Blog Wars 8 - The Reckoning

Blog Wars 8: The Reckoning
Saturday November 8th 2014

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

Tickets
Ticket sales now closed.

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

This has changed slightly from previous events with the first game starting earlier. Please try to arrive well before 9.30 to allow registration to be completed and the first game to start on time. This new schedule means the event should, in theory at least, finish 30 minutes earlier than before.

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 with Element Games who offer 10-20% 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

I'll be announcing additional prizes for the painting competition and talking about changes to the format. Keep an eye on the blog for that.

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 
I'm hoping to play this time around but I'll be on hand to act as a referee. That being said, I hope this won'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 
BLOG WARS IS INTENDED AS A FRIENDLY EVENT PLEASE BEAR THIS IN MIND WHEN WRITING LISTS!

Each army can cost up to and including 1,850pts. Armies must include one "Core Force" (Combined Arms Detachment or Faction Specific Detachment e.g. Wolves Unleashed). They may then include "Addtional Forces" which are either 0-1 Allied/Formation AND/OR 0-1 Inquisition/Imperial Knight (limited to two Knights)/Officio Assasinorum/Legion of the Damned. The Additional Force must be a different Faction to the Core Force and no Come the Apocalypse allies are allowed. 
Example 1. An army could include a Blood Angels CAD, Astra Militarium Allied Detachment and an Inquisitorial Detachment. 
Example 2. An army could include a Chaos Space Marines CAD with a Chaos Daemons Allied Detachment.
Example 3. An army could include a Space Wolves "Wolves Unleashed" Detachment with an Imperial Knights Detachment containing two knights.

Please note that, as detailed in the Space Marine codex, the Space Marines Faction is allowed to ally with itself provided the two detachments choose different Chapter Tactics.

The following Lords of War are permitted:

• Ghazghkull Thraka
• Logan Grimnar
• Kaldor Draigo

No Lords of War from the Escalation expansion are allowed and the Ork Stompa from the Ork codex is not permitted.

Each army can also include ONE fortification from the Stronghold Assault expansion from the following list:

• Aegis Defence Line
• Imperial Bastion
• Skyshield Landing Pad
• Fortress of Redemption
• Wall of Martyrs Imperial Defence Line
• Wall of Martyrs Imperial Defence Emplacement
• Wall of Martyrs Imperial Bunker

Here's a diagram for a bit more clarity (click to make it bigger):

Dataslates (e.g. Be'lakor) are permitted and form part of the army as detailed in their particular rules.

Each army MUST include a Special Character in the "Core Force" (not necessarily as an HQ though). This SC acts as the "Commander" where specified in the scenarios below. Please note this is not necessarily the same as a Warlord. Lists must be submitted at least two weeks before the event (Oct 25th) to allow for checking and resolution of any queries.

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 (will be clarified for 7th soon) but do not necessarily have to be your Warlord. Please note that this list is only a list of those units which may be used as a Commander for Blog Wars purposes and is not an exhaustive list of the special characters you can use in your army. For example, Cypher, Gerantius and Be'lakor are all acceptable additions to your army but may not be used as the Commander. Note that Gerantius is included in the 0-2 restriction on Imperial Knights.

The following codices are permitted in the Core Detachment or as an Allied Detachment: 

Adepta Sororitas
Astra Militarum
Blood Angels 
Chaos Daemons
Chaos Space Marines 

Dark Angels
Dark Eldar
Eldar
Grey Knights
Inquisition
Necrons
Orks
Space Marines (Iron Hands exempt from compulsory SC)
Space Wolves
Tau Empire
Tyranids

The following are permitted in the Additional Detachment only:

Imperial Knights
Legion of the Damned
Officio Assassinorum 

Forge World units and/or 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.

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.

Matchups

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

Warp Charge
The maximum number of warp charge points that may be generated is capped at 12 (plus the additional D6 each turn). Any excess warp charge is lost.

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 (similar to 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 "Commander" will gain you 100 bonus BP. This gives a maximum of 1,950 BP (1,850 for the army plus 100 bonus for the Commander). 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, multi-wound models which have sustained 50% or more wounds and vehicles which have lost 50% or more hull points will give up half of their points 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. Similarly some units give up bonus VPs but in both instances, the maximum number of VPs for the round 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.

Scoring units are as described in the 40K rulebook with the exception that the "Commander" gains the Objective Secured rule as described in the 40K rulebook.

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 (score/contest within 3"). At the end of each PLAYER turn after the first GAME turn a controlled objective is worth 1 VP (i.e. scoring starts from turn 2 onwards). The game is limited to six turns. This means a maximum VP total of 30 (i.e 10 scoring player turns and 3 objectives).

Scoring units are as described in the 40K rulebook with the exception that the "Commander" gains the Objective Secured rule as described in the 40K rulebook.

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 i.e. there is a maximum score of 99 VPs for the day.

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.

Each player will be issued a score sheet at the start of the day.

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)
• At least one copy of your army list (preferably typed) with your name and entrant number (your entrant number is the same as in the list below)
• A copy of the BW8 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.

1. Graham Sanders
2. Liam Ainscough
3. Sam Georgiou
4. Josh Secretan
5. Luke Fogg
6. Dave Weston
7. Ben Houghton
8. Peter Butler
9. Peter Barrett
10. Daniel Russell
11. Adam Robinson
12. Daniel Lane
13. Gareth Newton-Williams
14. Hendrik Müller-Joswig
15. Nathaniel Gibbs
16. Jason Roberts
17. Matt Greenwood
18. Martin Waine
19. Jamie Jackson
20. Luke Capper
21. Tom Capper
22. Ben Leach
23. Chris Benstead
24. Tess Nicol