Kings of War 3rd Edition: The Review

Welcome to my official -/28 review of the 3^rd Edition Hardback Rulebook for “Kings of War: The Game of Fantasy Battles.” This kicks off our official coverage on the site of 3^rd Edition that will cover all aspects of the release. Army by army breakdowns, stand out rule changes, background spotlights and anything else that catches the writing teams fancy is coming down the pike in the days and weeks ahead (see the constantly updating list here), but we wanted to start it off with a reasonably comprehensive review of the core 3^rd Edition release, this beautiful green bastard of a book I have sitting in front of me. Sadly for you all, I don’t actually know how to write a comprehensive review, and even if I did, our publishing timeline does not support such a noble endeavor. Instead you’ll be stuck with a series of loosely categorized ramblings that should give you a window into what I think about this newest iteration of Kings of War at this moment, and honestly, what I think about Kings of War in general. Buckle up!  

As I patiently (not patiently) waited on my book to arrive, I started thinking about what type of review would actually benefit readers of -/28. I’m not a Mantic employee or Rules Committee member, so I offer no special insight into the creation of the thing. No peek behind the mystical Ronnie shaped curtain if you will. I instead focused on what -/28 specifically has to offer? What can we do better than all the other noise generators out there blasting your brain with hot takes about 3^rd Edition? This is, at its core, a community site built by Kings of War obsessed gamers for Kings of War obsessed gamers. I don’t really need to introduce miniature wargaming or rank and flank style gameplay to you. Instead, I’m going to assume you have a pretty familiar relationship with KOW already and you’re part of the educated and demanding KOW global community that I know so well, because at the end of the day, I’m also part of that same community. I quickly realized the way forward was clear, I really just needed to write a review I would want to read, as someone who is already a player (and therefore in some ways a fan) of KOW. With this in mind, I retreated deep into the mountains to meditate below a waterfall and ruminated on what at its core I’d want to know. What are the things most interesting to me going into a new edition? It really boiled down most simply to two questions…  

Did they mess up the things I love?  

Did they improve the things I don’t love? 

Now this framing isn’t at all fair to Mantic or the Rules Committee and I apologize for that. They’ve worked extremely hard on all aspects of the game and for me to start by setting the bar at “what did they mess up” is a jerk move. Hopefully as I get into the details of each sort of category, they’ll see the nuanced recognition of the job they’ve done. As a framing device though, those two questions really are what resonated with me as the simplest way for me to judge the new edition. I like KOW a lot, possibly too damn much, which means I’m looking to see 3^rd Edition be stronger where 2^nd was strong and improve where 2^nd was weak. That is what I’ trying to judge here, and what I think is valuable to us all as community members, systematically breaking down how 3^rd Edition (both this specific book and the rules it contains) stacks up against the core things that makes KOW great.   

Things I love about Kings of War 

Kings of War is Fast: 

Kings of War has been pretty damn fast to play throughout its lifetime and 3^rd Edition upholds this tradition with a couple subtle but important changes. First of all they’ve made and effort streamline and clarify sections of the rules that caused some confusion during 2^nd Edition, especially after they’d been modified by multiple Clash of Kings updates. Simplifying the types of shooting (removing breath weapons), adding explicit spell targeting etc… all remove the mental load on a player and help the games flow quickly and smoothly. In addition, by removing the 1” automatic bounce back and keeping engaged units, well, engaged, we are saving a lot of fiddly movement that was present after every combat of every round. This is a small optimization, but this little savings in time, repeated over the length of a 6-7 turn game (or even a 3-4 game day) ends up equaling time saved overall in what was already a blazing fast mass battle wargame. At the same time, the Rules Committee has done a good job protecting the speed of play by not adding in additional rules that would overly slow play (but more about that next).  

