Running an Event: Tournaments

Tournaments are competitive events aimed at matching players of equal skill against one another until one emerges as champion above all others. There are numerous ways to run a tournament and this section will present a recommended set of rules and suggestions for doing so. This section presumes the rules for Organised Play battles presented previously in this supplement are in use.

The following pages will cover tournament rules, rules for scoring and tiebreakers, as well as suggestions for how to rank players against one another; the roles that need to be filled to ensure a tournament runs smoothly, their responsibilities, and other important things to consider when planning an event.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

At every event there are people working hard behind the scenes to ensure that every participant has the best experience they possibly can. There are various roles that should be filled before a tournament is run and we’ve listed the key roles below, along with a description of the key tasks of each role.

Organiser

Every event will need at least one Organiser. Their role is to oversee every aspect of the tournament, including venue, gaming equipment (tables, terrain, etc.), appoint additional tournament staff such as Referees, and be around on the day to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible.

The Organiser is essentially in charge of everything on the day, and all participants must accept that the Organiser has the authority to expel or disqualify anyone for breaking the rules of the event – although this should hopefully never happen! It is also the Organiser’s job to check every player’s battlegroup roster at the start of the event, so a firm grasp of the rules is ideal.

Referee

Every event needs a Referee which, at small events, can be the Organiser, although one or more additional Referees during larger events helps quickly settle issues that might crop up. It is a Referee’s job to observe games as they are played, enforce the rules, answer any rules queries the players may have and settle disputes between players in a calm and fair manner.

In order to fulfil their role a Referee must have a good knowledge of the rules of the game, and have a copy of the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, any relevant Adeptus Titanicus supplements and all Errata and FAQs on hand in case a rule query comes up.

A Referee’s ruling is final during the course of an event and all players must agree to honour a Referee’s ruling in such situations. The Referee should not participate in the tournament so they are accessible when queries arise and to ensure their judgements are fair.

The Referee should be impartial and make rulings to their best judgement. When a rules query crops up they should discuss it with both players and, if they are unsure, read the relevant rules section and any relevant FAQs. When, over the course of a weekend, a ruling is made, a Referee should make a note of the ruling so that if the same query arises in a different game the rulings remain consistent across the entire event.

Scorekeeper

Every event will also need a Scorekeeper which can be the Organiser in small events. It is the job of the Scorekeeper to collect the results after each round from each game to ensure players are ranked correctly. They are also responsible for pairing players against one another, including randomly pairing opponents in the first round of the tournament. The Scorekeeper should not participate in the tournament so that they can collect every result as soon as possible.

Spare Player

Often tournaments will have an odd number of players, either from an odd number of players buying tickets or because a player drops out before or during the tournament, meaning a player would be without an opponent. Whilst this can be settled by a predetermined result, known as a Bye (see page 28), it is much more satisfying for that player if they have a game to play – after all, that is why they are at the event! To allow for this, it is recommended to have a Spare Player on standby for the event.

The Spare Player should be someone who knows how to play the game and will provide their opponent with a fun and enthusiastic game rather than simply sitting around waiting. The Spare Player should not be included in the rankings and thus cannot win any awards or the entire event, and should play each game in an appropriate manner. If an event is a competitive one then the Spare Player should not just let their opponent win, instead ensuring they have a fun and rewarding game, while earning any victory they achieve.

We recommend that the Spare Player is someone different to the Organiser, Referee and Scorekeeper, to ensure these roles are not neglected or a Spare Player’s game regularly interrupted.

Player

Each player is responsible for bringing their own miniatures, dice, rules manuals, Command Terminals and tokens, and for understanding and accepting all of the tournament’s rules. It pays to let all players know in advance if they are expected to have a decent working knowledge of the game.

Tournament Rules

Every tournament should have a set of rules that dictates the limitations and boundaries for the event. These rules should be clearly explained in the event pack, which should be available to all players before they purchase their ticket to ensure everyone knows where they stand. If players have a question, they should initially check the event pack to see if their query is answered in it before contacting the Tournament Organiser. It is advised to use the rules presented here as the foundation for Organised Play.

All games played at an Adeptus Titanicus Organised Play tournament use the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, any supplement books, and the most recent FAQs and rules clarifications as found at warhammer-community.com. All players are expected to know the stated rules.

