KoW Campaign - first blood!

We started our Kings of War campaign today and I tested out my Salamanders (Lizardmen) against both the Brotherhood (Bretonnians) and Abyssals (Chaos Demons).

My local gaming group gave up on Warhammer after Age of Sigmar even though we had all been die hard WHFB players for almost 20 years... Kings of War has totally replaced it now. We had to find a new use for our Warhammer armies!

We played a 1000 point game on a 4x4 table, and the scenario was "Kill." Simple enough!

First game played to a draw, as we got to the bottom of turn 6 and were within 100 points of each other. I only took one hero and he was a relatively cheap one  - a "Ghekotah Skylord" (Skink Hero on a Terradon). He did pretty good for himself though!

The Bretonnian general was an expensive model, so even with only one model left he was within 100 points of my general and an additional regiment of skinks/gekotah warriors... d'oh!

Game 2 I faced off against Demons.

I thought it was over when my Horde got taken out... but I got lucky on some rolls and the regenerating demon lord kept failing to regenerate his wounds! I was not complaining.

In the end, the demons were wiped out to a man (demon?) and the Lizards held the day.

It was a fun day of gaming and I think I'm definitely getting the hang of this ruleset.

Ironically, I hadn't really read the book yet, as I've been relying on my opponents to walk me through the basics. Now that I know how movement, combat, etc. all work I'm gonna need to get studying - I have to learn the finer points of terrain, special rules, magic, and all the rest!

I figured it wasn't worth time really learning the finer points until I had an opinion of the game. I did the same thing with Flames of War and I was glad I did - after a game or two I realized I had no interest in playing it. The "battlefields" looked like a parking lot crammed full of tanks, ranges seemed way off... anyway, for multiple reasons I didn't want to invest any time in really learning it.

But I digress... KoW seems like fun and a good replacement for WHFB. I will definitely be getting more games in!

First 2017 games in the books!

Well, not that I can base anything on two weeks... but so far, looks like 2017 is shaping up to be a good year for gaming!

In the first two weeks of the year, I've already gotten 3 games of Frostgrave in with my son. We started a new campaign, and kicked it off with the mini-campaign "Hunt for the Golem." He beat me of course, but fun nonetheless!

Also, my local group got a Kings of War league going, and it looks like that will keep me involved in at least 1 game of KoW every month. Good stuff!

On top of that, I'd like to get some more games of Muskets & Tomahawks in this year, and maybe some Arthurian games - if I get the troops painted (either SAGA or Dux Britanniarum).

Here are some pics of our Frostgrave games.

Game 1 - The Attack Site

In this game the warbands come upon the scene of a Golem attack, and corpses are everywhere! We used the red tokens to represent bodies of adventurers who had been slain by the Golem. These can be looted in the scenario. There is a chance they can contain treasure - but there is also a chance they will spring up as a Zombie! The Golem himself is not encountered in this scenario.















I was doing OK when my sneaky son summoned an Imp all the way across the board and right in front of my Apprentice! Of course, the Imp charged in and got a lucky die roll for combat...







I was hoping to get this last piece of treasure off the board even with my Apprentice gone, but then he got surrounded.



Damn Imp!


Game Two - Field Research

In this scenario, the warbands come upon the Golem himself in a memorial garden full of fountains and statues. I had pretty good terrain for this one! It just was not frozen, hehe. I have to paint up a "Granite Golem." In the mean time we used a Snow Troll model to represent him. In this scenario, the goal is to "study" the Golem, so you get bonus points for getting your models near him, but the campaign ends prematurely if you actually kill him!




















































Game 3 - House of the Golem

This is the final battle. Here, you encounter the Golem in the Magical Laboratory where he was created. If you can kill him here, you can read the inscriptions on his body - but only if you kill him the old fashioned way. If you do it with Magic, there is a good chance he will explode! Whoever gets the inscriptions gets bonuses to creating future Constructs. There are all sorts of other magic items to help with creating/controlling constructs in the lab too (which is why it's good not to kill the Golem in the second scenario).



















I managed to dispatch the Golem with a Treasure Hunter, a Zombie, and a Bear - but once I did, but Treasure Hunter was unfortunately a sitting duck up on the platform, and was shot at by everything in the enemy warband!













I cast a "Leap" spell on him to get him out of there, and high tailed it off the board with my treasure - leaving the Golem for the enemy, even though I was the one who took him out! Curses!