In the Memory of Lars the Giant Dwarf

Last week the Kings of War community was rocked by the passing of Lars from the Giant Dwarf Podcast. Lars tragically took his own life. I wanted to give this quirky, hilarious man a proper send off from the community.

Before I go further though if you, or someone you love is struggling there are resources out there. I wanted to link some resources here, here, and here that may help. There is also an organization called NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Health, which has some great resources https://www.nami.org/get-involved/awareness-events/suicide-prevention-awareness-month

Lars may best have been known as cohost of the Giant Dwarf Podcast. If you haven’t listened to this show it follows the usual pattern of two friends, Lars and Fred, chatting Kings of War and other related topics. What made the cast unique, and kept me listening, wasn’t so much the content, as the personalities of the people involved.

I have no reservation saying that Giant Dwarf was the most hilarious Kings of War Podcast on the scene. Lars helped bring a unique perspective and humor to every episode, helping create segments like One Minute D&D, Seinfeld Moments, and everyone’s favorite the Dwarf Facts.

The Dwarf Facts need a special mention, they would include things like that dwarves treasure their kidney stones, because it is a rock they made, or their beard hold crumbs of both minerals and food, which are eaten as snacks and called beard candy. Every Giant Dwarf episode this was the segment I most look forward to. They were genius, hilarious, and at least seemed to me completely and impressively improvised.

While I never had the to fortune to meet Lars in person, I did have the pleasure of recording an episode of Giant Dwarf with him and Fred roughly a year ago. Despite the early hour here in the states it was an amazing experience, both Lars and Fred were just as welcoming and friendly off the air as they are on. Those few hours helped form a friendship between myself and the Giant Dwarf crew, and I had hoped to meet them both one day, either on a trip to them or vice versa.

In his KoW scene, Lars was well known for running MSU (Multiple Small Units) style goblins, with very little shooting. He played this same list for the last two years, but despite that, never painted the last 3 characters in this list; 2 wizards and a flaggit. He also of course was known for playing dwarves. At events, Lars quirky sense of humor and good nature always meant he was a contender for best sportsmanship prizes.

Lars was the kind of gamer who wanted to watch the story unfold during a game, and joked around a lot throughout. In addition to Kings of War, Lars was an avid Deadzone and Walking Dead Player. His brother V-Dawg told me that during every game of Walking Dead he was always cheering for Carl to be killed. Below you can see a picture capturing on of these hilarious moments from September.

Beyond his influences on his local and national scene, and thru his podcast, Lars touched nearly every Kings of War community with his creation and running of the Epic Dwarf Map Packs. This is a website that would generate tables for you to play on, complete with grid, and the ability to shift features around.

If you have ever been to a tournament, watched a battle report, or read an article, and seen a terrain map that looks like this, then that is thanks to Lars the Epic Dwarf Map Packs.

In the Midatlantic and NorthEast, all of our tournaments have exclusively been using Epic Dwarf for the last several years. One event started, and then the next, and the next, until it became the standard. Lars’ creativity, and dedication, helped create the gold standard we on the East Coast of the US hold our tournaments up to. The Kings of War community owes a deep debt to Lars for helping fill some of the void in terrain placement directions.

Lars’ death is a tragedy and he will be greatly missed. My digital hugs, thoughts, prayers, or what ever else I can offer, goes out to his friends, family, and all else who feel the world has lost a little magic with his passing. Where ever you are now Lars, I hope you know you had a major impact on the global Kings of War Community, you are missed, and you are loved.

Bye Bye my dwarfy friend…