BG's forewords:
This Shooting Challenge is the third, and probably the last of my 4 planned Shooting Challenges (since the fourth one will be VERY time-consuming), which all have some relations/dramatic lines in between. Old players from 1st and 2ndSC saw that already.
Using the experience and amendments from the last Shooting Challenges (and numerous bugs/broken stuff are fixed), I expect this will be one of the most crowded, most fun community game in Relic Forums so far. Of course, it all depends on your participation.
But please make sure you have read all stuff below, not only they may help, but also there're rules. All experienced players of Challenges in this forum know this drill.
And also, since I'm now an university student (YAY!), the fights' results may be posted after a long time before the one before, but please be patient for that, as I promise I'll keep working on that.
So get your codex, drop your entry and a seat here, and have some fun (from me).
Yours,
Brian
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The Rumble Revisited: The 3rd Shooting Challenge
One day when you awake from resting, you found that you’re in somewhere else together with strangers/xenos/aliens/traitors around you, forming a group on your own. You may want to kill them for your races’ glory, but all of you want to escape from this unknown place since dangers may lurk around and take away your precious life, especially when the environment is so unpleasant. As such, you’re forced to temporarily ally with the strangers and strive for the ultimate victory: to defeat all others, including your temporary “allies”, to claim the sole right to leave this cursed space.
THERE’RE NUMEROUS PARTICIPANTS, BUT ONLY ONE CAN LIVE. BY LUCK, TRICKERY AND FIREPOWER, WHILE ALL OTHERS LAY DEAD BEFORE THE GATE.
That’s the background of the challenge. Now, I’ll begin with the systems of this challenge.
NOTICE! IT IS STRONGLY ADVICED TO READ THROUGH ALL THE MATERIALS LISTED BELOW FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.
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preparation
The Preparations
You’ll be told to post your own entry. Each participant will have 200pts to spend with.
Note that all entries should be combat-ready units (so no placeholder units like bare Carnifex). Due to the game system it’s not recommended to take Meat Shields as well.
Then all players will be drawn into teams randomly. Each team will consist of 3 members. You can make a team name and/or decide the captain if you want. Setting these stuff may raise your models’ Morale! (j/k :P)
Then you and your teammates should (or are encouraged to) discuss and decide the order they come out to fight, that is, who’ll fight the first round, second, and third, and post your team’s finalized entry afterwards by the captain or a representative, if not the order will only be made by alphabetically order of participants. You can adjust your entries’ options in the progress BUT you can’t change your entry totally (that is, you can buy a Plasma Pistol for your Tactical Marines’ Sergeant if he doesn’t have one already, add in/take away squad members, substitute weapon options, add in/remove skills, etc, but you can’t switch your entry into a Havoc squad after the draw). Each team will, thus, have a total of 600pts, distributed in 3 separate entries, one for each member. (The value can be, of course, adjusted among the members during the finalization of the entry) But all the discussions will be made among the team itself and I have no parts in that.
Notice that once the team’s finalized roster is posted, NO FURTHER CHANGES CAN BE MADE.
For example: Team A has 3 units: A squad of Devastators, a squad of Fire Dragons and 3 Crisis Battlesuits. It’s then decided that Crisis suits will fight first, then Marines, then Fire Dragons, and the team representative will post the team’s roster in this order.
If no finalized list is posted by the team captain/representative, the team will go into the battle with their entries they posted in the draw.
Entries:
All must be Codex legal ones. Imperial Armour/Chapter Approved units can be used (except IA4 since I don’t have the book), but must state clearly which book/source(s) they come from.
Vehicles are allowed (Transports also count). No VDR and Flyers.
All participants can only take a SINGLE squad of units they choose. (That is, no whole damn platoon for IG, they can only have one 10-men squad) They can take more units than the maximum strength of the squad if you want but the squad options will remain the same as if it’s a bigger squad of that unit (Such as, you can take 30 Guardsmen in an entry but you can only have one Sergeant and 1 Heavy Weapon+1 Special Weapon). Artillery pieces (like Orks Big Gunz battery/Eldar Support Weapon squads) can have more guns than normal, but each new guns should come with their own crews (that means, if one want to play with 4 or more Support Weapons then there should be at least 8 Guardians in total).
