Kings of War

Hello folks, today I will be talking a little about the Dungeon Saga furniture pack and I will show you some up close pics of what the unpainted Dungeon Saga furniture pack contains.

The Dungeon Saga furniture pack is made in a brown plastic and has a variety of tables, chests, weapon racks and book cases to fill out your dungeon. You could easily create the scene of a bar, a wizard's quarters, barracks and more. As far as scale, the furniture pack is ideally sized for your average 25mm hero character.

Officially this is what is included,

• 4 Treasure Chests with Lids
• 4 Barrels
• 2 Tables
• Bookcase
• Sorcerer's Cabinet
• Well
• Lectern with Book
• Throne
• Tomb
• Weapon Rack

My opinion

As I went looking through the goodies, I noticed one cool thing: the plastic is ideally light, yet firm. You don't have to worry about anything breaking since everything is built in one piece. The other thing is that when not using these for Dungeon Saga, you could easily use them in games of Pathfinder or Dungeons and Dragons. Alternatively, you could use some of the packs contents to create dioramas on your Kings of War bases.

The one tricky part about this set is that some of the pieces are particularly small. You may find dry brushing handy!

How much?

The Dungeon Saga furniture pack retails for about $17.99 in the states. Compared to other furniture packs and sets, it's a really good starting deal.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Get-Your-Dungeon-Saga-Furniture-Pack-Today-/331819092713?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Hello folks, and today I wanted to talk about some quick and easy ways to add beast packs to your Herd army.

Beast packs are described as a variety of wolves, panthers and lions, which are compelled to fight for the balance of nature. This gives fantasy players a lot of wiggle room to try new things, but here are some of my favorites,

Chaos Warhounds

Chaos warhounds leave some room for interpretation, but you can put them together as wolves without horns, or mutated packs. The Herd is mostly made up of deformities, hence the extra mileage. They come with cavalry bases and are almost perfect for a regiment size movement tray.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-Fantasy-Age-of-Sigmar-Chaos-Warhounds-NIB-/281747775920?hash=item419979e1b0:g:jNcAAOSwT6pVorE9

Wargs

Wargs need to be bought in multiples, but are excellent excuses to be added to Herd, or Varangur forces. Their attack like pose keeps them keen to the attack like mentality you would expect of the Herd. One downside is the lack of poses. Some creativity will help that.

https://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/animal/sku-down/77202

Lions

The Herd is prideful, so don't neglect to put in some lions. They are reputable hunters and do well in their prides. Quick and easy to base to.

https://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/animal/sku-down/77341

The Forces of Nature are a long awaited release, featuring the hands of druids, scales of Salamanders, the stubbornness of the centaurs and the gills of the Naiads. These models are some of Mantic's best releases to date.

Here is an overview of the forces,

Salamanders are a martial race, which instead of using traditional bolts and rifles (with the exception of Corsairs of course) use their swords and lizard kindred to fill a tactical void (namely poisons and darts). Salamanders, at their core, focus on getting into your face and using their natural strength and defense to carry them through. If you are not prone to infantry, there are plenty of excuses to use giant lizards and elementals to batter into the enemy lines. Their race has historically been recovering since the days of the winter war, and their days since have been spent since waging war against the Forces of the Abyss.

Naiads are a race of aquatic people, whom come out of the depths of the sea in times of dire battles. They are the silent guardians of the rivers and oceans, and are not against ambushes to stop a local trespasser. Naiads are avid hunters, using harpoons, nets, and creatures to bring down their enemy.

Centaurs make up the herds and forces of nature cavalry. Adept with a bow and a sword, centaurs utilize their speed and pathfinder abilities to navigate terrain where they are needed most.

I've found that there are a lot of options for movement trays in the fantasy gaming market. Some focus on magnetic sheets, others focus on affordability, others attempt to make trays more viable to the game system they cater to, such as Kings of War. One company I particularly recommend is Iron Heart Artisans.

Iron Heart Artisans is a specialty gaming supply company. Their expertise is in crafting templates, tokens, and movement trays, which is no surprise when their biggest cater to is Kings of War. For a while I had heard some good things about them, and after getting some recommendations from a few mates, I decided to test the waters and grab some movement trays for my Lycans.

After putting in my order, and getting a priority mail package in the mail, I eagerly awaited the toys I would be calling home for my troops.

In short, your first experience with these trays is smell; Iron Heart movement trays are cut with lasers, which leaves some burning smell to them (similar to hickory). The trays are also made ready, and requires no glue or other fancy instructions. Those are all winning combinations in my book. However, what makes these particularly special is the already engraved knocks in the wood, at the base of the leader point. Iron Heart has just about every combination of tray and horde/troop/legion you can think of as well.

