30k Reckoning Tournament 3-4 June: Applications OPEN & Player Information

Applications are NOW OPEN. [...and a promo video made too!]. 

Warpstone Flux, and Sequestered Industries presents

A Warhammer 40,000 International Tournament

“Horus Heresy Reckoning” – June 3^rd and 4^th 2017.

Player Information Pack.

Applications.

There are only 20 places available for participation in Horus Heresy Reckoning. [If successful, larger tournaments might be considered in the future!].

Since there are restricted places, we have an application procedure for players who want to take part. There are two types of application you could make – please pick one.

The first type of application is for a Guaranteed Place. In a nutshell, this is the fast track application process. We recognize that people may wish to attend from a significant distance away, either in the British Isles or from a different country entirely, who need to have certainty much faster so they can book hotels and make various (and no doubt complex) plans. Hence, if you are more than a couple of hours drive away from Yorkshire, or live way out from any regular train access to Hull (etc.), you may apply for a Guaranteed Place. The process is exactly the same as the one outlined below for a Regular Allocation, but instead of waiting until after the regular 1^st May 2017 deadline to find out if you have a place, you will hear back from us much earlier (within a day or two if at all possible). We aim to confirm your participation immediately after checking your application form, army list, photographs (etc.), and you may proceed directly to payment to secure the place. We will allocate as many Guaranteed Places to as many applicants who can justify to us why they should receive one, up to the maximum (we have no fixed lower or upper limit on these places, but we seek to retain the Regular Allocation as much as feasible). The primary condition for allocating Guaranteed Places is distance away, although we reserve the right to modify this and judge applications on a case-by-case basis. You may submit your application to us any time up to 1^st May 2017 to try to gain a Guaranteed Place. Again, we will endeavour to inform you whether this has been successful, or whether you have been entered in to the Regular Allocation pool as soon as possible after receiving your application. All that said, you are strongly advised in no uncertain terms to wait to book hotels and travel until we count 10 or more applications in the bag since we will cancel the event if there are less than 10 players coming! (Either that or take out cancellation insurance of your own). A counter has been placed on the right hand column of the blog to give you a live update of applications for this purpose.

For the Regular Allocation, the deadline to receive all applications is 23:59 on May 1^st 2017 (British Summer Time). Once all Regular Allocation applications have been received the organizers will review all of them and select the participants that they wish to see at the event to fill up the remaining places. No discussion will be entered in to about this selection.

The selected participants will then be notified and will be asked to confirm their continued interest. We will proceed to payment within one week of this. Details of how to pay will be provided only to selected participants and will be done via PayPal. Failure to pay will result in a selected participant’s place being allocated to the next preferred player on our list.

In the event that fewer than 10 people apply (or Nurgle strikes the organizers down with some terrible sickness, or similar), we reserve the right cancel the event. If this becomes necessary, an email notification will be sent to all applicants and a posting made on Warpstone Flux. Take no action to book hotels for your stay (etc.) until your place has been confirmed with us and we confirm successful receipt of payment from you.

To apply to be part of Horus Heresy Reckoning, please send an email to warpstoneflux@gmail.com with the following:

• (1) Your (legal) name. If you prefer to be called by a different name, let us know this too. If you have a “screen name” (such as “jabberjabber”) that you would like to be displayed in place of your name on our media outlet sites, let us know this too.
• (2) Your age. This confirms to us that you are at or above 18 years old. We reserve the right to check this on the days of the tournament.
• (3) Your home address, including country. In case we need to post anything to you or the venue has legal recourse against you.
• (4) Your email address. This must be the same as the account that you send your application from. We will use this to contact you about the outcome of the application.
• (5) Whether you are seeking a Guaranteed Place or want to just go in to the Regular Allocation. You should justify a Guaranteed Place application to us in fewer than 200 words please.
• (6) Your army list. Please supply this as the IMAGE output from Battle Scribe (i.e. preferably a single jpg file. HTML files are also acceptable).
• (7) Photographs. To help decide which applicants will participate in the tournament if we have more than 20 applicants, we invite all applicants to submit up to 5 photographs of the army that they intend to use. Please try to keep each individual image to 1Mb or less if possible. If unpainted, please note this. If unassembled or not yet purchased, please note this as well. Again, we emphasize that in the event of more applications being received than we have places available, these photographs may be used to try to decide a ranking between applicants.
• (8) Anything else! Seriously, if there’s anything else that you think we should know about you or your army to help us decide if we should pick you for participation, then let us know. Two hundred words maximum. Give us the elevator pitch, not the essay.

