he shrill sounds of bullets zinging through the air had ceased. Silence filled the air, broken only by the occasional breeze, blowing great clouds of dust and smoke through the deserted streets. As the first rays of the dawn light began to break over the horizon, a deep rumbling vibration began to shake the very ground. The ruined buildings began to tremble and great piles of rubble collapsed in on themselves. The taste of the air had changed – the unmistakable scent of fuel and exhaust fumes being carried along by the wind breeze. The vibrations continued to increase, now accompanied by the sound of engines – big engines, powering equally big monsters of war. As the smoke began to clear, the first of the steel-treaded leviathans emerged, its enormous hull-mounted weaponry poised ready to fire. It had begun.

Everyone who took part in the record attempt received their own commemorative Battle Honour transfer to stick on each of their tanks, marking the historic occasion.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

The plan had been simple: invite every Hobby Centre in the UK to run a tank battle game on a certain date, get each store to invite as many enthusiastic hobbyists and gamers as possible, and get each of them (you guys), to bring as many tanks as possible, regardless of race, legion or chapter. Add to the mix a series of special event and equipment cards, drawn at random, and cross-Hobby Centre bombardment, and the fighting is inevitable. With 120 Hobby Centres nationwide, each having pledged anywhere between 100 to 1,000 tanks, the board was set.

WARZONE: LEICESTER

Having boarded our Thunderhawk transporter and set course, we arrived at the Leicester Hobby Centre a little before 09:00hrs and were greeted by the sight of several gamers, eager to take part in the day's event. As the doors opened and everyone piled inside, it was not long before the custom-made 10' x 20' gaming table was covered with tanks of all shapes and kinds. By 09:20, over 120 had appeared on the tables.

The Leicester Hobby Centre prepares for all-out war!

The tanks were sorted into one of four allied forces: Space Marines, Imperial Guard, the Tau and Eldar Coalition, and the Forces of Darkness (comprised of Chaos Space Marines, Necrons, Tyranids and Orks). With the forces decided, tanks were then deployed on one of the four table edges.

Andrew Humphreys

The bulk of the Imperial Guard tanks were brought to the battle by hobby enthusiast Andrew Humphreys who, when not adding more mechanised might to his force, longs to one day join the British Army and become a part of the 9th 12th Royal Lancers Company, themselves an illustrious tank company, and whose namesake Andrew's Imperial Guard army, the 9th 12th Imperial Lancers is derived. Of the 257 Imperial Guard tanks Andrew has collected, 41 were brought to the event including 18 Leman Russ tanks (of different variants), 4 Basilisks, 2 Forge World Vulture gunships, a Valkyrie transporter and his prized Stormblade Super Heavy tank.

Here are just a few of Andrew's Imperial Guard tanks of the 9th 12th Imperial Lancers.

The Necrons of Daniel Hammond, Daniel Staniforth and Darrell Taylor join forces.

Fighting for the Forces of Darkness, Daniel Hammond, Darrell Taylor and Daniel Staniforth had formed an impressive alliance of Necron Monoliths as well as the devastating Necron Pylon, available from Forge World. When asked what kind of tactics they were considering, they agreed to simply use the Deep Strike rules to materialise where they could do the most amount of damage to the enemy!

Sadly, our Thunderhawk transporter had once again been refuelled and prepped for the next drop point before any fighting had begun in Leicester. However, as we made our exit, we were delighted by the news that 240 tanks were now on the board and more were still appearing!

Sam Beighton and his friends had heard of the event and were so eager to be a part of the record attempt, they simply crammed as many tanks as they could into a rucksack!		Ride of the Land Speeders. 21 of the Emperor's finest took to the skies, laying down a hail of withering firepower.

WARZONE: NOTTINGHAM

As we reached our next destination, the sounds of battle could be heard long before we entered the Hobby Centre. Already into their third game of the day, the Nottingham Hobby Centre had successfully destroyed a grand total of 815 tanks, and there was no sign of them slowing down, as more than 20 gamers clamoured around the tables – two 4' x 6' and two 4' x 4' gaming tables placed end-to-end to create a single table 4' x 20' long!

Veteran gamer, Nathan Tyler gauges the range to his target... 15 feet away...

Within minutes of our being there, the order came through from the Derby Hobby Centre that they had launched an orbital bombardment attack at Nottingham. As the vectors and coordinates were relayed, the shell impacted, wiping out several tanks. Not in the least unnerved by this, the fighting continued.

