The greenskins have finally made their tabletop debut, and they acquitted themselves with honor, grinding out a major victory against a Forces of Nature army led by Omata-San. I was forced to field a few unpainted miniatures, chiefly because Omata-San wanted to play a 1500 point game, and I had only been preparing a 1000 point force up until Friday. 1500 points is actually quite a decent sized force, probably equivalent to a 2000 point Warhammer army circa 6th edition.
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| My 1500 Orc Kings of War army. The Orclings (Snotlings) aren't part of the army, they were supposed to go in the 1000 point list. |
We played on Sunday 2 September at the Nerima club. We played the Push scenario out of the Clash of Kings 2018 supplement, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that my Orcs had been given a buff in this latest Kings of War supplement. Chariots had been given the Nimble rule, which meant that they could act much like fast cavalry. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I included an Orc Krudger (Hero) mounted on a Chariot in the extra 500 points I would be adding to my army. I also added a Regiment of 10 Gore Riders (Boar Boyz) and a Giant. My final army looked something like this:
1 Godspeaker (Orc Shaman)
1 Flagger (Orc Battle Standard Bearer)
1 Orc Krudger on Chariot (Orc Hero)
1 War Drum
40 Ax (Orcs with hand weapons and shield)
40 Greatax (Orcs with two-handed axes)
10 Gore Riders (Boar Boyz)
10 Skulks (Orc Arrer Boyz)
10 Skulks (Orc Arrer Boyz)
3 Trolls
1 Giant
Sadly, thanks to the short notice I was only able to splash the most rudimentary of paint jobs on my Chariot, Boar Boyz and Giant. Both the Chariot and the Boar Boyz are GW miniatures, while the Giant is from the Rising Sun boardgame.
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| My opponent, Omata-San's Forces of Nature army. I guess they're like Wood Elves mixed with Beastmen in Warhammer terms? |
When we deployed both armies it became clear that Omata-San had gone in for pimped out units with magic items. My horde army looked so much larger than his, thanks to the bigger base sizes and the fact that I eschewed all magic items in favor of more troops. Appearances were deceiving however, as he had two Hordes in his army, too. Horde units in Kings of War are powerful bulwarks that serve as an army's center. Having the highest Nerve out of all unit types they can hold for a long, long time frontally, and can dish out massive amounts of damage. Their large table footprint makes them vulnerable to flankers, however, and they also struggle with maneuvering, especially when the table starts to get crowded.
The first few turns were spent jockeying for position. I tried to flank the Nature forces on both flanks - the Boar Boyz made a wide sweeping approach on my right, while the Krudger Hero on the Chariot used his newly found Nimble skillz to get behind the leftmost edge of Omata-San's line. Both armies were almost completely devoid of shooting or offensive magic, which meant this battle was going to be all about maneuver. Omata-San had a lot of monsters in his army, and his plan was clear - he was going to line up a bunch of combined charges and try to break one of my Orc Hordes by simultaneous charging with two or three hard-hitting units. This would be made possible by my Horde's extremely wide frontage, as well as the high speed and mobility of the Nature forces. His Centaurs or Wyrmriders, supported by one or both of the Beasts of Nature he deployed in the right flank, appeared to be setting up a combined charge into the Orc line to try and break through my line.
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| My two Horde units hold the center, supported by a Flagger and War Drums behind. On the flanks my Skulks shield Trolls and Gore Riders from nasty charges. |
I couldn't permit this to happen, so I fractured his charges by pushing forward and sacrificing smaller units. The Horde unit can take on any unit and win as long as it doesn't get double or triple teamed. To avoid this scenario I pushed my Skulks forward to take a charge. They wouldn't survive, but that wasn't the point. There are no overruns in Kings of War, which meant that if they were charged and killed, the charging unit would then be in position for a retaliatory charge by the Boar Boyz. More importantly the Skulks were preventing a potential triple charge on my Horde unit. I also pushed up my Giant to within charge range of Omata-San's flying monster, but out of range of his Centaur cavalry unit. The Giant had a high Nerve value, and I was confident that he would tie up one unit for at least one turn even if charged, as long as it was by a single unit.
