Regnum Aeternum - Written Battle Reports for KoW 4th Edition

Kings of War Battle Reports / Games
101

That’s why I don’t like progressive scoring.
I makes an early lead snowball even worse and trades the opportunity to try snatching victory from the jaws of defeat for a demotivating conversation about how many points can still be scored.

Your dwarf list works nicely!
It’s nice to see ranger and shieldbreaker regiments do well.
I’ve had similar experience with rangers. They’re not stars of the show, but they’re dependable and consistently useful.

4 Likes
102

Thanks @Darkblack! Got one more Dwarf game for you:

Battle 045 was Free Dwarfs (Troops w/ Stoneclaws) vs Northern Alliance in Protect and Raze

It was a fun time, but unfortunately writing up the report, this was apparently not my cleanest game! It happens, and I’ll endeavor to tidy up my pivots before our next battle. It was still fun, with plenty to learn from:

  • Brock Lord, Brock Riders, and Stoneclaws all work together nicely. They provide some much-needed reach for the dwarfs, and the Stoneclaw troops are handy but expendable. Plenty to learn still, but we’re off to a good start now.
  • Ironclad troops had some missteps with using them as screens, but are still fun and I’m still getting use out of all four troops to my surprise. We might be able to optimize this in the future, but 4x has been fun for now.
  • Shieldbreakers got some charges off thanks to other units stepping up to block for them, but I’m struggling a bit with Speed 4 at times. Making good progress with them, but we’re still throwing at least one unit away per game due to distance issues.
  • Rangers continue to be versatile and a lot of fun! I still have a lot to learn about how to use them effectively, but this game was a good showcase for them and their versatility, and what I’ve learned so far.

I’ve still got plenty left to explore and learn with the Dwarfs, but I rather liked this more combat-focused game and leaving the Rifles at home for a change of pace. We’ll continue to get them on the table regularly and play around with some new ideas in the coming months!

5 Likes
103

Ope, looks like I mistyped the last battle number, and it is too late to fix. That should have been 046 against the Northern Alliance.

Battle 047 was FoN Herd vs FoN Elementals in Invade!

But now we have a bit of a special and unusual report now, a Forces of Nature civil war! A returning player and his Elementals wanted to fight the Herd, so off we go together, exploring the Fracture update from different perspectives.

  • Grymbrocks are weird, being essentially a cavalry unit with the speed of basic infantry. I used them mainly as a second-line unit, similar to Shieldbreakers I suppose, and they did well enough here, and being able to give them Strider is nice. Relative to normal Knights, the discount for their lower speed is also nice, but with Retaliate still mangled as a rule, they are really struggling with all the normal cavalry issues.
  • Great Totem was a lot of fun, and its Advanced Deployment is neat. The extra support and commands were really helpful to have, and it was a good debut for the unit.
  • I think I’ve said it before, but moving Centaurs to Core was a phenomenal design decision. They are so much more useful now! No hordes anymore, but both regiments and troops are more viable now, and the Troops played very nicely with the new Command orders, while giving the list a little more reach.
  • Combat individuals (and individuals generally) are still as awkward as ever. The Chieftain’s attack number nerf is a bummer and Ydrin is a bit awkward (and with more attacks!), but both still found uses this game.
  • 4x Tribal Spears is probably not optimized, but the MMU approach here was fun, and the Phalanx did blunt a few charges. Not a bad core unit, and I am happy they are back!

A good game and a great time jointly exploring some new options! The Forces of Nature are fun and look to be in a nice spot right now.

3 Likes
104

Thanks for the reports! Great play in the first game, what a match. Not to say you didn’t play well in the second, but the vibe was certainly different there :sweat_smile: Isn’t Kenny your team mate from that doubles tournament that would yeet his stuff forward and somehow it would work out for him??

