An Alternative Epic Team Event?

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In September 2018 I am running a custom team event for the game Epic: Armageddon, the structure, custom rules and other ramblings are below.

Overview
A full day of gaming, 3 rounds where players are in one of two teams and face off against the opposing team. Between each game round there is a planning phase where new lists can be drawn up, matchups planned and various ‘special cards’ can be played to grant the playing team an advantage. These special cards provide the ability to manipulate the match ups for the next round with the intention of adding some ability to prevent bad pairings for your team or force advantageous matches for your team. Some tables will also have non-standard terrain setup to make choice of table to play over another factor to consider.

Aims
– To be a different feel to a normal tournament where working with your teammates is more important than performance in a single game/individual
– To be willing to play fast and loose with balance to encourage a laid back atmosphere and more experimentation
– To shake up the meta lists by providing a different environment for them to play in and different pressures in list design
– To really play up the team aspect and encourage thinking on the more team vs team level with matchups, planning, counterpicks and so on
– Be something different and fun on the EpicUK calendar!

Needs
– Players bring ~3k points of their chosen faction (they can bring fewer or more of course!), they do not need an army list prewritten and they can (and probably MUST) change what they take to the table each round. What they take to the table on any given round must be legal though, so if they have minimums those must be taken, titans 3rds must be adhered to for the points total they bring to each game, etc.

– Enough terrain for the tables

– Over half of the tables setup with non-standard terrain to make the choice of table being played over an important factor to consider

Organisation

  • Overall a total of [team size] tables are laid out.
  • Overall for each round a total of [(team size+1)*2000]pts is available to each team
  • Each player scores tournament points for their game in the normal way based on the difference in score at the end of their games, the tournament points are then added to their teams total tournament points
  • The team with the greatest amount of tournament points at the end of round 3 is the winner
  • There will be prize support for
    • MVP Team 1 (as secretly voted for by all players)
    • MVP Team 2 (as secretly voted for by all players)
    • Best Painted (as secretly voted for by all players)
    • Best Conversions/Theme (as secretly voted for by all players)

E.g.: 7 players on a team means 7 tables and each team gets (7+1 = 8) * 2000pts = 16000pts to spread out onto those 7 tables. Yes this means that there is no easy ‘oh just stick 2000pts on each table’ option, some tables will have greater or fewer points and they may end up against larger or smaller forces. This is as intended.

Day Structure

Follows normal tournament scheduling
Registration 0900 ends 0930
Round 1 team planning 0930 ends 0945
Round 1 0945 ends 1200
Lunch 1200 ends 1300
Round 2 team planning 1300 ends 1315
Round 2 1315 ends 1530
Round 3 team planning 1530 ends 1545
Round 3 1545 ends 1800

Plus inevitable delays between.

Due to the team planning phases expect things to take longer, draws to be a bit more common, etc., they will eat into the ‘faffing around’ time.

Round Structure

  • Each team nominates a team leader who is the player that will tell the tournament organiser any decisions that their team has made (mostly to try and stop a half dozen people trying to tell the TO the same thing, please rely on your team leader!)
  • Before round 1 both team leaders roll 1d6, rerolling ties until there is a winner, whichever team rolls higher gets to choose if they want to pick ‘pick tables’ or ‘counterpick’ for round 1
    • For round 2 these roles are reversed with the team that ‘picked tables’ instead ‘counterpicking’
    • For round 3 the team with the fewest tournament points gets to decide if it want to ‘pick tables’ or ‘counterpick’ for round 3
  • Before each game round there is a 15 minute planing stage which follows the sequence detailed below
    1. The teams get to play any special cards they have remaining, resolving their effects immediately
    2. After both teams have passed on the chance to play any more cards the team that is ‘picking tables’ now picks one of their players (that has not already been assigned somewhere by the special cards) and one of the tables (that does not already have one of their players assigned to it by the special cards), that player will now play on that table for the next round.
    3. After each time the team that is ‘picking tables’ has assigned a player to a table the team that is ‘counterpicking’ selects one of their players and assigns them to the same table that the team ‘picking tables’ selected
    4. Repeat this process until all players are assigned to the tables
    5. After assigning players to the tables the teams convene again and assign each of their players some portion of the points available to their team (bearing in mind any points that have already been allocated by the special cards!)
    6. Now each player knows their table, their opponent and their points allocated, they write a list for the game ahead, tailoring it for their match up as best they can

