Last week, the Kings of War version 2 rulebook PDF was released to Kickstarter backers. I'd played version 1 a bunch, and last night I played 1 game of version 2, and taught / refereed another.
The big changes:
* War Engines are a lot less powerful.
* Missile troops are a bit more powerful.
* Line of sight rules are different.
* New counter charge rule.
* All the army lists are re-done and more balanced.
Really, no huge changes. More like small tweaks to balance thing much better. And, of course, the rulebook is all new, flows better, has more fluff, and better artwork. The world of Mantica is fleshed out a lot, and the fluff for each faction is more in-depth.
If you've never played Kings of War before, it's Mantic's mass battle fantasy game. It's tons of minis ranked up and fighting each other. The rules are fast playing, easy to learn, and easy to remember.
Some main points:
* The rulebook is 208 pages, 37 of which are rules, the rest is fluff, scenarios, Army lists, etc.
* You can use whatever minis you like, even in official Mantic tournaments. The faction "Kingdoms of Men" don't even have official minis from Mantic, to let people (like me) use their medieval historical armies to play KoW.
* Units are elements on group bases, and minis are not removed. Casualties are tracked with markers or dice next to the base.
* It's I-go, You-go, but the turns go so quickly that it doesn't feel like that.
* Game take about an hour, depending on size and scenario. When I played in the tournament at KingdomCon this past April (version 1) I played 3 games in 3.5 hours.
* It is very much a "buckets of dice" kind of game. D6 is used exclusively.
I like Kings of War a lot. It's easy to learn – you don't even need a reference sheet – but difficult to master. The tactics are deep, despite the simple rules.
The rulebook will be available at retail in August 2015. Starter rules and sample army lists are available for free, right now, at link