I was thinking about his list and how to give it some more teeth, while still staying within the elemental theme. Here’s where I landed:

Forces of Nature 2026 [2300 / 2300]

Gladewalker Druid (Hero (Inf)) 1 [190]
– Heal (4) [20]
– Surge (8) [30]
Forest Warden [2] (Hero (Lrg Inf)) 1 [160]
Forest Shamblers (Lrg Inf) Troop [120]
Forest Shamblers (Lrg Inf) Troop [120]
Forest Shamblers (Lrg Inf) Troop [120]
Air Elementals (Lrg Inf) Regiment [245]
– Brew of Strength [40]
Earth Elementals (Lrg Inf) Regiment [180]
Greater Air Elemental [2] (Mon) 1 [195]
Greater Fire Elemental [2] (Mon) 1 [225]
– Fireball (4) [0]

Gladewalker Druid (Hero (Inf)) 1 [190]
– Heal (4) [20]
– Surge (8) [30]
Fire Elementals (Lrg Inf) Regiment [205]
Water Elementals (Lrg Inf) Regiment [205]
Water Elementals (Lrg Inf) Troop [145]

After cleaning up the items and the blizzard, I gave the Air reg strength (scary into everything and worth the extra points), swapped the Greater Water out for Greater Fire (a dedicated hammer rather than slow charger / speedy anvil), consolidated the Earth into a reg (forming an anvil), and tripled down on Forest troops (saving some points and gaining a little more speed). And then promptly binned the Scorchwings for a Forest Warden. I think the Warden has some real potential as a flanker, plus is a third inspire, plus is a third command, plus is happy to carry tokens around. Meanwhile, scorchies continue to just be really so bad. Maybe when they address hybrid units in the next book they’ll see some relief :face_exhaling: If he wants a flying troop, an Air troop feels a lot better, plus is cheaper.

Also! Looking to run some troops of Gymbros myself, I think there’s something there, especially for a more MSU approach.

3 Likes
105

The one and only! One of the most charming chaotic people I’ve ever met.

I will pass the build along! I looked it it the other day, and Druids and Surge 5 felt underwhelming, but I like this, and completely forgot about the Forest Warden. He was considering hobbying up some more trees anyways, so this could be very useful. Thanks! I also missed that the Fire Elemental got a Fireball. I like it. There’s not a ton of shooting for Nature to play with, but I think someone could have some fluffy fun with that.

Also… stealing this. Still not sure why they got a name and stat change suddenly, but that’s solid! :laughing:

2 Likes
106

They are some kind of" badger-men" now. So they changed the background because we shouldn’t use (GW) goats anymore?

4 Likes
107

Ya know what, 100% fair. Thanks Sam. I am being a bit of a curmudgeon. I can gripe that the gameplay changes weren’t telegraphed, but benefit of the doubt says they were still calibrating things. Nature/Herd did get a huge explosion in popularity when 4E launched, but the army does seem more balanced now. And Mantic did just update the list and launch their own line of Herd models. - they can make their aesthetic changes too.

Gamer’s are gonna complain. I should do a little better.

2 Likes
108

I want to see these badger-men sculpts! That’s unexpected and awesome. Still kind of sad that they walked back the owlbear brutes and made them minotaurs again :pensive_face:

109

Got a game in this weekend, taking the Herd to continue exploring the new offerings, and got some good testing in!

Battle 048 is Herd vs Kingdoms of Men in Raze

  • I thought I was doing well with it, but apparently, I got Advanced Deployment wrong in both games so far. The Great Totem needs to come down on your side of the battlefield. It’s still an interesting unit, but less so now, as you have less places to put it, and it will likely be much more exposed. We’ll give it another try, as it is still very neat, but it is less attractive now.
  • Spirit Walkers are totally revamped. Neat abilities with Stealthy and Dread, but we’re running into the old Herd problems of relying on TC to deal the damage, and they only get TC1. Not bad, but this was not a great list for them, and they were front-and-center, and supplementing the line.
  • Tribal Hunters were neat, with Stealthy and a Piercing attack now. They had a good game, but are pretty expensive. This was also not a great list for them, as pricy regiments were just not holding the line well for me this game.
  • The new Command Orders are still fun, but I wasn’t able to capitalize on them very well here. I did not have enough units or speed to really make use of Entangled Thorns. I had high hopes for the Barkskin Order and tried to focus on it and to cast it a lot this game, but enemy shooting was largely able to target other units, or just power through, as the ~1 success isn’t typically going to do much to swing a a fight. Oddly, I think the Command want’s higher Def units as unlike the spell, it is a straight roll, so I’ll try to play with that idea sometime.

