Kings of War 3rd Edition: Introduction to the Order of the Green Lady

Hello everyone, welcome to another guest article, this one written by America’s darling, the man who cannot be beaten in soft scores, the terror of the NorthEast, Mr. Kevin Spear! Kevin has written an introduction to the Order of the Green Lady article for us, giving a quick overview of the army. In the next week or so, he plans to follow up with a full review, complete with Tier breakdowns, unit by unit. Enjoy!

Welcome, fellow knight! By opening this article, you must have some interest in joining the Green Lady’s Knightly Order.  Come, sit!  Let us speak plainly as to why you should join these hallowed ranks!

Why Play the Order of the Green Lady?  

Part 1:  The Price of Chivalry

Without getting too much into it, during Second Edition, Brotherhood struggled competitively for a number of reasons:

• (1) as a TC based offense, with limited pathfinder/bane chant access, most boards were too terrain heavy to allow the various knight units to break units in a single go
• (2) this meant many knight units would find themselves mired in protracted combats.  And as a human based army whose units’ nerve values were typically middling, combined with a lack of true healing support, it resulted in the Brotherhood ultimately losing the grind war.  
• (3) finally, as a descendent of Warhammer’s Bretonnian Army, painting demands were significantly higher than most, limiting the number of players willing to invest the time and effort for a such a low tier army.

A Brotherhood Reborn, Third Edition gifted The Brotherhood with a new lease on life.  One that, in this player’s opinion, makes The Order of the Green Lady an extremely competitive army, especially, if you are aiming for best overall.  Why? Well, considerthe following…

The Grind

By merging certain unique aspects of The Brotherhood, with the Forces of Nature army list, you now have an army that maintains it above average mobility/hitting power (something the FoN typically lacks), with Nature’s ability to remain in the fight through its robust variance of healing sources.

Whether it’s the abundant use of the heal spell, the Vial of Sacred Water, 5+ regen, or Radiance of life, Greenhood players can now remove enough wounds from frontline units that they will (on average) survive the one additional turn, essential to winning the grind game.  

Still, when considering such an important feature of our game-plan, my advice is to choose wisely!  Many young aspiring Greenhood Players will fall prey to spending too many points on taking all the heals types, resulting in a toothless war-host that cannot consistently remove enemy units.  I’m especially torn on the Vial of Sacred Water.  At first glance, it looks amazing (recover d3 wounds, yes please!), but the possibility of recovering only 1 wound for 10 pts 33% of the time hurts.  In future editions, I wish it could have either been a d2 heal (for just 5 pts) or a d2+1 (if it wanted to remain at 10 pts). Regardless, it is just good enough that I do try to find room for it on one of my hammer units, but it’s the first item to be removed if I’m looking for points.

Access to Banechant 

Oh man, The Green Lady has truly provided when thinking about the sheer amount of BC available to her knights. Traditionally (ie Second Edition), Brotherhood could only gain one Bane Chant through the Lute of Insatiable Darkness, which worked on a single unit 75% of the time, making true unit coverage during grinds nearly impossible.  Now, the humble Druid bathes our forces in the keen edge Nature’s fury!  

Yet, don’t fool yourself into thinking that this makes Greenhood an offensive juggernaut. Even when banechanted, a charging unit of knights will only net 9 wounds against a def 5 opponent (up from 7), giving you a paltry 33% chance of popping them in a single turn (when inspired).  Rather, BaneChant comes into its own on the following turn, increasing your damage output from 3.5 to 5.25 wounds.  This all but guarantees you popping enemy units on 3+ and/or saves you from those annoying backline healers who may have taken off 2-4 points in your opponents phase. I never leave the castle without one (usually with the staff), if not often two (usually with the shroud for my own healing support).

Pathfinder Units 

If this particular change had occurred in the previous edition, I would have put this at the top of my list, but the inclusion of Sir Jesse’s Boots of Striding slightly deflated our additional access to pathfinder for our roving bands of forest knights. That said (and traditional reasoning for why pathfinder is so great aside), you really need to consider the Sacred Banner of the Green Lady a blessing. 

With it, you can make a poor-mans version of any elite unit imaginable.  Want a cheaper version of the Order of Redemption, throw a Brew of Sharpness on there, a Vial of Sacred Water for heal and hit on 2+s all day! 

Want to really push that distance threat?  Well chug a Brew of Haste and watch as even flyers back away from you!  Want to try your hand at elf shenanigans? Sip the Wine of Elven kind, march and nimble pivot at your leisure. 

Although your knights may not look it; you can tailor them to fit your needs.  Who wouldn’t pay those 15 pts to double up on an additional effect?

Board Control through diversity 

Without a doubt, I have been enjoying KoW more than I have in years, due in large part to the obscene level of unit choice in The Order.  From elite lists dominated by knights to more traditional FoN themed armies, to infantry based grinders, you can construct just about any type of Nature list you set your mind to. 

This versatility, however, comes with a price.  Even with the addition of brotherhood knights, the list is simply not going to out-fight combat-based armies such as Varangur, Northern Alliance, or Herd.  And due to Nature’s aversion to shooting (because shooting is for peasants), you really don’t have much of a missile option.  

So where does that leave The Greenhood?

Well, you’re left with a highly flexible, mobility-based army eager to establish board control.  The high movement rates from such units as Beast of Nature, Pegasi, Order of the Forsaken, and Exemplar Redeemers allow this army to stonewall flanking threats and pressure centerline units.

Many opponents will slow the advance of their own battle line down substantially because of this. If you can then properly combine this with your foot units (flavor them to your choice), you’ll find yourself beginning to limit and then ultimately dictating the pace and location of combat. 

Therefore, I strongly recommend taking the first turn regardless of the scenario as this guarantees early board control. Just remember, the best hunters are those who are the most patient.  Your opponent will want you to charge recklessly (read this as charging into their units with only a singular unit of your own), tempting you with mediocre chancing of a quick pop (remember that 33% I was speaking of earlier?). Rather, when playing Greenhood, you should attempt to “pull apart” the enemy line, making units point in so many directions that you can capitalize on their weaker sections through local superiority (ie a knight regiment in the front with a Beast of Nature in the flank).   Once this is achieved, you can begin rolling down the enemy flank. 

It’s an amazingly fun/skillful technique when you’ve practiced it enough and is actually quite entertaining for your opponent to play against as it presents a complex (though not impossible) puzzle to contend with.

The Flower of Nobility

When taken together, the Order of the Green Lady is a substantial step forward in Brotherhood History.  Quite simply, they do just about everything the old Order did better. This does not put them at the pinnacle of army lists, however, more like… upper-middle tier.  

I suspect many will still take other lists because of their dominance in combat, shooting, or surge shenanigans.  But if you’re looking to develop your movement game, throw yourself into some epic combats and yell out “For the Lady!” Every now and again, I can think of no better a place then the Greenhood.  We’d love to have you amongst our ranks.

If you’d like me to give a more “unit-by-unit” analysis please let me know as this was great fun to do. Also look out for my synopsis on The Brothermark in the upcoming weeks!  Until then, my lords and ladies, keep the faith and always honor The Lady!