Blog Wars 7 - Retribution


Blog Wars 7: Retribution
Saturday June 14th 2014

Kindly sponsored by:
Discount Wargaming
Miniature Painting Service

PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ THIS RULES PACK BEFORE THE EVENT!

Tickets
SOLD OUT! Please use the contact me link to be added to the Reserves List. Tickets are on sale now!

Tickets will remain at the bargain price of £15 each. However, only £10 of the ticket price will be refunded if you have to cancel for any reason (except in extreme circumstances). If you drop out after the army list submission deadline (2 weeks prior to the event) then you will not be eligible for any refund at all. Please this when buying a ticket!

I will, of course, refund the full £15 to everyone if I have to cancel the event for any reason but that hasn't happened yet!

Event Location
North West Gaming Centre in Stockport. For those not sure where the venue is the address is:

North West Gaming Centre
Hallam Mill, 
Hallam Street,
Stockport,
SK2 6PT,


Click on the map to make it larger. If anyone has questions about getting to the venue then don't hesitate to contact me and I'll help as best I can. The venue is pretty close to Stockport Railway Station so it's worth considering that as an option. There's also a Premier Inn across the road for those who want to stay over the night before/after.


Event Schedule
Each game will be played at 1,850 points with 3 games in total. Games will be 2.5 hours each and the schedule will look like this:

09:00-09:30 - Registration 

09:45-12:15 - First Game
12:15-13:00 - Lunch
13:00-15:30 - Second Game
15:45-18:15 - Third Game
18:30-19:00 - Results & Awards


Prizes
There will be awards for: 1st, 2nd & 3rd place, Last place, Best Painted Army and Best Painted SC. These will take the form of store credit and the venue offers 15% off GW. There will also be a series of spot prizes throughout the day and, as usual, a raffle at the end. The prize breakdown is as follows:

1st Place: Certificate & £25 voucher 
2nd Place: Certificate & £15 voucher
3rd Place: Certificate & £10 voucher
Last Place: Certificate, £5 voucher & Limited Edition Wooden Spoon!
Best Painted Army: Certificate & £15 voucher
Best Painted Special Character: Certificate & £10 voucher

The raffle and spot prize pot is based on the number of players. The more tickets that are sold, the bigger the prize pot! These will therefore be announced nearer the time when numbers have been confirmed.

Refereeing 
This time around I'll only be participating if there isn't an even number of players on the day. Assuming I'm not playing I'll be on hand to act as a referee. That being said, I'd hope this wouldn't be necessary most of the time as it's intended to be a friendly tournament. If you and your opponent cannot come to an agreement about a particular issue then please ask the players on adjacent tables. If no mutually acceptable resolution can be found then I'll be happy to provide a final adjudication which may simply be a roll off where the rules are not clear.

As ever, please try and contact me in advance with queries so that rulings can be discussed before the event rather than on the day.

Army Selection 
Each army can cost up to and including 1,850pts. Standard force organisation charts apply but each army MUST include a Special Character (not necessarily as an HQ though). Lists must be submitted at least two weeks before the event (May 31st) failure to do so will result in a points penalty.

The allowed Special Characters for each army are listed here. I will keep this up to date with each new codex release before the event. If you believe there is an error regarding your army's choice of characters then please contact me. These characters must be in your Primary Detachment but do not necessarily have to be your Warlord.


Any current army with a codex that's been released prior to the list submission deadline will be allowed and all current GW FAQs will be applicable. In the event that there are a significant number of rules queries that are not addressed in the official FAQs then I may draft a Blog Wars specific FAQ.


The following codices are permitted: 


Adepta Sororitas

Astra Militarum
Blood Angels 

Chaos Daemons
Chaos Space Marines 
Dark Angels
Dark Eldar

Eldar
Grey Knights

Inquisition
Necrons
Orks
Space Marines
Space Wolves
Tau Empire
Tyranids

IA units or indeed entire IA armies are not permitted. I've previously allowed them but I've found it opens up too many options for abuse. Generally I think it penalises players who aren't familiar with the IA books and therefore the units they describe. It also penalises people who don't want to fork out for FW models in an already expensive hobby.

Imperial Knights, Escalation and Stronghold Assault will not be in use at Blog Wars 7. I've given this a lot of thought and I just don't like the idea of people bringing certain Lords of War and being able to win easily.

Supplements are permitted provided you have a digital or hard copy of the relevant "book". Please make it clear on your army list that you will be using the rules from a particular supplement.

Electronic versions of codices/supplements are acceptable, however, please ensure your tablet is fully charged before the event so that the books can be accessed throughout the day if necessary.

