1 FANTASY TOURNAMENT 2006 IN MOTION The fourth OGC Warhammer Tournament arrives and Simon Gray now holds all three titles to his name. The top three hasn’t changed much either, will this year yield the final break in the mould?  BACKGROUND The winds of magic blow strong……the old world trembles….. The disputed province of Sommelina is officially garrisoned by an Empire force which has stickpiled a large number of munitions, creating barricades around the major towns claiming that to patrol the province is just too dangerous. And they are correct, for in this province there exists the true ruler, Lord Melchian. Rarely seen outside of his unvisited castle, the Melchian family is believed to have continued its bloodline through incest however the locals say this is false and claim he deals in the Black Arts and has never fathered an heir, not needing to as he embodies a Vampire. Local history tell of a great battle that took place in the province when Nehekhra was at its height and Lord Melchian defeated Prince Thoth whom still lies entombed somewhere in Sommelina. Recently, scribes in the colleges of magic have accounted an irregular increase in the winds of magic across the plains of the old world, in particular being strong in the Sommelina area. They have dispatched their own wizards to investigate and have also granted passage for a High Elf host wish to study the enigma as well. They have decided that the Empire force will patrol and collect information in the Northern part of thee province, where the majority of Empire towns lie. Their patrols will take them close to a Dwarf Hold with whom there has been little to no contact in hundreds of years, ever since the apparent appearance ‘monsters with vicious fangs and lash-like tails’ . The High Elves will scout the South, where Empire troops refuse to tread, not that the Empire wizards have divulged this information, suffice to say it was the deciding factor in allowing the High Elves passage through the Empire. The High Elves investigation will take them through the area where Melchian’s tower lies. Even from outside of the province, the winds of magic can be seen to have gathered to cover the sky above the area, in huge multi-coloured tornadoes. The High Elves however are unphased and express their determination to root out something that could imperil the entire world if not snuffed out. The Heirophant Mal’achia feels the presence of Lord Melciah rising once again, now after all the years the prophecy becomes true, a mighty power will give his forces strength and the ancient battle will be refought, this time in favour of the slumbering Prince Thoth… Contents Players 2 Tournament Format 2 1st Round Group A  3 Group B 5 Summary  7 Semi Finals 8 3rd Place Consolation 10 Final 11 Tournament Overview 12 Appendix 13 Extras 15 2 Tournament History 1st 2nd  3rd 2003 Simon Gray Mike Brandon James Brown 2004 Simon Gray Mike Brandon James Brown 2005 Simon Gray James Brown Mike Brandon 2006…… PLAYERS Group A Simon Gray  – Dwarves In all three years of this competition, Simon has emerged champion, but not without his scares, being massacred in the first round in the last 2 years. Has returned to the army that won him the first Tournament – the Dwarves, however the draw hasn’t favoured him at all, giving him the demanding task of beating two heavy shooting armies. Still, if anyone is capable of doing the impossible in this Tournament, it has to be Simon. Mike Brandon – Empire Disappointed last year after losing in the Semis from an epic comeback from Simon, Mike has returned to the roots of the army he reached the final with in 2003 – the Empire. This time more refined and much more experienced, Brandon is determined to win this Tournament at last. Andy Townley – Skaven Returns this year with the Skaven and is much more refined in his army selection than previous. Ended his Warhammer duck last year after progressing to the second round, eventually coming 4th, despite winning one and losing three. There are many nightmare stories about Skaven shooting armies however, and he may well be able to blast his way to new heights this year. Group B James Brown – Tomb Kings Disappointed at coming so close to winning last years Tournament, James has been consistently in the top three of this Tournament. This will be his third outing with his Tomb Kings, and with the experience and determination under his belt, he shouldn’t settle for anything less than another shot at the final. Luke Greensmith – Blood Dragon Vampire Counts Luke has never really got to grips with this Tournament, his highest place being 4th in 2004. All he needed was a minor victory against Brown in last years group stage to knock Simon out of the Tournament, hesitation however led to his own downfall. Has a lot to say about his Blood Dragon’s, now’s his chance to see if he can turn talk into victory. Timothy Harness – High Elves Debuted at last years Tournament with a lot of confidence, Tim ended up being ejected in the first round. Returns this year even more determined to prove his worth whilst searching for his first Tournament win. Have we seen the full potential of Tim yet? Format Uses the Warhammer Sixth Edition rulebook (Note the upgrades for the Dark Elves in White Dwarf are banned), the only other restrictions are that Magic Item allowances are halved. (Note also that the Conquerors Tapestry is banned and Battle Standards have been extended to Panic tests.) The Players are drawn into two groups playing each other once. A win earns two points and a draw, one. The winner of group A plays the runner up in Group B and vice versa. The winners of the semi- final stages go on to play the final and the losers play for third place consolation. Any ties are decided in favour of victory points. Awards are also available for Best Painted and Best Selected Army. 3 1st Round GROUP A Game One [Mon June 26th 20:00] Mike Brandon  1431 - 967 Andy Townley (Minor Victory) < Two units of inner circle Knights charge a unit of Skaven Slaves but both end up fleeing, one of the units being run down! Game Two [Mon July 3rd 16:00] Simon Gray 437 - 1455 Mike Brandon  (Solid Victory) Game Three [Wednesday July 5th 17:00] Simon Gray 812 - 1001 Andrew Townley (Draw) Final Group Standings W D L VPs + VPs - Pts +/- 1 Mike Brandon 2 0 0 2886 1404 6 + 1478 2 Andrew Townley 0 1 1 1968 2243 1 - 275 3 Simon Gray 0 1 1 1249 2456 1 - 1203 Three times champion Simon Gray is felled at the first hurdle, going out on Victory Point difference, in a group dominated by Mike Brandon. Simon faced something of an army mismatch, going head to head with a close combat army and two shooting armies. 