[Yriel of Iyanden]

Hi folks,

There has been some recent discussion at my local tournament of refining our tournament rules. We're going to pool together our different ideas for rulesets but I wanted to present my ideas here for some objective comments.

The rules are very, very similar to rogue trader tournament rules, but I've added a few things, such as an extensive army comp table (inspired by but not nearly as comprehensive as Wargamer's purity test). Please review and comment:

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Balanced Tournament Rules, Draft 1


Introduction: Many players tend to believe that wargaming tournaments is based centrally on annhilating the opponent while maintaining as few casualties as possible. While this practice is generally sound advice in any sort of conflict, it is merely one factor considered when war strategists define military success, and I believe that successful tournament play is no different. For purposes of this ruleset we will factor three different aspects of successful tournament play- successful players, successful armies, and successful battles. This idea will manifest throughout these rules, and it is important to keep this in mind when reviewing them.

Tournament Goal: To determine the most overall successful Warhammer 40,000 player and army.

Successful Player (sportsmanship): A successful player has a firm grasp of game strategy and game rules. He/she can make timely decisions to allow for a complete game, and is a fun, yet fair person to play against. Successful players always have their full army and game rules on-hand for reference. Successful players should always make their army information and rules available to both the referee and his/her opponent prior to the game.

Successful Armies (army composition & painting,modeling): A successful Warhammer 40,000 army should be effective in any number of scenarios. Therefore, successful armies should be composed in a balanced fashion which is representative of the force they are depicting on the field. Successful armies should be completely modeled WYSIWYG, and preferably skillfully painted by its owner.

Successful Battles (gaming): Successful battles are defined by a successful mission, with suffering minimal casualties while dealing out a maximum level of damage to the opponent. Successful battles are begun and concluded in a timely manner, allowing equal time for both players to deploy and maneuver troops, and finishing the requisite number of turns for the battle to reach completion. Successful missions test armies in a number of situations, not just annihilation, but achieving the primary missions and succeeding in a number of other tactical categories as well.

Battles Overview.

In a 3 round tournament, each round will last a time of 90 minutes after both sides have deployed. Each player will have 45 minutes take up to 6 player turns (or roughly 7.5 minutes per turn.) Early game turns are expected to take longer than later turns, as fewer models and decisions will be made in the later turns. Rather than try to time individual players, battles as a whole will be rewarding for both sides to complete- as complete battles will result in extra tournament points.

One of each rules type (Alpha, Gamma and Omega) will each be represented in the three games. This is to test an army and commander in the widest number of situations available.

At the end of the tournament, the player with the most tournament points will be awarded first prize.

The following scoring will be applied for sportsmanship:

Category Points
Player submitted complete army roster 1pt
Each game that the player has completed 6 full turns. 1pt/game
Player has codex & all pertinent army rules available. 1pt
Player voting for most sportsmanlike- most votes 5pts
Player voting for most sportsmanlike- 2nd most votes 3pts
TOTAL POSSIBLE 15pts


Army Composition.

All armies begin with 10pts, and can not be deducted below 0 points. Please refer to the following bonuses/penalties. Please note that all penalties are cumulative (example- an with consisting of more than 25% Elites and 25% Heavy Support suffers a total penalty of - 8pts). Please also note that “Troops” choices refer to non-HQ compulsory units for an army’s Standard Force Organization Chart. (some armies require Fast Attack as compulsory units for example).

Note that it is highly unlikely to have a player score the full 15 points for army composition (but in which case- he or she would be fielding an “ideal” force!)

HQ points is more than 25-50-75% of the army total -1pt/level
HQ selections are equal to the number of troops selections -1pts
Elites or Heavy Support points are more than 25-50-75% of the army total -4pt/level
More Elites choices are taken than troops choices -2pts
Troops less than 30% of the Army total -4pts
Troops more than 70% of the Army total -2pts
Fast Attack points are more than 25-50-75% of the army total -2pt/level
Only 2 Troops Choices are taken -2pts
Only 2 Troops choices are taken and both units are minimized squads -4pts
All squads have identical weapon upgrades -1pt
All 3 Heavy Support choices are the same unit selections -4pts
More Heavy support choices are taken than troops choices -4pts
More Fast attack choices are taken than troops choices -2pts
More total non-troops choices are taken than troops choices -1pts
For each point over the specified tournament points limit -1pt
For having 1-2 maximized troops selections (considering transports for model limit). +1pt
For having more than 3 troops choices selected +1pt
For having more troops choices than HQ.Elite,FA, and Heavy support combined +2pts
For having one or more unmounted, un-minimized troops selections. +1pt
TOTAL POSSIBLE FROM ARMY COMPOSITION 15pts


Painting.

Each player submitting a fully painted army will receive +5 tournament points. In addition, players will vote for best painted army, just like sportsmanship. The player who obtains the most number of votes for best painted army will receive +10 tournament points, for a total possible score of 15 tournament points.

Battle Scoring

In addition to missions and victory conditions included for each game, the following table should be used to determine each game’s final tournament score:

Winning the Game +15pts
Tie-ing the game +7pts
Losing the game +4pts
Having your primary force commander alive at the end of a game +1pts
Having one or more scoring units within the enemy’s deployment zone at the end of a game +1pts
Each table quarter which you can claim control by having uncontested scoring units within. +1pts
TOTAL POSSIBLE FOR EACH GAME 21pts


Tournament Breakdown

Category Points Possible % Final Score
Sportsmanship 15 13.8%
Painting 15 13.8%
Army Composition 15 13.8%
Battles 63 58.3%

A completely successful player has the possibility of scoring 108 total tournament points. This represents a player skilled in all aspects of the hobby, is friendly and knowledgeable, and fields a balanced force.