Wow, my hands feel as if they are about to fall off my wrists. However,
I have managed to type up all of the Epic 40,000 tournament rules that
were used in this years Grand Tournament. The result is rather large,
but I post it here in its entirety so as to keep a very old promise I
made to all of you guys. Note specifically that old SM/TL era models
and the old, square infantry bases are legal for use, just as we were
promised.
-------------------- Begin Tournament Rules ------------------------
[The following is a transcript of several documents sent to me by
Jervis Johnson.]
On the follwoing pages you'll find all the rules that will apply in the
Epic 40,000 Tournament. Read them carefully and I highly recommend you
try a few games with the tournament rules before you come to the
tournament, especially with regard to trying out the brand new scenario
you'll have to play! I've included a number of appendices after
the rules, amongst which are copies of an article I've written
explaining why the rules for the tournament are the way the are.
[I haven't duplicated this article; it was a J file it was a J-file in
a recent issue of White Dwarf Magazine. -Allen] Finally, if you have
any questions about the rules or things you are not sure about, don't
hesitate to give our Mail Order Hotline a call on 0115 9 1 40000.
TOURNAMENT CORE RULES
The following special rules will apply to the games played in the Epic
40,000 tournaments.
1) You will take part in five games, each against a different opponent
on a 5' by 4' table. Three games will be played on Saturday and two
games on Sunday. You must use the same army for every game that you
play. [Later, Jervis refers to a 4' by 6' table. I'm not sure which
size is actually used. -Allen]
2) When you arrive at the tournament you must hand in a written or typed
copy of the army you will use. In additon, you will need a second copy
of the list so that your opponent or our umpires can refer to it if they
require.
3) All armies used must be PAINTED Citadel Minatures, of the appropriate
type for the troops they represent. I'm not going to write a legalistic
definition of what constitutes an 'appropriate painted Citadel
Minaiture', as you know what I mean as well as I do. Suffice to say
that an undercoat is *not* enough...
4) You may use 'old' Epic models in the Tournament, and you may use
infantry on the old square stands. If you are using old models you
*must* tell your opponent what the name of the model is and what it is
classed as in the new rules, in case your [opponent] hasn't seen it
before.
5) All dice will be provided by the event organisers. All other
materials must be provided by the players.
6) Terrain will be provided by the organisers.
7) Set up and game length is determined by the scenario being played.
See the scenario rules below.
8) At the end of the game the winner will be the player that scores the
most victory pints. See the victory condition rules below.
9) Each player will be provided with a 'Result Card', with their name
printed on one side, and spaces on the other for recording the results
of all their battles over the weekend. Once the battle is over the card
must be filled in, initially by both players, and given to an umpire.
The information will be enterred on our database, and we'll return the
card to you at the start of the next round.
10) You must bring along the EPIC 40,000 Rule Book, the Armies Book, and
the Battles Book as well as copies of any material you will be using
from White Dwarf Magazine, so that you can check the rules and
charecteristcs that apply to your troops.
DECIDING THE WINNER
The winner of the Epic 40,000 tournaments will be the player that scores
the most points in the categories described below. The points scored in
each category will be added together, and the player with the hightest
total will be the winner. In the case of a tie the winner will be the
player who scored the most points in the *game play* category. If still
tied the prize will be awarded to the player who has, in the opinion of
the judges, the best army in terms of painting and army selection. In
addition to the overall winner we will also give out a number [of]
consolation prizes, which will be announced at the awards ceremony.
Game Play (0-100 points)
You can score up to 20 points for each game you play. We'll work out
all the tournament points on our computer, so all you need to write down
on the results form is each players remaining army morale points. For
those that are interested the formula used is listed in the appendixes
[sic.], and is designed to reward players who cause a lot of damage to
the opposing army. **Plese,_please,_please_do_NOT_work_out_and_write_
down_the_tournament_points_on_your_results_card,_just_write_down_the_
final_army_morale_levels_and_leave_the_rest_to_us**!
Army Painting & Selection (0-60)
Your painting ability and overall composition of your army is rated by a
group of judges. Each judge will rate your army on a scale of 1 to 5.
The judges marks are then averaged and the result is used to generate
your score. Clearly a player that brings along an army that is
well-painted and is highly appropriate for the race it represents will
pick up a lot of points in the category, while one that brings a badly
painted, beardy army will not!
Knowledge (0-15 points)
At some point over the weekend you will be given a test paper and 15
minutes to complete it in. The paper will have 15 multiple choice
questions, which must be answered before the time limit is up. It is OK
to look up answers in any reference books you have brought with you, but
we ask you not to confer with other players or 'swap' answers. Each
correct answer is worth 1 point.
