Some crazy drunk girl sent me the information on Conquest Toronto to...ahem..."bash." I'll be posting the full document here and doing a snowmobile of it and whilst I'm going to do as an objective review as possible, let's remember this is from a competitive stand-point. I don't know how this tournament has been advertised so let's all keep that in mind.
CONQUEST TORONTO – 40K TOURNAMENT
Hi and Welcome to Conquest Toronto. G'day! Below you will find all information regarding Conquest Toronto’s first 40K tournament being held on November 6th and 7th.
What: Conquest Toronto is a singles Warhammer 40,000 Tournament. The event is being held over two days and consists of a total of 5 games.
When: Conquest Toronto is occurring November 6th and 7th, 2010.
Where: The Royal Canadian Legion, Highland Creek (ONT 258) Branch, 45 Lawson Road, Toronto, ON, M1C 2J1 Website: http://www.rcl258.com/
Rules for the Event:
Conquest Toronto is a “open List” event There are closed list events?
All models MUST be fully painted (3 colour minimum plus base). You will NOT be eligible for a prize (including last past prize) if the army contains models that do not meet the 3 colour + basing requirement. That should be the painting requirement.
All models MUST be WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get)
Special Characters are allowed but must be represented as the actual model (unless there has not been a model released to date) So the Vulkan model I modelled before there was a model...can it be used?
5th edition Ruleset andcurrent codex books will apply. When does the codex cut-off happen? Is DE included or not? In addition, all rule clarifications will be based on the new Warhammer 40,000 FAQ. For details please visit http://www.gamesworkshop.com/
All Players are expected to bring all the material needed to play (this includes dice, rulebooks, measuring tapes etc.
Each person is expected to bring 2 objective markers (25mm or 40mm)
All players must conduct themselves in a mature fashion. Goodluck!
This basically screws any counts-as army or anything with serious conversion work. Sorry but screw you. I highlighted the whole thing with the Vulkan model but what if T-Fexes/Tervigons are out by then? Please buy these so you can play? WYISWYG is solid but shouldn't be absolute. There needs to be some lee-way in army presentation. Calling a grot a Space Marine is silly but converting a whole Tau army from drones has fluff merit and everything can be clearly distinguished. Why are you penalising him? Same with the techno-Nids from BoLS a while back. Etc., etc.
ARMY LIST BONUS
There is a bonus 5pt for submitting your army list prior to November 1st. Can't complain about this. Just submit your damn list. Please send army lists to the below email addresses. Army list will be accepted in the following formats: Word, Excel, HTM, PDF. If you do not have any of these formats please contact us at the below emails to determine an alternate method
cmascella123@hotmail.com
shnazzylee@hotmail.com
Tournament Summary & Schedule
Points: 1850 points per player Decent size. Wish Centurion was at this :P.
Dates: November 6th and 7th, 2010
Player Capacity: 50
# of rounds: 5
Entry: $80 per player Wow! Expensive.
Lunch is provided (pizza and pop) Better be good pizza :P.
Day 1 – Schedule (November 6th)
Registration - 8:30AM - 9:00AM
Introduction - 9:00AM - 9:30AM
Game 1 - 9:30AM - 11:30AM 2 hours is tight for 1850
Display armies for judging – 11:30AM – 12:30PM (organizers will use this time to judge appearance and painting)
Lunch - 11:30AM - 12:30PM
Game 2 - 12:45PM - 2:45PM
Game 3 - 3:15PM - 5:15PM
Day 2 – Schedule (November 7th)
Game 4 - 10:00AM - 12:00PM
Lunch - 12:30PM - 1:00PM
Game 5 - 1:15PM - 3:15PM
Results, Prizes, and Farewell! - 4:00PM - 5:00PM Seems like a lot of time is wasted where games could be extended to 2.5 hours.
Tournament Scoring Breakdown and Prizes
Scoring Breakdown
OVERALL WINNER: Will be based on a 70/30 split on battle points and appearance points. Better than most.
Battle Points: 180pt Weighting 70%
Appearance Points: 72pt Weighting 28%
Early Bonus: 5pt Weighting 2%
Total 215pts
There is also a bonus 5 points for submitting your army list prior to November 1st. Please send army lists to the following email address.
cmascella123@hotmail.com
shnazzylee@hotmail.com
BEST GENERAL: Will be based solely on Battle points Good
Battle Points are earned via Primary/Secondary/Tertiary Objectives
Win Draw Loss
Primary Objectives: 18 12 6
Secondary Objectives 12 8 4
Tertiary Objectives 6 4 2 This gets overly complex, fast with too many tiers. I'm a strong believer in the W/L system but the spread of points here just seems...wrong. You can lose the game but still tie your opponent.
