This is less a new blog and more a continuation of the last one….. After a discussion about it, someone mentioned that we should scrap Forces of Nature these days as they’re no longer relevant. Is that true? It is to a certain degree as there is so many available units that can be so used in other armies that it doesn’t have a very particular style of its own. It’s kind of a mish mash of completely opposing themes.
There’s the tree theme, Shamblers, tree herders, hunters of the wild and forest wardens.
There’s the fire theme, salamanders, salamander veterans, fire elementals and scorchwings. There’s the water theme of Naiads, Wyrm riders and elementals. Earth elementals are a popular choice too.
And then there’s the air theme of elementals and, er…. Shaarlot! Plus a host of other monsters, centaurs and characters to support them.
Throw them altogether it’s an army that can have lots of different directions you can take it but that also works against it by having so many themes it is stretched thin with no clear identity.
You look at a Basilean army or Empire of Dust army and it very obviously has a strong identity about what it is.
The fire theme is transplanted whole and fleshed out in the Salamanders army. If you want to theme an army in that way then the few units in the Nature army are a little redundant to become an army on their own.
The same works with the water theme which is fully explored in the Trident realms army.
The treemen, shamblers, beast of nature and centaurs are a good chunk of the Herd army list.
Earth elementals are, as previously mentioned, EVERYWHERE!
So with all these units elsewhere….. why would you choose to use a Nature army? What does it have to offer? If you go for a specific theme then these other armies have much more to offer. So does it come down to gaming choices? If all you are interested in is competition then who cares about theme?
I think the army list itself is fine, indeed the rules committee have done a lovely job of balancing it. There’s nothing in it which stands out as a must take and nothing horrendously bad. There will be plenty of arguments about this last point but it’s my blog so I can say what I like. Though I may have to stop here and have a violent argument with myself over Wyrm riders.
So Daniel-san, what would YOU do to fix the identity of the Forces of Nature? Here it goes, and I’m hoping Mantic listen…..
Models. All the models released so far are pretty good, in fact some are my favourite models in the Entire mantic range. Greater water elemental I’m looking at you. There are better choices but it’s such an awesome model and I love it so much that I’ll usually take it in a list no matter what just because I want to have it on the table. Some others are older but still quite nice. The list has lots of models that Mantic simply don’t make like Hydra’s, Unicorns, Pegasus, Beast of Nature etc… It’s understandable as they are heavy on the cliché and many other companies make them already and they’re not Mantic IP. They aren’t going to sell many Unicorns because so many options are already out there on the market (I use two old Citadel ones) and it’s more worthwhile investing resources in models that are a bigger priority that can make Kings of War more ‘Pannithor’. Plenty of different things can be made into woodland critters. With League of Infamy we’re getting Unicorn models so I’m hoping that this will slowly translate into Kings of War and we will eventually have this range fleshed out. With having to use so many models from other companies the identity of the army is held back from having that ‘Mantic’ feel like many of the other core armies have.
Centaurs need new models. Thematically they look okay but are a little dated and I’m not the only one to have a hellish time building them. I have 3 units in various states of being built/painted but it wasn’t fun and they’re on the shelf while I do other things less painful. Even resin would help!
A pegasus sculpt would be fantastic and with the options for a different head for a flying unicorn and rider options would fill a hole in several armies and be a fair use of resources.
Keris and Shaarlot are a nice touch, I’ve used both and having a bit of romance in a world of war can’t be a bad thing
But overall there is one thing this army needs more than any other.
The Green Lady.
We have the Avatar but she is okay in the game but other things can do her job much better so she doesn’t seem much time on the tabletop. Plus the model is old and awkward compared to Mantic’s current standard. In the background she is one of the few characters with God-like status and a central focus to the story of Pannithor. She deserves better. She needs to be a character that can stand up to an Arch find of the Abyss, which is a mere servant of her siblings. She needs a new impressive model and rules worthy of a Queen of Nature which the various nations and elements can rally to. In many ways she IS the forces of Nature and it’s this characterisation which can unify the identity of the army.
I use the Hellboy Nimue figure as it’s gorgeous but haven’t had chance to get it on the table yet. When a unicorn can do a similar job for cheaper AND hit stuff and zap stuff then why would I?
Dear Mantic, go green. And I’m not talking Goblins.
Right, now I’ve been reasonable I’m going to start swearing about how bloody useless Wyrm riders are….
With the release of the 3rd Edition of Kings of War, one of the main things you will immediately notice is the huge amount of extra background. The stories, maps, pictures, background, diagrams and general personality of the game has been seriously ramped up. With limited background comes the ability to make up more of your own and because you are able to use non-Mantic models in the game means that is much easier. As the background becomes more fleshed out that ability can clash with the official background. It bothers some people, most don’t mind. Great ideas and exciting armies are a good thing no matter which path you follow.
With more background come more questions. Who lives on that part of the map? How does that race survive in those conditions? How could one army feasibly ally with another based on the geography? Does the character of an army mean my model choices feel out of place? Or, as came up on Facebook the other day, the question that has also been burning in me for a few years now… “If Naiads are all girls then how do they reproduce?”
One of the main questions I found myself asking as I looked through the army lists, especially in the Uncharted Empire books was why? This was most apparent in a question that I saw on Facebook the other day and it got me thinking.