Sportsmanship (0-25 points)
We've included this category to encourage players to take part in the
tournament in the right spirit. Obviosly we deplore rude or
unsportsmanlike behaviour and we hope that the points that can be earned
for being a sporting and friendly opponent will discourage players from
even thinking of acting in this manner -- after all you can pick up as
many as 25 oints in this category which could make all the difference to
winning the tournament!
In each round you will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire about
the opponent you have just finished playing against. By the end of the
weekend you'll have filled in 5 questionnaires, one for each opponent,
and 5 questionnaires will have been filled in about you. The answers
on the questionnaires will be used to generate a sportsmanship score for
each player of 0-20 points. To ensure fairness we'll be checking some
of the questionnaires ourselves by observing the players' conduct in
future rounds, especially for those questionnaires that say a player was
either a saint or a complete git. If this obeservation shows up any
discrepancies (i.e. the plaer is clearly *not* a saint or a git), then
we'll be asking the person who filled in the questionnair to justify
their answers...
In addition to the questionnaire, at the end of the 5th round you'll be
asked to pick *one* opponent as the most sporting opponent. Each
opponent that picks you as their most sporting opponent adds +1 to the
score generated by the questionnaires. Your total score for sprtmanship
can therefore be anywhere from 0 to 25.
PLAYING IN THE TOURNAMENT
For both of the tournaments you must participate in five games, each
against a different opponent. Your first opponent will be chosen using
a random method. For subsequent opponents we will be using a *Swiss
System*. This has nothing to do with cuckoo clocks, but is rather a way
of deciding who plays against whom in each round of the tournament. In
the first round players will be matched randomly against an opponent.
After that, in each round the two players in the 1st and 2nd place will
play each other, the players in 3rd and 4th place will play each other,
the players in 5th and 6th place will play each other, and so on. The
only exception is that you can never play the same opponent twice;
should this happen the chief umpire (that's Jervis!) will step in and
sort things out so that the players face fresh opponents of a suitable
calibre! The main advantage of the Swiss System is that it seeds
players after a round or two and makes sure theat the final winner of
the tournament will have faced some *tough* opposition along the way.
Once your opponent has been determined you will be assigned a table.
Each game will be playerd on a 4' by 6' flat table. Each table will
have a 1' sideborder that you can use for casulaties or stoarage of
reference materials. Please try to keep the playing area clear of
excess 'clutter'.
Each table will be outfitted with a set number of uniform pieces of
scenary representing a rad-bomb blasted desert world. The terrain will
be quite sparse, consisting of several 'towns' of ruined Epic 40K
buildings and some low hills. Each table will have a map, and players
should set up the scenary to conform to this.
Each gaming session lasts three hours. This time includes a half-hour
set-up period and a half-hour tear-down and collation period. Due to
the limited playing times, games will be restricted to a maximum of 2
hours playing time.
Each player has a special 'results card', with their name printed on one
side, and spaces for the resultes of their battles on the other . Once
you've finished your game, you must fill in the appropriate results
section, get your opponent to initial the card, and then hand in the
card to an umpire or at the information desk. Your results will be
enterred on the databse, and your card will be returned to you at the
start of the next round.
ARMY SELECTION
When you arrive at the turnament you _must_ hand in a copy of your army
list when you register, and you will require a second copy of the list
which you should keep with you when you are playing. The list must
include all of the models in your army, their points value, the points
value of any upgrades.
IMPORTANT: This year the list must also list the total points spent on
*scarce* troops and items. For more details on this see below.
Please make absolutely certain that the list you hand in is correct and
conforms *exactly* to the army you will be using. It goes without
saying that the army lists of the tournament leaders after each round
will be scrupulously checked, and that any errors will result in the
culprit losing so many poins that they will almost certainly have no
chance of winning the tournament. It is also importatnt to remember that
when you use a points limit in Warhammer or 40K, you can only spend *up
to* the limit agreed -- this means that in a 2,000 point game you must
spend 2,000 points or less. Finally, make absolutely sure that you
haven't broken any of the special tournament limits (see below).
Remember, if you make a mistake you *will* lose points, even if the
mistake was a completely honest one.
EPIC 40,000 Tournament Limitations
*No more than 1,500 points may be spend on the army.
*No more than 750 points may be spent on War Engines and Flyers in
total. _You_must_record_the_number_of_points_you_have_spent_on_
_War_Engines_and_Flyers_on_you_army_list_.
EPIC 40,000 TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS
In all of the previous Grand Torunaments I've run I've only used one
scenario. This year I've decided to use three different scenarios.
We'll play Escalating Engagement twice, Meeting engagement twice, and a
new scenario called *Night Battle* which I've written specially for this
event! The order these scenarios are played in will be decided randomly
at the start of the event and will be announced at the start of each
round.
_Scenario_core_Rules_
The following core rules apply to all the scenarios:
Scenery: Each table will have a map showing the players how to set up
the scenery for their battle.
