Event Horizon Report
Quest to bring NOVA competition down under
Firstly, I would like to thank MVB. NOVA has inspired me to run a similar event in Australia on the east coast (Sydney). I believe that people can have fun, playing with beautifully painted armies and behave like gentlemen without the need for "comp" to change the scores. This is where I can hopefully change AUstralian gamers' perceptions one game at a time.
My goal for Event Horizon is to run an event that encourages competitive play (and competitive evaluated) in Warhammer 40k while rewarding equally the Painter, General, Sportsman and All Rounders. It strives to be an all-inclusive event that nurtures all aspect of the 40k hobby.
There are four awards (streams) available – Knights Champion (best general using W/L system), Master of the Art (best painting), White Knight (best sports), and Tri-Man (best overall - 37.5 BP/37.5 Paint/25 Spt).
Event Horizon uses a W/L system with Day 1 being a top 8 qualifier. Qualifiers were determined firstly by highest W/L record, and then by Battle Points, Primary mission points, secondary mission points, and finally tertiary mission points.
Battles Unfold
With 34 players, Event Horizon ran with 6 rounds to ensure there was only one Knights Champion.
There are three rotating missions in Event Horizon – 5 Objectives (fixed location), Table Quarters (Scoring worth full VP), and KP by 3 or more. The final decider is VP.
At the end of Day 1 the top 8 players were:
- Jason Collins - IG - 3/0 (46)
- Matt Tolcher - Chaos - 3/0 (46)
- Michael Cruise - Eldar - 3/0 (44)
- Stuart Lord - SW - 3/0 (41)
- Brendan Hunt - SW - 2/1 (36)
- Kirby - GK - 2/1 (34)
- Wayne Lauter - IG - 2/1 (34)
- Simon Rainbow - Daemons - 2/1 (33)
Although I had expected 5 players to be in the 3-0 bracket, Kirby’s (2-0) epic fail (my bad) in his third game against Wayne Lauter (1-1) resulted in only 4 players with a 3-0 record. This also meant that both Kirby and Wayne managed to qualify for Day 2.
In the first round of Day 2, the mission was Spearhead setup – Objectives/Quarters/KP
· Jason Collins(1) vs. Simon Rainbow(8)
Simon is a long time daemon player, and although we told him that his Slaanesh daemons are dead in 5th Ed, he continues to play in the hope that GK does not show up on the other side. Jason is a long time IG player and had strong showings with his mechanised guard in other events in Australia .
Unfortunately, Jason was placed into the left corner where Simon took full advantage of a hill at the centre left that blocked LOS. This allow Simon’s daemon to drop into cover and engage Jason’s army with minimal damage. The result was a one side slaughter and 16-0 to Simon.
· Matt Tolcher(2) vs. Wayne Lauter(7)
Matt (from Canberra ) with his Chaos – 2 Prince, 7 obliterators, auto-cannon dreadnoughts and marines in rhino, played Wayne and his mechanised guard. Again, this is a game where good use of cover and long range fire power from obliterators helped Matt closed in for the kill. It was another one side slaughter and 16-0 to Matt.
· Michael Cruise(3) vs. Kirby(6)
Footdar vs GK. Michael (from Canberra ) has played elder for a very long time and with Eldred and Yriel, his army did what most people did not think possible – “win” games. But this proves that the player is more important than the list. Having a good list is important, but it can only get you so far without learning to play better. I am sure Kirby will have a good run down of the game on his blog. The game was very close and it came down to VP where Michael won by 100vp.
· Stuart Lord(4) vs. Brendan Hunt(5)
Two new players in the tournament scene, both of them with a very similar semi mechanised SW. It was nearly a mirror match and it showed in the final score where Stuart won on the Tertiary mission by one objective. Two strong up and coming players that I hope to see more in the future.
Semi Finals was pitch battle setup – KP/Objectives/Quarters
· Michael Cruise(3) vs. Simon Rainbow(8)
This was a game where I though Simon had a real chance to win. Michael went first and spread his army across the table, and I saw that as a fatal mistake. Unfortunately for Simon, he did not get his first wave to take advantage of the error. What made it worst was that Simon held back and did not engage Michael’s army while Eldrad was out of position. This gave Michael one turn to recover and from there it was all one way. Final result was 16-0 to Michael.
