Review: Cancon Age of Sigmar Championship 2017

Cancon 2017 was held over the weekend in Canberra, and Ben from VMG made the trek to check out an event for Games Workshop's newest game system.

Cancon Age of Sigmar Championship 2017

Over the last nine months or so, I've been struck with a real enthusiasm for Warhammer Age of Sigmar (AoS). Controversially replacing the old Warhammer Fantasy Battles game, opting for a simpler ruleset and fresh background, it's proven to be a whole lot of fun. The game was mostly freeform in its first year or so, allowing players to explore their units in their own way, and focus on narrative play. With the release of the General's Handbook and the rules included for Matched Play, the game has undergone a real renaissance. I dipped my toes into the tournament scene for AoS at 'Ardfists last year, and decided that I'd take a break from 40k at Cancon this time around to attend what proved to be the largest event for this system in Australia to date. With over 45 sign-ups, it was gonna be a big weekend.

As always, half the fun of Cancon is the road trip. Accompanying me on my journey was long time gaming comrade Brenton Shaw. Clearly beaming with his hunger for competition, he was even mistaken for an AFL footballer in Wangaratta.

Cancon's held at Exhibiton Park In Canberra (EPIC). This is a great venue, with enough space to host simultaneous tournaments of multiple wargames, such as AoS, Warhammer 9th Age, Infinity, two 40k events, Flames of War, Bolt Action, Warmahordes, Wings of War, Kings of War, Epic, a bunch of historicals I didn't recognise and I'm sure there are some I missed. Along with the miniature games we all love, Cancon hosts card games, board games, a cosplay competition, a second-hand sale room, and a host of trading stalls belonging to retailers and manufacturers alike. It's a hell of a weekend and I'd encourage any readers who have never made the trip to do so: there's nothing else like it that I've ever been to.

The AoS event was hosted by the guys from the Heralds of War podcast, and the first thing I noticed was the wide range of armies that had shown up. Wile I was only running a pure Ironjawz army, pretty much every Grand Alliance and faction was represented somewhere. I managed to snap a few photos before Round 1 was underway.

Chaos versus Death: Yes, they are all legit GW Blood Knights!

A nice eclectic collection of Skaven

Some cool Sylvaneth-y looking conversions

Savage Orruk Boneplittas on da hunt!

Another really lovely looking Death army: yeah, that's Nagash!

Round 1 I played Aaron and his Seraphon. This was a grudge match set up by the managers of our respective local GW stores, and saw me having to stare down the largest miniature in attendance: the Dread Saurian. Unfortunately for Aaron he just couldn't stop the rampage of Thmaug my Mawkrusha.

 Round 2 saw me play an old tournament nemesis, Blake. We'd met on two previous occasions at 40k events. One of my favourite parts of this hobby is the friendships you're able to forge over a game of wardollies. Even though Blake's from Brisbane, we've developed a cool little rivalry. His Nurgle Daemons looked stunning, and deservedly ended up taking out the Best Presented prize. With my honour on the line, my Orruks spectacularly failed 3 charges in one turn, giving Blake the opening he needed to crush my Waaagh! Full props to Blake here, he really played the mission well and leveraged his army well against mine.

The final game of Saturday was against James and his really cool Sylvaneth army. One of my most common opponents runs a really similar list to James., and with the Sylvaneth army full of neat little tricks they can do with their units and Wyldwoods the experience was invaluable. It just goes to show you that the more games you play, and the more different armies you face, the better prepared you'll be when it comes to crunch time. Some heroics from Thmaug, including killing about 17 Dryads in one battle round, netted me the win here.

Game 4 proved to be a bittersweet sort of game. On the one hand, I'd been paired up against Brenton, with whom I knew I'd have a fun game. On the other, only one of us could walk away the victor. Brenton's Stormcast army centered on a Warscroll Battalion called the Skyborne Slayers. 40k gamers would recognise Warscroll Battalions as something like Formations. They're a great way to reward players for taking a combination of themey units together, but AoS's battalions come at a points cost too. The Skyborne Slayers allow some really hard hitting units to appear almost anywhere on the battlefield, and Brenton uses this to great effect to scalpel out important parts of his foe's forces. In this case however, some lucky rolls left my Megaboss on a single wound, and he proceeded to lay the smackdown on Brenton's Decimators. This delay cost Brenton the game, as the Stormcast Eternals may strike lightning-fast, but after the inital drop found themselves too slow to properly contest the objectives.

NB: I didn't remember to take photos of this game. After a seven-hour drive and a full day of gaming, my brain clearly wasn't firing on all cylinders.

My Final opponent was Ashley. He was using a pure Ironjawz army too, which meant our forces would probably be really well matched. A major difference however was that while I was using a generic Megaboss on Mawkrusha, Ashley was commanding Gordrakk, the Fist of Gork. I gotta tell you, I was salivating at the thought of getting to test my Boss' mettle against such a worthy foe. I didn't have to wait long, as we hit close combat in turn 2. The fact that my boss was the model charging however, made all the difference. Gordrakk was felled in just one Combat Phase. Keeping up his head of steam, Thmaug again proved the difference maker, securing Ashley's objective and the victory for me.

Overall, all of my games were a blast. For a game many decried as 'dead' Age of Sigmar provides a really elegant rules system that is easy to learn, the depth to be a pretty tactical affair, and some great models to boot. All of my opponents were great guys, and it was a shame I couldn't nominate them all as my favourite.

At the end of the event I was stoked to claim 3rd place overall. WAAAGH!!! The drive home to Melbourne was filled with frenetic conversation about what armies we could bring next year. At this stage, I'm planning to stick with green, but perhaps something with a few more legs...

Be sure to check out the Heralds of War podcast team on Facebook. There are a bunch of sweet photos of some of the awesome armies that rocked up. Clint, Jesse and Mark are all great guys and they run a really swish tournament.

So who else is keen for 2018?

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Review: Warhammer 40k Tournaments, the ITC and Imperial Armour

A number of people in the Victorian tournament scene for Warhammer 40k have been asking questions about the ITC, and some people have assumed knowledge and made a call on it fairly early. So today we take a look at the ITC, what it is, and how it affects a 40k Tournament

Who or What is the ITC?

To start with, here is what the Frontline Gaming crew have to say about themselves.

The ITC (Independent Tournament Circuit) is a coalition of tabletop gaming tournaments that have joined together to increase their mutual resources, exposure to the community and the prestige of their events. These events run through a season which runs one year, beginning and ending in February. The player that does the best overall through the year will be the Circuit Champion! Last year, that player won $3,000 cash! We also recognize the players that do the best with each specific faction, such as the best circuit Space Wolf Player, or best circuit Tau player, etc. as well as the best teams. The 2016 season is the third year for the ITC! The 2014 & 2015 seasons were huge hits and the ITC has now grown to be a global circuit!

Now lets take that a step further. The ITC is both a Gaming Format as well as a Ranking System.So lets take a look at those 2 concepts seperately.

ITC as a Gaming Format, something a little bit different.

The ITC as a Gaming Format covers 2 key differences to "standard" Warhammer 40,000.

1. List building restrictions
2. Rules changes through an ITC FAQ

List Building Restrictions

Almost every event I have ever seen has some form of list building restrictions; whether that be number of detachments, allowing/not allowing Imperial Armour/Forgeworld units, restricting the number of Super Heavies, the list goes on. So this really isn't anything new to pretty much anyone who has played a Warhammer 40,000 Event.

So you can find a detailed list of the list building restrictions in the ITC Tournament Format document. We won't go through all of them, lets just take a look at some of the big ticket items.

• Battle Forged armies only.
• Maximum of 3 Detachments.
• No Come the Apocalypse allies.
• An Imperial Armour Unit Index:
• List of Imperial Armour/Forgeworld units that are approved.
• Where to find the rules for each of the units that have been given the OK.

So on the most part if you were to take a look at the Victorian tournament scene over the last year to 2 years, the restrictions aren't overly different from our "norm". The only real big difference between ITC and the majority of events in Victoria is the Imperial Armour allowance.

Is Imperial Armour really that bad anymore?

So if the only real difference in list building is the fact that ITC allow Imperial Armour, is that such a big deal? I know from my experience as both a player and a TO over the last 6-7 years I have seen 3 arguments thrown around as to why Imperial Armour shouldn't be allowed.

1. The rules are not so readily available, you can just walk into a Games Workshop store and read the store copies of a codex.
2. There are multiple versions of the rules for a unit, which ones should I use.
3. There are too many over powered units that it just isn't fair.

