Tired of the competitive 40k drama? Games Workshop has a downloadable GT packet they will be using in their own events starting next month!
The Games Workshop Grand Tournament is a fan favorite and will be kicking off October 14th. It’s going to consist of three heats with the third heat taking place February 2018, and the grand final taking place some time after that. Today we’re going to be taking a look at some of the rules and event details.
40k GT Downloadable Packet
THE HEATS AND GRAND FINAL
The Grand Tournament will consist of three heats and a grand final. Each heat is a tournament itself, an esteemed event with epic battles fought and worthy winners crowned. At the end of each heat we will rank players overall and the top 40 players from each heat will qualify for the grand final, a mighty achievement in itself. The grand final will consist of the top 120 players from heats 1-3. It will be held at the end of the season, and will establish the final rankings for the top Warhammer 40,000 players. The events are as follows:
· Heat 1 – 14th-15th October
· Heat 2 – 9th-10th December
· Heat 3 – 17th-18th February
· Grand Final – To be announced
The Grand Tournament is spread over a broad period of time, allowing people the most opportunity to make one of the heats no matter what their schedule looks like. The grand final will consist of the top 40 players from each heat, and the date will be announced at a later time.
EVENT ESSENTIALS
Rules: Warhammer 40,000 Matched Play (see pages 212-215 of the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook)
Army Size: 2,000 points
Missions: Eternal War
Number of games: Five
Army Selection: Battle-forged with a maximum of three Detachments
Publications in use: All current and in-print Warhammer 40,000 Index books and Codexes from Games Workshop and Forge World, unless their release falls on the weekend of the event. We expect you to use the most current datasheets for your models – e.g. those found in a Codex rather than an Index if a Codex is available for your army. This means that you may use Faction-appropriate Index datasheets that might not appear in your Codex (such as Chaplain on Bike).
Meals: Lunch is provided on both days.
The tournament will be made up of 2,000 point lists, running the Eternal War missions, five games, and all publications released prior to the weekend of the event will be will be allowed. Games Workshop does expect you to use the most current datasheets for your models. The most important thing to note on the Event Essentials section is that they will be providing lunch on both days! Free food definitely seems like a great incentive to play for us!
MODEL REQUIREMENTS
Playing exciting, atmospheric games with painted miniatures is a big part of our events at Warhammer World. With this in mind, all miniatures in your collection must be Citadel or Forge World miniatures, and be fully assembled, painted and based. Each model must completely and accurately represent its entry on your army roster (including all weapons and equipment).
Furthermore, you need to contact us to let us know about any conversions you are planning on using, and provide us with photos of the models in question where possible. Don’t worry – we fully appreciate spectacular modelling skills, but we just want to make sure everything is super clear for your opponent so that no confusion can arise during games.
To protect everyone’s experience, we will politely ask you to remove any models that don’t meet these standards.
Model requirements is usually one the big things with strict requirements when it comes to the tournament scene. Warhammer World will allow you to use converted models, but you are required to contact them ahead of time and provide pictures so they can make sure there is no confusion as to what model it represents so there is no confusion between you and your opponent. Furthermore, all models are required to be fully assembled, painted, and based. Only Citadel and Forge World miniatures will be allowed and they must fully represent their entry on your army roster.
This section goes over the finer details of what you’re expected to do on tournament day. It also gives a little more in depth look at tournament rules, which publications you can use, roster requirements and expectations, and how the missions for each round will be chosen. If you’re planning on attending you are going to want to familiarize yourself with this section before the event.
GRAND TOURNAMENT SCORES
Each heat or grand final of the Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament ranks players overall by a Grand Tournament score, or GT score for short. This is a combination of gaming, sportsmanship and army presentation scores. Your gaming score is based on the results of your games – you can achieve a maximum of 30 points here for winning all five games. You can then achieve a maximum of 10 points for sportsmanship and army presentation scores. These scores combined create your GT score. Your event card will contain spaces to record all the following information.
Gaming Scores
At the end of each game, you and your opponent will need to record your results on your event card, and then hand in your results to the event staff at the same time. We need you to do this as promptly as possible so that the next game can be organised straight away. Each game lasts two hours and thirty minutes, and once the game ends, you will have five minutes to record your result with the events team.
To determine the winner of each game, use the victory conditions as laid out in the mission. Once you know the result, you will record it on your event card using the following system:
• Win the game – 6 points
• Draw the game – 2 points
• Lose the game – 0 points
For each game you will also need to record on your event card the following victory conditions (if you achieve them), which will be used as tiebreakers should the need arise (see the Tiebreakers box, below).
• Slay The Warlord
• Linebreaker
• First Blood
• Points value of enemy units destroyed – this is the total, in points, of enemy units that have been destroyed. Any units not on the board at the end of the game count as destroyed.
Sportsmanship and Army Presentation Scores
Sportsmanship and army presentation scores are calculated by voting in the following two categories when you hand in your final results at the end of the heat or grand final. You get two votes in each category, and you must vote only for those players and armies you played against. This is also a secret ballot, so don’t let anyone see who you’ve voted for!
Favourite Game – You can vote for the two opponents you enjoyed playing against the most (note that you can’t vote for the same opponent twice!). Maybe they displayed excellent sportsmanship, perhaps they were positive and friendly, or it was generally a fun and engaging game.
Favourite Army – You can vote for the two armies you played against that you liked the look of the most (note that you can’t vote for the same army twice!). Excellent painting standards, a fantastic centrepiece model, spectacular conversions or overall theme may make up your mind.
Each vote you receive counts as one point towards your GT score – this means you can receive a maximum of five points for Favourite Game and five points for Favourite Army. Every player must use their four votes, as they are integral to the event. If you don’t vote, then you don’t rank!
As far as scoring goes you’ll get 6 points for winning the game, 2 points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. You’ll be using the Slay the Warlord, Linbreaker, First Blood, and destroyed units point values as victory conditions which will come in to play in the event of a tie. There will also be Sportsmanship and Army Presentation scores which will be players choice.
They also cover the prizes and painting competition for the event in the 40k Grand Tournament rules pack, so make sure you head over to the Warhammer World site and check those out if it’s something you’re interested in. It looks like this tournament season is really starting to shape up, and we look forward to seeing how the competition shapes up. Make sure you check back in with us for the latest updates on the Warhammer GT, we’ll be putting them out as soon as we get them.
Are you going to be attending the GT at Warhammer World? Let us know in the comments below.
