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http://novaopenstore.com

Current 40K GT/Invitational Primer: http://www.novaopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015-40K-GT-Invitational-June-22-Primer.pdf

5/5 Update - NOVA Open Show Miniature and more super cool stuff
http://whiskey40k.blogspot.com/2015/05/adding-total-wow-factor-to-nova-open.html


4/20 Update - on May 1st, we stop pre-selling Beer Mugs. The NOVA Open Beer Mug is both a cool commemorative item and a value at the NOVA proper ... owning one earns you $1 off draft beer in the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation's Charity Bar & Lounge (which already has pretty good deals on beer and cocktails all weekend ... all proceeds of which go directly to charity).


http://www.novaopen.com
2015 sees the 6th Annual NOVA Open in Washington, DC.

Held in Crystal City, next to Washington Reagan National Airport and on the DC Metro Rail, the NOVA Open consists of four fantastic days of gaming, shopping, seminars, and miniature figure art at one of the United States' largest tabletop wargaming conventions.

What began as a large pair of 40K and Fantasy tournaments in 2010 has blossomed into a diverse, genre-wide event with an increasing emphasis on charity, hobby, fun, and fair play with international attendance across numerous organized play and hobby-centric event formats and offerings.

Registration opens on February 1, and our newsletter (chock full of information!) goes out on the 1st and 15th of every month. If you'd like to receive the most up-to-date information on the NOVA Open, sign up for the newsletter by e-mailing novaopen@gmail.com

Seminars
The NOVA Open 2015 will include nearly 50 distinct seminars, beginning on Thursday of the convention (9/3). These range from free "lounge talks" hosted in the Charitable Foundation's Bar & Lounge to designer/developer talks (i.e., Justin Gibbs of Wyrd Miniatures, who designed Malifaux ... or Gutier Losquinos of Corvus Belli) to art/hobby lectures and instructional seminars. We are proud to note that 2014's highly acclaimed instructors will be back, such as Justin McCoy of Secret Weapon Miniatures and Caleb Wissenback. We are also extremely excited to be joined in 2015 by Roman Lappat and Raffaele Picca of Massive Voodoo, who will teach a large # of seminars over the course of the weekend.

Warhammer 40,000
The NOVA Open, over the years, has been an influential and high-profile event in terms of its impact on the tournament world of Warhammer 40,000. This stems from a desire, year after year, to apply reasoned modifications to our formats in order to present the most fun, fair opportunities possible for attendees of all interest and skill levels to find their fit within a combined attendance of nearly 300 40K players. The highlight of our 40K offerings is our 256-slot Grand Tournament, held over 8 rounds (with free option to drop after 6 built into both the format and schedule) from Friday through Sunday. This 1850-point tournament innovatively combines several "styles" of 40K event (Win-Loss, Battle Point, and Overall / "Classic" GT Soft Score Heavy) in parallel tracks within the one large tournament to allow players of all skill and style to fairly compete for awards, recognition, and fun deep into the tournament, rather than just until their first loss or if they failed to accrue large enough victories. Players are even bracketed out into sub-brackets composed of their competitive peers after Round 4, locking players into peer-levels who've experienced a similar beginning to the tournament experience in pursuit of facing similar list styles, playstyles, and attitudes.

While the GT was originally our "big" 40K event, it is now rivaled by something altogether unique within the 40K Organized Event world - the Narrative. Most places you go, Narratives consist of hackneyed storyboards of "one more forgeworld or hive city" that secretly harbors an artefact of incredible significance to every race, while conveniently being right in the path of the nearest handy Hive Fleet, all happening above a newly-awakening Necron tomb complex, and ... for good measure ... right in the path of the next big Tau expansion. Proudly entering its fourth consecutive year, the NOVA Narrative takes a different approach. Players partciipate in one of two event tracks - Warlords and Nightfighters - to leverage the game of Warhammer 40K toward driving and telling the story of the NOVA Open's own unique sci-fi universe. Centered around culture-shattering conflicts between nascently space-faring Humanity and the questionably benevolent, star-spanning Virtue, players representatively participate as one of these two factions through the use of their favorite Warhammer 40,000 forces. No common fan-fiction here, the Narrative's creative team spend every year crafting intricate details and developing spine-chillingly epic briefings and story primers to draw participants into this world - a world of their own creation. You've never seen a collection of over 60 gamers go so completely silent as when Commander Beste is artfully providing his nightly introductory briefings and projected high-detail presentations on the current and future status of this ongoing conflict. Functionally, the Narrative provides two tracks leveraging more relaxed and diverse gameplay (complete with Heresy Era armies being legal, and everything Forgeworld has to offer). The Warlords track includes strategic planning sessions where participants directly impact the larger nighttime gaming events (who plays where, environmental effects, strategic and tactical injects, the works!), as well as additional games. Warlords players participate in 7 games stretched from Thursday evening through Sunday. Nightfighters, on the other hand, are players who wish to enjoy the Narrative while also participating in some of the NOVA Open's other day-long activities (such as other game systems or the 40K GT). Nightfighter games occur at carefully-scheduled times on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, providing a laid back opportunity to get that extra gaming fix while helping drive and get deeply involved in something you truly own yourselves. The names of past famous and infamous (two titles you can actively seek that have very little to do with simply winning or losing games) players adorn even the little details of our narrative terrain (terrain which includes a fully-lit 6 foot tall replica of the Washington Monument ... wouldn't be a DC convention without such things!).

