Semi - Final 1 | 19th July 12.30 | Mike Brandon Vs Mark Berkley

This game threw up a bit of history searching to find the last encounter between these two. In fact the last time they met was at the semi-final stage in Tournament 2000 where Brandon claimed a 22 - 12 victory with a Khorne & Nurgle army against Berkley's Blood Angels. Eight years on it is Night Lords against Legion of the Damned, as Berkley makes a semi-final appearance for the third time in four Tournaments and looks to add to his solitary podium position from 1999. Brandon aims to use the momentum from topping the 'group of death' to reach the final after missing out last year.

The game starts positively for both players, in the sense that both roll a six for the first turn, however it is the Legion who winthe favour bearing the higher strategy rating. The legion launch the bulk of their attack down the right side of the table but ar e left somewhat exposed after a disappointing opening shooting phase, a couple of Night Lords and the Rhino being their soul claims. However all quickly changed when the Rhino hurtled out of control into a Predator destroying it in the collision, the exploding Rhino also halving a Night Lord squad nearby. The end result put Berkley four VP's in front, having eliminated the bulk of the Chaos anti-armour weaponry and leaving the Bezerkers at the very back of the Chaos deployment zone as they emerged from the burning wreck of the Rhino. The return Chaos fire is very light although the surviving infantry lascannon manages to send a Legion Predator out of control but it survives the subsequent collision with no damage.

Helpless in the face of the Legion armour the Chaos forces pull out of that side of the table and rely on the positions around the ruins around their right flank facing the centre of the table. The remainder of the game see's some awkward positioning amid an exchange of fire. It results in a general stalemate with the Chaos forces inflicting the slightly higher casualties, although one particular Legion marine manages to make over ten power armour saves, and saves some precious points. In the close of the battle it appears that the Chaos forces score some vital VP's after binging down four out of five Legion Terminators although it is subsequently ruled that the lines of sight were not sufficient much to Brandon's protests. Back at what had become a pile-up of vehicles, the Bezerkers and the Night Lord commander launched a daring attack on the Predators, bringing down one of them. Here Brandon made a costly error, initiating combat drugs that would wear off at the end of the turn and subsequently not using the extra attacks granted anyhow. The nearby Land Raider hosed down the remaining Bezerkers but not before the Night Lord commander managed to penetrating hits on the hull of the remaining Predator. However two results of crew compartment explosions left one surviving crew man, saving 2 VP's for the Legion forces, and subsequently leaving the Night Lord commander to be blown apart by the Land Raiders Heavy Bolter.

Seemingly against the odds Berkley had pulled off a famous victory, making his way into the final for the first time in his OGCcareer at the third time of trying. Brandon was left stunned for the second year running, and after all of the emotions that had led him to a huge victory against Brown previously, he was left searching for the page in the script that had been so torn out and shredded by a triumphant Berkley. Commenting on the game, Berkley summed up 'Mike had most of his worrying devastators, Rhino & Bezerkers etc on one flank, and I was unsure if to avoid them, or go after them in force. The latter was my decision, and it paid off.' Brandon was left reflecting on the opening calamity, 'The rhino veering off the way it did was probably the worst result possible and I was on the back-foot for the rest of the game, with my keys silenced I just couldn't get a foothold back in the game'. It was the third place play-off for Brandon as Berkley marches into the Final!

Final Score - Mark Berkley 10 - 4 Mike Brandon