Turn 0-3: Setting up a Win

Hi everyone, today I am bringing you a guest article written by Joey Greek! It’s a pretty cool examination how to approach turns 0-3, enjoy.

Hi, Joey here after quite a few drinks wanted to write again about KoW, and when Joey drinks Joey… writes.

Something that I think people take for granted or don’t conceptualize about KoW is how you should approach your turns in each game.  You only get 6 or 7 of them, so you need to make sure each of those 6-7 actions for your unit count.  If you’ve ever wondered why committing your entire army on turn 2 to great effect meant you were tabled by turn 6 to even greater effect, hopefully, I can help out.  

Preface

Once I grasped how I could control the flow of the game, my overall performance improved drastically.  This is an important skill I rarely see discussed or highlighted, in part because one of the main decisions you have to make every turn is, “do I interact with the opposing army this turn.”  I don’t want to promote a purely un-interactive game with a negative play experience, and instead focus on how you can maximize your turns and approach to the game. 

The Turns

Deployment

Now wait, deployment isn’t one of your 6 turns?!?

In my mind, it’s turn 0, and possibly the most interactive one with your opponent.  It’s the only turn you and your opponent switch activation, and it’s where you will be looking to define your table based on your list and scenario.  Deployment is something I’ve seen articles written about for many games, and with good reason.  Deployment is one of the very few things that can be consistent throughout every game with a given army.  Most people usually deploy in pre-assigned battle groups, these 2 cavalry regiments get the mounted bsb with banechant, etc. As a result for people who sit on their office chair throne writing/creating for the masses like -/28 or me, it’s one of the easiest turns to analyze and account for.  

Ultimately, deployment is one of the earliest places in the game you can lose.  Deploy your spd 8 elements too wide, and they now get taken out of the game.  Giving those 3 loot tokens to this shock troop horde seems like a good idea at first in push, until you realize they now have to get babied and your core list idea can’t function as you deployed. 

What I want to stress most though is deployment is also the easiest turn to recover from.  Every mistake you make in KoW has an effect on the remainder of the game, but the more time you have to correct the mistake as a player you can control to an extent how impactful that mistake is.  Bad deployments can be saved by skillful mid-turn and end gameplay, or dice luck.  No one wins a game until that fateful end of turn 6 dice is rolled, or turn 7 has rung its bell.  You need to keep this in mind during the game, even when it looks lost on turn 2 there can always be a chance to save it at the end of the game. 

I can’t really go over much in deployment without specifics ultimately, each list will lend itself to certain deployments.  A fast alpha strike list will usually protect its chaff on turn 1 from shooting, then double out to project threat on turn 2.  A shooting list might deploy in a way to project kill zones from the firepower early while delaying the opponent as much as possible.  I’m going to assume you the player can figure out the optimal deployments, it’s honestly one of the worst parts of my game in KoW I feel.  

Turn 1

Now we get into the meat and potatoes, and I’m already over a page into this thing.  (You’re welcome Jake). Turn 1, much like deployment can be the 2nd most important turn or the least important turn.  This depends on your matchup and scenario, games like Control I feel don’t highlight turn 1 nearly as much as something like Raze does. 

Turn 1 with is when my opponents and I decide on the field of battle.  Is it going to be 2” from my deployment zone? Or will we be playing along the midline?  If I’m going first and it’s Invade I’ll likely want to create the engagement zones on his deployment zone so he is boxed in early and I have the best chance of winning the scenario regardless of the dice.  What you should be setting out to accomplish on turn 1 is putting into action your armies battle plan and the areas of the table that will be highlighted in this game.  

Very rarely is there any combat or super meaningful dice rolled on turn 1, with a couple of notable exceptions.  If you are up against artillery, your turn 1 will be different.  Your goal this time is to both determine the areas of combat and also keep any unit you think is necessary to win the game outside of view/reach of the artillery.  Even if that cannon should average 3-4 wounds against your unit, you’re also risking 9 and that is not something you can afford early or really ever.  This is the turn artillery is at its most effective because every early hit and removal of a unit deletes those valuable actions you would have gotten to take with that unit.  Units like red goblin scouts won’t have as impactful actions outside of claiming board space as chaff or a flank, but the siege breakers behind them they’re blocking LoS too carry much more value throughout the game.  

The other exception is when you’re against an aggressive vanguard army.  These play similar to fast alpha armies however they are typically speed 6 throughout, with maybe 1-2 turn 1 charge elements.  This is something to watch out for, mostly in the deployment phase but also can dictate how you use turn 1.  The field of engagement is almost always pre-set from your deployment zone to the midline by virtue of their army starting on the midline.  Instead of working to create an engagement area that’s to your favor, you’ll be playing almost like its turn 2-3 baiting and setting up bad charges for your opponent that you can take advantage of.  Or if your army can alpha well, maybe committing on turn 1 to charging in and letting the dice determine the game early.  It’s a ballsy play but I’ve seen it work for and against me.  

Turn 2

So now it’s turn 2, the fields of battle have been set and you’re ready to start rolling dice right? WRONG.  Turn 2 is actually an extension of turn 1, remember that you win the game on turn 6+ not this turn.  I’ve fallen victim to this many times myself, you’re given that juicy multi charge into their 300 pt unit, and if you hit that 5+ twice the games over and I will guarantee you you roll that 4 every time.  Instead, treat turn 2 as more movement-based.  You’re jockeying for position, putting baits out for easy flank charge kills, and cementing your scenario victory before your hapless opponent even knows they lost. 