BEST APPERANCE: Based on Organizer’s and special judges (not participating in the event). A Total of 5 judges will be review all armies in attendance
Appearance will be based on the following criteria and will be out of a total of 72pts
Is all detail work on the army complete (eyes, bags, jewels etc.)? 0-20pts
Does the army display advanced painting techniques (highlighting, blending etc.) 0-15pts
Does the army display interesting conversions/basing work? 0-10pts
Does the army feature a detailed display board? 0-7pts
Does the army display a consistent theme or colour scheme? 0-10pts
Are there stand out models that bring attention to the army (painting/conversion)? 0-10pts
I have issues with all of these. As demonstrated in Lords of Terra whilst these seem clear, it is ultimately up to the judge. Personally it should be something like: is the detail work done? No: 0. Some: 1. Yes: 2., etc. Make it black and white what you get the points for and have an extra scoring system which works independently for the best army. This also flies in the face of the very strict modelling rules. Some of the BEST painted armies ever steer very far away from the actual models presented and use heavy counts as, conversions, other models, etc. Considering 30% of your overall score is impacted by this and you also have a best appearance award, this seems contradictory.
BEST SPORTMANSHIP: Will be based on Players Votes. After each game, each player will rate the each opponent on sportsmanship based on a series of questions (out of a total of 5 pts). The best and worst score will be dropped and then totaled up (for a total of 15). In addition, each player will vote for his favorite opponent of the tournament. This will be worth an additional 2 pts. The individual with the highest sportsmanship score will win the prize.
Questions:
Did you player arrive on time and ready to play? 0-1pts
Was your opponent fun to play against? 0-1pts
Would you play the army again? 0-1pts
Did your opponent play fairly? 0-2pts
I like this. It's separate so doesn't allow you to suck up to your opponent and penalise them, etc. to affect your overall standing but you'll still find people bombing scores at a better chance for the prize.
BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME (LAST PLACE): This will go to the person with the lowest battle points (see battle points summary above)
This is odd, especially when you see the prize for it. A encouragement award seems nice but I could take a terrible army and simply tank games. Er...pass on this.
Tiebreakers will go to the next category in the following order Problem with battle points, you need tie-breakers overall when a W/L system has tiebreakers built into it.
Overall points
Sportsmanship
Appearance
Prize support is as follows Is awesome but you would expect such with an $80 entry fee but there seems little support for 2nd/3rd/4th/etc when there generally is even for cheaper tournaments.
Overall Winner: Forgeworld Eldar Revenant Titan
BEST GENERAL: One BattleForce and one Tank
BEST APPERANCE: One BattleForce and one Tank
BEST SPORTMANSHIP: One BattleForce and one Tank
BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME (Last Place): One Island of Blood Warhammer Starter Set Still a wtf? prize but mixing games in prizes is a bad idea.
Additional Draw prizes will be provided based on attendance. How?
Note: No person can win multiple awards. Good.
CONQUEST TORONTO: SCENARIOS
SCENARIO OVERALL RULES
Deployment Special rules:
All Scenarios allow infiltrate, deep strike, reserves, outflank and scout
Game Length:
All scenarios use Random Game Length:
At the end of turn 5, roll a dice on a 3+ play turn 6. If a 1-2 is rolled the game ends
At the end of turn 6, roll a dice on a 4+ play turn 7. If a 1-3 is rolled the game ends.
Turn 7 is always the last turn.
Summary: 5th edition.
Objectives:
All scenarios use three levels of objectives that must be completed in order to achieve the complete victory. Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary objectives are detailed in each scenario.
Scoring units: Are as defined in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook (pg 90)
Objective Markers
Units can never control or contest more than 1 objective marker. No thanks. Only Scoring units can control objectives. Any unit can contest objective markers. In order to control or contest an objective marker at least one model in the unit must be within 3” of the objective marker. Objective markers cannot be placed in impassible terrain and must be between 25mm and 40mm in size. No. Pick a universal size or a direct placement for the bigger one.
Scoring:
Primary Objective: 18/12/6 – Win/Draw/Loss
Secondary Objective: 12/8/4
Tertiary Objective: 6/4/2
Wipe Outs:
Completely destroying your opponent does not guarantee full battle points for all objectives. If your opponent is completely wiped out with game turns remaining, you are still allowed to play out the turns in order to claim objectives. Random game length also still applies. Good.
ROUND 1: MY BEST AGAINST YOUR BEST WINNER TAKES ALL!
Deployment: Dawn of War (40K rulebook, pg 92-93)
Primary Objective: Seize Ground (40K rulebook pg 90-91) No. Define how many objectives there. Missions need to be the exact same across all gamers. This is also why pre-defining objective deployment has its merits, although I enjoy the 'tactics' of placing objectives as well.