No Special Characters. A retinue/squad (if you want a character attaching to a normal squad of units instead of a retinue, you can do that) can only be led by a single character.
Other than those stated above, you can take anything in the Codex (including doctrines/traits/Veteran Skills/etc if they’re applicable) as long as your team’s total points do not exceed 600 after the draw.
No identical entries (of any sort). So posting first will have some advantages!
Faction or unit-related entries:
Tyranids: Without Number won’t work for Gaunts------You’re supposed to take a single squad only!
Units with Catalyst will cast it upon themselves if they lose the last wound (take Psychic Test as normal) and can shoot ONCE with their psychic power before they die. This may result in a draw.
Weapon limitations for Warriors are removed.
Necrons: WBB rules will apply as if a Resurrection Orb is present, and are rolled before every round ends after Morale Checks. However if the whole squad is annihilated in a turn for any reason the squad won’t be able to test WBB. They will still flee as normal. To balance things out, Gauss Weapons will subject to Gets Hot! rule but they can still get back up during WBB rolls.
Eldar: Even if you have 2 Fire Prisms in your team, they’ll always fire without Twin-linking, enhanced Strength and AP.
Squads can only use 1 Exarch Power (if any) each turn.
Against non-armour enemies the Vibrocannons will work as normal. Against armour, each Vibrocannon hit will cause 1 glancing hit upon that vehicle (or 1 for each vehicle if in a squadron). However, no matter how much hits are caused by Vibrocannons, any vehicles won’t be glanced more than once.
Veil of Tears can be stopped by Grey Knights/Sister of Battle/etc like normal Psychic Powers, but the test of neutralization is tested in each turn.
Dark Eldar: Talos’ Talos sting will fire like a normal weapon instead of using Wildfire rule.
Chaos: 3rd Edition rules will be used for now. Dreadnoughts won’t go into Fire Frenzy if it rolls 1 since it howls and try to ram into the enemy but failed, unless it’s Immobilized. (That means, it won’t get to shoot that round if it’s not Immobilized)
Obliterators will be standardized to be insta-killed by Strength 8+ weapons.
Parasitic Possessions can only repair 1 damage per turn, and those damages which aren’t chosen to be repaired will be considered lost.
Orks: Grot squads’ Grots will act as Living Shield like they’re doing for other units if Cover doesn’t present when they’re being shot (it does count towards Morale Check issues) but Grots in other squads (like Big Gunz battery) won’t count.
Lootas’ weapons are limited to what the entry writes (That is, Imperial Weaponry, and strictly follow the chosen squad’s options). Those who’re picking weapons from Devastator squads/Havocs or same squads in variant armies can only pick 4 Heavy/Special weapons listed.
Tau: Each Drone Controllers can buy more than 2 Drones (But Shield Drones will only be limited to 0-2 per Controller) if they can afford that, normal rules for them (Morale Check purposes, majority Armour/Toughness, etc) apply.
Handheld Markerlights can’t affect your own unit, but Networked ones can, as normal.
Kroot squads, if taken, will follow the rules in Chapter Approved for their Strategy Rating Roll (1-3=1, 4-5=2, 6=3), rolled before the game. Unless specified, Kroot Mercenary squads’ stats and costs will follow that in Tau Empire Codex (Especially for Krootox), though Evolutionary Adaptations can be taken as normal.
Space Marines: Mortis Dreadnoughts, which is different to that in IA rules, can become Venerable and take skills as normal Venerable Dreadnoughts at the same cost.
Techmarines, if taken Transports, can EITHER repair or shoot in the Shooting Phase, not doing both. Only half (rounding up) of the Sertvitors can fire when the Techmarine is attempting repairs. Unlike Chaos Parasites, if the repair is failed once they can try again next turn, but still only 1 repair can be made each turn.
