KOW - Ratkin Communard at Runefang IX

Last weekend I took my newly multibased Ratkin to Runefang IX. This was a four round 2000 point event using COK 2017 rules.

My list was as follows:

• Tunnel Slave Horde
• 2x Tunnel Slave Regiments
• 2x Shock Troop Horde
• Blight Horde
• 2x Weapons Team with Storm of Lead
• 2x Death Engine with Vile Sorcery
• Swarmcrier with Lute
• Warlock with Bane Chant and Talisman
• Daemonspawn with Fly

My only change from pre-COK is two Slave Regiments have become a Horde freeing 20 points up for the Lute. I love the list as it has fantastic synergy.

Game 1 - Carson Turnbull (Forces of Nature) in Push

This was the game that got away! Early on in the piece I had pushed the Blight into Carson's half after removing the his Shamblers and Fire Elementals. I was cruising towards a big win when, for some unknown reason, I decided to bring the Blight back into the middle to see if I could pick up more points. The game went into a 7th turn and Carson was able to get a Nerve Check of 9+ on them. He managed to get it even though he had a re-roll. To compound my misery I timed out (for first time ever) on my Turn 7.

I still had sufficient tokens to salvage a draw and had +1 on Attrition. This was compounded by -1 for timing out.

Draw 8-7

Game 2 - Peter Williamson (Forces of Nature) - Ransack

So my second FoN army. Peter had finished second at WSS-Autumn a couple of weeks ago and was running the same list.

When we set up I thought that I was in trouble because although I had picked the side, Peter had better mobility and the counters were "difficult". This all changed early in the game when I opened up on one of his Ensnarer Hordes. I wasn't optimistic but the combined Ratkin shooting removed it - gone. Peter and I looked at each other and we had a moment! After that the newly emboldened Ratkin were able to pin the FoN army back capturing or contesting enough counters for a solid win. I was also 600 points up on Attrition so got +2 bonus.

Win 14-2

Game 3 - Lliam Munro (Forces of the Abyss) - Eliminate

In our last few games Liam has had the wood on my Herd army winning three out of four encounters. I was hoping that my Ratkin would match up better.

Liam counters were on Tortured Soul, Abyssal Horseman and Lower Abyssal Hordes while mine were on the Shock Troops and Daemonspawn. I decided to play a waiting game and deployed so I could create a diagonal line. On the short side I had two Regiment of Slaves, my Daemonspawn, a Weapons Team, my Warlock and a Death Engine. They set up around/behind a pond and waited for the onslaught. Facing them were the Tortured Souls, Horsemen, 2x Regiments of Succubi, Harbinger and Champ.

Game came down to a few critical rolls. I (inadvertently) gave my Blight's flank to the Hellhounds. Lliam took the charge, rolled down and lost the unit to combined charges the next turn. I felt that he was always a bit optimistic given I was -/23 with a reroll. The Ratkin concentrated their first two turns Ranged Attacks on the Gargoyle units and removed both. My plan there was to ground his attack as much as possible.

When the attack came Hindered Succubi and Horsemen hit a Slave unit and rolled double 1s. This good fortune allowed me to remove the Succubi with combined front and flank Slave charges. I blocked the Horsemen up with a War Engine. Same turn Hindered TS and flying Harbinger hit my Daemonspawn. He survived and was able to move out of charge arc (turn then 10" straight. I then moved Death Engine back so Flying character couldn't se him....sneaky!

I was winning battle in the centre and had objective tied up. I managed to do 20+ wounds on Chroneas but then I rolled double 1s. This was followed in T6 with my Warlock failing to wound with his Lightning Bolt. Lliam had hit my Shock Troops in the flank on T6 with his Souls but I held. Some outrageous dice allowed me to remove them in my last Turn.

We rolled for T7 but it wasn't to be giving me a narrow win. If it had gone to T7 me holding the central objective would have been decisive. I only lost three Slave units for 300 points in this game which gave me +2 on Attrition.

I was down to 1s on the clock at the end of this game, Lliam had 29s left. Shows how tight it was.

Win 14-2

Game 4 - Ryan Lister (Undead with Night Stalker Allies) - Scour

Going into the last round I was 2 points ahead of Carson and 6 ahead of Ryan and Lliam. We were all playing each other so the podium would be decided here.

There were 5 objectives and Ryan out dropped me. One objective was in a corner and with 3 units of Wraiths and multiple cheap Ghouls Ryan was always going to get that.

After deployment I knew I was in trouble. His Soul Revenants x2 and Dopplegangers could match my Shock Troops and he had the ability to hold the Wraiths for contesting as their was a blocking hill. He did this on Turns 1 & 2 but then got a rush of blood on Turn 3 and brought them over the hill - one charging Shock Troops in conjunction with Wyrm character. The Rats opened up with all their shooting on the Wraiths and removed the two units in the open. The Shock Troops countercharged and with BC removed the final Wraiths. This allowed the Daemonspawn and Engines to move up and contest then win a further counter after front and flank charging Soul Revenants. From here it was mopping up. I managed to be ahead 1100+ points which gave me +3 on Attrition.

