Tournament Scoring, At Least How I Think It Should Work.

Round 1: Random Seeding with the exception of people from the same gaming club not fight each other IF POSSIBLE.
Subsequent Rounds: Players face people with equivalent battle points with the exception that no 2 players ever face each other more than once.

Maximum 25 Points Per Round:
Massacre – 20-0
Major Victory 17-3
Minor Victory 14-6
Tie – 10-10

Conditions for what constitutes a massacre, etc. are defined in each round's mission.

Bonus Points:
Up to 4 Per Round Determined by Tournament Organizer
Examples Include but are not limited to: Did all of your HQ choices Survive? Did more of your Troop Choices Survive than your opponents? Etc.

Sportsmanship:
1 Point for sportsmanship is available for each player for each round.
Simply answer if you would play the person and their army outside of a tournament environment.

In a standard 3 round tournament you will have a maximum score of 75 for the tournament.
In a GT Setting, you will have a maximum score of 150 points.

Painting is a separate category that SHOULD NEVER be included in trounament play, Thus a person Could win both Best Painted and Best overall for a tournament.

Why "Comp" is killing Competitive 40k

I’m not going to sit here and think that I will convince everyone that comp is a bad thing. People are used to it and may even believe that it levels the playing field between codexes.

I take the opposite stance. It does not level the playing field. It limits us as gamers. So I want to take the time to put together an outstandingly brutal list that is built to not only wipe my opponent off the table but win the match, wait, what? I get penalized and dropped in standings because I can figure these codexi out? What a bunch of crap that is.

Comp limits us as gamers because it specifically says “If you take this unit you get dinged in points”. Why? This is supposed to be a competitive setting. I did not come to a tournament to play a beer and pretzels game. I came to a tournament to get my ass handed to me and learn from those that are better than me. Next tournament I’ll do better and teach a few people things. What is the point of playing in a competitive environment if you take the competition out?

Am I disillusioned enough to think that nob bikers are not great? No. I’ve played them. Are they unbeatable? No. Is Vulkan so overpowered that I should take a penalty if I include him in my army? No.

Perhaps we should just start penalizing people if they fill their 1850 list to the max of 1850? It’s just as arbitrary. Oh you squeezed that extra 2 points into your army? -10 Battle points.

Am I the only one that sees comp this way? If you have to rely on the comp system to make your army a worthwhile choice, why are you playing in a competitive environment? Honestly, if you don’t have what it takes to stand up and take your licks (I Did) and learn how to build a strong army AND play it with good tactics, why are you playing this game? For fun? If that is the case you do not belong in a tournament. If you can, and prove your mettle against all the competition, take your prize, and the glory and enjoy it knowing that you have what it takes to play competitively.

Comp kills our competitive environments because it limits what we are allowed to come up with for our armies. You show up at a comp tourney and you see 10 Space Marine armies that are 90% the same, and you see maybe 6 other armies that are built to a different standard. Who usually wins? The xenos. Why? Because all the comp systems are built around the Space Marine Codex. The Xenos are built around fluff.

Ever seen that super anti-Space Marine army play against a xeno army? 7/10 times it get’s it’s ass handed back in it’s transports.

So what do we gain by playing comp tourneys? Well, you get your options limited, you get your creativity stifled, and you get somebody else’s sense of how the game should be played shoved down your throat.

I challenge each and every one of you to build the nastiest list you can and go play in a non-comp tourney. Why? Because you will see that it is not about the list, it is about tactics. Yes your list will help you, but without a plan of action you will get bogged down with so many mundane rules and special effects that you will forget what you need to do. I’ve been there. I’ve done it. I’ve forgotten snikrot behind cover on my opponent’s edge within an inch of a terminator assault squad that would have been crushed had I charged.

My plea: Drop Comp, let people learn what a competitive environment really is. Let them build tactics, Let them build their army to be theirs, not a cookie cutter “NetDeck” yes, it’s brutal, yes it can lead to hurt feelings over a crushing defeat, but you know what else it leads to? Original thought. Nobody learns much by winning every game because comp limited your opponent but not you. Everybody learns something when the guy across from you kicks your ass because you don’t know how to use tactics to win.

I’m not encouraging “That Guy” to be an ass and lord it over his opponents when he wins, I’m not encouraging cheaters, I’m encouraging original thought and to step out of the mold and look at your codex so that when you go to a tournament, you’re more worried about YOUR army than you are about YOUR OPPONENT’s army.

