Vanguard Campaign, Chapter I: An Ominous Landfall

The storm battered the ship, throwing it about like as if the heavy timbers were nought but sticks on the surf. The crack and boom of thunder had grown from an occasional flare into a near continuous roar and the flashing strikes illuminated the foaming seas in frozen images. Somewhere on the starboard side the lights of hamlets on the coast were winking in and out of view as the heaving waves surged and waned.

As far as seafaring races go, Salamanders were considered by many as equals of the elder race of Elves, while they themselves held a more professional view of ardent competitors, if not truly able to contest the fair folk's mastery of the seas. Captain Stha'k held herself in high esteem mostly based on the fact that the amount of people able to offer reasonable counsel in matters related to running a vessel on the Infant Sea had steadily grown increasingly meager. The storm itself posed little threat to either her reputation or ability to survive, but combined with the unfamiliar shores so close at hand the buffeting winds were enough cause to concern.

"Captain, we need to make landfall ere dawn. We can't dawdle here!"

The leader of the company that went for cargo on this journey lumbered up the steep steps of the aft deck. Stha'k disliked the commanding tone of the officer and turned to face the other lizard with a resigned sigh.

"I hear you, Battle-Captain, but with this storm bearing down on us, you might get a swifter landing than even your impatience calls for."
"Can you put us to shore here, or can't you? We can't be seen here come morning."
"Listen, I'm well aware of the situation and we'll..."

The captain's attempt to placate the Battle-Captain was cut short by a sickening lurch and a crackling groan of timbers smashed on stone. She was thrown off her feet and barely managed to grab a hold of a railing instead of being simply washed over it by the sudden rush of water over the deck.

"Reef! We've hit a reef!", the ship's mate's roar rang over the splintering noise.

--

The morning came as a pale gleaming of a watery sun reaching through an iron-grey cover of clouds. It lit the sad wreckage of the proud ship tumbled over across the sandy beach. A single bejeweled eye of the smashed apart figurehead stared up at the Battle-Captain from a pool of water left behind by the receding tide. He looked about and counted three others. More had escaped on the boats launched before the ship was beaten apart on the rocks, but now they were nowhere to be seen.

"What now, Battle-Captain?", a Prime growled as she stopped next to the officer. He shrugged and shook his tail to clear some clinging sand, then stood up straight and rolled his broad, scaled shoulders and answered:"Food, water. A defensible campsite."
"Yes, sir."

--

Today we managed to get our campaign off to a start of sorts. As we're all new to this, we've still got a lot to take in as we go from game to game. Thus our rosters weren't quite up to date and we're still kicking the whole thing into gear.

All together four games took place between the warbands that had managed to drag themselves up the beaches of Greensway Isle. First the Basileans skirmished with the Salamanders over some vital supplies they both need in order to replenish their empty stores.

Empty stomachs make little of political alliances.

Despite their valiant attempts to drive off the Salamanders from the caches of supplies they had spotted amidst a rocky highland, the Bluecoats (who, sharing the same fate of being marooned after the storm as their reptilian adversaries, still hadn't found Sergeant Tiberian or other members of their company) took a severe beating and were forced to withdraw into the coastal woodlands.

Meanwhile the Abyssals, whose attention had been drawn to Greensway as they sensed the tension of the coming power struggle, tore a rift into the fabric of reality as they attempted to send their infernal legions to wreck havoc on the Isles. Their plans went awry, however, as the gathering of arcane energies required to punch the portal through to Greensway attracted a host of Nightstalkers, whose numbers over-taxed the portal rift and scattered both forces all over Greensway Isles. A local Necromancer, much to his distress, found this out the hard way as he was replenishing the ranks of his undead minions at a farmstead that been mysteriously ransacked the previous night.

A bloody struggle ensued and in the end the Abyssals fled one way, while the nearly destroyed Necromancer fled the other. 

Later that day the scattered forces of all factions clashed with each other whenever they ran into bands of opposing warriors. Finally only the Salamanders were able to secure a proper foothold on the island.

--

We played two games each, so four games, all at 75pts to get new players started with the rules without overly many models on the field. Next round will be at around 125 points, so a little bit more blood to spill while the warbands each.

Next time I think I'll write a proper battle report.

Cheers,

AoW

Pale banners flutter, a cold wind blows...

Cold are hands and hearts and bones,
Deprived of slumber under stones.*

A frigid wind blew outside the blasted castle walls as Tomlin huddled closer to the fire, turning the roasting meat over the red embers. The shattered panes of the windows did little to keep the cold out and there were deep dunes of powdery snow where the scars of some terrible battle had battered ragged holes through the sturdy walls. The once elegant hall now seemed cavernous, the fire in the cracked hearth creating the tiniest of solaces from the cold and the looming shadows.

They had come here, Tomlin and his erratic master, just before the first snows had descended from the North. Now it was more than a month since that dark, ominous day that had followed an arduous month's travel from the gentler climes of the coastal duchies of the Infant Sea. 

The master, to whom Tomlin still had no other name, had spent the first week digging through the bones of the castle, while Tomlin had mostly hunted the scrawny rabbits that counted as game in the barren hills that surrounded the ruins of the castle. There had been woodlands in those hills once, before whatever it had been that brought low the castle. 

He had wandered the halls of the keep at first, marvelling at the ruined splendour and the military might of whatever folk had dwelt here, until the growing feeling of unease had curtailed his curiosity. There was a dark past buried in the ruins, and it did not sleep easy. There was an unnerving hiss to the wind in the darkened corridors that rose and rose the deeper one walked, until it was a ghastly keening, like pained wails echoing down the ruined halls. Tomlin had since only stayed in the outer hall, despite the bitter cold.

He knew his master now spent most of his time in a partly collapsed shrine in the inner courtyard of the castle. There he had collected a variety of oddities he'd discovered while exploring the castle. A shield hewn in two, a sword with its blade snapped and various other things, scorched bones and personal items. The shrine was perhaps the worst part of the keep in Tomlin's opinion, as despite being relatively well preserved and thus safe from the moaning breeze, there was a brooding silence there that was more ominous than the muted screams of the wind in other parts of the castle

Something slept there, and Tomlin did not want to disturb that rest.

