Be sure to tune in for the live coverage of the event! We work all year long on this event and now it is finally here. The Las Vegas Open 2016 is going to be one for the record books.
The Las Vegas Open is a 3 day gaming convention in, you guessed it, Las Vegas! We’ve got a bevy of events to participate in and are extremely excited to bring them to you all. The event initially sold out in just a few weeks, so we expanded out into two more halls and now have some room left in many events for those would like to come out last minute and join us!
We’ll also be broadcasting the event live on our Twitch Channel. Check the broadcasting schedule, here to see when and what we’re showing. If you can’t be there in person, tune in to the event form home!
Swing by if you’d like to browse and shop, too! We’ve got some incredible deals for you on gaming merchandise from a wide variety of vendors, F.A.T. Mats, and more!
Our flagship event, the 40k Championships is sitting at 330 players! We are absolutely thrilled to have such a strong showing and proud to say this will be the largest Warhammer 40k singles event, ever! We still have room for 15 or so more players if anyone would like to come out and join the fun at this incredible event. We’ve also got a 40k Team Tournament planned in the style of the ETC or ATC, which we are very excited for. Also, the 40k Knight Joust looks to be an absolute blast, with over 50 players bringing out an Imperial Knight to battle until only 1 remains standing! The 40k Narrative looks to be incredible as well, with huge, beautiful, themed tables and armies battling it out over 3 days of story driven fun.
Some of the best players in the world will be battling it out for the coveted top spots in the ITC for overall and best of for each faction. After a year of great gaming, only one will remain to take home the trophies, prizes and glory! So far, Alan Bajraomic is sitting pretty to take it all if he performs well at the LVO, but Geoff “InControl” Robinson of Starcraft II fame is hot on his heals in 2nd place and a slew of great players are looking for any chance to jump into first place in the last tournament of the season!
We’ve got a great turnout coming for our Horus Heresy 30k event! Jump in and see the gorgeous armies on Sunday. We’ve got some great players coming, and you can throw some dice with Carl Tuttle from the Independent Characters podcast. We even had an actor from Star Trek playing in the event, last year!
This is by far, the largest Warmachine and Hordes event we’ve ever hosted! Privateer Press is coming in force for the LVO this year, and we can’t wait to see who pulls out victory over the course of the weekend. With Warmachine Weekend qualification, Master’s events, open gaming, team events and a slew of steam powered fun, this is going to be a can’t miss event for any Warmachine enthusiast! Come and join in on the fun as we have room for a few more!
We will be bidding a fond farewell to Warhammer Fantasy in what is likely to be the last Fantasy master’s event. While the game may be gone, the players are coming together for one last test of luck and skill at the LVO.
If skirmish games are your thing, we’ve got loads to offer! X-Wing, Infinity, Dropzone Commander, Warzone, Malifaux and more! We’ve also got a ton of open gaming that’s free to play so long as you have your Convention Badge, thanks to the local Las Vegas gaming clubs!
If painting and modeling are more your deal, we’ve got a ton of hobby classes to choose from as well as the Draconic Awards to enter your best minis into!
The LVO is at its core, a social event. Friendship, gaming and making good memories in Vegas is what its all about. We’ve got Pub Crawls, dinner time socials, and daytime socials planned for non gaming spouses and significant others so that they have a great time, too!
It’s going to be an incredible event and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend. If you’re curious to see what all the fuss is about, come out and join us in Vegas for a fantastic 3 days of gaming!
Ready!
See you soon, buddy!
The LVO is on my bucket list. I hope you guys have a fantastic event and good luck to everyone one!
Thank you, sir!
I’d recommend a post that outlines the new FAQ in which you, once again, nerfed Tau without good reason. Considering its the week of your event, this seems a little unprofessional and thought-out.
I personally didn’t do anything, or if you are referring to FLG as a collective you then I suppose that’s a little clearer. When we have the next vote, We’ll Cover Many Of these issues. However, a call had to be made for the event and we had a staggering amount of material to cover. These were the interim judgements we Made. If you don’t agree with some of them, that is unfortunate but we know we will never have 100% agreement on anything. It’s just the way it goes.
Its not so much the changes that are bothersome, its the timing and the lack of transparency about the changes. I understand its tough to make these decisions and that no matter what you do, someone, or everyone will be unsatisfied. Wasn’t trying to throw shade your way, just recommending that you either don’t make last minute changes next go around, or you do a better job advertising changes. And by you, I mean FLG as a collective, or whoever the Czar is.
