Happy New Year, people of Westeros! Welcome to the first article of 2023 for ASOIAF. We will be celebrating all the events of 2022 and the community who have defined it, from the GT’s to the 30pt tournaments to innovations like Ribble Rumble and the Leeds tournament Swords of Winter.
Take Care Of Yourself
It has been a while since I have written an article for the game and the community, and I would like to apologise for my absence. Over the past few months, I have become burnt out with the game and writing alongside having events in my personal life take over most of my time. I feel like I owe the community and explanation but at the same time to say that this is okay. Everyone needs a break once and a while, but more so when health could be a concern. Please take care of yourselves in the New Year and know it is always okay to take a break from a passion.
During this break, there have been several tournaments and events I wanted to cover and showcase as they deserve to be celebrated for what the community has achieved and the people who have worked to put them together for everyone. We won’t be able to cover everyone which is both upsetting and uplifting due to the sheer number of events that ran, and they are only getting bigger. Without further ado let’s get into the events.
The Iron Throne Award – GTs and Nationals
This award is for the tournaments that showed the rest of the tabletop wargaming games that ASOIAF is here, it is a big game and has a grand community.
The French and Polish Nationals became some of the biggest events in Europe and the world. I have never heard of such large events in these countries for other tabletop games, the teams involved with setting up the events should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved as it is truly a remarkable feat. We have seen their numbers develop substantially from 2021 and I have no doubt they will both reach triple figures in attendance in 2023. Congratulations to everyone involved!
The London Grand Tournament was the biggest event of the year with it beating out against multiple other games to become the second biggest event at the LGT. To see a giant such as Games Workshop have their fantasy game beaten in attendance is a phenomenal achievement and shouldn’t be understated. The teams at ASOIAF Stats and Northern Realm Gaming should be incredibly proud of what they have done with this event and the community is so thankful with what they have done. Congratulations to everyone involved!
There were many other grand tournaments and nationals across the year with some becoming a lot bigger. I am excited to see many others show up and be big events in 2023.
The White Wolf – Innovation Award – The Swords of Winter Leeds
This award is for the event that decided to change the formula up. Rather than having a straightforward tournament following the same gameplay and list building rules, this event has changed some of the rules to create a different atmosphere and experience.
The Swords of Winter tournament wanted to encourage a balance between excellent competitive play, having a fun time, and encouraging and nurturing newer players to this brilliant game. They wanted to encourage a diversity of lists and to see units and characters on the table that are not normally seen. This led to rules that restricted the use of the same characters across both lists and forced the players to use both lists an equal amount of time.
While this ruleset had its issues with Neutrals and Free Folk, it achieved a strong diversity with the rest of the factions seeing a more diverse set of units and characters. I hope to see the ruleset evolve overtime with future events to encourage more diverse lists and encouraging units, characters and commanders we do not see. Congratulations to Thomas and Paul who ran the event, I was truly jealous I did not get to attend this year!
The Silver Prince Award – People’s Champion – Ribble Rumble
This award is for the event that puts fun first for the sake of the players. By reputation alone it is considered one of the best events of the year, with all players speaking praise about their day at the event.
Ribble Rumble was run by the Ribble Warriors, who are a Preston based Wargaming Club set up in 1990’s. The focus for Rumble is for the players to have fun when they come to play. A good example for this is the club only takes 5% of ticket price, so after food and venue costs, all money is put back into prizes. The biggest prize is always for Most Sporting. The event also was able to achieve the melding of experienced players with less experienced players and it worked very well due to all the positive feedback. Players make events. Congratulations to everyone involved with the event and thank you to Bannockburn for giving me some insights from the day.
Night’s Watch Recruiter Award – 30pt Starters
This award is given to the event that has been the friendliest for beginner players of both events and the ASOIAF game. It is hard to match up against experienced players and to limit them for new players to not only stand a chance but to understand what is happening is so essential for expanding the game.
Over the course of 2022 there have been several tournaments that have restricted list building to 30pts, and you can only use what is available to you in the starter set. This meant that anyone who picked up a starter to the game which you need to play would be able to attend and be at the same level as everyone else involved. Whilst this design has its own balance issues it has only been followed by positive feedback as an introduction into the game.
No specific tournament has won this award, instead I wanted to give this award to every team that ran an event in this design over the year. Without you the community wouldn’t have grown nearly as much as it has. Congratulations to everyone who ran a 30pt event!
Azor Ahai – Imjin Barracks Charity Event
This award goes to the team that helped make a big difference in the world by using the tabletop game to do so.
Keiran organised a charity event to support Homes for Veterans and Scotty’s Little Soldiers that had players show up and play for a full day. Kerian continued for 24 hours of straight gaming in order to raise money for these charities. Keiran has expressed his interest in running another event to raise money again and I encourage everyone to use the hobby to make a big difference for these charities.
Congratulations to everyone involved in this event! I look forward to seeing it evolve and become a staple of the community events over the years.
The White Walker – LVO and Canadian Open
This award goes to the events that look to be the most promising for the future. In 2021 we saw a great attendance from the LGT which tripled in size in 2022, so this award is for what I predict will be the same for an event in 2022 leading into 2023.
Ariakas ran the Great Canadian Open this year which showed the first use of Martells in a tournament scene thanks to an early release in Canada. The event had a great turnout and some surprising commanders who performed well. With the charisma of Ariakas and the player base around the event’s area, it should be no surprise that the event will expand in the future. Congratulations to everyone involved!
The Las Vegas Open’s ASOIAF event was run by West Coast Bannermen and saw a fantastic turnout for the hobby in the US. Already we have seen the numbers doubled and had the tables expanded for more players to join. Furthermore, the event has now been turned into a circuit with various other events in Frontline Gaming’s roster around the US now having a ASOIAF tournament.
The community has largely been focused on the events in Europe and how they are performing, and now the US tournaments are challenging everyone for the spotlight. What the team accomplished at the LVO in 2022 was outstanding and already they are proving that this award is justified with what we can see of the 2023 events. Congratulations to everyone involved!
Future
2023 is jam-packed with tournaments and events across the year. With the community growing bigger by every passing minute, events are overflowing with interest from veteran players who now have a diverse pool of people to play against, and new players who are excited to play more of this amazing game. We will try our best to cover as many events as we can and celebrate the community throughout the year.
Happy New Year!
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
