Know Your Enemy: Historical Armies

Historical armies in Kings of War, by which I mean armies built using the historical supplement, are having a bit of a moment in the tournament scene. Multiple historical lists have been showing up at major events across the United States including Siege of Augusta (won), Lonewolf GT, Vanguard GT and even United States Masters. I wanted to take a moment and talk through these lists, their unique capabilities, and how they fit into the larger fantasy scene. This is not an exhaustive review or discussion on the historical supplement (although I’ll provide a quick summary), or about playing in period historical games versus other historical armies, but instead a focused look at historical armies in fantasy events.

So what’s the deal with the historical supplement? Released in 2016, it was created as a standalone ruleset, that allowed players to use the core Kings of War rules, to fight using historical troops. Provided along with the rules, was a generic list of troop types that could be used to create armies from history, and then a set of “themes” each representing a specific group (IE Vikings, Indians, Macedonians etc…) that gave “theme” specific unit entries and a list of what generic troops could be taken by this army.

The generic list feels like a very big version of the Kingdoms of Men list from the fantasy game, and the themes give a little more character to each army but are still, for the most part, drawing from the generic list. There is also a Mythical Units section at the back that allows you to take fantasy units to supplement your historical list if you feel so inclined (up to 25% of the army). Now all of this is very loose in structure (in the historical style) and are meant as guidelines around how to create a force, but they allow for chopping and changing as suits the historical period or specific campaign you’re attempting to re-create on the tabletop.

There is also a single paragraph about using historical lists against fantasy lists that basically can be summed up as “they’re not 100% balanced against each other but have fun if you want.” And with that thin veil between worlds, between fantasy and historical was lifted in Kings of War, and more and more, the armies are co-mingling at events, so let’s talk through what that means.

For this analysis of armies, I’ve broken the armies into three separate buckets to make it a little easier to cover each specifically.

Romans:

Romans are essentially the damn Space Marine of historical pre-modern gaming. They’re the most popular, have a ton of miniature ranges that cover them and the first stop for a bunch of folks starting to paint historical miniatures. If you don’t have a Roman army somewhere in your collection, are you even a historical gamer? They’re also one of the more popular Kings of War historical armies to hit the tournament scene, so I’ll cover them first. John Green, from Texas, helped popularize the build as he was looking for a list to run his fantasy Spartan miniatures, and ended up bringing Romans to US Masters. Variations of his build have now popped up at Lonewolf GT and Kings of Baltimore.

What does it do well?

The engine of the list is based on Heavy Warriors (most armies are rocking ~4 hordes of them), one of the generic troop types from the historical book and used to represent legionnaires. These start out with the generic Foot Guard profile from the Kingdoms of Men list, and can drop their shields to bring two handed weapons gaining Crushing Strength 1 but losing a point of defense. They’re basically all over the historical lists and as mentioned part of KOM, so what makes the Roman list special?

In the Roman list, their heavy warriors have an additional rule called “Foulkon” which represents their ability to form up in a testudo formation, which shields all around. This rule gives them basically Def 6 against shooting and protects those big unwieldy hordes from the sort of deadly missile fire that can be prevalent at big events. This allows them to have the best of both worlds. They’re a Melee 3 and CS1 horde that has a great defense against shooting, upping their chances of getting into combat and into the grind they so desperately desire.

To help with the grind, the list has easy access to Bane Chant and rallying (2), so each of those hordes of heavy warriors has an even deeper nerve pool than normal, and is usually swinging with Melee 3 and now CS2 which is a formidable damage dealing unit (CS3 if a unit takes Claymores). The historical lists also have access to a cross section of multi-purpose mythical units which give you all sorts of tactical accouterments, including dragons (the pre-COK Def 6 version too), a generic version of an Ur-Elohi, phoenixes and other units. These help plug some of the gaps and give better access to heavy flyers, hard hitting characters and heal than the KOM list usually has.

With the core engine of heavy warriors, bane chant/rally sources, and mythical units sorted out, the Roman list has some flexibility with what to do next. This (along with what mythical units) is where each of the lists starts to see more variation. But they all seem to be adding some speed and flexibility, since 4 big old hordes of infantry can be a bit unwieldy. Praetorian cavalry is in pretty much all the Roman lists, but some lists go heavy (Jesse Cornwell brought 3 regiments) while most just bring the one. Andrew Dursum had a wildcard option of Thracian peltast hordes, while Jon Green brought more legionnaires and some fast characters.

So that is pretty much what Romans are bringing to the table usually. Four big hordes that are going to fight you at CS2 and are Def6 to your shooting. Some mythical units to either keep the hordes fighting or go off and do dragon/Elohi things, and some wildcard options. Does this list resemble an actual Roman field army? Hell no. They wouldn’t be leaving their shields at home/strapped to their back to bring two handed weapons, and if they did, they’d have a hard time forming testudo. But these generals don’t really care and are using the list as written to make a pretty formidable and interesting army build.

What doesn’t it do well?

Move quickly. It’s a small difference, but when you look at the overall shell of the army (big fighting hordes, multi-function support, lots of nerve), this starts to feel a lot like a fighting Ratkin list, just that little bit slower. The core punch of the Roman list is contained in movement 5 hordes, so adjusting mid battle and adapting is very difficult. These hordes are not maneuverable, and if you need them to get across the board to get an objective, they basically have to be pointed at it turn 1 and go go go. The army can be road blocked, and while it hits hard, its force is applied in a predictable manner which makes scenarios hard.  

