Hello Warhammer 40k fans SaltyJohn from TFG Radio, and LVO head judge, here to share a video we did at TFG Radio showing the use of the new ITC beta rules for Chess Clocks in 40k!
I know many of you probably want to jump straight to the comments to either deride the use of Chess Clocks in 40k or go fight those who will inevitably deride their use in 40k. Before doing so finish this article at the very least. There has been an endemic problem with Warhammer 40k for several editions now. One that people have constantly observed but which little has been done to curb. That problem is Slow Play. By Slow Play, I don’t just mean players who intentionally play slow to win or gain an advantage but also those players who play slow and therefore have their games not finish to a natural conclusion. Games finishing turn 2, 3, or even 4, is just not acceptable in a competitive environment. There are two possible solutions to this problem, lower points, and clocks. Neither of those solutions seems to make many players happy, with many players preferring to see a database made of players known to be a problem and track their issues combined with the imposition of harsh punitive measures against players who are proven to be issues based on this database. So, that would be a lot of work, and a nightmare to maintain plus it would be quite controversial. Players generally give major pushback to the idea of decreased points levels as well; so it isn’t surprising that we’ve found ourselves in a position where the ITC has released beta chess clock rules for 40k to be used in the top 8 and at top tables of tournaments.
In an effort to help FLG and ITC show just what games with a Chess Clock in 40k would look like TFG Radio agreed to do several live streams on Twitch using them and then port them over into videos on YouTube. Below you’ll find the first game we played using the Chess Clock, we played the game on 3-13-18, and it is Dark Angels piloted by Tom Malone versus Eldar piloted by Jeff Poole.
Overall the Chess Clocks worked great. We plan to do another stream soon featuring at least one “horde” style army, most likely Orks or Tyranids. This way people can get a feel for what it’s like to have the clocks used in a game with at least one large model count army. No, I don’t think a player should get more time simply due to their army construction. You aren’t entitled to 90% of the game time just because of the army list you’re using. To stay up to date on what TFG Radio is up to, like when we will go live with our Twitch Show, or a game on Twitch, when the podcast is uploaded etc follow TFG Radio on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to get a notification when we go live on Twitch give us a follow there as well. Until next time, I encourage you to try out a game of 40k with the Chess Clocks using the beta ITC rules for them. The rules aren’t perfect, and there probably needs to be a few changes here and there but you can’t be a relevant part of the conversation about their use in 40k if haven’t tried. Also remember these aren’t compulsory rules either, they’re optional for TOs to use as they see fit for their events.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
For viewing purposes, the chess clock was great! The added tension of the clock and knowing when the game will end was a huge improvement.
Yeah, that is one of the primary benefits in my mind in regards to making the game more enjoyable to watch.
not sure how it would work in the super massive tourney’s but I just played in a 40 person tourney where the scoring was 20 for a win 5 for a draw 1 for a loss, and 10 if you were finished in time.
not one late game at 2k.
it sure was an interesting experiment:)