Semi - Final 2 | 19th July 15.30 | Andrew Townley Vs James Brown

James Brown's record breaking seventeen consecutive victories run may have come to an end but he was still very much on course for a adding a fourth consecutive title to his name. However, despite this being a repeat of last years final to which Brown emerged victorious, his opponent Andrew Townley was sure to put up a much tougher fight on the back of his perfect sweep through the group stage where he scored a massive 55 victory points and conceded just 14 in three games. The stakes couldn't be higher.

One thing that had been remarked upon were some of the similarities between the two armies, however it seemed that the lists favoured Townley in terms of the ability to take down marines. With Brown winning the first turn this was to be put under instant scrutiny as he advanced in multiple directions across the table but with a general intent on taking the left side of the table. The opening shooting phase was poor however, until he managed to pull of a six on a Predator track to send it careening into the air and its destruction. Brown's solemn mood soon sparked as he shouted 'I prayed for that six' to the onlookers. The Ultramarines dug into their positions and seemed reluctant to move, although a Predator supported by the Dreadnought made a move on the Ultramarine right flank prompted a LOS scuffle in the shooting phase, prompted a lengthy argument between the pair. Brown, accused of 'moving models by May prior to the Tournament produced something that drew out the crowd's amusement as he tried to prove a point with the Dreadnought LOS, declaring 'I'm not moving it, I'm just picking it up'. Brown continued the theatrics by becoming a living diagram, exclaiming 'Say I'm a dreadnought' as he demonstrated his view on the Dreadnought to hit modifiers. In the end the Dreadnought missed with its Lascannon but knocked off the ablative armour with its heavy bolters. This was an interesting decision by Townley, as he gambled by firing the Heavy Bolters first, had he gone with the Lascannons he may well have stopped the Baal Predator which would go on to devastate his lines.

In the second turn, Brown made a sweeping move with his Death Company, threatening to get amongst the Ultramarine lines, however it was a fruitless gamble as the Death Company were annihilated in the following shooting phase. However Brown won out in the armour battle on the left flank and his Baal Predator advanced towards the Ultramarine positions, causing high amounts of casualties. The amount of marines flamed over turns three and four produced some interesting results, one being that against a devastator combat squad, only the two heavy weapon marines perished, meanwhile two surviving marines in turn four managed to roll both of their armour saves on sixes. However the celebration were brought to a premature end when they were both set on fire and counted as broken for the purposes of victory points. On the right hand side of the centre of the table, from the Blood Angel perspective, the two Land Raiders had been exchanging shots all game with the Blood Angle Land Raider being immoblised. however in t he final turn it managed to get the better of the two and destroyed its Ultramarines counterpart. By the end of the game Brown was in possession of almost all of the left half of the table and had a presence in the other. In the end Townley had tried to hold back brown but had ultimately failed.

For the fourth consecutive year, James Brown advanced to the 40k final to face a new opponent as he vied for his fourth consecutive 40k title, a celebrated recovery from being pipped at the last to the top of Group A. Andrew Townley cursed his luck, claiming that 'He lost out in the 7/8 situations whereas Brown won out in the one in eight situations'. Townley goes on to face Brandon as they fight for the bronze model, its silver or gold however for Brown.

Final Score - James Brown 14 - 8 Andrew Townley