Chaos Wins!

Final Standings

Our latest tournament pitted 12 players fighting for the top prize with 1500 point armies. 9 of the armies featured some type of space marine variant with 3 of those being Chaos and another 3 the popular Blood Angels. Blood Angels, led by Mephiston, captured 2 of the top 3 slots in the Swiss and as of now are clearly the army to beat.

Place Name                          Score   Buch. Progr. Berg.

1    Alvarez, Sergio                2.5     5.5    5.0  4.25
2    Northover, Mike                2.5     4.5    5.0  3.25
3    Mann, John                     2.5     4.5    4.5  3.75
4    Rai, Andrew                    2       5.0    5.0  2.50
5    Shepard, Ryan                  2       4.0    4.0  1.50
6    Burdine, Patrick               1.5     5.0    3.5  1.25
7    Conversano, Ryan               1.5     3.0    2.0  0.50
8    Hausmann, Shawn                1       5.0    1.5  1.25
9    Joos, Levi                     1       4.5    3.0  0.00
10   Gianuzio, Josh                 1       3.5    1.5  0.75
11   Cheung, Ross                   0.5     5.5    1.0  0.50
12   Breen, Nathan                  0       4.0    0.0  0.00

The Winners:

First Place

Sergio Alvarez - Blood Angels



HQ

Mephiston

Troops

Assault Marines x 5 (Melta, Powerfist) w Razorback TL LasCannon
Assault Marines x 5 (Melta, Powerfist) w Razorback TL LasCannon
Assault Marines x 5 (Melta, Powerfist) w Razorback TL LasCannon
Scouts x 5 (Missile Launcher)

Heavy Support

Devastator Squad x 5 (Missile Launcher x4)

Fast Attack

Baal Predator (Flamestorm, HK Missile, Heavy Bolters)
Baal Predator (Flamestorm, HK Missile, Heavy Bolters)
Baal Predator (TL Assault Cannon, HK Missile, Heavy Bolters)



Second Place

Mike Northover - Chaos Space Marines




HQ

Abaddon the Despoiler
Daemon Prince (Wings, Mark of Tzeentch, Warptime, Wind of Chaos)

Troops

Plague Marines x 5 (Flamer x2)
Plague Marines x 5 (Melta x2) w Champion (Power Fist, Combi-Flamer)
Lesser Daemons x6

Heavy Support

Land Raider
Land Raider
Obliterators x2



Third Place

John Mann - Blood Angels

HQ

Mephiston

Troops

Assault Marines x 5 (Melta, Powerfist) w Razorback LasCannon, Plasma Cannon, Dozer Blade
Assault Marines x 5 (Flamer, Powerfist) w Razorback LasCannon, Plasma Cannon, Dozer Blade
Assault Marines x 5 (Melta, Inferno Pistol)

Heavy Support

Predator w AutoCannon, Lascannons
Predator w AutoCannon, Lascannons
Devastator Squad x 10 (4 Missile Launchers)

Elite

Furioso Dreadnaught (Magna-Grappler, Blood Talons) w Drop Pod
Brother Corbulo





Best Painted

Josh Gianuzio - Vostroyan Imperial Guard



HQ

Company Command Squad (Carapace Armor, Camo Cloaks, Sniper x4) w Master of Ordinance and Officer of the Fleet.

Troops

Veteran Squad (Grenadiers, Plasma x3)
Veteran Squad (Grenadiers, Plasma x3)
Veteran Squad (Grenadiers, Melta x2, Flamer) w Chimera (Heavy Bolter, Pintle Heavy Stubber)
Veteran Squad (Grenadiers, Melta x2, Flamer) w Chimera (Heavy Bolter, Pintle Heavy Stubber)

Heavy Support

Leman Russ Demolisher (Heavy Bolter, Plasma Sponsons, Pintle Heavy Stubber)

Fast Attack

Hellhound
Hellhound
Heavy Sentinel x 2 (Lascannon)











Remaining Lists:

Nathan Breen - Chaos Space Marines

HQ

Daemon Prince (Wings, Mark of Tzeentch, Warptime, Gift of Chaos)

Troops

Thousand Sons x8 and Sorceror (Wind of Chaos)
Thousand Sons x8 and Sorceror (Doombolt)
Chaos Space Marines x 10 w Aspiring Champion (Power Weapon, Plasma Gun, Meltabombs)

