Wrath of Kings: Teknes vs Goritsi Rematch

I was debating doing some more painting the other day but instead I decided to set up my board and push around some Wrath of Kings again. This time I decided to take advantage of the extra models I'd assembled and kicked the game up to the skirmish level.  This added some more variety to both sides and let me dig into more of the synergies that some of the units have together.

The forces of Teknes prepared for battle!

The nightmares of Goritsi searching for blood!

As the game progressed, it quickly turned into two bloodbaths, one on the right flank and another one in the center.  Where the Ravenskar mercenaries had struggled with the Union workers, the Skorza supported by a shield breaker and Moonclave executioner made short work of them.

In fact six of the workers fell in one turn to three Skorzas and their alpha!  There was much feasting on bacon after that, let me tell you.

Meanwhile, the defender linesmen in the center were proving to be hard as nails with their counter attacks cutting down several Skorzas and war dancers.

In the end though, the Goritsi were able to break the morale of the Teknes force, driving them from the battlefield after stealing their intel but not without taking some serious losses themselves.

Playing the game at this level felt like there were more options available for the two sides, and it was interesting seeing how the various units interacted.  The executioners a brutal foil to the pain-fueled Union workers while the counter attacks of the linesmen were more devastating then their regular attacks.  Having a couple of warsmiths in there didn't hurt either as it made the citizens that much harder to take out.

I will admit that as I was picking up more and more for this game, I did wonder if it was just going to be a waste of money.  I've enjoyed pushing it around though so I'm glad that I took the plunge.  I don't see it catching on locally (locally 40k and Bolt Action seem to be the big contenders) but I'm glad that I have them available if I want to use them.  I'm also thinking about stating them up for Song of Blades and Heroes so I can push that system around again.  It's been far too long since that game has hit my gaming table, especially considering how well it worked solo.

That will be a project for another day, along with the various Nasier and Shael Han minis that I still have to assemble.  Plus I'll probably pick up some more units for all four Houses as well, just because.  Good reason, right?  As for the near future, my Antares armies are painted up and ready to go, I'm just trying to get some more terrain pieces put together to spice up the battlefield.  So far I've got a few basic forest pieces but I also have some buildings I'm working on too.  There won't be much in the way of details on those for now but I want to at least get some paint onto them before they hit the table.  I should be able to get those presentable next week, and then do an Antares Batrep or two the week after.  Until next time...

Wrath of Kings: Building The Forces of Teknes and Goritsi

Lucky me, I got to have an extended weekend this week!  Of course it was because of a stomach bug that had me running for about 48 hours straight but I was able to get some more of my Wrath of Kings minis based before all that fun happened.

For Teknes I added in more of what I had already fielded; more pigs, defender linemen, warsmiths, and a union boss. Nope... scratch that last one.  Apparently I forgot to base the union boss to bring with me.

Plus I added a type 2 specialist, the C.A.G.E.  Type 2 specialist are beefier versions of the specialists with more special powers as well.

In this case, the C.A.G.E., a technomatic suit of power armor with a nasty punch.  Not that the Teknes force seemed like it needed heavier hitters after the first game but it's kind of cool looking so I want to see how it does.

Meanwhile, for Goritsi I added a new unit, the Zeti war dancers with their leader, the dancing master.  These vampires literally dance across the field, slaying their opponents as they leap over their heads. 

What makes them even more dangerous is the dancing master.  While in her sphere of influence, the war dancers can adjust their attack rolls up or down by one.  Considering how many times the Goritsi were off by one in the last game, I think this could make a huge difference.

And speaking of huge, there is also their type 2 specialist, the blood engine.  This massive beast can do massive damage and even regenerate damage itself as it eats the models that it kills.

Oh, and there is another shield breaker as well; good damage potential and I love the model so it only makes sense.

Now that I've got these extra troops, I plan on another game of Wrath of Kings to see how they add to the game.  In fact I've already got the two forces figured out.  For the Teknes...

...the force will be lead by a union boss, supported by two defender linemen controllers.  For troops, there are eight pigs and two warsmiths, with each of the warsmiths being supported by three linemen.  This give the army a solid group of shock troops (the pigs) with two solid supporting linemen units built around the warsmiths who can buff those around them.  For specialists, the galvanic defender and zaalak both are making a comeback (though neither was especially effective in the first game) with the walking tank that is the C.A.G.E. added for the heavy hitting choice.

Meanwhile for Goritsi...

...the dancing master will lead the force with two Skorza alphas acting as her seconds.  Five of the skirmishers will perform lightning strikes against the enemy with six war dancers clearing up what is left... plus there are two mercs because I forgot to grab my six skirmisher.  The specialists are a stark contrast to the rest of the quick moving units, two of the imposing shield breakers to hammer on the Teknes defenses and the massive blood engine to feast on the corpses.

