Results: Datasheet Creation Competition!

Thank you to all the hobbyists who submitted Datasheets for the Apocalypse Lucky 13s Campaign Datasheet Creation Competition. Remember that participation earns you your Campaign stamp, not outcome. And thank you for your patience while awaiting a resolution--I ultimately received 18 entries, over a dozen of which were eligible for the physical prizes, and all of which had so much promise that I sent them to a number of sources who very generously took their time to review and comment on them. This led to a second (and in some cases third and fourth and...!) round of revisions, during which all of the participants showed great willingness to redraft their creations, in effort to get them to their highest level of playability. As result, a(n altogether appropriate) total of *13* submissions have won the 'prize' of being approved for use in an upcoming local Apocalypse game, and several are so good they will likely become local Apocalypse staples! All of them are being prepared for presentation to GW as a package, as well, for their consideration. Had participants not been willing to rework and redo their creations, probably fewer than half that number would have passed muster (in fact, only *one* submission passed through all reviewers and commenters unchanged at all!); kudos to the broad spirit of cooperation (admittedly toward a worthwhile goal!) in evidence...and though I cannot name them, thank you *very much* to those sources who took their own time to review and comment upon the submissions, the suggested revisions making them all much more playable and Apocalyptic! Time and circumstance prevented a number of hobbyists from being able to get their ideas down on paper...unfortunate, since several of those ideas were among the ones I was most looking forward to seeing; perhaps we can revisit this idea again soon (though, given the amount of work it wound up involving to do right, not *very* soon :); I was really looking forward to seeing that tainted Eldar Revenant and Loyalist Terminator formations I heard discussed! Meantime, the Datasheet Creation Competition prize winners are:

• GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Forrest Buchly, Inquisition High Decree Puritas Formation
• HobbyAnnex Special Participation Prize: Gamaliel Martinez, Chaos Daemon Avatar of Khorne Gargantuan Creature

Forrest will receive a limited edition Games Workshop 25th Anniversary figure case from HobbytownUSA (ideally, to store his created Formation in); Gama will receive a brand new Games Workshop publication from my personal collection (novel or background book, depending on what he does not have).

Also approved for use in future Apocalypse games*:

• Jack Salva, Necron Tomb World Guardians Formation
• Eric Smelley, Dark Eldar Soul Reaper Cannon Superheavy Vehicle
• Eric Smelley, Space Wolves Russ's Spear Formation
• Chad Jones, Eldar Harlequin's Specter Titan Superheavy Vehicle
• Chad Jones, Eldar Knight Titan Superheavy Vehicle
• Blake Weinstein, Chaos Space Marines MAC Rifle Team Formation
• Brady Allen, Tyranid Lictor Ambush Brood Formation
• Christopher Allen, Space Marine Razorback Flying Column Formation
• Josh Sherman, Space Marine Whirlwind Cyclone Force Formation
• Juan Diaz, Tau Gue'vesa Disruption Force Formation
• Keith McCallig, Chaos Daemons Plague Carnival Formation

*--for fairness, at an event I moderate.

Results: 40K V5 Academy Tournament

HobbytownUSA Dallas' 40K V5 Academy, which was free with the purchase of the new rulebook, concluded two successful evening skullsessions and practice games with the first fifth-edition tournament in the area, which in three rounds introduced the competitors to all three of the new Missions and Deployment Conditions. Thursday evening's session was attended by eleven hobbyists, with fourteen more on Friday; each received a customized 'V5 cheat sheet' summarizing the major change's from V4 to V5, and participated in exercises and practice games to familiarize themselves with most of those changes. The 'cheat sheet' will be made available to every hobbyist in the North Texas area shortly as a download at http://www.AdeptusNorthTexas.com.

Twelve of the Academy participants entered the tournament on Saturday. The races of the forty-first millennium were well represented, with three Space Marine armies and a Daemonhunter inquisition force representing the Imperium, a craftworld and two Dark Eldar forces, two Tyranid hives, an ork horde, a Necron detachment and a Tau cadre completing the dozen (Chaos was inexplicably absent in any form...). Three players entered the final round undefeated: Juan's Tau and Jackson's Daemonhunters clashed on the Ancient Earthen Ruins top table--but when their struggle ended in a Draw, leaving them both 2-0-1 and tied for Second, the Overall Tournament Victory went to the only undefeated *and* untied player, Brady and his Tyranids.

Over half the armies were fully painted, and several of those which were't because they were fielding new and not-yet-painted squads would have vied for top honours, had the rest of their armies been finished: Jeff's terrific-looking wraithbone-accented Eldar Guardians and Josh T's screaming-bright-red Ork trukk spring particularly to mind. In a sporting display, two-thirds of the armies received at least one vote for Favorite Army, and two-thirds of the players votes for Best Sportsman--and (although it was not prohibited), no one voted for themselves, which reflects that highly-sporting atmosphere. Brady's Tyranids, Josh S's Space Marines, Bill's Space Marines, Tommy's Dark Eldar and Eric's Dark Eldar all received multiple Favorite Army votes--but the clear winner was Juan's beautifully-executed (and perennial favorite) Tau. Brady and Jeff earned multiple Best Sportsman votes, and both Josh S and Bill accomplished the rare and laudable feat of being named Best Sportsman by all three opponents they faced--including each other!

