40K 6th ed Tournament Format Second Draft, Feedback Wanted (updated)

Here is the revised draft, thanks to everyone for their input on this, it was really helpful.

Mainly, what do you guys think about the revised missions? I tried to roll in as much of the 6th ed rules in as I felt were good for a tournament setting based on my experience, Team Zero Comp input, and your all’s suggestions.

I altered the missions to be more similar to what is in the book, added the Scouring and Big Guns Never Tire, as well as alternated the scoring method of the main Victory Conditions without a huge variation. I think this is a nice mix of tactics but still remains true to the basic principles we have found to work really well. What do you guys think?

6^th ed 40K Tournament Guidelines

Points: 1,500pts

We are going with 1500pts for these early 6^th ed tournaments as we’ve found that the new rules slow the game down quite a bit, and we are sure people are going to be taking more time looking up rules, rolling up Warlord Traits, etc. and would rather have more time per round so as not to rush anyone.  As we go through the season and people get more accustomed to the game, we will start to increase the points cap.

Missions

Round 1: Bay Area Open Scenario Alpha, Modified Hammer and Anvil Deployment

Round 2: Bay Area Open Scenario Beta, Dawn of War Deployment, The Scouring

Round 3: Bay Area Open Scenario Gamma, Vanguard Strike Deployment

Round 4: Bay Area Open Scenario Beta, Dawn of War Deployment, Big Guns Never Tire

Round 5: Bay Area Open Scenario Alpha, Modified Hammer and Anvil Deployment

Round 6: Bay Area Open Scenario Gamma, Vanguard Strike Deployment

Round 7: Bay Area Open Scenario Alpha, Dawn of War Deployment

The Bay Area Open Scenario is one we have built over a great deal of time, play testing and player feedback. It is a scenario that strives for fairness, and simplicity with multiple paths to victory. We want you to focus on playing your best game, not focusing on trying to figure out a mission you aren’t familiar with.

The Bay Area Open scenario has 3 Victory Conditions always happening simultaneously. Each is worth a varying number of Victory Points dependent upon the mission (Alpha, Beta or Gamma). There are also 3 Bonus Points per mission. The Player that earns the most Victory Points during a game, wins. If both players earn the same amount, they tie. There are no degrees of victory, if you win by 1 point or 12, it is just a win. The player packets will have a score sheet for each mission clearly showing how much each objective is worth for each game to make it easy to keep track of. 

1. Victory Condition 1: The Emperor’s Will. Each player places an objective on a 40mm base in their deployment zone, after deployment zones have been decided prior to deploying their forces. This objective must be 6” from a table edge. The player that controls more of these at game’s end wins this Victory Condition. In Alpha this is worth 2 points, in Beta 3 Points, in Gamma 4 points.
2. Victory Condition 2: Crusade. Three objectives on 25mm bases are placed outside of either player’s deployment zones before the roll for first turn. One is always placed in the exact middle of the board. The other two by each player (player rolling highest places the first objective), at least 6” from a table edge and 12” from another objective. These objectives have the Mysterious Objectives rule, but the player triggering it rolls 2D6 on the Mysterious Objectives table and takes the result they want. The player controlling the majority of these objectives at game’s end wins. If both players control the same amount, neither achieves this objective. In Alpha this is worth 3 points, in Beta 4 points, in Gamma 2 points.
3.  Victory Condition 2: Purge the Alien. Each unit is worth a number of Kill Points equal to its point cost divided by 50, rounded up. For example, a unit worth 40pts would give up 1 Kill Point if destroyed or broken at game’s end, and a unit worth 305pts would give up 7 Kill Points if destroyed or broken at game’s end. The player with more Kill Points at game’s end wins this condition. Noting this on your army list prior to the tournament makes this very easy to keep track of. NOTE, in missions where Big Guns Never Tire and The Scouring are in play, the units that can also take objectives are worth 1 more KP each than normal. If your Warlord Rolls the trait that gives him 1 VP for each Character he kills in a Challenge, he earns 1 KP for each Character he kills in addition to any other KP he may have earned. In Alpha this is worth 4 points, in Beta 2 Points, in Gamma 3 points.

The Bay Open Scenario also uses Bonus Points in every mission. The Bonus Points are worth 1 Victory Point each and are the same for every game.

1. Bonus Point 1: Slay the Warlord. If you destroy your opponent’s Warlord, you earn this point.
2. Bonus Point 2: Line Breaker. You earn this point by having a scoring OR contesting unit with at least one model at least partially in your opponent’s deployment zone at game’s end. Note, a unit cannot hold an objective AND earn this Bracket Point, it can only choose to do one or the other.
3. Bonus Point 3: Preserve Your Forces. You earn this Bracket Point by having half or more of your STARTING scoring units alive at game’s end.

Every game uses the book rules for Reserves, Night Fight, Seize the Initiative, Random Game Length, controlling objectives, etc.

• Mission Order of Operations:

1. Place Seize Ground Objectives. Players roll off, player rolling highest places first objective. One objective always goes in the center of the board.
2. Roll for Warlord Traits. (Each player rolls 1D6, chooses any of the three traits with that number for their trait).
3. Roll for Night Fighting.
4. Roll for First Turn. The player rolling highest chooses their deployment zone and deploys their Emperor’s Will objective. The player going second does the same.
5. Place Fortifications if any are present. The player that won the first turn roll off  places their’s first.
6. Deploy forces, with the player that won the roll off deploying first.
7. Game then proceeds as normal.

