Announcing the TMAT GT 2024!

  Good morning gamers,

Wait, we just had a tournament - what's all this? Well, we had a short window this year for our Grand Tournament, so here's a three week notice post! The tournament will be held at Patrick Henry College on May 4, 2024. Like the event last year, we're going to do four rounds with the veto system, but the way we do pairings will be a little different. 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 updated Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game Rules Manual (the Sauron one) will be our baseline. The Armies of the Lord of the Rings supplement will govern the rules for armies from the Lord of the Rings, while the Armies of the Hobbit supplement will govern the rules for armies from the Hobbit. Legendary Legions and profiles from any of the GW supplements may be used, provided that the army building requirements for the Legendary Legion are followed. Any GW errata for these books will take precedent over the printed text of these documents.

2) Thou Shalt Honor Thy Alliance

This tournament follows the alliance "restrictions" provided in the Armies of the Lord of the Rings and Armies of the Hobbit supplements - players are allowed to have "pure" armies or Historical/Convenient/Impossible alliances. Legendary Legions from any of the Games Workshop supplements can be taken as well, but obviously cannot take allies nor be taken as allies.

3) Thou Shalt Not Bring Too Many Points

All players will create one army list that is no more than 750 points. The list must be submitted to the Tournament Director at joshua.kamakawiwoole@gmail.com by April 27, 2024. Players will be notified of the other armies that have been submitted for the tournament after they have submitted their list.

Note on proxy/converted models: proxy models will be automatically accepted if the intended model is not available from the GW webstore. Other proxy models will be accepted if they 1) have the same equipment (weapons, armor, gear) as the model it's proxying, and 2) are clearly distinct from other models in the list. Please note any models that are being proxied in the email to the Tournament Director. Converted models should have the same gear as the model profile that they're substituting for and should also be distinct from any other models in the army.

4) Thou Shalt Know The Scenario

Each round, players will see the scenario pool that will be used for all tables. Players will then use the "veto system" to reduce the three scenarios from the pool to one scenario which will be played on that table. To do this, both players will roll a D6 and the player with the lower roll will pick one scenario that will not be played. The player with the higher roll will then pick one of the remaining scenarios to not play and the remaining scenario will be the one used for that table. The four scenario pools that will be used for this event are:

• Pool 1 - Maelstrom scenarios
• Pool 2 - Multiple Objective scenarios
• Pool 4 - Army-Killing scenarios
• Pool 6 - Hero-Killing scenarios 

Tournament points will be awarded based on the number of Victory Points each side received:

• Major Victory (6+ VPs and at least double your opponent's VPs): 10 TPs
• Minor Victory (more VPs than your opponent but not more than 6 VPs and/or double your opponent's VPs): 8 TPs
• Draw: 6 TPs
• Minor Loss (opposing player received a Minor Victory): 4 TPs
• Major Loss (opposing player received a Major Victory): 2 TPs

5) Thou Shalt Break Ties Properly

The player with the highest Tournament Point score will win the event. In the event of a tie, the player with the highest number of victory points will win. Should there still be a tie, whoever submitted his/her list first will win.

6) Thou Shalt Face Different Opponents

This tournament will have one randomized pairing for the first round, followed by three rounds of power-matched Swiss pairings (in four-player increments). In the event that the number of players is not divisible by four, the two lowest-ranked players will be paired together if they have not faced each other before. If they have, then the four lowest-ranked players will be paired and the next two lowest-ranked players will be paired. This will continue until players have faced new players.

7) Thou Shalt Not Take All Day

Each match will be 90 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 Tournament Director will mediate what the proper ruling is.

Should the time limit drop below 5 minutes remaining 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 Round 2 and Round 3 will be a lunch break.

8) Thou Shalt Fight In Middle-Earth

Players who have built terrain for a thematic board (48" x 48") 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 submission email. Players should use their best judgment when building their maps to ensure that armies are able to maneuver the map within the time constraints. If more boards are supplied than are needed for the tournament, the Tournament Director will let the players know if their boards are required. If a board is supplied by a player, it should also have six objective markers for Heirlooms of Ages Past.

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 9:00am 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 must 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 certain Isengard armies - and how many units must be lost to be reduced to 25%). The tournament will follow this schedule:

10:00am - 11:30am - ROUND 1 (Pool 1)

11:30am - 12:30pm - LUNCH

12:30pm - 2:00pm - ROUND 2 (Pool 4)

2:15pm - 3:45pm - ROUND 3 (Pool 2)

4:00pm - 5:30pm - ROUND 4 (Pool 6)

5:30pm - 6:30pm - Tear down 

Looking forward to see the armies that participate!

Tiberius, Tournament Director

Tournament Lists:

Coming Soon