Kings of War

Well, last night I played my first game with the new edition of Kings of War. I used my Arthurians to create a Kingdoms of Men army. I played against a chap at the club who had Twilight Kin (dark) Elves, using a list that wasn't in the rulebook. Despite having a significant numerical advantage, I got my arse handed to me on a plate due to not really understanding how the army lists work, but it was good fun.

For those who haven't played, it's buckets of dice, elements based (units can be troops, regiments or hordes...some can even be legions) with each type having its own number of hit dice, wavering limit and rout limit, e.g. my shield wall foot can be a troop of 10, a regiment of 20 or a horde of 40. Base size is more important than number of models on it, so you can use fewer models and model a nice diorama on the base. There's no casualty removal either, which is different to most games I play.

The hardest thing to get used to is the fact that you only do anything in your own turn! In WFB, WAB, well...EVERYTHING else I play, you are interacting and doing stuff in both our own and your opponent's turn. This...well...it was odd! Odd in a good way though. I enjoyed it! It's fast and bloody and I suspect that it's an ideal tournament set, as there are definitely tricks in army design! I learned that hordes of nasty cavalry are cool and that fireballs are a pain in the ass!!!

Seriously though, it was fun! It won't become my most favourite game, but I'll certainly join in the club campaign and won't refuse a game if someone offers. It also gives me an excuse to buy the rather lovely war mammoth from West Wind to be my 'beast of war!'

One rather good thing is that, although Mantic do their own ranges of models and I guess will be expanding the army lists, pretty much any models will work! A Kingdoms of Men army could be made with anything from ancient Greeks to 15th century Swiss (albeit with wizards, and maybe the odd monster thrown in) so you can use anything! NO 'GW-esque' only use our models crap here!!!

Watch this space as I'll definitely play again and next time I may even be able to take some pics!! Last night I was too busy trying to remember rules and watching my arse being served on a plate to get the iPhone out!!!