Another year has gone by and we're back on the eve of BrisCon, the premiere event for Kings of War in rainy old Queensland that will see a champion crowned and given a seat at Australian Masters this year.
This year we have 20 players and the competition is far fiercer than years before, with a slightly smaller player pool including former national champions, state champions and regular top 30 contenders. Truly, we are in for a mighty rumble in the north this year.
But you're here for the gossip aren't you keen eyed reader, to know what armies really look like in the flaming and/or raining northlands Down Under. So, enough of the preamble, let's talk totally unprofessionally about the surprising variety of lists attending this event.
Adam S - Dwarfs - "A Nameless Horde of Armour"
Starting us off tough, we have Adam. Notorious for his all flying OotGL cavalry army, Adam has decided to descend from the heights of Mount Olympus to grant the blessing of his presence to those of us bound to stay on the lowly ground. With Dwarfs. The toughest, slowest SoB's in the game. Uh oh...
To start us off, the shooting potential of this list is deceptively high. A neat packet of Gollochs Fury and the Sharpshooters make for a prickly long range firebase that is fairly accurate on 4s. However the true danger is at 12" where the Flame Belcher and throwing mastiffs come into range. Making it past all that firepower and into melee is hardly an improvement either, with the large amount of high nerve and high defense units making any contenders life very difficult.
As a potential MVP of the list, we'll focus in on that horribly mean Stone Priest. Speed 10 flying, radiance of life and alchemists curse (2)... I do not envy the opponent who loses track of that slippery guy. I give the list a solid 8.83817/10, a solidly precise Dwarven list that should be piloted well.
Alexi M - Ogres - "The 20th Combat Company"
Hot on Adams' heels is my own list, the 20th Combat Company of Ogres. Ogres were my first love in KoW and although I have run Abyssal Dwarfs, Varangur and Kingdoms of Men, Ogres are often my go to.
List wise, the 20th Company brings a reasonably large conventional ranged battery to the field with 2 hordes of shooters and 2 lightning bolt loving warlocks taking center stage. Covered by the filthy smog of the stealthy aura boomer chariots and defended by The Big Deal and a trio of heavy hitting Ogre hordes, the list has a fairly long ranged punch and a nasty right hook up close. Some goblins even made it into the list with two rabble hordes volunteering to eat charges for their mercenary commanders.
MVP of the list is likely going to be the third warlock, who has forgone the usual flavour of offensive spells for the tricky debuffing spells of Wither & Perish and Scorched Earth. Whether or not these will save the Ogres from defeat is yet to be seen however. I'll give myself a BIASED/10, naturally.
Alistair P - Ogres - "Gotta Go Bigger"
Our second course of Ogres comes from Alistair and already it's interesting to see how there are definitive similarities in the shape of our lists but drastic differences in the execution. 2 shooter hordes once again join the list, backed up by a nimble horde of boomers and another interesting warlock with fireball and Wither & Perish, this time sporting an Amulet of the Fireheart. I'll admit, you don't often see double casting from Ogres but that should be interesting.
Unlike my own army however, Alistair has gone heavy on the heavy hitters for melee. 2 Berserker Bullies, a Giant, lifeleeching Siege Breaker horde and 2 hordes of Warriors is a heavy duty frontline that will run over unprepared competition with ease if they can pick their fights well.
The lists MVP obviously has to go to Grokagamok, the one man unit killer with blast D3 and crushing 3. I give the list a thumping great 8 out of 10 for the amount of heads that will surely die in one swing from Grokagamoks axe.
Andrew G - Dwarfs - "The Best Invention Since Sliced Bread"
Andrew here from down south heard that most Dwarfs like to fight on a 4+ in melee and decided that they were rather silly... So to prove the point he's made a list of almost entirely melee 3+ units that's going to make us Northerners suffer with. Oh joy.
Everyone knows the Royal Guard formation, notorious as they are. However today the Standard Bearer is gunning for MVP with the sacred horn attached and 3 whole hordes of Shieldbreakers just begging for an elite aura to let them reroll 1s to hit on their already nightmarishly good fighting profile.
Backed up by no less than 3 lords on large beast and a small contingent of brock riders and a gnome glass shield bearing berserker lord, the list is straightforward and utterly brutal. MVP can actually go to the throwing mastiffs though, because they're the best boys. I give it an Angry Dog biting a Goblin out of Ten. Nice list AG.
Dan H - The Herd - "Rip & Tear: The Musical"
The phrase "everything and the kitchen sink" comes to mind when I look at this list. Dan has managed to squeeze in a nice cluster of very high speed and hard hitting units that could rival the flying circus lists we occasionally see in our area. And given that (spoilers) none of the usual suspects brought their flying circus armies along...
