This article originally appeared in Issue 1 (2012) of The Campaigner. The issue is still available as digital download or in limited print stock.
Interview by Matthew Lee
For some Warhammer players there is nothing like a tournament. A chance to test your skill and knowledge against your opponents, in an effort to be take the coveted top spot. While players that are more hobby and creativity minded are accepted, there is no real competitive format where these people can put their primary skill set to use. This is, until the Warhammer Achievements event was created.
As with Warhammer itself, Warhammer Achievements was born in the United Kingdom. The first event was held in 2011, while 2012 sees another event run not only in the UK but New Zealand as well. We talk with Warhammer Achievements creator and UK event organiser, Steve Wren, about the event.
Can you briefly tell us how Warhammer Achievements works?
The best description came from last year’s Ultimate High Achiever, John Walters (last years winner), who described the day as ‘tick-box Warhammer!” Instead of playing to win the games by the most points possible you are trying to do certain things in the game, like perform a double six charge, kill one of your own models, or kill the first model in the game. This is what you get rewarded for. Each time you get an Achievement you can tick the box, and at the end of the day the player with the most Achievements wins. There are also Achievements for being a sporting player, for how you have painted your army, and for the units you select. I wanted to encourage people to, for example, try out some freehand on a banner or see how Stormvermin work with two units of Rat Ogres, rather than having a Hellpit Abomination and a Warp Lightning Cannon.
The Negative Achievements were brought in to control some of the silliness that happened in early 8th edition, and I decided to write up my own scenarios to add story and flavour to the event. We also have a quite extensive players pack where the players can complete my fiendishly hard Warhammer Quiz and write their own (often short and rather offensive I have found) fluff story. I always like to include five bonus achievements here for a bit of added spice.
There are awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Achievements, a Best General Award (for the player that actually does best in the games), an award for the most negatives as well as painting, sports, best theme and some small prizes for the winner of the quiz and fluff stories.
How does the structure of the event differ to standard tournaments?
I think the differences are obvious, but it’s still three games with seven Battle points available for each one (five for winning the main Scenario and two for the Minor Objectives). The big difference is grabbing the Achievements during the games, occasionally at the expense of actually winning!
How did the idea of an event based around achievements come about?
I’d been planning an event for ages, but hadn’t thought of a format I liked or that was different enough. Sometime towards the end of 2010 I was listening to the D6 Generation podcast and they have their ‘Achievements in Gaming’ section where the hosts get points for playing games and doing hobby and it kind of clicked for me – could I do this with Warhammer? Treat it like a big Xbox game, where you can win the game but you can also get Achievements. Although I would make the list known rather than having them done like Easter eggs. After that I just started writing the Achievement list and putting the scenarios together. Maelstrom Games said I could do the event there, so I put the pack together, posted it on The Warhammer Forum and hoped that some people would ‘get it!’ Luckily for me they did, and the feedback was pretty good too so Warhammer Achievements 2 was always going to happen.
You seem to purposely call this an event, not a tournament. Is it important to make this distinction?
I think so – at no other tournament do players try to deliberately lose games, get beat in combats, and try ridiculous charges turn after turn because the double 6 is more important than whatever is actually going to happen afterwards. I think Achievements is unique as it is a celebration of the hobby – something we don’t see at organised events. You get rewarded for having fun, making the effort to produce a unique and different army, and sometimes for doing well in the games. Out of the nine prizes only one goes to the person who actually does the best at Warhammer! The other eight go to the hobbyists who study the scenarios and look at the Achievements. It’s almost like people are paying to come and have those fun garage games that everyone eulogises about.
Article continues in Issue 1. The issue is still available as digital download or in limited print stock.
