Thursday, 1 June 2017

Kings of War: Goblins v Dwarves




On Sunday I played a 1500 point game of Kings of War with Richard at our club in Bristol, bristolwargaming.co.uk


I took Goblins, I’ve never fielded an all goblin army before.  I took a legion of Sharp Sticks, a legion of Rabble, a horde Spitters (archers), a horde of trolls, a regiment each of Chariots and Fleabag Riders, plus 2 Big Rock Throwers. That’s 150 infantry by the way. For heroes I had a King, a Flaggit, a Wiz and a Troll Bruiser (a great figure from Foundry I bought on a bring and buy).

Richard’s army had 4 regiments of Iron Guard, a horde of Iron Watch, 2 Organ Guns, and 2 Kings. Some magic items made the two units on my left especially formidable.

Deciding I was going to lose a protracted exchange of missiles I advanced. My cavalry were stopped by missile fire as they crested the hill, wavering for a turn. Not wanting to wait the Chariots pressed on and were wiped out by crossbows and organ guns. 

I advanced on my left, sending in the trolls and cavalry. The cavalry were defeated and the trolls fought for several turns. My Troll hero took on the dwarves who had just defeated the cavalry and destroyed them and then the trolls destroyed their opponents.


Meanwhile the Dwarf King on that side took out my standard bearer in single combat before charging a horde of 40 archers.

The trolls turned to face the dwarf Rangers but the Horde was destroyed by missile fire before they could charge, the Bruiser charged into the side and routed the dwarves, clearing the whole left side of the field except for one hero. 

Several times I had the dilemma of accepting a morale result of wavering or use and Inspiring character to re-roll, where a worse result could result in a rout. In each case I went with the re-roll, since if the unit stood there for the next turn and took another round of fire it would be destroyed without achieving anything anyway, twice it worked and I was able to move forward. The last time, when my Troll Bruiser was sent wobbly by the Organs Guns, now facing off against him, I got a worse roll and he was gone.

After some missile casualties, my rabble legion on the right came into contact with 2 units of dwarves. After breaking the rabble the dwarves then charged the spearmen in the flank. With missile hits on them already they both took huge amounts of damage, but both survived a turn longer than I expected. Those huge units can take some punishment. 

After hitting nothing for the entire game my Rock Throwers both hit a unit of dwarves doing so much damage they might easily have broken if I’d rolled better against their morale. At this point with my army reduced to some archers, stone throwers and characters we called it as a dwarf victory as they still had solid fighting units left.

There was a point where I thought the goblins might win, but that faded when the trolls went, and the loss of the big legions completed it. A fun game.

Tuesday, 2 May 2017

Bristol Tabletop Sale

 
Sunday 7th May 2017
9.30 am – 12.30 pm
'Early bird' entry from 9.30 - 10.00 for £4,  after 10.00 £2 Entrance Fee
 Lincombe Barn Folk House, Overndale Road, Downend, Bristol, BS16 2RW
  
40+ tables of second hand wargaming bargains.

Hot refreshments will be on sale and free parking provided.
Feel free to stay afterwards to watch or play participation games.
full details on the club website:
http://bristolwargaming.co.uk/ttsale.html

Wednesday, 26 April 2017

Frostgrave

We had a popular campaign at our club in Bristol www.bristolwargaming.co.uk of Frostgrave running for about a year which came to an end about a year ago. On Sunday we had a game which has re-ignited our interest and introduced a new player, and are now looking forward to starting another campaign.

We had a four player game and rolled the Worm Hunt scenario. At the top of the picture are Richard's Summoner band, to the right Carole's newly painted Necromantic band, at the bottom my Witch band and on the right Andy's orcs (I can't remember what their school of magic was). Kev, who has been playing Frostrgrave more recently decided to act as a GM, controlling the monsters and reminding us of the rules.


Richard had his knight become possessed by a demon upgrading its stats, he soon summoned a zombie, providing an extra pair of hands, and a familiar giving his wizard extra health.

There was an exchange of missiles and attacks between the orcs and the opposing bands on either side resulting in a death and some damage. As treasures were claimed monsters started popping up including a horde of giant rats.
For the first half of the game the wizards failed to cast most of their spells, injuring themselves in the process.

My man at arms was stopped as he moved towards a treasure by a ghoul and spent most of the game there. I moved more troops to support him and some died. My thief ran for a treasure in the centre and rapidly withdrew after being reduced to 1 health point by the orcs.

The orc wizard found himself under attack from 2 sides and soon more orcs rushed to rescue him.

The worm appeared between the Summoner and Necromancer bands and inflicted casualties on both before being killed by Carole's band. This was a one off game but in a campaign this would be worth a lot of experience points.
Andy and Richard broke off having gained all the treasure they were going to get. As my depleted band struggled to get their treasure off the table several were picked of by Carole's band and monsters. My wizard ended up carrying a treasure off himself (the indignity). 

 We aim to run a campaign now with 8+ bands. The mat is printed vinyl, not sure of the manufacturer. Most of the terrain was made by Kev.
Carole was the winner getting most treasure and experience and taking the smallest losses.