2 Winged Beasts of Nature and 2 Lycan Hordes with an accompanying Alpha & Moonfang make for a fast moving and hard hitting flanking force whilst the frontline is held by the Forest Shamblers, Guardian Brutes and Longhorns. Don't be fooled though, the frontline can still give a decent turn of speed.
I'll give my MVP to the Great Chieftain with the wild charge (+1) aura and a nasty 15 attacks with duelist against opportune targets. As for the list itself, I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10. A good chunk of nerve and a good chunk of power but it will be heavily vulnerable to the shooting lists at play this event with no ranged power of it's own.
Ed H - The Herd - "The Running Circus"
Ed has started his list off with that same base essentially, 2 Winged Beasts of Nature, 2 Lycans and Moonfang. The list quickly diverges however as it abandons almost any pretense of having a durable frontline in favour of rolling out a Centaur horde, Scorchwings and some fast characters.
The sheer speed of this army cannot be understated, with the Longhorns being the slowest element at speed 6 and everything else going 8, 9 or 10. The board presence of this list is immense and it will try to swarm you. Albeit much like Dan's list, the army lacks defenses against heavy shooting forces and will need to use that speed to close in quick.
For MVP, I'll vote the Scorchwings. Fast moving, long ranged shooting and a good melee threat to boot will probably see Ed score more than a few nasty flank charges. As for the list, a nasty 9 out of 10 for that horribly high average speed.
Jason C - Forces of the Abyss - "Court of the Abyss"
Prepare for the clash of the titans with Jason's Court of the Abyss as 2 Archfiends and an Abyssal Fiend hit the table running with carnage in mind. It is rare to see 1 Dragon type titan on the field, let alone 2 full sized ones like these Archfiends. Backed up by no less than 2 Chroneas, 2 Tortured Soul hordes and a pair of Lower Abyssal hordes to soak up damage, the list has gone for sheer titanic power in nature.
Clearly finesse is not the goal here, but rather sheer stubborn power and durability. Three caters with Fireball (10) and two with Lightning Bolt (4 & 7) also make for a sneaky bit of shooting coming from the list, though often I'm sure they'll damn the guns and ram into the enemy instead.
For MVP, I've got to give it to both the "Dragons." If 650 points of flying malice can't make an opponents favourite unit perish, I don't know what will. As for the Court, I'll give them 7 flaming bins out of 10.
Lachlan P - Elves - "In the Shadow of Dragons Wings"
Lachlan would like to remind us all that whilst the Flying Circus may not be in season this year, that won't stop him from bringing a scary amount of Drakon Riders. Just above a third of the lists cost in fact, which is not at all concerning. Alongside the heavy beat of dragon wings we have a Tree Herder and two Forest Shambler hordes, a very solid frontline that is backed up by a solid amount of archers and an Archmage.
The list has clearly gone for a jack of all trades playstyle with some high speed, heavy defense and a large ranged contingent that will provide the tools to compete with just about any army. Although with only 11 units in an Elven roster, the list is a little more fragile and will need to be safeguarded for maximum effect.
The MVP for this list will likely be the Tree Herder, able to help hold the frontline effectively and surge those Forest Shamblers if a chance arises. Overall I give the list a solid 7 out of 10, it has what it needs and should be able to compete in any phase.
Luke Schafer - Northern Alliance - "All Hail The King"
The King is not Dead, All hail the King. Luke returns with his Northern Alliance today and an unpleasantly large roster filled with hard hitting units. 3 Snow Troll hordes and 3 Snow Troll Primes start us off with a horribly defensive frontline, backed up by 2 Ice Elemental hordes. That mid ranged shooting is added to by 3 regiments of ice bomb bearing Frostclaws and 2 Ice Queens, one of them Serakina herself.
This is a list designed to overwhelm an opponent with problems that is piloted by one of the best players in the country who has already taken two events by (snow)storm and is looking for a third in his ice covered crown. This said however, there are some exploitable weaknesses here. Although Luke himself has brought along a rather large ranged contingent, much of it is made up of fragile 10/12 & 11/13 units with no ranged defense that are likely to be an ideal target for a prospective opponent.
As for my ratings, I'd say the Ice Queen with Blizzard can claim the MVP whilst the list just gets a Luke out of Ten. If you've played him you know what that means. Shall we see a triple gold this year?
Lyle Marsden - Free Dwarfs - "The Midfield is My Field"
If you told me that a Dwarf army had a 20" deployment zone, I would want say they're cheating. But as Lyle has clearly pointed out here, it's not only possible but horribly effective. 10 out of 13 units from this army have scout and every single one of them either has throwing mastiffs, crossbows or a fireball in their pocket. If this army gets turn 1, prepare to get hammered by a tonne of very accurate firepower.
