Part of the reason why I have always loved tabletop games is the sense of immersion you get while playing. The images and scenes that your mind paints up are so fun.
Having music playing in the background during a game really adds to any game night – especially with Kings of War! Trumpets blasting, the sound of marching, or anything like that adds so much flavor to the game.
Thought this would be an interesting enough topic. Do you guys have any soundtracks and/or artists that are your favorite for when playing Kings of War?
I’m sure we all like the Lord of the Rings soundtrack – personally I really like The Banner Saga soundtrack as well.
Gladiator soundtrack was a big deal when I was younger, so that has stuck with me.
During a previous event of mine we also put on the soundtrack from Bram Stoker’s Dracula which worked well.
I find cinematic music to be a bit aggravating after awhile. I like music for gaming, but judiciously. For RPGs I do it for scene intros, leitmotifs, etc., but not just press play. I’ve also sometimes used soundboard apps that have combat sound effects that you can mix with music. The best ones have random intervals and volume so that it fades in and out, as opposed to being in the middle of a non-stop movie battle soundscape for 2 hours. Otherwise just playing during key moments like melee combat phase is good.
For KoW, one of my old opponents was fond of Mongolian metal like The Hu and Tengger Cavalry, which was fun and played nice with his army theme. Other fantasy battle metal like 3 Inches of Blood (“Destroy the Orcs”, “Battles and Brotherhood”), A Band of Orcs, Slough Feg, etc made appearances. Conan, of course.
I absolutely adore the soundtrack for HBS Battletech, and some of those I think might port over well to KoW battles.
Hmmm, I have a naval wargame this weekend. Maybe a new playlist is in order…
Sadly, I rarely get to do this. Either there isn’t an easy way to play music of we just put in “normal” music.
When I have space to host a game and it isn’t inconvenient for others, I would go with:
Video game soundtrack are great for this (Elder Scrolls is a good example), they’re designed for a similar thing.
There are also many soundtracks on YouTube for D&D ambiance that would work.
The songs are short, but a bit of Clamavi De Profundis is nice, especially if an appropriate army is involved.
This YouTube channel does the songs that Tolkien wrote. https://youtube.com/c/ClamaviDeProfundis
Gladiator is a for sure good one. Never thought about using Dracula . . . . Considering I run 2 Vampire Lords in my next list, I think I’ll give that
a go. Thanks for the suggestion @FredOslow
@generalsloth As a big metal head as well, I like the The Hu. I’m a huge Conan fan as well. Doom metal works well for wargames.
Yea, I agree @DarkBlack – playing video game soundtracks works the best. They’re specifically designed for what we’re aiming for. I’m definitely going to check out that Clamavi De Profundis.
