There are tons of great board games out there (I’ve reviewed many myself on GeekDad!). But some of us just get a real satisfaction from maneuvering armies of miniatures across a terrain-filled board, seeking to outmaneuver or just plain obliterate our opponent’s forces. The majority of the larger-scale miniature wargames are known as “rank and flank,” named for the multiple ranks of combatants in a unit, and the bonuses an attacker will get for successfully flanking an enemy unit.
One of the most popular rank and flank games is the fantasy-themed Kings of War, published by UK-based Mantic Games. For several years, Mantic has provided affordable 2-Player starter sets to introduce new players to the game. They recently sent me their newest 2-Player set, Battle for the Coral Gate.
What Is Kings of War?
Kings of War is a 2-player tactical army-scale miniatures game set in the fantasy world of Pannithor. It was originally released in 2010 with rules by longtime Games Workshop game designer Alessio Cavatore. Now on its 3rd edition, the current ruleset and army lists are by Patrick Zoro Allen, Michael Crossman, Matthew James, Jason Moorman, Chris Morris, and Elliot Morrish, and is based off of Cavatore’s original rules.
This is going to be a review specifically of the Battle for the Coral Gate set, rather than for Kings of War overall. But for those of you new to the game, I will say that the 3rd edition rules for Kings of War are clear and easy to understand, and give the players a fast-playing game with plenty of strategic options, while not getting bogged down with an overly complicated or “crunchy” ruleset. And even better, Mantic provides the rules on their website, so you can read them and see if this is the game for you before investing in a starter set or a full army.
What Is Battle for the Coral Gate 2-Player Starter Set?
Battle for the Coral Gate is an all-in-one starter set for Kings of War that includes 74 miniatures, MDF unit bases, a “Getting Started” booklet, and a softcover Rules Compendium. The Rules Compendium has all of the rules and army lists necessary to play, but none of the background lore that you can find in the separately available 3rd Edition Compendium. However, you can get a free digital copy of the World of Pannithor Background Book from the Mantic webstore if you’d like to learn more about the world.
The two forces in Battle for the Coral Gate are the aquatic Trident Realm, and the demonic Forces of the Abyss. You not only get army lists to make two small warbands of each of the included factions, but there’s a small campaign included with the Getting Started booklet that will help new players familiarize themselves with the Kings of War rules.
Kings of War Battle for the Coral Gate 2-Player Starter Set retails for $130, and is available on the Mantic Webstore or at your local gaming store.
Battle for the Coral Gate Components
While there do exist wargames with pre-painted miniatures, such as Heroclix or the now-defunct X-Wing, the miniatures for most wargames come unassembled. So while your goal may be for your army to look like the picture above, this is what the box will look like when you open it up:
The majority of the miniatures in the set are made from hard plastic, and are on sprues. You’ll use clippers and/or a hobby knife to remove the individual pieces from the sprues, a file to clean the mold lines, and plastic glue to attach the pieces. These types of miniatures are very easy to work with.
There are two “Hero” models in the box that act as their respective warband’s leader. The Trident Realms Hero is made from PVC plastic, and the Forces of the Abyss Hero is made from resin. Both of those materials require super glue during assembly.
All of the models use MDF boards for bases, except for the PVC hero which comes with its own molded PVC base. Different unit sizes have different base sizes. There’s a handy guide right inside of the Getting Started booklet illustrating what size base each unit takes.
If you’ve never played a miniatures game and this seems overwhelming, never fear! The Getting Started booklet has a guide to assembling your forces, and there’s even a QR code that links to a video on assembling hard plastic miniatures.
A Note on Building a Kings of War Army
There are enough miniatures included in the set to assemble a 585-point Trident Realms warband, and a 610-point Forces of the Abyss warband.
When you are putting together an army in Kings of War (or most other miniature wargames), you generally agree with your opponent on a certain point value for the battle, and then you plan an army list that is at or near that point value. Every single unit has its own point value. With multiple-model units like infantry and cavalry, you will also have different sizes of those units to choose from, each with their own point costs. In Kings of War, your size choices, from smallest to largest, are: Troop, Regiment, Horde, and Legion.
The larger the unit, the larger the model count and base size. Unlike many rank and flank wargames, Kings of War has you keep track of the health of each unit rather than removing individual models when the unit takes wounds. Because of this, you can choose to create dioramas on each of the bases if you desire, as you have some leeway as to the number of models you must put onto your bases.
Every unit has different statistics and abilities, helping to differentiate their roles in their factions and on the battlefield.
Trident Realm Miniatures
Depth Horror Eternal
The hero character for the Trident Realm army, this is a large infantry model on a 50mm base. The figure is made from PVC, and is easy to glue together with super glue. The main downside to working with the PVC is that it’s much harder to remove mold lines from the figure than with hard plastic. Careful use of a sharp hobby knife (and some patience) is generally the best way to deal with those mold lines. But PVC also leaves you with the sturdiest of the Kings of War miniatures.
