Kings of War/Tactics/League of Rhordia

Why Play League of Rhordia

Hobbits Halfings

Army Special Rules

• Rallying Cry: All units in the army with Inspiring have Very Inspiring instead. This includes if a unit gains Inspiring from another source, such as Magical Artefacts.

Unit Analysis

Hero

• Army Standard Bearer: see Kingdoms of Men entry

• Baron: staby hero that inspires non-halflings

• Duke: stabier hero that inspires everything in your army

• Duke on Ancient Winged Aralez: Flying firepower platform with 7 attacks. Also heal(4) for some reason

• Halfling Master Sergeant: somewhat staby hero that only inspires halflings

• Halfling Master Engineer: gives your volley guns the elite special rule

• Halfling Sorcerer: Windblast as the default spell could be interesting

• Wizard: see Kingdoms of Men entry

Infantry

• City Militia: Weird unit. Bit of a glass hammer (In comparison to other Rhordians) with 4+ and Crushing strength. Most of the time though they're unlikely to get to the front line, as they're to weak in defence. A bit of a waste frankly.

• City Spear Militia: Pretty basic unit: a decent anvil to soften up enemy lines before you send in your cavalry (Which you will be taking) to finish the job. Also useful to block enemy cavalry while also fighting back a bit.

• Crossbow Block: Basically muskets except cheaper and with less piercing. If your strapped for points or are facing Goblins or similar then take these (Although in that situation Halfling Archers will normally do), otherwise stick with Muskets.

• Dogs of War: Your toughest option for infantry or cavalry: ensnare and 5+ defence gives the Dogs staying power, and a horde will be averaging 15 hits a turn, wiping out tarpits with ease. Only downside is the cost: 270 points for a horde, and the lack of crushing strength, which is odd. Infuriatingly, these are also irregular, meaning you're still forced to bring large numbers of Halflings and regular Humans to the battlefield.

• Halfling Archers: Awful. Utterly Awful. 6+ Melee, 3+ Defence and 19/21 nerve in a horde. On the plus side, A horde has 20 attacks and is dirt cheap so you can bring lots of them. You won't hit with many of your dice, and you'll die fast, but when you're paying 150 points for a horde of ranged troops that doesn't much matter.

• Halfling Braves: Yay! Actual Soldiers. This is the best of the Halfling infantry and likely to be the block on which many armies are built. They're decently tough, and stealthy helps protect them from being shut down by a hail of Elven archers before they do any fighting, and they have better defence than most too. However, they're not too deadly once they reach the front line, and won't hold their ground for long, so you'll be taking them in hordes. Like all Halflings they are pretty cheap, but in this case do actually offer some value. They're also your best way to block anything that lacks crushing strength, as they don't cost too much and have the best defence of non-elite units.

• Halfling Scouts: Better than most Halflings, but still not great: stealthy is useful and grants a bit more survivability, and nimble and pathfinder would give some good manoeuvrability, but with speed 4 you're still not going anywhere fast and charges are nigh on useless, so it can't flank. Combined with the fact the it only comes in troops, and its high cost, you're spend a lot of points for not a whole lot of usefulness

• Halfling Spearlings: These guys have some good stuff going for them, they are like most spear units with Phalanx and extra attacks over other infantry, they're cheaper than most other options for spears, and they have Stealthy so that elf bow hordes and volley guns are less likely to ruin your day. However they suffer from having a Melee skill of 5+ and a Defense of 3+. Not only are they only going to hit with a third of their attacks, but they are going to die fast, and even faster to anything with Vicous, Crushing Strength, or Piercing. That said, they are very cheap, so if you want to grab save some points vs. City Spear Militia these guys are the place to go.

• House Guard: Elite infantry. If you really want to kill something that is tough but lacks attacks then these are good, but like all things on this list they die fast, and unlike everything else they're expensive too.

• Musket Block: MUSKETS!!! ...Seriously, this is the most powerful of the ranged units in an army with no shortage of them. Excluding Halflings, which are awful, none come in hordes, so you're going to struggle for attacks, but unless your up against Goblins or Ratkin the extra 2 piercings are always worth their salt: as long as you keep them safe they are as deadly as even their Dwarven equivalents. The only real weakness on this is their defence: 3+ defence and 13/15 nerve means that if anything lays a finger on them then you'll be sending 135 points down the drain.

Large Infantry

None.

Cavalry

• Halfling Knights: Yes! Finally. A Halfling unit that can legitimately claim to be good at its job rather than just cheap. These only have speed 7, but with nimble and even a Thunderous Charge, and 16 dice in a regiment, these are the men for flanking. Points wise, these are also decent value, and very affordable. A must-have in any Rhordian army.