"Counts as" and proxy armies are welcome as long as it is clear to your opponent and that there is no advantage to be gained from using it. For example, using a wraithlord to represent a wraithknight would mean a smaller model and hence a gaming advantage. If in doubt please check with me BEFORE the event by email and include pictures if necessary.

Ideally armies should be fully painted (and there will be a Best Painted award to highlight particularly stunning efforts), however, I understand how much time and effort this takes so a three colour minimum with appropriate basing is the minimum compulsory requirement. Unpainted models are not acceptable.

Scenery
Scenery will be provided by the venue and will be made as even as possible prior to the event. If both sides are unhappy then come and find me and it can be re-arranged but try to avoid doing this in order to prevent delays starting the game.

Alternating scenery deployment (as described in the rulebook) will NOT be used to save setup time. Fortifications will therefore be placed after static scenery but can displace existing pieces to make room for larger fortifications at both players discretion. This will be covered in the Pre-Game Sequence that will be sent to all participants prior to the event.

Matchups
The pairings will be random for the first round and then chosen using "Swiss Pairs" in the subsequent two rounds. 

Scenarios
The scenarios will be as follows and are subject to playtesting which may lead to slight alterations: 

Game 1 - Cleanse the Xenos with Hammer & Anvil deployment
Game 2 - The Emperor's Relic with Vanguard deployment
Game 3 - Control Freak with Dawn of War deployment

Cleanse the Xenos (like Purge The Alien - see what I did?)
The points value of each unit you've destroyed (referred to here as Blood Points or BP) is added up. Destroying the single chosen special character will gain you 100 bonus BP. This gives a maximum of 1,950 BP (1,850 for the army plus 100 bonus for the SC). The total will then be converted into a VP score out of 30 to determine placings for the second round.

Units which have suffered 50% or more casualties will give up half of their points value (rounding up). Multi-wound models (e.g. ICs, MCs, etc) will give up half of their value (rounding up) if they have lost 50% or more of their wounds. Similarly, vehicles which have lost 50% or more of their hull points will give up half of their value (rounding up) e.g. a rhino with 1 HP remaining is worth 18 pts.

Tabling your opponent does, of course, give you maximum points in this round. If your opponent generates extra units (e.g. spawned termagants or daemons from a portalglyph) they are worth their standard unit cost e.g. 7 spawned termagants = 28 BPs. However, the maximum number of VPs for the round is capped at 30. This means you could potentially score the full 30 without tabling your opponent if they spawn enough extra models, although in practice this is unlikely.

There are several units which give up bonus VPs on their death e.g. Ethereals, Bjorn the Fell-Handed, etc. These units are worth their usual number of Blood Points plus any extra VPs applicable. This should be indicated in the "Bonus VPs" section of the score sheet. Once again, the maximum number of VPs is capped at 30.

Secondary objectives - First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker

The Emperor's Relic
Based on a combination of Relic and Emperor's Will. There's one central fixed objective worth 10 VPs plus each player has one objective they can place in their deployment zone. If you hold your own objective at the end of the game you score 5 VPs. If you hold your opponent's objective you score 15 VPs. Your single chosen special character will count as scoring.

Tabling your opponent DOES NOT automatically give you maximum points. If, at the end of any game turn, one player has no models remaining on the table, the game ends immediately and the players determine how many objectives are being controlled by the victor. If you table your opponent and are not controlling any objectives you will score ZERO primary VPs. Please bear this in mind when writing your army lists.

Secondary objectives - First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker

Control Freak
Three objective markers are placed along the centre line of the board as shown in the diagram below:


Each one of these objectives is a control point. At the end of each PLAYER turn a controlled objective is worth 1 VP. The game is limited to five turns. This means a maximum VP total of 30 (i.e 10 player turns and 3 objectives). Scoring units are as described in the 40K rulebook with the exception that your chosen special character is scoring.

Tabling your opponent DOES NOT automatically give you maximum points. If, at the end of any game turn, one player has no models remaining on the table, the game ends immediately with no further scoring possible. In the unlikely event that you table your opponent before controlling any objectives you will score ZERO primary VPs. Please bear this in mind when writing your army lists.

Secondary objectives - First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker

Scoring
There will be a maximum of 30 primary VPs available in each round. There are secondary missions in all three rounds (please note these are different in round 3), which will be recorded separately. The total VPs (primary + secondary = 33 VPs per round) will still be used for determining the placings for subsequent rounds and overall winner.

As indicated in the Special Characters document, characters who can't leave their vehicle override the vehicles can't score/deny rule. This includes scoring the Linebreaker secondary objective.

Two score sheets will be issued to each table to help minimise errors.