I certainly feel that if Ryan had sat patiently he would have won this game. His three Wraith units could effectively control the game and were safe behind the hill. My Engines couldn't get within 18" without exposing themselves to charges (possibly multi).

Win 15-1

Wash-Up

In the end I finished on 51 Battle Points. Lliam was second on 42, Carson next on 38 and Ryan 31.

I was happy to pick up the win with the Rats but was dark with myself over the first game. Over the course of the four games I felt as though I was a bit sloppy and certainly slow. I'll put this down to rustiness with the Rats after six months playing Herd (no shooting).

Really enjoyed playing with the Rats and it was great to have them multibased and out on the table. They certainly fit my preferred style of a Ranged Attack Counterpuncher. That they can be successful with so little invested in Magic Artefacts points to the strength of the list. What I like most is that in my army each unit has a job and they complement each other.

 

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Wargaming Stockholm Syndrome

Over the last six to seven months I have listened to a large number of 40k podcasts. This was inspired by the release of Traitor Legions in December 2016 where the true heroes of 40k were reintroduced to the game.

I played around with my army, made up some lists and even played a couple of games. But most of all I listened to podcasts and watched what was supposedly the pinnacle of the tournament game, the Las Vegas Open, on Twitch.

What I saw through that period was the greatest case of "Stockholm Syndrome" that I have ever witnessed. Throughout the period I heard over and over again that this was the best time ever to be a Warhammer 40k player. Apparently the models were great (yep some were, others - I'm looking at you Magnus - were a car crash), Games Workshop was great (better than the Kirby years, true but not a high target), engagement was great (see previous Kirby comment) and the game was great (due to the accelerated release schedule).

Go on any podcast - Long War, Frontline Gaming, Independent Characters, Forge the Narrative - and they had all drunk the Koolaid, this was a golden time for 40k.

Except it wasn't. The rules were bloated and slow. When Turn 4 becomes a foreign country then you know something is wrong. The requirement to bring sometimes up to seven books for your list isn't a sign of complexity it's a sign of failure. Army building was a joke that destroyed 30 years of fluff. Yet these were the Golden Years.

Suddenly two months ago this all changed. As one the 40k media looked behind the curtain and the veil fell. Suddenly all the problems with the game were stark.

I am convinced that this version of 40k will be the best since 3rd/4th. The flaws in the current edition were there for anyone to see but they were ignored. Welcome to the new world.

 

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Weekly Hobby Update

Winter has well and truly set in here in Wellington.

For overseas readers that doesn't mean snow, rather cold and wet southerly winds coming up from the Antarctic. So it is easy enough to get around but you are largely confined indoors. My understanding is that in the US they call Chicago the Windy City. It's pretty obvious they have never been to Wellington!

This weekend is a holiday weekend so on Saturday we had Runefang IX. The event went well, having probably one of the stronger fields we've had locally. I know I timed out for the first time ever - on Turn 7 - and pretty much did it again in a six turn game as well. I put this down to being well out of practice with the Rats. Tournament break now for 7 weeks.

Basing of the Orcs was finished prior to the weekend but I've not managed to finish painting the last of the Goblins. I'm hoping to get them done this afternoon while listening to podcasts. I've picked up the next set of MDF bases from AB (local laser cutter) and will continue to work through my armies. The next four are Salamanders, Rhordia, Varangur and Undead.

Ordered my copy of 8th Edition 40k from Mighty Ape. I was surprised by the $250 sticker price here in NZ. My thinking was that it was going to be $320+ (sad what GW has inoculated us with). With a 20% discount at Mighty Ape it is less than $200. This seems a fair price given the contents. I have arranged to swap the Primas Marines for Death Guard with one of our locals.

I've also picked up the Chaos Index Book. Hopefully my Traitor Legions will function once again - I have noticed any mention of Gav Thorpe so hopes are high.

KOW - Runefang IX Results

With no KoW at NiCon this year I took the opportunity to organise an event over the Holiday weekend. The Historical Ancient players were in the same boat with DBMM and had organised a hall which I was able to coat tail on.

We managed to get 8 players - including one new to the tournament scene. One interesting feature was that there were no "Good" armies on show - perhaps this was a warm up for the Summer campaign.

The results of the event were:

Best Army - Carson

Best Sport - Jono

The four missions played were "Push", "Ransack", "Eliminate" and "Scour", these being randomly generated before each game. The interesting thing was that no "Unit Strength" missions were generated.

The next local event is Warlords Super Series - Winter on 22 July followed by Call to Arms the first weekend in August.

KOW - Goblin Heroes for Runefang

Tomorrow Runefang is on here in Wellington and I have lent a Goblin army to a new player so he can participate in the event. He had a choice of Elves of Goblins but rightly chose the noble greenskins.

I had to base up some Goblin heroes for him for the event and finished doing so this morning. They are mostly Avatars of War with a GW NG Shaman.

The whole Goblin army is now multibased bar a Chariot Horde I am getting a base for next week. I also have Herders to add to Mawbeast Regiments and two extra Wizards I was sent by Oz Legend Ken Dunford. They'll be finished over the long weekend.

