Open for Reservations!
The Saint Valentines Day Massacre is a two day Independent
40k Grand Tournament held in our new Gaming Bunker located at the Granite Run Mall in Media
PA. This
GT is part of Games Workshops new Independent circuit, and the top two overall winners will be given invites to the national tournament held at the end of the first season, in 2011, in Las Vegas.
Hosted by Mike Clark of Showcase Comics, and the NE BigGunZ gaming club.
NEW: Added a tournament FAQ , it's currently at the bottom of this thread, and amended at the bottom of this post.
Location: Inside the Granite Run Mall, 1067 W. Baltimore Pike, Media
PA. 19063. The tournament is held in a separate area from the Showcase Comics store. Media
PA. is in the western Philadelphia suburbs, about 2 hours from NYC, and 1.5 hours from Baltimore. The Mall is about 20 minutes off of 1-95 and the Philadelphia Airport.
Date: Saturday Feb. 27th, and Sunday Feb 28th. Three Games on Saturday, Two Games on Sunday.
Scedule: Check in on Saturday begins at 9am. Please check in at the desk and let us know you have arrived. Get ready to play, especially if your army takes a long time to unpack. Display bases are recommended, and can even give you some appearance points. Pairings will be posted 10:00 am.
Saturday
Game 1 10:15 until 12:45
Lunch 12:45 until 1:30
Game 2 1:30 until 4:00
Break 4:00 until 4:30
Game 3 4:30 until 7:00
Sunday
Pairings posted at 9:30
Game 4 10:00 until 12:30
Lunch 12:30 until 1:00
Game 5 1:00 until 3:30
Awards at 4:00 pm, (Assuming no chaos ensues.)
New: Registration may be done at the BigGunZ-NE website, http://www.biggunz-ne.com/index.php . This site is just going live, forums should be up soon, and we will be posting all the information for the events that Showcase Comics and the Big Gunz are hosting.
Army Lists must be emailed by noon on Friday, Feb. 19th. There will be a penalty assigned to your composition score for turning in lists late. A list turned in the day of the tournament may get you a 0, and may also prevent you from playing. Please turn in lists by the deadline. Email lists to MikenJudyc@aol.comI
I had originally asked for lists by the 21st, I am changing this to allow more time for judging lists. Some of the judges will be traveling 2 hours on the prior weekend to judge army composition, and doing it a day or two before, or by email, isn't going to work for 80 people. Please have your list in by the deadline. We will be judging lists the evening of the 19th.
Players: 80 spots available for the main event. Reservations must be pre-paid.
Cost: 60.00 pre-paid by Feb. 21st, 70.00 if paid after Feb. 21st. Your spot in the tournament is reserved only after you have pre-paid.
Registration can be done at the BigGunZ-NE website,
http://www.biggunz-ne.com/index.php
Hotels: Quality Inn (610) 565-5800, right across the street from the Mall, newly renovated.
Media Inn (610-566-6500), two miles away, cheaper, and not nearly as nice.
Prizes: Overall 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Painting 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Best General 1st 2nd, 3rd, and Players Choice. We have over 2000.00 in prizes for this event, most of which will be ForgeWorld model kits. (And spiffy trophies!)
National Tournament Invitations:
In addion to our other prizes, the top two overall players will receive invites from Games Workshop for the Nationals in 2011. If one of those players cannot attend, the player with the next highest overall score will receive the invite. If a player has already received an invite from another event, then his invitation will be passed on to the next person as well. The National tournament will be held in Las Vegas in 2011, at the end of the first Indy
GT season. The only way to attend this tournament is two earn an invitation by taking one of the top two spots at one of the independently run tournaments.
What you should bring: Your army, codex, rulebook, dice, markers, templates, tape measures, and anything else you need to play. Glue for repairs is recommended.
FAQ's for your army, especially ones you want to quote to your opponent, should be brought along.
