In a little over 24 hours, we'll roll the first dice of the 5th New Zealand Star Wars Miniatures Championships. This Saturday, the 8th of October, 16 (or so) combatants will descend on the sleepy little town of Opunake, Taranaki, for the first ever nationals to be held outside of Wellington/Lower Hutt. If we get that magical 16, the five-round tournament will boast a previous national champ, three other Major winners in NZ, a mixture of experience and new players, and a larger tournament than the previous one - 14 entrants in 2015.

Who's coming back for another bite at the cherry? First off is Dr. Daman/Dave Moore, looking to net his third national title, and he'll be driving up with brother Darth Moore/Paul who won HamilCon last year, and Stuart Moore (no relation, but still very sexy) from Wellington. Coming up in another car is Sharron/Aaron and Mike Moore (another brother!) who are both Major winners to boot. Don't forget our Hamilton contingent of Darth Rattlehead/Rich - creator of the Minicron! - and his son Zakk. Hosting this year is myself, along with potentially 8 - yes, 8! - new players, including ChainParalysis/Brody, Vassal tournament entrant HoneHeron, Vankovich/Jacob, Jargon Madgin/Jamie, Kade, Flin, Ben and Alex.

We will sadly be without a few key players this year as that is the way Darth Reallife works - take the champs out of the minis centre of NZ and you make accessibility a juggle. We will sadly miss our biggest drawcard DarthO/Oli, our current national champ TheHutts/Graham, and previous tournament (MeleeCon!) finalists: Ian and JP. Ethan, our sole Naenae College representative who was to make the trip had to pull out at the last minute too. Suck. Dave Miller from Wanganui and son Kahu will be in attendance, but they've moved out of the Minis game and will be running our alternative Xwing option that'll be running alongside. The Hawera crowd, once strong in the miniatures game, have fallen away too. Bob has to work, as does Kurt, and Bev will be out there, probably playing Xwing with Dave.

It's an interesting mix of key contenders, new blood, and once-involved players watching from the sidelines. It's all part of the evolving framework of the game here in NZ. Whatever happens, it's going to be a stellar tournament - the first Major in Opunake, and the first here in Taranaki for a coupl'a years. The organisation of the event has been hampered a little bit by my having to go into hospital a week ago for an operation. Some of the ultra-stylee prep I wanted to do got left behind a bit in the recovery. However, we are now all good to go! Some of the coolest people in the world will be gathered tomorrow in my classroom at Opunake High School to roll some d20s and get their SWM on.

All I can say is bring it on.

Rock on Kezza! Driving down with the family tonight bro.. Looking forward to it!

This is going to be a good time for all I think. I'm probably going to experience a lot of defeat, but it will be an enjoyable defeat, and maybe a miracle win.

So, who is your Top 4 (everyone)?

Right at the top, you can't go past Dr. Daman as an arguable favourite to pick up his third national title, but hot on his heels is Aaron who was a finalist last time and is always a classy player. The next most likely contenders are the twins Mike and Paul, both incredibly competent, both Major winners previously, and both probably salivating at the chance to squeeze into a national final. Once they're there, who knows what could happen!

The best local hope is Brody (ChainParalysis) and Hone (Heron), both very good players who have quickly become strong players in their own right. I've had a national final before, but I don't rate myself as high as the aforementioned six, so I reckon myself, Rich, and Stuart are probably the next three cabs off the rank in terms of chances to knock off the big one. Zakk is still a very, very young player, so is probably out of the hunt for the title, but he should pick up a win or maybe even two.

The rest of the players are all first-timers on the national champs scene. Ben is prolly the biggest chance of the rest. He's a natural gamer, having played stacks of Yu-Gi-Oh! and the like. He walks up to a stack of cards, throws something together that is instinctively awesome, strolls over to the table, beats someone quickly and then leaves to go and hang out with the cool kids or his girlfriend. Talent in spades for the game, just no longevity. Kade studies the game solidly, but is still developing as a player. He knows how to build good squads, but occasionally forgets just how to run them! Jacob (Vankovich) plays well, as does Jamie (Jargon Madjin) and Flin, although I'm not sure they've had enough hours behind the table to push the Top 4 yet, and Alex is very new.

My top 4 is... oooo! Daman, Aaron, Paul, and... I'm gonna give it to Hone to edge out Mike and Brody for that fourth spot. For me its too close to call between Daman and Aaron for the championship.

Your turn, bloomilk.

For me I have to pick 1st to 4th in this order: Daman, Mike, Kezza and Brody or myself for 4. Going to give myself that faint glimpse of hope. (Sorry about the double post. Like I've said in the past, my internet is not the best and sometimes doubles my posts.)

Of course 3rd. I believe in your skills. Not as much for 1st or 2nd but definitely better than my chances. Now I'm wondering what will happen tomorrow, and what kind of squads we will see.

Aye! And also with you.

The problem is, I have no idea how anybody but the locals play, i haven't seen any of it, but because of what i've heard, I have faith in Daman, Aaron, Kez and Mike or Paul. I also want to say Hone, but again, i have no reference so I can't really compare...

I just took a random guess based loosely on Kezza's explanation above of them, that and the previous stats.

Pretty sure the winner will have a Barada on skiff with some Rebo band and it'll be money!