Fair enough, but as I said, we had nearly 600 rules questions to answer, it was crazy. Took longer than anticipated. We always strive for transparency and value it as organizes and players. However, in the insane work load leading up to the event, sometimes we don’t have the time to do things in a way that pleased everyone as much as we wish we could.
Sorry, but that is a bunch of BS. You might as well be saying, “we can put whatever rules we feel like”.
You added 7 new FAQs, 5 of them were against Tau. It is disgusting how much you guys are nerfing one particular army.
The one FAQ in particular which is ridiculous is the ghost keels only being able to activate its ability 1 single time even in a group. That is against both clear RAW and clear RAI and was done for no other reason than a nerf
I have to come to the defense of Frontline here, as a judge at a recent tournament the question regarding Ghostkeels came up, and it’s definitely not clear RAW or clear RAI. You’re being disingenuous to claim otherwise.
This has been discussed et nauseum already. The rule clearly states the ability is activated BY ONE MODEL and then the ability AFFECTS THE UNIT. That means it can be activated once per model in the unit.
And as for RAI, why would you ever take 3 in a unit then? Taking 3 separate ones would mean I could activate it three separate times, but put together I can only ever activate it once?
Go to dakkadakka, warseer, etc and it is obvious that the vast majority of people see the rule as I stated
NotreDameGuy, you’re obviously far too angry to discuss things rationally, but I (and I’m sure the good people at Frontline as well) examined the rule from a completely objective standpoint, and it certainly wasn’t clear. If it makes you feel better, in the tournament that I was referring to, I actually ruled the opposite, and allowed the unit to use the ability 3 times, but I can certainly see how someone could rule the other way. I’m sorry that you disagree with how the FAQ team at Frontline has ruled.
i am angry and rightly so. You guys have been nerfing Tau more than any other army EVER.
And this particular rules has already been discussed to death across all major forums and the consensus of about 90% of the people is it can be activated once per model.
It literally says once per battle a MODEL may activate the ability. The UNIT then uses the ability. No where does it say every single model has to activate the ability simultaneously as that would just be dumb.
You guys? I have no involvement at all with Frontline or their FAQ council, I just happen to be a rules judge for other events. Not to rehash an entire debate, but the exact rules on the holophoton countermeasures are:
“Once per battle, in the enemy shooting phase, a model with HC can disrupt the targeting systems used by one enemy unit that is targeting it or the unit it belongs too. Declare that the unit will use the Holophoton Countermeasures after the enemy unit has chosen it as a target, but before any to hit rolls are made.”
The first sentence says the model uses it, the second sentence says the unit uses it. I’d say that’s ambiguous. It’s certainly not clear to everyone, including the FAQ council at Frontline. As I said before, I disagree with the ruling they made, but I can certainly see why they could rule that way, and it has nothing to do with “nerfing Tau,” its just FAQing an ambiguous rule.
It really isn’t all that vague. Each Ghostkeel model is equipped with the countermeasures and it says once per game the model may make an opposing unit’s shooting attack snapfire. We all acknowledge that wording, and that’s a part that is very clear.
When we get to the part that says the unit though, there’s a big thing that must be pointed out: Ghostkeel units are not purely Ghostkeels; they have Stealth Drones too. You have to pick a Ghostkeel model to activate holophotons; if only drones are left, there are no holophotons to activate. Again, not too complicated, beyond the usual sort of complication of mixed units (nothing that gets ambiguous anywhere else though).
The reason for the wording at the end is to avoid (oddly enough) the ambiguous situation in the first place; if the rule would only affect the Ghostkeels individually, it wouldn’t do anything, as the unit could still be shot at normally (or specifically, the Drones could). The language complication in the paragraph emerges from tying in the context of making the shot for the opposing unit, and when the actual Holophotons kick in.
I think where one of the biggest complaints emerges though is the updated FAQ was rolled out with no fanfare or warning at all; a number of people came across it quite by chance a few days ago, and are upset about the changes being forced down by ITC without any discussion at the time of proclamation, particularly when there is a great deal of ambiguity with some of the other forces right now which has still yet to be addressed.
Ironically, these changes are also pushing more and more Tau players into running multiple Riptides / Riptide Wings to compensate (it’s difficult to deal with Stormshield Spam or massed Invulnerable saves otherwise for Tau), pushing tournament armies into a direction that the updated book (with the Hunter Contingent as written and other formations) were really designed to avoid; by emphasizing small units (for HC, which incidentally are terribly easy to kill, giving the Hunter Contingent a mighty Achilles’ Heel) and the lesser seen Stealth Teams and the like (virtually unseen outside of a way to get a Homing Beacon on the table), the book was designed to reward diverse armies, while still giving mechanisms to deal with more concentrated enemy forces (Death Stars, Knights, and so on); instead the ITC, through rulings like this, are penalizing anything outside of a poor man’s knockoff of ‘Pacific Rim.’
