Black Spot #25

[ratatosk]

This newsletter is getting very irregular. As are the WARMACHINE / HORDES gaming sessions. Many of us have hundreds of RM invested into this hobby, but it's getting harder to find people to play with. Everyone seems to have moved on to another game hobby. (I am guilty of the latter.)

Anyway, I'll try to nudge the boulder of inertia a little. Maybe we can get the ball moving again with a new tournament at the end of July.

The tentative date is 25th July. Time and details to be confirmed soon. Do check this forum post to stay updated.

It'll be something new-ish. Different. And hopefully fun for all.

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Tournament - 25th July 2009
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This tournament is made possible thanks to Daiso, The Curve. Thanks to their RM5 kitchen timers. WGS now has 11 such timers.

Drawing from previous events... the most exciting ones had been multiplayer events. Previously can't do that often cos the downtime per player is a strongly negative play experience. But with a timer, that changes.

Tournament will be simple as possible.
500 pts. 2 rounds. Most VPs win.

Depending on how many show up, everyone will be divided into 3-5 players per table. Optimally 4 per table.

Everybody gets 1 kitchen timer with a clock set at 20-30min.

Player runs his clock down at the start of his turn, and stops it at the end of his turn. Next player then goes and runs down his clock.

When a player is out of time, he ends his turn and gets no more activations. ie. he's now sitting duck and will become free frag for whoever still has time on his clock. [Focus and Fury remains as is and no longer replenishes. Warlocks still channels his pain till he runs out of Fury. Other effects like WindRush and Icy Gaze lasts their normal duration. Knocked Down figs don't stand up.] All models still standing and not disabled are still at their base DEF. They are NOT stationary.

Units will give up half their VP value if it ends the game at half strength. The opponent who scored the most kills of that unit, gets the VP.
eg. 10 LongGunners are 2VP. Skorne kills 2, Circle kills 3. Circle gets 1VP at the end. If there's a tie, opponents split the VP. It's possible to get 0.5VP, or 0.33VP.

Oh, and just to make things more interesting.... Killing the Warcaster/Warlock does not disable/disperse the Warjacks/Warbeasts in play. You get that 5VP, but nothing more. Jacks and Beasts become autonomous and continue to fight until disabled/killed. Then, and only then, will the jacks/beasts yield up their VPs. I want to see a bloody scrum in the middle of the board, not some sneaky assassination then running off to a corner to hide.

In cases of rules/play disputes, I believe I can trust the sense of fair play and the maturity of the community. The other opponents that's not getting fragged will be mature enough to adjudicate minor play errors or LOS disputes.

Any larger disputes, the disputer better be prepared to run down his clock while it's resolved. And if it's in the disfavor of the owner of the model causing the dispute, then I MAY penalise him for bringing stuff that he doesn't understand to the table >.>

Out of turn movements are irritating, but it's not a good idea to start/stop the clock so much. You're just increasing the chance of making a mistake with your time. So sportsmanship will be the rule of the day. Try not to take more than 5seconds. And if all 3 opponents unanimously complain against a player, I may step in and give the guy a time penalty.

BTW, you will start and stop your own clock.
If you forget to stop your clock at the end of your turn, and your time bleeds away, too bad for you. Your opponent is not obligated to remind you to stop your time.
And if you conveniently 'forget' to START your clock at the beginning of the turn, then you'll steal that extra time, and profit from your opponent's lack of alertness.

Therefore, remember to STOP your clock, and make sure your opponent STARTs his IMMEDIATELY.
Therefore, it's quite possible that all 4 players might all run out of time before the 2hr mark is up. Or a game might take LONGER than 2hrs if someone steals enough time.
Thus we can tell which table has better sportsmen.

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Goodies to come
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Check out the Privateer Press website.

There's a new faction for WARMACHINE. The Retribution of Scyrah. Remember Eyriss the Magehunting skank? These are her friends.

We hope to see the launch of the book around September.

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And there's also going to be a new GRIND boardgame. It looks pretty. And it's a way to pick up a ton of plastic Warjacks. Sweetness.

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The HORDES 3rd Expansion: Metamorphosis has been out for a while already. Just saying in case some of you missed it. The stock level of the book at WGS seems barely touched.

I only managed to get my copy recently. There's plenty of goodness. Thagrosh gets stronger (elevated from a blister pack to a box packaging). Some tough looking unique Warbeasts. Everblight gets more teeth. Skorne gets more cheese. Trolls got more humour. And nobody still cares about Circle.

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Anyways, looking forward to Pressganging the coming tournament. Hoping to see new and old faces again.