Using the Rule of Thirds to Win at Kings of War

Kings of War is a game that requires strategic thinking and careful planning to win. One of the easiest and most effective ways to quickly improve your gameplay and increase your chances of winning is by applying a principle from, weirdly enough, the world of photography called “the rule of thirds.” In this article, we will explore what the rule is and how to apply it to your next game of Kings of War. 

What Is The Rule Of Thirds?

The rule of thirds is a widely-used technique in art, photography, and design. It involves dividing a frame into three equal parts vertically and horizontally, creating nine sections, and then placing the most important elements of an image at the intersection points or along the lines. This results in a balanced, dynamic, and aesthetically-pleasing composition.

Here is a visualization of the rule of thirds:

The rule of thirds also identifies four power points at the center of each intersection:

To follow the rule, simply simply use the gridlines to position the essential elements of the image. The image below demonstrates the differences between a photo taken with the rule of thirds and without. On the right, the horizon is aligned with the bottom horizontal line and the rock outcropping sits at the intersections of the horizontal and vertical lines (the power points). 

Applying The Rule Of Thirds To Kings Of War

The same principle can be applied to Kings of War, where the board can be thought of as a canvas. Following the rule will allow you to strategically place objectives and deploy your units to control the key areas of the battlefield, which correspond generally to the location of the power points on the 3×3 grid. Deploying with the rule of thirds in mind can help you avoid deployment mistakes and gain an advantage over an opponent by knowing roughly how the game will play out before it even begins. 

Divide The Battlefield

The first step in using the rule of thirds is to divide the battlefield into thirds and identify the location of the power points in the grid. This can either be done by eyeballing it, using dice or other objects, or by playing on a pre-marked mat such as the ones sold by Mats by Mars, which has the two vertical lines of the grid conveniently marked on the mat. 

Using the Rule of Thirds When Picking Sides

Next, use the rule of thirds to help you analyze the board before you roll to pick sides. Points in favor of a side may include (1) favorable defensive terrain such as a forest that overlays a power point, (2) a clear shooting or attack lane corresponding with the two vertical lines on the grid, or (3) the absence of unfavorable terrain on a side such as an unfortunately-placed building blocking a power point nearest to the side you may otherwise want to choose. 

In the picture above, the tower blocks the power point located on the top left of the board. Conversely, the forest overlays the power point on the bottom left and could be the base of a powerful defense in the area. Both pieces of terrain affect a natural attack lane along the left vertical line of the grid. All of these factors may be more or less important depending on your army or the scenario, but they should always be taken into account when picking sides. 

Using the Rule of Thirds To Place Objective Tokens

In addition, you can use the rule of thirds to inform your decisions about where to place objectives. In the game photographed below, I was faced off against a high-drop Orc army in the Pillage scenario. Given his numbers advantage, my (wonderful) opponent Dan Z. wanted to play across the entire table and deployed his Pillage tokens accordingly, inviting me to split my more elite army across the table. 

Not pictured is the fifth token on the bottom right of the table. 

Instead, I knew I was going to refuse a flank against Dan given my numbers disadvantage. One of the two tokens I got to place went along the left vertical line and slightly outside the deployment zone on the bottom left (green circle). If I won that side (as I did), then the token was placed in a location I would naturally seek to protect anyways given it was one of the four power points on the board. If I lost the roll off, then my consolation prize was that the token would be located along the natural attack lane on that side of the board which my units would be using to move up and attack Dan’s Orcs. 

For my second token placement, the location of the other tokens prevented me from mirroring the first token I placed on the other side of the board. I would have done so to lessen the importance of the sides roll while further restricting the token locations to one side of the board, which would play into my refused flank strategy even further. Instead, I opted to place the token as neutrally as possible along the right vertical line of the grid on the centerline (yellow circle). Again, I knew that a fight would likely break out naturally along that path given its location along one of the two vertical lines on the grid, so it was a safe bet I would have a unit nearby to control that token at the end of the game.

Using the Rule of Thirds When Deploying Your Units

Once you have picked sides and placed objectives, you can use the rule of thirds to position your troops strategically. The key here is to place your key hammers or toughest anvils along the two vertical lines near the power points, rather than directly in the center of the board or out on the extreme flanks. This will allow you to create a deployment that is both balanced and dynamic as well as gives you control over the key areas of the board with your strongest units. Deploying in this way should give you an advantage over your opponent and allow you to control the flow of the game.

Our first example comes from Tom R., maybe the best Kings of War player in the world. It’s no surprise that someone like Tom would instinctively pick up on the principles described here, and he does so in the photo below. 

The two key hordes in his highly successful Rhordia list, the Dogs of War on the left and the Knights on the right, are each positioned along one of the vertical lines of our grid in perfect locations to affect large areas of the battlefield. Imagine if instead Tom succumbed to the temptation of deploying his Knights to the right of the building. This may have seemed advantageous but would have given his opponent the opportunity to take the Knights out of the game by delaying it with chaff for enough turns that it could not get back into the fight in the center. In addition, it would have left a weakness along the natural attack path of his opponent that would have to be covered instead by one of the lower-nerve Honor Guard (not ideal) or through delay with his chaff. 

Our next example comes from Corey R. in our game at Adepticlash 2023. 

The Mats by Mars marking of the right-side vertical line makes it easy to see that Corey has smartly placed one of his Chroneus along the line. This picture is an example of another benefit of deploying with the Rule of Thirds in mind: the dynamism it affords you when you are placing units with imperfect information given the I-go You-go nature of deployment in Kings of War. 

The placement of the Chroneus allowed Corey to choose one of three options. It can move left to support his box of death made of the Molochs, Bael, and the other Chroneus, or move right and support his shooting wing of Flamebearers and Warlocks. The third option would be to run the Chroneus forward as the spearhead of his attack if I had hung back and not engaged either the Molochs group or the Flamebearers group, which it would be perfectly placed to do. Monsters and Titans love to be deployed along the vertical lines of our grid. If you have one or more of these units and are at a loss in deployment, make your next drop a Monster or Titan along one of those two lines. 

Finally, my last opponent at Adepticlash 2023, Chris P., provides us with an example of how placing your key hammer units according to the Rule of Thirds can lead to good things for you and bad things for your opponent. Chris’s Undead list was an elite force heavy on tough-to-shift units like Wraith regiments and Revenant Infantry regiments but light on hammers, with two units of Wights with Nimble and Sharpness providing the killing power the list needed. Accordingly, correct placement of these units was critical to Chris’s gameplan. 

Both of his Wights units are nicely placed along the natural attack paths corresponding to the vertical lines of the grid, able to threaten large areas of the board and giving Chris a dynamic placement of his key units that can respond to threats from any direction. I would actually argue that the right Wights are deployed a little too far to the right and should have been placed directly behind the Deathpack unit, but with Nimble the unit was able to easily reposition making this less of an issue. 

Final Thoughts 

As you can see, using the rule of thirds isn’t actually complicated. And that’s what makes it so powerful – it’s a simple way to improve your gameplay, and it requires zero strategic sense or tabletop experience to apply.

It’s important to end with a note that the rule of thirds is not a hard and fast rule, and there will be times when deviating from it is necessary to achieve victory. However, you can use the rule as a guiding principle that can be easily applied to consistently create strong and effective gameplans. By taking the rule of thirds into consideration when placing objectives and units, you can create a more dynamic and balanced deployment that is more likely to lead to success on the tabletop. Combine this with other strategies and tactics and you will be on your way to victory.