· Matt Tolcher(2) vs. Stuart Lord(4)
Although this should have been an even match, the approach taken by both players were very conservative with both players deciding to sit back and shoot through cover. If statistic was average, Stuart would have won with his extra missiles and vehicles. But as luck has it, Matt destroyed vehicles while Stuart was only able to immobilise or destroy weapons. Matt also got his dreadnought to roll the crucial 6s to hit and destroy a rhino to get enough KP for him to take out the match.
Finals was DoW setup – Quarters/KP/Objectives
· Matt Tolcher(2) vs. Michael Cruise(3)
It is always good to see a tight finals and this proof to be the tightest of games. A report can be found in WAU - http://www.wargamerau.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=118078 but the game result was draw on primary 2 quarters each, draw in KP, Michael had 3 objectives (which won him the game), and Matt had higher VP. Matt could have won but could not draw the tertiary mission to push it down to VP.
Finding the Art Master
The painting awards (Master of the Art and Players Choice) is a combination of army painting skill and single model painting skill. I have the great privilege to have two painting judge to work with me in Event Horizon.
- Andrew Lum - an OzPainter regular and renowned model painter.
- Luke Yates – an army painter and owner of The Sound of Machine - http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sound-of-Machines-Commission-Miniature-Painting/102661163158742
The following was their top four choices,
Andrew | Luke |
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As you can see Shane’s single models (e.g. Wraithlord, Harlequins) were superb but there were some models that were not as high in quality that made the army look inconsistent. While Vincent’s Orks were of very high quality and consistent throughout his whole army, but there was not a single exceptional model that could match Shane’s effort.
With both players getting the same points, I have a difficult decision ahead of me. As luck would have it, Shane picked up the players’ choice award which meant I can reward both players with an award.
A true gentleman
An aspect of life that is sometimes lacking is the ability to be a true sportsman. A winner can be humble and a looser can still be proud and gracious. I believe the Sportsman (White Knight) award will continue to promote the good behaviours. With some encouragement from the organisers roaming the field, we will stamp out poor behaviours in our hobby and encourage sportsmanlike behaviours even in a competitive environment.
In Event Horizon 2011, Dallas Kimber smiled through thick and thin and came through with full points (including 6 votes) to take out the White Knight award. A true gentleman.
TriMan – the path to the best all rounder
TriMan rewards the best all rounder, a traditional award in all Australian tournaments that uses a mix of battle point, painting score, and sports score. To determine a true all rounder, I used a 37.5 BP/ 37.5 Painting/ 25 Sports split. Also, players that were knocked out of in the quarter and semi finals were placed back into the player pool to ensure a fair competition for the TriMan award.
I have predicted that a player would need to win at least 4 games, have good painting score and good sports score to win this top spot. As the result shows, Chee at 4 win had just edged out Jason (5 wins) with his superbly painted IG army and gaining the few crucial Sports votes to get him over the line. The points separating the top four was less than 1 point and all of them deserved a big congratulation.
Learning and Stats for next year
A few things I would like to do by next year,
- Design another balance deployment set up and mission for the event
- Change the BP scoring system – 4 points for a game won, 3 points for mission won, 2 for mission drawn, and 1 for mission loss. This will result in a spread from 10-10 (win primary and lose all other) to a maximum of 16-4. This scoring system should reward closer games more appropriately 13-7 (draws on all tiers and won on VP).
- Attract more players J
Finally, statistics for the Primary mission so other TOs can use.
- Objectives – 7/34 games resulted in a draw
- Quarters (scoring counts full VP) – 7/34 games resulted in a draw
- KP win by 3 or more – 8/34 games resulted in a draw
Only 1 in 6 games played had a tight margin and 1 in 5 games played where players draw on the primary.
I am happy with the distribution of draws between each of the primary missions, but I was expecting the ration of tighter games to be higher. This could be due to opposite pairing I used throughout the tournament which has the highest BP playing the lowest BP in the same W/L bracket. This method works for the first day qualifier but might not be the best on the second day in the open field.
Thank you
I would like to thank all the players that supported the first Event Horizon, NSW Northern Knights, Stewarts Trophies, Iron Halo, and The Combat Company. I would also like to thank Matt (fester) for his program, and the club in helping me set up the event. And Kirby because I mean, he rocks.