RULES:
Judges ruling is final. Judges may use several methods to make a ruling. These include: looking at rules in a codex or the army book, asking for explanations from each opponent, asking other people for opinions or advice, looking at official
FAQ's, or rolling a
D6. Judges will do their best to be fair and accurate. Usually we get it right, but sometimes we screw up. When dealing with a judge, be polite, have some patience, answer his questions. Do not repeat your opinion over and over in an attempt to somehow overpower his mental resistance. Very Important: If you have a rules question, ask a judge to look at the situation during the game. 99% of the problems we can fix in a game, we are unable to go back to after the game is finished.
Army Size: 1850 points. You may be under 1850, but may not exceed it.
Game Length: 2.5 hours per game. You should not start a new round if you will not have time to finish it. If games do go over the limit, both players must finish their turns, and will be encouraged to 'hurry it up so I can get the next round started and you can go eat.' In an extreme case, I reserve the right to say "You're done, this is how I score your game". Please don't make me do this.
Army lists: All current
40k Codices, and the Blood Angels list from White Dwarf are allowable. You must have an army list, preferable done on army builder, or typed, but hand written is acceptable. The list must show all costs for your armies models, upgrades, etc. It must be in a easily read format, without abreviations, so that your opponent can easily confirm that the army you are playing is the one you have in your list. You should bring enough copies so that if an opponent wants to keep a copy of your list, you have it available.
WE WILL NOT HAVE A COPIER, COMPUTER WITH ARMY BUILDER, OR INTERNET ACCESS AVAILABLE IN THE BUNKER. Please remember to bring your lists. It's your responsibility.
Scoring: Battle Points worth 110, Painting/Appearance worth 20, and Army Compostion worth 20, for a total of 150 possible points.
Note that their is no sports scores. This doesn't give you leeway to be a jerk, cheat, slowhammer, or anything else that would generally get you docked by your opponent. You're at a
GT, not your garage, and I expect all the big boys to play nice. I reserve the right to enforce that if I have to. In past events, I've seen very little that needed my attention, with a couple noteable exceptions. If you do have a problem with an opponent, treat it like a rules dispute, call me over, and explain the situation. Slowhammer, or deliberately slowing down a game is not exceptable. Neither is being a slow player and bringing a horder army. Respect your opponent and speed up your play. If a game only gets 3-4 turns, then somethings wrong.
Battles: Five games worth 22 points each. All games will use scenarios with several objectives. Kill points will not be used to determine the entire outcome of a game, neither will victory points. Objectives in one mission might be a combination of things such as taking an objective, points for killing the enemies
HQ choices or troops choices, controlling a movable objective, or preventing an opponent from getting into your deployment zone. Scenarios will be posted after the deadline for army list submission.
Painting: Painting/Appearance is worth 20 points. Painting will be by a checklist, with a team of judges scoring each army. The same judges will score all armies.
Painting Criteria
Basing: (0-2 points)
0 points: Basic sand, flock, gravel
1 point: Drybrushed sand and flock, painted pattern, drybrushed resin.
2 points: Sculpted bases, intricate resin bases, overall army theme. Bases have been painted to a high level, or have multiple levels of drybrushed efects and basing materials for a natural look. Water Effects or sculpted flames. Time has obviously been spent on each model's base.
Coherency and Theme: (0-3)
+1 point: Army has been properly put together, with no mold lines, excess glue, or gaps in the models.
+1 point: A consistant painting style was used. Colors, techniques, and style draw the army together.
+1 point: Overall or consistant army theme. Models are obviously all in the same army, with theme, basing, colors, or conversions
giving the army an overall look.
Highlighting, Washes, Blending, and overall army quality. (0-7 points possible.)
0 points: Why is this army here? It's not fully painted. No, primer isn't a color.
1 point: The army is fully painted. It lacks most highlighting. It might have a wash put over it or be dipped. Might have a couple
models that aren't really fully painted.