--

I started my Undead force by converting some Wights.

The overall mythos of the undead in Mantica is pretty unique and very interesting (and more than a little disturbing when you really think about it). Most fantasy universes treat the undead as sort of automatons, basically rotting meat robots or, if they're more advanced, bone robots. In Mantica the Undead aren't simply automatons even if they are bound to the will of the Necromancer, their very souls are called back into their decayed corpses, to bear unwilling witness to whatever nightmarish things they are commanded to do.

The Wights, however, are an exception to this. They come back willingly, to exact vengeance on those who still dare to feel the warmth of day after they have slipped beyond such pleasures. This will to evil imbues them with supernatural strength and magnifies their malice and I wanted to capture this thoroughly unholy aspect of them.

What would be a more fitting model to base this ghastly vision than Mantic's angelic warriors, the Elohi? I kitbashed them with some bits from the Vanguard Kickstarter, and cut out some plasticard for the cloaks both to give the models a more dynamic look and to cover the wing mountings on their backs. Add a little battle damage and wear to the armor and it started to look pretty good in my view.

I like to work on plasticard for large pieces of cloth, as it, in my view, yields itself better than greenstuff to achieving the fluidity of fluttering cloth. It takes a bit of practice to get the folding process right, as it takes some really hot air to heat the plasticard to the point where it goes soft and that point is only a notch lower than the point when it starts catching fire, which I typically do not want. At any rate, my banners and cloaks are made from plasticard, cut to shape and folded and refolded and re-refolded after heating.

For this army I wanted to make the most of the opportunities presented by multibasing. The overall theme is a ruined castle on a cold winter, so I would be using snow flock for the first time. To achieve my goal in making the bases look as much a part of the unit as the miniatures, I set some guidelines for myself to follow:

1. Ground is rarely even, so my bases can't be, either.

This means both height and angle. If everything is in right angles, it will start looking off very quickly. Even muddied ground has hills and is often sloping in some direction. This means using wood filler to add shapes to the base so that it looks more natural. Also works great for making snow drifts!

2. The miniatures have to interact with the base.

That means a model descending a staircase needs to be positioned so that it looks like its walking down (feet angled right, center of mass slightly forward, etc), they have to leave footprints in snow and so on. Planning is key here, and making sure I look at the miniatures before I make the base, but also that the base has to be made to nearly complete before I can start assembling miniatures. It wouldn't be far off the mark to say that the miniatures should be made to fit the base if you want them to look natural, not the other way around

3. Avoid overhang.

With individually based minis it's normal to have some overhang as the models, especially those more dynamically posed, tend to reach over the base. With multibasing this isn't really necessary, and for ease in gaming I'm going to try making units that actually fit on their base. That also puts the emphasis on planning and positioning, because I also want to make my units look full.

4. All materials need to be painted.

Some people just chug a rock on a base as it is, but to me this looks very much off. Natural textures don't mix well with painted stuff, and can actually break the sense of immersion quite easily. Thus I tend to rather find something that looks like stone than actual stone as actual stone has a) the wrong grain size and looks off and b) makes paint look more painty and less an artistic impression of what things look like.

A few things I noted as I worked on the snow flock were firstly that it needs a blueish color under it in order to look snowy white and secondly that it needs something under it to give it the heft that snow drifts often have. Snow tends to clump and build up in places instead of forming an even cover (unless there's a lot of it), so that on a windy courtyard you would probably have some deep banks of snow instead of a little snow sprinkled evenly. Fresh snow in subzero temperatures is like very, very fine sand and it forms dunes and gets blow across surfaces, so to make it look realistic I felt like I needed to make it puffy. Snow flock on glue doesn't really do "puffy", so I used wood filler to give the drifts the feel I wanted them to have.

I found a nice tutorial for making icicles out of the clear plastic stems of flight stands and it really worked admirably: just hold the stem over a candle with two pliers and slowly stretch it until it gets really thin. Works like magic.

Also a very nice use for the plastic bases one gets with Mantic miniatures is to use them as stone slabs on bases. They make sturdy walls and stairs as they can be securely glued with plastic glue.

---

Tomlin disliked his daily trek through the ruined castle immensely, yet the Master was paying him handsomely to keep him fed while he did whatever crazy people do in derelict castles. The gold was barely enough to make Tomlin heed to his daily task, but, as every day before this one, Tomlin once again made his way reluctantly to the shrine.

He clawed at the shrine's door and managed to drag it open, sweeping aside the drift of snow the howling wind had piled against the battered door. Once inside, Tomlin pulled the heavy door closed behind him and stamped his feet.

Casting back his hood he looked about the round chamber. Here the windows were intact enough to keep the wind out, but there were powdery snowflakes suspended in a slow dance in the air by silent drafts. There were old tombs in the floor, marked by massive slabs of black marble, set in an almost full circle, broken only by the shorts steps opposite the door Tomlin had just entered by. The steps went down ten long steps until they ended in two stony doors inscribed with some arcane runes.

"Master?", Tomlin called out in a hoarse whisper that echoed in the cold chamber.
"Over here, lad. What have you got for me today?"

The man was huddled in heavy cloaks in one of the four alcoves that ringed the chamber. He had a large, leather bound book whose covers were deeply stained and scored in his lap and half a dozen candles illuminating his bent form as he pored over the pages of the old tome.

"Just a rabbit, sir."
"Splendid, just leave it there and go."

Tomlin was more than happy to oblige him, casting one final look about the room.

There was an old, faded banner strewn across the center of the room, while broken down sets of armor had been lain on the tombstones. An aged helm, it's once bright crimson crest faded to pale shades shades, had been placed in front of the stone doors barring the way down the wide stairs.

"Master?"

The was a moment of silence, conveying annoyance with Tomlin's continued interference. And then, a resigned sigh:"Yes, Tomlin?"
"How long will we be staying here?"
"Not much longer, I'm sure. I'll come and meet you tonight, we'll talk then and make our plans."

