Leeming Aviators Help Secure RAF E-Sports Victory

An incredible comeback performance saw the RAF Reapers clinch the title of CODE Bowl III Champions, topping the leader board against six US Services and the other two UK Services playing Call-of-Duty Warzone

2.0 - live in the US. 34 Sqn RAF Regt’s AS1 Conor Fegan was a member of the six-person RAF Reapers team, alongside 90 SU’s Cpl Kallum Johnson and aviators from RAF Benson, Shawbury, Coningsby and PJHQ.

The Call-of-Duty Endowment Bowl was played in a Warzone game format called mini-royale. It saw 18 three-player teams jump into a highly restrictive (and shrinking) gaming area on an open-world style map. The objective – to be the last team standing. Each US and UK service had 2 teams consisting of 2 military players and a CoD influencer. Points were scored for each elimination. Teams placing 2-10th received a 1.5x multiplier to their elimination scores and the team winning each match received a 2x multiplier. The CODE

Bowl III tournament consisted of 4 matches where each Service’s score was a combination of both their teams.

The tournament started very slowly for the RAF team, with technical difficulties plaguing all UK service teams. With only 3 out of the 6 RAF players able to connect in the first lobby, it was always going to be a difficult task to rack up substantial points. The second game had the same unfortunate storyline for the team, with only 4 of the 6 players able to connect. This time it was RAF Benson’s Team Captain AS1 Jamie “UnknownJWG” Griffith who was flying solo; he was eliminated early on which meant that at the halfway mark, the RAF team was at the bottom of the leader board with only 8 points across the first 2 matches. The players were exceptionally frustrated as they knew they should have been contenders but still believed a comeback was feasible as long as the technical problems could be resolved.

Following a restart due to more than 10 disconnections across the 54 competitors, the 3rd game saw the RAF Reapers make a fast start setting the pace early for a big point game. Managing to stay alive and rack up eliminations until the late stages of the game meant that the team moved to 5th place in the standings, and 30 points behind the US Air Force who were in first place.

Prior to the final game, a team huddle gave a boost in confidence in the team and set out the game plan: adopt a fast pace from the start and aim to get 20 eliminations and a win. With this all-or-nothing approach, RAF Team 1 managed to secure an amazing 27 points to add to the final total. A solid performance from RAF Team 2, and a low scoring final game from the tournament leaders, US Air Force, meant that the RAF the flew up the leader board past reigning champions Space Force Gaming who had surpassed the USAF.

The British Army won the 4th game, restricting US Space Force’s score line and enabling the RAF to top the leader board with an incredible comeback of almost 80 points in the second half of the competition. As the RAF were crowned Champions there was shock amongst the competitors, commentators and audience as the RAF had seemingly come from nowhere to secure the win. The score line was testament to the team’s incredible determination to never give up, even after the demoralising technical difficulties they were facing. AS1 Griffith was named the servicemember MVP of the tournament with 12 eliminations exceeding all Serving players and several of the CoD influencers.

Overall the event raised $900,000 for veterans charities.