KoW Game 2 - Undead vs Ogres - Unleashing the Great Tribes.

G'day gentlemen, it's time for another Kings of War batrep. We have a 2000 point game which sees my Undead go up against the mighty Ogres.

As a prologue, a friend of mine has been a long time WHFB player himself. He grasped the rules and the tactics involved pretty quickly. He was quite a good Ogre Kingdoms player and wanted to see how they would translate in this game. So after a quick 500 and 800 point game - which he thoroughly rolled over my Undead - we decided to do 2000 points with magic artefacts.

Unleashing the Great Tribes

Chieftain Barg was delighted with the news.

“We have smashed through the Undead vanguards, Chief.” An Ogre scout claimed. “We will encounter the bulk of the Undead battle line soon.”

Chieftain Barg didn’t say anything, but let out a wry smile and waved the scout away. Barg stood up from the golden chair which he sat upon and grabbed a crude warhammer from the side, the weapon nearly as tall as Barg himself. Barg spoke very little, his actions and his demeanour usually did all the talking. He was a mighty Ogre General and he wanted to punish the Undead horde for even thinking of entering his lands.

Chieftain Barg’s wife, Odella the Hun, walked into the tent and pronounced more great news.

“The Fang cavalry have arrived. Just in time to see war!” She announced.

Again, no words from Barg. Just a smile of delight and satisfaction.

“The stench of Undead will be gone soon enough, my darling.” She said as she approached Barg. “For too long the Barg tribe have been disrespected. It’s time we show the other Chieftains what you are capable of!”

Barg walked past Odella and muttered. “I intend to do just that.”

I was a little afraid at the start of the game, because I decided to leave the Balefire Catapult out. Turns out, the Ogres had brought along a Mammoth that could really trample the Mummy units to bits.

Then I saw he had only one unit of Siegebreakers in his list and felt a whole lot better. I've seen what Siegebreakers can do. They're expensive points wise, but man, they can deal some hurt.

Deployment was cagey already and probably took more time to do over the first 2 turns combined. At the end, I deployed the Werewolves on either side of my flanks to deal with any of their fast, hard hitting units.

Deployment is really key to this game. Quite more than WHFB. I wanted to ensure that I had enough tarpit units to deal with ther Legion of Ogre Warriors.

It's my first time using the Revenant King on Undead Wyrm. I needed a good reason to take out the Terrorgheist model and use him in a game.

No surprise that the Ogre Warriors surged forward. You can see that he had a little more of a defensive approach on the flanks and was waiting to see what I would do with my Werewolves and Soul Reavers on (his) left flank and the Revenant Cav and Werewolves on the other.

First turn shooting phase and the Ballista on the Mammoth needed 6's to hit. Hmmm, was this a sign of things to come? He rolled up 3 altogether from the Blast and knocked off 3 wounds off my Revenant Cav.

I decided to push the Werewolves up and set myself up for some Surging action. The Werewolves on my right were keen and decided to charge the Warrior Chariots early. I kept the battleline at the middle in tact and shambled forward.

In the shooting phase, I had a chance to Surge the Werewolves into the flank of the Ogre block. The first Surge from the Liche King was abysmal, out of 12 dice, only 4. The Necromancer did the same thing, but fell one inch short of charging the flank.

I completely wiffed the attacks with the Werewolves on my right flank, only dealing 2 wounds. The Ogres weren't even close to Wavering. That was probably the last I was going to see of them.

On the next Ogre turn, the Warrior legion charged the Zombie legion. Sure, they're a legion on Zombies. But they're Zombies.

Meanwhile the sharpshooting Mammoth charged the Werewolves which just fell short on the surge the previous turn.

On the right flank of the Ogre battleline, some Boomers approached towards the Revenant Cavalry and unleashed some shots. I think I got off lightly with the Boomer shots as an additional 2 wounds were caused. The Revenant Cav regiment remained where they were and were getting ready to charge the Boomers the next turn.

Shooting was uneventful as the Captain with Heavy Crossbow had to move around to lend the right flank it's Inspiring. So it was off to combat.

The Mammoth absolutely pasted the Werewolves into the ground, routing them in one round of combat. The Mammoth then pivoted to wind up it's Ballista towards the Undead Wyrm.

The Warrior legion put a massive 18 wounds on the Zombie legion, but the Zombies held their ground.

On the left flank, the Warrior Chariots left 5 wounds on the Werewolves, and just managed to waver the unit. That was huge as it meant that I was unable to counter charge them. 

I saw the opportunity to flank the Warrior legion with the Phalanx of Skeleton Spears, so I went for it. While I was at it, I decided to get the Zombies into the foray as well. Every wound was going to count, even if it was coming from Zombies. I pushed the Mummies as far as I could towards the Mammoth, which had opened it's flanks to me.

Meanwhile, I moved the Revenant King and Wyrm at the double and parked it right behind the Warrior legion. I did this as an insurance policy to myself in case the Warrior block didn't waver and prevent it from pivoting towards the Skeleton Phalanx on the right.

I think my opponent forgot about the double surge that I had, along with the magic item that increases the Surge value by 4. Surge is hands down the best spell in the game - as long as you have a Shambling unit in your army.

Once again, the Liche King's surge proved to be abysmal, only getting the Mummies to move 4 inches. I had to rely on the Necromancer's Surge to finally get the Mummies in the flank of the Mammoth.

Meanwhile, the Revenant Cavalry got into combat with the Boomers on my left flank. Made short work of them, but I wasn't sure they'd survive the charge of the Warrior Chariots.

In hindsight, I should've moved the Revenant Cav towards the centre of battlefield to lend some help towards the combat to come. Will it cost me in this game? Hmm...

