Monday 1 June 2015

Infinity at the UK Games Expo 2015

This weekend I returned to the UK Games Expo in Birmingham, albeit with a very different motive to last year. In 2014 I attended and fairly successfully took part in an ITS tournament which was well run and a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

This year I had the privilege of running it instead of playing though and I had a lot to live up to, not to mention that it's also the biggest tournament I've run so far and the first I've run so far from home.

To top it off I'd had a couple of rather late nights before as I had been rather enjoying the rest of the convention and being involved in the open gaming. For those interested - Concept, Coup and One Night Werewolf were the most popular games of the Expo.

No pressure, eh?

Warning, this post is very image heavy!

Infinity Expo 2015 - The games are under way.

Despite selling all twenty-four tickets well in advance we had two players fail to show up which is a shame.  But it meant that there were still an even twenty-two challengers for the title of Expo champion so we weren't left with a bye round. I was very pleased to see that players had travelled from all over the country to be at the event and there were a great many new faces taking part.

We received prize support from Corvus Belli, Micro Arts Studio and Warmill (thank you all very much!) including this sweet poster signed by the CB staff. In fact, we had so much great stuff to give away that the 'wooden spoon' prize for last place was in fact a copy of the Infinity Artbook!

A signed posted provided by CB.

I've noted down a few thoughts during the event
  • Some of our tables weren't quite 4'x4' because of the boards we were given to use by the Expo, which wasn't ideal, but hopefully it didn't have any serious effect.
  • Each of the eight factions were represented by at least two players and nine of the players were playing sectorials. A fantastic mix for a tournament of this size.
  • TAGs showed up in decent quantities with about half the tables for Quadrant Control having one.
  • At the end of Round 2 there was only one non-Yu Jing/PanO player in the top 8.
  • Rounds were taking two or more hours to complete - an unusually long period of time. I don't know if this is because of the crowded venue, the missions, or something else.
  • 3rd to 5th place were tied on objective points at the end of the tournament, showing how important it is to keep your forces alive.
  • Ian climbed from 11th to 3rd place in the final round showing that you should never give up.
I'm not going to write much more as I'm sure the players will have plenty to say for themselves on the forums or on their respective blogs. So I'll get to what you've all been reading for... the results!

The final standings.

Given their combined results,expect to hear from Chris and the rest of the team on the next Totally Crit podcast!

Well, I don't have much else to say except a massive thank you to the Expo organisers and volunteer team, all of our competitors and especially those that were able to provide tables of scenery for our use. This event couldn't have been held without all of you.

 In 2016 the plan will be to run a larger event - between 30 and 36 players - so I hope everyone enjoyed the event and will come back for more. Expect an announcement for the event early next year.

So, that's enough words, enjoy the pictures!


The Winners



1st place - Chris (Pootleflump).

Rob (Bobman) took 2nd.

Ian (IJW) - the Wargaming Trader - took 3rd place.


The Tables


The next most important thing, after the players, were the tables that the battles were fought over! We had a lot of gorgeous terrain for the players at this event and I'm really proud of how much interest we got.

I did envy the X-Wing organisers though. with their roll-out 3'x3' mats and nothing else!

Table 1


Table 2 

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

Table 6

Table 7

Table 8

Table 9 

Table 10

Table 11


The Models


Lastly here's a few pics of some of the fantastic armies in action on the day.












2 comments:

  1. Looks like a good event and a great tournament - really sad I wasn't able to make it.

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    Replies
    1. There's always next year, hopefully it'll be bigger and even better. :)

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