Quake City Rumble 2013: Preview

This weekend is the annual Quake City Rumble in San Francisco, CA. This is one of the largest, if not the largest Warhammer Fantasy tournament in the United States with over 110 registered players. I always look forward to this tournament as it is a blast to play and brings out some fantastic armies and great generalship from the players.

The tournament is a five (5) round tournament played over two (2) days. All armies are 2,500 points using the standard army building rules except no special characters are allowed. All 8th Edition rules are used with the following exceptions: (1) hills block LOS for non-large models (this is do to the use of 7th Edition GW hill terrain); (2) only 30 models, or 15 Monstrous Infantry, may enter a building; (3) terrain is not fixed (my most favorite rule ever!); and (4) all forests are mysterious, but not other terrain has any special effects.

Awards for the tournament are broken down as follows:

• Best Overall: Highest combination of all scores.
• Best General: Highest combination of Battle and Composition scores.
• Best Army: Highest combination of Composition and Paint.
• Best Painted: Highest Paint score.
• Best Sportsman: Highest Sportsmanship score.
• Player's Choice: Most votes for Player's Choice.
• Snake-eyes: Lowest Battle score with the highest Sportsmanship score.

Points for the different score categories are as follows:

Battle Scores: The Battle score is worth a possible 100 total points. After each battle, the player's will count up the difference in victory points. You get 16 Battle points for a win over 100+ victory points, 12 Battle Points for a draw within 99 victory points, and 8 Battle Points for a loss over 100+ victory points. Further, each scenario will have a possible 4 bonus Battle points.

Composition Score: The composition score is worth a possible 30 total points. The Composition score is the combination of both player and judge input. The judge score is a maximum of 15 points, and the player score is also a maximum of 15 points. Each list is marked by each of the six composition judges (lowest judge's score is removed) on a three-point scale which delineates that army as fluffy, normal, hard, or over the top. Then, at the tournament, your army list is also marked by each opponent on the same three-point scale to determine your total Composition score.

*Having participated in the tournament for many years, I can say that the judge's Composition scores are always much harder than the player judged scores and that the average player with an average army will have a score between 12 and 20.

Paint Scores: The Paint score is worth a possible 33 total points (three of which are bonus points for a display board). Two painting judges will score each army on a 15 point scale and the two scores added together equals your total Paint score. The Paint Score is broken down as follows:

• Not Painted (0 pts)
• Partially Painted (3 pts) 
• Standard Quality (3 pts)
• Tournament Quality (3 pts)
• Fine Detail Quality (3 pts)
• Master Class Quality (3 pts)
• Display Base (1-3 pts) (only added once)

Sportsmanship Scores: The Sportsmanship score is worth a possible 40 total points. For each game you will rate your opponent based on the following checklist and each question is worth 1 point:

• Did my opponent make accurate and fair use of measuring?
• Did my opponent make it to the table on time?
• Did my opponent play in a time conscious fashion?
• Did my opponent play by the rules and abide by any rulings?
• Did I have fun playing this game of Warhammer?
• Would I play this opponent again in a non-tournament setting?

In addition to the points above, each player will select one of their opponents as their favorite opponent. Each Best Game vote is worth an additional 2 points.

Tomorrow, I will go over each of the QCR scenarios as well as my new army list (which I have yet to play a game with).