Topic: Who has played/owns Kings of War?

[Guderian]

Gentlemen,

I would value the opinion of those who have played Kings of War.  My questions are:

1)  Is it a good substitute for my Warhammer Fantasy addiction?
2)  Which edition of Warhammer does it most resemble?
3)  does it include magic, warmachines and monsters, or is it simply infantry and cavalry based?

I ask these questions because I want the informed opinions of seasoned wargamers,  not the ramblings and propoganda of a Kings of War supplier or retailer.

Thank you in advance

G

[Krokz]

Kings of War 2nd edition rulebook was supposedly released today/tomorrow? Can someone link free .pdf please?

[valmir]

Kings of War 2nd edition rulebook was supposedly released today/tomorrow? Can someone link free .pdf please?

It's on their website. Under "free rules" in the menu at the left.

It's funny how clearly Mantic is positioning themselves as a kind of "GW done right" company. Emphasising their partnership with FLGSs, the amount of time spent playtesting, etc.

[Ambrose]

Here is a link;
http://www.manticgames.com/free-rules.html

[Gneisenau]

It's funny how clearly Mantic is positioning themselves as a kind of "GW done right" company. Emphasising their partnership with FLGSs, the amount of time spent playtesting, etc.

From the very beginning, no less. Their boss Ronnie Renton is ex-GW. They once did a video where a guy with a very serious voice announced that there would be no price increases.

[Dosiere]

Their rulebook is too large and I cannot comprehend it all.  If they made it no longer than, say, 4 pages I would be more interested.   

From the rulebook:

You can play Kings of War with just a few
units per side, without worrying about
the two sides being equally matched.
This is great for learning the game, but
after you’ve become familiar with the
rules and have amassed a large collection
of models, you might want to try a game
where the forces facing one another across
the battlefield are balanced, so that both
players have an equal chance of winning
the game.

[Baron von Klatz]

It's funny how clearly Mantic is positioning themselves as a kind of "GW done right" company. Emphasising their partnership with FLGSs, the amount of time spent playtesting, etc.

From the very beginning, no less. Their boss Ronnie Renton is ex-GW. They once did a video where a guy with a very serious voice announced that there would be no price increases.

-until the company starts expanding.

Good strategy game though.

[Darknight]

It's funny how clearly Mantic is positioning themselves as a kind of "GW done right" company. Emphasising their partnership with FLGSs, the amount of time spent playtesting, etc.

From the very beginning, no less. Their boss Ronnie Renton is ex-GW. They once did a video where a guy with a very serious voice announced that there would be no price increases.

-until the company starts expanding.

Or costs go up.

[Ambrose]

It's funny how clearly Mantic is positioning themselves as a kind of "GW done right" company. Emphasising their partnership with FLGSs, the amount of time spent playtesting, etc.

From the very beginning, no less. Their boss Ronnie Renton is ex-GW. They once did a video where a guy with a very serious voice announced that there would be no price increases.

But at current prices, we will have a few years for Mantic to catch up to GW prices.

-until the company starts expanding.

Or costs go up.

[Zarkdon]

I am sure the people at Mantic are doing the happy dance right now... At least they were copying the warhammer armies. I am playing a game this weekend with a few friends. I will let you know how the game is.

[Sajek]

So I have never played Kings of War but I have always been interesting in getting a Mantic army and playing the game just hadn't because of Warhammer Fantasy, I didn't want to start another hobby... but with the recent changes I am going to give it a serious go. Anywho the reason for this post.

I was just printing out the brand new fully released 2nd edition rules and I noticed that Mantic has a Kingdom of Man army rules available. If memory serves me correct this is brand spankin new! I don't think they've had a human faction in the game but I always heard rumors they were working on it. Honestly this makes me VERY VERY VERY exited as I would have a use for my empire models! Currently speaking Mantic has 9 factions very similar to Fantasy. 

[Kalrath]

Hi there!

I've been playing all my Warhammer Armies with KoW for quite some time now. I didn't really like the rules for 8th, so we made the switch then. I've been playing mainly my Empire army.

So, some basic info: Kings of War is on Pre-Order now (Gamers Rulebook in softback for 9.99£ ), coming out in August. Basic Rules are here:

http://www.manticgames.com/games/kings-of-war/Free-Rules.html

On the same page there are the "free" versions of all the current army lists, but if you wat the complete lists go here::

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nhZLDFOHUXC2MCA6NwYQWr0HF2mSyvEWIlNH4oCtBeQ/edit#gid=2111976336

They are also developing other lists that relate to the missing races from WF, namely Skaven, Beastment as well as some others.

1.0 released 07/06/2015 - Ratmen and the League of Rhordia added.
1.1 released 13/06/2015 - The Herd added, Ratmen modified. New special rule sheet added.
1.2 released 16/06/2015 - The Herd tweaks

Brief army details (detailed background will be in the book)

1. Ratkin - A race originally created by the Abyssal Dwarfs (Evil)
2. The League of Rhordia - an alliance of human city states and the halfling shires (Neutral)
3. The Herd - satyrs, centaurs, minotaurs, owlbears and other beastmen. (Neutral)

The following lists are in progress, waiting for background to be approved and with working titles
4. The Shattered Clans (Humans) (Evil)
5. Empire of Dust (Mostly Skeletons) (Evil)
6. Reptilians (two different lizard-based races) (Good)

The Beta lists for these are here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XgQY5vVHs_V19N_2lsrpk59SIF9hi6_KDBqkmyitRro/edit#gid=0

From experience, you can practically port almost every unit into this game. Don't believe me? check my plog in my sig. Every unit in there was painted to play KoW. See any difference from a typical Empire Whfb (pre 8th ed)? The few units you can't use directly, you can easily use other units from other lists as stand ins. For example, I use War Chariots from the Ogre List as Demigryph Knights.

