It has been a while, however I finally have some time to catch you up with my hobbying over the past months. In late June this year I went to the weekend school fundraiser held by Matt and Paul aka the ‘Kings of Herts’ possibly the last event they will hold at Aycliffe Drive, day 1 was a Kings of War regular event at 2000 pts, and day 2 we played Kings of War Ambush. I took my (Water) based Forces of Nature, which is still being developed, and I still need a lot of practice with.
My first task was to assemble and paint up the Hydra sculpt that I had won as my Best Reaper prize in last year’s Shroud of the Reaper ‘Clash of the Titans’ event. She has been cast standing upon a rock, so I wanted to give her some battle damage, as the more injured these beasts become, the more dangerous they are. This meant onecof the heads had to come off and I needed to add some deep slash marks in her remaining necks, to show the regeneration process taking place. I think she turned out quite well, but the mini is really delicate and does not travel too well.
Day one at the tournament today was a mixed bag, great fun as always, however game wise I was horrendus, possibly the worst I have played for a while and I really earned my wooden spoon position. Despite this I had some good games against three talented players, Grant A (Ogres) , Ian R (Rhordia) and Ben H-S (Sylvan Elves) Thank you chaps.
Hobby wise my Hydra was voted best individual unit, and my Forces of Nature earned third place for best army.
It had been a truly hot day, and I was getting really irritable, despite Matt running around handing out iced lollies and water, and I was truly greatful to jump into a cold shower after checking in to my hotel room.
Day two and my terrible play continued at the Kings of Herts Ambush event, as I wracked up 1 win to 5 losses. I had some really fun games, a few what just happened moments, and a tense stand off against Ian’s League of Rhordia. The atmosphere was friendly as ever, and I enjoyed some mid game chats with the other fool hardy players that braved the heat to roll some dice.
Matt did everything he could to reduce the discomfort of the hot weather, and luckily ‘The Pit Gaming Store’, were on hand with much needed refreshment. In all it was a very enjoyable, if somewhat sweaty weekend.
Hello MoDers, it’s pretty much halfway through the year, so definitely time for another blog.
As I have said before, I don’t get much game time in, but this month has been different, I have managed to squeeze three casual games and two tournaments since my last blog. My three casual games were against fellow CLKoW Tony at Darksphere in Hammersmith, London. The Bexley Reaper’s Aces and 8’s II took place in early May and was the first full sized challenge for my ‘Forces of Nature’, water theme. Finally the weekend just gone, I was in Brighton for a tournament at the ‘King & Queen pub,’ which had been organised by the ‘Brighton Tabletop Wargamers’ I even started and finished a new unit, a horde of air elemental, I really like these sculpts by ‘Mantic’.
The Shroud of the Reaper event, Aces & 8s II, was wonderful as ever, run by the imaginative Mark Cunningham & Grant Alexander, if you like quirky and fun, then this is the event for you. I had forgotten to grab some breakfast along the way and was very greatful that ‘The Pit Gaming Store’ were on hand to provide some very needed refreshments. My first opponent was Mick with a Varangur army, a work in progress with some lovely painted miniatures, especially his ‘Reaper’ special character. I managed to eek out a close victory against him, despite running out of time before turn 7 reared it’s ugly head. Game two was against Ian and his Trident realms army. There are no two ways sbout thiz game, I was annhilated, did not even survive to round 6, it was interesting to see how the army worked, and Ian certainly knows his army well, but I couldn’t help but feel quite hollow after that kicking. My las5 opponent of the day was Steve and his Ratkin Slaves. This was a much more evently balanced affair with a lot of piece trading on both sides, sadly for me in round 5 Steve’s dice woke up and I lost a lot of units. I was able to claim some victory points, and rack up some kills, so felt like I’d given as good as I got. In all I had three excellent games.
As a result of these games I was able to avoid the wooden spoon and as a sweet cherry on top of that cake, my ‘Forces Of Nature’ won the Best Army hobby prize.
Casual gaming wise I met Tony at Darksphere twice in the space of a few weeks. On the first occasion we had two games, my ‘Forces of Nature’, vs his Abyssal Dwarfs, one game at 2000 pts, the other at 1500. Tony had a good selection of Golem, Immortals and the mighty ‘Helfane’. However with speed and surge on my side, Tony lost both games. The tables were reversed when we next met for a 2300 pts ‘Forces of Nature’ vs ‘Riftforged Orcs’ which totally outmatched my army and wiped me out by turn four. It was my first taste of this new themed faction, and I didn’t like it.
