Kings of War - (Riftforged) Orcs

My first Mantic KoW army was Orcs... way back in 2014. Since then it's grown and grown... However I've not added much to it for a while.

I noticed the Riftforged Orcs list in Clash of Kings 2019 and it piqued my interest, though I didn't look more into it as I was determined to play Sylvan Kin and nothing else for a while. To concentrate on them rather than flit around like I've done in the past.

Anyway, having played Sylvan Kin consistently for a year I was looking to move onto another army. After playing Richard Miles' Riftforged Orcs at the recent TT Gaming Tournament at Element Games Sheffield, I decided to look into them again. He had a very good build, taking advantage of some special units in the new Orcs and went on to win the tournament. I worked out I actually had all the models needed to make his army, but just needed two more. 

The first is the Stormforged Shrine a floating forge with an orc hitting an anvil firing off lightning bolts. I didn't look initially for the Mantic model and instead looked for something I could 3D print. I found this island on thingiverse and decided it was a good starting point. With the addition of a Dungeon Saga Orc, 3D printed hammer heads, a 3D printed anvil and a single Hirst Arts block from my spares, I made this... I've really happy how it's come out.

The second is a unique Orc commander on a gore. Thonaar. I've had the heavy all-metal mantic model on my bench since pre-covid and never got around to painting it. I had to search for his weapon arm, but now he's finally ready.

I'll probably not play Richard's exact army, but will try using these two and the Riftforged Orc formation in a few battles. I'm actually thinking of concentrating on my Abyssals this year.

Man O'War Chaos Additions - Plus everything

In my quest to get everything I have for Man O'War painted I've just completed my Chaos Fleet.

There's there's the Hellrammers and Hellslicers for the Slaanesh fleet.

And the Ironsharks for the Khorne fleet.

This brings my entire Chaos fleet to be completed.

Finally all the Man O'War ships I own are now painted. 

(There's a game of "Where's Wally" with the Lord of Change in that photo)

Man O'War Orcs (and Brettonnian Pegasus Riders)

Since we've been playing Man O'War for the past few weeks I thought it a good time to get some more of my unfinished fleets completed.

I have been working on three Orc Hulks for most of the week and didn't think I'd get chance to use them today as I also needed to get three Bigchukkas painted and some Wyverns. However I surprised myself by getting the Bigchukkas completed last night and the Wyverns completed this morning. So we're on for a game using Orcs my complete Orc fleet today.

Also last week I completed my Brettonian fleet with a squadron of Pegasus Riders.

Brendan chose to play Dwarves in the game this afternoon. We extended our rules to include Flyers and he chose to use some War Baloons. We both had fun dropping bombs on each other as a result. The scenario was the Treasure Fleet and the Dwarves had the treasure. I set up a defensive line of Bigchukkas supported by Hulks and the Drillakillas swept around the flank. The line proved tough for the Dwarves to get through and the Hulks, Wyverns and Drillakillas were very effective, though the Dwarves made the Orcs pay in blood for their very close Victory. This was loads of fun!

Man O'War Orcs

My 4th Man O'War fleet has started... This time Orcs.

From what I understand they're not the best of fleets, almost as likely to destroy themselves as the enemy. But that's the fun part!

I've started off with a squadron Drillakillas and a squadron of Bigchukkas. These can be used as allies to my Chaos fleet to start with.

What I really need now is a load of Hulks. These are the best ships in the Orc fleet and with the composition rules I can have 3 of them with these. That's exactly what I intend to get... Then add another Bigchukka squadron and a 4th Hulk and some Wyverns.

Kings of War Big Game today at the Mantic Open Day

When Mantic invited us to put on one of our big Kings of War games at the Mantic Open Day I jumped at the chance. It was a great honour to be asked to play Kings of War at the home of the game itself.

Well, today was the day, and myself and twelve other lucky souls turned up at Mantic HQ bright and early. We had access to a 16ft x 6ft table that consumed a huge amount of the space available. By far the largest single game at the open day with over 25,000 points of models on each side.

