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After going through what seems like a million arguments about who's the "best" character, my friends and I have decided to put it to the test in a practical manner. We came up with the following tournament format which is mirrored around a popular March basketball tourament in the US. We tried to make a scenario that would give shooting characters a chance, and decided to open it up to 64 characters (we've got 6 gamers, 3 play boards, and a whole evening to burn so why not right?). Planning on taking some pictures and doing up a battle report after the event too... so what I'm looking for here is... What are we missing?

- Are there any rules we should modify? Why?
- Are there any characters we are missing?
--- Currently room for 11 more... Do you have a homegrown setup that you like best?
--- Should we include someone for comic relief? i.e. Aun'va, Ethereals, or primaris psycher maybe?

Rules:
There can be only one: Celebrity Death Match is a one-on-one competition. There are no henchmen, teammates, helpers, retinues, minions, or others allowed to help you. Magic is allowed, as is channelling power from other sources (daemons, warp, or whatever...). Dirty tricks are encouraged. All personal equipment is authorized to include implanted bionics and external walker bodies. But... it's only one person in the battlefield at a time (I'm looking at you Tervigon).

Lead or Get Out of the Way: This tournament is only for leaders... if you aren't an HQ, you can't play.

The Battlefield: Celebrity Death Match can be fought on many different battlefields, but they all have common factors. The game table is 18" wide by 24" deep. Deployment zones are 3" deep meaning that the interior of the battlefield is made of an 18" by 18" square. The table will have varying amounts of terrain. Deep Strike, infiltrate, scouts are all authorized. Outflank will not be used due to the table being only 18" wide.

Best two outa three?: Celebrity Death Match is fought to the death, but each combatant will be revived one time. If they are slain a second time, they have lost the combat. Draws will be re-fought... including port-mortem explosions which cause the other to die (looking at you Eldar/Necron players). The battle is best 2 out of 3. The loser may not attempt to ask "best 3 out of 5?" and definately may not request "best 4 out of 7?".

Who do I kill? Seeding will be tournament brackets based on seeding (just like the NCAA). The characters will be seeded based on their points, with the four most expensive characters getting #1 seeds, and the next 4 getting #2 seeds, etc..

Who goes first: The lower pointed character gets first deployment and first turn. There is no seizing the initiative. In 2nd and 3 games, the loser of the previous match will get first deployment and first turn.

Winner: The winner of the competition will be the only character who wins 6 matches. All others will go down in defeat at some point.

Bonus Event: Sweet Sixteen free for all: All characters who survive the first two rounds of the competition will be enterred into the battle royale main event. This special series of battles will pit 4 characters at a time in a free for all match. Each character will deploy exactly on the corner points of the 18" square and will roll-off for turn order. Each of the winners from the first round of the battle royale will compete in the penultimate final battle royale. This means that to win the Penultimate Battle Royale, a character will be the only one to have come out on top in both battle royales.

The ultimate Winner: If the battle has not already been fought during the tournament... the winner of the battle royale and the winner of the celebrity death match tournament will fight to the death in a winner takes all battle. This special one-on-one event will follow all rules above, but will be a best 4 out of 7 format.

Dante
Sanguinor
Gabriel Seth
Mephiston
Astrorath
Kairos Fateweaver
Skulltaker
Blue Scribes
Bloodthirster
Abaddon
Nurgle DP, Winged, Warptime
Chaos Sorcerer
Ahriman
Kharne
Typhus
Lelith Hesperax
Lady Malys
Drazhar Master of Blades
Duke Silicus
Archon - with cool gear
Eldrad
Yriel
Avatar of Khaine
Inquisitor Karamazov
Lord kaldor Draigo
Brother Captain Stern
Castellan Crowe
Stracken (maybe)
Yarrick
Destroyer Lord
Imotekh the storm lord
Trazyn the Infinite
Ghazghkull
Zogwort
Celestine
Canonness
Vulkan
Darnath Lysander
Marneus Calgar
Cato Sicarius
Korsarro Khan
Kayvaan Shrike
Varro Tigerius
Pedro Kantor
Logan Grimnar
Njal Stormcaller
Rune Priest with Jaws
Canis Wolfborn
Ragnar Wolfbane
Bjorn the fell handed
Farsight
Shas-o
Swarmlord
Winged Hive Tyrant w/powers (ancient adversary, paroxysm, etc…)
Warrior Alpha w/bone sword

You should throw the blue scribes in there too. And Ahriman. You said dirty tricks are ok? Nothing dirtier than turning your foe into a spawn. Sure, Kairos can do it too-but Ahriman can attempt it 3 times in a turn, the blue scribes have the potential to do it twice and have a huge movement range to get the job done. Or maybe I'm just a sick, twisted bastard for thinking up such an act

Cool, thanks. I wanted to get some more psychers in there too just to keep all the big bad combat dudes honest. A lot of this may come down to matchups, but it will be fun to see it play out I think

-Myst

hey Mysticaria think this is a great idea,but how are you going to every it out so the characters that are good at shooting have a chance a such close range.