Secondary Objective: Army Pride (see below)
Tertiary Objective: Hidden Artifact (see below)
Army Pride: Prior to the start of the game each player must select a unit and clearly indicate this to your opponent. This unit has become honored amongst their peers. You MUST keep this unit alive as dying would cause your army to lose hope. At the end of the game if the unit that you selected is alive, you earn the secondary objective win. Otherwise, it is a loss for the secondary objective. If you and your opponent keep the selected unit alive or each kill the opponent’s selected unit, the result is a draw. Disadvantages armies 5th edition supports and supports deathstar units and certain armies. Pass.
Hidden Artifacts: Your army has been tasked to gather artifacts from the battle field that may hold the key to winning the war. However, it is unknown where these artifacts are. When entering a terrain piece for the first time roll a D6 on a score of 6 you have found an artifact. If you do not roll a 6, add +1 to you next hidden artifact roll. You can only search a terrain piece once but your opponent can search a terrain piece you have already searched. If you deployed in a terrain piece you may make a hidden artifact roll at the start of your first turn. The first player to find the hidden artifact secures the Tertiary Objective win. If the artifact isn’t found, it is a draw. So, whoever rolls a 6 first gets 6 points? Pass.
ROUND 2: THIS IS OUR HOUSE!!!
Deployment: Pitched Battle (40K rulebook, pg 92-93)
Primary Objective: Capture and Control (40K rulebook pg 90-91) Terrible mission. Don't use it.Secondary Objective: Control Ground (see below)
Tertiary Objective: Secret Messenger (see below)
Control Ground: Your army has been tasked to control the planet fortifications as this is vital to winning the war. You must control as many terrain pieces as possible. In order to control a piece of terrain you must be within 3” of it and have no enemy units within 3”. As opposed the normal rules for controlling terrain, ...what normal rules? in this case any unit (non-dedicated transport is this including non-dedicated transports or excluding?) can control an objective. The person with the most terrain pieces in their control at the end of the game win. If both players control the same amount of terrain pieces then it is a draw So basically objectives not based on Troops and variable size & amount depending on table. No, unless all of your tables are comparable but then you've still gone against what Mission 1 emphasises and emphasised MSU armies but not Troops. So half 5th edition, half not.
Secret Messenger: At the beginning of the game you will be given a piece of blue Tac. For eating? Your opponent will be asked to turn around. You will place the Blue Tac under a model of your choice. No I will not as I use resin bases so my bases are flat to the ground. WTF? The model cannot be an Independent Character , a vehicle, or a Monstrous Creature. This model has been designated the secret messenger. You must keep this model alive. Once you have determined your secret messenger you will turn around and your opponent will select their secret messenger. And they will be reading this asking me to turn around first lol :P. If you kill your opponents secret messenger and your messenger is still alive at the end of the game you win. If you both kill the secret messenger it is a draw. Blue Tac will be provided. So basically a random and stupid mission. a) it's a lot easier to write things down b) resin bases make blu-tac fail c) how does this relate to the ability of an individual to be a good general or not?
ROUND 3: I’M THE KING OF THE CASTLE AND YOU’RE THE DIRTY RASCEL
Deployment: Spearhead(40K rulebook, pg 92-93)
Primary Objective: King of the Hill (see below)
Secondary Objective: Control Bases (see below)
Tertiary Objective: : Control Neutral Quarters (see below)
Kill of the Hill: Place an objective in the center of the table. The player with the most points of scoring units (as defined in the overall scenario rules) within 6” of the objective at the end of the game wins. For example, 30 Ork Boyz without upgrades would be worth 180 points. If half or more than half of the unit is destroyed then you would only count half the points for that unit. If your unit is above half or full strength your receive full points for the unit. If no units are within 6” of the objective (or the value of both sides is the same,) then the result is a draw. One objective. One... once again not supporting 5th edition beyond the VP styled control aspect.
Control Bases: You must control the starting quarters you both deploy in. To control these quarters, you need a unit (non-dedicated transports Again, including or excluding?) in the quarter and no enemy unit in the same quarter. For this objective, only consider units at least 12” from the King of the Hill objective. The player with the most quarters wins. Otherwise, it is a draw. Needlessly complex and hard to achieve. No units in your deployment zone either means your opponent's army was bad, they had no idea what the mission was or you pummelled them. Not really good at showing who the good 40k players are.
Control Neutral Quarters: You must control the neutral quarters you both don’t deploy in. To control these quarters, you need a unit (non-dedicated transports) in the quarter and no enemy unit in the same quarter. For this objective, only consider units at least 12” from the King of the Hill objective. The player with the most quarters wins. Otherwise, it is a draw. Same as above.
