Is this the perfect game? KOW V3.5

by Troy Hill

I’ve been looking for a great game outside of the historical tabletop genre. One that will take me back to my fantasy gaming roots. And I might have found THE ONE.

No, not the one from the behemoth company out of Nottingham. The one from that other, upstart company out of Nottingham.

A decade or so ago, I spent way toooooo much money and too much time dealing with the fantasy battle game that the behemoth company produced way back when. The list of why players leave that company’s games behind is long. I’m one who has no desire to return to how that company runs its games and business. Been there, done that. The sculpts for their fantasy models are great, but I don’t want to mortgage my home again to purchase them.

I’m looking for stability in my gaming partners. I’m looking for fun, without the baggage I had before.

Back in the late naughties, I stopped playing in the character-hammer game, and finally sold off my models in 2014 prior to moving across the US, and moving into a teeny-weeny little apartment in Los Angeles. Since 2011, I’ve primarily played only WWII-era games, with a few exceptions.

It is now time to get back into fantasy gaming. The orcs’ and halflings’ voices are getting too loud to ignore.

While in LA, I even picked up a box or two of Greenskins, you know, to have around just in case I found a good fantasy game to get into. And I got some Undead, and some Dwarves… You never know when a random fantasy battle might spontaneously break out. I wanted to be ready.

Fast forward four or so years, and now, the fantasy battle itch is back with a vengeance.

Well, I may have found the game that is closest to perfect (for me)… Maybe. I’ve played a few games, and I’m working on building an army or two for it. But let me see if the game I’ve got my eye on fits my list of Givens and Druthers:

1. A thriving community of enthusiastic gamers
2. A desire by the vast majority of those gamers to have fun playing the game, and participating in the hobby: eg: fun for both sides of the table, not just curb stomping the opponent at a tourney or game day
3. Support from the company that is designed to not only sell products (how companies continue to stay in business) but to do so in a way that supports the first two points above
4. A community and game company that I am happy to support, and one that is supportive of players with a desire to go outside the boxes produced by the parent company (eg: model agnostic, or 3D friendly)
5. Rank and Flank
6. Easy Rules
7. The players of the game do not have a reputation for win-at-all-costs net-list play

So, I started investigating rank-n-flank fantasy games. Conquest The Last Argument of Kings, and A Song of Ice and Fire (ASoIaF) were two games I looked at. I noticed Conquest last year, at the Michigan GT, when I was helping with the Bolt Action Tourney.

Both Conquest and ASoIaF have faithful communities and hit a lot of the points above. I know several of my local gaming group bought starter sets and armies for Conquest.

I liked the sales pitch of the game, but…. their oversized (36mm scale?) minis are just too big for my tastes. I’ve not been happy with scale creep in the 28mm range of figures, and the game is still too newish. The community for it is growing, but does it have legs? We’re in a tabletop gaming renaissance right now. The plethora of games players can choose from is growing every day. Conquest might stick around, but the community was still too new for me. I’d like something with a longer history in the TT gaming space.

As for ASoIaF? Well, the lack of orcs and goblins takes it to the edges of the fantasy realm. Very not-Tolkienesque. And, to be honest, the TV show just didn’t hold my interest in the fantasy genre. Again, I like my fantasy more of a cross between Pratchett and Tolkien.

At the Michigan GT, right next to the Bolt Action tourney, there were over a dozen tables set up with cool fantasy armies, and players having a lot of fun. The players were rolling fists full of dice. Like forty or more dice at one time. Eeep! That’s a LOT of dice. The play was fast, despite the number of dice. To top it off, there were smiles on both sides of those tables, even with all those dice rolling.

The game they were enjoying? Kings of War by Mantic Games (KOW). Like most other game companies headquartered in Nottingham’s Lead Mile, Mantic got its start after its founder Ronnie Renton was made redundant from the behemoth of the game companies. He helped to found Mantic, and they began offering miniatures playable in other games at a lower price point than those from the behemoth company. Mantic soon added a fairly basic rank-n-flank fantasy game designed by the rules maestro of so much of my early tabletop gaming, Alessio Cavatore.

Back in the early teens of this century, as my local group in Indianapolis was moving away from fantasy battles, a few players picked up KOW. I played it a couple of times, but it was still in its clunky infancy under those first-edition rules. I didn’t stick in that game and headed full-time into WWII gaming.

After my move to California, I discovered a thriving scene for a more refined KOW. One local gamer even commissioned sculpts for an undead halfling army and set up several Kickstarter for them. The community held tournaments in the Strategicon set of game conventions, as well as holding several leagues and other tourneys each year in the greater LA area.

I purchased a 2nd edition rulebook, which meant that a week later, Mantic announced a third edition on the way. That’s how my gaming normally goes. I decided to wait a few months, and make sure that game wasn’t going to be a repeat of my experience when a game I was heavily into radically changed their game into one I was no longer interested in.

Then we moved back to Indiana before I could get an impression of the new version of KOW. Followed by the worldwide health issue, it took a few years for me to notice KOW again.

After attending the Michigan GT, and drooling over the fantastic modeling of various display boards and armies for KOW, I finally decided to purchase the Big Green Book (third edition) for KOW.

