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I've played a few times, and had a lot of fun with it. I also have an embarrassing collection; most ships have not left drydock since they were painted...

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/770118/man-o-war

But the thought of pulling out those rulebooks again, and trying to re-learn how to play... No thanks. I'll stick to KoW Armada!

 Just Tony wrote:

 Easy E wrote:

 Just Tony wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
Yes, interesting. Now all they need is a Warmaster equivalent and they have done what GW couldn't manage!

At first my thought was "Yes, Mantic should be foolish enough to try to launch and sustain a version of the GW game that set the record for fastest birth to hospice move in their brand history.", but then I thought that maybe Mantic would be intelligent enough to actually add something to the game that proper KOW/WFB doesn't bring to the table. GW certainly wasn't intelligent enough to.

Warmaster rolled out when they all ready were planning to axe Specialist Games as stand-alone games so..... it was never really set-up for success.

Edit: Warmaster also had a completely different Command and Control mechanism from WHFB. So different because it was a push your luck system with play turning over to your opponent when you failed a command check. This allowed interrupts which WHFB has never allowed as it was strictly IGOUGO.

Addressing your second part first: you basically verified that the ONLY things Warmaster offered were a fiddly ruleset and smaller minis.

As far as the first part? GW doesn't make the best business decisions, but they most assuredly wouldn't PURPOSEFULLY launch a game with failure in mind. The game was advertized and pushed, people simply didn't like it.

See Battle of Five Armies as a rebuttal to your final point.

As for Warmaster, the rules became the basis for Warmaster: Ancients, Blitzkrieg Commander, Modern War Commander, Future War Commander, Hail Caesar, Pike and Shotte, and Blackpowder. Those are just off the top of my head.......

Plus, there is still a pretty good Warmaster scene in England.

Clearly, only a fiddly ruleset with smaller minis....... I am sorry YOU did not like Warmaster.

Edit:
Man O' War's core rules are good, but every ship needs a side board to track damage and what not.

The expansions add more ships and rules and more randomness and wackiness.

I am interested how Mantic adds the fantasy elements to their naval game?



I also totally agree that Mantic gains nothing from creating a different scale battle game, since KoW can all ready do it, and they all ready have a skirmish game. That should be all they need.... unless they want a fantasy air combat game?

Agreed, no point in making literal KoW but with smaller minis.

I could see a place for 6-10mm Warpath but that setting isn't getting much traction these days, which is a shame as I quite enjoy the refresingly sensible lore and the aesthetic (except putting literal beards on dwarf vehicles).

 Easy E wrote:

I am interested how Mantic adds the fantasy elements to their naval game?

Magic, wizards and magic items and upgrades for ships. Plus sea monsters. Maybe weird movement rules as well?

And it'd be interesting to see air elements added to Armada.

Hopefully they take a page out of Man o' War and make spellcasting an integral part of the game that is assumed to be used all the time, not just with some exceptional upgrade.