4 1st Round GROUP B Game One [Friday June 29th 15:00] Luke Greensmith 53 - 2675 James Brown (Massacre) Game Two [Tuesday July 4th 18:00] Tim Harness 1210 - 690 James Brown (Solid Victory)   Game Three [Wednesday July 5th 11:00] Tim Harness  2096 - 420 Luke Greensmith Final Group Standings W D L VPs + VPs - Pts +/- 1 Tim Harness 2 0 0 3306 1110 6 +  2196 2 James Brown 1 0 1 3365 1263 1 + 2102 3 Luke Greensmith 0 0 2 473 4771 1 -  4298 Luke never fails to surprise, this years display is nothing short of an achievement, considering he was trying and hyped up his chances a fair amount. James Brown's massacre of Luke is the wider Warhammer Fantasy margin recorded in OGC, truly phenomenal. Tim bounced back from his disappointment last year to blaze through this group and have a strongest overall record of the group stages.  This sets up the semi-finals.... Mike Brandon's Empire VS James Brown's Tomb Kings Andrew Townley's Skaven VS Tim Harness' High Elves 5 Story so far..... The Empire forces managed to repel of major Skaven siege, and subsequently closed the gates around all of the Empire controlled towns of Sommelina. However, a Dwarven refugee train, fleeing from a Skaven attack upon their clan hall were refused refuge. In desperation the Dwarves marched upon the town, but were brutally put down by the standing army. After fleeing the battlefield, the Skaven, still large in numbers set upon them, and although they fought to a brave last stand, the dwarves were scattered. Meanwhile the Vampire Lord Melchia uses the vast amounts of magic prevalent on the winds to raise up a mighty host in an attempt to assert total, and recognised dominance over Sommelina. However, his inept ability at the Black Arts leads to him actually aiding the efforts of the Heirophant Mal’achia, and the newly formed Tomb King force massacres Lord Melchia's troops. This battle however pinpoints the High Elves attention, who put down this Lord Melchia, it also seems that Melchia had in fact done a rather good job of raising the wrong army and consequently upon his death at the hands of the High Elves, and much to the frustrations of the Heirpohant Mal’achia,the Tomb King army crumbles back into the ground. Following the massacre of the dwarves, an Empire envoy brought a decree for the execution of the general who had given the order for Empire troops to open fire upon Dwarves. Furthermore, the Empire forces were ordered to secure the province of  Sommelina once and for all. Meanwhile the High Elf host were going to have to deal with a large amount of Skaven y that had flooded into the area, free now from attacks by Lord Melchia's forces. James Brown quits! There had been a lot of grumbling about the large imbalances in Warhammer and this Tournament had certainly brought out the extremes. Typically the ebst character combo's win but this year the maximum beard had also been weaned out of the basic troops. Mike Branodn and Tim Harness were fielding missile heavy and magic heavy armies, and Andy Townely had a very shooty Skaven army. Simon Fray's nicely themed and quite characterful Dwarves, struggled to even make it half way across the table! As a consequence, and staring a lot of Magic and Empire Gun's in the face, James brown quit the Warhammer Tournament, giving Mike Brandon an unopposed route to the final! Consistently a podium player this seems a great shame, James Brown picked himself up a Warhammer Fantasy ban for the future...some would consider this a blessing rather than a punishment. . . .  6 Semi Final A – Mike Brandon VS James Brown James Brown withdraws, Mike Brandon through by default. . . Semi Final B – Tim Harness 1132 – 1157 Andrew Townley       (Draw) The Skaven dominated the game, Jezzails proving the burden of the High Elves, however Tim's use of the Commet as Cassandora in turn 5 almost swung the battle back in his favour. In the end it was immensely close with Charly advancing to the final on just 20 victory points (.2 in 40k terms!). Tim was suitably disappointed to have missed out on the final, but took an automatic third place to recognise his achievements in the first round. 7 Tournament 2006 Final Mike Brandon VS Andrew Townley Thursday July 13th 00:00 It was a battle of the fire-power armies in this re-run of the first round game. However, this time the Empire had the experience to pick their targets more carefully and make better use of their knights (ie not send them into combat!). The difference in Magic also told, as the Empire wizards targeted the Warlock Engineers early on and then proceeded to hammer the Jezzails with everything leaving the Skaven no other choice but to march into the Empire wall of lead. Consequently the Skaven were obliterated.       RESULT:  Mike Brandon's 2606 – 510 Andrew Towney's Skaven Massacre!!! Mike Brandon finally captures the Warhammer crown, with Andrew Townley finding second place without actually achieving a win all Tournament! It was certainly a Tournament of extremes,. With battles either being outright slaughters or very narrow, the contrast between the Semi-Final and the Final being key. James Brown's walk-out overshadowed the Tournament however, and left a sour taste in the mouth, not quite as sour however as whatever the Warhammer play testers were drinking before they released the rulebook. There was a mutual feeling that many of the game simply were not much fun to play, even the close fought draws came about from the stacking of extreme events, Mike Brandon noted that the most taxing things he had to do was write down the order of  the spells, and decide when and if to charge his knights in. It arks out a great shame in that Warhammer Fantasy has great background, excellent models and you can really get into the feel of your army, however it is simply not done justice by a game system that depends upon combo's and extreme tactics. Podium 1st Place Mike  Brandon 2nd Place Andrew  8 Townley 3rd Place Tim Harness Also – Best Painted & Best Selected (for character) army awards: Simon Gray