“Why doesn’t the dwarf army get a Pheonix? The background says they are more enamoured of Fulgria than any other God so it makes perfect sense”
It does make sense. So why don’t they? Lots of different considerations go into it other than the story. The bottom line is that Mantic have to make money from selling toys so from that stand point it would be great idea, the Pheonix is a standout model in a large number of awesome new resin creatures and would make a great centrepiece model (if daunting to paint….. I have one, I just haven’t started yet!). So why not? I guess for two reasons. Gaming wise it would unbalance the dwarf army a little. Their gaming style is not generally one known for speed, and Dwarves, underground dwelling sorts are not for the skies. Plus it’s abilities would unbalance things too. If it was in a Dwarf list I’d be hard pressed not to take that radiance of life and heal (5) behind a wall of Defence 6! And then if they can have a fire bird then why not fire elementals too? They have a fire priest so a surge added to him would make sense…..
But at the end of the day a giant flaming bird would just look totally out of place in a dwarf army wouldn’t it? It would even tower over the mighty Steel behemoths.
It works a little better in the Salamanders army. The army was lagging rules wise in 2nd edition they needed that extra heal, plus it fits nicely along with the fire elementals and the overall fire theme of the army. There’s a lovely little bit of background in the rulebook about the Pheonix’ migrating south and Samacris ‘lending’ them to fight for the Salamanders. It’s little bits like that that really tie the background together. That story somehow just doesn’t fit quite as well for the dwarves.
In the end it comes down to Mantic and the rules committee and they have to make the decisions based on a huge number of variables.
Mummies and Pharaohs for example, are just totally out of place in the Undead army since the Empire of Dust took that theme but were still included as lots of people already have them in their armies and Mantic sell them in the army sets. So they’re still in the army lists as a slight oddity.
There are a few others that niggle at me too.
The theme of the Herd army appeals to me as the forest coming alive and it’s inhabitants surging forward in a thunderous tide to repel invaders and the list certainly reflects that. So why include Earth Elementals? Slow, lumbering, tough and seemingly at odds with the feel of the army.
A similar situation sits with the Order of the Green lady. A water themed list, Knights with magical water armour, Elementals and Naiads devoted to the Lady… and again, those Earth elementals slotted, seemingly at odds with the flavour of the army.
But perhaps those Earth elementals were a very shrewd business move by Mantic. New armies take time, money and effort. Starting a new one can seem like a daunting task and can put people off. But you know, if you have those Earth Elementals in your Order of the Green Lady army then all you need to buy is a few more units and you have the good core of a Dwarf army. Buy a few more units and you have a Nature army. Or a Herd army. Or a Free Dwarf army. And for those units you can form several armies around them. It keeps the game fresh and exciting for you and it makes Mantic more money (which means they can expand and invest in the game).
Several other units, Water Elementals, Gur Panthers, Forest Shamblers etc can be used in several armies and many are useful in at least two. This makes a great tie into the background too. Pannithor is a huge world populated by myriad creatures and it makes for a good story that different creatures would fight for different causes and allies at different times. It works for the background, works for Mantic, works for the game. Sorted. Obviously it has to be carefully balanced so things don’t get silly.
The main place this doesn’t work for me if the Twilight kin. I like the background that their numbers are thin on the ground and rely on Cronebound beasts and nasties to do their dirty work for them. I’ve always found it a bit weird that they use both Abyss AND Nightstalkers. They’re both suitably evil enough but they have such different feel and theme that they don’t quite fit together. On the other hand it’s a good way to get players of either of those armies to try something new, especially as Twilight kin models are thin on the ground but it also makes the army thematically a little disjointed. Personally I’d ditch the Abyssals and put in some evil monsters. Hydras and Chimera and Manticores, black dragons and giant spiders! Buuuut at the bottom of the map is that Southern rift so there’s plenty to explore in the future.
So there are things I like, things I love. Things I don’t so much. But that is the case with all stories. The main thing I love is the sheer potential. Just like that Southern rift. There are questions. There are hints and suggestions….. And this where the novels come in. That’s what really fleshes things out. It’s the stories. It’s the characterisation. It’s the depth. Mark Barber did a sterling job with Steps to Deliverance and set the standard for the future. It’s fine seeing a toy soldier in a rank. It’s another to know that characters background. It’s another to know what circumstances forced that character to be there fighting. It’s another to know his thoughts and feelings and his drives. The personality. It’s those emotions which make us sympathise with the characters and make us feel like we’re there, part of the army, part of the story. With the RPG on it’s way there is a huge potential for that personality to come through and having those (and the League of Infamy) new resin models means we can bring that character onto the tabletop too. Maybe one day we might even get a limited edition Orion model for Kings of War which would be great. And maybe one day we will get a novel about how the Wiltfather went wilty. Or even a ‘Where’s Mortibris?’ Book for kids.
Whatever happens, it will all take time and by playing games we become part of the story ourselves. I was going to make that last sentence a final joke about the Never-ending Story to finish with but then I remembered about the horse dying in the swamp and I’m going to stop writing and go and struggle with my childhood trauma instead.
In a tournament last year I played two games with one more unit than I should have had.
In a game at Clash of kings I grabbed loot counters and ran away at my full speed even though it was reduced.
At another tournament I surged my Revenant king on flying wyrm into a flank and it doesn’t have surge.
