Variants

Below are a few optional rules to tailor your tournament to make it stand out or to adjust the official format to suit your local players.

Organisation

Strict Swiss

Instead of calculating Tournament Points by the Victory Point result, players gain 1 Tournament Point for a win and 0 otherwise.
Optionally - if stated before the event - ties may be broken by any listed tie-breakers. If none are given they may be decided by the player who lost the Deployment Tactical Test.
After the first round, all pairings are based on current Tournament Point totals and pairings from previous rounds. Once all games in the previous round have been completed, sort the warband record sheets into piles based on the number of Tournament Points. Players should be paired against opponents who have the same current total Tournament Points.
If a pile has an odd number of players, pair the last player in the pile with the highest number of Tournament Points against someone from the pile with the next-highest Tournament Points— this is called “pairing down.” A player should not be paired down more than once per event. Byes receive 1 Tournament Point.
Play rounds until there is one undefeated player. Rankings are determined by strength of schedule.

Swiss by wins only

Pairings after the first round should be using the Swiss Pairing system. Each player should be randomly paired against a player with the same number of wins. No player should ever play the same player twice in the same event.

NOTE

This is only recommended for large events run by hand, where it may be quicker than ranking players by points.

Players deploy terrain

During a tournament, the TO will leave enough terrain for the table but players set it up before each game. The TO should leave a pool of mixed terrain with a variety of types, suggested is not to have too much of any one type but to have as many different types as possible.

Composition

2-list

Players bring 2 lists of the same faction. Before each game players have 5 minutes to look at their opponent’s lists and choose which of their own lists to use.
Players simultaneously reveal when both are ready.
Both lists are entirely independent but it is recommended that the Ronin Theme cards “Ordered For Battle” and “Strategic Deployment” are not permitted in this format.

Sideboard

Players bring 30 rice of additional cards in a Sideboard.
Players have 5 minutes before the game to swap cards.
Each of the following must be legal:

• base list without the sideboard
• list including the sideboard
• final list chosen to be played

NOTE

Sideboard and Reserves are functionally identical. If a player chooses the “Ordered for Battle” theme card, they will have 60 Rice of extra cards.

Open List

Players do not bring an army list to the event. Instead they declare a faction at the start of the event and, after seeing the match-up for the round, they have 10 minutes to create an army list.

Hired Swords

Players may include 1 ronin model in their list that is usually permitted for their faction, even if their theme card does not allow ronin models.

Theme list compulsory

Every player must use a theme card from their faction.

Theme list prohibited

Players may not use theme cards.

Cycle deck restriction

The TO will list the Cycle Decks permitted for the event.

NOTE

Perhaps a nostalgia event allows only the “Risen Sun” deck, or a themed event allows only the “Endless Winter” deck.
Another alternative could be a rotating tournament allowing only the most recent deck to be used.

Timing & Duration

Deathclock

While you are the active player, the clock will be on your time. Even if your opponent needs to make a roll or resolve an effect.
If an opponent is making a decision, roll, or resolving an effect that takes longer than a Rise roll, you may switch to their time.
It is both players’ responsibility to correctly manage the clock.
It is each player’s responsibility to switch to their opponent’s time once their actions or effects are complete.
If a player’s clock runs out, that player’s opponent scores all remaining VPs available.

Call the Clock

Players play with no clock but if a player is taking excessively long to declare an action or complete an activation the opponent may “Call the Clock” and a judge will give 1 minute to make a decision or complete the activation.
Judges can use discretion over specific activations.

Example

In the case of a particularly close measurement, or if a rules issue arises it may take time to get the correct result.

Timed activations

Players have 5 minutes to perform each model’s whole activation. The clock can be paused each time the opponent has to interrupt or make a choice.

Relaxed Round Timings

Best used for friendly local events.
It’s possible to play 3 rounds in a day and have time for Lunch and breaks between rounds.

Game Size	Round Length	Death Clock
Small	90 min.	45 min.
Medium	90 min.	45 min.
Standard	150 min.	75 min.

Fast Round Timings

Generally for large Grand Masters events or competitive practice for large events.
This allows for 4 rounds in a day with Lunch and breaks between rounds.

Game Size	Round Length	Death Clock
Small	60 min.	30 min.
Medium	60 min.	30 min.
Standard	120 min.	60 min.

Ludicrous Speed

Almost a format to itself!
This is a fun way to shake things up and play faster but may not be suitable for very competitive events where players need to carefully execute their tactics.

Game Size	Round Length	Death Clock
Small	25 min.	12 min.
Medium	35 min.	20 min.
Standard	60 min.	30 min.

Additional

Scenarios announced

Announce which scenarios will be played before the event.

Truncated points

Players score Tournament Points according to the following table:

Victory Points	Tournament Points
3-0	5
2-0, 2-1, 1-0	4
1-1, 0-0	3
0-1, 1-2, 0-2	2
0-3	1

Fully-painted

You know what fully-painted is. If you have to defend your models, you should probably finish painting them. Any game using unpainted models will be scored as a loss for the player with a score of 1-0, or the actual score if better for the opponent.

NOTE

This should be implemented subject to accessibility considerations.

Allow pre-release models

This Tournament will permit models before their Release Date.

NOTE

This will usually be a GCT player using unseen models as a teaser for future releases.

Old-school

Players may only measure distances on the table after an effect has been announced or an effect triggers that requires a measurement. If it is unclear whether a measurement is needed, such as a model attempting to avoid an aura, the movement is made in full and then check to see if the effect is triggered.
The effect will still happen at the correct point in the movement but the path cannot be changed. When declaring Charge and Melee actions if the model fails to reach the target its activation ends and play immediately passes to the opponent.