Welcome to the first ever Kings of War: Vanguard blog post from Iowa Kings of War! I am very excited to bring this series to life and hopefully use it to motivate myself and others to get more play time of this amazing game from Mantic.
Today we will just be doing an introduction to the game for those who haven’t had a chance to play it yet, as well as discussing the upcoming topics I will be covering as this series unfolds.
First things first. Vanguard is my favorite tabletop game at the moment, and I haven’t even played a game for months. So why is it my favorite? The ease of entry topped with the amount of narrative you can bring to each and every game! The slogan “Your Warband, Your Story” really stuck with me when the game was first announced.
Recently I wrote up a short narrative campaign to play at home with my girlfriend over the next couple weeks (as soon as we finish painting our warbands). The short version of it – the goblins (my warband) are trying to use the resources in the forest to supply their armies. The forces of nature (girlfriends warband) will be fighting off the goblins so save their home. It’s a pretty simple idea but with some modifications to the newer scenarios in the Ice and Iron book along with some of the original scenarios I think it will be fun. I will be going over more of that campaign with hopefully some batreps or at least some blogs about how the story progresses.
But, if you are reading this blog then you might be a little bit interested in how to get your own games of Vanguard in. So I am going to go over the essentials you will need to start gaming beginning with an absolute minimum list and a recommended list of things you will need.
Minimum list – Copy of the free rules, about 10 models based on square bases, stats for units, a tape measure, a couple 8 sided dice, a few 6 sided dice, terrain (could just be cardboard cutouts) and some tokens.
Recommended list – The full Vanguard rule book, painted models on square bases, Vanguard power dice pack, Vanguard battlefield objectives, terrain of different types, more 8 sided dice.
Free rules: The free rules for the game can be found at https://www.manticgames.com/mantic-games-free-rules/. They will give the basic rundown of how the game is played. You will need to create an account to purchase the free rules with Mantics new site however. All 4 of the pdfs available will be needed to create your own warbands to play with. After a few test games I do recommend getting the full rules book for at least someone in the group to have. This book has everything readily available at the tableside without having to search an online document as well as more information about different spell options, equipment, rules for campaigns, and different scenarios
Warband models/Easy army stats – This one is kind of two things tied into one. You will need to create your warband by using the free PDFs on Mantics website that I linked above, or by using https://vanguard.easyarmy.com/. I recommend using Easy Army and printing off the stats so you have them easy to look at when in a game. I have built armies both by finding stats that match my models first and also by building a list and finding models for the list I want to use. Both are viable options when you are just starting. Finding cheap miniatures like Reaper bones and Wizkids miniature are great ways to get started without breaking the bank. But you will need to get some square bases for those models if you go this route.
Tape measure – This one is probably already in every gamer’s tools. I use a smaller tape measure because the battlefield is a little cramped compared to the bigger scaled games. I also recommend maybe having some smaller sticks for certain measurements to make things go faster, similar to how some use them for Kings of War. The only one I actually use is a small 6 inch ruler because it’s easier to get in tight places compared to the tape measure. Another thing I recommend for vanguard is a line laser pointer to easily see line of sight.
8 sided dice – For this one you really only “need” 1 8 sided dice. But I recommend having about 8 of these per person. You can get away with 4 or 5 per person comfortably but will kind of share a bunch. These are used for almost every roll that happens in the game. Most times you only roll 2-5 depending on the unit. But the exploding 8s rule means you might be rolling a lot with a lucky roll.
Power dice/6 sided dice – Okay this one is technically possible with normal 6 sided dice. But I really really recommend getting the Vanguard power dice pack for this. Power dice are used for all special maneuvers and special abilities of units in the game. You roll these dice at the beginning of each round to see how much you will get to use until the next time you roll them. You can see the layout needed for each dice color in the picture below.
Terrain – This one is kind of a given for skirmish games and wargames. Use whatever you can when starting out. But I recommend lots of small pieces scattered about and large pieces that you can climb on and hide behind. Anything that makes the game not just standing in an open field. The game starts to favor cavalry and shooting if you are in a field haha. I’ll be going over terrain more in future blogs.
Tokens – This one I used different coins for when I first started playing. The basic types are activated, fatigued, knocked down, wounds, and braced. I recommend making custom markers or buying the Battlefield objectives kit from Mantic for these. This kit also comes with the models needed for most of the types of objectives that you will see in Vanguard.
So with all of that. I have pretty much covered the basics of what you will need to start playing.
The next blog post will be going over the first warband in my collection, The Northern Alliance. After that I will be going over the basics of the rules and then hopefully getting into some battle reports shortly after that.
Keep gaming, you nerds.
Written by Joshua Laffoon