The Komnenian Empire

[Hannibal]

The Komnenian Empire is vast, wealthy, and ancient.  It was old when the Men of Hawkshold arose.  It was an upstart when the Elves were one unified people.  It has outlasted its own pantheon of deities, replacing them with venerated emperors who have ascended to godhood and taken up the mantle of patron of the Komnenian Empire.  Each Basileus wears the crown heavily, his accomplishments judged by an entire line of royal ancestors.

Just as it is mighty, the Komnenian Empire is tired and beset.  Enemies surround it on all sides, greedy for their wealth, and it has always been so.  Its people are tired, their spirits worn down by the constant threat of invasion from without and revolt from within.  For while a Basileus is both emperor and religious patriarch, his power is not absolute and he fears schemes and plots from ambitious usurpers.

And yet the Komnenian Empire perseveres.  The riches that attract so many enemies is also an effective tool for subversion and defense.  Many a foreign noble has betrayed his lord for title and land.  And Komnenian coin buys the loyalties of mercenaries from the far corners of the earth.  Even when it is all done, mercenaries, invaders, and conquered peoples find themselves swayed by Komnenian culture.  They find themselves yearning for the stability and luxury of Komnenian laws and roads and traditions.  Komnenia expands her borders and defends them not by force of arms, but by the yearning of conquerors and conquered alike to feel the blessing of the Basileus.


Glory of Ancient Days:  Spend one Command Action to mark the Glory of Ancient Days box.  If a unit with a marked box fails a Rout Check, erase the mark and reroll the Rout Check.

Purchased Loyalties:  During army construction you may spend up to 50 pts Purchasing Loyalties of enemy troops.  For every 10 pts spent, choose one enemy unit after deployment.  That unit must pass a Courage Check or suffer 1 pt of damage.  This cannot cause Rout checks and a unit may only be chosen once.


Kataphractoi - Core - 366 pts
O:(3*)6/5*  D:3*/2  Rge: 7"  Cge: 13  Mve 5"  3G 2Y 2R
Cavalry.  Ranged attack is LOS.  O:(+3)+0/+0 when engaged.  O:(+0)+0/+1 and D:+1/+0 when charging.

The rapid responders against raid or invasion, these heavy cavalry fire their bows at point blank range before the charge.


Menaulatoi Phalangites - Core - 286 pts
O:(6*)5*/5*  D:2/3  Rge: -  Cge: 13  Mve 3.5"  5G 3Y 2R
O:(-1) -0/-0 when charging. O:(+0) +1/+0 vs. cavalry or large units. O:(+0) +0/+2 when holding vs. charging cavalry or large.

In ancient days, Phalangites were the famed defenders of the realm.


Akritoi Cavalry - Core - 194 pts
O:(3)5/5*  D:4*/1  Rge: -  Cge: 12  Mve 7"  2G 2Y 1R
Cavalry.  O:(+0)+0/+1 and D:+1/+0 when charging.

The warriors of the Akritoi tribes have assimilated completely to Komnenian culture, and are garrisoned throughout the empire.


Siphonphorae - Core - 246 pts
O:(4)6*/6*  D:2/2  Rge: 7"  Cge: 12  Mve 3.5"  4G 3Y 3R
O:(-0)-1/-1 when engaged.

These men bear weapons that fire jets of liquid flame that continue to burn after they cover their enemy.


Kontaratoi - Standard - 158 pts
O:(6*)4*/5*  D:2/2  Rge: -  Cge: 11  Mve 3.5"  4G 2Y 4R
O:(-1) -0/-0 when charging. O:(+0) +1/+0 vs. cavalry or large units. O:(+0) +0/+2 when holding vs. charging cavalry or large.

Under the thema system each province must train and provide a militia force to aid in the empire's defense.


Spatharioi - Standard - 142 pts
O:(5)4/5  D:2/2  Rge: -  Cge: 11  Mve 3.5"  4G 2Y 4R

Equipped with the finest of equipment, thema units are still of dubious value.


Skoutatoi Toxota - Standard - 211 pts
O:(4*)4*/5*  D:2*/3  Rge:10.5"  Cge: 11  Mve: 2.5"  4G 2Y 4G
Ranged attack is LOS.  D+1/+0 vs ranged attacks.  O:(-1) -0/-0 when charging. O:(+0) +1/+0 vs. cavalry or large units. O:(+0) +0/+2 when holding vs. charging cavalry or large.

