The Oamaru Muster - Kings of War Tourni report

I've just got back from a fantastic weekend away down at the Oamaru Muster Kings of War Event. Oamaru is a small town in the South Island of New Zealand with some new Kings of War players there. So a few of us from Christchurch and Timaru travelled down to join them for a weekend. Here's a brief report!

We had eight players in two teams. The plan was that the Oamaru players would play the outsiders over a relaxed two rounds a day format, giving plenty of time for learning and socialising given many were new to the game. 

Team Oamaru
Gordon - Dwarves
Gavin - Ogres
Josh - Goblins with Orc Ally
Craig - Kingdoms of Men (Easterlings)

Team Outsiders
Mark (Me) - Trident Realm (Riverguard)

Martin - Dwarves
Ken - Kingdoms of Men with Elf Ally
Nigel - Kingdoms of Men with Abyssal Ally

I took my Trident Realm Riverguard Army to its first games, using the following list.

• 2 Riverguard Treeleaper Regiments
• 2 Riverguard Treeleaper Troops
• Riverguard Dambuster Horde
• 2 Tidal (Frog) Swarm Regiments
• 2 Depth Horror Hordes
• Kraken (Froghemoth)
• Depth Horror Eternal
• Riverguard Dambuster Sentinel
• Ecktar
  

I took zero magic items figuring I'd be confused enough already with all the new frog units trying to remember their rules! :)

Game 1 Kill - Ogres

First game I was up against Gavin's Ogres. Gavin is a new player to Kings of War, but has already managed to get a solid number of Ogres painted up. This was my first game with my new Trident Realm army but definitely not my first at Kings of War!

Some of the Oges, an Ogre Legion and Blaster.

Beserkers and Shieldbreakers, with Boomers in the back.

My frogs hop into the Ogre line taking advantage of the difficult terrain in the centre. The Ogre Shieldbreakers soak the first hit from the combined Depth Horror charge, but are wavered and destroyed shortly thereafter. I throw in units to overwhelm the centre and right, while a frog swarm and Windblast from Ektar delays the mighty Ogre Legion on my left for a couple of turns. 

The Berserkers take down one of my Depth Horror hordes and some Riverguard, but the Ogre centre and right fall.

And then Ogre Legion is attacked from all sides and the remaining Ogres are overwhelmed. Two Ogre heroes roll double one's and fail to kill a frog swarm...  An inglorius end, but at least they got a few points on the board, as I take a first win with the Riverguard. 

Game 2 Dominate - Goblins

Next up was Josh's Goblins. He has bought a mighty horde of the new Mantic Goblins to paint ( I think he has about two mega armies or something!). But here most of his strength was provided by three Giants and two Orc Morax regiments, added to ensure he would have enough painted units ready for the tournament!

I thump into the middle of the enemy army again, taking out some Mawbeast chaff units.

My Riverguard are keen to get stuck into the goblins - which are clearly the wrong sort of greenskins!

The Froghemoth (Kraken) dies in a round to the Orc Morax.

But my forces push through, taking out the Orc and Goblins units, but struggling against the Goblin Giants...

One goes down and my units turn around to fight the last remaining giants and goblins. 

One of the goblin units has Crystal Pendant of Retribution which severely injures my Depth Horror Eternal and two Riverguard units as they kill the goblins. The Giants finish off another couple of my weakened units. However my forces hold the centre of the table and win the scenario and game.

After the fact, we also realised some errors here, Giants have Strider (of course), and so don't get -1 for hitting things in difficult terrrain. Also, I think I remember doing three hops over units with Treeleapers which had taken damage the round before, which they shouldn't have done - sorry Josh! But all useful rules learnings for the future.

Game 3 Push - Kingdoms of Men

Next was Craig's Easterling themed Kingdom's of Men.  We both have our loot tokens in the centre of our lines, so it would be a big punch up in the centre.

Turn two situation...

The human shield wall had a cute fireball magic item they were keen to use. Unfortunately they had to get within hopping distance to use it - squish!

The Human charges come in rather piecemeal...

...and I'm able to deal with most of them effectively, though I struggle to break this Knight unit.

The Humans fight back and take out my Dambusters and Depth Horrors, though the Kraken regenerates heavy damage and survives.

The Men win the battle on their right flank, but I hold the left and centre and all the loot tokens so it is another win to the Riverguard.

Game 4 Raze - Dwarfs

Last game up against Gordon's Dwarves. I knew this would be tough because the Dwarves have many heavily armoured units and a lot of shooting, both things my army struggles to deal with. On the other hand the scenario isn't a bad one for my army due to my speed.

The Dwarf centre with Behemoths and Ranger Troops.

And Lord on Great Beast, Mastiffs and Ironguard on my right.

I lose a Depth Horror Horde to the first round of shooting as expected, but my Treeleapers jump in and smash up the Dwarf Rangers.

My frog swarm even wounds a Steel Behemoth cancelling its shooting for a round.

Over on the right, I roll two double one's, failing to rout the Dwarf Mastiffs and Ironguard, and suffering much damage to my Dambusters in return.

The Dwarven Shieldbreakers and Steel Behemoths are tough for my army to deal with, and I'm desperately trying to stop them getting to the central objective (the egg).

I almost manage it, but in the end the game is a draw, with the Dwarf Shieldbreaker infantry smashing their way forward. I made a tonne of mistakes in this game, but also learned a lot from it.

Gordon added up the points at the end of the tournment, and the Outsiders team won the plate, while I got the prize for best general and most kill points. A very successful outing for the frogs! I will post a fuller list of results once I get them from Gordon.

Most importantly though, we all got to spend a great weekend hanging out and wargaming. The Oamaru guys and Gordon in particular did an amazing job in organising the event with player packs, tasty food provided, and great company. We played in the local school hall where Gavin is a teacher.  I note I haven't played Ken and Nigel from Timaru yet either, and hope to do so one day soon!

We also travelled down to Scott's Brewery in the Victorian district in Omaru for some drinks and food on the Saturday night.

Worth a visit in its own right, as Oamaru has changed over the years and these days its Victorian era Steampunk theme and festival is a big part of the attraction, in addition to the architecture.

Here's a few more pics of games from the tournament. Dwarves vs Goblins.

Men vs Men and Elves

Men and Abyssals vs Ogres

Dwarves vs Dwarves!

And Grokamok, who as well as failing to kill my Frog Swarm in game one, rolled another double one and failed to kill this cannon as I walked by the table...

I'll finish with some photos of Nigel's awesome Oriental themed Kingdoms of Men with Abyssal Ally, which got best painted award.

The Abyssal Ally - Succubi and Seductress

Nigel's army theme is based around the idea of a ruling Matriarchy that maintains power via an alliance with the Abyssals - hence the Succubi ally contingent...

Magnificent Temple Lion Cavalry

Rifles and a Hero

Conclusion

A wonderful event with a great crew and hope to attend again next year!  It clashed with Cavcon in Christchurch unfortunately, which was my fault as I got confused with dates until it was too late, juggling work projects, the wife's birthday and other things in my head!

We're planning on a Christchurch Kings of War event later this year, likely October/Novemberish at one of the regular CWC tournaments, which I will organise with the CWC committee. It will be a tough act to follow given how well organised this one was by the Oamaru guys! I will post more details once we have firmed up dates, including in the Christchurch Rank and Flank and New Zealand Kings of War Facebook Groups.