Will Onslaught become the new Norm and Matched Play

I am wondering if Onslaught (3000 point games) will become the new standard for gaming. If we look at the increase in cost of the basic Intercessor as a rough metric for overall points increase it equates close to 120 percent. Surely monsters and tanks will increase even more in points. Going from 2k to 3k is 150 percent... so a difference of around 30 percent. This could easily be a stealth incentive enabling GeeDub to easily garner more sales.

I am liking the new mission format for matched play which is based upon NOVA and ITC. One Mission with a good number of variables (for example, which secondaries you select) makes it a lot easier for pickup games and removes the need for third party house rules. GeeDub should set the standard and dictate how we play.

Here are several secondaries you can choose from for the new matched played:

- Purge the Enemy - End game: 3 victory points for every character kill.
- No Mercy, No Respite - End Game: Tally of kill points.
- Shadow Operations - Investigate Sites: Progressive scoring: Score 3 points every time a unit from your army completes a task.
- Battlefield Supremacy - Progressive scoring: Score 2 points if you have presence in 3 table quarters.
- Warpcraft - Progressive scoring: Score 3 points every time you pass a "Warp Charge 4 psychic test.

Also the maximum points you can score for secondaries is capped.

It looks like the primary objective doesn't promote killing enemy units in like the ITC format. An army that plays well for "the four pillars" is an army that can take and hold 3 objective for most of the game. With 5 turns to score, that nets you 75 VP before scoring secondary. Assuming your opponent fully scores all of their 3 secondary objectives and has holds 1 objective all game, they will end up at 70 VP - a close loss.

Ninth Edition is Coming

Is it Saturday yet... no but seriously this is my first serious post regarding ninth edition. First I want to say I’m really looking forward to it - eighth edition is pretty played out with just a few Psychic Awakenings left to go now. The play testers only have good things to say and this includes those with a narrative point of view.

So far what we know is that modifiers to hit can never be more than +/-1 plus tanks and monsters are going to be much more powerful again. If you like to play Primaris Space Marines there are some strong new units coming and it just seems like melee is going to be a thing again.

I am looking forward to GeeDub taking the reins for mission rules - they should decide how we play the game in every aspect assuming they do a fantastic job which they have shown they can and do now. Sure there will be a lot of change but in a way it’s inevitable.

I imagine the new release with include errata and FAQs to cover each faction so it’s a smooth release for everyone and that’s a good thing too. I’m not worried or apprehensive and and am looking forward to ninth edition. Do you feel the same... do you have any concerns? This is my first serious post regarding ninth edition. First I want to say I’m really looking forward to it - eighth edition is pretty played out with just a few Psychic Awakenings left to go now. The play testers only have good things to say and this includes those with a narrative point of view.

So far what we know is that modifiers to hit can never be more than +/-1 plus tanks and monsters are going to be much more powerful again. If you like to play Primaris Space Marines there are some strong new units coming and it just seems like melee is going to be a thing again.

I am looking forward to GeeDub taking the reins for mission rules - they should decide how we play the game in every aspect assuming they do a fantastic job which they have shown they can and do now. Sure there will be a lot of change but in a way it’s inevitable.

I imagine the new release with include errata and FAQs to cover each faction so it’s a smooth release for everyone and that’s a good thing too. I’m not worried or apprehensive and and am looking forward to ninth edition. Do you feel the same... do you have any concerns?

You want ITC this is how you got ITC

Hi everyone it’s Black Blow Fly here to discuss the inherent problems with the ITC 40k mission Pack and why a lot of people want change now. This is a bit long so hang in there with me.

A common problem I see in many peoples' dissatisfaction with the ITC is that the ITC is designed to provide the most balanced game between two equally talented opponents as possible - Reece and Company have tried their best to eliminate any randomness. One inherent problem with this approach is 40k is a dice game... wink wink.

Reece and his crew do not understand that tournament missions can have some randomness and be very exciting. After watching the final day of LVO finals I can say that ITC plays just like Infinity, hiding entire armies behind big pieces of line of sight blocking terrain.