Games Workshop over the last couple of years has made these arguments semi redundant. If you look at just Space Marines for a second, and think about all the various books (codex, supplement or campaign), dataslates or web exclusive formations it is crazy. They have 1 codex, 3 supplements (Clan Raukaan, Sentinels of Terra and Angels of Death), 1 campaign (War Zone Damocles), 2 active dataslates (Tyrannic War Veterans and Space Maine Strike Force Ultra) and 2 Datasheets (the Firespear Strikeforce and Space Marine HQ Command Tanks). This is just the list I am aware of, and I am sure there are more.

Did you know all of those? Could you tell me where to find them all? Can you simply have a read of these in the store? The answer to all 3 of those questions I would put money on is no.

So if they are in fact actually readily available, maybe we should look at the multiple versions argument, nope, wrong again...

Games Workshop have been consistently bringing out new books that re-print some unit entries and not others. Take a look at Space Wolves, when Games Workshop brought out the Curse of the Wulfen they seemed to "replace" the unit entry for Iron Priests... nope... Games Workshop then gave players the ok to use either or even both of these depending on what they wanted to do. They brought out a new Imperial Agents book which replaced the Inquisition codex, oh wait, you can still buy the Inquisition Codex and use either of the books. I would almost argue that it is more confusing now with "standard" Games Workshop content than Imperial Armour content release by Forgeworld.

Ok well surely the units are still overpowered right? Not even close. The most powerful units are still "standard" Warhammer 40k units. I mean you only need to take a look at the Librarian Conclave for Space Marines, the Invisibility psychic power, the ease of getting 2+ rerollable invulnerable save units, or a unit of 3 Super Heavy Walkers that can all shoot their weapons at different units and then charge any one of the units they shot at.

None of the arguments for not allowing Imperial Armour that I hear are even close to valid anymore, so why don't we allow it in Victoria? I think it is the fear of change, but lets put that aside for the moment and move on to the FAQ.

The ITC FAQ, what does it change?

Every event or social game you have ever played in has likely used at least 1 FAQ. Games Workshop recently released the official versions of their latest FAQ documents, with wide spread rule changes (erratas) and answers to "common" questions. The ITC FAQ is really not all that different, or is it.

Well the ITC FAQ is one designed by the team over at Frontline Gaming, however for the big ticket items they poll the gaming community. So instead of making a ruling on what they think the rule is saying, or making a ruling based on what they think is or isn't fair, they leave it up to the community. Now in Australia that hasn't been all that successful in the past, our votes have been lucky to crack 100 players.

So whats in it? Well the document is 24 pages long, which is actually pretty short for a comprehensive FAQ. I won't go through all of it here, as you can have a good read over it here, I will instead just go over some of the more big ticket items.

• Changes to Invisibility: Invisibility is one of the most busted psychic powers in the game. ITC have changed it so instead of making snap shots against the unit as the psychic power reads, instead you are treated as ballistic skill 1 and you hit on 5's in Melee. This means you can fire blasts and flamer templates against them, and you increase the potential for damaging them in combat.
• You can Look Out Sir Stomps of a 6: Games Workshop recently came out with an FAQ stating that you can look out sir the 2-5 result of a Stomp attack, however the result of a 6 you cannot. The ITC polled the community, and the majority decided that it was too powerful and that you would be allowed to Look Out Sir the 6 result as well.
• Changes to 2+ Rerollable Saves: Any saving throw of a 2+ that can be rerolled, if the first roll is failed, the reroll is only successful on a 4+ instead. So that turns a 1 in 36 chance into a 1 in 12 chance, which is quite obviously significantly less powerful.
• Changes to ranged Destroyer Weapons (combat ones remain the same): They simply changed the 6 roll on the Destroyer Weapon table, making it 3 Wounds/Hull Points instead of D6+6. Quite obviously reducing the effects of rolling a couple of 6's.

So instead of restricting the units you can take in an ITC format event (with the exception of a couple of IA units) they restrict the power of the game by changing rules.

ITC as a Ranking System is nothing to be scared of

The ITC Ranking System allows for players to have their event results accumulated and then ranked against all the other players around the world, which offers a number of really great benefits to both tournament players and tournament organisers alike. An event does not need to use the ITC format/rules set to qualify for the ITC Rankings. You can simply take your existing event, make absolutely no changes to it, and it can qualify for Rankings.

How does it help ALL tournament players and tournament organisers?

Well there are some people that just don't care about rankings, especially world wide rankings, and you know what, that is perfectly fine. But what ITC rankings bring to the table is extra players.

There are other players out there that do care where they sit in the rankings. Some just want to be the best in their club, others may be more interested in having the best results for a given faction, or maybe some have aspirations to be "the best in the world", and you know what this is also perfectly fine.

So how does ITC rankings help out players who don't care about rankings? Well it is actually fairly simple. If a player wants to do well at the rankings, they have to attend quite a few events. So to get those sweet sweet ITC points they may need to travel to events like Cancon (ACT) or Terracon (SA) or vice versa some of the non Victorian lads and ladettes would need to make the trip over to events like Eastcon or the Assault (previously known as the Hunt). So with players who may not have previously made the trip to an event interstate now having extra incentive to get on a plane, train or just in the car and cross the border, the tournament attendance increases.

So while the bigger the event gets doesn't necessarily mean a greater player experience, there is definitely a correlation. With more players means more entry fees, and with more entry fees means the TO's can do bigger and better things. The more entry fees there are the more "left field" prizes/acknowledgements there are. You just need to take a look at the biggest event in Australia, Arc40k. It has 130-150 players, which is massive fore Australian events. It has the budget to be able to provide a plethora of prizes and acknowledge the people at the event that have gone the extra mile, you couldn't do this as easily without the larger attendance.

Rankings isn't something new though...

Australia has had a number of ranking systems over the years. I know when I first started playing competitively there was a website called RankingsHQ. Now almost all the events in Australia were in there, and it too allowed you to see how you were matched up against other players in the world and within Australia. RankingsHQ was used for masters event invites, picking teams for events like the Australasian Team Challenge and the European Team Championships, as well as just regular bragging rights.

So if this is nothing new, will ITC rankings really increase tournament numbers? I can confidently say, from experience in this area, Yes! Rankings may not be something new, however it has been missing for a number of years now. There are players out there that will actively travel to other states to pick up their rankings points.

So wrap this up for us Difsta

What does an ITC Ranked event mean for me as a player who doesn't care about rankings? Absolutely nothing.

Does an event using the ITC Tournament Format mean more powerful armies compared to what the VMG'ers are used to? Yes, definitely. Victoria traditionally plays tournaments with a composition score, and as such the strength of the armies are reduced. However the lists wont be as strong as pure "no comp" due to the army building restrictions and FAQ.

Which format do I prefer, ITC or Comp (whether that be panel or community comp)? There is enough room for both, we don't need to say one or the other. Variety is the best thing for a tournament scene in my opinion, and ITC is just another option available to Tournament Organisers.

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Interviews: Jarrod Brehaut and The Assault on the Black Library

Today we take a look at one of the unsung heroes of the Victorian Miniature Gaming community, a Tournament Organiser (TO). They put in long hours to put together events for you and usually without enough thanx for their work. Jarrod Brehaut is fairly new to the TO game, making his debut in 2016 Co-TO'ing the Hunt, a narrative event at the House of War in Ringwood. Jarrod has stepped up as lead TO for 2017's iteration of the narrative event, rebranded it into a series labelled the Black Crusade - A Narrative Tournament Series, with the Assault on the Black Library the next in the series.

So Jarrod, tell us a little bit about yourself. How long have you been in the hobby?

It would have been 2001. I was at Chadstone Shopping Centre with some mates on school holidays, and we wandered into the Games Workshop store. The red shirt, as they were known at the time, grabbed us, put some dice in our hands, and walked us through a demo Warhammer 40,000 game. Orks vs Crimson Fists, from memory. I thought the little miniatures were so cool.

I had a bunch of birthday/Christmas money I’d received as gifts, and walked out of the store that day with some Plague Marines and a Chaos Space Marine codex.

At that point I was mostly interested in the painting and modelling aspect, more so than playing. I really enjoyed building and painting models.

As most people do, at some point I took a pretty lengthy hiatus from everything Games Workshop related, until about 2011, when suddenly I felt a panging to sit down and paint some models. I only ever intended to come back as an artistic hobby, and paint models that interested me. I never intended to collect an army. A mate of mine was hugely into the hobby however he had no regular opponents, so he had huge armies sitting on a shelf collecting dust. I originally started playing a few games using his armies, and while reading The First Heretic, suddenly decided I wanted to collect a Word Bearers army. From that point on, I’ve been pretty avid about all aspects, gaming as well as hobbying.

