Pete vs Nick Battle Report

7/28/2019 Pete vs Nick Battle Report

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/pete-vs-nick-battle-report 1/15

This is only my second outing on

Universal Battle, but I'm already

hooked, and really looking forward

to ramping things up to a full

1600pts Tournament list game! The premise is simplehere- I owed Nick a game, he suggested we make it a

test for the Pathfinder National in October. So with that

in mind, I set about putting together a potential army I

had knocking around in my head. OK, it was also an

excuse to try out those new Ogres!

Most of the army selection was already done for me, as

I already have over half my tournament army models

on my “done” shelf, with a few more left to paint that

will take me up to 1000 of the total 1600pts. The main

bulk of my army are Orcs, and comprise two very solidunits- a Krudgiment of Orc Ax and a Regiment of

Greatax. Both these units contain Musicians and

Banners, and will be gifted a Brew of Strength and a

Brew of Sharpness respectively.

Hopefully they will get shielded to some degree by a

Regiment of Orclings, whose sole purpose is to get in

the way of enemy units looking to charge my Orcs,

allowing them to get close enough to counter charge. I

intend to have these guys backed up by a Krudger on

foot encased in Ensorcelled Armour and a Flagger

bearing a Healing Charm. I really want the Krudger to

hang around and not find himself routed after one

lucky hit, and the Ensorcelled Armour will go some way

to preventing his untimely dismissal from the game.

Flaggers and Army Standard Bearers are great, because

they don't cost much in the grand scheme of things-

rarely over 50pts- but their benefits far outweigh their

costs. By giving them either a Healing Charm, or a

Boomstick, their usefulness is effectively doubled-

having that Inspiring character that can Heal (in my

case) is too good to pass by.

This main core of the army is rounded off by including

a Troop of Trolls. Whilst not necessarily the greatest of

unit choices due to a largely unimpressive Nerve score,

they do serve an important role as a flank protector.

Plus, they're big, strong, and they Regenerate!

For running down the flank in an almost pincer-like

movement, I'm taking my favourite unit available to

the Orcs, the Gore Riders. A healthy Regiment of these

pig riding psychos boosted by the presence of a Banner

and a Musician have the necessary hitting power to

smash their way through all but the most steadfast of

Horde units, and I love 'em! I intend to back these guys

up with a Chariot. Just the one for now, so I can gauge

their effectiveness. What I have done with the actual

model, though, is to add two of the Orc Banners on it-the Dwarf head on a pole ones- and I figure that these

would have the same in-game effect as a Musician,

causing terror in the enemy rather than rallying their

own troops.

These flanking heavy hitters will be led forward in the

charge by another Krudger, this time mounted atop a

rather vicious-looking Gore. With a Blade of Slashing

giving him an extra Attack, a concerted charge from

these three elements should easily sweep away any

Ogre units foolhardy enough to be standing in the way.

Greatax by Pete

The Ogres are here! – Battle ReportUniversal Battle is a fantastic online wargames simulator allowing you to play anyone at

Kings of War from the comfort of your own computer chair. You can try out new armies

without putting the models together, and play opponents you’d never otherwise get to

play. Nick ‘Daedle’ Williams and Pete ‘Pathfinder Pete’ Kijek recently sat down to play

each other and otherwise may never have met on the field of battle. Here’s whathappened…

Pete - Orcs with Ogre allies



It is my intention to try running some Allies in this list.

For tournaments, you are allowed 25% of the total

points value of the army to be allies, so with 400pts to

spend, I went off to see what I could plunder from the

Ogre army list.

I know from a previous game against one of my

colleagues in the Pathfinders that the lack of action in

the Shooting phase is quite the disadvantage to the

Orcs, so to offset this, I plan on taking two Troops of

Ogre Shooters, and swap them both from Crossbows to

Blunderbusses. The Ogre list states they get Breath

Weapon (5) for each model in the unit, so that makes

15 Breath attacks hitting on 4+! I'll have me some of

that, thank you very much! I've also added an Ogre

Captain purely because the model is so cool, and this is

to test how my proposed tournament army is likely to

work! Plus, being the big fan of the rule as I am, some

Inspiring for the Ogres is a must! His inclusion doestechnically take me over the 400pt limit, but only by 5

points, and with opponents’ permission, this is

declared fine, especially as I agreed not to give the

Ogres any Magic Items.

