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Here's the announcement for this years Border Raids GT. Like last year, we're placing an emphasis on painting, and very high quality tables and scenery. The biggest change is that we are going to use the 'Lowhammer' rules set that we used at Dakkacon this summer. It uses hard restrictions on army lists similar to some of the rules in ETC or Fluffycon. There is no composition score. Make the hardest army within the restrictions. Some of the most used magic items and Big spells are taken out entirely, and magic is capped at 12 dice. Unit size is capped, and their are restrictions on warmachines and templates/breath weapons. Demons and Teclis take a vacation entirely, but other special characters are allowed.

Some people will like this type of tournament, some won't. I know it won't appeal to everyone. So come and play for the weekend if it suits you, and if not, we'll be running a lot of other formats that you might like better at another time.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Armies are on the march and Generals seek to match wits with old foes!

Do you have what it takes to muster your army and be victorious over all contenders! Might of arms alone won't do it, you'll need to show Chivalry on and off the field, as well as have your army outfitted in spiffy uniforms.

Border Raids is a two day Warhammer Fantasy Grand Tournament. The event will take place in Media, PA. at Showcase Comics. We'll be holding the tournament in our store at the Granite Run Mall. The new store is large and spacious, with ample air conditioning, and filled with great gaming tables and scenery. And it's close to food and snacks, (or a cold beer at the bar.)

Keeping with the theme of War across the Old Worlde, and the new scenery rules for 8th edition, we will be putting together themed scenery for each table. Will you play against Brettonians in the Chaos Wastes of Khorne? Or battle against Vampire Counts near the ruins of a Dwarf Hold? Each table will have a set of scenery using some of the pieces from 8th edition. There will be a sheet on each table explaining each piece of terrain, with the rules from the 8th edition rulebook. We'll be adding new tables this year, specifically Ogre Kingdoms will get some attention.

As always, we'll be putting out an ample spread of food for lunch on Saturday and Sunday. There will be late night gaming in the store Friday and Saturday nights, and our usual trip down to Ruby Tuesdays for fun and drinks.

-TO for the event is Mike Clark, owner of Showcase Comics. You can contact him by phone at 610-891-9229 and by email at MikenJudyc@aol.com

-Cost for the event is 55.00 if paid by November 1st, and 60.00 after that.

-There are 40 slots for the event. We will not be adding more slots if we sell out. The only reservation is a fully paid one.

- Players can register and pay in person at Showcase Comics in Granite Run Mall, or by Paypal on our website at:

http:/www.showcasecomicsandgames.net/apps/webstore/

If you don't have paypal, and want to pay by credit card, contact Mike Clark, and we can send you an invoice through Paypal that will let you use yoru credit card to pay with.

The nearest hotel is The Quality Inn, across the street from the mall. Ask for 'The Granite Run Mall Rate'

http:/www.qualityinn.com/hotel-media-pennsylvania-PA560?promo=bingmap&channel=bing&camp=local

The specifics:

-Warhammer 8th Edition Fantasy Rules using our homebrewed "LowHammer" variant. (Explained Below)

-2500 pts.

-5 Games over two days, with 3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.

-2 hours and 30 minutes per game.

-Scenarios will be fairly basic, and drawn from the 8th Edition book. Scenarios will be posted ahead of time, two weeks or more before the tournament. Of note, please look at the scenario on page 148, Blood and Glory. There will be a scenario that uses some of these rules, where the first person to break the opponents army will receive a sizeable VP bonus. There will also probably be one scenario where magic is a bit more variable than normal.

-All current GW FAQ's will be used. If you want to quote an FAQ, it would be best if you bring a copy of it.

-Scoring will have 24 pts for each game, giving a total of 120 points possible. Painting and modeling will be worth 60 pts. This gives a maximum score of 180 points possible.

-There is no composition score of any type. Make the hardest list you can, under the restrictions posted.

-There is no sportsmanship score. However, slow playing, a beligerent attitude, and other poor behavior may result in a warning by the TO, forfeiting of the current game, or being asked to leave the tournament. Having no score for sportsmanship does not excuse bad behavior.

-Players should make every attempt to finish a game. Forfeiting halfway through a game is not allowed unless with the TO’s permission. Agreeing to intentionally tie a game, or to intentionally throw a game, is not allowed.

