The Scottish Masters is just round the corner (6thand 7th of December) and it is quite a bit different to other Master Events around the world. The entry requirements for the event is to have attended (and thus supported) 4 Scottish Events in a calendar year. This means there is a much more inclusive (and larger!) list of players (below). On top of this the games played and the event in general is much more story driven (see teaser video above) with unique scenarios and ongoing events. The full tournament pack is below including scenarios, so have a wee read and see what you think! As yet I am unsure if I can make it but I am trying to negotiate and build up a mountain of Brownie Points to make it so!
Personally I think this is an absolutely awesome looking event and something totally different to any other event in Scotland or indeed the world! May the month of practise begin!
Personally I think this is an absolutely awesome looking event and something totally different to any other event in Scotland or indeed the world! May the month of practise begin!
You can find out more and sign up (if invited) here:
Pash Korniyenko
Jamie Ferguson
Jon Pugh
Mike Callaghan
Tim Gronneberg
James Esland
Michael Ross
Hugh Scarlin
Iain McGregor
Andy Currie
Trev Moffat
Greig Summers
Dave Hunter
Fraser McIntosh
Liam Watt
Ryan Savage
Graham Duffy
Calum Hay
Rich Payne
Leigh Martin
Dave Reid
Gus McCabe
Graham Hart
Andrew Wilson
Alan Liddle
Graeme Davidson
Will Esland
Scott Smith
John Craig
Joe Pirson
Michael Arnott
Gary Wyper
Liam Prior
Calum Todd
Darren Allwright
Woostie Woostie
Barry Gray
Neil Peckett
James Gilray
Hamish Hepburn
Chris Murfitt
Dave Soutar
Christian White
Dan Oldfield
The Scottish Masters; Call Of Moralltach
Rulespack for the hard of sight
The old world is ever a place of struggle and woe. Lives are callously tossed to the winds of hysh as gods both old and new play their fickle games. The brief lives of mortals are their grain and fodder - and the gods are hungry. So it is then that rumours come to you of a lost place, a place old beyond the reckoning of myth, lost once and now found. A place where a mortal may seek to become immortal; to become legend. There await artifacts of terrible power; weapons that can forge nations, magic that can break them.. and talk of a ‘Great Fury’ that will mark the one who can claim it as a peerless victor. Lust filling your heart, you resolve to claim the tools you need to rewrite your destiny. By exhausting your network of contacts and no small amount of gold you learn rumours of the location of this battleground of champions, and the dread prizes that lie in wait for those but bold enough to claim them. The name ‘Moralltach’ is whispered in reverent tones by those unwary enough to spill such fell secrets. But be warned, even now dozens of champions of light and dark alike share your vainglorious purpose... skaven submersibles move unseen beneath the waves, while sleek elven ships clip effortlessly through the raging seas. Dwarf blimps float overhead and the vale of reality flickers and coughs as unpossible forces claw through from realms of ecstasy and nightmare. There will be no swift and easy recovery... if you want to claim this ‘Moralltach’ you must fight. Only by force of will and skill at arms can you claim your prize. The ground of Karmon Gaaems awaits…
The Scottish Masters is gathering of the most loyal and dedicated of Scottish Warhammer gamers. It is designed to test your skill and generalship by encouraging you to bring your best and test your mettle against that of your ambitious peers. It is created by and for those that give the most to the Scottish scene and for that reason this event is by invitation only. To earn your place you must have attended at least 4 Scottish Warhammer events in the last year.
This is your call to show what you’re made of. This is the Call Of Moralltach and there is no turning back..
Location and Tickets
The event will be held at Common Ground Games on the 6th-7thDec. Your ticket will include 6 games of warhammer, lunch on both days as well as a selection of goodies. Tickets are priced at £30 and can be purchased via Paypal (please remember to send as “gift”!) by sending the payment to Cablehype@hotmail.com Deadline for payment is midnight 30th Nov, one week before the event.
