Well, KublaCon has come and gone again, and it just keeps getting better and better. Next year, it will move from its current Oakland location to Burlingame (closer to San Francisco), which should make it a bit easier for those of us on that side of the Bay to get to it. Hopefully it will mean even more space for events! I spent most of the Con wandering around taking pictures, and I got dome good images of a number of the painting contest entries (See the extended Painting Contest Report for more information and images).

40K Rogue Trader Tournament

Group photo from the 40K RTT

For many, the big event at KublaCon this year was a massive Warhammer 40K tournament with over 80 participants! Andy Chambers was also a guest of honor, and was often seen wandering around the game areas. The tournament had a number of really cool models, but unfortunately the lighting in the tournament area was really poor, so I had trouble getting good pictures. Luckily, changes are already being discussed next year to improve that.

Here are the winners:

• Overall Winner - Ken Fritts
• Best Army - Ziggy Gregonis
• Best Painted - Aaron Wolbach
• Best Sportsmanship - Dustin Woods
• Best General - Jason Silz
• Youngblood - Scott Miller
• Dice Don't Like Me - Unknown

After the last round of the RTT but before the awards presentation, there was a terrain seminar given by Sean Patten (of Necromundicon fame). After the awards presentation, Andy Chambers hosted a Q&A session.

Some highlights from the Q&A (and a big thank you to Dan Roberts and his video recording of the session):

-- The Studio doesn't think Eldar Storm Guardians fit into the current fluff of the dying race, and they would like to see them go away. However, they are sensative to the fact that many players have already converted models to represent these forces. The most likely solution will be to go ahead and include an entry for the in the Codex: Eldar revision scheduled for next year, but to again not produce figures for them. Over time, the idea is that they will die out from usage due to lack of support. To compensate for this loss of screening troops, the Shuriken Catapult would be made a pinning weapon, giving Guardians a way of effectively slowing advancing troops. Also the Wraithlord will NOT be going down in toughness, but will likely have a points cost raise instead. Also, a plastic Wave Serpent is planned for release with the revised codex. Andy told me that this would be an add-on sprue for the current Falcon kit instead of an entirely new kit.

-- The Imperial Guard are also due for a Codex revision next year. One change will be the ability to have Guard of differing experience levels so that you can field a veteran force, or a totally green unit. They also want to introduce light, medium, and heavy infantry armies. Plastic Cadians are currently being designed by Brian Nelson and should see release with the revised Codex. There is also a remote possability of a plastic Baneblade being produced.

-- All of the Space Marine Chapter mini-dexes will be expanded into full 48-64 page codices. All future codices will feature greatly expanded fluff similar to what was seen in the Necron Codex. The new codices being worked on are Codex: Daemon Hunters, which is Ordo Malleus Inquisitors and Grey Knights primarily, Codex: Ordo Hereticus, and Codex: Ordo Xenos (the last a little down the road yet). They will not be introducing any new races for a while while they revise all of the codices, but they might re-introduce some old Rogue Trader era beasties through Citadel Journal. They are also working on a new Battlezone Codex, Battlezone: Darkside. This would deal with ship boarding actions, low gravity, airless environments, and combat on planetoids, however this codex is in the real early stages yet.

The Commissar

By far one of the greatest highlights of KublaCon was the gracious Commissar Dustin Woods. He participated in the Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader Tournament (and indeed won Best Sportsmanship), but more importantly, Commissar Woods is a friendly, outgoing, approachable person and has proven himself to be an ideal ambassador for the 40K universe.

Not only did he play the entire tournament in full dress uniform, in the evenings, he also ran an event he called the Imperial Guard Boot Camp, indoctrinating new players and earning words of admiration and respect from Andy Chambers.

Commissar Woods is a dedicated Imperial Guard player, and his army featured a number or impressive and creative conversions. The enitre force was carried into battle on a stunning display base. Among his conversions were a flying troop transport based from a Chimera chasis, Imperial Guard Rough Riders mounted on cybernetically enslaved Tyrannid Gaunts, and a Commissar that bore a striking resemblance to its owner.

And as if all of this wasn't enough, Commissare Woods provides online resources ideal for any Imperial Guard commander! Try checking out these out:

• Commissar's Lounge Website

• Imperial Guard Email List

I sincerely hope to see more of Commissar Woods at future events. And don't forget to check out some pictures of his work below.

BattleTech Big Game by Armorcast

The giant Titan 40K games hosted by Armorcast used to be a staple of San Francisco Bay Area conventions. Now they have moved onto running giant BattleTech games in the 25mm scale! Check out some of these game photos!

Anyway, that's it for this year's KublaCon! Remember to check out the complete Extended Painting Contest Coverage. ConQuest is coming up at the beginning of September, so of course I will have a report from that. And next year: KublaCon in Burlingame!

Thanks everyone!

(Special thanks to: Japji Khalsa, Jeff Hiatt, Jim Shumaker, Troy Gann, and Dan Roberts)