2 points: The army has dry brushing or some highlighting done to it. Possibly just on characters. It's a decent tabletop army. Much
better
than what you see at the typical gaming store, but still not really ready for taking to a
GT. Could be obviously be dipped
and some details done. Could also be a work in progress with just basecoats and a wash. Little fine detail.
3 points: Complex dry brushing with several colors, or highlighting with more than one layer. Use of washes. Some detail work
done on most models. Characters have had highlighting and fine details added. An average army that you see at a large
tournament or
GT.
4 points: Several layers of highlighting with smooth transitions. No clumsy drybrushing. Detail work done on most models: teeth, fangs,
claws, skulls, shoulder pads, etc. Characters stand out from the rest of the army. Better than average tournament army. Could
also be an army that would score a 5 or 6, but has some obvious flaws that knock it down some.
5 points: Skilled use of blending, washing, and highlights. Good attention to detail. A high quality tournament army.
6 points: As number 5, but to a higher level. You could see this army could easily compete for best painted at most tournaments.
7 points: Superb level of painting. Every model has had a lot of time and attention. All small detail work has been done on each model.
Character models have had hours of work done on each one and stand out. You could easily see parts of this army entered in
Golden Demon and making at least the first cut. Armies will rarely get this score.
Fine details, free hand, banners. (0-3 points.)
0 points: Little work has been done on details. Maybe simple white on teeth or claws. Army is finished, but not much work has been
done on each model individually.
1 point: Small details painted on most models. Fangs, claws, eys, belt buckles. etc
2 points: Nicely painted banners, icons, eyes, and simple freehand work. Rivets on vehicles stand out, searchlights painted like glass
Shoulderpad icons, vehicle numbers, tatoos or warpaint,
3 points: Incredible detail, extreme freehand on banners, tatoos, or flame effects. Eyes painted on all models. Fangs and teeth have
multiple layers. Wiring, rivets, and damage on vehicles stands out.
Modeling and Conversions (0-3 points)
0 points: Not much done to the army. Very vanilla out of the box. Maybe a couple of small things, but not very generic and minimal..
1 point: Some models have been reposed or had extra equipment added. Character or general has custom work. A vehicle has had
some bits of work done to it. Minor greenstuff work. Head or weapon swaps. Trophy racks, etc.
2 points: Either most of the army has had minor work done to it, or the army has some pieces that have had major conversions done
to them. Custom models, large amounts of good quality sculpting.
3 points: Major conversion work has been done to the army, and it's very obvious at a glance. Vehicles has extra armor, battle
damage, and unique elements.
Note: Conversion probably is the most wide open of catagories, ecompassing many different things. Subtle variations to high elves or necrons might be harder to pull off than flashy things on Orks or Chaos. Judges may use their discretion to give points in this catagory for a number of things that just don't fit elsewhere. An example might be a full army of forgeworld Deathkorp models. They aren't conversions, but a huge amount of time and effort is put into the finicky resin models, and the effort can give the end result a very nice look.
Display Board (0-2 points)
0 points: No display board, or something you just use to move models around with. Does not match your army, little work done.
1 point: A Basic board. Sand gravel and flocking, hopefully matching the army. Does the job, looks good.
2 points: A themed display board with scenic elements that match the army, and adds to the overall effect when displayed with the
army. Even a fabulous display board is only worth 2 points, so these may have a wide range of skill and looks.
Composition: Army composition is worth 20 points. This will be decided by a group of judges prior to the tournament. All players must submit an army list by Feb. 19th at noon. We will be judging army lists friday the 19th, and Sat. the 20th. If we recieve an army list past the deadline, the player will recieve a -10 point modifier to his overall score in the tournament. We also cannot be judging lists the morning of the tournament. If you choose to not submit a list until the morning of the event, in addition to the penalty, you will automatically be placed in the pairings with a minimum comp score. Please don't be late with army lists. It is especially unfair to other players for someone to turn in an army list after we have posted up scenarios.
