Equinox 2018 - Tournament Report

Wargaming interest in the North Island of NZ is super strong at the moment and Equinox was run at the beginning of March so Hobbyists could rock their game during tournament season. This year saw a strange phenomenon which we haven't seen before of Hobbyists almost all registering their interest within three weeks till the tournament start. This meant that to ensure the tournament didn't see a huge loss, the venue was downsized for the Wargaming section of the convention. Some might say we upgraded as well, since we were Wargaming at the 'Auckland Rose Park Hotel' with full Bar, Restaurant, and Air Conditioning. Hosting almost 50 players, the venue was a den of happy gamers.

Help us Event Organisers out Hobbyists. Pre-register early so that the tournament can have the time and resources to prep and plan a awesome weekend for you to enjoy fully. With almost 30 on the waitlist wanting to come to Equinox on the books and no space because of the smaller venue, we couldn't capitalize on perhaps another large gathering for our hobby . If those waitlisted had been a little earlier in the show of interest, then it would have seen another super sized event that regularly happens at this annual Convention. The more attendees at an event means that we can promote our game to the public better and this is why we do this isn't it? We all want to grow our hobby so it doesn't just stay a small niche market. Lets do it better next event and make the hobby great again!

This year Equinox concentrated on the ever growing strength of numbers of Warhammer 40K and Fantasy battle. We saw travellers and locals competing at the Auckland venue and it created a great friendly rivalry between the group. It was spectacular to see Old and new players finding joy again playing their game at the venue. I for one have got wargaming in the blood and to see it amongst the whole group was a marvelous thing to witness.

Warhammer 40K Results

This year we had a great contingent from the Far North and Lower North Island providing some stiff competition for the locals. We saw a seasawing at the top of the tables with Tau, Tyranids, AM, Chaos and a few other factions all closely packed for the first days honours. It would be a very competitive second day that would decide the top tables. With so many varied factions and lists the majority of attendees reported that they were all enjoying the experience too. 

Astra Militarum has been dominating events both here in Auckland and around the world lately. At Equinox, their dominance was going to be sorely tested. It was going to be a test of Strategic skill and the fall of dice to decide the Champion.

			adj Paint	Bat	KP	Tie	Total
1	Scott Paterson	Tau	14.3	95	39		109.3
2	Pascal Roggen	BA	14.3	91	70	0.1	105.4
3	Ben Clarke	CD	14.3	91	62		105.3
4	Felix Nesbit	Tyranids	10	91	33		101
5	Aidan Corlett	Tyranids	14.3	86	68	0.1	100.4
6	Adam Thornton	Tyranids	14.3	86	31		100.3
7	Chris Ward	AM	14.3	82	70	0.5	96.8
8	Simon Smith	AM	14.3	82	68	0.4	96.7
9	Andrew Bartosh	Alpha	14.3	82	52	0.3	96.6
10	Dave Hodgetts	CSM	14.3	82	52	0.2	96.5
11	Haydn Korach	CD	14.3	82	49	0.1	96.4
12	Michael Sheahan	Tyranids	14.3	82	39		96.3
13	Ignus Ferreira	AM	14.3	81	51		95.3
14	Henare Akari	DA	14.3	77	41		91.3
15	Ben McIntosh	Ynnari	14.3	73	49	0.6	87.9
16	Kyle Wilson	BA	14.3	73	37	0.5	87.8
17	Sam barnard	Tau	14.3	73	36	0.4	87.7
18	Cameron Lyell	Tau	14.3	73	34	0.3	87.6
19	Justin Reti	Admech	14.3	73	22	0.2	87.5
20	Ivan Soo	Tyranids	14.3	73	22	0.1	87.4
21	Greg Henderson	Ultra	14.3	73	19		87.3
22	Scott Nicholl	DA	14.3	72	40		86.3
23	Oliver Scott-Hushes	Necron	10	73	17		83
24	Alistair Morgan	DW	14.3	68	38	0.1	82.4
25	Dean Oldham	CSM	14.3	68	38		82.3
26	Josef Arnet	Orks	11.44	64	30		75.44
27	Ryoma Ashikaga	AM	7.15	64	25		71.15
28	Cole Mendoza	Tau	14.3	55	13		69.3
29	Conal Evans	Aeldari	14.3	50.1	0	0.1	64.4
30	Ghost	DA	14.3	50	0		64.3
	Best Paint		Bartosh	7 votes
	Best Sport		Josef	3 votes

