Post KotN post

Well, the weekend is all done and dusted and the flames of war have settled. So what was the result? It could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse! I finished 17th, and after the first day that was an achievement! I had a really good time and had 4 really good games and one which, while not as good as the rest, I still enjoyed. I believe, if I can remember the name of the people I played correctly that they ended there tournaments, 6th, 8th, 18th, 19th and 22nd, so I lost to two good player and cant complain much at that I guess.

The top tables were quite closely contested and I heard a few 'discussions' occurring towards the end, when every point was counting. The overall winner was a Necron player with 3 Pylons (a Forge World super unit of some sort, never faced them and don't really fancy it either from what people were saying!), although at one point it was looking like it might be a Sisters of Battle player taking the trophy home (in the end he came 3rd, I think??) Either way the top end of the rankings was awash with FW units and Knights, there were even a Titan in there (possibly a Reaver? or maybe a Warhound?) either way, there were some serious units there.

The tournament was played over five round across the two days, using the Swiss pairing system (1st plays 2nd, 3rd plays 4th, etc etc) with the scoring being as follows;

Within each game there was a Primary, a Secondary and a Tertiary mission. The Primary missions were -
Game 1 - Crusade
Game 2 - The Scouring
Game 3 - Emperors Will
Game 4 - Big Guns Never Tire
Game 5 - Emperors Will

The secondary missions were played on a reduced deck of Maelstrom cards, with a number of the basic secure objective X removed as well as some alterations to some other cards. So the Secondary Mission was (Maelstrom of War) Cleanse and Control.

The Tertiary Missions were the usual secondary ones, slightly modified to Slay the Warlord (2vp), Line Breaker (2vp), First Blood, (1vp) with the addition of Through Attrition Victory, for super heavies (1vp for every 3HP remover)

If you won the various missions by gaining the most Victory points in game you were awarded Tournament points towards your overall tournament score. Points were awarded as such; the Primary Mission was worth 10pts, or 5pts if drawn, the Secondary was worth 6pts for winning or 3pts for drawing and the Tertiary Missions were worth 4pts for a win and 2pts for a draw.

I think overall this was a good way of doing things and the modification that were made did not stop people bring what they wanted or nerfed/changed the game in to something else. My own luck with the Maelstrom cards aside, this proved to be one of the most closely contested parts of the game. In addition, not relying on a straight win/lose system was good, as players who lost games still had a chance to score some tournament points, and it helped to differentiate players some more.

I'll get some quick reports up over the next week, nothing in-depth, just a few lines on my thoughts for each game and then a round up and lessons learnt thing at the end.

Ultimately, if there is a Kings of the North 2016, I will do everything within my power to make sure that I'm there, and hopefully with a fully painted army, although I doubt that bit will happen!