These are my sins. I’m only coming clean because recently there was an incident at the US Clash of Kings where a guy was decided to be cheating and forced to use house dice (funnily, he lost his last two games after that…..). I can’t pass judgement on this because I wasn’t there, don’t know all the details and what I did see, I read in a slew of Facebook opinions and hearsay. Hell, he might even have been innocent and such an overwhelming avalanche of bad coincidence made him look so guilty, fate had already damned him. I don’t know. It was pretty shocking though as Kings of War has been the friendliest and fairest tournament scene I’ve ever been involved with. I’ve had to break up a shouting match at a Warhammer GT. I’ve thrown a game of Lord of the Rings making bad moves just because the guy was so mind numbing that I wanted it over ASAP. I’ve had to threaten a guy at a Horus Heresy tournament because he was cheating so badly, even openly saying I hadn’t rolled what I had rolled. ‘That’s a 5!’ “No it was a 3”. Seriously. And he did it repeatedly.
So why cheat? What’s the psychology? It’s the pack mentality, to be the biggest and best in the pack. It feels good to be the best. It feels good to be a winner. You get to get up in front of all your peers and lauded as the best among them. And to be the best at Clash of Kings or Masters? Wow! You’re the best of the best. You’re Daniel Larusso at the end of the Karate Kid while ‘You’re the best’ is blazing in the background! You are Mr R. Balboa with a bloodied glove in the air as ‘Heart on fire’ plays. You did it. You tested yourself against everyone else, even if it was only a game of toy soldiers, it was intense and it means a lot. Only, it doesn’t if you lie to get there. You are not that good. Everything is legal so long as you don’t get caught.
So it comes down to what’s most important to you. Being the best or having people think that you’re the best? Is the adoration worth more than your own personal sense of achievement?
It’s a personal choice. But if you want that high from cheating then that high will be nothing compared to the hate and scorn you receive if you get caught. Perhaps that thrill of getting caught is half the fun. It calls to mind Wynona Ryder getting caught shoplifting. She didn’t need to but she clearly was getting off on the thrill of the danger. The morality is questionable. But morality is a blurred line for some people.
I am my own best and worst judge. I love when I do well and strive to succeed but if I don’t then I only have myself to blame, not my opponent. You can’t please everyone in life and if you want to do what you want to do then you have to learn to ignore others opinions. Especially when you’ve led a life like mine! As a result I’ve learned to judge myself than worry what others think. If I win I want to know that I’ve won.
So my confessions?
It’s true. I used an extra horde of Villeins that I shouldn’t have. The tournament was escalating in points, 5 games over the day. But with 3 lists to keep an eye on over 5 games, with not a great amount of sleep….. I cocked up. I noticed in turn 5 of my second game at that point level. I also had forgotten a unit in my first game too. Weirdly I won that game and lost the two with an extra unit. It kind of rescued me as I didn’t have to come clean. Hell, it even gave my opponents extra stuff to kill. Embarrassing.
A game at Clash of Kings 2019 my opponent Richard Miles snatched a loot token and did a runner. I only just remembered that it reduced a unit to speed 5 which meant I was eventually able to catch them and get the loot. I then went on to grab the two other tokens and run off at speed 7, totally forgetting the rule I’d just pointed out to Richard. I won the game which I felt guilty about but told him later. I’d have won anyway (I think….) but it would have been much closer and I’d probably have got away with 2 loot tokens instead of all 3. In my defence, Richard is a lovely guy and very understanding, plus he’d forgotten too!
And recently I surged my Revenant king on flying wyrm into the flank of a unit of knights. It was only my second game using it and the wraiths and was having loads of fun flying and surging things everywhere. I only noticed a couple of days after that it didn’t have surge. The game was down to the wire and rested on a single dice roll…. And he won. Which was lucky as I would have felt really bad as it was his first tournament too!
So I cheated. Not intentionally, so I can forgive myself but I DO feel guilty for not coming clean. And a little ashamed for getting something so wrong. I’ll occasionally forget the odd dice roll or spell, or forget something was wavered and sometimes I’ll ask if it’s okay to go back a teeny bit. Other times I’ll not ask as a punishment to myself. It’s my own fault and it’s a good lesson for me to pay more attention to what I’m doing. Sometimes my opponent will ask. Sometimes I’ll point out their mistakes to my detriment because I want to win on my merits, not their forgetfulness. Sometimes I won’t because it’s a crucial moment and I can almost taste that big fat juicy win…..
We are all at home to Mr Cock up now and again and one of the best thing about the community is that everyone understands that.
The difference is that guilt. The difference is your intent. Cheating is when you start doing it on purpose. The choice is there. Make the right one kids.
How about an unconventional review of the Uncharted Empires book for a change? Having read it a couple of times through now I think the one word to sum it up is….. wait for it…… bored of waiting….. FLAVOUR!
The first Uncharted Empires book was obviously taking existing Warhammer armies and throwing them into Kings of War, changing them enough so the Adeptus Lawyers don’t come charging in with bolter and chainsword. It gave the armies new homes but some of them just felt out of place, not quite part of the world of Mantica, like strangers in a strange land. Over time the more they got played with the more they settled in. With this new book they finally showed their Mantic colours. In a way this was both a blessing and a curse. By being played repeatedly they have developed their own personalities of how they look, play and feel within the Kings of War community and it’s come to be accepted that’s that just how they are. Someone may have a great idea for modelling a unit and once people see it on the table think ‘that’s awesome!!’ And so adopt it themselves. So slowly over time the race takes it’s own shape. So here’s the problem. We’ve reached that line in the sand where we can use whatever models we want Vs what Mantic say the race is like. The newer races were always going to get Mantificated (take THAT spell check! THWOP! KAPOW! KERRUNCH!) at some point and properly be brought in from the other side. I’m guessing that over the next couple of years that some of the model ranges become so extensive that we’ll see more Uncharted Empires armies moved over to the main rulebook.