Heavy Support

Defiler

Fast Attack

Chaos Spawn x 1

Elite

Chaos Terminators x 6 (Chainfist, Autocannon, Icon)
Chaos Dreadnaught (Plasma Cannon)


Patrick Burdine - Space Marines

HQ

Pedro Kantor

Troops

Scouts x 5 (Camo Cloaks)
Scouts x 5 (Camo Cloaks)

Heavy Support

Thunderfire Cannon
Thunderfire Cannon
Predator (Auto Cannon, HB Sponsons)

Elite

Sternguard Veteran x 5 (2 Lascannons, Combi Melta) w Rhino
Sternguard Veteran x 5 (2 Lascannons) w Rhino
Assault Terminators x 5 (THSS x4) w Land Raider Crusader (Multi Melta, Extra Armor)

Ross Cheung - Dark Angels

HQ

Master of Deathwing

Troops

Terminator Squad x 5 w Apothecary (Assault Cannon)
Terminator Squad x 5 (Lightning Claws x3 , THSS, Heavy Flamer)
Terminator Squad x 5 (Assault Cannon)

Heavy Support

Land Raider
Land Raider

Elite

Dreadnaught

Ryan Conversano - Blood Angels

HQ

Mephiston

Troops

Assault Marines x 10 w Sergeant (Melta x2)
Assault Marines x 10 w Sergeant (Melta x2)
Assault Marines x 5

Heavy Support

Vindicator (Demolisher Cannon, Storm Bolter)

Fast Attack

Baal Predator (TL Assault Cannons, HB Sponsons)
Baal Predator (TL Assault Cannons, HB Sponsons)
Baal Predator (Flamestorm Cannon)

Elite

Sanguinary Priest




Shawn Hausmann - Space Marines

HQ

Lysander

Troops

Tactical Squad x 5 (Meltagun, LasCannon, Powerfist) w Rhino
Tactical Squad x 5 (Meltagun, LasCannon, Powerfist, Melabombs) w Rhino

Heavy Support

Land Raider (Extra Armor)
Predator (Assault Cannon, HB Sponsons)
Devastator x 5 (4 Missile Launcher)

Elite

Terminator x 5 (Assault Cannon)









Levi Joos - Orks

HQ

Warboss (Cybork, Heavy Armor, Attack Squig, Power Klaw)
Big Mek (Kustom Force Field)

Troops

Nobs x 8 w Heavy Armor, Cybork Bodies, and Painboy (Power Klaw x 2, Big Choppa x 2, Combi Rockitt x 2, Bosspole x 3, Waagh Banner, Ammo Runt x 2)
18 Shoota Boys (Rockitt) w Nob (Power Klaw, Boss Pole)
18 Shoota Boys (Rockitt) w Nob (Power Klaw, Boss Pole)

Heavy Support

Battlewagon (Deffrolla, Kannon, Boarding Plank, Red Paint)
Battlewagon (Deffrolla, Kannon, Boarding Plank, Red Paint)
Battlewagon (Deffrolla, Kannon, Boarding Plank, Red Paint)

Elite

Lootas x 14







Andrew Rai - Chaos Space Marines

HQ

Daemon Prince (Mark of Slaanesh, Lash of Submission, Wings)

Troops

Chaos Space Marines x 10 (Plasma x 2, Icon) w Champion (Power Fist) w Rhino
Chaos Space Marines x 10 (Melta, Flamer, Icon) w Champion (Power Fist) w Rhino
5 Lesser Daemons
5 Lesser Daemons

Heavy Support

Predator (Autocannon, HB Sponsons)
Obliterator
Obliterator

Elite

Chosen x 5 (Melta x2, Power Fist, Icon) w Rhino
Terminators x 3 (Combi Melta x2, Heavy Flamer, Chainfist, Powerfist)
Terminators x 3 (Combi Melta x2, Autocannon, Chainfist, Powerfist)






Ryan Shepard - Tyranids

HQ

Tyranid Prime (Bone Sword x2 , Toxin Sacs)

Troops

Termagaunts x 11
Termaguants x 10
Tervigon (Catalyst, Toxin Sacs)
Tervigon (Catalyst, Toxin Sacs)

Heavy Support

Tyranofex (Rupture Cannon)

Fast Attack

Harpy (TL Heavy Venom Cannon Toxin Sacs)
Harpy (TL Heavy Venom Cannon Toxin Sacs)

Elite

Hive Guard x2
Hive Guard x2
Hive Guard x2

After a great weekend, another tournament is in the bag.

