Preparing for the Kings of War Summer Campaign
18th Jan 2017
Rob Burman
With the Kings of War Summer Campaign approaching later this year, a few of us here at Mantic HQ have decided to start new armies in preparation for the big event. Global campaigns like this are a great way to inspire people to get involved with the hobby and we wanted to take part too.
Each week, Zak, Dave and Rob are planning to meet up and engage in some serious hobby time, while also painting and prepping at home too. Dave and Rob have a little bit of a head start but Zak is determined to catch up.
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Dave is hard at work on his Empire of Dust army in this shot. Look at the intense concentration.[/caption]
Over the course of the next few months, we’ll be keeping you up to date with their progress and we’d love to see the army that you’re prepping. In fact, now’s a good time to consider starting a new army, as the UK price is currently frozen to £49.99 before it goes up to £59.99 on February 1st, plus if you order a starter army, you’ll be in with the chance of having it upgraded to a Mega Force for FREE!
Anyway, let’s find out what armies the guys are painting and take a look at their progress so far.
Zak – Forces of Nature
With the Kings of War Summer Campaign on the way, I decided now would be a good time to start a new army so that I’m ready to join in and do my part to shape the future of Mantica. For me, the most enjoyable part of the hobby is painting miniatures and putting together a force that looks great on the battlefield, as well as to display in one of my (many) cabinets at home.
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Zak is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to painting. So far he has undercoated his Naiads and done a little base coasting.[/caption]
As miniatures were going to be the main reason for collecting, I wandered into our shop here at Mantic HQ and had a look at the impressive choice of armies we now produce. After some serious deliberation I narrowed it down to three choices, Undead, Forces of the Abyss and Forces of Nature. They all have a great range of minis, and look like fun to paint. But in the end it was the wide variety of different units in the Forces of Nature army that appealed to me, and this was further cemented when a colleague pointed out I could add the new Trident Realms units as allies (I’ve gotta get me some halfling/squid-men) and the starter army comes with Naiads, which I could use as the basis for a Trident Realms army in the future.
Dave – Empire of Dust
The idea of starting and Empire of Dust army was really put into my head when we started to get the models through for the first time. Everyone was gathering around them and looking at the new shinies – a common occurrence at Mantic HQ. When we were organising the launch, I had the opportunity to read though the background fluff as well as the army list. There’s a lot of character there – bitterness and betrayal – which makes the army more interesting to engage with. After grabbing a Mega Force and digging in, I wasn’t disappointed. There are hundred of models, in crumbling, baroque armour as well as some crazier units, like Enslaved Guardians.
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Dave reckons he's not happy with the base so far for this work in progress unit of Skeletons.[/caption]
The plan for the moment is to get a small playable force finished. I’m great at starting armies, but not finishing them, so I plan to turn that around. Or forget later in the year and start something new. Ooooooh, look a Warpath Plague army… [Dave, Dave, come back, Daaaaaaaaaaave]
Rob – GoblinsDwarfs
I have been a committed Goblin player since first playing Kings of War. Over the past few years I’ve painted hundreds and hundreds of Goblins, never faltering once from the true path of greenskin devotion. But for the Summer Campaign I wanted to take a bold step, to paint something entirely different… so why not choose the Goblin’s greatest foe: Dwarfs. The Goblin part of my brain is screaming in disappointment.
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Rob is trying to do some decent basing for his Dwarfs. This is his second unit and he's just started some Brock Riders.[/caption]
There were a couple of things that persuaded me to go for a Dwarf army. Brock Riders were an obvious choice, I mean, come on, they’re on bloody great big badgers for crying out loud! But I also love the Greater Earth Elemental and wanted to theme my army around have a couple of those beasties as key units. As a result, I’ve gone a bit mad on purchasing, after buying a Mega Force, a Starter Army, two Greater Earth Elementals, two regiments of Earth Elementals, a Stone Priest, a Dwarf King, Berserker Lord on Brock and some other bits that I’ve probably forgotten about. At this rate I’m hoping to take part in the Summer Campaign 2020.
Anyway, the thing I’m really keen to try and pull off with this new Dwarf army is some decent basing, so I’m trying to up my game to include rocky outcrops, grassy plains and perhaps even the odd stream here and there… ooooh, that’s just given me a good idea for a Greater Earth Elemental base.