So here is our problem, how do you make a race more ‘Mantic’ without alienating the current perceived theme?
It’s been a bit hit and miss. Mostly hit I think.
Kingdoms of Men are perhaps the easiest. They’re the historical armies, the Empire and Brettonian armies, it’s the ‘one size fits all’ army and so the easiest in a way to deal with. Aside from a few small list tweaks they’re good to go. There is no way to ever Manificate (SPLAT!) Kingdoms of Men because the range and breadth of what can be used is so huge that it’s best to not bother. This army will always be out in the cold in the world of Pannithor with regard to background. You want humans with background then check those winter flight prices to Basilea.
On the other hand I like what has been done with the Brotherhood but it was going to be tricky. When I heard what had happened to the Brotherhood in the Edge of the Abyss campaign I half imagined them to become some sort of bedraggled mercenary army but couldn’t quite work out in my head how that would translate into an army list. I like what they have done though.
The Order of the Brothermark…. Is nice. In a way it’s the most ‘themed’ of the themed armies. It’s a bit pointless as it’s pretty much a Basilean army and the extra ‘Brotherhood” units bring very little gaming wise to it. It’s just a theme. Just nice. An opportunity to make your Basilean force a little different. Maybe have those Abyssal hunt knights as bedraggled mercenaries. And who doesn’t love monster hunting?
The Order of the Green lady however ring my bells so well it’s like Santa has wrapped his reindeer harnesses around my genitals and kicked me in the groin until I pass out. I love them! I’ve always been enchanted by the mystical weirdness of the woods, a mixture of growing up in the country and being mentally scarred by watching Tom Cruise in Legend as a child. There is a very traditional fairy feel to them for me, noble knights who guard the mystical ways, fighting to defend the sacred ways of the Lady. There are a lot of Arthurian overtones and I love it. I feel that forest shamblers would have been a bit more thematic than earth elementals but that’s just me. I love the Knights of Redemption and the sacred water keyword and will totally be doing an army in the future. I’ll use a mix of my Brettonians and Nature for now and this demonstrates my word of choice…..FLAVOUR! My Brettonian army can be used here with some nature units. Or maybe add in some Basileans and I have some Brothermark, KoM, A few Halflings and I have Rhordia force. But for these I may very well do some properly converted water knights, I just need to find the right models.
Salamanders I’ve never been a fan of, I like some big dinosaur models (EVERYBODY likes big dinosaur models) but always found the infantry a little dull. The Mantic plastic kit isn’t bad, though not inspirational enough to do a whole army of. However, my interest got peaked a little when I saw the Arkosaur Necromancer and the extra background in the book is nice. AND Mr Gilbert mentioned about upgrade kits….. Consider myself interested! I have a horde of salamanders I was going to convert to Placoderms but got bored of the idea so I’m currently building them, I have the dungeon saga salamander who looks like he will fit nicely on that old dragon in my bits box. Plus those Mierce models I have are waiting for a home. I got Artakl in the Black Friday sale too….. All of a sudden I have a nice little 1k army for Doubles games! It’s one of the things I love about new army books, seeing the possibilities of what I can build from what I’ve got. I know a lot of players write lists for gaming and then get and paint the models but I’ve always found that a bit upsetting. For me an army is a personal thing that you grow organically as you go, painting models you love, trying to find how they work and changing the army as you get inspired or finding new ways to play with it. Sometimes a unit will be shit but I’ll still take it in every game because I love the way I painted it and can’t bear for the army to go to war without it. This salamander army will be one of those organic processes. I’ll paint some units and play a few small games for fun and see how it goes! RAAAWWWR! (while waving my little arms!)
Free Dwarves are another beautiful example of FLAVOUR! There’s nothing terribly different from the main list (hardened dwarf players may shave off my beard for saying that…..), but again it’s all about what you do with it that matters. The Mantic dwarf models are okay, though I really like the Vanguard ones. Bezerkers and rangers are what it’s all about for me! The splitting of the lists has given real depth to the personality and background of the Dwarves and sets them apart from traditional GW and LOTR styles. Mantiification in action. I have some Brock riders half painted somewhere and they may even get buddies at some point. Also, I don’t actually have a beard.
Ratkin and Ratkin slaves. I’m going to chicken out of this one as I can’t quite get the feel of the army yet. The actual gaming list seems to be in a far more settled place but the background isn’t quite hitting the spot for me. Making them slaves to the Abyssal dwarves doesn’t really sit right to me. I’d happily have an Abyssal Dwarf theme list with slave hordes including orcs and goblins and other creatures too. Huge experimental deformities (love the new Grotesques!) and have the rats a big part of that but this theme list just doesn’t hit the spot for me. It’s giving them a separation from the GW skaven but until we see more models and flavour, the Ratkin and me aren’t in the same room yet.