Army Lists
This tournament will use an Open List format. Lists are to be submitted in advance to the above email, the deadline for list submission is midnight 30thNov. Open lists will be published in advance on the forum for checking. Please submit lists in a legible format, Quartermaster summary files being the perfect example.
Timetable
Saturday 6th Dec
9.00am – registration and caffeine injection
9.15am – Game 1, Escalating Engagement
12.00pm – Lunch
12.30pm – Game 2, Blood Of Heroes
3.00pm – Fag break
3.30pm – Game 3, The Aetheric Cairn
6.00pm – Secondary caffeine injection
6.30pm – Game 4, A Chill Dawn
9.00pm – Dinner time
Sunday 7th Dec
9.30am – Game 5,The Valley Of Champions
12.00pm – Lunch
1.00pm – Game 6, The Fateful Tableaux
3.30pm – Tally up the scores..
4.00pm - ..and give out the awards
Army Selection
Marshal your forces for the trials to come
Armies will be to 2400pts, chosen from any of the current army books. Undead Legions and Chaos Dwarfs may be used, but no special characters are allowed. 50% lords and 50% heroes are allowed per the latest FAQ. Armies must follow the latest ‘Scotcomp’ framework (ignore references to special characters). This will be linked from the tournament post on The Warhammer Forum.
Painting
As the masters of war summon their legions for the trials ahead, the gods watch on and take heed of the petty scrambling of mortals vying for power. Only the worthy may compete here. They see you, they know you.
As a gathering of the most experienced tournament players in Scotland, it is expected that everyone will bring a fully painted army. To that end, unpainted models will NOT be allowed. Rather than specify a minimum standard, we’d like to encourage players to bring their best, and let their conscience guide them. Hopefully the ruleset allows for you to bring your favourite units and for them to have them have a tactical place in the tournament. Our aim is for 6 games of immersive, narrative driven Warhammer where we have an awesome time, no matter who wins. In order to encourage narrative, every character and unit in your army must be named on your army list. The names should be consistent with the fluff. Please also provide a short background piece describing your general, his force and their reason for questing to Karmon Gaaems.
Summary:
-Fully painted and based armies only. Unpainted models may not be used.
-Models should be to your best standard (and therefore be consistent). In case anyone is unclear, at a minimum this means at least three (separate) colours and painted/textured (sand, flock etc) basing. Note undercoat does not qualify!
-Provide background for your army, 150 words or more
-Name all your characters and units appropriately, so you may tell deeds of their exploits
If you meet all of the above criteria, you will be awarded the +10pts for painting and background. These will be assessed by the judges. Typed and printed lists and background are preferred. If you want to dip it in tea, ancient scroll style, go for it. Maybe don’t write it in blood though…
Missions, Scenarios and the Tally of Skulls
The lands of Karmon Gaaems will not yield their treasures without struggle. The old stones of the place are restless with the broken dreams of failed champions. Fetid swamps belch forth great clouds of noxious gases; trees shift uncomfortably and the howling winds scream from the sea, taking the very heat from the bones of those from the comforting bosom of the south. This dark and desolate land will test your command, your adaptability and maybe even your very sanity – for only the insane have strength enough to prosper.
In order to test the limits of your skill as a battlefield commander, this tournament will use set of 6 scenarios and also use missions. There are six missions you can choose to play. Before each game, after seeing your opponents army but before deployment or generating spells, (secretly) select which you will undertake and put the appropriate card underneath a piece of terrain on the table. You can only use them ONCE each, so you may wish to think about how missions and scenarios interact and plan accordingly! On the results sheet indicate the mission chosen for this game.
A successful mission earns you +401vps.
Missions
1.“No will shall prevail save mine!” – kill the enemy general while keeping yours alive. The enemy general does not confer the +100vp bonus as normal this game but if at the end of the game you would gain the +100 vps for killing him, while not losing your own general, you complete your mission. An exception to this is if the model becomes a daemon prince, in which case you must kill the prince. Note this means that for a general-and-mount, you only need to kill the general and not the mount to complete this mission.
