder them, meaning that my units lost their thunderous charge ability (which increases the chance of getting through the armour of their foes), something I had forgotten about it my hiatus from the game. His Cav also swiftly removed my Harpies, leaving them free to engage other targets on his next turn.

In the centre the battle of the useless chaff continued with the Ghouls yet again failing to remove the dog pack. This meant we both had hordes that were basically blocked from contributing. Cormac then charged into combat with as many of his other units as possible though with the congestion in the centre, it meant he was unable to get the Revenants to counter charge. Despite taking heavy wounds, the only unit to fall was the sacrificial beast pack on my left flank.

The Holding Action



With things looking balanced, the Herd once again launched the attack. On every front. Despite causing massive casualties, the undead took everything that was dished out. Seeing the Guardians about to cop a bucket load of attacks from the legion of zombies, both shaman focused the healing on them, taking the horde up to full health.









The response was just as brutal, with beastmen being slain left and right. On the right flank, the remaining Longhorns somehow managing to hold on (though being wavered, meaning they wouldn’t be able to attack next go). This meant that the Cavalry were in trouble as the fresh Brutox was ready to smash into their flank.

On the far side, the Brutox was also wavered but due to his special rule he would still be able to counter the following go.






As predicted, the flank charge by the Brutox was enough to crush the cavalry, so the herd now had control of that part of the table. The struggle in the middle continued with the spirit walkers and guardians receiving heals to boost their survivability as both failed to remove their opponents again.

In the battle on the left flank, the Brutox returned the favour and wavered the werewolves. This was a bit more of an issue for Cormac as they wouldn’t be able to do anything next turn and so that flank was now looking in serious trouble for him.






The stand-off in the centre continued with his units also being healed and unable to remove the herd forces. On the left flank, in a move smacking of desperation (and a certain genius), the BSB charged into the Brutox, and with his single attack, managed to wound it, thus disordering him and removing his ability to wound the werewolves on a 2+ in the next turn. Although it was an unlikely outcome, it was a great bit of play. Fortune favours the bold and all that!

The ‘should have been’ Hammer blows

The Longhorns counter-charged the King and although didn’t make much of an impact, they at least damaged him enough that he was again disordered (so couldn’t fly). The nearby Stampede, with its path blocked, decided discretion was the better part of valour and backed up a bit to try and hold the objective. The Guardian Brutes tore into the Sons of Khorgan, inflicting massive damage and with an almost guaranteed removal of the unit, the Sons managed to get insane courage and held. I couldn’t believe it. I rolled snake eyes, the only thing that wouldn’t remove them. That flank was looking decidedly shaky next turn.

In the centre, the stalemate continued with the spirit horde inflicting a fair chunk of damage on the mounted sons. It was helped by the shaman healing the horde of most of the wounds they had previously suffered.

My right flank was looking in a lot better shape. One Brutox charged into the front of the fallen. The second, bypassed them and hit the nearby Sons. This bit of sneaky manoeuvring allowed the Longhorns to charge the flank of the Fallen and between them and the Brutox, that unit was swiftly removed. The second horde of spirit walkers was quick to join the other Brutox and fully brutalised the regiment of Sons and with another ‘guaranteed’ removal of a unit. You guessed it, I rolled another snake eyes, so the unit stayed on the table. You just couldn’t make this up!




The first of the double ones!

The second (just to rub it in!).



A Second Chance

With the unexpected double bonus thrown his way, Luke was quick to try and capitalise. On his right flank, the funny bone stayed in position, blocking the stampede. His Fallen moved up to be able to threaten them in the next turn. Due to the footprint, his warband was unable to join combat but it wasn’t needed as the Sons were able to dispatch the Brutes (and in the process removing their Elite upgrade gained last game). The King then removed the Longhorns. This left that flank pretty much dominated by his forces.

The central battle continued with his Mounted Sons continuing to attack the Spirit Warriors. Though they inflicted a large amount of damage, heals the unit had received previously, made it almost impossible for them to be removed.

