Kings of War 3rd Edition First Impressions: Basilea

Welcome all to the Kings of War 3^rd Edition review of those most blessed and holy, Basilea. We’re going to be taking a dive into the background, updates, units and strategies of one of Mantic’s flagship armies hopefully gaining important insight into their strengths and weaknesses in this new edition. Basilea is always a faction that has intrigued me because they represented (along with Forces of Nature I’d say) the biggest original creation from within the core Mantic armies. I have a long history with miniature games of all different types, but within the mass battle genre, Warhammer and it core definition of fantasy races cast a very long shadow. While there are subtle differences to someone pouring over the backgrounds of each, the main fantasy races, Elves, Dwarfs, Orcs, Goblins etc… deviated little at a surface level in Kings of War from the those that existed in the Old World. Basilea however is different. This was a Mantic specific take on a human army that did not have an easy parallel in the Warhammer world and that got my interest.  Also, they have freaking angels helping out on the battlefield which is pretty much as amazing a unit as a human army can expect to field. While Mantic has grown in their intellectual property and have worked hard to define and support new armies differentiated from the start versus their mass battle forefathers, Basilea still has a place in my heart as the original uniquely Mantic army, and I look forward to exploring them together with you.

Lore

The background for Basilea looks to be heavily influenced by (ripped from) Roman history, and notably that of Byzantium. The map of Pannithor, especially the central portion, is very similar to a map of ancient Europe surrounding the Mediterranean, and the twin capitals (ancient and modern) of Basilea take the place of Rome and Constantinople. The post-apocalyptic nature of the world, with the shinning progressive empire brought down by outside catastrophes with only its Eastern side fiercely holding onto the legacy of a once great and expansive empire closely mirrors many of the themes of Rome’s “fall” and the survival of the Byzantine Empire to the East. I don’t see this as a problem at all. I’m a big fan of snatching elements, themes, geography from history and mixing them up just enough to make something different and cool. Mantic have added a number of fantasy twists, and their own unique motivations and world building to create a hybrid where scholars of the period can see interesting parallels (Ogre Palace Guards vs. the infamous Varangian Guard of Byzantine emperors, Bolisean’s cry for divine intervention vs. Constantine and the Battle of Milvian Bridge) but there is still original thought and creation. I love the lore for this faction and it does what I think the best miniature games backgrounds do, it inspires me to want to create new armies grounded in the world of Pannithor, but leaves enough creative freedom for each of those army ideas to have room to be new and different.

Gameplay

In 2^nd Edition, especially in Clash of Kings 2019, Basilea was a premier alpha strike army and one of the top tier armies in competitive play. Fast and hard hitting hammer units like Elohi and Paladin Knights supported by extremely dangerous and durable heroes like Gnaeus, Ur-Elohi and others gave the army a pretty one dimensional “best” build in 2019. Sure, there are some rebels out there who were already playing foot slogging Basilean armies, and good for them, but when you look at the podium places, it was alpha strike generally across the board. They projected huge threat ranges with horde shattering attack power and whether they ran over you 2^nd turn, or slowly used there range and maneuverability to force you into a worse and worse position (the dreaded python approach) they were a damn tough army to face.     

Right now, at the dawn of 3^rd Edition, I’m highly skeptical that a pure alpha strike list is still capable of dominating the way it did under Clash of Kings 2019. This isn’t a unique position I’m taking, many of the top Basilean players are moving towards more of a mixed approach and no longer counting on just bringing a big bag of hammers to the party and nothing else. The reasons for this are in my opinion three-fold.

1. The reduction of strength of certain key units combined with the loss of certain beneficial formations reduces the effectiveness of their initial charges, something an alpha strike list needs to get just right. 
2. Introduction of the buffed up Phalanx rule further reduces COK 2019 Basilean’s most potent weapons effectiveness on the initial charge.
3. A reduction in general effectiveness of some shooting builds has started to shift the meta towards more resilient and larger armies (both in units and unit strength) which is harder for alpha strike builds to deal with.     