Table Edge: Each player rolls a D6, high score gets to choose table
edge. Reroll any ties
Victory: Determine who is the winner using the scenario victory
conditions. Both players must record both sides' remaining army morale
points on their game results cards. These will be used to work out how
many tournament points each player receives. Note that a player's army
morale level can never be reduced to less than 0. For example, on the
third turn of a meeting engagement one player's army morale falls to 0,
while his opponent is still at 12. The loser records a score of '0' in
his VP column, and a score of '12' in his opponent's.
_Meeting_Engagement_&_Escalating_Engagement_Scenarios
Apart from the changes listed in the core rules these scenarios are
layed as described in the Epic 40,000 Battles Book.
_Night_Battle_Scenario_
This battle is exactly the same as a Meeting Engagement, except that it
is fought at night! Due to the darkness the following special rules
apply:
Night Battle: As this battle is fought at night (albeit a moonlit one),
the maximum range of any weapon is limited to the following ranges,
depending upon the type of target that is being engaged:
Target Maximum Range
Target May be Fired At
Infantry or Vehicles 30cm
War Engines 45cm
Infantry First Fire: Infantry are very hard to see at night, which
means they'll usually get the first shot against a vehicle. To represent
this the Shooting phase is split into three parts at night. In the
first part only infantry may fire, in the second part vehicles fire, and
in the third part war engines fire. Draw an initiative counter for each
part to determine who shoots first.
Dangerous Flying Conditions: Flying low level combat missions at night
is a risky business at best. To represent this roll a D6 for each flyer
before it starts to undertake a mission. On a roll fo 2-6 it carries
out the mission as normal, while on a roll of 1 it crashes before
reaching the battlefield and is destroyed.
APPENDIX ONE: ARMY PAINTING
Many players ask how we work out the scores for army painting and
selection, so I've included this appendix to describe what our judges
are looking for.
All armies in the Warhammer tournament must be painted (and no, just
being under-coated doesn't count!) Your painting ability and overall
composition of your army is rated by a group of judges. The judges will
ask to look at your army list, so make sure you have a copy available
when they come round. Each judge will rate your army on a scale of 1 to
5. The judges marks are then averaged and the result is used to
generate your score. Clearly a player that brings along an army that is
well-painted and is highly appropriate for the race it represents will
pick up a lot of points in this category, while a badly painted and
unrepresentative army will not!
Painting Citadel Miniatures is a skill that takes months or years to
learn. However there are a number of things which can make an army look
great even if you're not the best figure-painter in the world.
* The most common and easily rectified mistake is poor basing. Try to
make sure that all of the models in your army are based the same way.
In particular, avoid using 2 or 3 different basing techniques for
models belonging to the same regiment. It will just make it look
messy.
* Spend some time the week before the tournament touching up any chipped
paintwork and fixing any broken models or standards etc., especially
if your army is old or has seen a lot of action.
* Try to avoid taking too many elite or specialised troops as they will
make your army appear to be 'worked' to win games. If you are going
to take a highly elite/specialised army, try to justify its existence
in your army list, either with a piece of background text or (even
better) a short piece of narrative fiction.
* It's worth spending extra time on large models and achieving the best
paint job that you can for the model.
* Don't go overboard on war engines or similar specialised troop types
unless they form part of a _characterful_ and _appropriate_ theme for
your army.
* The judges will also take a look at your army list, so spend some time
making sure it is neat and legible. It's well worth naming the
detachements in the army, and even including short pieces of
background text or history, or even pictures, as these will add a lot
to the armies character, and this _will_ generate you extra points.
* Please remember that the judges have to mark dozens and dozens of
armies, and that this means they can't spend much more than a minute
marking your army. You can make their job much easier by keeping your
'dead uns' neatly presented in the neutral zone by the side of your
table, so that it is easy for a judge to see the whole army, and by
having your army list to hand. Finally, if there is anything you want
the judge to know about your army or that you don't want them to miss,
tell them!
APPENDIX TWO: SPORTSMANSHIP AND RULES QUESTIONS
The primary purpose of our tournaments is to get players together for
the weekend, so that they can play their favorite game and meet other
players who share their interests; in other words, to use a horrible
90's buzz-word, we see the Tournament as an ideal *net-working*
opportunity for Epic 40,000 players. Finding the 'champion players' of
our games is a by-product of this and we're really much more interested
in creating a quality gaming experience for all the people that take
part, where they get to play *lots* of games and meet a whole bunch of
new players.
We've included the sportsmanship category to encourage players to take
part in the tournament in this spirit. Fortuantely 99.9% of Epic 40,000
players are as charming and friendly an opponent as one could hope to
meet, thank goodness! To monitor the 0.01% that think becoming a
champion Warhammer or 40K player is more important than anything else,
there will be umpires wandering about, and anyone spotted acting in what
could even be *considered* to be an unsprtsmanlike way will first be
politely asked to act in a more sporting manner, and if this doesn't
work will recieive summary and (hopefully) deeply embarassing justice on
the spot!