It doesn't even get much better afterwards as the army is full of crushing strength and pathfinder, making it a huge headache for you at range or in melee. As a whole, the list is a bit of a one trick pony but it's a very nasty, very reliable pony that is hard to defend against. If you're playing against this force in a mission where getting into the midfield isn't necessary, you might almost be better off deploying back a bit...
MVP here can go to Craggoth & Kholearm, the scouting and inspiring (self) Greater Earth Elemental with a fireball attached that will make your life more annoying. The army itself gets a free dwarven 8.9*/10 for the cruel tactic but clever list building.
Mathew C - Elves - "The Jack of All Trades"
Our second Elven list from Matthew (with a C) is a much more balanced force, with elements of every unit type present. A Dragon lord, a Drakon Lord and a Drakon horde make for nasty high speed threat. An Archmage, 2 bolt throwers, some sea guard and a gladestalker unit add a not insignificant amount of shooting and the list is rounded out with palace guard and forest shamblers as a frontline.
The list really does have a tool for every occasion, I think more so than any other list in the event and can compete well against just about anything. Just like the prior elven list though it has got a lot of fragile elements that it'll need to safeguard if it wants to pull through for the long haul.
MVP today goes to the Palace Guard horde with two handed weapons, a big nerve brick with a solid melee punch if it's able to land it. As for the army, a respectable 7/10. Nothing super scary in it but an all round competent force.
Matthew A - Halflings - "Bullets with a Hint of Gastro"
If you want to puke after reading the list I don't blame you. Halflings are the masters of stacking up buff and buff on units and Matthew's latest creation is no exception. 2 Gastromancy units giving out choose-able buffs is an unpleasant start, a strider aura that affects cavalry is worse, some extra wild charge auras make it even more annoying, add a headstrong aura and a bucketload of inspiring and the list becomes a pain to track on the battlefield.
To add to your headaches tracking this army, it naturally ended up including multiple large shooting units to try and clear you off the table before you have a chance to react. And if those don't give you a headache, the strider cavalry and aeronauts certainly will.
MVP goes to the Muster Captain, that strider aura is devastating. And the army doesn't get a score today, just a bad case of the plague. Good luck against these lucky guys.
Neal B - Forces of the Abyss - "The Peoples Champion of the North"
The founder of Pathfinder gaming takes to the field this year with his revamped Forces of the Abyss and it is certainly an interesting army style. Lots of little units that hit reasonably hard and are reasonably annoying to remove.
The army has a lot of durability with regeneration hanging around, although it only matters if they survive the first hit which is the question with this sort of army. Neal has a lot of tools to play with to mitigate and reduce damage and can likely make the army do a lot of work. It's raw damage output is a little low compared to other lists seen at BrisCon but it may well be sitting in the sweetspot.
The Lord of Lies takes the MVP with his ability to stop enemy units gaining the benefits of auras and his sheer power, whilst the army gets a 6.5/10 for power and an 8/10 for durability. I look forward to seeing your progress oh great People's Champion of the North.
Paul V.E - Empire of Dust - "Last Dead Standing"
Undeath mostly took a holiday this year so Paul went ahead and provided us with a token force of skeletons to fill our diversity quota. It's a bit of an eclectic mix of units but when you look at surge armies, that tends to favour them. Have tools available for most jobs and then throw them into someones side and watch the fireworks.
We'll start with the evil pairing; 2 Undead Wyrms. Speed 10 flying, nimble and shambling. You should all know that you need to be very careful of these. Especially if the order to turn off shambling comes into effect. Some scouting infantry make the next hurdle, pushing the front line forward so that the fast movers can roll up behind them and not sacrifice time catching up. A bit of shooting is also present just to add to the list and stop key units from being gummed up by chaff as easily.
The Soul Snare is of course the MVP because it is a bonkers unit and the army can get a 9/10 for the range of tricks it can pull off at the hands of it's very capable commander.
Scott H - Goblins - "Gnomish Order of the Wooden Spoon"
Our local goblins player returns at the head of his Gnomish hordes, this time opting for a larger variety of toys. As befitting a goblin army, there are plenty of units causing mayhem on the field. A giant and 2 slashers take the titan category by storm providing both good short range shooting and some heavy melee threats. Backed up by a Mincer Mob, some sharpstick throwers, a winggit and some blasters and you end up with a ludicrous amount of ranged and melee threats.
Leading the way is 4 hordes of goblins and a det pack troll horde for good measure. The list is just chock full of little threats that you would never want on your flank and big blocks of nerve that are hard to shift. My hat goes off to Scott for creating this bruiser of a list to be quite honest. Even head on it would be a formidable list and yet you can see how quickly a player can be enveloped by the sheer number of units present.
