Come see how to run GW’s new Tank Shock Organized Play league at YOUR store event without the kit!
If you store wasn’t “lucky” enough to get the new Tank Shock OP kit from GW, don’t sweat it, just follow along with the kit below and run your own events!
Sure you may not have the cool tokens and certificates, but you can hobby those up too! All you need is a store, space and some players hungry for some hobby fun!
How it Works:
Tank Shock will be a series of four linked events that look to culminate in a full on tank battle tournament played out 2 vs. 2 on 4×6 tables. But you can run the hobby build and paint events literally anywhere there is hobby happenings!
Set up a build day at your local hobby hangout..
…and then follow it up with the parade side of it!
Tank Shock Events
Here’s the big event(s) themselves. Checkout the new missions that look to encourage fun and excitement on the table top after TWO big in-store hobby events.
750 Point Battles features armies with at least one vehicle to take advantage of the Elite Vehicle Assets Table. Rounds look to be one hour long, and the four game event lasts for an afternoon. It’s not a “tournament” it’s a “multiplayer event” that pairs players against four different opponents.
Sightly different from the event above, this 750 Point Battle multiplayer event features armies with at least one vehicle to take advantage of the Elite Vehicle Assets Table. Think Apocalypse, but with an emphasis on tanks and Maelstrom scoring!
This one is the most intriguing to me: 500 point battles one on one, but with an emphasis on tanks, again to take advantage of the Elite Vehicle Assets Table.
Now what if you do subsequent rounds where losing players would get more points to field against victors until only one player remained after a day or even multiple days of play?
It would be easy do if you recorded how many points each victor destroyed, and then their opponents were able to add that to their starting force (for multiple rounds you would include victors base 500 points for calculating points differences).
So like for round two as an example a losing player could be playing 732 points verses a winner’s 500 points – because that winner killed 232 points of his opponent on in game one.
Wash rinse repeat until some one wins on the day after a set number of rounds OR over several days.
Special Rules and Awards
So this is the chart we saw back last week at GAMA, just a little bit easier to read. The intent is to give models that were part of the build and paint events a special bonus in the Tank Shock games themselves. There is also a modifier for using things like Tyranids as well depending on the 40k faction preferences of players.
Cool tank hull point counters, and vehicle damage counters, as well as event reward buttons. I imagine every player would get a set of the punchout counters for each event?
Even if you don’t get the kit, you can make something or buy something similar for your players from the marker sellers on eBay.
These look to be awards for the hobby events Engines of War and Armored Escalation, with versions for both veteran and youngblood hobbyists!
That swag looks like it will have a lot of hobbyists lining up to participate, but you can certainly make your own certificates as well if you can’t source a kit.
So there it is- all the pieces you need to make your own 3 month long Tank Shcck event, WITHOUT the swag kit itself.
Is Games Workshop Listening? Long War Episode 44
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at the Las Vegas Open, each of which attracts thousands of players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the 2011 Adepticon 40k Team Tournament. He was even featured for his painting in issue #304 of Games Workshop’s White Dwarf Magazine.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