The master made a dismissive motion with a thin, claw-like hand extending from the folds of his cloak. Tomlin hurried off into the gathering dark.

I want my undead to look like they're unreal, ghosts clad in ancient armor. For my Wights I used the Elohi swords and gave them a green ghostly flame look, a little darker than the shade I gave to other non-metal parts of the models. I think it can pretty plausibly count for CS (3), with the "fluff" of it being that the blade doesn't really exist at all, but it cleaves through the spirit of other beings with deadly ease. The most difficult part of the whole project was to get the Elohi models to walk down stairs, but luckily I've practiced heat bending restic enough that I managed to pull it off to my satisfaction.

This is where restic, despite its shortcomings, really shows it's excellence as a material for conversions. It's hard enough to hold crisp detail and to withstand some working (such as drilling for pinning, sawing off bits etc), while the heat bending really creates immense opportunities for re-positioning and re-posing miniatures. Most other forms of plastic (and metal) are very limited in terms of how much you can actually work on the pose the miniature comes in, while with these Wights I took them from a wide, defensive stance to a lot more dynamic walking pose with relative ease. If you've ever tried to re-position the foot of a hard plastic miniature so that it contacts the ground in a more natural angle, you know how much of a chore that can be. Most miniatures simply cannot be bent that way. With restic it takes ten seconds. If there's a call for it, I could do a post about repositioning restic with hot water.

For the whole army I am going to go with a relatively common metal & ghosts-look, meaning that everything aside from the metal armor and weapons will be, as a rule, painted a green hued grey. The armor of all units will be dark bronze in color, with some cloaks, plumes and banners painted a faded purple to give the army a little more variety to its look.

The scheme is super quick to paint as it relies heavily on washes and drybrushed metals for highlights.
--

The hour was late, very late, and Tomlin was worried.

He paced back and forth in the hall where he had slept these previous weeks, blade in hand, peering out of the two doorways. The vaulted hallways were dark and empty. The wind had died down soon after Tomlin left his master and now a brooding silence held the castle ruins in its grasp.

He decided, after a long debate with himself, to go and talk with his master. Just to check if everything was in order, Tomlin told himself. 

The castle was even more eerie with the moaning wind gone, and Tomlin walked briskly, looking neither left nor right. The walls seemed to close in behind him, an icy tomb of a fortress, the dead lords of which did not wish his presence. What people had lived here, and why did they leave behind such a malicious presence? Tomlin tried to avert his thoughts and lifted his lantern higher, trudging on.

At last he came to the tumbled remains of the inner courtyard, and laid eyes on the shrine again. He hurried forth and drew open the door. It opened without so much as a creak. Tomlin sneaked in and closed the door.

His master was standing in the middle of the room, holding the tome in front of him and muttering to himself, apparently completely oblivious to Tomlin's entry. There were candles placed in a wide circle around the shrine, their flames standing still in the quiet, surrounding dark. Something in the odd scene made Tomlin hold his breath.

"Yes, yes, it's all here.

Your valiance, your virtue.
Strong you were, in life.
A sword against the taint that seeks to wash over the world.

Admirable qualities, all,
yes, very admirable,
But also fooolish.

You were valiant,
yet not impervious.
You were virtuous,
yet not incorruptible.

You took more to your graves than virtue."

The old man flipped through the pages of the tome, searching, searching. Suddenly he cried out, his voice rising:

"Here it is!

Your valiance was your undoing,
and your virtue did not save you or those you sought to protect.
You failed,
Your order failed,
And now your rest is troubled.

Guilt I sense,
and regret, yes.
Two sides of a heavy cloak you could not shed,
When you went beyond.

These are the hooks with which I will fish you out from the river of death.

Deep have you sunk,
yet long is my reach.

By Oskan I call thee, Knights of yore,
come, come!
By Garkhan I call thee, O fallen Lords!
Come, come!"

Tomlin pressed his hands over his ears, but the voice pierced him regardless. There was a faint green glow, growing, rising from beneath the tombstones on the floor.

"I bind you by the Lies of the Father,
Rise!

I bind you by the Fall of the Son,
Rise!

From Durunjak's cold gates I release thee,
Rise!"

And rise they did.

I wanted my Wights to have a feel akin to Tolkien's Barrow-wights, envious of the living and somehow repulsive, while also having an aura of terror similar to the ring wraiths. Thus, mine are clad in decayed armor to give shape to their nothingness, wielding blades that are, more than actual blades of steel, the memory of  blades they once swung in life, tempered by the cold deeps of death and woken to ghostly flames by the sheer hate of their masters.

For the non-ghostly fabrics I did a three shade purple from dark to light. This, however, lead to too bright a color, so I gave the fabrics a blue wash, followed by a light grey drybrush for highlights and a faded look, and then a final white highlight for edges and to add a little texture.

In the end I'm fairly happy with how the Wights turned out, and now I'm eagerly awaiting my order from Mantic so that I can get to work on the rest of my army.

--

Behind Tomlin the ruined castle was bathed in an unholy glow as ghostly towers rose above their tumbled down foundations, their former glory transmuted into menacing forms by unholy incantations. The sound of a mighty host assembling echoed from the surrounding hills.

A pale, torn banner could be seen, flying high above the towers. Upon it was a single, white rune.

Tomlin kicked his steed and hurried down the unbroken snow that covered the road.

Kings of War army exposition I: Basileans

Greetings,

in this post I will present my Basilean army thoroughly unit by unit as well as give a brief depiction of the process of building this army.

My first ever army for a miniature wargame was High Elves for GeeDubs' 6th Edition Warhammer. That army never took flight with all the missteps of inexperience and lack of motivation. I swapped to Lizardmen and then to Orcs and Goblins and KoW caught me some five years into collecting my Orcs. I ported my Orcs into KoW relatively quickly and painted a few units more, but I started to get the feeling that what I reeeaally wanted to do was to build an army that would be Kings of War through and through and after years spent on lizards and greenskins, the idea of a cohesive, well-ordered army felt like a veeeeery alluring idea. Thus, I settled on Basileans.

