There was a fantastic spirit amongst all the players who joined the Wizkids events over the two days and the whole Con was very well organised by Shadow Warriors so it ran really smoothly. There were many highlights during the weekend, some of which I will try to share with you in my ramblings below. Suffice to say though, if you missed it - you missed out. It was awesome!

One of the great displays of Wizkids games (embellished beatifully with 3D terrain and accessories)

The Horrorclix event was a 300 point'er from FIVE boosters purchased at a discounted £20. It started out as a standard swiss rounds event but was very relaxed and players were allowed to change their monster squads in between rounds. The top four players played off in a double map final, starting in a haunted house containing a portal to R'lyeh. The finalist chopped their way through many victims as they ran towards the portal and were either dragged through it by Deep Ones and Brine Witches or ran through of their own accord. On the other side of the portal Cthulhu and his minions (cultists, an Avatar, Deep Ones and Brine Witches) were waiting and to liven things up Cthulhu grabbed a few monsters with his tentacles and dragged them towards him. Final points were scored for killing victims (20 points), slaying cultists (30 points), damaging Cthulhu (50 points per click of damage) and for killing opposing monsters (per point value).

After several hours of Wicked Fun Stephen Hunt was proclaimed the winner and got to keep a Cthulhu and lots of other cool stuff for his troubles. The Huntmeister was also awarded Fellowship (which thankfully was nothing to do with me) so got more swag, but there was freebies galore for all the top four. The players who did not make the top table did not miss out as a specially created Father & Son event was run for them and they too got extra swag and booty!

After the Horrclix event was done there was plenty more Wicked Fun to be had as we all played pass the Cthulhu (we had to perform a forfeit if we were holding Cthulhu when the music stopped - but if we did we got a reward). Highlights include seeing Steve Beer dance, Horrorclix boosters being juggled, a scream with a mouthful of cakes and Richard Early walking accross the room with Cthulhu balanced on his head. These are things I doubt I will ever see again!

As I was fully engrossed in the euphoria of the release of Horrorclix I even got dressed up in fancy dress for the occassion and became Captain Bones (fattest skeleton in the world) for the evening to give everyone else a laugh/fright. The things we will do to keep the troops entertained ... I did get some very funny looks. Not least in the toilets when I was getting changed! The Horrorclix was exceptionally fun and so was the party, thanks in big bunches to Anup and Ruth for making it such an awesome occassion.

How class does this look? Who says Cthulhu aisn't a party animal eh? Here we see him bursting out of his very own Horrorclix Cake ... like the star attraction that he is!

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The final and four Monster Squds race to the R'lyeh portal in an attempt to prevent Cthulhu from consuming the earth. THEY FAILED ... Mwhahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa!

The final was once again contested in a four player battle that saw some huge hits from both big figures and LE figures that were flying about as well. Not to be left out, those who did not qualify for the final four got to do a big multiplayer game on a double board with a portal to the Spectre (similar to yesterday only with Heroclix - none of them had played in it you see). Ste De Bono may have unusually ended the swiss rounds of this event with a record of 0 - 3, something I know all to much about, but he walked away with a beautiful Dark Phoenix for finishing last so he wasn't too unhappy for very long. He also got to play the side event against the Spectre and his Angry Spirits. Would you believe it, in a staggering turnaround of fortune Ste won this side event and his prize was ... THE SPECTRE! Add a Dark Phoenix and a Spectre to the random assortment of LE figures collected throughout the day and that is not a bad days haul at all. The rest of the players were not left wanting in the LE department though, so don't worry about them, there was PLENTY to go around everyone.

The main Heroclix event was won by ... do you know I can't actually remember who won! I do recall that Ben was awarded the Fellowship Prize for the main event, but dang it I just can't recall who won the blasted thing (maybe that's because I was outside gabbing at the time it was announced, D'oh!). There were bucketloads of prizes given out again to each and every player and everyone agreed what a fantastic spirit all the matched had been played in. The Heroclixers even got to try some of the leftover Cthulhu Cake though they missed the eyeball cocktails! It was another grand day and I think I speak for everyone when I say it was well worth the journey. Speaking of journeys, the one back home was 'interesting' with Cthulhu on the train. Yes it was long and it was interesting, that is all I shall say.

Some of the Heroclix players in the Swiss Rounds

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Colin watched over the MechWarrior event (lots of Ares action)

Having assisted Anup unpacking and packing a portion of the stuff he had brought accross from Wizkids HQ I now have a much better appreciation of all the time and effort he puts into organising and running events that Wizkids support and all I can say is WOW!!! Jamming a white van full of product and prizes isn't as easy or as qucik as you might think it is and while we play and enjoy oursleves this guy is busy being a stock controller, salesman, DIY expert, storage and removal expert and general dogsbody. Do not underestimate the effort involved and the time this consumes, I know I wont form now onwards having helped out in loading what was left back into the van.

As an Envoy and a player, but most of all as part of the Wizkids Approved Play community I would like to thank Shadow Warriors for hosting an excellent convention. A really big thank you to Anup, Ruth and Wizkids for the level of support given to this event and the great fun they provided, especially with the Horrorclix Launch Party. Thanks also to everyone who came along and played on one of the AP games or did a demonstration, if you enjoyed yourselves half as much as I did then you will have had a really great time. All you people that didn't come, for whatever reasons, do me and yourselves a big favour and try Horrorclix out. It's a totally different experience to Heroclix (some similar game elements but some very unique and different ones too) and to be honest the demo games, even with the six figure kit, just don't do its true potentail anywhere near enough justice. Give it a try and see what you think. It's got victims, vampires, werewolves, Deep Ones and Cthulhu for goodness sake, whats not to like?

Just before I sign out I want to say that it was a big shame Mike Jarvis (Gangrel) missed the weekend as he has come down with a rare blood disorder. Mike, get well soon and my thoughts are with you. The weekend would have been even better if you could have made it, so its a shame that was not possible. Next time eh? See you around.

How cool are those BSG tables? They are also very heavy!!!

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