Diviners of Fates

Farseer Ullsandir sat cross legged in the center of Hall of Seers, he was ringed by nine stones of scrying, each one carved with a single rune of foresight. The stones in turn were ringed by nine of his brothers and sisters of the path. Each of the outer nine combed through the threads of fate, looking at the possible futures of  Craftworld Alaitoc. They then sent there visions to filter through Ullsandir in the center, combining all of their separate visions as one and eliminating those seen not be to be true.

Autarch Illithrys stood alone outside the Hall of Seers, impatient, but unmoving. He waited as he had everyday for the last twenty days. The path of the seer remained an enigma to him as he had not walked its path before, but he understood its need to the Craftworld. It was not uncommon for the council to commune for days at a time when the threads of fate were difficult to discern, but this is the first time he has ever waited this long.

When Ullsandir stepped out of the Hall of Seers, Illithrys knew that he would be taking the Craftworld to war, The seers posture said it all before he spoke.

"The Devourer approaches, and the Young King must be chosen".

"We must not become Iyanden, what have the fates shown you"?

"The Monkeigh have a destruction device that we must capture and use against them while they are engaged against the Devourer".

"So distasteful, that we must use their primative technology to destroy our enemies".

"That is not the worst of it".

"What could be worse than lowering ourselves to using Monkeigh weapons"?

"You must go and speak to our dark brethren, we will need them in the coming assualt".

Just before dawn the defenders of Defense Complex Tetra II on Dependence were awakened to sound of alarms. The complex was coming under attack.

Bash in the New Year: Warhammer 40k Tournament

This January 17th 2015, A-Z Gaming Club will host the first Wargamers in Japan event linked with Frontline Gaming's Independent Tournament Circuit (ITC). More info on ITC .

The Event will be held at the Camp Zama Community Club at 1000 am. Registration to begin at 0900am.

 

There are a total of 32 open slots available for this Tournament
There is a $25 entry fee per participant

Those that live locally can make it to Camp Zama by walking from Odakyu lines Sobudaimae station to the back gate the morning of the event. Map.
You can plan your train schedule here to make your travel plans.

Attendees that are in the military traveling from out of area can make reservations at the Zama Army Lodge
Attendees not in the military can make a reservation at a local hotel. Machida is the largest local area for reservations or Yokohama is also within a 20-30 minute travel. Hotels.

Anyone coming in from out of country should know that not all places in Japan accept American Credit and ATM cards. If you wish to withdrawal money the best place is to do it at the Japanese Post Office or Seven-Eleven (called 7 and I holdings).

All NON-Military are required to bring your Passport or Gaijin Card to gain access to the base. Passport is the best option.





Warhammer 40,000 Tournament

Format

There are a total of 32 open slots available for this Tournament
There is a $25 entry fee for participants



1500 point limit.

2 Detachments Total. You may take any 2 detachments you wish, but may not repeat any detachments.

• Detachments may be produced from a maximum of one Codex / Codex Supplement
• Example – You may not selectively include units within one Combined Arms Detachment from both Codex: Eldar and Codex Supplement: Iyanden, despite them being within the same Faction per the Detachment creation rules in the 40k Rulebook.
• Exception – Units that are added to various Factions by means other than the primary or supplemental Codex are exceptions (i.e., Dataslate Characters, Forgeworld 40K approved units where they are permitted, etc.).
• Codex Supplements will be considered their own Faction, ie. Farsight Enclave, Black Legion, Crimson Slaughter, Militarum Tempestus and Legion of the Damned, etc.
• In the case of a Forge World unit having a profile in a Forge World book and Codex or Codex Supplement, the rules in the Codex or Codex Supplement are always used.
• Forgeworld is in as long as it meets the requirements below (just in case you didn't notice that already).
• Codex: Imperial Knight count towards your LOW allowance as well as any other detachment requirements.

• 0-1 Codex Specific Detachment (CSD) or Combined Arms Detachment (CAD

• 0-1 Allied Detachment
• Your Allied Detachment may be the same faction as your  CSD or CAD.

• 0-1 Formation
• See the Black Library for examples of Formations.
• No Fortification or Apocalypse Formations will be allowed.
• All formations must abide by the allies rules in the BRB.