Or I can post a pic  :



Better then words, some demo videos, for 1st ed though, to see the type and feel of the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mkm9Wzf-MA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqBOp90HeD0

There rules haven't changed much from 1st to 2nd ed, the key concepts are still valid.

Hope this helps, Njoy!

[Ursa Doom]

I really want to get into Kings of War, but I'm not sure there is any local players.

[kuiper]

played it, works like a charm.
you can use each army you like, as there is no "fixed"mini to represent the unit.

Also there are multiple options for the races of men. There used to be a pdf with all major armies till 1500.
Finding local players is a bit harder, though FB has a group specifically for KoW

NB. KoW is a different game then WHFB and should not be compared as a replacement.

[Sajek]

I've been reading through the Mantic basic rules and honestly I am quite impressed. They are simplistic easy to follow but does not negate strategy. I am hoping that I will be able to play against a fellow gamer and very experienced at that just to try it out. If I like it I fully plan on purchasing an army from them to support a company that supports the gamer.

[kuiper]

this might help:

https://youtu.be/8Mkm9Wzf-MA

 and part two

https://youtu.be/UqBOp90HeD0

[scrubber]

Can anyone post a picture of KofW human against GW Empire human. I know their dwarves are taller than GW and zombie are about the same.

[knightofthelance]

I would value the opinion of those who have played Kings of War.  My questions are:

1)  Is it a good substitute for my Warhammer Fantasy addiction?
2)  Which edition of Warhammer does it most resemble?
3)  does it include magic, warmachines and monsters, or is it simply infantry and cavalry based?

1) Yes, and then some.
2) It doesn't really. But honestly I think it's probably better than all of them. I'm a little embarrassed that it took GW dropping out for me to give this game a serious try.I've been very impressed with 2nd ed.
3) Yes, and lots of them.

[Dosiere]

I am liking this game more and more.  Some things I thought I would hate are actually super, super nice.  The lack of single model removal is just fantastic.  The simplification of unit sizes, ranks, and so forth makes setup and movement so much faster and less complicated.  It's essentially the game everyone said GW should have made.  Easier to start, easier to play, while still retaining some customization and perfectly adaptable to competitive play.  The few things I still don't like about it I can live with since so much else is just great.  Not a fan of proxying models like DGKs and stuff but oh well.  I wish charge ranges had at least a slight bit of randomness to them too. 

Now, if only they would release better miniatures outside their excellent undead range... Seriously wtf is up with the elves and the humans? I bought a box of the skeletons though and they're pretty damn nice especially for the price.

[Rein]

Gentlemen,

I would value the opinion of those who have played Kings of War.  My questions are:

1)  Is it a good substitute for my Warhammer Fantasy addiction?
2)  Which edition of Warhammer does it most resemble?
3)  does it include magic, warmachines and monsters, or is it simply infantry and cavalry based?

I ask these questions because I want the informed opinions of seasoned wargamers,  not the ramblings and propoganda of a Kings of War supplier or retailer.

Thank you in advance

G

I have played a single game of KoW against my friend who has played 5 games (in our gaming group) and we have discussed our findings. So here is my opinion of KoW.

1) No it is not a good substitute. It does not have the layers of warhammer, nor the background fluff or many elements that make warhammer addictive.
2) I think it most resembles 6th ed with the measuring of 8th. But I haven't played much 6th.
3) It includes all three.

However:
Magic is toned down. You can buy spells for your mage and use them in the shooting phase (you can use 1). The ones I have seen have limited range.
Charging is really important because you only fight in your turn. So you charge into combat, roll attacks, then after combat the other units either breaks or you are bumped back 1".
Breaking of units is really dicey. You actually do not roll yourself for 'leadership' tests but your opponent rolls. You do not lose models nor attacks but whole units. So if your opponent rolls high for your test you instantly lose a whole unit.
I personally do not like that you are not involved in your opponents turns.

Further:
Units are unbalanced. I fought with a human army against dwarves and they have slayers on badgers which are simply insane!
You can move units through other units (like knights through infantry) which is really cool!
Movement and measuring is easy: everything is from the unit leader.
No other formations: A unit has a certain formation, that's it.
Game goes really fast

[harv]

My friends keep telling me how great it is and they all play it but I just really dislike the miniatures. Not a fan of any Mantic miniatures and the humans are some of the worst human miniatures I've seen, the ogres and trolls are also pretty bad. Some of the Orcs, Undead and Dwarfs are ok but nothing outstanding.









They make Age of Sigmar miniatures look like masterpieces.

My friends tell me to use any miniatures I want but I'm one of those pedantic people who likes to use official miniatures for games and it irks me when people don't. So until Mantic drastically improves their sculpts then I won't be playing it 

[Finlay]

My friends keep telling me how great it is and they all play it but I just really dislike the miniatures. Not a fan of any Mantic miniatures and the humans are some of the worst human miniatures I've seen, the ogres and trolls are also pretty bad. Some of the Orcs, Undead and Dwarfs are ok but nothing outstanding.

The dwarfs are terrible!

They look so amateurish. blech.

[knightofthelance]

Yep, the miniatures aren't' great, but they are getting better. They are also a lot cheaper for what that's worth. But all that is largely irrelevant to me, as I just use the minis I've already got.

[Ursa Doom]

I have been looking through the rules for a while now and they seem very solid. Nothing seems like it can be abused easily.

[red shift]

I quite like those Palladian guys but they could do with a head swap. Of all the mantic figures I would say that their undead are the best.