Orc Flagger by Pete

So with that all sorted, this is what the final army listing

looks like, with points values-

Ax Krudgiment 150Banner, Musician, Brew of Strength

Greatax Regiment 180Banner, Musician, Brew of Sharpness

Orcling Regiment 135

Troll Troop 120

Gore Rider Regiment 175

Banner, Musician

Chariot 80

Musician, Brew of Haste

Ogre Shooter Troop 140

Ogre Shooter Troop 140

Ogre Captain 125

Krudger on Gore 145

Blade of Slashing

Flagger 60

Healing Charm

Krudger 150

Ensorcelled Armour

Total 1,600



Pathfinder Pete. The Kings of

War opponent that I’ve never

played. We live way too far

away from each other to be able

to play in person (about 4 hours

travel time..!) and we’ve never

met at any of the tournaments that we’ve both been

at. Universal Battle is perfectly suited – it would take us

both several hours travel and a huge dent in our wallets

to play in person, so playing over the internets isperfect for our needs. I’m looking forward to this.

I’m also very much in love with Mantics new Ogre

range and came out of the Kings of War Kickstarter with

a huge new Ogre army. My main Kings of War army is

an all-cavalry Kingdoms of Men army (though I have

been sneaking some artillery in it in recent games) so

Ogres give me chance to do something a bit different.

With the brand new Kings and Legends PDF sat fresh

on my hard drive, I began putting a tentative army

together.

KoM Winged Beast by Nick

My approach to building an army is quite simple – pick

a style of play and build an army to suit that style. My

cavalry army obviously revolved around hitting hard

and fast with elite cavalry units. I decided to go with

swamping and thumping my opponent with as many

Ogres as possible. No shooting – just a pure, hard

hitting close combat force with as many units on the

table as I could fit in the list.

As tempting as it was to run with 35 individual Ogres

for 1,575 points, the Pathfinder tournament rules state

that you can only have up to five of any unit. So I

started with a baseline of 5 individual Ogres and 5

troops of Ogre Warriors.

The regiments of Ogres were tempting, but would soon

become very expensive and start to significantly affect

how many units I place on the table. Regiments were

out for my army.

Equipping my Ogres was a tough one. A regular Ogres

statline is very impressive, dishing out 3 attacks hitting

on a 3+ and with Crushing Strength 1 – that’s not to be

sniffed at. We do have the option of exchanging shields

for 2 handed weapons, dropping the defence down to

4+ but gaining Crushing Strength 2.

I eventually decided that I would use my troops as

charge absorbers and the individual Ogres as damage

dealers. The troops were left with CS1 and De5, while

the individuals were given the two handed weapons.

The smaller footprint of individual Ogres means thatthey’re more likely to get flank charges and put that

extra Crushing Strength to use.

Universal Battle is an online wargames simulator, originally designed to play Warhammer through

your browser but it works just as well for Kings of War. It costs $2 for a weeks trial, $8 for 6 months

and $30 for a lifetime subscription – well worth it! We also use Skype (free) to talk in-game. It’s not as

good as playing someone in person and is a little slower (about 50% slower than real life), but it works

brilliantly for people you’re otherwise never going to meet or to try out that new army you’re dying to

buy.

http://www.universalbattle.com

Nick - Ogres



My next task was to get some Inspiring cover for those

Ogres. At 60 points, the new Ogre Standard Bearer is

great value. A similar statline as a regular Ogre (though

with De4 and +1 Ne) means that they’re still a nasty

prospect in combat but gain the wonderful special rule

that is Inspiring. Bargain. I’ll take 3 to ensure I get good

coverage of my entire battle line.

Next up I really needed a hero to lead my army and the

Ogre Captain was the perfect match for that. Boasting

an impressive statline for 125 points, the Ogre Captain

is almost a no-brainer. The new Kings & Legends army

book gives him the option of mounting him in a Chariot,

giving him CS4 and Spd7 – yes please!

