Get Back Gaming: Kings of War Global Campaign

So far this week we’ve been talking about our exciting Get Back Gaming initiative. Whether you’re planning on coming down to HQ, watching online or perhaps even attending a tournament, we’re trying to make it as easy as possible to get your gaming buzz back. After yesterday’s blog talking about Armada, today we’re delving into Kings of War!

One of the key elements of Kings of War is that we want a storyline that is always changing. This means that between editions there will be key events that shape the narrative and potentially even change an entire army list.

Back in 2017 we held the Edge of the Abyss campaign. This told the dramatic battle between the forces of Good – led by the Green Lady – battling against the expansion of the Abyss. The war took in numerous different regions of Pannithor as the various factions fought to battle it out. Then, based on your results, it shaped the narrative in Third Edition. For example, the Free Dwarfs were pushed out of the Halpi Mountains and into Abercarr, meanwhile the area around the Abyss was flooded, which meant the Brotherhood was broken up into different factions. It also led to creation of some new and well-liked characters, including Nomagarok, Banick Kholearm and Dravak Dalkan.

We’ve always had the plan that, ideally, we want to hold an online campaign like Edge of the Abyss every two years – or even annually. However, we never quite reached that lofty goal! Despite this, when we were planning Kings of War activity for 2020 we were super excited about finally holding an online campaign based around the Halpi Mountains. In fact, we were so excited we gave the green light to a new book (Halpi’s Rift) and a new two-player starter set based around the goblins fighting the Ratkin for control of the holds underneath Halpi… and then the pandemic happened. Our grand plans for an online campaign fell to bits – or so we thought!

BACK TO HALPI

With face-to-face gaming hopefully returning on a wider scale this year, we’re planning on finally running the Halpi’s Rift campaign… with a few changes. Firstly, one of the big elements is that we realise people may be short of time once everything starts opening up again. So, instead of a campaign that lasts an entire month, we’re condensing the campaign into a long weekend… think of it like the climatic battles to control the Halpi mountains.

Also, the benefit to it being held over a long weekend is that we hope it’ll be easier to galvanise the community into lots of Kings of War activity over the course of a few days – rather than trying to keep up with events across a series of weeks when venues might not all be open.

With all the above in mind, we wanted to give you plenty of notice about when to start prepping your armies. Fight for the Rift will take place from August 27^th until August 30^th – that’s the long weekend for people in the UK.

“Hang on, I’m busy at [x] that weekend. Why won’t you let me play?” Don’t worry distraught blog reader, you can play your games in August and then let us know the results that weekend. We’ll make sure the campaign site is available before the event, so you can play your games and upload at your leisure. What’s more, for fans of Armada there will be the option to battle it out in the seas around Halpi too… and we’ll have more details on that in a future blog.

We also hope that stores can get involved and we’ll be hosting a special Kings of War weekend at Mantic HQ. This means you’ll be able to play your campaign games with us at Mantic – or watch the live stream. Marvel as Ronnie refuses to move a single dwarf unit. Gasp as Rob asks how multiple charges work again. Swoon as Martin puts his new Ratkin army on the table.

If the weekend format works well, it opens up the option to hold an official campaign weekend every year when YOU can shape the future of Pannithor.

HALF PRICE HALPI’S RIFT

Fight for the Rift will use the new campaign rules and characters introduced in the Halpi’s Rift supplement… so that does mean to get the best out of the campaign, you’ll need a copy of the book. To ensure you don’t miss out, until the start of the campaign, the Halpi’s Rift supplement will be half price from the Mantic website and we’ll be offering trade partners a discount too* – so you can support your FLGS, which is important as they start opening back up. You can also get the digital version of the supplement for 50% off by using the code: GETBACKGAMING.

We’re super excited to finally get to play through the Halpi’s Rift campaign and we hope you’ll join us for an action-packed weekend of Kings of War fun! Plus, we’ll be updating you on our own progress as we prepare our armies for Fight for the Rift.

*while stocks last!