I would consider their trays a premium investment over plastic variations, but they are eye catching on the table, and are worth their investment. Much like upgrading from a plastic chess set, to a wood set.

The one thing in fantasy I never figured out was the lack of werewolves in table top games. They are brutal, cunning, and just plain savage enough to make them viable in just about any game. In Kings of War, there are some special exceptions to this rule, as they are included in at least two armies in the game: Undead and the Herd.

The Undead fit what you would expect of a ravenous monster. They march alongside zombies, skeletons to find prey to quench an unquenchable blood lust. Their defensive prowess is impeccable at DE 5 and their speed 9 makes them quite versatile large infantry. That and lifeleech gives them more reach to attack and bring down their nerve.

The Herd are a different take on the Lycan. Lycans in this flavor turn their violent tendencies towards those that break the balance of nature. Their offense is similar to that of the Undead, but they are notably a tad weaker, DE4. To make up for it, Herd lycans have regenerative capabilities, their alphas capable of getting regeneration 4+ from the Darklords Onyx Ring. Their one big advantage is being able to attack in the woods unhindered, as it should (pathfinder).

Whichever you decide, putting Lycans together can be a bit fun as well as paint. I personally used tallarn desert flesh, from GWs painting line, to get the darker skin approach.

Back story:

I had started getting into Kings of War around August, about the time 2nd edition came out. I was selling the odd rule book and army set, before you could keep them in stock. After a few months, and learning of the miniature scene in Seattle (a thanks to Ryan, Matt and Tom by the way) I was invited to take part in a miniatures tournament with a borrowed Herd army.

The tournament was held down at the MOX, a change of pace gaming center, as it incorporated a restaurant and a gaming center (MTG, 40k, and misc table top games). The tournament was held over two days, with a bunch of guys from Canada, and all parts of WA. Canadians can drink by the way!

Ryan, who participated in the event, lended me a Herd list. I asked about them particularly, because Lycan options were my draw to the Herd.Two of his units that stood out were the Brutox and the Avatar, which are pictured below.

List

Avatar

Horde of Spirit Walkers

Regiment of Longhorns

Brutox

Chieftain on chariot

Guardian Champion

Shaman

Harpie Troop

Harpie Troop

Shaman

Centaur Braves

Guardian Horde

My favorite memory of the tournament was game 3, of the first day. The Herd faced off against the Abyssal Dwarves, made up primarily of Half Breeds, artillery, and some various immortal regiments, and BA"SU'SU!

For the first three turns of the game, the Abyssal Dwarves launched shell after shell at my lines from their hills. Some missing, others hitting their devastating shots. If it wasn't for heal on my shaman and the regeneration capabilities of the Brutox, I would have been wiped out pretty fast. Nonetheless, the battle was a stand off, and I could not unrelent with the Herd.

At last the Spirit walkers were pushed forward, and the movements forced a charge from the Halfbreeds in the center. While my spirit walkers died a drugged death (I presume), it allowed the Brutox and Avatar to take the helm, and start battling it out with the breeds, who were all but holding me from gaining a center point victory. My harpies stood their ground waiting to pounce on the right flanks, my longhorns and centaur braves holding the left flank (doing it well).

Back and force the abyssal half breeds charged into my brutox and avatar, only to have it returned and healed. The brutox regenerating 3-5 wounds from his stacks of 10 or so wounds. As they say, a good slobber knocker. Eventually the left flank regiments started to buckle and the braves and the long horns seemed as if they were going to join in (eventually they were too late to add on, but the game was the brutoxes and Avatars). While heavily wounded, the brutox and avatar managed to knock out a few regiments. Harpies joined in last minute to bite at the flanks. Enough damage was done to claim the most pts in the center.

Moral of the story?

The tournament created the potential for awesome memories. And I will be happy to keep telling this story.

Kings of War does not yet have a chimera, but I found this wonderful alternative online for under 10 bucks.

http://www.amazon.com/RPR77257-Bones-Chimera-Miniature-Reaper/dp/B010S0RQ0S?ie=UTF8&keywords=bones%20winged%20chimera&qid=1460332438&ref_=sr_1_fkmr0_2&sr=8-2-fkmr0

The thing about this model is, in comparison to many of its other bendable counterparts, is the setting of the wings. At times the Chimera wings will be bent inward, instead of outward. From what I've read it's easy to get back into place with warm water and some physical encouragement.

Here is my final product below