Greetings,
In this entry I will go through the main concepts that a player will encounter and need to understand while playing Kings of War. This entry will be slightly encyclopedic, with me listing and explaining most of the main concepts and how they work.
Unit
In Kings of war, everything that is on the battlefield is called a unit. Units can be composed of more than forty models or they can be a single monster. In Kings of War everything mounted on a single base is a single unit, regardless of how many models it contains.
Every unit has certain elements that they share, such as arcs, a leader point and footprint.
Footprint
Every unti has a footprint. That means the external dimension of the base the unit should be based on. Most units have a fixed footprint that is the exact size the unit needs to be. As movement and distances are a big part of the game, this is relatively important.
Units such as heroes and monsters may have exceptional base sizes, namely larger than the minimum listed in the rulebook, if they need one to properly fit on the base.
A unit is never allowed to have a smaller base as the one listed.
Arcs
Every unit has four arcs. A front arc, two flanks and a rear arc. These are used to determine things like Line of Sight (from the front arc) and the facings that need to be contacted when charging.
Leader point
Every unit has a command point in the exact center of its front arc. This is used to determine Line of Sight and for centering chargers.
Line of Sight
Line of Sight in Kings of War is drawn according to the rules, not as true line of sight.
In Kings of War Line of Sight is drawn from the leader point of the unit in a 180 degree arc. If a direct line can be drawn from the leader point to any point of the target and that line is not intersected by units with the same height or greater than either the target or the unit itself.
Note that many actions such as shooting, casting spells and charging also require the target to be in the front arc of the unit trying to draw LoS, but that is a separate requirement, not a part of LoS itself.
Orders
In Kings of War units perform action on orders.
Orders for movement include Halt, Advance, Change Facing and At The Double. Some movement orders have effects on what the unit can do later in the turn. A unit may only be ordered to shoot if it did not move At The Double, some weapons require the unit to stay absolutely still in order to be used in the shooting face. A unit moving At The Double also cannot normally move into or through difficult terrain.
In the Shooting Phase a unit that can shoot can be given the Shoot order. Casting spells is done with the same order.
Pivot
In KoW units turn by pivoting on the spot. This is done as a "virtual pivot", meaning that the unit is picked up, pivoted around its exact center (NOT the leader point) and then placed back down. Units may move through enemy units and blocking terrain during their pivot, as long as they can be placed on the battlefield and clear of other units once they are done.
It is important to make sure that the unit's central point stays put. It's fairly easy to slip half an inch this way or that, and it's a good idea to mark one corner of the unit with a few D6's before you pick it up. This way you can always put the unit back to the initial position should the pivot be unclear.
Pivots can be done at any point during the move, and they are limited to 90 degree shifts per pivot during Advance and Charge orders, but can be towards any direction with the Change Facing order.
Charge!
Charging is done in the movement phase by giving a unit an order to charge.
The unit must be able to draw LoS to some point of the target unit (it doesn't have to be the point you are going to contact), and the unit must be at least partially within within your unit's front arc (the visible point can be off your front arc, as you can draw LoS from the leader point in a 180 degree arc).
The distance between the closest point of the target unit must be withing the charging distance from the closest part of your unit's front arc (your unit's speed times two).
The facing you are charging (rear, flank or front) is determined by your unit's leader point. You must make contact with the facing that your leader point is in when you give the charge order.
During your charge, you're allowed on pivot before you make contact, and after your unit comes into contact, you pick it up and place it down flush with the facing you are charging.
Damage and Nerve
Units taking damage and suffering from it is highly abstracted in Kings of War. Damage is simply marked (usually with easily recognizable dice or damage counters next to the unit) and it usually builds up over a couple of turns before it has any effect on the unit.
The effects of taking casualties is represented by taking Nerve checks.
Units have two values for Nerve, shown as x/x. A small, fragile unit might have a Nerve of 10/12, while a tough elite regiment might have a Nerve of 15/17. A brainless Zombie legion has a staggering -/28! High nerve usually means either a large unit (many warriors) or particularly tough warriors, so it's an abstraction of all the ways a unit can be hard to budge.
The first number is the units Waver value. Once the Nerve check, which is a 2d6 roll plus the amount of damage taken is equal to or higher than the units Waver value, the unit is Wavered. It cannot advance or charge or shoot, only move backwards or change facing. This represents the unit loosing cohesion as casualties mount, or simply panicking at the sudden onset of violence. Maybe their leader got a crossbow bolt through the neck and now it takes a few moments before the next in line gets the troops back in order...
Some units have a - instead of a Waver value. That means that the unit can't be wavered and functions normally until it is Routed.
Once a Nerve check equals or exceeds a units Rout value (the second value after the dash) the unit is removed as casualty. The troops break and run or are simply burnt to death by a dragon.
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That's it for Core Concepts I, I'll be back with more later.
Cheers,
Aow
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