These days I do a lot of work with Menza Gaming in terms of helping to produce content to delivery to a wider audience, from volunteering to demo games at PAX, running the Menza Facebook page, and soon will be getting my hands dirty in producing some battle reports and hopefully painting tutorials.

What do you enjoy about going to events?

Initially it was a way to play against new people, but also a great way to see people’s awesomely painted and converted armies. Voting for Player’s Choice was my favourite part. I still love seeing great armies, and seeing other players ideas come to life, but I’m a lot more rounded as a Warhammer 40k player nowdays. I’m still pretty rubbish about the game, but I’m beginning to switch to a more competitive mindset.

And of course, sinking some beers and having a laugh. I’m a big fan of ‘beerhammer’.

What do you enjoy about running events?

I’m still quite new to being a TO, however for me I think the great thing is being able to run the kind of event you’d love to attend. If you can do that, and people enjoy what you do, it means other events may start to emerge that I can then attend.

Attending events, you see lots of guys putting in a lot of time and hard work in running their own events, so I also dig the idea of taking the reins so they can get back to the tables themselves.

What is your event about, and how is it different from others?

The Assault is all about being a narrative-style event. At the moment we have events that are really competitive, with big battle scores, and potentially no-comp. We have big hobby events that reward painting and modelling, and reward taking softer lists. But the one slice of the hobby pie we don’t have any events centred around, is the narrative and background.

It’s a huge part of the hobby, we play this game that has a rich immersive plot around it, and people really enjoy it. The popularity of the Horus Heresy novels is a testament to that. Yet we rarely, if ever, see this element creep into our tournament scene.

The concept for a narrative-style actually came about primarily for this year’s event The Hunt.

I’ve always loved Cypher. His little snippets of background in White Dwarf, and throughout various Chaos codexes (codices?) I’ve always found to be completely badass. He is an enigma, and I love all the theories surrounding his motives.

At some point, Matt Antonello put up a post on Facebook asking for people on information about Cypher. I PM’ed him to start unloading all the stuff I thought was awesome. He told me he was considering running an event with a ‘Cypher theme’. I at the time had been considering attempting to run an event of my own, so it seemed to be fate. We decided we could co-TO the event.

The feedback I got from that event was astounding, people really loved the opportunity to get stuck into an event with themed missions, structured around an evolving narrative. Matt Antonello has stepped down from being a TO, so I decided to step up and tackle it myself.

And here we are.

This year’s event is centred around the story-line of Ahriman attempting to bust into the Black Library, and the Eldar’s attempts to stop him, but it’s open to anybody playing any army, and even bonus points given for writing a ‘fluff piece’ as to why their army is fighting in this campaign.

Where can we find out more information about the Assault?

If you’re interested, please like the Facebook Page “Black Crusade - A Narrative Tournament Series” I plan on making this an annual event, so if you’re keen this year, or just to follow along, give it a like. The dates for “The Assault” are  20-21 May 2017 and it is being held at the House of War in Ringwood

Also make sure to check out the Menza Gaming facebook page, and check us out at menzagaming.net

We are committed to bringing loads and loads of content in the new year, and I’m personally really excited about a lot of the stuff we have coming.

So there you have it fellow Victorian Miniature Gamers, a bit of an insight into one of the people that help bring you events, in a hobby that you love to play.

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Review: 4 New Formations for Warhammer 40k

December is a massive month for releases for GW and Warhammer 40k. We have seen Wrath of Magnus (well technically November) as well as Traitor Legions (due out tomorrow) and we also have 4 new Warhammer 40k Battleforces

Space Wolves: Ironclaw Strike Force

This formation is pretty useless. The special rule is basically pointless and the formation has so many units that I don't think you will ever see this formation used.

• 1 Iron Priest
• 1 Stormwolf
• 1 unit of Wolf Guard Terminators
• 1 unit of Blood Claws
• 1 Venerable Dreadnought
• 1 unit of Fenrisian Wolves

Tau Empire: Targeted Reconnaissance Cadre

This formation is a bit better than the Space Wolf one, however with a couple of the entries being a single model rather than a unit means that you have a single broadside and a single ghostkeel. The special rule for this formation is pretty solid, granting free movement.

• 1 Commander
• 1 XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit (not a unit, so no additional suits)
• 1 unit of XV25 Stealth Suits, with 1 Drone
• 1 Pathfinder Team
• 1 TY7 Devilfish
• 1 XV88 Broadside Battlesuit (not a unit, so no additional suits)

Adeptus Mechanicus: Eradication Cohort

Now we are talking about some good buffs (not that Ad Mech overly need it). Basically shoot with your "weakest" unit that you know will at least cause an unsaved wound or glancing/penetrating hit, then all the rest get Preferred Enemy against the enemy unit. Now this is great when shooting against a big target like a Super Heavy or a Death Star, but against MSU the buff is lost pretty much entirely, but lucky for the Ad Mech player Death Stars are king in the meta.

• 1 Sydonian Dragoon
• 1 Kastelan Robot Maniple
• 1 unit of Kataphron Destroyers
• 1 unit of Fulgurite Electro-Priests
• 1 unit of Sicarian Infiltrators

Deathwatch: Watchblade Taskforce

Free hit and run, auto pass, thank you very much! This is the best of the lot in my opinion. This is an army right here. Nuf said!

• 1 Deathwatch Watch Master
• 3 units of Deathwatch Veterans
• 1 unit of Deathwatch Terminators
• 1 unit of Deathwatch Bikers
• 1 Deathwatch Razorback

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Reviews: Traitor Legions - Updated Psychic Powers

So we have seen the Tzeentch psychic powers get an update in the Wrath of Magnus, but what about the Nurgle and Slaanesh powers I hear you ask, well calm down, we have a sneak peak for you.

Nurgle Disciplne

• Primaris: Nurgle’s Rot - 1 Warp Charge (Same as CSM Book)
• Nova
• doesn't affect Nurgle models.
• S2, AP5, assault D6+1 (Poison 4+)
• Weapon Virus - 1 Warp Charge (Same as CSM Book)
• Malediction 24" target unit's gain Gets Hot
• Fleshy Abundance 1 Warp Charge
• Blessing, friendly psyker within 14"
• immediately regain D3 wounds lost earlier
• Blades of Putrefaction - 1 Warp Charge
• Blessing 14"
• Unit's melee weapons gain poison 4+, or poison 2+ if they already had poison.
• Gift of Contagion - 1 Warp Charge (Same as CSM Book)
• Malediction 48"
• Roll a D3 on a table to reduce their Attacks, Strength and/or Toughness.
• Plague Wind - 2 Warp Charge (Same as CSM Book)
• Witchfire 12", S1, AP2, Large Blast, Poison 4+
• Curse of the Leper - Unknown Warp Charge
• Dual Profiles:
• Blessing: Range 21", +1 Strength and Toughness
• Malediction: Range 21", -1 Strength and Toughness

The Winners:

1. Curse of the Leper: This power is my pick of the bunch, and really the only solid option. It is absolutly awesome. It will likely be 2 Warp Charge, but I'd pay 3. With Nurgle already being so tough, this is making Toughness 7 Bikers, which is just crazy, but also if you want to do some instant death on say some Toughness 5 Thunderwolf Cavalry with your lascannons (or even Rockets), reduce them down to T4 and blast away.

Slaanesh Discipline

• Primaris: Sensory Overload - 1 Warp Charge (Same as CSM Book)
• Witchfire 24", S4, AP4, Assault 4, Blind, Concussive, Pinning
• Hysterical Frenzy - 1 Warp Charge (Same as CSM Book)
• Blessing 12"
• Roll a D3 on a table for +1 Initiative, Strength, or Attack
• Delightful Agonies - 1 Warp Charge
• Blessing 12"
• Gain Feel No Pain 4+
• Symphony of Pain - 1 Warp Charge (Same as CSM Book)
• Malediction 21"
• Enemy unit suffers -1 BS and -1 WS
• Any Sonic weapons shooting at this target add +1 Strength.
• You can cast this power on the same unit multiple times with cumulative effect
• Sonic Shockwave - 1 Warp Charge
• Nova 9", S5, AP4, Assault D6, Pinning, Ignores Cover
• Aural Onslaught - 2 Warp Charge
• Beam 18", S8, AP2, Assault 1
• Menal Anguish: before attack, target takes leadership test and if fails you reroll to-wound
• Ecstatic Seizures - 2 Warp Charge (Same as CSM Book)
• Witchfire 24", S-special, AP–, Assault 1, Ignores Cover
• Ecstacy: do not roll to wound, instead all non-vehicles hit themselves using their own unmodified strength

The Winners:

1. Delightful Agonies: This is pretty cool with a 4+ Feel No Pain. Definitely a solid choice, as who doesn't like Feel No Pain 4+, but in reality it is a poor mans Endurance (albeit only Warp Charge 1).
2. Aural Onslaught: I am a big fan of Beam powers with high Strength and low AP, and this ticks both boxes.