Witch Hunters: Sisters boarding on vehicles can’t use Act of Faith. Act of Faith are limited one per turn.
Chapter Approved: Enslavers can only control ONE SINGLE model of the enemies’ squads in their own Shooting phase only (Leadership modifiers apply but not culumative if there’re multiple Enslavers). If it’s a single model being controlled (like Carnifex), the Enslaver will win that round automatically and move on as normal. Once the enslaving counters (dice) are used up they’re not returned to their dice pool and thus are lost. Of course, if the dice are used up the Enslavers are defenceless and hence, when it comes to a round that they don’t have any Enslavement dice left, the opponent will win that round. Their Strategy Rating is D3 (rolled before each round).
Stormtroopers can only be taken as an Imperial Guard player. No more cheap, Strategy Rating 3 ISTs! (Except if an Inquisitor joins that squad)
Some enemies will have some spotting special rules. To simplify them, all Night Fighting checks made for targeting (eg. Tau Stealthsuits, Grey Knights, Vindicare Assassins) when they’re facing a specific unit, will be passed on a D6 roll of 5+ before they start shooting. Eldar Harlequins’ Veil of Tears will be passed on a 6. Those wargear or skills used for Night Fighting (eg. Blacksun Filters, Searchlights, Night Vision for Night Lords) can grant a re-roll upon the result, but only the ones who have that can be benefited unless specified. These rules apply for all weapons (so you must check for target’s presence before firing).
All psychic powers/abilities that can prevent their opponent to charge in Assault Phase can also be used in shooting phase, which will lead to their opponent counted as Pinned.
All vehicles, if Immobilized (or if they’re immobile already like turrets), won’t advance after winning but get to shoot the upcoming enemy replacements at the same time as the replacing enemies return fire. This aside, all damages done will be adopted as normal.
All Battery weapons (Big Gunz/Mortars/Support Weapons/etc) will count as AV10, and the hits after rolling-to-hit rolls will be distributed among crew and weapons like what BBB stated. Any glancing/penetrating hits against the guns will destroy them.
Bikes won’t get to use their Invulnerable save for turbo-boosting. (They won’t get to shoot in that state anyway)
Dual Pistols (any type) for any units will be counted as Twin-linked if they didn’t already like Witch Hunters. That’s quite logical for hitting your foe more likely if you hold 2 pistols!
All Guess weapons with Minimum range higher than 6” can’t be used.
Infantry using “Gets Hot!” weapon whose weapon overheats will take the wound as BBB mentioned. Unlike Heavy Weapons, if the one using that weapon dies due to overheat won’t be able to be used by others (so the weapon is lost). Models die due to Gets Hot! DO count towards casualties for Morale issues.
Note: If your entries have any preferences (such as mounting multiple weapons and decide what weapons will be used against what type of enemies, losing what models first) please also states clearly, or I’ll choose the most appropriate ones for you. Normal targeting/firing rules apply (so if 8 Havocs with 4 Missile Launchers will all fire their weapons at the Raider of a Raider squad if the squad’s preference is set to kill off Large Targets first).
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how will this work
The Progress
Each team will fight against others once.
Victors will gain 5 points, defeated ones will also gain 1 point for every enemy unit they kill. If Draws happen, both sides will gain 3 points.
You and your opponents got to shoot the hell out of you, and they’ll stand 6” apart for shooting. All special rules (Melta, Ordnance, etc) will be taken into account if they’re in range.
Each template will lead to D6+3 wounds (without Cover Saves), Blast will lead to D3+1, and Large Blast will get 2D6+1 wounds, but against single model they’ll still cause 1 hit. Also, if there’re fewer enemies than the total number of hits after rolling the D6s, each enemy model will just take a single hit. (That means, if a 5-men squad is hit by a Flame Template which produce 9 hits in total then each models will just take a single hit)
To make things more simple (and having more fun) Ordnances will just use a Scatter Dice and a D6 for scattering. If a “hit” is shown then it hits, if it deviates then it just misses. However, if the D6 is coming up with a 1, the hit will result as the Ordnances’ explosion on impact inside the barrel, and even the shot hits it’ll be disregarded (damage will be dealt to Front AV if it’s a vehicle or hit if they’re non-vehicle units, but the odds are that they may be destroyed/killed in this manner)!
