Our local Warhammer 40k gaming community in the Upstate New York area has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years. We wanted to create a blog that everyone in our local community could use to showcase their hobby projects, campaigns, battle reports, tournaments and event experiences.
We have several members attending a tournament tomorrow morning at Flipside Games in East Greenbush, NY and we will be updating this blog with some of their battle reports and their experiences at the event.
Maelstrom of War - November 21, 2015
Red = recent additions.
Flipside Gaming in East Greenbush will be hosting a semi-competitive event on Saturday, November 21, 2015. This is a rather laid-back tournament using some modified Maelstrom of War missions. ALL prizes for this event will be based on Best Overall. You are welcome to bring whatever models and attitude you desire, but it will be great benefit to you if you come with great-looking models, a good attitude, and a killer's instinct!
Entry Fee: $10
Additional 50/50 Raffle benefiting FaT Mats for the Club: $1 per chance
Schedule:
| 9:00 - 9:30 | Registration |
| 9:30 – 9:45 | Table assignments |
| 9:45 - 12:45 | Game 1 |
| 12:45 - 1:30 | Lunch and appearance judging |
| 1:30 - 4:30 | Game 2 |
| 4:45 - 7:45 | Game 3 |
| 7:45 - 8:00 | Prizes and clean-up |
40k Force Organization:
We are using the standard ITC Force Organization method for this tournament. The only difference is that lists are 2000 POINTS.https://www.frontlinegaming.org/community/frontline-gamings-independent-tournament-circuit/itc-2015-season-40k-tournament-format/
Houserules:
- 2+ Re-Rollable Saves: Please note that the change to the 2+ reroll save is still in effect. For example, any save of any type of a 2+ that can be rerolled is failed on the second roll of a 1, 2 or 3.
- Invisibility: The Invisibility Psychic Power has been modified as such: a unit shooting at a unit that is currently Invisible will hit at BS1 instead of Snap Firing. A unit attacking a unit that is currently invisible in melee hits on 5s instead of 6s. Abilities which modify BS or hit on a set number respectively can overcome this restriction.
- Barrage and Imperial Knights: “Top” is considered an option to protect your Imperial Knight with its directional shields. Declaring “Top” protects you from Barrage and Barrage-like weapons (bombs, etc). Declaring “side” does not.
- Best Save: A unit's "Best Save" will be calculated as whichever save has the most likelihood of ignoring the wound. This includes re-rolls.
- Zooming Blasts: Models in Zooming or Soaring mode cannot be hit by nor targeted by blast or Template weapons.
- The Saint Is Dead: If Saint Celestine or any other model is incapacitated (as a marker or otherwise not in play) at the end of the game, they are considered killed for all victory conditions.
- Fast Dice: If your opponent requests that you use Fast Dice for your rolls when you can, you must do so. The only reason to roll one die at a time for saves which could use Fast Dice would be for either superstitious or cheating reasons. The odds are otherwise the same.
- The Bigger They Are…: Super Heavy and Gargantuan Creatures can never claim to be in cover when the model itself is not at least 25% in cover. This means that positioning of the model is essential to gaining a cover save. This is as opposed to keeping a “toe in area terrain for cover”. This is done to help balance out the use of larger models in competitive play.
- Sevrin Loth has returned from his escapades, however he doesn't want to talk about what happened. An army containing Sevrin Loth may only comprise of units with the Adeptus Astartes Red Scorpions Faction or no Faction.
- Tall Models and Ruins: If an assaulting Walker, Superheavy Walker, Monstrous Creature, or a Gargantuan Monstrous Creature is at least face-level with a model which is on a level of a ruins, then the assaulting model does not need to count the levels up in order to assault the model on that level; it only needs to roll an assault distance equal to its horizontal distance. The assaulting model moves horizontally as far as it can, reaches out, and attacks the target unit. When measuring in this manner, do so from the closest point on the assaulting model, whether it's a part of the body or the base. Ignore any body parts that are normally ignored for cover purposes (melee weapons, etc.). This rule assumes that the assaulting model being used is modeled at reasonably equal height to the retail model kit.
- Voidshields and Markerlights: Guidance from the ITC organizers indicate that Voidshields do not intercept Markerlights. This may change in the future.
- Fateweaver's Re-roll: Guidance from the ITC indicates that Fateweaver's re-roll from the Staff of Tomorrow works while the model is alive whether it is on the board or not. However, if the model is considered destroyed, then the army does not benefit from the re-roll.
