Team Redshirts at the Kent Team Championship 2026 & OWA

Venue

Just like last year, the venue for the Kent Team Championships was the lovely Spitfire Cricket Ground in Cantebury. Sure, it was grey and dull, AKA a typical day in February, but spring was around the corner, and it was a chance to see team mates and many friendly faces again in 2026.

Hopefully the rain will clear up for the summer's action!

Howlinggriffon had no option but to bail last minute, so VultureSquadron kindly took up his place. Fortunately, the Team Redshirt regulars were able to implement the squad rotation system, and we were all issued with our freshly printed team shirts too. 

SCS Sam, Wotfudboy, VultureSquardon & Mr_Frodo

I mean, we're never going to win models of the year, but at least we looked more in keeping with all the other teams and their shirts too! 😆

There were a few differences this year, with all game submissions and round draws using bbtm.app which worked really well on the day. £50 each (£200 per team) was a bit rich, but there were prizes and trophies galore along with some spot prizes (the last one of the weekend for the first match to finish in an effort to get us all done and headed home on time!), as well as a sandwich lunch (sarnie, water, fruit, flapjack and crisps) both days and free parking too - these things take the edge off! I still plumped for a couple of nights at the local Holiday Inn, because an early start around the chaotic M25 wasn't something I was willing to risk on the day! 

There was also a pretty healthy goody bag, and each coach received a tournament dice cup too amongst other things. Sponsors and Vendors included Black Orc Down, Hearth Forge Games, Artis Opus, Charlie Victor along with a Candle vendor, with some Skull candles and Star Wars themed wax melts! I did the sensible thing and bought Mrs Wotfudboy a nice candle as a gift... although me being out for the weekend was probably present enough!

Rules & Races & Roster

You can find the Tournament Pack pdf here with all the rules etc, but essentially this was my second tournament / time playing the new rules. We had already chosen races between us, with Sam going with Skaven, me with OWA, Jack took Necromantic and Andrew took Orcs. 

I think it's fair to say that I didn't go with the meta-build of OWA - Typically, people take Mighty Blow on the Human Blitzer, and also go for the Human Thrower instead of the Dwarf Runner. I chose Guard on my Human Blitzer as I used him as the fast moving bodyguard for my Runner or Catcher... and there's nothing quite like seeing the opponent blinking in disbelief as my Runner legs it 9 squares up the pitch in a dash for a touchdown! I also gave Pro to the Runner for those 3+ dodges or 1x dice blitzes. I put Mighty Blow on the Dwarf Blitzer as he was more likely to be stuck in to the brawling and would likely be counter-punched, and that high armour was more than likely to be needed... more on that later!

I used the core of the team from my Mandalorian Human Team...

...but painted some Dwarves up to toughen them up

The LineDwarfs were painted vaguely like Storm Troopers, the Dwarf Blitzer scheme as a nod to the Dark Troopers, and the Troll Slayer and Runner with vague nods to Elite Praetorian Guards - Okay, you have to know your Star Wars to know who these guys are!

Pedro Ramos - Treeman

Lastly, I finally got to field by Pedro Ramos Treeman. I wasn't messing with this lovely miniature or changing his paint job to make it more Mandalorian themed though!

I'd taken OWA to the NAF Champs in May 2025, but it turns out they are now the race to beat in the new rules. I wasn't chasing the meta - I just wanted to use my most recent team. I don't think anyone believed me, but when it came to the inevitable team discussion about race choice, it made sense to me!😁.

The Teams / Attendees

Team Redshirts - VultureSquadron, mr_frodo, wotfudboy, scs.sam
SBL Ultras Away Day - SaltyMurcutt, GingerB, Izzinatah, JoeR
ECBBL Wanderers - chankas, schoolyb, chaoshugs, raging82
Team Rabid Bogscum - driesfield, da_search, dragonwhelp, minedevil
Team Filthy Fowlers - sjapie, woete, kaylean, misstress_rattigan
Ashdowners - peterrandall, armsiee, zarganlawful, reximus (awaiting change info)
SKABB A - clownzombie, assamdrinker, cerbeross, yantz
ABBL - hekdar, captinconway, ash1986, manfredironskull
DBL Journeymen - tripwire, drybrushthreepwood, law_of_course, choza
Carrot Crunch All-Stars - Magicdave, Rodders, vacant, knucklesammich
New Dice Please - jayesbee_, TheBrieliever, TheBeardedHound, Hoggul
Whatever, We're Easy - PurpleChest, candlejack, torquemada, kfoged
South West Scrumpers - bryanbeasley, b4njo_dan, METAVANADATE, gazman84
Bonehead Brawlers - primhak, lumpy, kajinchicken, stratford_
DBBL Skulls - dodge22, thebunneh, talonbay, epicentre
Team X-Stream - StarFerret, damology, shanba, fluffles
4 Skulls in a Row - kendrallsharne, totalfuzzylogic, malawicichlid, EphemericOcelot
SCRUBB League on Tour - hexbaron, itchen, dalyo, freezingstar
Killer not Filler - devileyez, willdebeast, redfacedgoose, dakanariez
Pedantics & Semantics - Joeseph, AndyDavo, dementor, haychdee
Blood & Tears - yellowox, fesz, dustbin, icephoenix
BRIBBE Best Third Team - lachlanbc, euhan, dekkert, lisendir
BriBBe Chip Stealers - saltyseawench, insidious, flible, coach_kev
SBL Ultras - tylerswaft, CptOats, Cyritz, dampsquig
ECBBL Legends - bark, voldemortscleaner, vmcat, erix
BBBL Try Kinda's - tofu, gj703, gotrekgrumble, _the_ghost_
Bromley Buzzlords - SuperTom, Eyeballpaul, redawn, jimchungus
BBBL Bay-Bees - minimorg, dinlo, chiggles, agent3
Thanet Wargaming Club - dagobbo, cleaver88, vorbeck, TokenNoob
Hacktics and Globetrics - breakmonker, punchymcragefists, elplanet4, el_spoonio

