G’day Goonhammer readers! In the last few months, Melbourne, Australia, has hosted two Kings of War tournaments that were absolutely packed with terrain, well beyond the limits of any epic packs of dwarfs. These weren’t random battlefields strewn with tabletop-related refuse, but themed tables matching a biome or location in Pannithor. Not only were these games fun, but they totally reset my brain regarding what is a good amount of terrain on the table. The answer is: As much as you have, and then some more! Let me elaborate and maybe even convince you.

Terrain Wreck

It was just after I ran my Christmas themed event that Dan Bird came up with the idea of Terrain Wreck, a Kings of War tournament with more terrain than ever. Each battlefield was to be themed, with the terrain chosen to truly evoke the feeling of a Sylvan Forest, a Basilean Village, or Farmlands of the Shire. This is all well and good, but how does one actually get all this stuff together?

With the help of Mat and Geoff, we ascertained exactly how much terrain we could get and what kinds of exciting battlefields we could assemble. Interestingly, it turns out many of us have fantastical terrain pieces, huge fortresses, massive towers, humble market squares. These are pieces of terrain that might normally be too obtrusive in a “standard” tournament, but at Terrain Wreck they could truly shine. It was also clear that we needed even more terrain, and so Dan and I set about churning out hills, wheat fields and even rivers to make the terrain truly exciting. By the end, Dan had figured out that we could make six truly unique tables absolutely bursting with terrain.

The tournament itself was truly a success thanks to Dan’s organisation. Everyone was completely on board with the idea of extra terrain. By the final round, all the players were trying to get onto a new table they hadn’t played before. People just wanted to experience the fun of each of the battlefields, they didn’t care about the matchups or the scores, it was just about having three exciting games on fun themed tables.

If you want to see some of these tables, take a look at my Youtube channel to get an idea. The battle reports follow my Trident Realm army through three hectic games. The most interesting result from my perspective as a player was that the value of units was completely changed up with the extra terrain. Naiad Ensnarer regiments and hordes of Water Elementals were powerful units that could really take punishment, and the Kraken was a fearsome hammer (even if one time it failed to kill a Necromancer).

But if we thought this was the only event to push the envelope in terms of terrain, well we were wrong, incredibly and happily wrong.

The Enigmatic Isle

It has been said that the Direct Misfire podcast team (helmed by Bensome, Mat and Andy) has been talking about running an event for nigh on half a decade. Rumours on the wind, whispers in the dark. But suddenly, after the dust settled following Terrain Wreck, they announced the Kings of War narrative event: the Enigmatic Isle!

The simple narrative of the Enigmatic Isle was that a ship crewed by Ogres was wrecked on a mysterious island, an island so full of treasure that they simply couldn’t take it all. So the Ogres returned to Pannithor and the rumour of riches spread across the land. Soon the Ogres were in high demand to act as guides to the treasure-hungry forces of the world. And so, the battles of the Enigmatic Isle were to take place.

The Enigmatic Isle narrative event involved three very exciting tweaks to a typical event:

• Every player could bring one of three unique Ogre heroes (named after the hosts of the podcast).
• Loot tokens were strewn across every battlefield, each corresponding to a unique item designed by the hosts. When a unit picks up the token, it cannot drop it until it routs!
• Every table represented a distinctly different part of the island, with crazy environmental rules.

Considering the purpose of this article I will only really go into detail about the tables, but the whole idea of having 100 unique items that could be picked up across the tournament was incredibly fun, with many items having negative effects as well as positive. It was incredibly fun and I will have to write a whole separate article just about that to really do it justice.

The battlefields alone could have been enough to make the event exciting. These battlefields were set in a range of biomes each with its own environmental hazards that could really mess up a battle plan.

Getting Those Goblins 

The first I experienced was a Goblin Supply Run, a typical style battlefield with a cobblestone road running right through the middle of it, spanning the length of the map. On both sides were gates, as if there were two opposing encampments. One side had Squig catapults, the other had a regiment of Luggits.

While the catapults could be used by the controlling player in their turn to get a little damage in, the most exciting part was the Luggits. They had an item that they were trying to get from one side of the battlefield to the other, going straight down the road. If they hit a unit during the movement phase, they charged it and proceeded to fight. If they win, they continue marching down the road. 