2.“Slay their elite, the rest offer little enough threat” – Wipe out all the enemies special choices to complete the mission. All of your opponents special choices must be dead to a model or fled off the table entirely
3.“Insufferable abomination! Destroy it!” – Wipe out all the enemies rare choices to complete the mission. All of your opponents rare choices must be dead to a model or fled off the table entirely
4.“An army needs wood and food as surely as it needs soldiers” – score in more forests than the opponent to complete the mission. The following can score: Units of 5 or more infantry or cavalry. Units of 3 or more monstrous infantry, monstrous cavalry or chariots. They must be partially in the forest to claim. If a scoring unit from each side is in a forest, neither claims.
5.“Secure the battlefield, drive the foe before you” – have 3 or more fortitude and at least one scoring unit in opponents deployment zone at the end of the game to complete the mission. The following can score: Units of 5 or more infantry or cavalry. Units of 3 or more monstrous infantry, monstrous cavalry or chariots.
6. “Capture the witch! I would know their secrets” - If this mission is chosen, then when an enemy caster (character who can channel) dies do not remove it, instead use it as a counter from that point on. If it dies in an enemy unit, this unit will start in possession of the counter. Either side may gain possession by moving (but not marching) over it in the remaining moves subphase (or by using a spell that grants such a move), or by winning a round of combat against the enemy unit which has it. If the player who played this mission is in possession of at least one ‘captured caster’ model at the end of the game, the mission is completed. If the opponent, or neither of you are in possession, it is failed. Note that this means you must declare this mission to your opponent once the first eligible enemy caster dies by any means. Note also that after the first dies, others may still become counters/be captured (but you only need to capture one).
Tally of Skulls
This is a subgame which stretches across all the games played, carrying its own prize. A player can finish last in the tournament proper and still be awarded the ‘Lord of Skulls’ prize. In each scenario, it will specify what to count towards your tally. Note your score on the results sheet at the end of each of games 1-6. Player with the highest total at the end of the tournament will be our Lord of Skulls; he who forsakes victory on the battlefield for the slaughter of champions. Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows!
Scenarios
Given the tormented waters off the coast you are grateful to make land at all, and yet you feel a sense of unease. Why wasn’t your ship dashed on the jagged teeth of stone jutting angrily from the foamy shore? A tingle on the back of your neck gives you the notion you’re being watched – although scouts report no enemy in the area. Trying to ignore the rising panic and the dark sibilant whispers that speak to your heart, you resolve to head inland immediately. Anything to get off the beach and away from the unseen watchers. Wondering in which direction to travel, you notice a track cutting into a cleft in the tundra. Was that there before? Dismissing your confusion as a flight of fancy, you sound the order to form up and march. Inland then. Onwards, to glory.
Game one. “Escalating Engagement”
As you trudge inland a single bloodied scout rushes back, wide eyed and breathing hard. He reports contact with another landing party, and barely escaping with his life. Given the size of the island you didn’t expect a fight so soon… a coincidence, surely. Resolving to consider this more if you survive you resolve to waste no more time on it now. With the foe just over the ridge ahead there isn’t time to array the ranks as neatly as you might hope – some of your force may even yet be disembarking the ship! Perhaps if you sent a runner back they could hope to outflank the enemy… Sound loud the trumpets and peal the drums. Battle is upon you!
This scenario uses the deployment map per the rulebook ‘Meeting Engagement’, with the following changes. Units go into reserve on a 1 or 2, rather than a 1 only. After rolling for all units, one roll may be changed to a 1 or a 6, players choice (i.e. you can put one unit that would have been off on, or vice versa). Reserves must come on turn 2 on a 3+, turn 3 and after on a 2+. If you roll a 6 for their reserves roll, they may ambush (i.e. enter on any table edge in the remaining moves phase, but not march). Characters may deploy in units. Units that already start in reserve and ambush are unaffected.