Since I had a Captain in a Chariot, I figured he would

need some support especially since he’s only Spd7. Not

the fastest unit of cavalry in the game! I padded out the

rest of my army with a troop of Ogre Chariots and four

troops of Red Goblin Scouts (fleabag riders). The Scouts

would be able to screen the slower Ogre Chariots while

also harassing and screwing with Pete’s battle plans

with their fantastic Spd10 and Nimble special rule.

Excellent!

With 45 points left over (enough for another individual

Ogre, but the pathfinder comp meant I couldn’t take

another), I opted to give one of my banners the Diadem

of Dragonkind (defence against any flyers) and my

Captain the Blade of Slashing.

My plan was to have the infantry advance on one side

of the board while the cavalry flanked from the

opposite side. Hopefully the cavalry could break

through and start causing havoc behind enemy lines,

disrupting them long enough for my Ogres to hit hard

and fast.

Nicks real-life Ogre army so far

5 x Individual Ogres 225 2 handed weapons

5 x Ogre Troops 575 Hand weapons & Shields

Ogre Chariots Troop 140

4 x Red Goblin Scouts 280

Ogre Captain 160Chariot, Blade of Slashing

2 x Army Standards 120

Ogre Army Standard 100Diadem of Dragonkind

Total 1,600



Both armies deployed in separate, distinct battle

groups. Nick chose the top half of the map while Pete

was left with the bottom half with a straightforward

Kill! scenario. Pete deployed his Ogres on his left flank,

with his Orc forces on foot taking up the centre. His

Trolls, Gore riders and Gore Krudger set up on the right.

Nick deployed his army with the foot Ogres on the right

flank, facing down Pete’s Orcs on foot. The Ogre troops

deployed in front, with the lone Ogres and banner

bearers behind. The army standard in the middle of the

ground had the Diadem of Dragonkind. Most of the

cavalry (bar 1 unit of Scouts) set up on the left hand

flank facing Pete’s cavalry.

Nick won the roll for first turn, but since neither army

had significant shooting he elected to give first turn to

Pete.

Deployment

“Right you lot! Me and the big thumpers here are

gonna smash those piggy riders,“ Goreax bellowed.

“You lot set up over there in battle formation!“

“Push up and scare them til they’re no longer green.

Don’t engage them until you’ve seen us deal with those

piggies – then we’re gonna sneak round the back and

clobber em from behind. As soon as we’re behind em,

charge! Got it?”

Goreax listened with pride to the shouts of roars of hisdisciplined troops. This was going to be a good fight. He

wasn’t particularly worried about his lads charging the

stinkin’ greenskins, but even when they won he’d have

lost good soldiers. Better that he and his big thumpers

start rampaging behind the greenskins lines so they lost

formation when his lads hit.

Before he could do that, he had some squealing pig

riders to deal with first.

“Right lads, we’re off!” he shouted, cracking his chain.He grinned as his Chariot roared off towards the milling

Orc cavalry.



Turn 1 saw very little action – not surprising when the

only ranged attacks in either army had a 12” range.

Both armies advanced cautiously towards each other,

hoping to set up for the first charge.

Nick moved his right hand Scouts into the Gore Rider

and Krudgers’ charge range but otherwise made sure

that no-one else was within charge range.

Ogre Captain by Mantic Games

Turn 1

Nicks Tactical Know-WotsGetting first charge is very important in Kings of War.

Often you can get charged by multiple units and get

wiped out before you get chance to strike. This is even

more apparent with fragile cavalry and with slow

cavalry you need to get within their charge range first

– not a great prospect to be facing.

If you take a screen of smaller, faster cavalry (Red

Goblin Scouts, KoM Sergeants etc) then you can move

your faster cavalry so it sits within your enemies charge

range but your heavier cavalry is out of your enemies

charge range.

If the enemy charges your screen then they’ll likely

wipe it out in one turn – setting them up to be charged

by your heavy cavalry. If they don’t charge your screen

then your screen charges them, bounces off while your

heavy cavalry moves in closer. When the enemy does

kill your screen (after taking some damage from it)

then your heavy cavalry can charge.