Would I be rolling on the Gods Charts?

Look there is a bit of flavour here, but for the most part there is only 1 stand out power, and it isn't anything that flash hot. So the short answer is no, I will be rolling my 1 mandatory power on this table, and the rest on other charts.

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Reviews: Traitor Legions - The Death Guard

Last on the list for Traitor Legion review is the Death Guard

Content sourced via the Combat Phase podcast and SpikeyBits

The Death Guard

The Death Guard are one of the Traitor Legions of Chaos Space Marines. They worship and devote themselves exclusively to the Chaos God Nurgle and as a result of his mutational "gifts" they have become Plague Marines; Astartes who are eternally rotting away within their Power Armour and infected with every known form of disease and decay but who are immune to all pain or minor injury. When the XIVth Legion was first raised on Terra by the Emperor, its Astartes were known as the Dusk Raiders. After the XIVth Legion was reunited with its Primarch Mortarion on the world of Barbarus, he renamed the Legion the Death Guard.

What makes a Death Guard Detachment?

To be a Death Guard detachment, much like what we saw in the Wrath of Magnus there are a number of restrictions:

• The army can have none of the Chaos Space Marine unique characters with the exception of Typhus.
• All models who can purchase a Mark of Nurgle or Daemon of Nurgle must do so.
• No model can come with or purchase a Mark of Chaos a Mark of Chaos or Daemon of Chaos other than Nurgle.
• All models that can purchase Veterans of the Long war (VotLW) must do so, but for free.

So what do I get for being a Death Duard Detachment?

If your detachment is a Death Guard detachment then you get the following special rules:

• Gift of Nurgle: Units with VotLW gain Fearless and Feel No Pain, but have a -1 to Initiative (this does not affet Typhus of Plague Marines).
• Inexorable Advance: Models with VotLW gain Relentless
• Lords of Plague Host: Plague Marines gain the Troops battle role

Death Guard Warlord Traits

1. Warlord gains Feel No Pain
2. Warlord gains It Will Not Die
3. Warlord gains +1 W
4. Warlord gains Eternal warrior
5. Warlord has their Poison weapons improved by 1
6. Units within 7" gain Contagion

Death Guard Relics

• Puscleaver (10 Points): Poison 2+ Melee Weapon
• Plague Skill Glothia (15 Points): Once per game, Range 8", S1, AP–, Assault 1, Poison 2+ , Large Blast
• Pandemic Staff (30 Points): Poison 2+ Staff with dual profiles:
• Ranged: Template, S1, Ap5, assault 1, Poison 2+
• Melee: S+2, AP4, Melee, Concussive, Poison 2+
• Dolorus Knell (25 Points): Start of any friendly fight sub phase give units fear or give a model fear.
• This sounds a little off, for 25 points I would expect more from this. Giving a single unit Fear is not worth 25 points, not by a long shot.
• Poxwalker Hive (20 Points): at the start of each turn, pick a friendly Cultist unit within 7". They can't run or shoot for the remainder of the game but have Fell No Pain and Fearless, in addition they immediately recover D3 Cultists from earlier in the game.
• Kind of a mini Typhus ability, turning Cultists into zombies.
• Plaguebringer (35 Points): AP3, Poison 4+, Deamon Weapon
• I am a fan of Daemon Weapons on the most part, and being not only Poison 4+ but AP3 at Initiative, this is a reletavily solid relic.

Death Guard Formation Based Detachment (FBD)

• Disgustingly Resilient: re-roll Fell No Pain rolls of a 1
• Cloud of Flies: Ranged hits from more than 18" away grant you the Stealth rule for resolving the attack.

Core Choices:

• Chaos Warband: As per Traitor's Hate
• Plague Colony: 
• Typhus
• 3-7 plague marines
• Units gain Fear and enemy units within 7" reduce their Initaitve and Weapon Skill by 1 during the fight phase. If there are 7 plague marines in the unit, then also -1 from the enemy's Toughness

Command Choices:

• Lord of Legion: 1 of the following; Chaos Lord, Sorcerer, Dark Apostle or Daemon Prince

Auxiliary Choices: 

• Lost and Damned: As per Traitor's Hate
• Helforged Wrack: As per Traitor's Hate
• Daemon Engine: As per Traitor's Hate
• Heldrake Terror: As per Traitor's Hate
• Cult of Destruction: As per Traitor's Hate
• Fist of the Gods: As per Traitor's Hate
• Raptor Talon: As per Traitor's Hate
• Terminator Annihilation Force: As per Traitor's Hate
• Spawn: As per Traitor's Hate

Read more...

Reviews: Traitor Legions - The Night Lords

Next on the list for Traitor Legion reviews is the Night Lords.

Content sourced via the Combat Phase podcast and SpikeyBits

The Night Lords

The Night Lords were originally the VIIIth Legion of Space Marines created during the First Founding and became one of the 9 Traitor Legions of Chaos Space Marines that betrayed the Emperor of Mankind during the Horus Heresy of the 31st Millennium. They do not worship any of the four Chaos Gods individually, but acknowledge them equally in the form of Chaos Undivided as they ruthlessly spread terror and fear amongst the galaxy's inhabitants. The Night Lords are experts in the use of terror tactics to win battles and demoralise their foes before the main combat even begins.

What makes a Night Lords Detachment?

To be a Night Lords detachment, much like what we saw in the Wrath of Magnus there are a number of restrictions:

• The army can have none of the Chaos Space Marine unique characters.
• Any existing unit with a Mark of Chaos (eg. Khorne Berzerkers) cannot be taken.
• No model can purchase a Mark of Chaos.
• All models that can purchase Veterans of the Long war (VotLW) must do so, but for free.

So what do I get for being a Night Lords Detachment?

If your detachment is a Night Lords detachment then you get the following special rules:

• In Midnight Clad: VotLW gain Fear, Night Vision and Stealth
• Skyborne Horror: Raptors have the Troops battle role
• Terror actics: Enemies locked in combat count as -2 leadership for Fear

Night Lords Warlord Traits

1. Warlord gains Hit and Run
2. Re-roll failed to wound rolls of a 1 in Assault
3. Warlord gains Hatred
4. Warlord re-rolls cover saves
5. Warlord and his unit get Hammer of Wrath
6. Warlord gains Rampage

Night Lords Relics

• Scourging Chain (10 Points): Melee weapons gain Shred
• Talons of Night Terror (20 Points): During the fight sub phase make D3 additional
•  attacks (or D6 in a turn you charged) at S user AP5, Melee, Shred
• Viox Daemonicus (30 Points): Enemies within 6" suffer -1 Leadership and Enemy units suffer -1 from reserve rolls.
• Stormbolt Plate (20 Points): 2+ armor, and cover saves improves by 1.
• You all should know how much I love 2+ armour on mobile characters, and this one improving cover saves gives bike characters a 3+ cover save.
• Curzes Orb (20 Points): re-roll 1's on run moves, to hit and to wound
• Claws of Black Hunt (40 Points): AP3, Master Crafted, Lightning Claws with Rending and Shred.

Night Lords Formation Based Detachment (FBD)

• Strike Hard and Fast: re-roll failed Charge distance
• Nocturnal Warfare: You can choose if it is Night Fight turn, during that turn all your non-vehicles cover is improved by 1.

Core Choices:

• Chaos Warband: As per Traitor's Hate
• Raptor Talon: As per Traitor's Hate
• These guys as a Core is awesome, and I think we are going to see these guys get a good solid run on the tables.

Command Choices:

• Lord of Legion: 1 of the following; Chaos Lord, Sorcerer, Dark Apostle or Daemon Prince

Auxiliary Choices: 

• Lost and Damned: As per Traitor's Hate
• Helforged Wrack: As per Traitor's Hate
• Daemon Engine: As per Traitor's Hate
• Heldrake Terror: As per Traitor's Hate
• Cult of Destruction: As per Traitor's Hate
• Fist of the Gods: As per Traitor's Hate
• Terminator Annihilation Force: As per Traitor's Hate
• Spawn: As per Traitor's Hate

Read more...

