Last Year I was privileged to be a part of the Team that ran Clash of Kings 23, the largest Kings of War Tournament in the world, although I was not very involved in the planning and build up phase ( My partner is the actual committee member, The Committee being Steve, Si, Matt, Janice and Jon with input from Mantic and a couple of others, I am a bit of a supernumery addition) I was very involved in the actual event itself for the weekend, making sure that all ran smoothly and that everybody had a good experience. That Tournament was one of the pinnacles of my Wargaming career!
Oh and I paint the Spoon for Last Place LOL
The planning for Clash of Kings 24 began a week after Clash of Kings 23, yes a week! This time I was a bit more involved in the planning phase although all my Neanderthal brain could cope with was that it was in the same place and we would be doing the same thing again. Following the success of CoK23 would be easy as the formula had pretty much worked the first time. Then the University dropped a bombshell, due to them changing their Term times they were unable to honour the booking for the Tournament, there were a few small Meltdowns and some gnashing of teeth but luckily an alternative in the shape of Nottingham High School, the very School that Ronnie Rentons kids went to, was just around the corner and Steve got in touch with them to see if they were available on the Clash dates. The School were happy to help and so we were back on track again. One benefit of this was an increase in space allowing Clash to be expanded to a total of 200 spaces. This required the supply of some extra mats and scenery from each of the contributors but it was taken in stride and so the change turned into a minor speedbump against the juggernaut that was Clash 24. The tickets sold out in less than 48 hours (both the original release and the extras) and we were on course for the Worlds Largest Kings of War Tournament (again).
Again, my part in the planning process consisted of being informed how many Tables of scenery I was expected to provide, choosing dice colours from a pantone chart and making inappropriate comments on zoom meetings. I also provide the Stand-by army and was again supplying an army for our Antipodean Visitor, Walter, to play with at the event and as He was part of the Mantic Universe Podcast Team and they had all decided to use Northern Alliance, Walter was to borrow Trollettes Northern Alliance which I had painted.
A burst of scenic cataloguing and hurried repair plus the counting and recounting of elements ( last Year I left a box of Trees sitting at home resulting in some sparse tables, this year, if anything, I massively overcompensated and had Trees and obstacles in excess) Using my Patio for possibly the last time I laid out my Kings of War Terrain and counted it up to ensure I had sufficient items for the 18 tables I was to provide. Borrowing the Mats from my Local Wargames Club ensured I had enough scenery to fulfil my commitment. But finally all the painting, glueing and planning came to a halt and the weekend of Clash was upon us.
The Friday of Clash dawned grey and foggy in the grimness of the Troll Swamp, but the Trolls cheerfully set about packing the TrollWagon with a seemingly un-ending series of GameMats and scenery boxes. The trolls then squeezed in their belongings and finally themselves into the nooks and crannies that remained after the important stuff had been loaded. They then set off on the (relatively) short Journey to Nottingham. Due to living in the UK and not a Country with a sensible or reliable transport system and, seemingly having offended the Road Gnomes in some obscure way, the Journey took us about twice what it has done in the past. No visible cause was discerned for this other than “Shit Roads” but nonetheless we arrived at our temporary Cave nearly 2 hours later than planned.
Once our spare Rags were deposited in the hired Cave, the Trolls meandered to the Venue via a tortuous route provided by Google. Then we were greeted by all our friends that had been beavering away to set up the halls while we lounged around in traffic jams. Nonetheless many helpful hands unloaded the TrollWagon and we set to work placing our scenery on the designated tables (although it seemed that a Manic Dyscalculic had laid out the table numbers on our allocated rows and indeed we noticed later on in the weekend that we had an extra “stealth” table 50) and then we headed off to the Gooseberry Bush ( a local Wetherspoons Hostelry that had been nominated as “homebase” the previous Year) and proceeded to do what Wargamers do…… get drunk ! as more and more people turned up we got more and more drunk and happy. Although I have a fuzzy memory of happenings later on I do believe that Ronnie Renton Stole my HAT! Apparently it is some sort of thing, I will replace it somehow, watch this space!
