I need some things to keep all my gubbins in, especially when I’m traveling to a tournament.

I saw this dice bag on sale on one of the sites I was trawling for accessories.  It a D&D one I think and the image is supposed to be a fire giant but he looks like an Abyssal Dwarf to me.  Sold.  I can fit the chess clock, tape measure and status tokens in here easily.

There are third party accessories available for Kings of War.  The most common ones are various types and size of dice holders.  These are small trays that hold one or more dice that act as unit damage trackers.  It is important to know how much damage a unit has taken so this must be clearly marked.  Most players use dice.  D6 trays have several partitions for dice to show up to the maximum damage a unit can take.  So a unit with 18 Nerve will need a 3 slot D6 tray.  Some players use D20 instead as they only usually need a single die to track damage with.  I’ve also seen players using playing cards.

I’ve looked around and came across these on the Blotz website:

https://blotz.co.uk/product/3-dial-block-0-99-status-kow/

These look great to me.  I can track unit damage up to a terrifying (but improbable) 99 and there is a dial showing one of four unit states.  There isn’t anything on the site to say what is written on the dial.  I ordered them and the status are out of date, they apply to 3rd Ed and earlier as they have Disordered on there.  The four common status terms I need are: Steady, Waivered, Disordered and Hindered.  Fortunately the dial is blank on the reverse and I can just write these terms on this side instead.

They arrive on an mdf sprue and need assembly.  To facilitate seeing the dial clearly I painted them white and then wrote on in a thin black pen.  I also went over the incised numbers on the two number dials with the black pen.

Assembly

There are three layers, the dials fit into a template piece that forms the middle layer.  There are three locking pins that hold the dials in place.  Gluing them is a bit tricky.  Normally I’d PVA the large flat surfaces together.  If I do that I run the risk of excess glue seeping into the space for the dial and sticking it in place.  I settled on dots of superglue on either end of the locking pins and then a wipe of superglue down the outside on the narrow sides to help hold the layers together.  That seems to work.

I had some spare gold paint from a DIY project so decided to spray the top of my dials gold.  They still don’t look too great but will certainly do.

All games need a defined area for play.  For Ambush this is 3′ x 3′.  I’ll use a mat to delineate this area.  I’ve gone for the cheapest I could find which was this Battlesystems one.  A word of warning here, they also do a 2′ x 2′ one which might look like a super bargain when looking at them online and not all retailers are good about indicating which size the product is. Also mine has a 1″ grid marked on in small white dots.  Again, my retailer didn’t bother to mention this.  I’m not bothered by it at all as KoW allows measuring at any time so it might even help my practice.  I just wanted a cheap one.

I’ve chose a standard green one to match with the other terrain pieces.  It is a mousepad backed one so rolls out easily and goes lovely and flat on the table.

I’m a sucker for a set of game specific tokens.  As a completist I need to own all of a game’s paraphernalia so was pleased to see KoW has official sets of tokens, scenario markers and even magic cards.

There are two sets of acrylic tokens and markers designed to match the measuring sticks, also coloured a very uninspiring mdf beige.   Fortunately there are sets from 3rd Edition which are much more colourful and as they are now old stock, significantly cheaper that the £27.50 for the official sets.

Here are the game tokens:

As you can see this set includes the all important line of sight arc tool as well as markers for common unit states and spell effects.  Now because these were for 3rd Edition there is a state represented here, “Disordered” which is no longer in the game.  However, there is a new state, “Devastated” which these tokens are perfect for as it only occurs as a result of ranged attacks.  Because the tokens have symbols, not words, they are perfect for representing almost anything.  If my opponent uses an unusual spell or effect I’ll still have a token that can represent it.  By using official tokens I also have symbols other players will be familiar with which will be helpful to experienced opponents.

Now on to the second set, scenario and objective markers, again mine are from 3rd Edition:

Numbered scenario markers, loot tokens in full colour 25mm acrylic and a set of seven 3D objectives.  There is also a one man band miniature for unknown reasons.  You can also see a stack of 40mm mdf bases which I added, they don’t come in the box.  That is because 4th Edition has changed the size of all of these markers from 25mm to 40mm.  Now there really isn’t a sound game mechanic reason to do that.  It just means players have to go and get a new set of tokens.  At £27.50 again I think that is a bit steep and given the new set doesn’t even have the 3D markers in it this is probably the lowest value for money Mantic accessory.  Fortunately they are easy to make out of paper or card so you definitely don’t need the official ones.

As I’m only playing solo at home and I don’t need to take them to the tournament then it won’t matter that mine are too small.  I also like the colours and graphics on these.  Pretty.  I’ll base the 3D objective markers on the 40mm bases and paint them up.  I like attractive tables.

Finally there is a set of mini cards with each of the spells and magic artifacts in the game.

In your army lists each magical item for either units or characters can only be taken once.  Spells can be taken by more than one magic user but that is very unusual for the less common spells.  These cards serve as an excellent reminder to both players which unit has which item and I’ve seen tournament players place these item cards into each unit that has one to remind them it is there.  It is very easy to forget that a unit has an item and not use it, thus wasting the points totally.

I sleeve all of my game cards.  You can see the sleeves I used in the picture, I like Mayday Games Premiums but there are loads of other makers.  Getting the right size can be a faddle as there are so many similar sizes.  These cards are USA Mini size, 41mm x 63mm so look for that size sleeve.

Overall, at £15 I think these are a decent price and as a new player anything that helps me remember to do things is most welcome.   These are my favourite Mantic accessory set.

I already have tape measures but am a sucker for a branded accessory so looked to see what Mantic have.  There are sets of measuring sticks.  The current ones match the new token sets for 4th Edition and are in a brown mdf colour which seems a shame as they are acrylic and could have been any colour.  The current set does have a line of sight gauge and corner deployment markers as well as the rulers which is a bonus.  At £27.50 I thought they were a bit steep.

Instead I went for the older set with just the measuring sticks in it:

The set comes in a storage tube and contains sticks in all standard movement lengths from 3″ to 12″.  Charges are measured by using the standard movement stick and flipping it end over end or rotating it around the far end once the first half of the movement is measured out.  They are quite attractive looking and have Kings of War written on one side.

I’m sure tournaments/opponents won’t be fussy about how I’m measuring things but this is a KoW specific set if someone were to expect me to use one.

Not satisfied with my cheap DIY store basic tape measures I decided to get a special one for my tournament set.  Mantic used to do one themselves but don’t sell it anymore.  Instead I found this one by Green Stuff World:

I liked this because it is marked only in inches and is in high contrast white on black (again good for the failing minces).  Helpfully every 10 inches the number is in red.  So a decimal numbered imperial measure!  A minor gripe is that it is meant to be used right handed as the numbers only read correctly if the tape is held in the right hand and drawn with the left.  As a leftie I’d usually do this the other way round but I’ll just get used to doing it right handed.

GSW are available from a number of stockists in the UK and I had no trouble finding one with this in stock although in the past I’ve noticed their stock levels can be a bit erratic depending on the item so worth checking with their own site that they have stock before ordering from them or from a UK supplier without the item in stock.

So far this is my favourite accessory.  The numbers are so clear.  Its brilliant.