Pupils in the Junior Boys’ School at Bolton School will be learning from the best when they enrol in their new Warhammer Club. Mr Mike Porter, a Year 6 teacher at the School, is fresh back from having competed around the world in the Warhammer International Tournament Circuit (ITC). Warhammer is the most popular miniature wargame in the world and is played by two people who battle it out in a game of strategy and tactics.
Following some huge wins in Belgium, London and the US, Mr Porter made his way to 3rd in the World Rankings, out of nearly 35,000 players. The finale to the circuit took place in Las Vegas at the end of January and if he did well, he would be crowned the ITC Champion – the first person from outside the USA to claim the title. For the first two days, along with over 3,000 other players, Mr Porter played seven different three hour matches against opponents from Austria, Spain, the USA, Australia and Canada and managed to win them all – meaning he qualified for the finals day, where the top eight players battled it out. The final day started well with a victory over the Captain of the USA National Team in the quarter-finals, but ended in disappointment as Mr Porter lost a tense semi-final against another USA competitor – meaning he finished the season in 3rd place overall in the World Rankings.
Mr Porter has had a lot of pupils ask him about it and some have taken it up for themselves, after doing their own research. In the Warhammer Club that he is shortly setting up, the boys will learn how to build and paint models and also understand how to play the game itself. Mr Porter commented: ‘At its heart, the hobby is a wonderfully creative experience which encourages social skills, logical thinking and mathematical processes which I hope to pass on to as many boys as possible! We look forward to many pupils taking up this activity.’
On the back of his success, Mr Porter has just been selected to play for the England National team in the World Team Championships (WTC) later this year.