Army composition is based upon 1 main criteria: How competitive is your list, in tournament style play, vs. other army lists. A 0-5 score represents very competitive armies such as double nob bikers, Vulkan Thunderhammer Dual Landraider, Mechanized veteran guard, Nidzilla, Dual Lash 9 obliterators, and similar armies. A 15 to 20 score represents weaker armies that will have little chance against many of the armies they face in the tournament. An example of this would be a pure Grey Knights list, or an aspect warrior list with no transports.
Pairings: Matches for round 1 will be based on your comp score. Harder armies will play sarder armies, softer play softer. Pairings will be lined up by comp score, and if several players have the same score, randomized. Pairings for round two will group players into 3 brackets: Those that accomplished the primary objective in the scenario, those that only accomplised the secondary, and those that accomplished neither primary or secondary. Comp scores will then be used to arrange the armies withing the brackets. Rounds 3-5 will all be done the same, with only battle points used to make pairings. If at all possible, we will try to avoid having players from the same club play each other in Rounds 1 and 2. Usually this is possible, sometimes it isn't.
Scenery: All scenery on the tables will be arranged by judges, and fixed in place. Players may not move, add, or change scenery. The exception, obviously, is adding a crater when a vehicle blows up, as described in the rules. We will have suitable pieces of scenery available when this happens, to mark the area.
Tables will have roughly 20%-25% of their area covered by some type of scenery as described on page 88 of the main rule book. It is recommended that players discuss scenery before the game. If you have a question, ask a judge.
Dice: Electronic dice rollers or
RNG apps may not be used. You must bring your own dice to play with. It is each players responsibility to bring a set of fair dice. With the proliferation of 'custom dice' with one or more numbers replaced by symbols, there has been concern that some dice do not roll with an equal distribution of numbers. There are a few ways to address this situation. 1) Don't use one set of dice for your saves, and another for your leadership tests. You may feel they are 'lucky', your opponent may wonder though if there isn't a difference in your dice. Please use all the same type of dice for all your rolls.
2) If you have custom dice, ask you opponent if he minds you using them. If he does, just use other dice. I'll have dice available in this event. 3.) A player may request that both he and his opponent use the same dice. In that case I'll supply a set of dice and you both use them. 3) Since you have the option to object to a players dice, don't scream about it after the game. If you want someone to not use custom dice, or you have 'a bad feeling' about someone's dice, ask for new dice. Don't complain about it after the game.
Also, please be aware that perfectly random dice can still roll 6's or 1's in strange patterns, it's part of the randomness. I've got a masters in stats theory. So someone "Making 16 out of 17 3+ saves" is perfectly fine to me. It's easily in the realm of possibilities for 80 people playing 5 games each. Someone rolling 40% 6's in over a hundred rolls isn't. If I have to, I'll check a players dice. This means rolling them over 100 times, and isn't something I like to do, but you can't show dice are unfair without rolling them enough times to take advantage of the law of large numbers. So use some common sense before claiming someone is cheating with their dice.
- All models in your army must be painted and have finished bases. Models that do not make the minimum standards may not be used. Minimum for an army is the entire model has at least one coat of paint, and there are at least 3 colors used on the model. Primer Coat is not a color. By finished base we mean some type of flock, sand, gravel, or painted pattern. Bringing an unpainted army doesn't just mean a zero in painting. It also means you don't play.
-All models must be
WYSIWYG, or pretty darn close to it. A clever conversion that skirts the line, but draws applause from your opponent is cool. "My red bolt pistol is a plasma pistol" is not. Your opponent should easily be able to identify your models from your army list, and not be taken by surprise during the game. If your list says 'hunter killer missle', you need to have one. If you by searchlights, have them on the model. Grenades, extra
cc weapons, and other small items are generally not something you need to model, especially if they are standard equipment listed in the army book. Since most all Chaos Marines have an additional
CC weapon, you don't need to glue little knives on their belts.
