This Saturday is Valentines Day and what better way to celebrate that with SWM love! At about midday, 10-12 SWM-lovin' Kiwis will descend upon Hamilton for the second Major tournament in our annual character. Hosted by Rich/Darth Rattlehead, this HamilCon will be the third following 2013 (won by Bev from Hawera) and 2014 (by Aaron/Sharron from the Hutt) and promises to be the best yet.

It's a 200pt affair and will be using MapList B. Two big points of interest: No Vset 9 and NO DAALA! The Vset9 exclusion was a tricky issue with the votes somewhat split, however, the decision to go without boiled down to us wanting more time to enjoy set 8, and with two Majors still to come (LowerHuttaCon and the NZ Champs), everyone was happy to hold the new toys back for a bit. Daala was an easy auto-exclude. She won EVERYTHING in NZ for a year and although time is slowly moving beyond her influence, she needs a year out to allow us to enjoy the crap out of other stuff.

There will be a strong field. Northern locals Nick and Oli (Darth O) join host Richie while travellers from the Hutt consist of Aaron (Sharron), me (thekezzamachine) and Ethan (Eawesomer) along with a full contingent of Moores: Dave (Dr Daman), Mike (MikeSmuggler), Paul (Darth Moore) and Stuart (no relation). No Bob (KFCwaitingforyou, Hawera#1), no Dave (*doug_platapus*), no Graham (Hutts) and no word on Bev or Ian yet, but we're looking good for a solid day of minis action!

I'll do my best to keep you in the loop as the day progresses!

Well, I have awoken in Hamilton, NZ, to a beautiful sunny day! Sleeping on the floor next to me at Richie's (Darth Rattlehead's) place is Aaron (Sharron), who spoke on last night's SHNN while we were driving to the Con. Sleeping out on the trampoline is Mike (Smuggler) and in the shed outside is Dave (Daman), Paul (Darth Moore), Stuart and Ethan (Ewasomeer). We were woken by Richie's 8-year old son, Zakk, and Oli (Darth O) is staying with relatives in the city. In about 4 hours we'll be joined by Nick and the 11 of us will do battle!

I'll do my best to give you squads and results as soon as they come to hand. Without giving too much away, we're expecting a lot of Republic, some Separatists, some Mandos, Sith, Fringe and possibly Vong. All this will be confirmed in around 4 hours. I'll even try and get some photos on bookface.

Mauri Ora, mauri mate!

ooooh, queen armadillos power to curl up in a ball Is really good for getting gambit

Wow spectacular field! Looks like about a little of everything is being represented here.. so exciting to see.

Semis are Mike v Daman, Kez v Paul.

Top 6 was Seps, Fringe, Mandos, Republic, Sith and Vong! Nice spread.

Daman beats Mike 116-94 on Jabba's.

Congrats to Daman! That looks like really tough competition, but I'm not shocked the powerful Naboo won.
Mandos, Durge on Speeder, Talon Squad, sounds like a taste of GenCon 2014 meta. (without Dalaa of course)

I bet now you guys are ready to break out some V-Set 9!

Okay! Here's how the games played out:

Round 1
Mike (Separatist) beat Stuart (Republic) 200-56 [3-0 on Cantina
Paul (Fringe) beat Zakk (Yuuzhan Vong) 211-40 [3-0 on Starport District
Kezza (Mandalorian) beat Nick (Yuuzhan Vong) 105-67 [2-0 on Starport District
Oli (Republic) beat Aaron (Sith) 205-112 [3-1 on Jabba's Palace
Ethan (Republic) beat Rich (Republic) 121-56 [2-0 on Cantina
Daman has the bye

Round 2
Mike (Separatist) beat Oli (Republic) 214-106 [3-1 on Rancor Pen
Daman (Republic) beat Paul (Fringe) 113-88 [2-0 on Jabba's Palace
Kezza (Mandalorian) beat Ethan (Republic) 209-0 [3-0 on Starport District
Aaron (Sith) beat Nick (Yuuzhan Vong) 224-82 [3-0 on Simulation Deck
Zakk (Yuuzhan Vong) beat Stuart (Republic) 149-129 [2-1 on ?
Rich has the bye

