DISCLAIMER:
I used a translation tool for this text. But I didn’t want to write such a long piece of text by hand.
It might make more sense in my own language, but my thoughts often just race through my head, so not everyone understands what I’m getting at.
And I’m only writing all this because KoW has become my absolute favorite game, even though I used to love and be obsessed with Warhammer Fantasy. But I just can’t get into The Old World.
That’s why I’m just trying to hold onto the fun of this game, which is harder than it should be because of the major changes from previous editions.
Ranting in English is quite tough. The language sounds so kind all the time. It`s way more easy to rant and moan in German. We mastered this aspect of languages.
END OF DISCLAIMER
I took the liberty of checking out the results of the US Masters and the most successful lists. But it’s not really that fun, because there isn’t much to see. The lists are all pretty much the same and use only a few of their unit selections.
Supposedly, the new system was introduced for army building because many people found spamming units to be annoying. Well, I still believe that this system only intensifies and shifts the problem of spamming. Instead of allowing players to spam any unit they want—which would have created more variety (since it wasn’t always the same units being spammed)—players are now churning out core units nonstop, along with support war machines (even though many armies have interesting, fun units hidden among them).
Personally, I’ve played 3x Gargoyles a few times; other than that, I haven’t used any unit more than twice. The exception is Oger Warriors, but they’re a special case, and that army doesn’t exactly have a lot of variety.
First, a few numbers on the composition of the Top 15:
4x Ratkin
3x Goblins
2x Salamanders
2x Forces of Nature, which won’t be discussed in depth here since their list has changed significantly
1x Elves, Northern Alliance, and Kingdom of Men
There’s certainly not much variation among the top spots. It also supports the claim that ratkins and goblins are among the strongest armies.
If you take a closer look at the lists now, you’ll see a clear trend:
Concentrated fire from war machines or smaller units and mages with spells like Blizzard and Alchemist’s Curse, supplemented by (relatively) inexpensive hordes.
Here’s a short list of units that appeared very frequently.
Wretches: 3 4 4
Mother Cryza: 1 1 1
Scudku-zluk: 1 1
Shock Troops Hordes: 3 4 3 3
Shredder: 2 2 4
Blight Spewer: 2 2 2
Here is a breakdown of the selected units/characters and how many each army offers:
8 selections out of 25/26 (inconsistently, spears are sometimes an option and sometimes a separate unit) – 2 units used 3 times
6 – 2 units used 4 times
9 selections – 1 unit used 5 times
7 selections – 1 unit used 3 times, one used 4 times, and even the same support unit used 4 times
The goblins aren’t about to be outdone either, shining with monotony and a lack of variety.
Goblins:
Rabble: 8 (regiments) 14 (!) 6
Sharpstick Thrower: 4
War-Trombone: 3 3 4
Big Rock Throwers: 4
7 out of 30
5 (!) – Goblins seem to have good internal balance…
9 out of 30
At least 3 war machines were actually used here! So it doesn’t seem to matter all that much how you bombard your opponent from a distance—the main thing is to go all out.
Salamanders are a bit more expensive and don’t quite offer the same options. After all, there are still those useless Salamanders—it’s not just Ghekkotahs!
But you can at least give it a try:
Ghekkotah Warriors: 5 Regiments 4
Komodons: 4 4
7 & 8 out of 30/31 (!)
This army has so many different units and characters, but using just a quarter of them is enough…
What’s most important, once again, is the combination of cheap trash units and massive firepower.
And then there’s one more special mention:
Northern Alliance: 8 out of 29 selections (excluding Magnilde and her unlockables)
Noteworthy are the 5 regiments of Packhunters with Javelins.
If you don’t have cheap war machines with Blast like the 3 mentioned earlier, you just have to get a little more creative.
But 12 shots with Piercing 1 against a 4 or even a 3 isn’t bad either. And if you can do that 5 times…
Tournaments certainly aren’t for everyone, nor are they the Holy Grail. But tournaments reveal a system’s problems and highlight the peaks in the meta. Especially at a tournament like the Masters, experienced and skilled players come together—players who have demonstrated over time that they understand the game. And because of that, they know which units and strategies are necessary for success. You don’t have to share their attitude toward the game or even approve of it, but you have to acknowledge that these players uncover vulnerabilities—and those vulnerabilities can be exploited by any player, sometimes even unintentionally.
Of course, one might argue that the extreme spamming of core units and war machines/artillery isn’t a problem for casual players because they can simply choose not to play that way.
But then the new system lacks any legitimacy. Even with the rules of the previous edition, it was possible to field “nice” armies without deploying the strongest units countless times.
And I don’t think the changes to artillery are good. It makes little sense anyway that units are now only routed once they’ve already taken more damage than their nerve value.
Without this change, though, players would probably rely even more heavily on shooting, since it seems to pay off. One reason I see for this is the 5+ save rolls on many war machines, combined with the +1 bonus for not moving. It may have been a well-intentioned change, but it sucks…
And it should have been noticed during proper test games. After all, the Masters participants didn’t invent a new game—they’re just using the options they’ve had for barely half a year.
The old system didn’t cause these kinds of problems and didn’t take units like the Elven Silverbreeze Cavalry out of the game.
My solution: bring back the old rules, including Steady Aim!
Either there’s almost no shooting at all—because you can’t even take out chaff with it—or shooting is taken to the extreme.
Personally, I used to enjoy every aspect of the game more before: whether it was list-building, the game itself, the opponents’ lists, or the visuals on the battlefield.