Omata-San, seeing that the frontal dog pile was no longer possible, postponed attacking the Horde units and told me that he would try to crush my right flank and sweep my line from that direction. My Skulks died as predicted, and his flying Beast of Nature smashed into my Giant but failed to rout or even waver the massive beast. On my left flank my Krudger on a Chariot was making one of his Horde units turn like a merry-go-round as it kept maneuvering around to its flanks, while his Hydra chewed through another unit of sacrificial Skulks. Only his Earth Elemental Horde unit, with its high Defense of 6+, advanced fearlessly towards my Orc Boyz.
On the following turn my Trolls charged the Hydra on the left flank, and my Boar Boyz attacked his Wyrmrider cavalry on the right. The Hydra shrugged off all the Troll's attacks, but the Boar Boyz routed and destroyed his Wyrmrider cavalry. The Earth Elementals and the Orc Boyz fought a titanic battle in the center, but neither could budge the other as their high Nerve values cancelled each other out. The Giant was able to beat back the flying Beast of Nature, but another Beast of Nature (of the non-flying variety) crashed into him and pulled him down.
Meanwhile, the Centaurs were rendered ineffective by the logjam in the middle. Without support Omata-San did not want to charge the Horde unit in its front, but could not position itself to charge the Boar Boyz chewing up the Wyrmrider cavalry. In the end it did the worst thing it could do, which was to dither in the middle while the Boar Boyz advanced from the right, and my second Orc Horde marched straight up the middle. The Centaurs were cornered, charged and destroyed. My Godspeaker (Shaman) finished off the flying Beast of Nature with a Fireball, and the non-flying Beast of Nature was sandwiched between my Boar Boyz and Orc Horde and annihilated, leaving us in control of the right flank.
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| Omata-San wanted to triple team my right Horde with Centaurs and two Beasts of Nature, but by pushing forward the Giant and the Skulks we broke up his planned assault. |
The left flank was all Omata-San's, as my Trolls proved completely ineffective at neutralizing the Hydra. It could have been worse, however, if my Krudger had not been able to distract Omata-San's Naiad Horde. My Chariot basically kept the Naiads out of the fight by virtue of simply riding around it. The Naiads kept turning to keep the Chariot to their front, and after three or four turns my Chariot suddenly peeled off and charged the rear of the Earth Elementals tied up in battle with my Orc Boyz in the center. This was decisive - the rear charge coupled with my Boyz to the front wiped out the Earth Elementals. To add insult to injury, the vengeful charge of Naiads failed to break the Chariot, and in its subsequent turn, it skipped away out of the Naiad's charge arc and escaped.
I was very happy with the performance of the Boyz. They are a completely different army to my Empire mounted force, but are equally satisfying to play. The Orc Hordes were tough as old boots, repulsing every attempt to dislodge them. They were never really tested, either - I never needed to use the re-roll from the Flagger (battle standard bearer) or the extra Nerve provided by the War Drums. I thought my Godspeaker (Shaman) was also a waste of points as he did nothing except finish off the wounded Beast of Nature, but after a postmortem with Omata-San I was told that the threat of the Fireball had a stifling effect on the movement of Omata-San's character, who spent most of the battle hiding to avoid him. Area denial can be just as effective as hurling green balls of flame. The same can be thought of my Skulks, who never fired an arrow in anger. Their role is to be sacrificial goats, protect flanks, or redirect charges. If they kill anyone it's a bonus. Plus their Vanguard move comes in handy because it immediately forces the opponent to react to them at the start of the game.
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| End of the battle. Both Hordes are intact, as are the Gore Riders. Only the Hydra and the Naiad Horde are left. The Naiads are still chasing their tail as my Krudger on a Chariot keeps riding to the flanks. |
The most important part of the day was that the Orcs have finally seen a game on the tabletop after two decades of being the forgotten "sons" of my Warhammer collection. I have five armies - Empire, High Elves, Dark Elves, Tomb Kings and Orcs - and I can now say I have played each one of them. Next month I hope to play another game with them - doubles if possible - and by then I'm hoping I'll be able to make more headway into painting them up as a finished force.
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