This is also really good for keeping pesky flyers at bay.



Turn 2 Infantry side: Pete shuffled his infantry back to

try and keep out of charge range

of the Ogres. His Ogre Shooters

were out of range so there was no

shooting.

Nick inched forward, keeping out

of the Ogre Shooters’ range, but

lining up charges on the Orc

infantry for next turn (while

keeping out of the Orcs charge

range). The Red Goblin Scouts

sprang forward and used their

nimble to threaten the flank of

the Ogre Shooters, while keeping

out of the front arc for shooting.

The Army Standard with the

Diadem of Dragonkind moved up

to get a shot off at the Orclings,

dealing four damage.

And on the cavalry side, Pete took the bait and charged the lone

Red Goblin Scouts with his Gore Riders and Gore Krudger, wiping

them out with 12 damage.

The Trolls, unable to charge anything, moved right up in the face

of the middle Goblin Scouts, locking them down so they couldn’t

flank the Gore Riders or hit the Krudger.

Nick counter-charged with the two Goblin Scout units

into the Trolls (1 in the flank), and the Captain and Ogre

Chariots into the Gore Riders.

The Trolls were dispatched easily by the Goblin Scoutswith their impressive combined 24 attacks. The combat

with the Gore Riders didn’t go as well; the Chariots and

Captain did just 6 damage, although they did waver the

Gores.

And reformed…



Pete was now on the back foot with his cavalry on theright flank falling to the Ogres attacks and the infantry

section reeling to react to the relentless Ogre advance.

His left hand Shooters and Captain turned to face the

flanking Red Goblin Scouts while the Orclings in the

centre made a suicide dash at a troop of Ogres. Despite

their small stature, they managed to deal 3 damage to

the Ogres but failed to waver them. The counter-

charge was going to hurt…

On the right hand side, things fared a little better. Amistake in Nicks positioning meant that the Chariot and

Gore Krudger were able to flank charge the nearest Red

Goblin Scouts (although as an individual, the Krudger

didn’t get any bonus attacks for doing so). At a measly

Defence 4 and Nerve 9/11, the Scouts didn’t stand a

chance and were wiped out.

Pete Turn 3

Troll troop by Pete



And so the Ogre attack began in full.

By pivoting to face the Goblin Scouts on the left flank,

Pete had left his Ogre Shooter troop in charge range of

one of Nick’s Ogre troops – a flank charge at that!

Rather than facing down the Ogre Shooters in the

front, the Scouts ran past them and behind enemy

lines. The combat went fairly well, with the charging

Ogre troop dealing 8 damage and wavering the Shooter

troop.

In the centre field, several Ogre units counter-chargedthe suicidal Orclings and stomped them into the dirt.

The rest of the Ogre infantry advanced on the Orc

forces, now within firing range of Pete’s Ogre Shooters.

On the right, the Chariot was the subject of a charge

from some Scouts, who dealt only 1 wound. The Gore

riders however faced down a combo charge from the

Captain and Ogre Chariots. They did not survive.

Nick Turn 3

Nicks Tactical Know-WotsJust because you can charge doesn’t mean you should.

My Goblin Scouts on the left flank could have combo-

charged Petes Shooters and, in hindsight, could have

finished the Shooters off. If I did that then they would

be an easy counter-charge for the Petes Ogre Captain,

and they probably wouldn’t have survived.

Always think about where your units are going to endup at the end of combat and who can counter-charge

them. In this case the counter-charge would be deadly.

Instead I raced the Scouts forward outside of the

Captains’ charge arc, but still a threat to the rear of his

forces. This forced him to spend troops trying to deal

with them. A dead cavalry troop isn’t a threat but a

cavalry troop behind enemy lines is something that

they need to react to.

Throwing a spanner in your opponents plan is often

worth far more than just a couple of extra damage in a

combat. Against any other army, my Scouts would also

now be in a prime position to start attacking artillery

batteries.