I liked the feel of the army, with fast elite units and the knight-in-a-shining-armor aesthetic, which is very different from both Lizards and Orcs. Basileans are the Good guy humans, deeply religious and the heir presumptive to the vacant throne of Primovantor, the fallen human empire. They combine the Byzantine Empire with the Vatican at the height of papal power and I found this alluring not because I would be religious myself but because the "flaw" of being too good is kind of cool. They are not the heroes the humans of Mantica deserve, not perhaps even the heroes they need right now, but they're the only heroes they've got.

Mantic has done a good job with the fluff of Basilea and their holier-than-thou politics bring an interesting story element to the game, making it a little more "real" than it would be were it just a 'purely' good army.

For me the fluff and the story of an army is important, both on a general level and on the scale of the units that I field and so I tend to delve into the fluff quite a bit. The mythos behind Basilea is deeply connected with the Shining Ones; the distorted beings that survived the shattering of the Fenulian Mirror (an Elven artifact). They're not exactly good as we might understand it, they're not the altruistic, benevolent overseers of the world, but rather incomplete halves of a broken apart whole and as such their view of what "good" is, is more moralistic and bound to form over function. But they're the best the world of Mantica has left. Again, not the gods they'd deserve, but the ones they have to make do with.

It is with their help that the armies of Basilea keep at bay all sorts of devilries from demons to orcs to the undead and it is in their name that the forces of Basilea enforce the laws of the shining ones over the rest of the Successor Kingdoms whenever they can. The other human nations despise Basileans lording over them, envy their growing strength and rarely dare to turn their backs to the Hegemon's orders.

This might, this power barely (if at all) concealed was what I wanted to capture with my army. I wanted it to be a human army, not just Elohi and Phoenixes. I wanted to show the might of Men and this is what I came up with.


Grand army of the Exarch

Given over to the command of High Paladin Belisarian Artaxos, the Grand Army is the iron fist with which the Hegemony secures its interests. Protecting the Northern borders of the Hegemony, the army has spent years fighting in the name of the Shining Ones, tempered by strife and death. It takes a strong foe indeed to stand up to the might of men when their hand is further strengthened by the might of the Elohi and the twin Phoenixes, Aethon and Caladrius.

At a comfortable threethousand-and-something points, I am far from calling the army "done", but perhaps done enough for me to pick up other projects alongside it. Started in late 2016, it took around a year to reach 1500 points painted and about as much to get over 3k. The first half was way more active as that was when I painted up most of the infantry and knights and thus the "other 1500" points was much less intensive painting-wise, although I had some immense fun modelling stuff.

Order of Justice Ascendant - Paladin Knights & Footguard

It is the rolling thunder and the snapping of banners, drowned by the roar "Shining Ones will it!" that has won the field in many a battle. Few are able to stand against the determined might of these holy warriors, schooled in both the sword and the quill to make men that are unconquerable by greed, hate or blade.

The look and feel of Mantic's paladins is spot on for what I want them to be; knights with a clear "fantasy" feel to them without being over done as miniatures. The models, although requiring some cleaning and hot water treatment are pretty crisp in detail without being overly busy and the mixture of cloth, plate armor and decorative detail is just what I was looking for.

Game-wise these guys are often the workhorse (pun intended) of my army. They punch hard, take a lot to bring down with their high Nerve, Iron Resolve and Def 5+. Speed 8 isn't a flyer, but it's enough to make it difficult to hid from them. My favourite size for Basilean knights is troop, mostly because it's very, very versatile. Ignore it and it gets a flank and suddenly it's a regiment, while taking it out will take more than just light shooting. Regiments are probably better, but the troops are just cool. That's why I based mine on troop bases so that the horde breaks down to regiments the regiments into troops.

Implacable as the dawn, the Footguard dismount to fight side by side with the Men-at-arms. Neither immortal as the Elohi that soar above the battlefield, nor blessed with inhuman strength, the Order of Justice Ascendant stands as a guardian in a deepening night, a beacon of example to show others that willingness to sacrifice is the key to victory.

There's just something cool about on foot knights, isn't there? I like the models, although I haven't had a lot of opportunities to field the unit yet. Many people seem sold on them, so they have to pretty good, right? Personally I just think they're cool miniatures with the plate armor and the robes. And the prayer books on chains on all of them are a nice touch. I could see them being useful both as troops and regiments, as infantry troops are, in some builds, good for table control behind the main line.

Sisters of the Priory of St. Artemisia - Sisterhood infantry and Panther Lancers

The Priory of St. Artemisia is a remote bastion of the faithful, deep in the craggy woodlands of the Northern Provinces. The sisters keep a close watch on everything that goes for miles around their sanctuary and often accompany the Exarch's army as both outriders and infantry in the strength of the Exarch's lines. Shunning the flails seen on the warriors of other sisterhoods, the Sisters of the Priory of St. Artemisia march to war with heavy blades or ride far ahead of the army astride panthers wielding long-bladed spears.

I like the sisterhood in terms of the feel of the models. They're lightly armored and their clothing looks practical, which is, sadly, rare when it comes to females of a fantasy range. There's nothing wrong with emphasizing gendered body types in my view, like giving some extra bust because the miniatures are really small and if you want to make an emphatically feminine miniature you're bound to have to exaggerate a bit. However, call me a progressive idiot, but I kind of dislike the chainmail bikini-look most fantasy miniatures have when the sculptors want to make them look like women.

--

Taking a brief break here to explain my opinion on this:

Fantasy can be fantasy, and in fantasy games it's okay for a person to run off into combat stark naked. It's also okay to for said warrior to have breasts and other typically feminine body parts and to show them bared on the miniature. However, it's always nice when a company manages to make female warriors that look reasonable in terms of gear.