Tally of Skulls: “For Whom the Bell Tolls” Count each character who cannot channel, killed by any means (including fleeing off the board).
Game two. “The Blood of Heroes”
After withdrawing from the initial skirmish you plan to head back to make safe your ships, but having retrodden your steps you now can’t even find the coast. After wandering lost for an hour, you think hear muttering from the ranks behind you… when you catch the scent of an army on the air. Time to show those who would mutter that a navigator you may not be, but rather a warrior born. You begin to get a sense that not all here is as it seems… It is as if some greater purpose guides you – as if the land itself cries out for blood and leads armies to battle to slake its terrible thirst. No, gold was not the prize you came for; legends are not bought with gold. They are earned with glory. If this cursed place wants blood, then blood it shall have. Nearby the branch of a gnarled old tree creaks in the wind. It makes a sound like mocking laughter, and sets a murder of crows to flight. As their dark shapes are lost to the brooding thunderheads above you laugh. Win or lose, the crows never go hungry.
This game is per the ‘Blood and Glory’ scenario save breaking the enemies fortitude does not end the game and instead confers +802vp if you do it first, or +401vp if you do it second. Additionally, characters killed in a challenge confer a +100vp bonus.
Tally of Skulls: “For Glory Eternal” Count all characters killed in challenges
Game three. “The Aetheric Cairn”
Wearied from the fight you make inland beneath the torrid skies. You bid your army eat and tend their wounds while you wait for the tally of the slain. You see flickering ghostlights tease across the land to your west. A trick of the eye… just battle-worn nerves playing tricks. Besides – doesn’t the battle prove that the prize is coveted by others? It must be grand indeed. With food in your belly and the bravado that only one who has recently been close to death, only to deny it can know you order the march onwards. Ghostlights mean magic, and where there is magic, there is power. As you approach you see a large cairn rising from a blanket of mist. As you stare, looking for an entrance, the fog writhes dizzyingly around it, and you start imagining you see shapes within it. A lonely maiden. A giant hound. A leering skull. Dread grips tight your heart. You try and dismiss it with a laugh that sounds hollow and flat even to you. It is only mist. Suddenly, a wind whips across the lonely vista in front of you, and the dancing ghostlights reveal dark silhouettes. They’re moving – an army! You will not let them claim the Cairn and the treasures that doubtless lie within.
This game follows the deployment from the ‘Battleline’ scenario and you will find a large hill in the centre of the table – this is the Cairn. Claiming this cairn at the end of the game gives +802vp. Any unit on the cairn gains Magic Resistance 3, spells targeted onto the area of the hill or units at least partially within this area miscast on a double 1 as well as a double 6 (Use Ring of Hotek FAQ if in doubt). However, units on the cairn may never use the ‘Hold your ground’ or ‘Inspiring Presence’ rules – it is suffused with unnatural magicks. The following can claim: Units of 5 or more infantry or cavalry. Units of 3 or more monstrous infantry, monstrous cavalry or chariots. They must be at least partially on the cairn to claim. If each side has a claiming unit on the cairn at the end of the game then each must elect one to fight a round of combat (starting with the player who took the last turn). If one unit breaks, the other claims. If neither break and are both still scoring then neither may claim. The game must last at least 5 turns – and will end after turn 5 on a roll of 5+, after 6 on a roll of 4+, after 7 on a roll of 3+. It may not last more than 7 turns.
Tally of Skulls: “The Blood is the Magic” Count each enemy character who can ordinarily channel slain (or captured)
Game four. “A Chill Dawn”
Your tortured dreams give way to wakefulness, finding it still to be dark, and your body is shocked by the chill of this place. You ache from the exertions of battle – but you are glad of it, for it means you survived and the treasures of this terrible land are nearly within your reach. Yesterday was madness; you can never recall feeling such bloodlust, such determination to break the will of an opposing force simply to prove your own was stronger. And yet it now takes all of that will to coax you into motion. In the chill air it feels like hope itself has abandoned you, and your hands are numb from the icy cold. Your herald rushes in to tell you of enemies close at hand. Too close to wait. Curse this land – still hungry after the glutting of blood you gave it yesterday? Steeling yourself against the grim frost you don your battle gear. Rouse the army, pray for dawn.