This increases both of the armies and changed the size of the game from a patrol to a skirmish.  This size game also pushes beyond the contents of the starter army boxes but only just; fielding the entire army box leaves you short by two option choices, each of which is either one rank of specialist or three ranks of infantry.  This is also supposed to represent the standard game size which means I have just enough in all four of my armies to play on this level though some of the armies have to field a set list to fill all the spots.

All in all, I must admit that I might have gotten a little carried building up my armies considering WoK is a game that is no longer supported but I really like all the minis that I've picked up.  They are stylistically very similar to Rackham Confrontation minis but have been are much easier on the wallet.  I'm sure I'll wind up getting more to fill out the ranks even more but before I get to that, I plan on seeing how these forces stack up to each other now.  Until next time...

Wrath of Kings: Teknes vs Goritsi Patrol Battle

Well, it took long enough be I finally was able to give Wrath of Kings a test drive.  I've been slowly increasing my armies for months now and even though I keep planning to try it out it just hasn't been in the cards until now.  The question is, how did it go?  Read on and let's find out!

For this scenario I decided to use the two patrol forces that I'd posted earlier this year.  I've actually bought and assembled more since then but for now this seemed like a good starting point.  For Teknes, this amounted to six union workers, four linemen backed up by one warsmith, a zaalak, and a galvanic defender, with patrol led by a union boss with a defender lineman controller as his second.  Meanwhile on the Goritsi side of the table there were three Skorza skirmishers and six Ravenscar mercenaries, all led by a Skorza alpha and a Ravenscar sergeant as his second, supported by both a shield breaker and a scourge hound.  These are pretty generic forces which was the intention; I wanted to see how these played right out of the starters... though I did throw in the warsmith just because I had her available.

Another important aspect of this game is that each faction chooses a motive before the game.  This has additional in game effects and really defines what each army is trying to accomplish.  In this case I decided to give them both steal intel.  Each side was given a pool of tokens equal to the total leader ranks (two in this case).  When a model attacks an enemy leader or specialist (Oops... missed that last bit. Thought it was only leaders.), if the model hits than it gets one of the markers.  At the beginning of the model's next activation, the enemy force looses two morale points and the marker is removed from the game.  Since the Teknes force had a morale of seven while the Goritsi had a morale of six, just those two markers could seriously hurt either side.

As for the gaming surface itself, I considered just spreading my new battlemat on the floor but I decided to go with the smaller tabletop first.  At 3' long it was just enough that I didn't have to adjust too much for the deployment zones and it let me wander around a little easier as I checked rules and stat cards.

Speaking of the game surface, another interesting thing about this game is how little terrain is called for.  After Antares where an open fire lane is a dead zone, WoK has very little ranged combat and even then the ranges are quite small so its not like you need to block LoS.  The official rules call for one to three pieces per player so I decided to split the difference and put down basically three pieces total; two small woods and some scattered walls like the remnants of a building.  Once that was done, I randomized the starting edges, deployed the troops, and rolled for initiative!

The game began with me accidentally reversing the initiative.  Teknes should been first but... oh well.  Instead the scourge hound raced forward to get into a better position, bringing along the nearby skirmisher in the process.

The first of the little pigs went next with three of the union workers moving forward but not sprinting. They didn't want to get too close to the Ravenscar without having an attack ready.

Of course the Ravenscar didn't have an issue with getting closer. Three of them sprinted forward and used their combat reflexes to maneuver behind the pigs.

Not the best plan as they quickly turned into a bacon sandwich as the boss charged forward with the rest of the pigs. Only one of the mercs died but still not a good place to be.

The Skorza alpha went next sprinting forward with his two werewolf brothers, heedless of the zaalak hiding in the bushes.

The zaalak which promptly burst forward and lashed out at the alpha, inflicting a single wound for its efforts.

The galvanic defender went next, moving forward and activating his galvanic feedback aura.

Meanwhile on the northern side of the board, the Ravenscar sergeant charged forward with the rest of his troops and attacked some of the union workers that now surrounded the rest of his troops.  Unfortunately their blows were casually knocked aside by the porcine brutes.

Three of the defender linemen moved next, positioning themselves between the approaching Skorza and the galvanic defender to take advantage of his galvanic feedback aura. (In hindsight this was somewhat pointless as the Skorza have no magical attacks but that's what happens when you are learning the game.)

Next shieldbreaker moved up, turning away from the linemen to get into position to attack the pigs next turn.

The last of the Teknes force moved up to beside the galvanic defender, just to keep the scourge hound from getting any ideas about flanking him.

Lastly lone Skorza on the northern side of the board charged forward to end the turn. She lashed out at one of the pigs but wasn't able to land a blow.

