There’s been a lot going on over the past couple of weeks. So much I’m not really sure what to talk about first. As well as the second Kings of War book dropping, I also took the rats off to The Pride of the Shires tournament and we’ve had a really great announcement from the UK Masters committee.
Things seem to be pretty lively in the Kings of War world at the moment, and I couldn’t be more excited. Tournaments are filling up, new players are joining and it all feels pretty positive. In the background I’ve been finding my way around my armies and wondering what the future is going to look like for the game. After a few months of speculation, a player survey and a lot of changing my mind about which army is going to Clash of Kings with me Fracture landed, and frankly I’m impressed.
For anyone who’s not familiar, Mantic issued basic army lists for the twenty or so Kings of War factions and are releasing expansion books where they build on the basic lists for up to 4 factions at a time. Invasion was the first release for Xirkali, Halflings, Salamanders and Trident Realms. Fracture glows up Nature, the Abyss, Basileans and Ogres. In addition to this there are a couple of pages of relatively minor updates (unless you play Orcs apparently, and I’ll cover the Ratkin bits in my next post). I also feel compelled to mention there are some nice Xirkali updates which made choosing a Champions boxset for my Clash XL bag a bit difficult.
The whole experience around the release has been pretty damn nice. First of all, the book arrived on time, it’s a small thing, but when I hand over money for a pre-order I like them to arrive when they’re expected. More importantly though the content of the book is absolutely fantastic. Mantic have done a great job of pulling together lavish artwork and beautiful photography, not to mention some great stories. In the past Kings of War background has been relatively thin on the ground (if you don’t read the novels) and easy to miss between gamer editions of rulebooks and the companion. Fracture picks up where Invasion left off and if Mantic keep this up I’ll be in for the rest of the edition.
From a Basileans point of view things are looking sweet. For a number of reasons, I’ve been underwhelmed by commands. However, if Basileans are an indication of things to come I can quickly find myself warming up to them. Firstly, of the 5 commands, 3 can be accessed on a 4+, making them reasonably reliable. Whilst many commentators have highlighted the 5+ command to get ogres flying around (yeap, you heard it hear fifth), I’m happy to see Cleanse come across from third edition giving Iron Resolve +1 and removing spell effects like frozen, or weakness.
The lingering influence of the Brothermark remains with 2 unique monster hunting units. Personally, I’m far too interested in the Order of the Abyssal Hunt, a cavalry horde has never looked more tempting! The fact it has Faithful as a trait is the cherry on top of a Paladin flavoured ice cream sundae that is only available in extra-large.
The arrival of Orion and Aestelle in the list was something I wasn’t expecting (their miniatures have been released in the Vault). These are characters from Mark Barber’s book series, and their profiles are massively fun. Orion looks like a solid character hunter, whilst Aestelle is a jack of all trades, and whilst she’s not inspiring her Iron Resolve Aura more than makes up for it in these resilient ranks.
The final point I wanted to highlight was Samacris’ ability to enhance a Phoenix to an Ancient Phoenix, allowing the blessed being Matyr’s prayer 5. What a way to heal things!
If every book hits this level, Kings has got a great future, and I’d like to raise a glass of something chilled and bubbly to all the play testing peeps who have worked with Mantic on this, and the future releases.
And what Champions box did I select for my XL ticket to Clash??? Well that’s for another day.
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