And the Herd. Oh. I think I’ve seen more people distraught over this than anything else in the book. The list is still pretty good from what I can tell, it’s just nothing like it was before. The addition of forest shamblers etc really makes it a little odd now but I see where they’re going with it. Like the whole forest and all it’s creatures coming alive and tearing invaders apart with branch and claw. This addition has brought a few units being removed but we’ve seen virtually whole armies invalidated by the changes. Oddly for me with the models I have it’s worked out fantastically. Also the new models from the League of Infamy give the race a definite feel instead of the usual GW Beastmen that many seem to use. It will be nice to see those armoured Longhorns in units.
Varangur have also been stroked with the Mantic brush. The army now feels more like an evil Northern Alliance and has so many of the same units that there isn’t much difference. The main one is that FLAVOUR again. The Draugr and Fallen units really give the army that sense of bleak humanity away from the fluffy boots of the good guys. There are lots of chances for conversions and I can’t wait to see what people come up with! With the two player box set and all of the gorgeous Northern alliance models, I think Varangur will see a new lease of life too. Bye Bye Chaos. Though looking at what I could use for mounted sons (and also Order of the Green Lady) makes me realise just how few quality convertible cavalry models Mantic produce. There have been lots of new monsters and infantry of late but cavalry needs some oomph.
League of Rhordia doesn’t quite feel finished…. Most of the units have been tidied up and the army has a much stronger sense of itself than it did before however with the changes to the Halflings and their new League of Infamy models on the horizon I shall reserve judgement for now. There’s more to be seen from these guys. This will do in the meantime.
Sylvan kin I adore! I thoroughly loved the resolution of the Elven story in the End Times of Warhammer and seeing the new direction I eagerly dived into making an End Times army. Needless to say I never finished it and didn’t even get a game in with it before it was smashed by the toilet lid of Age of Sigmar. So the models have been sat in a box for years and occasionally taken apart and put into new armies but this is finally the list I’ve been waiting for. I’ve always found the Mantic Elves list a little lacking in character and the models are woeful so they didn’t even get looked at. The new League of Infamy models are a fantastic change of direction though and really reflect all the new background in style and direction. Well saved Mantic! I’m guessing it’s a far off fantasy actually getting Boskwraith models but there is a huge possibility of extra style to explore with this army visually to take it away from the basic list.
The same applies to the Twighlight kin. The addition of all the Abyss and Nightstalker units alongside the awesome Cronebound rules makes them a wonderful theme of a few mad evil elves using magic to control an army of monsters! Wonderful! But the lack of actual evil elf models from Mantic will restrict the flavour of this army to some degree until they come to it properly. I like the direction but again, I don’t think it’s quite there yet. And it doesn’t seem to come up much in tournament lists either so I’m guessing it’s not just me. At least they got rid of those bloody Twighlight kin chariot hordes. I feel sorry for the Herd players but not for the chariot players. Tough. You only have yourselves to blame.
My favourite thing about the whole book, apart from FLAVOUR is being the recurring theme of cross pollination of units. Making a new army can be a costly, time and energy consuming affair but the theme lists and their spread of units means you can make new armies with only a few new units. Want a twilight Kin army? Add a couple of elf characters and Abyssal units to your Nightstalkers. Earth Elementals, Forest shambles, Wild Gur Panthers, Naiads….. There is a huge list of units that can be cross pollinated across different armies and that means if you want a change, or just paint something new then you can include it. So stick some zombies in your Northern alliance and call them Varangur. Try new things and have a bit of fun with it. It keeps the game fresh and exciting and stops people getting bored playing the same army over and over.
I first saw Star Wars when I was little and was a massive influence in my early love of science fiction and fantasy and recently I got to see the 9th and final film in the Skywalker saga. Despite the plot writing and character development which was truly abysmal, but it looked exciting and there were lots of emotional moments which helped balance it out for me.
But it got me thinking about Star Wars in general and controversially I have to say that Solo is my favourite movie in the franchise. Whaaaaat?!?!? I hear you scream into the screen!!!!!
And I’ll tell you why. Total fantasy immersion. Because beyond watching Star Wars on the TV when I was little I got the toys and sat and played with them. I played the X-Wing, TIE fighter and Dark Forces games on my computer as a teen. I spent a decade reading 30-40 of the novels that came after and watched the re-mastered and then special editions and it totally drowned me in the Star Wars lore, background, characters, races, ships, worlds, environments, creatures, weapons and more. I even got one of those cool FX lightsabers which makes noises when you hit stuff and looks near perfect in low light. And the more I got into it the more I became sucked into this wonderful fantasy universe which, let’s face it, was way more fun than homework. So more than any of the other films, Solo embodies the soul and character of that Star Wars world that I dived into. And then we had the prequels…..
It was the same Aliens. And Predator. And Warhammer and Warhammer 40k. And Discworld. And Lord of the Rings. There are plenty of others but my true loves had something a bit more…. Total immersion. A two hour film is great but not enough. I want more. Toy’s, video games, audio dramas novels, comics….. All those extra things that really make those stories come alive!!!
So that’s a touching tale, but what has that got to do with Kings of War?
When I first got into the game I immediately saw how simple the rules were and had a lot of things that I’d wanted since my beloved Warhammer died and was replaced with the soulless void of AoS. Plus I could use any models I wanted which opened up a whole new world of miniature companies, models, conversions and painting. In short, it was the game for me and after a demo game I went straight into my first tournament with my Brettonians. It was almost like the good ole’ days returned!