• Halfling Ranger Cavalry: In theory they're a decent troop: quick and manoeuvrable, decent ranged attack, not going to break the bank. However, like all Halflings they will die as soon as any forces are committed to them, so they aren't that useful. If you want archers, take the Halfling Archers or, better still musketeers. If you want manoeuvrable cavalry, take the Halfling Knights.

• Household Knights: It's cavalry. Decent Thunderous Charge, 3+ and 5+, alright nerve. Fury keeps them fighting a bit longer once they're in place, but without the Thunderous Charge they're liable to struggle anyway: you want to be wiping out your targets first time. All in all they're a decent troop, and, combined with Halfling Knights, can be the backbone of a more elite Rhordian force.

Large Cavalry

• Honour Guard: Tough buggers, and definitely something to consider against elite forces as they are hard to kill and can dole out loads of CS3 hits (when charging), but don't take them unless you absolutely have to (Say, against a force with a lot of defence 6+), because they aren't really manoeuvrable enough to fight with the cavalry and too expensive to feasibly have fighting as infantry. Would make a great unit in something like Elves, where everything is really expensive and something tough with crushing strength is just what's needed, but here it will stick out as something for the enemy to target mercilessly, which, as it is height 3, they will be able to.

Monsters

• Battle Shrine: This is an interesting beast. You take it for Lightning Bolt (5) and rallying 2. It's reasonably tough with a 5+ defense and a Routing nerve of 14, but you still will want to screen it for some cover against enemy artillery. Lightning bolt is useful for some sniping at small units, but with only a 4+ to-hit your not going to get a lot of hits. Also, it is a living legend, so you can't grab a bunch of these to boost your nerve over and over again. The biggest problem with this is it's cost. It costs the about same as a Horde of Halfling Spearlings.

• Iron Beast: The most expensive thing in the list short of a duke on an Ancient Winged Aralez, this monster has a lot of things to justify that points cost. Breath Weapon 8, Thunderous Charge 1 and Crushing Strength 2, d6+15 attacks a turn, a 6+ Defense, adn a nerve of 16/18, this thing is durable and also can put out a decent number of hits. It is also a very good distraction, as all of your opponents warmachines and units with Crushing Strength/Furous Charge is going to try and wipe this thing off of the table as soon as the game starts.

War Engines

• Howitzer: This is ygoing to be competing with the volley gun, and while it is cheaper, it suffers in quite a few aspects. First, it has only one shot to-hit. Blast means that the shot will cause more than one hit, but 2/3 of the time you are going to be missing, and unlike the volley gun you can't improve it's chances to-hit without Artifacts, so 2/3rds of the time this won't cause any hits at all, while the Volley Gun is usually going to cause at least one hit a turn. They both share Piercing 2, so thes chances to wound are going to be the same in both cases. Even assuming a hit, your going to be causing around the same number of hits as the Volley Gun, and the only advantage the Howitzer has is being cheaper and Lob It!, and it's probably worth the ten points to go for a Volley GUn instead.

• Volley Gun: The second Warmachine of the League of Rhodia, this thing is good at putting down wounds at it's cost. 24" range means that it will have to be deployed towards the front of your battle lines, possibly danger close to your opponents troops, so be aware. It has 15 shots, and while base 5+ to hit may not be stellar, putting it within 6" of an engineer will give it elite, so you can get a few extra hits that way. Piercing 2 means that this thing will rip and tear through most base infantry however, as anthing with a 4+ or worse defense is going to be wounded on 2's. A couple of these can pur out a lot of shots, but like most warmachiens they are fragile, and their short range means that you need to be very good with your positioning of them.

Tactics

With the Rhordians you basically have two potential tactics, for two potential enemies.

Your first tactic is for dealing with elite enemy armies. You spam the field with Halfling Hordes that cost as much as their regiments do, and then stuff your back line with Muskets and Volley Guns to break down anyone with high defence (For others the sheer volume of attacks that your Halflings put out should be enough).

Your second tactic should be used to fight anything that is a) slow or b) a weak army like Ratkin. You build a massively mobile force entirely out of cavalry, with the Halfling Rangers providing archer support, and focus your men on one horde before fleeing again having dealt them heavy damage. It's expensive, and requires you to wipe out shooters first and NEVER get charged first, but if you are successful you will be devastating thanks to your nimble cavalry, which allows for vast numbers of flank and rear charges.