An interesting Counter Charge. First half is about the RC, and the link between the development of miniatures and rules - with a focus on Halflings. Second half is on the next CoK update, with some teasers of changes being considered.
Update:
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The CoK update info (most info 53min, 30sec in):
- No nerfs - none
- Some new units
- 2 new army lists/ theme lists (Halflings, and faction linked to the mystery Winter release I think - was a little unclear)
- Each faction gets 2 pages of content
- Some rule tweaks to the āmainline gameā but not the focus
- No magic items going
- Some infrequently taken items are changing (example: Darklordās Onyx Ring)
- āBig shake up in magicā
- Lots of new spells (some seen before in Halpiās Rift, though might be tweaked)
- Halflings have/have access to Spellward special rule - Stealthy but for magic
- Spellcaster levels used - access to higher tier, more expensive spells
- Change to make conditional Inspiring into regular Inspiring will be playtested (doesnāt included self inspiring)
- More auras, to represent affinity with certain unit types rather than conditional Inspiring, uses the keywords
- āCharacters get a lot of attentionā
- Living Legends for the armies that didnāt get them in Halpiās Rift (example: KoM - The Monarch)
- Itās a ābig bookā
- They didnāt cover everything in the book
This is all subject to playtesting, starting in 2 weeks.
The direction from Mantic was to include more āvariety and flavourā after 3rd edās ābase level resetā.
Apparently, Matt Gilbert checks the forum and feeds back to the RC (sometimes unsuccessfully!).
Rob suggests that @FredOslow have an EasyArmy style relationship with Mantic for the forum.
Update on the Kings info from CC502:
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It was a very good episode. 
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It is a common complaint, so good itās getting addressed I suppose.
It makes me a tiny but nervous though.
Iām happy with magic as it is in KoW now and donāt want more layers of complexity (less is anything).
It might be playing Tzeentch Daemons in 7th Ed 40k long ago haunting me though. 
#nomagicphaseplease
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On the whole things sounded promising, but yes, a ābig shake up in magicā made me a bit apprehensive.
Due to covid, I imagine that the Halpiās Rift magic didnāt get the more extensive field test it would have otherwise. Also, not in the notes, but there was an emphasis in the conversation on getting people gaming again - possibly tipping the balance towards more āexcitingā rules for magic?
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My initial impression of the inspiring/aura suggestion is that in most cases, it sounds like a good idea. It would be good to see a wider range of keywords getting used, with the auras reflecting an affinity with certain troop types instead.
My slight reservation is that the inspiring change IMO seems like one for between editions rather than a CoK update. Again, just my first impression.
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Nice! One of the sour grapes of Halpiās for me was that not everybody got Living Legends. Or put another way, none of my armies did 
Always happy to hear more keyword stuff, all about building theme into army design (but without doing formations please and thank you, hate what they do for army comp).
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That would be my favourite possible Master Hunter buff, Iāve been running mine with the Inspiring Talisman and that does feel expensiveā¦
I wanna see those Fireball buffs. 
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Yes, it would open up some interesting possibilities. For me the Tribal Tracker in Herd would get a second look.
There do seem to be some cases though where itās less thematic - Red Goblin Biggits inspiring Ogres etc. While maybe thereās a touch too much conditional inspiring, in some cases perhaps itās there for a decent reason?
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It might see the end of the ubiquitous bsb & lute combo if some if the more interesting characters had all round inspiring
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Iām sure there could be lots of positives. In another thread, I suggested lower level heroes with Inspiring for armies that didnāt have them to cut down on the need for the Talisman all over the place. The mage with bane chant & the talisman is the twin of ASB with lute.
Potential negatives could be that some characters are ignored, overshadowed by their now all Inspiring competition (Northern Alliance perhaps?). Will these new characters be a few points too cheap - if they were priced correctly before?
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It is always great to see rules getting play tested BEFORE publication. Finding a good balance between new model launching, and having a good game structure
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If it was me though, iād tweak the missile units to rebalance the tweak from version 2 to 3. The previous tweak was too heavy handed, and had a seasaw effect of overbalancing the overpowered archers and war machines to make them almost obsolete and useless.
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I believe the magic shake-up would have something to do with purchasing different levels of spells and spellcaster levels actually having an impact ala Halpiās Rift.
The conditional inspiring change is interesting and will definitely impact a lot of armies esp Trident Realms who have a TON of conditional inspiring which makes it hard to build lists. It should stay to an extent as its flavourful and makes sense but having more inspiring wouldnāt hurt and it would open up more builds.
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what if it gave normal inspiring but Very inspiring to the specific subgroup? that would keep some of the flavour.
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Not a massive issue, but that would make some scouting and other lower level characters better leaders than the General tier characters and ASBs.
It sounded like auras were being considered as an alternative for the flavour link.
(bit off topic but I reckon giving ASBs something unique like Very Inspiring or Rally would make them a more interesting choice - maybe one for 4th ed?)
I like how magic is just another element in KoW and not an overly complex and dominating aspect of the game, as it was in other fantasy games.
I really hope it stays that way.
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I need to take another look at the Halpiās Rift rules, as Iām assuming that the ābig shake upā is a more official (and tweaked) version of those.
Hopefully, itās a fun addition that freshens things up and people enjoy it.
(reservation: it has taken quite a while to finesse the small set of current spells)
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And yet, Lightning Bolt reigns surpreme, Fireball kinda sucks by common consensus, Weakness barely sees play, and āBane Chant is a crutchā.
I for one welcome them taking another look at the system. Especially with ever more models getting free extra effects on their spellsā¦
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First of all: Really good episode! āNothing getās nervedā and all armies get two pages of changes, lets me hope that Skeletons and Ghouls become viable options. I would really appreciate that, since I love the models.
PS: I wasnāt aware how much influence the RC had. I appreciate the work of these guys even more now. Itās such a clever move by Mantic to take the community on board like that.
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