Well over the last few months you must have heard that Kings of War Vanguard by Mantic Games is headed to retail and Kickstarter backers have become giddy as boxes arrive on their doorsteps.
Well if you are like me I did not back the Kickstarter and I am slightly regretting it but I am caught up in the buzz and making up for it...
Kings of War has been one of those games that I have wanted to have a go at for a while. I have the rules I have the armies but my gaming group is more into Warhammer Fantasy which is not a bad thing but for me remembering rules can be a torrid affair and reading the rules in KOW it seemed streamlined and easier to remember but still tactical.
Well talking to my partner in crime at the moment Tookey after seeing Vanguard and thinking this seems a great gate way into Kings of War with a low model count and easy access why not give it a go.
The hook at the start was that you could use what you had already to make your own 200 point warband which allows me to dust off some of my fantasy miniatures and there are some free rules you can download to try it.. But like all games theres new miniatures and Mantic have done a fine job adding to there line of KOW miniatures and now added new factions but who can forget that Giant.
From the pictures and videos I have seen it looks amazing and price wise fantastic...Not only that its part of a scenario in the main game!
After seeing all the videos from Andy at Black Jack Legacy, Mantic etc I managed to get a demo game with Matt Gilbert at Tabletop Gaming Live.
Who best to run a demo then the person who wrote it right? The demo game is here..
After playing it Tookey and I both came away thinking how easy it was to play, the miniatures look great and the command dice idea was a really a great way to add more tactics and tricks.
As more videos from Mantic and podcast promoting the game such as the interviews with Ronnie Renton and Matt Gilbert on the Counter Charge podcast were made available you really got a feel for all the factions and the games concept as well as the enthusiasm for the game with tag lines like "it's fantasy black ops" who cant be caught up.
One of the best announcements was that the full hardback rule book was half price at £12.50 I jumped in at that point and funnily enough it arrived today!
As I said at the start I did not back the Kickstarter at the time but was very tempted.
The miniatures that have caught my eye then and even now are the Northern Alliance and the new Dwarfs...but now I'm also looking at the Nightstalkers too..Ahhh.
These new sculpts have really shown that Mantic have upped their game in miniature design and quality and from what I have seen so far I am impressed.
Skirmish games are built on Scenarios and the main rule book has 12 scenarios which have dedicated objectives you can buy as part of Mantic's ever growing Terrain Crate line.
As well as this Mantic have made some handy tokens for the game which will be needed but they have made sure that some have double/triple effects on them so tokens are not everywhere on your gaming board.
Thinking about the other games in the KOW line I like the way this game can tie in with bigger KOW games which could end up effecting the bigger battle to come.
For campaigns this could be really fun to switch between the two systems.
Saturday is the official launch day event of Vanguard at Mantic HQ I was one of the lucky 20 people who got a ticket...
I am really looking forward to Saturday as it will be my first time at Mantic HQ and I will be going in some what unique perspective of the game during the day.
I know I have had one demo but as I have not backed the Kickstarter so this day should allow me to find out how quick it is to pick up the rules and to hopefully be able to test out a few different Warbands too. This should allow me to see the Warbands play style and how they change how you play each scenario.
This will hopefully give me a more rounded view of the game.
Obviously as well I am looking forward to meeting the Mantic Team and the other 19 people who are attending the day...Not to mention seeing all the new miniatures for Vanguard..
I hope I will be able to document the day and see what other offerings Mantic may have in the future..
Post below if you backed the Kickstarter are you please with you new miniatures.
Post if you are thinking about playing Vanguard what faction do you think you will play?
2 comments:
I pre ordered the vanguard starter bundle and the Northern Alliance, Nightstalker factions, also just because that giant looks so cool, I ordered it also. This game will probably lead me into KOW(already thinking about ordering a unit or two)
@Unknown Sounds like you going to have some awesome minis to paint and play with!
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