Looking at the 40K Warzone Tournament Surveys Part 2

I've been sitting on the 40K Warzone Tournament surveys for a couple of weeks now and I've done a lot of introspection. Most of my decisions are kind of "no brainer's" based on my instinctive reactions to the surveys, but I'm the type who likes to think things through and make sure my gut instinct and my logical analysis are one and the same.

I'm going to just hit a bunch of bullet points based on the question order and the results/comments made in order to keep things simple:

- I have every intention of running the event again next year, so feel free to start planning your force now.

- As of right now the prime candidate to get dropped is the Desert boards. I love the look and feel of Desert so it pains me, We'll see though.

I need to finish all 4 trench boards and get them ready for next year.

- Wraiths will still be able to pass through walls. Its too cool. I mean, they're Wraiths?!

- The Hidden Deployment Stratagem will be modified or removed.

- Flyers are a part of the game, so they're staying. Bombing runs over cities seems like such an obvious visual. Like usual, they'll be most useful as a Sideboard option and I see no need to remove the Flak Mods Stratagem.

- Preliminary Bombardment is really hit or miss (pun not intended). I know I've played with it since it was introduced in (I think?) 3rd Edition and it always seems like its going to be awesome, and then nothing gets killed. Sure, you can get lucky, but its sort of rare.

- Zone Mortalis Rooms/Objectives that were too Ambiguous is really an easy fix. I'll continue to work on my own Zone Mortalis tables rather than using those 3 old Kill Team tables that Brian Niro made so that they work a bit better with the rules.

- Intact Buildings are here to stay. If you know that you need Flamers and Grenades to flush models out you shouldn't have that hard of a time doing so. People should familiarize themselves with the rules for Buildings so they know how to best deal with them. I may even incorporate them more since they are so under used currently.

- I'll see what I can do to add some rooms with doors for Zone Mortalis. When I played in Sin of Alacrity I enjoyed the tension of having a nasty unit right on the other side of a door and just one well placed shot away from threatening my forces. Very cool.

One of Brian Niro's fantastic tables from the Sin of Alacrity event at Adepticon 2013. This table didn't have any doors, but it was still awesome to play on. Image taken from Brian's blog, A Gentleman's Ones.

- If you thought it was impossible to make a list for both Cities of Death and Desert you might not be relying enough on Infantry.

- Booby Traps, Tunnels, Hiidden Deployment, and Familiar Ground will all get reviewed. If you have any opinions feel free to post them up.

- A Warzone involving water was a the clear #1 choice to replace Desert. Swamps would be cool, as would canals, but I could always do something weird like Drifting Islands. Haha. There's a lot of room for creativity here. I would want to replace Desert with something else fairly open so we'll see.

- People wanted more Dangerous, Mysterious, and Unpredictable elements and I will comply. I still won't go too heavy handed with this but I have a lot of modeling ideas that I think would be cool.

- A Painting rubric will be implemented, as well as a Stratagem one. I think this was a missed opportunity for cool modeling for a lot of people. So many people took Preliminary Bombardment and did nothing with it. What about a Comms guy in one of your squads with communications gear? What about a Explosion, Crater, or even Incoming Missile markers? What about bulls-eye bases?

- Ensure soft scores are weighted more heavily so there is a better chance of a spread between Best General and Best Overall, and to reward those who approach the hobby from different angles.

- Bump the rounds up to 2 hours and make sure there is time for a lunch.

- Expect new scenarios and an easier to read packet!

- Next year I need to take photos during the event so I have documentation of the visual spectacle.

- Get Kevin Brown to help out again, that guy was a god send and I can't thank him enough. Unless he plays in the event of course, then he gets a pass! ;)

I think that covers it. Thanks again to everyone who played in the event. I wouldn't mind running the exact same 40K Warzone Tournament event or pieces of it a few more times this year to keep me working on tables and get in some additional play testing, so hit me up if you'd like to find a way to bring me and my boards to you. ;) If anyone has any additional comments or suggestions don't hesitate to post or drop a line: thirdxparty@hotmail.com

-Nick