The NOVA Open also sees the fifth consecutive year of its Trios Team Tournament, a unique Team event happening on Thursday of the con where 3-player teams face other 3-player teams in pairs of 2v2 and 1v1 games. Each player gets the opportunity to play a 1v1 game and 2 x 2v2 games over the course of the day in very relaxed fashion with longer round times. It's a great way to kick off the con, and is a true legacy event for NOVA ... usually with smaller, more intimate attendance and a more laid-back feel.

New this year for 40K, we're adding a series of events that you sign up for at the con called Highlander: Quickenings. These events are 8-player, 3-round "sign-up and go" events that begin at predetermined, scheduled times so long as 8 players have signed up. They're more relaxed in terms of model representation to enable easier prep for traveling attendees, and follow the NOVA Open's version of the Highlander rules, keying around the concept that there can "Be Only One" (of any unit type!). These harken back to another time in 40K, before battle brothers and the craziest of spam. Coincident with Sunday's opt-out day for the GT (you need only participate in the Final 2 rounds of the GT if you are still competing to win your personal bracket; nothing prevents all players from finishing Rounds 7-8, but it's not mandatory if folks want to see the city or shop or try other games), we're also adding a pre-registration-enabled event called The Gathering (fitting, right?). The Gathering will be a larger-slot Highlander event at an affordable rate with laid back feel, simplified missions, and straightforward presentation.

It's going to be the biggest, most epic year yet to play Warhammer 40K at NOVA. We're also exploring concepts for a Heresy Era event (event lead wanted!).

Warhammer Fantasy
This year will see the 6th consecutive Warhammer Fantasy GT at the NOVA Open. The past two years have both sold out at 64 players, with substantial potential to grow in 2015. The 2013 event encountered a few bumps and bruises along the way, leading to a dramatic revitalization under strengthened leadership in 2014. Organizer Steve Gant is returning to bring it back even better! The Fantasy GT occurs on Saturday and Sunday of the con, and is supplemented by a Friday event with a more laid back tone and flavor. 2014 consisted of a Doubles Tournament, though we're discussing everything from smaller games to End Times focused gaming to Narrative play for Friday at present. More info on this to come!

Malifaux
Malifaux was present at the NOVA Open in 2011, but vanished from our radar for a couple of years as the game went through its development into M2E. Heralded by many as one of the most aesthetically memorable, yet competitively balanced games on the market today, M2E gamers quickly recognize that many of the "competitive vs. casual" intonations that are so divisive within some TT wargaming communities simply vanish when playing Malifaux - everyone is casual, and everyone is competitive, and everyone can be both while playing exactly what they want to play! Malifaux returned to the NOVA Open in 2014 in a big way, with world-class terrain co-designed using the input of the game's designers and even direct attendance and participation from those designers - Justin Gibbs and Mack Martin, lead developers of Malifaux, spent their 2014 Labor Day with us at the NOVA Open.

Wyrd is back in a very big way for 2015, so big in fact that it's a first for them! The First Wyrd Malifaux National Championships for North America are being hosted at the NOVA Open in 2015, in part due to its timing within the calendar year relative to many other events that are now qualifiers. Don't hesitate at the word "Qualifier," however - the National Championship is an open registration event, and all are welcome, with space for up to 3-figures' worth of Malifaux gamers. This event is being hosted and sponsored directly by Wyrd with NOVA support, and the prizes and recognition are off the hook! Simultaneously, we'll be hosting a number of other Malifaux events all weekend long, including a participation-focused Achievement League, an in-depth Story event, Hardcore and Enforcer mode rapid fire events, and more! Some of Malifaux's best Henchmen will be in attendance and support, including Crissy of A Wyrd Place and "The Ma(h)(t)ts," Matt Stanley and Maht Crestborn, who are the official leads for Malifaux events at NOVA. To make everything *just* right, Justin Gibbs - design lead for Malifaux - will once again attend, taking a larger role in coordinating, organizing, and ensuring events run precisely as they should in representing Wyrd for their first National Championship. Can you tell we're excited?

Warmachine/Hordes
WM/H events at NOVA have been growing year after year, and they absolutely exploded in 2014. Nearly 100 WM/H players showed up from all over the country, and we had sell-out organized play rolling from the very beginning of the con on. This year, the NOVA is set to once again be a Warmachine Weekend Qualifier, and is also an official Iron Gauntlet event. Space is limited (to a point, we're still able to field over a hundred WM/H gamers quite easily!), and last year many locals assumed they'd have space only to not quite find it when they showed up the day of! The schedule will once again be chock full of organized play, iron arena, and more. Don't miss this! Along with TempleCon, the NOVA has risen to be one of Warmachine's premier events on the East Coast.

X-Wing
X-Wing showed up at NOVA for the first time in 2014, and promptly sold out. Sold out so dramatically, in fact, that we twice increased our event size at the con in order to allow more players in (thank goodness for planning ahead on board prep and a game that doesn't require much in the way of terrain!). Roy Scales and Kris S., who run the very popular X-Wing website, A Few Maneuvers, are excitedly planning on hosting over 100 X-Wing attendees in 2015. Furthermore, they've added a new Narrative track of events modeled after the wildly successful NOVA 40K Narrative, with players able to make their mark on a slightly alternate Star Wars Universe through annual player driving of the story. I even hear tell of design work begun on an 11 foot replica scale (to the "big ships") star destroyer around which many epic starfighter battles are to take place ...