Reviews: Traitor Legions - The Iron Warriors

Next on the list for Traitor Legion reviews is the Iron Warriors

Content sourced via the Combat Phase podcast and SpikeyBits

The Iron Warriors

The Iron Warriors are one of the nine Traitor Legions of Chaos Space Marines that turned to the service of Chaos during the Horus Heresy and now fight to overthrow the Imperium of Man. The Iron Warriors, who were originally the IVth Space Marine Legion, specialised in the breaking of sieges and assaults on static fortifications, which made them great rivals of the Imperial Fists Legion, which was said to construct the greatest static defences in the Imperium. It was this rivalry between the Legions, and between their Primarchs Perturabo and the Imperial Fists' Rogal Dorn, that helped turn the Iron Warriors to Chaos. Like the members of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Loyalist Iron Hands Chapter, the Iron Warriors have a strong predilection for replacing parts of their body with cybernetic enhancements. When struck with a mutational "gift" from the Ruinous Powers, most Iron Warriors simply cut off the mutated appendage, if possible, and replace it with a mechanical one.

What makes an Iron Warriors Detachment?

To be an Iron Warriors detachment, much like what we saw in the Wrath of Magnus there are a number of restrictions:

• The army can have none of the Chaos Space Marine unique characters.
• Any existing unit with a Mark of Chaos (eg. Khorne Berzerkers) cannot be taken.
• No model can purchase a Mark of Chaos.
• All models that can purchase Veterans of the Long war (VotLW) must do so, but for free.

So what do I get for being an Iron Warriors Detachment?

If your detachment is an Iron Warriors detachment then you get the following special rules:

• Blood Feud: Units with VotLW re-roll failed to hit in every round of combat vs Imperial Fists, and grant Hatred to Imperial Fists.
• Iron Within, Iron Without: Units with VotLW gain 6+ FnP
• Patrons of Technovirus: Obliterators and Mutilators have the Troops battle role.
• This is baller!
• Siege Masters: 
• Units re-roll Armour Penetration vs Buildings and get +1 to Building Damage results
• Havocs, Obliterators and Mutilators gain Tank Hunter

Iron Warriors Warlord Traits

1. Warlord has Feel No Pain 4+
2. Warlord has Fearless
3. Warlord can give your terrain piece +1 cover
4. Friendly Oblits w/in 12" of the Warlord can fire the same weapon twice in consecutive shooting phases
• This is pretty solid, as Oblits suffer pretty bad from not being able to fire the weapon they want in consecutive Shooting Phases
5. Warlord and his Unit have Split Fire and Counterattack while in cover
6. Friendly vehicles get It Will Not Die within 6" of the Warlord

Iron Warrior Relics

• Warpbreacher (25 Points): Warp Smith only. Can possess a vehicle each turn in the same manner as the daemonic possession vehicle equipment.
• Unsure of exactly what this is granting. Most likely it reduces the BS to a 3, but allows the Vehicle to ignore Crew Shaken and Crew Stunned results on a 2+
• Nest of Mechserpents (20 Points): Warp Smith only. In a challenge, resolve first 2 hits normally, if both hit then the remainder of attacks cause Instant Death;
• Axe of Forge Master (25 Points):  S+1, AP2, Melee, Armor Bane, Master Crafted, Unwieldy
• Fleshmetal Exoskeleton (30 Points): Armor 2+ and gains It Will Not Die
• As in my previous articles, I feel as though the 2+ Armour is fairly important on Characters and I think this will see a lot of use.
• Cranium Malevolous (30 Points): In the enemy's shooting phase; enemy vehicles within 2D6" of the bearer suffer automatic haywire hit, no cover saves allowed.
• Siege Breaker Mace (25 Points): S+2, AP4, Concussive, Master Crafted, Siege Breaker (Replace attacks with a single S10, AP1 attack).

Iron Warriors Formation Based Detachment (FBD)

• Master Annihilation: Barrage and Ordanace weapons can choose to re-roll the scatter die.
• Pretty useless due to the lack of Barrage and Ordanance weapons within the Chaos Space Marines book.
• Intractable Brotherhood: Al non-vehicles units are stubborn, and while in or on a forification they have Fearless instead.

Core Choices:

• Chaos Warband: As per Traitor's Hate

Command Choices:

• Lord of Legion: 1 of the following; Chaos Lord, Sorcerer, Dark Apostle or Daemon Prince

Auxiliary Choices: 

• Stronghold: 1-3 Fortifications
• Lost and Damned: As per Traitor's Hate
• Helforged Wrack: As per Traitor's Hate
• Daemon Engine: As per Traitor's Hate
• Heldrake Terror: As per Traitor's Hate
• Cult of Destruction: As per Traitor's Hate
• Fist of the Gods: As per Traitor's Hate
• Raptor Talon: As per Traitor's Hate
• Terminator Annihilation Force: As per Traitor's Hate
• Spawn: As per Traitor's Hate

Read more...

Reviews: Traitor Legions - The Black Legion

Next on the list for Traitor Legion reviews is the Black Legion

Content sourced via the Combat Phase podcast and SpikeyBits

Black Legion

The Black Legion is a Traitor Legion of Chaos Space Marines that is the first in infamy, if not in treachery, whose name resounds as a curse throughout the scattered and war-torn realms of humanity. The Black Legion was once one of the 9 First Founding Legions of Space Marines who turned Traitor to the Imperium during the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium. The Black Legion, at that time still known as the Sons of Horus, became the primary instrument of its Primarch, the Warmaster Horus, to overthrow the Emperor of Mankind and seize control of the Imperium in the name of Chaos.

What makes a Black Legion Detachment?

To be a Black Legion detachment, much like what we saw in the Wrath of Magnus there are a number of restrictions:

• The army can have none of the Chaos Space Marine unique characters, with the exception of Abaddon.
• All models that can purchase Veterans of the Long war (VotLW) must do so, but for free.

So what do I get for being a Black Legion Detachment?

If your detachment is a Black Legion detachment then you get the following special rules:

• Endless Hatred: Units with VotLW gain Hatred, however against Armies of the Imperium they can re-roll to hit in every round of combat.
• First Among Traitors: Chaos Terminators and Chosen are troops
• This is awesome. While Chaos Terminators aren't game breakingly good, being able to take them as troops is a good start.

Black Legion Warlord Traits

These are effectively just a copy paste from the Black Legion Codex Supplement.

1. Black Crusader: Warlord and Friendly units within 12" have Prefered Enemy Space Marines
2. Eye of the Gods: Warlord can reroll Chaos Boon / Gift of Mutation rolls, but must accept the 2nd result.
3. Gift of Balefire: Warlord may make a shooting attack using the following profile: Template, S4, AP5, Assault 1, Soul Blade, One Use Only
4. Unholy Fortitude: The Warlord has the It Will Not Die special rule
5. Soul Eater: Melee weapons To Wound rolls of a 6 have the Instant Death special rule
6. Chosen of Abaddon: The warlord and friendly units within 12" of the Warlord have the Stubborn special rule

Black Legion Relics

These are just a copy paste from the Black Legion Codex Supplement

• Crucible of Lies (25 Points): -1T but re-roll invulnerable saves of 1
• Eye of the Night (75 Points): Once per game, in place of shooting you can make a shooting attack with range infinite, S5, AP4, Heavy 1, Large blast, haywire, maelstrom, ignores cover.
• The Hands of Darkness (50 Points): Instead of regular close combat attacks you may make a single SX2, AP1, melee, armorbane, flesh bane, instant death
• Last Memory of Yuranthos (30 Points): Psyker only, gain 1 mastery level, gain the spell Sunburst from the Pyromancy Discipline, declare range, 12" Range and Warp Charge 2, 18" Range and Warp Charge 3 if perils using boosting the range, do not roll on the Perils of the Warp table, simply remove from play as a casualty.
• The Skull of Ker’ngar (40 Points): Eternal Warrior and Adamantium Will
• The Spineshard Blade (30 Points): S user, AP3,  melee, demon weapon, Quicksilver (+1 Initiative)

Black Legion Formation Based Detachment (FBD)

• Heralds of the Black Crusade: All non-vehicle units cause Fear and have Crusader
• Speartip Strike: Units arriving from Deep Strike can roll for reserves from turn 1 on a 3+. The Warlord and his unit can auto-pass their Turn 1 Deep Strike reserve roll.

