And a Champion will rise

Unless you have been hiding under a rock (or so consumed with Halo:Flashpoint that you haven't noticed anything else) then you know Mantic has just released their brand new game - Kings of War:Champions.  Champions is the new small scale version of Kings of War.  Unlike Kings of War:Vanguard that was a skirmish game set in Pannithor that shared models and background with Kings of War, this feels like Kings of War on a much smaller scale. 

Of course, go big or go home, so I pre-ordered the starter bundle, with the 2 player starter set, 2 additional companies, a neoprene game mat and 3d Terrain Pack.  Of course it shows up about 10 am - making it even harder to continue working from hoe knowing that this big box of fun is sitting downstairs, softly calling my name.

So let's start with the mat.  (Because I don't want to reveal the coolest new models at the beginning - I must make you wade through all my other commentary).

Champions is played on a 24" x 42" board.  Since the announcement of the game and the reveal at Adepticon, I've tried to find ANYone that makes this size mat - and so far it appears to be original.

I couldn't really get good pictures of the mat because I don't even have a kitchen table size flat area - so I put it on the washer / dryer - wide enough but not deep enough.  Now writing this I should have taken it upstairs and put it on a bed - but you get the idea.

Very high quality, and not as thin as the last printing of the armada mats.  I'd actually prefer two cheaper ones so I could use them at the same time for running events at Origins/Gencon etc.  Unfortunately it does not come with a bag (even though there is a note included recommending that you unfold the mat and store it rolled up in the provided bag (the mat comes rolled)).  I also haven't been able to find a 24" bag to store them either.  1st world problems.

The bonus you get for ordering the release bundle is a free Deluxe 3D Terrain Pack.

With the tournaments and teaching events I've been doing for over ten years, terrain really isn't something I need more of.

Now I really like the mantic trees - so much that I have a LOT (because I have wanted to upgrade my old railroad trees).

Those are just the ones I have opened - I have four more boxes of trees.

Each of these has 4 trees and 2 stumps (plus some other tiny pieces).  The terrain set has 2 trees and a stump (and I don't plan to use he stumps at all).

However not only do I have all of these, when Mantic did the Vanguard Frontier on MyMiniFactory, I added in the trees!  So I have the stls for the trees as well

Next in the box are three walls.  I have several of those as well (though not as many as trees).  And I included that from the Vanguard Frontier as well, so still more stls

I have a couple of the fences and hedges boxes as well.  The fences are a little spindly, but I LOVE the hedges.

and of course have these stls

and while they aren't Mantic, I do have some clear resin ice walls that would go great on the snow side of the mat.

The last part of this box are four standing stones - these are also from vanguard.  I have some with my vanguard terrain I can use, but that was a third option I made sure I got on MyMiniFactory as well, so have those stls.

I'm not sure how many of these I have with my vanguard terrain in my storage unit, but I know I have at least 1 set (I painted up all the objectives except the dead horse/rider).

So short story long, this extra box is one I don't need, so I am not going to open it and just add it to my prize support pool.

So let's actually get to the 2 player starter set.

First off you get a paper version of the two sided game mat

The rule book, with extra bits of lore for the first 9 champions.  While not part of THIS game, I do like that the book cover features the goblin wiz - it is one of my favorite Mantic miniatures!

There are two double sided sheets of tokens.  The first has a large wood, 6" measuring stick, health counters, victory point counters and a line of sight angle.  The back has the terrain that matches the snow mat.

The second sheet has three walls and the small blocking flat terrain, objective counters, an angle to mark units BEFORE you move them, and two sets of command tokens, again with the snow on the back (and alternate colors for objectives)

So two comments on the counters.

First the ruler.  This is like the one that comes with the Armada counters - it is very pretty.  However this time they learned, so the ruler is accurate and exactly 6" (instead of having art that extends beyond both ends).

Next are the command tokens.  The art is nice, but they decided to make their own runes for these - this is both on the tokens and on the cards -so these need to match the cards.  This is fine for one or two players, but when I need them for an eventual 8 players I want to be able to run, it is problematic.  The token sheets are not available separate from the book (and I can understand this), and normally would just 3d print tokens - but these are unique runes that I now have to recreate (or close to it) to make more.

One solution would be for Mantic to produce an acrylic token set for Champions - and these are the main component of that.  I would snap those right up.

Of course the game includes dice

It also includes the unit and faction order cards for both factions (for a total of 5 cards per faction) (and no, I'm not taking pictures of the actual stats on the cards - some people are not happy with the fact that the cards and champion models will ONLY be available in the box sets (and yes, the factions from the starter will have their own company boxes eventually.

Each company in the game consists of a champion and three units.  People have asked for assembly instructions for a LONG time, and they finally include these.  This is especially helpful for those companies that have a sprue that could make multiple models, so that players can be sure to build the correct variant in that case.

The box also includes the unit bases for each of the units

If anyone needs MDF bases let me know - as I'm going to be using Shogun Miniatures magnet bases, as I have for all my models.

So what actual models come in the box.

First are the Forces of the Abyss.  The units are a troop of lower abyssals, a regiment of abyssal berserkers, and a single Nagari.  

If you want to see the details of these sprues, check out the Nagari here, Abyssal Berserkers here and the Lower Abyssals here.  What this means is I already have at least some of the unit models

So I only HAVE to paint the Nagari and Berserkers - I haven't decided if I'll do new lower abyssals just to make sure the paint scheme matches (I plan to use speed paints, and my lower abyssals are only 9 years old (wow, kind of surprised me when I looked up the links that it was that long ago when my dogs chewed up my kickstarter.

Lastly of course is the champion.

Each of the champions has a unique base - the Bloody Cardinal actually is being carried by damned souls of the abyss

Next are the basileans.  The three units are a troop of Men-at-arms spearmen, a troop of Men-at-arms crossbows, and a troop of Paladin Knights.

The Paladin Knights are all brand new plastic sprues.  The Men-at-arms are also the 'newer' sprues - having come out with Vanguard (and were the first hard plastic sprues that were redone due to the issues with the casting (goblins were the second).

Now I have men-at-arms spearmen, and paladin knights in my old (remember these came out with the V1 kickstarter) demo army, and they are, well looking pretty rough

So I have decided to redo ALL of them for Champions (it is only 26 models after (well, 31 with the horses, which get painted separately).

It turns out that back when Vanguard came out, I never did review the sprue for the men at arms, so (since this is all ready a LONG post), those will be in an upcoming post (with the paladin knights, of course).

For the champion, you have Alanis Sallustis, the great niece of Gnaus Sllustis himself.

Of all the champion models I've seen (or at least pictures of), this is my least favorite.  It is the mace - to me it is just awkward.  I guess I can understand not using another sword (and are priests even allowed to use swords?), but this one at that angle just doesn't work for me.  From the front, it looks more like she is holding some type of gatling gun, not a mace.  But at least both her feet are flat on the ground and she is wearing full armor - so it doesn't feel like the all too common over-sexualized female miniature.

And with that I'm going to stop for now.

I still have the Northern Alliance and Twilight Kin companies to do, plus going in depth on the 'newer' men-at-arms and new Paladin Knights. (which gives me two posts!)

Because it is all fun and games . . .