Round 3
Mike (Separatist) beat Daman (Republic) 141-92 [2-0 on Rancor Pen
Kezza (Mandalorian) beat Oli (Republic) 210-55 [3-0 on Starport District
Paul (Fringe) beat Aaron (Sith) 210-81 [3-0 on Simulation Deck
Zakk (Yuuzhan Vong) beat Rich (Republic) 159-129 [2-1 on Cantina
Ethan (Republic) beat Stuart (Republic) 158-127 [2-1 on Cantina
Nick has the bye

Round 4
Mike (Separatist) beat Kezza (Mandalorian) 200-119 [3-1 on Rancor Pen
Daman (Republic) beat Oli (Republic) 133-87 [2-0 on Jabba's Palace
Paul (Fringe) beat Ethan (Republic) 200-0 [3-0 on Starport District
Aaron (Sith) beat Zakk (Yuuzhan Vong) 217-34 [3-0 on Simulation Deck
Nick (Yuuzhan Vong) beat Rich (Republic) 145-90 [2-0 on Cantina
Stuart has the bye

Semis
2v3: Paul (Fringe) beat Kezza (Mandalorian) 200-122 [3-1 on Starport District
4v1: Daman (Republic) beat Mike (Separatist) 116-94 [2-0 on Jabba's Palace

The Final!
Daman (Republic) beat Paul (Fringe) 215-40 [3-0 on Jabba's Palace

Some points of interest:

* Aaron played and lost his 50th Shield game (which is our trophy that passes from winner to winner and is only available to win when you play the holder). He has played the most Shield games and still has the most Shield wins (32).
* Kez is just 2 games away from playing his 150th competitive game in NZ. The next closest to 150 is Aaron on 137.
* Mike played against Kez in his 100th game, beating me in round 4. Daman's 100th game also was played in Round 3... a loss to Mike! There are now 8 100+ players in Save11 (Kez 148, Aaron 137, Bev 131, Graham 127, Bob 109, HaweraDave 105, Daman 103 and Mike 101).

* Zakk had his first and second wins in this tournament, finishing 2-2. Impressive for a 9-year old!
* This tournament featured a large number of low-activation squads! However, the two biggest ones met in the final!
* Daman's win has now given him 5 Major titles (LowerHuttaCon 2013, NZ Champion 2013, LowerHuttaCon 2014, NZ Champion 2014 and HamilCon 2015) and he equals Graham (Hutts).

* There were only 6 factions represented - no Imperial, no NR, OR or Rebels (not a good showing by the good guys!). The top 6, however, were each faction! The bottom 5 were all Republic except for one Vong.
* Mike has run Separatists 41 times, winning 30 of them. The only bigger Sep players are Dan (44 at 6-38) and Bev (56 at 36-20). When Daman beat Mike in the Final, it was his 25th time playing Seps, and he is now 18-5.
* Despite finishing 2-2, Aaron is still 13-3 this season (since July 2014)! Others with 10 wins so far this season are: Mike (12), Daman (11) and Paul (10) - all who finished in the Top 4 this weekend. The other Top 4 finisher was Kez. He has 8 wins so far this season.

* So far, there has been 90 competitive games this season. Although we are only halfway through, currently the ratio of 3pt to 2pt wins is exactly 2:1.
* 21 different players have so far fronted for competitive games across NZ. The two biggest tournaments of the year - LowerHuttaCon and the NZ Champs - still remain.
* Republic has played the most competitive games this season: 53 at 24-29. Seps are next on 35 (25-10), Fringe at 21 (11-10) and Vong at 18 (9-9). Seps are easily the top performer, Durge/CDOs/Spotter/Snipper/San/Poggles being 11-2 this season.
*Mike ran Seps on Rancor Pen. The player who has run Rancor Pen the most is easily Mike and he's 19-7 on it. Seps best map is also Rancor being 24-11.