Kings of War 4th Edition - New Salamander models

Kings of War 4th Edition released in December and I have been working on my Salamander army to extend it to make it usable in the new edition. The army building rules have changed a fair amount and the points values also. This has made the build that I've been using for the whole of 2025 completely unusable and so it was time to have a rethink.

Luckily Mantic has released all the Salamander sculpts as STLs over at the vault and also extended the range with new models. So I decided to concentrate on those for new stuff in my army.

First up was the new Kaisenor Lancers. These are a unit that I really wanted in 3rd edition as well, but Mantic had not made a model for the. I couldn't find anything from anyone else that looked appropriate either.

I printed 8 of the up (2 sets) with the intention of getting around 6 to a base, but they're huge, so I've only got 4 on each base. Which makes sense as Mantic sell 4 of these as a regiment.

I'm really happy with the sculpts. You can clearly see that they're based on the old "Blaine on a freeking-dinosaur" model from years ago, but scaled up as a Salamander is a lot bigger than Blaine. The salamanders appear to be conversions of the original plastic infantry and I think the heads and shield arms are the same sculpts. This does mean that conversions should be easier.

In addition something I wanted in 3rd edition was another Mage Priest, but Mantic only had one sculpt. Though absolutely one of my favourites. In 4th edition there's a new Mage Champion, Z'akke (which I pronounce as "Zak", and there's a new model for him. Again a great sculpt and this could be used for Z'akke or another generic Mage Priest.

Finally, as a bit of fun, and as an alternative, not as expensive, support choice, I've gone for the new Komdon model. It's going to be interesting having some long-range indirect shooting in my army for once. We'll just have to see whether I like it or not. Unlike the other new units, this is more of a new-thing for me.

As for more models. I must say that I'm tempted with the new Ghekkotahs. The new sculpts look excellent. But other projects will need to come first.

Some more Salamaders for my Kings of War army

A couple more units for my Kings of War army. I painted these back in early December, but forgot to photo them for the blog.

A Horde of Rhinosaurs.

And a second Phoenix with a slightly different colour scheme.

More bits for my Kings of War Salamanders

I just completed the Phoenix for my Kings of War Salamanders ready for trying it out at COGS. I realised that I had not posted photos of my other recent units, so here they are.

First up is of course the Phoenix. This is one hell of a model to paint. All those flames and then the feathers. It's so huge that it really is important to get it right for the army. I didn't want this one to ruin the look of the rest of the army.

I looked around the net and decided to go for red feathers with black highlights like they are burned at the edges. The flames are my usual recipe, but with extra white highlights where they meet the bird itself to make it seem even hotter. The teddy bear filling highlighted again with black, covers up what I think is the weakest part of the model, where it meets the ground and makes it look a bit more like its flying.

The Mage Priest is a wonderful sculpt and a good model in the army. A spell caster with Inspiring built-in is not the usual in Kings of War. It has a good selection of spells and I'd consider more than one of these, but Mantic only do one model! With such a dynamic model I just could not run with two the same! Come on Mantic!

The Lekelidon is another superb model. I loved painting this one... A nice bit of cheap chaff he's going to have to fight with my froggies for a place in the army most of the time though.

I'd always intended to do a horde of Ceremonial Guard, but in the end I only really have space for a regiment. I stuck with my original plan though of having them lined up as if on parade... I selected only the parts that would allow this and left the more dynamic bits for other units.

Kings of War - Salamanders - The Whispering Scales

My new Salamander army continues to grow. The latest part bringing me up to 1950 points of new models for the COGS of War tournament this weekend is the formation for the army, "The Whispering Scales".

For this I have two regiments of Salamander Primes, one with 2-handed weapons and a special Battle Captain. 

For the Battle Captain I designed my own model using Hero Forge and then printed it on my resin printer.

Kings of War - Bullywugs... er... Ghekkotah Warriors

I decided that I needed some chaff for my new Salamander army and at 60 points for a troop the Ghekkotah warriors look ideal. However, Mantic don't (at the time of writing) make any Ghekkotah troops. There's a few heroes, but nothing else. 

I started looking around for 3D printable alternatives, but found nothing that really grabbed me. That is until I found the Warp Miniatures Bullywug Warriors. I loved these happy smiling frogs the moment I saw them and knew I had to use them.

Now you might say, those are frogs, not geckos... and you'd be right. But if Mantic can confuse salamanders as being reptiles, then I can confuse geckos as being amphibians. To be fair to Mantic, it's not their fault, but the fault of the medieval scholars who couldn't work out what a salamander actually was.

Anyway, having decided that I was going to use the Bullywugs, (which could also be Riverguard... hmmm...) I decided they needed appropriate bases. Loads of messing with 3D prints; plaster cast rocks; transparent resin, both two-part and UV; and some of the rather excellent Gamer's Grass lazer-cut plants has produced a couple of little troops I'm very proud to put at the front of my army ready to be killed first... 

... and not an LED on them!

Salamander Clan Lord on Fire Drake

I've just completed my Salamander Clan Lord on Fire Drake.

I've used the Mantic dragon with 3D printed salamander and fire effects with LEDs.

The saddle I'm not sure about... 

Kings of War - Salamanders

Rather than flitting around all the time, I've decided to concentrate on one Kings of War army each year. Last year it was my Forces of the Abyss, the year before was Sylvan Kin. This year was going to be Forces of Nature, but it's not been doing so well. I'm not sure whether I've won a single game with them yet... 

So, when all the Salamander stuff appeared on the Mantic Vault I decided it was time for a change. I'd already built some Scorchwings and Fire Elementals for my Forces of Nature, and these would both act as a start to a new Salamander Force. I also had a few old GW Lizardmen I'd made as for Salamaders back in Kings of War 1.0.

So I've been busy adding new 3D printed units and going crazy with LEDs... The addition of regiments of Corsairs and Tyrants along with Firebrand has already meant I'm close to 2000pts. 

The plan is to replace all the non-Mantic models with Mantic ones as I get experience with the force, but this is a good start.

I do have another regiment of Corsairs, a Clan Lord on Firedrake and a Mage Priest in progress. I'm not sure what to do after that, some troops of Ghekkotah Warriors, or a horde of Ceremonial Guard, or maybe some Ember Sprites?