There were no assembly instructions for the Depth Horror Eternal, but it’s easy enough to figure out just by looking at the photo in the Getting Started booklet.
Riverguard Treeleapers
The Riverguard sprue allows you to build one of two basic infantry choices: The Treeleapers, which are a close-combat infantry choice, or the Riverguard, which are a ranged infantry. The included starter army list uses the Treeleapers, and there are enough sprues in the box to build a regiment (15 or more models), placed on a 100mm x 80mm base.
Naiad Heartpiercer
The Naiad Heartpiercer is another infantry choice for the Trident Realm, this time a ranged one. There are also enough sprues to build a regiment of them for the warband.
Much like the other infantry choice, the miniature sprues allow you to build two different infantry choices: the ranged Heartpiercers, or the melee Ensnarers. These sprues came in plastic bags, because the bodies for the figures were included separate from the sprues.
Riverguard Dambusters
The Dambusters are a Large Cavalry choice for the Trident Realm. There are 3 sprues included for this unit, and each sprue will only make one model. However, there are plenty of parts included so that you can vary the appearance of each of the individual models in your force.
The three sprues allow you to build a regiment of the Riverguard Dambusters. With Large Cavalry, you’ll have 2+ models on a regiment base. Here’s one of the completed models (with rider):
Forces of the Abyss
Efreet
The Efreet is the Hero character for the Forces of the Abyss. This is the only model made from cast resin, a material that has its own quirks to work with. There are two different head and arm choices for assembly; you can see which ones I used here:
Resin is a material that, like the PVC, you must clean with a knife, not a file. It is also a brittle material, and sometimes pieces can break off. Additionally, you occassionally get air bubbles during the casting, as you can see here:
Eventually, I will need to use a little modeling putty to fill in the air bubble, and also make a couple of small repairs to the figure.
Abyssal Berserkers
The Abyssal Berserkers are a Large Infantry choice, and the only Horde-sized unit in the box. A Horde of Large Infantry is 5 or more figures on a 120mm x 80mm base.
If you couldn’t already guess it from their weapons, this is a close combat infantry unit.
Lower Abyssals
The Lower Abyssals are an Infantry choice, and are somewhat of the little brothers of the Abyssal Berserkers. They share some of the same abilities, but are overall weaker. However, their point costs are much lower than the Berserkers.
This is yet another multi-use sprue, which can make either the melee-oriented Lower Abyssals, or the ranged Flamebearers. For the purposes of the included army lists, you’ll want to build the Lower Abyssals.
The sprue also contains purely decorative elements for your bases, like the imps that you can see below. Many of the various plastic sprues in the starter set include a few decorative elements, to create a more thematic scene on the bases.
Abyssal Nagarri
These count as Chariots, though I’m sure you agree you won’t see any wheels on them! For the Forces of the Abyss warband, you’ll be building a Chariot Regiment, which is exactly 3 models on a single base.
There are enough elements on the sprue to make each Abyssal Nagarri reasonably distinctive from each other.
Once you’ve assembled all of your models, you can then paint them and simulate terrain on the bases using various basing materials. Here’s what the two warbands look like, fully painted and based:
Why You Should Get Battle for the Coral Gate 2-Player Starter Set
Whether you’ve long been interested in playing Kings of War, or you’ve just found out about the game and would like to try it out, the Battle for the Coral Gate 2-Player Starter Set is an excellent way to jump into fantasy battles. It comes with a full version of the rules, a helpful starter booklet, and all the miniatures that you need to make a solid start for both the Trident Realm and the Forces of the Abyss.
If you’re a newer hobby wargamer, you may find the resin and PVC models in the set can be a bit more difficult to work with than the hard plastics. However, the majority of models in Battle for the Coral Gate come in hard plastic, which are easy to assemble and clean up.
It should be noted that, while Battle for the Coral Gate is a fairly comprehensive package, you will need some additional supplies to assemble and play. Besides tools, glue, and paints for assembly of the models, you’ll need a measuring tape, several dice, and some terrain pieces in order to play. If your local games store already hosts miniature wargames, you can certainly forego purchasing your own terrain as you’ll be able to play on their tables.
Battle for the Coral Gate is a set that one can use to learn the basic game, and it’s also a great jumping off point to collect either of the two included forces. I’m not sure if either Trident Realm or Forces of the Abyss are ultimately my style of play, but that’s OK: there are after all 22 different factions available, all with their own unique units, special rules, and fantastic models. And if you’re not drawn to either of the forces in this starter set, then you can undoubtedly find what you like in any of the other 6 Kings of War 3rd edition starter sets.
.For more information or to make a purchase, visit the Mantic Kings of War page!
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.
