Hi everyone! Today we’re bringing you a guest article from Page Neo, a Kings of War player, Mantic Pathfinder, and YouTube / podcast host from Singapore. A big thanks to Page for taking the time to write this tactics article for Dash28! Check out his YouTube channel, Newbie Dice, and the Newbie Dice Podcast for more content! Some light editing and all image captions provided by Dash28.
Hello there! I’m Page, and you might know me from my Kings of War YouTube channel Newbie Dice and the Newbie Dice Podcast.
I’ve done a podcast episode “List Building Level Up” where I discuss with top players about their list-building philosophy and the top list archetypes to look out for, and that gave me the idea to discuss the evolution of the piece-trading game in Kings.
In Kings of War, units are relatively well pointed, so we’re constantly trying to win exchanges by sacrificing a lower cost unit to take out an opponent’s higher cost unit. Through multiple such exchanges the profit builds up and translates to a victory.
As we’re coming up on four years of Kings of War 3rd Edition, and with the 2023 US Masters around the corner, let’s take a look at how the meta has evolved and the rise of multiple-medium units (MMU).
The Beginning
If you’ve been playing a while, you will probably notice this common unit profile, or a slight variation of it:
5+ Defense, 15/17 Nerve, 18 Attacks, 3+ Melee
This is effectively 12 average hits and usually at Crushing Strength/Thunderous Charge 2. This is a common stat line for Large Infantry hordes, Cavalry regiments, and premium Infantry/Heavy Infantry units. For the sake of referencing these units, I’ll call them traditional hammers.
Since the game has so many traditional hammer units, the game commonly revolves around keeping such units alive and delivering them while killing the enemies’ hammers. Waver-mitigation artefacts are common because traditional hammers on average deal 8 damage to Defense 5, or 10 with Bane Chant, and that would mean a single roll of 7+ or 5+ would result in a Waver.
At the beginning of 3rd Edition, shooting was a little lackluster save for catapults, and so cheap, fast chaff became the preferred delivery method, as they could move up to where they were needed and screen your hammer units from being charged.
US Masters 2020
The 2020 US Master came up on top of this meta using Orclings for chaff — the cheapest of chaff due to having no speed or Nimble –, orc heroes both on foot and mounted for extra chaff or to chip in damage, and lots of Greatax hordes.
The Greatax hordes are good counters to traditional hammers as even though they are Defense 4, their 21/23 nerve (+2 near the War Drum) is high enough to withstand a charge from traditional hammers. The nerve is high enough to withstand catapult fire as well as those usually have a low number of hits.
US Masters 2021
Clash of Kings 2021 made some shooting units regular, while war engines no longer ignored all types of cover. Medium-strength shooting came to the forefront, particularly Naiad Heartpiercers and Abyssal Flamebearers. Packing 10 shots per regiment with Piercing 1, two of these delete cheap chaff while able to put a dent on Defense 5 units. Combined-arms lists became more common and thicc chaff became popular to take more damage from these shots and to outfight cheap chaff. Heals came in handy to shrug off those Piercing 1 shots.
The 2021 US Master surprised everyone by piloting Herd (commonly thought to be underpowered) to victory. His list was all speed, punching people fast, with three flying Beasts of Nature maneuvering around to get flanks and a Spirit Walkers horde in the center to one-round enemy hammers while being able to take one charge.
The Druids also provided enough heal to remove some chip damage or remove a chunk of damage when combined with regeneration from the Lycans and Moonfang.
US Masters 2022
Clash 2022 improved bows, and shooting-heavy lists started to surface. This placed a lot of pressure on traditional hammer units, as they could be shot down before getting into melee, sometimes even when in cover! Even if not dead from one round of shooting, the next round could finish off a unit.
Ogre Warrior unlock changes also allowed a new drop-heavy build, 9 Warrior regiments and 9 heroes (known as the 9×9) for a total of 18 drops at 2300 points, which pressured traditional builds that numbered about 14 drops. Each unit was practically a piece of thicc chaff while being able to threaten flanks easily due to the superior drop count. The list further didn’t rely on any expensive linchpin units.
A further change of Greater Air Elementals getting Crushing Strength 1 terrorized traditional hammers with flank or rear surges.
The 2022 US Master decimated the competition with a multiple-medium-units (MMU) Nightstalkers list.
Four Scarecrow hordes to soak charges, two Mind-screeches for shooting and utility, and eleven medium-punch units costing no more than 165 each. There were no big targets to kill, and the army had Spellward bubbles and Stealthy to protect it from shooting. Whether you killed or failed to kill one of his units with your traditional hammers, Adam would take yours out in return with front and flank charges.
Kings of War 3.5
The Big Red Book (effectively Clash 2023 or Kings 3.5) dialed back on Nightstalkers and Ogre regiment unlocks, but the meta has been permanently shaken up.
Thanks in part to the Ogre 9×9 and triple Butcher Fleshrippers in the 2023 Master’s list, Large Infantry heroes are much more popular now. They pack a decent punch, even more in the flank, while being cheap enough to throw away to chaff enemies – and they score on scenarios.
Good value units costing about 150 points are popular as well, the upgraded Phoenix being a prime example. “Budget Gladestalker” units such as Varangur Night Raiders, Halfling Poachers, and Northern Alliance Pack Hunters are getting popular, too. Although they don’t shoot as well as Gladestalkers, they are much cheaper and are Stealthy to help win a shootout.
Lists nowadays may not have as many traditional hammers, but you can bet that every list is designed with tools to deal with traditional hammers. The rise of medium units also threatens hammers in flanks while being cheap enough to sacrifice to hammers to gain a tactical advantage. It’s important to take this into consideration when building your lists.