Thanks to Oli for these photos:

Upstairs

Downstairs

Day One

Game One vs TokenNoob's Brettonians

TokenNoob aka Ian

Well, this was going to be a first for me - I'd not faced the brand new Brettonians (Games Workshop's new team that came in the 2025 box along with Khemri). Fortunately for us both, both teams were utilising Charlie Victors skill bands which helped a lot! Ian had experience of Wood Elves in his league at the team's club, but hadn't coached them either.

OWA vs Brettonians - "Stay away from the Treeman!"

The match started in Perfect Weather with me kicking, and the same number of fans in attendance. The plate-clad Brettonians didn't start well with a 1 on pickup... and the OWA quickly got stuck in and by turn 2/2 had sacked (and KO'd!) the Bret-Catcher. With the ball spilt, the OWA gathered it up and by turn 8/8 scored a TD to go 1-0 (2-0).

Unfortunately for Ian, the OWA took the Brettonians apart in the second half. I was a little worried as TokenNoob was a little 'considered' when making his moves, but purely by removing his players, he was quickly left with fewer moves to make, so no chess clock required! 

By turn 3/2 I was 2-0 up and 4 casualties to nothing. There was little Ian could do but just watch aghast, and the game finished ahead of time with me winning 3-0 (6-0).

Round One underway as the suns comes out over the cricket ground!

The rest of the team did well too, finishing 2-2-0 for a Team Win!

Game Two vs VMCat's Renegades

By winning so convincingly in my first game I was propelled to the top table for Round 2 which was the "Streaming Table". 

Top Table for Streaming - Hearth Forge Games pitch

You can watch and listen to the whole match here. 

However, in summary, Val received and took advantage of some early hard-hitting after receiving. By turn 8/8 I was 0-1 (1-3) down and I felt it was game over already. The match finished 0-2 (1-4) after a desperate play down the left side failed.

Despite my loss, the rest of the guys did well and Team Redshirts pulled off a draw against a good team!

Game Three vs CptOats's Lizardmen

CptOats

We kicked to Adam's Lizards in Sweltering Heat. A Time Out (probably due to fans needing extra shade and water) was called so the Lizards had one less turn to score. The Lizardmen got stuck in, but by turn 2/3 the Kroxigor (a giant elephant on the field!) Knocked Out my Tackle/Diving Tackle/Mighty Blow Dwarf  Blitzer... and he was destined to not return for the rest of the game!! A massive loss against Skinks!

We finished the half 0-1 down (0-0 cas). It got worse again as Sweltering Heat prevented my Treeman taking to the pitch for a last turn TTM attempt. It was all going the Lizards way!

Apparently Lizards like the heat... who knew! 😜

After a pretty pathetic first turn from the OWA, the Lizards managed to get a block on the Dwarf Slayer, and the stretcher bearers carried him off to the injury box (0-1). This infuriated the Treeman who hurt the Krox in retaliation (1-1) but he was apo'd. A couple of turns saw the Lizards make all their dice to sack our blodger Catcher, but somehow, the OWA still managed an equaliser! - The Dwarf Runner made a 4+, 4+, 3+ to 2x blitz the skink ball carrier. The ball spilt and after rolling a 1 on pickup, SureHands ensured it was picked up and we scored! It felt like justice for a hard fought half... but then the Lizardmen had one turn to score... and I had 9 players to defend with.

Using Juggernaught to turn both downs into a push, the hapless dwarf lineman was used to shunt a skink up the pitch (during which the skinks made a 3+ pick up and 4+ hand off) all without rerolls. After making two dodges and two GFI's the skink scored winning the match and leaving me feeling pretty gutted. The match ended 1-2 (1-1) with CaptainOats surrounded by his team to enjoy the win.

Team Redshirts lost this round, finishing 1-1-1 for the day and me feeling pretty low on 1-0-2.

Take that, Rebel scum!

We retreated to the hotel, had a bite to eat  and a much needed beer, and played a Star Wars board game before retiring to bed.