Before each fighting rounds I’ll roll a D6. On a 5+, there’ll be cover in this whole round, for all participants. Another D3 will then be rolled, 1-2=6+ cover, 3-4=5+ cover, 5-6=4+ cover. It’s treated as obstacle terrains only (so Modifiers of Cover Saves in certain terrains won’t have effect, but universal modifiers like Rangers/Pathfinders can still be used). Monstrous Creatures enjoy NO Cover Saves.
All squads will be subjected to Morale as normal, which will be tested at the end of each round. If the Morale check is ever failed once, they’ll run away, with no chance of regrouping, and count as destroyed.
Morale Modifiers for shooting will be used as normal, and those modifiers which directly affect the target’s Leadership value during Morale Checks will be applied as well, but not if that modifier is used for Tank Shock/Close Combat purposes. Enemies who’re forced to take Morale Checks when facing Monstrous Creatures/Vehicles will test at -1 in addition to other modifiers. This doesn’t apply when the enemies are stationary turrets or Skimmers.
Pinning tests will also be taken into account if the weapons fired will cause Pinning: If a squad is pinned, they won’t get to shoot in the next round, but otherwise unaffected. However, the test will be taken after taking Morale Checks (if any) so it’s possible to pass the Morale Check but is pinned. If they’re pinned by they win over then enemy (that is, killing all the enemies but are pinned) then they’ll fire at the same time as the replacing enemy.
If the entry is a multi-wound model that’s fighting on their own, the Morale/Pinning issue will still be used in this way: If they’re wounded once and not dead, they’ll be subjected to a Morale test. The -1 modifier will also apply if the model is under half of the starting wounds.
Single Fearless models (who won't take Morale/Pinning Tests) who're wounded once but not dead will take wounds (with saves allowed) at the amount of 1+each wounds lost at that particular round of fighting, just as the case in close combat (but changed by a bit). For example, a 5-wound Carnifex is wounded once in a single round, so at the end of that turn it’ll take 2 wounds (Base 1+ 1 more lost in that round). Another 5-wound Carnifex is knocked down to a single wound in a single round, then it’ll take 5 wounds at the end of that round (Base 1+ 4 more lost in that round). Wounds lost in this way can be regenerated however, but not if the creature dies in this way.
Fearless squads which take casualties during the fight and are eligible for Morale Checks in normal cases (such as a 5-men Fearless squad which suffered 2 deaths in a round) will take wounds upon each surviving member once, with saves allowed. These wounds can’t be saved by any Wargear/Special Rules (so, for example, the Narthecium won’t have any effect).
Armoured units won’t take glancing hits even if they’re apparently the losing side of a round of shooting.
Each individual fights’ winners, if eligible, will still need to take Morale Checks/Pinning Tests/Fearlessness Wounds before they can advance.
Each fight will be divided into several 1 vs 1 fightings, like follows:
Team A (Crisis suits, Devastators, Fire Dragons) will fight Team B (Warp Spiders, Wraithguards, Necron Warriors), so in theory it means Crisis suits will fight Spiders, Devastators against Wraithguards and Fire Dragons against Necron Warriors.
However the fight itself will be more complex: I’ll talk about it later.
At the start of every round of shooting, both units will take a Strategy Rating Roll respective to their own army (refer to the table in p.80 of Main Rulebook), the higher one, obviously, will get to go first. If the highest rolls are the same, they’ll be resolved at the same time (pretty much like that in CC).
Once a squad is eliminated/running away, their opponents will move forward and engage another unit, but the subsequent unit from the just-being-defeated side will get to shoot first at the advancing squad come into contact (ignoring all Special Spotting rules against the coming enemy, so Harlequins/Grey Knights/etc will be auto-spotted) AND taking Morale Checks/Pinning Tests/Fearlessness wounds, then the advancing squad will return fire before the defending side take any Morale Checks/Pinning Tests/Fearlessness wounds. After this round, resolve the remaining rounds (if any) as normal. The whole process continues until either side is completely destroyed.