Seeing a chance to even the odds on his left, the mortally wounded Sons, hit the Brutox but failed to kill it. The Magus again called down lightning bolts into the Longhorns and it proved too much for them and they fled. The Wolves then hit the other Brutox and also caused damage but the great beast was able to shrug it off.

Result

We each held 3 tokens at the end of the game so it was a draw.


We also had to record unit strength killed, in case of any tiebreakers:

Me = 8 points of unit strength killed (Horde 1*3=3, Regiments 2*2=4, Troops 1*1=1)
Luke = 8 points of unit strength killed (horde 1*3=3, Regiments 1*2=2, Troops 3*1=3)


Neither of our nominated units survived the battle to gain experience. On top of that, because the Guardian Brutes were destroyed, they also lost their Elite ability.

Luke’s Warband had previously gained experience and because they survived, they retained their bonus +2 attacks.


Conclusions

What a frustratingly close game! A draw was probably a fair result but man, rolling doubles 1’s on two separate occasions, when in both instances the units should have been removed, was frustrating to say the least! Then rolling the 3 for the wolves’ nerve test, on my final turn, was the icing on that bitter cake! What made it worse (or funnier for Luke) was on all three occasions, the same group of club members had wandered over just in time to witness the rolls.

On the final turn, we did have a discussion about whether his King could charge the flank of the Spirit Walkers in the centre. Technically, from the unit placement, it could have done but only because I’d been lazy with moving them on the overrun (and hadn’t moved them all the way). Luke was a gent’ about that but shows the importance of actually properly moving units.

Luke and I had our normal after game chat driving home and he was of the opinion that I probably should have won the game. There is an argument for that but although I was unlucky with the nerve rolls, I had been rolling hot with my attack rolls, so it probably evened out.

With regards to the objectives, I had made a few mistakes too. Moving the Stampede to allow him to contest that one was a blunder. Their footprint was enough that parking them in front of it (rather than on it), would have prevented him getting within 3” of it.

That said, on the far flank, although my Brutox failed to either contest that objective (as Luke’s placement was better) or kill his wolves (and thus overrunning to capture that objective), bouncing back after losing combat, was enough to get him in range of the uncontested objective behind him (my other Brutox was just out of range). This ultimately saved me from actually losing the game.

I think that just goes to show how tight the game was (something I am used to when facing him – the last game of the Wood Elves vs his Bretonnians was not a normal occurrence!).

I should also point out that due to taking no notes, the time delay between playing and writing and the lack of photos (compared to my normal fare), there is a large amount of poetic licence. There is a definite possibility that I’ve not only missed an entire turn (I think this is quite likely) but combats written about didn’t happen in the way I think (for instance the Longhorns on my right flank definitely charged the flank of the Fallen to help remove them but I can’t remember how they were then destroyed themselves. I guessed it was from a lightning bolt spell rather than combat but I’ve no idea!).

Opening Gambits

The mighty herd continued its trend of winning the first turn and again, after the compulsory careful measuring of the opponents charge distances, moved up as far as possible, whilst remaining just outside of them. The central horde of warriors went just onto the edge of the woods to ensure they could charge through next turn.

On the right, the Warbeasts started to move across to cause mischief. The Longhorns advanced at the double straight into the marsh, where their pathfinder would afford them the advantage of any combat. The Stampede moved up a little bit, worried about the charge distance of the swarm.










On his right flank, the skeleton spearmen moved up to run interference at the rapidly advancing herd. One of the units of archers also moved up to block the guardian brutes.

On his left, the horde of Revenants moved up a little. The swarm advanced to block the stampede and the mummies angled to cover that flank.

And then the shooting and magic started. Fire poured from all directions into one of the Spirit Walker hordes. The damage caused was then multiplied by the spells thrown into it (helped by the monolith boosting everything nearby). This combined fire swiftly removed the strength boosted warriors much to my chagrin.

Interestingly (at least for me) was the difference in perception we had. The amount of firepower and the ease that it removed one of my toughest hordes really worried me. Conversely Neil was taken aback that it had taken everything he had just to remove one horde!





Incoming fire!

And then they were no more!