Well if you’re looking for simpler rules then you are definitely better off with KoW for sure! Although I found them too simple and vague in places tbh (see my “newbies check out KoW” thread and blog post). T9A Quick Starter might still interest you (& him though).
I agree with almost all of the points in this thread, good discussion! (I love these game level discussions). Although I would say T9A is even less susceptible to balance issues and “buy the latest to win” style power-creep, being completely volunteer run and non-commercial. Their (hard) task is also a constant effort to improve the balance and there’s no motivation for them not to do that. I also realised today (recording a youtube cast about T9A) that one of the factors I’ve really enjoyed about T9A to date is the ability to get involved and influence and impact things there by volunteering to do stuff. I know KoW has a “Rules Committee” but that’s by invite only and isn’t in the same league of what I’m talking about here.
Also no real (rules) nostalgia for me here, I am not a fan of WFB rules at all, from any edition - 7th ed was so bad to me I quit wargaming entirely for a decade! But I do agree with the point, and that is a real problem I have with T9A (& some of it’s community) too - too much “vestigial” stuff from WFB.
Until this great forum came along, most KoW “community” stuff was sadly on failbook and that was just terrible and really put me off, so it was much easier for me initially to get interested in T9A. However, I’m really looking forward to playing more KoW of course, and it seems like a good game too in it’s own right. I do wish more of the KoW community would ween themselves off their failbook addition. Posting links and photos and stuff there is all well and good of course, and it works for that, but it’s an absolutely horrible format for any kind of in depth discussion, and especially for searches or archiving (even twitter is better at that!).
In the end KoW and T9A are very different games and both hit my, admittedly pretty high “bar” that I want a game to meet for me to be keen to play it (note: No edition of WFB ever did this) and I can see the appeal of both. It’s great really that they are both so different, it would be a bit dull if all games like this were too similar! 