With Armada surprising pretty much everyone, it got me wondering what might be next?
Which in turn got me thinking about what I would want them to make. What would you?
While wild speculation and wishlisting is fun, I am more interested in things that have a reasonable chance of happening.
First, I would love KoW:skirmish.
I know Vanguard is a thing, but that’s a rather complex game. Vanguard is in the odd spot that it does not appeal to a lot of KoW players (we like simple mechanics), but has a lot of fans as is.
Either, then, a compromise that takes a few layers of complexity off Vanguard or a short ruleset for “quick play” skirmish rules that is the “KoW with single models” that I was hoping Vanguard would be.
I am also hoping for Mantic to fill out more of the model line, I don’t think that there are minis in dire need of replacement (even elves are better than you might think, apparently).
There are some low hanging fruit, like small gaps (drakons), or a few things to make Twilight Kin a model line (crones and maybe an impaler upgrade kit, then put the relevant elves, night-stalkers and abyssals under “Twilight Kin” on the website).
top on my wish list is to replace all Metal parts, including Plastic/Metal Hybrids with Resin models or Plastic/Resin Hybrids
changing the elite units of the Dwarf Range to fit the theme/Vanguard models (looking at Iron Guard)
Adding the missing Tanks for Warpath, overhaul the Nameless model range (Nightstalker make better Namless at the moment, but with some Veer-Myn becoming Ratkin, the same should be possible with Nightstalker/Nameless) and expanding the Universe with no-model army lists
I would very much like Mantic made plastic centaurs. Their metal centaurs look so sweet but it is so much pain to work with them. In the pack I got one head was horribly miscasted (one half of a face shifted with respect to the other half quite a bit) and there were few more issues I had with them. I also think many hobbiests (not necessarily those playing KoW) would welcome good looking plastic centaurs. I also miss a suitable unicorn model for my FoN army.
I would also welcome hard plastic sprues for Empire of Dust, any unit would do but revenant cavalry models might be best to start. Egyptian styled mummies would also be nice and so would be a mounted priest.
Update their older plastic kits with new kits, mainly Elves and Dwarfs.
Phase out metal models were possible, resin and plastic are the way forward.
When it comes to doing a new Kings of War edition (we all know it is going to happen eventually), change the game to alternative activations and put in a way for characters to join units.
That’s someting I would definitely not appreciate. I do not see a reason why characters would be better inside units. Many people like to make scenic bases for a complete units (without characters) and characters optionally joining them would spoil this feature. And I really do not see a benefit gamewise.
I have also played other games with alternate activations and both options have their benefits. In this respect I like KoW as it is as it makes it much more suitable for a timed play and better strategic planning.
Huscarls and Half-Elf Berserkers boxes.
The Herd! Everything, but most importantly basic troops, which are quite hard to get otherwise (I know a few options exist, but not many…).
New Dragon Models. Different ones. Moar Dwagons!!! 
Hunters of the Wild please, as I want to do a mantic only Sylvan Kin list.
Many of the wishes could come true following the release of the League of Infamy ( Unicorn, basic Herd model, Hunter of the Wild, Drakon)
Streamlined 2nd edition of Vanguard would be great too.
Still waiting for those Tyrants that was estimated to arrive at the end of 2017…
I would love to see some more Salamander models that isn’t fire elementals, like a Gekkotah warriors/hunter plastic kit or Ancients. Perhaps also some touch ups on their existing Salamander regiment, their hips look like a mess where there should be details as seen in their 3d render.
Yes. I don’t play salamanders, but I think they should be next in line for the next big project.
Grabbing some low hanging fruit (things that require a hero and an uprade or one new kit), first also makes sense though.
The two key things are fleshing out their supported armies and redoing some of the early plastics /kits. In my view this is more important than starting to do a range for one they don’t support (see below).
A revamp of the sisters/panther riders in the style of the vanguard set would be great.
Upgrade kits - while some aren’t to everyone’s taste (ice naiads for example), getting more along the lines of the forthcoming clansmen ones are needed for others - corsairs, TK upgrades, an ice elf one(?)
Do halflings (with a fully supported list) and Alarez. Obviously some of this will follow after the KS (which has been pushed back to Jan 21)
10mm fantasy or 6mm sci-fi mass battle game.
If a Armada is viable with resin releases, those are too! Kings of War would need very little adaptation for 10mm (add a command/order mechanic, simplify nerve and rework the game to make a troop of 10 minis the base unit).
Warpath rules are ideally suited to a smaller scale as it is, with the multibases, orders etc.
There’s potential there.
Starship combat game would be fantastic as well! Fleet scale, though, with fighters, carriers, the works.
I’m really glad to hear that Armada sales have been an immediate massive success, opens up so many more possibilities!
Armada was genuinely surprising and one of the great things about a non-KS release is that there isn’t this huge year-long marketing gap (sometimes 2+ years) in between the hype for a game and actually being able to play it. Dreadball possibly suffered the worst of the Kickstarter negatives since it went through three kickstarters, the wait for 2nd edition really hit it hard.
Also think Mantic could sell digital stls alongside physical minis and lead the market in terms of new technology. People pay as much for a file as a physical mini.
For smaller scales, Mantic could just do what all the ancients* rulesets do and add smaller scales to the basing requirements table. It’s practically standard to be able to play ancients with scales from 2mm to 28mm. Probably best to make an extra table and some adjustments though.
The big question would be whether Mantic would simply scale down their current base sizes or try to be compatible with historical or other small scale fantasy wargames.
*An umbrella term for historical wargames for periods before the advent of gunpowder.
This is actually the opposite of the case, from a business perspective. It’s risky to redo anything, as a proportion of the people who who would have brought the kit new already own them. And you can make it the best kit ever, but there will always be those who take the path of least resistance and don’t replace their models.
Whereas something new is less of a risk, as no one has the new kits, therefore they’ll be more likely to pick them up. For reference, look at how much GW actually replaces (as in discontinues and make a new set of models) plastic kits. It’s rare and usually after a decade or more - and they’re 200 times Mantic’s size.
I think that would be very niche. I get the impression, that in KoW forums (like this), fb - groups, etc hobbying and multibasing are a big deal amongst KoW- Players. I doubt a lot of them would be willing to pay money for the same game again, losing (partly only, but nonetheless) a crucial part of the hobby. I certainly wouldn’t.
I want the mammoth big as a giant. And for the same price =)
A usuable ruleset for my Warpath Kickstarter miniatures. #StillBitter
Re redoing ranges - It was done with the basilean m@a and the goblins? Both of which seem to have gone down well so far?