9 Kings: King of Nomads Camp Placement and Relocation Guide

To win with the King of Nomads in 9 Kings, deploy your camps along the grid perimeter and leave the center tiles clear for mobile unit pathing. Unlike static fortresses that rely on clustered walls and towers, nomadic camps have lower baseline hit points and depend on open space, allowing cavalry and skirmishers to circle around structures and flank incoming waves.

Core Camp Placement and Spacing

Nomadic survival depends on open movement corridors rather than dense fortifications. Cramming nomadic tents into tightly packed clusters traps light infantry and mounted troops behind their own buildings, destroying their momentum.

Leave interior lanes empty: Keep central board tiles clear so mounted units and skirmishers can accelerate directly into combat without colliding with friendly structures.
Keep distance between tents: Place supporting tents two to three tiles away from your main camp to prevent enemy area-of-effect spells and cleave attacks from hitting multiple buildings at once.
Maintain border buffers: Leave at least one empty tile between your structures and the board edge so retreating units have an escape route if the frontline falls.

Evaluating Camp Layout Options

Setting up your camp structures dictates how incoming waves distribute their forces across the map.

Layout Strategy	Grid Positioning	Primary Benefit	Operational Limitation
Perimeter Split	Opposite edges (East & West)	Divides enemy attention and opens central charge lanes	Requires split defensive units to protect both camps
Rear Baseline	Back row corners	Maximizes travel distance to buffer against rush waves	Slows counterattacks against distant enemy spawns
Central Cluster	Center 2x2 grid	Consolidates aura coverage and creates a compact core	Highly vulnerable to splash damage and chokes pathing

The perimeter split is the most dependable configuration for mid-game waves. By staggering camp buildings on opposing edges, you force incoming enemies to divide their forces. This division prevents concentrated damage and gives fast cavalry room to flank isolated detachments.

When to Relocate Your Camps

Relocating a camp consumes board tempo and shifts your army's defensive lines, so only move your buildings when incoming threat patterns demand it.

Evading targeted siege weapons: When incoming enemy formations show heavy catapults or piercing projectile lines locked onto your campsite, shift your camp two tiles laterally before the battle phase begins. This movement forces siege units to retarget, neutralizing their opening volley.
Kiting boss waves and elite swarms: If a dangerous boss or large swarm spawns directly adjacent to your primary camp, relocate the camp to the opposite side of the board. The hostile wave must then cross open terrain, exposing them to continuous ranged attacks from Mounted Archers before engaging your frontline.
Holding against light raiders: If the incoming wave consists of weak, dispersed raiders, do not spend resources on repositioning. Hold your existing camp position and save your drafting resources for unit scaling.

Drafting Priorities for Mobile Compositions

A nomadic board requires cards that amplify maneuverability and flexible resource generation rather than stationary fortifications.

Draft mobile combat units: Prioritize fast units like Nomadic Warriors and Mounted Archers. Add Warlords to provide marching auras that buff nearby units moving through open lanes.
Build a meat economy: Pick cards that scale meat through livestock and foraging camps instead of static gold mines. Meat scaling supports fast unit replenishment after tough battles without requiring defensive structures to guard static resource nodes.
Select movement-scaling perks: Choose rare perks that increase movement speed, grant bonus damage based on distance traveled, or reduce the deployment cost of relocated camps.
Skip static defenses: Avoid drafting heavy stone ramparts, ballista towers, or permanent converters, as stationary structures block your cavalry lanes and counter nomadic faction mechanics.

Positioning Traps to Avoid

Tucking into dead-end corners: Jamming a camp tightly into a corner board tile eliminates deployment angles. If enemy units close in, your units will become pinned against the map boundary and die quickly without room to maneuver.
Cluttering lanes with secondary structures: If card drafts force you to select static support buildings, place them along the rear perimeter behind your active combat line. Never drop non-mobile buildings into the central corridors where your mounted forces need room to charge.