- Event: Invasion of the Varangur
- Type: 2000pt, 3 game, single day, random 1st round draw followed by swiss system for pairings
- Number of players: 12
- Venue: Black Dragon Miniatures, Hinckley, UK
- Cost: £8 + £1.50 for unlimited coffee all day
- Composition restrictions?: Yes
- Food included in cost?: No, food can be pre-ordered although there are a number of cafes, pubs and fast food places within 3 mins walk.
Garry Sharp is the owner of Black Dragon Miniatures and runs regular events at his store in central Hinckley. The store also runs a KoW league, with 3 divisions of 6 players, so there is a strong local community. The shop/venue is unusual in event venues in that it’s light, airy and above all, warm.
The event went smoothly with one game pre-lunch and two after. Chess clocks weren’t used as with only 3 games in a day, timings were less critical. I played my “elite” Varangrrr list with, in my view, too many magic items (I’m awaiting new toys to paint) and my own performance was very mixed.
I had a very tight draw in the the 1st game (Invade) against a very nicely balanced Elf army. He had a spear horde, a bolt thrower, troop of drakons, drakon lord, palace guard (a troop of which survived thanks to successive double 1 nerve checks) and cavalry elements. The game was, in my view, going very much his way with his flyers threatening my flanks and rears throughout the game. But with flyers only counting for 1/2 points in invade, it was slightly closer than I realised. The game culminated in a 7th turn breath attack (10) roasting of my opponents spear elf horde that forced them off the board. The game ended with a 11:9 winning draw to my opponent.
Second game was Loot against an undead army containing masses of ghouls (troops for chaff and hordes for tarpits), backed up by soul reaver foot troops,soul reaver cavalry and a horde of werewolves. This game was over very quickly due to some poor dice rolling by my opponent and a couple of positional mistakes (Mounted Sons into the flank of werewolves isn’t going to end well). The ghouls were eaten reasonably quickly but not before they’d blocked the soul reavers advancing; thereby allowing my Sons (foot and mounted) to double team his elite vampire units. It ended around turn 4 with me winning 19:1.
My final game was Kill against a very solid dwarf army. He had a brock rider unit and a unit of berserkers, two regiments of rangers, regiments of shield breakers, ironguard and ironclad, 2 steel behemoths and a nasty combination of flaming standard bearer and a hitty lord. The game started positively with my right flank (Fallen and Devourer with 2 wolves) causing havoc whilst the two regiments of mounted sons munched through the rangers. Then things started to go badly.. the brocks killed a unit of sons on foot in a single turn, and whilst they subsequently died, the second sons on foot quickly succumbed to the berserkers and steam tank! Talking of steam tanks.. the second one joined forces with the other foot units and deleted my mounted son regiments (yes, both) which had become embroiled in a war of attrition over an obstacle. Turn 7 had my Fallen unit charging his damaged ironguard unit and failing to rout it (needing 5, with a re-roll) – the iroguard counter-charged and the damaged Fallen died. It was 17:3 loss for me but a really enjoyable game that swung back and forth.
Final Thoughts
I came 7th from 12 which I’m happy with. This was my first outing with Varangrrr at 2000 points and I was already aware that I was too heavy on items and too light on troops.
The players were all good natured with plenty of friendly banter. The armies were all painted, although there was no best painting award as Chris Walsh was attending (I’ve attached a photo of one his units; simply stunning!). The quality of the players in general was above average, as would be expected for an event held in an area with a lot of KoW players. Does that mean that newbs shouldn’t attend? No. The best way of learning and improving is to play better players.
The venue is my favourite “on the circuit” for the reasons I mentioned previously. Having a well stocked shop and a great TO completes the deal. The next KoW event at Black Dragon is on the 21st of May.
