Gauntlet Tournament 2003 Introduction

Every year, 40k gamers from all over North East England converge upon Warhammer World and fight it out in the Gauntlet tournament. In 2003 I took up the challenge and brought Kill-Team Severus, my Radical Daemonhunter army, to Nottingham.

Tournament Rules
The scoring for the Gauntlet tournament worked as follows. Points can be collected in three areas; gaming, painting and army selection.

Gaming
Three games are played in one day, with a maximum of 30 points available per game. The highest score possible from gaming is therefore 90 points.

Painting
There are 54 points up for grabs in the painting category. Although the exact method for calculating scores was never made public, I understand that marks were awarded for highlights, washes, drybrushes, basing, unit markings, conversions and originality.

Army Selection
Each army was judged before the tournament on the basis of the army list and background material. 36 points were possible.

The overall best points score available was therefore 180 points, although this would clearly be very difficult to achieve. My own personal target was to finish in the top half of the competition. Around fifty gamers would be present, so I wanted to finish 25th or higher.

Another little sub-plot was that my long-term gaming partner Gary was heading down too, so I wanted to place higher than him.

Missions
Each game used the same mission: Pitched Battle. Armies would be deployed along the long table edges, up to 18" in and can set up no closer than 24" from enemy units. Infiltrators set up last, at least 18" away from enemy models. Elites and Fast Attack choices could be kept in reserve. Nightfight would be played on the first turn on the roll of a 1, last turn on the roll of a 6. Victory points were earned as normal for destroying enemy units, but 200 extra points were up for grabs per table quarter. Finally, the game would last six turns.

Scoring
There were seven different outcomes for each game, depending on the final victory point tallies. It wasn't just about winning, it was about how much you won by.

• You massacred 'im (+1001 or more victory points) 30 points
• Decisive victory (+501 to +1000 victory points) 25 points
  
• Marginal victory (+201 to +500 victory points) 20 points
  
• Draw (-200 to +200 victory points) 15 points
  
• Marginal loss (-201 to -500 victory points) 10 points
  
• Decisive loss (-501 to -1000 victory points) 5 points
  
• Massacred (-1001 or less victory points) 0 points
  

The Army
I'd like to say that my planning for the Gauntlet tournament was extensive, lengthy and precise.

Unfortunately I can't.

My approach to building the army was haphazard and in order to reach 1000 points I had to include every model I had painted, effective or not. Even then I was short on models, especially in Troops selections. So, on the day before the tourney I bought 8 more Stormtroopers and frantically began painting them up. I finished them at 2:00 in the morning and crawled to bed, only to wake again at 4:30 to leave for Nottingham.

It was going to be a long day.

Army List
This was my final 1000 point list for the tournament. I didn't have a single weapon that could shoot over 24 inches. Yikes!

Kill-TeamSeverus

• Inquisitor Lord Severus Daemonhammer, Bolt pistol, Holocaust, Icon of the Just, 2xAcolytes, Power Armour, Bolt Pistols and Close Combat Weapons, Combat Servitor, 2xMystics, Rhino with Smoke Launchers
• 3 x Death Cult Assassins
• 2 x Daemonhosts
• Squad Matoso, 9 Stormtroopers, 2xFlamers, Veteran Sergeant with Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon and Krak Grenades, Rhino, Smoke launchers and Extra Armour
• Squad Seralvo, 7 Stormtroopers, 2xGrenade Launchers
• Squad Vargas, 7 Stormtroopers, 2xPlasma Guns, Veteran Sergeant with Plasma pistol, Auspex and Krak Grenades
• Squad Godirtho, 6 Stormtroopers, 2xMeltaguns