There is no narrative element either, every ITC mission is really just the same and they are always a grind. They you say can completely customize your missions with secondary choices but let’s stop and realize everyone that can always takes Engineers and Recon - these are two super easy achievable goals netting eight sweet points and both favor no interaction whatsoever.

It has been proven randomness helps to create a more healthy meta with more competitive factions since hyper competitive gamers cannot simply design for one trick ponies and must adopt a more overall tactical approach to list building. There’s a reason why the meta went straight from Imperial Knights to Imperial Space Marines and ITC takeS a lot of the blame for consistent stagnancy.

Reece does not really does he have any appreciation for lore. It should also be duly noted many elements of the ITC mission pack have been directly lifted from NOVA OPEN... more of the same thing if you know what I mean.

In closing I hope that GW will start to exert control over the tournament system. GW can and did have an excellent grand tournament system that embraced the entire hobby - I’m sure they can do it again. There is a whole cottage industry built around the ITC and unfortunately it currently exhibits lots of chest thumping and a win at all cost attitude.

Editorial: 40k 8th Edition META RELOAD

So 8th edition has been out for awhile now and we've seen some of the new codices with plenty more on the way. So far I've liked everything I've seen and I like how the new stratagems work bringing back some of the really good old flavor.

I want to discuss competitive play that's in line with the spirit of the game and designing cool armies that follow their core background.

40k Editorial: BAO +1

Hey everyone so just when you thought it was safe again here comes BBF to ruin your weekend... it's what I do.

This past weekend was a major GT took place here in California - the Bay Area Open (BAO). So first the good news and it's really great news. GW released a new FAQ within a few days following the American Team Championship which effectively crushed the much hated Ravenspam and this is totally unprecedented. To me it shows GW really cares now unlike before... it's a really big deal. Today I'm here to discuss the effect of house rules on the game we all love, yes of course I am talking about Warhammer 40k.

I have never been a fan of house rules and unfortunately they exist in many forms. The house rule I'm talking about is as follows:

According to the actual rules if your army has less drops then you automatically go first unless your opponent seizes the initiative. The house rule in effect now changes this such that you no longer go first - there is a roll off and all you get if you have less drops is +1 to the result of your roll. I should mention there is actually another house rule in effect as well that does not allow you to reroll seize the initiative using a command point. Let's take these both for what they are.

The change to +1 is a huge advantage for horde armies which to me creates unbalance how the game is intended to be played. There was no vote to institute these changes and it came about literally days follows the official release of eighth edition. It is a very hot topic on the internet and my research shows more are against it than for it. A vocal minority made their case online and it came to be just like that !!! Wow.

One thing that bothers me a lot about this house rule is the fact that GW made a big deal about how eighth edition was thoroughly play-tested by vet gamers outside of the company and these are some of the same people that instituted the house rule... that just doesn't seem kosher to me.

So now let's fast forward to the BAO final round and the game between the two top players... whoever wins is the champion. I was lucky enough to be able to interview one of these two players - Paul McKelvey from Left Coast Corsairs. I'll let him give you his first hand account of the final game.

Hi Paul would you please first tell me a little about yourself and your army?

I've been playing Tau since 2001, it's my favorite army and a big part of why I love the hobby. My BAO list is essentially the same thing I have been doing with Tau since the beginning. Using the strengths of the army to counter the meta and focus fire and destroy the key elements of the opponent.

Next tell me about your opponent's army in the final round.

My opponent Brandon's IG army in the final round of BAO was extremely powerful. We both knew going into this game that it was going to come down to who ended up going first. He had a much greater chance of surviving my initial barrage than I did his. The conscripts coupled with artillery made this a very tough game for me. It was the first game where I had an opponent place so many units in reserve - he had 9 units in total for his reserves.

What was the mission parameters and can you describe the terrain layout ?

