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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][con-The Best Victorian doubles event

   ][con-The Best Victorian doubles event 

A few weeks ago myself and another one of our VMGs admins attended the 1 day doubles event         ][con, run by the man himself Michael Blair. 

This event was a 1 day tournament comprised of three games. The missions were festively themed with Santa’s sleigh crashing down mid game and the evil German Christmas daemon Krampas trying to attack your units. Even with the festive theme, the missions didn’t break the immersion of the 40k setting and didn’t decide the outcome of the game.

The overall results were as followed-

1. Daddy Caca-Necrons+Blood angels
2. Cheeky Nandos-Necrons+Eldar
3. Red Shirts-Eldar+Space Marines

Players Choice: Team Maximus Auriellis Decimus- Deathwatch+Space wolves (That's my team!)

TO Choice: Matthew Campi-Space Wolves & Nicholas Heading- Necrons

A decent spread of armies to see in the podiums.

Rory (my teammate) and I, played 3 fantastic games against 6 awesome opponents (it helps when 2 out of 3 of our opponents were friends but nonetheless good games). After having been to many doubles tournaments including 3 past ][cons I’ve noticed that people generally take the opportunity to find  the most synergistic armies and lists over that of armies of thematic compatibility. This is mostly due to people having friends that don’t have armies of similar faction. But at doubles event it’s always great too see 2 people that really put in the hard yards for theme like making joint display boards, basing their armies the same or even modelling things onto armies to make them more cohesive.

In the past few years the hobby side of the Victorian tournament community has really surged, and at ][con I was able to see the fruits of the hard laboured efforts from heaps different tournament goers. The paint scores were high and well deserved for many armies. If anyone reading this wants to be inspired to start up a new army, one of the best things I can suggest would be to attend or even just visit a well renowned Victorian event (like ][con) and I can guarantee you’ll find something there that tickles your hobby gonads.

Overall ][con was a great success and by far the best one I’ve been too, my only criticism is that there isn’t enough doubles events in happening around Victoria.

Thanks For Reading

-Riz

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