Kins of Dave 4 - Summary

Greetings!

My first KoW tournament was over so it's time for some summary. First of all, many thanks to Dave C. for organizing the event. I remember him being responsible for many great events for Warhammer and I happy to see him stepping up and doing it again for KoW. With such an experienced TO players in Canberra can be sure that there will be plenty and regular high quality events to attend to! Well done, Dave! I am definitely looking forward to attending more of your tournaments and I hope time will permit that.

Many thanks to 3D6 shop crew as well. They were hosting many activities that day so it was nice that they found a few tables for us. They provided all the mats and terrain we needed for that small tournament. Thanks a lot!

Attendance

There were 12 players attending the tournament, including TO Dave who also played a few games to make sure every one had an opponent. Initially there were a few more but unfortunately had to change their plans in the last moment. 

But for a small local, one day event it was a very nice number and I hope all tournaments in Canberra will have more and more players coming. The popularity of the game keeps growing so I am sure it will happen. 

Player's Pack

KoW player's packs seem to be simple and straightforward which is great. I really enjoyed random selection of the scenarios. I don't think it really mattered in what order we played. 

I know many players prefer 2500 points battles. They can include more units, the army list composition is less restricted etc. And it also seemed that in general, the players had enough time to finish their games. 

Personally, I still feel better with smaller games, 2000 being my favorite. I like them more because first, you have to make some decisions as what to include in the army. It seems to me that at 2000 you rarely have all you want. 

At the same time there is still a lot of room to maneuver. While when you scale your games up it is still on the same table size. But it may be due to the fact I simply played majority of the games at this level. I know the next tournament at this place is going to be at 2500 again so I need to be better prepared. 

There were no soft scores but that is intentional because at this stage people are still in the process of building and re-building their armies. I expect, however, that painting scores should show up eventually.  

The system of points was a new thing for me. Automatic 15-5 for a victory due to fulfilling scenario objectives was similar to Win-Draw-Lose option in my opinion. But  it was further modified by the amount of points by which one player beat another. In theory it was possible to lose the scenario but diminish the margin of defeat. In practice, I think, it was rare to have 15-5 score. Usually the victor should have had enough for 17-3 score. 

On the other hand, obtaining 20-0 was very difficult as the point difference would have to be really big (2000+ difference to be precise).

I don't know what kind of play this system rewards the most but since the points are modified by what you kill in comparison to what you lose then it definitely pays off to make the opposing army bleed a bit more, even if you are losing the scenario.

Terrain/Tables

The tables in general look good, although not all of them had battle mats. The terrain was very different, depending on the table, as you could see in my games. On one hand it was very interesting and forced players to play differently. On the other the fact that you may have just one type of a terrain felt a bit restrictive. 

However, it is not a criticism really, more a topic to discuss probably. I know 3D6 has quite a lot of terrain to choose from too, so there are definitely options to consider.

Armies Represented

I think the variety of the represented armies was very good, in particular for a relatively small tournament. Here is the final table:

1. Abyssal Dwarves
2. Twilight Kin
3. Goblins
4. Ratkin
5. Twilight Kin
6. Elves
7. Kingdom of Men
8. Ogres
9. Elves
10. Orcs
11. Undead
12. Empire of Dust 

Unfortunately, I had no time to walk around and take pictures of the armies. Hopefully next time I will be able to take a few as people had some very nice ideas for the forces they are currently assembling or have assembled already.

In terms of personal achievements I went 2-0-2 which gave me 6th position. Apparently 3 or 4 of us had the same amount of Battle Points which is quite interesting to know, especially where there is a system to modify end battle result. 

There is lots for me to improve, in particular speed of play. I am once again sorry that my opponents didn't have the games at their usual pace. It will get better.

It is really hard to judge what is currently dominating style in KoW locally when I played only 4 games in a tournament. A few observations though:

- in two games I faced at least one big flier 

- in all I had to deal with 2 or more "catapults"

- in all games there were at least 2 units in horde formation

- I think there were no troops present unless fast cavalry

From my own perspective and the army I play I need to find a good way to counter big fliers better and to fight the individuals somehow. We will see if I can come up with a good idea until the next event.

Once again thanks to Dave and 3D6 for organizing the event!

Cheers!