NOVA FAQ v6th.1 - DRAFT for Input and Absent Rulings

All,

The first draft of NOVA FAQ v6th.1 is linked below.

A couple of guide rules and heads up:

1) This is a DRAFT document; I'm still working heavily on formatting for clarity and polish
2) Some and/or several rulings you WANT to see may be missing
 - Some may not be in there because they do not suit the purpose of the NOVA FAQ (i.e., the rule is answered clearly in the book, and is a "frequently" asked question due to people not reading it carefully)
 - Some may not be in there because we've simply missed them
3) Some and/or several rulings may be what you believe to be INCORRECT

We will release the FINAL version of the FAQ for 2012 on August 1 or sooner. Please read through it, and follow the instructions in the Introduction for getting your questions or challenges addressed and potentially added to the FAQ by that deadline.

As a general rule, most of the large questions regarding how to prepare your army should be answered in this DRAFT document. You can rely on the fact that further changes will be marginal, and must be very well argued with clear construction and minimum emotion.

The finalized version of the FAQ will go out in the August 1 newsletter. The longer you delay in reading through it and posting any additional questions / clarifications / arguments, the less chance they will be addressed in time.

Meanwhile, we will continue to canvas for major questions that require entry into the FAQ through our own update deadline.

Remember, the NOVA FAQ is the opposite of the INAT FAQ (which I am a proud council member for). It is intended to be a streamlined tournament-ready minimalist document answering the largest and most pertinent questions for both gameplay, and in help constructing lists safely (in terms of how fuzzy rules actually will be ruled). It is NOT intended to answer every loophole and possible question out there; that's what our judges are for, and we rely on larger rules documents, and our own exhaustive playtest and communication to be well prepared for each of these. The NOVA Rules Forum can also help make sure judges and staff are well informed of and ready for the more esoteric or rare rules questions; furthermore, they provide you an opportunity to have these questions answered by and communicated with NOVA Open staff and judges.

We are releasing the DRAFT FAQ for two reasons:
1) To give you as much lead time as possible
2) To give the community as much opportunity as possible to continue to be a part of the iterative improvement process of the NOVA Open

Enjoy, and thanks for your patience! We're doing our best here - the ONLY benefit to us for running the NOVA is seeing the community bettered, and our attendees happy. Helps us out in that goal as much as you are able!

 - Mike Brandt, NOVA

NOVA DRAFT FAQ V6TH.1

Impending Primer Changes, FAQ This Week, Narrative Primer Incoming, and NEW VENDORS!!

First thing's first:

Grex Airbrush will be a NOVA Open Sponsor and Vendor this year. They'll also be demo'ing their airbrushes live from their vendor booth.
http://www.grexusa.com/grexairbrush/

The Painting Competition is going to have AWESOME prizes this year, as a result of Grex and others:
Each of the 6 Paint Competition category winners will take home one of these:
http://www.grexusa.com/grexairbrush/products.php5?id=Tritium.TG

MSRP around $300

In addition to sizeable gift vouchers from Secret Weapon Miniatures, and a number of additional perks and prizes, the Paint Competition is already at ENORMOUS prize value for every category in only the first year of the event. Sign up for it now! It's cheap to do so, and there's no reason not to ... for $10 you can submit to all 3 sub-categories for either the Sci-Fi or Fantasy genres (they also cover/are inclusive of other games, and indie line models). For $15 you can submit to all 6 sub-categories (the 3 from each genre).

Next up, Tectonic Craft Studios will be Vendoring at the NOVA Open this year:
http://www.tectoniccraftstudios.com/

Tectonic is one of the new successful results of the rise of Kickstarter, a company begun from the ground up by YOU all as hobbyists and investors. From my talks with Dan at Tectonic, the beta launch of their full site will be coming shortly in August, and the NOVA will be the first major convention they're selling at. He's giving us some fantastic shwag, and also loading up some of our Warmachine and Hordes tables with some rad-tad terrain.

Dan's stuff is in high demand, with a long wait list of invested kickstarter customers, and new ones lining up ... you'll have a chance to win some, or buy some at the NOVA this year.

