As the aftershock slowly fades from the 2005 Tasmanian State Championships, we proudly announce the event was a huge success. Everyone left on a high, exclaiming about plans for next year and how much they enjoyed themselves. We can only imagine what the poor staff and other patrons thought to see themselves swamped by 60 something fanatical gamers, invading the first two floors of the Corrus Hotel (now named The Mecure). We also had the pleasure of surprising a number of guests (one couple from France!) who were staying at the Hotel, and were gamers themselves. The surprise of finding the Tournament caused some to cancel their activities and spectate over the two rooms for the weekend instead.
The State Championships were held over two levels, The Wellington Room had 12 tables for the Fantasy Tourney, broken up into 8 green tables, 2 desert, and 2 black ones for The Chaos Wastes. The Terrace Room on the 1 st Floor held 19 tables for the Warhammer 40k Tourney. These tables were broken up into 4 black tables (cities and one lava themed table), 4 desert tables and 11 green tables. These tabletops were set in various different ways, some open, some cluttered, and some with specific terrain features such as jungle or water, which could be used at the player’s discretion. Each and every table we tried to theme in some way, the deserts were generally vast spaces, the jungles overgrown clumps of abandoned wreckage, and the cities set out in blocks with much more height than all the other tables. A number of centerpieces of terrain were made, and the tables that got these had some really nice dynamics. Throughout the years we plan to add to our collection of themed centerpieces to be on the fronts of more State Championships to come.
Our State Championships were also graced by the presence of a Games Workshop delegation, headed by Roy Barber, Australian Trade Sales Manager. With him, he brought Justin ‘Booster’ Keyes, high profile Editor of the Australian White Dwarf, and he also brought Laurie Goodridge, a major W.D. contributor, multiple Golden Demon winner and our good friend (read Trade Sales Representative) at Games Workshop. These guys were a focal point of interest for all the gamers we had attend, honestly answering all manner of questions, and roaming the floors through-out the Tournament, getting absorbed in the unfolding games. Each is an avid gamer themselves, Roy appearing in the original Tale of Four Gamers articles published in White Dwarf, where we got to see him build a great Skaven army from woe to go. Laurie Goodridge has been contributing battle reports, Master Class painting and converting articles, and all manner of other bits and pieces since at least the first ever Australian produced White Dwarf (which has a fantastic photo of him, by the way, sporting a rather fetching Ford Fairlane hairstyle.)
They were quite forthcoming to us about up coming projects as well (up to a certain point!). We’ll more than likely be seeing Laurie again for ‘Golden Demon’, and Booster even joked he was planning on entering next years Tasmanian State Championships… or was he joking?
At the beginning of the first day of play, the players were gathered in the Terrace Room and introductions were made to the Games Workshop guys, and the referees and judges. The random draw was announced, and play was commenced. Each game of Warhammer 40K and Warhammer Fantasy Battles was allotted two and a half hours for play, after which Victory points were calculated and handed in to the Judge. After each game there was a short break. We all descended on Embers (the Hotel’s restaurant) for a buffet lunch after the first game of the day, animatedly telling tales over the crockery, then we all swept upstairs for the next round.
At the end of the first day most players attended the Games Workshop Dinner Seminar. This was a good chance to relax a bit from the concentration of playing. We had a large contingent of players from the north of the state, and two interstate players, so it was also a good chance to get to know everyone. Roy, Laurie and Booster spread themselves throughout different tables to provide players with the opportunity to ask questions.
Roy started us off with an overview of what products to expect all the way up until November, and we got too see a lot of the soon to be released Wood Elves Miniatures, as well as a run down on the Army concepts and a view to what has changed in this reincarnation. September sees big concentration on the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, including a shiny new Rulebook, and then the big release of the Mines of Moria in October. October also sees the release of a Campaign called the ‘Laius Rift’ for Warhammer 40K, written by Games Workshop Australia! (Go fellas!) This campaign takes place in a small existing section of 40K’s Chartered Space, and players who enter it have the chance to effect the history of that region! While we don’t expect it will be like the huge worldwide campaign of the ‘Eye of Terror’, we can pretty safely get excited considering much excellent stuff the GW Oz folks have been producing.
