Beginner’s Guide: Balanced List Building

Hello Dash28, bringing you another Beginner’s Guide! Today’s article is another list-building article, focused on building balanced lists; however, instead of hearing me chat the whole time again, I have gotten three great players to write balanced lists, and discuss their list-building philosophy. Hopefully, it helps all you new Kings of War players (and some veterans) approach list building with more confidence. If you are interested in our other Beginner’s Guides you can find them here.

As always, if you have a request for a topic, please comment on this article and I will do my best to cover it!

-Jake Ciarapica

Forces of Good by Mike Rossi

Jake asked a few of us to give our thoughts on how to build a well-rounded, all-comers list for Kings of War.  Now, there are a bunch of articles here on Dash28 about the different army factions that rate the various units and provide sample army lists for beginners, etc.  Those articles are great resources and they show the strengths and weaknesses of each faction.  And there’s something to the simplicity of spamming the “A” units from a list and hoping for the best.  In contrast, this article will explore some of the more generic concepts that I use to build a list in Kings of War.   

For this article, I’ll be using my US Master’s list as an example.  That’s not to say that my list is “top tier” or game-breaking, but it does follow a few basic principles:

• It focuses on board control for scenario play.

• It competes ably in all phases.

• It has varying heights and speeds to allow units to be layered effectively.

• It fits the way that I want to play.

So, without further ado, here is my 2,300 point Imperial Dwarf list.

The List

• 3 Regiments of Ironguard with throwing mastiffs
• 2 Hordes of Shieldbreakers
• 4 Troops of Sharpshooters
• 3 Troops of Hunting Mastiffs with throwing mastiffs
• Regiment of Berserker Brock Riders with Sir Jesse’s Boots
• Berserker Lord on Brock with Blade of the Beast Slayer
• Battle Standard Bearer with Lute of Insatiable Darkness
• Golloch’s Fury

The list clocks in at 16 drops and 28 Unit Strength

So, let’s take each of these points in order and see how the list addresses them.

Board Control for Scenario Play

So dwarven infantry is slow and awful, right? Right? Well….yes….sort of. See, the army plays for small wins pretty effectively. Most of the scenarios involve holding objective markers or sections of the table. With the high unit strength and defense, I can comfortably control any objectives on my side of the table with the sharpshooters or the Ironguard. A Def 6 Ironguard unit placed in a wood, or with its flank to a building, on an objective marker is a tough nut to crack. And sure, it’s not as points efficient as a zombie regiment, but I can take a punch from most units and swing back. Depending on my deployment, I usually have 4 or more unit strength on each of the objectives on my side of the table by the end of turn 1. This means I’m usually only competing for the central objectives if the markers are laid out in a balanced fashion.

The army is too slow to zoom across the field in Invade, but it does have some fast elements that help screen the main infantry line. The mainline is composed of the two Hordes of Shieldbreakers and Golloch’s Fury, with the three Mastiffs lined up in front. The Mastiffs are movement 6, so they can push forward and hold up the enemy for the time it takes my mainline to reach the middle of the table.

In addition, the Brock Riders have the ability to project enough threat with their Movement 8 to either pin enemy units while my mainline advances, or flank enemies that charge the mainline and bounce. The Berserker Lord, meanwhile, either patrol the backfield or goes hunting for something cool to fight.

The only scenarios I really have an issue with are Invade, (I have to pray for the first turn to have a decent chance), or Raze, where objectives can be claimed the minute they’re controlled. In exchange, I love seeing Dominate, Pillage, or Control.

Competes in all Phases

The list is a decent balance between shooting, melee offense, and melee defense.

For shooting, between the Sharpshooters and Golloch’s the list throws 32 piercing 2 shots that hit on 4s each turn. In addition, the Mastiffs add 48 piercing 1 shots that always hit on 4s. That’s a decent number of high-quality shots over the course of the game.

My strategy includes placing my Sharpshooters close enough to focus fire on my opponent’s biggest threat. With their 36” range, I have the flexibility to spread them out a bit behind my lines and still reach out and shoot a dragon or a unit of large cavalry from turn one. (As an aside, I prefer Sharpshooters to Cannons or Organ Guns. Yes, their shooting damage is lower on average, but it’s more consistent, and in exchange, I get some resiliency and unit strength, which really matters in scenario play). I usually figure on doing 5-7 wounds on large targets starting on the first turn, depending on cover. That forces my opponent to either hide or rush forward to engage.

