The Black Order attended its first Kings of War tournament this weekend, the inaugural Shroud of the Reaper event in Bexley, London UK. It was a blast - a great event with extremely good organisation attended by some amazing painters and gamers. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone in the area next year. I've written a brief report on the event as follows.
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Format
The event held four games in store for the attendees, using the Control, Secure the Field, Eliminate and Dominate scenarios from the Clash of Kings 2018 rulebook. Armies were set at 2000pts with all the Clash of Kings items, formations and characters allowed. Pretty standard as Kings of War events go.
Army List
The Black Order's army list was pretty simple - lots and lots of knights with infantry support, and ranged capability in the form of a Living Legend unit of Rangers:
As you can see, I ran both Brotherhood formations and threw in an extra regiment of Order knights with Pathfinder, as well as knights-errant (Abyssal Hunt in Kings of War parlance). I wasn't sure my list had enough punch to it, but at least there was some redundancy built into it with the high unit count, and plenty of Pathfinder meant I should be at an advantage in combats fought over difficult terrain.
This event also saw a free character introduced to each army list - the Reaper, a shadowy individual with access to Lifeblast (Windblast with added damage), Ensnare, Stealthy and the Weakness spell. And its attacks in melee had the Blast (D6 wounds) rule. The Reaper turned the tide of more than a few games over the course of the day!
Round One - Trident Realms of Neritica
The first game was fought against a Neritican force, my first game against this army and quite a surprise at first as almost the entire opposing force had access to Ensnare. My opponent's list ran something like this:
- horde of Depth Horrors
- horde of Naiad Wyrmriders
- horde of Naiad Ensnarers
- horde of Gigas
- troop of Riverguard
- Coral Giant
- Kraken
- Siren
- Leviathan's Bane (x1)
- two troops of Thuul and a Thuul Mythican boosting them
The Black Order was fortunate to turn the Neritican left flank early on (as seen above), as the knights-errant cleaved their way through the Depth Horrors, whilst the Order's established knights took down the Coral Giant on the right flank. Whilst the Naiad Ensnarers held the centre valiantly, the Gigas fell early on to Bane Chanted Order knights, and from there the Black Order slowly ground down the foe for the first victory of the day. 7-3 to the Black Order.
Round Two - The Herd
The second game saw another army the Black Order hadn't faced before - namely the bestial Herd. With Pathfinder on everything, the Herd are at least the equal of the Order's cavalry in difficult terrain, and much more dangerous than its infantry. The scenario was Secure the Field, in which both generals each chose a piece of terrain to secure. The Herd list ran something like:
-two regiments and one horde of Spirit Walkers
-two regiments and one horde of Guardian Brutes
-one Stampede
-a pair of Shaman (shamen?)
-a Guardian Champion
-an Avatar of the Father
This game went much less smoothly for the Order. The Herd defended their piece of terrain (the red forest at the top right of the map) with everything they had, whilst the Order chose the dessicated hill in the field's centre-bottom. Right from the start the Order was severely outnumbered in terms of Unit Strength and didn't have the shooting ability beyond the Rangers to really scratch the Herd's masses.
A tentative attempt to draw out the Herd's fast-moving hard hitters met with disaster as the Order's light cavalry were scattered, a regiment of knights routed and the Order's right flank left wide open. From there the Herd largely held its ground, using its superior numbers to sit on the objective and wait for the sun to set on the field, heralding the Order's defeat. 14-8 to the Herd.
Round Three - Undead
The third game saw the return of a hated foe in the guise of the most foul of the Dark's servants - the living dead. With the objective of slaying the enemy's three most valuable units whilst holding the centre of the field and protecting its own men, the Order had a challenge ahead of itself. The Undead legions comprised roughly the following:
- a shard of the dread necromancer Mhorgoth
- a legion of Zombies with the Brew of Sharpness
- a regiment of Soul Reaver cavalry with the Chalice of Wrath
- a troop of Wraiths
- a regiment of Mummies
- a Revenant Horde with the Mace of Crushing
- a Revenant King on a winged wyrm
- a pair of Necromancers with Surge and Bane Chant
This game went largely the Order's way until the later stages, when the Revenant King on his winged beast managed to hold up the Order's left flank long enough until the Soul Reavers and Zombies could weaken the Order's centre. The Mummies on the right flank managed to tear apart a regiment of knights and threaten the Order infantry holding the central objective, with the result that on the final turn there was everything to play for. Unfortunately, a critical dice roll on my part (wounding rolls against the Mummies) was made just as the timer on the clock ran out and was therefore disallowed, leaving the Order to face a 6-6 draw with the Undead. A very close game against a good opponent and full of learning experiences for the Order's leadership!
