The Battle Barn

Here it is folks! The official rules and information for our upcoming Escalation league!

First things first. Let's thank our sponsor! Jarvis from Alpha Omega Coffee & Games is sponsoring the league and the followup tournament. Without his assistance, we would have no prizes to give out. If you are ever able to make it up to Ceder Springs for his Saturday open gaming, I would highly reccommend it. While not the largest store, it's a nice relaxing environment, with quite the tasty coffee to keep you awake during games. Not only that, but he has the best discount in town. Let him know that you are a member of the Battle Barn, and not only will you get 10% off retail, you'll also get a punch card that gets punched for every $10 you purchase. Get 5 punches and receive an additional $5 off your next purchase.

With that out of the way, let's get down to the nitty gritty rules of how the league will be run.

League Start Date: January 6th, 2012

The Escalation league is a fully painted and based league. Which means, for models to be allowed, they must be fully painted and based (based will be some type of flocked based, whether sand or other flock, or a painted resin base. A blank base that has simply been painted will not count).

The league will start at 500 points. Each round will last 2 weeks, with the possibility of a third week being added if needed. Once each new round starts, the points level will raise by 250. Here is the timeline I've envisioned for the league.

Round 1 starts: January 6th, 500 points
Round 2 starts: January 20th, 750 points
Round 3 starts: February 3rd, 1000 points
Round 4 starts: February 17th, 1250 points
Round 5 starts: March 2nd, 1500 points

At the beginning of each new round, you will need to have that many points of your army painted and ready to play. You will then have 2 weeks to get the next 250 points of your army ready for when the next round begins.

Each round will have the standard Force Org chart required by the 40k rules. Thus, you must always have 1 HQ and 2 Troops. Once those are filled, you are then welcome to fill out the remainder of your points from anywhere in your codex, abiding by the standard Org Chart.

Upon the completion of the league, the Battle Barn will host a 1500 point tournament, with full painting requirements, that we can all show off our armies in all their painted glory!

Now what kind of league would this be if we didn't have some prizes to give away. I'm sure you're interested in how to win them too. By slaughtering your opponents? By destroying them utterly so they cry with the pain of losing?

Nope! You can win simply by participating. As long as you show up to either the Battle Barn or Alpha Omega Coffee & Games during each round, you will be entered into a raffle to win 1 of 2 $25 gift certificates to the store. There will be sign in sheets at each location for each round. Once it's been verified that you have your army painted to the point level of the current round, your named will be added to the sign in sheet. That will then give you 2 raffle tickets that are added to the pot. The drawing will be held at the end of the Escalation league.

Those aren't the only prizes though! At the end of the league, we will hold a 1500 point tournament that is open to the public. Alpha Omega Coffee & Games will sponsor the event with $120 in GW prize support. Depending on turnout, I will try to award a few door prizes as well. The final $25 gift certificate will be awarded to the best looking army. Jarvis will be our impartial judge, and will select the army that he feels is the best looking of all of them. This prize will only be open to participants of the Escalation league, and not to any other tournament participants.

The primary focus of this league is to paint your armies and to have fun. There are no bonuses for winning games. There are no penalties for losing. Whether you go 20-0 or 0-20, each person will have the same chance of winning if you participate in each round. As this league is being sponsored by the Battle Barn and Alpha Omega Coffee & Games, you must show up to one of those locations each round to sign in and participate.

TL;DR

5 Rounds, 2 weeks each
All models fully painted and based
Standard Force Org required for each round
1500 point tournament at the end
Participating each week wins you raffle tickets for $25 gift certs at the end
Final $25 gift cert awarded to best painted at the tournament. Judged by Jarvis of Alpha Omega Coffee & Games


Feel free to ask any questions that you might have. I will do my best to answer any that people have.

You've got the start time listed though! Get to assembling and painting!!

Thanks Brian for pulling this all together!

Looking forward to getting my army painted and getting crushed!