But something was missing. That little spark of character and personality was there but not enough for me. It could just be plain templates on a plain table. So on the hunt I went but it wasn’t enough. Mortibris, for example, had a bit in Dungeon Saga, a page or two in the campaign book, a paragraph here or there but that was it and he was a major character! It was like watching an angry Ben Solo stomp around a bit without knowing any of the horror of his grandfathers reign and tragedy, his future ****SPOILERALERT****, his space time wank fantasy with Rey, his killing his parents, saving the galaxy blah blah blah and all that other jazz which forms his story. And that’s what I needed. In a Necromancer rap battle Nagash had a trilogy of awesome novels of his backstory, years of background and side stories and then a mighty book and role in the End Times. Hash tag drop the mic.
So what is this rant for? A whine that I don’t have a video game where I get to run around shooting arrows at Basileans and painstakingly trying to throw and hit a giant in the nuts with a mawpup power-up grenade? Not yet.
Right now it’s a realisation that I’m currently that kid sitting on the rug eating chicken soup watching The Empire Strike Back on the telly wanting more. And I want more with Kings of War. Our local tournaments have had a huge surge of people using Mantic armies over the last year and one small Vanguard tournament was 100% Mantic. So it’s not just a game with toys on a tabletop anymore, now I’m fighting battles in the world of Pannithor (dorky name but stick it in the middle of Eternia, Naboo, Acheron, Pannithor, Kislev etc and it doesn’t look so bad!). And the first novel Steps to Deliverance really opened things up, followed by the utterly fantastic V3 rulebook that the game deserved. An RPG follows and how far will that go? Will it kick off a LARP and one day I will get smashed in the head with a foam sword by a hot cosplay girl in Naiad costume? Will we get audiobooks so I can listen on the drive to work? Games Workshop have announced an Eisenhorn series so that movie isn’t hideously out of the realms of possibility (If I win the Euromillions I promise we can have one!). More novels and a God War back story is on it’s way too. The tournament scene is getting jam packed and I seem to be planning my year around my tournament schedule. Im spending more and more time writing, building toys and painting.
And slowly we have total fantasy immersion. Because it’s better than homework.
It can always be a dangerous journey getting into a new wargame. You see the lovely toys and try to resist. Sometimes it even works. Other times you blow loads of your tax return cash on the new Lord of the Rings box set and the extra toys and books and then your local games shop closes down and now it’s a swine to get a game and so you’re left with a pile of expensive toys you promise you’ll paint one day.
I will. Promise.
Kings of War was a similar prospect but far less scary. The 2nd edition gamers rulebook was less than £15 and I already had an old Warhammer army I could finally use again. The problem was people. A community to play with. And it seems very few people locally were interested. The aforementioned local shop took a chance and ran a tournament. I’d only had a demo game and there was less than 10 of us but it was a great day, everyone seemed nice and I won my first two games and lost against Jude in the final. Looking around there wasn’t much in the way of other tournaments in the area. Not a problem for me, years of touring with both guitar and sword have made me somewhat of an adventurer and that meant I had to go adventuring…… So I picked a new army, threw together and painted what I could and painted what I could and off I went to Clash of Kings! But then slowly but surely the Beautiful South rose in all it’s glory. In the last couple of years we’ve gone from one or two tournaments a year to The King of Herts tournaments, The Bexley reaper tournaments, Tournaments at Entoyment games in Poole, Angry Grot Events, Tabletop republic in High Wycombe and of course the mighty Franticon. In fact we’re so heavily loaded with events I don’t even have to travel out to Rushden, Bristol, Loughborough or Black Dragon. In short, I’m sorted!
One of the best things I love about how this has happened has been the community that’s come along with it, a core of gamers and hobbyists who genuinely love the game and have put a lot of effort into making these tournaments ultra welcoming, fun and also constantly changing formats to keep it fresh and try new things. It’s been great to watch and be part of.
So, fresh from his win in the King of Herts Winter painting competition, steps Matt Gee (that’s not his real name. He had to shorten it like the Mel’s in the Spice Girls) with ANOTHER tournament. Well, you can never have too much of a good thing so I painted myself a new undead army and headed off down to South London to take part in 4 games of 1495pts Kings of War.
But before I fill your heads with a florid tale of my exploits, I ushered Matt into a secluded corner and asked him some questions……
Firstly Matt, what possessed you to run a tournament?
I’d been to Paul and Mat’s events at Kings of Herts and thought the way they had started things up was amazing. I had a shed full of scenery odds and sods collected over the years and figured I’d try and put them to good use. The main aim was to have something the KoH and Shroud TOs could attend in return for their efforts and chance to get more of a KoW scene in South London.
Everyone seemed to have great time, I certainly did….but how do YOU think it went?
I am in two minds. On the whole I think it was good but there are things that I think I missed that I’d wanted to get done. Daft little things but the main issue I had was with time keeping. Remembering that the day is a social event and not just a mechanical necessity to play games was something I completely overlooked. This meant the schedule was shot full of holes and timings were tight to say the least!
Well, I didn’t notice any major cock ups to say it was your first time organising a tournament. What went wrong and what would you do differently next time? Is there going to be another one?
I think timings was the big issue, I have also had a bit of feedback on the terrain and the table numbers that I’d like to tweak. There will definitely be another one, maybe later in this year if there is availability but I am aiming to make Jan a regular fixture for the event.
I’ve seen on Facebook you’ve been instrumental in setting up a small community for Kings of War in central London. How has that been and did many of the new guys come down to the tournament?