• 0-1 Fortification 
• All of the rules may be found in the Stronghold Assault supplement.
• The following fortifications are allowed:
• Aegis Defence Line
• Imperial Bastion
• Skyshield Landing Pad
• Wall of Martyrs : Firestorm Redoubt, Imperial Bunker, Defence Emplacement, Defence Line, or Vengeance Weapons Battery
• The following upgrades can be purchased: ammo store, booby trap, escape hatch, magos machine spirit, searchlights, ammunition dump, comms relay, gun emplacement with either Icarus lascannon or quad-gun 

• 0-1 Lord of War
• Limited to 25% of the army (375pts)
•  special character LOW's provided in codices may be used.

We will be using the scoring system from Frontline Gaming to score and rank the tournament.

Every scenario has a total of 10 possible points.

Whoever has the most points at the end of the game, wins. Equal points is a tie.

The tournament is W/L/D format, with accumulated points used to determine standings within a given final bracket. For example, if you end the event with a 4-2 record, you will be ranked within that bracket according to how many battle points you accumulated throughout the event. The official scoring is 1,000pts for a win, 500pts for a tie and then accumulated points within the game. So, a player with a 3-0 record who accumulated 6 points in each of his 3 games would end with a final score of (3,018points). We score it this way so that the W/L/D record trumps accumulated points, but points earned throughout the tournament matter in determining your precise ranking in the event.

Pairings are Swiss style, based on strength of schedule.

The top 4 players after 3 rounds will play in the final that day to determine

We will be using Missions 1 through 4 of the LVO/BAO missions. You can find the information for those missions on Frontline Gaming's Website

Rules Judgments

Rules issues will be dealt with swiftly by a roaming judge. Rules questions will be handled in this order.

1. Main Rule Book
2. FAQs and Erratas
3. ITC FAQ
   1. Please note, the change to the 2+ reroll save is still in effect. Ie., any save of any type of a 2+ that can be rerolled are failed on the second roll of a 1,2 or 3.
4. All rule judgments are final! Do not argue with the judge!

Painting

All models must be painted to a 3 color minimum. We count primer as a color. If you have any models that are not painted to a 3 color minimum, you will be ineligible for prize support at the end of the event. Your paint score is determined by the paint judge.

Sports

Sportsmanship will be handled as a simple thumbs-up, thumbs-down check box on the results sheet.

The temptation to ding someone on sports after a tough loss is often too much for many players to resist. We therefore are providing a very narrowly defined set of terms under which a player may mark their opponent with a thumbs down mark on sportsmanship. This system is intended to punish those who are being abusive, but to not allow chimpmunking. After a great deal of real world use, we have found this system to work very well.

Legitimate reasons to give an opponent a thumbs down on sports:

1. Your opponent was 15 or more minutes late to the round.
2. Your opponent was verbally abusive. This does not mean you argued with your opponent or that your personalities clashed, but that they were verbally abusive and insulting.
3. Your opponent intentionally cheated. Be prepared to support your case to a judge.
4. Your opponent slow played. We define slow playing as not completing 3 game turns of play.
   1. In the case of 20 or less minutes left to play, divide the time remaining between players to complete one full GAME turn. Time each other during this period to ensure that each player has an equal amount of time to complete a full game turn. If one player does not finish within their limit, the other player can force them to stop and then begin their turn. This mechanic is in place to ensure no one is slow played out of a turn of play.

What does NOT constitute a thumbs down on sports?

1. You argued over rules with your opponent.
2. Your opponent beat you.
3. You didn’t like your opponent’s army.

A negative mark on sportsmanship will be met with administrative action as follows:

1. First thumbs down: A verbal warning from a judge, up to reversing a win to a loss.
2. Second thumbs down: Reversing a win to a loss, up to disqualification from any prize support.
3. Third thumbs down: disqualification from any prize support, up to expulsion from the event with no refund of the ticket price.
4. Fourth thumbs down: Expulsion from the event with no refund of the ticket price.

WYSIWYG 

All models are expected to be WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) as much as is reasonable. Proxies are not permitted. "Counts As" armies with counts as allies will only be permitted if they represent a clearly concerted effort to build a unique army around an obvious theme. For example, an Adeptus Mechanicus army using extensive kit bashing and conversions will be fine.