In cases that if both sides fled at the same time, then those subsequent squads from both sides will fire simultaneously at each other for the first round only (still auto-spotting enemies), then it reverts into the normal sequences.
If one side is completely incapable to damage their enemies in a particular fight or round (like all plain Guardsmen against a T7 Carnifex, or a Predator blows up a Hammerhead Railgun before the Hammerhead fires), the incapable side will be knocked out automatically (count as fled) and the other side proceeds as normal.
Heavy Weapons can always fire no matter the situation is, so don’t worry about being disadvantaged when you advance!
Complex Example: Team A and B fights against each other. Firstly Crisis suits and Warp Spiders fight first. For the Strategy Rating Team B rolled 6, 3 and 5, while Team A got a 1, so Team B fires first. The hail of fire cut down all 3 suits and the Spiders move forward, but the Devastators are able to shoot first and kill 4 of the Spiders, then Spiders returned fire but only killed 2. Both sides take Morale checks and the Spiders fled. Devastators followed suit (since their minor casualty don’t need to take any tests), only run into the Wraithguards, who’ll fire first. The Wraithcannons killed further 4 Devastators before they can return fire, and they take a Morale check first and stand their ground. They then killed only 2 Wraithguards out of 8, and the Wraithguards take Fearlessness wounds and 1 of the Wraithguards fall. Then another round begins, during Strategy Rolls Team A got 6, 3 and 2 while Team B got 4, 1 and 6, so they’ll fire at the same time. The Devastators are wiped out and Wraithguards took 1 casualty. They then advanced (still no tests are taken) but are met by Fire Dragons, who managed to kill them all before they can fire. Dragons advanced and met the Warriors, who fires first and downed 3 Fire Dragons, forcing them to take a Morale Check but they hold the line. Dragons returned fire and downed 4 of Necrons, they pass their Morale Check but due to bad luck the 4 poor Warriors don’t get back up during WBB rolls. Another round begins. This time the Team A rolled 3, 4 and 2, while Team B got the same rolls as well, so they fire at each other at the same time. As a result both sides are annihilated, giving a draw (and 3 points) to both sides.
Vehicles will work pretty much the same except they’ll always count as stationary and Hull Down (if there’s Cover) if they’re tanks or turrets. Skimmers will always move 12” if possible (Unless being stunned, which will lose its benefit of Skimmer Moving Fast in the next round) and will fire weapons allowed to fire in that state, but they’ll never be counted as Hull Down even they can’t move (or immobilized).
If a vehicle is being shaken or stunned (or squads are being Pinned, same below) after it’s fired in that round of shooting or it’s being shaken or stunned already due to previous round of firing, then the vehicle will count as shaken/stunned in the next round of shooting, so the enemy will proceed to fire upon the vehicles automatically. This process can continue indefinitely so if a vehicle is shaken or stunned in every enemy round of firing, that vehicle can have no chance to return fire in the whole fight.
Squads with Transport Vehicles will only be counted as defeated if both their passengers are fled or annihilated AND the vehicle is destroyed (or damaged enough until it can’t return fire). However, if the squad takes a Transport then they must stick inside the transport until they win, the transport is destroyed or they’re forced to leave it due to taking penetrating hits (they can still fire from Fire Points as normal). Enemy units wish to fire upon the passengers once they’ve disembarked the Transport (and if it’s not yet destroyed) will distribute their hits like Artillery units by replacing Transports as the emplacements.
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details of Championship
The Championship
After all fights the top 4 teams will enter the finals. If there’re any draws in terms of points, the one who won another earlier in the competition will be qualified. If, their points are the same but in their duels they drew with each other, a rematch will be made.
The top 4 teams will fight with each other once. Qualified teams can change their units’ positions but CANNOT modify the entries.
