Iowa GT 2020

Well the Iowa GT for 2020 has come and gone. For a few months it looked like it might not happen, but 14 souls broke the several month long Kings of War silence, gathered together, and FINALLY got to play some in person games. First things first, here are the final results.

RankNameOverallBattlePaintSportsmanship
1Adam Ballard (Best Overall)87571218
2Travis Timm (Best General)8159715
3Billy7450618
4Eldon (Best Sportsman)7036925
5Garret6841918
6Jon Becker (Best Army)68341618
7James Grimaldi6340815
8Jonathan6338718
9Hari63331515
10Tony VanZee5630818
11Stephen DeRose56251615
12Michael50211118
13Dustin Gritters3917418
14Adam M3618018

Congratulations to all our winners and thank you all who participated. But before we let this tournament fade into the annals of history it is worth bringing up one additional component that made this tournament just a little bit unique. But before I can explain that I need to show you the following map of Mantica created by the cartographer’s guild at Iowa Kings of War (a.k.a. my wife :).

Each table represented a different place in the world of Mantica. Every table had its own unique theme and special terrain piece.  Players fought over a Basilian cathedral, Oskan’s skull in the Abyss, a frozen outpost near the city of Chill, and many other places.Each special piece was an objective that granted its controlling player 3 points at the end of the game.  Just like normal objectives you needed the most unit strength within 3 inches of the terrain piece at the end of the game in order to claim it. 

In addition to being an objective, each terrain piece also had three different auras.  Each one gave a different bonus or penalty to units within six inches, depending on whether good, neutral, or evil controlled it.

Every terrain piece began controlled by one of the tree alignments.

Which alignment controls the terrain piece changed based on who won at that table during the last game played there.  If a good army won at that table, the terrain feature became controlled by the forces of good, regardless of whether good, neutral, or evil began with control of it.  And like so if a neutral or evil army won.

Each faction began with control of 4 tables

At the end of the tournament the forces of evil crushed all those who opposed them. Considering that evil represented half of the total armies present, seven of the top ten, and both best overall and best general, this is not surprising.

Sadly, the cursed Cornhole trophy will remain in Iowa… for now.

Hari Capri’s Empire of Dust… I mean mud
Jon Becker’s Night Stalkers
A battle in the trenches of the Ardvoikian Plain