If you go this route, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A HANDOUT TO TO GIVE TO YOUR OPPONENT THAT SHOWS WHAT EACH UNIT IN YOUR ARMY IS ALONG WITH ITS STATS AND PERTINENT RULES! You must also present this to them prior to the game so that they have time to understand what they are playing against. There will be no exceptions to this.

If your army uses only a single Codex but if for example you have Crimson Fists models using the Blood Angels Codex, or Chaos models using the Space Wolves Codex, that is acceptable. Allies for this type of army however, MUST be represented by their actual models. This is to avoid confusion. No exceptions.

If you are using converted or scratch built models with Forge World rules, this is acceptable so long as your model is as close to the represented model as possible in terms of equipment, size and shape. We will not be lenient with this.

If you have any questions about your army, ask us prior to the event so that we can let you know if what you have will be acceptable or not.

Summoned models must be accurately represented! Again, counts as in a clearly themed list are allowed, but proxies are not.

Modeling for Advantage

There is a fine line between creative freedom and modeling for advantage. We do not wish to stifle anyone’s creativity, but in the end, this is a game that relies heavily upon the physical characteristics of the models being used.

Modeling for advantage will be handled on a case by case basis. To resolve a possible abusive situation, follow these steps:

1. Ask the player to play the model as if it were a GW standard, modern version.
2. Call a judge to ask for a judgement.
3. Possibly substitute the model with an appropriate replacement.

Examples of what we consider modeling for advantage:

1. Using out of date and inappropriately sized models such as the rogue trader era Eldar Avatar (which currently is a large, monstrous creature model but back then, was the size of a Space Marine, which would now grant huge advantages due to being so much smaller) or Gorka Morka Trukks (which are less than half the size of modern versions). If an army is made predominantly of Rogue Trader era minis (or any era) and is clearly going for a theme, then exceptions will be made. If it appears to a judge that the player is in fact modeling for advantage, then action will be taken.
2. Increasing or decreasing the size of models to gain an advantage in gaining or granting cover. Custom Battle Wagons often fall into this category.
3. Altering a model to increase the range of a model or to benefit your LOS.

Terrain

Hills: All rolling hills are open terrain, granting 5+ cover via LOS blocking/interference as normal but do not count as difficult terrain.

All other terrain functions as outlined in the book BRB pg. 108-113.

Terrain Data Slates from the BRB will not be used.

What you must bring

• Your Army
• Tape Measure, Dice, Game Aids, etc.
• 3 Objective Markers on 25mm bases, 2 Objective Markers on 40mm bases.
• 5 Typed Copies of your army list. Be sure to notate who your Warlord is on your army list. (1 for the TO, and up to four for your opponent).
• All pertinent rules for your army. Codices, White Dwarf Articles, Foregworld Rules, etc.
• If you are using a counts as army, YOU MUST HAVE YOUR PLAYER HANDOUT FOR YOUR OPPONENT IDENTIFYING WHAT EACH UNIT IN YOUR ARMY IS.

Prizes!

OF COURSE there will be prizes!!!!!

The Hive Mind Denied

Lolan Quay, Yuion's major processing center and transportaion hub was usually the epitomy of efficiency, but now looked like a sick nightmare of mechanical consumption. Cargo loaders full of people and precious food stuffs were being feed into the mouths of large interplanetary cargo haulers being shipped off to Kandavar. Those given into fear tried to push their way past PDF forces and make way to the haulers without waiting in line causing further congestion and delay. Panic was ripe and fights broke out in the streets, casualties started to rise even before the Tyranids made planetfall as Adeptus Arbites units worked to beat the population back into normalcy.

There was very few static defences on Yuion and none of them were used for space defence. The bioships made planetfall onto Yuion with out a single shot being fired. Mycetic spores dropped in their billions disgorging the swarm at the remaining population. The mouths of bioships snaked down from the heavens to assimilate the vast biomass of the planets oceans. The Devourer was here and little stood in its way.