Charitable Foundation
The precursor to the NOVA Open was a small outdoor 40K tournament held on picnic tables in August, 2009. The first NOVA Open wasn't held until a year later, but this original event was spawned purely from a desire by the organizers to raise funds in support of the fight against Breast Cancer. Today, the NOVA Open partners with a sister organization - the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation, a formal 501(c)(3), to leverage the global community of gamers as a compassionate force to raise funds, awareness, and support for critical causes worldwide. Though we support many worthy charities, our efforts focus on Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontiers), the Fisher House Foundation, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Last year, the Foundation more than doubled its inaugural 2013 campaign by raising nearly $20,000 for charity! The highlight of these efforts are studio-caliber armies painted by a global consortium of figure artists, led by Foundation Board Member Dave Taylor. These armies are designed by top tier innovators and competitors from within their game systems, painted by world class artists, boxed in limited edition KR MultiCases, based on custom Secret Weapon Miniatures bases, and shipped to raffle winners anywhere on Earth (we've shipped armies to Tasmania!). Raffle tickets go up for sale in early 2015 for a wide variety of offerings, and are only $1/each. The NOCF proudly contributes more than $.96 on the directly to the charities it supports, with any excess purely being spent on administrative expense and web hosting fees (no member of the foundation or NOVA Open, LLC collects a salary or compensation of any kind for anything the NOVA Open does). Both the LLC and NOCF are entirely volunteer organizations, inclusive of gamers and non-gamers ranging from senior military officers and career professionals to stay-at-home moms and college students.

Foundation Lounge
The NOVA Open's organizers may or may not admit to really enjoying a good beer with their gaming pretzels. Or a good glass of wine. Or a good cocktail. Or a good glass of scotch. Or simply a good can of soda/pop/cola. Well, heck with it, we openly admit these things. So it stands to reason why we have the Foundation Lounge. Every year, the NOVA Open rents out premier Hyatt Regency suites and converts them into an incredibly epic Bar and Lounge, with everything from coffee and donuts in the morning to bloody mary and mimosa offerings in the ... well ... the morning ... to craft beers and cocktails (and non-alcoholic offerings) throughout the day (all the way until 1:30AM VA last call!). This non-profit event occurs thanks to a VA license for the Foundation ... granted because the Foundation Lounge's revenues are entirely donated to charity (the same charities supported by the Foundation's army raffles and other activities)! Not only is all the booze you buy in support of good causes, it's pretty cheap too! We offer rock bottom rates for the area on cocktails, beer, shots, coffee, donuts, whatever. Plus, the Lounge hosts rolling free lounge talks given by everyone from our esteemed seminar instructors to industry professionals, game designers, and more. IT's a great way to cozy up next to some of the most creative people in the tabletop gaming world with their favorite drink (which are, conveniently, discounted while each lecturer is talking). The Lounge is free to enter for any and all NOVA Open attendees all weekend long.

Capital Palette
Capital Palette returns to NOVA this year as one of the DC area's premier miniature figure art competitions. This juried exhibition takes an enormous leap up in prestige and quality this year with the addition of Roman Lappat and Raffaele Picca from Massive Voodoo as head judges, along with Justin McCoy. With one of the swankiest display areas out there and a great deal of organizational support from the NOVA, the Capital Palette is a fantastic way to show off your miniatures' best stuff, have them judged by world class and world-renowned miniature figure artists, (and receive input on them from) , and win awesome prize support thanks to enormously generous partnership by companies like Grex Airbrush (category winners take home a brand spankin' new, top of the line airbrush!). Additions of higher experience level seminars, speed-painting/speed-airbrushing competitions, and more make the Capital Palette and NOVA in general more appealing than ever for the talented (and even only sorta talented!) miniature figure artist out there.

One of the things we want to advance at the NOVA is the notion that what we do with our figure painting hobby is more than just slopping pigments on toys. Art is a diverse term, and nothing should prevent that term being rightly and fairly applied to what many figure painters do - some of it is pretty awesome! Roman and Raffa are poster children for advancing the cause of miniature figure artists by connecting them more closely to fine artists at a whole, and we share with them a desire to leverage NOVA as a mechanism for further perspective change in this regard. Stay tuned to the NOVA Open and Capital Palette for more on this in the future, as we seek to both expose figure artists to a broader audience, and bring a broader range of artists (Beyond just figures) to the NOVA Open proper.

Infinity
Infinity is why the NOVA Open's dedicated terrain staff considers the word "More" to be a 4-letter word! If you haven't played it before, Infinity battles occur on some of the most epic battle boards you've ever seen in a miniatures game, and 2014 was no different for the NOVA Open. Event lead Craig further supports this by hosting terrain competitions among attendees to see who can bring the best tables (there were LEDs and epic buildings aplenty in 2014!). Infinity is set to once again grow leading into next year, spurred on by the fact we hosted Corvus Belli designer Gutier Losquinos all the way from Spain. Corvus is set to once again attend, bringing with them - as in 2014 - first-time-ever looks at their newest studio painted minis and seminar-based reveals of the newest Infinity news, rules, and information (even stuff they don't share at GenCon!).