I hate Matt Ward.

Sweet, looks like I need to start basing my stuff

How do the mechanics of play work if gaming at Alpha Omega Coffee & Games? I assume play is on Saturday, but is there a specific time, etc? Does it need to be a game against another Battle Barn player or will any player do?

I have been working on fully painting my army, including flocking the bases. I am wrapping up the final touches of about 2000 points worth of Space Marines. I have a new strategy I am looking forward to attempting. Play against my brother's Necron and Eldar has been promising.

Alpha Omega will reserve the back room for 40k from 10am until 1pm on Saturday. Once in a blue moon we might need the back room in the early afternoon (usually around 2ish), but if not then feel free to stay all afternoon. Our latest up-to-date news is on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/242389692471717/.

Regarding who can play, my thought would be it would be anyone who was playing in the league. If they can only play at the store (because they can't ever make it out to the bard), would you consider them an them honorary "Battle Barn" player?

just to clarify, could someone bring an army that they had previously painted to the escalation league? and if so would they be allowed to receive the raffle tickets?

I am sorry, I am now I am a sadist, but I gotta ask.

Why do you hate Matt Ward now?

@JohnRCS - Currently from what I've seen, the only people participating in open play up at Alpha Omega have been Battle Barn attendee's. We've only been going there a few weeks and haven't roped any of the people there into it. However, there is no restriction to whom you play. Where you play is restricted though. Since the league is being put on by Alpha Omega and the Battle Barn, those are the only 2 locations that you can get credit for your painted army. So as long as you are able to make one of the locations once every 2 weeks, you'll gain credit.

@bluesickboy - While I would love to see people paint up new armies for this, I do understand that not everyone has the money for new models right now. So yes, previously painted models are valid, as long as they are still painted/based. I didn't want to exclude people who already have fully painted armies and didn't have a plan to build new ones this winter.

Based? Really? Can't just be painted? Well so much for adding two more people...No matter, just means less competition.

Well I'm sorry you feel that way.

I did make an edit to the original rules, as I realized that the way it was worded could be taken as the flock had to be painted as well. That is not a requirement. Only that the base have some sort of texture applied to it.

However, I think you are in the minority for thinking that basing does not matter as you seem to be implying. Any sort of tournament that requires painting has always required based models. Whether it be some kind of flock or resin bases. Every picture of GW models I see online or in White Dwarf that are fully painted have a fully painted base. I suppose I can see some people's arguments in that the base isn't part of the model and thus why a need to do anything with it. The problem is, once the model is placed on the base, it actually does become one whole model. A nicely flocked and painted base only adds to the look of a model in my opinion and in no way detracts from it.

You are certainly welcome to your opinion, and obviously can choose not to participate if you so desire. I believe you'll miss out on a fun event though, and I'm sorry to see you not willing to play over something that can be solved so simply with some pva glue and sand.

"Nice ashed base bro, too bad you are fighting on a nice grassy board."

You don't need to worry about me, I base my stuff. I'm just talking about two other players that think like the quote I just gave.

A bit of a crisis I am having with this is that I simply dont have the missile launchers for my long fangs. I only have 3 and likely I would need 7 more. Is it alright if I proxy as long as their painted ? Or am I going to go cry in a conrer because I have to buy 7 of them off ebay or the sort ?

You do need to have all wargear modeled. So if you wanted to run 7 missile launchers, then you would need to purchase the extra ones and have them built and painted by the time they hit the field.

Why not just spread out the time when they hit the table top. That way, you wouldn't have to buy all of them at once, but just buy 2-3 at a time.

Question. Do you have to keep the same models/ base list as the games increase in size?

You can change anything at any point. Want to play a different army? Go right ahead! Want to play different lists? Not a problem! Hate those old units and want to try others? You go right ahead!

The only stipulation is that the models you use are WYSIWYG and painted. It'd be great for people to play games at whatever point level we're at that week, but it's no requirement.