SAWS 2013: Tournament Prep and Army List

So this weekend is the SAWS 203 Challenge in Sacrament, California. It is a 2,500 point, two-day, Warhammer Fantasy tournament that will be held at Great Escape Games. The tournament follows the normal 8th edition rules, including the new FAQs with the following changes:

• Special Characters are allowed excluding Lord-level Special Characters and the Masque.
• Dogs of War armies are allowed.
• Ogre Kingdom armies may use Rhinox Riders (Forgeworld rules).
• Chaos Dwarf armies are allowed and must use the Tamurkhan, Throne of Chaos book.
• Only thirty (30) models may enter a building.
• Fozzrick's Folding Fortress and the Book of Hoeth are banned. 
• The new High Elf book will not be used (as army lists were due a month ago).
• Open list, and lists exchanged before the game begins.

The tournament will be five (5) rounds. Scoring for each round will be as follows:

• Loss (100+ victory points less than opponent): 5 points
• Draw (less than 100 victory points between players): 10 points
• Minor Victory (between 101 and 300 victory points more than opponent): 14 points
• Major Victory (301+ victory points more than opponent): 17 points 

Beyond these base battle points, each round, each player will choose a special objective from a list (each objective may only be chosen once). Accomplishing you objective (which can range from kill all enemy spellcasters to eliminating over half of your opponent's army in model count) grants 3 bonus points each round.

Further, the tournament will be using five (5) different scenarios for this year as follows:

1. Magic Flux
2. King of the Hill
3. Battle of Attrition
4. Wildwood
5. Battle for the Pass

Scenario 1: Magic Flux

"Often the battles fought in the Warhammer world take place in locations of strange power, whether because of ancient power sources of the Old Ones, vast underground veins of warpstone, the buried remains of a powerful Daemon Prince, or some other weird source of magics.  The energies in these (un)hallowed places often fluctuate wildly, and a wizards who cast spells there are even less sure than normal about what level of power they will receive from the Winds of Magic."

DEPLOYMENT: Roll off to see which player chooses the half of the table they will deploy in.  The opponent will deploy in the other half.  Players then take it in turns to place units on the table, using the alternating units method of deployment described on page 142 of the Warhammer Rulebook. Units may be placed anywhere in their half of the table that is more than 12” from the centre line. Players must exchange army lists with their opponents, either before or after the armies are deployed.

FIRST TURN: Roll after deployment to see which player receives the first turn.  The player with more wizards in his army adds +1 to his roll.

SCENARIO SPECIAL RULESPower Foci: On a battlefield like this, spellcasters pulse with varying levels of magical energy, and act as beacons for even the least magically-adept warrior on the field.  Each wizard that is dead or has fled the table by the end of the game awards the opposing player an extra 50 victory points. 

Power Flux: During each magic phase, after rolling for the Winds of Magic and after all Channeling rolls are made, each player rolls all the dice in his Power/Dispel Pool.  Each D6 that comes up a ‘1’ in this roll is handed over to the opponent and added to his Pool.  Remember that the Power Pool may never exceed 12 dice, so if this dice exchange results in a higher number than this, the extra dice are discarded as normal.

Scenario 2: King of the Hill

"Warriors in the Warhammer world may not always know why they are fighting over a particular piece of terrain. It is usually enough to know that they fight for their lord, and that he knows why the objective is important."

DEPLOYMENT: For this battle, there should be a large hill or other large terrain feature as close to the center of the battlefield as possible.  This terrain feature is the scenario objective. Roll off to see which player chooses the half of the table they will deploy in.  The opponent will deploy in the other half.  Players then take it in turns to place units on the table, using the alternating units method of deployment described on page 142 of the Warhammer Rulebook. Units may be placed anywhere in their half of the table that is more than 12” from the centre line. Players must exchange army lists with their opponents, either before or after the armies are deployed.

FIRST TURN: Roll after deployment to see which player receives the first turn.  The player with more units of cavalry in his army adds +1 to his roll.

GAME LENGTH: Roll a D6 at the end of each game turn, starting with the end of game turn 4.  Add the turn number to the die roll.  If the score is 10 or more, then the battle ends immediately.  If the game has not ended by the turn 7, the game will end at the end of turn 7.

SCENARIO SPECIAL RULESTake That Hill!: The most important objective in this game is the terrain feature in the center of the table.  The side that has more models in contact with this terrain feature at the end of the game earns 200 victory points.

Hallowed Ground:  No new units may be summoned within 4” of the objective.  Regaining lost wounds is allowed, as is adding to units already in play.

Scenario 3: Battle of Attrition

"You are in the middle of a long-running campaign.  Demoralizing your opponent and degrading his armies is your primary goal.  Can you build a battleplan that doesn’t rely on total victory to succeed?"

DEPLOYMENT: Roll off to see which player chooses the half of the table they will deploy in.  The opponent will deploy in the other half.  Players then take it in turns to place units on the table, using the alternating units method of deployment described on page 142 of the Warhammer Rulebook. Units may be placed anywhere in their half of the table that is more than 12” from the centre line. Players must exchange army lists with their opponents, either before or after the armies are deployed.

FIRST TURN: Roll after deployment to see which player receives the first turn.  The player with more wizards in his army adds +1 to his roll.