We played the NOVA Scouring mission - 6 objectives with the new modified diamond dawn of war deployment. The board had very little area terrain but a lot of line of sight (LoS) blocking terrain. The latter was a big factor but more area terrain would have only really helped him and further hampered me. Either way with all of the artillery he had that ignored line of site it didn't make a difference on how much or how little terrain was on the board. I choose end of game objectives and so did he. For tertiary I chose Cull the Hoard, Line Breaker and Moment of Bloodshed. He choose First Strike, Marked for Death and Strike Rank and File. We both scored all three on the first round, well except Line Breaker for me, but I was there still in the game.

Now tell me about how important it was for each army to go first. If you want to discuss the ITC rule modifications for +1 and no reroll seize please feel free to do so.

Out of all of my games at BAO this was the only game that the ITC modification made a difference. I don't feel like it is a super huge change in most games but when you are staring down an army with 30 drops that can still go first it seems a little silly. Either way that the community and TOs choose to play it I will roll with it - I love the game and the community. For events I run however But for events I will continue to use the BRB in all aspects, missions included. I have never been a big fan of making changes to the game. It creates a false meta and changes the power levels when the intent is to stop that from happening.

So there you go right from the proverbial horse's mouth and I couldn't have said it any better. Here we already have not one but two house rules with at most only one codex officially released. Ask yourself is this what you really want and is it really good for the game plus what kind of precedent is it.

Chaos Space Marine Blues (editorial)

Hi everyone it's your ever friendly Black Blow Fly swinging through your neighborhood again to spread yet moar mischief and the rot. Today I want to discuss the present state of Chaos Space Marines (CSM) and their rank in in the current meta compared to some of the other top tiered codices... so hope onboard this Chaos train... it's going to be an interesting journey.

The Problem
First let's define the problem... entitlement. You see there is a bitter group of veterans that still long for an out-of-print codex that's over 10 years ago. I remember going to large tournaments back during the heydays of CSM - quite often over 70 percent of the armies you'd see were CSM which is very similar to what we see now with certain armies like Eldar.

Now don't take what I say the wrong way... it was in my opinion one of the best written codices ever released by GW. You had an incredible amount of customization with very specific detailed rules for all the legions including both the cults and undivided plus their was an amazing amount of wargear and separate sets of really good psychic powers for each Chaos God excluding Khorne (of course). For example Emperor's Children could take sonic weapons for their terminators and dreadnaughts. On top of all this Chaos daemons were included in the CSM codex as well. So you had the ability to create very powerful armies that reflected their background well using only one codex. The good news is it can still be had albeit a different route.

The veterans I mentioned above still have an expectation that GW will or should release something very similar again for them. They belly ache every time anyone has anything good to say about CSM which is very unfortunate because really there are some great things you can do. We can look longingly to the past or we can move forward. I think the vets are going to be waiting a long long time for what they want which is one codex that's very powerful and has everything in it much like Eldar... They will continue to be disillusioned and cast a shadow on anything good CSM has to offer.

The Solution
If you are open to change and willing to embrace the modern concept of using multiple sources then you can build powerful armies that are fun to play and have a strong theme... this is really where it's at now. I'm talking mixing together codices such as Black Legion, Chaos Daemons, Crimson Slaughter and Khorne Daemonkin (KDK). I have witnessed games and even played some myself where Chaos via combination has taken down super powered armies such as Eldar, Super Friends and even Tau.

I'm a big fan of KDK seeing Khorne is and has always been one of my go to Chaos forces. There are other really great things now right at your fingertips such as the new psychic Cabal and they have access to pretty much the same new set of the psychic powers for their Imperial counterpart - Space Marines. My advice to new players is don't stick your head in the sand and don't waste your time trying to appease those that are still disgruntled. Nothing good ever comes from being unhappy. I know players that are happy enough and winning some games... these are mostly those who are unfamiliar with the ancient CSM codex and that's a good thing for them too.

Conclusion
The old vets need to get over it or give other armies a go... it won't kill you to try something new and really everything eventually changes. To be honest it wouldn't surprise me if their comes a day when the likes of Eldar and Tau finally take a seat back from the top tier... it will happen for whatever reason too.