This being said we do understand that sometimes even the friendliest of
players can lose their cool, especially if the dice have been going
against them all day. The most common cause of friction in a game are
questions about the rules of the game. Rules questions arise in most
games of Epic 40,000, both because the huge number of variables involved
in the game make it just about impossible for the rulebook to cover
every situation that might occur, and because different people
interprate the rules in different ways. In order to avoid arguments we
recommend that you refer to the appropriate rulebook as soon as a
question arises. If the rules do not cover the situation, then roll a
die to decide what happens. In other words, any questions that cannot
be answered by referring to the rules should be decided by a friendly die
roll. _Plese_note_that_there_is_nothing_wrong_with_asking_an_opponent_
_if_they_can_show_you_the_appropriate_rule_or_set_of_characteristics_
_so_that_you_can_check_for_yourself_that_everything_is_being_done_
_correctly_. All we require is that you ask nicely and politely, and
that you do your best to sort out any problems yourselves!
If you really want an umpire to sort out a rules question, then you are
free to call one over, and our umpires may intervene if they see an
argument brewing (see the note on sportsmanship above.) Be warned,
however, that our umpires are under strict instructions to ask players
to roll a D6 to sort out any rules problems unless there is a *clear*
answer to the question in one of the rulebooks availiable at the table.
You should also note that the prime duty of our umpires is to make sure
that the majority of players in the tournament get a nice, friendly game
where winning is secondary to having a good time, and that anyone who
keeps on spoiling a game with picky rules questions or that consistantly
bends the rules in his favor will be asked to desist or suffer the
consequences.
APPENDIX THREE: TOURNAMENT QUESTIONNAIRE SHEET
Please complete the following questions and hand it in before leaving
the hall.
Your Name and Number _________________________
Opponent's Name and Number _________________________
1. Would you, if possible, play this person again? (tick one only)
A. Yes! One of the most enjoyable games ever!
B. Anytime, I enjoyed the game.
C. Probably not, we just didnt' get along all that well.
D. Not if I could possibly avoid it!
2. Given that few players agree on all the rules all of the time, did
you ever feel upset by the solutions reached to any rules problems
that arose during the game? (tick one only)
A. Rules problems? What rules problems? None came up of any note!
B. Not really, though sometimes we had to roll a D6 to sort things
out.
C. A little upset, my opponent tended to interprate the rules for
his own advantage.
D. Very upset, my opponent did his best to manipulate the rules in
his favour at any opportunity.
3. Which of the following best describes your opponent's character during
the game? (tick one only)
A. Was friendly and charming.
B. Was always respectable and polite.
C. Was rather serious and ill-humoured.
D. Was plain rude and argumentative.
4. Which would you consider the statement that best describes the army
you have just faced?
A. It was a very characterful army that really captured the spirit
of the race it was meant to represent.
B. It was a good army, appropriate for the race it represented but
tough to beat.
C. It was a good tournament army, designed to win games but without
much regard for the background.
D. It was a 'trick' army designed purely to win games and
exploiting the army list in ways clearly not intended by the
designers.
LAST ROUND ONLY: What was the name and badge number of the most
sporting opponent you played? _______________________________
APPENDIX FOUR: CALCULATING THE TOURNAMENT POINTS FOR GAMES PLAY
This is the way we convert your victory ponts into a tournament points
score for games play.
WIN OR DRAW: If you win or draw the game you will score a number of
tournament points equatl to 10 plus (your remaining morale value)/2,
up to a maximum tournament score of 20 points.
TACTICAL DEFEAT: If you suffer a tactical defeat, you score tournament
points equal to 10 minus (your opponent's remaining morale value)/4,
down to a minimum of 5.
DEFEAT: If you suffer a defeat, you score tournament points equal to 10
minus (your opponent's remaining morale value)/4, down to a minimum of
0.
Complicated isn't it! But don't worry we'll work out all your
tournament victory points on our computer, so all you need to do is
write down on the results sheet each side's final army morale values in
each game. I've come up with this arcane and complicated system to try
and reward more points to a player that has taken part in a hard fought
battle over one that simply stoof off and skirmished. The bottom line
is that if you want to score lots of tournament points for game play --
GET STUCK IN!!!
--------------- End Tournamnt Rules ---------------------------------------
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Allen (The Q&A guy)
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Check out the EPIC and EPIC 40K Q&A Pages at:
http://work1.utsi.edu:8000/~amccarle/default.html
Mirrored by J. Michael Looney at:
http://www.spellbooksoftware.com/allen-mirror/default.html
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Received on Wed Apr 08 1998 - 00:29:41 UTC