Congratulations to the Champions. The tournament had been designed to encourage maximum carnage and Kill points was the key to winning the tournament (mentioned in the morning pre-tournament brief) More complexity is planned for our next tournaments with a emphasis on making sure that it doesn't impact on the time required to play. With only 2hrs 30 in rounds, it left the game slightly tight for 2000pts. All those factors will be taken into consideration with future Players packs.

The 9th Age: Fantasy Battle

Good field of contestants and short a fair few regulars with real life commitments this time around. It would of been great to see more players support this event from around the country but ultimately it's a big journey if you don't live local. The tournament will endeavour to provide more advance notice where we can. It's good that the game is getting more traction and exposure and hopefully from word of mouth we can jump start this amazing real Fantasy Battle game into a heavyweight in the future.

This time around the tournament was using the Ver 2 Beta rules. I hear from good sources that this will be the stable rules for the next foreseeable future. It plays amazingly well and is an excellent design with signature innovation. If you've been a WHFB or other type of Fantasy Battle enthusiast then this ranked battle game you should definitely give a go. Use a Army builder and it makes it easy to create your lists for tournaments. The ability to build multiple lists to chose from will not only make you enjoy the game better, it will make submitting your lists to tournaments a breeze.  

With Ver 2 so new to the community there wasn't a meta just yet. Equinox was a great way to test your army and play in a tournament environment with multiple new opponents. From the games I saw, you were rewarded if you stacked the phases to your advantage and was rewarded with action vs inaction.

			Total	Late	Paint	Tie
1	Mccrae Loudon	Sylvan	126.1			0.1
2	James Brown	Dread	126	-4
3	Glenn Patel	Vampire	111
4	Basil Moskovis	Vampire	107
5	Nick Irvine	Sylvan	105
6	E.J. Loef	Infernal	100
7	Glen Tibbles	Warriors	96
8	John Willenbruch	Kingdom	95	-4
9	Damian Treanor	Dwarf	90
10	Ken Hay	Dwarf	89
11	Richard Holtzhausen	Vermin	86
12	Kelly Gragg	Ogre	77
13	Josh Workman	Saurian	74
14	Chris Ellis	Vampire	70.1			0.1
15	Phil Wu	High Elves	70
16	Brian Wigzell	High Elves	65.7		-4.3
	Best Paint = Kelly	6 votes
	Best Sport = Rich	3 votes

NB: 

1. There were numerous late lists and we waived the first offence. Multiple repeated resubmits are not acceptable in any situation and a minor 4pts was deducted. We will look at this situation moving forward and perhaps introduce a disqualification for repeated offences. A more concise list of strict penalties will be available in future. Honestly we never thought anyone could muck up repeatedly in this age of gaming support apps. 

2. Penalties were not added to your scores during swiss chess so it would not in any way affect match ups to give advantage or disadvantage.

3. Scores were open to view at all times to all competitors through to round 4 of the 5 round event. 

4. The tournament used multiple Umpires from ACG to help run the event and this is the usual policy with all events Equinox tournaments run.

A Big thank you to our Sponsors. Go support them as they help

us make events happen for you!!

The Winners of the raffle were

Stan

Ken

Chris

If you're up in Auckland and Wargame, Board Game or Card Game then visit the ACG Club in central Auckland. Click Here.