This is typically the turn you’ll see chaff make their move to setup a turn 3 charge, although I will break that trend by saying most armies should wait until turn 3 to setup those charges.  Turn 2 should be purely movement based, with charges considered very seriously or only taken to prevent an opponent’s position being impossible to win against.  

This is also the turn I think I should mention going first or 2nd and how that can change the game.  I treat 1st and 2nd very similar to white and black in chess, especially early, as at the top of turn you get the first say in moves, and the bottom of turn is reactive.  This is particularly true in the first 2 turns; turn 1 top of turn usually decides where the combat will be, while the bottom of turn gets to determine how good those charges are for the 1st player. 

Different play styles will buck or break this trend obviously, but for a general rule expect going 2nd to favor reactive or defensive play early and aggressive bold play in the later turns, and the opposite for going 1st.  This is because as the game progresses, the top of turn player has to start reacting to the scenario and not just your own movements as the bottom of turn player and you can turn that to your advantage by playing aggressive late when he can’t react to it without losing the game.  

The prior exceptions to usual turn 1 play apply here too, aggressive vanguard lists you’ll probably be in combat by now and you can apply turn 3-5 logic here due to the accelerated game pace.  Against artillery, you should be in the last turn of protecting your threats while setting up if you’re going to be aggressive, or table allowing in a position to use terrain to protect a scenario win while turtling (smashing gameplay mechanics I know)

Turn 3

The turn everyone blows their load! And much like your SO’s opinion, probably one turn of foreplay too early.  (Jake is gonna delete that line so good)

This is the usual start to the combat of KoW, you’ve set up the chaff on turn 2, your units are ready to smash and dash to the scenario.  But I’m going to tell you to take a very long look at whether or not that is going to benefit you by turn 6.  Not every game is going to go at a pace or even a matchup that will allow you to wait on turn 3 and that’s fine. But always consider this, especially if you’re going on the top of turn 3, my opponent will get at least 3 turns to react to this charge.  Are they going to have enough time to counter what I am doing, and is that going to win me the game?  

This is the most important thing I have to stress about turn 3, your units have damn near infinite options of movement your opponent has to account for normally, but the second they’re committed to a charge the options they have shrunk to a pretty manageable 2-3ish corkscrew charges.  This is what makes dragons or drakons so deadly, it’s not the impact they have when they hit, but the mental strain they add to the opponent having to figure out what they might do every single turn.  A ratkin demon might only cast lightning bolt every turn of an entire game and still contribute so much by threatening it defines the game because your opponent always had to consider its ability to turn a combat. 

Now some games you’ll want a turn 3 combat, if it’s Raze and this allows you to grab all 3 of your tokens so even if in 3-4 turns your tabled you win then go for it, that opponent can’t win the game now anyway.  That’s up to you as a player to decide, some games I go for turn 3 to take advantage of deployment or a movement mistake.  In other games, i’ll wait until turn 4 even if I went first because it reduces my opponents’ ability to react to my decisions.  My main aim when I’ve gone first is to have secured a scenario win at this point in the game. If you’ve managed that, then turn 4 charges can guarantee that scenario victory by preventing your opponent from being able to act on the scenario at all, removing the issue of having to react to him and the scenario at the same time.  This requires practice and a good eye for table situations though, so it is admittedly a skill to develop over time.  

As a bottom of turn 3 player though, I will usually accept the charges given at this point.  You have the turn advantage here, with essentially this turn + 3 additional turns to force a scenario win and this is almost always the turn I’ll commit.  As the bottom player, they will have a harder time reacting to both you and the scenario and this is why I like to start being aggressive here.  The first 2 turns of being defensive while going bottom is really to buy time without losing too much.  Since going first has the advantage of where and when, if you’re given the choice to decide when to charge by the bottom of 3 I feel you should go ahead and take it.  

Now Joey, doesn’t this run contrary to what you just said about not charging top of turn 3? Yes, it does.  Because if you were a good listener and didn’t waste setting up your chaff on turn 2, you can now use it top of 3 to prevent your opponent from becoming the aggressor on the bottom of 3.  And this really goes to show the complexity of KoW, because I could have another player like Dustin Howard or Alex Chavez comment and tell me I’m completely off base and wrong. Alex especially loves to play aggressive, and it works for him, not so much for me.  As a player, you have to learn your own instincts about the game and trust in them.   The turn to commit is as much about the experience as it is your feel for the game state, so experiment with opponents to find out what works best for you.  

Conclusion

This is just the first half of the game, and I can’t stress enough how the most important turn of the game is turn 6.  Maybe turn 7, that depends on if you win or lose on it though.  In the first half of the game you’re building up to the crescendo that is turn 5, and always remember that goal of I want to win the game when you’re moving.  If you take a unit and put it somewhere that doesn’t move you towards that W, is this really an effective use of 1/6th of its turns?  Chaff is so important not just because of how it protects your units but also because of how it determines your opponents’ options on the table and can also cost them 1/7th to 1/6th of his value out of a hammer or key scenario unit.  Always keep that turn count in mind, a bad turn 2 can be fixed, a bad turn 6 or 7 cannot.  So keep an eye on opportunities in those late turns to take a scenario point or zone when your opponent has no options left.  It just might be the difference between a W and an L