Blood Bowl
It is a little known fact that Blood Bowl, in a sense, started the NOVA Open, as its organizer began by hosting local DC area Blood Bowl Leagues. It was thus with great pleasure that we brought Blood Bowl to NOVA for the first time on its 5th Anniversary in 2014. Once established, never abandoned, the pitches will return to the NOVA in 2015 for a larger and more concrete offering of Blood Bowl events. We're also working to make sure the rates are affordable, the pitches are gorgeous, and the events are fully certified with the NAF across all activities. Don't miss your chance to break some heads! It's also more than just a rumor that late night Blood Bowl may be one of your only places to challenge NOVA staff to open gaming ... so don't forget to bring your team with you even if you plan on participating primarily in other genres and games.

Vendor Hall
A Con is not a Con without sweet shopping. The NOVA Open is attended by an increasingly diverse array of industry vendors, including niche suppliers like Greenman Designs and Tectonic Craft Studios, and broad-band discount retailers like Atlantis Comics & Games and the Toledo Games Room (the Bits Guy from outside the AdeptiCon 40K hall). We proudly partner with our vendors and sponsors to provide the epic quantity of swag given away through awards packages and the [in]famous lemonade raffle (any time you lose a game in any game system at NOVA, you get a raffle ticket in a Lemonade Raffle (get it, making lemons out of ... you get it) that includes everything from simple bits bags all the way to vacation getaways) at NOVA, and they also take pains to provide rock bottom discounts throughout the convention. We also - after popular demand - were able to partner with UK-based major NOVA sponsor KR MultiCase to bring their diverse array of army protection products to NOVA this past year, at a discount! The NOVA Open's vendors offer additional discounts on Thursday evening as the con kicks off, and we're working to see what we can do to keep them open just a bit longer after the award ceremony on Sunday evening this year (the better to go and spend your gift certs and winnings with the providing vendor).

The SuperNOVA Program
Speaking of KR MultiCase, the NOVA Open has - hands-down - the best "VIP/G" style gamer bags on the planet. This is, primarily, because they are KR MultiCases. Not ones to provide our "SuperNOVAs" with throwaway plastic bags into which their epic VIP-style swag has been placed, the NOVA includes (thanks to KR) free KR MultiCase bags with every SuperNOVA pass. In your first year, you get a free $85 KR BackPack2. In your second year, you can get another of those, or a Kaiser2 instead. In your third year, you can get a Kaiser3 instead. We're still trying to figure out how awesome it's going to get for the fourth year guys. Either way, the other thing you get - that's not to be overlooked - is that those who buy a SuperNOVA bag and return in a future year to NOVA (whether or not they SuperNOVA again) receive a free BOGO for KR $65 custom-foam Card Cases to fill their bags with (and you can redeem these at the NOVA's KR vendor booth). Beyond this, SuperNOVA's get convenient in-con storage for their armies/bags, awesome T-Shirts, beer mugs, and several hundred dollars of custom swag (i.e., Greenman Designs will do you up a custom measuring device suited to your game system of choice with both your game system faction and name incorporated on the device ... imagine getting a multi-measure tool in Ultramarines Blue with your name inscribed under the logo). Last year, our 80 SuperNOVA bags sold out in a few hours ... we're offering more this year, but they won't last the weekend after reg opens on Feb 1.



SO MUCH MORE TO COME, AND WE'RE EXCITED! Who is coming to the NOVA in 2015? What are you most looking forward to?

Awesome! Keeping my eye on this! Will it be possible to play in the INFINITY event and the 40 GT?

Yeeaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!! im in DC!!!!

 Red Corsair wrote:
Awesome! Keeping my eye on this! Will it be possible to play in the INFINITY event and the 40 GT?

There are Infinity events every day/evening of the con, so you should be able to work it out just fine. You can also drop after Round 6 of the GT w/out affecting your Overall score (by deign), so Sunday is fully open for 40K players who wish to participate in the primary rounds of the GT and also do something else that requires a full day's participation (e.g., Sunday's Infinity tournament).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Early discussion question for those that occasionally troll Dakka threads ...

Roman Lappat and Raffaele Picca of Massive Voodoo are attending NOVA Open this year to judge and teach.

Are there any classes in particular folks would love them to teach?

On the 40K front, there's yet again discussion of Forgeworld legalization in the 40K GT/Invitational (it's been legal in all other 40K events for a few years now). With the continued expansion of the game on the Dataslate/etc. front, and increasing lack of clear balance, many of the old arguments against Forgeworld inclusion are starting to pale. Opinions?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
PS - We are also considering / leaning toward a limited LOW list for this year, and banning AdLance (but not Knights).

I'm aiming to go to Nova this year. It is one of the larger tournaments that I haven't been to yet.


FW is fine as long as it is 40K Approved. I feel that there are a lot stronger stuff in normal codices and the formations than with FW units.


Limited LoW is fine as well. Most of the LoW stuff isn't really that great anyways. However, they do add variety to the game.


As for banning Adlance, that's probably something you should poll your customer base and do it early. Don't make the mistake of doing it too late like what Frontline did with Invisibility. Personally for me, I've got no problems with Adlance.

MVBrandt wrote:

 Red Corsair wrote:
Awesome! Keeping my eye on this! Will it be possible to play in the INFINITY event and the 40 GT?

There are Infinity events every day/evening of the con, so you should be able to work it out just fine. You can also drop after Round 6 of the GT w/out affecting your Overall score (by deign), so Sunday is fully open for 40K players who wish to participate in the primary rounds of the GT and also do something else that requires a full day's participation (e.g., Sunday's Infinity tournament).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Early discussion question for those that occasionally troll Dakka threads ...