Tournament Location:

The tournament itself will take place within:

Staff House Building, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull. HU6 7RX. U.K.

A map of the university can be found here, along with directions along key routes to the site.

http://www2.hull.ac.uk/science/pdf/campusmap%20new%20location.pdf

http://www2.hull.ac.uk/theuniversity/directions-to-the-university/directions-to-hull.aspx

Please pay particular attention to parking restrictions in and around the university campus if you are driving here and intend to park during the day. A private company ensures enforcement, even on weekends. Beware!

Contact:

The organizers prefer working via email. Contact them at:

warpstoneflux@gmail.com

Dates and Times:

June 3^rd and 4^th 2017.

The organizers will be on site from 08:30 to 17:00 each day.

Indicative Schedule:

Day 1:

The organizers will be on site from 08:30 on Saturday morning to undertake setting up. On Saturday, we will aim to play 2 games and have the painting judged for the tournament.

Registration starts at 9:30am. If you do happen to arrive earlier, then you are welcome to say hello to us and register early if we are set-up.

The organizers will give a brief introduction before play begins. All subsequent times below are to be taken as indicative only.

Game 1: 10:00 to 12:30.

Lunch Break & Armies on Parade / Painting judging: 12:30 to 14:00. Lunch is not provided today, so we will more than likely adjourn to the pub over the road.

Game 2: 13:45 to 16:15.

Painting Awards: 16:20 to 16:40.

Tear Down then commences promptly with the necessary goal of vacating the premises by 17:00.

Day 2:

The organizers will again be on site from 08:30 on Sunday morning to commence the set-up. Sunday will aim for a slighter faster play initially to fit in three matches for the day.

Game 3: 09:00 to 11:15. If you and your opponent show up early and the allocated table is all set and ready to go, you are welcome to start your game early.

Game 4: 11:30 to 13:45. Lunch today will be provided as a buffet – dine and play at the tables during this game. Alternatively, we may order in food on the day.

Regardless: don’t spill anything on the gaming boards for goodness sake! That just makes everyone upset. If you eat whilst playing, do so at least half a metre away from the table!

Game 5: 14:00 to 16:30.

Tournament Awards and Plenary: 16:30 to 16:45.

Tear Down will then commence with the necessary goal of vacating the venue by 17:00.

Tournament Details:

Maximum number of players = 20.

Minimum age requirement = 18.

Ticket Price = GBP 50.

This fee is not refundable. It is payable upon successful application to the tournament (see application details, above).

Ticket Price includes and will help pay for part of: venue hire, public liability insurance, terrain, and the buffet lunch on Sunday.

Army Composition.

The maximum points value for each game is 2250.

Rationale: this value has been chosen to enable games to be completed in two-and-a-quarter to two-and-a-half hours, and to ensure players have access to most of the miniatures they might wish to deploy.

Fortifications are not permitted.

Armies must be constructed using an Age of Darkness Force Organization Chart comprising a legal primary detachment (i.e. Maximum of 3 HQs, 6 Troops, 3 Elites, 3 Fast Attack, 3 Heavy Support, and a single optional Lords of War; Minimum of 1 HQ and 2 Troops).

Instead of taking a Lords of War option, a player may instead elect to take a legal Allied Detachment (Maximum of 1 HQ, 2 Troops, 1 Elites, 1 Fast Attack, and 1 Heavy Support; Minimum of 1 HQ and 1 Troops).

An allied detachment must be chosen from a different 30k faction or legion to the primary detachment. In the case of Word Bearers or Traitor Auxillia, these can be chosen from Codex: Chaos Daemons with the strict caveat that summoning additional daemons is not permitted by any means. Additionally, for daemons selected as allies, no named (or unique) character can be selected.

Players can spend up to a maximum of 25% of their points (explicitly: 563 points) on a Lords of War option.

Players can spend up to a maximum of one third of their points (explicitly: 750 points) on an allied detachment.

No war machine detachments are permitted (explicitly: detachments that are made up entirely from units with armour values, excepting for Questoris Knights).

Primarchs are permitted. If selected, they are automatically the Warlord for the army.

Rites of War are permitted. These must be noted in the submitted army lists.

Relics of the Dark Age of Technology are not permitted.

Shattered Legions are not permitted.

Knights Errant and Talons of the Emperor are permitted.

Titans are not permitted.

Only units in the Horus Heresy and appropriate models may be used. See below for modelling details.

[The only exception to this is a single Craftworld Eldar force commanded by Eldrad that may be in play at the tournament. This is to keep everyone on his, or her, toes and is a fluffy addition to Horus Heresy gaming for special dispensation to an experienced local player. You have been warned!]