ARCH ENEMY 2018 W40K Doubles

Warhammer 40k doubles. Ally with your gaming buddy and register to enter the battlefield of Warhammer 40K!! 

25th March 2018

Registrations and Questions to:

Wouster7@hotmail.com

Location: Parnell, Auckland.

***Aircon, Restaurant, Bar and Free Carparking onsite***

Event page, Click HERE.

Bring your mate as an Ally to our W40k doubes tournament. You will field 900pts each for a total of 1800pts v 1800pts, fought on a table of 6'x4'.
1. Three games of 2v2 , with 2hr30min rounds.
2. LOW and FW are allowed
3. This is a beginner friendly tournament and if you want to join in you don't have to be a club member. We however will have club members who can ally with you if you want to enter as a single competitor.
4. There will be prizes for 1st to 3rd, Best Paint, Best Sport and a whole lot of spot prizes too.

Exterminatus 2018 - Results

Exterminatus 2018 was the second tournament we ran using the Random Doubles W40k rules. It was held as a one day event, which allowed a few competitors a chance to come play, whom would otherwise find it hard to come to a traditional 2 day tournament. Numbers were great and we got our 32 man cap quite easily to the event. 

A big thank you needs to go out to the Host Spellbound games and also all the field of competitors for playing in the right spirit on a very hot and muggy weekend in Auckland. First we had a tropical cyclone hit the top of the North Island and then a blazing few humid days to add to the frenetic weather conditions. We were lucky that everyone was so engrossed in the fun of 40k action that we made it through to the other side.

The system for W40k Random doubles meant that you were teamed with a unknown Ally and fighting a unpredictable opposition team each game. It made for surprising match ups as the Ally you may have just been playing with could be your opponent the very next game. No Swiss-chess predictability here, which was also the challenge if you were to win the event. So the victor of this tournament really deserves his win as it proved once again that the standard Space marine is still
supreme if played right. Here are the results.

Exterminatus 2018 - Results

1	Sam			38	Black Templars
2	Nikola			36	Astra Mil
3	Ed			34.1	Tau
4	Stefan			34	Dark Angels
5	Cole			32	Tyranids
6	Stuart			31.2	Astra Mil
7	Jed			31.1	Iron Hands
8	Caleb			31	Aeldari - Drukhari
9	Conal			29	Aeldari
10	Michael S			28.1	Tyranids
11	Matt			28
12	Chris B			27
13	Simon			24.3
14	Josef			24.2
15	Chris M			24.1
16	Ty			24
17	Stan			23.2
18	Neal			23.1
19	Oliver			23
20	Kyle			22.1
21	David			22
22	Greg			21.1
23	Jack			21
24	Alistair			20
25	Damien			19
26	Michael P			18
27	Mike L			17
28	Phil W			15.4
29	Nathan			15.3
30	Deepesh			15.2
31	Connor Hutton			15.1
32	Dan Stark			15
	Best Sport		Stan
	Best Paint		Simon

My favourite image for the tournament was this.

It was iconic to see a full flight of Dark Angels facing off the horde upon a battle scarred Imperium world. Only hot plasma holding off defeat and Lasguns crackling on armour plate tearing and ripping to topple your ranks. Suffice it to say that I went and checked the game a few times over the course.

Gots to luv a good WAAGGHHHH!!!

The eventual peer voted 'Best Painted Army'. Mechanised Orks.

Well braved gents, that Souring Auckland humidity.

Everyone was more interested in their fun as games, Doubles rocks!

After two of these Random doubles events it was good to have a sit down and a chat about the validity of the Random partner selection to continue on to bigger events. Reflecting back to the biggest doubles tournament that was held in Auckland recently, which was 'GuardCon 2017', with 80 participants as a reference point. The T.O's genuinely felt that the reason normal doubles is more popular is the fact that you can play the whole tournament with your buddy. Knowing that you have your battle brother for all five games of the two day event seems the major plus as well as the predictability of list designing to complement each others force. Both 'Random Doubles' and 'Regular Doubles' definitely has its place in the tournament calendar. After running a few events now, I can say that 'Regular Doubles' is definitely the choice with a 40+ field of players, and 'Random Doubles' would work best as a Single day event up to 40 players for the now.