-All models must be complete without broken pieces, missing arms or guns. I understand things break in transit and during games. Not worried about that, more about the guys that doesn't have guns on his devastators or arms on his orks. We'll have glue and zip kicker availabe for quick repairs.
-Part of
WYSIWYG is using the correct models: "I'm using Bloodletters on big rocks for my Bloodcrushers because I don't want to shell out the cash." isn't acceptable. " I hand sculpted all my models" is probably is fine, assuming some minimum sculpting skill and they look like what they should represent. If you have a question, call, or email with pictures. The main things that would make a model unacceptable are: extreme modeling to take unfair advantage of rules, ("my monstrous creatures are crawling which why they are all only 1/2" high", "My battlewagon is 24" wide so I can pivot it to get an additional 8" of movement to unload my boys and assault first turn", ) or very confusing to your opponent. ("Dryads are bloodletters, ghouls are horrors, and the giant is my bloodthirster, don't mind the square bases.").
-It's a
GW sponsored tournament. A preponderance of your army should be
GW models, or converted using
GW bitz.
-Base size: Models should be on the proper size base, compared to the newest models of the same type. All terminators should be on 40mm, all bloodcurshers should be on 60mm round, etc. Monstrous creatures with 6 wounds from the new Tyranid Codex should be on a minimum 60mm base, or the base the trygon comes on. If you are totally against rebasing your army, bring some blue tack and stick them on the correct size base for this tournament.
Questions? Contact Mike Clark at MikenJudyC@aol.com or ShowcasePA@aol.com, or call Showcase Comics at 610-891-9229. Don't assume that how you play in your local group is the same way it will be played at the tournament. If you have a question, ask it beforehand.
Tournament
FAQ
Many people have been asking specific questions about rules, and others have been asking if we will be using any
FAQ's such as
INAT. After many hours of discussion, we are going with the following:
1) If you have a specific question about your army, please/email Mike Clark at Mikenjudyc@aol.com or 610-891-9229. Especially if it affects how you make the list. If I think that clarification needs to be posted, I'll add it to our
FAQ.
2) All
GW FAQ's and Errata will be used. Check the
GW website for these.
3) We will be using the
INAT FAQ, with a few exceptions, as a guideline for rules not covered by
GW, or where
GW rules are interpreted differently by different people. Specific rulings about specific situations occurring in games will still use the
TO's verdict as the final say in all matters.
Exceptions to the
INAT FAQ:
1) Hive Commander rule that gives a Tyranid army +1 bonus to reserve rolls may be used even if the Tyrant is not on the table. In a similar way, Imperial Advisors (astropath, and officer of the fleet) will still grant their bonuses when not on the table.
2) When a deepstriking unit is making the initital placement of a model, before scatter is rolled, it may not be place in impassable terrain, or over enemy models. This includes Mawlocs and Monoliths. (And to avoid the immediate question, yes, spore mines may be placed on top of enemy models.)
3) If a Hive Tyrant joins a unit of Tyrant Guard, and the unit is engaged in close combat, then for purposes of the Tyrant putting attacks on the enemy unit, and the enemy unit putting attacks on the Tyrant, treat the Tyrant as an Independent Character. (IE, models can pick out the Tyrant if he is in base to base with those models, and the Tyrant must be in base to base with enemy to put attacks on the enemy unit.)
4) The Spirit Leech ability from the Doom of Malanti does not affect units embarked inside of vehicles.
5) Valkyries: To shoot at a Valkyrie, measure to any point on it's hull. Wings and Tail sections are ignored. The Valkyrie measures it's own shooting and
LOS from it's weapons mounts, as normal for vehicles. Use the base of the model for assaulting the valkyrie, and models embark/disembark to the base. If the model is immobilized, use the base as it's footprint, rather than placing the model on the table.
If you have questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact me. -Mike Clark
Kreig - 2850 pts
Skaven - 3450 pts
Orks - 1950 (pro painted)
