After plenty of rumors, rumblings and Ronnie whisperings, the 3rd Edition of Kings of War was officially announced by Mantic Games earlier in July with a big rule book reveal on the blog in August. The new edition comes with a listed release of October 2019 (with additional book to follow). So what now? What is a Kings of War obsessed gamer supposed to get up to in this limbo between declaration and delivery? How do we survive the upcoming months without driving ourselves mad worrying about the fate of our favorite units, the future state of the game and where to expend all that pent-up hobby mojo? Many of us have been burned by edition changes in the past (I’ve been through more than a few), and those mental scars go deep, tinting our outlook to see only clouds and frustration. This article will attempt to suggest a few strategies for not only making it through to the release and navigating the immediate post launch chaos, but also how to enjoy the process as well.
Have Faith
I know you’ve been hurt before. Plenty of companies have created a game you loved, but over time, they transformed it into something you couldn’t even recognize any more. Edition change has often been the tool used by those companies to push massive design changes through their system, and the gamer casualties left behind are ignored. I clearly remember viewing impending new editions of my favorite games with dread and unease. It leaked into the game I was playing before the changes were even made. I gamed for months with anxiety about what was coming next, each battle smothered under the melancholy blanket of an era about to die. Right now though, I feel none of that really. I caught myself being even excited for 3rd edition. What madness is this? How’d that happen? All I can really say to that is somehow I have a little faith in the folks that got us here, and that includes faith in where they’re headed with the game.
The Rules Committee (RC) is made up of Kings of War obsessed experts who volunteer ridiculous amounts of their free time to generate content and updates to the Kings of War system. During the creation of 2nd Edition, they took on more and more work and were ultimately responsible for a larger portion of the game we play today than most people realize. The (in my opinion) exceptionally strong state Kings of War as a game system is in today is thanks very much to the hard work and balancing done by the RC over the years since 2nd Edition release. Much of this work has been done without full access to the design levers they’d want to work with (restrictions around changing point values, etc.) and has still put the game in a better state than day one of 2nd edition.
Right now, that same group of committed RC volunteers (and tireless play testers) are working closely with Mantic shaping what 3rd edition will become. They’ve been a steady hand on the wheel of KOW for years now and are looking to guide it into a new edition, with all signs pointing toward evolution rather than some ground-shaking, rage-inducing revolution. Hex bases and D8s just aren’t going to happen no matter how many times Todd Serpico claims it will (never trust Todd). We’ve seen the directions they’re going already in the Clash of Kings books, and a new edition is a chance for a greater rebalance and to give Mantic a strong platform to push ahead on the retail front.
Simply put, if you like where Kings of War is as a game right now, the same group (and many of the same people) are writing 3rd Edition, so don’t worry. If you don’t like the state of Kings of War right now, then what do you have to lose with a new edition trying its best to fix things that bother folks. All signs point toward the Kings of War we love, just better. So have a little faith in the writers of this game, I think they deserve it.
Have Patience
The 3rd Edition of Kings of War will have changes in it, and by nature, especially on the Internet, there will be people disagreeing with each little change. Don’t get sucked under by this tidal wave of negative vibes, instead, rise above with just a little patience. One of the fastest ways to unbridled nerd rage is to examine, argue and lament each single design decision in a vacuum instead of looking at the bigger picture. That larger system, and how each piece plays into it, is the actual beauty of design, and needs to be looked at to really understand the smaller choices. So when you see these individual changes (especially ones stamped with giant red “Not Final” text), and the fire starts burning deep inside, and you’re ready to spew ash and molten anger onto the Internet because your favorite unit is now “useless,” just take a pause, look at things in a wider view, and give it some time. Give a chance for real games to be played and real results to be had before becoming the boy who cried “broken” all over the Web. No problems with discussing potential new things, but save the outrage for a moment until you see the whole thing.
A quick example. During 1st Edition, Elohi were freaking ridiculous. They were Defense 6, Crushing Strength 2 with Regeneration and were pretty much insane. When they were brought down to Defense 5 and Crushing Strength 1 (still with Thunderous Charge 1) folks complained they’d be unusable at those stats and were never going to be worth the points. Fast forward past the rage and Elohi have been an ever present key part of Basilean lists since release of 2nd Edition. Give the meta a chance to shake out, new battlefield roles to be tried and the burst of mostly unwarranted anger to pass.
Now this isn’t to say that the RC will get everything right. Game design is about making choices, and some of those choices, just based on the sheer number that need to be made, aren’t going to turn out as well as folks hope. You see the quality of many games are not about a single good idea. This isn’t some film or hokey television show where a designer keeps throwing away wads of paper until that eureka moment that unlocks everything. Games don’t rely on a single big idea (although having one helps), they rely on the hundreds and thousands of little choices made along the way. Look at the whole of the design, the sum of all those good and bad choices made at Mantic HQ and the secret lairs of RC folks and judge accordingly.
Have Fun
There is a lot of uncertainty in the air. Questions around what changes are coming, what new units or armies are being added, what hated broken pieces of 2nd edition are being fixed. Don’t let this uncertainty sap the joy from your hobby. Try and look at it instead as an opportunity to be excited by the unknown in Kings of War again.
I have a confession to make, I build very small armies. As much as I wish this weren’t true, and as often as I start out with the intention of building a large and flexible force, I tend to build too small a list and move on to the next shiny interesting toys. What this means is when this new edition lands, and certain units I’d ignored in the past are now stronger, or units I relied on to carry the battle have been toned down, I’ll be well and truly screwed.
Don’t be like me! Use this time to beef up your existing armies, adding interesting options and increasing their size and flexibility. This will allow you the potential to capitalize on the new changes and start playing with exciting different army builds right away.
Is now the time to start a brand new army? Probably not. If you must, I would say to stick to the core choices of an army and try and keep things balanced. Orcs are probably always going to want some big units of Orcs. The Brotherhood should always need knights. Elves will always need assholes. If you stick with the core sort of units from an army, there is less chance they will be useless in the new edition. Also, paint up the figures but don’t base them yet (or base in flexible sizes that can combine to larger units), so when suddenly regiments of some unit become useful when you used to only want them in hordes, you aren’t caught out. And for heaven’s sake, don’t build some sort of super specialized spam list and then get mad if it’s changed for next edition.
So with a little dose of faith, some patience and a bit of fun, you too can not only survive this edition change, but maybe even thrive.