It was a good time, and I learned a lot! I think the biggest takeaway for the Herd play was that I probably should be bringing back the Tribal Spears in force. We’ll see what future lists I can cook up to explore.

4 Likes
110

I was lucky enough to get in a pair of practice games in this weekend, with the goal of helping our Abyssal Dwarf player brush up on some stuff and practice his list before a tournament he’s attending next weekend. I ran two different armies, so we’ll break up the posts. Second report should be up in a day or two.

Battle 049 was Abyssal Guard MMU vs Abyssal Dwarfs in Raze

The first game I really wanted to play it slow, and then use my numerous Gargoyles to hop out grab / Raze the tokens. Unfortunately for him, despite some good individual plays, my opponent was just too cautious overall, and didn’t have the turns needed to contend, and I was able apply my plan and to eek out a victory.

Some quick takeaways for my Abyssals…

  • The Warlord was just ok. Combat Individuals are still tough to justify. The longer Commands is ok, as are the slot swaps, but I don’t think Guard MMU is super-viable / competitive, so he might struggle as pick as well.
  • Guard Regiments (both Def5, and CS2 variants) did fine, as did the Berserker Troops, but I was relying on them for mainline battle unit roles as well as other duties, which ended up ok here, but that success will be very hard to replicate. These both can supplement a line of battle nicely, but should not be the line.
  • Commands needing 5+ are hard to land! I wasn’t able to stick a single one. We make amble use of Fleshknight and Fireball though, and and the later does help get juuuust a little more use out of Warlocks and their innate Firebolts, and the Warlocks still seem like premier Champion picks for me.
2 Likes
111

And luckily, I was able to get the report up for the second practice game from this weekend:

Battle 050 was Kingdoms of Men vs Abyssal Dwarfs in Loot.

Kingdoms of Men have confounded me a bit in 4E so far, and they have not seen the table much as a result. I like a lot of their units, but their Warlords are a bit rough, and lacking an Inspiring spellcaster (and the Lute for my ASB), the Champions selection is also a little awkward for my old approaches. Running different armies though, I try to be open to other playstyles, and here, I tried to channel my inner Goblin, taking oodles of assorted Core regiments, and just seeing what I could make happen with a lot of bodies and a few war machines.

  • Siege Artillery seemed like a good idea for this kind of list, but I had a turn forgetting they have Blast d3+1, and didn’t use them particularly well.
  • Shield Wall, Halberdiers were all decent regiments. I don’t think Spear Regiments are worth the expense.
  • Crossbowmen were fine too, but I think I need to be more purposeful how I use them.
  • Heroes have Rally, which I forgot about for most of the game. A few seem fine for this kind of approach, as do ASB’s laybe with the Boomstick or something, if I take a little more shooting.
  • I had a Celestial Restoration Wizard, which was a cute idea, but he couldn’t get the best targets to heal. Seems like a neat spell, but maybe not the best with low Defense regiments. Barkskin would be better, and modern Goblins look like they tend to run all sorts of spellcasters, so that might be a fun avenue to explore in the future, both for modeling and play.

Overall, it was a weird way to play the humans, but I liked it! It really captured the underdog feeling that drew me to the Empire back in WHFB days, and is a style I’ll definitely explore more in the months to come.

3 Likes
112

Cheers for another round of reports! Much appreciated amidst work chaos this week.

Thinking about the knights’ situation on the left flank in the second game …

I was thinking you could maybe escape with a double-back command? Saving your left flank hammer to cycle back in at full power once the poor infantry had been shredded. Assuming they didn’t get scorched a second time :grimacing:

I also pressure cooked Will’s list a bit, cleaning up a bunch of items to afford another chaff/slave piece, but realized with the list submitted it’s a bit of a shrugger. Luck to him at the tournament!

