League & Battle Report Show Update | Tabletop Tactics Backstage

Avatar Spider April 11, 2022228  122 228 Likes

Hi Tabletop Tactics family,

Your friendly neighbourhood Spider here with a show update and chat around our League & Battle Reports.

Battle Reports Format Change?

Given the success of the recent Tempest of War mission pack released by Games Workshop we will be adopting this pack for use in our regular Battle Reports. Occasionally of course, we will also use GT missions, especially if during a review or new release Mission Pack, but you can expect to see Tempest being used predominantly. Why? Because the Battle Report shows are designed to have a variety of lists in pitched battles that go the distance! Tempest is perfect for this! Some (like myself) would even argue that it is a better competitive format than the GT Mission packs, but that is a discussion for another day.

What about the League Reports?

These will continue to be the home of the more competitive games on the channel, featuring tournament practice matchups and of course using the latest tournament format GT Mission packs. This will also help further define the difference between the League and Battle Report shows.

It is also the intention that the League Report show features competitively experimental lists as well as the more cutting edge meta lists. This allows us to have more variety and to not have to feature 9 Void Weavers or whatever else might be dominating the meta in every report. By their nature, this will sometimes create one sided match ups or two turn white washes. Why? The answer here is twofold:

  1. Not everyone chases the meta. The League will feature us as players using our favourite factions and trying to make them work competitively, even if they aren’t top tier. For example, while an older book or low tier army might not have much of a chance at winning a major tournament, we will be striving to make the list as competitive as possible so that they might at least leave a tournament with an overall winning record. In a game that is clearly not competitively balanced, us hobbyists should reserve the right to be able to play the factions we like, as opposed to chasing the meta! With that said, we must also be prepared to try to experiment and face the nastier meta lists with our preferred armies so that we can at least try to challenge them. Whilst this may lead to one sided matchups it can also lead to uncovering hidden gems and combinations that might challenge top tier lists. This is part of the fun in trying to build competitive armies, especially if they aren’t as high a tier as a newer release.
  2. We will always be limited by the models we own. Whilst we would love to have the latest meta list painted to an excellent standard and ready for the League Reports immediately after it wins a major event, we won’t always be able to represent that army. Very often these armies feature spammed units that require considerable painting and money investment to replicate. As I’ve said many times before, this is a dangerous practice to invest in given how Games Workshop tends to produce a nerf bat against the overly dominant forces shortly after. Who remembers what happened to the Ork buggy spam list? Imagine if we’d spent all that time painting up 9 Squig Buggies to have it made illegal in tournament play just days after completing them!

Sure Lawrence, but what about the ‘League’ part of the show? 

Some of you will have noticed that our internal League table that accompanies the League Reports hasn’t been updated recently. Has Chef been too lazy to update it? Is the League no longer happening? Actually I have some very, very exciting news about the League and Tabletop Tactics in general.

No, I’m not going to reveal it now.

Suffice to say that the internal League is currently on pause to make way for a huge upgrade that is coming. This something will be massive and actually allow you as a community to participate, rather than just having us play internally here. Pretty cool huh?

For now that means that all of our League Reports should be considered stand alone competitive match ups.

But Lawrence, I want to know about this secret news!

I should be able to reveal the plans around the channel and the League very soon, probably within the next few weeks. I am waiting on some legal and developmental bits before I can reveal everything properly. Along with the announcement will come an all new Lodge Campaign that has some very special pieces of Merchandise up for grabs.

On that little morsel, I shall leave you. For now, you can expect the League Reports to continue on a weekly release schedule before a big upgrade in the future along with all the other special stuff I have planned.

❤️🕷



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Nick Kirkham
Lodge Member
Nick Kirkham
1 year ago

Tempest for the ‘normal’ bat reps makes total sense, as does GT for League, and the some magnificent narrative as and when! Very nice, love the switch!

Alex Walker
Alex Walker
1 year ago

Excellent news and decision. This is very much a strength and positive for your team and channel. Keep up the good work all.