Rules Judgements
Rules issues will be dealt with swiftly by a roaming judge. We use a hierarchy for determining rules issues as follows:
- Main Rule Book
- Games Workshop FAQs and Errata,
- Tournament-specific clarifications and rulings on terrain (see the Terrain section below),
- The Tournament-specific house rules listed above,
- Consensus of judges present at the time.
Please note, that these judgments are final at the time of the ruling and constant attempts to break the same rules throughout the event will be dealt with appropriately.
What to Bring:
- Your Army
- Tape Measure, Dice, Game Aids, etc
- 6 Objective Markers about 40mm in size
- 5 Typed Copies of your army list
- Be sure to note who your Warlord is on your army list.
- All pertinent rules for your army. Codexes, White Dwarf Articles, Foregworld Rules, etc.
- Note that you will receive battle points for preparedness!
- A copy of the tournament packet provided in advance (online on the registration site).
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7RGoi6dfv6dTndIQjlXOTBLeDQ
Terrain:
Terrain will be static and narratively-placed by the judges. If both players agree, however, some terrain may be moved (please be respectful with the treatment of the terrain at the event).
- Hills: All rolling hills are open terrain, granting 5+ cover via LOS blocking/interference as normal but do not count as difficult terrain.
- Rock Towers, Crates, and Can Towers are impassible and block LOS completely (even if there are actual gaps in the terrain pieces).
- In order to facilitate easy use of Woods terrain and reduce Line-of-Sight arguments,woods are treated differently from other terrain rather than just being simple difficult terrain. If any model is in woods or up to 25% of your model is behind the woods base, including vehicles, they enjoy a 5+ cover save even if the model is not obscured. The height of all woods is assumed to be as tall as the tallest tree on the base, so if a flyer stands over the tree-line, it will not enjoy the cover save. Similarly, if you are in woods and trace line of sight through any part of the woods you are in, your target also enjoys a 5+ cover save.
- Terrain Bases: Note that the bases of terrain count as part of the terrain piece and therefore, non-vehicle units enjoy cover saves for being on them.
- Terrain Data Slates (such as the Twisted Copse) will not be used.
- Fortifications are placed before your other models are deployed. You must remove one piece of terrain that is at least partially within your deployment zone before you place your Fortification. The exceptions to this are the Aegis Defense Line and Promethium Relay Pipes which are allowed to snake through other terrain as needed, even up hills.
Scoring
The player scoring the highest of all combined scores wins Best Overall with ties going to Battle Points. For the purposes of this tournament, Best General and Best Overall will share the top prize, but the player with Best General will be the winner for ITC purposes.
Battle Scoring
Every scenario is worth 25 Battle Points. How many Battle Points you score is based on how much you win the mission by. So, you score each scenario using Victory Points the same way you would from the Rules. Refer to the chart below.
In the event of a tabling, the score is also 25/0.
| Victory Point Difference | Victor's Battle Points | Defeated's Battle Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | 12 |
| 2 | 14 | 11 |
| 3 | 15 | 10 |
| 4 | 16 | 9 |
| 5 | 17 | 8 |
| 6 | 18 | 7 |
| 7 | 19 | 6 |
| 8 | 20 | 5 |
| 9 | 21 | 4 |
| 10 | 22 | 3 |
| 11 | 23 | 2 |
| 12 | 24 | 1 |
| 13+ | 25 | 0 |
In the event of a tabling, the score is also 25/0.
Additionally, the following scores are awarded:
- 2 points: You bring 5 copies of your finalized list to the Tournament.
- 2 points: Tournament Packet https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7RGoi6dfv6dTndIQjlXOTBLeDQ
- 4 points: You email the T.O. your finalized army list five days before the event. Please only submit your files as PDF or Text. No changes to your list will be allowed after this point if you want these points. adam.fasoldt@gmail.com
- 10 points: Newly painted selfie! Take a selfie with an unpainted unit and send the photo to adam.fasoldt@gmail.com. If, by the time of the tournament, it is painted to a tabletop standard (better than 3-color minimum), you receive 10 free battle points. The unit doesn't need to be a part of your army.
