Going Epic with Kings of War Rules. Updated!

Paboook · **Joined:** Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:41 pm **Posts:** 172

Me and my wargaming mate have considerable collections of Lotr miniatures and started thinking about War of the Ring. However, the huge scale and some poor rules and army lists put me off. I have find great solution in Kings of War system, which is designed for epic fantasy battles. The rules are simple, very tactical and free to download. And also written by Mr. Alessio Cavatore! There are some fan list for Lotr available on the internet, but we simply played with Kingdoms of Men and Dwarf army lists. Here are some pictures to give you the idea.

DWARFS OF EREBOR VS. BLACK NUMENOREANS

Formed battle lines.

Black Numenorean archers - the pond could be good obstacle in case of enemy attack, but the dwarfs remained on their part of the battlefield.

War machines are important part of KoW. I really recommend to use them, as some armies lack other sources of "crushing strength" for killing units with high defense. Also note the hand of Sauron commanding his units in the upper right corner.

Sauron's hordes crush upon the dwarfs.

Cavalry regiment was scattered by the ballista - fortunately for the dwarfs!

Dwarfs take heavy casualties.

They have evil Boromir!

Dwarf king helps his battered guard regiment.

View from the other side of battlefield.

Alas! Crushing victory for the servants of Sauron!

ANGMAR of old · **Posted:** Sun Dec 07, 2014 1:43 pm

We have been using the KOW rules for several years now couldn't go back to GW rules from small battles to very large ones so simple so much better good looking pics

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Sun Dec 07, 2014 2:52 pm

This is a direction I am also leaning toward though I am thinking of modifying matters with a Bolt Action style turn dice or token mechanic AND a chess clock to add tension.

Paboook · **Joined:** Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:41 pm **Posts:** 172

Glad there are also other KoW fans! I think that Alessio did great job on these rules, and they will be even better when the 2nd edition hits in 2015

londoncalling · **Posted:** Mon Dec 08, 2014 5:20 pm

Thanks for this tip, this has pre-empted my posting for an alternative simple, fast to learn rule set. I wonder if this will do the trick ?

I have teenagers that measure attention spans in seconds and minutes....

:roll:

londoncalling · **Posted:** Mon Dec 08, 2014 5:30 pm

Having seen this, while doing a quick search for KOW rules for LOTR (not wanting to hijack the thread but I thought relevant), I found the below recent link:

http://cruciumgiger.blogspot.co.uk/2014 ... gs-of.html

maybe already a member on here ?

JamesR · **Posted:** Mon Dec 08, 2014 6:08 pm

Yes he's a member here

Paboook · **Joined:** Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:41 pm **Posts:** 172

Today I post some pictures from a battle between the dwarves of Erebor and servants of the Enemy. Hope they speak for themselves

Crucial moment of the battle. High morale of the surrounded orc regiment led to defeat of Erebor. If the orcs ran as they were expacted to do, both bowmen and warriors with double-handed axes wold be able to make a reform or movement forward. However, as the orcs held their ground, they remained exposed to the second wave of attackers. Ouch!

Mordor is victorious!

Crucium Giger · **Posted:** Thu Jan 08, 2015 10:12 am

Great to see massive games of Lord of the Rings being played and with a great ruleset to boot. Not to high jack the thread but I've updated the LOTR army lists for KOW and they are pretty extensive now (though I haven't covered every single character) and seem to be playing fine with us. One of the things I have done is 'heroed' up the mains heroes to give them more umph in game.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4buE9 ... sp=sharing

Paradigm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:56 am **Posts:** 264

Hope no one minds me bringing this back up, I just wanted to add my support to the idea of using KoW for LotR. For larger battles it plays far faster than WotR, is a lot simpler to learn and is overall a great game. I've only played a few test games so far, but already it looks to be an amazing ruleset.

I've also found that even a moderate-size LotR collection goes a long way with it. Thanks to the set-size movement trays and the fact it's regiments rather than individual models that matter, with some spreading out you can easily get away with half or less of the models you'd need if you were playing a game that size on a 1:1 scale. On a 100x80mm (supposed to be 20 models, 5x4) 8-10 LotR minis on the round bases gives a good enough impression of the unit size. Similarly, 4-5 models on a 10x40 (Troop size) base could function just as well as the 10 models it's 'supposed' to be. If, like me, you love huge battles but don't like the traditional style of square-based, packed-like-sardines units, then KoW is an absolute gift.