I asked around for advice on how to counter this new ‘Greenskin’ meanace, and of the suggestions I recieved, adding a ‘Pegasus’, was the most repeated. At 80 points for some flying/blocking chaff, I couldn’t argue. I did not want to add a regular ‘Peg’, miniature, although I had one already painted up, I wanted something that would better suit my theme. I decided a phys rep would be okay, on the correct base size, and had an idea of making a ‘Hypocampus’ and knew that would be the right choice for my ‘Forces of Nature’. It took sometime to get right, but I think it turned out okay.
In response to many armies having flying unit (Troops, Regiments and Hordes) such as ‘Gargoyles’ or ‘Elohi’, I decided to bring in a unit of Air Elementals. These are one of my favourite ‘Mantic’ miniatures, as they are scultpted to look like magical whirlwinds, reaching out toward the enemy as they charge toward them. The sculpts look quite dynamic. I wanted to make my Elementals look like they were almost blending into the base I designed, to represent them collecting bebris such as rock dust, moss, grass and even water whilst they cross the battle field. Blending into a messy mix of colours revealing their full size and form.
On Saturday 27th May I travelled down to Brighton for a 2300 pts ‘Kings of War’ event that was organised by the ‘Brighton Tabletop Wargamers’, at the ‘King and Queen’ public house in Malborough Place, Brighton. It was surprisingly easy to travel down to the venue from East London, using public transport, and I got there with plenty of time to spare. I had some trepidation in relation to my first line up, which had been published the day before, not only had I drawn ‘top tier’ player, and fellow CLKoW, Rob and he was using ‘Riftforged Orcs’.
Not only was I facing the dreaded RFO, but it was an army crammed full with flying units, something my meagre selection of flyers could not counter. Despite this and some intelligent play by Rob, I stood my ground well until turn 5 arrived, and Rob was able to pour on the pressure. I was able to build up some victory points, and kill off some of Rob’s units, nearly half of them in fact, and so although it was a loss, it wasn’t a landslide. This made me feel slightly better about facing Riftforged Orcs in the future. Next up was Steve and his ‘Halflings’, in the ‘Invade’ scenario, which is quite a good one for my current army. I’d say overall we were an even match, although Steve’s greater unit strength would prove to be my down fall. There was good tactical play on both sides, and my first experience facing the Halfling Areonaughts, I had no idea how effective they could be. I managed to win the right flank and Steve the center ground, and by turn 7, which cropped up in all three games, I had destroyed over half Steve’s army, and moved much of mine over the halfway line. However in Invade, unit strength is king, and Steve still trumped me on that. My final game was against John and his Elves, and although he is relatively new to the game, he had selected a strong army. This was a weekend of firsts for me, and this round it was the first time I had to face the spell ‘Alchemist’s curse’ not nice for an army of elementals and beasts. I helped John as we played, by explaining some of the rules, and how ‘Forces of Nature’ work, but the way his dice were rolling, he really did not need the assistance, I’ve never seen so many 5’s and 6’s rolled in a game. My worst result of the day, as I was tabled, and only managed to kill about 805 point of his army Strangely having lost all three rounds, I had a really good day.
so that was my May 2023, next up for me is the King Of Herts weekend at the lattrr half of June. I brlieve there are still spaces available if you are interested in attending:
It would appear that the snails pace of my hobbying this year continues unabated.