2 Likes
113

Thanks @Boss_Salvage! Yeah, it was a shame about Will’s list. I think he had until midnight of the the night we played to submit, and he put it through the day before. :person_shrugging: I know he’s got a Slave Orc regiment that would have been nice to try to include, for all sorts of reasons. Alas.

Great point with the Knights and the Tactical Retreat! I have done a poor job at mixing in the new generic Commands. They aren’t much, but they are helpful, and a nice little boon for armies that don’t have their books yet.

114

Regiments of Abyssal Guard may work as anvils, due to Regeneration. But even with CS2 they have only little capacity of damage. As a horde instead they are awesome at dealing damage.

I tried the Warlord (again a stupid name, given ‘warlord’ is a category of heroes now), because I used 3 units of Abyssal Guard recently.

But as he doesn’t do much else (like all melee individuals, especially infantry) for the army, I will go to replace him and try another one.

The Warlocks are just expensive. I wish there would be another spellcaster or their shooting would be optional. As you can’t shoot and cast, it is useless. And I can’t recall other spellcasters with a shooting attack (Broodmothers maybe?). For a reason obviously.

Berserkers…

I’m glad I didn’t go crazy on them like so many other players. Speed 7 is just ordinary and far from impressive. And with Melee 4+ and CS1 they don’t offer much.

A troop as chaff or for threatening to flank ongoing combats is probably how I will use them.

1 Like
115

I got my reports and posts up last week and then was traveling a bunch. I’m mostly recombobulated now!

I don’t think the regiments have the Nerve to pull off being a proper anvil. They remind me of NA/Varangur Tribesmen, just a great generalist unit with Def5 and CS1. Elf Palace Guard could also qualify, but I haven’t really played against them. They should grind out any lesser unit (eg. KoM Shield Wall) over time (the Abyssals especially, thanks to Regeneration), and while they’ll likely eventually fall to a greater unit, they should hold for at least a turn, and that winning unit should be bloodied up by the time the Guard fold.

Back in my World of Warcraft days I tanked, and as the raids got bigger, supplementary tanks (Off-Tanks) were brought in to grab additional baddies and such, and I think that is more the role of Abyssal Guard regiments – bumping and grinding against secondary threats while a horde (eg. Lower Abyssal tar pit) or chaff (Imps, Gargoyles) deal with the opponent’s main hammers. More testing is needed though. I do have a few more Abyssal Guard lists in the hopper, but I am not quite sure when they will hit the table. And all this said, I think if you can swing it, just taking a horde is probably going to due better, given the high costs of multiple regiments.

I still like the Warlock, if nothing else, running with Loot tokens is nice! Yes, the shooting attack is a bit awkward, but overall, they are a very versatile Champion, and I don’t mind having the utility. For example, in melee-builds, a Bane Chant isn’t going to be useful early on, and chipping a damage or two at something with Firebolts tends to be worth it. I think if they fix Flame Bearers, the Warlocks will then feel much better. But them and a Spell seems fine to me.

I still think the Efreet should fill this desired spellcasting niche. Giving them Inspiring; making the Fireball optional; moving them to a Specialist slot are all ways to make that guy a little more attractive and useful, relative to the Warlock.

More generally, for Specialist choices, more testing is needed to see what all the Guard can do, but I am liking the Berserkers best so far. The Tortured Soul changes (uh…nerfs) aren’t grabbing me; and I am still struggling to get good proper cavalry charges for the Abyssal Horsemen, who also got hit with some nerfs. Berserker troops are going to be a nice outriding / flanking threat for a small investment, and regiments with the Brew of Sharpness or Brew of Strength are both pretty serious threats that don’t break the bank.

An update that Will and his Abyssal Dwarfs took 4th at the St. Louis Open this past weekend, with Rob and his KoM taking 5th. A darn good showing for both of them! Both have a handful of other tournaments coming up, so hopefully I’ll have some more practice games with them coming soon!

1 Like