The List:

1998 Points

HQ:

Company Command Squad (Meltagun x4; Chimera (w/ Heavy Bolter))

Elite:

Inquisitor (Emperor's Tarot, Psychic Hood, Hierophant x2, Mystic x2; Chimera (w/ Multilaser, Heavy Bolter)

Troops:

Platoon Command Squad (Flamer x4; Chimera (w/ Heavy Bolter))
Infantry Squad (Grenade Launcher x1; Chimera (w/ Heavy Flamer))
Infantry Squad (Grenade Launcher x1; Chimera (w/ Heavy Flamer))
Infantry Squad (Grenade Launcher x1; Commissar)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Autocannon x3)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Autocannon x3)
Veteran Squad (Demolition Charge; Melta Bombs; Meltagun x3; Demolitions; Chimera (w/ Heavy Flamer))

Fast Attack:

Vendetta Gunship
Vendetta Gunship
Valkyrie (MRP)

Heavy Support:

Hydra Flak Tank Battery (Hydra Flak Tank x3)
Manticore Rocket Launcher (w/ Heavy Flamer)
Manticore Rocket Launcher (w/ Heavy Flamer)

The Results:

For starts, my organizer based Army Comp, used for Game 1 and Game 2 pairings, was 8.5, with my peers having a high of 12.5 and a low of 2 so I was right in the middle. Other armies with an 8.5 were a Dark Eldar list, a Tau list, and another Imperial Guard list.

With an 8.5, my first opponent was Silas Burdick and his Dark Eldar. This was a great first game. I had a chance to play against Silas' Dark Eldar at the Broadside Bash earlier this year and it was great and this game was no different. Much like the results of the Broadside Bash, due to my poor generalship and his good generalship, I lost this first match. The mission was a modified Dawn of War with 3 Objectives. For objectives, it was a draw. However, I wasn't paying attention to the secondary objectives, for which I could have easily obtained, but space out. I lose 7-10. A great game against a great opponent.

My next opponent was Wayne Kaufman. Amazing, he also was playing Dark Eldar. This was also a Army Comp pairing and Wayne had a score of 9, higher means the list was "less hard." This was a reverse kill points mission. I initially had initiative, but my opponent siezed. Base on some of my scout moves that put me in a compromising position, I thought that I might be in trouble. However, my opponent had a run of bad luck and I survived the first turn unscathed. In response, I made short work oh his army. I win 13-1. I missed out on most of the secondary and bonus objectives, but I was happy with the results.

My third game was the first battle point paired mission and I was paired up with Jeff Kaminsky and his Chaos Space Marines. This was a modified pitched battle, "destroy" objectives, mission. I won initiative. Jeff had initially decided to hold everything in reserve, but I reminded him that if he holds everything in reserve, with my skimmer scouts that hold troops, that I would destroy his objectives before he even had a chance to be on the board, and gave him a chance to change his mind, which he did. In the future, I have decided to just take the win, but I really didn't want to win that way. So with the revised deployment, we had a hard fought battle and tied 9-9.

Game 4 was against my good friend Ryan Shephard and his Imperial Guard. This mission was about getting points for detroying all units in a each of the Elite, Troop, Fast Attack, and Heavy FOC slots. Unfortunately, there was also a preliminary bombardment aspect of the mission that left 90% of my vehicles stunned on round 1. As a result, I was fighting an uphill battle, but managed to eek out a loss but at 12-15.

My last game was agaist Sergio Alvarez' Blood Angels. This was a Spearhead Slaughter Style kill points, with Table Quarters as secondary, mission. I won initiative and the Blood Angels tried to hide. Unfortunately for the Blood Angels, the Manticore don't care where you hide and I managed to severly hurt their mobility for the rest of the game and slowly grinded through most of his army resluting in a win, 16-4.

The total was 57 battle points, which gave me 9th out of 28 in battle points.

For Opponent Scored Sportsmanship, I got a 29 out of 30. I am not sure who dinged me, but I did do an illegal scout move in game 2, which was later corrected, but I can see how I could have deserved a rules ding. Mistakes happen, but it is a tournament and I need to pay better attention.