It took me just over three months to finish a horde of Water Elementals for my forces of nature army, and I’m not entirely sure why. I have at least taken part in some tournaments as I stated in my last blog, but non since February, and recently had a few friendly games trying to shape my Forces of Nature for some up coming events, some of which are right around the corner
The coming Saturday (22nd April 2023) is SALUTE 50. I have not been to this awesome event since 2019. Lockdown did kind of get in the way of me returning, but with the prospect of meeting up with some old friends I have secured my ticket and am actually looking forward to the early start. SALUTE is a war gaming event, rather than a tournament, where games companies, hobby merchants and gaming clubs come together to introduced their various gaming systems, and offer you their latest wares, it can be an expensive day, but is and experience that tends to stay with you. SALUTE is a yearly event run by the South London Warlords, a club whose members work selflessly to organise and run this brilliant day, This year it returns to the London Excel Centre, if you get the opportunity pop down, you won’t regret it:
Next up will be the Bexley Reapers first tournament of the year, Aces and Eights II, a 2345 point Kings of War tournament, and the Gambling reaper is back, giving me a chance to take me Death of Halfling’s out for another spin. I have been working on a Forces of Nature army to complement my favoured style of play, all I need to do to improve on last year game results is to win at least one game, although as ever my main objective as ever is to have fun (and try not to get tabled). Tevent was sheduled for Saturday 6th May for sometime, and in fact a certain Royal occasion has been planned to take place on the same day, so hopefully transport will still be working. I believe that there are some spaces left if you are in the area and would like to try your hand:
Lastly (event wise), on Saturday 27th May 2023, I will be going to an event in held by Brighton Table-top Wargaming Events in the King and Queen public house in Brighton. I feel is just close enough for a day trip event, something I have to consider with the cost of travel and accommodation climbing, the events that are too far from London, just aren’t on my radar at the moment. This will be a 2300 point, Kings of War event, in a pub, so I don’t expect good gaming results, I will certainly still be merry. I believe that this is the tournament organisers first Kings of War event so I am happy to travel down and support his efforts. If it works well it could become and annual trip for me:
Quick mention, my own Kings of War event: Roll Out the Barrell’s will be held on Saturday 5th August 2023 at Dark Sphere in Hammersmith in London, and this year it’s going double:
Finally here are some photographs of that troublesome horde of Water Elementals that took me so long to complete. This is the second such unit in my army and I wanted them to stand apart from my first attempt. I decided that I wanted to show them surging through a chariot, breaking the war engine apart as their momentum takes them forward, I wanted to show the froathing water as you might expect when a wave hits a hard object but continues to flow forward, this took a lot of green stuff to change the appearance to look like the form of the elementals was being distorted by the impact and a lot of shading and highlighting to try and get the dark to light water ratio correct and include the right amount of sea foam. I do not know if I achieved this, but at some point I had to call it ready, otherwise nothing else would get painted:
Hello MoD’ers, I cannot believe that it has taken so long to get blogging this year. I just have had a few things to write about, but just not had the motivation to type.
I am going to try to write a few brief blogs, to get caught up with the year, today I am going to focus upon the events I have been to already this year, well as much as I can remember that is. I am not able to get to as many tournaments this year, the cost of living eating up much of my spare cash. However we are only in the third month, and I have made it to three tournaments, so here is how it went:
Stane of War – Woodmansterne – Surrey – 15th January 2023:
My first kings of war tournament this year was ‘Stane of War’ back in January. Organised and run by CLKoWs Matt and Jake, at three games with armies of 1995 points, it is well planned with great scenic tables and always an awesome event. On the day I faced Jon Gunns and his Order of the Green Lady, Tony Ringrose with his Abyssal Dwarfs and Jake with his Night Stalkers. Good fun games as ever with two losses and a draw.
Kings of Herts (Ambush) – Borehamwood – Hertfordshire – 28th January 2023:
This was my first taste of the new 1000 point, kind of skirmish game, ‘Kings of War Ambush.’ The event took place at ‘The Pit Games Shop’. For this event I switched from my now completed ‘League of Rhordia’ army to my new project with the ‘Forces of Nature’. I am aiming for a largely water based force, and this style of game I believe is perfect for water elementals, I just need to get better at playing and luckier with the dice. The armies were only 745 points each and played on a 3×3 table with plenty of scenery. I faced 5 opponents on the day: Rafici (Northern Alliance) Neil (Order of Green Lady), Andy (League of Rhordia), Marcin (Ratkin) and Lucas (Ratkin). Overall I finished 12 out of 16, with 2 wins from my 5 games.
Table Top Republic (KoW Ambush) – High Wycombe – Buckinghamshire – 11th February 2023:
John and his team at Table Top Republic organised this 1000 point Kings of War ambush at their spacious new store on the High Street. At 1000 points per army, Ambush can lead to some over powered armies, event with the rules already written in by Mantic. To counter this the team put in some further rules which led to some fun and games creating a force on ‘Mantic Companion’ that still met the brief from the event pack. However this did lead to a balanced and fairer event in the long run. At this tournament I faced Rob’s Herd, Matt’s Empire of Dust and Andy’s League of Rhordia. I actually played Matt twice. With 1 win and 3 losses, but with a good attrition rate, I came 9th overall and was voted 3rd place for the hobby award.