I just kind of stumbled on players from a variety of sources and we congregated for regular games. One guy I got to know because he bought some old GW greenskins from me, another couple saw my SoB event and wanted to know more. Then there are another couple of guys I know from gaming around London in general. It’s been great to get the chance of semi regular games in. There was a great showing at the event and they all made the effort to attend.
What was the reasoning behind 1495pts as a game size?
I’ve never been a massive fan of the list building that involves just taking all your toys or being able just to take loads of for example the same War Engine. It’s a hot topic at the moment and 1495 limits the amount of duplication a player can take. It’s also not enough points to take everything you want and so forces more thought into list building. Overall the reason though was to help newer players build on the 2k doubles events the KoH guys have run as a stepping stone to larger events. It’s not quite as daunting if you have fewer models to paint up to get them on the table.
So tell us a bit about your wargaming background-how did you get into Kings of War?
How long have you got….
A mate brought a box of Rogue Trader marines into school when I was very young and I found them amazing. He clearly picked up on this and being (on reflection) pretty well off he gave me a paint set and some plastic minis for a birthday present. It was straight down the rabbit hole for me from there. Anything GW produced in the 90s I saved up and tried to get. 4th ed WHFB and 2ed 40k were the start but quickly 40k became dull with 3ed and I dropped it. I drifted away with 6ed WHFB coming out and stashed all my gear.
Roll on to 2018 and I’m into board gaming and I discover the wargaming stash and start trying to sell it off. This leads to me finding I don’t really want to and that I quite fancy trying to find some of the old models I could never afford as a kid. A deal on a load of Ricco’s Republican Guard pikemen with a guy at a suburban train station led to him mentioning there was a new game around called Kings of War and if I fancied it I could give him a game at their local game in Hackney. He didn’t turn up but A certain Dan Read did and after a game I was hooked. It felt I was transported back 25years into why I took up the hobby in the first place and I’ve not really looked back.
And lastly, what are you working on at the moment and what future cool stuff do you have planned?
I’ve usually got too many stupid ideas on the go at the same time but currently it’s adding a few more units to my Ogres. Then getting my all Mantic Nightstalkers army polished off. I am planning to try and build a fancy-pants display board but we’ll see if I get time. I really should get round to starting that Japanese themed multi use army as my titan forge stuff just turned up too. And then there are all those Keva Adams night goblins in a box somewhere and….well yeah we’ll see.
When I told Matt I wanted to review his tournament he said, jokingly, that I could be as brutal as I wanted but he needn’t have worried as it was positively delightful. At 1495pts I could take a new army and spent the Yule holiday slapping contrast paint on a ton of Undead Infantry. Along with a couple of characters and a catapult I added 2 hordes of werewolves that I already had. It didn’t have a lot of drops or unit strength but I was hoping the tag team of Lady Illona and the werewolves could out manoeuvre most armies and eat them a bit at a time. It worked a little bit at least…..
Game one was against my usual doubles partner Martin Garbino. We met last year on Facebook when both of us were looking for a doubles partner and we’ve been gaming buddies ever since. this time however he challenged me to a first round match up to finally see who was best! It was The dominate scenario and he had a tough, well rounded Ratkin army that has taken him forever to paint but looks lovely! With careful manoeuvring I managed to get my werewolves around his flanks while holding off with my centre in a classic pincer, taking out his hardest units and then chewing through the rest turn after another. I lost a horde of wolves but I got one of the most convincing wins I’ve ever had in Kings of War! Huzzah!
And then it went horribly, horribly, detestably wrong.
This put me at the top Vs Matt Gee himself and his lovely classic Orge army. It was the raze scenario and his army wasn’t too scary. I sacrificed a regiment of zombies out on the right to hold up some of his smaller units for a bit and held a solid central line against his warriors while Illona and wolves took the flank. I burned one token but his general on chariot got away and the centre became a big sprawling melee. I had several chances to swing it my way but a waver on the wolves and Illona in one turn and then the other wolves the turn after put me at his mercy and there was no coming back.
Game Three versus Ian Sturgess was always going to be tough and although he made mistakes, he managed to out play me. I wasn’t aggressive enough with the wolves and a double one on his Dragon with Illona and the wolves meant they got swamped in a multi charge and my skeletons and zombies weren’t tough enough on their own to take on the rest. I loved the Wiltfather though and may have a future conversion in mind….
Finally Game 4 against Rob Phipps new Northern Alliance army. He’s beaten my twice previously with his Abyssal Dwarves and this looked a far easier prospect. It was loot and he ignored one token completely for my zombies to grab. The other two were hotly contested. The main thing that scared my was the frostings but my war machine and 11 lightning bolts were only enough to waver them and he healed the wounds. I should have finished them off first but I went for it and although I held two tokens, his better troops beat me one unit at a time. It was tense but he got them both!
Well, 1 win, 3 losses is acceptable for a brand new army I suppose and I learnt some valuable lessons. The Liche king with his heal (6) and Lightning bolt (8) with his broomstick was useful but nowhere near made his points back. I was unsure wether Illona or soul reavers would be better but she is defiantly worth it! I have the Jack of Herts tournament at 1k in a few weeks so I’m painting a Revenant King on dragon and making the zombies into a legion. I’ll see how units work out for me and my play style before I work out a 2k list.
