Kings of War Beta Lists and You!

[Fritz]

Mantic has released most of their beta lists for their Warhammer-esque minor factions (sorry, the Bretonnian one is still in the works), so I thought I'd walk you guys through them. You can find the excel spreadsheet here. If you feel the desire to leave feedback, their beta forum is found here. Just remember, they're looking for feedback on the units, not the game mechanics. They just finished their testing and are about to release the latest edition of the game. I'll update this as I get time, starting with the Lizardmen equivalent.

Salamanders
Say hello to your fire-centric Lizardmen stand ins. This probably isn't the best army to start off with because it deviates from the traditional Warhammer army more so than the rest of the beta list, but I really like what I'm seeing. Let's start with the familiar. Salamanders are your good ol' Saurus, with the added bonus of ignoring difficult terrain thanks to the Pathfinder rule. Ancients are a more elite version of Salamanders, but lose the Pathfinder ability. Both units have the option to grab two handed weapons, adding another point of crushing strength (this army has baseline crushing strength 1, just like Orcs) in exchange for one point of defense. As such, you can easily throw Temple Guard into the mix as either Salamanders or Ancients. Citizen Guard are your Saurus with spears. If you aren't familiar with the Kings of War mechanics, yes, spears are very much worth having. Ghekkotah Warriors are your Skink Cohorts and Ghekkotah Hunters are your Skink Skirmishers. The Hunters even have a camo option, providing a place for Chameleon Skinks. Tyrants are straight Kroxigors. Kaisenor Knights are Cold One Knights. Ghekkotah Skyrraiders are your traditional Terradon riders, with the Ghekkotah Skylord being the character equivalent. A Clan Lord on Slasher is your Carnosaur (with an option to give the thing wings and fire breath!!!). The Clan Lord and Herald are your Saurus characters and Army Standards respectively. Finally, the Ankylodon Battle Platform is the various versions of the Stegadon, capable of having both blow pipes and a ballista.

Now this is where things get a little different. First and foremost, I can't really find a place for a Slann. The "Mage-Priest" character is not really meant to be the Slann. The base size is a 25mm square, making it far too small for a typical Slann. I think you can use a Skink here without a problem. You can also try to balance a Slann on a base that small. It's an individual, so the model overflowing from the base isn't that big of an issue. Alternatively, you can just keep the same base. Larger bases are a disadvantage, so I can't imagine there being much of a problem. However, Mantic appears to have something else in mind, especially since the character still has crushing strength and the option for a mount with thundering charge. This is a Saurus centric army, so I think what they're imagining is a fireball hurling Saurus priest. Imagine that conversion potential. I think the best place for the Slann is either the Lekelidon or Komodon Artillery. The base size (50mm) is correct and both pelt targets with ranged fireballs. The thing is, this is also where I see Warhammer Salamanders being used.

There are also a bunch of entries without a Warhammer equivalents. Fire Elementals and Great Fire Elementals are great additions to add to the fire-centered theme of the army. Corsairs are an oddball entry. I'm imagining Saurus pirates (they have freaking pistols!). Ancients on Rhinosaurs are a monstrous cavalry of some kind. Throw a Saurus on something between a Cold One and a Carnosaur, and I think you have a general idea of what Mantic is thinking.

Ratkin
This is a pretty easy Skaven translation.

Tunnel Slaves = Slaves
Warriors/Spear Warrior = Clanrats
Shock Troops = Stormvermin
The Blight = Plague Censor Bearers/Posion Wind Globadiers
Blight Impalers = Plague Monks
Clawshots = Jezzails that you would actually use
Scurriers = Gutter/Night Runners
Giant Rats = Giant Rats
Brutes = Rat Ogres (there was a shooty version of these for the End Times models, but they removed them)
Vermintide = Rat Swarm
Weapon Team = Warp Fire Thrower, can be upgraded to Ratling Gun equivalent
Shredder = Warp Lightning Cannon
Artillery = Plague Catapult
Rattlewagon = Doomwheel
Blight Lord = Plague Priest
War Chief = Warlord
Warlock = Warlock Engineer
Warlock with Death Engine = Screaming Bell
Army Standard Bearer = Battle Standard Bearer
Demonspawn = Vermin Lord that you'd actually use

The only things in here without a Skaven equivalent are Mounted Warriors and the mounts for characters. The consensus thus far is that it plays just like you would expect with Skaven. Lots of expendable fodder, their army rule (Rallying!) makes them dependent on numbers for morale, and their firepower is extremely formidable.

The Herd
These are not your father's beastmen. First and foremost, they are a neutral faction, not evil. There was apparently a huge push from the KoW community to make them more into a force of nature than an extension of evil gods. The main armywide theme you'll notice is thundering charge for everyone, even infantry. These guys really really want the charge, much like Warhammer's last Beastmen book. Let's start with the obvious equivalencies.

Tribal Warriors= Gors with shields
Tribal Berserkers= Gors with extra hand weapons
Tribal Longhorns= Bestigors
Tribal Hunters= Ungors with ranged weapons
Guardian Brutes= Minotaurs
Centaur Bray-Striders= Centigors
Beast Pack= Warhounds
Tribal Chariots= Tuskgor Chariot
Brutox= Ghorgon
Tribal Chieftain= Beastlord
Shaman= Bray-Shaman
Tribal Totem Bearer= Battle Standard Bearer
Guardian Champion= Doombull

Now, there are an awful lot of new and different stuff in the army that makes it far different from Warhammer's Beastmen. You have minor deviations, like Tribal Spearmen (Ungor spears work here, but I think they have more like Gors with spears in mind), Centaur Long-Manes, and Bray Hunters (Centigors with heavy armor and bows, respectively). You also have entries like the Chimera and the Avatar. The Chimera from the Warriors of Chaos could obviously jump over to this list as a flying Chimera, but I also think these entries are good for the Shaggoth (which I still can't believe they took out of the 7th edition Beastmen book). Finally, you have things like the Giant Eagles, Lycans, and the Tribal Totem that are all completely new to a Beastmen-style army which reinforce their standing as a force of nature rather than agents of Chaos. Right now this is considered one of the harder lists to use because of the dependency on getting the charge. There have already been a number of tweaks, and I would expect a good deal more.