That is about it for today, in my next blog I will write about my upcoming events and plans for the year.
Hello MoDers, yes a second post in December. I’m trying to top and tale my projects from this year, including the write up of ‘My Rhordia’, as that painting project draws to a close:
Ciabatta, once a prosperous region and the seat of the Dukes of La Cantina, until the ruling family, House Pence, ran into a series of disasters that eventually lost them their fortune and position. When things seemed to be at their worst, the people of Ciabatta were starving as a mysterious blight had ruined their crops, and the family’s source of wealth, a silver mine to an incursion of Ratkin, a clan of halflings lead by Camba Zola approached then Baron Tupp Pence with an innovative method that could remedy the loss of their crops, and improve the states miserable position. With the promise of the protection of the city’s walls, and garrison troops, they would share this agricultural marvel with the pence family. Thus began a long friendship and successful alliance between the two peoples.
Ciabatta is currently under the shared control of Baron Arthur Pence and Squire Gordon Zola, and is known as the ‘Bread basket’ to the neighbouring city states Chipolata and Salsa. It is still not a rich region and so cannot equip itself with marvellous firearms and war machines like Salsa, or field an army with an extraordinary range of cavalry as the city of Chipolata can. The forces of Ciabatta rely upon infantry with the ranks filled by the stoic people of the city. Hordes of Polearm troops and Halfling Braves form the back bone of the Ciabattan army decked out in the green and red of the city while holding aloft the city emblem of the golden wheatsheaf upon banners and shields.
Thanks to the recovery of some of their wealth Arthur Pence has raised a unit of Honour guard, knights that ride into battle upon majestic Aralez, often the Baron will accompany them upon his grey and white mount ‘Scar’. Not to be out done Squire Zola has raised a unit of Halfling knights, they are armed with what ever protective gear they can find, and as they cannot afford to equip the entire unit with the war ponies used by their Chipolatan equivalent, they mainly ride a sturdy goat especially bred for the task.
This is the triumvirate that goes to make La Cantina, each state is capable of defending their territory on their own, if the invading forces are small, however during times of great strife the cities will band together as you will see in the final instalment.
Good evening MoD’ers. I have a few posts to type before the year comes to an end, and this brief article will cover my most recent Kings of War activity:
In my last blog I was looking forward to my last two tournaments of the year, Bull Run 2 at Queen Alexandra College in Birmingham and Slay Bells at ‘Entoyment’ in Poole. The tournaments were to be the last hurrah for my current ‘League of Rhordia’ army, and because they had the option of including a special character I had a couple of painting projects to get on top of. Bull Run gave the option of including a minotaur character, which I was excited about as I bought a pretty sweet miniature a couple of years ago that would have really fitted this role. Sadly the current economic situation in the UK has lead to a number of rail strikes, and one of these was called on the days either side of Bull Run, which meant I could not travel there or back, and had to cancel my entire trip. I was a little frustrated but had the light at the end of the tunnel that was Slay Bells on the 3rd of December, yes I would have to travel down after work and stop over at a hotel without the girls for company, but I was determined to make this event. Of course this meant choosing and building a special character, but I think that is my favourite bit of this multi-faceted hobby.
The tournament organisers for Slay Bells, the ‘Warborne Gamers Club’, had given the option of four different Santa based Chariots that could be included in your army: Naughty, Nice, Santa’s Helper and Dash away, each would have differing effects which could help your units or hamper the enemy. I like to take a painting break around Christmas, and often choose a Fantasy Santa to paint just for painting sake, before packing away for the festive break, in the past this has included an Ogre Santa and a Dwarf Santa, this time I opted for a Hob-goblin with a metallic fist that just screamed Santa Claws by ‘Foundry Miniatures’ (he may actually be a plain Gobbo, but everything about him screamed Hob to me). As I already had this figure prior to deciding whether I would attend the event, I just had to opt for Naughty.
I had a few ideas as to how I would paint the fella, maybe black robes instead of red, put him on a motorbike instead of a slay, maybe have him flying somehow, delivering coal to naughty children. Only one of these early ideas really stuck with me, and that was to convert his claw into an infinity gauntlet, the temptation was just too strong to resist that. Ideas came and went and the eventual idea of this Santa visiting homes to relieve them of their burgeoning pile of presents following the departure of his jollier counter part. I decided to keep the regular red outer clothing, but underneath I included the stereo-typical cartoon burglar tropes of a black and white striped vest and black eye mask. I decided on a traditonal sleigh with a over-full swag bag on the back. I could not initially think of a steed to pull the sleigh, but had this idea of a pig pulling a cart whilst wearing antlers made from twigs. I do not know where this idea came from, but was lucky enough to have been given a plastic pig mini by fellow CLKoW gamer friend Rob, after assembling the’ porker’ I knew I had to go with him. and use some green stuff to make him an antler head-dress.