Day Two

Game Four vs LawOfCourse's Undead

Watch out for the bearded necromancer!

I was determined to forget the deeds of Saturday and turn things round on Sunday morning, but I was up against a well coached Undead team under the necromantic control of Lawrence.

The game began with the OWA kicking to the Undead in Perfect Weather, watched by more OWA fans. It wasn't long before the Treeman was on the ground, but the Sneaky Git foul failed to achieve anything more than a stun. The OWA retaliated by stunning a Mummy.

However, in the effort to get to the Ghoul ball carrier, the Undead cleared the path of the Human Blitzer (0-1)... a significant Tackle piece to lose against those Ghouls! The drive ended 0-1 (0-1) but a turn 8 TTM attempted made it all the way to the landing, but the Halfling hit the ground with his head rather than his feet.

The second half began with the OWA up against a Solid Defence roll, and we had to use a Reroll in the first turn to stop the Treeman from Taking Root... and no, that's not a cricket pun!

By the end of the Undead first turn they fouled a Dwarf Lineman (0-2). Things weren't looking good, but the Undead, or more accurately a series of hot rolling, allowed us back in to the game. After doing a little damage, the game turned in a couple of turns. We got our second casualty (a zombie into the crowd - yes, all cas counted!) along with KOing a Mummy, and we managed to equalise and the game ended 1-1 (2-2).

I think we pulled off a team win, with all but one coach drawing - and winning instead!

Personally, I was on 1-1-2 so still had work to do to finish with my normal target of not losing more than I won!

Game Five vs ManfredIronskull's Chaos Chosen

Sometimes coaches say "no thanks" to the blog photo, which is absolutely fine. However, Matt was attending as the Candle vendor - Austromancy - see his Etsy site.

For the 4th game in a row, I was kicking! It was also Perfect Weather. The kick off result ended with Dodgy Snack seeing my hapless Human Blitzer (he wasn't having a good weekend) get -AV and -MA.

However, the Chaos team didn't start very well either, having to reroll a Double Skulls and also failing a pick up all in the first turn. They soon recovered themselves though, scoring in turn 4/5 to go 0-1 up and (1-1).

They then began their turn with a Charge! (not called a 'Blitz!' anymore!)... which Matt called before he rolled it! - deep suspicions of chaos sorcery going on here!! Despite the Chaos hurting a Linedwarf (1-2) we managed to handoff to the Catcher and race in for an equaliser, and the half ended 1-1 (1-2).

We started the second half in more buoyant mood after the equaliser. The Treeman got off to a good start by hurting a Beastman (2-2) and the Apothecary was quickly used on the Ogre (KO). After taking a further Beastman down, we scored in turn 5/4 to go 2-1 up and (3-2 cas). 

The Chaos team's Ogre inflicted one more cas, but the game came to an end with an OWA victory. 2-1 (3-3) and a Team Redshirts win.

Game Six vs Chankas's Amazons

I'd played Steve in a tournament before. He's a real character and nice guy, and he was having his best set of tournament results for a while. 

Chankas and his Amazons

We were delighted to be receiving for a change and in perfect weather! I found the Amazon a handful, as Steve kept on getting in blocks or blitzes with his Str4 gals. I, in return, simply could not hurt any of them, despite 2x Tacklers on the pitch, one with Mighty Blow. That said, we crawled in for a turn 8/7 TD with no casualties inflicted to either side!

In the second half it took until turn 5/5 for the first casualty to be made, and then we started to KO Amazons for fun. After sacking the ball carrier we managed to score a second and finished the match 2-0 (2-0) 

And finally...

I managed to finish the weekend 41st out of 120 coaches, on 3-1-2, but more importantly, Team Redshirts finished 9th out of 30 teams on 3-2-1. It wasn't our best effort, but finishing in the top 3rd was a good effort given our first day. Special mention to fellow Redshirter - SCS.Sam who finished 9th overall with a 4-1-1 record! Nice job with those Skaven.

The winners are...

• Best Team: elspoonio (orc), elplanet4 (lizardmen) breakmonker (dark elf), punchymcragefists (OWA)
• Runner up Team: andydavo (orc) , haychdee (nurgle), dementor (amazons), joeseph (OWA)
• Best individual: cyritz (OWA)
• Runner up individual (corrected): MisspelledTree (wood elves)
• Most Touchdowns: Jayesbee (wood elves)
• Most casualties: sjapie (goblins)
• Best painted team: bartk (amazons)
• Runner up best painted team: sjapie (goblin)
• Best painted star: Filble (nurgle)
• Best painted big guy: Chaoshugs (chaos renegades)
• Stunty cup: dustbin89 (halfling)
• Best junior: minimorg (necromantic horror)
• Wooden spoon team: BBBL Bay-Bees

Thanks to the organisers who were awesome, all of our opponents who made for some entertaining and friendly matches, and all the friendly faces we didn't get to play. Some nice chats were had across the weekend!

Until next time!!