Kings of War Favors Abstraction Over Obsessive Detail: 

Kings of War in most instances takes a more heavily abstracted direction when it comes to game mechanics. It really isn’t interested in simulating or gaming out all the details present on their fantasy battlefields and takes a high-level view of the interactions for the most part. Wherever possible it tends to shrink the number of rolls, custom special rules and modifiers compared to other miniature games while still maintaining enough details to keep engagement and interest of its player base. This allows a clearly written and fast playing set of rules that still manages to support a ton of different armies and both a vibrant competitive and basement gaming scene.  

With 3^rd Edition, we see the smallest baby steps towards increased simulation and detail, but still preserving this light and lean gaming engine. The addition of new combat modifying hill rules, new spells, increased height variation, increased unit strength variation and rules like “Devastated” are adding a very small amount of weight to the overall design framework, creating more rules and more situational modifiers. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but there is some line that can be crossed where the added benefit of more detail is less than the additional strain it puts on the game and its players. I firmly believe with 3^rd Edition the rules committee and Mantic have kept on the right side of the line while adding some additional new wrinkles to our games. They’ve left in some hooks for future rule expansion (keywords, wizard levels etc…) so I hope they’re as careful with adding new mechanics as they have been and keep the mix just right going forward.  

It also appears that they’ve taken a stronger hand in shaping the contents and character of the armies in Kings of War. There has been an effort with this release to refocus the armies presented around Mantic miniatures and the Mantic (and the RC) view of what these armies should be and how they can be played. While the game, with its tilt towards abstraction and away from detail, makes it hard to convey as much specific character in army lists (you won’t find entire custom spell lists, random race specific charts etc… in KOW), I appreciate the fact that they’re trying to help define them and make them less generic.  

Kings of War is Balanced:

Kings of War is extremely well balanced for a miniature war game offering multiple ways to win with multiple armies. I’m not just making this up, we’ve written statistical analysis-based articles about how close performance is between most of the armies and while there are still some army tiers and outliers, those tiers are grouped incredibly closely compared to many other games especially mass battle games. Kings of War places an emphasis on tactical movement and executing strategic plans over list building tricks and massive combos. Games aren’t usually (I’m looking at you Dojo) won in the list building stage, a disease rampant in past iterations of rank and flank gaming. Good units with good maneuver will win encounters over deathstars. Even some of the filthy skewed lists we saw in 2^nd came with the caveat “you have to be good enough to play this filth well.” 

With 3^rd edition the Rules Committee has taken their fair wack at rebalancing the whole game and so far, it seems pretty decent. We’ll see through 2020 how things are going but at this point I’m fairly happy with the direction most armies seem to have taken and their attempts at limiting the power of shooting (reducing ranges, stats and removing magic items) and large infantry/cavalry flyers, two forces warping the meta significantly during 2^nd edition. I’m sure some combos or synergies were missed as this is the nature of balancing a complex system with a limited set of playtesters, but they’ve put certain design room into the game already for future balancing that shows a vitally important commitment to ongoing balance I find reassuring.  Time will ultimately tell how well 3^rd Edition holds up but I’m excited to see great players and list builders put it through its paces in the next few months.    

Things I Didn’t Love About Kings of War 

The Lore / Background:

First off I hate the term fluff. I feel it is insulting to the creators and automatically puts it in a position to be not taken seriously. I call it lore or background as an attempt to give it some small form of respect at least in the taxonomy we use to talk about things. That being said, I’d firmly support some of that older 1^st/2^nd Edition background not being taken seriously at all.  

The 3^rd Edition lore, and the world it is helping build and bring alive, is a marked improvement over previous attempts. Mantic has been making steps during 2nd to better define and enhance its fantasy setting, but this book feels like a huge leap forward. I had always been a skeptic of the world of Mantica, but as I poured through the book in preparation for this review, I found myself wrapped up in the history of Pannithor and visions of different army themes inspired by Mantics unique world began to dance through my head.  