I was happy with the way the chariot turned out, however I felt that it needed more to get the theme of this mischievous Chris Kringle across to whom ever was looking at him. He needed a backdrop. Having seen some of the wonderful set pieces made by great hobbyists like Andy Marshall and Matt Gee, I was not sure if I was up to the job. I made a rough sketch and looked for some hobby materials. I found some stiff card that would make suitable cabin walls, and an old rubber mat, moulded to look like a stone wall or road, which I decided would make a perfect flagstone floor. My first attempt at painting this floor using a charcoal grey and dark wash left it looking no better than it had before I’d touched it, I decided to gradually lighten it with shades of grey until I was happy with its appearance. Next came the walls, I found some chintzy wrapping paper that looked like good old fashioned wall paper, it did not take long to paste this to the stiff card. Having completed this I needed to cut a hole big enough for the sleigh, to have passed through, into the side panel, creating the crash and grab scenario, keeping the off cuts to paint as debris. I then took a cereal box and stuck the walls and floor to this in a way that would make them free standing but able to be flat packed for transport. I had to visit a craft shop when all this was done, and visit the quilling section to make the scene more festive. I found gold ribbon, coloured bells, red and white string and a few other bits and pieces including a plain mini Christmas tree. I added the decks to the cabin walls, taking care to make them look damaged on the side that had been crashed through. I painted a small night time scene, with some snow, on the blank side of the cereal box, showing Santa’s unusual egress point. The tree was going in loose so that it was not damaged during transport. However it needed to be jazzed up. I painted the base red and glued red and gold glitter to its needles. When all was prepared I folded up the box and assembled the scene, with Santa standing off the sleigh with the over stuffed swag on the back, it looked like he had finished stealing the gifts from the house and was ready to climb aboard and head off into the night.
Sadly, fate conspire against me again as one thing after another threatened to prevent me going to the event. No matter how much I tried, I got past one obstacle after another, but the cancelation of my train was one hurdle too many for me and I did not make it to ‘Slay Bells 2022’. In my absence however the tournament organisers and players that did make it, awarded my ‘Crash and Grab Santa’ as best chariot, which was incredibly kind as I was not there. This gaming community is truly one of the best. I am already planning to attend ‘Slay Bells 2023’ for which I believe the theme is ‘Krampus’ so I better get planning on that.
I has been a while since my last post, only my apathy to blame, I’m afraid. Since my last blog, when I introduced my ‘Castellers’ formation, I have attended three totally brilliant events, Bexley Reaper’s Shroud of the Reaper(Clash of the Titans), Mantic’s Clash of Kings and Kings of Herts school fundrasing doubles tournament. I had meant ho write up each event seperately and soon after they concluded. However I kept on overloading myself with new painting projects, I just didn’t give myself the time to do the, and kept telling myself, I’ll just do this first, or that really takes priority, anything than sit down and type my blog. But here we are, I have managed to grab so time and motovation to tell you all about them.
My ability to tell you all about the us of course hampered by my dodgy memory as ever, but one thing I do remember with absolute clarity is the amazing standard of painting within the Kings of War community. It is clear not just about the game, as everyone clearly puts time amd effort into thier choosen forces, showing we are indeed true hobbyists.
Bexley Reapers – Clash of the Titans:
There are a number of things that you can rely upon when you attend a ‘Shroud of the Reaper’ event in Bexley. Imaginative scenarios, crazy terrain sets, and an overriding sense of fun. The tournament organisers Mark and Grant put a lot of time and effort in ensuring that every attendee leaves with a sense of warm satisfaction, no matter what position they achieve. This event did not disappoint, with five games over two days, armies at 3000 pts each and a free gigantic Reaper special character (This is the event that I built my ‘Castellers’ for).
I put together 3000 pts of Rhordians together with a heavy biased for Halflings, including the formation (the loyalists) and a horde of Halfling knights. I also included a good proportion of shooting, to try and soften the much tougher troop types that I knew my opponents would be bringing. Sadly the crazy terrain massively disrupted this endeavour and my little fellas were stomped out of existence in 4 of my 5 games.
