Kings of War

Kings of War is a 28mm scale "mass combat fantasy miniature range" and tabletop game from the upstart UK-based miniatures publisher Mantic Games. The miniatures are cheaper than the established competitors, and beautifully sculpted in plastic and plastic resins.

The Factions

Kings of War is Warhammer Fantasy Battles with eight factions (FUCK HUMANS):

• the brutal, horde-based Orcs (called "greenskins" and "a sea of green," with the Ogre's tendency towards cannibalism thrown in)
• the Dwarves (exactly like all other dwarves in all other settings, hard and tough and beardy)
• the Abyssal Dwarves (Chaos Dwarves! YOU CAN PLAY CHAOS DWARVES AGAIN!)
• the elite, noble Elves, who are better than you. These guys are rip-offs of GW Elves so much that they share the same naval specialty unit. For serious.
• the fast, Abyss-worshiping, poison-and-pain-loving Twilight Kin (Dark Elves with a bit of smexy Dark Eldar thrown in there for flavor)
• and the generically Undead.
• Kingdoms of Men, no models yet, but if you cant find a cheap source of 28mm human minis on the market you're a fucking idiot.
• Goblins, which are exactly what you expect them to be (mini orcs) but have some really fucking nice models. Currently metal only but plastic kits are in the pipe line. NOW IN GLORIOUSLY CHEAP PLASTIC!!!
• the Basileans. Mantic now produce human models! Fluff-wise the Basileans are a lot like the Byzantine/Eastern Roman empire. They have armoured knights, men@arms and lasses riding GIANT CATS!!!

The Abyss is Mantic!Chaos.

I know all high fantasy is just Tolkien rip-offs fleshed out with a particularly awesome D&D Campaign, or A Song of Ice and Fire, but look at this shit. OK, on the other hand, Mantic's sorceress is way hotter, so I guess we'll give them a pass 'cuz of dat ass.

The Game System

The Kings of War game is written by none other than Alessio Cavatore, who now seems to be outside of the Games Workshop tent pissing in. The rules are gloriously straight-forward and streamlined, meaning that they're the extreme opposite of Warhammer rules. This makes the decision between the two games more defined for players, though because of the streamlining Mantic fluff for both Kings of War and Warpath is very, very sparse currently.

Actually, the fluff has developed quite a bit now, with the release of the hardback rulebook the world of Mantica now has maps, history, stories etc!

So why do we like these guys, again?

Cheap. Miniatures.

And look at this: these models are "ideal for collectors, modellers and gamers of fantasy Wargames. They are fully compatible with all major gaming systems, and you can add them to your existing armies or even build a new army with our value for money army-in-a-box bundle deals." Fucking adorable. Don't you just want to take them home and feed them biscuits?

Mantic Games are openly and audaciously shameless, and even tell you that their works are compatible with other fantasy game systems, if said game system producers aren't purist assholes. Speaking of purist assholes, THEY MAKE NAZI ZOMBIES ALL IS FORGIVEN.

The miniatures themselves range between decent (Abyssal Kin chick) to utterly terrible (most of the Orc and Elf characters) to what the fuck is this shit (Drakon). You aren't going to find varied sprues and large amounts of options like GW, Mantic miniatures are designed for those with a budget.