Last weekend my buddy Kyle and I traveled to Wichita to represent the Topeka Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Warhammer 40k Grand Tournament.  Boy, did I beef it. For some reason, I decided to not play Orks or Blood Angels and bring my Salamanders so I could play my Centurions one last time before they're sent to Legends. I played the Forgefather's Seekers and Vengeful Hosts detatchments, with Take and Hold disposition.  Man, I wasnt ready for a tournament and mistakes were made. I was nearly tabled in every game and I went 1-5 with my only win against a player who was throwing the match because it was his second game of 11th and he was just playing for a laugh. Also, I had a rough week at work and received bad news on the day we arrived (twice!) Instead of giving a recap of each matchup, I'll just say that I played poorly, I had a crappy attitude, and I didn't enjoy myself. 

I've been prepping for the 2026 Flying Monkey Grand Tournament. Among the lists I'm considering are Orks Greentide, Orks Double Stompa, Blood Angels Liberator Assault Group, or Salamanders Forgefather lists. The Flying Monkey team has made a few controversial decisions for the event that I have to consider. 1. Rounds are 2:45, with 15 minutes for set up and 1:15 per player. That is a ridiculously short amount of time! Most of my games with my Ork Greentide last about 4 hours. 11th edition moves so slowly, scoring is awkward, and each game has a bespoke setup and 2;45 isn't enough time to play with 200 models. 2. The terrain footprints won't have "nubs." You know, the little extra bits that break up the perfect straight edges that also allows you to tow-in to terrain pieces? I suspect the tournament organizers printed their own terrain footprints and didn't realize that it would be a big deal to leave them off. However, with the way battlefields are crated ...

At the end of September, my buddy Kyle made and I made a quick trip to Wichita, Kansas for the Flying Monkey Warhammer 40k Grand Tournament. I brought my Space Wolves "wolf jail" list and Kyle brought his Custodes. The tourney was held in a massive hall in an even more massive convention center. It was fairly nice and the tables were mostly spread out enough to move around and not bump butts with the chap at the table behind you. There weren't any support tables for your gear but it was much nicer than the LVO end-to-end layout. Day one didn't go well for me... I was thumped hard by a World Eaters player. We only made it through the top of turn 3 in the 2.5 hours and talked out the rest of my turn 3. I hadn't had many problems reaching turn 5 in my games before so I'm not sure who or what was eating the clock. Round 2 I played solid Templars army but I could not make a 4+ save when it counted. It was a big loss for me.  My third game was against an Ultramarine...

This last weekend I took my Eldar "big boy" list to a Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader Tournament just north of where I live.  The organizers scheduled it long before Pariah Nexus and new FAQs were announced and decided to keep the missions and rules for Leviathan even though they were just released. Because of the hype for Pariah Nexus and the new Balance Data Slate, a lot of players dropped and skipped the whole event. I thought it would be fun to bring my double Wraithknight and Yncarne list to try my luck and see what happens. It needs a little luck when drawing tactical objectives because it struggles scoring primary. Long story short, it's fun but not a great tournament list.  My list:   Eldar (2000 points) Aeldari Strike Force (2000 points) Battle Host CHARACTERS Farseer (80 points)   • 1x Eldritch Storm     1x Shuriken pistol     1x Singing spear Farseer (100 points)   • 1x Eldritch Storm     1x Shuriken pistol     ...

The 2023 Las Vegas Open is over for me. I finished with a disappointing record of 2-3-1 and placed 576th with 473 points. My tie and two of the losses were very close and I scored well in all but two of my games so I feel a little better about my performance. There's a lot to love in giant events like the LVO. You can meet a lot of famous players, see new games, get great tips from pro painters and hobbyists, make new friends, play out of your usual pool of gamers, and generally have a great time. I got to meet a couple of people I follow on YouTube and Instagram and I made a few new friends too. That's really the best part of the tournament. However, there are a few downsides too and areas that could be improved. First, Frontline puts on a great show. They obviously do a ton of work to pull something this large off. However, I am disappointed that it's being run in Warzone Nephilim and not Arks of Omen. I think AoO is a much more level playing field and the balance patches...

I'm playing in the inaugural Topeka Open Warhammer 40k Grand Tournament. It's a 25-person GT hosted in a nice event space by Away Games.  Away Games always has the best terrain and if you have a chance to play in one of their events, I highly recommend them. They've always had great prize support and Eli has a great sense of humor running his events.  I was lucky enough to be selected for an interview on the wonderful Wargames Live stream (and I played my the second game on the stream as well!) During the interview, we talked about my army, strengths and weaknesses, and the hype for Arcs of Omen. Wargames Live viewers voted for my game to be streamed in the second round and I got to play Mitchell and his TSons lead by Ahriman himself. It was a fantastic game that ended in a 74-point tie! It came down to the wire and I don't think I would have done anything differently. Great game, great opponent.  Link to YouTube I'm at the 4 hour mark. I can't say enough nice t...

