They will be online and available to advance order today.

Just a quick blog entry  to say there is a discount code for anybody that like us on facebook.

Please click on the link below and then the “only likers” box if you are not automatically directed there;

Gifts For Geeks Facebook Discount

Enjoy!

FNM -27/4/12 – Standard Tournament. £3 Entry with Prize Support. 7pm Start

27/4/12 – Avacyn Restored Sealed Deck Pre-release. £18 for entry and 6 boosters. Hellvault Support. Midnight Start

28/4/12 – Avacyn Restored Sealed Deck Pre-release. £18 for entry and 6 boosters. 11 am start

29/4/12 – Avacyn Restored Sealed Deck -2 Headed Giant.  £14 for entry and 4 boosters. 11 am start.  Hellvault Support

20/5/12. Commander Tournament. £40 Cash Prize for Winner. 10.30 am start. £5 Entry.

For more information of to buy event tickets contact us on 0116 2533954 or giftsforgeeks@gmail.com

The score stands at 10 – 7 to the Axis, but there are 6 points up for grabs on the last day.

Will the Axis secure a Major Victory against the Allies halting their advance or will the Allies turn it around and land a tactical victory against the Wehrmacht? It all hangs in the balance.

Hitler, sensing victory, orders his Panthers forward

The final battle will be split into 3 theatres. Bring your Ace, his company and anything else you have. We will field as much as reasonably possible!

The Axis and Allies will also have High Commanders that will have access to reserves, bombardments and Aircraft.

Doors open at 10.30. Games begins at 11.15 am

Good luck Captains!

By Samira Ahmed BBC

Fan Andrew Ruddick explains how Warhammer 40,000 is played

Warhammer 40,000 – set in a science fantasy universe – has just turned 25. Why are grown men still launching tabletop war?

You may have walked past one of the hundreds of Games Workshops on the High Street. You may even have wandered in, especially if you are a teenage boy or the parent of one.

If you know your Necrons (virtually invincible soulless metal warriors) from your Dark Eldar (sadistic elfin pirates), the chances are you are one of the dedicated tribe who have signed up to what fans call The Hobby.

Most days of the week, on table tops in “hobby centre” shops, in office lunchrooms, and bedrooms, players gather around home-constructed battle fields with miniature ruins and petrified forests. They assemble and paint small model fighters from a chosen army (several to collect) and using dice, tape measures and special rule books, battle rival militia in a fictional science fiction universe set in the 41st Millennium, called Warhammer 40,000.

Launched 25 years ago, 40K was so named to distinguish it from traditional fantasy Warhammer of elves and vampires. Both lines, together with a Lord of the Rings brand, continue to attract hundreds of thousands of new fans in Britain and across the world – 70% of sales are abroad.

Dark Eldar on left (photos by Jordan Louis); Necrons on right (photos by AdmGR and Victor Yoon)

The appeal is in collecting, assembling and painting the models, for play, which are manufactured in Nottingham (and Memphis, Tennessee) and sold through the Games Workshops chain and by mail order. Blood, torn flesh, grimacing skulls and very large guns and tanks feature prominently in the detailed artwork.

Despite the competition from online or console-based gaming, Warhammer continues to thrive, with successful spin-off novels set in the 40K universe. How many other British companies, for example, could report a 40% rise in their latest half-year pre-tax profits?

A tournament at the company’s castle-themed HQ

“It’s like why theatre remains popular in the age of cinema,” says 32-year-old Andrew Ruddick from Cambridge, explaining its enduring appeal. He describes himself as a “relapsed” Warhammer gamer, slipping back into it in his 20s with friends. “There’s an intimacy. With tabletop gaming you are there.”

Several hundred such gamers gather regularly at Games Workshop’s Hall of Fame, next to its Nottingham factory, for tournaments. Most, but certainly not all, are male.

They play on teams with names like Alfa Geek, Purple Pain and I See Lead People. Heavy rule books or codices (all published by GW) are consulted intently. Templates and tape measures are used to confirm terrain advanced and numbers of casualties. Occasionally a whoop of victory goes up from a table.