Choosing an MVP is harder for such a large list, however I'm going to pick the sharpness bearing Mincer Mob as the sheer amount of damage potential from that unit is utterly, loveably insane. The army also scores highly on composition in my personal opinion, so I'll rate it a 9/10. Best of luck Scott.
Stephen T - Abyssal Dwarfs - "Light My Fire"
When building lists, sometimes it can be a trap to spread out your unit choices too wide as you can end up diluting the power of the list rather than strengthening it. In this case though, it seems clear that Stephen has found a sweet spot with some interesting and niche choices added.
A horde of Decimators is always a nasty prospect and two regiments of Halfbreeds will hurt most things they come into contact with. Some Immortal Guard troops, a Gargoyle troop and a horde of Lesser Obisidian Golems make a reasonably effective chaff screen that can also hurt a lot if they can land a punch in. The list really takes on some flavour though with the big three, Infernok, Dravak Dalkan and a Surpreme Iron Caster. It's rare to see any of these choices in the AD roster but the amount of board pressure they can apply is huge from experience. This list will excel by trying to dominate the board with it's various threats and force opponents into making bad trades.
I have to give the MVP to one of those three, probably the Supreme Caster for the sheer potential for mayhem he can cause. Overall I'll rate the army a 7/10 as it is good but it is possibly bloated with a lot of very expensive units for an Abyssal Dwarf army.
Tim C - Varangur - "5 Bows, 6 Trolls and a Dream"
Now at the time of writing this, I've been seeing the painting updates from Tim as he hurries through preparing this army. And what an army it is, forgoing having a variety of units to instead just pick a couple of preferred options and bringing them en masse.
Night Hunters are a great ranged unit that is also quite competent as a light melee unit. Snow Trolls make a good brick of a frontline and Snow Troll Primes are perfect for their roll as a flanker and support attacker for the Snow Trolls. Add in the Magi and their transfusion fodder Draugr and you get a very straightforward but capable list.
Picking an MVP for this list feels a little odd, but I suppose Kruufnir might be able to take the cake? Overall I rate the army a 7/10, great potential but at risk of falling apart under pressure. Hopefully Tim can pilot it well and push it through.
Trevor Y - Abyssal Dwarfs - "The Iron Shot"
Our second Abyssal Dwarf player, Trevor has veeery different ideas on what makes the army of smoke and fire function. A large core of Lesser Obsidian Golems dominates the force, Charnox's ready to open fire alongside the firepower of a Hellfane and katsuchan. The cavalry contingent gets even larger as well, with the Brewing Rebellion taking to the field alongside a Halfbreeds unit.
A few units of Berserkers and Gargoyles act as the chaff for the list, simple yet effective. Overall this list is one of the ones that really wants to control that short range 12" bubble and can offload a tonne of firepower very quickly. Combined with the high durability of that frontline, generals had better be wary when approaching this formation.
For the MVP, I give my vote to Jag Bloodspike as he really does do soo much for the cavalry and the army as a whole. May the rebellion go smoothly this time around. On the whole, the army gets a 9/10 as well with it's clear battleplan and durability.
Yan L - Free Dwarfs - "Herneas & Rangers"
Our last list belongs to Yan is our final double up of a list, the Free Dwarfs. Whereas Lyle went for a cunning battleplan with his oops all scouting army, Yan has gone for a big list with a large variety of unit composition including some of the more generic dwarf choices.
2 hordes of Shieldbreakers screened by 3 regiments of Ironclad make for a durable and damaging battleline. Dwarf Rangers give a little bit of better mobility and versatile ranged firepower whilst the stoneclaw rider regiments provide excellent flanking threats if they can weave between ranged threats. Herneas and 2 Packmasters make for a very nimble shooting threat in the character department whilst a stoneclaw champion and lord on large beast bring a bit of scoring power and threat to the table.
The MVP does once again have to go to that cheeky Stone Priest with the wings of Honeymaze and Alchemists curse as such a versatile threat that can reach out and touch just about anything. Composition for the rest of the list gets a good old 7.5/10 from me. Reasonable capability but a bit more vulnerable at range compared to it's compatriots and that may see it suffer.
And that's it. A lot of lists and a lot to digest.
Overall it'll be a very tight tournament as almost all the players are high skilled and the lists this year feel particularly brutal in comparison to prior events. The sudden decrease in the flying circus archetype is a welcome change, although the rampant increase in ranged firepower may herald a shift in the QLD meta to come. Only time will tell.
BrisCon commences on Saturday the 17th of May and should prove to be a bloody event. All the best to all competing and may the best commander win. This is Alexi signing off.