Core Choices:

• Black Legion Warband: As per Black Legion Codex Supplement
• Hounds of Abaddon: As per Black Legion Codex Supplement

Command Choices:

• Bringers of Despair: As per Black Legion Codex Supplement
• Cyclopia Cabal: As per Black Legion Codex Supplement
• The Chosen of Abaddon: As per Black Legion Codex Supplement
• Lord of Legion: 1 of the following; Abaddon, Chaos Lord, Sorcerer, Dark Apostle or Daemon Prince

Auxiliary Choices: 

• Lost and Damned: As per Traitor's Hate
• Helforged Wrack: As per Traitor's Hate
• Daemon Engine: As per Traitor's Hate
• Heldrake Terror: As per Traitor's Hate
• Cult of Destruction: As per Traitor's Hate
• Fist of the Gods: As per Traitor's Hate
• Raptor Talon: As per Traitor's Hate
• Terminator Annihilation Force: As per Traitor's Hate
• Spawn: As per Traitor's Hate

Read more...

Reviews: Traitor Legions - The Emperor's Children

Fourth on the list for Traitor Legion reviews is the Emperor's Children

Content sourced via the Combat Phase podcast and SpikeyBits

The Emperor's Children

The Emperor's Children were the only Legion to bear the Emperor's own name. The Emperor's Children are now a shattered Legion much like their counterparts the World Eaters, their unity devoured by their allegiance to Chaos. The Emperor's Children Legion now exists only as scattered, autonomous warbands located in the Eye of Terror who are dedicated to their own pursuit of corrupt, hedonistic and usually murderous pleasures. The Chaos Space Marines of the Emperor's Children are known for possessing outlandish mutations and surgical alterations as "gifts" from Slaanesh which are designed to make them more "perfect" in the eyes of their twisted patron.

What makes an Emperor's Children Detachment?

To be an Emperor's Children detachment, much like what we saw in the Wrath of Magnus there are a number of restrictions:

• The army can have none of the Chaos Space Marine unique characters, with the exception of Lucius the Eternal:
• Semi surprised not to see Fabius Bile on this list of exceptions as he was the Chief Apothecary of the Emperor's Children, however maybe just a few too many experiments to be allowed in the cool boys club.
• All models that can purchase the Mark of Slaanesh or Daemon of Slaanesh must do so.
• All models that can purchase Veterans of the Long war (VotLW) must do so, but for free.

So what do I get for being an Emperor's Children Detachment?

If your detachment is an Emperor's Children detachment then you get the following special rules:

• Fueled by Sensation: Units with VotLW gain Fearless and Feel No Pain 6+ and the Icon of Excess grants a 4+ Feel No Pain (instead of the usual 5+). If any model with VotLW is slain in the fight sub phase before they have attacked, they immediately make 1 attack.
• Masters Kakophoni: Noise Marines are troops.

Emperor's Children Warlord Traits

Nothing game changing here, the Reroll 1's on the Feel No Pain could be solid on a unit with an Icon of Excess, but thats about it.

1. Gains "Warrior".
• Unsure exactly what this Warlord Trait does.
2. The Warlord gains +2 to their Initiative
3. Reroll all rolls of a 1 for Feel No Pain for Warlord and his unit.
4. Warlord causes Fear checks on 3D6 instead of the usual 2D6.
5. Warlord has +1 Attack for every wound lost.
6. Auto pass Look Out Sir!

Emperor's Children Relics

• Intoxicating Elixir (25 Points): make D3 rolls on combat drugs instead of the usual 1, the results are cumulative
• Shriekwave (20 Points): Ranged Weapon, 12", S8, AP2, assault D6, Mental Trauma (before attack target takes leadership test and if failed you re-roll to-wound).
• For those following Difsta's Road to Arc, this will make a great addition to Lord Commander Eidolon.
• Soul Snare Lash (20 Points): Soulsnare (to wound rolls of a 6 are AP2 and instant death), can be used as a Ranged Weapon (6", S4, AP5, Assault 2, Soulsnare) or Melee (S user, AP5, melee, Soulsnare).
• Endless Grin (10 Points): bearer has the Fear special rule, and enemies within 6" have -1 to their leadership.
• Bolts of Ecstatic Vexation (15 Points): Boltgun weapons gain blast, ignores cover and pinning;
• Blissgiver (30 Points): AP3, Catatonic Trance (target must pass leadership test for each wound or die).
• At this stage I believe this is a Melee Weapon at Strength User.

Emperor's Children Formation Based Detachment (FBD)

• Combat Drugs: After deployment, roll for each non-vehicle unit, they have this ability for the rest of the game:
• +1WS
• +1BS
• +1I
• +1S
• +1T
• +1A

Core Choices:

• Chaos Warband: As per Traitor's Hate
• Kakophani: Noise Marines gain Split Fire and all Sonic Weaponry gain the Shred special rule. If you take all 6 Units of Noise Marines, all Sonic Weaponry gain +1 Strength.
• 1 of the following: Lucius the Eternal or a Chaos Lord
• 3-6 Units of Noise Marines

Command Choices:

• Lord of Legion: 1 of the following; Lucius the Eternal, Chaos Lord, Sorcerer, Dark Apostle or Daemon Prince

Auxiliary Choices: Rumors show that they get 8 Formations in the Auxiliary Choice, but from what I can find there is 9, one of these (most likely the Terminator Annihilation Force) is not available.

• Lost and Damned: As per Traitor's Hate
• Helforged Wrack: As per Traitor's Hate
• Daemon Engine: As per Traitor's Hate
• Heldrake Terror: As per Traitor's Hate
• Cult of Destruction: As per Traitor's Hate
• Fist of the Gods: As per Traitor's Hate
• Raptor Talon: As per Traitor's Hate
• Terminator Annihilation Force: As per Traitor's Hate
• Spawn: As per Traitor's Hate

Read more...

Reviews: Arc40k 2K17 - Australia's Largest 40k Event

Arc40k is a behemoth of a Warhammer 40,000 Event hosted in Melbourne. Arc40k 2k17 will be celebrating their 20th year as an event on the Victorian Event Calendar. Lets take a look at the event and give you a quick rundown, followed by a detailed analysis of their Player Pack.

Edit #1: Player Pack is now up to version 4, so another important thing to remember... Do you have the right version?

Edit #2: Received a message from the Tournament Organisers informing that Arc Forged will be played as per the Player Pack, NOT as per the Q&A on their Facebook wall

Event History

So Arc40k began 20 years ago and was originally run by the gaming group War All The Time (WATT). In 2012 the reigns of the event were handed over to the current Tournament Organiser (TO), Dan Attrill, and here is their brief message from their player pack.

From Fez to Top hat

Welcome, to Arc40k 2k17, as we celebrate our 20th event. Our 20th year on the tournament calendar. This year, will be about history, our history. What has taken place over the journey, the memories we have made, the bonds of friendship forged on the field of battle over the 120 rounds of battle. The event is a celebration of our hobby, so get your mates involved, paint your damn armies & join in! And we will see you in MARCH!!!

For Arc40k 2k17!

Event Details At A Glance

Before we dive into the player pack in detail, lets have a quick look at what this event is, and where you can find it.

• Arc40k - 2k17 have their own Facebook page which can be found here
• The event will be a 2 day event
• Starting at 8:00am on Saturday the 18th of March 2017
• Due to finish up at 6:00pm-ish on Sunday the 19th of March 2017
• This year it will be held at the Malvern Town Hall
• Army points limit of 1,350 Points.
• Determining the winner
• 1/3 of the points are allocated to Sportsmanship
• 1/3 of the points are allocated to Bringing an Awesome Army
• 1/3 of the points are allocated to Battle

Player Pack In All Its Glory

So with the highlights out of the way, we are aware that many players don't actually read the player pack, or if they do they may not always be able to gleam from it the important information. Now to try and make it clear to you the difference between what is written in the Player Pack vs what is our opinion, we have highlighted "fact" in blue. So unless it is in blue, make sure you have read that section yourself 😏
Note: Some areas we have had to make assumptions, VMG is not the TO of this event as such please only take this as a guide, when in doubt refer to the TO team of Arc40k

Sportsmanship - 120 Tournament Points

Not many people read a player pack, even less comprehend everything the TO is trying to get across. The very first category in the player pack is Sportsmanship, it is worth 1/3 of the total available tournament points, it is a big deal!

So at the end of each game you are asked to rate your opponent in the terms of how sportsmanlike they have been. Now this is super tricky, as they have stated that they believe most games will score a 7, however as I have stated previously, most people don't read the player pack.

