Warlords Super Series - Summer: Players' Pack

The Players Pack for Warlords Super Series - Summer can be downloaded here

Here are the salient points:

• 18 March
• 2000 points
• 4 Rounds
• Scenarios - Invade, Dominate, Loot and Control
• Clash of Kings 2017 Tournament Rules will be used
• Scoring is Battle-60/Sports-30/Presentation-10
• 12 points for a win with 3 BPs based on Attrition
• Checkbox Sports Score with Default being full points
• Self-scored three tier painting checkbox
• Norwegian Terrain Map Pack used
• $25 or free for 2017 Warlords' members

The CoK book is released in the next fortnight. Ideally, you can grab one from Mighty Ape/The Hobby Corner thereby supporting Mantic and a local retailer. However I will summarise the pertinent rules changes and inform participants.

Kings of War Results - DIGCon

Earlier in the month the Dunedin Independent Gamers ran a KoW event. The tournament was five rounds using 2250 point armies

The results were as follows:

1.   Eugene Gielen (Goblins) - 15 points
2.   Doug Harper (Empire of Dust) - 13 points
3.   Robert Higgins (Orcs) - 12 points
3.   Jeff Milne (Salamanders) - 12 points
5.   Joel Cunningham (Varangur) - 11 points
6.   Justin Elliot (Abyss) - 8 points
7.   Phillip Bennington (Ratkin) - 7 points
7.   Jeremy Wells (Brotherhood) - 7 points

Great to see a Kings of War event in the Deep South and congratulations to Eugene on the win.

A Shattered Landscape

Probably the thing that I've regretted most over the past 2-3 years is the shattering of the Fantasy wargaming scene in New Zealand. This is not just a local problem but its effects are amplified when we start from a smaller player base.

One of the most enjoyable experiences I've had was organising the three NZ Team Championships. In its second year it attracted 64 players and it was wonderful to see WHFB players from around the country interacting over the weekend.

With the demise of WHFB there has been a shattering of the local player base with "refugees" coalescing into three systems - Age of Sigmar, Kings of War and The Ninth Age. Each has its proponents and different games are stronger in different areas. For instance, AoS is seeing a real surge here in Wellington backed by the support of the local GW shops and managers.

Over time I suspect one system will gain dominance and given the company behind it, I think it is more likely to be Age of Sigmar. New minis of high quality (and generally good design) plus a monthly mag, increased social media just mean it has the dice stacked in its favour. Personally it doesn't appeal to me as it is a skirmish game but as they say in the movies "You can't fight City Hall". In the end it will likely attract more new entrants and from there that lifeblood will provide growth.

The key thing is to play the game you enjoy and make the most of your local scene. To that end the Warlords are having a designated Kings of War day on the third Saturday of every month. This will encompass regular tournaments - see recent post - multiplayer games and the certainty that if you come along you will get a game. The other games are welcome too and recently there have been regular AoS games on view. I haven't seen any Ninth Age but any players of that are more than welcome as well.

I'm sure the Fantasy genre will survive....and that it will look different in two years time than it does now. The only certainty really is change. Will we get back to the tournament scene of early 8th Edition? I don't know. People will gravitate to what they enjoy. The best advertisement is to keep having fun.

 

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Kings of War Terrain Maps

I've been meaning to post these up here for some time. Last year epicdwarf on the Mantic Forum created some terrain maps for KoW. These maps use the same set of terrain features to create 12 different and challenging battlefields.

You can download them here

Here is Map 12:

The terrain pieces are as follows:

• 2x Hills - Height 2
• 2x Obstacles (walls/fences) - Height 1
• 2x Woods - Height 4
• 2x Impassable (red hex and grey lozenge e.g. buildings, large stone) - Height 2-4
• 2x Difficult Terrain - e.g ploughed field (yellow rectangle)/pond (blue oval) - Height 0-1

One of the good things is that there are no hills in any deployment area in the 12 maps. This encourages movement and hopefully creates a better game.

As I understand it epicdwarf is working on an upgraded pack with more maps.

Happy Valentine's Day

Fields of Blood New Zealand Masters

The 10th Annual Fields of Blood New Zealand Masters will be held in Wellington on the weekend of 2/3 December.

The venue is Cochran Hall at Cashmere Avenue School in Khandallah.

There will be competitions in the three genres that Fields of Blood keeps rankings for:

• Warhammer 40k
• Flames of War
• Kings of War Fantasy

As usual the rankings year will finish on 31 October and the invitations will be sent out the first week of November.

Play in your local events, send in the results and get qualifying!

Trenchworks - 3D Printed

Over the last fortnight I have been printing 40k trenches for some upcoming games.