Miniatures

Players may only use official Citadel and Forge World miniatures at the event, and all miniatures must be fully built, based and painted. Players must use the appropriate miniatures for their army. Conversions are permitted at the Organiser’s discretion, so long as they only include parts from official Citadel and Forge World miniatures, and clearly represent what they are meant to be. You may wish to ask for any players wishing to use conversions to submit them to the Organiser before the event so they can check if they are happy with them. In addition, players should notify their opponent of any conversions before the game begins.

Conduct

All games of Adeptus Titanicus should be played in a civil and generous way. This is especially true for tournament games where all players are expected to show good conduct in all aspects of the event. Players are expected to treat each other with respect and behave in a mature and considerate manner, including during any rules disputes.

Scoring & Tiebreakers

Games

At the end of each game, players will need to record the result. This includes who won, lost or drew, the total Victory Points each player scored (and the breakdown of how many were Primary and how many were Secondary), and if either player destroyed the enemy battlegroup leader. If the players do not finish their game before time runs out, they must finish the round they are on and then work out the winner at the end of that round. It is important that both players provide all of the information as it is all used for tiebreakers to work out who is where in the rankings.

In a tournament, players will earn a number of Tournament Points (TPs) depending on how they did during their games. Players earn 3 TPs for a win, 1 TP for a draw, and 0 TPs for a loss.

Determining Objectives During a Tournament

In a one-off Matched Play game of Adeptus Titanicus, players will randomly determine two Primary and two Secondary Objectives and choose which of each to be their objectives for the battle as described on page 17. During events with multiple games, this system can be used as is, with players generating new objectives at the start of each battle.

However, this can create considerable variance across a weekend, with some players consistently getting the same objectives, while others get different objectives every time. As such, the suggestion method is an ‘Objective Pool’.

Objective Pools can be individual to each player or set for each round. When individual to each player, the event pack should provide a list of Primary and Secondary Objectives available to each player over the course of the event. There must be at least one Primary and one Secondary Objective per game being played. All Primary and Secondary Objectives do not have to be in use; if an event has four games over the course of a weekend, then the event pack can specify which Primary and Secondary Objectives are in the Objective Pools; so long as both pools have a minimum of four, Tournament Organisers can choose which are available.

At the start of each game, after terrain has been deployed but before determining who has control of the battlefield, each player secretly chooses one Primary and one Secondary Objective from their Objective Pool for the game. Once an objective has been chosen, it cannot be picked again – i.e., a player can only choose each Primary Objective and each Secondary Objective once per event. This means all players have the same objectives but decide, based upon the table in front of them and their opponent’s battlegroup, what objectives they may complete.

Individual Objective Pools require substantial record keeping by the Tournament Organisers. When results are submitted, each player should also hand in their Primary and Secondary Objectives, along with noting down their opponents’. This way, the Tournament Organisers can check each player has used each objective once. Tournament Organisers could also hand out cards with the name of each objective on at the start of the event, with players handing in the one they used at the end of a game.

Alternatively, Tournament Organisers could specify that each round has one or two Primary Objectives and one or two Secondary Objectives for that round – players then choose the objectives they will aim to complete for the game from those available for that round.

Ranking and Tiebreakers

During the course of a tournament, players are ranked according to the number of Tournament Points (TPs) they have; the more TPs a player has, the higher they are in the ranking. Where players are tied on the number of TPs, there are a number of Tiebreakers which can be used to determine who is higher placed.

The first Tiebreaker is a player’s Victory Point Difference, which is equal to the number of VPs scored across all their games so far, minus the number of VPs conceded across all their games. For example, if a player has played two games and has the result of 25-7 and 35-0, their Victory Point Difference would be 53.

If players are still tied, the second Tiebreaker is the total number of VPs scored across all of the player’s games i.e., in the above example the player would have 60 total VPs. If players are still tied, the third Tiebreaker is the number of battlegroup leaders each player has destroyed across all of their games. Lastly, players can be ranked by the total number of Primary VPs and Secondary VPs scored across all games, ranking players first by the highest number of Primary VPs and second by the highest number of Secondary VPs.

Further Tiebreakers are then used at the Tournament Organiser’s discretion. These could be anything from Favourite Opponent scores, Best Painted, or anything else the Tournament Organiser wishes, so long as it is clear to all players before the start of the event (e.g., it is detailed in the event pack) which Tiebreakers will be used and in what order.

PAIRING SYSTEM

There are various methods to pair players against opponents during a tournament, though we would recommend using the system detailed here for running your own events.

