2024 UK Clash of Kings: Dwarfs Defy Expectations in a Stunning Victory

The 2024 UK Clash of Kings Tournament Recap

The 2024 UK Clash of Kings tournament has wrapped up, and what an event it was! With nearly 200 attendees, this year’s tournament was one of the largest and most competitive Kings of War events to date. For those who missed my pre-tournament write-up, you can find it here.

The competition was fierce, but in the end, Daniel Wolfgang Wright pulled off a surprising victory with his Dwarfs, going 6-0 to take first place. Let’s dive into the details of this tournament, discuss Daniel’s unexpected victory, and look at how the various factions performed.

To begin, here’s a quick summary excel file with all the relevant data:

A Surprising Victor: Daniel Wolfgang Wright’s Dwarfs

Congratulations are in order for Daniel Wolfgang Wright, who led his Dwarfs to an undefeated 6-0 victory. What makes this win particularly interesting is that Wright’s list, according to pre-tournament analysis, didn’t seem particularly imposing. Here’s a breakdown of his army’s strengths and weaknesses:

• Unit Strength: Solid but not overwhelming.
• Speed: A low average speed of 5.1, which is quite slow compared to other top-tier armies.
• Defense and Resiliency: Solid defense, which allowed them to shrug off damage.
• Shooting: Some shooting capability, but nothing game-breaking.
• Damage Output: Middling damage, but not the kind of list you’d expect to steamroll opponents.

On paper, the Dwarfs appeared to be a middle-of-the-pack army with no standout strengths. However, Wright’s tactical acumen and excellent army control allowed him to navigate the tournament’s challenges and secure the victory. As I’ve written before, Kings of War isn’t about list-building: it’s about performance on the table, and this performance reinforces that narrative.

Top Performers: Faction Diversity at the Top

One of the most interesting things about this year’s Clash of Kings was the diversity of factions among the top players. The top 12 participants each played a different faction, and it’s refreshing to see such variety at the top of the leaderboard, with no single faction dominating the event. This diversity underscores the depth of strategy in Kings of War, where different playstyles can all find success. If you’re interested, here’s the full player result list:

Faction Performance and Meta Analysis

Here’s an overall chart of faction performance:

If you’re not familiar, a box plot provides a visual summary of the distribution of a dataset. In this case, the box plot represents the Elo scores for different factions. Here’s how to interpret it:

1. Factions on the x-axis: Each box corresponds to a faction. The factions are arranged from left to right, with those having the lowest average Elo scores on the left and the highest on the right.
2. Elo Scores on the y-axis: The y-axis represents the Elo scores. Elo is a rating system typically used to rank players or factions based on their performance.
3. Box:
   • The box itself represents the interquartile range (IQR), which contains the middle 50% of Elo scores for each faction.
   • The line inside the box is the median Elo score (the middle value).
4. Whiskers:
   • The whiskers extend from the box to show the range of the data, excluding outliers. They indicate the minimum and maximum scores within a certain range (typically 1.5 times the IQR).
5. Outliers:
   • If there are any points plotted beyond the whiskers, these are considered outliers – Elo scores that are significantly higher or lower than the rest of the data for that faction.
6. Spread of the Data:
   • A narrow box indicates that the faction’s Elo scores are closely grouped (consistent performance).
   • A wider box suggests more variability in the performance of that faction.
7. Median Line Position:
   • If the median line is closer to the bottom of the box, it suggests that a larger portion of games resulted in lower scores. If the line is toward the top, it indicates more high-performance games.
8. Comparison Across Factions:
   • You can compare factions to see which have higher or more consistent Elo scores. For example, factions with higher medians and narrower boxes tend to perform better and more consistently.

When we break down the statistics by faction, some interesting trends emerge:

• Ogres, Twilight Kin, and Empire of Dust led the charge when it came to Fibonacci win points, a metric that accounts for both wins and winning percentage (which is a way to compare, e.g., a 5-1 faction vs a 22-6 faction). Ogres, in particular, have had a strong year, echoing their dominance in the US Masters.
• Northern Alliance continues to be popular but only managed a 46% win rate. This suggests that while the faction is competitive, it’s balanced and not overpowered, which is a credit to the rules committee.
• Twilight Kin continued to perform strongly, reflecting their success in other major tournaments. However, they showed some weaknesses against Halflings, Goblins, and Ogres. Note that high range of TK results, suggesting to me that they’re a high skill-cap faction that requires finesse, so if you don’t know what you’re doing, it can get ugly fast.
• The Orcs continue to suck. Will anyone be surprised to see them disappear from a future version, now that Mantic has RFO?
• Why is Order of the Green Lady so good in the US and so bad here? Situational based on players? Or is that reflective of the overall differences in the meta?
• Why don’t more people play Rhordia? It continues to be a fun faction, but now that Halflings are all over, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them disappear in a future update.

For a more personal look at the tournament experience, I highly recommend checking out this excellent tournament report from Stephanie Bee on Goonhammer. Stephanie shares her own journey through the event with her Varangur army and offers a great perspective on the tournament atmosphere, her matchups, and the community. It’s a fantastic read for anyone curious about what it’s like to compete at Clash of Kings, especially for newer players or those returning from a break.

How Elo Rankings Work in Kings of War

My analysis of the tournament uses an Elo rating system, which is a dynamic way of ranking players based on their performance against opponents of varying skill levels. For those unfamiliar, here’s a quick rundown of how Elo works:

• Starting Point: Each player begins with a base Elo rating of 1500.
• Match Results: After each game, points are transferred from the losing player to the winning player.
• Rating Differences: The number of points transferred depends on the difference in ratings between the two players. If a lower-rated player beats a higher-rated player, they gain more points than if they had beaten someone of equal or lower rating.
• Stabilization: Elo adjusts quickly in the beginning, but as more games are played, the system becomes more stable, reflecting a player’s true skill level more accurately over time.

Final Thoughts and Looking to the Future

The 2024 UK Clash of Kings was a tremendous success, not only in terms of attendance but also in the diversity of top-performing factions and the close, competitive nature of the games. Daniel Wright’s victory with his Dwarfs proves that even a list that seems average on paper can excel in the hands of a skilled player.

Looking forward, it will be fascinating to see how the meta evolves, especially with upcoming balance changes like the rumored nerf to Twilight Kin. As always, the Kings of War community remains engaged in dissecting the data and providing feedback to keep the game balanced and fun.

If you were at the event or followed along with the results, what were your takeaways? Did any matchups or strategies stand out to you? Let me know in the comments. As always, please reach out if you spot any errors in the data so I can correct them. And let me know if you have any ideas for something you’d like to see in the future. I’m always up for looking at the data in new ways!