The first line of trenchworks is now completed with the connector trench to the second line also finished.

The picture above has an Ork on a 25mm base entering the labyrinth. The trenches are all modular made up of 4" square sections.

There are around 24 sections in this layout with the top of the "T" being 60" across.

The interesting thing is the cost. Each section costs around NZ$1.50 to print - so NZ$36 (US$ 26) for the lot. The actual printing cost was the cost of the Citadel Caliban Green rattlecan to spray them.

Mine have been painted to match the GW bastions I have and the Skyshield Landing pad.

Really happy with how they've turned out and I'm going to do another 36 which will give me a three trench defensive line for 30k and 40k games.

For those interested the models are from Printable Scenery and the cost of the file pack is NZ$9.95 (though I got mine as part of their Apocalypse Ruins Kickstarter).

 

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Kings of War Events in Wellington 2017

I will be organising a series of Kings of War events in Wellington during 2017.

The first set will be a return of the Warlords Super Series, four individual one day tournaments to be held at Wellington Warlords during the year. Each will be 2000 points and played over four rounds. The events will use the Clash of Kings 2017 Tournament Pack rules.

The dates for the individual events are as follows:

• Summer - 18 March
• Autumn - 20 May
• Winter - 22 July
• Spring - 30 September (moved to 4th Saturday due to General Election)

The cost of these events is $25 each. However they are free if you are a full Wellington Warlords member (annual sub $50), so much cheaper to sign up and you get to attend an additional 20+ meetings if you wish.

The other event will be the return of "The Horned Rat". This will be held on Queens Birthday Weekend (June 3-4) in Upper Hutt. As NiCon in Auckland is not offering KoW, an opportunity has opened for a North Island event that weekend. Saturday will be a four round 2000 point event while Sunday will be a large multiplayer game. The cost is $30 and that allows you to play either or both events as your schedule fits.

Players Packs will be released soon for both the Super Series and The Horned Rat.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

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40k Rankings - Updated for Valleycon

The FOB NZ Rankings for 40k have been updated for Valleycon.

The event was five rounds over two days using 1500 point armies. According to Ryan, the umpire, a number of baby seals were thrown into a shark pool - translation: there was a clear division in the strength of the lists.

Glen Burfield won the event with his Eldar beating the then-leader Cody Parlato's Necron in the final round.

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Emperor's Children Rapture Battalion

I've had a couple of games now with the Emperor's Children and I am using the Rapture Battalion detachment in "Traitor Legions".

I am building this around the Kakophoni formation as this provides the most thematic EC army. At 1500 points this is exceptionally hard as you need six units of Noise Marines, an HQ choice and an Auxiliary choice to maximise the benefits. With the Auxiliary choice my cheapest option is to take a single Spawn marked with Slaanesh. At 33 points it is all I can really afford. To give some punch I have chosen a Daemon Prince as "Lord of the Legion". He represents my old Noise Lord Challis Drant who after ten years in abeyance has ascended to daemonhood.

So the current list I'm using runs as follows:

• Lord of Legion - Daemon Prince with Wings, Power Armour (215 points)
• Kakophoni (1252 points)

1. Chaos Lord - Bike, Melta Bombs, Sigil of Corruption, Blissgiver, Warlord (160 points)
2. Noise Marines - 8x Noise Marines with free CCW, Champion with Doom Siren, Icon of Excess, Melta Bombs, Lightning Claw in Chaos Rhino with Dozer Blade (276 points)
3. Noise Marines - 4x Noise Marines with 3x Sonic Blaster and one Blastmaster with Champion with Doom Siren, Power Sword and Icon of Excess (195 points)
4. Noise Marines - 4x Noise Marines with 3x Sonic Blaster and one Blastmaster with Champion with Doom Siren, Power Sword and Melta Bombs (169 points)
5. Noise Marines - 4x Noise Marines with Sonic Blaster with Champion with Doom Siren, Melta Bombs and Power Sword (142 points)
6. Noise Marines - 4x Noise Marines with 3x Sonic Blasters with Champion with Doom Siren and Melta Bombs (155 points)
7. Noise Marines - as per #6 (155 points)

• Auxiliary - Chaos Spawn - Mark of Slaanesh (33 points)

I don't see the list as at all strong in the current game as it sticks to a single detachment that has high cost of entry. There is little in the way of AP2 in the list and little mobility. I'm not convinced with the Rhino as it looks to me to be a free "First Blood" point but hey ho.

As I expand the list to 1850 points I'm likely just to add options to existing units i.e. Expanding all to six man, adding in icons and options.

Anyway interested in any feedback and assistance.

 

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