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Hey guys,

One of the most common questions new people have in coming to this forum is where to begin - how to make an army list, what models can be used, how to multibase (or whether to!) etc.

I'd like to compile the answers to a bunch of questions like that in a thread here, and then I'll update this first post to be an index that links to each post (or to other helpful resources) and acts as a table of contents.

So, what would you say to a KoW beginner, and what resource would you point them to?







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For myself, one of the most confusing things starting KoW was list building. I love it now, and it gives me a lot of the joy that theorycrafting fantasy armies did for a long time, but there was a learning curve! There are two basic rules to list building:

- Taking one Regiment sized unit will allow you to take one Hero/Monster/Warmachine (only one of any of those!) and also two Troop sized units
- Taking one Horde (or even Legion) sized unit will allow you to take one each Hero, Monster, and Warmachine - and also four Troop sized units

That's it really! It's simple enough to do on paper if you get the rulebook PDF (which shows all the different armies and their units) or the physical book, but this website is also really handy once you've gotten the hang of it:
http://kow2.easyarmy.com/

Before you really can make an effective list, though, you need to learn the basics of the rules, of course! You can see a nearly complete version of them here, along with separate PDFs for each army:
http://www.manticgames.com/free-rules.html

The rules are just missing some magic items, and the army lists a few units each... but they're 95% complete and more than enough to get a good taste of things! To really get the most out of the rules it helps to have a summary of things like Nerve, which I will detail more later or perhaps someone else will below. To be continued... (and edited)

Here's a good walk through for anyone transitioning from 8th edition WHFB:
http://blog.untilsomebodylosesaneye.net/2015/07/switching-from-warhammer-8th-edition-to.html

Watching some battlereports is usually a good idea to get a feel of the game and get a handle on the rules before playing
Roundup of youtube battlereports from the Mantic forum: http://vb.manticforum.com/forum/kings-of-war/kow-battle-reports/270867-youtube-battle-report-channels-roundup-thread

If you're in the UK and want KoW sized movement trays, http://war-bases.co.uk/ is the recommended go-to.

For Australia it's http://www.back2base-ix.com/

The US, being the US, has lots of laser cutters about the place, I've seen at least half a dozen recommended on facebook.

If someone does have a good U.S. source for bases please post - I didn't know of one and ended up using a more general laser cutting service (Ponoko) and it cost a bloody fortune!

A lot of local players had gone together and gotten a company to make bases for our group, but I missed that order and they weren't set up for a single run. Having the right size bases is awesome for playtesting - lets you get started right away while still working on your army

 RiTides wrote:
If someone does have a good U.S. source for bases please post - I didn't know of one and ended up using a more general laser cutting service (Ponoko) and it cost a bloody fortune!

A lot of local players had gone together and gotten a company to make bases for our group, but I missed that order and they weren't set up for a single run. Having the right size bases is awesome for playtesting - lets you get started right away while still working on your army

Petty sure litko is based in the states and probably others as well.

I collected a bunch of accessories for KoW on the mantic forum, including movement trays. That thread has pictures, but the links are in this spoiler.
http://vb.manticforum.com/forum/kings-of-war/general-discussion-aa/270745-movement-trays-markers-and-various-helpful-stuff-to-enhance-your-kow-experience

Mantic are good for rank and file infantry, but sometimes their monsters and heroes can be a bit lacking, or even not exist yet. Some suggested sources for monsters, heroes, large infantry, cavalry, and even some alternative themed infantry:

For gamers on a tight budget:
Reaper Miniatures Bones line is your new best friend

For gamers who can afford juice for their kids, and still have some money to spare on minis:
Otherworld Miniatures
Acheson Creations
Iron Wind Metals
Dark Sword Miniatures I have honestly bookmarked half their store in one folder marked "Green Lady options"
Footsore Miniatures
Stonehaven Miniatures
DeeZee Miniatures (various stores, no front of their own)
Kickstarter. Seriously, there's great new stuff on there every month, and most of it actually comes out!

For rich bast... I mean, gamers not on a budget:
Mierce
Creature Caster

For those who want to use 6mm scale minis to play inches-to-cm KoW, or just have normal sized bases that look like massed units Napoleonic style:
Microworld Games

Also, if you wanted to play Kingdoms of Men and don't already have an army of Empire refugees, Perry Miniatures make some astonishingly good English Civil War era troops that fit the bill, and Warlord make minis to suit more ancient themes.

That's excellent, thanks NTRabbit! I may delete my "cheerleader" posts when stickying this but really love those links!

Zywus, if you want you can edit your post above to just link to your thread on the Mantic forum with full pics - no need to have the full body of it here if it is covered elsewhere, and very happy to link folks over to the official forums for info like that (or anything else, really!). Cheers

Yeah I figured they'd come in handy as a shortcut, after I spent a couple of weeks goggling "28mm" with every spelling of every alternative word for tree man to find some still in production options for Tree Herders and Forest Wardens, and reading through Dakka posts from 2010, and TMP comment discussions from 2008, that google turned up.

Turns out there's enough demand for there to be a big number of cool options, but not enough demand to keep more than a tiny handful in production.

 RiTides wrote:
Zywus, if you want you can edit your post above to just link to your thread on the Mantic forum with full pics - no need to have the full body of it here if it is covered elsewhere, and very happy to link folks over to the official forums for info like that (or anything else, really!). Cheers

Ah, I thought I had already included it in the post. Fixed it now.

I though it best to include the links here as people still seem to have some problem accessing the Mantic forum after the downtime around last cristmas.

Terrain!

Any fantasy terrain works, but if you want pretty modular area terrain that is largely flat, and can be adjusted on the fly - both of which are really helpful for dealing with the large multibases of koW when trying to place them inside difficult terrain like swamps, forests, or graveyards - then the area terrain from Worldsmith Industries is great.

And I'm not saying this just because I won a prize there!

http://worldsmithindustries.com/