Initiative for turn two went to Teknes and the zaalak sprang into action, securing the intel it had stolen from the alpha before lashing out with it's tentacles to no effect. Then again, it already cost Goritsi two morale points with the info that it had taken so it had already served it's purpose.

The Ravenscar went next and the sergeant was able to down one of the pigs by himself but two other mercs only wounded another even with their combined strength.

The pigs responded by taking out one of the mercs and the sergeant to boot. This would be another two morale points gone unless that little piggy could be stopped!

The skirmisher looped around and attacked the offending pig but just couldn't land a killing blow.

The three linemen moved forward next to try to tie up the Skorza but in the end they only enraged it.  Slicing down not one but two of their number, the enraged wolf now had a clear path forward.

The last pig activated next, hacking into the mercenaries that were attacking him and dropping one in the process.

Finally in position, the shield breaker charged at the pigs but fell short of making contact with them... or so I thought. I later realized that I looked at the wrong card. His huge axe appropriately enough give him a 2 inch melee range but I looked at the card for the skirmisher who has to be in base contact. Whoops!

The galvanic defender went next, moving clear of the other Teknes troops to launch a magic attack at the shieldbreaker, piercing his armor and inflicting a wound in the process.

The scourge hound took advantage of the opening and charged forward, her blades flashing as she sliced into the galvanic defender who blocked her attack. The lineman controller than moved forward and slammed his hammer down into her, sending her crumpled form to the ground.

Goritsi won the initiative for turn three and the alpha rushed at the nearby cluster of troops, just barely falling short. The other two Skorza fared better on their movement but only one of them was able to dispatch their target.

The pigs went next, driven on by their boss. With most of them pain fueled now, they were able to down two more mercs and wound the other Skorza. This took the Goritsi morale to zero so this would be it after this turn.

 

The shieldbreaker broke away from the pigs he was engaging and launched himself at the boss, causing two wounds but still leaving him standing.

The lineman controller attacked next, supported by one of the linemen. Their Skorza target went flying back and landedd in a crumpled heap on the ground.

The lone Skorza by the pigs circled around to try to finish off the boss but wasn't able to land the killing blow.

The galvanic defender moved forward to launch another magic attack on the shieldbreaker but this time failed to have any effect on him.

The last Goritsi to left to activate was the only remaining mercenary.  His blades flashed through the air but ultimately he wasn't able to hurt the creature at all.

And to end the game, the zaalak charged at the alpha again, not doing any damage but perhaps instead slapping him like it was the end of a Three Stooges episode.  "Hey Moe! Hey Larry! You lost!"

Final Thoughts

Overall I enjoyed the game.  There was some back and forth as I was checking rules and such but for the most part it seemed pretty straigthforward.  I'd heard elsewhere that the constant card flipping bothered some but I didn't really see it as that much of problem.  The combat mechanic seems interesting enough with the different abilities and power modifying the results to create a new dynamic depending on who is attacking.

While I really enjoy the order die mechanic used in the various Warlord Games, Wrath of Kings still has a back and forth so there isn't a lot of down time you are contending with.  This can also be affected by losing a leader as that will limit how many units you can activate at once.  While not a big deal initially, once a side has moved all of their models they pass their turn.  At this point the opponent only has one more activation and then the turn ends so if you loose all your leaders early, you can effectively be caught with your pants down.

As for the two armies themselves, the Teknes were surprisingly tough.  In particular the union workers were really nasty.  They all have the ability of pain fueled which means that they basically go beserk once they are damaged.  This leaves you trying to take them out as quickly as possible because if you just have a bunch of wounded pigs, they are even more dangerous.

The Goritsi on the other had were almost delicate.  The Skorza werewolves are very fast and hit like a truck, but if you're not careful they will quickly go down.  The Ravenscars seem to be even more fragile but I wonder if part of the problem was their limited numbers and activations.  Looking over the unit cards, the Zeti war dancers might have faired better against the pigs because their leader can let you manipulate the damage chart, giving them a slight edge.

I will definitely try mixing things up a bit in the future to see how the different combinations out, plus I still have two more armies to put together.  Lots of options here and I'm glad that I've picked up as much as I have.  Until next time...

Not So Battle Report: Wrath of Kings

A few weeks ago I had posted about the Teknes and Goritsi forces that I had put together for Wrath of Kings by Cool Mini Or Not and I was planning to post the battle report for the game.  And the game did happen... kind of.

I wasn't able to play the game the weekend after that post but I had some time off later in the week so I tried to do it then.  The rules for WoK call for a 4' x 4' table which is standard for mini games but since I was using smaller forces I thought that I would just grab my 2' x 2' section and give it a go.  It didn't quite work so I ultimately decided to scrap the idea.  There were pictures but apparently I even deleted those since there wasn't much to show.