What do I need to bring? 
As with any tournament you'll need the normal things you use to play a game of 40K plus a few extras.

You will need: 

  • Your painted army (at least three colours)
  • 3 copies of your army list (preferably typed) with your name and entrant number (your entrant number is the same as the list above)
  • A copy of the BW7 Event Pack
  • 40K 6th edition rulebook (and FAQ)
  • Your army's codex/codices/supplements (and relevant FAQs)
  • Dice, templates and gaming aids
  • Super glue/plastic glue for emergency repairs
  • Three objective markers (don't need to be anything fancy)
  • A tray for moving your army between games.
Please do your best to remember to take everything with you when you leave. I'll be staying around afterwards to clear up and I'll do my best to reunite people with lost items but suffice to say I don't want to clear up people's mess!

What do we get to eat/drink? 

The venue is providing lunch for us (included in your ticket) and has a bar selling drinks, chocolate, crisps, etc. We will have table service from the bar throughout the day so there's no need to move during games if you're feeling lazy!!

Current Entrants List
Names of those who have purchased tickets will appear here after tickets have gone on sale. Depending on how popular the event is I'll add more spots if necessary.

2. Graham Sanders (Claws & Fists) Astra Militarum/Eldar
3. Tom Brown - Chaos Daemons/Chaos Space Marines
4. Nathaniel Gibbs Grey Knights
5. Andy Peters Tau Empire/Space Marines
6. Thomas Carr Space Wolves/Space Marines
7. Martin Waine Space Wolves
8. Simon White (Great White Miniatures/Fort Wargame) - Astra Militarum
9. Chris Buckle Dark Angels/Astartes Stormwing
10. Daniel Johnson Chaos Daemons
11. Tess Yoxall Eldar
12. Matthew Grimes - Blood Angels/Astartes Stormwing
13. Chris Johal Space Marines/Tau Empire
14. Hendrik Müller-Joswig Eldar
15. Chris Benstead (Weemen) - Chaos Space Marines
16. James Lamb (Red Steel Preston/Sheep of War) - Grey Knights/Inquisition
17. Mark Ashworth (Red Steel Preston) - Astra Militarum/Space Marines
18. Mark Norris (Red Steel Preston) - Blood Angels
19. Ben Greaves (Red Steel Preston) - Astra Militarum
20. Martin Pilkington Tau Empire
21. Jason Robers - Necrons
22. Ian King (Wargaming With Tusks) - Chaos Daemons
23. Gareth Newton-Williams (Servo Skull) - Tau Empire
24. Dan Green (Red Steel Preston- Chaos Daemons/Chaos Space Marines
25. Josh Wood (Red Steel Preston- Blood Angels
26. Michael Towers - Blood Angels
27. Daniel Russell - Inquisition/Space Marines
28. Matt Greenwood - Eldar
29. Jamie Jackson (Index Astartes/Codex Imperialis) - Space Marines
30. Ian Connolly (Need More Tanks/Insane Heroism) - Dark Eldar
31. Ken Morley (Ignatum/Insane Heroism) - Tau Empire
32. Dave Weston (40K Addict) - Tyranids
33. Ben Leach - Chaos Daemons
34. John Holland (Blood Claw) - Space Marines/Space Wolves
35. Adam Robinson - Dark Eldar/Eldar
36. John Bell - Dark Angels/Inquisition
37. Pete Riordan - Dark Angels
38. Peter Sidaway - Space Marines/Space Wolves
39. Bennett Morley - Space Wolves

36 comments:

  1. Retribution! Oh yes there will be Retribution! Fear me pitiful other players of all things 40 and/or K. Looking forward to it Alex; glad you're sticking with the same mission format. Time to get play-testing my other chaos lists (it takes me 6 months to come up with anything resembling a tactic!) and then... RETRIBUTION!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Alex,
    I just had a look at the special characters list and I was wondering if it was your intention to not allow the Avatar for Eldar as the special characte?. As it's a one per army model, it could be counted as that maybe?!

    Looking forward to BW7! :-)

    Cheers,
    Hendrik

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's "one per detachment" rather than "unique". Therefore it isn't technically a special character in the Blog Wars sense. Whilst BW is sub 2000pts you could take two avatars at 2000+pts. Obviously you could still only take one Eldrad though for example.

      Delete
  3. I'm definitely making this one, thanks for the excellent amount of advance warning for planning and preparation.

    The army I shall be bringing is only about 25% painted, better crack on with that then :P

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the last one Alex, especially for letting us bring the kids. When do tickets go on sale?

    ReplyDelete
  5. You should have my monies now!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ticket bought! See you all there with either my Squats (loadsa tanks), Tyranids (loadsa Bug Bugz), Eldar (loadsa Serpents) or possibly even Pre-Heresy World Eaters (loadsa Berserkers in loadsa Land Raiders).