There’s lots of small things about tournaments that make them good or bad and much of it is down to personal choice. Compared to a lot of tournaments I’ve been to over the years, the Kings of war scene is fantastic. Even the small things aren’t bothersome. There were some timing issues, which I only actually noticed when I was told there were timing issues. The hall had been booked for the evening which was beyond Matt’s control so we all went hell for leather clearing up (which is brilliant for me as I can’t stand around bored and need something to do) and then for the awards we had to pile into a tiny end changing room. It was cramped but it was also kinda fun and the type of quirk you remember fondly.
Scenery, a little bit of attention to detail here and there would help but otherwise good. The choice of missions was fair though the scoring was a little awkward to get my head around at first but seemed to work and was a nice change. Prizes all were good, mainly models from OS Miniatures which are nice and characterful. I especially loved having original art pictures as prizes too!
Just like King of Herts the Pit brought their shop down for the event and gave us a discount so I got some extra enslaved guardians. 1 unit isn’t enough really is it?
I even got 3rd best army and best unit for my werewolves so I can forgive my poor gaming.
In short, for a smaller tournament in South London it was great. For a first time at running a tournament it was fantastic. Matt did good.
Down in the Beautiful South of England, we in the Kings of Herts recently had a painting competition and a lengthy discussion on how it should be judged and how different aspects and criteria would affect different people, models and painting styles.
Obviously with any competition we wanted it to be fair but one thing that got mentioned that stuck with me, was that some guys might put off from entering painting competitions because they think they aren’t good enough. Knowing some high skill painters are entered means there ‘wont be much point’. Plus should the results be actually ranked like a tournament? Would being low on that list put people off further?
When I was younger I achieved my first Black Belt in Aikido. It was 4-5 years of pain and getting slammed into the floor repeatedly and as I trained on an RAF base it was against military police and personnel a lot older. As a wargaming 16 year old who had only done fencing before I was in way over my head but every time I passed a grading I got a little more confident until I reached that pinnacle and got my Black Belt. It gave me that self assurance that I needed and I knew I could achieve things. But I had to get the shit kicked out of me to get it.
And so it is with painting. You have to practice. And practice. And then practice some more. And you’ll cock up plenty. Time and again you’ll feel like you’re getting metaphorically smashed into the mat and you feel pathetic next to the black belts. But one day you’ll get a new brand of paint brush that changes the way you paint, or someone will recommend you a new ink or a way of highlighting that revolutionises the way you paint and you’ll get better. Then one day you’ll look at your model and think it’s pretty good. And someone else will compliment you. And you build your confidence and try harder because you know you’re getting better and who knows, maybe even get a bronze?
I’m a fairly good painter, I’ve won 2 Gold Awards at Games Workshops armies on parade, got Best Army at several smaller tournaments and several painting wins or runner ups at tournaments and smaller competitions. The win I’m proudest of however was getting Best Model for my coral giant last year at Clash of Kings. Just before it was announced that I’d won it was mentioned that it was ‘hotly contested’ so although I’d just scraped through, I’d done it by the skin of my teeth! Don’t get me wrong, I deserved the win-I’d put a huge amount of work into it, sculpting, painting and the ideas and composition shone through. Had it not been mine I’d have looked at it and definitely gone wow! BUT I don’t think it was painted as well as it could have been. There were other models there that were easily as good and one or two that were ‘technically’ better than mine and because of that I had a slight feeling that I didn’t deserve it. For the win, I felt it should have been out and out better than the others. It was almost like I’d rolled a stupidly low nerve test at a critical moment in the battle! I knew that I could have painted it better and that I should have painted it better. So next time I’ll try harder. I’ll put in a little more time and effort and hopefully I’ll get another win.
But I see the pictures Dan Read and Chris Walsh post up of the King of War fanatics page and I see the competition and the level of skill I need to beat and it’s disheartening. Why should I even bother? At this point we’re back to painting rankings. Where do I want to be on that list and at the end of the day, why should it matter to me? For some painting is a chore and needs to be done just so they’re not punished for being ‘that guy’ with a grey plastic army. Other people just enjoy it and enjoy the pleasure of having a nice painted army to game with. Others love the competition of being the best. I think for me it’s a quest to better myself. To have something that I can look at and be truly proud of doing-the best I can craft. Having a trophy or award to say that it is the best that other people think it is best as well…. that just makes it extra special.
So take pride in your painting. And try to make your next model better than this one. Learn new things, new techniques. It just takes time, patience and practice. And you’ll get disheartened, and you’ll cock it up sometimes but slowly and surely you’ll get better. So should we have painting rankings? Honestly….. who cares! Painting is fun! Do it for fun. If you’re not happy with your place in the rankings, try harder and get higher. And as always, practice, practice, practice.
So, as we live in a digital world and I’m far too nice to actually waste your time by cornering you and saying all this in person, I’ve chosen to write a blog! So, you may choose to read it and tell me it’s utterly, utterly brilliant. You may choose not to read it and that’s okay too. Life’s hectic. Or you may even read it, and disagree with me so much that you print it out and post pictures of yourself wiping your bum with it. Though I warn you, my tales in the exciting, lands of wargaming, geekery, Mantic games and Kings of War are so leaden down with the fibre of serious fun that if you choose this last option, you may very well break the flush mechanism.
I’ll update it when I have time or am particularly excited or annoyed about something. Also, I will try and keep my blog posts long enough to read while you’re on the toilet. We all know you do it so why lie?
I realise I’ve mentioned the toilet twice in my first post. It doesn’t bode well.
Get older. Don't grow up. 