Speaking of things Aus GW has been producing, Booster spoke to us about what would be coming up in the next few issues of White Dwarf, and also going over some of the recent changes with the Australian White Dwarf. Finally given the long awaited opportunity, Booster bought new cameras for the Studio. They have since been able to do some larger sections, and they have greater illustration. This means some of the great sections we’ve seen recently have been home grown! And they’re being used in other countries productions of White Dwarf. A good example of this is all the Lustria content in the last few issues.
Golden Demon was also highlighted at the seminar. We were given an explanation of the changes to the competition, and a general run down of what to expect come October. This change to Golden Demon is another initiative taken by Games Workshop Australia, as a way to combat the vast distances our country poses us. The expense and effort to travel to Sydney for Games Day was simply not viable for most gamers, except those who lived in NSW. For this reason, it was possible for it to transform itself into a localized event, instead of The Australia wide one it was. Now, no entrant is as penalized in any way because of their location.
As a final bit of fun, the Games Workshop guys pulled together a quiz full of some very obscure questions about Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, and about Area 52. The questions ranged from simple, to totally bizarre, including;
What issue number was the First White Dwarf produced in Australia?
What was on the front cover of that issue?
Name 3 classes of Imperial Battleship?
What was the name of the Band that performed the soundtrack to the original Space Hulk computer game?
Was that band very good?
Etc, etc.
The winner of this quiz (Chris Cook, naturally, for those that know him) won a years subscription to White Dwarf.
Before the first round on the second day, players were asked to lay out there armies on display, so that their fellow opponents could vote for their three favorite armies in the ‘Player’s Choice’ category. For a lot of people, this was the first real chance they had had to make a thorough examination of the entered armies.
In the 40k section most codices were there, Marines were the players army of choice over weekend with a high turnout of loyal and traitor space marines and surprisingly, quite a few Tau armies.
Only two codex armies did not make an appearance, the Witch Hunters and the Dark Eldar.
There were some impressive armies to be seen, Mark dewis with his classic ork horde with scratch built battlewagon, Mathew Cliffords original space marine chapter the Paladins of Exodus and Mathew Cleavers fully converted Saim Hann Wild riders. Mathew also took out the prize for player’s choice for best army.
Down in the Warhammer fantasy room we had a few surprises, there were four lizardmen armies and believe it or not two Chaos Dwarf armies, which was a bit of a shock considering that there’s no army book for them and no model range!
A few armies didn’t make an appearance at the tournament, the Dark Elves, Beasts of Chaos, Tomb Kings and the Bretonnians, but maybe next year.
Most of the gamer’s armies were painted to a high standard with some amazing work done. Some of the armies that stood out for fantasy were from the north of the state, Jamie Downwards Chaos army got the votes for players choice and was a good example of very skillfully painted army. Shaun Dolliver’s Chaos army showed what you can do when you get creative, Troy Dolliver’s fully converted Chaos Dwarf army was a very impressive feat, and Darren Ross with his awesome Lizardmen with highly detailed movement trays.
Over the Weekend, Booster had kept his eye out for a suitable army to feature in the White Dwarf Army Showcase. While we can’t disclose details of the army, we can say it was a great example of its type, it was very well presented and stood out from the rest, even given the very impressive competition it faced.
After the final game on Sunday afternoon, there was a brief respite while the results were tallied, and then all players gathered in the Terrace Room for the presentation of $1500 worth of prizes. The press came back for the announcements, as news cameras and photographers had been checking in on the event over the two days, and there was a two page colour spread in ‘The Mecury’ the day after the Tournament. The amount of interest in the event was very gratifying.
As far as scores go, players knew their Battle and composition scores, but painting and sportsmanship were unknown, so entrants were keen to find out who the place winners were. Congratulations go to Nathan Rolfe and David Hay, the first two Overall Winners of the Tasmanian State Championships.
For the full results click here.
Area 52 are happy with our first Tasmanian State Championship Tournament, and think we have set the bar for what people can and will expect to see in the future. We are hoping to surpass everyone’s expectations with the next one, so get painting, get those practice games in, and stay tuned for details of the 2006 Tasmanian State Championship Tournament!