In addition, I make sure to deploy the three Mastiff units near each other to allow me to clear a few units of chaff or put some damage on an enemy unit before melee begins. Mastiffs only do 2 wounds or so against Def5, but when combined they can put 8-10 wounds on a unit, and my opponent has to take them into account.

The downside to this approach is when I’m fighting armies with lots of Heal, such as Basliea or Undead, (especially Empire of Dust), they usually shrug off the damage, and I have a tough time breaking units before they reach my battle line.

Offensively, all of the infantry hits on 3s, which is pretty reliable. Golloch’s Fury has around 16 attacks on 4s with Crush 3. I usually can count on it doing 6 wounds or so, sometimes a few less, sometimes a bunch more. Given its small frontage, it combo charges really well with the other infantry blocks and is the central anchor to my battle line. The Shieldbreakers can consistently put 7-8 damage on Def5 units.

I always deploy two of the Ironguard units side by side with the Lute BSB nearby. The Ironguard usually does 3-4 wounds against Def 5 depending on if I get Bane Chant or not. Doesn’t seem like much, but it’s actually pretty good given their high defense, which leads to:

The army has a good number of Defensive units that can take a punch, and when combined with Headstrong, will get to hit back before being removed. The Ironguard have Def6 with 15/17 nerve, and Golloch’s Fury is a beast to kill. The Shieldbreaker hordes have high Nerve, and even the Sharpshooters are Def 5. Importantly, the units should be hard to remove in one shot, which buys me time in scenarios or allows me to line up useful countercharges, (more on that in the next section).

Varying Heights and Speeds: Allow effective Layering

This is a really important factor in how I’ve come to design my lists. Layering your lines allows you to punish units that engage your front line. Your opponent has to pay a price for coming out to fight. This works better if you have varying heights in the list. It’s not enough to have chaff, but that chaff has to be shorter than the unit it’s screening. If not, then it’s much harder to get an effective countercharge if the chaff unit doesn’t break. In most Kings of War games, if you’re lucky you’ll get two rounds of combat with each unit. Having units that can see the field allows you to maximize your combat opportunities. This means that I end up deploying the units in my main assault group in-depth, like a Napoleonic column.

In my example above, the mastiffs are shorter than the Shieldbreakers, and Golloch, being Height 5, can be placed behind the two hordes and still shoot without penalties or participate in a countercharge. I usually run the mastiffs around 4-6” in front of the Shieldbreakers, so if they break, the Shieldbreakers can charge in during my turn. The Brock Riders, being height 3, can do the same thing, either placed behind a unit or to the side to threaten a flank.

On that note, I place the brocks around 20” in from the board edge. This allows them to control a larger section of the board, while still allowing them to push into the center if necessary. I also gave them Jesse’s boots to allow them to charge into terrain without penalty. Since the unit only has TC, it’s even more important to make that one momentous charge per game count. The Brock Lord, with his free pivot, can rush to put out fires in the backfield or get between units to cause trouble.

Lastly, the army list fits the way I like to play the game.

I’m the one piloting the army, and it has to appeal to me in some way to keep me engaged. I’m an amateur student of military history, and while growing up my head was filled with the tales of historic battles from ancient days to the Napoleonic era. I’ve discussed in other articles how I like my army on the table to act like a “real” army, with stout lines of soldiers ranked up to defend themselves against the enemy assaults. This army captures that feel for me. Strong units of dwarves hold the line and countercharge to repel the enemy. It doesn’t rely on lone characters to sweep the enemy away single-handedly. It has deep lines with reserves that can come up to shore the line or push into the heart of the battlefield. It plays in a “realistic” way that mirrors the way historic armies fought. I can see my army taking part in great battles that sway the course of the history of Pannithor, and that keeps me engaged beyond just the dice rolls and game mechanics.

