There are a number of playable armies for Kings of War, represented by official army-lists as well as several fan-created lists, which are not considered canonical to the game.

They are Forces of the Abyss, Forces of Nature, Undead, Dwarfs, Elves, Abyssal Dwarfs, Goblins, Orcs, Ogres, Basileans and the Kingdoms of Men[12] In addition, Mantic games provides army lists for other armies in a book called Kings of War: Uncharted Empires.

[13] The smaller armies are The League of Rhordia, Ratkin, The Brotherhood, The Empire of Dust, Salamanders, The Herd, The Trident Realm of Neritica, Night-stalkers and The Varangur.

They do not share the same rules or game mechanics with Kings of War, but they use the same range of miniatures and are set in the same fictional world of Pannithor.

It is a skirmish game where players control individual models rather than units, with an experience and level up system for its campaign mode.