Patrick Cooper
Patrick Cooper
1 year ago

Woooooooo! More tempest! I love your take on Tempest in comp. play. I hope GW is listening 👀

irj11
irj11
1 year ago

Will there be more cast of players D&D games in the future?

Thijs Schrijnemakers

wholeheartedly approve of the switch to Tempest =)

Shane McGrath
Lodge Member
Shane McGrath
1 year ago

Love the direction guys, keep up the great work.

Wil Sterling
Lodge Member
Wil Sterling
1 year ago

Gonna chime in with my enthusiastic support of the adoption of Tempest as the primary format for the Battle Report format. GT style Matched Play is just so stale, it’s a solved game at this point. Having the unpredictability is far preferable than only wondering if someone will make a mistake or whose dice will win the 4+ contest that is the current meta state.

Stefano
Lodge Warrior Member
1 year ago

Thank you for the update, everything sounds reasonable and fair! Looking forward to the reveal for the League!
P.S. I am also looking forward to the return of the Squats… are you already planning a new army for them as a I am doing right now?

Jon Wilson
1 year ago

Nice one, Spider! This is all great. Interesting what you say about Tempest being potentially a better format for competitive 40k than we currently have. I need to play with it a bit more, but on the face of it, I agree. I’m hoping that tournament organisers might start experimenting with it. Even thinking that if no-one else gets there first, I might try organising a Tempest event here in Bristol! If I did, any chance one or more of our favourite Bathonians might come and play? 🙂

Perlin Pain P...
Lodge Member
1 year ago

(🕸️_(🕸️_(🕸️_🕸️)_🕸️)_🕸️)
Tempest, with too lore friendly attributs lists, would be very enjoyable i think. Anyway, you have my trust and support !

Last edited 1 year ago by Perlin Pain P...
Steele Tarkus
1 year ago

Your Channel thrives on the enthusiasm of the players. The cast seems to have alot more fun doing Tempest of War. Seeing you all having fun and the enjoying the hobby is the reason I will keep supporting you all.
Thanks for everything you do!

Last edited 1 year ago by Steele Tarkus
Alex Scott
Alex Scott
1 year ago

Awesome! Pumped to hear about the new stuff rolling out and I think your response to the meta-chase is outstanding, re: “normal”/realistic competitive lists.

Tomgar
1 year ago

I’ve been pretty vocal about my dislike of 9th edition, but Tempest is so good and well-designed it may actually salvage it for me, at least until 10th arrives and hopefully resets the lethality and complexity somewhat. Glad to hear you guys will be switching to the new format, those last videos with it were so much fun!

Alvaro Gonzalez
1 year ago

Fantastic news, love Tempest

Sterling Kuepfer
Sterling Kuepfer
1 year ago

I just recently played my first game of Tempest and I’m so happy with it and am pleased that it will be the main way of playing for your battle reports. Despite it being more random I honestly find it a more balanced system than the GT mission pack, as a Death Guard player I was actually able to hold my own by playing the missions and being versatile and it felt great. Keep up the great work, you are and forever will be the best Warhammer content creators (and I hope that secret ends up being AoS, and if… Read more »

Jonathan Haynes
Lodge Member
Jonathan Haynes
1 year ago

I still dislike the Tempest of War matches but I’ll suffer through I guess.

