Announcing TMAT's THRO 2018 tournament!

Good morning gamers,

With the new books out and lots of new rules changes (for us at least), it's time for another tournament! The purpose of this tournament, like previous THROs, is to try new things and this year we'll be using the new rules set (in its entirety). The tournament will be held at Patrick Henry College on November 10, 2017. For this year's tournament, we'll be running fairly small armies, allowing for a focus on the new rules and what they do. Without further ado, here are (in my typical style) the Ten Commandments of the Tournament (Rules):

1) Thou Shalt Understand The Canon

The ruleset from the new Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game Rules Manual (MESBGRM) will be our baseline. The supplement from ForgeWorld will govern the rules for armies from the Hobbit, while the Armies of the Lord of the Rings supplement will govern the rules for armies from the Lord of the Rings. Any GW errata for these books (if available by the time of the tournament) will take precedent over the printed text of these three documents.

2) Thou Shalt Honor Thy Alliance

This tournament follows the alliance "restrictions" provided in the Armies of the Lord of the Rings supplement - players are allowed to have mono-focused armies or Historical/Convenient/Impossible alliances. 

3) Thou Shalt Honor Thy Lists And Alliances

All armies shall be worth no more than 450 points. Once a list is submitted on this blog, it may not be edited based on the opponents it faces. The army brought to the tournament must reflect the army lists provided on this blog. Unlike many of our tournaments in the past, there is no model limit for lists submitted for this tournament (except as required by the Heroic Tiers of the heroes included in the force or special rules for certain army lists).

4) Thou Shalt Know The Scenarios

The scenarios to be used are as follows (listed in priority order) - based on the number of players participating will determine the number of scenarios/tables required - scoring rules provided:

• Heirloom of Ages Past (p. 148):
• 3pts if neither side possesses the relic and your force has more models within 3" of the relic at the end of the game (or 6pts if your force possesses the relic)
• 1pt if the enemy Army Leader is wounded (or 2pts if the enemy Army Leader is killed)
• 1pt if the enemy army is broken (or 2pts if the enemy army is broken and your army is not broken)
• 1pt if your army has a banner alive at the end of the game (or 2pts if your army has a banner alive at the end of the game and your opponent has no banners alive)
• Storm the Camp (p. 151):
• 3pts if you capture the opponent's camp (or 6pts capture camp/yours not captured
• 1pt if the enemy Army Leader is wounded (or 3pts if the enemy Army Leader is killed)
• 1pt if the enemy army is broken (or 3pts if the enemy army is broken and your army is not broken)
• Fog of War (p. 150): 
• 1pt if the nominated friendly hero is alive (or 3pts if the hero is not wounded)
• 1pt if the nominated enemy hero is wounded (or 3pts if the hero is dead)
• 1pt if your nominated piece of terrain has more of your models on it than opposing models (or 3pts if only your models are on it)
• 1pt if the enemy army is broken (or 3pts if the enemy army is broken and your army is not broken)
• To the Death (p. 140): 
• 1pt if the enemy Army Leader is wounded (or 3pts if the enemy Army Leader is killed)
• 3pts if the enemy army is broken (or 5pts if the enemy army is broken and your army is not broken)
• 1pt if your army has a banner alive at the end of the game (or 2pts if your army has a banner alive at the end of the game and your opponent has no banners alive)
• 2pts if your opponent has been reduced to 25% or fewer of his starting models
• Domination (p. 139): 
• 1pt if the enemy Army Leader is wounded
• 1pt if the enemy army is broken
• For each objective marker: 1pt if you have more models within 3" of the objective marker than your opponent (or 2pts if your force has the only models within 3" of the objective)

5) Thou Art Not Remarkable Or Oath-Bound

Unlike many of our tournaments, there are no remarkable achievements or oaths this tournament. This has been done primarily for the sake of time and to learn the new rules more easily.

6) Thou Shalt Have A Grand Winner

Last year at THRO, we had two "outrounds," where the top-ranked players faced off against each other at the end of a set number of random preliminary rounds. This year, we will be continuing this, but we'll have a single outround to be determined by the results of the preceding four preliminary rounds. The players ranked #1 and #2 will face off, #3 will fight #4, and so on.  Starting with the players ranked #1 and #2, the higher-ranked player will pick the board that he wishes to play on, while the lower-ranked player determining if he "won" the roll to pick sides in the scenario of choice.

7) Thou Shalt Not Take All Day

All games will have a maximum time cap of 60 minutes. Time will be displayed visually for all games and will only be stopped in the event of a "red flag" being thrown. A red flag will be thrown when two players cannot agree on a rule (line of sight, special rules for a unit, etc.), in which case all fights will stop and the other competitors will mediate what the proper ruling is. If a resolution is still not met due to an even number of players voting evenly on the issue, a dice will be cast by one of the competitors not playing in that particular game to determine what the rule is for that game.

Should the time limit elapse without the victory conditions being met, the current round will be played and then the game will end. Any player found intentionally stalling the game to make time run out will be awarded 0 Victory Points for the round. Between rounds there will be 15 minutes to finish the round, determine the standings, move to the next table, and take necessary breaks.

8) Thou Shalt Fight In Middle-Earth

Players who have built terrain for a thematic board (36" x 36") are encouraged to bring their boards to be used in the tournament. Players intending to bring a board for the tournament should mention it in their army post. Players should use their best judgment when building their maps to ensure that armies are able to maneuver the map within the time constraints (e.g. having too many walls, doors that must be battered down, difficult terrain, etc. can make a game more tedious than interesting). If more boards are supplied than are needed for the tournament, priority will be given to those posted first.

9) Thou Shalt Be Gentlemen

Players must be courteous to their opponents and play these games in the spirit of good fun. Should a player conduct himself in a manner which destroys the fun atmosphere of the tournament, a red flag will be thrown and depending on the severity of the infraction, the player may be issued a warning against future infraction, forfeit the game, or be dismissed from the tournament.

10) Thou Shalt Not Be Late



Players who are bringing terrain to the tournament must arrive by 9:15am to set up the tables and register their armies. All other players must arrive by 9:30am in order to get preliminary check-in requirements, set up their armies at their tables, and fellowship with other players. All armies need to have a sheet of paper that provides their complete army list (with profiles), along with necessary unit-count information (total units in the army, how many units are to be lost when the army is broken (and how many units the army must lose before it tests for Courage if the player is bringing an Isengard army), and how many units must be lost to be reduced to 25%). The tournament will follow this schedule:

• 10:00am - 11:00am - ROUND 1
• 11:15am - 12:15pm - ROUND 2
• 12:15pm - 1:15pm - Lunch
• 1:15pm - 2:15pm - ROUND 3
• 2:30pm - 3:30pm - ROUND 4
• 3:45pm - 4:45pm - OUTROUND
• 4:45pm - 5:45pm - Tournament Score Summary and Clean-Up

Looking forward to see the armies that participate!

Tiberius