Primer changes and possible changes impending:

• Possible reversal of Warlord Traits to "standard" instead of pick-from-2-rolls; this one is loved by many, but some of the purists are making the good point that we might want to just stick with book and see what happens here. Still TBD, on account of SOME results being major game changers, SOME results being completely useless, and us not being entirely sure we like that randomization (but also not liking the idea of changing it).
• Quarters Goal - Scoring and Denial only - thank you all for feedback! Scoring units will no longer count full til the end, and will only be worth half points when at or under half; Flyers will not count for Quarters *ever*; All other vehicles / etc. will count when relevant via things such as Big Guns Never Tire, and The Scouring; we'll clarify questions surrounding those two permutations in the updated primer (by Aug 1).
• Anticipate that Kill Points by 3 will be the TERTIARY Goal almost always, and only rise up infrequently / in about 1/6 rounds, to reflect its much less frequent occurrence in the new book. As an editorial aside, the change to Transports never being able to score/deny was a much more elegant way to suppress MSU than Kill Points ever was ... a bravo there to GW.
• Modified Hammer and Anvil will stay - and will use the H&A reserve rules. Just in case, as a clarification, you'll reserve on from the short edge, fall back toward the short edge, and outflank from the long edges.
• We measured out the faster way to figure out Vanguard Deployment ... what an awful rulebook explanation of it. It's 21.5" down the long edges on each side, 14.5" down the short edges on each side, then connect the dots to complete the triangles.

The Narrative Primer is being worked on. An unformatted DRAFT is included here:

http://www.novaopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Narrative-DRAFT-Primer-and-Rules.pdf

We're working on finishing up the FAQ; I'll be doing the draft of our conglomerated rulings today, running it by the 40k head judge for final inputs, and then publishing it out.

Do note - we will put the FAQ in your Guidebooks also, along with GW FAQ's as printing costs allow, and a quick reference guide to big new rules / changes for 6ed that we're working on. This should make your lives easier come game day, in terms of looking up rulings / rules / etc.

Making Quarters Better - Deep Analysis / Input Request, NOVA Open "Quarters" Goal

Good Morning All,

One of the things we've noticed and heard about in playtest is the impact of the new Scoring/Denial unit rules, and Flyers/faster moving units, on how we work our Quarters Mission.

Beginning players tend to initially think that Quarters plays like Fixed Objectives (where one is in each quarter of the board). As people become more veteran with the best / most effective way to play the mission, they realize it's the most "engagement"-encouraging mission, as controlling the center of the board with large numbers of Points is the best way to ensure a win (and not a tie), giving you the ability late in the game to shift points to ANY quarter, instead of just to one or two (if you are backboarded, or segmented into board quarters).

The Primer contains a rules change that does a couple of things:

1) In line with the new 6th Ed book, only Scoring and Denial units count toward the Quarters goal
2) In select missions, the Quarters goal is modified along the lines of Big Guns Never Tire, and the Scouring, so that FA/HS will occasionally COUNT as Scoring for purposes of the Quarters Goal

This means that in general, vehicles of any sort do NOT count toward Quarters. This reflects the changes of 6ed as a whole, but it may also impact things TOO much.

Here are my big issues where we don't want to see Quarters as a goal change from the primer:
1) Flyers won't count for scoring in Quarters (unless you're in the Scouring or Big Guns Quarters variants, and have FA/HS flyers)
2) Emphasis placed on board control, engagement, while still being "tie"-able if you're outmatched on the mission by an inferior opponent with a better mission-tuned list


Inputs ahoy ... the only permutation I'm looking strongly at right now is simply ruling that Flyers and Vehicles [and Monstrous Creatures?] moving 13+" net in the turn (so counting run move) do not count for Quarters (so hovering flyers could count, transports/etc. could all count, but none of them could count if they moved flat out, zoomed, etc.). It could be simplified to simply be that Flyers do not count for purposes of the Quarters mission.

Do note, for newer input givers, EVERYTHING has always counted for the purposes of the Quarters goal, and this is a HUGE balancer on the mission combo. So, permitting all but Flyers would still be more restrictive than historically. One of my concerns in terms of gameplay and mission balance, is preventing a situation where it is tactically "wise" to run all your flyers off the board on Turn 4, and simply "zoom" all your points to whatever quarter(s) you want from off-board (aka in a way your opponent can't anticipate or play to handle) on Turn 5.