I was lucky enough to draw 5 fun and friendly players, and although I held my own at the beginning of each game, their skills shone through in the later stages. I played against: Northern Alliance (Mick), Salamanders (Stephen) Ratkin (Chris) The Herd (Mark) and Goblins (Dave). The first two games really could have gone either way, but ended as all the games at this event, by coming second. In game three I came against Chris’s mobile artillery in the form of Ratkin nightmares with a nasty shooting option that tore through my troops for the second time, having faced him previously at ‘Barrels’. I’m still not sure how to handle an army of these brutes. The following day I faced Mark’s beautiful ‘Herd’ army and received my first tabling of the event. I didn’t help matters when my deployment left three of my units jammed in the corner unable to participate effectively. The last round was a ‘Cunningham Special’ a scenario where the objective was to attempt to kill a ‘Titan’ special character with special rules such as a cloak of death aura with a large radius and an effect which meant that any wound inflicted against him by shooting and magic were reflected back at the unit that caused the wounds. My opponent for this crazy round was Dave, and it was the first time I had played against a goblin player. The game was a seesaw event in-which the lead changed hands each turn. I was winning by the end of round 6, and had to roll for turn 7, ordinarily this would not have been too bad, however I had run out of time by the end of my sixth round and when turn 7 reared its ugly head, I could only sit and watch my lead slip without answer. I was gutted.
After tidying up and fully demoralised, the results and awards were announced, and my flagging ego received an unexpected boost, as my ‘Halfling Castellers’ had won the vote for best ‘Reaper Miniature’. Overall it had been a fun weekend, and if Mark and Grant run another 2 day event, I really would like to attend.
Mantic – Clash of Kings 2022:
I had been in two minds about attending Mantic’s years two day event, the ‘Clash of Kings’. The main pro of the event being that is was in North East London, so probably the closest the national tournament would ever get, however the cost, the proximity of the event to a 2 day event that I had already attended and the fact that I was frightenly aware of just how poorly I play the game were acting against me. However the fun factor won through, I have enjoyed the previous Clash of Kings that I attended and there was no reason that this would be different, and the fact that beer would be available was an enticement that sealed the deal.
Thankfully the 3000 point level of the Reaper’s even meant that I have very little to actually paint for my chosen 2300 army to be ready. I was in the process of using green stuff and vines made from resin, to emboss and decorate my Rhordian artillery, but decide to take my time with this project and use some cannons etc from my other armies. My horde of halfling knights with the hammer of measured force had performed well in Bexley, and so this was the centre upon which I would build the rest of my army.
At this event I faced a good mix of different armies, with the following opponents: Martin (Basileans), Tom (Empire of Dust), Jon (Nightstalkers), Andre (Varangur) and Jess (Northern Alliance). I was totally out played during the first three games, I managed a good kill rate, but could not crack the scenarios. I seemed to improve on the second day, with a narrow loss to the the Varangur, and eventual win over the Northern Alliance. All the players were very skilled, but more importantly fun to play against which is the point of table top war gaming at the end of the day.
It was quite a tiring weekend, and so I don’t remember a great deal about the event, that might also have something to do with the amount of beer I consumed, a bar at a tourney is a dangerous thing. I do remember a few things, such as meeting Ronnie Renton who is always enthusiastic and lends real positivity and showmanship to the event. And that Jess had prepared a really well themed army based on ‘Frozen’ Somehow, and I am still quite confused by this but somehow I was awarded the ‘Most Sporting’ player and presented with a lovely glass trophy, which was really nice.
Kings of Herts – School Fundraiser (Doubles):
Two weeks after clash, I was at another tournament. Paul and Matt at Kings of Herts always run a brilliant event, and I try to attend as often as I can, especially the doubles events which for some reason are more fun than the single version of the game. Grant from Bexley arranged his friend Simon to be my team partner. He put together a 1000 point Nightstalker army, which could work with my Rhordians as they are a neutral force and and align with any faction. We chose the team name Rhor’s Kitsch N Nightmares, and were ready to go.
Our opponents for the day would be Mat and Ben (Goblins and Sylvan Kin), Mark and Steve (Ratkin Slaves x2) and Danny and his sock puppet (yes that is correct) (Salamanders and Nature). Each game was tight, with good attrition scores, but as with Clash our opponents played better and claimed more objectives than we did. Three losses from three very entertaining games.