Given that situation, I would imagine the Riptide Wing next one that will get killed off, if only because it’s so common in Tau armies at a tournament level.
If the Hunter Contingent gets restored, then the problem disappears almost entirely, and the diversity in Tau armies will increase dramatically, as they’ll be forced to balance themselves between larger numbers of small units (easier to kill off, and have trouble dealing with tougher enemy forces, but rewarding Coordinated Firepower), and heavier elements (of which Riptide and Stealth Wings cannot benefit from said ruling) which can take a hit, but are less able to take advantage of the benefits of the Hunter Contingent in the first place.
@John, well said.
I don’t think the anchored-Stormsurge ruling on tank shocks is a nerf. Because the anchored-Stormsurge couldn’t move, it likely would have been removed from play on a tank shock under RAW. D3 wounds beats removal from play from a rhino running into a stormsurge.
Well, the Unstoppable rule would prevent it from being removed from play (and deal d3 wounds instead), so really all the ruling does is clarify what happens in a situation that would otherwise have no obvious resolution.
I have to call BS here, too. I saw the updates, they’re all pretty reasonable clarifications of poorly written rules (ghostkeel included) within frontline’s typical conservative approach. Until the internet tau TFGs get involved, and then there is much wailing and rending of clothes and so on, all behind a veil of “how could you ever possibly conceivably think the rule could work any other way than what’s best for my Tau army”.
Even if you assume this is some sort of anti-Tau conspiracy, you still have one of the best books in the game. So here’s a straw… http://uc3.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/bandwidth-straw.jpg
…so you can suck it up.
Read some forums. The general consensus is:
Piranha wing: clearly against RAW but makes sense
Stormsurge: RAI middle ground
Ghostkeel: Could possibly be interpreted 2 ways, but they went with the way the vast majority of people disagree with (including non-Tau players)
Void Shield: Makes no sense, unless you are telling me units inside the void shield can’t shoot out of it either.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/678734.page
Hey notredameguy, thanks for sharing your opinion. I understand you’re frustrated but the fundamental disconnect here is that you’re looking at things form only your own perspective. You may not think a rule is ambiguous but that doesn’t mean people that do are objectively wrong. Different people read the rules differently. When a call has to be made for our attendees, we make it. You may construct a narrative in your mind that were out to get you or your army or whatever based off of your interpretation of the rules calls but that is quite simply not the case. We stand to gain nothing from doing that and risk our integrity if we were to do something foolish like that. It would be a poor choice. However, you’re free to see it however you choose. I have no control over that and so don’t worry about it. I get emails from players of ever faction saying the same thing, that were biased against whomever, but it’s just them being upset about a rule call not going their way. Lol, in fact I just had an ork player, of all things, accuse me of “singlehandedly” making his army unplayable for a rule change we DIDN’T make, hahaha. That was a first. At any rate, I’m sorry you feel upset about a rule call but there’s really no need to get so upset. We’re not out to get you, the game is still a blast to play and of your gaming group wants to play some of the rules differently, go right ahead and have fun playing the game.
I’m just upset that the FAQ still says “Last Updated 6-17-2015.” Incorrect info! Rage! Table Flips! Random Threat!!
You’re going to get accused of bias, regardless of how you and ITC create the FAQ. I’ve worked with the wording of political surveys for several years now; it’s amazing the sort of reaction changing the emphasis on a word, or a singular word, can actually do to the reaction to a statement (“*she’s* the only one who loved me” versus “she’s the *only* one who loved me”).
The real solution is to (ironically enough) let the players of those factions write the FAQ for themselves, given certain time limits, constraints based around interpretations of the general rules (done through ITC centrally), and have it distributed through ITC.
Not only do you simplify the process on ITC’s end of getting ready for tournaments, since there’s a significantly smaller range of rules to review (Core book, essentially), but you get a far *faster* reaction time to rules issues; you said so yourself replying to another comment that “[W]e had nearly 600 rules questions to answer, it was crazy.” That’s truly insane, but the last FAQ change dealt with seven total. Seven. If you devolve answering those questions to the people most familiar to them (in all cases), you simplify the process, speed it up, and solve the issues of bias entirely (Yes, they are biased, but the FAQ for everyone is biased now).
There’s also the additional advantage of avoiding doldrums in rulings. Take, as an example, the ruling for the void shield from the update:
“Any shooting attack or rule that requires a hit on a unit that is protected by a Void Shield hits the shield instead. Example: Psychic Witchfires, Marker Lights, etc. This will often nullify these attacks.”
