Well, the halflings have suddenly become the focus of my very particular set of skills. The poor little people had been happily minding their own business for a few months on a shelf with a great view of the garden, and then I got a ticket for Clash of Kings.
Clash (of Kings) (the event not the book) is an annual gathering of Kings of War players from across the world in Nottingham for a couple of days of games, beer and general toy soldier related excitement. This will be my third time attending, and I’m really looking forward to it. The UK tournament scene is a generally enjoyable experience and this event really crystalises the best of it. The event is run by players, rather than Mantic, and is a celebration of a bloody good game.
Although there’s no requirement to take a fully Mantic army, I decided I really want to. Unfortunately, the list that I wanted to take for my rats would have meant painting up 60 infantry models, which really didn’t appeal given I have about three weeks to get everything ready and continue to uphold my end of the deal with reality (I realise I’ll probably come off worse if I don’t). That left Basileans and halflings, and frankly I’m not on talking terms with the Basileans (of course it’s all about me and not them), so the halflings it is. The army is far from finished, but it’s a lot more finished than the rats and I’m currently working out what I can scrape together before the middle of September, and whether I have the time to make a couple of improvements.
I have managed to get a refresher game in with them, and have another two booked in. Happily, they seem to be more fun than I remember, and Greedyguts is just about the best character in the game at the moment from both a performance and entertainment point of view (based on a sample of halfling, rat and Basilean characters). The game was massively enjoyable and I’m now quite excited about my immediate gaming future.
Further on the horizon though is the fabled fourth edition of Kings of War. At the moment it seems you can’t venture into Kings of War Fanatics (the main Facebook group) without someone postulating on what might, or might not, make it into the next evolution of the game, and when it’s going to land. Frankly I’m actually quite happy that there isn’t too much being said about it by Mantic at the moment. It’s giving me a bit of time to catch up on my painting, knowing that now is probably the least useful time to start thinking about my next faction.
I’m really keen to do something with knights, that isn’t Basileans, although the Basilean adjacent Brothermark have always appealed to me, and I’ve found myself becoming increasingly Rhordian curious. As a result, the spectre of fourth has banished any motivation to start on either of these factions as I simply have no idea what they will look like, which is giving me the head space to get on with the halflings.
And in case anyone is interested about what I want from fourth, I have no greater wish than they simply improve on what we already have. It’s a great game and most importantly the halflings wear boots (this above anything else makes them a playable army in my book).
Have a great week.
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