Adam from the Dice Abide wants to host a Fantasy tournament!

So as some of you may remember, I am a HUGE fan of the book scenarios for Warhammer Fantasy. I believe that when you have to take them all into account, it actually forces you to make a more balanced list, rather than just playing Battleline, which tends to really favor deathstar and point denial style lists.

With that in mind, how do you fit those 6 scenarios into a 3-round tournament? Well, here’s my idea…

TDA Warhammer Fantasy Tournament Format

Army Restrictions & Rules

• The 8th edition set of rules must be used.
• There is a 2500 point limit to army lists.
• You must create your army using the most recent edition of the appropriate Warhammer Armies book or the Chaos Dwarf list located in the Forge World Tamurkhan book. Storm of Chaos, Dogs of War and Lustria lists are NOT allowed. Special characters are permitted, and the only restricted magic item is Fozzrik’s Folding Fortress.
• Trial Rules and Appendix armies are NOT permitted.
• The most current rules clarifications from the official GW Warhammer FAQ will be in use.
• Hills and Forests follow standard BRB LoS rules (if you actually get to model eye view, you’ll notice that hills actually DO block LOS for most infantry).
• Unit cap of 30 Infantry / 10 Monstrous Infantry models for entering a building (any unit can still assault one though).
• No fixed terrain. Instead, players take turns placing terrain (and must use all pieces on the table) each game. No piece may be placed within 6″ of another piece of terrain. Each board will have 8 pieces of terrain (the average number using the random terrain generator is about 8.0555 when you factor in the Encampments). Walls will be 3 pieces deployed as if they were 1.
• All mysterious terrain is of the same type, i.e. once a unit enters a mysterious woods, all mysterious woods on the table are of the same type, similar with rivers.

Scenarios

At the beginning of each round, the tournament organizer will roll a gigantic dice, or flip a coin to determine the scenario being played. After the scenario is determined, the players will then begin the game as normal.

Round 1: Meeting Engagement / Hammer and Anvil

If Meeting Engagement is played, players may roll for a unit with any included characters, instead of rolling for characters separately, just like Dawn Attack.

Round 2: The Watchtower / Blood and Glory

The player controlling The Watchtower at the end of the game is awarded an extra 500 victory points, instead of automatically winning. The player to first break their opponent in Blood and Glory is awarded an extra 500 victory points instead of automatically winning.

Round 3: Dawn Attack / Battleline

These Scenarios are played like normal with no modification.

Determining the Winner

Determining the winner is pretty simple, if you only have 8 players, then there will only be one player who is 3-0. If you have more than 8, then take all the players who went 3-0 and compare who gained the most victory points cumulatively though their games for a tie breaker.

Now, I’m not saying that this format wont change a bit, but I think it’s a really good starting point. I know that a lot of people hate a few of the book scenarios, but I am not convinced that they aren’t fine in competition, mostly because planning to assault a building, or occupy it, while diverting the rest of the enemy army away is actually a fun challenge. When you don’t understand the scenario, then sure, you’re going to get your butt kicked, but that’s fine, it’s a tournament! If you are one of those people who doesn’t like The Watchtower, I suggest you read the two articles I’ve written on it: Winning The Watchtower and In Defense of The Watchtower.