Wrath of Kings
A skirmish-level wargame produced by Cool Mini Or Not. Notable for having somewhat unique concepts in its models, a story without any real antagonists other than a few dicks who are balanced out by idealists and a fuckload of redshirts just doing their jobs, and a system based on more character abilities and morale rather than mostly stats and causalities.
The game is fairly cheap to get into compared to most. The rules and stat cards are free downloads on their websiteas is their lore novel, with only the starter box required to play. There are very few extras to buy too, with most factions having three at the moment. All extras are notably just for force customization rather than getting what is required to play a full game.
All in all, only $76 is required to get into each faction (although it is notably easy to obtain starter sets from $40 up through other distributors; at the moment of this writing, Miniature Market has $52 starter sets). Starter sets come with 30 miniatures barring House Hadross which has 24, with said miniatures being made of Warhammer grade plastic.
Setting
Wrath of Kings focuses on the continent of Arikania in a world we know little else about. Magic and technology are not mutually exclusive nor are they rare, although magic tends to twist the form of the being who uses it making what you want to produce something you're okay with becoming more like (so less fireballs, more growing plants or shaping stone).
Long ago, the natural celestial beings who governed the world were banished by elemental gods. The elementals, called Efrenti, enslaved humanity and for one hundred generations humans labored to serve their new masters.
Then came a day when a single man coming from the wilderness used his powerful magic similar to that the celestials had wielded to banish the elementals from the world and skies, and conquered the continent himself. Once he was the supreme ruler of mankind, known forever after as the Ancient King, he mapped his kingdom and gave lands to each of his children to shape as they saw fit. The Scion Kingdoms pursued a culture and ways that the sub-monarch saw value in, and each became more and more isolated from each other until each nation had peoples as different as can be from even their neighbors across the territory lines.
Although the royal family was all gifted in magic and were seemingly endless, in time the Ancient King began to fall ill in old age. At over 2500 years of age he died peacefully and seemingly suddenly, and upon hearing of his death the children thought only of becoming his sole successor. Within hours the palace and capital had burned while the scion monarchs fled to gather their strength in their own capitals.
No thought of preservation is in the minds of the royals. Each seeks to destroy the cultures of the other kingdoms and replace their father's legacy with their own. For 350 years this age, the Five Kingdom’s Era, has gone on with each faction skirmishing against the others to test strengths and find weakness, and although now the world is finally in open war there is no guarantee the conflict will be ending anytime soon.
Each nation is lead by the house of the scions and named for them. The face of the Ancient King is seen as the mask in the logo for the game, and there are hints he may not be entirely dead...
Factions
House Teknes
Hailing from the southernmost kingdom called Felskar, Teknes invested most of it's efforts into magic and science which resulted in a heavily industrialized race, although it leans more towards the 1900's than 1800's in it's steampunky vibe.
Although technically a republic, there is hints of a communist regime which employs brainwashing and forced labor. Many Teknes humans have become diminunitive gnome-like men who ride the laborer class like beasts of burden or sit in vehicles, while more normal sized men use power armor. Teknes folk are usually stocky and have a definite British dock thug look to them. Rather than firearms the Teknes use standard weapons like sledgehammers, sword and shield, and spears. Teknes have transmutative magitek with some men given the strengths and appearance of animals, while some are actually animals uplifted into the human race.
Their playstyle relies on disposable troops who when damaged will give you better offensive abilities. This results in a playstyle based on defense and calculated risk with lots of support and synergy between models.
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The contents of the House Teknes starter set.
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The redshirt set.
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The elite redshirt set.
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The...creepy fucking angel baby thing set.
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The specialist set.
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The named specialist set.
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The monster set.
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Teknes lands in art.
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Teknes scenery.
House Hadross
The kingdom of Hadross is named after the ruling house, and although they control land the population mostly lies under the waves in multi-level buildings that resemble giant blue sea plants stretching from the ocean floor to their top levels above the water surface.
The scion king gave his people over to ancient gods known as the Deep Voices, which turned them into human/aquatic creature hybrids. Hadrossians can live above the water but it is uncomfortable and thus not desirable. Most Hadross have jellyfish style legs and tentacle hair or mouths, although crustacean and shark men are also present and other varieties may exist as well. Most have normal human arms and hands. It isn't quite clear on each Hadrossian which parts are of their body, and which are clothing.
Hadross is a highly defensive army, with the strongest base models although each casualty weakens the group. They entirely ignore water terrain difficulty and can actually add more to the battlefield to control the movements of their enemy.
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The contents of the Hadross starter set.
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The redshirt set.
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The elite redshirt set.
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The heavy set.
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The specialist set.
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The named specialist set.
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The monster set.
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Hadross lands in art.
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Hadross scenery.
House Nasier
The kingdom of Nasier is in Kartoresh, a kingdom of plains and grassland rich in natural resources.