The very next day after I ordered it, Mantic announced the big RED book for a 3.5 edition. That’s how my gaming normally goes. I buy a book and a new edition hits.

I’ve gotten a few games in now. My Dwarves are mostly painted, and I’m starting on a second army for KOW. Well, fourth really, since I painted and based a few units of my undead, and my goblins as well. But those aren’t front burner for me right now.

What makes KOW great?

Well, let’s take a look at my list of druthers above.

A thriving community?

Yep. I’m finding that the game is popular across the world, with strong support in most of the USA and UK, as well as in Europe, and down under.

There are several outlets for information, and community to bring players together. The Counter Charge Podcast is the primary fan discourse and news outlet. Rob and his crew pump out podcasts on a weekly or even more frequent basis. There are several other pods and youtube channels dedicated to the game. All of them share a sense of growing the community for the game.

Facebook has a group, the KOW Fanatics, where a lot of discussion takes place. Mantic, and Counter Charge both have discord servers. Again, there is a strong community vibe around social media.

Tourneys?

Well, since I’ve observed them several times, yes, they do exist. Chatting with the TOs and players, it’s a welcoming environment. The enthusiasm and competition I’ve seen have always had a strong sense of friendly and open gaming attitudes. Attitudes that are less prevalent in the behemoth games. This checks off parts one and two of my list, the community that seeks fun over the win.

And, my local scene for KOW is non-existent, so I need to hit a few tourneys to get a weekend of learning in. I’ve got to learn the game rules, and basics of strategy before I can attempt to build a KOW community in my local area.

One thing I hear often, from the podcasts, forums/discords, and from players I meet, is that the tourney scene is a LOT gentler than other really big gaming behemoth’s. Net lists are very rare, and you’ll probably only see them with either new players migrating in from those other games (cough!), or at the Master’s level of competition. Fortunately, I’m not a masters-level player.

I’d rather take a unit because it LOOKS FUN TO PLAY, instead of taking it because it will win me the game. After all, the Dwarven forces in KOW get to use throwing mastiffs. Dwarves throwing angry dogs at their opponents! And, they have a unit, the Berserker Brock riders, where angry dwarves ride even angrier giant badgers!

Demons coming our way? Angry Badgers don’t give a … care!

Support from Mantic?

Third on the list, and I’ll give that another check. Mantic enables a player-driven Rules Committee to review army lists and rules of the current edition. Updates and list rebalancing are issued at least once a year in a compendium called Clash of Kings. In addition, Mantic is building some fresh IPs in their stable forces. The latest are The Night Stalkers and The Northern Alliance. Both are receiving new rules, new units, and fresh sculpts, and a new two-player starter set.

Rules Updates

The updated rules are released to the Mantic Companion, which features an army builder for each of their popular games, as well as rules compendiums, player rankings, and event calendars for their games. An annual subscription to the Companion is a must-buy for any regular gamer in the Mantic universe. It has an army builder and rules for each of its major minis games.

Another aspect of Mantic’s support is their new subscription Vault of Miniatures. No, you can’t download full armies there. But, a $4/month add-on to the Companion subscription has netted me the files for three complete and one near-complete fleet for the sea-faring naval game, Armada.

Yes, Armada has orcs in ships ramming other ships!

And, the inclusion of 3D STL files for several units in the newish Nightstalker range, which were only available in more expensive resin casts from Mantic, more than paid for a year or two of the subscription.

The best game? Really?

I’ve had the opportunity to get a few games in at the “Ambush” level, KOW’s new lower points levels. Tthe flavor of the game is what I’m interested in.

It’s so rank and flank that one large part of the hobby is the multi-basing diorama aspect of assembling your units. Since models are not removed as casualties in this system, players are free to customize their unit bases, use 3D prints, or even replace rats with squirrels (or Pokemon, or penguins, etc). As long as your base size is appropriate for the unit, and your opponent can distinguish the nature of the units in your army, players are free to let their hobby flags fly!

Tournaments seem to lean into special creations. Michigan GT features a free (point-wise) chariot for each force. At the King Beyond the Wall tourney, which I’m attending as my first KOW tourney, gives each force a free (points-wise) colossus in their force. I’ve still got to design one to fit a model I’ve already painted. The idea is to take something fun, like a colossus or a chariot, and make sure each player gets to use that type of unit.

My local KOW scene

This is probably the one downside for me getting into KOW. I don’t have a local scene of KOW players. I’ve got one local friend happy to play, but he hasn’t played since the first edition. We’ve begun learning the rules together. But other games, game days, and conventions are limiting our time.

And, I’ve got enough models in my pile of opportunities, as well as my 3d printer, that I can get ambush-level demo forces up and painted. Once I get a few more demo forces up, and rules learned, I can start teaching others to play.

I’ll be working to grow a community here, in the near future.

Look for more KOW stories from my journey into the game coming in the next few months. I’ll be heading to both Ontario, as well as the Michigan GT to play in Kings of War tourneys. I’ll report back on how friendly and inviting the events were.  And how angry my dwarves riding angry giant badgers were.

Angry badgers don’t give a … care!