On the verdant fields outside of Lolan Quay Commader Isaac Vistrowski of the Cadian 794th Tank Brigade stood in the command hatch of his beloved Vanguisher and watched as the sun was eclipsed by the decending Tyranid spores.  As stoic as any Cadian he prepared his brigade to form a cordon around the city. His force would hold the line allowing as much food and civilians to make their way off until reinforcements arrived...

A wall of dust heralded the proximity of the swarm. Commander Vistrowski, gave the order to fire as soon as that wall was almost with range , knowing there was no need to aim at this point. The tanks roar at the bugs charge was deafening as hundreds of them opened fire at the same time. Thousands of the creatures died in that instant, but it might as well just been a cold wind blowing against them as the swarm paid those deaths no mind and charged forward all the more. With those shots being heard throughout the city real chaos broke out. The population no longer cared about being bludgeoned or shot at and the strongpoints were overran by the hysterical crowds.

Shot after shot of the main cannons were fired at the swarm, but nothing could slow its advance.  Soon the crews were forced to open fire with their secondary weapons and more care was devoted to felling the larger, controlling creatures. As those monsters went down, the defenders started to see their first reprieve. Their second came on trails of fire. Space Marines of the Emperors Shadows arrived from Tanacus and began their assualt. They arrived with earth shattering results, blowing chunks of land, trees, and bugs meters in the sky as 30 pods landed simultaneously on the western flank. Bolters, autocannons and flamers scythed down the lesser organisms in their hundreds in that initial landing, but as ammunition became scarce even the Emperor's finest were hard pressed to hold back the onslaught.

In the center and eastern flank things faired worse for the defenders as Trygons burst forth from the rumbling ground knocking over tanks, or sending them tumbling down the dark holes from which they emerged. The defenders were forced to fall back towards the city as their lines started to become overrun.

Up above The Sons of Medusa and Charcadons were fighting  a void battle to break the siege on the planet. The two chapters couldnt be anymore different. The Sons of Medusa choose to allow their long range to pick apart the bioships from range as they were occupied feeding on the planet, and the Charcadons charged their more heavily armoured ships headlong into the mass, dislodging boarding torpedos so their marines could tear apart the foe blade to blade. The combined assualt was devastating and many of the bioships burst apart under the barrage or ceast movement as they were blown apart from the inside.

With the majority of the bioships dying above the swarm began to faulter. With the Hivemind unable to send more synapse creatures into the fray the Tyranid assualt fell apart. The Sons of Medusa now sent in thunderhawks to deploy reinforcements  and Commander Vistrowski wasted no time in pressing this new advantage against the broken enemy.

Orbital lances fell from the sky breaking apart the last pockets of resistance and the combined might of the Imperium punished them for ever coming to this planet. The Tyranids were held back at Yuion at great cost to the planet and lives of the defenders.

Commander Vistrowski meet with Captain Jonus Kiln of the The Sons of Medusa 3rd company as protocal demanded. The meeting was short. Captain Kiln told Vistrowski to pack up his men and send them to Kandavar. A larger Hive Fleet is inbound for the capital.

The Devourer Strikes

Since the destruction of most of Hive Fleet Kraken years before, Kandavar has played an integral part in providing forces to defend against another emergence of the dreaded Tyranid foe. PDF forces have been drafted from nearby worlds, deep scanner probes sent out into the cold void, massive fortifications and newly forged space stations now stand defiant on the eastern fringes.

However, space is vast and scanners, soldiers, and even walls can be overcome with the right application of power and cunning. The Hivemind adapts and overcomes or starves and dies out. The Hivemind has gourged on enough human biomass to have gained a better understanding of its prey. With this knowledge infiltrating lictors and genestealers now understand that eliminating certain targets can allow for the bioships to come to lesser harm when attacking a planet.

PDF commanders, watch standers, astropaths and even power generator operators are all targets once they can be identified .

The fall of Signa IV came from one of these infiltrations as a genestealer stowed away on a Rogue Trader ship made way onto the moon and infested deeply into the the defense force and the servitors operating the scanners were all eliminated by las shots to the back of the head.

When the bioships arrived there was little warning for defenses to be raised on Signa IV and the moon was quickly stripped of all life. Barely satisfied the Hivemind moved on to bigger and better meals and Yuion is next in line to be attacked.