This also has the side effect of allowing you to match the look of the 'real' battles a little better. Pack Orcs in to a dozen on a base, have Gondorians 6-8 per base, and you can get the look of a spread-thin Gondorian line facing down an Orc horde while still having the sides balanced in game terms.

Thoroughly recommend trying it out, the rules and army lists are all FREE, so there's nothing to lose!
http://www.manticgames.com/SiteData/Root/File/KINGS%20OF%20WAR/KoW-MRB-Rules-Web.pdf

Paboook · **Joined:** Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:41 pm **Posts:** 172

Crucium Giger wrote:

Great to see massive games of Lord of the Rings being played and with a great ruleset to boot. Not to high jack the thread but I've updated the LOTR army lists for KOW and they are pretty extensive now (though I haven't covered every single character) and seem to be playing fine with us. One of the things I have done is 'heroed' up the mains heroes to give them more umph in game.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4buE9 ... sp=sharing

Any fan list for KoW in Middle-Earth is appreciated! We have found that some armies can be nicely played wit the KoW army lists (Rohan, Harad etc. as Kingdoms of Men, Moria as Goblins...), but some are little bit tricky (for example the KoW orcs don't fit to Tolkien's vision).

Paboook · **Joined:** Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:41 pm **Posts:** 172

Paradigm wrote:

Thanks to the set-size movement trays and the fact it's regiments rather than individual models that matter, with some spreading out you can easily get away with half or less of the models you'd need if you were playing a game that size on a 1:1 scale.
...
Thoroughly recommend trying it out, the rules and army lists are all FREE, so there's nothing to lose!
http://www.manticgames.com/SiteData/Root/File/KINGS%20OF%20WAR/KoW-MRB-Rules-Web.pdf

We play with 12 miniatures representing a regiment, 8 as a troop, and 3 as cavalry troop. To see our new regiment bases, check my last update on my WIP blog. I am really happy with them!

Absolutely agree that KoW is just great game. Totally worth trying

Paradigm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:56 am **Posts:** 264

The second edition KoW rules are undergoing beta testing now, check them out here:
http://manticblog.com/wp-content/upload ... WIP5.2.pdf

And see the most recent army list betas here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... 2111976336

The new rules do a lot to fix the balance of Cavalry and Shooting units, add in a few more spells, make flank attacks a tad easier to counter (you get a free Change Facing after the first round) and just tweaks/neatens things up a bit. I've yet to try them myself, but the feedback has been generally positive.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Fri Apr 10, 2015 8:38 pm

Watching developments with interest - I have a thing for larger battles

eilif · **Posted:** Tue May 12, 2015 2:13 pm

Great thread.
Several members of our club are also fans of KoW, though the members don't have many LoTR minis. It's an excellent system for massive fantasy battles in any setting and there are enough unit profiles to represent almost any fantasy unit.

I'm waiting with much expectation for my copy of the new rulebook via the kickstarter. Though we haven't found much wrong with the current edition.

Erunion · **Posted:** Tue May 12, 2015 3:45 pm

This is very interesting. I liked the idea of WotR, but the execution left much to be desired.

Crucium Giger · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2015 1:04 pm

I probably need my own thread for this but I'm not sure what forum it should go in but I've just posted my new LOTR/Hobbut army lists for KOW 2.0 to my blog.

http://cruciumgiger.blogspot.co.uk/2015 ... gs-of.html

As I say on there, I hope you have fun reading them and please let me know if you have any comments of criticism

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2015 5:45 pm

I will get a longer look at those lists CG - when I get the chance. I like the idea of pitched battles that can be played in a few hours rather than taking an entire weekend. The rules should be there to facilitate the game, not impede it. My only teeny tiny grouse is that there should be scope for even larger units - ok, if some looney (who? moi?) wants to take 500 Morannon orcs on to the battlefield, he can do so as so many units of 32 or thereabouts (if I remember the correct figures). I suppose it is about what you can squeeze on a movement tray really. I am rambling here... nothing new there.

Ardboe · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2015 9:56 am

Awesome Pabook, I play KoW and have been thinking of using lotr models for a long time!

Out of interest do you use WOTR size movement trays?

Crucium Giger · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2015 10:18 am

Not sure about Pabook but we use the WOTR style movement trays and I've worked these into the unit sizes on my army lists.

Going Epic with Kings of War Rules. Updated!

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