The Frontline Gaming crew has been given the nod to run the Warhammer 40K Singles Championships at KingdomCon 2012 in San Diego, CA!

Event Info: http://www.kingdom-con.com/

At Frontline Gaming, we love Community driving events, having fun, and table top gaming tournaments! I, Reece, am also from San Diego, and so when I got the phone call to possibly be a part of a GT in my favorite city I was just super excited to get on board. Once we hammered out all the details and things looked like the kind of event we here would want to be a part of, we pulled the trigger.

So mark your calendars! April 14th and 15th, we will be having a lot of laughs and slinging dice at Crowne Plaza in beautiful, sunny SD.

This is going to be a great event, and it will also be the first Road to the Open qualifier. What that means is that if you win Tournament Champion, Best Painted or Renassaince man at this event, you will get a free ticket to the Bay Area Open 2012! If you go to another qualifying event and win, you will get a travel voucher for expenses. Win a third event, and we’ll pay for your hotel!

So come on out and join us for another fun event in our now tried and true system that so far has gotten nothing but glowing reviews from the community.

Read on for the tournament format!

1,750pts

KingdomCon 40K Missions and Rules

Day 1: Mission 1: Bay Area Open Scenario, Dawn of War

Day 1: Mission 2: Bay Area Open Scenario, Spearhead

Day 1: Mission 3: Bay Area Open Scenario, Pitched Battle

Day 2: Mission 4: Bay Area Open Scenario, Dawn of War

Day 2: Mission 5: Bay Area Open Scenario, Pitched Battle

Day 2: Mission 6: Bay Area Open Scenario, Spearhead

Bay Area Open Scenario: The Bay Area Open scenario is all three book missions, played simultaneously. There are 2 Capture and Control Objectives on 40mm bases, 3 Seize Ground objectives on 25mm bases, and kill points as victory conditions. All other mission rules apply as normal, such as seize the initiative, random game length, etc. Whichever player achieves more Victory Conditions (Kill Points, Seize Ground, Capture and Control are each a separate Victory Condition), wins. In the case of an equal number of victory conditions between players, the game is a tie. Follow all rules for placing objectives as outlined in the book. Seize ground objectives are placed first, before rolling for first turn and deployment as normal. Capture and control objectives must be the standard distance from one another and the board edge, and at least 12″ from a Seize Ground objective. After each game, Victory Conditions will be tallied, and the total amount earned in all games will be used for tie breakers for ranking purposes.

Why are we doing this? We believe that the book missions are fun, fair and balanced. However, there are certain armies and match-ups, that when played in certain missions, result in near auto-losses. We hate that. No game should be determined by match-up and mission if at all possible. Only player actions and dice should determine victory in a well designed scenario. These missions also stay as close as possible to the book missions, and do not require much, if any changes to a list that anyone is playing currently.

This scenario allow players to play around bad match-ups by identifying which victory conditions they can win, and which will most likely result in defeat. Smart play will be rewarded and bad match-ups are mitigated. This scenario also allows players to bring a wide variety of armies that don’t have to achieve crushing victories to win.

Will it get boring playing the same mission 6 games in a row? That is a subjective question, but in our experience the answer is no. Each game is different. Different opponent, different deployment, different terrain, etc. Each game will be a unique experience, and playing the same familiar victory conditions repeatedly allows each player to focus on winning the game, rather than figuring out a complex scenario.

Allowed Armies

All, current codexes and White Dwarf armies (currently only Sisters of Battle) will be playable at KingdomCon 2012. We are NOT allowing Imperial Armor Apocalypse Second Edition units in the event this year, by popular vote.

Rules Judgments

The INAT FAQ (http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/inat_faq.jsp) will be used for this event. 

Rules issues will be dealt with swiftly by either one of our roaming judges or by asking the sitting judge handling data entry. We have a clear hierarchy for our rules disputes. All issues will be dealt with in this order, and all judgments are final.

1. GW official rules.

2. GW official FAQs and Erratas.

3. INAT FAQ.

4. Consensus of those judges present at the time of the incident.

Painting

Every army must be painted to a three color minimum. If your army is not painted to a three color standard, you are ineligible for any prizes. Paint judging will occur during the lunch break for both days, please leave your army out until you have been paint judged. If you army is above and beyond the 3 color standard, and represents the top 10% of all armies present, your force will be more closely examined and a panel of judges will vote on it to determine the best army present, in their opinions.

Bracketing

We are using Swiss pairings, meaning that players play other players with the same record. Pairings will be randomly determined within those brackets. A tie is worth a half a win, or 0.5 points. Accumulated Victory Conditions will be used for tie breakers.

Comp and Sports

There will be no comp scores at this event. We feel that the game has an inbuilt comp system with the rulebooks and Codexes. We do not feel that a second, player created level of comp is necessary. So bring whatever army you want to play!

Sportsmanship will be handled as a simple thumbs-up, thumbs-down check box on the results sheet.

The temptation to ding someone on sports after a tough loss is often too much for many players to resist. We therefore are providing a very narrowly defined set of terms under which a player may mark their opponent with a thumbs down mark on sportsmanship. This system is intended to punish those who are being abusive, but to not allow chimpmunking. After a great deal of real world use, we have found this system to work very well.

Legitimate reasons to give an opponent a thumbs down on sports:

1. Your opponent was 15 or more minutes late to the round.

2. Your opponent was verbally abusive. This does not mean you argued with your opponent or that your personalities clashed, but that they were verbally abusive and insulting.

