Tale of X Gamers (X - To Be Determined)
Starts Tuesday 29th July
Phase 1 lasts till last Tuesday of September
Phase 2 lasts till last Tuesday of November
Phase 3 lasts till last Tuesday of January 2015
Phase 4 lasts till last Tuesday of March 2015
Phase 5 will last an as yet undetermined time...
Expanding an Army
The rules were originally designed for painting an army fresh, however some people would prefer to expand existing armies, so to allow for that...
At the start of each period each person must submit a list of what they wish to paint, coming to 500 points. This is what they will paint, in order to score that month. If they then wish to substitute out that model for other models in order to play a game for the bonus points (no super heavies in combat patrol Rich!) they are allowed to do so. Anything that is dropped out is held in reserve for the apoc game at the end. Thus if you already have a 2k painted army and wish to just add more stuff to it, you can paint whatever you want, just swap it to the apoc reserve and bring in your already painted troopers for any games we play.
Once swapped in the models you bring in stay in your army - thus whatever you bring for the combat patrol game will be part of the 1000 point game and the 1500 point tournament. This is to try to keep a level playing field between those who have a large already painted army behind them and those who are starting fresh.
The phases are detailed below.
Phase 1 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (painted by first Tuesday of October) , 0 for unpainted. Bonus 1 point available for getting a combat patrol game in. (not necessarily a ToXG competitor, anyone will do.)
Phase 2 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (painted by first Tuesday of December), 0 for unpainted. Bonus 3 points available for getting a test game against someone (not necessarily a ToFG competitor, anyone will do.)
Phase 3 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (painted by first Tuesday of February), 0 for unpainted. Also, will play a mini-league with each competitor playing each other competitor. League rankings will determine bonus points. This will take place early February (date TBD) I have yet to determine if we will do it over one Sunday or perhaps over a couple of Tuesdays.
Phase 4 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 points for late (painted by first Tuesday of April), 0 for unpainted. Bonus 2 points for modelling an objective marker. Further bonus 1 point for a further objective marker.
Phase 5 - As much extra as you wish for Apoc. Legendary Units, Super Heavies, whatever you like. Deadline is the day of the apoc game, probably late April or early May(date TBD). There will be no points available for painting, but simply put if it isn't painted you can't use it. Any units dropped from earlier 500 point blocks can be put back in here. All forces will join our standing 2000 point armies. The sides will be determined by the challenge organiser along the best lines he sees fit. Hopefully we’ll have some clear “goodies” and “baddies” that can team up, neutrals being assigned as needed... however if there are no clear easy sides to draw we will find another method, at random if necessary. Any difference in points will be covered by additional strategic assets for the poorer party. Scoring for this month will be 5 points for each person on the winning team. There will be an additional 5 points for the "Champion" of each team. This will be decided by completing a secret personal objective (so secret even their team mates aren't allowed to know!)
Additional Rules and Clarifications
The 500 points is the target. Give or take a few points that can be made up or dropped with wargear this is fine. Of course, in your test games you must have a legal army and the correct army value so bear that in mind when planning your forces. Your 1500 point army for the mini tournament will be made up of what you have painted thus far. *With Unbound now a thing, this is less of an issue*
If anyone chooses to paint extra throughout the challenge that is their prerogative. However you can’t hold it off against next month. If you present 650 points in phase 1 you still have to present 500 in phase 2. The advantages for doing extra are more tactical flexibility when planning for the phase 3 tournament and more forces ready for the final apocalypse game.
Imperial armour books are acceptable sources for miniatures, unit entries and army lists. Anything found within those pages shall be allowed to be entered as part of the contest and used in games therein (though obviously apoc only formations can’t be used till the apoc game) The person wishing to do this however MUST possess (or have access to) the Imperial Armour books required.
When it comes to games, weapons on models and anything that would normally be represented needs to be. Wargear that doesn't need to be represented can be varied.
If you go to the effort of making your weapons alterable, through magnets or whatever, you can make use of this flexibility. The conversion work and painting the extra guns is the price you pay. Note though that in the mini tournament you must stick to one weapon loadout throughout.
Finally, while wargear can be changed, when it comes to the mini tournament we will each submit a list. That is what we play to for ALL games.
Apocalyptic Finale
To finish our Tale of X Gamers we're having an apocalyptic showdown, and I thought I'd give fair warning ofsome rules we are using for this one.
For starters, all models MUST be painted. It is a painting challenge we've just finished after all. It doesn't matter when you painted them, or whether you're missing something you should have finished earlier, if it's painted you can use it, if it isn't then it doesn't exist as far as we're concerned.
The basic rules will be for a standard apoc game, though we will have personal missions. These will be written in advance and will be secret (even from our teammates) Revealing the mission before the end of the game means your mission is void. You will have the choice of three.
Claim most objectives in the enemy deployment zone.
Kill the highest value enemy independant character.
Destroy the highest value enemy legendary formation.
In the kill/destroy ones, the person who takes the last wound takes the prize, as keeping track of who did what damage is far too much work. If both players on a team complete their mission, whoever did the harder mission is named that sides champion.
The winning team will get 5 points each. The champion of each team will get 5 points each. Thus each player can score 0, 5, or 10. Only one player will score 10.
My target army for this challenge.
LOW - Ghaz - 225
HQ - Big Mek, Mega Armour, Kustom Mega Blasta, Power Klaw, Kustom Force Field, Da Lucky Stix, 1 Grot Oiler 1 Ammo Runt - 158
HQ - Painboy, grot orderly - 55
bonus HQ - Mek - 15
T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 20 Boyz shootas, Nob Bosspole - 155
T - 10 grots, runtherd - 35
E - 7 Meganobz, 3 Killsaws, 3 Kombi skorchas, 1 Bosspole - 330
ded tran - Battlewagon, ram, grot riggers, 4 big shootas, extra armour, boarding planks - 170
HS - Battlewagon, Deffrolla, 2 big shootas, grot riggers, boarding planks - 155
HS - Battlewagon, Deffrolla, 2 big shootas, grot riggers, boarding planks - 155
HS - 3 Mek guns, Traktor Kannons, each with +2 gretchin crew and an ammo runt -117
Now despite the Meganobz and their Battlewagon looking like a perfect 500 point period, I want to paint all my megaarmoured models at once... so that includes the Big Mek, Ghaz, and the spare Big Mek in Mega Armour with Tellyport Blasta I will build just in case I ever want to change thing up. Which is more than 500, which means other months will fall short. Luckily, I have some other models I can bolster my forces with, I just have to accept I shall paint more than 2000 points over the course of the challenge... oh well, at least I can use them in the finale!
So, my first months allotment is...
T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 10 grots, runtherd - 35
HS - 3 Mek guns, Traktor Kannons, each with +2 gretchin crew and an ammo runt -117
HQ - Mek - 15
FA Dakkajet extra super shoota - 130
All of which takes me just over 500 points. Not sure if the Mek will be allowed in combat patrol, if not I'll stick the flyboss upgrade on the dakkajet and roll it out instead.
In other news, everything I want for this army is bought. Some of it is still to be delivered (thank you Waitlong Games, speedy service as always, even Forge World have overtaken you with this project!) but hopefully that won't crimp my project too much. I also plan to paint the grots and ammo runts and things for the rest of the army during this period, as I intend to do all the grotskins in one batch for consistency.
