GenCon 2015 : Clash of Kings

Clash of Kings returns to Gencon!  After skipping last year, the regional qualifier for the Clash of Kings Championship at Adepticon returned with an increase of 400% in participation.
Gencon 2015 Clash of Kings players (left to right) : Jon Carter, Amy Stamper, Kara Brown, Donny Harville, Sue Foreman, Jason Herald, Bill Foreman and Shannon Shoemaker
Once again we ran into the contradiction of running tournaments as large conventions - they pull in people from all over, however there is so much to do that often people don't want to dedicate a day at the convention to just one thing.  This year we had eight players, so it is growing.

There was a bit of a disaster for the tournament, as Bill and Sue left their home in a rush (due to being several hours late), leaving their armies packed up in their house.   Luckily I happened to have a dozen or so armies on hand, though they were only 1000 pts each and used the 2nd edition lists.   With a little work I was able to create a human army using my Kingdoms of Men demo list and including the Ogres (that were part of the KoM list in 1st edition).  Adding in forest shamblers from the Nature demo army was enough points to make a base elf army, and then finish it off with some Basilean allies in the form of Elohi and Panther Lancers.  They may not have been the most efficient lists, but they did allow Bill and Sue to play and have a lot of fun.

We had a lot of people stop by during the tournament as well.   Plus Ronnie Renton, the man himself, dropped by to say hi since we couldn't make it to the open night at the Colt's bar.  In fact we had so many people coming in that they may have unintentionally interfered, throwing off some of the players as they had to stop their chess clocks several times.

Random pairings for the first round put Kara v Bill, Jon v. Shannon, Amy v. Jason and Donny v. Sue. The first scenario was "Invade!" from the new second edition, with the twist requiring each player to get a messenger off the opponents table edge.  Kara, Shannon, Amy and Donny all came out on top in this round.
Donny & Sue get ready to deploy their armies
Bill and Kara get set up
Kara and Bill had a great game!
Round 2 was a Dominate scenario out of the new 2nd edition rules, and saw Kara take on Shannon, Donny take on Amy, Jon take on Bill and Jason take on Sue.  Three of the games ended in ties, with only Kara actually getting a win, when Shannon timed out on his chess clock.

Kara carefully studies Shannon's approaching ogres.
Donny watches as Amy starts to deploy her army
Sue smiles as Jason checks his army list
Bill and  Jon pause for a quick picture
The final round was a simple 'Kill!' scenario and saw Shannon beat Amy, Jon defeat Sue, Kara narrowly beating Donny and Jason getting the victory over Bill.

Of course we saw some beautiful armies there.  Kara's Abyssal Dwarves and Jon's Undead consistently score at the top when judging painting in the midwest.

Kara Brown's Abyssal Dwarf army
Jon Carter's Undead army
Shannon Shoemaker's Goblin army
Amy Stamper's Dwarf army
Jason Herald's Ogre army 
Sue Foreman played Kingdoms of Men
Donny Harville's Ogre army
Bill played Elves w/ Basilean allies
And the winners are:
Kara Brown, Gencon 2015 Clash of Kings Champion
Shannon Shoemaker, 2nd place
Donny Harville, third place
Jon Carter : Best Appearance
Overall it was a great tournament, and a lot of fun for everyone.  Kara was finally able to earn a Blaine trophy to go with the one that her wife Amy won at Origins.

We look forward to seeing everyone again at Adepticon!  However, before that is the legendary Game Faire III in Fairborn Ohio on October 16th.  While not a Clash of Kings Regional, it is the first 2nd edition Kings of War tournament in the Midwest!

Clash of Kings @ Gencon 2015

Place Name Opponents Army Battle Objectives Paint Players Choice Favorite Opponent Attrition Total Additional Painting Appearance Total Awards
1 Kara Brown Bill Foreman, Shannon Shoemaker, Donny Harville Abyssal Dwarfs 85 11 20 4 4165 109 8 32 1st place
2 Shannon Shoemaker Jon Carter, Kara Brown, Amy Stamper Goblins 70 8 20 1 3230 91 7 27 2nd place
3 Donny Harville Sue Foreman, Amy Stamper, Kara Brown Ogres 65 9 17 1 2700 83 2 20 3rd place
4 Jason Herald Amy Stamper, Sue Foreman, Bill Foreman Ogres 60 7 17 3 3 2685 83 6 26
5 Amy Stamper Jason Herald, Donny Harville, Shannon Shoemaker Dwarfs 60 10 20 1 3310 81 6 26
6 Jon Carter Shannon Shoemaker, Bill Foreman, Sue Foreman Undead 60 8 20 1 2425 81 9 29 Best Appearance
7 Sue Foreman Donny Harville, Jason Herald, Jon Carter Kingdoms of Men 40 6 17 1 1465 58 4 21
8 Bill Foreman Kara Brown, Jon Carter, Jason Herald Elves 40 7 17 1 1410 58 1 18

Comments

  1. Hi there!

    Many thanks for the write up! It is a great thing to have a tournament at such a big event and I agree it may be tough choice to attend as there are so many things you have to check too.

    However, it is fantastic to see people attending and I keep fingers crossed that the scene is going to grow rapidly!

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
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