Roman Lappat and Raffaele Picca of Massive Voodoo are attending NOVA Open this year to judge and teach.

Are there any classes in particular folks would love them to teach?

On the 40K front, there's yet again discussion of Forgeworld legalization in the 40K GT/Invitational (it's been legal in all other 40K events for a few years now). With the continued expansion of the game on the Dataslate/etc. front, and increasing lack of clear balance, many of the old arguments against Forgeworld inclusion are starting to pale. Opinions?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
PS - We are also considering / leaning toward a limited LOW list for this year, and banning AdLance (but not Knights).

If the Massive Voodoo guys are coming and teaching, I'm like, 100% doing that instead of playing this year. Make it happen!

It's already confirmed. Massive Voodoo will be attending and teaching 10 classes at nova. Subjects in development. They'll also be joining Justin McCoy as head judges of Capital Palette, our juried miniature figure art exhibition.

Malifaux!

Also, if you can, do the Narrative. It's the best 40k event I have ever participated in, bar none.

The Narrative is not for the feint of heart, however. The Virtue have no mercy for Humanity.

Questions for the 40K prospective attendee:

1) Should we allow Forgeworld in some capacity, given the variety of things now in the game anyway via all the datasheets/formations/white dwarves/etc.?

2) Would you like to see the detachment rules change from "max of one CAD" to simply "2 detachments" as the limit, in light of the fact many of the factions can now 'effectively' get 2 Combined Arms Detachments via their Codex-specific detachments anyway?

3) How do people feel right now about lords of war? They were widely reviled by casual players in our post-event survey. Should we allow a limited LOW list? Should we ban adlance or ban superheavies altogether while allowing Lords of War that are not superheavies/gargantuans?

Feedback is always welcome at NOVA, and we typically perform post-event and sometimes pre-registration surveys. We're contemplating a survey in January prior to registration opening.

Happy Holidays,
- Mike

Mike,

In response to your questions (Looking forward to being there this year)

1) I haven't found a 0-1 FW policy to be a problem so far. And I say this as a Tau, where unfortunately our two "best" things so far don't yet have official rules. But yeah, Malenthropes and other goodies as long as they have official rules have made it into the other east coast tourneys it feels.

2) Anything to simplify the detachment nonsense that GW created when the 7th edition rules clashed with the sub-codices (Enclave, Iyanden, etc.) is appreciated. Allowing 2 detachments I feel solves it unless someone would like to point out a really game-breaking combo that is allowed because of it.

3) Honestly, I love it when I see a Lord hit the table. 4+ seize and potentially 3 more VPs in a tournament setting when I'm using an alpha-strike army? Yes please. But I do realize that many of the heavier lords (revenant, Necron, and some of the tanks) really ruin the day of any lists not prepared for them. The revenant and necron one can practically solo entire lists without support if the dice go their way. Perhaps take a cue from Adepticon and make them a max % of the list's points?

4) Ad-Lance and Super Heavies I don't feel in general are a huge problem. I realize that the non-competitive side of the game has problems with them though. At most I'd pull the Ad Lance formation, but not knights/super heavies in general. Once you remove the formation knights become more like a rip tide or wraith knight than the "unstoppable" beasts those who aren't prepared for them find them to be.

Per JY's note earlier, I would suggest that you guys make sure these rules are all set in stone in advance of ticket sales. Definitely had a bit of a dust up on the LVO side of things when these got changed post-sell out.

Looking forward to it, you guys always throw a great competition.

MVBrandt wrote:
Questions for the 40K prospective attendee:

1) Should we allow Forgeworld in some capacity, given the variety of things now in the game anyway via all the datasheets/formations/white dwarves/etc.?

2) Would you like to see the detachment rules change from "max of one CAD" to simply "2 detachments" as the limit, in light of the fact many of the factions can now 'effectively' get 2 Combined Arms Detachments via their Codex-specific detachments anyway?

3) How do people feel right now about lords of war? They were widely reviled by casual players in our post-event survey. Should we allow a limited LOW list? Should we ban adlance or ban superheavies altogether while allowing Lords of War that are not superheavies/gargantuans?

Feedback is always welcome at NOVA, and we typically perform post-event and sometimes pre-registration surveys. We're contemplating a survey in January prior to registration opening.

Happy Holidays,
- Mike

I'll take a crack.

1) 40K approved Forgeworld units and characters should be allowed on a unique basis (i.e. every unit becomes a 0-1 selection). I've been playing against opponents using FW units since 6th edition and have used my Whirlwind Scorpio from time to time as well in competitive play. The only real complaint I remember running across as a TO was when units like the AM quad-mortars or saber platforms where spammed, which generated the unique basis caveat. The FW army lists are slightly different beasts and I generally tended to either disallow them or require pre-approval because I have no way to get all the books or keep current on them. Since pre-approval is much harder to do at an event Nova's size (200+ players versus the 20-25 player RTTs I ran), I'd tend to ban them or create a list of those I'd allow (i.e. the FW chapter tactics for the Marine codex are easy to include since they don't change units and have no unique detachments).

2) Allow 2 detachments and remove the current restriction on CADs. It longer serves a purpose when every book since Orcs has a detachment that is essentially a CAD (Orc Hordes, Nemesis Strike Force, Wolves Unleashed, Sanguinary Strike Force, etc.). Replace the current format with the caveats of each detachment is unique and you can bring either a codex specific detachment or a CAD. Then, disallow self-allying except where the codex specifically allows it to close the loop hole for obtaining a 2nd, mini-CAD. This will reign in some of the wilder spam builds while still allowing plenty of competitive ones.

