Let’s get started with our 10mm Kings of War (KoW) challenge! Before we jump into the armies themselves, let’s meet the generals, and discover what brought them to this adventure. Check out our intro article if you want to know what this is all about.
Now that the context and rules for this slow grow challenge are well understood, and a few people have signed up for the challenge, it is time to get started! As you may remember, the first phase of our challenge is called the Concept phase. During that phase, every participant thinks about their army, what they want to achieve during the challenge, and also create their army list.
Building a KoW army is a serious hobby challenge – some might even consider it scary! Horde factions can bring upwards of 200 models in a standard 2300pts list… The good news is, with multi-basing we can play around with exactly how many minis you use per unit. As you might recall, in Kings of War you do not remove models when a unit suffers damage, so you can model the whole unit on one large base, that has the footprint of the whole unit!
In game’s terms, it does not matter too much if there are really 20 infantry in a regiment, only that the overall footprint is 100x80mm… well, 50×40 in our case of half scale Kings of War. So, often people will put only 15 or even less miniatures per infantry regiment base – and sometimes adding scenery elements, creating a small diorama for each unit! In our case, using 10mm models vs 28mm should also make a significant difference on the required effort (assembly, painting…) to get the army project completed.
In any case, properly planning your project – or finding a solid source of motivation! is a crucial element to get to the finish line. So, today, let’s have a look at who our participants are, what brought each of them to the challenge and how they approach it!
Meet the Generals!
In total, eight people have signed up for the challenge. Interestingly, each and every one has a relatively different background in war-gaming, and relationship to Kings of War! Let’s see what everyone has to say… and meet the generals!
EDIT: let’s welcome a new participant, who decided to join us after reading this article! If you are on the fence as well, just jump in and come enjoy Kings of War in 10mm by messaging us on our discord server!
EDIT: another new joiner, yay! now 10 people in the challenge, how cool is that 🙂
Clément, with Undead
By now, you might have guessed that I’m a Kings of War enthusiast… I have started this challenge and am delighted to see new people joining our community thanks to it! I enjoy most aspects of the hobby: assembling, painting, playing… I like and play several systems, but Kings of War is probably my favorite.
I started in Mantica with Vanguard – the “skirmish” game in the same universe. I fell in love with the Forces of the Abyss models and expanded my Vanguard warband into a full army. Then I did the same with Ogres… I’m a greenskin fan, so my current main project for 28mm Kings of War is a goblins army. I also am making Nightstalkers… and I have other projects!
I have always looked at 10mm or such smaller scale with envy, because it allows for really epic (pun intended) armies, and there’s not much I like more in the tabletop hobby than the view of massive, beautiful armies on the table just before the battle begins.
I’ve always wanted to make (an obviously large amount of) skellies in one system or another, but so far have been focusing on another type of hordes: goblins. So, for me, making and painting these 2000pts of half scale undead will be a palate cleanser between two legions of 28mm gobbos for my 2021 Kings of War army… *why am I doing this to myself*.
Riccardo, with Abyssal Dwarfs
Hi everyone, my name is Riccardo and i am originally from Italy. I started with the hobby in the far past of 1993. I was really into Warhammer Fantasy but with the introduction of Age of Sigmar… Well I stopped playing. A couple of years later I got into 40k which I like very much. I decided to take a break from 40k as I find it extremely unbalanced. I have the impression that updates aim to just improve sales rather than the gaming experience, and I cannot keep up with all the new stuff every month.
This is why I would like to get into Kings of War, which I have heard is quite balanced. I would like to play chaos dwarfs (but I also have normal dwarfs and undead). I am also looking to create a 10mm chaos dwarf army. Looking forward to getting to know all of you!
Oliver, with Twilight Kins
Hello everybody, my name is Oliver, a long time Warhammer Fantasy and 40k player. I really try most systems which are available. I recently started to dabble again into rank and file systems, and given our very active KoW group, I decided to give it a try, mostly aiming for high elves, given I love every flavor of elves army in every game. Although for our project I decided to take a different flavor of pointy ears out for a spin.
The 10mm mainly interests me, because I played epic Armageddon back in the day, when a White Dwarf was your usual way to get news, and net lists were unheard of. It’s mostly why I really wanted to join into a 10mm system, it really has a very special appeal. The project itself I did join because I aimed for a Stillmania list for years, alas I am weak willed and never really pulled through. But now, given that we have a group, I think the community spirit will be a big step towards finishing a list within the rules. Besides, I love the idea of setting up a table which includes a bigger scale than your average single village or small forest: maybe a table including a full city, with port, river, and all, that sounds really interesting.