Big Thanks to our Sponsors

Juggernaut 2018 - Warhammer 40K random doubles tournament

Warhammer 40K doubles events seem to be on the rise. They give you the opportunity to make an otherwise 2 person game into much more of a social event. The atmosphere is friendly and the game play is jovial. No wonder it is gaining momentum. It brings out players who want to be competitive and those who are more about the hobby and social side of Warhammer 40k.

Warhammer 40K doubles events usually aren't ranked like Singles (1v1) events. With the introduction of 'Random pairing' each round of the doubles event, it is possible to adjust the tournament so that you can easily find individual goals that give each competitor a unique score for each round played. Juggernaut 2018, we did just that and had scoring conditions that meant every one was able to achieve a unique score every game. With the Random pairing element making it a much more social occasion too.

Here is the results for the first trial of Random pairs 40K doubles that we tried.

Juggernaut 2018 - W40k Random Doubles:
(1000pts ea, 2v2 Doubles)

1	Sam B - Tau			40
2	Kyle - Daemons			39
3	Stan - Admech			31.1
4	Josef - Orks			31
5	Dan S - Death Guard			30
6	Rich G - Admech			29
7	Cole			28
8	Chris M			27
9	Michael S			26.1
10	Oliver			26
11	Phil			25
12	James C			22
13	Chris B			21
14	Deepesh			20.1
15	James O			20
16	Sterling			18.1
17	Reuben			18
18	Christian			17
19	Jesse			16
20	Dave R			15
	Best Paint		Rich G
	Best Sport		James C

The expertly piloted XV109 Y'vahra, laying waste to the opposition.

Reception post tournament was positive and encouraging. Everyone seemed to have had fun and the restrictions on LOW in such a low points engagement meant lists were much more varied. Even my foot slogger Dark Angels had a good day out on the Table top. We will be holding more of these casual events so keep your eye out and come and participate, meet the crowd :)

DA plasma face the oncoming Admech charge! 

The Ork Horde 

Death roller and Ork truck charge! 

Robotzz!

The next event will be "Exterminatus 2018 - Random 40K Doubles'.

Click for the Event page HERE.

Details & Rego at wouster7@hotmail.com.

Many Thanks to our sponsors and you the competitor, 

without whom we wouldnt have such a great community.

Equinox 2018

Plan for the weekend now Guys! 
Equinox is back on the 3rd & 4th of March 2018.

Wargaming Convention with multiple systems. 

--- Auckland Central ---

Warhammer 40k

Fantasy Battle T9A

Age of Sigmar

X-Wing

and more, with details to come....

Contact: wouster7@hotmail.com

Read about previous Equinox tournaments:-

The most recent tournament in 2017.

Another Equinox held for Gamers.

Here.

NZ Wargaming Invitationals 2017 - Results

The second annual NZ Wargaming Invitational has just been held over the weekend. We had solid competitive turnout this year so it should from now on be cemented into the Hobbyists calendar of events every year. NZWI is hosted at a fully catered hotel venue with a restaurant and bar so you can relax and just concentrate on having a fun gaming weekend.  Contestants brought their best lists to compete and we have our Champions.

With the ever expanding list of events in NZ, the community is growing fast. NZWI hosted Warhammer 40K & The 9th Age: Fantasy battle this year and will expand the number of systems if the numbers demand. With all the tournament results around the country available to NZWI now our database of players for NZ is becoming more complete. We will endeavor to work on the invite process and new systems that join the event over the course of the next rankings year. Keep it free on your calendar and come join us and compete in future NZWI end of year events.

