Kings of War 2nd Edition

Granted its not much to look at

Well my Kings of War second edition rulebook turned up a few weeks back, and I was one of the lucky 50 to get an Alessio Cavatore signed copy!!! Now if he can just stop being so bloody nice and signing everything it might be worth something in a few years time... are you reading Alessio? Stop signing stuff!!! I was going to write my own initial thoughts on the second edition rules myself and let you all know what I think of them, but honestly I think Jake Thornton has done a great job with a series of articles covering the Kings of War second edition rules so I'm going to link you to those on his blog Quirkworthy, yeah there's a lot of them but they're good... just remember to come back to my blog afterwards OK:

• By Invitation Only
• Trying Out Kings of War
• KoW Tournament Day 1
• Musings on Day 1
• KoW Tournament Day 2
• Kings of War Tournament after action report
• 2nd Edition Kings of War review: part 1
• 2nd Edition Kings of War review: part 2

So instead I'm going to talk about the evolution of the game so far and where this 'second edition' fits in to the games progression and what it 'feels' like as a product to me... yeah I know that sounds a little bit new age and hippie-esque, but its the best I can do.

I really like this miniature

I think its no secret that I used to be the world biggest Warhammer Fantasy fan (claim not verifiable), but I began to feel that certain army books in 7th were unbalancing things and it started to wind me up because of how badly written they were. Then 8th edition came along and put a bullet in Warhammer's bloodied, bruised and broken twitching body lying half dead on the ground... right between its eyes... yeah Warhammer Fantasy Battle is dead to me (done in my best mobster impression). However, I still have the urge to fight with massed ranked fantasy thingies and wheel units, and change facing too my hearts content. Until very recently therefore Warhammer Fantasy Battle was the only real option open to me. Ronnie Renton and Alessio Cavatore though had other ideas, and Mantic released their Kings of War rulebook... huzzah and rejoice there's another fantasy based battle game in town.

I love this miniature, it is ace!!!

I'm going to be honest though, I didn't like the original beta rules very much. It felt like lip service being paid by a company that knew their game wasn't going to be played. It was like they required their own system to deflect accusations of parasiting off of another companies product! Trust me those accusation still fly around today. Although I've never felt they were simply living off of Games Workshops hard work, I wasn't convinced that they were serious about their own rules either. Slowly though they've changed my mind a little bit. Mainly because they actually seem to be listening to what gamers have to say, and they're doing things about what people say they're unhappy with, and to be fair at the time it was a kind of a novel thing for many. Although I'd seen other companies do similar things, Mantic really honestly do seem to be engaging quite openly and enthusiastically with the gaming public. So I felt I had to at least give the game a fair go, and provide them with feedback because my 'gamers duty' told me I ought to, so that's what I did...

I felt though that the initial armies weren't balanced and that they didn't really have enough options each for me. The game felt 'too simplistic' and the options available to a 'general' weren't as varied or many as I'd like. I still feel the game is a little bit too simplistic for my tastes and as Jake Thornton points out, the lack of a serious magic mechanic means there isn't actually a 'fantastical atmosphere' to the game. It just feels like its a simplistic rank and file game that could represent Napoleonics, Medieval or any other era of fighting really. I think this is something the game will need to develop if it is to gain some character and personality. However, despite Mantic now being on their second edition, the game still feels like it's in an extended beta session. They still want our feedback on it all. So should we all still be engaged with Mantics grand project?

My personal answer is yes, and here's the reason why:

1. Fundamentally I don't think the underlying mechanics of the game are bad at all.
2. They're asking for our input to help give us the game we want, so why wouldn't we want to help them out with that?
3. The better we make their game, the stronger competition they will provide to others and ultimately competition is good for consumers...

Not a bad sculpt at all

The second edition book is also starting to feel more like an actual game system and product now, and just a few months before its release I decided to get a Mantic Orc army, because I liked the look of them so much. No it's not a finished game system, and it does feel a while off being the finished article if I'm honest still, but they are moving in the right direction. Yes certainly I'd sure as hell like to see way more options and tools put into the game, the most obvious of which, is a more comprehensive magic system. However, it's still a fun game to pick up and play, and it is quick... very, very quick. So I feel Mantic are kind of on the right path and it is up to us gamers to go out there and tell them what they've got wrong and what they've got right. Is it the way I'd personally have chosen to take a fantasy based system? No probably not, but then again I'm guessing that's why I'm not a games designer. Will it ever morph into the game I play the most, or even takes up a good chunk of my hobby time? Again probably not, because my personal tastes seem to be changing as I get older and I'm falling more and more in love with small scale skirmish games with detailed rules and engaging mechanics... but I still like my big fantasy battles so this fills a void of sorts, although I have to be honest and say it doesn't do so totally. Peace out!