Input welcome!


PS - Looking at removing Warlord Traits from the Primer as well.
PPS - Looking at possibly going with 5e Spearhead Deployment instead of Hammer and Anvil. If we stick with modified Hammer and Anvil, reserves will arrive along short edge, and outflankers will be determined by long edges.

40k Mission Primer - Practice and Feedback

This link contains our 40k newsflash.

Contained within is our primer for this year's GT, Invitational, and Trios missions.

Please note, points levels are for the GT and Trios "singles" only. Invitational remains at 1750, Trios doubles lists remain at 1000 each.

Rationale behind some changes so far:

• All changes have been made based upon feedback from players and results of playtesting

Hammer and Anvil Deployment Modification

This is a difficult one to have function properly in a tournament setting, b/c of the inherent logistical nightmare of 256 wargamers constantly running around 128 tables trying to fully use the short-edge, along-the-table deployment and play type. Hence, we've shortened the depth of the deployment zone somewhat, to at least ameliorate the process a little without dramatically altering the "feel" of the playstyle.

Incorporation of Book Missions

• Kill Points is still a mission in the book, but it only occurs once every 6 games. As a result, we've suppressed Kill Points down in the P/S/T tree except when it occurs as a primary. This is a good hint to you all where it will typically be, and how frequently it will be a primary.
• Relic, Big Guns Never Tire, and The Scouring have all been incorporated in the primer. Where possible, we will be incorporating the base book missions into the NOVA Goals in a similar fashion.
• The Secondary Objectives have been incorporated into the Tiebreakers, with each one swaying your Points total as if you destroyed a 50 point unit. So far in playtest this has felt like the appropriate value, but let us know how things pan out in playtest of very close games.
• When components like The Scouring and Big Guns Never Tire are in effect for purposes of their impact on Fast Attack and Heavy Support units, two things occur - they count as Scoring/Denial units for purposes of the Quarters goal.

Removal of Mysterious/Archeotech/Etc. Terrain

• With this little time before the NOVA after the release of 6th Edition, we cannot ensure a fair and equivalent placement of these terrain types on every table. We will continue playtesting, and observe results and feedback from future events that DO use these terrain types to make an informed decision about our terrain production process in relation to them going forward toward 2013.

Removal of Mysterious Objectives

• We are still on the fence with this, but barring further playtesting of some options regarding Mysterious Objectives, we are leaving them out of play for now.

Please provide feedback and playtest results in the comments section or the forum! NOVA FAQ for sixth edition is forthcoming. The more input you provide that is of a constructive nature, especially backed by playtest, the better the final packet will work for all involved.


Thanks as always!

Help the FAQ, Mission, and Rules Process

Just a quick post, with larger one due later with the first primer work, and rules leanings, but please - any major rules discussions, questions, thoughts, etc about sixth and NOVA, go register and post them on the forum:

http://nova.tlsconline.com/

It's been cleaned up and protected from ye olde bot fest, and is ready for your use to help prep for NOVA. Forums are a better way than blog to track key discussions and sub discussions, etc.
Please also re share there some of your thoughts and questions from the last two major response blog posts (84 & 78 comments is a ton, and I do worry some great points are being missed).
- Mike, back from Amsterdam

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.6

6th Leanings - The Big Questions

I'll expound on this article when I get in today, but it can't hurt to start the inevitable conversation.

Most of the new rules for 6th are actually quite fine so far ... and a lot of the rules in 5th didn't change all that significantly.

The things as a TO crew that we'll have to rapidly assess are as follows:

1) Doubled non-ally FOC at 2,000 points (I'm quickly and rather easily leaning toward simply keeping at one bog standard FOC at 2k, instead of doing something silly like making it a 1999 point tournament)

2) Allies ... this is the biggest of the elephants in the room; how deeply does it impact balance and fair play to allow Allies per the new rulebook?

