In 1995 Warhammer author Jervis Johnson bravely took it upon himself to organise an international Warhammer tournament in Nottingham. Over one hundred players from all over the world came to stay for two days of competitive gaming. A good time was had by all, and considering that none of the players had met before, the whole weekend went remarkably smoothly.

The competition was won by Scottish player David Cain who gleaned the most points overall to become our first Warhammer Champion. All the games were played with pre-arranged limits which Jeris set beforehand to accommodate the time available for the games and the fact that the players would be meeting for the first time.

After the first Warhammer tournament Jeris modified his set limits slightly and these are the limits which we've used for the Tournament Battle scenario described earlier. The limits are intended to make it easier for players who have never met before to play by reducing the availability of some of the 'wilder' machines and monsters, and by placing a lid on the more destructive magic and powerful characters.

This obliges players to choose representative armies and puts an appropriate emphasis on generalship and games play. In addition the games have been designed to play fast - an important consideration when you have to complete six games over two days! Note that we played over 6'x 4' tables and found the size of the armies appropriate for this area.

The Tournament Game is a good standard to adopt when playing against a new opponent, for inter-club competitions, for tournaments, for club competitions, and for any competitive games especially where players might not necessarily be part of the same regular gaming group. It is especially useful when playing someone for the first time, as it is helpful for both players to be able to predict what sort of army they will be facing. Players don't necessarily have to play in a competition to play a tournament game, some players will prefer this style of play for most of their games.

These are, of course, only the standard or base tournament limits, and individual tournament or competition organisers might want to change details either by loosening some restrictions or imposing more. This is up to the tournament organisers to decide for themselves, but it is suggested that these limits are used as a 'standard' and any variances noted in respect to the standard version. For example, 'all standard tournament rules apply except 1) special characters up to 200 points are allowed but must include all their specified magic items at full points cost, no additional magic items Or substitutes allowed, and 2) no more than three war machines can be included regardless of points available or the number of regiments in the army.'

Tournament Limits

• Armies to be chosen to a maximum of 2,000 points.

• No special characters.

• No unridden large monsters.

• No allies.

• No more than one war machine to be chosen for each regiment of troops included in the army.

• Wizards are limited to a maximum magic level of 3, no magic items can improve on this.

• Magic items with a points value of more than 50 cannot be included.

• All games to end within 21/ hours or after the completion of 4 turns within 21/2 hours.

• All games played over the same session must be with the same army.