KOW – Herd vs Twilight Kin – part one – lists

I was unable to play my second practice game on Friday as Dan caught manflu (as we all know one of the deadliest diseases on the planet…).  This allowed my wife to go out for some drinks and gave me a free pass to set up a mid-week game with Greg, one of my D&D group. Happy days!

I never managed to play Greg at whfb at the club (probably as with a number of children he finds in harder to get down than I do), so was really looking forward to this. I believe this would be Gregs first game of KOW, so again it would be less about being competitive and more about rule familiarisation and list evaluation for us both, ready for the club KOW competition.

The Herd of Khazbar the Magnificent – 2k pts

For this game I decided to switch things up a little from my previous list. I had faffed around building a number of lists as there were several things I really wanted to try including: a double Spirit Walker horde: double Brutox build and using the Avatar of the father. Due to this being my last opportunity to have a practice before the competition kicked off, I went with the following list.

Khazbar the Magnificent – Shaman (heal) – 120pts

Avatar of the Father – (Wings + heal) – 345pts

Horde of Spirit Walkers (fire oil) – 235pts

Horde of Stampede (Brew of Sharpness) – 305pts

Horde of Guardian Brutes (Blessing of the Gods) – 255pts

Regiment of Longhorns – 145pts

Regiment of Longhorns – 145pts

Troop of beasts – 70pts

Troop of beasts – 70pts

Troop of Harpies – 90pts

Brutox – 220pts
Greg’s Twilight Kin – 2k pts

Horde of Crossbowmen – 250pts

Regiment of Blade Dancers (brew of courage) – 215pts

Troop of Scouts – 130pts

Regiment of Dark Knights (Potion of the Caterpillar) – 230pts

Troop of Heralds of Woe – 145pts

Horde of Abyssal Riders – 260pts

Bolt Thrower – 90pts

Bolt Throwers – 90pts

Hydra – 140pts

Lord on Dragon (ensorcelled armour) – 345pts

Sorceress (inspiring talisman + banechant) – 105pts

 

Evaluation of List

There are a number of things that concern me with Greg’s list. It’s the first time I’ve faced any shooting and the big horde of crossbows with their high nerve and 24″ range will potentially create a no go area. I will need to disrupt them asap, possibly with the Avatar.

Likewise the 2 bolt throwers with their huge range of 48″ will be hitting my forces almost immediately and likely targeting either the Brutox or Avatar (that is why one of the reasons I have 2 large monsters, to hopefully cause indecision). They will definitely need to be taken out as quickly as possible, probably with the harpies or again with the Avatar.

His Knights and Abyssal riders are very hard hitting and so I will probably use my normal tactic of blocking them with my dogs and lining up counter charges behind them.

The Hydra isn’t too dangerous until it takes damage when it’s attacks multiply. I think the trick will be to ignore it (as if!) or try and take it out in one turn.

The lord on dragon I can foresee being a nightmare. Def 6 makes it difficult to wound and with fly, it means it can get behind my lines and cause considerable disruption. I’ll need to ensure a second line to try and prevent this occurring.

The Shadows and Heralds of woe are his version of chaff, but are a little expensive for that role. They do have the ability to get into range very quickly and start targeting my chaff to take it out early.

Lastly his regiment of Blade Dancers (witch elves) I can also see causing me some trouble. They have a lot of attacks and have rules designed to let them keep attacking unless they are routed.

Overall a lot of hard hitting units backed up with some good ranged attacks. The one thing I must remember is to very much concentrate on the objectives and not killing his army (unless that is the objective of course!). Not doing so nearly cost me the first game.

One thing I will add is that we are aware of the new rules (my copy of CoK is in the post), but because the competition was set up before the release and most of us are new to KOW, we are not using the majority of the changes (one of the exceptions is the rules around flyers and disordered removing that ability).

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SELWG WHFB league – Stage 2 update part 3

Part 3 of the update covers the games played up to 23 Feb (the day before the deadline). This means the final update should be sometime this week and the knockout contestants confirmed.

Group A – No change from last week bar a reduction in points for me after I let Steve know he had given me too many bonus points (it made no difference to the standings but it was a principle thing).

Group B – This group is wide open. With the top 3 spots able to qualify, the group is down to the wire and the results from any games played on the 24th (or who out of Chris or Steve manages to play Alex M).

Group C – Antonio and Greg have each played an extra game. Greg lost the game and so remains in second place. Antonio’s win has moved him into 3rd place. A strong showing against Matt could mean he tops the group as it looks like Martin has withdrawn so a 4th game might be unlikely for the others in the group.

Group D – Again no change to the current rankings and there is almost no chance that the players will complete their games before the deadline (I know Pete has basically withdrawn).

