Warhammer Underworlds 2018-2019 World Rankings

We interrupt your scheduled tournament round-up for an urgent message.

Did you know about Best Coast Pairings? It’s a tournament app that tracks and helps organise events for multiple gaming systems (including Warhammer Underworlds) partnered with Front Line Gaming and their Independent Tournament Circuit (ITC). So why am I talking about it today? Well you may have remembered me talking about the BCP app and ITC sometime last year. Yesterday evening I was alerted to this:

From the results of all the events I attended using the BCP app, I had topped the leader board with the highest tournament score for the 2018-2019 tournament season in the world. As you can imagine I’m pretty chuffed by that, to the point where I’m dedicating an entire article to my ego. Seriously though, this was completely unexpected and makes me so happy in regards to my tournament development and progress over the last 12 months since I started playing competitively seriously.

For the full results, check them out here.

Now there are some discrepancies to talk about. Firstly the app tracks the best 4 tournament results you achieve with high placements and player turnout affecting your score. Luckily for me all 4 of my recorded events were: the (terrible) London Grand Tournament (not to be confused with the saintly TO on the day) where I came 2nd, UK Games Expo where I came 5th, Tabletop Scotland where I came 1st and Blood and Glory where I came 1st also.

The app accounts for local tournaments as well but none I have attended in the UK do so meaning all my points come just from Grand Clashes which can be a bit of a setback for non-USA players where the app is common place. This is highlighted most when it comes to ITC rankings where the TOs need to send off the results of their tournaments from the app to the ITC to be recorded. Out of my 4 events, only the LGT sent their event ticket meaning it was my only event recorded for my ITC score whereas BCP records it automatically which is why you have me placing so low in the ITC rankings but have me dominating the BCP rankings.

Still I’ll take that best player in the world award no matter where it comes from 😂

It’s a shame my events weren’t all automatically uploaded to ITC (as I probably would have won that too) and that more TO’s around the world should use BCP because (when it works) it will allow a concise ranking system for the entire community. There are issues with the BCP using Strength of Schedule (SOS) for pairings but I was told by one of the creators at a Clash that BCP shows SOS but never uses it for Warhammer Underworlds as they designed the pairing system to specifically go via wins, losses then glory differential. SOS still shows up just because the app calculates it automatically.

With all that out of the way, let’s look at more results!

As I only used Spiteclaw’s Swarm it’s obvious that I would be the world’s best player of said warband.

My team (and local club) HATE is ranked 2nd in the world for Underworlds! Not only thanks just to me but also my highly skilled and beer-savvy friends who have placed highly at events through their own hard work. When looking at UK scores…

…HATE is number 1! Steel City comes in 2nd followed closely by the Dark Sphere gamers, part of the awesome local London scene I frequent. As you can see via numbers, London has the most successful Underworlds scene in the UK. No bias at all.

For UK rankings obviously I was ranked 1st too. The surprising results are for everyone else because even the famed Jay Clare isn’t there. My good friend Martin has secured 5th place while Derek has somehow officially become the UK’s 10th best player for 2018-2019. What a world we live in…

---

So what was the purpose of this article apart from stroking my [MASSIVE] ego? Well firstly it’s to thank everyone for their support again. I’ve been travelling around the whole of the UK for over 12 months now and it’s the community that’s kept me going. I’ve made multiple speeches about thanking the players, my friends and the community so this time I’d just like if the whole Warhammer Underworlds scene could at least try to use Best Coast Pairings for their events.

While Games Workshop events may fluctuate on its usage, it would be a useful tool for the whole international community. I probably won’t be able to win the 2019-2020 season because the BCP is so rarely used here in the UK but it would just be great to have an accurate ranking board for the whole world. There are a lot of good players I know who didn’t place highly or at all just because the BCP app wasn’t used for their event results. I’m not saying BCP is the only option for tournament scoring and event tracking but it’s the best one currently available.

With all said and done, I still don’t officially consider myself the best player in the world (I still haven’t won an event overseas). Most successful player? Sure. However my ego isn’t big enough to claim best player haha (yet). Although I will wear this achievement as a badge of pride. I still have a lot to do in terms of growth as a player so this just really serves as more encouragement to keep up my competitive gaming spirit and development.

Until I get awarded another prize for how awesome I am, thanks once again to all of you out there from my friends all the way to my readers. You’re all amazing. Keep playing and always ask yourself; Can you roll a crit?