Reasonable gear, in my personal opinion, includes things like:

- armor on torso, especially the soft parts like stomach that's usually one of the favourite parts of murderous enemies to target
- clothing that protects wearer from elements such as temperature below modern day room temperature and rainfall
- shoes that can be worn when travelling on a downward slope steeper than 10 degrees or other non-completely flat and hard surfaces
- plate armor that does not have dual convex portions on it to guide glancing arrows, bullets or blades inwards to the middle of the chest of the wearer

---

I & II Cohorts, I Crossbow Regiment and the Arbalest Auxiliaries

The Hegemony's Finest, the Men-at-arms form the backbone of the Exarch's Army. Through drilling and the leadership of both the High Paladin and the religious orders fighting side by side with them these soldiers are the shield that keeps the forces of Evil at bay. It is by their blood and sacrifice that the lands of other's are kept safe. "Faith and Honor" rings out their battle cry as spears descend into a wall of blades.

One of the main things with making a human army for me was the idea of making an orderly army. An army that looks drilled and disciplined and that starts with rank upon rank of infantry. For my Men-at-arms I went with Mantic's ill-reputed 2013 hard plastics in a "hold my beer"-sort of a stunt. I figured that any yokel can whip up decent armies with miniatures that exceed their skills as a painter, so I decided to challenge myself with a kit I knew was going to be difficult. Turns out, on table top the lads look just fine.

Men-at-arms fill the role of anvils in the Basilean army and they excel at it. Good Nerve backed by copious Inspiring and Iron Resolve means that trying to grind a path through a horde of phalanx infantry will usually take too long. Throw in a Banechant or the Brew of Strength and suddenly the spears become an anvil that punches back. The only problem is that these guys aren't cheap as they pay premium for their improved capabilities when compared to their KoM counterparts.

Many people seem to be of the opinion that Basileans don't really shoot and I think they're half-way right. The shooters in the army aren't top-notch in terms of their ability to deal damage, but they're decent choices nonetheless. The Crossbowmen are good because they're not very expensive and because they're surprisingly difficult to budge. Def 4+ and good Nerve means that they're a little different from your usual shooty unit.

It is, however, the Heavy Arbalests where Basileans really shine in my opinion. Sure, it's basically a slightly tougher Ballista from KoM, but the difference in Nerve and Iron Resolve again means that these aren't as easy to remove as one might think, and if you really look at them, they're decent engines. Only 65 points, high Piercing, good range and good Blast! all mean that lining two of these down a clear portion of the battlefield is actually a real danger. The units work, in my view, both as deterrents and as psychological threats in the sense that when you have these covering a part of the field, your opponent has to form an answer to the question "What if those two get good hits?".

Many people get stuck with their average damage, which is around one damage a turn (on average), when the reality is that most opponents really feel pressured when they have to choose to ignore them. That's when mistakes get made.



The Mighty Birds of Flame, Aethon and Caladrius.

The teeming masses of the enemy mill and crash against the lines of the Men-at-arms, almost boiling over the thin, blue line. Then comes the sound of mighty wing beating, and a blaze of destruction rises amidst the lines of the enemy, a pillar of fire rising in the wake of the Phoenixes gliding low over the enemy. A cry rises, first one and then answered by the other, rising from a low roar to a piercing screech that bursts ear drums.

It is many a soldier in the Exarch's Army that has been called back from the gates of death by the gentle touch of Caladrius's wing and many a broken body has been mended by the fierce fire that burns in the heart of Aethon, the Bird of Fire.

To me the Phoenixes are the ultimate symbols of hope in a broken world, a promise of things to come and a solace from a rising tide of darkness and horror. I wanted to capture the duality of fire and healing in the models, and thus one is calling up flames to devour the enemy while the other will (once I finish the base) be more of a benevolent creature.

I really like the Phoenix on the field, as it is an immense support that can, as a last ditch effort, deal some damage in combat too. There's something almost unfair in pairing them up to bring Paladin Knights back to life from the brink of death.

Angels of Retribution and Apollyon, the Angel of Destruction

Diving down from Mount Kolosu, the Elohi are the armored heralds of the Shining Ones. Where some fly on white wings as messengers of hope, the Angels of Retribution strike down from stormy clouds on dark grey wings as champions of furious vengeance. The soldiers in the Exarch's  army offer these beings no prayers, for they know that it is unwise to draw their attention. Strange and violent fates are bestowed to those who dare to deal with these angelic avengers and so a cheering roar on the battlefield is the preferred mode of worship.

The din of battle subsides and an eerie, otherworldly silence falls, muffling even the screams of the dying. Suddenly a heavenly flame leaps forth from the darkened skies, shaped like a mighty blade cleaving and the red-glaring rays of sunlight punch through the stormy clouds, bathing the golden figure with a bloody light. 

Alas that these days should be yours, O unhappy foe, for Apollyon has come.

The end is here.

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More to come!

Vanguard Warband: Sergeant Tiberian's Bluecoats

Greetings!

In this post I will quickly go through a part of my warband for the upcoming campaign that I am running. The previous post laid out some backstory for the campaign and gave a short introduction to the Greensway Isles (a location completely fabricated by yours truly) and now it's time to introduce some of the warriors accompanying the rather somber veteran sergeant that the Hegemony is sending to retrieve the stolen cargo (whatever it may be).

Veteran Sergeant Cassius Tiberian

Stone-faced and utterly dedicated to carrying out his orders, Sergeant Tiberian is not a man one would describe as the most compassionate of believers. Although highly religious, as is common among the low-born of the City of the Golden Horn, Tiberian's approach to life is nonetheless pragmatic and matter-of-fact. These qualities make him a man often called in to clean up the messes of those higher up. If the Hegemon needs sergeant Tiberian's blade in the sewers under a brothel in order to extricate a certain bishop's personal relics from said establishment, Cassius Tiberian shall be the last to ask why.

Brother Marcus, Paladin Defender

A sworn brother of the Sacred Silence, Brother Marcus is a stoic veteran of the recent wars against the marauding abyssals. Rumor has it that he was captured momentarily by the devils and that his tongue was cut out before he could escape. No one knows whether the rumor holds true, or if the Brother holds silent of his own volition.

Veteran Sister Drusilia

Quick to laugh and naturally gregarious, Sister Drusilia has been with the Bluecoats since she was released from the priory of the Modest Maiden after being taken to task for muttering profanities during prayer for the 38th time. Regardless of her foul mouth, her forthright manner has pried many secrets from loose tongues and won the Bluecoats out of almost as many a trouble as her flail has.