Mysticaria wrote:
Stracken

but the way Straken is not an independent character

Eh, to be honest, there is no way to see who is "the best" well this is for best fighter.

Why no Space Wolf Rune Priest with Jaws? Heh heh.

ok... will have to look at Stracken. I didn't realize he was an upgrade.

The table is 24" deep so I figure most characters will get 1-3 shots maximum depending on range and who goes first. We didn't want to play on a full size table because it would take forever to track down someone on a bike or jump infantry. Some people wanted to just to combat, but we came up with the small board as a compromise. That way movement speed can affect who gets the charge, there is a little shooting, cover saves possible, etc... Fighting Canis Wolfborn or khan on a bike? No problem, just go up into a building. haha. We will have to consider terrain carefully too I think.

Obviously I know we won't solve the "best' issue... but it will be fun to see it play out and hopefully we'll get some cool matchups. I'm kind of interested to see who will come out on top.

Will definately add Rune Priest. That could really work in the right matchup. haha.

-Myst

You've forgotten Eldrad, he's not the best 1v1 guy, but he IS a fairly iconic character.

The named weirdboy is Zogwort.

PhrycePhyre wrote:You've forgotten Eldrad, he's not the best 1v1 guy, but he IS a fairly iconic character.

Umm... not sure how that happened. He was one of the first names I wrote down.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

CuddlySquig wrote:The named weirdboy is Zogwort.

Thanks. We are getting out the books today to pull points values on the guys we don't usually play and I just couldn't remember the name yesterday. Hopefully we'll get a few squigs or chaos spawn during the tournament.

-Myst

For the Archon I'd recommend the following gear:

Blast Pistol
Huskblade
Combat Drugs
Soul-trap
Shadow Field
Phantasm Grenade Launcher

That would make him quite the beast.

Also, it's Marneus, not Marnius.

If Mephistion was more loquacious, he would thank you for providing this simple practice tounament.

Farsight is a beast.

Also, is FW part of this?

If so, I'd like to put R'alai and An'ggrath forwards as contestants, because An'ggrath will legitimately kill any unit in the entire game 1-on-1 with at least half his wounds left.

The winner is going to have Eternal Warrior, in a 1-on-1 match up a real competitor needs to be able to survive instant death. I'm putting my money down on Logan to kill Draigo.

OT, Y U NO USE MARBO?

I am rooting for the Nurgle Daemon Prince with wings and warptime. That's a very potent combination that can fly too and very sturdy because of its toughness 5, has a 3+ armor save, 5+ invulnerable save and eternal warrior.

Has a very good chance of getting the charge off on most of the rest of the competition, and its deadly in close combat.

i dont see Asdrubael Vect on the list.... he's probally the pureist bad-ass in the game. only problem will be bjorn in his dreadnought... wich imho i think should be disqualified, no armor values! or make an "armor value catagory' since youll need str 6-7 minimum to even have a hope in heck of doing anything.

edit: my local group ran a "deadlist warrior" style tourney. it was a single realm of battle board table section, and any HQ choice (no retinues) up to 200 pts, no named/special characters. everyone fought everyone else once to earn points in a w/l/t scenario. (although ties never happend) after that we seperated everyone into divisions, and had a "nhl" style single elimination playoff. an archon won the thing, simply because of his huskblade and crazy high init.

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone. I'm definately going to add some of those other characters. I don't think we're going to use Forgeworld. I will definate;y add ,marbo and Vect.

The more I think about it... I'm feeling like the first couple rounds are going to be hit or miss... but once we get down to the final 16 or maybe the final 8 it should just be the really big hitters left.

I'm not too worried about Bjorn. With all the MCs and several characters spouting S10 with EW I think there are many bad matchups for him. Plus, some characters even have shooting or magic which might slow him down. I'm not expecting him to win by a long shot. More like he's in there to weed out the "I can't stop a vehicle" crowd.

-Myst

Vendetta 476 wrote:OT, Y U NO USE MARBO?

He's not an HQ; read the rules

D.Azrinae wrote:If Mephistion was more loquacious, he would thank you for providing this simple practice tounament.