Round 1

For the first round, players are paired together randomly using player numbers generated upon registration. Randomly generated match-ups work best as players who arrive with their friends are likely to have consecutive numbers, but few wish to play their regular opponents in their first game. If there are an odd number of players then one player will be randomly paired with the Spare Player or given a Bye.

Rankings and Spare Players: If a player is paired against the Spare Player, then they will play the game as normal, and record the result in the same way as any other game. When working out standings for pairings later on, the Spare Player is not counted and instead will always play against a player without an opponent – this could be the player who is at the bottom of the standings, although longer Tournaments might see players drop out over the course of the event, leaving gaps elsewhere in the rankings.

If, during subsequent rounds, a player who has already played the Spare Player is drawn against them again, then a player of similar rank (e.g. the rank above or the rank below) who has not already played the Spare Player will play them instead. We would always recommend that a tournament has a Spare Player, as that is more fun for your attendees than having a Bye.

Bye: Sometimes, you may be unable to find a Spare Player for your event. In this case, the player that would normally be paired with the Spare Player (as described above) will instead have a Bye. A Bye counts as winning the game with 20 Victory points, split 15 and 5 over Primary and Secondary Objectives respectively, and 0 Victory points against. The player also counts as having killed the enemy battlegroup leader.

Conceding: Should a player concede a game, their opponent will automatically receive a win, count as having scored full Victory points for both their Primary and Secondary Objectives and count as having killed the enemy battlegroup leader.

Subsequent Rounds

For subsequent rounds, players are paired as follows:

The player who is highest in the rankings will play the player who is second in the rankings; the player in third will play the player in fourth; the player in fifth will play the player in sixth and so on until all players are paired up. If a player is supposed to play an opponent they have already played, the lowest ranked of the two will swap places with the highest ranked player on the table below them.

E.g., at the start of round 4 the rankings for a selection of players are as follows:

PLAYER RANK	PLAYER NAME	TOTAL TPs	TOTAL VPs
13	Vulpa	7	75
14	Astorum	7	70
15	Metalica	6	65
16	Mortis	6	60

According to the rankings, Vulpa and Astorum are paired against each other and Metalica and Mortis will be paired against each other. However, Vulpa and Astorum played each other in round 2 and so cannot play each other in round 4. In this instance, Vulpa will play Metalica, and Astorum will play Mortis.

This system is used for all rounds after the first, including the final round with one small adjustment. In the final round, players will not swap opponents if they draw a player they have already faced; the two are clearly equally matched and will face off one last time!

The points value of the battlegroups used during the event, and the number of days the event will go on for, will impact the number of games a tournament will run. What follows is a series of guidelines for various different points values, the number of games that should be run, the time given to each round and the size of board the event should use.

Battle Rating	Number of Games (1-day event)	Number of Games (2-day event)	Round Time	Battlefield Size
<1,250	3	6	1½–2 hours	4'×4'
1,250–1,750	3	5	2–2½ hours	4'×4'
>1,750	2	5	2½–3 hours	4'×4' to 6'×4'

Tournament Winners and Prizes

At the end of every tournament the Tournament Organiser and/or Scorekeeper should determine the final rankings to see which player has won the tournament. It is common for that player to be crowned champion and awarded a prize – this can be anything from a ‘Best General’ certificate to a customised trophy the player can take home.

Additional prizes can be awarded at the Tournament Organiser’s discretion. Common awards include ones for second and third place, and a Wooden Spoon for the bottom player – although not everyone will appreciate such an award. Adeptus Titanicus themed awards can include things such as ‘Most Engine Kills’ (most Titans or battlegroup leaders killed over the course of the weekend) and Best of Faction (e.g., Traitor, Loyalist, Blackshield, etc.).

Two other common awards are ‘Most Sporting Player’ and ‘Best Painted’. Both of these awards are voted on by the players in the events rather than determined by rankings. In the case of the former, each player can choose up to two people over the course of the weekend they’ve enjoyed playing against the most. The player/s with the most votes will win ‘Most Sporting Player’.

‘Best Painted’, which can be known as ‘Best Battlegroup’, is where the Tournament Organiser chooses a number of different battlegroups they feel are well painted and presented, and players vote on their favourite of those chosen. If the Tournament Organiser wishes, the candidates for ‘Best Battlegroup’ can be chosen by the Tournament Organiser and additional categories, such as ‘Best Titan’ and ‘Best Knight Banner’, can also be run to allow players to submit their own models to be voted on.