Yet again there were some phenomenally well painted armies at the event I particularly liked Mark’s Goblin army and Danny’s version of a Salamander clan lord upon Fire Drake was awesome. I had taken my ‘Salsean’ themed Rhordia army with the white and pink livery, and was very happy to win the best painted army award, something I never thought I would given the artistic talent within the kings of war scene.
I have already signed up to the next Kings of Herts event in January where they will be running the new ‘Ambush’ rules from Mantic’s Red Book. I beleive that there are still spaces available:
I was meant to attend Steve Hildrew’s 2nd Bull Run event this weekend, but sadly events prevented this. So my next and possibly last Kings of War event will be Slay Bells in Poole on December 3rd, I’m already working upon my special character:
Halfling Master Sergeant Camba Zola watched as the gigantic beast tore through the ranks of Rhordian infantry. His ire ignited at the sight of this carnage, and he could feel the resolution of his warriors start to waiver. “Raise me up so I can look that creature in face and spit in it’s eye!” He barked at the Braves around him. With practiced ease the soldiers started to form a structure, using each other for support, as they scrambled up to stand upon each others shoulders as they would during the festivals to build the tallest most stable Halfling tower. As the pyramid shaped structure neared completion, Camba started to ascend to the top, ready to meet the rampaging monster face to face…
My next Kings of War tournament will be the “Shroud of the Reaper, Clash of the Titans”, where we will have the option of feilding a titan sized special character. However the League of Rhordia do not have access to their own titan. I could have just assembled and painted my ‘TTCombat’ Bone Giant, however I wanted something to match the rest of my army.
Whilst on holiday in Spain I visited Poble Espanyol Barcelona. Whilst there I watched a short film about Spanish festivals, and that is when inspiration hit me.
“Castells de Cataluna” (human towers):
An Impressive display of balance and agility, as locals climb upon each other to make the tallest, stablest tower possible. There are different types depending on the number of people on each floor. It is considered completed when a young child climbs to the top and raises their hand.
My Rhordian Castells are a little different to those of Cataluna. I believe that the nimble nature if the Halflings would make them more suited to the formation, instead of their human allies. Also facing inwards may promote stability, but would not be much use in battle, so my Halflings face out, with the base bristling with spears, and those higher up the column armed with rocks, sticks, barrells and other items to drop on top of attacking units below. The pyramid structure is mounted by a Halfling Master Sergeant to co-ordinate movement and instil confidence in those beneath them.
Special rule: If the Hafling Castelle opts to hold rather than move in their movement phase, then the unit counts as having no flank or rear as the unit can see and fight 360 degrees.
However it is not an official Mantic unit, and was desinged/built to be my Titan Reaper.
Happy heatwave MoDers, This time in ghe mini series: My Rhordia (Not cannon) I will focus upon the town of Salsa, which is governed by the Thorne family, currently led by Baroness Rose Thorne.
Salsa is located in the southern most tip of La Cantina, at the base of an extinct volcano. The fields around the town are burgeoning with soft fruits and sun ripening vegetables, whilst the slopes of the volcano are littered with vineyards and olive groves.
Salsa’s main contribution to Rhordian warfare is through it’s archery schools and ballistics academy, which are both headed by Halfling Master Sergeant Lorne Moah, who is a prolific marksman, and talented engineer, it is said that he designed the steam powered wings that the Baroness often equips during times of war.
Salsa provides training in the use of all manner of projectile from the simple sling to the deadly organ gun. It is said that the academy was established by Rose’s grandfather Berberis, who although a brave man, was not particularly skilled in the martial arts, he could however weild a bow with some prowess and was very interested in what he called ‘Battling from a distance’. He is responsible for introducing Black powder weapons to La Cantina.
the livery of the Salsean army is white and pink. It was originally light grey and red, however the strong sun in the region kept bleaching the colours of the uniforms, and the Baron decided out of practicality that a change of colour would be cheaper than constantly buying replacement garments. The heraldic device of the family is a pink rose, either bare or surrounded by foliage.
My next focus on my Rhordia will be the town of Ciabatta.
Last weekend I held my first ‘Kings of War’ event, Roll Out The Barrells, at the ‘Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, in London’s East End. This was a joint event as it was planned and organised by me on behalf of the ‘Central London Kings of War’ collective, using the venue and much of the equipment of the ‘Hackney Area Tabletop Enthusiasts.’ As far as I am aware this was the first Kings of War only event in East London, often it is supported by other gaming systems.
