Kings of War 750 point games

Recently me and a fellow gamer had a go at Kings of War downsized. Now as you may know KoW is massed fantasy wargame. Rank upon rank of warriors in a fantasy setting with players facing off in a 28mm world. Perhaps 1,500 - 2,000 points is most players goal for regular games. However collecting takes time...(and money).

Game 1 (Kill!). The smaller Brotherhood (Norman) patrol faces a larger Arab force (Kingdoms of Men)

The rule book suggests that while you are building a collection you could consider games at 750 points or less with the additional option of Troop choices unlocked. Normally to take a Troop they are unlocked for inclusion in an Army list by first purchasing a Regiment or a Horde. A Troop is the smallest infantry or Cavalry unit option. Some of you reading this may be familiar with the rules.

Arab forces defeat The Brotherhood.

We gave it a red hot go and managed to play 4 very quick games. Our conclusion was that it was very, very enjoyable. Most of the games actually went the full 6 or seven turns. I was actually surprised by this as I thought they may not.

Game 2 (Invade!).  That's a lot of Goblins...Gulp!

We played the first four Scenarios from 1 to 4. We had no Hero individuals. The games make for excellent linked campaign style games played in order and I decided that the games represented a bunch of border engagements with small patrol style forces facing off before a larger outbreak of war. Perhaps the Recce elements or just a local lords force marching to join up with the nation's army for a larger battle.

During game 2. The Brotherhood eventually defeated.

I wanted to try out a list made from the options for The Brotherhood. I ended up with only 4 units. Yikes! I faced in the first game a Kingdoms of Men force made from my Arab collection but the next 3 games was Goblins and had me massively out numbered. I managed only 1 win in the last game.

Game 3 (Dominate!). This is an interesting King of the Hill mission. 

It was an ideal way to learn a few new things and try new units. We could have massively unbalanced the forces by including big powerful options so perhaps adding some simple restrictions could make this a bunch of fun quick games that have at least an attempt at balance

During Game 4 (Pillage!). Blue dots are Objectives to control at game end. 

Finally 'The Brotherhood' have learned how to win.

The enjoyment of the games way exceeded my expectations. I may well look at more games like these and it may be especially good for historical styled games. Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons, Normans vs Anglo-Danes, Arab vs Normans. Mongols vs Arab. Wars of the Roses.

Cheers from Brendon

PS. You might notice my small unit of Archers with 4 miniatures. They are on a base size for a Troop of human infantry. That's a max of 10 miniatures. Turns out that some KoW players maintain that it should have a minimum of 6. My method of basing means I save time and money. I can also take them off and use them in Skirmish games (25mm round bases). I can also replace them with a variety of humans from Mongols to Vikings. So they are a kind of universal unit tray that conforms to the unit overall base size. I don't recall any negative comments across the table top about it.