Tournament will be on Sunday, January 29th, 2012. The first game will begin at 10:30 am (I aim to have everyone start rolling dice at 10:30). Everyone should arrive by 10 am to handle all of the preliminary matters. Please leave this topic for sign-ups. Post questions, suggestions and commentary here:

http://gigabitescafe.com/forum/index.php?topic=3431.msg32037#msg32037

Cost will be $20. $15 for Rolling Bones club members. As always you can prepay to reserve a spot, or first come first serve on the day of the tournament. There will be 3 games which will be 2.5 hours each. Do not start an new turn once the 15 minute mark is called. Lunch will follow the 1st game. Each player needs to bring 5 copies of their army list. The tournament will be open list. One copy will need to be given to me before the event begins. Make sure your chosen Lore of Magic is clearly marked for each wizard/caster, etc. In addition to the standard accoutrements, each player should bring 2 objective markers representative of your army. These can be models, piles of skulls, debris, etc. 25mm or 40mm round bases would make a good size for the objectives. They do not need to be a particular size, but it would be helpful if they are clearly visible on the table and distinguishable from terrain and models. As the new Vampire Counts book is due to be released January 14th, it will be the official list for the tournament. That should give me plenty of time to have it sorted should questions arise during the tournament.

Prizes will be Best Overall, Best General, Best Sport and Best Painted.

Overall: Battle, Sportsmanship and Painting
General: Battle, ties broken with Sportsmanship
Sport: Sportsmanship, ties broken with Best Game votes, Inverse Battle Points after that.
Painting: Painting, ties broken with Favorite votes.

Scoring will be as follows:

Battle Points (0-90)
Each game will have 20 points available based on level of victory with an additional 10 points available for achieving strategic objectives. Every battle will generally follow the deployment as outlined in the "Battle Line" scenario in the rulebook. However, the final scenario will require that each player deploy their entire army when it is there turn to do so (special deployment rules still apply, i.e. scouts).

Battle Points:
Massacre: 20
Victory: 15
Draw: 10
Loss: 5
Loss by Massacre: 0

Scenarios:
Here are the preliminary details of the scenarios. Feel free to playtest and provide commentary in the appropriate topic. I reserve the right to adjust as needed. The scenarios will be finalized one week prior to the tournament. The tournament is designed with a campaign mindset. Each scenario will have Veteran Skills (or effects) listed at the end. These skills(effects) will only be available for the following game

Border Crossing, Game 1

At the outset of any war, disabling the enemy's ability to gather information becomes of paramount importance. Preventing messages from reaching commanders, providing false information and advancing on your enemy's flank unseen; these are the things a general craves.

This scenario will use the scenario rules from the Warhammer Rulebook as described in "Battle Line". However, Victory Points will be modified. Every enemy "Messenger" unit destroyed will provide bonus victory points equal to the cost of the unit. Every enemy unit destroyed by your own "Messenger" unit will provide bonus victory points equal to the cost of the unit destroyed.

Messenger Unit: Any unit that has Scouts, Fast Cavalry or Vanguard special rules.

For purposes of this scenario, a unit will be considered destroyed by a unit if the last model of an enemy unit is removed as a result of any attack by that unit or being caught in pursuit. If two or more "Messenger" units destroy a unit, the bonus victory points will only be received once.

Victory Conditions:
Massacre: 1250+ vp's more than your opponent
Victory: 250 - 1249 vp's more than your opponent
Draw: 0-249 vp's more than your opponent

Battle Point Modifiers:
+5 Points if you destroy all of your opponents "Messenger" units.
+3 If at least one of your "Messenger" units survives.
+2 If one of your "Messenger" units kills an enemy character

Veteran Skills:
Any "Messenger" unit destroyed will have Regenration(5+) for the following game.
Any surviving "Messenger" unit will have Flaming and Magical attacks for the following game.

Break Through, Game 2
After disrupting your enemy's ability to gather and disseminate intelligence, it's time to break through their main lines and head for the capital.

Deployment: The deployment rules from "Battle Line" in the Warhammer Rulebook will be used with a few exceptions. Victory Points will not be used. After the roll for table sides, each player will place their objective markers. Both markers will be placed in their opponent's deployment zone. The center of each objective will be placed 6" from the long table edge. One marker will be placed with the center 18" in from the left short edge, the other will have it's center placed 18" from the right short edge. Players will then deploy using Alternating Deployment.

Capturing Objectives: To claim an objective you must have a unit within 3" of the center and no enemy units are within 3" of the center.

Victory Conditions:
Massacre: Control at least 2 more objectives than your opponent.
Victory: Control 1 more objective than your opponent.
Draw: Control the same number of objectives.

Battle Point modifiers:
+5 for controlling all 4 objectives.
+3 for killing the opposing General.
+2 for killing the opposing Battle Standard Bearer.

Veteran Skills:
If your Battle Standard Bearer survives, he/she will have Hatred for the following game. If the BSB already has Hatred, he/she will have Hatred in every round of combat.

If your Battle Standard Bearer dies, he/she will be immune to Fear, Terror and Panic and will confer it to his/her unit.