A hybrid unit combining archers, spearmen, and pavisse-bearers, this thema unit harkens to a period when relentless invasion pushed Komnenian to the very brink of collapse.


Pronoiarii Cavalry - Standard - 187 pts
O:(6)4/5*  D:2*/2  Rge: -  Cge: 11  Mve 6"  3G 2Y 1R
Cavalry.  O:(+0)+0/+1 and D:+1/+0 when charging.

Even landed nobles must provide military service, often sending third or fourth sons to fulfill their obligation.


Mourtatoi Axemen - Standard - 179 pts
O:(4)5/6  D:2/1  Rge:-  Cge: 12  Mve: 5"  4G 3Y 3R
No Glory of Ancient Days box.

Only a generation ago the savage Mourtatoi tribes raided and pillage the north-western borders of the Komnenian Empire.


Pelekyphoroi - Elite - 325 pts
O:(6)6/6  D:1/3  Rge:-  Cge: 14  Mve: 3.5"  4G 4Y 2R
If your army includes any Vestiarii, Pelekyphoroi may only be given the Close Standing Order (with no modifier).

The descendents of foreign mercenaries, these fierce warriors are the personal guard of the Basileus.


Vestiarii - Elite - 327 pts
O:(5)6/5  D:3/2  Rge: 3.5"  Cge: 14  Mve: 3.5"  5G 3Y 2R
Pila.  If your army includes any Pelekyphoroi, Vestiarii may only be given the Close Standing Order (with no modifier).

These disgraced warriors have a fierce rivalry with the Pelekyphoroi after being supplanted as the Basileus's guard.


Archonpoulai - Elite - 540 pts
O:(6)7/6*  D:3*/2  Rge: -  Cge: 14  Mve 6"  3G 2Y 2R
Cavalry.  O:(+0)+0/+1 and D:+1/+0 when charging.

Orphaned sons of officers, these men are trained from childhood in special barracks to serve the Basileus.  They are gifted with Elven weapons, Dwarven armor, and magically imbued with the battle memories of the ancestors.



Scepter of Andronikos (1) Play during the Movement and Command phase.  This unit gets O:(+0)+1/+0 this turn.  Keep this card in play.  It is automatically played again on this unit in the next Movement and Command Phase, then is discarded.  You may not play Red Command Cards on this unit while it is affected by this card.

Mantle of Demetrios (1) Play during the Movement and Command phase.  This unit gets D:+0/+1 this turn.  Keep this card in play.  It is automatically played again on this unit in the next Movement and Command Phase, then is discarded.  You may not play Blue Command Cards on this unit while it is affected by this card.

Spear of Theodosius (1)  Play during the Movement and Command phase.  This unit gets O:(+0)+0/+1 this turn.  Keep this card in play.  It is automatically played again on this unit in the next Movement and Command Phase, then is discarded.  You may not play Red Command Cards on this unit while it is affected by this card.

Reliquary of Justinian (1)  Play during the Movement and Command phase.  This unit gets D:+1/+0 this turn.  Keep this card in play.  It is automatically played again on this unit in the next Movement and Command Phase, then is discarded.  You may not play Blue Command Cards on this unit while it is affected by this card.

Komnenia Triumphant! (2) Play when this unit destroys an engaged enemy unit without being destroyed or passes a Rout check during the Post-Combat Courage Phase.  Mark the Glory of Ancient Days box and heal 1 point of damage.

Remembered Victories (2) Play during an attack, after you or your opponent rolls to hit or to wound.  That set of dice cannot be rerolled. Discard X Command Cards (X may be 0).  Increase or decrease the result of X+1 dice by 1 each.

Brothers in Arms (2) Choose one:

• Play during an attack before you roll to hit.  Your unit gets O:(+0)+1/+0 this attack.
• Play during an attack before your opponent rolls to hit.  Your unit gets D:+1/+0 this attack.

[Hannibal]

If you haven't figured it out yet, this fan faction is a fantasy faction based on the medieval Byzantine Empire.  I got the idea after the "Fantasy Factions?" thread, because while historical factions can be fun, a fantasy army has a lot of freedoms that historicals don't.  (although Byzantine Empire vs Arab Conquest could be a good one and might borrow from this idea pretty heavily).