By opening time at 10:00am we had already started playing and were well into turn 1. Pretty soon the battle lines engaged and troops started to rout. On my flank however the Green Lady and a Unicorn were able to keep healing the three Tree Men I was using to hold back the tide of Jeff's Orcs and Twilight Kin. Further over to the centre Kieran's Dwarves and Ogres were dealing damage to Martin's Undead. Andy's Zulus, Salamanders and Ogres were having quite a few problems with Jonathan's Varangrrrr in the centre. Over on the right flank Ed and Gerald faced off against Justin and Brendan's Undead and Steve's Twilight Kin and Goblins. Though I kept on hearing bad reports of losses from that far flank, whenever I looked over there the battlefield still seemed to be covered generously by the forces of Good.

By 3:30pm we reached the end of turn 6. We checked the available time and decided we didn't have enough to get an extra turn in. On my flank I'd held back and was slowly pushing through the enemy, however there was a fight between my Greater Earth Elemental and Martin's Bone Giant that still had not concluded and as a result the objective was contested at game end

However further towards the centre we'd broken through the enemy lines and taken an objective, holding our own two in that area as well. On the other flank there were two more contested objectives and far, far at the other end Evil had solid control of the last.

With 3-1 in favour of Good we had won the day. Looking over my forces (Nature and Men) I could see that our victory had been relatively cheap for them, with only a handful of units having been routed.

Anyway, here are the photos and a video as well...

Marauder Giant and Green Lady

I've just finished a couple of new models for Kings of War.

The classic Marauder Giant and the considerably newer Green Lady for Mantic.

The Green Lady can be used in both my Elf and Nature army for Kings of War and the giant can be used in Ogres and Orcs.

"My Kings of War Armies so far" an update for 2016

Back in November 2014, I posted photos of all the Kings of War armies that I'd amassed at that point.

Well it's been 16 months since then and I've been very busy...

To be honest, those are not actually all mine. The Undead at the back are actually Brendan's though I did help him paint them.

Click read more for some close-ups...

Hammerhead Kings of War Big Game 2016

Another show... another Kings of War big game. We're getting quite experienced at this now.

7 players on a 14 foot x 6ft table, approx 14,500 points each side. Setup began at 8am and we'd packed up and left by 5pm. 6 turns were played in total.

At the end of their turn 6, Good had 4 objectives to Evil's none with 3 contested. By the end of their turn 6, evil had made it a 2-2 draw still with 3 objectives contested.

The game was a very mobile one with objectives in both side's rears being taken or contested.

Stars of the game were Martin's Reaper Bones Bone Giant

and Andy's Zulus complete with Zebra Centaurs and Rhino Riders.

Next stop... Salute.

(BTW, I just updated the Big Game Rules that we use for these games... they were a little out of date.)

Vapnartak Big Kings of War Game 2016

Last Sunday we (COGS) put on a huge Kings of War game at the Vapnartak wargames show in York.

This had almost 15,000 points of fully painted models per side from 8 people's collections. The models were from loads of different manufacturers with some scratch built and some conversions. There were 11 players taking part.

Some of the models before deployment

The game took place on a 14ft x 6ft table and was an objective marker game similar to Pillage with 9 objectives on the table. We used the Big Game Rules with a change in that deployment was a simultaneous free-for-all after the Patrol Phase had been completed.

On one flank a combined force of Orcs, Undead and Twlight Kin decimated the Elves until only the Elf King's court remained.

Two Dwarf armies and a Nature force held the centre against Kings of men and more Twilight Kin.

On the other flank a combined force of Ogres and Kings of Men destroyed more Undead and a Goblin army.

By turn 6 Evil had taken 4 of the objectives, with good holding 2. The remaining 3 were contested. All agreed to play a 7th turn as we had time.

That was to be a bad decision for Evil as the objectives changed hands. Good ended with 4, Evil 3 and just 2 remained contested.

Victory for the forces of Good!

We'll be running another huge Kings of War game at Hammerhead on Saturday 5th March.