Qualifying

QF1: Group A 1st (Dan W) v Group D 1st (Luke B)

QF2: Group B 1st v Group C 1st (Cyntac or Antonio)

QF3: Group A 2nd (Neil R) v Group B 3rd

QF4: Group B 2nd v Group A 3rd (Paul B)

SF1: Winner QF1 v Winner QF4

SF2: Winner QF2 v Winner QF3

FINAL: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2

 

Words of Steve (TO)

Tonight is the final Friday of Stage 2, so we will be able to start the knock out stage quarter finals from next week.

Please note:

– From now on there are no changes to armies.

– Only points for W/D/L, missions, playing 6 turns and fully painted armies will apply (unfortunately, hobby points will not be awarded).

– Fully painted means FULLY PAINTED. Every model and its base must be painted to qualify for the 2 points.

– Missions are reset again, BUT the missions that you select in the quarter final, semi-final and final must be be different.

– The bonus for playing 6 turns only applies if you have played 6 turns OR someone has conceded. You cannot agree to a draw and get the 6 turns bonus,

 

D&D – Evolution of Knoffles Silvertop

Like Greg, I have been enjoying our D&D sessions so much that, I recently forked out and purchased the 5th ed players handbook. I can’t say I have gotten too far into it at present but from the brief look, I do like all the quotes from the old forgotten realms and Dragonlance books I read many years ago. Definitely is taking me back on a nostalgia trip!

Like many companies, You can download the basic rules from their website (I say basic, it’s the complete rule book and be prepared to print a lot of pages!). What the players handbook offers you is a lot more choice in the classes you can select, it also opens up an increased number of specialisations within the classes that were available on the free download. To put this into context, I will talk about the new path I am taking Knoffles down.

At level 3 a fighter can choose a Martial Archetype to specialise in. In the basic rules you have 1 option, that of a champion, which at level 3 means you crit on a 19-20 rather than a standard 20 (more options open at later levels). This was the route I had taken as it was the only one we had. The handbook offers two other paths and our DM, Steve, has agreed that myself and Greg can change our paths as we are only level 3 at present.

Battlemaster. This specialisation allows you to pick 3 bonus skills from a list of about 10. It includes things such as riposte, which allows you to counter attack an enemy. It is definitely intriguing and if I were more combat orientated rather than defensive I may give this ago. However I wanted a bit more versatility in my character and choose to instead go with the final option:

Eldritch Knight. This route opens up limited spell casting with access granted to two of the eight schools of magic (Evocation and Abjuration or Damage and Protection). You also have the ability to bind up to two weapons so you can never be disarmed and can summon one of the bound weapons (good for if you need to change from say bludgeoning to slashing.

At the basic level you can pick any 2 cantrips from the Wizard selection (going up to 3 at level 10) and you can learn 3 spells (going up to a max of 13 at level 20), two of which must be from the Evo/Abj school. It’s worth noting that although you know 3 spells, at lvl 3 you can only memorise 2 of them at one time. 

With a wizard already in the party, specialising in fire damage I wanted to avoid picking anything he already had. I also wanted to pick items that complemented my class or that I felt we were missing as a group. So with that said, all that was left was to pick the spells.

Cantrips

Ray of Frost (Evo).  

A damage attack that not only deals the polar opposite of fire but also slows an attacker to prevent them getting into melee with the group’s ranged characters

True Strike (Div).

A buff that will give me advantage in my first melee attack. 

I need to check this, as it is in the divination school but my reading is that any cantrip can be selected but it is the spells that in the main need to be from Evo/Abj.

Spells 

Learn languages (writing this on the train so the name might be incorrect, I’ll come back and edit it if so)

 A ritual that lasts 1 hour and allows me to understand/read any language. This is one for the team and something that should help out as we have been caught out on several occasions. This is my selection for the non Evo/Abj spell allowed at lvl 3. You can select another at around lvl 7/8.

Shield (Abj)

When hit, this spell adds +5 AC to the Character it was cast on. If used on myself it would push me up to 27 and make me an Unstoppable force! (Or meat shield).

Thunderwave (Evo)

Casts a 15ft wall that shoots forward and causes lightning damage to all enemies it moves over and pushes the enemy back 10ft. If the enemy pass their saving throw, they aren’t pushed back and take reduced damage. Again I picked this as I wasn’t sure if the others had this type of damage, so gives us more versatility and the push back helps keep the ranged members of the party safe. The drawback to this spell is that it creates a massive thunderclap when cast. Can anyone say, “announce your location?”

A final decision will need to be made on which 2 spells to be taken in the quest but i am happy that the spell and cantrip selection add a good versatility to the group and my character whilst maintaining the protectionist role Knoffles fulfills in the group dynamic.

Wood Elves – State of Play

In a previous post I looked at my Dwarf army and where I was at in terms of painting and models owned. In this post I will do the same with my wood elves. It will be done with a Warhammer 8th ed. hat on, so i’ll group them my Core/Special/Rare/Characters, listing out what can be fielded. I’m doing this mainly for myself, so I have a record of where I am at and what I need to do.

