Hardcore Format- What a blast

[4thstringer]

Me and our local henchman decided to try the Hardcore rules that were laid out for the NOVA open (and probably elsewhere, but that is where I saw it first), and what fun it was.  Assassinate and Turf war, with close deployment.  Henchmen led, 20 ss limit and a 4 model max.  We played 4 or 5 games of it, myself using Ryle or Samael Hopkins led guild, with my opponent using Sebastian Ressers, Miranda Arcanists, Yan lo's Henchman (I forget his name) TT and Another TT that could fly and obey people. 

 

We really enjoyed that fast nature of it. 

 

Has anyone else tried that format, and what have you thought of it?

[Arli]

I was the Henchmen.  It was great.  It was pointed out in another thread that the entire Round of the tournament should be 20 minutes.  

 

I was thinking, on most of them, I think we got in at least two turns within 20 minutes.  I think it would be important to start counting the Turf war points during the first turn.  

[Clement]

Counter question for you two then. Do you find the time estimates for how long the game should go accurate?

[4thstringer]

Kinda.  I think it would be difficult to squeeze 5 or more rounds into that amount of time, but that generally the game was pretty much decided before then.  I think if a player were playing for the 5 turn limit, planning to make a late turn splash, they could lose out by time.

 

At least one game, had Arli decided to run with his master (who was his last model), my setup didn't allow me to get to the middle with enough guys to score a turf war point, so he may have been able to force a tie before 20 minutes.

 

The bigger issues were that if someone had a lead, they could probably slow play out the 20 minutes.  Also, if you got the assasinate 3 points, unless the other side was able to get to your henchman for the kill quickly, it was pretty much over.

[valhallan42nd]

Hey, Nova Open lead here!

I'm glad you liked it! All credit needs to be given to the UK player base for the idea, as that's where I first heard the format being discussed (on the Malifools podcast, in particular). 

Do you think the game would be improved by increasing the time slightly, or is it good as is?

[4thstringer]

I think as long as people are playing in good faith, the time should be ok.  It is really only going to be a problem if people start gaming the system.

[Arli]

Experienced players will be able to get in 3, possibly 4 turns.  If there are any interruptions, it will seriously mess with the game.  If you do look at increasing the time, I would only increase it by 5 minutes.  It could help if you gain Turf War VP on turn 1.

[Lysis]

I am going to be running one of these soon for kicks and giggles, and I had an idea for slow-play:

 

What if you stipulate that a certain round must be completed, else BOTH players lose?  What would be a fair round?  I was thinking 2 (on the easy side) and 3 (on the harder side).  Thoughts?

[twilightmikasa]

I ran a test run yesterday (just one game) and was annihalated in turn 3.  Everything works - so far.  it's such an awesome format that I'm running one at the end of May (with credit to the Nova Open and UK player base).  Finished in 15 minutes but I'm tweaking the time limit to 30 minutes, although 20 minutes seems to be work well.  Still need to work out prize support and stuff.

[Arli]

I'm with you on that.  I plan on doing one during Wyrd Weekend as well as another in November at a local Con that is starting.  Still working out the prize support as well.

 

I'm sure we will test it some more this week. When we tested, we stopped timing after the first round.  This week, we should probably time all of them and do what we can to test it out at 25 and 30 minutes just to see.

[OldManMyke]

The whole point of Hardcore is that its supposed to be harum scarum balls to the wall play where you are just going as fast as possible.  Hence the 20 minute time limit.  In fact the next one of them that I run will actually have 15 minute round times and only a 1 minute turn around.  As the TO you need to get the players moving about fast etc. as it all adds to the overall fun.

 

The other thing I intend to change is that instead of Assassinate we will be doing Spring the Trap

[Arli]

First off, thanks a bunch for creating this format.  It is a great way to throw a change up into the game.  How many people participated in the Hardcore tournament at SmogCon?  How long did it take to complete the tournament?

 

Thanks again for the format.

[jondoe297]

I reckon there was at least 20 people playing the hardcore tournament at smoggy

I think I didnt finish one game (as in got to turn 5 or wiped opponent out) 20 minutes is enough time (this was including doing shots for souls stones)

Mike organized a riot of an event with people running backwards and forwards grabbing tables, shouting out for their opponents, twas anarchy! A great end to the day

[crikeymiles]

Seconded. I was also there at Smogcon and the 20min limit imposed a 120db level of hysteria, as if you stopped to "think" about a single move, you wouldn't finish!

Of course, finishing each round didn't really matter, but that's not the point!

Hilarious format, would play again in a second.

[Robble]

I recently played a 2 games with this format and thought it was great fun.

 

In our second game we decided to change things up and instead of close deployment we did blind deployment and added make them suffer to the schemes.  VP started counting on turn 1 (not sure if thats how you guys have been doing it)

 

the setup time is longer for blind deployment but totally worth it.