Kathryn Turner, 13, is playing a doubles match with her father Stephen against two strapping 30-something blokes. The poker-face calm with which she deploys her Tyranids (world-devouring aliens) is impressive.

“It’s fun and I like spending this time with my dad,” she says. Her mother Sue is one of the crop of self-confessed Warhammer Widows who spend all day in the cafe. Kathryn admits to sometimes wearing pink on the first day to psych out the male opponents. “I’m moving on to play with Sisters of Battle next,” she says – it’s an army of fanatical warrior nuns with flamethrowers.

The whole aesthetic is, as Andrew Ruddick puts it “very masculine”. But the appeal is its epic scale, says Warhammer fan and Marvel X-Men comic writer, Kieron Gillen. “It’s a hilariously OTT maximalist universe at an operatic pitch. There are some people who think less is more. Warhammer, conversely, believes that more is always more.”

Foot-high model Titans can be brought out for particular battles. “Warhammer gone nuts,” as my 12-year-old son puts it.

Figurines are painted by hand

Gillen contrasts Warhammer 40K to role-playing fantasy gaming like the online World of Warcraft (the modern equivalent of Dungeons and Dragons). “In Warcraft it’s made so there are no bad guys. In Warhammer there are no good guys. They’re all bad. It’s a universe that’s simultaneously nihilistic and joyous. It’s incredibly British in that way.”

Gary Chalk, a 59-year-old fantasy game creator and illustrator, knows all about its Britishness. He used to design Warhammer and Warhammer 40K games in the 1980s and 90s. His trademark wit is evident in Bloodbath at Orc’s Drift (an elvish version of the Michael Caine film Zulu) and a naval ship battle he called “All the Dwarves Love a Sailor”. Still an enthusiastic table-top gamer, he does, however, believe Games Workshop uses its monopoly on the products to target and exploit increasingly younger fans. The prices for essential models, paints and books are “eyewatering”, he says.

“They are not selling a hobby. They are selling a craze.”

Several players say they feel exploited. “You need at least £200 just to set up a half-decent legal army for a game, and if you want a board and scenery to go to play with friends you’re looking at least £200 on top of that,” says Craig Lowdon, 25, of Crewe.

Games Workshop’s executives say they don’t do media interviews, preferring to focus on their hobbyists. But chief executive officer Mark Wells emails me about the claim of price exploitation. “That would go against everything we stand for. It’s just not in our nature,” he writes.

Women and girls do play, but are outnumbered

And Chalk claims the game is now less interesting. “The original rules were about fantasy combat and creating character. Now the rules only work within their imaginary world, with their figures and it cuts out all the other influences.”

But its legion of fans, including older fans, see a timeless appeal.

“[There's] the satisfaction of looking at ranks of badly-daubed Skaven (man-sized anthropomorphic rats) and knowing they’re yours and you made them in a real way,” says Kieron Gillen.

“It’s absolutely the part of the brain that made other generations make model trains.”

In the meantime if you would like to place an order or enquire about a previous order our number is 0116 2533954. You can reach us by phone or in our retail  store (Tabletop Tyrant) during the following hours;

Monday- 10.30 am until 5.30 pm

Tuesday -12.00 pm until 10.00 pm

Wednesday- 10.30 am until 10.00 pm

Thursday -10.30 am until 5.30 pm

Friday- 10.30 am until 5.30 pm

Saturday -10.30 am until 5.30 pm

Sunday -11.00am until 4.00 pm

Flames of War have informed us that their free rulebook offer is extending to players who do not have the hardback set. If you can make it down to Tabletop Tyrant (Gifts For Geeks’ Retail Store) on Sat 11/2/12 and buy a Flames Of War tank boxed set then you will get a free copy of the mini rulebook*!

* While Stocks last and one per customer

On 11th of February you can collect a copy of on the new edition softback rulebook from or retail store in Leicester, Tabletop Tyrant,  for free if you can do the following;

• Inform us before 6/2/11 that you will be collecting your book from us (in-store, by phone; 0116 2533954 or by email; tabletoptyrant@gmail.com)
• Bring in a copy of your Flames of War hard back second edition rulebook on Saturday 11th of February (required) and your army if you fancy a game (optional).