Also, a few points that have been brought up is that comp is used to make things "Fair" or "Fairer" for the people that play outdated codexi, I'm calling bullshit on this. Dark Eldar, Necrons, Tau, Inquisitors, and Eldar all have some of the most competitive armies in existance. No Dice there folks.

Also cripling somebody elses army so yours does better should be done on the battlefield. not bo somebody who thinks that orks are too powerful. Duh, that is the point of the game isn't it?

Tau - Tournament Style

Ok, so i went to a 1500 pt tourney yesterday and took my new tau army.

I had played tau all of 1 game prior to this tournament so these were my 2nd 3rd and 4th games not only with this list but with this army.

My list:
Tau 1500

HQ:

Shas El 125
Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, HW Multi-Tracker, HW Drone Controller (Shield x2)
HW Blacksun Filter, Bonding Knife

Elite:

Crisis Suit x2 124
Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Multi-Tracker

Crisis Suit x2 124
Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Multi-Tracker

Troops

Fire Warriors x6 155
Devilfish, D-Pods, Flechette Dischargers

Fire Warriors x6 155
Devilfish, D-Pods, Flechette Dischargers

Fire Warriors x6 60

Fast Attack

Pathfinders x6 167
Devilfish
Disruption Pods, Flechette Dischargers

Pirhanna 80
Fusion Blaster, Flechette Discharger, Targeting Array

Heavy Support

Hammerhead Gunship 175
Railgun, Flechette Discharger, Disruption Pods, 2x Burst Cannons, Multi-Tracker

Hammerhead Gunship 175
Railgun, Flechette Discharger, Disruption Pods, 2x Burst Cannons, Multi-Tracker

Broadside Battlesuits x2 160
Advanced Stabilization System

Total 1500

my first game was dawn of war capture and control against a dark eldar wych cult with lillith and 3 squads of wyches and 3 ravagers with 3x disintigrators each. between rolling 1-3 on 4/5 to hit rolls and the speed of the dark eldar, i got wiped down to 3 squads of drones from my devilfish. i did kill off lillith which netted me a bonus point, but this was a 24-1 loss.

My second game was against space marines, spearhead and seize ground 5 objectives. I had his entire army wiped out by turn 5 so there was no need to roll for another turn.

My third game was against space marines again, his list was all foot with 15 terminators (not the best choice) By turn 3 I had wiped everything out and the terminators were still in reserve. they both came in and on the turn they landed they killed a hammerhead. then i wiped both squads (one of 10, 1 of 5) in the following 2 turns.

In the end i took 3rd place (by one point) just above the guy that played dark eldar and wiped me out the 1st game.Thank you lillith hesperex to dieing to drone fire. otherwize i'd have come in 4th.

All in all i'm satisfied with the army. though i need a bit of speed bump action for them. I believe that i will be dropping one squad of fire warriors for a squad of kroot or 2.

I believe that my next tau army setup at 1500 points like this:

Tau 1500

HQ:

Shas El 123
Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, HW Multi-Tracker, HW Drone Controller (Shield x2), Bonding Knife, HW Blacksun Filter

Elite:

Crisis Suit x2 124
Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Multi-Tracker

Crisis Suit x2 124
Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Multi-Tracker

Troops

Kroot x10 - 70 points

Kroot x10 - 70 Points

Fire Warriors x6 155
Devilfish, D-Pods, Flechette Dischargers

Fire Warriors x6 60

Fast Attack

Pathfinders x6 167
Devilfish
Disruption Pods, Flechette Dischargers

Pirhanna 80
Fusion Blaster, Flechette Discharger, Targeting Array

Heavy Support

Hammerhead Gunship 175
Railgun, Flechette Discharger, Disruption Pods, 2x Burst Cannons, Multi-Tracker

Hammerhead Gunship 175
Railgun, Flechette Discharger, Disruption Pods, 2x Burst Cannons, Multi-Tracker

Broadside Battlesuits x2 170
Team Leader, HW Target Lock, Advanced Stabilization System

Total 1500

Running a 40k Tournament in your area:

The fact is that there are many of us out here in the boonies that have little to no access to a Local Gaming Store (LGS) and absolutely NO access to a GW Store. I know, I am one of you. I’ve never, in my whole life, been into a Games Workshop store. That being said, those of us who are in this same predicament probably love this game as much as I do, if not more. So, for someone that has run more tournaments than I can honestly remember and participated and won more than a couple, allow me to help.