The other thing I wanted to show off was another human faction, because humans are traditionally a 'jack of all trades' army.  But in sticking with humans over monsters & fantasy races, I'd be working off of the O:(5)5/5 D: 2/2, hit boxes 4/3/3 template.  You'll note that there are in fact no units that fit that description, and that the vast majority of the flavor of this army is in deviating from that standard.  Special rules are kept to a minimum, with tweaking Core, Standard, and Elite or mixing unit roles to achieve the army's theme.

Obviously the theme here is a professional army supplemented by local auxiliaries.  But even beyond that I diverged further.  You'll note that other than the Kataphractoi most Core choices are some type of tank/defensive unit.  The offensive, break-through units are all Elite.  This is less a limitation than cost, as I don't imagine people would often take 3 Vestiarii if they could, so it is more for theme than anything else.

I particularly like the Akritoi Cavalry and the Siphonphorae.  The Akritoi were designed to be a "cavalry battle squad" able to move fast and plug a gap with their insane Def skill.  The Siphonphorae shoot Greek Fire, essentially compressed air flame throwers.  They're short ranged but the guys don't aim so much as point (hence the Off. Skill 6), but once they get close they're a 5/5 Skill/Power, making them actually a decent melee unit.

I also really like the Skoutatoi Toxota, essentially pavisse archer-spearmen.  They really suck at offense, but at denying a flank they do pretty well with the high Toughness and they can win a grind match with enemy horse archers (who they're designed to fight).


Anyway, hope you guys like this little thought-experiment of mine!

[iamJMAN00793]

This looks like a cool faction. I especially like the flame thrower guys. 

[Hannibal]

Updated with points.  Thanks to Chad for letting me plug these in!

[elgin_j]

This looks like a cool faction. I especially like the flame thrower guys. 

Yep.  Looking through that list you can pretty much forget every other unit as every army will be chocker block with these boys.

[Hannibal]

Yep.  Looking through that list you can pretty much forget every other unit as every army will be chocker block with these boys.

I don't think I've ever heard that term before.   


Yep, my original thought was to make them (4)4/4 when engaged, but I figured they'd come in at so dirt cheap as to be basically no brainers.  When I could run their cost, my fears were confirmed so I'm glad I made them (4)5/5 when engaged.  Because although they're nasty, they also do cost a fair bit for mediocre defensive stats and courage.

Can't wait to play these guys though.

[iamJMAN00793]

Do you plan on posting custom cards for this faction like you did for the Catalan Company?

[Hannibal]

Eventually.  I want to playtest stuff before I post it. 

In the mean tie you can certain set up white proxy cards.

[Kevin]

Yep.  Looking through that list you can pretty much forget every other unit as every army will be chocker block with these boys.

I maintain that any unit which an both shoot (more than 3.5") and fight is underpriced by The Formula.  I got a 5% surcharge put on a couple of Persian units which do this, and it looks like the flamethrower guys could use one as well.

[Hannibal]

I maintain that any unit which an both shoot (more than 3.5") and fight is underpriced by The Formula.

There's a couple of moving parts here.

The first one is movement factors into cost a lot, which is why cavalry are so pricey.  So any dual use cavalry unit is almost always pretty pricey, except in cases where the ranged attack is really short ranged.  Which is why Centaurs are so nasty:  a javelin attack is built around getting one shot on the charge.  Cavalry are built to blow through someone (or get chewed up), meaning they're likely to get that attack multiple times.

The other thing is that most dual use units are direct fire.  And this is, IMO, just a design decision early on that a direct fire archer unit was just a terrible unit.  But an indirect fire weapon, the formula thinks is really good.  So if I took that same attack by the Siphonphorae and made it indirect fire, the unit would cost ~350 pts.  Obviously this would be way, way too expensive for that unit. 

What's happening is that the design decisions for the formula are built around archers and not dual use units.  So yeah, I think Kevin is right that the formula comes close to capturing them, but is a bit off.

(As an aside, look at the Ghulam and Royal Ghulam in Saladin vs Jerusalem for what happens when you combine high MC and IF, two things the formula thinks is very expensive)

I got a 5% surcharge put on a couple of Persian units which do this, and it looks like the flamethrower guys could use one as well.

Done!

[Hannibal]

Updated this army with a bunch of little tweaks.  Also changed up the Command Cards.  Feedback welcome!

