Kings of War Fourth Edition: Our First Tournament!

G’day Goonhammer readers! The new edition of Kings of War, fourth edition, has been out for almost a month, and events are starting to happen around the world as we all come out of our holiday comas. We, Urr and Cytoplasm, got in three games of Kings of War fourth edition at a local one-day event, and we can now confidently say that the game is still very much Kings of War, but with a little less hassle and a little more action.

Moving on Up in the Movement Phase

One of the most profound yet simple changes to fourth edition is that everyone gets two pivots when moving with Advance and one pivot when moving At the double. This makes unit positioning a lot more forgiving (unless you’re a Shambling unit). Bad deployments can be rectified and units getting in the way of each other can be resolved in a turn. This is particularly important for the newer players that are not familiar with the rank and flank format, where unit movement has limitations and restrictions compared to the free-for-all movement of skirmish-style wargames. There’s nothing quite so disheartening as realizing the deployment of your units will take more than half the game to fix, something that is much easier to resolve in the new edition.

Andy's Twilight Kin versus Brendan's Northern Alliance! Credit: Cytoplasm

The second and most exciting result of these changes is that the games feel like they are one turn faster than they were in third edition Kings of War. The first two-to-three turns of a third edition Kings of War game involved moving units up, then getting them into position before the lines met for close quarters fighting in turns three and four. Now, all that movement and positioning can happen at the same time in turn one. For those with restraint and good sense, they might hold off for one more turn, but for those of us that just want to get in and smash, charges on turn two with infantry units are now possible!

Irrespective of your self control, Kings of War fourth edition feels more fluid, while still keeping its rank and flank movement mechanics intact.

Tactical Targeting in the Ranged Phase

Compared to all the other phases of Kings of War fourth edition, the Ranged Phase has changed the least on paper, but there are two simple changes in the rules that completely alter the feel of the phase. The first is that only Devastated units can be routed in the Ranged Phase, that is, a unit needs to have suffered more damage than they have Nerve. Otherwise, if the Nerve test is failed the unit is Wavered. This turns the Ranged Phase from a phase of lethality, to one of tactical nuance. A Wavered unit in front of the rest of the army can hold up the entire advance. The Ranged Phase is now about impacting enemy movement more than it is about killing. Killing is still possible, but requires a concentration of fire to a degree most are not familiar with. In our games this still happened, but it truly required the full might of enemy firepower to achieve, rather than a lucky Nerve test taking a unit out.

A horde of Tucky's Chakram wielding Yan are a major threat at short range. Credit: Cytoplasm.

The other change in the Ranged Phase is that of Cover. It’s quite simple - the centre-point of the unit needs to be in cover to gain the effects of that cover, or more than half the unit needs to be obscured by intervening models or terrain. There’s obviously the whole height difference as well, but ultimately the Cover rules are far easier to determine compared to third edition Kings of War. This just streamlines the game yet further. Get your unit into cover, get the benefits of cover. Easy. It saved my Abyssal Nagarri from Abyssal Dwarf Decimators and it will save your units, too.

Getting Stuck into the Combat Phase

The nature of combat now is that a unit can do the following movement orders once in combat: Halt!, Reform!, and Withdraw!. None of these orders enable a unit to simply walk away from combat and charge something else in the same turn, hence the Kings of War community has taken to calling this “sticky combat”.

Cytoplasm's Lord of Lies is opposed by Tucky's brave, if doomed, Warrior Monks of Yan. Credit: Cytoplasm

The impact of sticky combat is that once units get stuck into combat (hah), they remain there until the bitter end of one of the units. This means other units might enter the fray over the course of the game and a big pile up can ensue, with multiple units hitting flanks. It also means that the tougher units that like to grind can actually share the limelight with faster, harder hitting units, especially now that multicharges into the same facing are limited to just two units. It’s still possible for two units to obliterate an enemy unit in a single charge, but a well placed horde of infantry can stand up to the best now, where before that third unit charging in would spell the end. My horde of Lower Abyssals held their ground and used their Regeneration for three turns, despite being charged in the front and the flank! This enabled other units to come to their rescue and eventually win over that entire side of the battlefield.