My combat phase was pretty eventful. The Mummies routed the Mammoth and pivoted towards the Boomers - such was my confidence that I could at least Waver the legion of Warriors and prevent them from charging. Umm yeah about that...

So 40 attacks from the Zombies only dealt 4 wounds. And the Skeleton Phalanx with it's 50 attacks only dealt 6. The Warrior legion didn't even come close to wavering. This is going to hurt.

On the Ogre turn, the Warrior legion counter charged into the Zombies, The Siegebreakers finally came out to play and rear charged the Skeleton Phalanx (ouch) and the Warrior Chariots went in to finish off the remaining Werewolves.

Shooting was once again uneventful as the Boomers failed to do any wounds to the Mummy unit. However, the Captain was crossbow managed to pip a wound on the Undead Wyrm.

Combat was brutal and the momentum finally went with the Ogres.

The Warrior Legion easily disposed of the Zombies and the Siegebreakers with their 54 attacks smashed the Skeleton Phalanx aside. Most of battleline was in tatters and could only rely on the Mummies to get me out of a bind. Again...

So I found myself on the back foot AGAIN against these Ogres. It was time to get crafty with the one thing I still held advantage over - magic.

The obvious charge was the Soul Reavers into the Warrior Chariot head on. 

I was going to charge the Mummies on my left into the Warrior legion, but decided to surge them in combat, but after I cast lightning bolt on them. Every wound counts and my Liche King with Fenulian Amulet managed to get 2 wounds. The Necromancer did it's job and helped surge the Mummies into the fight against the Warriors.

The Revenant King on Wyrm made me think a little. Do I go for the points, or support the Mummies which were about to get flanked by Siegebreakers?

I decided to charge into the Boomers after realising that there was little I could do to stem the Siegebreaker tide on the Mummies. I was hoping to do some damage on the Ogre Warlord with the Mummies to hopefully route it, but I wasn't going to hold my breath on it. I could only hope to tie up the Siegebreakers long enough for me to get the Warrior legion and other units.

The Revenant King wasn't able to rout the Boomers, but it did make them Waver. That helped big time as it meant they couldn't shoot him in their phase.

The Mummies were able to Waver the Warrior legion, which was a big deal, as it meant that I couldn't be charged on his turn.

The Soul Reavers on the far right flank finally routed the Warrior Chariots and pivoted towards the Ogre Warlord.

Meanwhile the Mummies on the left did put 5 wounds on the Warlord, but wasn't enough to waver him. That set myself up for this charge on the next Ogre turn.

So note to self, don't let Siegebreakers rear or flank charge you. Because it'll hurt. A lot.

Needless to say, this combat was quick and I know I love Mummies, but they got routed back into the ground.

Back to the Undead's turn and the Revenant King declared another charge on the hapless Boomers. They were routed with ease. I had the option of going after his Captain with Crossbow, or pivot and face my table edge.

Once again, I used my cunning plan of zapping the Warrior Legion first to take add more wounds, then Surged the Mummy block into combat.

The ensuing combat bode really well for me as I finally routed the Warrior legion and set my sights towards an advancing regiment of more Warrior Chariots.

The Soul Reavers charged into the Ogre Warlord and were able to rout him too. I needed a 5 to overrun into the Siegebreakers, but managed to roll only a 4. Left 1 inch short. Again. 

With Siegebreakers about to bring the pain to the Soul Reavers, I started waving good bye to the unit.

There were charge actions all over the place. The Warrior Chariots charged into the Mummy block. A lone Ogre captain charged into my Necromancer and the Siegebreakers made the obvious charge into the Soul Reavers. Still waving goodbye to the Soul Reavers...

The Warrior Chariots left a pretty large dent on the Mummies, doing about 9 wounds, but the Mummy block held on 17 nerve. Scary moment there.

The Necromancer managed to live and stand it's ground against the Ogre Captain.

Not so much luck for the Soul Reavers though. After the Siegebreakers sent the foul Reavers back into the abyss, they pivoted to meet the Revenant King head on.

Start of my turn, the Mummy block charges the Warrior Chariots, along with the Revenant King. The Mummies regenerate 2 wounds, but the heal from the Liche King was what broke the Ogre spirits, by healing 5 wounds off the Mummies.

All the attacks put together routed the Warrior Chariots outright.

The last turn for the Ogres saw the Siegebreakers charge into my second Mummy unit. The combat fared better for me this time as I only lost 8 wounds. The Mummies were at it again and managed to avoid a rout, landing their nerve on 17, after the Ogres' Brutal was applied.

A double charge by the Revenant King and Mummies into the Siegebreakers took out a handy amount of wounds, however, it wasn't enough to rout them after the end of Turn 6.

The final tally of the battle was the Undead scored 1420, whilst the Ogres took out 1270 points. What a close game!

Game 2 after thoughts

Wow! That was an intense game. It went back and forth at the start and at the end there, but I really thought the Ogres would run away with it, especially in the middle stages where the Zombies, a unit of Mummies and the Skeleton Phalanx routed.

I thought I gave away easy points in the Revenant Cavalry when I went head on towards the Boomers. It looked like a sneaky trap when I got counter charged by the Warrior Chariots, but I reckon that was deliberate and totally had me fooled.

We played ourselves to a draw, but the quality of the match itself was awesome. Siegebreakers are just NUTS, with their crazy stats, special abilities (especially Big Shield!) and the amount of damage they can do - just crazy!

I have to admit, I'm really enjoying Kings of War. As always, looking forward to adding more batreps in the near future.

Until then, keep rolling those dice!