Hello people of the Realms,
I’m here today to make a rather major announcement about the future of The Queen of Hearts Tournaments and War Maneuvers.
It’s kind of a long walk to where we’re going but my intent is to be open and transparent, so please read on.
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Here’s the tldr; Queen of Hearts this year will be fundamentally different than usual, will not have premade teams, and will overall have a less formal but still very fun composition overall. This event will be subtitled Knave of Hearts.
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It is probably helpful if I put this in the context of some more recent history. Since the pandemic, it has sometimes been a struggle to find two teams that are both willing to invest the incredible amount of effort it takes to organize and execute everything that’s necessary to make Queen of Hearts happen.
Not always, of course. Multiple years we have had two teams that from day one were enthusiastic and energized and carried that all the way through August. Other times, however, it did not come together easily.
This year in particular, no one initially stepped forward with a solid desire to run a team. Sometimes that happens, and in response I start to ask around and try to inspire people to step up. It’s not uncommon at all. This year we had one team, The Broken Spears, who fully embraced the challenge. I also had several other potential teams that expressed a true desire to put something together and take the field but simply had too many conflicts to make it happen in time for this summer.
I think the reality of the situation is this, compared to the early 2000s and 2010s, especially since the pandemic, the Realms is a smaller community that is overall less focused on tournament fighting than it has been in the past.
After some deep thought, honest conversations with my team, and contemplation about the event and the role it holds in the community, what’s become clear is there is probably just enough inspiration and energy in the Realms to put together a formal, fully traditional Queen of Hearts every other year.
So what do we do with that? Well, there is another old and sporadic Rhiassan tradition that we’ve sometimes visited called Knave of Hearts. These events have been uncommon, the last one was over a decade ago, but their intent has always been to create a place to just run our standard slate of war maneuvers without the formality of making teams and keeping score, and all the other aspects of the event that consume a lot of time, money, and energy.
So beginning this year we will absorb the Knave of Hearts style, with an array of updates, into the normal Queen of Hearts framework. On odd numbered years, like this one coming up, we will hold Knave of Hearts events. On even numbered years we will run the traditional Queen of Hearts style like we have for the three decades prior.
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So this year’s event, Queen of Hearts XXXI, will deviate from its last 30 years of tradition and instead officially be known as:
Rhiassa Presents: Queen of Hearts XXXI, Knave of Hearts
What does this mean? Well, I don’t 100% exactly know all of that yet, but I will tell you what we do know.
- There will be no premade teams. We will sort all of the combatants into two teams in some way that is fun and interesting but also mixes things up a little bit.
- The event will largely feature war maneuvers. The Queen of Hearts favorites will all be there, Live Chess, Hadrian’s Wall, Castle Battles, etc. We will also have a chance to try out some new experimental war maneuvers and bring back some classics that have been retired for a while (Folkestone Challenge???)
- There will be an assortment of non-combat war maneuvers as well, such as Targetball.
- There will be some amount of individual and small-group fighting.
- There will be an awesome night quest by a big production team that takes full advantage of the whole site, some parts of which some of you have never seen.
- There will still be cards to keep score, still be lots of prizes, still be lots of lifting one another up and celebration of everyone on the field.
There are questions that have yet to be answered of course. We’ve gotta figure out exactly how all this looks. Our event holding team will be getting together soon to figure out everything you will need to know and to publish that information.
But in reality all you need to know is this; show up, bring all your weapons, and prepare to spend a fun weekend fighting it out on Rhiassa’s war maneuver fields.
All are welcome; there’s no need to wait to be invited to a team and no one to have to pre-coordinate with.
Let’s fill up the event site with everyone who loves big fighting tournaments and have a great time together as a community.
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Now for a couple remaining details.
Everything that was planned for Queen of Hearts this year will be pushed forward to 2027 for Queen of Hearts XXXII.
Chimeron will still be the guest marshaling staff. The non-com categories and rubrics will remain as we’ve already announced them. Thank you for Chimeron for your cooperation so far this year and we look forward to working with you next year to make your ideas come to life.
The Broken Spears remain on the roster as one of the two established teams. All of you have my deepest gratitude for stepping up this year and trying to keep with our normal traditions. I know for some of you who have already begun preparations this might be disappointing news. Please instead try to think of it as an extra year to prepare and to make even more grandiose plans and crafting entries. We’re sincerely looking forward to seeing your team on the field next year.
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I’ve said a lot at this point, but I’ll leave off with some personal thoughts that have come to mind as I’ve contemplated all of these things the past few days, which, believe me, has not been easy.
Rhiassa holds in trust two of the Realms oldest traditions between Queen of Hearts and Feast of the Leviathan. In my tenure as lord of Rhiassa I’ve always expressed a maxim to my team; evolve or die.
These events have stood the test of time because we’ve been willing to update them and acclimate them to the changing eras of our community. An event format and norms that the Realms found fun in 1996 would feel widely out of place in 2026, and I’ve taken a lot of pride in the fact that we constantly reflect deeply on how to make our events better, adopt new things, and put aside things when their time has passed. The fact that all of you still trust us with these event traditions after all these years is not one that I take lightly.
This kind of change to Queen of Hearts has probably been a long time coming and if I’m honest with myself I have most likely been a lot more stubborn than I should have been in seeing it. I owe a lot of gratitude to the people around me who have been gently encouraging this change for the last few years while also giving me the space to make that decision for myself.
This is not a retreat from our ideals about event holding, we’re not going to approach Knave of Hearts like it does not matter as much or think of those years as the years where we get to lay back. You’ll have our full commitment to making these years as engaging, interesting, competitive, and fun as we possibly can. This is the evolution the event needs to push forward into this next chapter. I think it's a positive one that will let us try a lot of new and exciting ideas.
As always, thank you to everyone who has supported us and our events over all these years. We look forward to seeing you in August. We look forward to your help in writing the story of what Knave of Hearts will become.
In service,
Jason Rosa
