The Northern Kings GT – Martin attempts to play in a tournament.

Welcome, fellow wargamers, to the thrilling world of Kings of War! Today, we delve into the intense battles and strategic manoeuvres witnessed at the renowned Northern Kings GT tournament. In this blog, we shine a spotlight on one player who left an indelible mark on the event with his Nightstalkers army. Join us as we recount the awe-inspiring journey of Martin, and his relentless pursuit of victory.

Well, thanks ChatGPT for that glorious intro!

Martin here. What a weekend it was up north, for 2 amazing days of Kings of War games. The event was held in Ossett which was only a hour and bit drive away. Lovely stuff!

As my AI friend so elegantly put it, I took 2300 points of my Nightstalkers, which gave me the opportunity to show off some of the new models that launched this month. Here is my list if you are interested...

2 Hordes and a legion of Scarecrows

1 Regiment of Bloodworms

1 Regiment of Reapers (with Blessing of the Gods)

3 Hordes of Butchers

3 Mind-Screech

1 Horror

1 Butcher Fleshripper

1 void Lurker

Here is a shot of some of the army units that I took :)

Over five games, I had some highs and quite a lot of lows but each game was extremely enjoyable. My first game was against Jon Gunns. What a great way to start the weekend, playing against a fantastic player, a gentleman and a scholar! Jon was using his Goblins and royally smashed my teeth in! The scenario was Control and that's exactly what he did :)

Jon's Goblins (and friends)

My second game was against Andrew Walker. Andrew started playing Kings of War just before lockdown and his dwarfs looked amazing. We played Fools Gold (a scenario neither of us had played before) and it was a brilliant, evenly matched game. At several points we both thought Andrew had won it, and he was even kind enough to offer me a couple of tips and reminders. Which meant when I narrowly scraped the win I felt very bad. Andrew, drop me that email and I'll send you a few goodies :)

Andrew's Dwarfs

The third and final game of day one Pillage and I was matched against Ben Johnson. He was using the Trident Realm and it was very very pretty! The less said about my performance the better. Lets just say I was outplayed by an incredible player. At one point my horde of scarecrows had rolled 75 dice against his Ineesha hero - scoring ZERO wounds. We both had a good laugh about that one! This one was.... an education :)

Ben's Trident Realm

The evening's entertainment consisted of the now world famous Northern Kings quiz, a few drinks and Rob bringing out his party games (nothing dodgy I assure you).

Day two. Game number four of the weekend had me face off against Richard Tomlinson and his Ogres. and we played Push. I thought i may do ok with Push. I was wrong... a surgical dissection of my army left me with a solitary horde of Scarecrows holding a token at the end of the game. Richard played superbly, dominating my left flank, annihilating my centre and sweeping me aside. Well played Richard!

Richard's Ogres

The final game... and I got to play against my good friend Rob and his Salamanders. We still play KOW together when we can but very rarely finish a game. So here was our chance, plus Rob had one eye on the Wooden Spoon! Really enjoyed this final game of the weekend. It had everything... blood, sweat, tears, crying and laughter! And that was just during deployment.. The scenario was Dominate which made us both move into the middle and have a dust up! Its doesn't (I won) matter who won (I won) and long as we (I won) both enjoyed it and (I won) shook hands at the end of (I won) game.

[caption id="attachment_453510" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Rob's Salamanders[/caption]

My own personal glory saw me win the Best Painted Monster with my Butcher Fleshripper. I know I will never win a tournament, but getting a painting prize means the world to me!

To wrap up, what can I say about The Northern Kings GT Tournament?

Amazing. Everything about it was spot on. The players, the TOs, the space between the tables.. Oh the tables! Every single piece of terrain was perfect for Kings of War. I really makes such a different when the terrain is made for the game. A huge thanks to Nick, Paul and Elliot for hosting us and I can't wait for the next one later this year - King Kon https://kingkon.thenorthernkings.com/ Its a full weekend covering all of the Mantic games, so make sure you sign up!

I'm off to paint some Ogres.

Martin