3) Flyers ... if you've read the details of the flyer rules, this one's not a big deal ... their zoom abilities are quite managed by the movement restrictions placed upon them

4) Mysterious Terrain ... since this seems to only apply to a couple of piece types, we're leaning toward disallowed, but it's something we'll have to evaluate with the actual rulebook

5) Purchased Terrain ... almost for sure NOT going to allow Fortresses of Redemption; but should we be planning to allow some of the smaller pieces? Leanings in both directions

6) Missions ... how do the new Eternal War missions blend in with tournament play, and how will we structure them within the NOVA? Remember, the key is w/l, so we're not opposed to creating a slightly different approach to missions if the rulebook forces that ... but will it, should it, etc.?

Will expand on these, and in reaction to comments, as the day or three wears on.

 - Mike

Opportunities for Further Input and Thoughts - 6th at the NOVA Open, + Registration Update

So, we're nearing 6th.

All signs point to a 6/23 notice, and an accelerated 6/30 release right now.

The question then becomes, do we stick to our contemporary plan of going with 6th edition if there's 2 or more months for players to prepare?

Right now, we're learning toward yes, but can't make a firm commitment until we get closer in.

Why are we leaning for, why are we leaning against?

Pros and Cons for 6th Edition
Pros

• A certain number of people will be upset either way. There are going to be players who are irritated, including registered attendees, at us using 6th Edition. There will be just as many if not more who are irritated at us sticking with 5th Edition as it ages.
• 6th Edition will be 2 months old by the time the NOVA hits. In a sense, it's already a couple of months old. For better or worse, it's not quite the same as it releasing much much closer to the NOVA, where we'd be more of a swan song for 5th. Going with 6th  makes the NOVA the freshest, and first meaningful/large 6th Edition 40k event.
• Our staff can and will be able to tackle the rules into a proper mission format and FAQ document with plenty of time to spare. I'm not actually worried about our ability to digest the new edition, and rapid respond to the things we'll have to do.
• Current information suggests the Force Organization Chart will remain as it is, without the amendment of Percentages a la Fantasy. This means peoples' current 2,000 point lists that they are planning on bringing will entirely or largely be just as legal (though naturally their performance is going to change). This prevents attendees from being REQUIRED to run around purchasing a TON of new stuff.
• Allies and other quirky things are generally being pointed at as addendum rules, or rules for Team Games.
• 40k GT spots will be remaining by the time 6th Edition hits. It seems by some feedback to be more likely a person would sign up for the new edition at that point, than for the old one. If we stick with 5th, a higher % of on the fence registrants will save their cashola for "NOVA '13." We'd like to stick to our ahead-of-last-year-pace and sell out the GT :)
• Terrain rules changes can be mitigated to a degree with a clearly written and delineated rules packet. Also, if for any reason our 1,100 pieces of terrain aren't sufficient with the new edition, we have available loaner resources in the area that amount to over another 600 pieces of terrain. In short, we'll be fine on that front.
• Aside from the Invitational, which will remain 5th no matter what, all other 40k events would be in one system ... Narrative, Trios, GT. If we stick with 5th for the GT, people playing in both the GT and Narrative would have to bring armies tuned to both, or at least remember the rules from both well, and we'd have to make a harder decision on the Trios.

Cons

• A certain number of people will be upset either way. There will be players who are upset at us using 5th Edition. There are also going to be players who are irritated at us if we use 6th Edition.
• Despite my confidence in myself and our staff, we still could get some things wrong.
• Rules questions will be much more frequent, which will cause more strain on our judges, and a greater need for judges. We have MORE TIME THAN EVER for our rounds this year, but all time is still limited to a degree.
• ... ?

There are more pros, and more cons. What I want now, is to hear what you the attendee and prospective attendee think. Do you really care THAT Much? I want to hear if you're AMBIVALENT also ... the ambivalent ones are an important opinion, and one that rarely shares itself (understandably).

