Hi everyone. I’m new to Kings of War and am writing a series of articles for OnTableTop about starting Kings of War as a veteran player who is new to the delights of Pannithor.
Please check out the first two articles here:
Part 1 The basics of getting started with KoW.
Part 2 Picking a faction and a starter version of the game
Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear if you have any suggestions for what I should do or if you have any advice for a newbie.
Very cool! 
I do like your work so far.
All I would like to read is why you like playing the game or keep on to try it.
After 3 to 4 (didn’t play 5th edition as intense as the following) editions of Warhammer I enjoy the less complex system, less random effects and quicker game pace. And if my eldest son turns 10 I will introduce him to the hobby probably with an “easier” system like KoW.
But nevertheless - I always like to read about people giving the game and the miniatures (Nature is for sure not my cup of tea, but Xirkaali or plenty of the Trident Realms miniatures are new too and a blast) the possibility to show their strengths.
Thanks for looking at the articles and for your comment. I’ll be sure to cover what I think of the game as I start playing and what I’m enjoying most about it. So far so good though. It looks like a great system and has lots of elements that I know I’m going to like.
Part 3 has just been posted on OTT. Get it here:
Part 4 of the series is out. I’ve come up with a 2300 point list for Abyssal Dwarf Ratkin Slaves. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions. I also run through the techniques I’m using to get my army ready quickly, including a custom basing system I have designed.
Nice job plus quick & effective paint scheme.
List looks solid, but do echo your slight concerns over the lack of possible hitting power.
Army is looking great, nice breakdown on the hobby process 
List looks decent to me, quite balanced and with high variety. Should translate to good games, if not backbreaking tournament success, which seems like the platonic ideal to me.
Thanks for looking the article and army list over. Any suggestions for how to up the hitting power most effectively?
Thanks for checking out the article and looking over the army list. I’m expecting to get battered playing in a tournament which I accept is part of the learning process. Any advice? Or shall I just go in as is and grin and bear it 
I’ll have enjoyed myself just playing so the result isn’t all that important.
Without doing anything drastic to the list (which really annoys me when people just suggest a completely different one, with units you might not have ready anyway!), think you can just get a bit more punch out of it.
Your list has 4 chaff units, which I think is one too many given the rest of the list, and dropping one means you can boost the hitting power of the rest of it.
Giving surge item to the slave driver adds some flexibility, especially if you need the iron caster to be using BC.
Blessing on the decimators means they can really hurt if you can position them right (25 attacks on 3+ with P1 and both elite & vicious is nasty) while bumping their melee potential.
Switch sharpness to the golems and give the tunnel runners strength. You now have 2 nasty combat units, compared to one, and overall damage output from the TR doesn’t change dramatically (10.67 average damage v De5 on the unhindered charge becomes 10, 6 to 4 when hindered and remains 8 in ongoing combat).
There’s nothing really wrong with the list as it was, but against a higher De army you might just struggle to do enough damage.
Thank you so much. That’s really helpful. As a newbie it is this sort of granular understanding that I don’t have at the moment. To know that the small trade off of one chaff unit for the item upgrades is a worthwhile thing to do is so useful. Plus that’s 5 less gore riders to paint as well which is a bonus
As an alternative, you could also combine the Gore Riders into a regiment and give them strider boots. Saves 40 points over the two troops, but creates another flanking / assault / more serious scoring element, that’s still plenty cheap for chaffing if needed. Then you’ve got the points for elite on the Decimators, probably the most important item for raw output here. I personally would keep sharpness on the Tunnel Runners, and either the cheapo tear or staying stone on the LOGs (or nothing). If you swap the surge onto the Slave Driver, would be nice to pick up another spell for the Iron-Caster on the march into BC3 range (Heal 3 is cheap and LOGs love it!)
Thank you. Some really interesting options to consider here. It seems Elite on the Decimators is an absolute must and extra or different Surge is also necessary.
Is it the case that in general the artifact total should be more in the 100-150 points range rather than nearer to 50 points for a 2300 point force?
It can really depend with regards to points spent on artifacts.
Some artifacts can really buff the effectiveness of a unit, taking it to the next and definitely are worth it. In this list sharpness on the TRs and elite on the decimators for example. Boots of striding on a cavalry unit, strength on a high attack one etc
Sticking items on units to get marginal gains may not always be worth it, but there are times when you have points left that don’t always have an obvious place to be spent. The increase in price of chaff units and the lack of cheap heroes can mean it’s either artifacts or another spell (which might not get used).
It also depends on the army - ‘boys over toys’ is definitely a valid take, more so if your ‘boys’ are good to begin with.
Last edition, whenever I saw a list with 100+ points in items I tended to wonder what (small) unit or hero could be added instead of all these toys. I have a similar feeling this edition, but I’m also aware that a) small units tend to cost more, b) small heroes certainly cost more, c) the battalion structure means you can’t always add the small unit you want, and d) sometimes you need to build your own damn hammers if you weren’t gifted them by the rules 
I also think it’s important to have at least one dedicated hammer in an army, something terrifying that can more or less reliably tear an enemy unit apart in one charge or with minimal assistance, and can (hopefully) get that charge off first. These 250-300+ units provide tempo control when deployed well (i.e. you get to dictate their charge and its successful in as few turns as possible), or at least you get to use the opponent’s fear of this unit to shove them back, force bad engagements, attract all their chaff pieces, etc. Typically the way you arrive at such a dedicated hammer is by slapping a chunky item onto an already solid set of stats - brew of sharpness is a prime candidate, brew of strength a sometimes statistically identical replacement - or by taking a vanilla hammer and babysitting it with a hero prepared to juice them up with a choice order. Sometimes both of these! (Or you’re playing a top tier army that just has these units, then you take 1-3 of them for glory and profit. See the undercosted, overcooked Guardian Brutes from the release list for Nature.)
Overall, I think the ‘best’ amount to spend on items is probably 15-50 points, but also yea, it really depends. I never like to see lists that just sprinkle items across the list, I’d rather combine them for impactful 15 pointers or cash them in for the top flight hammer items or maybe some spell options.
Thank you both. That’s exceptionally helpful. I’ve got a lot to consider. Part of the idea behind the extra chaff was to use them as a delivery mechanism for the enhanced Last Breath command. I guess 2D3 auto hits (so an average of 4 hits) at Crush 2 isn’t worth the points spent on a 4th chaff choice, even if they have also performed whatever their chaff role was successfully.
Part 5 is out and I’ve put a fun Ogre’s list together to play at home against the Abyssal Dwarf Ratkin Slaves. Thanks for the help offered here on my main AD list which I’ve submitted for Clash of Kings. Anyone else going to that?
I try to read every little bit there is about KoW
And I appreciate your effort and think it’s very good you post it on a site for tabletop in general.
Another great article On the tome of darkness, I had the thought that giving it to the slave driver might confuse his slave synergy a bit, so checks out. And never bad to have +3 surge dice when you’re trying to land the 1-2" surges you desperately need 
Ogres look good! Simple list but a solid one. Note that Arokamorra doesn’t inspire, as rad as everything else about her is. The hunters could take helm of confidence over iron resolve to give that battlegroup some inspiring support … or they could go all out and take pipes of terror for Brutal 3 when within Arokamorra’s aura 
Or staying stone to also help mitigate routing/wavering. In any case, the aegis is probably the least of their options.
If you’re bothered by only having two sources of inspire, the new hotness is a paymaster upgraded to Docamorragrok. Ridiculous support piece, particularly for the siege breakers we all love / hate.
