First Look: Kings of war & GW venom or homegrown?

I might as well start with the kings of war review...

I was asked by a new chap at the club if I fancied a bit of kings of war, and me being a system whore accepted, fantasy is something that doesn't really float my boat unless its warhammer quest and that's a different story for another day, but with the beta rules being free as well as Mantic just about to release orc's I decided to get some use out of the orcs & gobbo's that I painted for the latest warhammer which I don't really like to be honest.

So initial thoughts on the game:

Not too bad actually, I've had mixed reactions when I've told people that I was going to play but the rules are fairly simple and the combat is interesting the nerve test is very clever and the bigger the unit the more "nerve" you get which I like, the orc army list is still being tested so feels a tad overpowered as every once has +1 to damage for brute strength.

even with only a 500 point army list I managed to field:

2 Ax regiments (120)
1 great Ax regiment (105)
1 Gore riders troop (80)
1 Krudger (115)

throw in some banners (+1 Nerve for your unit) and musicians (-1 nerve for the enemy) and you 66 orcs running around the table!

the army selection is quite simple, one core troop unlocks one warmachine/hero choice which is nice and easy rather than percentages, the other this I really like is that armies (evil) undead, "chaos" dwaves & orcs and (good) evles & dwarves can ally with each other and when they start doing neutral lists they can be included, so can give you a bit of variety when choosing what you want as well as painting options.

So onto the actual models...

I'll be dead honest the elves are shite, the undead and the orcs are shit hot, the normal and abyssal dwarves are "ok". but pricewise its a no brainer! 60 zombies for 30 quid! why thank you!!

this is something that I would play again and I'm looking that the mantic range of orcs to see how they compare to the GW ones that I already have or I could flog the GW orcs on ebay and triple the amount of models from the price that I could be for them.

have a look if you fancy it... www.manticgames.com

So with all the rage of the recent price increases resctrictions on selling to the otherside of the world the dark eldar releases have not had the postive comments that they deserve, I think that the all look supersexy par the venmon, I don't know why though? I know the venmon is a viper thats been nicked by the dark eldar and pimped out so that it they can go crusing for bitches, but it looks too much like a vipe (if that makes sense?)

so the GW venmon...

very pretty & nice and nice paint job..

my version, bit more "spikey" and longer looking?

ok so I prefer mine but its £28 to get both kits compared to the £18 gw kits so ok 10 quid more expensive and if your on a limited budget then the GW kit is the choice but if I was to continue the dark eldar then I'd only and another 1 or 2 venmons and convert them in the same manner but slightly differant detail as I'd imagine each one would be decorated differantly according to the squad riding in them.

so onto what I've been splashing paint on recently...


after picking up some more epic bits on ebay I added to the huge marine army with a couple of units of land speeders, a couple of tactical detachments, a couple of assault detachments. With the 2 thunderhawks that needed finishing and the "strike" cruiser the marine reinforcements look like:

I need to stop myself from getting more epic though... I've more than enough!!

So with the hail Caesar game approaching fast I blasted out a 40 celt warriors and a skirmish unit of slingers

painted with the army painter dip technique that I posted about a while back, and I'm liking the overall appearance of the army, only another 40 warriors, 10 cav and some command guys and that lot will be sorted, not too sure if I'll pick anything else up though I did go a bit mental with the French and have quite a lot left over that I need to either do something with or get rid of!

so with just over a week of the month left and spencer picking up some GHQ stuff for me at triples its time to get a shift on and I'm looking to clear this lot by the end of the month...

so 10 T55's, 10 T72's, 5 BRDM-2's, 5 recce jeeps, 9 lots of infantry, 6 epic marine rhinos and whats left of my FOW british before I pick up any thing else.

Assuming I can get that lot done that should put me at:

Bought:  54
Painted: 114
Difference: +60

not a bad result at all and as I'm not really after anything at the moment next month should be a bumper bonus with the CY6 models that I need to do and the rest of the celts to finish.