PS, our registrations are up in June in all events, and I wanted to update you all on those (all percentages are rough):

40k GT is at 80% sold (256 slots)

40k Narrative is 40% sold (No cap, but based on 32 player anticipation)

40k Trios is 50% sold (No cap, but based on 48 player anticipation)

Flames of War is 40% sold (2 x 32 player events)

Warmachine/Hordes is 40% sold (doubled to 64 slots this year)

Fantasy is 40% sold (doubled to 64 slots this year)

Infinity is 25% sold (16 slots)

VIP Bags are 75% sold (50 total bags)

VIP Bags and Completed DC Monument #1 - Native American History Museum

VIP  Bags are Now for Sale, info and links at the top of the newsletter (linked on next line)
Newsletter is Now Up for June
Our Chief Appearance Judge and Amazing Artist, Geoff, has Completed his Rendition of the Native American History Museum.

FYI THERE ARE ONLY 50 VIP BAGS TOTAL SOLD THIS YEAR, AND 25 ARE ALREADY GONE! We literally opened sales a couple of hours ago, and half are sold out. Grab while you can.

You guys have seen work-in-progress shots of the NAH Museum for some time now, here's the mock-lit final (all of our monuments will be fully LED lit by the time of the event).

For those who'd like to play a more interesting theme for the DC Narrative, your boards will often have pieces just like this as central points around which combat will occur (YES, these are intentionally huge, to help create a cinematic feel ... not necessarily a balanced game board!).

I already know one Necron attendee for the Narrative is planning 3 Doom Scythes to give his army that "Independence Day" feel!

Terrain Moves Forth, Plus a Sample LOS Center Blocker for 2012

A lot of what I'm going to hit up here is from our most recent Road to the NOVA post:
http://roadtonova.blogspot.com/2012/05/road-to-nova-13-getting-jump-on-thing.html

We've made several advancements to terrain this year, alongside our drive to become fully self-sufficient (no borrowing, from anyone, for any reason).

First and foremost, as I've said before, we won't be using our large hills as CENTER blockers this year. They'll be in diagonally opposed corners.

A sample of a fully painted / finished center blocker can be seen here:

Second, we've dramatically improved the painting process for our pieces, upgrading to airbrushes for most of the paint work (then drybrush/etc. for highlights and flock), i.e.:

This gives a WAY more gorgeous base color pattern and approach, and also makes it much easier to add contrasting colors to the base grey than we did last year. These pieces are far-ish from completion, but the point is - we're going to have not only way cool and interesting terrain, but attractively painted terrain to boot.

A final note, a sneak preview on a near complete (final touches, LED lighting, etc. still to go) Lincoln Memorial done by Kevin Kovarcik (our webmaster/communications guy, and a HELL of a talented artist) to act as a centerpiece on one of the DC Narrative Tables this year during the evenings (does not conflict with GT, go sign up, it's built to work for both competitive and casual players alike, with table assignments, missions and pairings all oriented around list / playstyle).

To give you a sample of Kevin's work, plus a look at Infinity, check out the Remote Presence Blog (click on the pic), done by our Infinity guys (including Infinity tournament lead, Kevin C.):

Enjoy the update; should give you an even better idea for what to expect at NOVA 2012. Look for primer packets, and shots of sample tables, on or around June 1.

 - Mike

We Made a Movie - The NOVA Open Comedy Short Film

Last year saw the beginning of NOVA Open Terrain Days. These were days where some awesome guys and gals would get together, build tables and terrain, drink beer, and ham it up nonstop. Over the course of this time, we got to talking about a lot of the gamer "stereotypes" out there, about  Youtube movies, about funny things about our hobby in general ... and out of all that, one of our guys, Jon, said "Wouldn't it be cool if all this was like, in a hilarious movie or something?"

Bad move, Jon. To me, the NOVA Open presents a sandbox for each of its staff members and organizers to kinda do whatever they want ... until now, just with formats and tournaments and all that. BUT ... thanks to Jon, we've now expanded that vision. We made a movie.

I want to caveat I had NOTHING to do with this; I acted in it, because they cast me in it, but I didn't come up with the plotlines or the story or anything other than the things I tried to adlib during each scene.

We stuck a TON of "Easter Eggs" in here as well ... ranging from references to LOS blocking terrain all the way to movie quotes and even a Family Guy reference. Let's see how many of them you guys can catch and point out!

Enjoy the film, and I hope to see ya'll at the NOVA this year, where Unicorn, The Rage, Catbox and others will all be in character and happy to say hey!

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW9S2Ll1xJ8