-All models must be fully painted to a 3 color minimum. This means you have used at least 3 colors to paint the entire model, in addition to a primer coat.

-All models must be based. This means at the minimum a painted base.

-All models must be WYSIWYG, with some leniency for cool conversions.

-Proxy models are not allowed. 'Counts as' armies are somewhat frowned upon and you should probably get the OK of the TO. If you have a question, please call or email the TO ahead of time. Armies that are confusing for players to keep track of will not be allowed. While your own gaming group may be ok with your "blue goblins are horrors, red goblins are bloodletters" army, it's going to cause problems with people that you don't play on a regular basis.

Prizes: Players may win prizes for Painting, Best General (Battle Points), and Overall (Battle Points and Painting.) Best Overall will recieve an invitation to the Throne of Skulls tournament in Memphis in 2012. Other prizes include a heap of stuff from Games workshop, along with cool stuff from GF9, Battlefoam, and other nice folks.

LowHammer Rules:

General Army Restrictions:

1.) You may include only 1 of each rare choice in your army, and only 2 of each special choice. (High Elves may take 3 of each special and 2 of each rare choice due to the special rule in their army book).

2.) An army may have up to 5 war machines and/or models that use a template weapon. Warmachines that use a template count as a single choice in this regard. All template weapons (from magic items, abilities, creature, banner, etc) count, but not spells. For purposes of this rule, warmachines that are bought as a pair and count as only one rare or special, will count as only 1 warmachine for the pair.

3.) A maximum of. 45 models with missile weapons with a range of 12” or more, (not incl. war machines, characters and chariots), may be taken in your army. (The exception to this rule is the Wood Elf army. Shooting is the main strength of the army and they struggle already in 8th edition without taking that away.)

-Shortbows count as ½ towards this limit. You could have 10 orcs with bows, and 70 goblins armed with shortbows .

-Weapons with the multiple shots rule count as 3 models for each 2 taken. Example: 30 Dark Elfs with repeater xbows count as 45 models armed with missle weapons. 4.) All units, (except Lord and Hero choices), may only use a total of 400 pts, including points paid for champions, banners, muscians, magic banners, and all other upgrades.

5.) The size of all units is restricted to 50 models.

Magic Restrictions

6.) No more than 12 power or dispel dice may be used in a magic phase. It doesn’t matter where they come from, or when in the phase, only 12 dice may be used. Exceptions to this are Skaven Warpstone tokens and Night Goblin magic mushrooms, as these have their own downsides.

7.) Only one model in the army may have the Loremaster ability.

8.) These spells are banned:

-Skaven: The Dreaded 13th

-Lore of Tzeentch: Gateway

-Lore of Metal: Final Transmutation

-Lore of Life: The Dwellers Below

-Lore of Shadow: All. (By overwhelming feedback, it is felt that the lore of shadow is overused, and needs a vacation.)

-Lore of Death: The Purple Sun of Xereus

9.) Banned Magic Items: The following magic items and special abilities may not be taken.

Folding fortress

Infernal Puppet

Favor of the Gods

Pendant of Khaleth

Sacraficial Dagger

Banehead

Cupped Hands

Focused Rumination

Drakenhoff Banner

Storm Banner

Doom Rocket

Van Horstmans Speculum

Book of Hoeth

Vortex Shard

10.) Bonus Troops: Some armies are pretty universally recognized as being a bit underpowered in 8th edition. We'd like to see more of these armies show up and play.

To encourage this, we are giving Beastmen, Woodelves, and Brettonians an additional 250 pts. Their lists follow all other restrictions, but they may take up to 2750 in points. When calculating VP against these 3 armies, total up the troops killed, and multiply the amount by .9, before adding in VP from any other sources. Example: A beastman players loses 1000 pts in a battle, and his opponent gains the 500pt bonus for breaking his army. His opponent would score (1000 x .9)+500=1400VP

11.) Army lists may be taken from any in print army book. Only main lists may be used. No ‘back of the book’ options, or armies from White Dwarf, may be used without permission from the TO.

-The new rules for the VC Terrorgeist may be used. Terrorgeists may not stand and shoot.

-Daemons of Chaos armies are not allowed.

12.) Army size is 2500 points.

13.) Special Character Restrictions: Teclis is banned. Thorek is banned.

