Australia biggest Warhammer Fantasy event, ConVic, was run on the weekend where a massive 94 players competed over 2 days for the prized title. Players travelled from all over Australia and New Zealand to attend the tournament to showcase some of the best Warhammer talent in the lands. ConVic also marked the long anticipated arrival of the new Chaos Daemon army and with many of the top players fielding them there was talk of Daemon domination as well as a perfect foil for the strong Vampire Count legions. History will show that the prophecy of Daemon domination came true with the top 2 places being won by Daemon players and 4 of the top ten being of the same ilk.
ConVic was a perfect demonstration of the strength of the Warhammer tournament scene in Australia and the Vagabonds club put on a great event for all to enjoy. The 2008 champion was Phil Cottrel of Victoria with the Wally Lewis of Warhammer and Queensland's favourite son Gavin Clarke coming in second, both fielding mixed Daemon lists. Third place was won by one of the best up and coming players from Victoria in Chris Cousens fielding his Tomb Kings so congratulations to all three player for rising to the top of what was arguable the strongest field to ever contest a Warhammer Fantasy event in this country.
One of the most amazing things to come up in the final wash up was the fact the highest ranked NSW player was in 9th place. No major tournament in living memory has had just one NSW player in the top 10. Current Master Jeff Traish was the man to carry the flag for NSW with his Vampire Counts however the fact he just scraped into the top 10 meant Jeff has lost his #1 ranking to Gavin Clarke who jumped 2 places to take back the mantle. Lachlan MacWhirter despite a poor showing (27th) at ConVic retains 3rd place and sits less than 2 points behind "Traishy". However the big mover was tournament heavy weight Charles Black who jumped 29 places to be ranked 4th at the mid point of the tournament season. Charles has limited opportunities to attend events these days so with just 4 events (the minimum required to get a full ranking) he has proven that he still has what it takes and with rumours he is attending 2 more events before the end of the year could very well compete for the #1 ranking by the end of the year. Another new comer to the top 10 is Phil Cottrel who is making a solid claim for his 2nd Masters birth in 2008.
In other rankings news the Vagabonds have taken the number 1 club ranking from perennial champions Greyhawk and the Chaos Daemons have rocketed up the charts to hold 5th place in the army rankings. The Bretonnians and Wood Elves have held the top 2 spots for several years but their time in the sun looks limited with the rise in fortunes of both the Vampire Counts and Chaos Daemons.
With the midpoint of the year behind us we are now on the run in to the 2008 Masters. The pinnacle of the Warhammer hobby in Australasia and an event that seems to gain in stature with each passing year. 2008 is the 5th year of the Masters and there are a few things in the pipeline to elevate the event even further. Announcements regarding the event will be made shortly. Next stops on the Warhammer express are "Big August" in Brisbane, "Axemaster" in Melbourne and "The Pilgrimage" in Sydney. Stay tuned.