Adepticon was last weekend, and by all reports it was a smashing success, except for one minor problem…

At least three illegal lists were found in the Top 16 of the 40k Singles Championships!

How is it that the most venerated 40k tournament could have not one, not two, but three illegal lists!

How this is possible?

Don’t the TOs check the lists?

Well according to the 40k Championship organizer had this to say…

The responsibility for the results of the AdeptiCon 40,000 Championship rests with me. As the coordinator of the 40K events, all aspects of the tournaments and their organization and execution rest on my shoulders.

Small details are often the most important, this weekend being a particularly potent example. The breakdown in process was that lists were not double checked prior to play beginning on Friday. I did not ensure that this key step was completed.

When the floor judges were made aware of the errors, the printed policy was enforced and the players in question were sanctioned. In one instance, an illegal model was removed from play for the final two rounds. In the other instance, illegal units were removed from play for the final round, resulting in concession. The enforcement of the printed policies took into consideration the nature of the list errors and the procedural breakdown described above. Expulsion of players for what I deemed shared responsibility was, in my opinion, excessive.

We have had the same conduct policy in place for over a decade, and in light of these events will review during our normal post convention assessment process.

Apologies to the impacted players who bear the true brunt of the failure.

So what exactly happened?

The most outrageous mistake came from the Overall Champion who had a strait up illegal list. His army was one point over, and it was a point over on semi-important unit. This wasn’t caught until the 2nd game into the finals, after the player had used the illegal unit/list for 6 previous games! The policy of Adepticon is to remove the offending unit or model and continue play. Now this is just one point over, and in a game with lots of free stuff running around the impact isn’t was it once was, but still it is illegal! In the highest level of competitive 40k, I think there should be zero tolerance no matter who is at fault or regardless if it is intentional or not.

It is great to see Adepticon will review their policies next time. No player or event is above scrutiny. In addition, the championship list had some army construction issues many players didn’t agree with, but in this case Adepticon gave the go head before the event was held. Everything is made slightly worse because the player is known to be very competitive and has a few rubbed opponents the wrong way in the past, so it only adds to the drama as extra sour grapes were being pressed. It also, doesn’t look good because the player is many ways is a local to the Adepticon area. Now, in the player’s defense he gave back the prize support he got from Adepticon and is not having his score be applied to admission for the American ETC team, which he most definitely wants to be a part of. He volunteered this things without Adepticon asking. In their eyes they followed established policy and that was that.

As to the other illegalities of lists that made it into the Top 16, were about list construction by not following the Adepticon guidelines. Adepticon used unlimited Detachments/Formations for army building, but didn’t allow Forge World special Detachments/Formations. This open format, I imagine is the cause of many of the problems, as the complexities involved in creating hyper competitive lists is fraught with danger.

Now, while I feel the players should take a bunch of the blame, it is incumbent on the event to check lists. An event with almost 200 players I understand can be almost logistically impossible. Though at the very least in a format where you have more multiple days for an event, you can go back and check the top lists for any problems. It isn’t hard to run 16 lists through army building programs and have a few sets of eyes look at them. Attendees on some level need to have faith they are not getting cheated, because if TOs don’t do their job you can end up with stories and conspiracies being generated from any scenario.

As for the players, I think every player should be responsible and care about their opponents enough to make detailed army lists. The phone list, the written on paper list, and the limited excel list has to stop. You can get away with it in small events, but in GT and events like Adepticon it is just unacceptable! Other events have been able to do it, even large ones. Take for instance Nova Open, in their first year the Overall Champion had an list over points. Nova Open’s reaction wasn’t to throw its hands up, but did something about it. Nova Open take copies of each list and stamps them and then goes back to review each one for problems. Guess what, ever since they haven’t had a problem.

LVO is also looking at ways to review lists as well, like making players turn them in advance of the event for peer review. I understand things happen, players want to make last minute changes and all events do and should continue to accommodate for that. As players though you also don’t get to fall back on, “I spent tons of money to play in this event I get to have stained piece of paper as my list”, it just doesn’t work that way. All events should step up, and for my part I will be on look out for this sort of thing going forward and call it out when appropriate.

Luckily, for Adepticon they can review their policies in place and make changes, and in all honestly they could drop the 40k Championships and wouldn’t lose a beat. Still, no matter the size or work players and TOs need to do the right thing and have as close to zero tolerance for this sort of thing, otherwise it leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

I finally got all the top lists and will be releasing them in a few days after I go over all of them so have some patience.