Kings of War on the Home Front

Jim came round for what was to be his first game of Kings of War, and his first figure game in *cough, cough* years.  I set up my new home table - an ingenious combination of two Ikea coffee tables and some MDF - and two 2,000 point armies and we set too...

The arrays face one another

Not only a first run out for the table, but also a first run for my new scenery collection.  Just enough bits for a decent layout.  We rolled the invasion scenario and began to array our forces.  I guess Jim's played enough computer wargames to have some idea what to do, as his deployments were sensible enough.  I got first turn and began to advance my Dogs of War army against his Orcs.

Menfolk advance with conviction

By comparison, Jim was overly cautious at first, grasping that the pre-measuring allowed you to calculate charges and firing zones easily, but not that falling into the enemy's hands was inevitable and you needed to do so if you were to deliver your own attacks in force.  As a result in the first two or three turns he hung back when ploughing forward would've made better tactical sense.

Cavalry tempt the Orc hordes

But throughout the game luck generally favoured him, I particularly was rolling badly in attacks and ranged shooting, which meant I couldn't drive a wedge in his battle lines.

Simon and the Orc centre advance cautiously

Battle is joined, left and right

On my left Jim's first attack by his fleabag riders rolled away allied Ogre cavalry and gave me a real headache.  On the right I had to go for it and use all my remaining cavalry to try and smash through.

Goblins do their best against the knights

This led to a large general action as Jim began to bring up his reserves.  On my left Simon the giant added to the pressure by attacking my Ogre horde, whilst an Ogre captain put up a valiant last stand against the goblin cavalry.

Simon gets stuck in

The right flank eventually would go well for me, but it was proving too late in the game.  The job was a long and bloody one.

The knights try to break the Orc lines

A general melee ensues along the line

Finally Jim's centre joined the battle, allowing itself to be savagely flanked in the process.

An Orc mass is cornered

However my luck was still struggling offer me the results I deserved; well, in my opinion...

Orcs hold sway on my left, men hold sway to the right

Simon destroyed my ogres and the Orc horde in the centre was more than holding its' own.  I had to rush my general from the far side of the battlefield to attack them from behind.

Simon breaks through, as the Human general does too

This finally did the job, but time was running out.  The giant was into my artillery, ans last desperate attempts to bring him down came to naught.

By now it is a case of trying to hold ground

My cavalry were virtually unscathed, having obliterated the right flank, but only part of that force was able to make an appearance in the centre.  Dispatching the last of the Orc Morax regiments.  With that all the Orc rank and file were gone; but with his general, Simon and the fleabag riders still ravaging my rear lines, I was still in trouble.  It would depend on whether we had another round of battle or not.

Too many Orcs left in my territory

Jim rolled a three and the game ended on the sixth turn.  To my detriment; Jim's remaining forces were all sat in scoring zones of the battlefield, whilst mine were not.  Jim was declared victor.

Another good game, though with teaching the rules this was slower than previous games.  Also the annoyance of dealing with hundreds of individually based figures really got to me this game, and so a radical solution must be undertaken.

More on that another day...