Once things get rolled out, love to hear a view on how different unit types are now going to play in v4.
Reg v Horde in Core - toys over US & nerve in a theatre that seems to have less healing.
Cavalry has (based on reviews) had a collective TC bump, but hindered strips it completely, so it looks more like a well placed scalpel than a hammer (esp only strider as mitigation).
Infantry shooting units no longer getting Disordered by a cheap bloke on a horse means hordes (us4) are potentially useful again. Core regiments of them, with the points drop weâre seeing [not for the faster stuff which is covered nicely] are viable.
Flying heroes are pretty much all warlords, while flappy beasts support - so interesting to see how those sorts of army builds get tweaked.
While I was not a fan of the giving out that went on during the âroadmapâ and initial release of information about 4th (People saying they wanted more, not a drip feed etc), I do think the point made in the recent Fireside Chat was on the money⌠That we are now in a frustrating position⌠Where most of the planned information is out there, but with delivery dates slipping, now there is a long wait.
Itâs like being queued up to go on holiday, and hearing all about it, and then being ushered into a tunnel to board⌠and corralled there, in limbo.
I think the question is, what could have reasonably been forseen concerning actual real delivery dates of products for 4th⌠If November 2025 was ambitious but do-able, and December less ambitious and more do-able, and January was a âsure thingâ⌠Youâd wonder if they shouldnât have planned the release date for January, and started feeding out stuff on 4th just now.
Definitely seems like the game is still there, just tweaked a bit.
Think it will definitely take a little while to get all the nuances with the rules, but army building looks more tactical than previously, which IMO is great. Do hope the tournament scene doesnât just bump the points up for more toys.
But potentially leads to spamming the good stuff, which the army building system was designed to stop?
If you only have 4 special/support choices it makes picking them more interesting, rather than just grabbing a couple from a second battalion. Similarly with only a single warlord choice.
A good chunk of the top 20 Clash lists this year fall down for those reasons - and that isnât necessarily a bad thing.
Weâll see once the full rules are out and the first v4 events start getting underway.
That single Warlord per Battalion is going to be the downfall of alot of old lists. For instance plenty of tournament Dwarf lists Iâve seen (both mine and others) have tended to have some combination of Faber Ironheart, Garrek and at 1-3 Dwarf Lords on Large Beasts. We donât have the Dwarf army rules yet, but Iâll bet money on those choices all being Warlords.
I think the issue is if something spamable has ended up in a lists core section. Then the core tax breaks down. If itâs working, then thereâs enough regular army to fight even if a list skews in a particular direction.
I feel like itâs going to be quite easy to spam 6 special units (like 6x abyssal berserkers) if that ends up being a thing people want to do. Spamming 4-6 support units (mind screeches for example) is pretty trivial as well, assuming thereâs no spam cap on monsters. The flipside is that, yea, this is going to be more relevant in armies that have either strong or very cheap core (preferably both!), or donât require unlocking characters to get there (like Grok if you want to take special siege breakers). So while berserker spam will be alive and well ⌠itâs at least not all berserkers now? And they arenât the alpha threat they were, tho I think their grinding abilities will simply become their new strength.
One of my friends is adamant that spammers will just keep spamming, potentially worse than before (if no monster cap). Iâm pretty sure varied lists will continue to perform better overall, and not because some variation is baked into the battalion system.
Itâs already started - Clash of Kings Australia (in January) will be 2000pts/one Battalion. Apparently thatâs what it recommends for games up to that points value in the rulebook.
I rather like the idea of limitations for tournaments. It adds spice. Maybe a mix across different tournaments? I guess UK and USA clash will set the âtypicalâ but not everyone has to follow that necessarily. I think 2000pts, 1 battalion is also really nice for casual games. Keep it simple, make it work!
960pts gets you 12 units of Goblin Rabble - enough for 3 battalions that could take 2 support each. Youâd have about half your points to spam other units.
I have a new player interested in getting into Kings and that got me thinking. Might it be worthwhile to put out a podcast for new players. At the moment, and understandably, all the content for Kings of War is aimed on current players interested in what changes 4th will bring.
