Broken Alliance

The latest novel set in Mantic's Kings of War universe is Broken Alliance by Scott H Washburn, with eBooks available at Zmok books or Amazon, and dead trees editions to be out soon.

This books takes us to a less explored area of the continent of Mantica in the world of Pannithor,   It is the story of the break between the Halflings of the shires and the League of Rhordia, something that has happened very recently in the history of this fantasy world.  The 3rd edition League of Rhordia army list (in Uncharted Empires) no longer had many of the halfling units that were in the previous edition, and in Clash of Kings 2021 edition, the new Halfling army was released, adding back the missing units and greatly expanding on the available options.

Focusing entirely on Aeron Cadwallader, a halfling cadent at the College of Warcraft in the city of Eowolf in the League of Rhordia.  The first half of the book reads more like a biography than a standard fantasy novel, due tot he sole focus on the single character.  I felt it might have benefitted from the viewpoints of some of the other characters, as many of them did not feel very fleshed out, since you only see them from Aeron's single perspective.  However this no long seems to be an issue in the second half once the action and battles begin.

The description of the battles is done very well, for something that can often get muddy and confusing.  The introduction late in the book of some of the new units from the games (I especially like the way the trolls seem to be living, breathing, somewhat intelligent beings, not just throwaway monsters).  I really enjoy the little callbacks to the game without being too obvious.  In there end there are two units that didn't make it into the book, but they aren't truly missed.  I would love to have a model of the airship as well, though I understand how it would never actually be able to fit into the game.  In addition I found it very enjoyable to see explanations as to how some of the game special abilities work and came about (such as spellward and gastromancy).  

There are several maps spread throughout the book to help to illustrate the settings and the battle plans, and I found myself referring to them several times.

It does assume the reader has some idea of the world where it is set - knowing what the world is and the League of Rhordia.  However, it is a nice addition to the background of this game world.  In the end it made me go back and want to look up Aeron Cadwallader to see his special rules in the game (which, after an entire book about him, seem like he isn't as good in the game as he should be).  

Because it is all fun and games . . .