[RushAss]

Lots of interesting units here, but the things I actually like most are the green command cards and the faction abilities.  1 thing I noticed is that there are only 4 core units and 2 of them are cavalry.  Furthermore, they are at awkward points costs for a core unit.  Do you think that would lead to difficulty creating reasonable builds with these guys?  Maybe a unit like the Spatharioi or Mourtatoi Axemen should be converted to Core to help alleviate this?

The hybrid units strike me as being difficult to fully get your money's worth from them, but I love the flavor so much that I'd use them anyways.

[gull2112]

Looking at them closer my only "Ahem" is the seemingly universal 2/2 defense. Are these guys dwarves? Gives me pause and makes me think power creep.

[Hannibal]

Lots of interesting units here, but the things I actually like most are the green command cards and the faction abilities.  1 thing I noticed is that there are only 4 core units and 2 of them are cavalry.  Furthermore, they are at awkward points costs for a core unit.  Do you think that would lead to difficulty creating reasonable builds with these guys? 

Maybe a unit like the Spatharioi or Mourtatoi Axemen should be converted to Core to help alleviate this?

Yeah, I realized that when I was building the army, but the theme is to have this very professional cadre of royal units and mercenaries supplemented by local levies.  If I was to add a 5th, it'd probably be the axemen.  But at the same time, because there is no "army book" for a faction you have to squeeze your theme out of every available resource, and the Core/Standard/Elite options is another place to do that.  Having only 4 Core choices represents a bit of specialization of the Komnenian Empire.  They have lots of shiny toys, but the money & resources spent on specialization comes at a lack of breadth. 

As for practical army building, my feeling was to give a good 200 pt tank unit in the Akritoi.  They're a cavalry battle squad.  Although, my concern is they're too fragile for the job and I may drop their +1 Pow on the charge for an extra Green box (net increase of 10 pts).

One reason I wasn't too worried about army building is that in a lot of ways it can be a shell game when:  in most armies you take your Core using either tank/speedbump units or solid 200 pt units that combine moderate tanking & doing moderate damage.  Then you take your 250-350 pt breakthrough units from Standard & Core.

In this army, its flipped.  You have a grindy unit, a Def skill 4 tank, a very decent cavalry unit, and a very good pila-type unit all as your Core.  Then your Standard choices become about tanking and defending the flanks and so on.  I think the end result will be similar wherein you have 8 units on the table, with 4 of them being 'hold the line' guys and 4 of them being 'slam a brick in his face' guys.  It just this faction lets you be a little more 'uber-elite' if you want to go with the Kataphractoi & Archonpouli route (Archonpouli = Celestial Guard on horses)

The hybrid units strike me as being difficult to fully get your money's worth from them, but I love the flavor so much that I'd use them anyways.

Well, the Kataphractoi don't pay much at all for that ranged attack.  So the vast majority of those points are in melee stats.  They really are meant to get a shot off right before plowing in.

The Skoutatoi strike me as an interesting unit.  I see it more as something you use to anchor your "delay flank" with.  Most often when I'm delaying via curling back, I'm using weird shenanigans like move capping or giving the unit an objective behind them or something like that.  So I figured why not design a unit with a slow MC, spears, decent toughness, and just enough shooting that your opponent can't just ignore them all day.  The Off Skill 4 may hurt them in that regard so that the shooting doesn't make them enough of nuisance, but that's what playtesting is for.   

Looking at them closer my only "Ahem" is the seemingly universal 2/2 defense. Are these guys dwarves? Gives me pause and makes me think power creep.

I'm confused about power creep comment.  2/2 is a standard defense for humans in chainmail, which is what these guys are.  I mean, the description of the Spathaerioi is: Equipped with the finest of equipment, thema units are still of dubious value.  Could you explain more?

The idea here is that the Komnenian Empire is wealthy enough that even its levy troops can obtain a good sword, a stout shield, and battle ready chainmail.  Its just that their training is sub-standard.  They are loyal to the emperor and proud of their heritage (hence the army ability and Cge 12), but that inspiration wears off pretty quick when the going gets tough (hence the 4/2/4 damage boxes).

[BubblePig]

I don't want to put words in Gull's mouth, but it occurs to me that a 2/2 defense on a 142 point unit is pretty excellent tank value when you can re-roll rout checks, which is pretty scary when you see the units which cry out for those saved points.