Warhammer 40k : T.O: Christian

The competition was over 5 rounds using 8th edition rules and with 2000pts. Competitors gained their invite by placing in the top 10 of a NZ W40k tournament. It was a pleasure to host such a able group with a good half of the field also in the top 25 of the NZ rankings. Here is the results for the W40k competition.

1	Chris Ward		97
2	Haydn Korach		73
3	Andrew Bartosh		69
4	Kyle Wilson		67
5	Ivan Soo		67
6	Cole Mendoza		62
7	Glen Tibbles		58
8	Ben McIntosh		55
9	Regan Harris		52
10	Connor Hutton		42
11	Jess Curtis		41
12	Josef Arnet		37
13	Gordon Pilot		28
14	George Williams		21

Best Paint: Glen 

Best Sport: Ben

The 9th Age: Fantasy Battle: T.O: Phil.

Fantasy Battle numbers has grown and 9th Age has captured the imagination of generals around the world. Another huge turnout for ETC (European Team Champs) this year means that the game is growing and the interest is strong. NZ has a fledgling community and it was brilliant to get so many travelers from out of town and from overseas to compete at this years event. Some truely competitive and some whacky lists made the cut and the competition was very close throughout the two days.

				Day One	Overall
1		Jack		45	73
2		James		45	69
3		EJ		44	67
4		Erdem		25	59
5		John		37	57
6		Ken H		23	51
7		Rich		17	50
8		Tom C		33	48.1
9		Michael		34	48
10		Ethan		34	45.1
11		Glen		21	45
12		Josh		33	43
13		Jacob		20	33
14		Chris E		9	12
		Best Paint		Josh
		Best Sport		Jacob

A big thank you to all the competitors, the tournament staff and our sponsors for making NZWI happen for another year. Get those games onto the table top and have a fantastic upcoming year of gaming. See you across the table at the next tournament.

Big shout out to our Youngblood player Jacob who took out the spot prize.

NZ Wargaming Invitationals 2017

Another year of fantastic Wargaming tournaments around the country is about to culminate with the end of year event of events. The second annual 'NZ Wargaming Invitationals' will be the pinnacle Tournament for those wargamers looking to finish off on a high after competing around the country. Headlining NZ Invitationals will be 'The 9th Age: Fantasy Battle' & 'Warhammer 40K', come November. Wargamers invited will compete to secure their own piece of history with Plaques of distinction and their name engraved on the Perpetual Trophy to celebrate the success as the Champion of that system.

NZ Invitationals are hosted annually mid-November to avoid the busy Xmas season. Rankings pages for each individual system will be used to determine the field of competitors.You earn points according to your placing in each tournament you attend in the country. With the top 3 results counting towards your total.

Your Invitation will be on it's way this 

Saturday the 21st of October

NZ Wargaming Invitationals. November - Auckland.

The 9th Age: Fantasy Battle


9th Age has proven itself at the biggest major European Tournament (ETC) to be the dominant Fantasy Battle system in the world. With the current edition already gaining 360,000+ downloads it can only build from strength to strength. With those kind of numbers following the game globally, it was inevitable that NZ moved to adopt the popular games system. I can personally attest to the games fantastic balanced clarity and replay-ability.
This year in New Zealand, there have been notable Conventions around the country hosting 9th Age events. The tournament results have been collated and the Top 12 competitors along with 2 Wildcards will be invited to compete at Invitationals.

Warhammer 40K

The new popular edition of WH40K has gained a massive audience here and around the world again. This year with overwhelming response from the community, Invitationals will be competed for with a capped field of 20. Tournament competitors placing in the top 10 in each NZ based tournament will be invited first with wildcards to fill the remaining places if needed. 

If you are unable to make it to Invitationals this year, we will have a Twitch TV channel prepared dedicated to the event. Support your wargaming community and have a look in. More equipment is along the way for future tournaments and we are planning multiple channels in future events.

Thank you to our Sponsors.