Fantasy wargame Kings of War is getting a fourth edition this December, with former Warhammer designer Alessio Cavatore returning as the lead writer for the new rulebook. Publisher Mantic Games has been teasing the possibility of a fourth edition for weeks, and on Tuesday a new blog post penned by Cavatore told fans they could expect the new edition in less than three months.
Cavatore’s article series is set to explain the changes coming in the new Kings of War rules. The core message for returning players is simple: this is going to be an iteration on the existing game, and it’s not about to adopt Warhammer: the Old World levels of complexity. Mantic already made fun of the ways it could horribly botch a new edition in a video it put out on September 15 to announce Alessio’s involvement, which is worth a watch, below:
If you’ve never played Kings of War, it has a lot of similarities with Warhammer: it’s a rank and flank fantasy wargame where you maneuver unwieldy blocks of troops to try and match them against the ideal charge target, and then roll buckets of dice when they finally collide. Kings of War plays is a lot more streamlined, with the focus of the rules placed on whole units and not individual soldiers – there’s less granularity, but it plays a lot faster.
Mantic Games was founded by Ronnie Renton, former global marketing director at Games Workshop, in 2007. The Kings of War model range was initially positioned to be a cheaper source of figures to use in Warhammer fantasy battles. Alessio Cavatore wrote the first edition Kings of War rules in 2009, shortly after leaving GW himself. As the lead designer for the original Lord of the Rings wargame, and head of GW’s rules design team for several years, Cavatore brought credibility with him – and it didn’t hurt that the rules were really good.
Kings of War second edition launched in the summer of 2015, just as Games Workshop was abandoning rank and flank wargaming entirely. GW’s canned Warhammer entirely in favor of the new Age of Sigmar, a move that was deeply unpopular with some fans, and Mantic was quick to take advantage. It released a book of army lists to let people import their Warhammer the Old World factions to Kings of War, and even even adopted Warhammer’s abandoned strapline: ‘the game of fantasy battles’.
If that sounds a little cheeky, GW went on to return the favor – intentionally or accidentally – in November 2019, when it teased the return of Warhammer: the Old World just a month after the launch of Kings of War third edition. Whatever impact that announcement had on sales of the new edition, it proved to be a little premature, as it wasn’t until January 2024 that The Old World actually launched. That made Kings of War the go-to home for gamers with big collections of square-based fantasy miniatures for almost a decade.
But Warhammer: The Old World is out now, and it’s well established. Is Kings of War fourth edition in for a tough fight? Or is the honeymoon over for The Old World, leaving a whole new audience of gamers who love square bases but also want rules that are easy to digest and games that are quick to play? It’s too early to say – but I’d love to hear your thoughts (and see your armies) in the Wargamer Discord community.
If you want to know how the Kings of War miniature line matured from a budget alternative to Warhammer to stand on its own two feet, check out this backstage tour of Mantic Games. And for another reason Kings of War is popular, check out this wild converted army inspired by Heironymous Bosch – the official Kings of War tournament scene doesn’t require players to use official models, and the creativity of the fandom really reflects that.