VICTORY CONDITIONS: Use victory points to determine the winner of the game (see page 143 of the Warhammer Rulebook). In addition, any unit that is reduced to 50% wounds or fewer by the end of the game counts for half Victory Points, and any unit that is fleeing when the game ends counts for half Victory Points.  Always count characters separately, even if they are associated with a unit.

Scenario 4: Wildwood

"Many of the forests of the Warhammer world seem perfectly normal from the outside, but are home to strange and amazing creatures, temples dedicated to ancient and forgotten religions, or random pockets of chaos magic.  These places are collectively known by the general term “Wildwood”, and a battle that takes place in the Wildwood is unlike any other…"

DEPLOYMENT: Roll off to see which player chooses the half of the table they will deploy in.  The opponent will deploy in the other half.  Players then take it in turns to place units on the table, using the alternating units method of deployment described on page 142 of the Warhammer Rulebook. Units may be placed anywhere in their half of the table that is more than 12” from the center line. Players must exchange army lists with their opponents, either before or after the armies are deployed.

FIRST TURN: Roll after deployment to see which player receives the first turn.  The player with more units with the Scouts special rule in his army adds +1 to his roll.

SCENARIO SPECIAL RULESWildwood: All forests on the battlefield are Mysterious Forests.  As soon as a unit enters (or deploys in) a Mysterious Forest, roll on the table on page 119 of the Rulebook to determine what sort of forest it is.

Scenario 5: Battle for the Pass (straight out of the book)

Additionally, there is an army composition score of up to twenty-seven (27) points that is earned at the time that you submit your army list. The composition score is based on this check list system:

2013 SAWS Challenge Composition Scoring Sheet

1.  The # of points in Core selections in this army is:

• 650 pts or fewer (0 comp pts) 
• 651-900 pts (1 comp pt)
• 901-1250 pts (2 comp pts)
• Over 1250 pts (3 comp pts)

2.   The # of points in Characters in this army is:

• 1100 pts or more (0 comp pts)
• 950-1099 pts (1 comp pt)
• 751-949 pts (2 comp pts)
• 750 pts or fewer (3 comp pts)

3.    Is there a single model with a point cost over 450 points in the army?

• Yes, even if you don’t count his mount (0 comp pts)
• Yes, but only if you count his mount (2 comp pts)
• No (3 comp pts)

4.    Extra Power or Dispel Dice:

• The army includes a unit that adds additional dice FOR EACH SPELL CAST (0 comp pts)
• The army includes multiple units or characters that adds additional Power or Dispel dice (discounting channeling) (1 comp pt)
• The army includes one unit/character  that adds additional Power or Dispel dice (discounting channeling) (2 comp pts)
• The army includes NO units/characters that adds additional Power or Dispel dice (discounting channeling) (3 comp pts)

5.   Are there 2 units of the same type of Rare choice (3 for High Elves) in the army?:

• Yes (0 comp pts)
• No (3 comp pts)

6.   The number of units armed with missile weapons (including war machines and weapons teams) with a range of at least 20" is:

• More than 6 units (0 comp pts)
• 6 units (1 comp pt)
• 5 units (2 comp pts)
• Fewer than 5 units (3 comp pts)

7.   The number of units of 40 or more models (units of more than 60 models count Double) in the army is:

• More than 2 units (0 comp pts)
• 2 units (1 comp pt)
• 1 unit (2 comp pts)
• 0 units (3 comp pts)

8.   The number of Core units in the army is:

• 1 unit (0 comp pts)
• 2 units (1 comp pt)
• 3 units (2 comp pts)
• More than 3 units (3 comp pts)

9.  Does the army list include a breakdown that answers each of the questions above, and was a copy of this completed checklist included with the army list when it was submitted?

• No (0 comp pts)
• Yes (3 comp pts)

Then, you can receive (or lose) three (3) composition points based on the composition judge's ruling. With my list, I scored a 26 out of 27 (lost 1 point for points spent in characters).

That, in a short review, is the SAWS 2013 Challenge tournament information. This year I will once again be playing by Wood Elves but I have decided to go with a much more standard list than the all cavalry army that I played last year. My list for this years is as follows:

Wood Elf Highborn (214 pts)

• General, The Bow of Loren, Arcane Bodkins, Great Weapon, Light Armor

Spellweaver (305 pts)

• Level 4, Lore of Beasts, Dispell Scroll, Ironcurse Icon, A Resplendence of Luminescents

Noble (132 pts)

• Battle Standard Bearer, Asyendi's Bane, Hail of Doom Arrow

Branchwraith (65 pts)
Branchwraith (65 pts)
Dryads (96 pts) (8 models)
Dryads (96 pts) (8 models)
Dryads (96 pts) (8 models)
Glade Guard (262 pts) (19 models, full command, Banner of Eternal Flame)
Glade Guard (234 pts) (19 models, musician)
Glade Guard (234 pts) (19 models, musician)
Glade Guard (234 pts) (19 models, musician)
Great Eagle (50 pts)
Treeman (285 pts)
Wild Riders (130 pts) (5 models)

Next week I'll have a tournament breakdown and let everyone know how well I ended up doing (hopefully really well)!