Upcoming 40k Tournaments

Not all tournaments are about
winning at all costs!

I've just returned from a fun weekend at the Caledonian Uprising tournament, and have promptly signed up for another two tournaments!

Whilst the Scottish ETC team's Caledonian Uprising was a competitive affair, it was also good fun and a real social event, where like-minded people (ie us 40k-playing geeks) can have a good laugh together. I've made a good number of friends at tournaments in the last year or so, so I always like to have a tournament or two on the calendar to look forward to.

The next two events I'll be attending are Open War XVII, which is the  First Company Veterans club tournament, and Blog Wars III, which is an independently-organised friendly competition.

Open War is on Saturday 14th April (my birthday, no less!) and comprises three games at 1,750pts. In keeping with the current zeitgeist, special and unique characters are allowed, which I think is great - a lot of the recent codexes rely on special HQ choices to unlock certain army builds, so I'm hoping to see a lot more variation at tournaments in 2012 than we saw last year, where cookie-cutter Space Wolves, Grey Knights and Leaf-Blower Guard forces ruled the roost. This tournament features three unique 'in-house' missions, which also adds to the fun. You'll find the tournament pack (inclding the three missions) here.  

The second tournament I've signed up to is Blog Wars III, which is my personal favourite of the year. It is organised by Alex of the 'From the Fang' blog, and is really a chance for us 40k bloggers (and our gaming mates) to get together, play games, swap stories, and generally have a good laugh together. The feel of this tournament in particular is friendly and easy-going, which is a big draw for me. Alex also goes to great lengths to devise new missions for each tournament he runs, and this is another reason I like it so much.

I'll probably also try to make it to one or two other tournaments this year too; one I'm very keen on is Tim King's Summer Skirmish, which is a twelve-game 500pt weekend cometition. Last year's inaugural event was great fun, even considering the 8-minute tabling delivered to me by the UK's top player, Josh Roberts, in the first round. Ouch! Humbling, to say the least.

I am also thinking about checking out an 'away' fixture. All the tournaments I've entered have either been held at Warhammer World (our club's home) or at Maelstrom Games in Mansfield, which is a superior venue for wargaming, in my opinion. So my targets for 2012 are to concentrate on getting better at playing (you'll notice I still haven't mentioned my position in the final standings of this weekend's Caledonion Uprising) and to play at an away tournament - possibly it'll be Vanquish V, on 31st March to 1st April in Bristol.

If you're interested in getting involved in a tournament, the best place to start is here: Warhammer Forum 40k Tournaments List. And if you've played at a tournament recently, or you're thinking of attending one, let us know!