Bonus!
With that, let’s take a look at some of the lists that have been doing well at big tournaments in the US and around the world (or, well, a few prominent countries) since 3.5 launched.
Adepticlash 2023
At Adepticlash, held in March 2023, the champion put a twist on the traditional hammers list by bringing five Dwarf Clansmen troops as chaff and four Huscarls regiments as hammers.
With Talanaar’s Standard for Rallying (1), the dwarf troops are surprisingly resilient with Defense 5+ and 11/13 Nerve and a low price of just 75 points. They also have Fury, so getting wavered in melee isn’t terrible. Huscarls pack all the rules you need — 20 Attacks at 3+ Melee, CS2, and Fury — for the low hammer price of 225 points. Rallying (1) brings their nerve up to 16/18, making them super cost-effective and survivable hammers. Tundra Wolves round out the list as speedy mini hammers.
Lone Wolf 2023
Forces of the Abyss took top battle at the Lone Wolf GT out of 60 players, featuring a double Chroneas and Well of Souls combo.
These three units can do a lot of healing while dishing out punches themselves. Ghouls make efficient trash units, and Tortured Souls regiments make great medium-support units. Molochs are glass-cannon hammers and provide cleanup duty. The Seductress with the Gnome-Glass Shield artefact and Host Shadowbeast (3) provides all-round disruption and damage, and the Warlocks are scoring (Unit Strength 1) support casters.
At the same event, the best overall list was a Ratkin list piloted by Dustin Howard that packs lots of shooting with 17 Lightning Bolt, 10 Clawshot shots, 8 Shredder (light cannon) shots, the Death Engine Spewer with Steady Aim, and 36 Nightmare shots. Not to mention it has both Cloak of Death and Radiance of Life available to the list, healing from the Brood Mothers’ Drain Life (which can drain Expendable rats for double dice), and packs enough melee punch to seal the deal — with Sharpness Tunnel Runners, Skud, and Nightmares performing melee duty as well.
The list also has Scrying Gem and the formation for redeploying and forcing the opponent to 4-6 units before Dustin deploys anything meaningful. It is certainly not easy to pilot this list, though, as it only has 18 unit strength and 11 scoring units, meaning it has to probably decimate the opponent most of the time to make sure they can’t contest on scenario.
Spain
I have limited knowledge of the Spain Kings of War scene, so the following was pulled from the Mantic Companion Events Section. Torneaco Libertalia in March 2023 was won with a Sylvan Kin list featuring Gladestalkers and Greater Air Elementals.
The list starts off with a strong shooting force — triple Gladestalkers, Silverbreeze, double-trouble pairing of an Alchemist Curse Archmage and Nimue — with core anvils of Hunters of the Wild and Forest Shamblers for the Greater Air Elementals to advance behind and surge into flanks with the help of three Surge casters.
Regional Andalucia in February 2023 was won with a speedy, almost all flying Basilean army with kitted-out Elohi hordes as traditional hammers supported by four Elohi regiments as medium-unit support.
The threat saturation of flying and fast units makes it difficult for enemies to guard against so many angles. If the opponent keeps a tight formation, they lose out on board control. If they spread out, they will inevitably expose their units to flank charges. The Elohi regiments are also great at projecting flank threat, forcing enemies to pay attention to them, and spreading the attention away from the hordes. Iron Resolve and Heal will help heal off damage taken from shooting, and Julius is a Defense 6 dragon in a Large Infantry body, holding the enemy’s attention and once again taking crosshairs off the hordes, or wreaking havoc in flanks if left unchecked. Gnaeus is fast as well at Speed 9, and he doesn’t lose Nimble easily as he’s not a flyer.
United Kingdom
In 2023 January, the UK Master for the 2022 Season took a shooting and alpha-strike heavy Elves list.
This list features lots of shooting from Gladestalkers and Silverbreeze Cavalry — 71 bow shots to be exact — and an Archmage that can move 18” and cast Alchemist Curse (4) while having an assortment of Drakon Riders to take out any survivors. It is the classic “I shoot you first till you get close, and then I charge you first” that Elves are known for.
Northern Kings GT in May 2023 saw the champion field a Basilean speed list as well.
Down Under in Aussie Land
Clash of Kings Australia in January 2023 was won with Varangur. Opting for value-for-money hammer choices in Snow Trolls and Mounted Sons, this list coupled with scoring heroes such as Thegns on Frostfangs and Snow Troll Primes.
The champion also did pretty well at the Australian Masters held in December 2022 with Basilea, tied for first place in battle points with an interesting list. Men-at-Arms Swordsmen for “trash” units, Elohi regiments and two Phoenixes for medium units, Paladin Knights for bargain hammers, two Dictators for bargain punchers, and an Ogre Palace Guard Captain for a scoring hero.
The champion that took Masters overall took a shooting Forces of the Abyss list, one of two shooting lists at Masters that year, which surprisingly beat the other shooting list of Twilight Kin with Gladestalkers, La’theal’s Stealthy Aura, and some Crone-bound Nightstalker units with Stealthy as well.
This Forces of the Abyss list features a healthy 13 units for 1995 points, and 12 of them score. The Unit Strength of 23 is also respectable for this point size.
Wrap Up
And that’s all for our trip around the world! Hope this list analysis gives you a good grasp of the meta while equipping you with concepts for building your next list.
If you like my article, do check out my YouTube channel Newbie Dice as well as my podcast Newbie Dice Podcast for more content related to improving our game.
