On the KoW forum, TastyBagel of Regnum Aeternum posed an interesting question: Are theme lists less popular than main (master) lists? As someone who runs Varangur and The Herd—both theme lists—he noted how these armies tend to get less attention than their respective main lists and wondered how this phenomenon plays out across other armies.
In this blog post, I’ll take a look at data from 10 recent Kings of War tournaments (on the Mantic Companion) to explore this question. Whether you’re a data enthusiast or just a curious player, this post aims to shed light on how often theme lists show up compared to their parent main lists and how they stack up in tournament popularity.
What Are Main and Theme Lists?
For context, main lists are standalone army lists, while theme lists are offshoots of those main armies with a few thematic tweaks. For example, the main Dwarf list has a theme variant known as Free Dwarfs, and the Orcs have their Riftforged Orcs counterpart. While theme lists often have a narrower appeal, they offer rich narrative elements or unique play styles.
Data at a Glance: Main Lists Dominate, But Theme Lists Are Present
I analyzed the tournament data from 10 recent Kings of War events hosted on the Mantic Companion platform. The dataset includes 28 army lists, split into two categories: main lists and theme lists.
- Main lists were used 242 times, making up 86.1% of all lists taken.
- Theme lists were used 39 times, accounting for just 13.9% of the total.
This baseline suggests that while theme lists are less common, they still have a notable presence on the competitive scene.
Why Are Theme Lists Less Popular?
At first glance, it might seem like theme lists are simply underused. But there’s more to the story. When I look at the proportion of available lists:
- 71.4% of the lists available in the game are main lists.
- 28.6% are theme lists.
This difference provides a useful baseline for evaluating the tournament data. While 71% of the available lists are main lists, they account for 86% of the usage. This indicates that main lists are over-represented in tournament play compared to their availability, while theme lists, though present, are used less frequently than one might expect based purely on their presence in the game.
Main Lists vs Theme Lists: A Pairwise Breakdown
To get a clearer picture of how theme lists stack up against their associated main lists, let’s compare pairs of armies that involve both a main and theme list:
Main List | Usage | Theme List | Usage |
---|---|---|---|
Orcs | 3 | Riftforged Orcs | 8 |
Dwarfs | 20 | Free Dwarfs | 7 |
Elves | 6 | Sylvan Kin | 5 |
Basileans | 9 | Order of the Brothermark | 5 |
Forces of Nature | 8 | The Herd | 7 |
Forces of Nature | 8 | Order of the Green Lady | 4 |
Northern Alliance | 16 | Varangur | 2 |
Abyssal Dwarfs | 14 | Ratkin Slaves | 1 |
While in certain cases, the theme list (e.g., Riftforged Orcs) can actually outshine or come close to its main list counterpart, in most instances, main lists dominate the scene, as seen with Dwarfs and Northern Alliance. This may be because, as TastyBagel suggested, the theme lists have fewer unit options or less support from a modeling perspective, even if they might offer a fun lore-driven alternative to the main list.
Key Observations
- Theme Lists Aren’t Universally Underused: Some theme lists, like Riftforged Orcs, are quite popular, even more so than their parent list. I suspect this has something to do both with RFO being a new, fun list and the support they had in the Mantic Vault.
- Main Lists Still Lead: Overall, main lists are more common, particularly in high-competition environments. Their reliability and adaptability likely make them a safer choice for tournaments. I wish we had data from garage games to see if that trend still held there, but it’s certainly true in the sample of tournaments that I parsed.
- Niche Popularity: Certain theme lists, such as Varangur and Ratkin Slaves, see very limited use, reflecting perhaps their more niche appeal compared to broader, more versatile main lists like Northern Alliance and Abyssal Dwarfs. A year ago, Varangur seemed much more popular, and it isn’t clear to me what could result in changing that popularity so dramatically.
Wrapping Up: Are Theme Lists Here to Stay?
As TastyBagel suggested, theme lists may be a way to support legacy armies or attract players with specific thematic interests (e.g., Warriors of Chaos fans playing Varangur). While they’re less common in tournaments, they provide a rich diversity to the game and will likely remain part of the Kings of War landscape, especially for players looking to expand beyond the more conventional main lists. With 4th edition looming, and calls increasing to reduce the overall number of factions, might we see some of the theme lists disappear?
Let me know your thoughts—are you a fan of theme lists or do you stick to the mainstays? Do you think the tournament meta will evolve to include more theme lists as new players join or armies expand?
Thanks to TastyBagel for raising this fascinating question! You can check out the original discussion here.
Happy wargaming!
Sources:
- Data compiled from 10 tournaments hosted on the Mantic Companion platform.
- Analysis based on usage statistics and list popularity across main and theme armies.
- For a good look at (somewhat dated) faction-specific lore, check out: