Size Matters: The Naming Of Warhammer Tournaments And What That Means
- Charles Gould
- 42 minutes ago
- 7 min read
What's the difference, a Rouge Traders Tournament? A Grand Tournament, How about a Major?
A “tournament” can mean anything from a local one-day scrap with 12 players… all the way up to a weekend where you’re one name in a four-digit player field. And while the rules of Warhammer stay the same, the experience changes massively as events scale up.
So let’s break down the three sizes you’ll hear most often — RTT, Grand Tournament, Major, and Super-Major — what they feel like to attend. Why size matters, and why no one does it like the UKTC.
At A Glance
Event labels aren’t perfectly universal, but across competitive 40k the rough bands are:
Event type | Typical player count | Format | Vibe |
RTT (Rogue Trader Tournament) | ~8–31 | 1 day, 3 rounds | Local, fast, friendly-competitive |
Grand Tournament | 31-63 | 2 days, 5 rounds | Locals getting serious but social |
Major | 64-204 | 2 days, 5 rounds | Local legends - some travelling grinders |
Super-Major | 205+ | 7+ rounds | Festival energy, global spotlight, unbeatable atmosphere, BIG ranking boosts |
Now let’s talk about what those sizes actually mean when you’re the one carrying a case through the venue at 9 am.
RTT: the “try stuff, learn fast” tournament
RTTs (Rogue Trader Tournaments) are the heartbeat of the scene. They’re usually one day, three rounds, and small enough that you’ll recognise most faces by round two.
Why RTTs are brilliant
Time out of the house playing 40k with your mates
Low commitment, high reps. You get a real tournament feel without booking a hotel.
Perfect for testing. New list? New detachment? New army? RTTs are where you find out what’s real.
Instant feedback loop. You’ll play a variety of opponents quickly and learn what you actually struggle into.
What RTTs aren’t
They’re not usually where you’ll get the “I cannot believe I just played that person on that table” moment. That’s coming later.
RTTs are the on-ramp. The place to start and get used to competitive Warhammer.
Grand Tournament: the 40k stepping stone
Most GTs are two days and five rounds, with enough players that you’ll hit matchups you don’t see at your local club and enough rounds that consistency matters more than catching one good pairing.
Why Grand Tournaments feel different
Making new 40k friends from difference circles at different skill levels
You’re playing all day, twice. Stamina becomes a skill.
The room is deeper. More lists, more styles, more weird tech.
You start building your tournament network. You’ll see the same names and faces across events, and suddenly the UK scene feels connected.
A lot of UKTC event that contribute to the circuits run by local TOs sit in this “Grand Tournament experience” sweet spot, making use of our professional structure, format and documentation leading to, consistent expectations, and the kind of weekend you can plan around.
If RTTs are practice, Grand Tournaments are where you start competing on purpose.
Majors"The stress test'
A Major sits in the spot between a standard GT and a full-blown Super-Major. Commonly treated as 64 - 204 players, with Super-Majors starting at 205+.
It’s still very much a “proper event” — bigger venue energy, more tables, more armies you don’t see every week — but without the sheer scale of the largest weekends.
What makes a Major feel different to a Grand Tournament?
The pairings get harder to dodge. More players means more archetypes, more tech choices, and fewer “familiar” matchups.
Your placement means more. With a bigger field, every win (and every VP swing) can move you a long way up or down the ladder and as we discuss later, this hits the rankings in a major way.
The room has momentum. You’ll feel the buzz: teams calling mates over to check a result, players clustering around top tables, that end-of-day “how did you do?” debrief.
Super-Major: the “this is the hobby at full volume” event
A Super-Major is where Warhammer stops feeling like “I’m going to a tournament” and starts feeling like:
“I’m part of an event.”
The definition is in the name: It’s Massive. All our Super-Majors are 300+ players, with top-bracket play, more rounds, more moving parts, more spectacle. This gives you more points for your ranking. What's more, we are the only organisers to run super-majors in the UK, and we do it every month.
And here’s the thing people don’t tell you until you’ve been to one:
You don’t just remember your games. You remember the weekend.
Everything turns up here, the most fun, most laughs, most memories, and the most points.
What changes when the player count explodes?
The atmosphere. Hundreds of armies in one hall hits different.
The skill spread. Every round can be a real test — even when you’re doing well.
