Finally managed to go there and also finally played my very first Kings of War Tournament
Official picture gallery:
https://clashofkings.uk/2023-gallery/
Army Lists:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ght6dcxzitwbjgm/AAD1TxPfKJnZIwWpHio7ag-9a?dl=0
Results:
https://kowmasters.com/index.php?p=event&i=301
1st: Piotr Nowak, 2nd: John Quayle, 3rd: Javier Ancizu Vergara
Hobby:
Judges Choice: Matt Gee, Glen Wareing, Gavin Downey, Kristoffer Lindman, Tim Croft
Best Model: Daniel Read
Best Unit: Chris Walsh
Best Army: Paul Welsh
I went there with Brothermark and in the end it was 3 wins and 3 losses, 89 tournament points, 5118 kill points and 86th place out of 148.
As this was my first
KoW Tournament and the first tournament after ~10-15 years, the general goal was to win at least 1 game and not finish last, which I somehow managed in the very first game. I was missing 4 tournament points for the better half (rank 74 or below) so overall happy with the result although a draw in the last game (which would have been easy if I just played the way I planned 2 days before) or take more units out of the game, especially in the games I lost would have given me those 4 points.
Chess clock was less of a problem than I initially thought, also needs practice and I sometimes forgot to pause for a rule question but each of my games was finished under the 2:15 target and I had still time on the clock left in every game (even if it was not much). Also all mistakes made by me were less of the "clock stress" but lack the practice as I played against an army I never played before in every single game (which is actually nice)
For the games there was never a problem that it got boring, 1 hour per player is short and the break between the moves is needed to think about what to do next, to sort your own stuff and try to estimate the intentions of the opponent.
I've also made enough mistakes, forgotten things or not played quite right. But it wasn't a problem to catch up or handle things differently with any opponent. I forgot a few special rules in some games that might have made a difference, but again, more practice and that doesn't happen.
I can pretty much say for each game why I lost it or what I did wrong and what I should have done differently. I also only had 1 game were the outcome was clear from the start and this simple because I made a deployment mistake I could not correct by movement during the game.
For the tournament itself it was insanely pleasant, everything quiet, no rule disputes (according to what I heard there were only 3 cases a referee was needed and all 3 were language related with non native speakers), no hectic (despite chess clock) and no unpleasant players or people in general