3) Given the changes to how named characters of Chapter Master equivalency are now presented, you need to allow Lords of War in some capacity. I think an "allowed list" is the way to go. That way you can include all the infantry characters and any vehicles you think aren't too overpowered. Personally, I'd also consider a % point cap in the Adepticon fashion. That would make it a little easier to achieve the same effect.

PanzerLeader wrote:

2) Allow 2 detachments and remove the current restriction on CADs. It longer serves a purpose when every book since Orcs has a detachment that is essentially a CAD (Orc Hordes, Nemesis Strike Force, Wolves Unleashed, Sanguinary Strike Force, etc.). Replace the current format with the caveats of each detachment is unique and you can bring either a codex specific detachment or a CAD. Then, disallow self-allying except where the codex specifically allows it to close the loop hole for obtaining a 2nd, mini-CAD. This will reign in some of the wilder spam builds while still allowing plenty of competitive ones.

@Panzer - When done in this fashion per your self-allying note, would Farsight Enclave still be able to ally to the Tau Codex since it is specifically stated that they are battle brothers in the supplemental codex? Just wanted to check to see how that works.

MVBrandt wrote:
Questions for the 40K prospective attendee:

1) Should we allow Forgeworld in some capacity, given the variety of things now in the game anyway via all the datasheets/formations/white dwarves/etc.?

2) Would you like to see the detachment rules change from "max of one CAD" to simply "2 detachments" as the limit, in light of the fact many of the factions can now 'effectively' get 2 Combined Arms Detachments via their Codex-specific detachments anyway?

3) How do people feel right now about lords of war? They were widely reviled by casual players in our post-event survey. Should we allow a limited LOW list? Should we ban adlance or ban superheavies altogether while allowing Lords of War that are not superheavies/gargantuans?

Feedback is always welcome at NOVA, and we typically perform post-event and sometimes pre-registration surveys. We're contemplating a survey in January prior to registration opening.

Happy Holidays,
- Mike

Second year attendee. And I hope first time GT player. To echo JY2:

1. FW is fine as long as it is 40K Approved and the 0-1 restriction sounds perfectly fair, even considering FW Gargs/Supers

2. Limited LoW is fine. With Knights even in the game as a Codex, I think allowing a limited Super/Gargantuan will add a lot to the tournament games, give Knights a solid Challenge and break open the meta in a fun and challenging way.

3. As for banning Adlance: I see no problems with AdLance. I genuinely do not see how AdLance affected the game to any game-breaking degree, as reflected in the 2014 results, even without allowing additional Lords of War, AdLance was certainly powerful, but clearly not game-breakingly so.

GreyDragoon wrote:

PanzerLeader wrote:

2) Allow 2 detachments and remove the current restriction on CADs. It longer serves a purpose when every book since Orcs has a detachment that is essentially a CAD (Orc Hordes, Nemesis Strike Force, Wolves Unleashed, Sanguinary Strike Force, etc.). Replace the current format with the caveats of each detachment is unique and you can bring either a codex specific detachment or a CAD. Then, disallow self-allying except where the codex specifically allows it to close the loop hole for obtaining a 2nd, mini-CAD. This will reign in some of the wilder spam builds while still allowing plenty of competitive ones.

@Panzer - When done in this fashion per your self-allying note, would Farsight Enclave still be able to ally to the Tau Codex since it is specifically stated that they are battle brothers in the supplemental codex? Just wanted to check to see how that works.

Yes, as they are what I'd considered to be two different factions. You could take a FE CAD and Tau allies or vice versa. Its more to prevent Necron/Necron or Tyranid/Tyranid where the bonus of the mini-CAD really shines.

@notbriang: I think the question of AdLance comes down to how fun it is for the average player to play against. It's not game breaking at the top levels, but for the average person AdLance is decidedly not fun to play against. That alone merits a discussion of a ban if it would drive down attendance. I played AdLance twice at Battle for Salvation this year, once when accompanied by 3 Stormfangs and once when accompanied by 3 Riptides. I managed to win both games with my White Scars, but they were highly contested and came down to the very last couple of rolls. I found them entertaining because I like those challenging games. I have no doubts a less competitive player would have been severely frustrated and annoyed.

@Panzer - Ok cool, just wanted to make sure I read that right.

@NotBrian - Agreed personally on the AdLance. I just don't see it being a likely top-table contender in a really competitive environment. I only mentioned dropping the formation depending on if they are more worried about the competitive environment or dealing with the frustrations of those who play in the GTs with no intention of having a top-teir/competitive army. Fun armies tend to have serious problems with AdLance, Trip/Quad-Tide, etc. but that's to be expected I suppose.

PanzerLeader wrote:

I'll take a crack.

1) 40K approved Forgeworld units and characters should be allowed on a unique basis (i.e. every unit becomes a 0-1 selection). I've been playing against opponents using FW units since 6th edition and have used my Whirlwind Scorpio from time to time as well in competitive play. The only real complaint I remember running across as a TO was when units like the AM quad-mortars or saber platforms where spammed, which generated the unique basis caveat. The FW army lists are slightly different beasts and I generally tended to either disallow them or require pre-approval because I have no way to get all the books or keep current on them. Since pre-approval is much harder to do at an event Nova's size (200+ players versus the 20-25 player RTTs I ran), I'd tend to ban them or create a list of those I'd allow (i.e. the FW chapter tactics for the Marine codex are easy to include since they don't change units and have no unique detachments).

