Kings of War Champions: a first review

Over the past few weeks there has been pretty much only one thing being talked about on the various Kings of War podcast: Champions. The game is intended to replace Ambush (a scaled down Kings of War ruleset for small games) as an entry point into Ranks and Flanks by clapping back (which I believe the young people say) to the main barriers to entry for people, of all ages, interested in Kings of War, but not necessarily ready to commit to painting that full model count Goblin army with the ten legions of Rabble (that’s 600 Goblins if you’re after a quick translation).

From what I understand (from listening to the podcasts, I don’t have a relationship with Mantic other than really liking Kings of War, and I did purchase this game myself so I can be as rude as I like) Champions is meant to address the following reasons for not seeing the Kings of War rulebook and immediately purchasing half a ton of Goblins and five litres of Dulux Rotting Horse Emerald (other paint companies exist, named colour does not):

• Needing to purchase loads of miniatures for rank and flank armies

• Needing to paint loads of miniatures for rank and flank armies

• New players getting overwhelmed by a choice of 28 armies with around 30 different unit options per army

• Complexity of a couple of key rules, i.e. multi-charges

• Finding space and time for a full game of Kings of War

Reacting to the hype

One of the things I like about Mantic is that they can communicate things really well, which they did on this occasion. Listening to the various podcasts I really felt I understood exactly what the purpose of the game was, and what had driven the choices they made in the design process. As a dad with a child who is just starting to dabble in wargaming this ticked a lot of boxes from me.  One thing that I wasn’t sure about was how Champions would relate to me with my more experienced gamer hat on (and I had expected it not to), so when I bought my copy I only did so seeing it as something to play with my son.

Does it hit the design brief?

There is an argument that Champions fills a niche that’s already filled by Ambush. I disagree, because if you believe that all the reasons listed above are barriers to people playing Kings of War (which I do) Ambush doesn’t answer all of them (army selection and rules being two very important ones). I see Ambush as being quite flavourless, as the points limit don’t really let you explore opportunities in the wider lists.

The great thing about Champions is that it not only meets the design brief, answering all the points above, but it also works as a game in its own right. At the heart of the ruleset is Kings of War, but there’s some lovely twists that really elevate the game play. My favourite amongst these are that every unit is essentially Nimble (a rule in Kings of War that allows units to move and pivot twice). Additionally, the restriction on multi-charging that means only one unit can fight on each facing of an opposing unit, brings a core dynamic from Kings of War to life in an interesting way.

One of my main concerns going into Champions was that it would be fairly static, with opponents trying to set up that killer front facing multi-charge that takes out a key unit and unlocks victory (my personal experience of playing Ambush). These alternative approaches to movement make for a really fluid and thoughtful game. So, my view is that Rob Burman, the game designer, has really done a great job. Not only breaking the key barriers but adding in some elegant rules tweaks that make the game a recognisable entry point to Kings of War, and a really interesting standalone game.

What about setting up the miniatures and the game?

This was a great experience, the best I’ve ever had with Mantic models. To get started I’ve just built one of each model and stuck it to the correct size multi-base. All the troops are modern Mantic plastics and are super easy to work with. The Champions are a new type of resin, and frankly they are beautiful and super easy to build, I’m looking forward to getting some paint on them.

Will I ever play the game again?

Absolutely. This is a really smart attempt to bring rank and flank gaming to a small scale, and provided I can get some games in I can quite easily see me justifying picking up more faction packs (I’m already considering painting up troops of Goblins and Halflings to get ready for their faction releases).

What does this mean for Kings of War?

Clearly, I think this is a great entry game in terms of getting people rolling dice. However, I also think this creates a really solid way for future player to make an informed choice about their first faction. The warbands in the box, rules and miniature wise, really capture the essence of their wider army. The Basilean faction tips it’s cap to Iron Resolve and Divine Fervour, whilst the Abyss are all about rampaging and regeneration. If I attended multi day events I would definitely be happy to take a warband along to play a few games in the evening. I’d also be really happy to demo Champions, so I’m hopeful we’ll start to see more players crossing the Kings of War Rubicon.

More generally I suppose there is the question as to whether we’ll see Champions making their way into Kings of War, and I don’t know the answer to that. They are absolutely lovely models and that’s always welcome on any tabletop. I don’t think I’m alone in wanting to see more character models and special characters made available, so at the very least the new models meet the first of these points (although I’m not sure how straight forward it is to find proxies for them in the current rules as Alanis is on a 40mm base and doesn’t strike me as the best representation for an Ogre Palace Guard Captain). The big thing is though, I’m not in a rush for them to cross over. Frankly, I’m just enjoying Champions for what it is, a really solid game.

Congrats to Rob and the team at Mantic.

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