Ohio GT: First-time GT Player’s Perspective
Last weekend I was able to participate in my first Kings of War GT and I wanted to get my thoughts on “paper” before my memory washes it way with old age and keeping an eight-year-old in line. Below, my rambling thoughts on why a Kings of War GT is awesome and why you should always attend one if you get a chance(at least in Ohio).
Before we get to the GT, I feel a little background helps set where I am coming from for my reflections on it. I got into KoW back at the end of 3.5, late enough into the edition that at this point I’ve truly punted all 3.5 knowledge into the ether (like my Rhordia army, it no longer exists). I came to KoW from Old World, where I tried to get the Old World community going unsuccessfully locally and was adopted/stolen/forced into Kings by Cyle and our local gang. Before that I had stints in 40k (tournaments) and Flames of War(also a few tournaments).
So this Ohio GT, the first truly large local KoW GT (not counting First Annual Radnor Manor Minor Major GT aka Poophole), which I had missed due to being a good dad and going to dance recitals instead. I had heard that KoW GTs weren’t like 40k or any other GT, the community is different which I totally believed. The KoW community is small and tightknit locally but still I was concerned about going. As a casual player, trying to get better, the thought of getting my face smashed in for five games in a row wasn’t appealing. Sure, I had been practicing my Men army a bunch, yes I had beat some good players with them but in a tournament peoples A game comes out and the names I heard attending really had me on pause. Names of high ranking Masters players, people whose YouTube I watched whenever they were on and our locals who have face stomped me enough to make me question my decisions in life on why I paint war dollies.
The space: Being held in a casino/racetrack I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect but man was it a great space for the 30 players. It overlooked the racetrack(sadly no races, but if there were races there’s no way the venue would have been affordable) for a nice view and included a balcony to get fresh air easily. The playing space was great too; one thing I despise about tournaments is when games feel on top of each other and cramped. This wasn’t it; we had room to sit our armies down and our junk beside the tables and at no point was I bumping into someone else on another table. The perceived “closeness” of a tournament wasn’t found here. With the venue came free soft drinks and water and on Saturday its own bartender, having on hand refreshments or liquid courage is amazing and a first-time experience for me in any tournament. While I didn’t partake of the bartender I heard prices were reasonable as well.
The scoring: Before we get into the games, I think it’s important to understand how scoring was going on for this tournament. Here locally we believe it’s never fun to have to kick someone while they are down, aka blackjack scoring, so once you hit max attrition theres no point in piling on. Everyone has different levels of artistic ability, so scoring for painting was if you show good effort in painting your army, you will max score the painting (its also self-scored) which is great for new players/painters. Game play scoring was 15/7/1 for win/draw/loss and there were three side quest objectives. Many of these objectives were more skewed toward helping the losing player score but presented unique challenges, such as burning a token turn 1. I personally love side quest scoring as it helps you feel like the game wasn’t a total loss if you lost and gave you more to think about.
The games themselves: So the games, my big worry for what would ruin my weekend. A few days before the GT I was able to do the GT match up preview, where I learned who my first round would be along with everyone else. Round one, Ray Shields(the only person’s Ill name going forward as I don’t want to offend or leave anyone out) who I mention by name because if you’ve watched any KoW YouTube content you’ve seen Ray. A “legend” in his own right, who also brought a ton of terrain for the tournament, a person who I’ve watched so much, and he has taught me a ton at this point through various content on Kings. I was excited and nervous as hell, while he was bringing a new army for himself this guy rolled an army for a tournament and won it. I knew I was in for a whooping if I didn’t play it right. So I did what any respectable person would do, I studied his list in and out for a day… *insert Ray going “I don’t think about you at all” meme*. Ray didn’t disappoint, gentleman and a scholar I see how he can pick up any army and be good at it, his army was also beautiful to look at. Getting a draw against Ray is basically a win in my book. A fun game for sure. Game two was vs an Abyssal army that is very similar to what I run when I run Abyss and I knew what it could do. Another great looking army I was able to get a win and was feeling pretty good. Game three I got to play someone else I have watched a ton on YouTube playing games, but I had never played against Goblins before or a MSU army like this so I didn’t know what to expect. At one point in this game, I thought for sure I was going to table the goblins, only my dice went ice cold then the goblins went super-hot and I thought “oh shit I’m about to get tabled in return”. This was one of my top 5 games of all times, a great opponent and we had a blast going to a draw. So, I ended the day 1-0-2, already ahead of where I expected to be and truly enjoyed every game I played. I wasn’t nearly as exhausted as I expected either, turning 40 two weeks early, I was sure my knees would be shot but nope.
Day 2; I came into this tournament saying “I don’t respect shooting, I expect by Sunday I will”. So far I hadn’t seen shooting list(Goblins was melee) and oof was I about to “learn today son”. Game 4 was Salamanders with Komodons that shot me to shit, I was close but not close enough going into a loss. Game 5, was Kingdoms of men but cannons and rifles. This game was so close it came down to two tight rolls at the end, and I ended up with a loss. Another awesome nail-biting game.
The prize pool: Normally I wouldn’t call this out, but this was a new one for me that I loved. Everyone who played got 2 raffle tickets and could buy more if they wanted more options to the prize pool. If you won, you didn’t auto get awards (outside of the trophies) and I thought this is a great way to get everyone involved and normally your top players don’t need more models. It really helps the newbies too. For trophies I also like they had outside of 1-3, there was two best sports, who got exactly the middle, last, and Soft Score Scumbag. SSS is who scores the highest between painting and sports scores. A great trophy. I hope more tournaments pick up raffle ticket prizes and this scoring format, it was awesome for everyone.
Final thoughts: Overall I end 1-2-2 and feel really good with how I did with my effort. No game did I feel I totally lost it due to my own play and 2 games I think back on how I could have flipped them to wins, but that’s how tournaments go for everyone. Seeing the top tables I also see the distance I need to improve to get to the top but that’s ok, I play more for fun.
This GT has me hooked, I now want to travel to other tournaments to meet more people. The Kings community is amazing and getting more under my belt, when life allows, will be awesome. If you haven’t done a Kings tournament or a GT I can’t recommend them enough, even if you’re brand new just learning the game you’ll have fun and people will help you. Likely even armies to borrow, the community will ensure you have the opportunity to play no matter what. Thank you to the TOs who hosted the Ohio GT, you set a high bar to live up to for others.