YOU CAN RUN YOUR OWN TOURNAMENT.

How? It is really rather simple, you in truth only really need 3 things:

1. A place to play.
This can be your basement if you have enough space, a garage, or a local store.
2. People to participate.
This number can be as big as you want it to be, but should be (for purposes of a decent tournament) no less than 8 people.
3. A Rules Judge
This can be you, so long as you feel comfortable making rulings on games that will effect other people, and that those people will abide by your rulings.

That is it.

Ok, got all that together?

Talk to your participants; get an Idea of what they would like to do for their tournament, because in all honesty it is theirs, not yours. You are just facilitating their enjoyment of the game.

Set your entry fee. Since you are likely reading this because of the fact that you have little or no GW involvement, you are going to be in charge of “Prize Support” if you have an LGS that will help, that is great, but in truth most of these guys are scraping by by the skin of their teeth. So break down, set an entry fee and deal with it.

Tips on Entry Fees:
The more people you have the lees the fee should be per person unless you
want to do big prizes.

The lowest you should go is $5 per person. At 8 people that puts the “Prize Pool” at $40. Not much.

One of the ways that we do things here is $5 Per Person Per Game. This sets the prize pool at a decent level and makes it relatively affordable for most people to attend. Since most tourneys here are 3 games it is $15 per person. At 8 people, that sets your prize pool at $120. A significant difference.

Decide on the “Prizes”

When I say prizes, I do not mean the merchandise that the winner receives, I
mean what qualifies the winner(s). Your fist choice is going to be overall winner. This is the person who wins the tournament. But from there you should also have at least 1 and maybe more winners. What should they be? In smaller tournaments, you should probably keep it simple.

Tips on Secondary Winners
In small tournaments, Keep it simple. Probably stay with a prize for 2nd place. As the size of the tournaments increases so does the “Prize Pool” and so you can have other prizes.

For example, in a 24 Person tournament with a $10 entry fee you will have a prize pool of $240 and could set up your “Prizes” like this:
1. Overall Winner - $90 In Product
2. Runner Up (2nd Place) -$60 In Product
3. Best Painted - $60 In Product
4. Best Sportsman - $30 In Product
Also, keep in mind that no 1 person should EVER win more than 1 prize. Even if the person who won best sportsman won the overall winner slot, he would get the $90 in product. The next in line for sportsmanship would take best sportsman.

Decide on Scenarios

Scenarios should be clearly written and balanced for EVERY ARMY. Thus you should never make a scenario that starts the players at opposite short edges of a 6’x4’ board with a 12” deployment zone. I’ve played in these and the 4’ that you need to cover completely screws over the assault oriented armies while giving armies like Tau a completely unfair advantage.

House Rules

House rules should be very clearly defined. If you change ANYTHING in the rules, tell people. If you want the ork battlewagon’s deff rolla to not effect tanks, MAKE IT CLEAR to people, preferably before the tournament so that they can take that into account in writing their list. Nothing sucks worse than writing a list all about denying somebody their cover saves only to show up and find out that the tournament is running with the rules that cover saves can not be negated.
TELL YOUR PARTICIPANTS!

Have a clear way to define the winner of the tournament. Win/Loss record is not enough.
In any tournament over 8 people, just winning is not enough since in a 12 person tournament, pitting winners against winners, you may end up with 2 people that won all 3 of their games. Make a system, the most commonly used and easiest to understand is battle points. It will save everyone a lot of work in the end.

Run your tournament with a spreadsheet. It’s easy to setup and will keep your life clean and easy and will help with pairings for subsequent rounds.

Keep a cool head, if you encounter a rule that you do not know or have had no experience with, think about it logically. You are a smart gamer (I Hope) if you have a hard time, ask a 3rd party that you trust and is not involved in the game. It’s ok to take 5 minutes, but don’t take an hour to issue a judgement. 5 minutes is about the maximum you want to take otherwise you are denying them a game. If you cant figure it out, think about it logically and apply all pertinent rules, if somebody is trying to cheat, you should be able to tell.

HAVE FUN. And that is the most important of any tournament. Have fun.

