Ronnie’s Kings of War Update – yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum!

Hey, Ronnie here, with a half year update. 

Firstly, thank you for the honest, insightful, and overwhelming response to our ‘The Future of Warpath’ blog and survey.

We haven't had time to digest it all yet, and make plans, but suffice to say that pressing ahead was a resounding ‘yes’ and we need to find a way to make it happen – especially now one of the ‘other’ epic games 😉 has turned tail and run...watch this space, things are going to get interesting! 

This blog has updates on the global campaign, the biggest Kings of War tournament EVER, plans for the upcoming Twilight Kin, the next Clash of Kings book, and 240 unique bottles of rum – yes you read that right – rum!!  

It feels an age ago that we spoke about the ALL NEW Twilight Kin coming out at the end of the year alongside the next Clash of Kings book.  It's nearly time, and next month all will be revealed!

We are starting with the studio introducing design notes from behind the curtain of the Void, and there will be plenty of images and tactics for one of the most creative, twisted (even more than the Nightstalkers) and thematic armies Mantic has ever unleashed on Pannithor. We sincerely hope that you’ll join us for a walk (or ride a skiff...) on the dark side!  

But before that, let’s talk organised play... 

US MASTERS & CLASH OF KINGS

Last month the USA had the biggest Kings of War tournament ever seen, with 108 gamers attending the US Masters, and the Best of the Rest events in Omaha Nebraska. Congratulations to the Midwest Team for taking both team titles (below), and Luke Fraser who was the overall champion with his Trident Realm army!

In just 3 weeks, on the weekend of 9th/10th September, that 'biggest-ever' title is going to fall to the Clash of Kings event held here in Nottingham. With 153 players things are ramping up!

Steve Hildrew has organised a fantastic venue (and amazing goody bags) to welcome players from France, Spain, Poland, the United States, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Ireland, Argentina, Australia, Norway, Singapore and Switzerland to play against the UK's best (and Martin 😉). A quarter of the players are travelling to the UK for the event, so this is going to be an amazing international tournament. Over the two days they’ll be playing six games to be named the Clash of Kings Champion!  

SPICING THINGS UP...

Having so many players in one place, at one time, we thought we could do some fun things to further celebrate this event – and to share these prizes with other terrific events taking place all over the world by fantastic tournament organisers every year... 

1. Firstly, I got a little tipsy, and (naturally) thought buying a barrel of rum would be a good idea. Not just any rum mind you...premium quality rum made at a local craft distillery. Then I convinced the owner to let me put special in-world Pannithor labels on it. So what's it called, and who made it? Well, that’s where you come in! Pick a name/style/theme for the rum, and if your idea or name gets picked to go on the label, then you’ll win yourself a bottle, and know you contributed to the first artifact ever taken from Pannithor back to Earth! (This prize might only be available to UK entries due to issues with sending alcohol abroad - but if we can’t find a way to get you a bottle then we will send you something else equally cool). Comment on the Facebook post for your suggestion – and no, Rummy McRumface will not be winning!  
2. The first three bottles of the soon-to-be-named rum will also be given out to the three top ranking Mantic armies at Clash of King 2023, and then we will work out how to get bottles to the USA, OZ, and other big tournaments to reward the best Mantic armies on show.  
3. EVERYONE who comes to this (or other future organised tournaments) will get a Ronnie the B’stard model. This will be a unique sculpt and run for the next 12 months. Watch out for more info on this ‘never for sale’ model, and how you can get him at your organised event. Hint – you need to finally finish painting that Mantic army you have somewhere in your pile of shame! 
4. On the Friday before Clash of Kings (8th September) we are hosting an event for any attendees that want to swing by Mantic HQ. I am looking to arrange a visit to the aforementioned distillery, leaving about 10am (to be confirmed) and then back to play a massive battle that will make history by kicking off the global Shadowed Horizons campaign! This battle will be masses of Northern Alliance Frostclaw Riders mounting a desperate attack to intercept the Nightstalker hordes surging north. The Riders know they must slow down the enemy horde to protect their families and home. So paint up your Frostclaw riders, bring them along, and hurl them at the oncoming horde of Nightstalkers – where acts of valour will get recorded in the tomes of the new campaign.  We will also be playing other games, giving tours of HQ, and heading into town for food – you are welcome to come and join us! Any valid Clash of Kings ticket will get you free entry and we hope to see you at HQ on the 8th September anytime from 3pm onwards.  

SHADOWED HORIZONS

With all the exciting stuff going on we hope you to join us for the Shadowed Horizons global campaign – please arrange an event or a game and you'll be able to record your results on an upcoming fancy new website. There will be a lot more information coming about the background to the global campaign, but suffice to say the story is all connected to the return of you-know-who to Pannithor. Just what is their plan? Can any of it be stopped? How and where they return will have big consequences for the map, the other factions, and the balance of power. Once again your results will change the map and the story!

Now, let’s hope the dwarfs win this campaign!  

BRING A FRIEND ON BOARD!

I am sure all this fun activity has got your creative and gaming juices flowing. We all want to play more games, so what we need to do is simply to get more people playing Kings of War – the best rank and flank fantasy game in the world!  

And we have you covered here too. Mantic was the first miniatures gaming company to give our basic rules away free, way back in 2010. Now everyone does it – so we have decided to up the ante!

After success at Adepticon, GenCon, Salute and Games Expo we realised there was lots of potential new recruits who wanted to play, but need a book in their hands to entice them...

Coming up soon Mantic will be printing and giving away a fresh batch of special printed introductory rule books. They'll have all the core game rules, a scenario, and a selection of army lists built around some of the latest armies and ambush sets we have released.

We have picked these because the latest armies are not only our best ever plastics, but they are also packed with assembly guides and background booklets, and they come with unit bases, not singles, so you can really get going with KoW right from the get-go. The plan is this book will be totally free – you can add it for free to a webstore order, or just pay postage for a couple of copies.

These are really designed to be given away to a friend or gaming buddy, to allow them to experience the joy of Kings of War first hand. Of course, if they have a (tired, old, metal!) army from some other company they can still use this while they learn the game, they just have to pop over to the companion to get the stats, and can then start collecting a proper Mantic army.

Keep watching the newsletter for when this all goes live!

WRAPPING UP

2023 will be Mantic’s biggest ever year of plastic releases EVER. That is down to the support and love you have shown the game and the armies we are releasing.  

We are now going from the biggest Clash of Kings ever, to the biggest global campaign we have hosted (which includes Armada too!), a hot new army, a free printed rules give away, the 2024 fresh rules update, new organised play support, and even a bottle of rum to wash it all down. The world of Kings of War has never been more exciting!  

Thank you for supporting us, and thank you for sharing the Mantic story – it literally means everything to us.

If you can think of any way we can get more people playing and enjoying Kings of War (or any Mantic game) please drop me a note in the comments below or Private Message me on Facebook. Every time you send a friend the free rules or play through a demo game you help the Kings of War community grow – and that brings in more people to our shared vision of what Mantic is always trying to be: an passionate team making fun, affordable and engaging games. 

Okay, that's enough! We have one more crazy idea left for 2023, but I’ll save that for another time 😉  

Cheers everyone, 

R