An epic fantasy miniatures war game set in a stunning world.
Way back in August 2013 I made my contribution (Ancient King level: all 5 factions plus large monsters) to the Wrath of Kings miniatures game Kickstarter campaign, and a bit over a year and a half later over 200 figures requiring assembling and painting arrived in the mail and hit my hobby table. It’s a big project, and you could probably say I have enough games of this type. But as a big fan of Rackham’s Confrontation, I couldn’t resist another game so obviously inspired by it, and in fact employing some of that game’s original sculptors. In a time when so many miniatures are designed in the computer and can seriously lack character, these little fighting men and women and beasties are bursting with personality.
The rules, thankfully, are pretty straightforward; in fact I managed to get all of the basic rules on one side of an A4 sheet. Of course there’s a plethora of special abilities and exceptions, described in very literal fashion in tiny type on the backs of graphically busy unit cards, but that’s par for the course for this kind of game. The game plays very well (check out my battle reports) and I think it may even replace Confrontation as my fantasy tabletop game of choice—especially when a quicker game is in order.
I always appreciate your opinions of games and I’ve been very interested in Wrath but so far haven’t invested yet. The one really worth it? Anything like the old Rackham Confrontation?
I can’t really tell you yet Robert as it will be a while before I get it to the table. The rules look straightforward and the miniatures are good quality with a lot of personality (with some stylistic similarities to Rackham miniatures), but the actual game review will have to wait until I’ve painted up some factions and played some games. It will happen though!
Thanks for this. Very helpful as always. But you might want to check the section on “Common Special Abilities”. The info on
Unbreakable: Replace the lowest on this model’s defense
chart with .
Unrelenting(x): Replace (x) on the defender’s chart with .
Unstoppable(x): Replace (x) Non- Non- on the defender’s
chart with .
Don’t match that of the rules, unless there’s an FAQ I’m not aware of?
You’re correct, thanks for that – fixed!
@ UH: Now that some of my pet projects are done, are you ready for some more WoK errata?
1. Basics: “When checking distance between elements, always between from the closest points on the bases.” I’m sure there’s a word (measure?) missing somewhere there.
2. Game play: “The active player is the player who’s turn it is.” Sorry, the Grammar Nazi in me thinks it’s “whose” and not “who’s”.
3. Deployment: “Alternate deploying in this manor until all players have deployed all of their (A) models, then (B) models, then (C) models and so forth.” Grammar Nazi thinks it’s “manner” and not “manor”.
4. Generic Terrain Suggestions: “Bolder/Pillar/Tree”. I’m pretty sure our American friends haven’t gone so far as to remove the “u” from “boulder” no matter what else they may have done. 😉
5. Common Special Abilities : “Feint (1): Replace (1) on the defender’s chart with .” The graphic should be a Parry, not a Block.
Hope this helps!
PS. Grammar Nazi disclaims any and all spelling errors and mistakes he might have made in this post.
Excellent, all fixed – though I quite like the idea of players deploying in a manor house.
Do I detect rumblings of a possible future “build-your-own manor” video on the way? 😉
Wait… Version 1.2 is in B&W?
Build your own manor? I’ve already done it.
For v1.2 I’ve supplied a B&W version as well as a colour version.
Have you built any of those? They look great on the website, but I suspect require a lot of time and effort to get the best from them!
I’m designed and did the artwork for Thoumont’s, though after spending a ridiculous amount of time on it I handed it over to someone to finish off the technical aspects of the job (and who also expanded it to that TLX version). I still get the occasional bit of royalties from it.
Ah. you’re right. That’s what I get for looking at this page on my phone (small screen).
I seem to have accidentally bought a Shael Han starter set for £21 including postage. Normal retail in UK seems to be around £60, so a bit of a bargain.
Of course I don’t have an opposing army, or friend with one, but I need time to assemble and paint. Right after I finish Imperial Assault, Warmachine Cryx & Mercenaries and so many other…
Gee… we seem to be an accident-prone bunch of folks here… 😉
Off to UK Games Expo in a couple of weeks and it seems that the UK distributer for Wrath of Kings will be there, so it’s my best chance to get a look at the miniatures in real life… and buy some.
As mentioned above, I have Shaal Han and so I’m looking for adversaries for them. My gut says Goritsu as I like the look of them, but Teknes piggy army looks fun. Not fond of Hadross look and not so keen on Nasier.
Any advice on what would make an interesting match up for Shaal Han? Or any warnings on which are the biggest nightmare to assemble?
Any of the other factions would make a good match up with SH since SH plays very differently to the other 4. SH is also one of the trickiest to play but very rewarding once you do.
Nasier is the worst in terms of assembly. All those spiky bits. But you’re not keen on them so that’s all right 🙂
Good morning. Thanks for this amazing document. I have found 1 error, in Motivations: Sever the head, when a model marked is killed, the opponent loses 2 morale and the document says 1.
Thankyou, I’ll fix that immediately!
The link is wrong, is still linking to 2.1.
Apologies – fixed!
Hey,
I know I’m quite late to the party but I was wondering where I might obtain the second rule book. The miniatures are awesome and I got some and it’s a blast to paint them. For playing I’d like to have a look at the second book.
Your reference sheet is huge! Thank you!
I don’t know Eric, but since the game is dead now your best bet might be Ebay.
Yeah that’s where I checked already. I will try to reach cmon. Maybe the state of deadness will make them consider publishing a PDF on their wrath of kings page.
Thank you for the fast answer!
Yeah, I wouldn’t hope too hard on that one. But hopefully it will come up on Ebay for you.