 

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KOW - Ratkin Communard: Vermintide

The Ratkin have two really good chaff units in the previously featured Tunnel Slaves and the Vermintide.

Vermintide are based as Large Infantry coming as a Regiment at 60 points and a Horde at 90 points. They have Vicious and Nimble as Special Rules that make them very useful.

My first Horde has a teeming swarm of rats rushing over rubble and through craters. The figures are a mix of GW, Reaper and some old metals I found on eBay.

The second Horde is a Ratkin breeding nest with furpiles of young vermin in straw ready for the battles ahead.

I am thinking of adding a couple of 60 point Regiments to try them out as an alternative to Tunnel Slave regiments.

 

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KOW - Decision-Making: Brew of Sharpness

With me pulling the Rats out again, I have been looking at my list and trying to decide if I should make some changes.

To quickly summarise the list - 2x Slave Regiments, Slave Horde, 2x Shock Troop Hordes, Blight Horde, 2x Weapons Team with upgrade, 2x Death Engines - Vile Sorcery, Swarm-Crier with Lute, Warlock with Bane Chant and Talisman, Daemonspawn with Wings. Not a lot of Magic Items or spare points in the list.

I decided to do some analysis on whether it was worth giving Brew of Sharpness (+1 to Hit in Melee) to a unit of Shock Troops. These have 25 Attacks, CS1, Elite and Vicious standard. For the purposes of this i'll assume I always have BC potential.

The table shows the number of wounds "expected" at different levels of Defence. As I said I will assume that they will always be BC if needed, making then CS2.

So you can see that the +1 to Hit has an effect doing 4.7 extra "expected" wounds at De2-4, 3.8 extra at De 5 and 2.8 at De 6. Ok.....that is obvious. It is however getting the added benefit of Elite and Vicious - only natural 2s to hit missing as 1s are re-rolled hitting 2/3rds of the time.

But is it a good use of points?

To determine this I worked out the Wounds inflicted per Points invested in the Unit. The cost of a Shock Troop Horde is the very princely sum of 230 points, while the Brew of Sharpness is 45 points.

You can see from the final in the table the difference in Wounds inflicted per point invested and at all Defences the difference is positive. This means that Shock Troops with the Brew are a more efficient killing machine for their points than those without it.

But should I buy it?

Well it does look attractive, however there are some things to consider:

• Points are being concentrated which makes the Brewed ST an attractive target to the enemy.
• You are forced to choose which of the Shock Troops gets it - Murphy's Law says it will always be the wrong one!
• Where in the current list do the points come from?

Any thoughts appreciated.

KOW - Ratkin Communard: Warriors

The Ratkin Warriors are meant to form the backbone of the Ratkin army (now there's an oxymoron) but strangely you rarely see them on the table.

My thinking is that the extra +2 Defence and lack of Yellow-bellied compared to Slaves, while nice, is not necessarily vital in a chaff role. The additional cost is best spent elsewhere in the list. Similarly the benefits Shock Troops get..... +1 to Hit, Elite, Vicious and +1 Ne..... make them worth the extra points as a frontline troop.

That said, I have built two Hordes for larger games.

The first unit sits huddled behind its rubble pile bravely squirting the musk of fear. A loud noise will likely have them bolting.

The second unit is a bit braver. At least they've made it to the front of the base!

They are trekking through sodden craters filled with "water" en route to the frontline. Unlike the Slaves they at least wear some of the Communard Red in their uniforms.

I'm guessing though that if they are still around at the end of the battle to celebrate the victory of the Proleta-Rat then the uniforms will be a mix of red and brown - fluids shed in the Ratkin Cause.

 

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Weekly Hobby Update

This week I finished the basing of the Orcs (sans tufts which I've ordered from Mighty Ape). I'm looking at my next rebasing project and tossing up between Varangur and Rhordia. Both will get done soon, it's just a matter of which one first.

I have been painting up the last additions to the Goblin army, six Herders (3x pipes, 3x stikkas) plus two NG Wizards Ken Dunford from Oz sent me. Expect they will be finished and based this week.

A Very Tight Ratkin Deployment Ahead of Their Battle With The Orcs

On Saturday I had a game with my Ratkin versus Josh's Orcs. I'm enjoying playing with the Rats again. It is nice to have some shooting in the army. Having played the Herd with no Ranged Attack for six months you realise how good combined arms is!

This weekend we have Runefang IX. Disappointed that we only good eight but it looks a very tight field. I'm taking the Rats so it will be interesting to see how they matchup against some of the new armies floating around.

 

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Runefang IX Lists

Runefang used to be a WHFB event I ran. Last year I ran it as two one day events which attracted 24 and 16 people respectively.

This year when Nicon did offer a Kings of War event I decided to run it on the June Holiday Weekend (this Saturday).

I thought the extra day off might attract increased numbers but that wasn't the case. We have managed to get 8 attendees, five backing up from last weekend's Warlords Super Series.

Unlike last week where there was a lot of double ups on armies, Runefang will see seven different races:

• Forces of Nature x2
• Forces of the Abyss
• Varangur
• Orcs
• Goblins
• Undead
• Ratkin

You can download the lists here

I'm picking that it will be a hardfought event.