Wargames live and die by their critical mass - sure an independent wargame can plod along with a small but dedicated audience, but for a company like Mantic wanting to support a large model range the games really need to reach that critical mass. The more people play a game, the more other people get interested, the more the community grows. In V1 KoW never really reached that critical mass on a global scale (though there were definitely local communities which flipped completely to it) but we think that V2 will reach it :)
Sure, someone might just purchase a £25 rulebook (and any other expansions/accessories they want) and play with their GW army, but in the long term new wargamers they introduce to will probably buy a Mantic army, or when you want to start a new army you might be tempted by a Mantic one. Heck, for the upcoming additional army lists expansion we're specifically putting in units into each of the WHFB equivalent lists that Mantic produces, so that players wanting to expand their army can buy the Mantic ones.
Mantic are essentially playing the long game, in the nicest possible way ;)
In terms of the models, I find that a lot of that is down to personal preference. Seeing them in person really helps too since the photos of the older products tend not to be the best. I didn't think much of their Elves (which are a very marmite to say the least!) until I saw them in person. While I don't like every miniature that Mantic produces, I think some of them are great and their Ogres have my favourite Ogre design.
Mantic are also getting better and better all the time and I think they're really starting to crank out some absolutely top-notch miniatures. Here are some upcoming minis:
Hey Daedle, nice to meet you, I'm curious about two things. With free rules for KoW, are they not concerned about players, like say the ones unsatisfied by AoS, simply leaving their current system to play KoW but without really getting into the Mantic models? I guess if you guys have organized play maybe there are restrictions on off-brand models, but I don't really know anything about KoW or Mantic.
I'm also curious, I assume being part of the rules committee you're probably a more well seasoned player. Have you bothered to look at AoS at all, I'd be interested in your opinion if you've bothered.
I think I covered Mantics long term plan above ;) For official tournaments there aren't any restrictions on manufacturer. The only caveat is that you can't win "Best Mantic Army" since it is called Best Mantic Army ;) but Mantic are also concerned about legal challenges brought by another company if they publish photos of another companies models as promotion for a Mantic game.
In unofficial events then anything goes, naturally :) Mantic will still provide support and prizes even if you don't have any such restriction on a best army award.
I have looked at AoS and decided it wasn't a game for me for many reasons. Watching various battle reports has only confirmed my initial reservations. I don't want to dwell on it too much since I want to promote KoW on its benefits rather than the drawbacks of other games.
I can always go back and forth between 8th and the new ones. Some freedome is nice.
But I also want to play Kings of War. There's room for everyone.
Yes, absolutely :) There's nothing saying that you can't play both. WHFB 8th provides you with a gritty model-by-model blow-by-blow game while KoW provides you with a more abstracted mass battle game that flows much faster.
@Daedle Wow, thanks for taking the time to swing by here. Very cool of you.
Is KoW planning armybooks or the like? Some sort of release for factions? Or will stat line entries and such be in the Big (insert color of the cover here) Book?
Essentially, is 2 going to be a one stop shop?
Also, in the off chance that Cavatore is ever at a work retreat weekend or something, tell him Zacharias the Everliving is the dopest character in fantasy wargaming. Team Necrarch for life, witches.
Thanks man :)
The rulebook comes with 11 main army lists in it:
– Abyssal Dwarfs
– Basileans
– Dwarfs
– Elves
– Forces of the Abyss
– Forces of Nature
– Goblins
– Kingdoms of Men
– Ogres
– Orcs
– Undead
Each has several pages of background fluff in it. edit: I should also say that there's a "gamers edition" rulebook for £10 that contains just core rules and army lists - no fluff.
There will be a temporary (but legal & official) Twilight Kin list put up for download with the others when the game is released.
Additionally we have 4 expansions already planned;
- The first one, due for release later this year contains several new army lists, including Ratmen, The Herd, The Shattered Clans and a few others. You can use Skaven, Beastmen and Warriors of Chaos to represent those army lists :) We want to make sure that every WHFB player has an army list to cover their army in KoW. Each list won't be a 1:1 translation and might not cover every single unit, but the bulk of players collections can be used easily with some being used counts-as. We're currently running public beta testing the first three lists (Ratmen, League of Rhordia and The Herd) on the Mantic forums, with more to follow shortly.
- Another army lists version will contain The Northern Alliance (ice/norse themed human list with yetis), Twilight Kin (evil elves) and Ophidians (humans who make heavy use of necromancy).
- A campaign book to support the worldwide campaign later this year, containing background and possibly new scenarios.
- A super secret expansion by me and Matt Gilbert, that narrative driven players will like ;)
All of the army lists will be posted on the website for free download when the expansions are released.
Yeah, I was really hoping for some kind of Necromancer on Monster or Necromancer on Chariot unit to proxy the Mortis Engine as, but an Undead King on Wyrm might just have to do.
Well you can't cast spells while in melee, so any extra spells are kinda wasted since you want a unit like that in melee as soon as possible ;) It does have Surge, which is one of the most useful spells in the game. If you absolutely wanted more spells then you could drop the Ensorcelled Armour artefact and grab one like the Healing Charm or Da Boomstick, which grant Heal(3) and Lightning Bolt(3) respectively.