I haven't discussed what Forge World has to offer but that's yet another great source for Chaos in general and there's even a fairly new book dedicated to the forces of disorder. Renegades for example are a thing now for sure.

All the tools you need are out there... use them and prosper. BBF over and out !

If a Bear Lord Hollers in the Woods...

So there has been much debate lately about whether or not a Wolf Lord mounted on a Thunder Wolf and armed with power fist is S9 or S10. It was unquestioned in the last codex and supported by an official FAQ. I have my own opinion and I can say that my track record on rules that have been officially FAQd by GW is pretty darn good. I never look at it for the gain of any advantage. Cold logic supported by a knowledge of the background has served quite well. It has nothing to do with how you'd like the rules to be but unfortunately that's the situation we run across more often that not if there is any perceived ambiguity.

WARNING

Remember that the first thing every rules lawyer will spout is how poorly written are the rules. This is necessary so they can then dupe you into believing whatever fabrication they need to spin the rules in their favor. You really need to do your own thinking for yourself and often the rules are quite clear.

While I run my own independent GT I often loathe to create an independent FAQ because we gamers never know for sure and I don't want to create an unintended unfair situation for any gamer. I have seen some really screwy rulings that just leave you shaking your head mouthing the word WOW... How did they ever come up with that one and it's rarely ever for the better. Really the best you can do is let people know how you'll play it if there are any questions directed towards you and clarify the missions to keep them as simple to understand as possible.

The public discussion of gaming rules that are in question are often darkly humorous at best and I do wish GW would regularly publish FAQs. I'm sure we have all at least once thought to ourselves how inane some people can be—it's amazing at times and I have seen intense arguments go back and forth for page after page on some of the more popular forums... Remember that the trolls are much more intent upon punching your button than ever giving you a straight answer.

Sometimes a certain rule has some grey area but often we do not give GW enough credit and as said above the rules lawyers are looking for anything they can leverage to twist the rules in their favor. Here is a good example... In sixth edition some silly people said you could fire any weapon in a squad the maximum range of any weapon which is ludicrous and now we thankfully have wound pools. To make my point I attended a tournament and brought a Blood Angels army with a full Devastator squad (missile launchers) and attached as maybe characters as possible all armed with Infernus pistols - needless to say whatever they looked at was vaporized. The TOs running that particular event suddenly changed their stance after the tournament was over. Sometimes tough love is the best love. The inclusion of the wound pools in seventh edition proves these people were wrong too.

Conclusion
Coming back to the case of the Bear Lord again it is clear to me they are still S10 if armed with a power fist or thunderhammer. If you don't believe me then look at the base strength of Harald Deathwolf - it is S5 - it is not S4 + 1. Is there something special about Harald and Thunderwolves they are keeping secret from the other Wolf Lords and Iron Priests ? If you examine the rulebook it explicitly states anything that changes a stat (plus, minus, multiply, etc.) is a modifier. The rules for the Thunderwolf mount in the Space Wolf codex clearly state the character's base strength increases. There are specific rules in the rulebook that explain how a power fist works and these are two separate things.

I have a strong inclination this subject will be covered again by GW when the official FAQ is released for the new Space Wolf codex. Ask yourself why would GW change this particular rule? Finally remember if the squad has Furious Charge it doesn't even really matter.

40k Editorial • Building the perfect 40k Tournament System and enticing new players

This article is on the topic of tournaments with some thoughts how to grow attendance at the local level. First things first with Mr. Kirby leaving wouldn't it be awesome if the new CEO actually brings back some real substantial tournament support? I thought GW overall did a fantastic job when they had their Grand Tournaments. They have the funds to support it and staff some very knowledgable people. The end of support from GW though has brought about an epic level of independent events across the country and there is something for everyone... It's a true meca for 40k.