The void shield generator itself is likewise protected from these, as it is (in turn) protected by it’s own shield. In effect, the shield creates a bubble that negates any Witchfire or Markerlight hit, regardless of the target, or even against attacks directed against the source of the shield itself. The ruling has cleared up a handful of complications, maybe, but has also opened up a great deal more.
On the other hand, if you leave questions like that to the people who specialize in them, routinely use them, and are experienced with them, then precise wording is a near certainty. There’s no muddling of wording, or what a rule entails, because the people who have been playing with those particular things the most are the people who can explain it best.
I’ll even say this: Give me the portion of the questions directed at the Tau, and I’ll get a group of experienced Tau players to write the FAQ for those questions by the time that LVO hits. I’m sure there’d be plenty of players for the other factions willing to do the same, and then ITC can wash its collective hands entirely of any issues of bias, and end a great many annoying emails and flamewars in the process.
There is always voting with your wallet and moving on from the tourney, or perhaps not relying on a handful of crutch rules to dominate your list.
Yeah the rage people bring against FLG is mind boggling. If you don’t do, then use your own ruleset or dont pay to go to an itc event. It is really that simple.
A) I never raged and I honestly haven’t seen any raging in this thread.
B) It is sort of difficult to avoid ITC, many events in my local area (VA) have adopted it, so unless I want to remove myself from those events, I have to deal with the implications of their FAQs.
C) The timing is the biggest issue I have with this, I fully expected a Firestream nerf, so im not surprised by it. I am more surprised by ITC making a ruling on the hush-hush right before a big event (which, IIRC, one of their justifications for the immediate Hunter Cadre nerf, was that it’d be unfair to players who build a list/army and then find out later it has been nerfed). I know at least one player who was using both of the things that got nerfed (firestream and a 2man team of Ghostkeels in the OSC) and he was given, essentially, no time at all to react to the changes. That isn’t right and should be mitigated in the future as to not run into a situation like this again.
Agreed. We’ve got more and more tournament people coming to our gaming store now to get ready, and with the limited amount of space available (and the one night a week that we have a chance to reserve multiple tables for open gaming; this store gets very crowded), it’s impossible to separate the tournament “I’m only playing the game my way” from the casual players. We’ve increasingly been forced to adopt ITC and Adepticon rules (despite the fact that there’s no tournament nearby that uses the former within the immediate future). We’re starting to see the usual crowd (not just Tau players) disappear because the tournament/ITC people are poisoning the gaming environment for everyone else, and it’s getting worse, not better.
*poorly thought-out.
Go Alan!
haters gonna hate
cannot wait 🙂
If anyone is covering or blogging or even just planning on bat-repping the knight joust, I’d love to know where I need to be watching!
I am very jelly, maybe one day I will travel accross the Atlantic sea and join the fun.
Is the main 40k event setup that anyone can face anyone round 1?
e.g If I had the priviliege of you joining your event this year, I would have a 1/329 chance of facing InControl?
You can make a challenge on Round 1 and as long as your opponent accepts, that wouldn’t be a problem.
But I gotta warn you, you are looking at a 300+ people tournament. Things can get pretty hectic. I had a call out last year and the TO’s even knew about it ahead of time. However, due to a data entry error (I wasn’t entered into their system!), I didn’t get paired up against him. These are the types of logisitical issues that can creep up in such a large tournament.
Sounds cool!
Good luck guys, I am sure the event will be awesome like always. Perhaps by next year I will have a clue how to play 40k again with the 147 sources now available.
I’m stoked. So exciting….
Not a Frontline member, but wow there is a lot of rage. There are pages upon pages of the faqs to read. If they didn’t clarify these rules, I believe there would be a lot more crying between GW faqs and how the rule book states a dispute: roll off on dice. What frontline is doing is trying to make the rules more justified than just your opponent saying “I’m right, you’re wrong. Let’s roll a dice.” There will always be heat and debates but I think the part everyone is missing is that they are not participating in the tournament they are trying to answer questions to rules that GW game developers have been overlooking every edition for years. The dice roll off was a horrible way to determine rules, such as back in 5th 50% of the time I would be able to ignore Jaws of the Wolf with Jump Packs and the other half get swallowed by it before there was a clarification of how it actually worked. Some last minute faqs will obviously upset people, but if a rule needs to be addressed because people disagree how it works it is better to do so before the tournament then have people flip out in the middle of a game over a judge ruling. It definitely looks better if the rules are on paper, instead of just word of mouth cause then that makes people mad at the judges.