Last edited 1 year ago by Jonathan Haynes
USS Sylvester
Lodge Member
1 year ago

Hey guys I’ll wondering if you might push in to HH battle reports aswell as it’s not to far off 40K and you could expand into that side of Warhammer aswell use them classic marines again 🙂 plus I’m excited for this new format and hoping for the best outcome as I’ll do enjoy the league report as I’ll enjoy seeing different competitive lists and seeing best of a army but I’ll do like narrative battle reports reports too as they always a laugh and you know it be a good game lol 😂

DwightOfTheDead
1 year ago

Nice, looking forward to seeing what comes next then. Cheers.

ian4281
ian4281
1 year ago

Will be interesting to see how this cryptic news pans out. 🙂 Though I pray for Horus heresy armies rather than AOS! 🤞 keep up the good work. Good to see you leading by example in showing grand tournament mission format kind of sucks, GW need to sort the power creep issue with each new codex for sure. keep up the good work gang.
PS Would love to see more Ultramarines and Imperial Fists battle reports with a smattering of first born in the mix (leviathan’s vanguard vets etc) and their own special characters 🤞

Khi
Lodge Member
Khi
1 year ago

@Lawrence the midwife came today mate she said the kids put 4 pounds on immediately said Wow she’s had a glow up!!! Midwife looked at me like I was a proper idiot….I swear my friend when I meat you we need to have a conversation 🤣🤣🤣

SpruesBrews
1 year ago

I think this is a fantastic change, and when we get the location and time allows us to stream again, we’ll be back doing fun lists instead of full blown competitive.

The new community interaction sounds amazing, can’t wait to hear what that’s about!

Dave (former holder of a wooden spoon haha)

Andrew Cradduck
1 year ago

Heck yeah, I got my first game of Tempest in just this weekend and it was an absolute blast.
GT missions are dead, long live maelstrom!

Stacey Block
1 year ago

Love it !!!! I also agree Tempest feels better for competitive than the tournament pack missions! And more fun to play and watch !

Philippe Boulanger
Lodge Member
1 year ago

Great news ! 🤩

sean dollard
Lifetime Member
sean dollard
1 year ago

Excellent news on all fronts Tempest seems like the most fun way to play right now and I can’t wait to see what else you are working on!

Kenneth
Kenneth
1 year ago

Love this!!!! Love you guys and what you do! Thanks for leaning towards a more casual playstyle. Always nice to see non-hyper optimized things on the board. Recently picked the Tempest cards up myself for our gaming group. Its nice to be able to bring iconic models that would normally be gathering dust on the shelf because they are not the best of the best of the best. Keep up the outstanding work!

Chris
Chris
1 year ago

Is crusade going to get some spotlights? I love the tempest games but there is something about narrative games and the story book epic style that I love!

Justus Hölscher
1 year ago

Thanks Lawrence. I’d love for tactica battle reports to make a comeback.

Alexander Landis
Alexander Landis
1 year ago

Appreciate the update on what’s going on. Very excited to see more Tempest of War missions. I didn’t see any mention of narrative games here though. Will those still be continuing or will Tempest be replacing them completely?

Daniel King
Daniel King
1 year ago

I played a game of Tempest on Saturday and I couldn’t agree more its just better!
It let me take units I wouldn’t normally take and not worry about things like RND or banners but instead
react to my opponent and the curveball my cards have thrown at me.
It ended up being the best game I’ve played in 9th by a long way.

Crasac
1 year ago

Exciting news 😀

I am very much looking forward to seeing more Tempest of War, I like the further differentiation between league and normal batreps. And I’m super curious now.

Stuart Hay
Lodge Member
Stuart Hay
1 year ago

These sound like some really good changes. This channel is my main provider of 40k content at the moment, as I don’t get to play particularly often, so keeping it fresh is a great move! I actually went out and preordered the Tempest deck because of the review video and batrep. I wouldn’t have known about it otherwise! Having watched a few Tempest batreps now, I really believe it’s the shakeup 9th ed needs to get out of this uber competitive slump, and stops it going stale. The lodge sounds interesting… While I’m not the most experienced player, if you… Read more »

El Mémé
1 year ago

I am here. For. It. Ordered a pack of cards myself, can’t wait to try it out !

Jared Bonter
1 year ago

I read ‘Lodge’ and immediately think Heretic!
Exciting news, looking forward to the League reveal. Also adopting the Tempest format is outstanding. 9th is in a weird spot right now, played against Tau for the first time the other day and before I even had a chance to play the game 70% of my army was deleted. It was a learning experience for sure

James Mowatt
Lodge Member
1 year ago

If this secret is that you’ll be having members of community come and play at scheduled events I’ll lose my god damn mind.