The horror stories I heard of one player’s whole army being effectively wiped by a chain reaction whereby the Luggits would flank charge his unit, rout the unit, move again (they get a free Overrun) and fight again. Brutal but hilarious. And it’s not easy to take them out because the item they’re transporting completely negates any damage for one round of combat.

Quicksand and Just Deserts

Another battlefield was set on a desert, which already had a lot of terrain of the standard variety, but in addition patches of quicksand could form. Each player would get the opportunity to place quicksand templates anywhere on the battlefield. These reduced Speed by 1 and Hindered, making their placement potentially game changing to combat. 

This is a simple concept. It’s really just terrain that can be used to perfect advantage by each player. What was once an area of difficult terrain, becomes flat, perfectly aiding the cavalry to get that charge off. Or areas that were open become difficult to traverse, turning the impending onslaught of Trolls into a wet fart. It’s an elegant way to have more impactful terrain, even if there isn’t technically that much more of it.

Water Elementals, Volcanoes, and More

There were more tables of even yet greater fantastical varieties that I did not get to personally experience. I cannot speak to the exact rules of how they worked, but even as a spectator they were equally as ridiculous and fun.

One had a river running down the length of the battlefield (the river I made!) with two bridges by which to cross. The reason someone would want to use the bridge was because traversing the river by foot could anger the Greater Water Elemental within. Watch your step or you’ll find yourself in combat with a very angry wave. If only there wasn’t a really good magic item tempting players to the river…

The volcanic battlefield had an erupting volcano in the corner, the rest of the map all strewn with lava and black rock. Molten rock would be shot out of the volcano. Units would know where they were going to land, but if they can’t get out of the way…

There were more tables that weren’t even used, but it was the fact that the terrain and battlefield rules could evoke such completely different game experiences shows that there is a lot of untapped potential to Kings of War. It also shows that Direct Misfire are a little crazy.

Re-Terrain Your Brain

For the majority of my time in the Kings of War community in Melbourne (starting 2021) all events have followed a very standard script for terrain density – two pieces of Flat Terrain, two Forests, two Hills, two pieces of Blocking Terrain, and two Obstacles. The layout is always different between tables and events, but ultimately the density was the same. In fact, this is the terrain density of choice of most Kings of War events worldwide.

What the two events, Terrain Wreck and the Enigmatic Isle, have demonstrated to me is that this is only a bare minimum of terrain, not the optimal amount of terrain. It is a credit to the Kings of War rule set that this rank and flank game continues to function well with more and more terrain (as long as you don’t get too hung up on what is Obscured versus Concealed). 

The more terrain is on the table, the more interesting the battle gets. Most players think of the effect of terrain on shooting, but when there’s a lot, even the basics of combat such as who can charge and when, become far more exciting. My favourite example was on the Sylvan Forest table; the density of forest terrain meant that the threat ranges of my units were all over the place. My Naiad Wyrmriders are pretty fast at Speed 8, but if they’re behind and not inside the forest, they can only see the trees in front of them. Suddenly the battle becomes a game of cat and mouse as players use all the forests to pick and choose when units are visible. No wonder the Romans had a tricky time in the Teutoburg Forest.

It is not lost on me, however, why this standard selection of terrain is the chosen norm in the Kings of War community. It’s one thing to have seven forests, a river, three ponds and a few fences in a casual game at home, it’s an entirely different matter having ten tables of such density. Simply getting all the terrain together for Terrain Wreck was not a sure thing, we had to build a lot of extra terrain and that was just for six tables in the end.

There is also a competitive aspect to standard terrain sets. In a game of chance such as Kings of War, having one less variable can enhance the perceived balance of the game. Sure, the layout of the tables differs but at least Tables 1 through 10 all had the same amount of terrain to deal with. But I think that competitive normalisation should not be the goal of each and every event, especially if we want to keep games exciting.

If there was one message I want you, the reader, to take from this, it is that terrain is fun. It’s not a chore or an obligation, but an integral part of the game. We play 2300 points because we enjoy bigger armies with powerful units, and we should equally enjoy putting more terrain than usual on the table and just seeing what happens.

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