Time to start again

It doesn't seem like all that long ago when Mantic released the 3rd edition of Kings of War and a brand new starter set featuring the Northern Alliance and Nightstalkers.   Well maybe it will be a yearly tradition, but a brand new 2 player starter set is now out for Kings of War 3rd edition.

It comes with the Gamer's Edition soft cover rulebook (which is all the rules but not the fluff), just like the previous starter set.

There is a new Getting Started booklet with the ratkin and goblins featured.  Once again this is an excellent resource for people brand new to the game and the hobby, giving a little bit of background, tips for assembling and painting your miniatures, and even a quick campaign featuring the models in the box (including an army list for each faction).

Before I get into the models, there is one criticism I have with this set.  It is great to show off the brand new hard plastic models; featuring both the goblins and ratkin.  However for brand new players, they have to get the additional Uncharted Empires supplement in order to get the full Ratkin army list.  I can see people getting upset that they need the second book in order to get all the options for just the models in the starter set, let alone what other models are in the faction.  Ideally they would have included the supplement in the box as well, but they would not have been able to keep the price point they wanted ($99 in the US).  Hopefully they will have some specials to add it to the starter soon (though it appears that it is already sold out on their web site).  The other option would have been to just include a printout of the Ratkin army list as well.

Ok, so back to the really good stuff.  There are 44 goblin models and 42 ratkin models in the box.

For the goblins, you get 40 of the brand new, hard plastic goblins.  The mini army list for the mini-campaign has a regiment of sharpsticks and a regiment of spitters - but of course you can make them as you like.  (I reviewed the new hard plastic goblins here).

There is a regiment of trolls as well.  These have been out since the first Kings of War kickstarter, but I don't think I've ever showed them, so without further ado:

Each regiment of three trolls has two bodies - two of the first

and one of the second

The common joke with both the trolls and the Ogres are that they skipped leg day at the gym, being a bit top heavy (though I never had the issue with any of the trolls I had with the metal ogre command bits). 

There is a choice of four heads as well.  Like a lot of the premium plastic, these require a bit of careful cleanup for the seams.

There is one pair of arms holding a two-handed weapon.

Then two separate right arms (these both will require a little bit of hot water to straighten out)

and two left arms

I already have two regiments (which are easily combined into a horde) of trolls for my goblins - so for once you get to see painted versions of the models.

Lastly, they have include the new resin hero model Grupp Lognail (which can also be used as a Wiz).  Grupp is from the new Halpi's Rift supplement.  It is interesting that while Grupp is a Spellcaster(1), he doesn't actually include any spells, and since he is a unique character, he cannot take any.  So his gauntlets actually help him in combat.

I think he looks better as a wiz than a fighter though, and plan to use this model as a wiz in my demo army.  I've also already seen someone paint his gauntlets as the Infinity Gauntlet!

Then there are the ratkin.  You get a night terror, which was originally for Deadzone and Warpath.  

There are two head options (shown on either side of the body)

There are also two left arms to choose from

as well as two right arms

The legs don't have options, though the feet are separate pieces

There are two options for a weapon - either a mounted gun, or combat blades.  The model doesn't have a 'standard' shooting attack (though since it is a hero, you could always add an artifact if you really wanted that).

Almost forgot the tail - and all rats need their tails (unless they are really stupid) 

Originally my demo ratkin army did not have a Night Terror in it - but looking at the models that are available now for Ratkin - I can make a 1000 pt demo army that is all Mantic except for two models ( and those may change when the rest of the ratkin army comes out next year).  So I equipped him with combat blades for the new version of my ratkin demo army.

There is also a nice resin character model of Twitch Keenear, which I'm using as a Warlock.

Of course the really big deal are the all new hard plastic ratkin.

Unfortunately it looks like I'm out of space this time - so you'll have to check in next time to see them :-)

Because it is all fun and games . . .