3. Your opponent intentionally cheated. Be prepared to support your case to a judge.

4. Your opponent slow played. We define slow playing as not completing 4 game turns of play. In the case of 20 or less minutes left to play, divide the time remaining between players to complete one full GAME turn. Time each other during this period to ensure that each player has an equal amount of time to complete a full game turn. If one player does not finish within their limit, the other player can force them to stop and then begin their turn. This mechanic is in place to ensure no one is slow played out of a turn of play.

What does NOT constitute a thumbs down on sports?

1. You argued over rules with your opponent.

2. Your opponent beat you.

3. You didn’t like your opponent’s army.

4. Your opponent thinks Stormshadow could beat Snake Eyes. Like, what evs! Snake Eyes’ Dragon stance is OBVIOUSLY superior.

A negative mark on sportsmanship will be met with administrative action as follows:

1. First thumbs down: A verbal warning from a judge, up to reversing a win to a loss.

2. Second thumbs down: Reversing a win to a loss, up to disqualification from any prize support.

3. Third thumbs down: disqualification from any prize support, up to expulsion from the event with no refund of the ticket price.

4. Fourth thumbs down: Expulsion from the event with no refund of the ticket price.

Modeling for Advantage

There is a fine line between creative freedom and modeling for advantage. We do not wish to stifle anyone’s creativity, but in the end, this is a game that relies heavily upon the physical characteristics of the models being used.

Modeling for advantage will be handled on a case by case basis. To resolve a possible abusive situation, follow these steps:

1. Ask the player to play the model as if it were a GW standard, modern version.

2. Call a judge to ask for a judgement.

3. Possibly substitute the model with an appropriate replacement.

Examples of what we consider modeling for advantage:

1. Using out of date and inappropriately sized models such as the rogue trader era Eldar Avatar (which currently is a large, monstrous creature model but back then, was the size of a Space Marine, which would now grant huge advantages due to being so much smaller) or Gorka Morka Trukks (which are less than half the size of modern versions). If an army is made predominantly of Rogue Trader era minis (or any era) and is clearly going for a theme, then exceptions will be made. If it appears to a judge that the player is in fact modeling for advantage, then action will be taken.

2. Increasing or decreasing the size of models to gain an advantage in gaining or granting cover. Custom Battle Wagons often fall into this category.

3. Altering a model to increase the range of a model or to benefit your LOS.

WYSIWYG 

All models are expected to be WYSIWYG as much as is reasonable. Proxies are not permitted. However, counts as armies are acceptable and encouraged. What’s the difference? That can be a tough call to make in some cases. Judges will determine what is acceptable or not and all judgments are final. If you feel your army is questionable, contact a TO in advance to clear any confusion.

Proxies: Using Necron Warriors as Lootas in an Ork army, etc.

Counts As: Using Ultra Marines colored models with Blood Angels rules. Using custom Adeptus Mechanicus converted models with Daemon rules. The key is that everything is easily identifiable and appropriately equipped.

• Terrain

Hills: All hills are open terrain, granting cover via LOS blocking/interference as normal.

Barriers: All barriers grant cover to infantry, bikes, jump infantry, Jet Bikes, and Calvary/Beasts even if they do not actually cover 50% of the model. Vehicles, Walkers, and Monstrous Creatures must be 50% covered as normal to receive a save.

Buildings/ruins: All Buildings or Ruins are area terrain and have as many levels as physically can hold models. Each level is 3” up or down, even if they are disproportionately higher or lower than this. Any building that a model cannot physically be placed inside, is considered a ruin with 1 (or more, depending on the building) levels. It is never considered impassible for the purposes of deepstriking, etc.

Rock Towers, Crates, and Can Towers: Are impassible, and fully block LOS, even if you can draw LOW between cracks in the terrain features.

All other terrain functions as outlined in the book.

• What to Bring

-Your army.

-A rule book, army book, and game aids such as dice, etc.

-A copy of your list for each opponent (5), judges, and yourself (9 total). You do not have to submit your list before the tournament. You are required to give each opponent a copy of your list before each game.

-5 objective markers. Two of these must be on 40mm bases, the other 3 on 25mm bases.

-A Fanny Pack!  No, not really. But it would be sweet to stow your loot in!

Schedule

All rounds are 2 hours and 15 minutes in length with 15 minutes between rounds.

40K Day 1: Saturday, April 14th

9am: Check In.

10:00am: Round 1 Begins

12:15pm: Lunch

1:00pm: Round 2

3:30pm: Round 3 Begins

40K Day 2: Sunday, April 15th

9am: Check In.

10:00am: Round 4 Begins

12:15pm: Lunch

1:00pm: Round 5

3:30pm: Round 6 Begins

5:30pm: Awards.

6:00pm: Clean Up and Break Down.

Prizes!

We will have great prize support for KingdomCon 2012. If you have been to any of our events, you know that we have AWESOME prize support, and this event will be no different. We will have awards for:

• Hobbyists (separate from playing)
• Generalship (separate from painting, although you must meet the 3 color minimum to win any prizes)
• Renaissance Man (best combined paint and play)
• Best of Awards (Goes to the player that does the best with their army type: Space marines, Tyranids, Chaos, Etc. One awarded for each Codex)
• Wooden Spoon (Goes to the player with the worst record!)

We’ll announce specifics as we draw closer to the event, but be sure that there will be some great loot to be had!