The Brotherhood
Say hello to GW's most neglected army with a little Greek mythology blended with the Arthurian influence. Just like Bretonnians, the knights bolster the peasants, as reflected with the normal inspiring rule. This creates a bit of a paradox. On one hand, it is really easy to cover your peasants with inspiring. Your knight units have it for them in abundance. On the other hand, it's actually rather difficult to give your knight units inspiring. The only source of pure inspiring in the army are the Exemplar Forsakers and Redeemers. **The Order of Redemption Knights now also grant regular inspiring.** The army does not have a normal Army Standard Bearer, something completely unique in KoW. I double checked with the rules committee, and it is indeed an intentional design aspect. It is a point of emphasis they have with testing this list. Covering your army with inspiring is a big deal in KoW, so it will be interesting to see how the testing goes. Anyway, without further ado, let's get into the equivalencies:

Villein Halberdiers= Men at Arms with Halberds (but not shields)
Villein Spearmen= Men at Arms with Shield and Spears
Villein Bowmen= Peasant Bowmen
Maryrs of Misery= Grail Reliquae
Order of the Brotherhood= Knights of the Realm
Order of the Abyssal Hunt= Questing Knights
Order of Redemption= Grail Knights
Villein Scouts= Mounted Yeomen
Order of the Forsaken= Pegasus Knights
Villein Siege Artillery= Trebuchet
Exemplar of the Brotherhood= Paladin
Exemplar Redeemer= Bretonnian Lord
Devoted= Damsel of the Lady
Exemplar Forsaker= Lord on Pegasus (can be upgraded to be on a Griffon)

There are also a couple units that are only mirror deviations. Villein Plowshares are peasants taken straight off the fields (probably using pitchforks as weapons). Swain's Rangers are an interesting unit that remind me of Robin Hood and his merry men, but can easily be represented by Peasant bowmen as well. There, of course, are the unit that many Bretonnian players wanted back: foot knights! These are represented by the Order of the Brotherhood on foot.

They have also taken the whole "Lady of the Lake" idea to a whole to level, giving the army access to water spirits. These are the Naiad Ensnarers (melee) Naiad Hearpiercers (shooting), Water Elementals (Large Infantry) and the Naiad Wyrmriders (Large Cavalry). There is also a character, the Naiad Stalker, who is there to provide inspiring to those units. This is based on Greek mythology, but seeing as they're mostly female water spirits, I think this adds a lot to the whole Lady of the Lake theme. After all, why should the Lady's influence be limited to just the Damsels?

Next up, I'll deal with the Varangur, the Chaos of KoW

[MorGrendel]

Too bad I fall asleep every time I read the rules. Exciting though, thanks for your work.

[MorGrendel]

Wait... Finally a flying monster!

[Fritz]

Too bad I fall asleep every time I read the rules. Exciting though, thanks for your work.

Is that fatigue or boredom? They're literally less than half the size of the Warhammer rules.

I knew you would be excited by the flying monster =)

[MorGrendel]

Fatigue ... actually I have fallen asleep 3 times reading charging.

[Fritz]

Ouch brother. Get some rest.

[MorGrendel]

I'm better off than Dan. The Gods have have left him to Nurgle. . .

[Fritz]

Original post updated with the Herd. Next up is the long awaited and newly released Brotherhood!

[MorGrendel]

Excellent. My update - I made it to Nerve.
BTW - Seriously, people who write rules, get a proofreader. I hate when my attacks are "trebled".

[boagrius]

Gw should hire fritz to promote AoS. He's like a spokesperson for this system. If he liked AoS the Claysons sale would be through the roof. Haha.

[Fritz]

Excellent. My update - I made it to Nerve.
BTW - Seriously, people who write rules, get a proofreader. I hate when my attacks are "trebled".

That's actually technically correct. I know, it's weird. It is proper English, but not usually seen this side of the pond. It's very British. The meanings of "trebled" and "tripled" overlap. I found this a while back: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013 ... e-trouble/

Gw should hire fritz to promote AoS. He's like a spokesperson for this system. If he liked AoS the Claysons sale would be through the roof. Haha.

For our group of friends, absolutely. I have no qualms saying so either =). I was the same way with Warhammer for the longest time if you remember. If a game is fun for me, I'm going to push it on you guys so that you can enjoy it too. Given we now all also have giant collections of now-useless models, I'm admittedly taking extra effort with KoW.

I'm the same way with Armada now too. I fucking love that game. I may finally cave to X-Wing once they release their new starter set on the 4th.

[Fritz]

First post updated with the Brotherhood.

[boagrius]

Please play x wing. I've got every and I mean every ship out and one that's been scratch built.

I want people to play that game it's a blast.

[Fritz]

The only reason I haven't is I prefer the grand scale of Armada. However, X-Wing is the more popular game, and it's not like I dislike dogfights. I just like fleet battles more. There's a new starter set coming out on the 4th. I'll probably nab that up in the near future and make a squadron of X-Wings.

[Titus]

%

Please play x wing. I've got every and I mean every ship out and one that's been scratch built.

I want people to play that game it's a blast.

I have everything to play and would love to play. Anytime.