Last weekend I played in an Away Games RTT at the Game Café in Independence, Missouri, near Kansas City.   I brought my usual Dark Angels Deathwing list and went 1-2. I beat an Imperial Fists player in the first round, I was tabled by Word Bearer and Daemon soup in the second game, and took a frustrating loss against Tyranids in game 3.   All of the players I faced were fine folks, but the third game against the Tyranids only got through 3.5 turns… The game was called just after my charge phase at the bottom of turn 4 and I didn’t get to score and took a 20ish point loss. I think I would have won that game if we played all 5 turns and may have won after 4 if we were allowed to play it out. We had the option of putting it on a clock, but I didn’t bother since we weren’t in the running for the podium, but I should have in hindsight. Also of note, I broke my thumb and index finger on my right had recently and trying roll dice, pick up models and “thumb” through a codex was pain i...

I had a marvelous weekend playing at the US Open Warhammer 40k tournament! I met so many cool players, made new friends, and saw some amazing models. I went 5-3 and placed 69th. (I know, I know...) GW knows how to put on a show and this is maybe the best tournament I've ever been to - sorry LVO. The staff were great, well run, little delays, YouTube famous players, and the most amazing swagbag and prize support I've ever seen! My only regret is waiting too long to buy the the Gigantic Squigoth and it was sold out at the store. On the tabletop, I scored wins against Space Wolves, Necrons, Tau (my friend Gabe,) Harlequins, and Custodes.  I lost to Tyranids (by inches!), a mirror match Deathwing, and Ultramarines. My favorite game has to be with Jimmy and his Ultramarines. We pushed our armies and generals to the center of the table and threw down. I killed Roboute Guilliman, Tigurius, a Chaplain, a Techmarine, and three Redemptor Dreadnoughts - and still lost! Jimmy is a fantas...

Yesterday, I played in a nice 18-person RTT in Kansas City (nay, Independence) at the Games Cafe, run by Away Games. I neglected to take any pictures, but Away Games run amazing tournaments and every table has pro painted terrain from Big Bear 3D and uses the GW Open terrain rules and placement. *Chef's kiss* I'll post some of their pics when they get them posted.  I brought a slightly altered version of my Deathwing list that included a unit of Incursors. The Incursors are there to help earn a few precious secondary points from Stubborn Defiance. Without a scouting unit, Dark Angels can only score 10 out of 15 points in that secondary and I thought they would be able to see me through. However, 5 primaris guys are easy to kill in the current meta and in one mission, you can forward deploy so they were kind of a bust. I would have been better off not bringing them, keeping my 2 command points, and not trying to score any Dark Angel or Space Marine secondaries. I need to stick t...

With the success I had at the Midwest ConQuest, I bought a ticket for the Showme Showdown 2022 Warhammer 40k Grand Tournament. I went 2-3 at the ConQuest, but with two games lost by a single point, I would probably have been on the final table (two points!) I was so close to a top finish I could taste it, and with my Dark Angel Deathwing list scoring a lot of points, I wanted to keep my momentum going to earn a podium finish.   Just before the Showme Showdown, GW dropped a couple of bombs with Chapter Approved Nephilim, point corrections, and FAQs that dramatically changed the competitive scene of Warhammer 40k. The tournament organizers wanted to run the Nephilim missions and list building format (6 CPs, pay for Warlord Traits and Relics, new secondaries, etc.) and there wasn’t much time to playtest a new army or even adjust my current list. The FAQ for Nephilim hasn’t been released yet and I was a little annoyed about adopting the new format so quickly, but I had to soldier on. ...

The Midwest ConQuest is an excellent event run by a Kansas City gaming club that features five to six tournaments in a single convention. I've always had a good time there and I made the short drive to KC to join in the action this year. I brought my Deathwing Dark Angels list; I think it's the most meta resistant. There was a Blood Angel cos-player with a well made suit of holy armor. I was a little jealous of the quality and layouts of the Bolt Action tournament. The quality of the 40k table were ok, but the Bolt Action folks really know how to dress a table. Game Results: In my first game, I played a young player who brought his Dark Eldar to his first tournament.  It was a close game that came down to wire, but I won 81-75. It was a typical Deathwing game where I barely left my deployment zone and tried to roll 4+ for 2 and a half hours.  My second game was against a Deathguard list. He had an interesting build with a similar game plan as mine to just score my points and d...

  It sucks to suck. I played in a small 40k RTT this past weekend and I didn’t fair well, going 1-2. The tournament organizer allowed a player to bring his Crusher Stampede list despite it just being removed from competitive events (this player just finished buying and building it so no real hard feelings) and allowed the new Balance Data sheet changes with the Armor of Contempt. In my first game, I played against a new ‘Nid list and scored a solid victory with my Deathwing. Their psychic powers are @#%^&* filthy and one of my biggest weaknesses so I was pleased that I scored a W for the match. It was close and if the player had played keep-away from me, I don’t think I could have won. My second match pitted me against a Thousand Sons player who brought termie spam with Magnus. Outside of cultists, I killed only 4-5 terminators and was shredded by mortal wounds. I failed twice to get my Litany of Faith off, which might have saved me a few wounds, but the T-sons ran away with th...