Privateer Press brings you this guest insider from the Welsh Masters with some history, insight, and news about this upcoming WARMACHINE/HORDES event!

From modest beginnings, the Welsh Masters has grown into one of the largest single tournament events in the world. Now entering its tenth year, it sold out its initial ticket sales in a matter of hours, but another 32 tickets are for sale beginning February 1 for those who missed out on that first run. This means you can expect to see up to 200 attendees.

Why is the Welsh Masters such a draw? It brings the best players from all over the UK and Europe to battle it out, and such a sizable field pushes players to the limits in their list designs and matchups over the two days (May 18–19). Interestingly, the event has never been won by the same player twice in its ten-year history, and none of the winners have been from beyond the UK!

The event runs seven rounds of Masters format and is an Iron Gauntlet Qualifier. This year, the organizers will be cutting to the top 8 at the end of day one to have a defined winner. There will still be a lot to play as the top 8 filters back into the pack for the final standing. This means best in Faction is still up for grabs, as is a place in the top eight.

The organizer, Martyn Jenkins, launched Welsh Masters ten years ago alongside a dedicated bunch of supporters. He had a dream of making the Welsh event the biggest and best tournament in the UK. The event is held in the amazing Firestorm Games (https://www.firestormgames.co.uk/), who have been fantastic in their support of the event and community over the years, providing a spacious, well-lit venue complete with food and drink options onsite. The event is so well supported by various companies that the swag bag alone makes this event appealing—this year’s bag contains a full KR Multicase for each attendee, along with a few other surprises Martyn has in store for everyone.

The event gives also gives away an amazing array of prize support and includes a huge raffle, often giving away a whole army to the lucky winners.

Additionally, each year the event includes artwork from the very talented Florian Stitz (https://www.facebook.com/florian.stitz.illustration/), with each illustration telling a piece of a story (see the artwork in the link below), and thus art has been used on jerseys for attendees to wear with pride.

You can find more information about the event at its website http://welshmasters.com, and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/788904257799637/