My Idea for a WFB 3-Round Tournament Format

So as some of you may remember, I am a HUGE fan of the book scenarios for Warhammer Fantasy.  I believe that when you have to take them all into account, it actually forces you to make a more balanced list, rather than just playing Battleline, which tends to really favor deathstar and point denial style lists. With that in mind, how do you fit those 6 scenarios into a 3-round tournament?  Well, here's my idea...

TDA Warhammer Fantasy Tournament Format

Army Restrictions & Rules

• The 8th edition set of rules must be used.
• There is a 2500 point limit to army lists.
• You must create your army using the most recent edition of the appropriate Warhammer Armies book or the Chaos Dwarf list located in the Forge World Tamurkhan book. Storm of Chaos, Dogs of War and Lustria lists are NOT allowed.
• Special characters are permitted, as are all magic items.
• Trial Rules and Appendix armies are NOT permitted.
• The most current rules clarifications from the official GW Warhammer FAQ will be in use.
• Hills and Forests follow standard BRB LoS rules (if you actually get to model eye view, you'll notice that hills actually DO block LOS for most infantry).
• Unit cap of 30 Infantry / 10 Monstrous Infantry models for entering a building, including The Watchtower and Fozzrik's Folding Fortress (any unit can still assault one though).  Also, keep in mind, Mortars, Stone Throwers, Hellcannons, Plagueclaw Catapults, etc., may not be deployed in closed-top buildings.

Terrain

Each board will have 8, predetermined pieces: 2 Woods, 1 Building, 1 set of 3 Obstacles, 1 Hill, 1 River or Marsh, 1 Sinister Structure or Steadfast Sanctum, 1 Magical Mystery.

• Players alternate placing terrain, roll off to determine who places the first piece.
• Each board 2′x2′ board section must contain at least 1 piece of terrain.
• Impassible Terrain cannot be placed within 8″ of each other (remember that you cannot be within 1″ of impassible terrain, so this leaves a 6″ gap, just wide enough for a 3-wide unit on 50m base).
• Any of these which are of a special type (i.e. hill is an Anvil of Vaul, the obstacles are a Ghost Fence, or the Sinister Structure is a Haunted Mansion), will be noted on the table.
• Mysterious terrain will be not used, all woods (aside from Wood Elf placed woods) follow the rules for normal woods in the rulebook. All other terrain will be marked with the type of terrain that it is.

Scenarios

At the beginning of each round, the tournament organizer will roll a gigantic dice, or flip a coin to determine the scenario being played.  After the scenario is determined, the players will then begin the game as normal.

Round 1: Meeting Engagement / Hammer and Anvil

If Meeting Engagement is played, players may roll for a unit with any included characters, instead of rolling for characters separately, just like Dawn Attack.

Round 2: The Watchtower / Blood and Glory

The Watchtower will be the generic building provided for each table, placed directly in the center with the door aimed directly to one side and placed before any other terrain.  The player controlling The Watchtower at the end of the game is awarded an extra 500 victory points, instead of automatically winning.  The player to first break their opponent in Blood and Glory is awarded an extra 500 victory points instead of automatically winning.

Round 3: Dawn Attack / Battleline

These Scenarios are played like normal with no modification.

Determining the Winner

Determining the winner is pretty simple, if you only have 8 players, then there will only be one player who is 3-0.  If you have more than 8, then take all the players who went 3-0 and compare who gained the most victory points cumulatively though their games for a tie breaker.

Now, I'm not saying that this format wont change a bit, but I think it's a really good starting point.  I know that a lot of people hate a few of the book scenarios, but I am not convinced that they aren't fine in competition, mostly because planning to assault a building, or occupy it, while diverting the rest of the enemy army away is actually a fun challenge.  When you don't understand the scenario, then sure, you're going to get your butt kicked, but that's fine, it's a tournament!  If you are one of those people who doesn't like The Watchtower, I suggest you read the two articles I've written on it: Winning The Watchtower and In Defense of The Watchtower.