I know many of us miss the Old World, probably as the single thing we actually miss the most from that other game. Pannithor I don’t believe will ever have that same special relationship in most of our minds and in our hearts. I grew up with the old world and watched it grow and change over my most formative gaming years as a teenager, when I had the time and emotional energy to care the most about things like that. We’re older now. It is really hard for a fantasy game background to affect us the same way now as things did back then. It is unfair to judge Pannithor against that nostaglia soaked world of Warhammer, but removed from that comparison, I really think Mantic is doing a great job in attempting to establish their own unique world within a sort of standard fantasy framework. It isn’t revolutionary or genre redefining, but it is a solid entry that supports the game well and is growing in both volume and quality at a damn good rate.   

The Art Design and Incomplete Model Ranges:

I really didn’t love the art design and quality in some of the 2^nd Edition releases as it often felt rushed, reused or just poorly made. This book represents a culmination of a push on Mantic’s part to put out a really strong and professional product. This is a damn good looking book. Special shout out to the color spreads of miniatures in the middle that immediately takes me back to the wargaming books of my past and pouring over every detail of their battle scenes. The Mantic art style still doesn’t always sync up with my personal aesthetic, but that is more of a taste question which I’m not going to try and get into. What is clear is they’ve put in the work on this one and this really does feel like a big boy book and not a niche product made by a niche company.  

They’ve also made the book exclusively Mantic models, and finally have the ranges to support that. This edition marks a focus on Mantic armies by including model spreads in each of the list sections and cutting out some units that don’t (and probably never will) have Mantic models. The ranges aren’t complete as they should be, and the inability to field many armies choices with Mantic models is a point of continuing frustration. But this book represents a step in the right direction showcasing their model range and reigning in the army lists ambitions to match the ranges instead of just welcoming refugees.    

The Mistakes in Production: 

I’m sorry and I feel like an ass for piling on here but Mantic has released some error ridden products during 2^nd Edition. It was honestly something that drove me a little insane. Their rules were often very clear and any dispute could be handled by just looking in the book and walking through the steps outlined, but with the amount of mistakes creeping into some of the work, I just was never sure what I could trust. I feel even worse because anyone who has read this far can tell I’m not a man without sin in this regard. You’ve probably noticed a fair number of grammatical errors and typos already in this review and are wondering how I have the freaking nerve to call Mantic out, which is fair. I just expect better of Mantic. This release is better, but still not quite perfect, which should be the goal. I know it isn’t easy. I’m trying not to be some internet jackass that tells you to have a professional copy editor look through it (I know one did, they’re in the credits) and that even with herculean effort typos and data errors can slip through, but Mantic has a reputation and needs to be perfect to shed that reputation. A number of issues have already cropped up in the new book, so while it seems an improvement, it still lands as something I don’t love from KOW 3^rd Edition sadly.   

Conclusion 

I was lucky enough to sneak a 2250 Point game of 3^rd Edition Kings of War in Tuesday at my local store against my regular opponent. The thing that stuck out to me the most as we wrapped up a very tense turn 6 was how familiar all of it felt. Sure we had some new units on the board and had to remember the big new rules and some of the nuance around terrain, but ultimately, it was Kings of War. It felt fast, fun, tactical and balanced. The new rules were adding to our decisions instead of adding to our annoyances and we got through the game even in the new edition without any problems. It felt like the KOW we’ve been playing in that same store for years, just upgraded.  

Kings of War 3^rd Edition is a remarkable achievement for Mantic Games. They’ve produced a big beautiful book filled with new art, photography, game design and lore all without the crutch of Kickstarter funding. It feels like a wonderful new chapter in the games history, refreshing the meta and clarifying the designs without upending and spoiling what makes it great. Overall, I’m very happy with what has been delivered and look forward to the growth and evolution that is bound to come over the next few years.  

Random Thoughts

• Cute! A note from Ronnie at the beginning.
• Mantic freaking loves a snow battle picture. 30 Pages in I thought that was all they’d photographed.
• Pannithor is a Post Apocalyptic world which usually makes for great storytelling.
• God Splinters, the shattered pieces of a magical mirror sound awesome