NZ 40k Masters (Melting Snowflakes)

So over the weekend the players pack was released for the 4th New Zealand Masters. This is the first year it will be held in Auckland (the previous three I ran in Wellington) and it is likely we’ll see some new faces participating.

Today I am going to look at the 40k Pack which is almost elegant in its simplicity. Here it is:

Army Restrictions: Standard codex, The New Necron codex is not permitted pls use the older one.

Missions: 6 Missions will be revealed on Tournament day.

Composition: Masters will not have a comp component.

Battle Points: (120 pts)
  Points will be scored as follows:
  
Win 15pts
Draw 7pts
Lost 0pts

Bonus of 1points will be scored by each player for each of the conditions below:-

• " Enemy General dead or falling back at end of the game;
• " Most expensive enemy unit destroyed, immobilized or falling back at end of the game;
• " Your General is neither dead nor falling back at the end of the game;
• " No enemy scoring units in your Deployment Zone;
• " You have at least one Troop Unit that counts as scoring (as per the Warhammer 40k   rulebook) at the end of the game.

Sportsmanship (30 pts of Total)

After every game each player will be asked to complete a sports score

Sheet rating their opponent’s. TO will check any irregularities that arises.

[0] your opponent more than occasionally displayed behaviour you would classify as border line cheating and was not what you expected to face at the tournament. Examples may include they employed a "rubber ruler", applied differing rules interpretation s to their sole advantage, stretched the rules when it suited etc. This score should be handed out only after careful consideration. Also this must be clarified with the T.O.

[3] Your opponent's behaviour clearly detracted from your ability to enjoy the game. They refused to resolve rules disputes amicably or displayed an unsavoury attitude throughout the game - whether too much gloating when winning or too much bitterness when things didn't go their way. PLEASE NOTE calling over a TO for a rules dispute is regarded as an amicable outcome and should not be punished.

[5] Your opponent gave you a decent amicable game or better. Your opponent was essentially in line with, or exceeded your expectations of another player's behaviour. Rules queries were decided amicably. Nothing they did detracted from your ability to enjoy the game, other than maybe having beaten you but you can hardly hold that against them...

So all very straightforward.

The Sports system is pretty much a copy of what I ran last year and I can say that for both Fantasy and 40k nobody scored other than the maximum. That is what you expect in a Masters event where the participants should know both the rules AND how to conduct themselves.

I’m not a big fan of running non-standard missions and keeping them secret until the day of the event. In my experience this tends to cut into game time as people have to dissect and digest the mission on the day (within the given game time) and also increases the chances that people will overlook a crucial aspect. Similarly unless you are incredibly good or lucky then it is unlikely that you will produce a suite of missions that create a level playing field for the armies that turn up. However if released before lists are submitted then people can cut their cloth accordingly and importantly can have no excuse that they were blindsided. This is definitely something that I would reconsider.

No Comp is great given the choir that has been singing for it over the past year. I’m really interested to see how it pans out – because I suspect a few people are in for a rude awakening. I’ll give a clue to some of the unique and beautiful snowflakes out there – it wasn’t Comp stopping you from winning events in the shark pool. Just remember – as this blog said earlier in the year – we wantt no tears. This is big boy pants time.

I think it is going to be a very interesting Masters. I think it will all be about stopping Charlie and people should think about that in their list design. However I suspect very few will be able to grasp such “advanced” meta considerations and will take their normal list and tweak it slightly. On the Sunday evening they will sit there thinking one of two things; either “well I knew my list was sub-optimal so I didn’t expect to win” or “the dice, the missions, the Moon in June stuffed me”.

Don’t worry snowflakes “You are all winners just by reaching the Masters”!

Heaven help that you actually try to go out there and win the thing!

Seize the chances Guys. Do your very best!