Scoring Changes

14.) Units that are below 50% will award 50% of their VP.

- To be below 50%, look at the starting number of models in the unit, excluding characters that can join or leave the unit. If the remaining number of models is less than 50% of the starting number, then the unit is worth half it’s VP.

- In the case of multiple wound models such as ogres, or mixed units such as salamander packs, use the starting number of wounds instead of models. Warmachines do not give up half points, but must be entirely destroyed.

-Characters that have lost half or more of their wounds at the end of the game give up 50% of their VP.

-Monsters (and ‘unique’ things such as Screaming Bells etc.) that have lost half or more of their wounds at the end of the game give up 50% of their Victory Points. In the case of a ridden monster, calculate VP for the monster and character separately.

15.) Models fleeing at the end of the game count as destroyed.

Change to the Set Up phase:

16.) Players may not set up units within 1" of a friendly unit. Treat the restrictions for moving within 1" of friendly or enemy units or impassable terrain that are laid out in the movement phase as affecting the setup phase as well.

Last Changed on Nov. 2nd. Final Version.

Border Raids Scenarios and Schedule

Our 2 day Warhammer Fantasy Grand Tournament is just two weeks away. Here's a summary of the scenarios we might be running, and the schedule of games and registration.

5 of these scenarios will be used at the Border Raids GT. (Unless I think of something else.) Most of the scenarios will be standard games with a small twist to them. I am avoiding things like random rolls to see which units fail to show up, playing the length of the table instead of the width, or having objectives like taking a tower or instantly winning if your opponent doesn’t have enough flags to wave. While wacky random effects can be fun, it’s also quite frustrating when the wacky effect decides the outcome of the game, and not the strategy of the people playing. Full rules to all scenarios will be handed out at registration.

With a little help from my friends….
Each player will be supplied with a unit of mercenaries. Models will be supplied.
Special objective of finding which opposing character has the paychest in his pocket.


OY, Slim! What’s for lunch?!!
Hiring those ogres to guard your armies pay chest seemed brilliant…until you ran out of food. Now just what…or who!... are you going to feed to them to keep them happy?Special objective of not losing your baggage train (objective in deployment zone).

Tell the Sun to go away!
Oh hell, what was I drinking last night, and who is that charging down the hill at us? Why does the enemy always attack after a night at the bar?
Your army isn’t doing to well after a night of consuming something. Hangovers are going to make the first couple of turns interesting. And where did that last barrel of ale get to?

Charge to Victory!
Of course we have to charge beside him! He’s the General! I’d let the damn idiot get himself killed if the next guy in line wasn’t even more of an idiot.
Try to keep your hot headed young general alive, and just maybe you’ll come out covered in glory and medals.

Blood and Glory!
Break the other armies moral before they break yours.
This scenario is modified from the scenario in the rulebook. Breaking the other army gives a VP bonus in the game, not an instant win.


Storm of Magic!
Morsileb is in the sky, and the winds of magic blow strong and uncontrollable.
More dice to throw at spells, and more bad things that can happen to your wizards!

Squigasaurus Rex
What do you get when you cross a Squig with a steamtank?
Fun and games trying to fight a battle with a mutant squig rampaging through the battle.

Schedule:

Friday Night: 6pm until 12am

(If arriving after 9:30, you’ll need to park between Boscovs and Pennys, and call the store to be let in.)

Registration, Open Gaming, table set up, paint judging.

Saturday:
Registration/check in: 10am to 11am

Pairings for Rd1: Posted by 11:20am

(Please by on time! If for some reason you are running late, you MUST call the store to let us know.)

Game 1: 11:30am to 2:00pm

Break 2:00pm to 2:30pm

Game 2: 2:30pm to 5:00pm

Break 5:00pm to 6:00pm

Game 3: 6:00pm to 8:30pm

Paint Judging and Open Gaming until 12am.

Sunday:

Store opens: 10am, postings put up for game 4.

Game 4 10:30 am to 1:00pm

Break 1:00 pm to 2:00pm

Game 5 2:00pm to 4:30pm

Awards as soon as we can get it all tallied up.

Debriefing at Ruby Tuesdays afterwards.

Does an Anvil of Doom count as one of the War Machines?

There is no sportsmanship score.