Sisters Artemisia and Actaena

Though the youngest of the Bluecoats, the twin sisters have earned their keep as tireless scouts, often ranging ahead without rest while the rest of the company is marching up behind. Despite their young age they recoil from no danger and they both bear an impressive array of battle scars, worn with the pride of young warriors.

Mistfang

Trusted companion to the twin hunters, Mistfang is a ferocious beast indeed. Neither eager to please nor patient, she is not the easiest of creatures to deal with for the other members of the company, but her sharp senses and claws have earned her the respect of the others. Once a battle is joined, Mistfang's feline instincts often drive her to protect even the less-esteemed members of the company.

Scipio, Gaius and Titus

It is not always easy to appreciate the honor of being chosen to serve in the Bluecoats, as the missions tend towards the more peculiar (which is to say deadly) type. The Hegemon's Finest, however, are always at the disposal of a Veteran Sergeant in need. Thus it is that these brave warriors find themselves on the rain-washed docks, boarding a vessel in the early-morning gloom. Join the Army, they said...

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More additions to come!

Kings of War: Vanguard - A story driven campaing

Brewing trouble

The heavy rain outside had faltered to a spattering of drops, cast about by the gusting winds and the hour was either very early or very, very late.

For Aldovius it was the latter and he suppressed a yawn as he twisted the elegant goblet in his hand, sending the crimson fluid within spiraling in lazy swirls. The evening had been one of negotiations masked as merry-making and the night had been more of the same, only with less of the mask and more of the actual business. It was a mare’s nest, and he was the one chosen to set it straight.

Aldovius looked up from the dark lacquered wood of the sturdy table in front of him when he heard the knock on the twin doors of his private chambers. Two sharp blows, too indiscreet to be servants, too inelegantly obvious to be any of his well-mannered associates.

“Enter”, his voice was a smoky rasp, burned with drink and loud conversation.

The doors parted and closed again, admitting a man of perhaps two score years, bearing both the armor and the colors of a Basilean veteran sergeant. He moved with the easy gait of a man-at-arms and his grey eyes showed neither the gleam of greed nor the vacuity of faith as he met Aldovious’s tired gaze. Aldovius supressed a shudder.

He hated soldiers.

“Good day, Lord Trader”, the man spoke as he crossed the room to the table. Aldovius grunted a response and motioned him towards a chair.

“Thank you for the kindness, Lord Trader, but the Lauds are not yet over and this night’s watch must stand. I am sure you understand.”

Aldovius shrugged, neither understanding nor caring to be enlightened, and pushed a goblet towards the man across the table. Foolishness, all of this. Had the ship taken by the pirates not carried a shipment for his Holiness the Hegemon of Basilea, he could have avoided this inconvenience altogether. The armies and the navies of the Hegemon were excellent at keeping the seas open to trade but the soldiers themselves were often stiffnecked and always a chore to work with. Too many questions, too many rules and far too many interruptions to trade.

The man took the cup with the barest of inclinations of his head and took a sip. “So, Lord Trader, might I enquire as to why I am here and why my company is hurried to the docks at this early hour?”

“I requested the aid of the Holy Armies because of a… complication regarding a certain shipment entrusted to our House. The Shimmering Pearl, the ship carrying valuable cargo for His Holiness was captured off the Greensway Isles and is now, presumably, held somewhere on the coast of the isles. The cargo must be returned and as it is of military importance, your involvement is required by contract.”

“Greensway, you say? That’s a seclusionist area.”

Ah, seclusionists. The nice word these Hegemony bastards use for the lands that would rather govern themselves. Aldovius shrugged in a display of indifference, a gesture met with furrowing brows on behalf of the Basilean soldier.

“So what is this cargo we are looking for? I presume you are well acquainted with the rates we charge for salvage operations and the consequences of our taking a hand in your business.”

Indeed he was. If these holier-than-thou thugs managed to secure the cargo, Aldovius would be practically done for as a Trade. The contract terms would see to that. He also knew that if he did not abide to the contract with the Hegemony and involve them in their missing shipment, he would, instead, be done for as a living person through ways that made his bowels turn to water.

“Yes, yes of course. The cargo is rather... private. So much so, in fact, that I myself am unaware of the precise nature of this delivery. All I can say is that it was… substantial.”

“Any contacts, friendly ports or so?”
“As you said, the isles are fiercely independent so I’m afraid I cannot help you with those.”

The soldier gave him a flat look.

“So a hostile area, with a mystery cargo missing. You know this will cut severely into your rates, Lord Trader.”

“Of course, of course. I have arranged for your passage to the isles aboard a trustworthy fellow, Baines by name. He says his crew is ready to sail.”

The soldier did not bow as he turned and left.

Aldovius took a heavy, inelegant swig from the elegant cup, draining the fine vintage. He gulped it down, paying little heed to the exquisite aromas. The contract had seemed too good to be true, and it was looking like indeed it had been and that was precisely why he had spent much of the previous evening and the entire night buying the services of every last adventurer, would-be hero and sinister thug he could scrape from this barrel bottom of a port. If it so happened that the cargo was returned by a bunch of corsairing adventurers before the Basileans could secure it, Aldovius could dismiss the whole business.

He would not give these pious tyrants the pleasure of seeing his house brought under the Hegemon’s light and that was why, at that very moment, other ships were already en route and well under way towards the Isles.

The die had been cast and now all he could do was wait and see how they’d fall.

A slow realization smoothed the lines on Aldovius’s face in the silence of the room. There was, in fact, something he could do.

He could drink, heavily, while he waited.

The chink of the charafe on the cup was soothing.

Aldovius closed his eyes listened to the rain.

--

Greensway Isles are two lush island surrounded by a veritable archipelago of lesser domains. They are both ruled over by the Duchess of Greensway, who is in turn ruled over by the trader council, at least in practice if not in name.

The isles, once a part of gentle highlands near the glory of Primovantor, are now a rich holding in deed, grown fat by both trade and industry. Ore from the steep mountain ridges of Greensway Isle is smelted and refined and worked into bright steel blades or sturdy armor and the vineyards yield excellent vintages almost as a rule. Many ships put into port at Trader's Town to fill their holds despite the pirate threat of the unclaimed seas surrounding Greensway.