Last Stand, Game 3
The capital is in sight. Time to end it.

Deployment: Each player rolls a d6. The player that rolls highest is the Defender, the other is the Attacker. The Defender assigns the "Bastion Banner" as described below. The Attacker assigns the "Breacher Blade" as described below. The Defender then chooses which side (along the long table edge) to deploy their army in and deploys their entire army (special deployment rules, i.e. scouts, are still used) more than 12" from the center-line. The Attacker then deploys their army in their half of the table more than 12" from the center-line. The Attacker then rolls a d6. If a 6 is rolled, the Attacker then has first turn, otherwise the Defender has first turn.

Bastion Banner: This item is given to the Battle Standard Bearer. Should the army not have one, it can be given to another model who is not the General. The bearer now has Stubborn, has their Leadership increased to 10, and will automatically pass any Characteristic Tests the model is called on to make, except for Leadership (though they still do not become the General). This item can't be destroyed by any means except for the bearer's death. Whichever unit the Bastion bearer is deployed in will be the army's "Castle".

Breacher Blade: Nominate any character to give this weapon to. The blade consumes any melee weapon wielded by that character. It will have any properties that the previous weapon did. In addition, the blade has "Breacher". Breacher: should the wielder of this blade roll a 5 or 6 to hit in combat, the unit struck loses Steadfast, Stubborn, Unbreakable and Unstable for that combat phase. The unit the bearer of this blade is deployed in is the army's "Siege Engine".

Victory Conditions:
Massacre(Attacker): Destroy the "Castle" (i.e. the unit) and "Bastion Banner" bearer while your Battle Standard Bearer and "Seige Engine" survives.

Victory(Attacker): Destroy the "Castle" and "Bastion bearer", the "Seige Engine" survives, but your Battle Standard Bearer does not survive.

Massacre(Defender): Kill "Breacher Blade" bearer and destroy the "Siege Engine" while the "Bastion Banner" bearer and "Castle" survives.

Victory(Defender): Kill "Breacher Blade" bearer, destroy the "Siege Engine" and the "Castle" Survives, but the "Bastion Banner" bearer does not survive.

Any other result will be a draw.

Battle Point modifiers:
+5 for killing your opponent's General.
+3 for killing your opponent's highest level Wizard.
+2 for a successful "Breacher" effect on a unit other than the "Castle"
+2 if the "Bastion Banner" bearer kills an opposing character or champion.

Sportsmanship
Points will be awarded by players for sportsmanship
Sportsmanship & Composition Points (0-20)
Players will receive a single Sports/Comp score. We assume that everyone coming to the tournament will be a good sport and because the average score is 10, we will give them those 10 points on credit because we think they will keep them. At the conclusion of each game players will have one question on the score sheet which asks, "Did your opponent's behavior and/or army selection honestly make this a bad game for you?" If you had a bad game because of your opponent's sports or comp, mark him down for a bad game. If someone receives a yes then they will have to give back some of those points given on credit.
1 bad game mark -2 points
2 bad game mark -5 points
3 bad game mark Sportsmanship score of zero

These are not cumulative modifiers. Only the lowest applicable modifier will be applied. Unlike a simple linear system, each vote is not worth the same. Everyone might have one bad game. But when someone is rude over multiple games there is something going on and it should cost them more, and under this scoring system it will cost them much more.

No one should be worried about being dinged out of spite which is so prevalent in other systems because this system focuses on the consensus of all three of one’s opponents. While one bad vote will cost you points it cannot knock you out of the running because of its small worth. However, when someone scores poorly over several games it is usually their own fault and they deserve what they get. On the flip side, if someone gives you a bad game or has a bad army then don't hold back and be honest about it, one bad game won't hurt them much at all. They will have to have several bad games in order really get dinged, and if that happens, they deserve it.

Best Sport Vote Points
At the end of the tournament everyone will vote for their best opponent. The question will read, "I certify that ______ provided me with the best game of the weekend. His attitude and army selection were outstanding." As with bad game votes, the value of each best game vote goes up dramatically the more of them you get:
1 best game vote +2 point
2 best game votes +5 points
3 best game votes +10 points
The remaining Base Points (after bad game deductions) will be added to the Best Sport Votes to determine the total sportsmanship points.

Painting (0-20):
Painted armies are not required but should be "WYSIWYG". However, your overall placing will be affected. Each army will be scored during the lunch break. Each army should be set up after Game 1 with this in mind. To be considered for the Best Painted award, each player will need to attest that they painted their army. This should be noted on their army list. When I say painted their army, I mean the vast majority of the models in the army. Obviously this requires some honesty on the part of the player. Painting scores in the Overall rankings will not be affected whoever painted your army, but you can't win "Best Painted". The objective markers for Game 2 do not need to be painted, but if they are painted and based (whatever the quality) the player will receive one bonus point to their painting score. This can take the score above 20. If every model in your army has 3 colors and is based you will at least receive a score of 10. To get a 20, the army will need to be roughly painting competition quality throughout. Each player will vote their favorite army in the tournament. This will be used to break any ties.

Banned Items:
Fozzrik's Folding Fortress