Veteran gamer, Ed Stevenson had brought along his entire Imperial Guard army including a Baneblade Super Heavy tank, his Thunderbolt, 5 Basilisks and 7 Leman Russ tanks, which contributed to the overall 100 Leman Russ tanks being fielded on the day – themselves dwarfed by the three Titans looming over the battlefield. As the fighting continued around us, Ed told me the tale of how, on that day, he and his fellow players had succeeded in destroying 19 Space Marine Land Raiders in three successive turns of shooting!

But once again, the transporter was ready to take us to our final destination, and we made our move to leave. As we did, however, veteran gamer, Nathan Tyler eager to take full advantage of the scale of the event, lined up his two Basilisk tanks and fired their Earthshaker cannons a full 15 feet down the length of the table, destroying an opposing Demolisher! It was clear that no one would escape destruction in this game.

WARZONE: LENTON - WARHAMMER WORLD

Returning to the main hangers, we departed the Thunderhawk for the last time and made our way to Warhammer World, there to see how the battle was progressing.

With only a few hours until the close of the Record Attempt, every dice roll counts!

Having arranged five of the 4' x 6' gaming tables to form a single gaming table 6' x 20', 228 tanks littered the board, surrounded by smoke markers, debris, wrecked vehicles and great crowds of gamers and hobbyists as they each dived into action, eager to bring their enemies to their knees.

As well as the overwhelming numbers of Eldar, Imperial Guard and Space Marine tanks (loyalist and traitor alike), Forge World had kindly donated a number of their superbly detailed tanks, including the Tyranid Barbed Hierodule, and the Eldar Scorpion Type II Super Heavy grav tank.

Forge World's Tyranid Scythed Hierodule leaves a trail of destruction in its wake.	The Scorpion Type II super heavy grav tank of the Eldar stealthily approaches the enemy tanks.

OTHER WARZONES: YORKSHIRE GONE WILD

Community Hobby Manager, Andy Joyce, spent the day in Yorkshire, touring some of the great Hobby Centres there, and seeing how the events of the tank battle unfolded.

Andy Joyce

Andy: I was lucky enough to visit some of the Hobby Centres in the Yorkshire region recently, and I have never seen so many tanks at any one time.

I wanted to visit some of our stores for the huge tank battle that was being held on 11th June as part of the Games Workshop Record Attempt, and take some photos to record the momentous occasion for posterity.

A queue of eager gamers and hobbyists forms outside the Wakefield Hobby Centre

So, armed with my camera, a notepad and a Subway breakfast, I started my day at the Wakefield Hobby Centre for 8.30, where there was already a queue forming outside the store. This was largely composed of crazed tread heads who, in their desperation to get in and set up over 800 tanks, very nearly trampled the poor store manager to death!

After some emergency structural reinforcements were made to the bowing tables, the game started and an amazing number of dice were rolled in order to get the first volley fired. The noise was deafening as people started to play their part in the biggest tank battle ever seen.

I would like to add a big thank you to Laurie Stewart and the boys from the Leeds Night Owls for their help on the day, and for turning up with more tanks than the Armageddon Steel Legion ever produced!

The Sheffield Gaming & Events Centre is a hive of activity.

Barely escaping with my life, let alone my ear drums intact, I then went to the new Gaming & Events Centre in Sheffield, where I was met by similar levels of enthusiasm, volume, bacon consumption (facilitated by shuttle runs to the local sandwich shop) and sheer hobby lunacy – one such example being some remote controlled Rhinos, which were completely ace and great fun to watch.

As a staunch Imperial Guard fan, this was an awesome day for tank lovers everywhere, and my ears are still ringing to this day.

RESULTS

And so, after five hours of frantic gaming across 120 Hobby Centres, each pledging an average 257 tanks, the total number of tanks involved in the Games Workshop UK Tank Battle Record Attempt is 30,894, smashing the previous record of 2,500 held by Games Workshop France.

A full break down of the results and the tanks pledged to the record attempt can be downloaded here:

Tank Battle Record Attempt – Results: [Download PDF - 8Kb]

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Download it for free from the Adobe site.

Our thanks to all who took part, and to all the Hobby Centre staff who helped make this event the huge success that it was!

FUTURE GAMES

If you missed out on this historic event, fear not! This summer, Games Workshop will be running more of these truly massive games in our Hobby Centres including attempts to have the largest linked games of Warhammer and The Lord of The Rings in the history of Games Workshop.

A Lizardmen army on the march.

RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE – Saturday 23rd July
UK Games Workshop Record Attempt

The jungles of Lustria await you. Take part in a Games Workshop UK Record Attempt: The biggest game of Warhammer... ever!

THE BLACK GATE OPENS – Saturday 27th August
UK Games Workshop Record Attempt

Take part in the final massive confrontation between the forces of Mordor and the Free Peoples of the West!

Related Links:
Store Finder | Summer Gaming Events | Gaming Record Attempts | Forge World