completed Kings of War: Vanguard

[Jeneki]

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/kings-of-war-vanguard-the-fantasy-skirmish-wargame

 

Skirmish game in the Kings of War setting.  There's a rules preview link in the kickstarter description.

 

For new models there are two forces to choose from initially.  Big images in the Hidden Contents below.

 

 

 

 






 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2017 by Jeneki

[cdorf]

I was excited for this one, and now I am not so sure.  Their initial offering is really lackluster.  

[TheAuldGrump]

Starts small, with what will be covered by the first goal - it will continue to rise as the KS continues. (Mantic has learned from bitter experience, I believe....)

 

A friend of mine is in for the Night Stalkers - he wants them for post-apocalyptic mutant horrors.

 

And I am in for the Basileans - which, if nothing else, will be in use for Mordheim. (Most likely as well as Vanguard - the Alpha rules are pretty good.)

 

The Auld Grump

[Knight of the Dinner Table]

At the moment they're forcing people to buy terrain that many people probably will already be getting as they backed Mantic's terrain Kickstarter. I feel this needs some work pledge level wise.

[Balgin Stondraeg]

The Alpha rules are basically the same as their sci fi skirmish game Deadzone. That's not a bad thing. In fact it makes them easier to get to grips with if you're familiar with the other system although it also makes you less likely to notice the differences.

 

I wish there was a version without the miniatures because I've got loads of appropriate figures already.

[TheAuldGrump]

I am looking forward to the plastic scarecrows and the remake of the Men at Arms for the Basileans. (The original Men at Arms plastics were... pretty damned horrible - the plastics manufacturer did not have the right software, so instead traced the renders by hand... badly.)

 

As for plastic scarecrows... always useful for Hallowe'en, eh?

 

The Auld Grump

[terminalmancer]

This one might not be for me. At least, not yet. I guess we'll see.

[JoeGKushner]

Might get it just for the bad guys and terrain. Already have enough generic good guy knights.

[Dai-Mongar]

For a skirmish game there's more repetition in the mini poses than I'd like.

Hoping for the option to pick and choose add ons, plus a couple of deluxe mat options, but we'll see. With $30 for shipping I'll probably just wait for retail.

[aku-chan]

Yeah, I was looking forward to this one as I like the look of both forces, but most of the minis being duplicates is incredibly off-putting.

 

I know there's probably some alt-sculpt stretch goals coming up, but I don't get why an established company like Mantic can't put out two small groups of unique minis from the start, when this is pretty much a given for any new skirmish game that hits Kickstarter.

[Unruly]

I'm in the "was excited, but now hesitant" camp. I was kind of expecting more than just Basileans and Night Stalkers as their options for initial factions, and, since these minis are also supposed to be able to be used for a full KoW army, two different poses for the doubles. I mean, all their other KoW minis have at least two variants that are more than just repositioning arms, and you'd think they'd have thrown some stuff in there using some existing KoW minis or something. I'm also wondering if when they say resin they mean resin-resin or their "Restic" resin plastic stuff, which I've found to be hit and miss. I've dealt with it for infantry and cavalry units, and while the infantry is generally ok, the cavalry stuff was a pain in the butt. I had a lot of issues with fitting and gaps, despite boiling to soften them up and reshape them. Using it for bigger monsters, like their earth elementals, seems to be their best use of it in my opinion. And the inclusion of lots of terrain, while useful for some, seems kind of pointless for the base pledge. You'd think that would have been set aside as an optional thing. After all, they're primarily going to be grabbing a lot of their existing Kings of War players, and while they may not have smaller terrain pieces like barrels and crates, they should have fences, walls, and stuff like that covered.

 

That said, is the PVC plastic that they use for their Walking Dead game the same as what's used for Dungeon Saga and LOKA minis? I've got a few of those from their random grab bag type boxes, and they're actually pretty nice. Stiffer than Bones, more flexible than styrene, and they seem to hold an almost equivalent level of detail.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Unruly

[Spacefrog]

Aren't most of the existing basilean sculpts multipose with multiple weapon options?

Something that would be perfect for a skirmish game.

 

I seem to recall the man-at-arms, sisters and paladins, I got from the kickstarter where at least.

I don't know if they have updated the sculpts since then.

[Unruly]

Yea, most of their sculpts for everything are multipose with at least two weapon options. Which is why it's kind of weird that they're not doing that with these. The Basileans getting a resculpt isn't a bad thing, though. The originals have hands the size of their heads, and their faces are kinda froggy.

 

I took a look at the comments over on the kickstarter, and most people seem to be wondering why they only did the one pledge level rather than breaking it down into multiple for things like rules only; rules and a warband; rules, two warbands, and terrain; etc. There are some people moaning about PVC being used instead of straight resin, metal, or styrene, but I put those people in the "whiners" category because they're complaining that it doesn't hold detail for crap. If it's the same stuff as what they use for LOKA and Dungeon Saga, the figures I've got say otherwise. I just don't know if it's 100% same stuff*.

 

*The Dungeon Saga Kickstarter FAQ says that those figures are PVC, and that it's the same PVC they use for LOKA, so I'm assuming it's also the same PVC they use for Walking Dead, which they used as an example in the Vanguard kickstarter page.

[Knight of the Dinner Table]

The old Basileans were terrible (my opinion). They also were a bit on the smaller side compared to most other miniatures I have. Will these ones be as small? Any information on that?

[pinkymadigan]

I'm firmly in the whiner camp on this one. Glad they at least added a 2 warband option, but I'm still going to hold off for retail and just snag the book and dice I think. I was interested in the Nightstalkers, but I'm not interested in PVC. Sounds like some of it will be resin, from the update (at least the bigger stuff), but I have no interest in monopose or PVC, and combining the two kills it for me.

Also, am I the only one who hates the way their terrain looks? At first I thought it was just the renders from terrain crate, but I see they posted prototype pictures in their last update (went to see because of this campaign, I didn't back it), and it still looks like dollhouse furniture to me? Fat, smooth pieces with really thin etching that will likely make it hard to hold detail? I've 0 interest in Mantic's scenery at all.