Kings of War: Vanguard Review

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Kings of War: Vanguard Review
Intro (00:00);
gameplay overview (01:35);
final thoughts and review (21:30);
Skirmish Week playlist: • Skirmish Week
Kings of War: Vanguard boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2...
by
Mantic Games www.manticgames.com/
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[@bradp6452]

Matt and the guys did a nice job on the rules. Mantic's current resin models are also very good to work with. Not as brittle as many resins I have worked with. Mantic has a condensed rulebook for free on the site. It has all the main rules for the game but only a few scenarios and not the in depth campaign or equipment rules. They also have updated warband lists for all the factions for KOW for free on their site. This includes the factions that they do not have models for at the moment. I still have a bunch of models to assemble for it.

[@DriveThruReview]

Ya. I've had my eye on the Ogres and glad to see they've just released some new stuff for them :)

[@bradp6452]

@@DriveThruReview They also go back and update starter boxes when new plastics come out. Both the Northern Alliance ( which switched out free dwarves for barbarians) and the goblins ( whose plastic spitter sprue was just updated) are different from their original versions. Easy Army also has on online list builder to help make warbands.

[@DriveThruReview]

@@bradp6452 Oh good to know. Battlescribe has it, but it doesn't quite work.

[@bradp6452]

@@DriveThruReview Easy Army also does some checking if the warband is built using the restrictions in the rules. It is not perfect. Sometimes the newest units are not added in for a few months to help encourage people to buy the new models and get their cards that way but the rosters include much of what is on the cards.

[@colinmack8655]

@@DriveThruReview BattleScribe requires someone to update if easy army already has it for free why bother.

[@Arcemise]

Great review of Vanguard! It has some areas where it could get a bit more polished so I'm hoping to see a version 2 come out :)

[@twentysides]

I'm so glad to see you post this. I just bought a starter kit and some bases to adapt some of my Bones minis to more factions.

[@DriveThruReview]

Awesome. Ya I’m eyeballing a couple other factions 😬

[@twentysides]

They're also very BYOM-friendly and have put warband lists online that they don't have their own models for. You just need to use the base size listed on the unit card and anything else goes.

[@DriveThruReview]

@@twentysides Ya I should stock up on some square bases.

[@tireharicot9444]

I love this game. The factions are well balanced. The rules are not too complex but offers a lot of tactical situations, challenges. It is almost self-contained (compare it to Necromunda). The factions are generic enough that it can suit an already existing collection of miniatures. The game is long enough but not dragging, around 2-3 hours for our games. You can customize your warband with objects, skills etc. without doing too much accounting.

[@kallegrafstrom5865]

Top-notch vid as always 👍😊 Have you tried out Rackham’s Confrontation 3.5? This is a really neat skirmish minis wargame 😉

[@DriveThruReview]

Thank you! Not heard of Confrontation. I'll check it out.

[@CurrentKick]

Wow, Joel. This game looks awesome! I've had my eye on some of the minis, just to paint; but I love the campaign stuff in here. Have you seen Mantic's Armada naval game that was announced?

[@DriveThruReview]

I have seen it. Definitely interested to see how it plays.

[@rustedbeetle]

What I wanted was a fantasy Deadzone game. What I got was a slightly scaled down Kings of War game. I would love to see a second edition where they reduce the number of tokens and rewrite the rules so you add or remove d8s like you do in DZ, instead of modifying both the number of dice and modifying the model stats. I absolutely love the resin models. The hard plastic minis are getting better and better, and the PVC ones are ... OK. The campaign system works well for me and I enjoy the fluff of the King's of War universe. At this point, the number of tokens needed to track everything and modifying the stats as well as number of dice are putting me off some. Saying that, I have 6 factions and I love the Northern Alliance and the Dwarves.

[@tireharicot9444]

If I remember correctly you only need around 3 token types.

[@DriveThruReview]

Ya, to be honest I hardly use the tokens. Mostly for just wounds and to track fatigue. The activation tokens are nice in the first round or so, but then I've found I don't need them anymore.

[@squallgoku777]

You've Sold me on buying myself a copy of Vanguard!

[@DriveThruReview]

Nice. Hope you enjoy it.

[@colinmack8655]

Terrain would be PVC treat it like resin so wash and clean before spraying.

[@stormy7722]

If u could only have 1, this or Warcry?

[@DriveThruReview]

This one.

[@jameskyle7943]

The terrain was probably covered in mold release.

[@DriveThruReview]

Of course you’re right. I should have probably washed them and they’d been fine.

[@bradp6452]

It might also be the blend of PVC. Some of the bones minis have a similar issue. I have a bunch of the terrain crate stuff but never really paint so not sure which pieces on that line have this blend.

[@DriveThruReview]

@@bradp6452 Ya that makes sense too. I've had the same experience with Reaper stuff as well from time to time.

[@cathode6252]

So I should stop playing Warcry already?!

[@DriveThruReview]

Haha. No? Top 10 list coming Thursday.... :)