Please email us directly if there are any questions or ambiguity, or even if there are items that are legal by the above restrictions but not explicitly mentioned.

Army Lists.

Please prepare all army lists using the most up to date version of Battle Scribe. They should be submitted to the tournament organizer upon application as the IMAGE output from Battle Scribe and a copy brought with you to the tournament.

FAQ.

The most recent Warhammer 40,000 FAQ and rulebook, as at May 1^st 2017, will govern the tournament.

Painting and Modelling.

All miniatures used must be appropriately based, and painted with a minimum of three colours. Bases need not be flocked, or painted (or similar), but we look favourably on entrants with such attention to detail. Indeed, in the event of more applicants than we have places for in the tournament, we will preferentially give places to higher quality painted, and based, armies during the allocation process after 1^st May 2017 (as judged by ourselves – no discussion will be entered in to).

Armies have to represent their equipment on the models. The tournament will be using WYSIWYG with respect to visible wargear as much as is practicable.

Conversions are permitted within reason, but it is expected that the core of every single model will be one produced by Games Workshop, or Forge World (or their licensees). Third party bits, and scratch-builds, are acceptable so long as they fit within the aesthetic of the tournament and look like they fit in the Warhammer 30,000 Universe. If in doubt, please email the organizers. Miniatures that are wholly from third parties will generally not be acceptable.

Proxies will be accepted for the following named units (otherwise, we expect appropriate conversions subject to the WYSIWYG rule above):

Rogal Dorn (any appropriate miniature on a 40mm base will suffice).

Alpharius (any appropriate miniature on a 40mm base will suffice).

Magnus the Red (any appropriate miniature on a 40mm base will suffice, or the plastic Magnus model from Games Workshop may also be used).

If a player wishes to use another named character that has never been produced or only produced in limited or hard-to-obtain runs (e.g., Autilon Skorr of the Alpha Legion), then a proxy or conversion replacement is also fine. Be sure to let your opponents know as well.

Terrain.

All terrain will be defined and placed by the tournament organizers. Players shall not alter or move the terrain intentionally. In the event of terrain being “destroyed”, players should simply make a note of this and call the organizer over to remove the terrain piece in question.

Missions.

Every game will feature one primary mission, two secondary missions and two tertiary missions.

Success on a primary mission will give a player 9 tournament points.

A Tie on the primary mission (where applicable) will give each player 5 tournament points.

Success on a secondary mission will give a player 4 tournament points per secondary.

Success on a tertiary mission will give a player 1 tournament point per tertiary.

Annihilation (defined as the complete wipe out, or immobilization, of all enemy units; also variously referred to as a “massacre victory”) results in an automatic success for all missions and a single bonus tournament point. i.e. an annihilation victory is worth 9 + 4x2 + 1x2 +1 = 20 tournament points. It is possible for opponents to still score tournament points from secondary and tertiary missions despite being annihilated, but they may never score tournament points on a primary mission objective if they are annihilated.

Note that even if a player fails to gain the primary victory, they might actually still outscore their opponent on tournament points by securing both secondaries and tertiaries and ensuring that their opponent fails to do likewise! It is always worth playing on and accumulating the most tournament points in each game even if the tide seems to be going against you.

The Best General award will be determined on these points alone. The theoretical maximum is 100 tournament points.

All games are limited to 5 turns only. The only exception to this is if an army has a specific rule in play that allows for longer games and there is time available (e.g., Iron Warriors and Imperial Fists both have “The Bitter End” rule that would allow for a 6^th turn to be played if there is time available).

The organizers will attempt notify the players in the room when they have ten minutes remaining. The current player’s turn should be the last turn of the game at this point in time. At two minutes remaining, the organizers expect play to cease and the winner to be calculated from the current board position, the results notified to the organizers, and tidy-up to commence. Brisk play is expected from all participants as much as possible.

Game Details.

Deployment for each game is tied to the gaming board, rather than the mission. Please consult the information sheet that will be left on the gaming table for this. We will only be using: Clash of the Line, Dawn of War, Search and Destroy, Vanguard Strike, and Hammer and Anvil.

Players must roll off to determine who deploys first. The winner of the roll decides. The winner of the roll also elects to go first or second after deployment has happened. Seizing the initiative comes after this step.

Below, each game is given in detail, including all primaries, secondaries and tertiaries. Due to some repeats in secondaries and tertiaries, we detail the victory condition for these objectives below the game details.  All of the primaries have been selected from the Horus Heresy series of books and adapted for this tournament where required.