Martin, with Elves the League of Rhordia
Hi folks, my name is Martin and I am an original Berliner, so to say. I’ve started with my tabletop journey ages ago (1997). I began as almost everyone has done, with different GW gaming systems and looked into other gaming universes after them. I got in touch with Kings of War during its 2nd edition, around 2015. Unfortunately I haven’t played a game since then and got back to it with the release of the current 3rd edition. I already had a demo game of it, during one of our local gaming days here in Berlin and it was great fun! I am also playing KoW: Vanguard, the skirmish game aka the ‘little brother’ of KoW, set in the same universe.
Collecting, assembling and painting a whole army of hundreds of models wasn’t that appealing to me honestly, as it takes a lot of time and money to get into it. This kept me away from making a full 28mm scale Kings of War army so far. Thanks to the smaller scale, there is no excuse (entry barrier) for me anymore, so let’s get started! I want to feel the epicness of huge battles again!
So here we are now, with our awesome little (literally!) project, starting with a complete army of 2000 points! For me personally, it’s like a small dream comes true, as I am a huge fan of smaller scale tabletop games, because you need less from everything in terms of space, models and time obviously!
Sadly I’ve missed such cool games like Epic 40k or Warmaster, so I have taken this chance immediately and won’t repeat that ‘mistake’ of missing out again! FOMO anyone? Yes that’s my nickname 🙂
I am really excited to get to play tiny* epic battles, with all of the participants soon.
For me personally, my motivation also is, to start and finish a project at all, including painting, as I am a really lazy painter! So goals set, motivation machines on and go! My biggest fear, I think, is not to finish the challenge/project at all, as I am a person easy to lure into new shiny stuff and get passionate about stuff real quick.
I also tend to do multiple projects in parallel, which often ends in doing nothing, or loose focus on one project aka don’t get anything done, or finished. So it’s great to not, to be alone on this little adventure and have a bunch of nice people around, which will motivate me, as we go through this challenge altogether! I am mostly looking forward to a shiny, massive and painted 2000 points strong Kings of War army and as already mentioned: “Crushing my enemies on the bloody battlefield!” … I mean, to have some great games with all the other challengers! ^^
Max, with Undead
Hey fellow generals! My tabletop adventure started something like 15 years ago, with Warhammer 40k and Tau. Although my Tau have been gathering dust now for some time, I recently started a new Space Marines army. And in between I played a lot of Warhammer Fantasy. I liked the lore and my Imperium army a lot. But one day it ended and left a big hole in my heart. Since then I have been always looking for an interesting fantasy project with some rank & file action.
And the slow grow project seems finally to be that project! I am interested in 3d-printing, so it will be a reason to spend more time with my printer. Check. Because of the scale, it seems doable, as I never ever had a finished army before. Check. And it provides a pool of opponents, to wage battles against. Check.
I am quite thrilled!
Pete, with Free Dwarfs
My introduction to the miniatures hobby was in 1989 with a copy of Heroquest. From there I moved into Warhammer Fantasy and played on and off throughout the 90s and early 2000s. My first love was Dwarfs and as a teenager I collected a large Marauder Dwarf army. I drifted away from gaming during my 20s (university and beer took over), but I returned a decade later and collected a Beastmen army. Since 2015 I’ve been mainly playing KoW and have built and painted a dedicated Herd army (KoW Beastmen). I think KoW is an extremely fun and elegant ruleset that plays fast and offers great modelling opportunities – I absolutely love multi-basing.
I’m entering the challenge because firstly, I’ve never tried a smaller scale before and the concept sounds appealing and secondly, I think it is a great opportunity to introduce new players to KoW and hopefully entice them to try the full-scale version once they’re hooked!
Fernando, with Order of the Green Lady
Hello, my name is Fernando (@catsgamesandpizza) and I’m originally from Brazil. Despite having no official Games Workshop representation in the country (save for some short-lived and unsuccessful attempts), I was part of an independent game club heavily focused on WHFB. My first army was a gunline of Dwarves (made from BFSP sets, remember that?), and eventually I had a horde of night goblins with plenty of hiding fanatics.
As for many others, Kings of War came into my radar after the End Times but I never really gave it much thought for lack of an active community. The idea of a small-scale wargame always piqued my interest, but chasing old, rare and expensive Warmaster miniatures never attracted me. Let’s just say finding this group and the advent of 3D printing was the perfect storm.