ROUND 4: A PIRATE’S LIFE FOR ME
Deployment: Pitched Battle (40K rulebook, pg 92-93)
Primary Objective: Hidden Loot (see below)
Secondary Objective: Recon (see below)
Tertiary Objective: Supply Drop (see below)
Hidden Loot: Valuable Loot has been determined to be on the planet. Both armies are determined to be the first to obtain the loot. Victory Points written on scrap paper will be hidden under terrain not in the deployment area. The terrain will be set by the organizers and the loot will be hidden under each terrain piece by the organizers (do not lift or move any terrain piece when you arrive at the table). Lol, good luck with enforcing that. A terrain piece will have a minimum of 1VP and a maximum of 4VP under it. Once a unit reaches a piece of terrain remove the loot counter from under the terrain. The unit is considered to be holding the Loot. The owning player may look at the value of the loot but does not have to reveal it to his opponent. If the unit is destroyed the loot is dropped where the unit was destroyed. Any unit may be able to pick up the dropped loot but moving another unit within contact of the dropped loot counter. Only Troops can hold and find loot. Troops cannot be embarked in a vehicle when searching for loots. The army that is holding more VP’s at the end of the game is the winner. If both players have the same amount of VP’s then it is a draw. Again, random. Yes I got 3 terrain pieces with 4 VP really early, fall back!!! Focuses on 5th edition thanks to Troop specific aspect but screws up certain armies with the forced disembarking. Mainly though, random. Each terrain piece should be the same or shown clearly before the game. Still a "let's make 40k more fun with a different mission" mission when it's not needed.
Recon: You must have a unit within 6” of your opponent’s deployment zone. Independent Characters and dedicated transports do not count. The player with the most units in that range wins. If neither player has units in that range or the same amount, the result is a draw. Not terrible and emphasises mobility which is good.
Supply Drop: Your army will be sending supplies to aid in your fight. Each army has an objective in reserve. Roll for reserves normal. The objective is not affected by army special rules (astropaths…etc,). Once the reserve roll has been made for the objective, the objective enters the playing field via deep strike. The objectives must be placed more than 12" from any board edge. The objective will scatter as normal rules indicate, and will never “hit.” Reroll if this occurs. Or use the little arrow. The objective cannot mishap. If the objective lands in impassable terrain or on a unit, minimize the scatter so that it lands in front instead. Be specific that you cannot place objectives on units/impassable terrain as their starting drop point either. Once the objective is placed it cannot be moved. Any scoring unit (friend or foe) can control the objective (but the unit must be a scoring unit). The army controlling the most objectives wins. If both armies hold the same amount objectives then it is a draw. This is kind of fun. It detracts from what a 40k tournament should be (since it's random) but if there were already objectives on the table and these were dropped in or dropped in normally, I wouldn't sit here and complain about the mission but only it's randomness. If only the rest of the mission were like this then the only complaint would be: random.
ROUND 5: THE LAST STAND!!!
Deployment: Spearhead (40K rulebook, pg 92-93)
Primary Objective: Kill Points (40K rulebook, pg 90-91)
Secondary Objective: Kill the Leader (see below)
Tertiary Objective: Victory Points (see below)
Headhunting: You must kill the enemy leader/HQ. If your opponent has multiple HQs, they must designate one to be the target. Note: Retinues do not count. If you kill the enemy leader you secure the secondary objective win. If you both kill the leader, or both fail to kill the enemy leader, it is a draw. Benefits some armies (hello Swarmlord) but not others (hello Imperial Guard Company Command Squad).
Victory Points: Earn more than 200VP’s than your opponent. So this whole mission is the anti-thesis of 5th edition.
Victory Points are scored in the following manner:
Victory points are equal to the points cost of the unit
Each Independent Characters/Monsters/Vehicles/Unit that is destroyed is worth the full value in victory points
If the unit is reduced to half or below half then it is worth half the value in victory points.
Each Independent Characters/Monsters that is reduced to half wounds or less is worth half their value in victory points.
A vehicle that is damaged (immobilized) is worth half its value in victory points. Weapon destroyed or less is not considered damaged.
Units that are falling back at the end of the game are worth their full value in victory points.
Overall thoughts:
expensive
mission pack needs work and clarification (i.e. spelling errors)
decent compared to Australian tournaments with BP weighting
BP overly complex (again, not a fan of BP systems but this tournament has a lot of variables to consider)
missions generally bad reflections of 5th edition
you can lose yet still tie your opponent in terms of BP (a hall-mark of comp systems)
a fair amount of random factors
significant painting aspect yet a huge restriction on armies in terms of counts-as, conversions, modelling, etc.
pretty amazing prize support if you get one
Would I go? Not for the price and with the missions as strange as they are. The only one which I kind of remotely like for fun play is Supply Drop but in competitive play...eh could be made to work I guess but the randomness is a deterent. I'm going to link Centurion missions here as they are good examples of tournament missions. If you want a BP system, simply trade out the W/L step-down system and apply battle-points.