Modified Hammer and Anvil

This follows the standard deployment as outlined in the book with one modification. The player going first reduces their deployment zone by 12” along the long edge on one side. The player going second does the same along the opposite edge. This results in a deployment zone that is 24” out from the short board edge, and 36” up the short board edge. Note, objectives may not be placed in the gap space. Outflankers arrive via long table edges, with the roll of a 1-2 being the long edge nearest the owning player, a 3-4 being the opposite, and a 5-6 being the owning player’s choice.

Allowed Armies

• All current Codices, and White Dwarf armies will be allowed.
• Allies per the Rule Book will be allowed.
• Forge World units will be allowed so long as they are neither a Super Heavy nor Gargantuan Creature. The most recent version of the rules must be used. This means not just the “40K Approved” units, but any that do not fall within the above restrictions.
• Forge World Army Lists will not be allowed.
• Each player MUST have his pertinent rulebook with him to show his opponent.
• Fortifications will be allowed, but not Fortresses of Redemption or Skyshield Landing Pads as they are physically too large and require too much modification to the terrain on the table to be practical for a tournament. We may alter this in time, but for now we are restricting those two pieces of terrain.

Warlord Traits and Psychic Powers

1. Warlord Traits will be determined using the following modified system: Each player rolls a die and then chooses which Trait with that number he wishes to use.
2. If you roll a psychic power the model can’t use (such as  Broodlord rolling a shooting attack), you may reroll on the table until you get something you can use.

Rules Judgments

Rules issues will be dealt with swiftly by a roaming judge. We use a hierarchy for determining rules issues as follows:

1. Main Rule Book
2. FAQs and Erratas
3. Consensus of judges present at the time. Please note, that these judgments are final.

Painting

All models must be painted to a 3 color minimum. We count primer as a color. If you have any models that are not painted to a 3 color minimum, you will be ineligible for prize support at the end of the event. We will use a Paint Rubric for judging paint.

Bracketing

We use Swiss Pairings, meaning that players with the same record play each other. Pairings within a bracket are randomly determined first round (friends and club mates can request not to play each other first round) and then by strength of schedule thereafter. For final rankings, the field will be stratified by accumulated Victory Points.

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 Codices. 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 likes Star Trek Voyager. Picard was the best!! NERD RAGE!

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.

WYSIWYG 

All models are expected to be WYSIWYG as much as is reasonable. Proxies are not permitted. Counts As armies with counts as allies will only be permitted if they represent a clearly concerted effort to build a unique army around an obvious theme. For example, an Adeptus Mechanicus army using extensive kit bashing and conversions will be fine. If you go this route, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A HANDOUT TO SHOW YOUR OPPONENT THAT SHOWS WHAT EACH UNIT IN YOUR ARMY IS ALONG WITH ITS STATS AND PERTENANT RULES! You must also present this to them prior to the game so that they have time to understand what they are playing against. There will be no exceptions to this.

If your army uses only a single Codex but if for example you have Crimson Fists models using the Blood Angels Codex, or Chaos models using the Space Wolves Codex, that is acceptable. Allies for this type of army however, MUST be represented by their actual models. This is to avoid confusion. No exceptions.

If you are using converted or scratch built models with Forge World rules, this is acceptable so long as your model is as close to the represented model as possible in terms of equipment, size and shape. We will not be lenient with this.

If you have any questions about your army, ask us prior to the event so that we can let you know if what you have will be acceptable or not.

Terrain

Terrain will be prearranged and laid out by the TO’s prior to the event. We will not be using terrain placement rules per the book as it is too time restrictive. If you come to a table and feel that it is not sufficiently or fairly arranged, or that it may have been moved by the previous players, alert a TO who will arrange the terrain appropriately.

Mysterious Terrain: Will not be used.

Fortifications: If any fortifications are being used, they will be placed prior to army deployment by both players, after they have determined deployment zones. The player that chose their deployment zone first, places his Fortification first. Scratch-built fortifications will be allowed so long as they are closely the same size and shape of what they are meant to represent. If you are unsure if your fortification will be OK, ask first to avoid disappointment.

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

Barriers: All barriers grant cover per the book and are not considered to be Aegis Defense lines unless they were purchased and placed by a player.

Buildings/ruins: All buildings and ruins are assumed to have a ladder or other means for moving up and down. Rules in the Rule Book will be used for Ruins and Buildings.

Rock Towers, Crates, and Can Towers: Are impassible and block LOS completely (even if there are actual gaps in the terrain pieces).

All other terrain functions as outlined in the book.

What to Bring

• Your Army
• Tape Measure, Dice, Game Aids, etc.
• 3 Objective Markers on 25mm bases, 2 Objective Markers on 40mm bases.
• 9 Typed Copies of your army list. Be sure to include write how many Kill Points each of your units is worth on your list for ease of reference.
• All pertinent rules for your army. Codecis, White Dwarf Articles, Foregworld Rules, etc.
• If you are using a counts as army, YOU MUST HAVE YOUR PLAYER HANDOUT FOR YOUR OPPONENT IDENTIFYING WHAT EACH UNIT IN YOUR ARMY IS, NO EXCEPTIONS!! You don’t need to have one for every player, just one for the judges, and one to show each opponent.
• A rocking pair of Jean Shorts. Chicks dig em.