News about Blog Wars 4 incl. Change of Date

I'm sorry this has been a long time coming but what with post grad work, interviews and getting in as much 6th edition as possible I'm only just getting round to it.

The first and most important thing to say is that Blog Wars 4 will NOT be on October 14th as previously advertised. Unfortunately a good friend of mine has decided to have his stag do that weekend (inconsiderate I know) and therefore I won't be getting back until later on the Sunday. I'm extremely sorry if this causes anyone any inconvenience since I know some of you have to reserve your tournament days with the wife etc early on! I'm currently trying to get in touch with Maelstrom to reschedule and my preference would be either  3rd or 4th November (depending upon availability). As soon as Tim gets back to me I'll post it up on here so people can plan. At that point I'll also release tickets.

The rest of this post will outline the plans for Blog Wars 4. I'm trying to include as much 6th edition stuff as possible. There's a lot to cover so this will be a long post, please bear with me. The BW4 page will be updated to reflect all this. If anyone has strong objections or otherwise suggestions for improvements then by all means get in touch.

Ticket Price and Prizes
Unfortunately Maelstrom has increased the cost of catering ever so slightly and it now comes in at £8 per person. As I've previously mentioned I'm going to be restructuring the prize system so that there are more prizes available and less incentive to just bring a WAAC list and take the top prize. Here's what I propose:

1st Place: £25 Maelstrom Voucher
2nd Place: £15 Maelstrom Voucher
3rd Place: £10 Maelstrom Voucher 
Last Place: £5 Maelstrom Voucher & Wooden Spoon
Best Painted Army: £15 Maelstrom Voucher 
Best Painted Special Character: £10 Maelstrom Voucher 

Bear in mind we'll be getting a 15% discount in the shop (or potentially more if they have an offer on) so, for example, the first prize is actually £29.41. I think these are still pretty reasonable prizes. I appreciate it's a big drop from the previous prize structure but with more spare cash to give out either spot or door prizes I think it'll make more people happy. With this structure the ticket price can remain at £15 (which has to be a good thing) and if we get 20 people to attend that's a total prize pot of £140 (after food) and therefore £60 left over for spot/door prizes. Obviously every extra person over the 20 mark gives us another £7 onto that fund and again I'd like to try and run a raffle.

I'd really like to know what you guys think on this as I'm open to suggestions for improving it.

The Scenarios
By November, 6th edition will have been out around 4 months. Whilst for most of us this means we'll be pretty used to it I appreciate that some people don't game as much as I do. Therefore I think the scenarios need to be pretty straight forward to make it easier for people who are still trying to learn the rules. Here's what I'm planning for the missions.

Game 1 - Vanguard deployment (diagonal) with the Crusade mission (5 objectives) (#1 in the rulebook)
In this mission the Special Character counts as scoring

Game 2 - Hammer & Anvil deployment (end to end) with Relic mission (#6 in the rulebook)
In this mission the Special Character counts as scoring


Game 3 - Dawn of War deployment (6th ed, side to side) wth Purge the Alien mission (#2 in the rulebook)
In this mission the Special Character is worth +1VP e.g. if he's the Warlord he's worth 3VP.


I had several more complicated ideas for how the SCs would work but I think it's better to keep things simple to avoid confusion. I appreciate a roll of "6" on the Personal Traits chart makes a Warlord scoring anyway but if that's the result then people can re-roll it.

This means we'll play all three deployment types from the rulebook giving people a chance to learn them. The missions are chosen because they don't benefit a particular army too much. Big Guns Never Tire and the Scouring are great but it forces people to take more FA and HS choices. The Emperor's Will is just C&C from 5th and frankly isn't very exciting.

I'll put up a link to the official scenario descriptions on the BW4 page as soon as I can.

Mission Special Rules
As stated in the mission descriptions, each mission has Primary Objectives and Secondary Objective. All of these will be in effect but as ever I'll also be taking down VPs (5th edition style) to minimise clashes. The scoring structure will be the same as at BW3 with "degree of victory" based tournament points.