Without the crutch that was “best in class” alpha strike builds Basilean generals are scrambling to define what their army “is” now and just as important, what it isn’t. The current archetype that appears to be rising to the top is a sort of combined melee army that focuses on a few strong hammers (and those damn Palace Guard) and a lot of synergy and utility to create a patchwork of units that can punch a hole in a static opponent and capitalize on any mistakes (or poor rolls) from more mobile opposition. This feels more like the Basilea armies of the background, with units of infantry, cavalry etc… all appearing on the battlefield with a small but dangerous cadre of Angels bringing down the wrath of the heavens. At least for me it far more resembles the lore than armies being composed entirely of Paladin Knights and Elohi running over all opposition, and that seems like a good thing over all and something the RC might have been aiming for.  

Infantry

Basilea boasts a varied set of infantry options to achieve just about anything you want. Paladin Foot Guard make great (but expensive) regimental blocks and the Elite upgrade gives an obvious three unit anchor for a section of your battle line. They’ve got just enough defensive stats, especially deployed in a way that hinders the opposition, that they’re great candidates to absorb a charge and then swarm onto flanks/counter charge with reserve hammers. Personal choice and the ability you have as a general to protect them can help dictate whether you drop some of the units down to Def 4 and give them Crushing Strength, or leave them at Def 5. The two-handed Paladins make great counter attackers especially on flanks because with a timely Bane Chant, CS 2 can really ruin even armored units day.

Another solid choice for a no-nonsense infantry battle line is the Men at Arms with Spears. Hitting on 4’s is slightly mitigated by the higher attacks and like many spear/pike hordes in the game are a great target for the Brew of Strength. Even without it, keeping a Bane Chant near keeps you around 7.5 expected wounds against a Def 5 target with is just under hammer status. Def 4 on these guys makes them vulnerable to light shooting, which has been slightly toned down in 3^rd edition so creates less of a risk, but should still be considered, especially if they’re one of the few (or only) Def 4 units in the battle line. Another spicy little choice is the spears at troop size, purely as chaff or to muck up opponents plans. Against light cavalry, who are usually able to clear your chaff easily, they’re suddenly facing a unit that strips their thunderous and has them hitting at -1. This can turn a favorable chaff battle against the cavalry and even potentially absorb a real charge by stock standard knights.

The Sisterhood always look neat to me when I first look at the list but start to lose out when I try and find them an actual role on the battlefield. Sure they’re scary as a second line smashing into opponents but other units (whose name rhymes with Malice Bard) better fill that spot. Honestly I hope someone makes these work as they have the potential to be an absolute beat stick, it just isn’t going to be me.

Ranged Infantry

Crossbows are fine but don’t love them. If you’re looking to make a classic gunline army I guess there is a direction here with Crossbows, Arbalest and, well, umm, yeah don’t do that. I think you’d be able to  create a gunline, but I think it would be pretty weak honestly and have some hard counters out there that would look at a Basilea gunline and salivate. Throwing some Crossbows into your combined army to bring a little bit of pressure on your opponent to force them into bad charges isn’t bad, just doesn’t feel optimized at the points. Sisterhood Scouts can fill this same purpose and be a little more useful in hand to hand and a lot more flexible in movement and objective stealing. They’re costly though, and right on that line between “expensive but do so much” and “do so much but just too expensive.” Gameplay they’re modeled on Shadows from Twilight Kin (#notarealarmy), which weren’t ubiquitous in 2^nd edition TK lists, but the other tools Basilea has (or doesn’t have) and the edition change might make this option more popular. 

Cavalry

Paladin Knights are still knights and still represent pretty good speed and value even losing their sweet sweet formation bonuses from 2nd. Unhindered they’re a hammer, and can benefit from some items that are cheaper on a regiment to get some really strong units. Phalanx is the elephant in the room, as basing any strategy firmly around knights (or Thunderous Charge in general) is risky with units of stick wielding pain in the asses lurking around the battlefields of Pannithor. My guess is most armies aren’t going in hard on phalanx, and if they do they’re going to be leaving certain other tools at home that would make them effective. A skilled general will be limited in where on the battlefield the knights would be able to hit hard, but should find ways around the limited phalanx in most opposing armies. This of course doesn’t cover the phalanx skew builds that will exist, either in armies where phalanx is an additional benefit on really strong and useful units (Trident Realms, Orcs) or sadistic generals who just like fielding tons of pike, spear etc… to watch the light die in their opponents eyes as they try and find a viable charge for their knights.

