4th Edition: The Lore of a New Edition

Updating the Expanding the Lore - Matt Gilbert

Way back, many years ago when Kings of War had its first hardback rulebook, the background for the world the game was set in was (let’s admit it) a light touch.

Some expansion books helped explore certain factions in more detail, establishing their future direction, but the thinking was that players could invent the world as they wanted, with their own stories for their armies and battles. Things became a little more developed in version two, especially with the arrival of the Uncharted Empires book (and Dungeon Saga, set in the same world), but the general feeling from customers and players was that they wanted a more fleshed out and fully-formed setting in which to play their games. They wanted to know more about the world they were playing in, the armies, the heroes - why and how.

Version three gave us the opportunity to really step things up. By now Winged Hussar was well into the process of novel writing and world building, and a lot had been commissioned by the studio for a planned sourcebook which never became a product. All that sourcebook material was organised and added to, along with a whole heap more art (some would argue just as important in world-building as words), to take the background from around 20 pages in previous books, to 200 in the v3 rulebook! More was added again in Clash of Kings and other supplements, online campaigns and in the increasing number of books our novel authors were creating. The whole world was given a name for the first time, Pannithor, and the old references to 'Mantica' covered just the areas around the Infant Sea, where the old 'world' map had focused. We zoomed out with a bigger regional map, and zoomed in, but with a wide angle lens, on the detail.

So we have a very solid base going into Kings of War version four. A living world to build from and take things to the next level. We’ve built a multi-year, multi-threaded story arc across a range of books, characters, novels, campaigns, and sister-games also set in Pannithor as the ramifications of the Xirkaali invasion are revealed. Especially in the expansion books, this will all be presented in a much more narrative and in-world way – via letters, spy reports and fiction pieces, as well as “normal” pages of background. All existing background will eventually be moved to an online Lore Library where we also intend to add more “deep-dive” details for the most hardcore among you! For the first time, we also present the history of Pannithor in graphical timelines, and the map has expanded again – this time to show the whole world! It’s all backed up with new art, characters and loads of plastics, and we are very excited for you to come on this journey with us.

Main Rulebook Lore - Rob Burman

Since Kings of War was first released in 2012 a lot has happened. Kingdoms have come and gone (mostly the Brotherhood!*), heroes have entered the fray and even the Abyss has been flooded at one point. The whole concept behind the lore of Kings of War is that it’s a living and breathing world, which is often changed by your actions.

During the Edge of the Abyss, Halpi’s Rift and, most recently, Shadowed Horizons campaigns, your battles have shaped the world into what we see going into the start of 4th Edition. With that in mind, for the new rulebook we wanted to make sure that newcomers (of which we’re sure there will be plenty) will be able to read the established background of Pannithor - the shattering of the mirror, Winter’s War, etc. Meanwhile, if you’ve been playing Kings of War for a while (sensible choice) then this will go over all the events that have happened in the past few years.

Another important element of the main rulebook is to set up all the various events of future supplements - so you can expect to find little teasers in some of the lore. Perhaps a character or location is mentioned briefly… but they could go on to become a key player down the line. Keep your eyes peeled for little snippets for info.

What’s more, although the majority of the background is told through a narrator’s description of various events, you can also find some short pieces of fiction. These give you the opportunity to see the changing world of Pannithor through the eyes of those characters living in it - like Arokamorra, the ogre Champion. A particular favourite piece is the fiery exchange between Grogger the Goblin King and the upstart wannabe king, Groany Snark. It’s loosely based on this historical exchange from 1675 (warning: very strong language!)

I think what’s great going into the new edition is the important role that lore is playing in establishing the world of Pannithor and there are some very exciting events ahead!

*…or have they?

Novels - Brandon Rospond

Brandon from Winged Hussar Publishing here!

We’ve been working with the team at Mantic to produce the Tales of Pannithor novels for six years now, and we’ve come a long way in that time. We have a few ongoing series (such as the Sacred Ark series by Mark Barber and the Dwarfen Civil War by Ben Stoddard), as well as several novels that directly expand the lore of the different factions (such as Rise of the Celestians by C.L. Werner and Broken Alliance by Scott Washburn).

Now, we expand into new territory - novels that tell the story as it unfolds in real time. Starting with Stand at Callenspire by Josh Reynolds, we have a series of novels planned that will tie-in with the future Kings of War expansion books as they release. Josh has written a novel that will show the resistance between the elves, Trident Realm, and halflings as they repel the Xirkaali invasion!

For those that don’t know what I do at WHP, I wear multiple hats (as the expression goes) when I edit – I have to look for punctuation, grammar, and continuity. That last part requires me to more or less be a walking encyclopedia for the world of Pannithor. I am constantly going through our novels to make sure that any “reaching” statement accurately reflects the lore and any new information has been approved by the team at Mantic.

The whole process is a team effort: the authors research the lore and write the novels, I comb through every detail of the novel across multiple reads, and the team at Mantic is always speedy about answering questions we might have. V4 is no different: Pannithor might have evolved, and so have our characters, but our team is as devoted as ever to producing quality fiction. Players of the game can delve deeper into learning about their favorite armies, and lovers of fiction can pick them up and enjoy the stories and characters within!

We can't wait for players and fans of the Tales of Pannithor series to get their hands on Josh’s novel – as well as what’s coming next from our other authors who are already established writers within the world of Pannithor.

Thanks everybody!

New blogs, videos and stories will be dropping regularly between now and the launch of 4th Edition in December 2025.

Watch out for more exciting Kings of War news HERE.