Saturday Morning Dawned bright and Clear, this Troll shambled through the streets of Nottingham to retrieve the TrollWagon so that Trollette could attend the Tournament. The walk to the temporary Cave the night before having not done her any favours. Returning to the venue via the convenient Sainsbury’s on the corner of the school to provide energy and sustenance for the Trolls (there being no bridges near to our route for a quick meal) we launched into the booking in of Players and distributing of Goody Bags (both normal and XL) whilst wearing our smart Blue Clash TO tshirts.
Standing at the front of the building handing out wristbands allowed me the opportunity to greet my many friends in KoW especially the Massive Spanish Contingent that had come across this year to take part. They had called themselves the “Spanish Armada” which may prompt a “Gibraltar” Tshirt in response for Next Year !
Every participant got a Goodybag with some sample Mantic Miniatures, Clash Sticker, Clash Pen, Bluff Counters, some position marking “Undo” counters, dice and a lasercut hillstep to help their days gaming, the XL Goodybags containing Mantic Titans, hats and other goodness were extra to the Ticket Price but a lot had been purchased nonetheless.
The Venue itself is a Private School originally built in the sixteenth Century and the core of the building shows its age, built around this original is a modern airy school but the interior of the players hall looked to be straight out of Hogwarts, the whole is well lit and has plentiful windows unlike the Uni last Year which was underground and windowless. The Main hall has plentiful Aircon and the Players hall has windows and doors which can be opened to provide airflow, so we were ready if there was a freak heatwave again.
The Tournament itself went ahead relatively smoothly with only a couple of Tech hitches overall and one blocked Toilet (apart from the Texan invasion of the Ladies Loo’s causing a narrowly avoided International Incident) and overall there was very little incidence of rules queries, despite the presence of several different languages in the Halls. There was a livestream Table set up by Steve and Jon (that stuff is witch craft to this Troll although my presence has a calming effect on electronics) and Jon ably manned the Livestream all weekend giving an erudite and concise commentary (although a bit slurred towards Saturday evening) aided by a host of volunteer presenters and a couple of the TO team throughout the event.
I have attended many Tournaments over my Years of Wargaming and I must admit the excitement, atmosphere and Camaraderie of the Clash Events have always elevated them to a level above most or so I have found and I am looking forwards to more of the same Next Year.
There was an Hectic weekend for the TO team as we also had to judge the Hobby awards for the weekend and this involved a lot of looking at armies, with there being nearly 200 armies on display this was no mean task and took up a large chunk of both Lunchtimes and some of the play time wandering about looking at Models. Luckily the TO team contains some amazing painters in the guise of Chris Walsh (responsible for some amazing armies of the Years and an award winner at least Years event) and Matt, who painted the amazing Trophies last year. Listening to these guys discussing painting was an education in itself and left this Troll determined to do better ! but despite the high standard of the painting in the event decisions had to be made and eventually this was narrowed down to the 30+ winners of various awards by Sunday evening. There were Best Army, Best unit and Best Single Model as well as 30 Hobby Awards (they each got a badge) and Judges Choices got a medallion.
The standard of Play was very high and, no matter what level of Kings of War Play you are at there are opponents to suit at Clash. There are the top end Tournament players that very rapidly end up battling for the top spots and there are the people out for fun that end up with 6 games against an array of opponents they wouldn’t normally get to play. Just watching the Games made this Troll glad of his hobby and, due to a drop out from illness on the Sunday, the Northern Free Dwarfs got a couple of run outs as the Spare army so that everybody got a game.
Once the Games were over there was the usual scramble to clear away and there were plenty of people willing to help, although my only niggle came at this point when players , especially ones that have been complaining about round overruns, walk away at the end of Game 6 to chat and leave their army and gaming accoutrements strewn all over the table, grrrr. But that is my one pet hate, well that and painting black edges on green bases but hey ho!
This Year despite the attendance of even more overseas players, there was a UK Top three for the first time in a long time at Clash of Kings.
Congratulations to Daniel Wright (Dwarfs) for coming First, Florence Maunders (Sylvan Kin) for Second and Chris Lynch (Northern Alliance) for Third
The Full results can be found here – [Kowmasters site link]
Hopefully The Trolls will be back for Clash of Kings 25 which should, once again be at the Nottingham High School on the Second Weekend of September 2025 and will be even bigger and better than this Year, maybe we will see you there and you can get a smile out of the Grumpy Troll?
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