GAME 1.

Primary = Blood Feud. The tournament points for this primary mission are based on a scoring system within the game. For each unit destroyed that is classed as infantry or jump infantry, the player gains two points. Anything else is worth one point (in the case of vehicles, they must be at least wrecked, not just immobilized, to count). The maximum points possible here is deemed to be 16. If the minimum possible is under 8, then double points are applied. The winner is the player with the most points scored in this manner.

Secondaries = Primary Target, Table Quarters.

Tertiaries = Last Man Standing, First Strike.

GAME 2.

Primary = Tide of Carnage. Each sector of the board is worth a number of points for the side that controls it at the end of the battle. 3 points for one’s own deployment zone, 7 points for the enemy’s deployment zone, and 5 points for no man’s land in between. The most points here gain the primary victory for the player. This means that this particular game should never be a draw.

Secondaries = Slay the Warlord, Last Man Standing.

Tertiaries = First Strike, Line Breaker.

Special Rules: All vehicles with the “tank” type, and “super heavy” ground vehicles or walkers are scoring units in this game.

Night Fighting is used on Turn 1 of this game.

GAME 3.

Primary = Dominion. Before deployment, place d3+2 objectives on to the board, each inside or touching their own terrain piece and 12” away from a table edge if feasible. The player to control the most objectives at the end of the games claims victory.

Secondaries = Slay the Warlord, Attrition.

Tertiaries = Line Breaker, Table Quarters. (A single unit can only claim one of these two objectives at the end of the game).

GAME 4.

Primary = Challenge. WARNING: THIS GAME INCLUDES A CONDITION FOR INSTANT VICTORY. Instant (annihilation level) victory is achieved if one player’s warlord slays the enemy warlord through any means (but preferably by sweeping advance if only for narrative sake!). Fleeing off the board does not count, nor does perils of the warp. They must die by the hands of the enemy warlord. The game automatically ends at this point if the condition is met and no more play is undertaken.

If such an event fails to happen, then the primary mission is settled on Attrition.

Secondaries = First Strike, Line Breaker.

Tertiaries = Swept before Us, Storm of Shells.

GAME 5.

Primary = Onslaught. This game uses a “staged” deployment. Alternate placing your units in the following order: Lords of War, Heavy Support, Troops, Elites, HQs, Fast Attack. After deployment, including infiltrators and any scout moves, each player must place an objective in their opponent’s deployment zone at least 6” from any table edge. The winner of this primary mission is determined on points such that: 5 points are scored for each objective controlled at the end of the game, and 1 point is scored for each unit destroyed in turn 1.

Secondaries = Slay the Warlord, Attrition.

Tertiaries = Primary Target, One Must Fall.

Slay the Warlord. This mission is successful if the enemy warlord is killed. Routing off the board does not count!

First Strike. This mission is successful if the player kills an enemy unit on their first turn.

Table Quarters. If the player controls more quarters of the table than their opponent at the end of the game, then this mission is successful.

Line Breaker. This mission is successful if a player has one of their units in the enemy deployment zone at the end of the game. That unit must not be immobile or fleeing.

Last Man Standing. The side with the greatest number of surviving units (not fleeing or immobilized) gains this mission at the end of the game. In the event of a tie, both sides gain the tournament points.

Attrition. To succeed, the player must destroy or immobilize more units of the enemy than they do of theirs. In the event of a tie, both sides gain the tournament points.

Primary target. The most expensive unit (in terms of points value) should be noted to the opponent. To succeed, a player must destroy or immobilize this unit by the end of the game.

One must fall. The second most expensive character model (or vehicle if there are no character models) in terms of points value should be noted to the opponent. To succeed, a player must destroy or immobilize this unit by the end of the game.

Swept Before Us. To succeed, the player must destroy (or immobilize) two (or more) enemy units in close combat, including by use of sweeping advance.

Storm of Shells. To succeed, the player must destroy (or immobilize) two (or more) enemy units using ranged weapons.

Awards.

There are a number of awards up for grabs at this tournament. There are no cash prizes though – this is all for honour, kudos and bragging rights.

Best General (most tournament points in games only – maximum possible is 100).

Best Overall (tournament points in games plus painting plus sportsmanship – maximum possible is 150).

Best Player (as voted by other players).

Best Painted Army (as judged by the organizers or a “guest judge”).

Best Painted Single Miniature (as judged by the organizers or a “guest judge”).

Painting scores contributed to “Best Overall” category will be awarded as follows by the tournament organizers during the “Armies on Parade” session on Day 1.