And, in the end, that’s the point really, to have fun, and to tell a story with the person you’re playing with. Sometimes my dwarves will be forced to retreat, and sometimes they’ll be lucky to grab a hard-fought victory. But either way, with these basic army construction principles, I’ll feel like they had a chance from the start.

Forces of Neutrality by Keith Randal

I generally think there are four elements to list construction: Speed/Alpha Strike; Shooting (magical and not); Defense, Unit Strength. Others will definitely have different categories/strategies, but these four are what I typically look at when constructing a new list.

The first step is to know what your army is good at and try to take advantage of your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses. It is a cliché that Kings of War can be something of a rock-paper-scissors game, with different army archetypes having advantages over others in the never-ending circle of the metagame. But you’ll notice that successful players are those generals who know how to minimize their army’s weaknesses through army construction and tactical play.

It is possible to play a faction in an unconventional fashion and attempt to make a strength out of an army’s general weakness, but for beginners, it is best to focus on learning and using the more commonly understood strengths of your army. Once you get a better sense of the game, some creativity in army construction can be a real asset in playing against the meta.

It is also important to consider what you as a general are good at (or want to be good at). It doesn’t make sense to design a grinding defense 6 list if your every instinct during a game is to charge in headlong, damn the consequences (this may be why I do not play grinding/shambling armies…).

For KoM, they are really good at two things (ok, they are kind of good at them…but KoM are kind of good at almost everything…so they aren’t a great example for my category system!): shooting and maximizing unit strength.

To take advantage of these two strengths, my sample list has a solid shooting detachment – a couple of Archer regiments to plink damage or add to Warmachine hits; two lightning bolt mages flying around; and two Cannons. This is enough shooting to threaten 15/17 units in one turn and keep chaff honest (and hidden) for the early part of a game.

As for unit strength, Kingdoms of Men excel at budget-but-survivable units and cheap flying unit strength. This allows you to have a solid core but also includes mobile units that you can work with to win scenarios. For this, I have included a Footguard horde with two Pikeman regiments for support. I have also included four one (1) US flying units that can cause havoc in the late part of the game by jumping on tokens or into scoring zones.

To counter the weaknesses of the list, I have added two units of Knights to keep alpha strike armies honest, two mounted Heroes to give some flyer defense and hunt chaff/Warmachines, and a Giant to give a solid counterpunch if I get stuck in a Defense 6 grind. With these flexible elements, the goal is to minimize the army’s weaknesses from matchup to matchup.

In closing, the best advice I can give for beginners making a list is to play it…a lot. Don’t change something until you have played it 5, 6, 7, 10 times against a bunch of different opponents. List building is a never-ending struggle combining your playstyles/strengths, your army’s playstyle/strengths, analysis of the prevailing meta, and practice. No army is perfect (by design), so as a beginner, your best bet is to develop a core of something that speaks to you, and play the hell out of it in development.

Forces of Evil by Corey Reynolds

Forces of the Abyss 2300 points

Lower Abyssals (Horde) 190
–              Exchange shields for two-handed weapons, lowering Defence to 3+ and gaining Crushing Strength (1) 10
–              Sacrificial Imp 15
Succubi (Regiment) 165
–              Brew of Strength 30
–              Upgrade with a Succubi Lurker, gaining Pathfinder 20
Succubi (Regiment) 165
–              Upgrade with a Succubi Lurker, gaining Pathfinder 20
The Well of Souls 300
Molochs (Horde) 225
–              Sacrificial Imp 15
–              Upgrade with a Despoiler Champion, gaining Fearless and Brutal 20
Abyssal Warlock 90
–              Bane Chant (2) 20
Abyssal Fiend 175
Flamebearers (Regiment) 155
Flamebearers (Regiment) 155
Tortured Souls (Regiment) 120
Tortured Souls (Regiment) 120
Hellhounds* (Regiment) 185
–              Maccwar’s Potion of the Caterpillar 20
Gargoyles* (Troop) 85
————————-
Total Unit Strength: 28
Total Units: 13 

This list is very much a combined arms list that does something in all phases of the game.  The goal here is to talk about using this list from a beginner’s perspective, so that’s why I decided this would be a good list to theorize about because it has many facets involved in how it plays.  Let’s look at how the army functions as a whole, starting with different groups of units. 