Everything you need to know on how you can get a good sports score is in the Player Pack, and to be honest is pretty common sense.

Good Sporting Behaviours

• Easy Rules Resolution that takes into account both players interpretations, if in doubt 4+ it.

• It's not a game of millimetres it's a game of fun, toy soldiers and enjoyment of our hobby!

• Don't let the outcome of a game influence how sporting your opponent is or was.

• Help your opponent with rules that advantage them, if they are playing them wrong, i.e. reminding them about 'Feel no pain' rolls if they haven't taken it.

As an experienced tournament attendee I find that most people will fall in the 7-8 out of 10, it is very rare you will come across a player that is less than this. If this is your first Arc40k event, or even your first event with Sportsmanship, keep in mind that this is a 2 way street; people want to play against a nice guy, it keeps things fun, so try and be one and you should do well here.

After Round 5 you will be asked to nominate your Star Player from the first 5 rounds. These votes will be used to resolve tied results for Best Sports.

120 Points in a nutshell:
Now at a glance it looks like the Star Player votes are not used in the overall score (ie. not part of the 120 points). So how does 6 scores out of 10 get you 120 points? There are 2 "Safe to assume" ways to get there, and to be honest it doesn't matter which it is, just be a good opponent and hope for a good score here:

1. They simply take your 6 games of 10 sports points, and multiply it by 2 to get you a score out of 120.
2. They take your 6 games of 10 sports points and put it through some kind of "best fit" scoring system. I hear you saying, "what the hell are you talking about Difsta!", well let me tell you how I might do it, while trying to push the Don't be a Prick agenda.
• If you are familiar with Community Comp (which I was previously heavily involved with, these days less so) there was a scaled Comp Credits to Tournament Points approach.

• Basically what I would be doing is working out how many Tournament Points I thought an "Expected Arc40k Experience" should get (ie. a 7/10). Then put a curve to get there (something like below)

Now regardless of what method they use to work out their 120 points, this is massive! We will be going in to the Battle Scores in detail in a moment, but keep in mind that the difference between a Win and a Loss is 10 Tournament Points, which could be the equivalent of as much as 5 sports points (assuming a double the sports points calculation) or if they have a "best fit" approach then it could be even less. So if you push the envelope in the last couple of turns trying to get a win, and you aren't as sporting as your opponent would like, then it is not that far fetched to see your sports score drop down to a Below Standard sports score, which has cost you most likely a lot more Tournament Points than you gained for maybe getting a win.

So morale of the story, be a nice guy, have some fun, and you will do well in this section.

Bring an Awesome Army - 120 Tournament Points

Now I am going to point this out again, notice how the Bring an Awesome Army is after Sportsmanship but before Battle. This shows that above all else, the TO's of Arc40k want to see nice guys playing with well presented armies.

Once again, this section is worth 1/3 of the tournament points but is broken up into a number of categories, and this is probably the most confusing part of not only this player pack, but any player pack.

I am going to go through this section in a way that I read a player pack, rather than how it is actually laid out in the document.

Army Composition - 60 Points (broken into 4 sub categories)

Panel Composition - 24 points

Now this is tricky, as an Army's strength is very hard to gauge, especially when you may not have seen it on the table before. Now in 2016 Arc40k used the Community Comp system (which we will do a review of at a later date) but have dropped it for 2017 after only running it for 1 year and gone back to a Panel of judges. 

A Panel of 4 judges will each score your army using the following scorecard, they then add the 4 scores together to give a total out of 24:

• 1pt - This list is overpowered, wouldn't want to face it even with a Baneblade.

• 2pts - This list is slightly on the tough side, but not totally unbeatable.

• 4pts - This list has some grunt but some definite flaws, might just be competitive.

• 6pts - The Ideal Arc list. A List that you would play with or against many times.

It is really hard to gauge what the judges will say is what, it may depend on the field, but with 150ish lists to look over you can expect quite a few hard and soft lists at both end of the scale. So what should you be aiming for? Your best bet is to aim for a 4 pointer in my opinion and here is why.

There will be hard lists at Arc40k 2k17, no doubt about it, the Panel Composition score is not enough to really discourage some of the stronger lists attending, and especially after 2016 when there was list rejection due to Community Comp Credit Caps, you will have people bringing lists that they just want to bring (just take a look at 2014 when a player attended with an amazingly painted 3 Imperial Knight army in 1350 points). So why am I suggesting aim for a 4 pointer?

People will bring Composition into their Sports Scores. Now while the Sportsmanship rating out of 10 has no mention of how hard my opponents army was, many players, especially more social players, will take this into consideration when rating their opponent. So you don't want to bring the hardest list in the field, and hopefully most players will realise this and avoid some of the big bad combos. But because you will see some hard lists out there, you really don't want to bring a list that is so soft that it is just going to get smashed all weekend, no one wants to rock up and get pole-axed 6 games in a row.

If you are familiar with Community Comp, I would be aiming for a list somewhere around the 5-6 Credit mark using the Small Game System.

So bring an army that has a bit of teeth, but only grinning teeth, nothing too ferocious.

Arc Forged! - 10 Points

Now that the subjective part of the Army Composition is out of the way, lets move onto the easy parts. The Player Pack is incorrect (or was last time we checked) and has been amended on the Arc40k Facebook Page. It currently states that to get these 10 points your army needs to consist of a single Combined Arms Detachment. It has since been changed to be any army that consists of a Single Detachment. So what are the types of armies that will fall into this bracket? Well here are a short list of some examples (not limited to just this list of course):

• Combined Arms Detachment as per the Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook
• Nemesis Strike Force from the Grey Knights Codex
• Black Crusade Detachment from the Campaign Supplement Black Crusade - Traitor's Hate

So this really should be a fairly easy 10 Points to get your hands on.

Since the posting of this article we have been contacted by the Tournament Organising team informing us that in fact they will be doing this as per the original Player Pack and not as per the Q&A on their Facebook wall. So to get these 10 Points your army needs to consist of a single Combined Arms Detachment (CAD). So for some armies this is impossible, and for others it may make there thematic army difficult to build.

List Submission - 10 Points

If you don't get this one then you only have yourself to blame. Simply put, get your list in on time, using the correct format, without any stuff ups and attach any theme you wish to be scored on.

Tick Composition - 16 Points

Now this section at first glance looks fairly easy to get, and for some armies that may be the case, but the first 2 points can be quite difficult to achieve depending on your Army Faction or Detachment type.

These are tick and flick points, you earn these simply by your list meeting the criteria:
+ 3pts - Choice from each selection type (excluding Lords of War Choices, and Armies that don’t use a CAD (ie Skitarii, Harelquins etc) a choice from each available selection will count for this tick)
+ 5pts - More Choices and points spent on Troops than any other category
+ 1pts - No Allies / No Unrealistic allies
+ 2pts – 0-2 AV12 or AV13 Vehicles
+ 1pts – 0-1 AV14 Vehicles
+ 2pts – 0-1 Flyer or Flying MC
+ 2pts – 0-1 1st Turn Drop Pod or 1st Turn Deep Strike unit

So from point 3 onward they are fairly self explanatory, and so I wont really go into them in any kind of detail, I will just focus on the first 2 points.

A Choice from each selection type. So this means if your Army Faction has a unit available in each Battle Role (eg. Troops, HQ, Elites, etc.) then you have to take each Battle Role to gain these points. So for armies like Inquisition who only Have HQ and Elites then you smash these 3 points in with ease. However most factions will have one of each Battle Role, and whats worse is the ones that have a Lord of War at an exorbitant points cost, or that doesn't match your theme. So if you are planning on taking a Grey Knight army, then to get these 3 points you MUST take Draigo Kaldor, or if you want to take an Eldar army then you need to have either an Avatar or a Wraithknight. It is quite restrictive, and for many players I think these 3 points will just need to be dropped and forgotten about. Especially if you are wanting to keep your army lower on the Panel Composition.

Edit: Since posting this article we have been informed that the Choice from each selection type has now changed. You do not need to take a Lord of War to achieve these points.

More Choices and Points spent on Troops. So to get these points you need to have more points in Troops than say Heavy Support, or more in Troops than Elites. In addition to the points you also need to have more actual units in Troops than any other choice.

This one once again is much easier for some. Eldar for example have great troops choices, being able to take Eldar Jetbikes up the wazoo should help you get these points. Tau taken as Farsight Enclaves can easily get these points by taking battle suits along with their other solid choices. Other armies like say Adepta Sororitas (Sisters of Battle) don't have very strong troops, and as such may struggle to gain these points, as well as Chaos Daemons who have horrible troops choices.