The people of Nasier worship the very elemental gods banished by the Ancient King, and would see them returned to the world. The Nasier channel elemental magic into their bodies using masks which contain elemental spirits, and have possibly the strongest mastery of magic itself in the setting. With the fulfillment of their goals they will become the ruling cast under the elementals, and although bound in noble servitude they would still be far more powerful than any king would be otherwise.
The ordinary footmen of the Nasier called Pelagarth wear masks that make their skin like stone, and prefer to fight almost naked while they vent their fury. Others called Ashmen use their masks to enhance their combat prowess and wear light armored coverings. Still others have used the magic of the elementals to become elemental hybrids with massive powerful bodies and horns. The humans themselves tend towards extremely stocky bodies that combine muscle and fat, or lithe and tall shapes.
Nasier troops are individually very powerful, second only to Hadross, and have a high morale as well as many offensive abilities. They are also very durable and have options that lean towards one side or the other based on preference. Despite this they are not a "run in, don't think" army as their lack of control or synergy abilities makes players need to evaluate their targets; obliterate a specific foe, or bait the enemy into a desperate gamble counterattack?
House Shael Han
Set in the wealthy land of Achrion, Shael Han have a complex caste-based society based on their reverence of the way of the Ancient King and the celestial gods as well as the pursuit of perfection. The scion queen was the only one of the scions to be present at the deathbed of the Ancient King and supposedly was privy to his last words and desires.
Shael Han are very Asian-inspired in look and theme. Their advancement combines the trait of sharing a body with an ethereal being of the Nasier with the technological advancement of the Teknes, although they live in closer harmony as one mind with their spirits and their gear is more focused and elegant. Wraths are the class of humans who cohabit with a spirit, and have grown much larger as well as having pronounced tusk-like bottom teeth which curve sideways as well as having pointed ears. Shael Han also tames serpentine dragons, with smaller ones being pets and larger ones being mounts.
Shael Han have extremely weak models that are fully bolstered by their specialist abilities. The specialists are easy to kill, but with them around everything else of yours isn't. Without switching lists you can employ completely different strategies and tactics, forcing players to react to you or being able to adapt without being unprepared.
House Goritsi
The kingdom of Goritsi is Telloria, a forest kingdom with high canopies that block the sunlight in much of the land. Some unknown force can enter into those who are powerful or of noble blood; this Gift transforms the recipient into a powerful and ageless being. Men are usually granted lycanthropy, females vampirism, although it is only uncommon for the opposite gender.
Goritsi is very hierarchical and organized into septs that are loyal to the Goritsi house, with those given the Gift being responsible only to the courts of their fellows while the ordinary folk have virtually no rights. Come nightfall the commonfolk seal themselves away to hide and pray their own rulers don't decide to come to their door and test the lock. Goritsi also employs massive monsters called Blood Engines made of flesh which drain the blood and life energy of their foes to empower themselves. Telloria's many mountains once held a tribe of amazon warriors in the days before the Ancient King, and they are the originators of the exclusively female vampire warrior caste. While most kingdoms see the war as an eventuality, or a sad requirement for them to pass their superior culture onto others, Goritsi revels in the slaughter and was instrumental in kickstarting the conflict in the first place.
Goritsi are fast killers, although if they can't finish off a foe before it gets a chance to strike back they usually don't survive the fight so hit and run attacks are the best way to go. Werewolves are the faster options, vampires the killier, and their big nasty will keep their foes in place so they can get their licks in.
Crunch
The game comes in three sizes; intro, skirmish, and battle.
- Intro is two rank 1 leaders, twelve rank 1 infantry, and two rank 1 specialists.
- Skirmish is three rank 1 leaders, eighteen rank 1 infantry, and two rank 1 specialists and then you can have any mix of two of the following: three rank 1 infantry or one rank 1 specialist.
- Battle is five rank 1 leaders, twenty four rank 1 infantry, and four rank 1 specialists and then you can have any mix of four of the following: three rank 1 infantry or one rank 1 specialist.
Rank 2 units (such as your bigger infantry, monsters and special characters) are purchased as a trade, you swap two rank 1 things for a rank 2 of the same type (leaders for leaders, infantry for infantry and specialists for specialists).
This means that at the moment if you went balls to the wall, the largest army you could have at battle level would be 5 leaders, 36 infantry and 4 specialists, so 45 minis total. The smallest would be half that.
There are no minimum unit sizes so you aren't under any obligation to buy squads or have a set number of guys. You could have an entire army of rank 1 infantry except the one rank 2 you wanted to buy or whatever. Each faction also has a different mix of rank 1 and 2 things so this can affect your army composition. Hadross for example have one type of rank 1 infantry but two rank 2 types while Nasier have two rank 1 types and one rank 2.