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