For Opponent Scored Comp, I got a 24 out of 30. This didn't surprise me, until I noticed that the average was around 29 and that I had the second lowest opponent scored comp at the tournament. Just more evidence towards how arbitrary it really is.

My paint score was 27 out of 40. This didn't surprise me and was better than what I got at Broadside Bash, so I guess I am happy with it. I know my vehicles are a bit bland, being mostly brown and most of the detail is really subdued. I really prefer the natural, grimy, look for my renegades, and I am still a novice (color blind) painter. So I'll take what I can get.

This gave me a total of 137 points and 14th overall.

I seem to have a knack for scoring middle of the pack. There is definitely room for improvement.

I can't control comp, and I can't control sportsmanship, but I definitely and going to try to become a better painter, and I already noted all of the mistakes I made during play to help me improve my generalship.

* Never forget the secondary objectives, if they exist.
* Don't give a win away. Remember its tournament and play to win. Be nice while doing it, but don't absorb someone elses mistakes, since odds are they won't do the same.
* I've done my scout moves so many times, I should never forget the 12" space. No excuses for shoddy play.

In chess tournaments winners are usually paired with winners and strength of schedule matters. In 40k this isn't always the case because the Swiss pairing system isn't always used.

Swiss pairing is one of the most common ways to run competitive tournament games. It is commonly used for chess tournaments, and also bridge, backgammon, and Magic: The Gathering.

40k tournaments eschew Swiss pairing and instead use a variety of methods for pairing. Some are based on army composition scores. Some are based on schedule strength, and some completely random. Many tournaments use any and all of these but almost none of them use pure Swiss pairings.

These inconsistencies in how pairings are done at tournaments can really warp a meta-game. Quality lists are often comp paired with other "competitive" lists in the early rounds of grand tournaments. This forces players with top tier lists to play against each other in the early rounds regardless of tournament performance, and forces players with low tier lists to do the same. The result in later rounds when comp pairing is abandoned are often bizarre mismatches of highly competitive and low competitive lists. When the battle point blowout scores are then factored in things can really get out of hand.

True Swiss pairings always randomize the pairings in round 1, and then pair off winners in the later rounds. This results in the players with the best results playing each other as the tournament progresses.

Can Swiss pairings and win, lose or draw scoring be applied to 40k tournaments? Most certainly. The challenge is putting together a functional tie-breaker system that is satisfactory to players. One component of Swiss pairings is that the more players you have the more rounds you need to play. In 40k, especially at the RTT level, this is often not possible. However, if proper scoring methods and proper tie breakers are employed then most tournaments winners can be determined fairly.

For scoring, points are awarded based on a win, loss, or tie result. In sanctioned chess tournaments, 1 point is granted for a win, .5 point for a tie, and 0 for a loss. This is a system that can also be easily applied to 40k. Unlike many 40k tournaments, massacre scoring or margin of victory scoring is not relevant in this type of scoring system. All that is relevant is a win, loss or tie.

Tiebreakers are always employed using a priority method. You determine which tiebreakers are going to be used and then assign a priority to each. If the first tiebreaker cannot determine a winner because that tiebreaker is also a tie, then you go to the second tiebreaker and so on down the line.

In our recent RTT we employed the following tiebreaker methods in the order listed:

1. Head to Head
2. Solkhoff
3. Cumulative
4. Sonneborn-Berger
   

The above methods are commonly used in competitive Swiss tournaments. The explanations are as follows.

Head to Head: This one is straight forward. If two opponents played each other during the tournament but happen to finish the tournament with an identical record, then the winner of their game becomes the tiebreaker.

This one is obvious, completely fair, and can resolve a tie between two 2-1 records quite easily. However it may not be applicable if the two players don't play each other or if they play each other and tie their game.

Solkhoff: Outside of chess circles this is more widely known as the strength of schedule tie breaker. The better the results of a players opponents' during the tournament the higher the Solkhoff score will be.

Cumulative: Cumulative scoring places more weight on games won in the early rounds of the tournament and less weight on later rounds. The rationale for this system is that a player who scored well early in the tournament has most likely faced tougher opponents in later rounds and should therefore be favored over a player who scored poorly in the start before subsequently scoring points against weaker opponents.

Sonneborn-Berger: This is essentially a modified version of the Solkhoff tiebreaker method, but places less weight on ties.