The traders have done little to discourage the pirates, trusting their that their profits will flow fatter if they don't bother their trading partners with inconvenient taxes that would be required to fit and maintain a navy. Some say the traders themselves are responsible for the acts of piracy, for the prizes claimed are often of the rarest quality.

The Isles are also home to a myriad of old ruins, ancient vaults and standing stones of mystical powers and the island folk are used to strange occurrences. Ghosts and fey lights are seen sometimes, as well as the occasional goblin tribe that comes down from the mountains. Unlike the overlooked pirates, the Traders have long since armed a sturdy militia to take in hand the oddities of the islands as well as dampening the eagerness of the Hegemony of Basilea to consolidate its hold on the Isles.

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I'm throwing together a Vanguard campaing here in Finland and I aim to use this blog to shape out the stories of the warbands. Perhaps I'll even have the luxury of entertaining a guest writer!

Stay tuned!

AoW

Core Concepts III - The Turn

Greetings!

In this post I will go through the different phases of the turn and briefly summarize what goes on in each of them and what common misconceptions new-comers might face.

In Kings of War the turns follow a strict "IGO-UGO"-principle, meaning that during your turn, you are the only player rolling dice and moving units and the same goes for the opponent as well.

This philosophy leads some new-comers to shake their heads as they aren't allowed to roll Nerve checks or take reactive actions. This is done in order to keep the game flowing smoothly with zero interference from switching from one active player to the other. While it may feel even claustrophobic at first, the principle leads to very smooth mechanics that don't bog the game down with multiple reactionary decisions. It may not sound like much, but in a larger game a phase that requires the players to switch back and forth multiple times (picking up dice, choosing reactions, moving units that might flee etc.) is notably slower than it is in Kings of War.

Turns consist of three phases; movement, shooting and melee. The names are relatively self-explanatory as to what happens when.

Movement phase

Movement phase is the phase in which all ordinary movement takes place. It is, in my view, the most important phase of the game as victory or loss usually depends on your ability to have your units in the right places at the right times. A combat unit out of place cannot charge and thus is useless, and a shooting unit that can't see anyone diminish in efficiency as they have to move excessively and can't focus on their job. This is the phase in which you make sure that your units can do what you need them to do, so make sure you use enough time when you consider your moves.

Units are given orders one at a time (unless you have multiple units charging the same facing of an enemy unit) and each unit completes their move from start to finish before moving to the next unit. This is important to remember: a unit must complete its entire move before another unit may be moved, so you can't scooch a little to allow another unit to pass by and then continue moving.

Plan your movement phases before you start moving units, because the order sometimes makes a difference!

Your own units can move through each other (except when charging, you can't go running willy-nilly through your own units unless they're Yielding), so movement is slightly easier than in WHFB in that sense. It's best not to lull yourself into a false sense of ease, however, as often your units can't cover the distance all the way over your own units, or the move would take them too far and at risk from enemy units. Again, planning is key in movement, especially in the first few turns of the game (before those insidious dice rolls can mess with your plans).

WHFB-veterans should note that in Kings of War there are no sub-phases, which is to say that you are allowed to declare charges at every point during the phase.

My advice for a starter: start with the clear-cut moves and leave the important units for later, so that you have a clearer view of the board when you get to moving those units in trickier situations.

When you feel like you're ready to move on to the Shooting phase take a minute to go through every unit you have on the board and make sure you've moved everyone you want to move. This is simply to reduce the number of "Oh shit, I forgot to move that unit"-moments.

Once you've done that, move on to the shooting phase.

Shooting phase

Kings of War rolls shooting and magic into a single phase. That means that every spell, fire-breathing dragon, shotgun and noises loud enough to do damage are used in this phase.

A unit that has at least one weapon or spell is allowed to make one shooting attack regardless of how many of these attacks it has. A wizard might have two, or even five spells, but is normally allowed to use only one of them in a phase.

Usually the unit uses its Attack-characteristic to determine how many attacks it makes when shooting. Spells are an exception to this, and they always define the number of dice used in the attack in brackets.

All attacks are resolved one at a time and all damage is marked as it accumulates. Once all attacks are resolved the active player goes through each unit damaged this turn and rolls for Nerve in any order they choose. That means that you generally want to roll Nerve for all damaged Inspiring units first. If they die, they stop Inspiring and that might mean you can deny your opponent that benefit for any further Nerve tests.

The Nerve check that results from shooting damage to a unit is always done at the end of the shooting phase. This is because unit may only take a single Nerve check per phase, and allowing players to roll for Nerve might lead to weird situations where the unit takes some damage, passes a Nerve check and then takes more damage (and mysteriously doesn't care anymore).

Some spells, such as Surge and Windblast can move units in the shooting phase. Both are very straight forward in how they work, but can be used in some sneaky ways I will cover in a later post.

Once all spells are cast, Nerve checks are passed or failed, it's time to move to the Combat phase.

Combat phase

In Kings of War, the combat phase is relatively straightforward.

The active player decides the order in which fights are resolved, attacking with all units engaged against a single target and then repeats this until all fights have been fought. The main difference between melee and shooting attacks is that a unit takes a Nerve check immediately after all attacks against it have been resolved whereas shooting attacks caused a Nerve check only at the end of the shooting phase.

A combat is always fought through completely, from attacks to damage to Nerve checks to after combat movement. This also means that sometimes an unresolved combat right next to the unit wanting to move might hinder its ability to move.

Again, you will want to fight (and possibly kill) Inspiring units first, as that way you can once again deprive your opponent of those precious rerolls.

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Once Combat phase is completed, the turn shifts to the other player. Battles in Kings of War last for six turn, after which a seventh turn is taken on a 4+ roll. I will deal the with significance of the possible seventh turn in a later post.

This is all for this post. You are of course more than welcome to comment below on my thoughts and perhaps suggest topics I should cover.

