West Coast U.S. Master's Warhammer Fantasy Qualifying Players

The West Coast Qualfier for the U.S. Masters Warhammer Fantasy Championship is over, and the West Coast has assembled a team of drunk and belligerent man-children to represent the West Coast Warhammer Fantasy scene.

If you are unclear on what the Warhammer Masters is, or have not heard of it before, I encourage you to visit wargamersusa.com which is the main forum hub for Warhammer Fantasy players in the United States. But in short, the Masters is a region and qualification-based tournament bringing together the best 50 (or is it 80 this year) Warhammer players from around the country. Each region (of which there will be eight for the 2015-2016 season) can send ten players based on whatever qualification system the region dictates.

For example, on the West Coast, the top finisher at the three largest tournaments on the West Coast (the West Coast GT, S.A.W.S., and Quake City Rumble) get an automatic invite. The remaining 7 players are determined by a separate three-round qualification tournament using the upcoming Master’s tournament pack and rules. In order to qualify for the tournament, a player must have achieved a top ten placing in a West Coast tournament with at least 40 players, or top 15 for those tournaments of at least 100 players. As the number of tournaments on the West Coast was rather limited this last year, there were only a few additional tournaments that fed into the qualifier including the Broadside Bash, Infernal Zoo, and Black Sheep Brawl.

This year saw thirty different players qualify to play for the seven open Master’s slots, but only sixteen managed to make their way Oakland, CA last weekend to vie for their chance at a spot. (I know that sixteen people competing for seven open spots doesn’t seem like much, but you have to remember that to even get to this tournament these players had to place extremely high in some of the toughest tournament rooms in the nation. And, more importantly, most of these guys qualified at several of the tournaments pulling multiple top ten spots which reduced the total number of players that could have qualified for the tournament!).

After the dust settled (which will be discussed in a separate upcoming post), the following players qualified to go to Masters:

• Don Gillean
• Dave Inman
• Michael Hengl
• Justin Rusk (me)
• Joseph Urban
• Ed Phillips
• Fred Whitney
• Quentin “Q” Bohn
• Josh Stuart
• Jeremy Campbell

I just want to give a big shout out to all who made it, and can’t wait to see how this group does against the rest of the nation. Especially since four of these guys (myself included) won Best Overall at the Bragging Rights team ETC-style tournament this past June. Game on!

Hobby Overdrive

I’m Back!!! And more importantly, refreshed and ready to play some Warhammer. And maybe a few other games along the way. Some of you may have noticed that there hasn’t been much activity on the blog in the last several months. In fact, I don’t think I managed to post to this blog since September when I was wrapping up tournaments from the Spring.

Well, if you must know, and I know you want to (you nosey little buggers), I got married this past October. And then I took two whole weeks off for a Honeymoon. But it was all the time before the wedding getting ready the “big day” that really cut into hobby time. Plus, to be truthful, I wasn’t really feeling the game for a bit. Then BANG! Nagash and the End Times come out of nowhere ramping up my hobby juices up in a big way. [Editor’s note - when I reread this sentence the concept of “hobby juices” seemed disgusting, I pictured something that would emanate from our less showered brethren after a particularly good dice roll.]

The End Times series of books and rules changes has kicked my hobby into overdrive and is making me want to paint and hobby every night, even though I sometimes have work and housework to catch up on. After a several month hiatus from even looking at my models, I am ready to climb back into the tournament scene and kick some ass. And (spoiler alert) kick some ass I did at this past weekend’s West Coast Qualifier for the U.S. Masters. Plus, I have to paint a significant portion of my new Wood Elf army for Waaaghpaca 2015. More posts on all these events will be forthcoming, but I just wanted to update the blog real quick and let you all know that I wasn’t dead, had not yet quit the hobby, and still care about the game we all love. Expect a flurry of posts for the next several months as I kick my focus back onto Warhammer in a big way.

SAWS 2014: Results and Games

In May, I attended the annual SAWS Challenge in Sacramento, CA. This year, over sixty players participated in the tournament and it was a great time. Though, this was one of my poorest finishes in a long, long time. Nothing seemed to go well for the Dark Elves. I blame it entirely on my list, which was designed solely for the outdated tournament composition, and my failure to even get a single game in with an infantry based list before the tournament.

Paint Blog: Sisters of Thorn (Part 1)

It's been a few months, but I have finally gotten some paint on some models. Right now I am working on the first group of five Sisters of the Thorn for my ever expanding Wood Elves army. My plan is to have a unit of ten completely finished (though I will probably only run 8 or 9 in a 2500 pt. game). This unit is going to be a mage and battle standard bunker run with the MR(1) banner giving the unit a pretty hardy 3++ against magic missiles and a 4++ against standard shooting. Anyways, rather than spend an article on tactics, let's take a look at how they are looking after a few hours of paint.

Waaaghpaca 2015

I've just received confirmation that I am registered for WaaaghPaca 2015. Man, registration for this even has been crazy and after only a few minutes after registration opened, this tournament has the largest waiting players' list I have ever seen for a Warhammer tournament. Just glad I made it in, and am looking forward to another year of crazy fun.

For those interested in what the tournament is about, check out the website.

Broadside Bash 2014: Results and Games

It's been a few weeks (or maybe more like five months), but the Broadside Bash is finished and in the books. This year 28 players faced off in a series of five games and at the end of the tournament, the winner was defending champion Club Capri's Jeremy Campbell, winning his second overall champion award. I played well, gained almost all the objective points, and managed to finish 2nd place overall, earning myself some sweet prize support (including a Frontline gaming table mat) and the all important invite for the West Coast qualifier for the U.S. Masters.

Delayed, but not forgotten.

Hey there fellow Warhammer fanatics. Did you think I had vanished off the face of the earth? Well, that was partly true. After travelling extensively for Warhammer, I had to devote much of my recent time to work and other activities, particularly my house. I've been getting it ready for sale and have only recently finished. And boy am I glad, as I no longer need to spend hours after work each day and all day on weekends at that place anymore.

Now, I can re-devote myself to Warhammer and preparing for next year's tournament scene. Coming this August, expect more frequent updates, especially on the painting and modelling front as I try and put together about 3000 points of the new Wood Elves! Stay tuned.