What is Waaagh!Fest?
The Granite City Waaagh!Fest is a Warhammer 40K tournament inspired by an ork player known as Da Reddanecks in Huntsville, Alabama. His tournament, The Kalm Before the Waaagh!, was a 40K tournament held in a bar. People meeting other players over a beer and a wargaming tabletop. Ours is a tribute to that genius.
Since Da Reddanecks explains it so much better than I can, I’ll quote him from The Kalm’s (defunct) About page…
“The Kalm Before the Waaagh is different from most 40k tournaments that you have probably attended in the past. We approach this event with a rigid belief that 40K is a game where grown men are playing with toy soldiers. It is a social opportunity to spend time with and to make new friends. It is nothing more and nothing less. This is the way 40K began in England so many years ago and we believe it’s the way it should be played today.”
I want to quote The Kalm site one more time (he writes so well)…
“One thing though that we must express to players is that the attitude for this event is also different from most tournaments. We don’t allow any douchebaggery at the Kalm. If you come, you come to have a great time, eat a good meal, have some good drinks and have a great time with friends. If you aren’t the type of person who likes to have a few drinks while playing, this probably isn’t the tournament for you. “
Quite a few of us have been to regular 40K tournaments and know what this means and we whole-heartedly believe in this premise, which is why we looted the concept and put it into effect in central Minnesota.
For the last fourteen years, (?!) we hope we have done Reddanecks proud and continued the spirit of The Kalm as a means to just have good time playing with toy soldiers, over food, drinks, and friends.
The Waaagh! Fest Staff
How Waaagh!Fest Started
I (Sukigod/Randy the Beerman, owner of Warboss Redjacks Waaagh!), was introduced to Da Reddanecks (Redd for brevity), a gentleman from Alabama, through the the-waaagh.com forums. He posted about a yearly tournament he hosted in April which sounded like a terrific time. The concept was Warhammer 40K, Beer, and Friends. What’s not to like?
I got the bug to attend. I talked to a number of our players and wondered if they wanted to road trip to Alabama, from Minnesota, to attend this WH40K Pub tournament. I also cleared it with the missus ;). Brian, Geppy, Chris, and myself decided it would be an awesome idea to drive 1,000 miles to play in this tournament.
So we rented a minivan, packed up our armies and some clothes and headed on a 2-day roadtrip to The Kalm. The next morning while waking up at our hotel somewhere in Missouri, I receive a call from Redd. It seems as though, while we were listening to metal music, Mitch Hedberg, and playing military trivia on our way down, Mother Nature decided to throw a tantrum and smashed the American South with 88 tornadoes over an 8 state area.
Power was out for a large portion of the Tennessee and Mississippi River Valley area and it might be days before power could be restored. Redd told us there were already players who had come in from as far away as California and New York with out a place to stay (the hotels were out of power too). Redd was putting them up at his house, and if we wanted to, we were welcome to stay as well and he’d run an impromptu tournament at his house, though he’d understand if we turned around and went home. Take a wild guess what we did…
Being the people we are, we asked Redd what people needed to make it through at his house for three days without power. He said they had running water (though, not hot, which sucked for showers), the food he had in the house, and a generator was on the way. Us travelers decided to take the money we were spending on the hotel, and what we brought for the tournament, and a load up on supplies and be the cavalry and save the day!
In reality, we bought things you would need for camping in a tent: Flashlights and lanterns, tons of batteries for both, food (stuff that didn’t need refrigeration), snacks, pop (sodas if you’re down there), and alcohol. Boy did we bring the alcohol. Camping is always a little less miserable with alcohol.
We arrived with supplies and are immediately handed a glass of something punchy with alcohol and introduced to about 20 people, who we proceed to play 40K, drink, eat, and be merry with for the next 3 days without electricity. Well, mostly. One of the attendees drove in from New Orleans, who had previously survived being smashed by Hurricane Katrina. They brought a generator, gas, and a couple of gallons of jambalaya, gumbo, and crawfish for a boil. The generator was only used to run the coffee maker in the morning.
After what amounted to a three day Warhammer 40K camping tournament, we finally packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed for home. By the time we got back, I was pretty sure we had it in our heads that we were going to try and recreate the experience (sans tornadoes) that Redd had wanted for all of us here at home. Hence, Waaagh!Fest was born!
The Legend of Da Reddanecks
Once there was an ork warboss named Da Reddnecks. He loved playing Warhammer 40k, he loved people, he loved orks, and he loved having a good time with a few adult beverages.
Once, at a Las Vegas Open tournament, he was having so much fun, that the tournament organizers said, “You’re having too much fun! (angry face)” and proceeded to ban Reddanecks from the tournament.
Being the cunning, and fun, warboss he was, Reddanecks thrust out his iron gob and shouted, “Fuck you! If’n I can’t have a couple of drinks and play wif toy soldiers here, I’ll just create my own tournament where I can!”
Thus was spored of The Kalm Before the Waaagh! A tournament of underground legend that drew people from all 4 corners of da USA to play (what has now become known as Barhammer) in the southern state of Alabama. Here, warlords, generals, and commanders of all stripes, colors, and races could come together, eat, drink, and be merry over a table of toy soldiers as they attempted to smash their opponents heads in.
It was Grand!
Photographic Evidence of the Trip to The Kalm