This game uses the ‘Dawn Attack’ scenario rules but in addition, every unit on the board counts as being affected by ‘Iceshard Blizzard’ from the Lore of Heavens for the first game turn (but the lore attribute does not apply). Characters may deploy in units
Tally of Skulls: “The Cowards’ Lament” Count all enemy characters killed ‘by means of leadership’ – i.e. fled, crumbled, spirit leeched, instability etc.
Game five. “The Valley of Champions”
The sun is up now, banishing the cold that had so gripped you before. Besides, your hands are still slick with the warm blood of the foe. Turning to survey your host, you see your most skilled champion staring dully ahead, eyes glazed over. His bloodied fingers trace an unknown shape, anointing his face with a sigil of murder. Looking at the serried ranks of your force, you see others do the same. In your heart you know what this means. Entering the mouth of a valley you see an army up ahead. If you want to pass this final gateway and see your path clear to the mountain that dominates the centre of this island, you must offer tribute. Your champions turn to stare at you with mad, hateful eyes. If you balk at the task ahead, you aren’t sure they won’t vent their fury on you. And if you cannot survive the champions of the enemy, you are not worthy to face the final test. Your blade has been tried often since you came here. It will not be found wanting now.
This game uses the rules for ‘Battle for the pass’ from the rulebook, but any unit with a champion may vanguard if:
-It first passes a non-rerollable Ld test on the leadership of its champion (who is in no mood to take orders)
-It contains no other characters (too busy staring each other down)
Make all tests to determine who vanguards, then roll off for the order as normal. All Champions suffer both from frenzy, and from hatred of all opposing characters. Note per the rules this does not make the entire unit ITP, but they still have to take frenzy checks (although they may use the general’s leadership and reroll these as normal), and must overrun (until the champion dies or loses a round of combat). The Underdog bonus is worth +200vps. All non-caster characters (i.e those that may not channel) have +1Ld (to reflect their steely determination), but may not refuse challenges from Champions (although they may decline to fight characters as normal).
Tally of Skulls: “Fury of the Aspirant”Count all champions killed in challenges
Game six. “The Fateful Tableaux”
And so it has come to this. You have bested the horrors of this place and stand bloodied but victorious at the very gates of glory. Many have tried and their pitiful lives have been ground to naught but dust. This place has tolled a heavy price for the chance to stand upon the threshold of immortality. As you summit the mountain in the islands centre, you see the top stretches into a vast plateau. Lining the outer perimeter are statues of great warriors who have come before you. The finest battlefield commanders in the known world and beyond have tested their mettle here. Feeling awed at earning a place among them, you step onto the field of battle. Who must die to secure your victory? Who dares oppose your will now? Suspended in the middle of the battlefield by forces unseen, and lit by a shaft of brilliant sunlight – the first you’ve seen in two days – hovers a huge blade. This is Moralltach, ‘The Great Fury’. It will make you a renowned warlord upon your return home, mark you out as a conqueror, as a legend. Now is the time to step forward and claim it! Be stout of heart, and purpose your ambition. Immortality is not for the timid.
This is a straightforward ‘Battleline’ scenario, with no additions or changes. You have been tested well, but beneath the very eyes of the gods no errant strand of fate will intervene, no whimsy will belay your plans. Make them well – and seize your glory.
Tally of Skulls: “Draped in Blood”. Count up a tally for every Seized Standard
Table Of Victory
Please note, this is not the usual table you might be used to. For this event, we will be trialling the new Scottish Sliding-Scale system. The values are below. Note that a successful mission is worth +401 vps.
You made it. This place did not break you, and by strength of will and force of arms you have completed your quest. Go forth and tell others of the deeds done this day. Let not these moments be lost to time, like tears in rain. For glory must be eternal.