5 points: Every miniature has at least 3 colours.

5 points: Every miniature has a base that has received quality attention.

5 points: Notable conversions or kit-bashing is present.

5 points: Every miniature has a high painting standard.

5 points: The X-factor is present. Something above and beyond what we’ve commonly seen.  We don’t know what it is, we can’t define it, but we think we will know it if we see it.

Alternatively, players may self-report themselves to have zero points here as they used a painting service, or commissioned army.

Let us be candid. We have no real way of knowing if players did the painting themselves or whether they used a commission service. We therefore rely on players self-reporting whether they used a painting service, or commission, for their works. Obviously, this is open to abuse, but the lack of any substantive cash prize or giveaway coupled with the maturity of players attending should be a partial barrier to this.

Sportsmanship will be dealt with in two ways.

For each game, players will submit a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” report on sportsmanship. The default expectation is that everyone would receive a “thumbs up” in every game. The criteria for giving a “thumbs down” is due to abusive behaviour, or obvious stalling (i.e. taking exceptionally slow turns or wanting to look almost every minor detail up in the rules book), or showing up in an unfit state to play (e.g. drunk). The organizers will terminate the participation of anyone receiving thumbs down on the grounds of abusive behaviour or inebriation. Multiple thumbs down on the grounds of playing slowly, or extensive rules lawyering, will result in forfeiture of tournament points, or similar, at the discretion of the organizers. We have no desire to implement these sanctions whatsoever and therefore ask all participants to play accordingly.

At the end of Game 5, each player will be asked to nominate his or her favourite player that they faced. Each nomination received will be awarded 5 points that will contribute directly to the “Best Overall” award category.

This means that the theoretical maximum score for “Best Overall” is 150 (100 points from games, 25 points from painting, 25 points from sportsmanship).

Note there will be no points awarded for army construction, or army “power level” (or lack thereof). In Horus Heresy gaming, we expect that players will create thematically appropriate lists and, in doing so, trust to the game designers that the points levels are approximately balanced out. That said, we discourage “win at all costs” lists informally, but welcome strong, competitive lists that are well themed and contain a diversity of units. As an example: multiple land raider tanks containing nothing but terminators (and maybe a primarch) are to be discouraged. On the other hand, a strong White Scars build featuring many bikes, javelins, land speeders with multiple aerial support components and potentially coupled with plenty of plasma weapons is very thematic and to be applauded, even if it is a list that you would personally find tough to play against.

Entry to the tournament gives the organizers the rights to take pictures of the event, including entries in the painting competition, to use and publish as they see fit. Other players are similarly welcome to take pictures of the event.

The games are expected to be self-regulating by the players involved. Army lists should be exchanged before the game commences and if there’s anything unclear, then the players should clarify with each other what the source of uncertainty is. The primary concern is that players have a quality experience that is free from any type of discriminatory (verbal or otherwise) behaviour. In the event of a rule not being known, we expect the matter to be randomly determined, or the “fluffiest” direction be taken. If a rules question arises that players would like an adjudication of, the organizers would be happy to attempt such adjudication. However, given that time might be tight, the organizers will more than likely roll a die on behalf of the players to settle any such matters. All decisions (right or wrong) given by the organizers are final and no future discussion will be entered in to. Whilst the tournament does contain a strong aspect of competitive play, our primary concern remains for all players to have fun, and a great experience. We therefore ask for an appropriate level of maturity from our players.

ABBREVIATED LEGALS.

All rights reserved.

We reserve the right to alter any or all of the above.

Pubic liability insurance will be taken out for this event by the organizers. This covers our own equipment (i.e. gaming mats, terrain). The venue has similar insurance for the equipment that they provide (i.e. tables, chairs).

In the event we cancel the tournament, we will refund all tickets that have already bought guaranteed places. We ask that such ticket holders do not book flights, trains, (etc.) or hotels before we confirm we have 10 or more participants able to attend (10 being the minimum number at which we regard this event as being viable). We will let you know through the blog and Facebook when this threshold has been met.

We will attempt to settle amicably any dispute that might arise.

In the event of serious dispute that cannot be settle amicably, we reserve our rights as a business entity (Sequestered Industries) to have matters settled in any appropriate manner. The same is true of the venue hosts we are using.

By purchasing a ticket to this event, you guarantee that you are over the age of 18 and have read the above documentation. This includes the fact that we cannot offer refunds once tickets are purchased – by purchasing a ticket, you agree that you understand this condition.

Players who take part agree to have photographs taken of their miniatures and posted in our media outlets.