The Championship round will be fought like this: The First and Second place will fight each other, while the Third and the Fourth will fight. Loser of the later round will be eliminated from the Championship, while the loser of the former round will fight with the winner of the later round, and the winner of this round will fight the Top Team. The team who comes out as the last survivor will get to fight my entry, as the Last Boss of the game.
Being the Last Boss I’ll also have 630pts to spend with, in 3 entries. My entries will be disclosed once all the teams are finalized, but actually I’ve already decided beforehand. Also, being the Last Boss of the Game, all my entries will be counted as having Strategy Rating of 4, immune to Mind Control (Enslavers) and are Fearless. (Odds are, however, my guys may get unlucky in the rolls, and I’m famed for displeased by the Dice God in the store)
If you’re able to defeat my entry, then here’s the final fight: A fight against each other inside the team in a Deathmatch! If you’re not able to, well, better luck next time!
Suppose Team A won over my entry, and now they have to fight each other. For this Deathmatch I’ll dedicate all 3 teams in Dice Rolls like this:
To Devastators, They’ll shoot Fire Dragons on 1-3, Crisis suits on 4-6.
To Fire Dragons, they’ll fire at Crisis suits on 1-3, Devastators on 4-6.
To Crisis suits, they’ll fire at Devastators on 1-3, Fire Dragons on 4-6.
All 3 units make their respective Strategy Rating rolls, and then roll for Targets using the chart above, and shootings are resolved normally, with the following exceptions: Since they’re near to the ultimate victory, they’ll fight on for it no matter the costs, and thus they’ll all be treated as Fearless if they already don’t.
The one who survives the whole slaughters will be crowned as the ultimate winner of this Challenge!
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Misc stuff, IMPORTANT PLEASE READ
IMPORTANT NOTES
1.
Originally Posted by
Dark Watcher, from MooFreaky’s The Challenge, post #108, with some amendments
i. Entries shall be made clearly and coherently.
When entering the game, please state your intention to enter and the entry you wish to submit clearly. This may change a bit over time with changes of mood/idea theft from others/others nicking your idea before you get time to enter it. It’s also advised to post a short message if you have edited your entry before all editing are disallowed.
If your entry is not clear then I holds final say-so on whether it is entered (see rule 2).
ii. “Down here, I’m God”
I have the last say. If anything is uncertain, then my decision is final. This is a dictatorship and not a democracy. “All hail BG!!” Yeah. That covers it. Of course, if you find out any unfairness to my judgments upon you/others, feel free to discuss with me but I have the right to make the final decision.
iii. The Dice Gods are fickle
In any challenge, taking a super tooled up entry does not guarantee victory. The Dice Gods have a habit of messing with peoples’ minds by granting quadruple 6s or double snake eyes. So if your entry dies on it, um, well let’s say "glutious maximus", “those stupid dice are produced by (fill in desired names)”, etc, and then don't waste time complaining me. Instead, accept that the Dice Gods are displeased with you for now and go out to sacrifice a D6 to them. This should solve the problems in future.
2. Listen to the Mods. They can be participants like all of you but their rules regarding posting styles, behaviors, etc. still apply to everyone (They’re Mods of the forum afterall). If you offend any rules set by them and got kick out of this thread, then I can’t help with it (The kicked player’s entry is then lost with no refunds as it’s assumed that he can’t take part in the competition anymore). So BEHAVE YOURSELF!
3. Since my PM box is full, if you have any enquiries/complaints/etc please do via E-Mail or MSN (it’s the same one of my E-mail) I’ll answer them ASAP. (I check my mailbox everyday)
4. The rounds will be completed at no fixed time. Man, just look at MooFreaky and Dooks Dizzo’s works. Great works needs time, so be patient.
5. Any entries, which are found cheating before the team drawing, will be randomized to lose a thing in the entry, and there'll be no objections towards it.
6.
IMPORTANT NOTE! All announcements’ time limits will be referred to GMT+8 (unless stated), which is my current time zone.
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Other than these, have fun. Now submit your name and wait for the draw!
There're ONLY 48 PLACES for participants so feel free to join this: Application will be closed once there're 48 contestants!
