With the onset of CONVID-19 the world has been at a stand still. In turn this has limited the ability for gamer's to enjoy gaming with the community. Thankfully, Universal Battle 2 (www.universalbattle2.com) offers those in the Kings of War community the chance to play virtually! Please if you have not go check out this awesome website and join in on the fun, it is a blast to be able to sit in your living room and play anyone from around the world...pants optional.
So here is the first of my Universal Battle reports for Kings of War 3rd Edition!
Kingdoms of Men vs Goblins (2300 points playing Control)
This has been my 5th game with my buddy Steve on UB. He is an absolute gentlemen and provides tactical, fun and sometimes comedic games. He goes by DiceDadSteve on UB, look him up.
We decided on points and scenario based on an upcoming UB tournament called Virtually Vanguard (check it out at https://www.facebook.com/vanguardgrandtournament). Since both of us are signed up it was time for some practice.
The Lists
Goblins
Deployment
This map has some really interesting terrain, with the addition of 2 Ht(2) patches of ruins that was an awesome change of pace, credit to Mike Adkins for his design of these.
Seeing as we were playing control and Steve choosing the bottom deployment zone, I had to divide my force in two, as the the impassible Sphinx in the center of my line would be hard for my large units to easily circumvent. Even with know this, I deployed poorly in retrospect.
My belief is that my horde of Knights should have deployed in the top left, the Big Rock Throwers would be shooting at them regardless, so that would have allowed for my entire right flank to go untouched from the effects of the shooting. The large footprint of the Knight Horde also provided an issue when trying to keep Steve's Goblins in my front.
Turn 1
Steve won first turn and took it, very un-gentlemen like....but the right choice. In control I actually don't mind going second, but war-machines can quickly change my mind....
Steve mostly positioned his units as you would expect on the first turn. His shooting was quite effective. The King on Chariot (left side) put 5 wounds and wavered my Mount Scouts, and the Big Rock Throwers decided to turn into marksmen and put 10 WOUNDS on my Knight Horde!
My turn was also mostly positioning, but with forcing the Knight Horde forward to hope to limit the turns of shooting from the Big Rock Throwers. I was also able to put three wounds on the King on Chariot (right side).
Turn 2
Combat began turn two, and this is where another mistake was made by me. King on Chariot (left side) charged my wounded Mounted Scouts and did no wounds, which was a little crazy but he was hindered. King on Chariot (right side) charged the other Mounted Scouts, doing 2 wounds, but an uneventful nerve roll kept them active. Goblin Horde charged out against the Knight Horde, doing one wound.
My two saw the left most Fanatics Regiment charge a Regiment of Rabble, and the Knight Horde counter charged the Goblin Horde and my Foot Guard Horde took a flank charge on the right most Goblin Rabble. Finally, the Winged Beast began the cleansing of the Rock Thrower battery. Shooting phase I was able to waver the left most King on Chariot with 2 wounds from the Wizard and Mounted Scouts, rolling an 11 I was able to waver him! Boomstick Wizard and the other Mounted Scouts finished off the second King on Chariot.
Combat was were the issues came into play. Fanatic combat was fine, doing 4 wounds, but blocking the Luggits on the left and a Blaster. The Knight Horde was able to remove the Rabble Horde, but I moved up not bothering to check the distance and facing of the Mincer Mob sitting on the hill. This would prove to be a mistake, and a waste of the Knight Horde. I also did not consider the re-position of the Foot Guard Horde after the combat, putting me too close to Steve's remaining battle line.
Turn 3
This turned out to be an excellent turn for Steve and he completely capitalized on my plunders from Turn 2.
Mincer Mob easily remove the damaged Knight Horde with a flank charge, and the right Luggit Gang and a Blaster detonated a bomb under the Foot Guard Horde! Both were hindered, they managed to do a total of 19 wounds, 14 of those coming from the Blaster. Well played Steve. The Fantatics and Rabble continued to have a slap fight.
My 3 was mostly positioning again. Moving out of the arc of the King of Chariot and adding some more chip damage to him, and the Fanatic Regiment doing more wounds, but not removing them.
Turn 4
The board began to shrink rapidly for me. Steve was able to get his Trolls into my Pikemen, doing 14 wounds and putting them on the brink of destruction.
My Knight Regiment and second Fanatics were able to remove the Rabble Regiment in the ruins. My Wizard on Peg (left side) removed the Blaster on the left with some very helpful UB dice (which aren't skewed...thanks Nick Williams!).
Steve's King on Chariot used his bow to great precision and finished off the Mounted Scouts he had been tangoing with. In turn The Captain sought vengeance and killed the chariot riding heathen in combat! Majestic mister Winged Beast continued his glorious purging of the artillery......
Turn 5
Turn 5 shaped up the final result, and at this point I was certain that with out a Turn 7 it would be a win for Steve. We danced around each other positioned for Turn 6.
Turn 6
Final turn (spoiler there was not 7 lol) was some rather meaningless combats and darting of my fliers to negative table sections praying for Turn 7. The game ended with a 3-2 win for Steve and humbling defeat for the Kingdoms of Men.
After Action Report
This was a great game and well deserving win for Steve. Terrain was a factor that I poorly played around, and need more practice with the large footprint of the Knight Horde.
Really struggling with having a reason to keep the General on Winged Beast. I have moved from 2 to 1, and even that is underwhelming. So far I have 9 wins and 7 loses with Kingdoms of Men, so we are making progress.
That troll combat was bananas, charging into terrain against ensnare means the were hitting on 6s, your pikes should have been sitting happy at the end of the game! Aside from that disappointment I must say you could have had this match even with your misdeployment (live and learn my friend), pulling back after combat is not retreat it's advancing towards future Victory!
ReplyDeleteAgree 100%, all mistakes are lessons and it has been very fun to play this list. Every game is a chess match as KoM dont have key tools that other lists do, but they are a great all around list.
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