Ork Big Mek

Ok, this guy is one of the most versitile HQ Choices in the book, he can be shooty, assaulty, Funny, or just a support character. he takes quite a bit of explaining, so bear with me.

Shooty- The big mek with shooty goodies can be a monster, though only in a few ways.
You should not take any of the following options, simply because with a Ballistic skill of 2 he is only hitting on a 5 or a 6 and his shots are wasted. Kombi-Rokkit Launcher, Kustom Mega Blasta.

Leaving your options as a Burna (in exchange for your choppa) or a Kombi-Skorcha (in exchange for your slugga) both give you template weapons that auto-hit which is amazing for orks.


Assaulty- You can take him stock as a 35 point HQ choice (more boyz!) and get a slugga/choppa HQ that gives you 5 S4 attacks on the charge, useful if you are going for more bodies, but not as fun. Or you can exchange his Choppa for a Power Klaw, giving you 4 S9 attacks on the charge. and 3 S8 attacks in subsequent rounds or if you get assaulted.

Funny - The shokk Attack gun. one of the most potent and at the same time on of the most inneffective weapons in the game, and to boot you can easily kill yourself in the process of shooting it. Nothing beats seeing an entire unit disappear from the board from one shot, but to get that you have to deal with the possibility of completely killing yourself on the first turn before you can do anything.

Support- This guy can be kitted out in several ways to support the rest of your army, but the most important is the Kustom Force Field. this amazing piece of equipment will help keep your vehicles alive more than anything considering the 4+ cover save it grants them if they are within 6" of him. you can put him in a trukk or wagon and run him with your 9 killa kans up the board and laugh as your opponent tries to shoot the kans which have a 4+ cover save on top of being vehicles. Though keep in mind that the KFF grants your OPPONENT's models within 6" of him that same cover save. Yeah we can build the damn thing, but we can't make it only protect us.

My way to run this guy, as stated, is to either give him the KFF and a burna, throw him in a trukk and go, or to take him stock and keep points for other good things in the army.
Posted by Stephen at 7:08 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Big Mek, Kustom Force Field, Ork, Shokk Attack Gun

Ork Warboss

The ork warboss is the biggest and baddest of the orks. He is a close combat monster and to use him otherwise is just a waste of points.

He is also your only way in the ork army to reliably produce Strength 10 attacks. Sure the Shokk attack gun and the Zzapp gun can also do it, but they are less reliable as there is a vast minority of their attacks that reach that strength.

I usually run my warbosses one of two ways:

Warboss
Bike
Attack Squig
Cybork Body
Power Klaw

Ringing in at 150 Points, this guy is a monster. He has a 4+ Save, a 4+ Cover Save and a 5+ Invulnerable save, 5 Strength 10 attacks on the charge and 4 Strength 10 attacks when not charging. He is on a bike, so he is fast, manouverable, and has a Twin Linked Assault 3 gun with 18 inches, effectively giving you a first turn of shooting range of 32" with his move. and you can up that to 44" with a full forward deployment. He is best used attached to a squad of Nob Bikers, Their manouverability and the addition of a painboy makes him a wonderful addition, as it lets you take Strength 8-9 weapon hits and still make your saves AND a feel no pain save. and removing the fact that a Missile launcher will automatically kill one of your nob bikers.

Warboss
'Eavy Armor
Cybork Body
Power Klaw
Attack Squig
Kombi-Skorcha

Rining in at 120 Points, this guy is also a monster, though with a different role, while the biker boss is a hammer for just about anything, this guy is meant for footslogging with the boyz or even a battlewagon full of nobz (see above for why to travel with nobz). If you want to run a green tide, ruth is guy. his kombi-Skorcha will give you those Strength 5 templates that you will need to deal with other hordes, and the klaw gives you the almighty power of the S10 CC attack that will deal with land raiders.

Both options are sound, more can be added, but I reccomend only adding them when you have points to fill. Also, for each warboss (or Ghazzy) that you take, you may take a squad of Nobz as a troop choice, making that Nob Biker list much more viable.

Codex Orks Overview

Ok, inspired by my favorite podcast: 40k Radio, I've decided to start my overview and tactica of the army seen most here: Orks

We will start off with the HQ choices, moving from the generic to the Special Characters. See how that goes and then move on from there.

First up will be the Ork Warboss.