Gur Panthers are now awesome fast chaff. I don’t have time to sell you on all the stuff they can do, just listen to the Kris Kapsner Counter Charge episode and mentally replace the words “Beast Pack” with “Gur Panthers” and you’ll be like 80-90% of the way there. Also, move to Duluth, practice deployment strategies solo in your basement late into the wee hours and sun yourself bare-chested in the snow. Basically just be Kris Kapsner, it will make you a better KOW player in general.

Sisterhood Panther Lancers are now expensive fast chaff adjacent units. They have a place and in the right hands as they can tie an opponent in knots, but if they’re not used perfectly, they can die to a stiff breeze and aren’t cheap. Use with caution. I do enjoy that they have a little more space in the army to operate. Towards the end of 2^nd Edition, the Basilea list was getting so optimized, and Elohi were so good and maneuverable, that other units serving any sort of flanking threat were largely frozen out. In 3^rd Edition, we have some more room in armies for experimentation and the roles have been differentiated a little more. Panther Lancers might benefit from this and make a comeback.     

Chariots

They’re thunderous charge only. If Phalanx gets hella popular then expect these to be shelved, but if Phalanx ends up being few and far between these can still serve a role.

War Engines

Rules committee has tried to make war engines across the board more reliable, so they’ve lowered the power but pumped up both the number of shots, and in some cases, increased the Ra to 4+. The Arbalest is one of the lucky ones that gets the boost. Congrats Arbalest, you’re actually potentially useful now. See you don’t need a ton of shooting in a Basilea list, just enough that when you’re squared off with your opponent making things difficult for them to charge, you’ve got something making their position worse with each passing turn and your position better. In 2^nd Edition you usually had a movement and threat projection advantage, so you could spend each turn tightening the noose, and then strike at that most advantageous time. With an infantry based army, you need something else, and a couple spear chucking war engines (along with other support pieces) might just do the trick. It just brings that little bit of damage that, if ignored, will rack up over the turns and allow you to tip things in your favor when it comes to the inevitable crash of battle lines. Are they better than a couple lightning bolt chucking wizards? Time will tell, but I feel like the better version just uses LB.

Large Infantry  

While not entirely lost, the bitching and moaning about the hit Elohi took was definitely lower in volume compared to Keith Randal’s drunken lamentations on the death of Kindred Archers and the ongoing tarpit where joy goes to die on the Dwarf pages. But just because fans of some other armies are louder or more persistent, it is important to recognize that Elohi took a big old nerf. They weren’t just hit with the nerf stick, but more like fell out of the nerf tree hitting each branch on the way down before landing face down in the nerf mud while a nerf bus repeatedly ran over them. I’m not trying to over react here, and the unit is still useable (either in regiment form or as a single horde with Brew of Strength), but there has been quite the fall from grace for these angels. From one of the premier units in 2019, the linchpin of a winning archetype and no brainer ally that could make most other armies better it is now something folks are struggling to fit more than one into their list. With downgrade of Elohi it feels like the all alpha strike all the time builds most likely took a big downgrade as we discussed earlier.

Now this power hit Elohi took is not necessarily a bad thing, the fact they’re nerfed so hard and still look viable means they were too damn strong. For me the unit needed toning down, but it appears from the outside this specific unit sat at the nexus of three separate design goals pursued by the RC. Because of its unique properties, it got hit by three separate handicaps. It lost raw power by losing Thunderous Charge, it lost battlefield mobility with the loss of Nimble and it lost army building flexibility by becoming irregular. This triple hit is one of the reasons Basilean players are calling foul, but I still see a useable (but not spammable) unit that can fit in armies but isn’t an auto include and isn’t being shoved in as multiples. This feels like a very conscious decision from the RC and we’ll see how time shakes out with these. I’d happily include them in my list (with Brew of Strength) and treat them as a more predictable/longer range cavalry unit using fly to better select targets and create multi-charges.