Maximum Battle Points for the tournament: 118pts
Appearance Scoring
What constitutes "tabletop standard", "a vast majority", “a large number”, or “a handful” of models is up to the Judge’s discretion. Also note that the examples given next to a points score is just that... an example. Other factors can be involved in a points score. Suffice to say, Appearance Scoring is extremely subjective.
The player with the best appearance score will win Best Appearance with tiebreakers being decided by the players voting for favorite army.
General Score (up to 11pts):
- 1pt Some painting has been attempted
- 2pts Army is in progress, but the majority is not complete or to any kind of standard
- 3pts The vast majority of the army is painted to a 3-color minimum
- 4pts The entire army is painted to a 3-color minimum
- 5pts The vast majority of the army is painted to a tabletop standard
- 6pts The entire army is painted to a tabletop standard
- 7pts The entire army is painted to a tabletop standard with several units painted beyond a tabletop standard with highlights and shading
- 8pts The entire army is painted to a tabletop standard and a large number of units in the army are painted beyond tabletop standard with highlights and shading
- 9pts Most of the army is painted beyond tabletop standard with highlights and shading with the rest of the army painted to a tabletop standard.
- 10pts Entire army is painted beyond tabletop standard with highlights and shading
- 11pts Entire army is painted beyond tabletop standard with nearly seamless highlights and shading
Basing Score: (up to 4pts):
- +1pt Minimal basing (1 texture/color) on most of the army
- +2pts Minimal basing (1 texture/color) on the entire army
- +3pts More than one texture and/or color is used to base most of the army
- +4pts More than one texture and/or color is used to base the entire army
Modeling score (up to 4pts - note breakdown adds up to 6, but max is 4):
- +1pt Minor conversion work has been done to a handful of models
- +2pts Minor conversion work on a large number of models or a small amount of major conversions. Conversions must be well-executed to score more than 1 point.
- +3pts The army has many major conversions
- +1pt Simple display board with surface matching models' bases
- +2pts Advanced display board with surface matching models' bases and matching terrain. Note that the execution of the display board must be of an Advanced quality to score more than 1 point, even if you do add terrain and effects.
- +3pts Extreme display board with surface matching models' bases, matching terrain, and matching environmental effects (lights, smoke, etc).
Miscellaneous (up to 6pts - note breakdown adds up to 11, but max is 6):
- +1pt Army uniformity
- +1pt Basing uniformity
- +1pt Extreme bases
- +1-2pts Extreme conversion work
- +1-3pts Freehand
- +0-3pts Judge’s discretion, to differentiate execution between players with nearly maximum points.
Judges are also encouraged to take into account difficulty level and model count, to some extent, for the awarding of Judge’s Discretion points, though the award is entirely up to them and players are asked not to grill the Judge on their final decision. If the Judge feels threatened or put off by questions by the players, the Judge is encouraged to alert the Tournament Organizer so that penalties may be incurred on the player’s sportsmanship score. Asking for advice on how to improve one’s painting, however, is highly encouraged.
Maximum Appearance score for the tournament: 25pts
Sportsmanship Scoring
At the end of the tournament, each player will offer a vote for Favorite Opponent and a Second-Favorite Opponent. Each Favorite Opponent vote is worth 5 points and each Second Favorite Opponent vote is worth 3 points. Each player also receives 5 points if no complaints are lodged against them throughout the tournament.
Maximum Sportsmanship score for the tournament: 25pts
Missions:
We will be using a random Maelstrom of War mission from the Rules. An alternate random deployment method will be selected and each used once during the tournament. You may use any official Tactical Objectives deck you wish as per the rules for TacO decks found in the rulebook and codexes.
We have some minor adjustments to the scoring of Tactical Objectives:
- When you draw a Tactical Objective, you may immediately discard it if it would be categorically impossible to score throughout the game. For example, if your opponent has no Psykers alive on the field or in reserve, you may discard any Tactical Objective that calls for you to affect an enemy Psyker. This does not count towards your 1 discard per turn. If you do not discard this card when it is drawn, but want to get rid of it later, you must use your 1 discard as per the normal rules for discarding.
- Any Tactical Objective that scores d3 Victory Points instead scores 2 Victory Points.
Tertiary Objectives will be varied. See this space for updates. Feel free to use the ITC tertiary missions for practice.
Prizes:
The prizes will be based on Overall score, combining Battle, Appearance, and Sportsmanship scores. We will at least have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize. If there is a lot of participation, we will also add some door prizes.