I think the easiest way to make miniatures look great at this scale is to have bold, contrast, striking colors. This immediately made me think of the Bretonnian knights heraldry, which allows for an almost endless combination of colors and patterns for each knight. As luck would have it, that’s one of the excellent armies that Forest Dragon has created in their Patreon and is being produced by Excellent Miniatures, so the decision was pretty much made!
To keep with the knightly theme I will be replacing the Forces of Nature units with peasants (imagine a Beast of Nature represented by a peasant rabble!), but the main theme of the army will be hordes of forest-striding cavalry.
Wolfram, with Sylvan Kin
Hey there, my name is Wolfram and I re-entered the hobby just a bit over half a year ago. I first started playing tabletop in the early 2000s with Warhammer Fantasy and was really enjoying it. At some point my focus in life was on other things and as I needed money, I sold my beloved Dark Elves. Over a decade later I found my love for tabletop again. I started with a skirmish game because it’s an easy and fast way to get into the hobby (and I found a really good one) and building a whole army seemed a bit daunting to begin with. I already had in mind to build a fantasy army at some point in the future again – although it couldn’t be a GW system because AoS just isn’t for me.
KoW seemed always interesting but until now I haven’t really thought of getting into it because, again, a whole army seemed a tough prospect. But when I read about the challenge, I didn’t have to think twice about joining! The fact that I can build a fantasy army with relatively low effort and costs alongside my skirmish project makes me happy, but for me it’s not all about building and painting miniatures. I want to play and I want good and interesting rules. So I’m super happy that I have the opportunity to try out KoW, especially after reading the rulebook. And I’m really looking forward to doing this with all the other guys, getting to know them and playing games with them.
Andy, with Abyssal Dwarfs
Hi I’m Andy! On and off, I’ve been hobbying and wargaming for around 15 years now, mainly focusing on Warhammer 40,000, but lately I’ve been branching out into other things. Being based in Nottingham, the gaming scene here is huge, with Warhammer World right on my doorstep! I got back into the hobby more with the dark vengeance box set as i LOVE the new Death Guard Models. From that, my collection has grown, through to Bloodbowl and other bits and bobs. My current main project is a 2000 point 3rd company imperial fists army – a lot of yellow!
In terms of how I got into Kings of War, I’ve had a couple of games a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed. With lockdown, the means and ways of hobbying have changed, and whilst browsing the web, I came across smaller scale armies, and was hooked. I’ve always been fascinated by dwarves, but wanted to try the darker side, so abyssal dwarves were the right choice! From there, I sourced some files and decided to take the plunge! I came across this challenge from a group of Facebook, and thought it was the push and drive I needed to get stuff done! Planning, building, printing have taken place. I’ll be working on some test paint schemes soon, and cannot wait to get things progressed!
Sebastian, with Elves
Greetings fellow Generals! My name is Sebastian and I have been involved in the hobby for almost twenty years now. For me it started with historic airplanes, tanks and some 1:72 Napoleonic infantry. When I was thirteen I bought my first GW magazine, which included a free LotR Uruk-hai mini, and the rest is history 🙂 I spent a while painting, collecting and fluffing LotR, some 40k, historic 28mm etc. but rarely played games except for once or twice a year. After a uni-break in hobbying, I was introduced to KoW 2nd edition and could finally pour my LotR mini enthusiasm into building proper fantasy armies. These days I field 1500p of Dwarves, 2000p of Elves, and my Ork army (Uruk-hai ;)) is still expanding.
For the 10mm slow-grow challenge I’ve decided to stick to my roots and go for a faction I absolutely love: Elves! My representation of Elves for this challenge is focused on ‘city-elves’ (white walls, tall towers, mountains), and draws inspiration from fluff close to the Silmarillion High-Elves. The army list is mainly built around infantry with a good 50/50 mix of ranged and close combat, a charismatic king of the city, and some eagles. Thanks to the recommendation of @Martin I found minis with a beautiful, old-school style and look forward to testing them out. Since this is my first time painting 10mm minis, I am very excited to see how it goes! It’s always a good idea to have a strong community and goals for finishing projects (nothing like a gaming day deadline ;)) so let’s get those armies out in the field!
That’s it for today! If you also want to join, it’s not too late! You’re absolutely welcome to catch up with where we’re at right now, and come say ‘Hi’ in the #kings-of-war channel on our discord server! I don’t know about you, but I’m super looking forward to seeing these Undead, Abyssal Dwarfs, Twilight Kin, Elves, Undeads, Free Dwarfs, Order of the Green Lady, and Sylvan Kin! Join us next time to meet the armies…
Would you like to write a battle report, a kit review or share your project with us? Submit your blog post ideas using this form and reach out to a council member or directly on #website on our Discord!
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