Pete was now in serious trouble. His right flank had allbut fallen and the left flank was in real danger of being

overrun by the now attacking Ogres.

His undamaged and unwavered Shooters stood their

ground and fired their blunderbusses, at point blank

range, into the enemy Ogres directly ahead. They dealt

five damage to the troop but were unable to even

waver them.

His Greatax spotted an opportunity and leapt forward

to charge a lone, exposed Ogre while the Ogre Captaincharged the Ogre troop that had charged the Shooters.

The Greatax hit the lone Ogre for six damage and

wavered the lone Ogre, while the Captain failed to hit

the enemy Ogres even once.

On the right hand flank, the Chariot charged into the

Goblin Scouts and wavered them after dealing just one

wound. The Gore Krudger also dealt one wound to the

Chariots, but they didn’t care at all.

Orc Ax by Pete

Pete Turn 4



The Ogre attack was now steadily beating down the OrcfOrces.

On the right flank, the Chariots charged the Gore

Krudger, dealing 4 damage but not having any other

effect on him. The Captain, not being able to see any

units decided to sprint towards the centre of the

battlefield to support there.

The Orc Chariot, busy fighting now wavering Scouts,

didn’t notice the two Ogres behind it, now in charge

distance. With a roar, the Ogres charged the Chariotand smashed it to dust.

Enraged by the Greatax regiment picking on a lone

Ogre, 3 Ogre units jumped on it, with a troop and lone

Ogre in the flank. After the dust had settled there was

nothing left of the Greatax’s after receiving a massive

18 damage.

The Red Goblin Scouts at the bottom of the map once

again danced away from Pete’s attempts to catch them

and headed towards the exposed Ax.

Goblin Fleabags/Red Goblin Scouts – rapidly annoying

Pete by dancing out of danger every time.

On the left, the Ogres continued to attack their

brothers, wiping out one of the Shooter troops and

wounding the opposing Ogre Captain.

Nick Turn 4



Pete now rapidly running out of units decided to simplydo as much damage as he could to try and somehow

scrape a draw.

The remaining Ogres charged one of the Ogre troops,

wiping it off the face of the planet while in the centre

the Greatax pounced on another measurement

mistake by Nick and wiped out another troop of Ogres.

Wanting to use every last model he had, the Flagger

charged into another troop of Ogres in the middle of

the Gore battlelines and miraculously wavered them!That must be one scary flag!

The Krudger on foot charged and smacked down a lone

Ogre while the Krudger on Gore fared equally well and

took out the Goblin Scouts on the right hand flank.

Pete had taken out 345 points in one turn and wavered

a key Ogre troop, blocking several other units’ moves.

Would it be enough to pull a draw?

Pete Turn 5



The Greatax’s in the middle soon regretted having joined the battle when a troop of Ogres, 2 individual

Ogres, a troop of Scouts and the Chariot Captain all

charged it in the flank. Under the weight of the

combined 58 attacks, taking 26 damage, they were

utterly obliterated leaving Nick in complete control of

the centre of the battlefield.

On the right hand flank, the Krudger received a fleeting

visit from the Chariots who barely broke a sweat as

they ran him into the dirt.

Furious that the Flagger had disrupted the battle plan,

a Standard Bearer and a lone Ogre charged in, breaking

him without a moment’s hesitation.

Only the foot Krudger, Ogre Captain and his Shooters

held out. Watching in despair as the enemy closed in

around, the Captain wavered when hit in the flank by

three particularly ugly brutes.

The Krudger diced with a Standard Bearer but dodged

all of the Ogres swings.

Ogre Chariots – As hard hitting as they sound.

Nick Turn 5



A draw was now almost impossible for Pete.

With the Ogre Captain wavering, Pete had just two

units left under his control – the Krudger and Shooters.

The Krudger decided to continue his duel with the

Standard Bearer but dealt only one wound which the

Ogre shrugged off. The Shooters let loose with a

blunderbuss volley into the troop of Ogres flanking theCaptain – causing four damage and wavering them.

This act, as it turns out, saved the Captain that day

since the troop blocked all other units from seeing and

charging the Captain.