All of this could be taken as being a negative marks against WoK but its really not.  The way that deployment works in WoK is each unit has a band that it can be deployed in at the beginning of the game.  Mobile troops or supporting units are typically deployed closer to your own table edge than the more aggressive troops which makes sense so by reducing the table size so much it made the deployment zones almost a moot point.  It also virtually eliminated any maneuvering because there just wasn't any room to do anything.

Personally I chalk this up to a learning experience and I'll give it another go when I can break out the full board and do it right.  In the meantime, I did take advantage of a sale that Miniature Market is running and I was able to grab the rest of the core troops that I wanted for four of the five armies for one heck of a deal.  This sale goes through April 15th so if you have been considering checking out these minis you might want to head over and take a look.  As of yesterday they had really good stock levels on most everything that has currently been released for the game so this is a great opportunity if you want to get in for cheap.

That's all for now but I'll be dusting off my Bolt Action troops this weekend and heading to my LGS to get a game or two in.  It's been long enough that I'm basically going to be learning the game all over again but I'll see if I can get some pictures while I'm there.  Until next time...

Wrath of Kings: Teknes Patrol Force

I decided to take a break from working on my Antares miniatures and dug out my Wrath of Kings stuff.  This is a project that I'd started ages ago but it had just ground to a halt until recently in part because of the extra step to build base inserts to mount the minis.  This isn't difficult but is a little time consuming and messy but that said I now have two playable forces for a patrol game!  Huzzah!

Currently I own starters for four of the five factions in the game. For now I'm focusing on assembling my Goritisi and Teknes of which we are going to look at Teknes first.  Back when this game was first Kickstarted, I seriously considered jumping into it.  Most of the factions had something that caught my eye but I must admit that Teknes was probably my least favorite.  With their giant pig men and bizarre looking gnomish troops they just didn't do much for me.  When I decided to start getting more of the minis for the game they were the cheapest of the figures floating around on Amazon and since I wasn't looking to sink a ton of money into the game they fit the bill.

As I worked on assembling them and reading more of their fluff I actually found them pretty interesting.  Mechanically Teknes is supposed to have the most well rounded troops so in the end it just made sense to pick some up.  For my Teknes patrol force, I decided to field six union workers, four linemen backed up by one warsmith, a zaalak, and a galvanic defender led by a union boss and a lineman controller.  Which just leaves the question, "What the heck does all that mean?"

The defender linemen are the stock troops of the Teknes army and are pretty durable.  Equipped with greatswords, they have a chance to cleave through their enemy's defenses, they can rescue friendly models that are engage by swapping places with them, and they have a chance to launch a vicious counterattack.  They are lead by a lineman controller who has similar abilities but except he carries a massive hammer that knocks back the target of his attack.

Supporting the linemen is a warsmith, a trooper capable of smashing through her targets defenses but she can also offer some protection to friendly models or assist them to let them land a critical blow.

The other soldiers in the forces are the pig like union workers.  While these troops are easier to wound than the linemen, the workers can take more damage and become even more dangerous once they have been injured.  Driving them on with his whip and tongs is the union boss.  He make friendly models more effective in combat and he can also take his lash to the workers, damaging them while driving them into their pain fueled rage.

The last two choices for the army are the magical galvanic defender and the abomination known as the zaalak.  The defender is a mounted magic user who helps protect friendly troops while giving a measure of magical support.  He is also fairly durable and fast moving so he should be able to move to support the troops that need it most.  While the defender is fast, the zaalak is even more nimble with a higher move and the ability to ignore rough terrain.  It is more resilient that others in the list but once it is wounded it can potentially lash out one last time at all nearby enemies before it dies.

All but one of these are standard troops, leaders, and specialists right out of the Teknes army box.  This is a good force to start with but there is actually more in the army box; another six union workers, eight more linemen, another union boss and another lineman controller.  As you can see these army boxes actually come packed with a lot of figures though you do need to supplement your leader and specialist options for the larger games.  Even so its great to get a solid force just to start with.  As you might have noticed, the warsmith is one figure from this list which isn't from the starter; she is actually from a unit box that contains a total of eight warsmiths and one warsmith captain.  This is a little surprising since they overall seem to be more of a supporting unit so I would have expected them to be a specialist but I won't argue with CMON's decision to give me more for less.

It will be interesting to get these minis to the table.  The core rules of the game seem straightforward enough with the individual unit types have rules that tweak these in one way or another, kind of like a CCG with minis.  I can see how this would create a lot of strange and unique interactions that might be broken but the figures from the initial release have been errata'd to take care of these issues so I'm trying to focus on rounding out my troops with those minis.  The warsmiths are from the newer releases so they might be off but they don't seem to overpowered so I think they'll work well enough.

Next we'll take a look at the patrol force for Goritsi but that will come in my next post. In the meantime I'm also going to try to push these troops around the table as well so I can post some sort of a battle report after that.  Wish me luck!