Mongols:

Mongols are one of the standout lists in the historical supplement because they actually bring a unique list flavor. Most of the armies in the historical supplement are just variations on what can be made with Kingdoms of Men, but the Mongol list is a spicier meatball for sure. A combination of multiple unit entries with “Skirmisher” (a historical only rule that allows units to act as individuals) and a heavy emphasis on multiple types of mounted units creates an army that looks and behaves differently than most lists in the game.  

What does it do well?

Win tournaments where skirmishers get full unit strength. Besides that, the army is all about speed and maneuverability. It has very unique units in Mongol Horse Archers and Mongol Skirmish Lancers that operate as individuals, which definitely takes some getting used too. The first time you see a regiment of lancers change facing at the beginning of a round and charge something 18 inches directly behind it is certainly a damn surprise. The non-skirmish lancers are no slouch either almost the same profile as Stormwind Cavalry from the Elf list (one less point of defense, 2 more attacks) for 25pts cheaper. A multi-charge from them in the clear will break most things, and with the other fast units whipping around it can be hard to get a solid countercharge in. The skirmish archers, with elite and vicious and a -1 for folks shooting back at them (skirmishers) they’re great for peeling off chaff and surprisingly resilient in a shooting war.     

Like all historical lists they have easy access to Rallying (2) and Bane Chant which helps keep units around and adds to that first turn punch. Genghis Khan also offers a useful little character with both Very Inspiring and Rallying (2) paired with some decent combat stats that allows him to be used to ground big flyers or chase off little ones. It will be like wrestling an octopus, every time you think you have a handle on things there is another arm poking you in some other uncomfortable place. A lot of different mythical units can help out this army, with Huge Warriors a favorite of Shannon Shoemaker as they’re basically ogres that get bumped by the Rallying (2) up to a nasty 17/19 nerve. Great for push scenarios and to have a solid more anvil like unit around.

What doesn’t it do well?

It is going to have a hard time with really tough grinding lists, that can prevent multi-charges, and lock any of its non-skirmish elements down. Might also struggle against elite lists that do what it does, just slightly better (harder, faster, longer charges). This army has speed and the ability to pick great angles for the charge, so it can blow up a lot of a battle line when it decides to, but getting stuck in a quagmire could give it fits. There is also the balance in unit strength between non skirmish units and skirmish ones that has to be managed. You can easily find yourself stuck with a low unit strength total by taking too many neat and shiny skirmisher toys, and a good opponent will kill all your scoring units first.

Everything Else:

So really beyond Romans and Mongols there aren’t really consistent historical lists showing up at fantasy tourneys, more a collection of random ones. Usually they seem to just be players that like the figures and are looking for slightly more character for their chosen period than the Kingdoms of Men list offers. They’ll also look to take advantage of some of the wackier units that show up in the historical themes (Tony Nelson’s Foot Companion Legion at Vanguard GT for example).

What does it do well?

Put troops on the table. Like Kingdoms of Men you can get a lot of beef out there, and with the addition of a toolbox of mythical units, you have a little more flexibility than the stock Kingdoms of Men.

What doesn’t it do well?

Hit consistently with good crushing strength. It just lacks almost anything with CS2 and above in the core lists. Also, it lacks truly elite units. Those really hard bastard units like Mounted Sons, Ancients on Rhinosaurs or Soul Reavers, historicals just don’t usually have it.

Today though I wanted to look through Ray Shields “French” list from Vanguard GT 2019 as an example of using historicals to slightly change the flavor and costs of a fantasy army. 

I find this list fascinating because at first it just looks like a Brotherhood list, but examined a little closer, it uses the historical options to create a cheaper, more focused army, with units that perform the same roles, but since they’re a little bit worse, you get a little bit more.

The core of the list is heavy warriors, some big blocks of levy’s to stand around and take up space and holy crap five regiments of knights! Now if you take the closest equivalent Brotherhood units for that core, you end up with 1605 pts, but using the historical list, its only 1500 pts even for those blocks. Now you are getting slightly worse foot troops (but could be argued better knights) for that price, but that 105 pts saving is almost a free mounted Joan of Arc. The same sort of arrangement happens over on the character side. Sure heroes on winged beasts are worse than Exemplar Forsaker’s, but you’re getting two for the price of one. Add in two flying cheap wizards and suddenly you have a whole air force of cheap flyers that can grab late game objectives, charge block or do other tricky chaff like things.

Another standard issue with knight heavy armies has always been what to do after your charge. Since you’re hitting with regiments that generally cost as much as a foot horde, your nerve is a little low to grind since one good combat round from an opponent can get you into range that breaks you with a decent nerve roll. Also, since you no longer have your thunderous charge, you’re just relying on good melee and defense 5 to survive. With the historical lists cheap and easy access to Bane Chant and Rallying (2), all those blocks and knights will be grinding a little better and sticking around a bit longer, which makes those knights more viable. Add in the French knights elite and they’re able to hit that little bit harder and be more consistent. Honestly, at 200pts for elite, headstrong, thunderous 2 knights is a pretty damn good bargain.

When I look at this list I still see the same issues I do with knight heavy brotherhood armies, but I also see more multi-purpose tools to deal with those weaknesses, which is possible through slightly cheaper (and slightly worse) units available from the historical list. It is a great example of the very small differences in available options creating what could be a more optimized and flexible list. Now Ray might have just brought this as a laugh or because he had the models, but I see a damn good little list here even if that is true.  

So there you have it. A little mosey through the verdant garden of historical lists and what you can expect to see at events near you (if they’re allowed). None of what we looked at seem “overpowered” at this point, but all of these are competitive, and with a skilled pilot can get a good finish at big events.