The Cassino campaign we are starting this Wednesday will be run using the second edition rules throughout.

The Germans add more depth to the already formidable Gustav line

Your Infantry Ace is a company command team, replacing your regular first in command. He retains the ratings and weapons of the team replaced. He is also a warrior (p78 of the rulebook).

As your Infantry Ace fights alongside your company he can earn medals which more importantly unlock new abilities.

At the end of every game you play your warrior can earn experience for the following ;

• 1 xp for playing a game
• 1 xp if he is not destroyed and is still on the table
• 1 xp if you win the game
• 1 xp if your force destroys at least one enemy platoon

(you can earn a max 4 xp per game)

You can keep chart of your progress on the Infantry Aces Chart found HERE. We also have spare copies printed off in the shop.

For every 6 xp you collect you get a medal and a new ability. There are 10 different progression trees to chose from, but when you chose a skill set you are stuck on that set unless you select Jack of all trades.

There is more information on each skill in the Cassino book. I will leave my copy in the store when the campaign begins for people to have a look.

As you can see from the progression chart you can make your ace anything from an assault monster to a master of defensive strategy. Seeing peoples choices will be interesting.

Lastly for anyone that successfully keeps their Ace alive long enough to get him 24 xp and the Ace of Aces ability you get an extra little reward (as well as a kick arse warrior).

See you on the battlefield soldier!

Blocking the allied advance are elite German divisions, some hardened on the Eastern Front, some in Africa and others selected from the best of the best to form the elite Fallschirmjager.

Not only are there elite German formations equipped with the Latest Panzer IVs and Panthers blocking the route, there is the Rapido River, The Gustav defensive line and the Hitler defensive line. Both lines are deep and constructed with German precision.

Lastly there is the town of Cassino itself

Allied artillery bombardments have taken their toll on the Germans, but have made a a battlefield full of places for an infantryman to hide and spring deadly ambushes on the advancing allies.

Success in Cassino hinges on the individual infantrymen. The rocky mountains, rubble strewn roads, and muddy fields of the Liri Valley all conspire together to prevent tanks from massing. Instead the battle must be won by riflemen one step at a time.

In this Flames of War escalation campaign you take on the persona of a junior officer who has just been promoted after the death of the company commander.

The campaign is split into three turns covering the major battles of the Cassino campaign. Turn 1 you fight with a small 500 point band of brothers, turn 2 800 points and turn three 1000 points.

Just as your force grows in the campaign so does your character. As you fight you gain experience and medals which in turn allows your commander to learn special abilities or traits.

Games can be played anywhere in the given time periods listed below. To submit your result simply email me at dustinomax@googlemail.com with the armies involved, any pictures you took and the outcome of the encounter. Each round has three different zones that need to be captured by the allies. The more victories recorded the closer your side will come to victory.

Every Wednesday myself and Kurt (and other people playing) will be at Tabletop Tyrant with Axis and allied armies for people to play against.

Turn 1 – Starts 1/2/11

You may spend 500 points on your force

You may only select Combat and Weapons Platoons

Forces cannot include transports or tanks

You may field fortifications

Play on a 4′ x 4′ table

Turn 2 Starts 15/2/11

You may spend 800 points on your force

You may only select Combat, Weapons and support platoons

Forces cannot include transports or tanks

You may field fortifications

Play on a 6′ x 4′ table

Turn 3 Starts 29/2/11

You may spend 1000 points on your force

You may only select Combat, Weapons  and support platoons and one armoured platoon

You may field fortifications

Play on a 6′ x 4′ table or larger.

Sunday 19th of March the Last day combat mission. A truly large scale Flames battle that may swing the outcome of the campaign .

If you have any questions on how to build your list, develop your character or running games, don’t fear to contact us at tabletoptyrant@gmail.com or come into the store and ask for Dustin.  We will have crib sheets, print outs and enough scenery for 3 flames tables by the time the campaign begins.