I may have missed out on the chance to work with you delightful people but living a locally as I do I’d commit terrible atrocities to have a few jolly games.

Dan McDonough
1 year ago

Thanks everyone, keep up the great work!

Christian Hellicar
Christian Hellicar
1 year ago

Excellent decision! I’ve played a few games of Tempest now & I think it’s great for the game. The random nature of it makes the game more balanced. You may not be aware but I love my Custodes; however the new Codex has tarnished them for me. They produced too many feel bad moments for my opponent. & if my opponent isn’t having fun then I’m not having fun. Tempest has changed that as I can’t just do what Custodes do best: stand on 3 objectives & not die. I need a balanced list & to think on my feet.… Read more »

James Lyle
Lodge Member
James Lyle
1 year ago

I was starting to get bored seeing every battle report channel do the same bunch of secondaries and wasting points on action monkey units. I love maelstrom because you can pack a list full of fun stuff and have a chance. I love this change!!!

UndeadBen79
Lodge Member
1 year ago

Awesome news and I am much excited by this!! You lot are top bosses and i can’t wait for more brilliant content

Peter Collins
Peter Collins
1 year ago

All sound quite positive, I think Tempest has really spiced up 40k far more than the GT packs (which should quite rightly be free or at least heavily subbed as they are far more expensive than they should be)
Look forward to the new league format and more content.
When Jynx first joined there was a brief Q&A with Katie, I’d be interested to know if there is any potential for Q&As on occasion from on-demand members?
Either way looking forward to more Tempest in the coming weeks!

The Casual
Lodge Member
1 year ago

More Tempest? That’s all I needed to hear (that and I oddly agree with you it’s a better competitive format but I’m just a ‘casual’ so…)

RJ Harris
RJ Harris
1 year ago

I love this change! Your 8th edition bat reps were the best because the tactical objectives kept things fresh and made it possible for any of your armies to have a chance. The current edition with its focus on just ITC style gets old and stale real fast as you say you have to build to the meta. I certainly hope ITC switches to Tempest of war soon.

Julian Stark
Julian Stark
1 year ago

A year ago I would have been really excited about cards coming back, but since then we have just started using crusade missions mixed with secondaries and since there are ton of crusade missions out I don’t really see the need to buy cards anymore.
But it will make for some variation on the channel and you seem to really enjoy, so I am happy with the change

PossiblyCertain
PossiblyCertain
1 year ago

More in on Tempest Of War!!!.. whilst I love what you guys 9th edition bat reps have become very samey and I’ve loved the tempest ones I’ve seen so far… great move!

CalibanCadet
Lodge Warrior Member
1 year ago

Can’t wait to hear the news. I love the fact that you folks are always keeping things fresh. Thank you!

Strayed
Lodge Member
Strayed
1 year ago

All good moves that preserve the integrity of the channel. I enjoy seeing the competitive spins on codices as I am so bored of the same old meta models – lookin’ at Vahl, in particular.
Hopefully, Tempest will also encourage us all away from the current ‘sit on the 3 closest objectives’ strat!

SlipperyWeasel
Lodge Member
1 year ago

Well, I think may need to change my pants…

Benoit Cappez
Lifetime Member
1 year ago

A really good move. Looking forward the new league format

Jim Hamilton
Lodge Member
Jim Hamilton
1 year ago

Happy to see Tempest taking the main spot light and can’t wait to get involved in the league. The channel has helped me with my mental health and getting back into gaming again. Keep up the good work guys and girls.

Mortz82
Lodge Warrior Member
Mortz82
1 year ago

New Lodge Campaign you say? Obviously this is the promised Lodge Fundraiser for AoS 😇 (Prays to Tzeentch for it to be the AoS Fundraiser)