Each mission has Night Fighting, Mysterious Objectives and Reserves as described in the rulebook. I know some tournaments aren't doing the Mysterious Objectives but personally I think they're part of 6th so they should be in and they only affect the first game anyway.

Terrain
There's been some debate online about whether TOs, such as myself, should allow players to deploy terrain as in the rulebook. For the first Blog Wars of 6th edition the TERRAIN WILL BE FIXED. This is for two reasons, a) it prevents people from arguing over placement and b) it prevents damage to Maelstrom's scenery. This is still allowed for by the rulebook as "Narrative Terrain" instead of "Alternating Terrain" deployment.

However, unlike other tournaments I plan on classifying the terrain beforehand. This will mean that there are no debates about if this is a building or a ruin or whatever. I'll use common sense though, if it looks like a barricade that's what it'll be. Each table will have it's own terrain guide to classify the terrain and how it should be played. There will be some Mysterious Terrain and I expect people to play it that way. It's part of 6th edition so get used to it! I appreciate that some people will find this a bit restrictive but ultimately it saves time and gets games going quicker.

In addition, something that worked well at Summer Skirmish was the Archeotech Horde rule that Tim had us play. Basically all ruins have the chance to roll on the Archeotech Artefacts table. The first time a player triggers the terrain i.e. move within 2" of it you roll a D6. If the score is "1" then you roll 2D6 and consult the Archeotech chart.

Again I'd like to know what people think of these things.

Army Selection
I don't know about you guys but I'm finding that games of 6th edition are actually a fair bit quicker than 5th once you get the hang of it. Not having to faff about assigning wounds is probably the main reason. However, starting a game takes a little longer thanks to the Warlord Traits and random Psychic stuff. Therefore I'm going to increase the points limit to 1,850 which should still be easy to finish in the 2.5 hour slots and allow a little more room for those more expensive SCs. As with the previous 3 tournaments, you must take at least one Special Character in your army (though this doesn't have to be an HQ).

With regards to the new units, both flyers and fortifications may be taken in every army. I'm sure you've found as we have that neither is as all conquering as people thought at first. The reason for allowing forts is because for some armies that's their only access to Skyfire weaponry. Now I'm tempted to say that only Defense Lines and Bastions are allowed but I think if you really want to bring a Fortress of Redemption and pay out around 250pts for it then by all means go for it. However, the following restriction applies, no fortification can be placed within 6" of any table edge. This prevents people from using their FoR to cut off one corner of the board. On tables where there isn't room to place a fort, existing terrain from within the player's deployment zone can be removed to make space. This must be put back as close to it's original position at the end of the game though.

I appreciate that forts are meant to be placed before other terrain but I think this will make game setup take too long. If anyone has a solution then I'm all ears.

Against my better judgement I think Allies should be allowed. I'm not a fan of them as I think they allow people to pick and choose to much but they're part of 6th so I suppose I should get use to it. Your Warlord must come from the Primary Detachment though as must the SC acting as "Commander".

6th Edition Rules Queries
Now is the time to ask me for rulings about any ambiguous rules in the 6th edition book. I understand that there'll be new FAQs pretty soon and obviously any changes they make will be in effect at BW4. However, if you want to know if unit "x" is allowed or how unit "y" now functions then please get in touch now rather than having to sort it on the day.

Similarly, if you want to clarify what counts as an SC or if your models are acceptable in terms of "counts as" then let me know asap.

Conclusion
I'm hoping that Blog Wars 4 will be just as much fun as the first three were. There's no reason it shouldn't be and I hope with the new prize structure people will be less likely to bring something nasty just to take first prize (looking at you Humphris!). Now, obviously I'm aware it's still a tournament so people want to win but hopefully players will still enter into the spirit and bring something themed around an SC.

The aim with Blog Wars 4 is to incorporate as much 6th edition stuff as possible to find out what does and doesn't work. It's very easy to say "fortifications shouldn't be allowed" but until they've been tested on the tournament scene I don't think a proper decision can be made. Blog Wars 5 will therefore hopefully be better for having tested so many 6th edition things in BW4.