Ogre Palace Guards on the other hand, were a good unit that has gotten even better. These folks might just be the best Large Infantry in the game point for point as their entire set of stats and abilities seems to complement each other. The horde boasts 18 attacks on 3+ with built in CS 2 that puts them clearly in the camp of doing 8 damage to a Defense 5 unit on average. Add in Brutal to push the odds further in your favor, Iron Resolve for a little bit of damage recovery, solid nerve and a price point in the lower 200’s and you sir have more than my attention. They make an excellent secondary line as they pack a lot of punch in a reasonably small foot print and will dunk on most anything they charge, especially if it has a little damage on it already. Also, they’re no longer irregular, so they can more easily form the spine of your army helping unlock other useful pieces. I’m not sure what massive recruitment drive Basilea has been doing on the Ogre version of Linkedin (or Tinder?), but its freaking working as the ranks of the Palace Guard seem to be swelling to absolutely ludicrous numbers. Expect to see a lot of these folks on the board.

Titans

The Phoenix has been working out, doing some flaming bird style cross fit, yoga, fiery pilates or just got a high class glow up or something as it got bigger (75mm base) and a little bit buffer over the edition break. If the old Phoenix was Rachel Leigh Cook from the beginning of “She’s All That” then the new Phoenix is Rachel Leigh Cook from the end of that film. Basically the same person, with small changes that gets everyone talking for some reason. The two more attacks make it slightly more of a threat in combat, especially from flanks or rears, but the real shiny new toy is that Radiance of Life. The ability to remove damage from units just by activating is pretty great, and helps support the patchwork of smaller footprint units that Basilea is trending towards (as the effect can hit more units and therefore get more points of damage healed). Overall, we might start seeing more Phoenixes on the table in 3^rd than we did under Clash of Kings 2019 rules, but that will be more about the changing style of the army to me than the actual upgrades of the Phoenix.

Heroes

Oh my goodness there are so many. Too damn many for me to go through them all so I’ll summarize by saying Basilea now has a massive amount of choice in the Hero slots to get exactly what they need. Cheap 3 attack mounted annoying heroes? You’ve got those! Multiple spell casters, with access to special spells, you’ve got those too. Middle range tough heroes, Palace Guard Captain, High Paladin and Abbess on Panther Chariot got you covered. Big fat dragon? Sure.

Ur-Elohi lost some of their tricky spell options from COK 2019 but are now bringing Dread to the table which helps add value throughout the game basically contributing damage to combats they’re not even in.  

Unique Units

Okay Basilea, I get it, you’ve got a lot of lore behind you so you get a lot of unique units, and they’re pretty darn good. Samacris is slightly worse in attacks but brings Def 5+ instead of the Phoenix 3+ Def. Honestly they’re pretty similar but with Samacris on a smaller base which in this case might not actually be a benefit (since she isn’t aimed to be in combat). She can fit in-between charge arcs and jump over lines easier to use her Fireball, but for Inspiring / Radiance of Life, the Phoenix on its Titan size base might edge it out. It’s a solid pick regardless and I can see her fitting into a lot of lists either on her own or alongside the big fiery beak beak.

Julius is in a very similar boat in comparison to the High Paladin on Dragon with slightly lower attacks (but gaining Elite) and lower Nerve (but gaining Def 6). Here I think the Large Infantry size is a definite advantage over a 75mm Titan base as you want this guy sneaking into multi-charges/flank charges and being smaller can be incredibly useful.

Gnaeus is still a Knight regiments worth of Nerve and Defense packed into a nimble 50x50mm footprint of absolute annoyance. If used properly he is a great tool in the arsenal even at 180 points as he is extremely versatile in how he can be used. 7 attacks at CS 2 adds valuable damage to a multi-charge and is a real danger from flanking positions.

Seriously though, Basilea has 11 different hero options and 4 unique units, I’m tired and not going through every one of them.

Conclusion

This is a great freaking list that looks like it has a lot of options for interesting builds going forward. The army boasts lots of Def 5 options across their infantry, large infantry, cavalry and flyers that combines well with Iron Resolve, Aegis Fragments and access to multiple types of damage recovery. Ogre Palace guard at first look, really stand out as the engine that makes this army just punch folks in the face, and opponents of Basilea really need to watch out for these buzz saws. Elohi still have a place, especially with Brew of Strength at horde level or as regiments, and an incredibly diverse array of infantry options allow you to tailor a strong battle line to your preferences and either deliver your hammers from a second line position, or just line up and grind like a middle school dance. The vast array of heroes and unique units allow a ton of modeling possibilities and again, much like the infantry, a chance to tailor the list to exactly what you want as there is basically an option there for everything.