Planning the event had not been without its difficulties, I even had to move the originally planned date due to loe ticket sales and not having enough terrain pieces to give the players decent tabletop scenery.
After talking with CLKoWs Rob and Matt, and liaising with HATE members Andy and Rob I decided on a new date and pushed the advertising a bit harder. The new date was July 23rd 2022, by the time we were a week away from D-day, we had 11 players and enough terrain to populate the required amount of tables.
we had a good range of players from top 10 masters level to relative new comers, and a good mix of army selection. I thonk that Elven kin were the only repeated race, and they were from different factions. As we only had 11 players, I had to even thigs up and both play ghe gamex as well ax thn the event, I was so nervous that I would make mistake and ruin people’s day.
When I planned the event I wanted to have a special character like the boys who run ‘Shroud of the Reaper’. I came up with the character of ‘The Landlord’ an Eastend tavern owner who could have a subtle affect on the game play, but not be over powered. So with a hip flask of Dwarven ale, an inspiring presence and high ish individual leadership, the players were set the task of modelling and painting their landlord or lady, the entries were brilliant from bar stool weilding orcs to a goblin in a pink dress, absolutely brilliant. The Goblin actual gained the most voted netting Dave Randall the best painted landlord miniature prize.
The order of play for the first round was decided by the order that players sent in their army lists. This lead to some interesting match up such as a ‘Herd’ army againt an ‘Undead’ horde both forces packed to the rafters with Lycan. As I was evening up the odds, my 1st opponent was to be Ed and his Drakon heavy Elven kin.
Game 1 was Invade, and was pretty evenly matched with plenty of piece trading on both sides, and a good press in the middle. Sadly for me the elite nature of the elves started to shine through by round 4 and my Rhordians felt their wrath. The elves won on scenario points as I had inflicted enough damagd in the early rounds to gain a respectable losing score, and end up mid table.
Game 2 is like a blur to me, as my forces were quickly shot off the table. This was Chris’s Ratkin army and it was crammed with ‘Nightmares’ with a shooting upgrade that my Cavalry based force could not get close enough to deal with, it was like a repeat of the charge of the light brigade only the cannon were mobile. I had no real answer to this and was wiped from the table. After this round I dropped down to near bottom of the table, in 2nd to last.
My opponent for the last round was fellow CLKoW Tony, we have played each other several times, so we both knew each others forces, it was a good match up between League of Rhordia and Kingdoms of Men. Luckily Tony had selected the players choice tabld fof this round, as it had some impassable scenery that I could use to block his very effective cannon. Honestly the only person that can role the required 5s or 6s more frequently is Rusty Shakleford, I was happy for the reprieve. The scenario was ‘Push’, and the game pretty evenly matched, I rolled far too manh snake eyes, and Tony couldnt do much more than waiver my units which otherwise refused to rout, largely thankx to ‘Rally’ from my ‘War-shrine.’ Tony’s foot knight horde dealt a devestating blow to my army taking out my Duke and a regiment of knights, however they were in possession of his loot tokens, and spent so much time fighting in the back field, they didn’t even get close to the halfway line, unlike my token laden ‘Mammoth’ who slowly plodded up field sticking to the cover of trees and other blocking terrain. A last minute reverse with the War-shrine allowed me to pinch the center token and win the game 4 objective points to 0, snd bumping me up to third from bottom.
whilst all this was going on, I was totalling up scores each round, pairing up players, assigning tables and making sure we kept as close to the timings as we reasonably could. It wasn’t easy, but it was actually quite fun.
Dave Randall was our over all winner with his Goblins, followed by Chris Judd and his Ratkin and Richard Laking’s ‘Noble dead.’ Jake Salmonsmith’s ‘Orcs,’ claimed the best painted army award, and Tony seized the wooden spoon.
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I’d like to thank everyone that attended, you really made the day, thank you for helping with set up, and tidying away, and just being there. Thank you also to the HATE club for the use of your facilities, boards snd other equipment without which the event could not have happened. Finally thank you to Maggie and the staff at the social club for everything on the day.
After this experience, there may well be sn ROTB next year.
Next up for me is the ‘Shroud of the Reaper: Clash of the Titans’ event on 3rd and 4th September:
Mug 'O' Dice 