More explanation on the above along with additional tie breaker methods can be found here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tie-breaking_in_Swiss_system_tournaments

With 4 tie-breakers used, the chances of an actual tie that cannot be broken at the end of tournament are rare. In our most recent RTT we did end up going to tiebreakers. This was to be expected in a tournament with only 3 rounds of Swiss and Eleven players. Both players finished the tournament 2-0-1 and their tie was against each other. This made the head to head tiebreaker moot so we moved onto Solkhoff where it was determined one player had a tougher schedule than the other. While this might disappoint the second place player with this result, it was pointed out to him that he did have an opportunity to win the tournament outright had he simply won his game against the champion instead of tying.

One major competitive drawback of 40k tournaments are their scoring methods. The typical RTT or GT doesn't use a simple win, lose or draw result and then award points accordingly like in Chess or Magic: The Gathering. Instead it incorporates "battle point" scoring where points are carried over from round to round and a running tally is given. Winning and losing is secondary to simply how many battle points are scored in each game. What earns battle points? Wins will almost always grant these, but losses do too. Ultimately it's up to the tournament organizer. Defined secondary objectives can grant points, like killing HQ's or certain force organization slots (what if your opponent has few or none of these?). Often the margin of victory is also employed. If you blow out your opponent you are awarded a much higher battle point total than if you simply edge out the enemy. In 40k tournament play, a win isn't just a win.

The problem with this scoring method is that it skews the meta-game. Certain army types will excel at secondary objectives. Other army types will not even if in a straight up match the army list proves competitive. Some army types and codices can massacre enemies far more easily that others, thus racking up larger margin of victory awards. Some mission types can thwart massacre victories and prevent this just the same. Because of these types of scoring players are punished from taking certain types of lists. Just winning is no longer important, blowing out your opponent becomes the primary objective and players will alter their play or their army lists to satisfy that. Even worse, players who are paired with lesser generals with uncompetitive lists are rewarded with a greater chance at blowout victories. Players who play against quality opponents are punished because not only are victories harder to come by, but when you do win the margin is usually much tighter. In 40k tournament play, playing good players can crush your battle point scores. Playing scrubs can send you to the final tables.

In 40k tournament play where battle points are present, you want to play an army that can table opponents completely, and you want to prey on lesser generals to rack up your battle point scores. Playing to win isn't good enough, you want to play for the blowout. Until tournament organizers change how battle points are scored, the meta-game will favor certain army types that have a propensity to massacre, favor certain generalship styles that reward reckless deployment strategies and encourage favorable tournament pairings where generals with win at all cost armies get a golden ticket to play incompetent players with suboptimal lists.

The Sprue Posse presents the:

SPRUE POSSE OPEN

5^th Edition Warhammer 40k Tournament

Saturday, April 24^th, 11:00 AM

Hosted by

Aero Hobbies and Games

1500 Points

3 Rounds Swiss-System

INAT FAQ*

Unpainted Models Allowed; WYSIWYG

Standard Missions from the 5^th Edition Rulebook

To be announced on day of tournament

Prize Support for Best General

Prize Support for Best Painted

$10 entry fee!

Limited Seating!

Sign Up at Aero Hobbies

Please submit a typed army list to the tournament organizer on the day of the tournament.

*INAT FAQ is the independent national tournament FAQ located here:

http://www.adepticon.org/wpfiles/inat/INATFAQv3.3.pdf

Aero Hobbies and Games

2918 Santa Monica Boulevard #3
Santa Monica, CA 90404

(310) 828-5264

Questions? Please contact Mark at markemn@yahoo.com

I have recently been considering starting an Ork army. I started before the FAQ update regarding the use of Deff Rollas, and was initially considering a heavy bike list. I have had the fortune of obtaining some Biker Nobz and had a friend paint them up. However, I knew this list was more of a novelty list and not really a consistently competitive list and wanted to fill it out with Lootas, Wagons, and more, but the new FAQ sort of forced me to change my line of thinking. I have been asking myself, how do I create a fun, story driven, competitive Speed Freak army?

My initial thoughts center around 3 Battlewagons with Deff Rollas, Red Paint Job, Boarding Planks, and Grabba Klaws. With Wazdakka and a KFF Big Mek as part of that core. The rest would be filled out with Lootas, Bikes, Boyz, and I might try to wedge in a small Nob Biker squad.

Still just thinking out loud, but its approaching my time for a new army.