Curiously, Josh S and Bill also vied for the not-exactly-coveted 'Murphy's Luck Award:' ordinarily, when an unit performs as futilely over the course of three games as Josh's Land Speeder did (destroyed every game, killed exactly one model in the course of doing so) it would be a slam dunk--but then Bill mustered a shooting performance in the final game of such surpassing futility as to become the stuff of legend: with a shooting-oriented Space Marine army, and against a ravenous-for-hand-to-hand-combat bug horde, he shot over eighty times, including several multiple-model-targeting template missiles...and inflicted a grand total of five wounds, before having his spectacular ill-fortune wiped from memory in a tide of nearly-full-strength chitinous fangs-and-claws. Frankly, I've never seen anything quite like it...

Kudos to these winners of an outstanding field, which also included Alex's Tyranids (Alex lost only once, also, making the Great Devourer's V5 debut an impressive 5-1), Blake's Necrons and Kyle's Space Marines; and thanks to Games Workshop and HobbytownUSA Dallas for hosting and supporting with fine prizes. The fifth era has begun!

• OVERALL CHAMPION: Brady Allen, Tyranids
• RUNNER UP: Jackson Elliott, Daemonhunters
• FAVORITE ARMY: Juan Diaz, Tau
• BEST SPORTSMAN: Josh Sherman, Space Marines
• MURPHY'S LUCK AWARD: Bill Mikesell, Space Marines

Portal Wars! Apocalypse Event at HobbyAnnex

At 10am Saturday, August 2, 2008 HobbyAnnex Dallas will put their expanded new gameplay area to the test with an Apocalypse Team Event: Portal Wars! This all-day event (with scheduled half hour lunch and dinner breaks) is $10 for participation--but *free* to HobbyAnnex Game Club members! Fifth Edition 40K rules, in concert with Apocalypse supplement rules, will be used to facilitate a three round tourney featuring six teams of two players each, 6000 points per side. Sign up is already open at HobbyAnnex and will run through July 31, 2008 or when all twelve slots are full. The event is restricted to ages 18 and older, Codex armies only (no White Dwarf or supplement armies) and Tyranids armies are not eligible for this particular event. There are a number of additional special rules; see the complete write-up posted on the Adeptus North Texas mailing list by event creator and moderator, Aaron, or contact HobbyAnnex for all the details! Prizes will be given for the two-man team which is named Best General, as well as for the required story submission explaining the background of why the two armies on each team are united in the Portal Wars. Good luck; the mysteries beyond the Portal demand to be solved...

40K Tournament at Comic Asylum July 19th

Comic Asylum in Garland will sponsor a 1500 point Warhammer 40,000 tournament Saturday, July 19th, 2008. The tournament will use V4 rules, but Chapter Approved armies as well as Codex armies can participate. The 'three colour standard' is requested (and required of any armies which wish to compete for the Best Army prize), and three printed copies of their army list are required of players. Comic Asylum is at 4750 North Jupiter Road in Garland; click on their store listing at left for additional contact information and tournament details!

HobbytownUSA Dallas 40K V5 Academy (July 17-19)

HobbytownUSA Dallas is offering a bonus for any hobbyist who purchases a copy of the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 Fifth Edition rulebook from them: a three session '40K V5 Academy,' to put the differences in the new systems into practical action, and make the transition as smooth and intuitive as possible!

HTUD already has sign up sheets available for the Fifth Edition hardcover rulebook; to insure you receive your copy on July 12, 2008, the announced release date, simply sign up in the gaming area of the store. Collector's Editions and Gamer's Editions are going to be extremely difficult to come by, but the standard hardcover rulebooks should be plentiful, and the purchase of *any* variant entitles you to participate in one or all three of the V5 Academy sessions, scheduled for the following week. The schedule is as follows:

+++HTUD 40K V5 Academy+++

• Thursday, July 17 -- 5pm to 8pm: Introduction and Q&A/FAQ about the new edition. Bring your army to do hands-on examples of the new Assault rules, Vehicle rules, etc.
• Friday, July 18 -- 5pm to 8pm: Skirmish with new edition. Put the small scale maneuvers learned yesterday into context with new Objective rules, Scoring rules, etc.
• Saturday, July 19 -- Noon to 5pm: V5 Combat Patrol Tournament! Three rounds of tournament action under the new rules, with full prize support!

This Academy--complete with tournament!--is designed to ease the transition into the mechanics of a new edition as smoothly as possible...as well as be a lot of fun...and the only cost of participation is purchase of the new 40K Fifth Edition rulebook from the sponsoring retailer, HobbytownUSA Dallas. Sign up to reserve your copy now, and prepare for the forty-first millennium, edition five, in the Game Hall of HobbytownUSA Dallas!