Were we gods we’d breach these walls to the Eastern Ocean.

Peter and Andy get a fully painted Kings of War 4th Edition starter set on the table to try out the new game!

Mantic Games, though still a relatively small wargaming company, has been very busy lately churning out games and miniatures, most notably their Halo: Flashpoint system. But they’ve also found the time to release a new edition of their old rank and flank fantasy battles rules: Kings of War.

I received the new starter set Claws in the Sand at the start of this year and immediately got to painting it up, but it’s taken me a little while to finally get the game to the table. Please enjoy Andy and I putting the starter set through its paces, and having a lot of fun and laughs as we do so!

But it is not this day! This day we fight!

Be victorious on the battlefield with your Kings of War rules & reference!

I’ve been covering a lot of Mantic Games lately (especially since a certain other company decided they didn’t want the support of content creators), and I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by their offerings. The new Epic Warpath is a great system with a wide range of classic scifi factions to play with, and Halo: Flashpoint is coming into its own as the range of available models increases. But the one game of theirs I haven’t explored yet is Kings of War. It’s perfect timing then, because the new 4th edition has just been released!

Kings of War is a classic ‘rank and flank’ fantasy tabletop miniatures game, in the tradition of the old Warhammer Fantasy Battle (now Warhammer: The Old World). It’s been interesting to see these old regimental games enjoy a resurgence of popularity – Hobgoblin and Conquest: Last Argument of Kings are two others – and there’s certainly something very satisfying about pushing around trays of warriors in neat rectangular formations. Kings of War commits completely to the concept because you actually model the miniatures attached to the base, rather than have them individually standing on it. It may mean a lot more modelling – building and painting 10 miniatures to make a single unit is a big job – but it certainly looks spectacular when you have a full army on the field.

As for the rules themselves, they’ve been cleaned up from previous editions. I haven’t played yet (I’ve been busy painting, which is now all done – watch out for a tips video), but will film a game when I do so you can see how it goes; but Mantic have a habit of making very solid rules systems, so I have high hopes. The new starter set Claws in the Sand is a good introduction box for new players and features two unusual small armies – the aquatic Trident Kingdom and the Medieval Japanese-syled dogmen of the Xirkaali Kingdom.

In the meantime, here’s my rules and reference to make your games easier and smoother – and of course you can also find it in my rules app Tabletop Codex!

Any man who must say “I am the king” is no true king.

Peter checks out Kings of War for the first time with the new 4th Edition!

It’s a brand new year – the 14th! – for the Esoteric Order of Gamers, and I’m kicking it off with a new project – Kings of War by Mantic Games! Will this be your new favourite game of fantasy battles? Stick with me over the coming weeks as I unbox, build, paint and play (and of course, make a rules summary for) this rank and flank fantasy tabletop miniatures game.