Troop Smash brings us his missoin analysis of the upcoming Renegade Open!
Renegade Open Missions
Renegade Open Army Building Guidelines
I did some research as I am familiar with the event as I listen to just about every 40k podcast so I am using that as a basis for spirit of the event. Bold move on the points scale down, I like the idea of trimming out some of the points that make those extremely point efficient armies a little less overwhelming. To my knowledge and to your claim this is the only sub 1850 major event so I am very anxious to see how this plays out as I believe lower points are what we need as well for now until more books get some love. But enough of me bantering over you and the event lets dive in shall we.
So firstly I’d like to say awesome job assembling the packet in an easy to follow format. You don’t simply state see ITC format for some of the meatier topics which is smart because not everyone is familiar with ITC inside and out yet, crazy I know c’mon people wake up lol jk jk. What I really like is how you can build a binder tabbed for all events and keep a tome for the events, gt’s and majors you plan on attending and have the data on hand, pro tip ladies and gentlemen your welcome.
Army Construction
This is well laid out and clean. You didn’t leave to my few passes any room for confusion. Possible edit, would be maybe move the Judges Note about scoring to maybe page 4 after Tertiary Objectives as it would likely make more sense in that section and fill some of the white space for a more even look.
Missions
Giving the player the ability to pick their mission has value two fold. It caters to players of all army types and all skill types. Your never truly at a disadvantage when your dictating how you want to earn points and I think that will show throughout your events in the later rounds of the event as players still stay engaged especially since you do the bracketing system as well this feature plays onto that so well. Caveat, the wording gets clunky, “Each may be used only once tournament (rounds 1-3).” Maybe reworded something to the effect of “Each Primary Mission is only usable once per tournament.” Also in the 5-6 round events does it recycle by day or something? That wasn’t abundantly clear to me but I am not the brightest star in the sky.
Renegade Maelstrom
Very straight forward. Only critique I’d offer is putting a cap on the bonus VP’s able to be scored, I can’t think of anything off hand that could let that run wild but gamers are gamers lol. But from a scoring scale and progression standpoint you may not want someone able to score 4 extra VP and just slingshot to the front and no one else even has the chance to compete due to pairings not awarding them opportunity maybe? Food for thought I wouldn’t put much into it but just keep an eye on it in case it does happen then I am a genius.
Tertiary Objectives
Straight forward, I like the Solo-Blood concept giving depth to the normal, to me boring and unbalanced, first blood mechanic. Just want to reiterate my comment from the army construction section moving the info to fill white space.
Pre-Game Setup
Maybe add round times, I don’t know if this is the place to do it but I wanted to write something other than looks good lol.
Scoring Sheets and Mission Sheets
I would suggest scale down the Table image size and add more room for players to write notes and such. This is a good sheet for them to track powers, WL traits etc. so try to give some extra real estate for them. I love the way it combos with the score sheet as well. I found myself using the mission sheet until after the game was over then going to the score sheet. I did do it a few ways like maintain both simultaneous but I think that comes down to player preference. All the info is there that needs to be and helps judges etc. see what happened. Question, will you be using the best coast pairings app? I personally haven’t run an event with it yet myself so think about if you are mirroring how data entry looks on there with this.
My Games
So I played roughly 15 playtest games on your format over the last week using multiple armies and setting unfair match-ups purposefully as well as what I believe will be your top tables matchups. So what I did notice was the score system being 11 points is awesome, but brutal. But I wouldn’t touch it as it forces players to make the best decisions. Losing out on a 4-point swing in a match can be disastrous, but not the complete end of the world. Most of my games were extremely close. I was maxing points easier with the “better armies” but was still able to max with stuff less net listed. People that play certain armies I label them in certain table brackets and the way this works I feel like they will remain engaged throughout as having 19 points after round 3 and seeing the top guys at 33 well just inherently says I’m still in the fight. I liked the ability to pick and choose, it set the tone for the bad match-ups. Overall you have a really solid product here. Please take all my critiques with a grain of salt, they are mere suggestions and in no means a knock towards your event or packet. I shall have my eye on this event more closely as I want to see if my predictions are true. I think the army that wins this event will be a shocker to all as it likely won’t be any of the “big 3” (eldar, gladius/lionsblade, war con)
Justin Troop
AKA TroopSmash