2) Allow 2 detachments and remove the current restriction on CADs. It longer serves a purpose when every book since Orcs has a detachment that is essentially a CAD (Orc Hordes, Nemesis Strike Force, Wolves Unleashed, Sanguinary Strike Force, etc.). Replace the current format with the caveats of each detachment is unique and you can bring either a codex specific detachment or a CAD. Then, disallow self-allying except where the codex specifically allows it to close the loop hole for obtaining a 2nd, mini-CAD. This will reign in some of the wilder spam builds while still allowing plenty of competitive ones.

3) Given the changes to how named characters of Chapter Master equivalency are now presented, you need to allow Lords of War in some capacity. I think an "allowed list" is the way to go. That way you can include all the infantry characters and any vehicles you think aren't too overpowered. Personally, I'd also consider a % point cap in the Adepticon fashion. That would make it a little easier to achieve the same effect.

Here's something that irks me a lot. Allied Codex sources, ie. FE CAD + Tau CAD allow for a perfect mini-CAD situation that benefits the Tau player to a tremendous degree. However, in this light disallowing Same Faction allies for allowing a similar bonus seems disingenuous. Why shouldn't Tyranid/Tyranid be allowed when FE/Tau, Space Wolves/Champions of Fenris, Chaos Space Marines/Black Legion, etc. provide the exact same, if not more powerful opportunities for CAD selections? If when the tournament rules are being finalized, I certainly hope allowing same Faction allies is favorably considered.

AdLance related - I feel Reece said it pretty well about AdLance, last year, AdLance & Knights would have been a lot less impactful with the allowance of other Supers/Gargs and FW. As far as them "not being fun to play against", this is a Tournament, not a pre-school.

1) 0-1 FW is fine

2) 2 Detachments - Full stop is fine. I'd prefer that basically "force org" detachments be limited to 2 and with formations being more opened up but that's a personal bias since I feel like Orks, Nids, and now BA play better with multiple formations and a CAD/Force Org detachment. If you go 2 detachments just say two detachments. Don't 0-1 any particular type of detachment. Just 2 Detachments go.

3) I loathe Ad-Lance as something that is just not fun for some codexes and leads to them either bringing something else or not playing at all. That said I'd hold off on that till about 6 months out or so. We should have 1-2 more codexes by then.

1. 0-1 / unique FW units are great (preferably on a unit by unit basis, allowing a 2 malanthropes brood as a single unit, for instance)

2. It's such a mess I'm not sure what to say lol.

3. I'm not a fan of LOW inclusion or superheavies at all.

I was in the Narrative (white 2nd edition Necrons with the Monolith) and I don't remember anyone complaining about Super Heavies. I think about a third of my games featured them, and they were fine. I didn't play any of the really bad ones, though. A ban list of the large AOE ignores cover weapons wouldn't be inappropriate.

I've been saying this for the past couple of years now, but I'm going to do everything I can to make NOVA this year.

notbriang wrote:

PanzerLeader wrote:

I'll take a crack.

1) 40K approved Forgeworld units and characters should be allowed on a unique basis (i.e. every unit becomes a 0-1 selection). I've been playing against opponents using FW units since 6th edition and have used my Whirlwind Scorpio from time to time as well in competitive play. The only real complaint I remember running across as a TO was when units like the AM quad-mortars or saber platforms where spammed, which generated the unique basis caveat. The FW army lists are slightly different beasts and I generally tended to either disallow them or require pre-approval because I have no way to get all the books or keep current on them. Since pre-approval is much harder to do at an event Nova's size (200+ players versus the 20-25 player RTTs I ran), I'd tend to ban them or create a list of those I'd allow (i.e. the FW chapter tactics for the Marine codex are easy to include since they don't change units and have no unique detachments).

2) Allow 2 detachments and remove the current restriction on CADs. It longer serves a purpose when every book since Orcs has a detachment that is essentially a CAD (Orc Hordes, Nemesis Strike Force, Wolves Unleashed, Sanguinary Strike Force, etc.). Replace the current format with the caveats of each detachment is unique and you can bring either a codex specific detachment or a CAD. Then, disallow self-allying except where the codex specifically allows it to close the loop hole for obtaining a 2nd, mini-CAD. This will reign in some of the wilder spam builds while still allowing plenty of competitive ones.

3) Given the changes to how named characters of Chapter Master equivalency are now presented, you need to allow Lords of War in some capacity. I think an "allowed list" is the way to go. That way you can include all the infantry characters and any vehicles you think aren't too overpowered. Personally, I'd also consider a % point cap in the Adepticon fashion. That would make it a little easier to achieve the same effect.

Here's something that irks me a lot. Allied Codex sources, ie. FE CAD + Tau CAD allow for a perfect mini-CAD situation that benefits the Tau player to a tremendous degree. However, in this light disallowing Same Faction allies for allowing a similar bonus seems disingenuous. Why shouldn't Tyranid/Tyranid be allowed when FE/Tau, Space Wolves/Champions of Fenris, Chaos Space Marines/Black Legion, etc. provide the exact same, if not more powerful opportunities for CAD selections? If when the tournament rules are being finalized, I certainly hope allowing same Faction allies is favorably considered.