So most armies should be able to get a minimum of 9 out of 16 Tick Composition points, where the remaining 8 could be a little tricky for some, and really easy for others. If you are struggling to work out how to get these points while sticking to a theme drop us a line either in the Comments section or over on our Facebook page.

Theme - 10 Points

So with Army Composition out of the way we can take a look at theme. Now some players will work out their theme first, and then see how they can make it fit into a tournaments composition, others will work out what type of armies are likely going to be in attendance before working out a theme. There is no right or wrong way to do your hobby, it is up to you, however I find it easier to work out roughly what kind of army composition I am looking at first. For example if I wanted to do an army themed around Tau with stealth in mind, then I would likely go the Optimised Stealth Cadre. Now while I am not saying people wont rock up with this kind of army or that you can't, that would put your army into either the overpowered or slightly on the tough side of the Panel Composition, and I am trying to stick to the some grunt with some definite flaws.

So this is broken into 3 categories:

1. Does your army fit within the 40k universe yes/no - 4 Points
2. Has your army's theme affected your army selection - 0 to 3 Points (appears to be scaled)
3. Has your army's theme affected the way you've modelled and painted your army - 0 to 3 Points (appears to be scaled)

So these points should be fairly easy to get, and to be honest are fairly self explanatory, but here is a quick run down.

Within the 40k Universe. Simply put, if you want these points don't make an army to represent the Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy. Aim to have it based on something 40k orientated.

Affect your army selection. If your army is a Khorne based army, don't take Sorcerers unless you have some really cool way to justify them. If your theme is based on speed and mobility, then maybe a unit of terminators really doesn't fit. Use some commons sense here.

Paint and Model to theme. What it says on the box 😊

Painting - 50 points

So we have come to another subjective area of a Player Pack, and one that not enough players take the time to have a good read of. Have a good read of the Painting Scores guideline that the Paint Judge(s) will use to get you a score out of 50. Now a number of these criteria are scaled from 0 to 8 points. It is fair to assume that most people will not get the 8 points, so don't be disheartened if you think your highlighting and shading is on point and you only got say 4-5 points. There are some absolutely amazing painters out there (you may be one of them) and your armies are being compared with the rest of the field.

But my army doesn't have freehand. Well for starters the Paint Scores don't say that you need it, it has been put in with one larger label "Detail Painting", but that being said... every army can have freehand, you may be playing Daemons who don't have big chunky shoulder pads, or tanks to have nice flat surfaces to do your freehand, but this doesn't mean you can get these points. Sure they may be harder, but not impossible. So here are a few of my handy tips.

• Banners: Even if your army doesn't have any banners/standards in the army list, it doesn't mean you can't have a model with one. He can either be the Sergeant of the squad, or just any other regular pleb. If you are running an army that doesn't have banners (looking at you Tyranids) then put a dead guardsmen holding a banner on the base of one of your big Monstrous Creatures, giving you a nice spot to put freehand.
• Wrecked Vehicles: Similar to the Banners tip above, if you don't like banners, or due to their curves you want a more flat surface, then put some wreckage on the bases. You could have Space Marine Rhino door on your a base, then put some Chapter's insignia on the door. Not only will this give you a good chance for freehand, but also lets you get a contrast color for your army, without having to mess with your paint scheme.

But I don't want to do custom bases. Bases is a hard one, some people love more standard bases with just a little bit of rock/flock on it. You can do some pretty cool bases using just stone, and then use weathering powders on the base as well as the lower part of the model. Or if you like themed bases that come "out of the box" like those from GW with their Sector Imperialis bases, or Scibor Miniatures Egyptian themed bases. It is really hard to gauge what the judges will do with this section, it is a scaled section of 0-8 points, and from experience at Arc40k in the recent years to get the 8 points there is some fair competition. Last year saw some amazing water effects on some Orc bases which most likely got close to the 8 points. If you want to use already made bases, then it is likely that you shouldn't expect more than half of these points, but you may not even get that depending on how they decide to judge this section.

I don't want to do conversions. There is a modelling section which once again is a 0-8 points, and another hard one to gauge how they will be judging this section. To get the 8 points here you need to have "amazing handmade marvels of the model making art", and this sounds pretty hard to get. If you don't have the desire to do greenstuff sculpting or complex conversions, then I would suggest that a bit of a kit bash here and there wouldn't go a stray, and should keep you within your theme/ideal army while gaining a couple of the points. Make sure you are clean on your mold lines, and keep things neat and you should be able to get a few points here.

What do I do with my summoning models? Each event has their own way of doing things, and Arc40k have been pretty clear on how they will be doing this section. The models count as part of your army for the purposes of painting. So if you are planning on casting some Conjuration powers, or you could turn into a Daemon Prince through a Chaos Space Marine Boon roll, make sure they are painted to the same standard as the rest of your army.

PLEASE NOTE: Summonable/spawnable models will be included as "part of your army" when judging these criteria. Paint these models at the same standard as the rest of your army, lest you lose points

With all that said and done, what should we expect? Well lets take a look at the Player Pack again, cause they are pretty clear here. Note how the total score adds up to more than the maximum paint score, so if you aren't so flash hot in the conversion, but you are on point in other areas you could still get a maximum paint score.

Note that this is a guideline only, and EXPECT a nicely painted, well presented army to arrive at between 15 - 35 points. Whilst the criteria above add to a total of 54pts, your score will max out at 50pts, giving you multiple ways to score a top score. 

Play for Fun (Battle Section) - 30-120 Tournament Points

So this is section is scored from 30-120 Tournament Points as there is no 0 for battle. So there is only really 90 points up for grabs here, which just goes to show that even though at first glance battle is worth 1/3 of your available Tournament Points, the actual battle score isn't as important as having fun with well presented armies.

Fun games are the centre of Arc40K: tough battles where you pit your tactical prowess against challenging opponents. Gaming is central to our hobby, and at Arc40k you'll play 6 games, each worth between 5 and 20 Battle points (BP).

Game Results: Loss (5BPs) / Draw (10BPs) / Win (15BPs)

Primary Bonus Points:

• +1 Mission Specific Turn 3 Condition.
• In previous years this might be something like hold more objectives than your opponent at the end of Turn 3. It will differ each round and as Arc40k keep their missions secret until the event, your guess is as good as mine as what these might be.
• +1 Mission Specific Total Victory Condition
• In previous years this might be something like hold all objectives, or kill your opponents most expensive unit while yours is still alive. Once again, each mission will be different, and in most cases this will be a fairly difficult point to gain.

Secondary Bonus Points: Secondary objectives will only be used to gain Tournament Battle Points, not in game Victory Points.

• +1BP - Slay the Warlord
• +1BP - First Blood
• +1BP - Linebreaker

What should I expect in the missions? Well the missions are kept secret until the event for Arc40k (like most of the events in Vic). That being said here is what I would expect:

• The objective of the mission to be fairly basic, ie. it is USUALLY  either objectives or kill points, and they haven't used Maelstrom objectives in the past. So think Emperor's Will, Crusade type missions.
• The mission will have a funky special rule. So it might be that your warlord gets a special rule, it might be that during the game asteroids fall from the sky and randomly do damage, it is hard to say as there have been so many cool rules (and some fairly crazy ones) over the years. From past experience, expect:
• About 4-5 our of the 6 missions to have special rules that are just flavor, they wont be game breaking, just a bit of fun.
• It is likely that 1-2 of the 6 missions to have special rules that just screw you. It happens, and there is not much you can do about it. What is just a fun/flavor based mission for one table will be a game breaking missions for another. Try not to be a poor sport about it, it is likely you will have a mission go in your favor over the weekend and you wouldn't want your opponent to be blaming you for it now would you

When in doubt, ask the TO

A Player Pack review like this can be handy for those trying to read between the lines of an events player pack, but unless the review came from the TO itself it is all a bunch of assumptions (educated assumptions, but assumptions none the less). If you really want to get some detail on a part of the player pack then simply shoot a message/email/carrier pigeon/etc. to the TO themselves and get them to provide you with the detailed explanation.

So there you have it!

So a Player Pack can be an epic amount of info to digest, and a lot of TO's will try and trim it down to make it feel like less info to get through. If you are interested in these kinds of Reviews of Player Packs, feel free to send us a message at our Facebook Page with a Player Pack you want us to review, and we will do our best to read between the lines for you.

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