It is worth noting that some of the models (tbh the better painted ones) were purchased off ebay, taking advantage of the exodus many players undertook when the warhammer world was canned. I will of course give full disclosure on these. Most of the figures I painted were done in my early teens and suffer from my inability to finish them fully and my early years lack of understanding the need to undercoat!

Including characters and using 8th edition rules, I can legally field around 6500 points (though it is very character heavy). Under KOW it is around 3000pts.

Core

30 Eternal Guard

64 Glade Guard

10 Dryads

5 Glade Riders (original 4th edition with lances) – No photos as they are still at my folks

 

Hidden at the back are 3 very old high elf models used to flesh out numbers

Purchased around the same time as the 8th Wood elf army book to bump up the Eternal guard numbers, when I came back from my tabletop hiatus.

Original lead Scarlocks archers. My very first warhammer purchase and still one of my favourites

One of the ebay purchases, I believe the menhir is from the Ghorgon kit and can also double up as a herdstone from my Beastmen or KOW Herd army.

The back row are some of the very first plastic wood elves and even by my painting standards look shite.

‘White metal’ Dryads

Special

20 Deepwood Scouts

6 Treekin

16 Wardancers

3 Warhawk riders

10 Wildriders

5 Sisters of the Thorn

ebay from the same seller as the glade guard purchase

as above

as above

New(ish) Hunters of Kurnous GW models. I really love these and they are ideal as treekin

Original treemen models (incl Durtha) being used as treekin.

The newer wardancer models (black bases) are from ebay.

The warhawks tie back into the army theme with the ‘warlock purple’ colour (now called screamer pink I think)

Detail shot

Paint scheme to be decided!

Another ebay purchase

as above

as above

Rare

Treeman

7 Waywatchers

2 Great eagles (no photos, as they are in my high elf box) but they match the colour scheme of the warhawks.

Ebay purchase

Mix of old and new

Characters

2 Spellsingers and Glade Captain

Spellweaver on Unicorn

Branchwraith

Drycha

Glade Captain BSB

Waystalker

Spellsinger on Giant Eagle

Shadow Dancer (no photo at present as the model was upstairs when I took the photos and I missed it – will update this with the photo when I get round to it)

Glade Captain on Giant Eagle (the newer GW model – no photo as it isn’t built yet!)

Glade Lord on Dragon (no photo as it is at my folks – Dragon is painted but not the rider)

Orion (original 4/5th ed version). Again no photo as it’s at my folks. He’s at least mostly painted.

Ariel (4/5th ed model)

The model on the right is from ebay, other 2 are mine.

Branchwraith, Drycha, BSB and Waystalker

ebay purchase

So basically a lot to do. A bucketload of painting, basing of everything and touching up/finishing off of the older models. With no dedicated painting area and my little one now walking, an innate curiosity and a growing reach, I’m finding it harder to get in any painting time as she needs constant supervision. Hopefully with the weather warming i can set something up in the utility room and start cracking on with this and other projects!

 

 

SELWG WHFB league – Stage 2 update pt2

Well after no update since before xmas they are coming thick and fast! The last update posted appears to have not been entirely correct (it’s possible it shouldn’t have been sent round), so I have attached the updated results sheet. This also includes some updates from games played in the last couple of weeks (though not Fri 17th).

Group A

The points have changed slightly but there is no change in the positions. My points aren’t correctly showing as I should only have 5 bonus points not 10 (for submitting the list before the deadline).

Group B

This group is still wide open with any of the players able to qualify. It will likely come down to who manages to play all their games on or before the deadline of 24th Feb but at present I think Chris R is likely to be one of them.

Group C

Another close group. Cyntac currently tops it and I think should be on 62 points as he kept the same army book (so would get a 5 pt bonus). Still Greg could potentially top the group if he gets a win and completes his secret mission as he should also get an additional 2 points for painting and should have 2 hobby points (with likely an additional 3rd). Likewise Antonio could top the group with good results in his final two games (if he manages to play them).

Greg has been writing up his battles on his blog and his latest one against Antonio can be found here.

Group D

Luke is looking the clear winner (and thus qualifier) at this point. No one can beat him, however Joey (in second) could draw with him provided he gets the maximum points available to him of 52, comprising of: 2 wins (30), 2 secret missions (14), 6 turns both games (2), fully painted army (4) and hobby points (2). Add these to the 14 he already has makes this 66 points. Perhaps a tall order but it is possible.

Qualifying

QF1: Group A 1st (Dan W) v Group D 1st (Luke B)

QF2: Group B 1st v Group C 1st

QF3: Group A 2nd (Neil R) v Group B 3rd

QF4: Group B 2nd v Group A 3rd (Paul B)

SF1: Winner QF1 v Winner QF4

SF2: Winner QF2 v Winner QF3

FINAL: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2

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