Yuion is almost 95% covered in water, with the major export being varying types of seaweed that can be used as dry rations. On the small amount of land a very small fruit is grown called the "Yui" fruit. This small fruit is only grown on Yuion and is used in medicinal practices and highly sought after. Combined with the fact the Yuion is the largest agri-world within three subsectors, its survival is detrimental to the existence of the people of Kandavar and their neighbors.

The Hivemind has shown itself again now and forces are being assembled to thwart this new threat. Fresh off of the loss of Tanacus the Emperor's Shadows make haste to Yuion. Also, arriving late to the attack at Tanacus the 8th company of Charcadons make warp transit into the Sector at the head of 3rd, and 6th company of Sons of Medusa. Bolsetered with more of the Emperor's elite Yuion most hold.

This planet is the perfect recipe for the Tyranids and if consumed would not only greatly expand the the Tyranids biomass reserves, but would make the sector fall apart to hunger. Will the defenders hold onto their precious resources, or will they be the appetiser.

The Fires on Tanacus

As the Tau approached, what remaining Imperial Naval Forces prepared for battle. The twin orbital platforms were ready to fire soon after the xenos ships came into scanner range and fire calculations were entered and the order given to fire once they entered maximum range. What they were not ready for was range in which the Tau could fire upon them. Three new Custodian Class Battleships stopped just short of the range of the Imperial defenses and unleashed a torrent of heavy rail cannon fire into critical points in the rings structure, causing it to collapse and plummet down into Tanacus atmosphere reaping catastrophic destruction  on the delicately assembled structure that is now keeps the planet together.
 

With the destruction of the defense rings on the attacking side, the Tau Battle Fleet moved into drop ship position on Tanacus. As the fleet prepared to discharge its cargo, the remaining Kandavar Battle Fleet struck the flanks on the Tau attempting to destroy as many ships as possible before being completely destroyed.

 Even with the battle in orbit happening hundreds of Manta and Orca crafts descended upon Tanacus thousands of battlesuits jumped from their delivery craft to lay rapid assaults to vital Imperial structures and quickly destroy as many Legio Titans as possible before they could be awakened for war. Over a dozen of the new Riptide battlesuits that were so successful at Mu'Gulath Bay cleared the way for more tau reinforcement to arrive.

The opening moments of the battle saw the Imperials sorely pressed back, and only a few points  of resistance still remained. With such a killing stoke aimed at Tanacus the planet was sure to be crushed. All hope of survival was fading from the defenders and Tau watercaste began to blair their propaganda overhead from the dropships as more Tau forces were marshaled forward.

Then from out of nowhere they struck. Space Marines of the Emperors Shadow Chapter deepstriked in behind Tau gun lines, or right between an attack force ready to crush the defenders of Tanacus. Quickly what seemed like a rout of the Imperial Forces turned into a great thrust back into the heart of the enemy. Battle Barges and Strike Cruisers came on the rear side of the Tau fleet still dueling with the Imperial Navy, destroying dozens of spacecraft in their initial assault. tau reinforcements began to slow, and the battle on the surface began to turn.

Critical to the defense of the planet was the holding of the relic Macro Cannon. With the Emperors Shadow's  pressing the assault, the Cadian  876th formed a cordon around "Old Betty" as they liked to call her. Unable to fire the cannon into space for fear of damaging the allied ships there, the cannon was realigned to fire at the Tau landing zone and killing thousands in its first call to war.

When all seemed to be turning in favour of the Imperium, the worst thing happened. In the opening moments of the battle when orbital platform sections fell into the planet and broke apart one of the major grav generators holding the metal surface of Tanacus together. At first one section fell and then more begin to break apart of crumble down in to the fiery core of the planet.

The Tau were defeated and denied the planet Tanacus, but it also no longer belongs to the Imperium. Space Marine forces teleported back to their battle fleets, but billions of citizens died as they could not make it to a bulk carrier in time to escape.

With the loss of Tanacus Imperial Forces prepared to return to Kandavar when a signal was received. A Tyranid threat has re-emerged and struck Signa IV the outermost moon of Yuion. With the Tau pushing in on the Sector the timing on the Tyranid threat could not have been worse. However, this is the Time of Ending and things can always get worse.