Round Four - Varangur
The final battle took place against a horde of warriors ripped from the pages of history following the Varangur ruleset. This army was one of my favourites at the event, and showed that with some imagination almost anything can be used in Kings of War - especially historical armies which fit well into the existing rules. The Varangur fielded the following:
-a horde of Bloodsworn
-two troops of Night Raiders
-a regiment of Shieldwall
-a regiment of Horse Raiders
-a horde of Direfang Riders (Elephants!)
-a regiment of Sons of Korgaan (kataphraktoi)
-a King on Chimera
-two(?) regiments of Thralls
With the final scenario being Dominate (hold the centre ground), the battle started somewhat cautiously.
Both sides tried to outflank the other, resulting in the following redeployment:
By this point the Order's light cavalry had engaged on the left flank and the Rangers had taken out some of the light infantry ranging ahead of the main Varangur line. The presence of the Varangur cavalry and King on the right flank was a big threat, but thankfully they were somewhat isolated from the support of the Direfangs and the mounted Sons by the derelict tower in the middle of the Varangur formation.
From here, things got very hairy indeed for the Order, as the yeoman cavalry were routed by the Varangur skirmishers they had been sent to clear out, and the ever-present threat of the Direfangs and Sons meant that the Order's cavalry couldn't commit without risking a fatal counterattack.
However, all was not lost. The knights-errant routed the Varangur horse on the right flank, and as the foot knights held back the Varangur King, the knights-errant were able to reform to join the main battleline and threaten the Varangur centre once more. On the left flank, the Order's cavalry recognised that the critical moment and come and levelled lances for a devastating charge into the Bloodsworn's ranks. Although the Varangur counterattack wiped out a regiment of knights, the Bloodsworn buckled and broke beneath the onslaught of the Order's mounted knights. Although the Direfangs and mounted Sons remained a threat, the Order now held the centre - and as sun set over the battlefield it was the Black Order's banners which stood unchallenged over the field.
Final Placing
With two wins, one draw and one loss, the Black Order finished 8th in its first tournament. I was fairly pleased with this result - if I'd been more economic with my use of time in Round Three that might well have been a 3-1 result rather than 2-1-1. I also fought two armies completely new to me (Trident Realms and Herd) and came away with a healthy respect for both. The combination of the Siren's Call and Ensnare in the Neritican list definitely is worth watching out for, and the Herd can field a good amount of powerful units for a fairly cheap price. Undead, as ever, remain a threat chiefly through the use of the Surge mechanism, which can completely reverse a situation if you're unprepared for it. Varangur remain a threat due to their high Nerve, high defense, and solid offensive capability. I'm lucky that in Rounds Three and Four the games went to turn 7, otherwise I might have been looking at a loss or a draw.
Armies
There were some beautiful armies on display at the event - I've included the ones I managed to grab photos of here:
An amazing Orc army and one of my two picks for best painted - have played this one before (several times during the Edge of the Abyss campaign in 2017) and it's a tough one.
The Neritican army from Round One. I loved the scratchbuilt Coral Giant (top left) and the Forgeworld Kraken (top right).
A tough-looking Dwarf army - liked the converted Steel Behemoth in particular.
The Herd force from Round Two. The painting standard here was unbelievable, and I loved the use of Mierce Miniatures for the characters and monsters.
A Twilight Kin force (how often do you see them?) which finished 3rd overall if I recall. Great models and really nice paint scheme.
A couple pics of another Varangur army at the event - I've played this army before and I love the paint scheme and the modelling that went into it. My second vote for Best Painted and a really well-themed force overall. Again, the big gribbly from Mierce proves that Mierce are an outstanding source for centrepieces for a wargaming army.
An Undead force I didn't get to fight - but check out that resurrected Minion!
A formidable Dwarven shieldwall.
One of the coolest armies at the event by far, this. A Salamanders force with an incredible themed Reaper model on palanquin at the back. I loved the use of orange and thought this was one of the most characterful armies at the event.
The Undead horde from Round Three - look at all those Zombies! Nice objective markers too.
The historical Varangur from Round Four. Special mention to the Reaper front and centre - the use of a Roman legionary from Victrix was a really nice touch here. I'd love to fight this army again, it was beautifully painted and well themed.
And finally, the Order's own. Regrettably I didn't get a better army pic than this as I was moving between tables and honestly didn't think I'd get a second look for the Best Painted award. Typically, as fate would have it, a number of the other players at the event were either overly charitable or missing their glasses and I left the event with this:
...which was a nice surprise to say the least.
Overall Shroud of the Reaper 2018 was a great event. I had some great games, learned a ton of lessons, played some cool people and really enjoyed myself. Big shout out to Bexley Reapers and the organisers for making it a memorable day. The Black Order will return in 2019 for sure.