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Red Steel Preston crew should have signed up by now - stand by to repel boarders!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ben from Red Steel Preston here - I believe there are 7 of us coming if Mr Lamb has counted correctly. I'm dissappointed in the No FW as I have a rather hilarius and to be frank terrible Armoured Company I would have loved to have used with a total of 0 scoring units but all's fair in love and Blog Wars. It will have to be Eldar, Tau or Dark Angels for me

    ReplyDelete
  9. Will you be able to manage without your Revenant as well?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'll manage ;-) I was chatting to James last night and have agreed that I'll be taking Eldar. Annoyingly though my list is 1851pts so need to do some tweaking. You'll be proud. Eldar with no Farseer, Warlocks, Dire Avengers, Fire Dragons, Wraithguard, Wraith Lords or Wraith Knights!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. So if your chapter doesn't have a special character you can't use them, poor iron hands :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for reminding me. Think they're the only army without the option. Need to make a call on that.

      Delete
  12. Yeah I would like to use them if I can but happy to go a different route if need be :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Right, my army has been selected. Whilst I don't have a Blog you can put me down as http://redsteelpreston.co.uk/ as It's the gaming club I run. My army will Be Farsight Enclaves. Really excited about this!
    - Ben Greaves

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ticket Purchased! I'm even starting an actual blog to record my journey to retribution. For those of you in the Leicester Crew who fear my mighty gaming prowess and need the chance to plan specifically to beat my unstoppable army lists you can check out:
    http://wargamingwithtusks.blogspot.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  15. Supplements are allowed: are dataslates?

    Thinking of Cypher and the like.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes they are but I remind people it's supposed to be a friendly event so too much cheese should be avoided. I'll be posting about it soon.

      Delete
  16. Mark from red steel here just want to check that the name change to imperial guard will be fine and that militarum tempestus codex will also be included?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure they'll both be fine but have to wait til I've seen the new guard dex

      Delete
  17. Just reading through the missions again and I have a question. ...what if in the first mission your opponent has little left and concedes rather than being tabled? What happens to the points you miss out on? Similarly with the other missions? Thankyou for the earlier question response!

    Mark - Red Steel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If your opponent concedes the first game he gives up the remaining points in the same way as if he'd been tabled. In practice there aren't many times I've known players to concede a game.

      Trickier with the objectives games. Again I can't see people conceding but I'll have a think and get back to you.

      Delete
  18. Just a quick question regarding the imperial guard units that have just been dropped from the codex but stay in imperial armour books....are these units now not allowed or is there a special ruling because they were in the codex? Seems to be because of certain lawsuits it's changed.....I was planning on using a couple which I've bought but now it's not a codex unit what happens are they banned? Sorry to be a pain!

    Mark/Red Steel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Since they aren't in the Astra Militarum book they won't be legal at Blog Wars. Sorry but GW in their wisdom seem to be deleting units these days.

      Delete
  19. What happens if a new rule set lands?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That all depends on how much things actually change. If it's literally rolling everything into one book then I don't see a problem. If there are significant changes then it won't be in use at BW7. The rumoured release date wouldn't give people enough chance to adapt.

      Delete
  20. Where are we submitting lists to?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll be sending a reminder email out in a week or so as the deadline isn't until the 31st. I'll email you now though so you can just reply with your list if you want to submit early.

      Delete
  21. So any decision on 6th or 7th yet :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure what you mean? If you mean which edition will be used at BW7, I've already confirmed 6th will be used as 7th will only have been out for a week by the list deadline

      Delete
    2. I emailed everyone. If you're saying you didn't get the email please get in touch to ensure I have the correct address for you.

      Delete
  22. Replies
    1. Yes but I've been away this weekend so haven't had chance to reply to everyone yet.

      Delete
  23. Righteo, you can all see my list here! It's Astra Mlitarum with Eldar (scoring) allies of convenience:

    http://clawsandfists.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/army-list-submission-for-blog-wars-7.html?m=1

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi all,

    I just wanted to check with you all that my army is 'legal' in terms of it's scoring. I checked with Alex and he is happy, so I just wanted to check with you as potential opponents!

    My army is Astra Militarum with Eldar allies. These are 'Allies of Convenience'. My understanding (and Alex's) is that troops in Allies of Convenience can score and deny, just like regular troops in your primary attachment. The big rule book is a bit vague on the topic!

    Are you all happy to play this?

    Cheers,

    Graham S.

    ReplyDelete
  25. You are cool to score Graham.

    in other news go superfriends! :P

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...