A fully decked out hive tyrant with bonesword + lashwhip, Heavy Venom cannon, armored shell, regen, acid blood, adrenal glads, toxin sacs, implant attack, old enemy, Paroxysm and Leech Essence might give Mephistion a run for his money in straight hand-to-hand.

They both have about a 50% chance of canceling out each other's psychic powers and the tyrant will have the initiative.
Scything talons would be a waste with old enemy, so might as well give him a gun, assume a good position, and make opponents come to him.

im2randomghgh wrote:Farsight is a beast.

Also, is FW part of this?

If so, I'd like to put R'alai and An'ggrath forwards as contestants, because An'ggrath will legitimately kill any unit in the entire game 1-on-1 with at least half his wounds left.

Considering that An'ggrath is 888 points, a gargantuan creature and pretty much unkillable by "normal" HQs without NFWs, I'd say it's pretty obvious he's not running.

Asdrubael Vect
Drazhar
Lelith Hesperax

To represent the fight side of the Dark Eldar.

AlmightyWalrus wrote:

im2randomghgh wrote:Farsight is a beast.

Also, is FW part of this?

If so, I'd like to put R'alai and An'ggrath forwards as contestants, because An'ggrath will legitimately kill any unit in the entire game 1-on-1 with at least half his wounds left.

Considering that An'ggrath is 888 points, a gargantuan creature and pretty much unkillable by "normal" HQs without NFWs, I'd say it's pretty obvious he's not running.

In the exact same way that Bjorn cannot be killed by a solid majority of these HQs?

none or both need to be banned.

Honestly, If you go by the fluff, Draigo wins.

Leonus Cohol wrote:Honestly, If you go by the fluff, Draigo wins.

Maybe, maybe not.

It DID take an inquisitor lord and a brotherhood of grey knights all together to take him down in the IA books though...

Artanthos wrote:They both have about a 50% chance of canceling out each other's psychic powers and the tyrant will have the initiative.

The tyrant only has the Initiative if Meph assaults him, or on subsequent rounds of combat.

Doing it correctly means keeping Meph in cover and the tyrant in range of his Plasma pistol until the Tyrant decides to assault, lowering his Init to 1 they strike Simul and more than likely kill each other, since the tyrant is not an EW.

Isn't it obvious that Kaldor Draigo would win this since he can't be corrupted and goes around putting Chaos gods to shame?

Idk that depends of Tigerius doesnt mind rape him lol dont need corruption if he blows up like a balloon.

Red Comet wrote:Isn't it obvious that Kaldor Draigo would win this since he can't be corrupted and goes around putting Chaos gods to shame?

He's never faced a Chaos god. And if he fights Lucius, Lucius would win regardless of who actually won.


You forgot Lucius by the way.

im2randomghgh wrote:

AlmightyWalrus wrote:

im2randomghgh wrote:Farsight is a beast.

Also, is FW part of this?

If so, I'd like to put R'alai and An'ggrath forwards as contestants, because An'ggrath will legitimately kill any unit in the entire game 1-on-1 with at least half his wounds left.

Considering that An'ggrath is 888 points, a gargantuan creature and pretty much unkillable by "normal" HQs without NFWs, I'd say it's pretty obvious he's not running.

In the exact same way that Bjorn cannot be killed by a solid majority of these HQs?

none or both need to be banned.

No, not in the same way. Bjorn can be feasibly killed by many more characters than An'ggrath.

Durza wrote:

Red Comet wrote:Isn't it obvious that Kaldor Draigo would win this since he can't be corrupted and goes around putting Chaos gods to shame?

He's never faced a Chaos god. And if he fights Lucius, Lucius would win regardless of who actually won.


You forgot Lucius by the way.

Not if Draigo doesn't take pleasure in the act, and not if he uses the Holocaust.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

AlmightyWalrus wrote:

im2randomghgh wrote:

AlmightyWalrus wrote:

im2randomghgh wrote:Farsight is a beast.

Also, is FW part of this?

If so, I'd like to put R'alai and An'ggrath forwards as contestants, because An'ggrath will legitimately kill any unit in the entire game 1-on-1 with at least half his wounds left.

Considering that An'ggrath is 888 points, a gargantuan creature and pretty much unkillable by "normal" HQs without NFWs, I'd say it's pretty obvious he's not running.

In the exact same way that Bjorn cannot be killed by a solid majority of these HQs?

none or both need to be banned.

No, not in the same way. Bjorn can be feasibly killed by many more characters than An'ggrath.

You need str 3 as a minimum for killing T8 IIRC, whereas you need S7 to kill Bjorn IIRC