Very Unofficial Announcement

As many people are aware, Paul is planning on running another tournament, starting in September. There is no official start date, and he's still trying to work out some of the details. I'll share the basics with you, but as the thread specifies, this is NOT an official announcement, and what is written here is subject to change before any official announcements are made. Also, Paul is considering tying this tournament together with a "Unit Painting Tournament", so if you have a new unit you may want to add to your army, this *may* be an opportunity to do so, and to paint it.

First of all, the tournament will be based on the Kill Teams scenario from the Battle Missions book. This is an extremely unique scenario, but has the potential to make for an extremely fun tournament. The points value for the tournament is 200 points. No, I did not forget a zero, it is ONLY 200 points. Force Organization chart is as follows:

0-1 Elites
0-2 Troops
0-1 Fast Attack

ALL models must be deployed at the beginning of the battle. There are no 'Reserves' in this scenario. Battles will most likely be played on the 4 x 4 tables (book recommends 3 x 3 or 4 x 4), and deployment is done in opposite quarters, no closer than 9 inches to the center of the table. Unlike normal battles, "Seize the Initiative" happens on a '1' instead of the normal '6'.

When you've deployed, you need to know exactly how many models you have on the board. As soon as half your models have been killed, you must start taking a Leadership test at the start of each of your turns. If you fail the Leadership test, then your army flees the battlefield, and your opponent wins. If you pass the test, then the battle continues, but you must continue to test at the beginning of each of your turns. It is very common for both players to reach a point where they must pass a Leadership test at the beginning of their turn, and the first player to fail the test, loses the battle.

The Leadership test is always taken using the highest Leadership of the surviving models on the table. A -1 modifier is applied to the second test a player has to take, a -2 modifier to the third test, and so on.

Special Rule: Every Man For Himself (direct quote from Battle Missions)
All models operate as individual units in this mission, even if they were chosen as part of a squad or squadron. In addition, when a model shoots or fights in an assault it may split its attacks up amongst any eligible targets if desired.

I have double checked with Paul, and yes, this means that any kind of upgrade that would normally be given to an entire squad due to one model's presence will only be given to that model. The best example of this is Eldar Exarchs. A Dire Avenger Exarch with Defend, Bladestorm, and a Shimmershield will benefit from all those abilities, but none of the other Dire Avengers will. The same is true of Eldar Warlocks and their psychic abilities.

Paul has also added the rule that you may NOT take any model with an Armour Value. No vehicles, no dreadnoughts.

*********Everything below this comes from The Book of Tyler, and is even less official and more likely to be in error than the unofficial unannouncement above. It includes many opinions, which are in no way intended to be taken as "The Way It's Going To Be!!!" Just my thoughts and opinions regarding certain questions and things that have come up.

Once again, this is NOT an official store announcement. I would expect that to come from Mike once Paul has finished deciding on some of the rules. I expect this will be a very interesting, very entertaining tournament, and if you barely have the beginnings of a new army, this will still let you participate. Since Paul hasn't decided if he plans to include the Unit Painting competition yet, you may want to keep that in mind before purchasing anything too major. I don't know if he'll allow us to bring back a sealed box, or an unpainted unit, or if the purchase of a unit will be the entry fee.

I've also double-checked the book, and yes, the Leadership test is a *Leadership* test, not a Morale test. This means that even Fearless units will have to make the test, at least according to "Rules As Written". I know there are numerous, very solid arguments against this, and Paul may decide to run it otherwise, but much like taking a Warlock and giving 20 Guardians a permanent cover save, I'm of the opinion that it makes Fearless models FAR too powerful. Especially when you consider the steadily increasing negative modifier to the Leadership test.

Personally, I'd just come up with some other colorful piece of fluff to describe their "retreat". Death Company was recalled via teleport as the Battle Barge begins to leave orbit, or the hole in the warp through which the daemons came has just been closed... whatever works, these are just my ideas. In the case of 30 Orks on the table, you'd still have to take Ld tests when you hit 15 models, but you would start out taking them at Ld 10 (the maximum a stat can be boosted to), at least according to my understanding of the rules.

If you have questions about how a particular model or squad will run, due to unusual rules, I'd encourage you to let Paul know about it, so he has time to research the issue, get some opinions, and make a decision about it. I've had two questions regarding my armies, already. I didn't ask about the Legion of the Damned or about Chaos Daemons (ALWAYS starts in Reserves and enters via Deep Strike), but it may be worth doing beforehand so you don't feel cheated. I know the units state that they do this, even in missions that don't allow Deep Strike, but I could see it going either way. If they are allowed to Deep Strike, keep in mind that all your models will Deep Strike as individuals, not as one big unit.