Kings of War/Tactics/Brotherhood

Why Play Brotherhood?

You like Brettonia, Azeroth, and water elementals. They can also be flavored as Catholic militant orders, such as the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller. The army book, oddly enough, also pictures Mongolian units from Fireforge Games in this section.

Army Special Rules

• Valiant: This is identical to the Rallying! (1) special rule, except only Villeins can benefit from it. This effectively means if you field a Villein heavy force you add 1 to all their nerve values.

Unit Analysis

Hero

• Devoted:

• Exemplar Adjutant:

• Exemplar Forsaker:

• Exemplar Hunter:

• Exemplar of the Brotherhood:

• Exemplar Redeemer:

Infantry

• Order of the Brotherhood: Foot knights. This is your standard elite infantry unit. They're low on attacks and don't have much to make up for it. They do come with Headstrong, but their nerve isn't any better than most units of this kind so it likely won't even be relevant most of the time. They do have the army special rule Valiant, however, meaning they are intended to be taken in small numbers to boost their Villein friends around them. Use sparingly.

• Swain's Villein Rangers: Ranger Swain's unique unit. You can only have one of these and it's kind of all over the place. It comes with Elite, Inspiring (Villeins only), Piercing (1), Stealthy, and Vanguard. Their stat line isn't anything special at all, so you're paying more than twice the points of any other troop sized unit for those special rules. They get 10 attacks and hit on 4+ in both melee and ranged, with an abysmal defense score of 3+. Not a good unit and one that will cost you dearly when playing for victory points.

• Villein Bowmen: An odd ranged unit. Comes with Phalanx, Piercing (1), and Reload! Phalanx seems like a good thing on a ranged unit, although they only got 3+ defense so it's not doing much most of the time you end up in melee. They're pretty standard as bowmen go, but more importantly they're one of only three units in your army with a ranged attack (the others being a war engine and a living legend unit). If you want ranged, you're taking these guys.

• Villein Martyrs: A middle of the road infantry unit with Regeneration (6+). They also lack a waver value, which is a nice bonus. They're probably the best flak unit in the army, giving you a small survival bonus over most infantry with these two buffs. Good for throwing out into the fray when you want to lock something down for a bit.

• Villein Plowshares: Peasant levies with Crushing Strength (1). They've got a worse stat line than Villein Martyrs and cost more points, with the only bonus being slightly more attacks and Crushing Strength (1). At legion strength they're a big block of hard to kill infantry, but then everything that can be legion strength is. You're better served taking Villein Martyrs.

• Villein Spearmen: Your Phalanx peasant levies. They're actually your cheapest infantry unit, but other than being cheap they don't got a lot going for them. They also have abysmal nerve and will likely run after a single shooting or melee phase at anything less than horde strength. Not very good at all.

Large Infantry

• Water Elementals: Water elemental infantry to support your peasants and knights. They have Crushing Strength (1), Pathfinder, Regeneration (5+), and Shambling. They cannot be wavered and are decently tough. They also move faster than most large infantry and can be boosted with Surge by your Devoted. A solid beater unit that ignores most terrain and regains wounds every time it moves.

Cavalry

• Order of the Abyssal Hunt:

• Order of the Brotherhood: Yes, they come in a cavalry flavor too.

• Order of Redemption:

• Villein Initiates:

• Villein Reconnoiterer:

Large Cavalry

• Order of the Forsaken: Pegasus knights, although they were also described as aquatic knights in the beta list. Comes standard with Fly, Headstrong, Thunderous Charge (2), and Valiant. Very hard hitting and mobile, but also very expensive. These will demolish most anything they come into contact with at horde strength, but at that strength they are the most expensive unit in the entire army. You're not going to spam these knights, so if you take one you need to treat it as a flying monster and not as a cavalry unit when used.

Monsters

• Forsaken Beast:

• Greater Water Elemental:

War Engines

• Villein Ballista: The cheaper of your two artillery options. This one gets a single shot that hits on a 5+ with Blast (D3+2), Piercing (3), and Reload! This isn't great as you're only hitting about a third of the time and it routs on a nerve of 12. War engines are not this army's strong point, so this isn't too surprising that you've been left with the generally bad options that are standard for many armies.

• Villein Siege Artillery: The more expensive artillery option. This one still only has a single shot that hits on a 5+, but it bumps up to Blast (D6+2), Indirect, Piercing (3), and Reload! Slightly better damage output for slightly more points. It still only hits about a third of the time and will likely rout after one round of shots on it, so you're better off not taking them.

Tactics

A mix of shooting and flying cavalry will fuck shit up.