Are kingdoms of men playable anymore?

Kingdoms of men (and Rhordia) didn’t see much in the way of exciting updates in Clash of Kings 2025. They gained an amazing order, but it is heavily restricted, so none of the best targets for it can use it. Looking at other human armies, there are others that have clearly gained a lot more.

This mindset seems to have hit several of the traditionally KoM players in my local community too. Over the last years, one by one, we have dropped KoM for other armies. This year, even the most fervent KoM players went for other armies for Kings of Oslo GT, and I understand why. KoM has poor healing, bad alpha strike ability, fairly bad shooting, lots of mediocre to bad infantry, little in the ways of auras or buffing units, mediocre grinding, no efficient duelists and not a lot of pathfinder. Pick almost any unit, and another army will have the same, just better for a marginal cost increase. But is there still some life in the old girl?

KoM / Rhordia do still have some fairly unique good units. I think there still are some archetype list that can do well, and that can do something that the other human armies are not capable / as good at.

Flying circus

One example may be the flying circus. KoM beast cavalry actually hits harder than Elohi and Forsaken, and they also have access to cheap flying heroes galore. Where Basilea pays 310pts for a dragon, KoM gets a guy with only 3 less attacks for 120pts less. Yes, the dragon is a lot better, it can shoot, it can survive much more, but when they hit a flank, 14 attacks at CS3 is often good enough, and you have 120pts to spend on something else.

Present pikes!

Infantry heavy lists are going to struggle competing against the option of just using Basilea / brothermark rules instead, as they have much better access to healing, chaff, support units, and in general has better infantry units. Trying to shoot away Basilea infantry with iron resolve 1-3, triple phoenix support, radiance of life and other good healing support is a lot more frustrating than shooting away def 4 pikemen with no heal.

However, it is fairly unique for KoM / Rhordia to have units with both phalanx and ensnare. Phalanx is good now, and with ensnare on top, enemy cav / fliers just can’t get through your front (unless you have taken a lot of shooting damage before they got there). Pike regiments are also one of the units that benefit the most from ferocious charge order, with 15 attacks that suddenly hit on 3s.

Pikes do have a massive weakness though. They are def 4+, so they just die to shooting. Large infantry are also not really worried about them, and generally punch their way through easily enough. Abyssals with their new speed 9 large infantry berserkers will laugh their way through your pikemen.

Pike heavy list are an archetype I tried to play last year. I did fine with it, but it certainly did not feel like more than a mediocre list. I had several different ideas, and tried both a lot of hordes and a lot of regiments and something in between. I think it is probably best to not lean too heavily into the pikes, and rather use them as a smaller part of the list, just an anvil for the rest of your list to lean on.

For a pike-focussed archetype, I think Rhordia edges ahead of KoM because of a lot of rally sources and the dogs of war units, although I miss the 60pts ballistas, and there is something there with giants + pikes that looks somewhat promising. Maybe something like this for KoM:

As for Rhordia, they have also gained some small buffs, like Duke Hetronburg gaining +2 attacks, making him a usable combat character. With his +2 rally to cavalry, both knights and maybe even mounted scouts suddenly look somewhat playable. Compared to the flying circus, it is much harder to make a list that just looks really good. And that is probably not so strange, as infantry is just much harder to play than a speed 10 army. I think the army needs some shooting, so other armies can’t just kite you forever. You also need some speedy units, so you don’t get automatically alpha struck by anything speed 6+. The battle shrine feels like a good inclusion for the rally +2, which takes those normally fairly weak regiment nerve values into really good value for the points. I feel confident that 15/17, phalanx, ensnare pike regiments for 120pts are good. There is a 150pts tax there, but the shrine is a decent shooter and close combat unit, so it is not a total waste. Honour guard are also still good, and could form the hitting power part of an otherwise defensive list.

Mad lad Chariots?

Human chariots are actually looking allright. Speed 9, TC2, brutal, and adds some light shooting. They are one of the cheapest horde unlocks, at only +5pts compared to shieldwall, they certainly bring a lot more to the table. Regiments of chariots can also be hit with ferocious charge, and do not get -1 to hit from phalanx, nor trigger slayer or rampage. They are slightly worse than goblin fleebag chariots, who get vicious for only +5pts (a common KoM issue, being bland, but not paying proportionally less for their units). Of the other human armies, only Basilea has chariots. Sisterhood chariots gain +1 nerve, iron resolve, vicious and more attacks, but at a pretty hefty additional price, costing closer to knight price. I think there might be some decent MSU builds taking advantage of chariots. Or maybe a huge horde of fanatics hiding behind a screening line of chariots to save them from enemy shooting?

Overall, there are some units and builds that still look playable at a fairly high level, but in general, KoM & Rhordia seem to have slipped a bit downwards in the meta. They do have a lot of normal infantry units, which are now harder to play than ever IMO, and they lack the new style of powerful auras etc. which takes otherwise mediocre units into really good territory. I hope 4th edition swings some power back to infantry, or just reduces points for non-phalanx, slow infantry across the board, so you at least can get more stuff to support the poor bloody infantry. With something like a 10-15% cost reduction, I think a lot more of the slow infantry units would suddenly look playable again.

My short list of the best KoM / Rhordia units:

• General on winged beast (KoM)
• Flying beast cav (KoM)
• Ballista (KoM)
• Wizard on pegasus (both)
• Pikemen (both)
• Honour guard (Rhordia)
• Dogs of war (Rhordia)
• Duke Hetronburg (Rhordia)

What do you think? Are there other archetypes that makes it worth going for KoM / Rhordia in a competitive setting? Or should we all jump ship for those super cheap phoenixes over in Basilea?