Cheers,

AoW

Kings of War - Core Concepts for beginners II

Greetings again,

This is another post that deals with core concepts of the game. I assume you're somewhat familiar with the rulebook so I won't go through the exact rules, only their implications and some rationale that I see behind certain mechanics.

This post focuses on core concepts of army building and different roles for different units.

Army composition

In Kings of War, armies are put together using unlocks from regular regiments, hordes and legions.

Each regiment of infantry, chariots or cavalry can bring with it up to two troops and one of either a hero, a war engine, a monster or a titan.

A horde or a legion of infantry, chariots or cavalry can bring up to four troops and one of each a hero, a war engine and either one monster or  one titan.

Regiments of large/monstrous infantry or large cavalry don't need to be unlocked, but neither do they unlock anything. A Horde/legion of large infantry unlocks two troops and two slots for either one hero, one war engine, one monster or one titan. No duplicate choices allowed here.

Some units are marked with * and are called irregular. That means they don't unlock anything

This is a big change for people used to playing WHFB or its derivatives. In that mentality, an army needs a core (which usually consists of mediocre units) that has to be a certain size and all the good stuff is capped points-wise by army composition rules. That leads, in my view, to a mentality of a "core tax" and also often manifests in balance issues as different armies suffer more from the effects of being forced to take "bad" units and having a limitation on how many "good" units you are allowed to bring.

In Kings of War you are allowed to bring as many of the "good" units as you like, or can fit in your army. You can build an all Vampire army, or you can bring all your infantry as the better variety. There is no core tax, and the abilities of units are all expressed in the point costs of units. That means that instead of being forced to operate within point brackets, you have more freedom in terms of how you want to spend your points.

Unit sizes

In Kings of War units come in three commen sizes: troops, regiments and hordes. I'm going to compare these with a (completely arbitrary) three tier system (I-III) in terms of Maneuverability, Power and Resilience

In addition there are single models (usually monsters or heroes) and Legions (which are just bigger hordes).

Troops are small units which are usually relatively frail and have the lowest offensive potential. They are also the cheapest units, and need unlocks from other units in order to be included in the army. Their roles vary from shooters to chaff to decoy deployment drops to token/counter cappers.
Maneuverability II
Power II
Resilience I

Regiments are the first unlockers. They have a larger footprint (usually they are the size of two troops back to back), a little more offensive power and a lot higher Nerve than troops. They cost a little more (usually 30-50% more than a troop). Some weak units do not come under regiment size and some powerful units do not come larger than regiments.
Maneuverability II
Power II
Resilience II

Hordes bring many unlocks, huge improvements to Attacks, Nerve and footprint, but they also cost a lot more and are clumsier than troops or regiments.
Maneuverability I
Power III
Resilience III

So why bring anything else than Hordes?

The logic behind this is, in my view, as follows:

A regiment is stronger than a troop, so it costs more.
Two troops are better than one regiment, so together they cost more.
A horde is stronger than a regiment, so it costs more.
Two regiments are better than one horde, so together they cost more.

One could also add that:

Three troops are better than one horde, so together they cost more.

Choosing what sizes to take your units in is a matter of army composition, as expensive hordes might hinder your army's ability to maneuver so much that it costs you the game, while stocking up on multiple small units might leave you overly vulnerable to enemy shooters and unable to contain their heavy hitters.

Anvil

An anvil is a unit that is used to take a punch and hold the attacking unit in place so that you can bring your own attacker in to kill it. Hammer-and-anvil combos are common and more often than not your opponent will know what you are striving for, and you'll end up trying to line up your units so you can catch your opponent between your anvil and your hammer.

Typically anvils are hordes with high defense and/or nerve.

Hammer

Hammers are your damage-dealers. They are units like knights or chariots that are good at giving a punch, but lose a lot of their effectiveness if they have to take one.

Some Hammers are very resilient, others are called "glass-hammers", which is to say that they are units that really can't take a punch at all.

Chaff

Chaff, in Kings of War slang, is often used to describe units that can't do anything properly and are only good for throwing in the way of your opponent's big units when you need to delay them a bit.

On more general terms, Chaff means units that are often fast, agile and fragile. They typically don't have a lot of punching power and so even a flank charge from a chaff unit is rarely decisive. Light chaff is more of an interfering unit, while heavy chaff can be a middle ground between a throwaway and a serious combat threat.

However, chaff can fulfill a variety or roles. They can indeed interfere with your opponent's Hammers, but they can also go after war engines, casters, support heroes and claim objectives. You will typically want to have some units that can fulfill the role of chaff.

Shooters

In Kings of War shooting is rarely (though in no means "never") able to win the battle alone. Shooters, in my view can fulfill three roles.

Firstly, shooters are a pressure unit. You can use shooters to force your opponent to move to break stalemates, provided that your shooting is more powerful than theirs. It's not very comfortable to sit ildly by while your opponent's war egines are lobbing rocks at you!

Secondly, shooters are Chaff killers. Small shooter units are often able to take out chaff units, given a turn or two to finish the job. You might be able to deprive your opponent of his charge-blockers if you shoot them off the board.

Thirdly, shooters can be area control units. Many spells and "breath weapony" weapons have short ranges, but they hit easily, so they are good for controlling an area and for discouraging your opponent from landing flyers or bringing their chaff to the area, where you can line up a few shooting attacks at it.

Support

Some units, mainly Individual Heroes, fall into the category of Support. These are units whose main role is to augment other units. These can be in the form of melee heroes who bring in that little extra damage to Rout the enemy unit, or they can be spellcasters who Banechant your spearmen or then the simple battle standard to Inspire the units.

If you're coming in from WHFB, you'll notice that most heroes are quite a bit weaker in Kings of War, and they can't take units head on without risk. However, as support units, their role is invaluable in turning the battle to your favour.

Sole Grinder

Some units are tough like Anvils, but also dish out a fair bit of damage. These units are sometimes called Sole Grinders. That means that they are able to take a punch and then grind the opposing unit down alone.

Typically these are units with a combination of good melee power, high nerve and high defense.

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That's all for this post, hope you enjoyed it and feel welcome to leave more ideas of core concepts in the comments!

AoW