Shooting Base: 

Flamebearers (Regiment) 155
Flamebearers (Regiment) 155 

Abyssal Warlock 90
– Bane Chant (2) 20 

This little contingent is super effective for what it can do.  It’s a great mobile shooting platform that is somewhat resilient with Regen on everything and the Warlock Inspiring the two units.  Their job is to find an area of the board with some decently clear firing lanes, hopefully, sit in some terrain, and contest an objective or hold a token.  The goal is to make someone come to deal with them.  Ideally, keep your Warlock within Bane Chant range of some of your mainline hitting units. 

Speaking of the mainline, that’s where these come into play: 

Mainline

Lower Abyssals (Horde) 190
–              Exchange shields for two-handed weapons, lowering Defence to 3+ and gaining Crushing Strength (1) 10
–              Sacrificial Imp 15
Molochs (Horde) 225
–              Sacrificial Imp 15
–              Upgrade with a Despoiler Champion, gaining Fearless and Brutal 20
The Well of Souls 300 

This is what’s meant to hold the center of the army.  They are the anchor, with Fearless, high Nerve, Regen, and Imps; all backed up by Inspiring and healing from the Well.  These units have can really grind it out against all but the heaviest of hitters.  The goal here is to let something crash upon the Lower Abyssals or Molchs, and let the Well get in for a flank while healing the other units.  Great in a Dominate scenario or controlling central objectives with their high Unit Strength. 

Problem Solvers 

Succubi (Regiment) 165
–              Brew of Strength 30
–              Upgrade with a Succubi Lurker, gaining Pathfinder 20
Succubi (Regiment) 165
–              Upgrade with a Succubi Lurker, gaining Pathfinder 20 

Abyssal Fiend 175 

You put these units where you need them to go.  If you need some Inspiring, throw the Fiend over in that direction.  If there’s some terrain that’s a problem spot, point the Succubi over there.  If you need to hold somewhere and you can force Hindered charges into the Succubi, great!  They fill in the gaps for the rest of the army, and provide a nice synergy with the other units around them. 

Flankers and Chaff 

Tortured Souls (Regiment) 120
Tortured Souls (Regiment) 120
Hellhounds* (Regiment) 185
–              Maccwar’s Potion of the Caterpillar 20
Gargoyles* (Troop) 85

Pathfinder on the Hellhounds makes them a real threat on the flanks, and with Fury, they stick around to fight typically a turn longer than they should, especially if Inspiring is nearby.  The Gargoyles and Tortured Souls are great chaff pieces that allow you to set up more favorable charges with your other units.  The Tortured Souls are especially difficult to remove on their own due to Fearless and decent Nerve, plus you can’t ignore them as a flanking threat.   Even more important is their Unit Strength 2, which is great with their mobility to fly around and contest objectives/zones. 

In the end, nothing except for the Fiend in this list is blatantly overpowerful by itself, the army is meant to function as a whole, with units supporting each other, setting up favorable charges, or keeping critical units from getting wiped off the table.  With an above-average unit strength, decent staying power, and enough fast units to get around the board, this army is great at playing the scenario game. 

Conclusions

And there you have it, three excellent players’ perspectives on how to create a balanced and solid army list. While each of them clearly has some of their own process and style in the planning, I noticed a few trends I wanted to highlight.

Two players emphasized personal playstyle and choice when deciding how to play their army, and what army they picked. I think this is something that can frustrate some new players coming to Kings of War, it’s important to find out how you want to play, and lean into it. An “optimized” list will never work as well as one that fits your personal playstyle.

All three players discussed scenarios and objectives when planning the roles of their units. Having a plan for what will grab Pillage tokens, or carry Loot tokens, versus grab points in Dominate, Control, and Invade is vital to succeeding. Some choices that initially seem bad can be so good at objective play that they become must-take choices.

Finally, all three lists operate under the assumption that you will have units that are generally meant to receive and survive charges (anvils), kill things (hammers), and block up the works while dying (chaff). The ways to achieve these goals change from list to list, but generally, when evaluating your list, you want to keep these roles in mind, a balanced list needs to be able to do all three.

I hope this was useful, if you have requests for other Beginner’s Guides please comment on this article.