The Krudger, despite wanting to continue his duel with

the Standard Bearer, felt the impact of several Ogre

units hitting him at once. Despite facing five of the

beasts, he deflected most of their blows and took only

three damage – laughing it off the entire time.

The Ogre Shooters paid dearly for protecting their

Captain as a lone Ogre roared and charged in response,

killing every last one of them.

When the dust had cleared, only Pete’s Ogre Captain

and Krudger on foot remained.

VICTORY TO THE OGRES!

Turn 6

275

1115

1325

485

P E T E

N I C K

CASUALTIES & SURVIVORS

Survivors Casualties



Pete - OrcsSo, what happened there??? I

mean, I did better than usual, but

still!

I think there are a number of

factors that went into my losing

the game. To start with, this was

only the second time I've ever

faced an all-Ogre list, and I did better than last time!

But I think my inexperience of facing Ogres showed

again.

I was more confident with my Orcs, throwing them

forward a lot quicker than before, but I tried to be

cerebral about my positioning in a couple of crucial

areas in turn 2, and let's be honest- cerebral isn't the

Orcs' strong point!

The Gore Riders did exactly what they were supposed

to do in their first combat they entered, but I think bad

positioning of the Krudger from the start meant their

manoeuvrability couldn't be capitalised on anywhere

near as much as I originally planned. As such, they were

caught out by the Ogres, and massacred. In all fairness,

Nick did a far better job of using sacrificial screen unitsthan I did, and this brings me to the second major point

that lost me the game.

I tend to think in terms of flavourful, background heavy

armies, and not necessarily constructing the best army

for a tournament. This showed as my few rock hard

units were outnumbered and overwhelmed by the

slightly more fragile yet more numerous opposition.

I know it's strange to think of Ogres as more fragile than

Orcs, but I'm comparing Troops and Regiments here,and even if they're Ogres, a Troop should not be able

to stand against a Regiment. Unless, of course, there

are lots of Troops, and they're surrounding your lonely

Regiment!

So there's the main crux of my defeat, I feel. Hopefully,

next time I will be more prepared. Will I stop building

flavourful armies in favour of tournament armies?

Probably not, and it's not a massive problem that I lost

really. At the end of the day I am a big believer in taking

the tools you have, rather than picking and choosingthe exact tools for the job. I lost this time, Williams, but

next time!!! (I'll probably lose again!)

Nick - OgresThis was a fun game (and not just

because of the victory!) I think it

shows just how hard Ogres canhit and how deceptively fast they

can be.

With everything being at least

Spd6 or higher in my army I was

able to dictate exactly when our battle lines collided.

This is such an important thing in Kings of War because

of how devastating those first charges can be. With the

basic Ogres being as good as elite infantry in other

armies, they can really put the hurt on and hurt them

fast.

I really liked the Goblin Scout cavalry. The speed of 10

and nimble really helps them get around the battlefield

and annoy my opponents. I’m used to screening my

cavalry with units of mounted sergeants from the

kingdoms of men list which unfortunately are only

speed 9 and do not have nimble. While I’ve gotten used

to harassing my opponent with those, the nimble and

extra speed means I should get caught much less.

I wasn’t impressed with my Chariot troops’ damageoutput on their own. I do need to have some heavy

cavalry though, not just the Goblin Scouts so I think in

future I will drop some other stuff to make room for

another Chariot troop and maybe some musicians.

To Pete I would say well played and here are some

pointers:

Always go for overkill – you were quite often

sending units in on their own to grind down my

units (Orc infantry units). Send them all in ornot at all.

Check your measurements! I’m obviously

guilty of this too, but pivoting his Shooters to

face my flanking cavalry set up a nasty flank

charge from me.

Fewer magic items, more troops! Magic items

are a nice-to-have and great for specialising

units, but they should be reserved for

specialisation, not general use.

Anyway, I had a great time and hope to play Pete again.I hope this shows how great Universal Battle is for

arranging games against people you wouldn’t normally

be able to play.

Post-game thoughts

Pete vs Nick Battle Report

Documents

Transcript of Pete vs Nick Battle Report