Just when things seemed to start settling down a bit out rolls a new edition — going from sixth edition to seventh is a challenge for any tournament organizer (TO). At the local level there should be some serious focus on growing the hobby again as opposed to purely competitive events. Probably within the span of a year things will settle back down. While seventh edition is a maintenance release there are some big changes and it looks like the force organization chart (FOC) we all knew and loved is finally going by the wayside. The Imperial Knight is just one example of a big change as it has been widely accepted. Lords of War will gain acceptance as well with the new seventh edition codices featuring some of our favorite special characters now falling into this category. If you are familiar with 30k you might have seen a lot of this coming as those books already had Lords of War including Primarchs and all kinds of super heavies. The formations seem to be a means to help new players quickly put an army on the table which can be a good thing.

If GW wants to ever return to the tournament scene I hope they will focus on re growing the hobby rather than bringing back uber competitive events such as Ard Boyz. I truly believe that the Ard Boyz event was the ultimate demise of their tournaments as it was just too easy to say thing like "Wow look at what a mess that was!" People that have been playing for around a year are just coming to grips with all the many rules and developing a balanced army that matches up well with the current meta. Throwing them into a shallow pool of sharks is a really quick way to turn them off the hobby.

So how can we design a tournament system that is fair, competitive and doesn't lend itself well to abusive over the top power gaming? First the TO should be in touch with their audience on a daily basis basis and ask them what they want... This is easy to do via the Internet. They must also be able to sort the wheat from the chaff. Doing so will build credibility and gain support from the hobbyists you really want to attend your events. A TO must be strong but also very understanding... Don't buckle to the bullies that want to bring the super sick over the top lists. Not everyone goes to a tournament focused on winning best overall — in fact you'll find the majority want to have a good time, make some new friends and roll dice.

Second a major problem I've encountered often are the competitive veteran gamers (CGVs) that still want to play fifth edition and try to impose their will on players newer to the game. CVGs dislike any new change and would much prefer to remain deeply seated in their own comfort zone... They are the ones who want to do terrible things such as limit army lists to only two sources and ban battle brothers outright, both of which are totally absurd. That said with the overwhelming plethora of formations and supplements to choose from now it can be a bit staggering... Most no one is going to purchase every new book or rules released by GW and it's just not possible, especially from a financial perspective for most of us. So while we want to allow new things there must be some form of composition or you'll end up with a Wild Wild West scenario. There must be balance to succeed.

Here is the system I've developed for a GT (i.e., BeakyCon4... Yes our forth year in a row now) I'll be hosting this fall in Tampa, Florida. You can select up to the following:

• one CAD*
• one allied detachment
• one formation*
• one fortification (upgrades allowed)
• data slates (e.g., Be'lakor and Cypher)

* Factions can self ally

No Lords of War (this category will be relaxed next year as more Lords of War special characters are released with each new seventh edition codex-let's face the fact that there's a big difference between say Logan Grimnar and a Revenant Titan).

You can only choose up to two of the same unit outside of troops. Exceptions are units selected outside the FOC (e.g., Techmarine), Chaos Daemons can field up to four Heralds and Imperial Knights (if fielded as the primary detachment). Note that in general formations are not an exception to this requirement.

—If you take a formation it must come from the same faction as your CAD; note however you may select the formation as your primary detachment (no CAD)
—Forge World 40k approved units are allowed (no super heavies or gargantuan creatures) and you must use the official model from Forge World
—No Forge World armies including their Chapter tactics from the Badab campaign and this restriction includes special characters such as Severin Loth.
—If you field the Inquisitorial supplement this counts as your allied choice
—Imperial Knights and Legion of the Damned count as your allied choice if not chosen as your primary detachment
—Allies can be chosen from Come the Apocalypse

Approved fortifications:
• Aegis Defense Line
• Bastion
• Firestorm Redoubt
• Skyshield Landing Pad
•Vengeance Weapon Battery
• Void Shield Generator (must meet the measurements of the official model)

Some fortifications can take upgrades as per Stronghold Assault rules.

These guidelines allow multiple sources while also including some critical restrictions to strike a fine balance. For the most part you can bring what you want but maybe not as much of one thing as you'd like. So far it's been well received overall by the local community.

Conclusion
So there you have it all the way from soup to nuts. Have at it ! How do you envision s large tournament should be run? I'd love to see some of your ideas,