Combat does not have drag out all game, though, as the new Withdraw! rule gives unit a way out, albeit at the risk of losing them. A unit of Flamebearers were stuck in combat, with Molochs behind, ready to go in and clean up the enemy. Using Withdraw!, I rolled my Nerve test, and the already damaged Flamebearers failed and routed, but this meant my Molochs could go in and get the job done. It was an elegant way to keep combat flexible, and it was fun blowing up my own pesky Flamebearers when they were no longer of use. This felt very fitting for an Abyssal player.

Finally, the ability to split attacks in combat was quite fun. In some games it was perhaps the only path to victory. Can his unit destroy both of my units in combat to secure the scoring zone? Maybe, but unlikely, yet at least there was a means, and that was exciting. The simplicity of dividing the attacks as one sees fit, rather than based on facing, is also elegant. A horde of Salamander Ceremonial Guard can put all 25 of its attacks into an enemy in the flank if it so chose, even if the press of battle prevented it from performing a Reform!.

Impact of Command Orders

The Command Orders of fourth edition are much simpler than those seen at the end of third edition Kings of War. Every “Commander” unit can issue a Command Order, and the success is based on rolling two or three dice for Champions and Warlords, respectively. Each faction has their own Command Orders and there are no universal command orders, so the array of choice is quite limited.

Currently, all armies have at least two Command Orders to use, while those in the first expansion book Kings of War: Invasion have anywhere from four to six Command Orders. As is inevitable, some Command Orders are more obviously useful than others.

In the Forces of the Abyss, for example, the two command orders are quite situational. Burn the Sinners gives Fireball to a unit to cast for the turn, which is useful on units that might have otherwise nothing else to do. Unfortunately the one time I managed to get it off, the Fireball missed anyway. The other Abyssal Command Order is Unholy Shield which gives +1 Defense to units of the Upper Circle (low ranking units) against ranged attacks in their front facing only. The times I did use this, the enemy simply shot something else, like my Molochs, which could not benefit from this Command Order. All in all the Forces of the Abyss Command Orders are quite lacklustre, but thankfully the actual army itself is very fun.

Rex's Forces of Nature versus Cam's Forces of the Abyss (Slaaneshi edition!). Credit: Cytoplasm

The Forces of Nature Command Orders were a stark comparison to those of the Abyssals. Blessing of the Lady heals a unit for each successful roll of the dice. Nature Trails gives Strider to Large Infantry and Infantry. Both of these are phenomenally useful all of the time, and the players that used Forces of Nature stated just how great these were.

The differences between factions when it comes to Command Orders are even more obvious among the armies from the Invasion book. The important thing to note is that despite this, the armies each feel unique and play in fun ways even if their Command Orders don’t really add much to the experience. It’s just nice when they do.

Diversity of Scenarios and Deployments

A very exciting addition to Kings of War are the three types of deployments; along the long edges, the short edges or diagonally opposed. These aren’t anything new to rank and flank wargaming, but the fact that these deployments are independent of scenario means that when combined with the twenty different scenarios in the fourth edition rulebook, there’s sixty permutations. In this event, each of the three deployments were used and everyone agreed they were both a lot of fun, and they changed up the game considerably.

Tucky's Xirkaali against Urr's Nightstalkers in diagonal deployment! Credit: Cytoplasm

One example of how deployment and scenario can come together to make something new is with the scenario Control and the diagonal deployment. Scoring victory points in Control is based on controlling the six 24” squares that make up the battlefield, each is worth 1 Victory Point, but the one in your opponent’s deployment zone is worth 2 Victory Points to you. Since diagonal deployments changed the deployment zone concept up, it meant that the opposite corner regions were worth 2 Victory Points. This was a long way to walk for units and difficult to achieve, but was quite fun!

March of the Xirkaali

Mantic’s newest army for Kings of War, the Xirkaali, are an empire of dog-headed humanoids who march into battle with human auxiliaries and creatures from across their realm. They really are a nice set of models, and not just in a nice-for-Mantic way, but genuinely good.