/sad panda . Any reason for this? That was my one criticism of the DakkaCon format that isn't already addressed above (looks like you changed the "free unit" to extra points, which probably is a good idea, although I was happy to play it the original way the first time).

High Elves may take 3 of each special and 2 of each rare.

I don't think High Elves need 3 of each special, they have TONS of special options. Just 2 of each rare.

I am definitely going to consider coming, despite knowing my painting score won't yield any of the prizes, that's not usually a concern of mine, anyway . Maybe the conversions will help!

Conversions, basing, display board, clean models with no mold lines, cohesive looking army. All those go into our scoring system Steve, give me a call if you want me to run through it with you. Even if you haven't aquired the raw skill to do layers of blending or highlighting, you can get through a great deal of the painting scoresheet.

High elves get the extra specials because they have the army specific rule: Elite Army. Normally they get a lot more repeat choices.)

I'll pull the dwarf book and check on Thorek, but I think he and his anvil do count as a Warmachine.

Thanks, I may do that

On that note, would it make sense to post the painting scoresheet / rubric? I don't know if that would open it up to possible abuse, but I know that my one other constructive criticism about DakkaCon (which I loved, btw ) was just that myself / the guys I roomed with didn't know the rubric ahead of time and what to shoot for.

If not I'll just call and ask but it might be helpful for others, too.

Awesome, I was going to call you about when/if this was happening. Glad to see the Lowhammer rules are in effect. I totally wanted to make it to Dakkacon but was unable.


only 40 players though? Didn't we have more last year?

keithb wrote:Awesome, I was going to call you about when/if this was happening. Glad to see the Lowhammer rules are in effect. I totally wanted to make it to Dakkacon but was unable.


only 40 players though? Didn't we have more last year?

Since you were last down, I put a chokehold on my mall, and worked a deal to take the store from 2000sf to 5500sf. It let us put more tables in the store, and we expanded our stock to include huge amounts of wargaming lines.

We moved the bunker and store upstairs to center court next to the Chickfilet and Steakshop. (and closer to the bar). We have room for 20 8' tables. i could go to 50 people on 6' tables, but I like to give players the extra space that a 2' sideboard provides. The gaming is right inside the store now, and we have room for the food in the backroom, along with our own entrance so we can game late and leave at 3am if we want.

Awesome. Looking forward to it.

So Mike, any thoughts on whether posting that rubric would be a good idea (or not)?

I know you have nothing else to do than to reply to my questions on here, after all

RiTides wrote:So Mike, any thoughts on whether posting that rubric would be a good idea (or not)?

I know you have nothing else to do than to reply to my questions on here, after all

I've been waiting all day for you to give me something to do....

Here's the current rubric. I will be doing a bit of work on it before the GT, but it will essentially stay the same. I'm making a 40 and 60 point version of it. This way instead of tripling the 20 pt score, I can tweak things a bit. For instance, conversions might still be worth 9 pts, but I can differentiate between the points more, instead of just tripling the 0-3 score.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

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.

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. For more points, you
should work on your army.

That's really helpful . Thanks!!

Just registered and paid up . Hopefully I can make it up to the practice tourney on October 15th, too! We'll see if I can swing it

Menu:

Friday Night: A couple of large pots of chili and hotdogs. BYOB for gaming past 9:30 until 1:00am or so.

Saturday: Hot Roast Beef Sandwichs (Marinated London Broil cooked on the grill, sliced thin, and cooked up in Au Jus)
Red Bean and Beef Chili
More Chili Dogs and BYOB for late night gaming.

Sunday: Grilled Sausage Sandwiches with sauteed onions and Peppers.
Black Bean and Jimmi Dean Sausage Chili

Twinkies, Ho-Ho's and other bad things for desert.

Only 2 weeks to go!!

Is there another place with information, or if not, what time should we be there to register Saturday morning?

I'll have the schedule posted, and a summary of the missions up on late Sunday night.

Schedule and info on scenarios.

We still have spots left, but a lot of them went this weekend, in the usual last minute flurry.

Schedule looks good to me! Late start date on Saturday, but as long as that's the actual start-time, should be OK

Yep, going to hammer people to be on time. With a 2 day event, and people traveling to it, I thought I'd start a tad later than I normally do. Anyone who can't be there by the start of Game 1 is just out of luck. I won't hold up a touranment when we start that late.

Less than a week to go till this hits!