AdLance related - I feel Reece said it pretty well about AdLance, last year, AdLance & Knights would have been a lot less impactful with the allowance of other Supers/Gargs and FW. As far as them "not being fun to play against", this is a Tournament, not a pre-school.

I'd be ok with restricting allies even further to include supplements (i.e. no Tau/FE) by saying you can't ally with the same faction. You essentially get your CAD or codex specific detachment plus one allied detachment from a different faction. My main concern is that very few books have the ability to exploit the bonus detachments with absurdly cheap troops (i.e. 15 point muclids).

I acknowledge it is a tournament. But people go for different reasons. No one enjoys a curb stomping. Its markedly less fun if your primary purpose isn't winning the tournament but to have a series of enjoyable games. AdLance doesn't really let that happen for the average player.

I'm playing in the Narrative, so for the GT whatever you like is fine by me, but something needs to be done about the Tranny!

I know it is a pipe dream, but single CAD only, no allies, forts or LOW is something I miss to be honest. I think you either do away with all the fat or allow it all. The appeal of going to a complicated mess of restrictions from tourny to tourny is getting low.

Probably explains why I am leaning more toward INFINITY + massive voodoo seminars and skipping the 40k GT I do have that constant 40k itch though

This is a tournament, not a coombiyaa circle. This talk about " not fun to play against" is a pathetic anodyne hyperberbaly. Get off of it. Play your friends if a tournament is not fun to lose in.

You can't make concessions for certain armies and not other. A TO needs to be objective on guidelines. Only non-super hvy/GCs? Why so only Gks, SWs, and Orks have a glaring advantage? Either allow LoWs or don't at all. Hate to break it to ya, a 450 pts Lynx is just as bad as some of the usual list of "offenders". Unfortunately some armies are balanced on their LoW. Allowing potentially 5 IK super-heavies with D Str melee and catastrophic f'yous, is a blatant favoritism. Personally I'm not for or against the inclusions of LoWs in tournaments, but in my mind it's all or nothing or else you are disingenuous.

No self allying because maybe one or two codexes save a few points on compulsory choices? Are you serious? If you think that will determine the shift in balance for a tournament, then competitive play is not for you. Again, certain codexes are measured and weighed on cheap troops for a reason. Maybe it because they lack one thing or another, or other slots are inflated.

Forgeworld is no worse than these new data slates and WD additions. They're all broken to some degree. All or none I say.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Maybe we should ban eldar, tau, and IK armies because they win tournaments? They're not fun to play against....

Tournaments are supposed to be a cocktail of adrenaline, elation, stress, and anxiety. Fun? Not any tournament I've been in. Fun are theme games, campaigns, and apocalypse battles.

Nyghoma you post like a drill instructor man.


Mike!

IMO 1 cad is preferred and allow 2 sources so detachments and formations can be used.

a
AdLance is fine IMO. Has it's disadvantages and advantages. You allowed it at last nova and while a bunch of really good players ran it none of them won and only a couple did "well"

LoW really is fine within reason. Same thing you've heard a bunch I'm sure. Does a hierophant belong in a 1850 game? Prob not. Does a heirodule? Yeah it's pretty ok in general. Limit ranged D and the ignores cover LoW insta death crap on torrent flamers and you are fine!

 Nyghoma wrote:
Tournaments are supposed to be a cocktail of adrenaline, elation, stress, and anxiety. Fun? Not any tournament I've been in. Fun are theme games, campaigns, and apocalypse battles.

This makes me sad...

Yeah I didn't mind most of what was said, some good points. But, the notion that tournaments are not fun is pretty nuts. Some people do have fun experiencing adrenaline, elation, stress, and anxiety. Not all people experience that at tournaments. Some just enjoy playing games in relaxed fashion and getting 6-8 of them guaranteed in a single weekend.

Some good points, then some random personal opinion/experience about tournaments (which is valid for the poster, but not for all or, anecdotally, most).

1) No forgeworld legality.
2) Don't care.
3) All LoW are legal. Ad Lance is legal.

MVBrandt wrote:
Yeah I didn't mind most of what was said, some good points. But, the notion that tournaments are not fun is pretty nuts. Some people do have fun experiencing adrenaline, elation, stress, and anxiety. Not all people experience that at tournaments. Some just enjoy playing games in relaxed fashion and getting 6-8 of them guaranteed in a single weekend.

Some good points, then some random personal opinion/experience about tournaments (which is valid for the poster, but not for all or, anecdotally, most).

More or less agree, but even for those that have fun experiencing adrenaline, elation, stress, anxiety....some lists are not "fun" as in they rob the game of those things (a problem I find in 40k in general at the moment is I feel very little of these things), they make the game one sided, which by definition robs the game of any kind of excitement. Going through the motions in a one sided game is anything but adrenaline filled. Adranaline comes from outplaying your opponent not rolling dice for 2-3 hours, in a game determined in large part by match-up + dice rolls.

Personally won't be playing 40k so I have no dog in the fight for the GT.

But I would go with

Yes FW, the game is crazy as is, let people play with additional toys at this point.

Detachments- I think you either allow double CAD, or allow CAD/Codex detachement + Ally/Formation, disallowing double CAD while allowing CAD + Codex detachment seems off to me.

I would say no to LOW except Character lords of war. I feel they frequently lead to one sided games.