Tucky's Xirkaali three days after their delivery to his door. Credit: Cytoplasm

How do the Xirkaali feel on the tabletop? Well, there were two Xirkaali players at the event, we’ve each had one game against the faction, and have dabbled in some list-building ourselves. For those worried at home, they are not overpowered, but they do have a lot of fun and strong options. Part of this are the complete set of Command Orders they get due to being in the Invasion book; six in total. All the Command Orders are useful, if situational. Every order got used at least once in Urr’s game against one player, and most were used in Cytoplasm’s game against the other Xirkaali player.

All the units in the Xirkaali army are solid choices, too. Across the two army lists at the event, we saw all the Core options in use, all the Specialist and almost all the Support choices on the table (no War Machines). Obviously, this is a tiny sample, but it's still nice to see all options being available to a player, without hindering their ability to win. This is how a new army should be, fun but not too powerful.

The Next Event: Mantic Mania 2026

Just Urr from here on. Normally we have a separate article on list design for Clash of Kings Australia, now called Mantic Mania. Given the games at this event were probably the only games I’d get in before list submission, we thought we’d just put it all in here. This was my list:

Urr’s Nightstalkers: 2000 Points


**1st Battalion**
1 x Void Lurker 
1 x Void Talon
3 x Scarecrow [Regiment]
1 x Reaper [Regiment]
1 x Butcher [Regiment]
1 x Phantom [Troop]
1 x Fiend [Regiment] Sir Jesse’s Boots of Striding
1 x Soulflayer [Troop]
1 x Mindscreech
1 x Terror

As you can see, it was mostly a one of everything style, to try out as much as possible, and to test out the units that had had changes. So how did they all feel?

The Void Lurker remains great. He didn’t die all weekend, and flew about causing mischief, disrupting my opponents plans. Along with this, the Void Talon is amazing. It’s got every special rule, and can swing combats with Cloak of Death, Dread, and Rallying and it doesn't even have to be in the combat. Simply flying over the top and sitting behind, looking for a rear change was enough.

Urr's Nightstalkers getting tested for the first time! Credit: Urr

Scarecrows, Reapers, Soulflayers and Phantoms all do the same job they used to, with a bit more maneuverability (technically Phantoms are the same, as they used to have Nimble). This is great for all of them, especially the flyers. Butchers are technically worse off, losing two attacks, but I could never get them to kill anything anyway. I did actually get to use Retaliate! for some extra damage into the Xirkaali Spearwardens, which was nice but nothing you should rely on. Fiends got a big change, moving to 18 attacks at melee 3+. This is great, as they can finally do something after charging into terrain, but I still can’t get myself to love them. It’s the Crushing Strength (1) paired with the Defence 4+. They can’t grind and can’t alpha strike. What can do both, it turns out, is the Terror. It was just running through regiments the whole weekend. Barely taking any damage, and using Regeneration or Drain Life support to get them back. The Drain Life change on the Mindscreech felt fine. It’s another way to swing combat, along with the Void Talon. If you want to lean into the Nightstalker grind lists, it's a great change, though not as good as the old Heal that the Planar Apparition had (RIP). I do think it fits the Nightstalker theme better though.

So, where does that leave a Mantic Mania list? Right now, I have narrowed it down to three choices. The first is a triple titan list, with a Void Lurker, a Terror and a Shadow Hulk. The second is a Scarecrow/Reaper/Soulflayer list, and the third is back to Tormentors. There’s lots to think about!

But while I am still deciding on what to bring for Kings of War, I am locked in for Firefight!

Fighting Fire on the Side (Event)

While Kings of War was quieter this year as we waited for the fourth edition, I was busy putting together and painting up an army for this year's Firefight event, held the Monday directly following the Kings of War event. After scoping some things out, I have decided on the Plague. Mostly this was after finding a Plague Strike Force set for half price, and also I feel like running at people to smash face will be all I am capable of after the preceding two days.

Urr's Plague army for Firefight. Credit: Urr.

See You at Mantic Mania!

The biggest Australian tournament of Kings of War (and Firefight), Mantic Mania 2026, is coming up fast, the 24th-26th of January to be exact. Held in Canberra, it draws players from across the continent and this year managed to hit 50 players. Not the highest it’s ever had, but very respectable given the rules for Kings of War fourth edition have barely been out a whole month. Tickets might be closed, but if you email the organiser very nicely there’s rumour that he will let you come along anyway. See you there!

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