Notes

– During the first round of the tournament each team is allocated [number of tables] special cards to use for the entire tournament, see the list below for details.
– Teams should write down which player has how many points for each round and hand those to the TO before the start of the next round. (No sneaky last minute switcheroos!)
– When chosing where to deploy your forces each round bear in mind the following rules:

  • No table may have fewer than 1000pts PER TEAM on it (i.e.: there must be a game played on each table, even if it’s not very big)
  • If both players have ~1500pts or fewer they can both agree to use the minigeddon rules variant for their table, both players must agree but it is recommended
  • No table may have more than 3000pts PER TEAM on it (i.e.: you can have bigger games, but not so big they can’t fit into the time limit)
  • Points allocated don’t have to be even between players on the same team, do not have to match the points given to their opponent and do not have to be nice round numbers either – if you want to assign someone 1995pts that’s completely fine, even if they end up facing someone who brought 1001pts.
  • Only one player per team is assigned to each table
  • The tables are laid out with terrain by the TO at the start of the event and are not changed
  • Players cannot change which faction they are playing between rounds, e.g.: if you chose to bring Steel Legion you’re playing Steel Legion for all three games, your army list however can vary wildly between games
  • Note that ‘playing to draw’ or ‘playing to defend points’ is perfectly legitimate and part of the overall team strategy for the event.
  • Playing slowly to run out the clock is unsportsmanly behaviour, do try to play at a reasonable speed
  • With the 15 minute planning window mistakes in army lists can be made and I ask that all participants are understanding of this. If, however, the mistakes are especially large (which is left vague at this time) then penalties such as being limited to at best a draw or tournament point deductions can be applied. Hopefully this will never come up!
  • Scoring will follow the standard EpicUK tournament points scoring

Link to EpicUK scoring

Special Cards
– Each card will tell you when you can play it and what it does. See the end section to see the cards.
– Any number of cards may be played during the Team Planning Stage so long as the timing conditions for the card are met

  • Each team will get 4 cards to use for the whole event, they cannot get more
  • Once a card is used hand it to the TO, you cannot use it again
  • Each team will get the same 4 cards

– 1x Advanced Warning
— Play during the team planning stage before teams start the pick/counterpick phase
— Your team must loudly and clearly pick one of the opposing teams players and one of the tables, that player must be assigned to the chosen table
— If the team has not yet decided any of those details then they have 30 seconds to decide (with team captain the deciding vote)
— If they fail to declare these details within 30 seconds then the team playing this card gets 30 seconds to make that decision for them!

– 1x Logistics Constrained
— Play during the team planning stage before teams start the pick/counterpick phase
— Your team must loudly and clearly pick a table, and then the number of points that MUST be allocated to that table by either side (bear in mind the min 1k max 3k rule still applies)

— When allocating points to players the player going to the table targeted by this cards must be given that many points to use, no more, no less.
— If, through some means, a table has already had a certain points total already applied to it then this card overrides that points total with the new total

– 1x Tip Off
— Play during the team planning stage before teams start the pick/counterpick phase
— Your team must loudly and clearly pick one of the opposing teams players and how many points they will be allocated for the next round

— When allocating points in the next phase this player must be assigned that many points
— If the team has not yet decided any of those details then they have 30 seconds to decide (with team captain the deciding vote)
— If they fail to declare these details within 30 seconds then the team playing this card gets 30 seconds to make that decision for them!

– 1x It’s a Trap!
— Play during the team planning stage after teams complete the pick/counterpick phase
— Your team picks either two of your own player OR two of the opposing team’s players, they switch tables (but keep the points they have been allocated, if any)
— Both players switch tables and play on the newly selected ones against their new opponents
— They may both select their own point totals as normal (if they have not been allocated any) and do not have to tell the other team how many they are bringing