Kings of War - A Quick Review

Again, in the 9th edition rumor slump, me and my friends picked up the rules for this game and tried it out. Mantic Games wisely provided stats for models that were analogous to GW models, so we could jump right into higher point games with our current armies.

Our thoughts? This game was a blast! You could kind of think of this game as warhammer-lite. The flow of the game is very similar to a warhammer fantasy battle, but tweaked and simplified down (and who could complain about that?). The game feels very balanced too as the stats for units dont vary a whole lot.

The model count for this game is also a bit high. 1000 pts of kings of war felt roughly like 1500~2000 points of warhammer models. Its not a bad thing, but may require an investment in some more models to really flesh things out. At least it felt that way for me 

Finally, what about the ogres? I found the ogres very satisfying. Its glorious to watch 6 ogres smash into a horde of 40 dwarves. Those two units come out about the same price. Your ogres will be high-powered monsters in a small package - making you more maneuverable. However, you will find your enemies can field more units leaving your ogres vulnerable to flank attacks (which are devastating in this game). Counter this by fielding cheap units of Red Goblins(*cough* Gnoblars *cough*)

Anyway, check it out for yourself. I found this game to be very satisfying and balanced. If it doesnt sway you away from GW all together it will at least give you an evening to try out something new.

Rules are free, find them here: http://www.manticgames.com/free-rules.html
Here is the Ogre Army List: http://www.manticgames.com/SiteData/Root/File/Ogre%20Army%20List%202013.pdf.pdf

Finally, it is my understanding that this game is currently play-testing its 2nd edition. You can find a Rules-In-Progress document buried somewhere on their blog if you are so inclined.

Please leave your thoughts and comments below.

Happy Hunting,
PensivePanther

Looks interesting, I'd be willing to try it out!

Now, if only I had friends to meet up with to play this with me...  lol

I've been meaning to give this a crack for some time.  Damn X-wing keeps getting in the way though admittedly.

Howdy Stronghold,

Mantic games is currently having an open playtest for King of War's 2nd edition. They are asking player to playtest their all ogre armies and provide feedback. Just in the last week or so I've seen several player-suggested changes actually make it into the 2e beta rules.

So if you are interested in Kings of War, now is an exciting time to play as Ogres.

Mantic Forum Post: https://manticforum.com/forum/kings-of-war/kings-of-war-2-beta/224850-playtest-ogres
Beta Rules: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nhZLDFOHUXC2MCA6NwYQWr0HF2mSyvEWIlNH4oCtBeQ/edit#gid=22454946

Cheers,
PensivePanther

Both me and a group of friends have played KoW many times and I have to say it is a great game! I personally love it.

The advantages to KoW are also its short-comings though, so it does depend on what you actually enjoy about playing wargames.

Firstly, the rules are super-easy to pick up. I learned to play KoW in one evening and by the second time me and friends played we were pretty sure on most of the rules (not all, but most).

KoW is mercifully free of all the things that makes WFB complicated. An example of this is the rules for warmachines. There are not varying rules for a dwarf warmachine or and ogre warmachine, a war machine is just that and the rules for them all are the same.
This simplifies game play and makes it easier to dive in and get on with the game, and everyone knows quite quickly what each warmachine will do: exactly the same thing as everyone else's!

Now this simplicity could be seen as a disadvantage to anyone who loves the cut and thrust of special rules and different army books with special weapons or magic that is army specific. But for a simple evenings fun, simple to learn, pick-up and play (with your existing GW models!!) KoW is a great game and I would highly recommend giving it a go!

The new edition of rules are currently being tested out and, unlike GW, the guys at Mantic are really keen for the actually punters to play test their rules/ game and feed back what they think. And yes, believe it or not if you find a floor in the game, a weakness, a whole, a cock-up....they will change the game based on your say-so! Shouldn't that be the way of all games designers and manufacturers?

I urge everyone to give KoW a go. Its a good evenings entertainment and its nice to have a change, even if its only once, from all things GW.

G_H

Apparantly mantic issuedd a press release saying that if GW discontinue an army for fantasy KoW will have rules written for that army so that our GW models dont get wasted.

The only games I've actually got to play with my Ogres have been 1000 points of KOW.  I used a Mounfang as a hero on chariot.

Its a great game for a quick afternoon and its fun.  I feel its a little "light" sometimes, but Warhammer also feels very "heavy" so for me its really what I'm in the mood for.

Thanks for the review. Going to give the rules a whirl next week.

For information, King of War 2nd edition is currently in open beta testing.

Official beta forum : https://manticforum.com/forum/kings-of-war/kings-of-war-2-beta

Current beta core rules : Here are the latest core rules
Army lists : https://docs.google.com/a/epsilon-alcen.com/spreadsheets/d/1nhZLDFOHUXC2MCA6NwYQWr0HF2mSyvEWIlNH4oCtBeQ/edit#gid=95797511

Note that the army lists above is a living document frequently updated due to the active beta, and all rules in this file replace the core rules when a conflict arise.

One thing that is often missed with KoW by Warhammer players : you can give one magic item to any unit (oustide a few exceptions like non hero monsters and war engines)

This mean that you can easily customise not only your heroes but only your normal units.

For exemple, let's say that you have a high elves armies and you want to try KoW with your models.

You already own one unit of swordmaster and another of white lions, and would like to use both. The Kings of war elven list already has an entry for an unit of elite elves with great weapons, the palace guard, but this would leave both your unit the same.

By using the brew of strength magic item on the white lions, you might make them get a better Crushing strength value (better damage roll), while the swordmasters might keep the default profile (cheaper), or maybe use another magic item with a different effect, like for exemple the one that give the "ensnare" rule (ennemies get -1 to hit from the front) that might represent a form of advanced parry.

Had. My first game of this last night. First impressions (emphasis on first), I enjoyed the game. How ever found it slightly vanilla. I was left wanting more. Although I havnt dived into stuff like magic items ect. Yet.

As a base rule set it is a very good start, I would just like a little more fleshing out. The only thing I have to compare it to is WFB, I find myself feeling a little bit silly. As on time I wish WFB could be a little less complicated, and last night I wished there was a little more depth to KoW rules.
But that's just me being picky and wanting things exactly my way obviously.
 I am going to keep having games of it though. And hope my mate dosnt bring 3 organ guns again.... Wow they are good! 

Wait until your friend discovers the dwarven flame cannon. No me gusta.

If you play ogres, you might try using longer range weaponry like the Mammoth ballista or the Shooters with heavy crossbow, as both have 36" range.

A warlock with lightning bolt has the same range as the organ gun, if you feel lucky and have already damaged but not routed an organ gun, you can get in range and try to zap it before it can counterfire.