The “who’s here” factor. Big names, rising names, your mate’s mate who you’ve only seen on BCP — everyone turns up.
The stories. The clutch roll, the ladder match, the late-round comeback… and the crowd actually reacts.
The hobby. The whole of the hobby, celebrated by the whole community, with awards for best painted, most sporting and much much more.
The people. At this size you will meet new people, usually from all over the country, these are people you will see throughout the year at different events. Enjoy the journey together as you connect and reconnect and improve across the season.
UKTC runs Super-Majors at genuinely massive scale — for example the first event of 2026, Nottingham’s 40k Super-Major has run with 355 players, and our flagship event, the LGT has gone far beyond that and is now the biggest event in the world.
Generally speaking, pick a given month, and the largest 40k event of that month anywhere, will be the UKTC Super-Major.
The UKTC scale: why our “big” is different
Let’s be clear about the numberse:
We pride ourselves as the largest tabletop miniature tournament organiser in the world, running events across 20+ game systems.
In 2025 Our headline weekend, the London Grand Tournament, was the biggest 40k tournament in the world.
And the biggest singles event in Warhammer 40,000 history, with 1,085 players.
It's not just singles, we also host the BIGGEST teams event in the world with the Winter ITT hitting 800 players.
That’s not “big for the UK.” That’s global scale.
And that’s exactly why people talk about it all year. And we don't just do it once, we do it every month or more! You can find the full UKTC 2026 calendar on our social media, including the launch dates - mark them well so you never miss a launch.
Why bigger events create better Warhammer memories
If you’ve never done a Super-Major, here’s what you’re missing and why people get that “I should’ve gone” feeling when the photos start landing.
1) You level up faster
More social. More rounds. More opponents. More archetypes. More learning.
It’s not just the games: it’s seeing how other players manage time, movement, scoring, secondaries, and mental stamina across an entire weekend.
2) You become part of the wider scene
At small events you meet players. At big events you join a community.
You’ll bump into the same people at the next one. You’ll get invited into group chats. You’ll have “see you at X” plans.
That’s how the hobby sticks and grows.
3) The weekend becomes the reward
Super-Majors are where you stop thinking in terms of “5 games” and start thinking in terms of:
The travel up with your friends
The round 4 adrenaline
The “what are we eating?” debrief after hours
The awards
The photos
The post-event group chat memes
The world class games
4) The Only True Yardstick
Our super majors are the best and most honest way to test how good you actually are. The size and number of rounds mean that you will accurately be seeded to your skill level by the end of the event, RTT and even GT winners can and have gone 1 - 4 at the supers. If there is one thing about Super-Majors, they are honest.
And that honesty is reflected, these events are by far the best place to boost your rankings, BCP and most rankings formulas take many things into account, chief amongst this is the size of the field. Whilst placing and wins matter, the main driver is getting them in the largest field possible, thats why every point matters for that final placing.
That’s the good stuff. That is why we keep coming back.
“Okay, which one should i book?”
Use this as a quick self-check:
Book an RTT if…
You want a low-stakes tournament day
You’re testing a list (or your pacing)
You’re building confidence
Book a Grand Tournament if…
You want the full weekend experience without the mega-crowd scale
You’re ready for 5 rounds and real stamina
You want to start “doing a season”
Book a Super-Major if…
You want the biggest possible Warhammer weekend
You want to work your way up the rankings
You want the best of it all: the atmosphere, the field depth, the stories, the friends
You want to feel like you’re at the centre of the scene
And if you’re thinking: “I’ll do the big one next year”…
That’s how you end up watching it on your phone while your mates send you pictures from the hall.
The bit you can’t ignore: tickets are going fast
Demand is very real right now.
This year has been unprecedented; our events have been selling out faster than ever, with waitlists longer than most RTT rosters.
So the practical advice is simple:
If you see the event you want, don’t wait for “later.”
If it’s sold out, get on the waitlist (we actively run them).
If you’re not already, get on the newsletter / keep an eye on the store — that’s where the movement happens first.
We’ve hit the point where the question isn’t “will it sell out?”It’s “will you be the one holding a ticket when it does?”
Now what?
Book a ticket - we'll see you at the supers.
And if you’ve never been to the LGT…
Well.
There’s a reason people call it the one you can’t miss.
Grab your ticket. Pack your army. And don’t be the person watching the biggest weekends of the year from the outside.
Tickets now on sale (at time of writing):
