It’s a scramble for marketshare as Mantic is making an obvious (and smart) play on the square base market. Check this out!
Where WFB Sits
First off all, let’s catch up with WFB 9th.
The Old World exploded! – NO really it’s GONE. After five $85 dollar books, GW did the unthinkable and destroyed the endire Old World and almost everyone in it. There are of course rumors of hinted pocket dimensions, the Lizardmen “arcs” escaping into space, and exactly what lay on the other side of the all devouring portal that sucked in the big important characters of all sides at the very end of the END TIMES. But at the end of the day – Chaos blew it up.
No one really expects that when WFB 9th returns in a couple months it will be “business as usual”. A LOT are armies are gone, and consolodation into a small number of mega faction armies (Undead, Elves, forces of Chaos, etc…) seems to be the writing on the wall. I think we can all officially say that Hardcover Bretonnia & Beastmen books are never coming…
As you can imagine, it is a very anxious and trying tome for die-hard WFB players. Some are looking forward to 9th. Other are saying they will stick with 8th come hell or high water, splitting the community in a mirror of what happened with Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition.
Enter Mantic:
Get a load of a recent announcement by Mantic Games regarding future plans for Kings of War 2.0:
“We will be putting out tournament legal army lists for lots of non-Mantic armies. These will not be canon in KoW IP but they’ll be great to battle with and against. I think a book detailing say 10 new armies would make an excellent addition – with the armies being either historical or fantasy themed (this is where the Twilight Kin will live until we get them their own Mantic sculpts and a full army – at which point we move them into the main canon). This will allow people with existing armies a chance to play KoW – which is good for us all when we are trying to find an opponent. I cannot recall many other miniature companies that actively promote the use of other manufacturer’s figures in their game, and I think a good example of mantic putting the game before other considerations. These armies will be the perfect place to fit a lot of people’s existing Kingdoms of Men armies, with plenty of options available.”
It looks like the other guys in Nottingham are planning ahead and may be throwing a live-preserver to existing or disgruntled WFB players with armies.
In any case, we won’t have long to wait to see what WFB 9th holds. Rumormonger Arthurius11 says:
“As has been said by Harry previously there is a fantasy box set / starter set coming, I don’t know release dates but from what I know it is very likely that it should be around May sometime. Will be interesting times ahead indeed.”
“Box set will be chaos faction vs human faction. There are armoured warriors in a way like chaos warriors but on the side of order. There is a small rules book / pamphlet included. Models are on round bases. End of April-May sounds plausible but I cannot confirm.”
Warhammer 9th Roundup
Square base or round, fear not you’ll always have a game! What do you think the WFB community’s response will be?
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures. Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including the Adepticon Team Tournament and American Team Tournaments, and is on a first-name basis with almost every major company in the space.
He’s all gaming all the time. With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. He advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1908s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
