I am posting today to begin a series of articles which, at their end, will hopefully help to hammer out the rules pack and missions for Skibbcon V. We're looking for comments and criticisms to help with mission and basic rules. Before I start I would like to thank all the people who wrote rules packs that we robbed loads of ideas and scoring charts etc from. Ye are fierce sound. The Skibbcons are the SWG's events held every June. It originally started off as a singles event - Report here then we changed to a doubles event, for logistical reasons - Report here.
A couple of things will not change about Skibbcon V. It'll still be an all-inclusive weekend in Russagh Mill, it'll still be a doubles event with each team bringing 3 1000pt armies. Each team will use different combinations of those 3 armies to make a 2000pt armies for each of the 5 games, just like Skibbcon IV. In regards to drinking (aka the important part) there will be, as always, a flagrant disregard for moderation and basic liver health.
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| He's just gearing up for Game 4. |
Now outside of necrotic livers, what Skibbcon is known for is coming up with new and different rules. As such this year we will be changing the rules regarding the Force Org chart that we've used in previous years. We had used a system where if you wanted a second Heavy Support you must have taken an Elite and a Fast Attack. We're thinking of using a system that works like this:
1-2
Hqs
2-4
Troops
0-2
Elites
0-2
Fast
0-2
Heavy
0-1
Fortification
A
unit takes up 2 slots in the chart if it has a Dedicated Transport
and/or costs more than 199 points.
Note: A
unit can cost more than 199 points AND have a transport but still
takes up only 2 slots.
If
a troops takes up 2 slots it does not count as your mandatory 2
troops choices.
If
a unit does not take up a slot on the Force Org Chart (SM Command
Squad or Necron Royal Court) then add it's points cost to the points
cost of the unit used to unlock it (SM Captain or Necron Overlord)
and can cause it to be worth more that 199 points and thus take up
two Force Org Chart slots.
As
there is only one fortification slot, the fortification cannot exceed
199 points.
As we're dealing with 1000pt armies, no Lords of War or anything with a D weapon.
Squadrons
and units of Monstrous Creatures are limited to 1 model.
This year we will also be awarding just as many points for army appearance as we are for how well you do in your games. So to win Skibbcon you'll have to be very good at the game and have a beautiful looking army. The whole package or the Dave Chambers, as it's known. We have assembled a team of judges to rank each team by the appearance of their 3 armies. They will be looking at everything. This includes but is not limited to painting, converting or the fluff you can create if you want. There are no hard rules as to what will get you the points so that a good painter who dislikes converting has as much of a chance as a person who loves converting but may lack painting skill.
We
have tried to vary the judges as much as possible. One is renowned
for his painting skill so values painting techniques, one is a player
so is looking for fluffy combinations and conversions. One is not a
player but enjoys model painting therefor is just looking for things that look cool, whether they are
conversions or not etc.
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| I made an assembling team reference so I had to throw this up. |
Also this year we will be adding in new primary and secondary missions. There will be a lot going on in each game but hopefully having two people on each team will allow for proper coordination and cover every base.
The
scoring for the SkibbCon
Scenarios is done using rulebook VP's.
Total
the VP's
gained from the mission, any secondary missions plus any other way
you may have of gaining VP's(Killing
Heavy Support in Big Guns Never Tire, Legendary Fighter or similar
Warlord traits etc).
Each
player counts their mission points and subtracts the opponent's
mission points and consults the table bellow:
Difference +0 / -0 Battle points 10 / 10
Difference 1 or 2 / -1 or -2 Battle points 11 / 9
Difference 3 or 4 / -3 or -4 Battle points 12 / 8
Difference 5 or 6 / -5 or -6 Battle points 13 / 7
Difference 7 or 8 / -7 or -8 Battle points 14 / 6
Difference 9 or 10 / -9 or -10 Battle points 15 / 5
Difference 11 or 12 / -11 or -12 Battle points 16 / 4
Difference 13 or more / -13 or less Battle points 17 / 3
Difference +0 / -0 Battle points 10 / 10
Difference 1 or 2 / -1 or -2 Battle points 11 / 9
Difference 3 or 4 / -3 or -4 Battle points 12 / 8
Difference 5 or 6 / -5 or -6 Battle points 13 / 7
Difference 7 or 8 / -7 or -8 Battle points 14 / 6
Difference 9 or 10 / -9 or -10 Battle points 15 / 5
Difference 11 or 12 / -11 or -12 Battle points 16 / 4
Difference 13 or more / -13 or less Battle points 17 / 3
Then
compute Army Points (APs) difference and
augment the score accordingly:
1500-2000
is +3 / -3
1000-
1499 is +2 / -2
500-999
is +1 / -1
0-499
is +0 / -0
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| This guy knows. |
That's the basic idea for the rules at Skibbcon V. I will be making more posts with the primary and secondary mission we've created. The next one, level 2, will contain our ideas for secondary missions. Please do let us know what you think either in the comments or emailing skibbcon(at)gmail.com.
A couple of comments,
ReplyDeleteIt might be value added to increase the deterrent to bring death star lists. The few 1000 highlander style event sI have seen in germany folks are opting to go deathstar X00 point in one unit with attached character(s) and some cheerleaders. The games tend to be one dimensional and slightly boring.
Regarding the mission it might be worth taking a look at some of the adepticon team event (4 players in two teams of two) they are geared towards doubles play and offer some great challenges eg one mission is kill points but only one player, picked by the opposing teams, gives up the kill points.
Also on Adepticon, did you ever think of having teams doubles events? Basically the teams can switch their doubles partner from game to game within team it is a nice dynamic where you try to get out play your opponents in picking the right pairs and getting the right match ups.
Hey Darragh,
DeleteThanks for your comments. About death stars, I think that the format of the tournament will actually make death stars not a viable option. This has to do with a few things that I was going to put in future posts.
Each of the missions we've created for the tournament has attached the type of allies that your armies will be. In mission A you are Allies of Convenience but in mission B you're Desperate Allies. This would mean you can't build your lists to create one death star as in most missions it doesn't work. Meaning you're bring a death star from a 1000pt list to a 2000pt game.
Also, we are using a pairing mechanic that at the beginning of each game each team swaps written copies of their 3 lists and ye secret write down which of the 2 1000pt armies you want your opponents to play this round. There are also a couple of other things going on, secondary missions etc and I'll be throwing up the next post within the next 2 days.
I will definitely be looking at that Adepticon rulespack, sounds very interesting.
As for teams of 4, with the format that Skibbcon is it would be very difficult as you would need a very specific number of players. An issue we have each year is that we need 3 people from the Skibbwargamers to not play and bye-bust as you need a number of players divisible by 4 so everyone gets their games. Teams of four would only compound the problem. Its a very interesting concept.
What kind of a deterrent would you have been thinking of?