Third game I was matched up against the elite Varangur list that I was scheduled to play in my first game. The scenario was ransack.
The Varangur list was approximately:
1x Lord on chimera, +1 to hit artifact, brutal
1x Mounted sons of Korgaan regiment, brutal
1x Sons of Korgaan regiment, brutal
1x Direfang riders horde, brutal
1x Troll King
1x Troll Horde
Only 6 drops and no chaff. Pretty much as elite as it is possible to get in Kings of War. The chimera lord is very dangerous, hitting on 2+, re-rolling ones and with CS3 wounding anything I have on a 2+ as well. He will put 8-9 wounds on anything reliably, with brutal averaging out anything in my list in a single charge. He also has breath 10. I will have to chaff well to get good trades against this list. I do have speed advantage though, so my plan is to chaff any long charges from the chimera or mounted sons, and send two units against anything I engage to knock them out without reprisal. I have no real plan for the scenario, as there are just too many unknowns and too many angry chaos bastards to deal with first. I think this game will be decided by pure killing.
My list:
Tzarina Katarin, diadem of dragonkind (ancient aralez)
Winged Lancers Regiment, catterpillar (household knights)
Winged Lancers Regiment, fire oil (household knights)
Winged Lancers Troop (household knights)
Sons of Ursun horde (Honor guard)
2x Ungol Horse Archer Troops (halfling ranger cavalry)
2x Urgan Cannons (halfling volley gun)
Boyar on horse, spark stone (Baron on horse)
I setup with both winged lancer regiments on the flanks of the center, close enough to go into the center if needed. My Sons of Ursun went in the middle with an Ungol screen and Tzarina in backup. The lancers troop went on the far flank, ready to flank into the middle, exploting that I have many more drops.
The Varangur lined up in the middle with the King in the second line. The trolls however went on the far flank, and I let them “take” that flank for themselves. I think it was a mistake for my opponent to place his fairly slow moving trolls alone on the flank. He needed all his units close together so they could make it very painful for me to take out any of his.
I moved up slowly, wanting to get in some shooting if I could to soften up his units and staying out of breath ranges except one unit of Ungols. The varangur advanced in line abreast formation in the center. Here my opponent did a big mistake. He placed the chimera lord in the frontline to breath the ungols, giving me a charge on any of the units in the center with multiple of mine. He only put two wounds on the ungols, but that was enough to rout them.
So in my turn two, it was time for the glorious charge of the winged lancers! One regiment and the Sons of Ursun charged the chimera lord. The Tzarina and a troop charged the mounted Sons of Korgaan, but the rugged elite warriors held. All my shooting went into the Dire Fang riders, and to really hammer home the crushing turn, the volley guns managed to wipe out the unit of monsterous cavalry. To finish off, the Boyar hit the Troll chieftain with his stick, robbing him of his breath attack.
In one fell swoop, the center of the Varangur line was crushed. Only the mounted Sons were able to do anything about the mass of Kislev warriors among them. Without TC, they couldn´t hope to hurt the Tzarina seriously, so they settled on crushing the troop of lancers.
Turn 3, my forces manouvered to take on the remaining Varangur. A group of Ungols placed themselves in front of the Sons of Korgaan. The fire oil lancers charged the troll chieftain, with the Boyar going into a blocking position stopping the troll horde from joining in against my lancers. I manage 10 wounds on the Chieftain, but he holds barely, being wavered.
Predictably, my Boyar is turned into a mangled heap of metal by the troll horde.
While the ungols dissapear in a fine red mist from the overkill of the elite warriors.
They die heroes though, as a glorious second round of winged lancer charges are decleared. Neither the Sons of Korgaan nor the Troll Chieftain are able to hold against the lances.
The troll horde has little hope. It is surrounded by powerful cavalry and under siege by the urugan cannons. They too succumb, leaving the field firmly in the hands of Kislev. The age old enemy is soundly defeated!
End game thoughts
I rolled well this game, especially when taking out the dire fang riders. However, I think the game was mostly won on my opponent´s mistakes. His deployment spread out his small force, allowing me to mass my army against 2/3rds of his. He also gave me unnecessary charges on his extremely dangerous lord.
It was nice to play against an army with no chaff, as I finally got to leverage the full hitting power and speed of my list. And damn did it hurt! My entire list got to do what they are best at.
I think his list can do well, but it has similar weaknesses to mine, trading away all chaff and some speed for even more hitting power and some resilience.
MVP: Sons of Ursun for simply crushing all before them.
Runner up: Urugan cannons for removing the Dire Fangs in a single turn, robbing the Varangur of any real chance of fighting back.
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