Billy Ocean

Hey guys, tickets are now on sale HERE for Sparkle Party Death Match 5: The End Times GT !! The event will be held on December 6-7 at Mox Boarding House in Seattle, Washington, a brand new gaming venue with in-house Bar and Restaurant. Much more information about the event can be found over on dimensionalcascade.com. Also, note that this is the last 2-day qualifier for the Northwest Region's US Masters team. Its likely to shake up the standings quite substantially! Whether you're a competitive player hoping to make the Masters cut, or just playing for fun, we'd love to see you at the event. SPDMs always have a wide range of skill-levels, a very friendly atmosphere, and place a lot emphasis on painting (including a single-model painting contest where you get to show off your best work). So there's something for everyone, no matter what facet of the hobby interests you the most.

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SPDM5 tickets should be sale shortly. We have had to reschedule a bunch of times due to the venue (which will be brand new and awesome), which has thrown off the organizational process. There will certainly be announcement on this forum when they are available, so you guys don't need to worry about missing out.

Sparkle Party 5 on December 6-7 here in Seattle is a qualifier. It would be awesome to see some of you Oregon guys there!

This year it is in North Carolina. Next year, the location will be decided by bid, kinda like the Olympics.

I like the player bio idea. I think a combination of that and Swedish will help balance the matchups. Swedish is not perfect, but it will get all of the lists into the same ballpark, especially if the bar is set a little further towards the softer end, like a 12. Then, the captain would not have to focus so much on pairing lists of similar power, and can focus on pairing players with compatible bios. Like pair the two most competitive players, the two players that are most interested in the spectacle of the game, etc etc. I agree with Krieger that we need to respect how each individual derives fun from the hobby, which isn't achieved by just putting a blanket ban on competitive play.

A unit can perform maneuvers during the Remaining Move sub-phase, but maneuvers are not solely restricted to the Remaining Move sub-phase. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to wheel when you charge. And in fact, a fleeing unit that rallies performs a reform during the Compulsory Moves sub-phase.

Nope. Just saying that we can't assume one rule negates another. You are saying that we either need to: 1. assume Random Move negates Skirmish, so that no reforms can be taken at all. 2. assume that Skirmish negates the Random Move rule, by allowing unlimited reforms during a Random Movement. I am arguing that we don't need to assume either negates the other, and cannot choose to in the absence of an explicit guideline. Soooo, while the model is undertaking its Random Move, we follow the self-contained rule for a Random Move, with no exceptions (So lets stop talking about reforms during the move - nobody is arguing on that point). But before and after the Random Move, we can revert to the rules for Skirmisher. It looks like there is just a difference in opinion between two camps here, which is totally fine. If event organizers want to rule it one way or another to prevent misunderstandings at the table, I am perfectly happy with that, and am sure any OnG player would be too. But in the absence of an official ruling, lets not present one interpretation as objective truth, and the other as cheating or gaming the system. Accusations like that can do much more to damage the sense of goodwill between players (that events like OFCC try to promote) than the actions that solicit them in the first place.

To allow skirmishers to reform during a random move would be splicing one ruleset inside of another. To prevent them reforming at all would be assuming one rule negates another. In the absence of an explicit statement, the most logical approach I can see is to allow the rules to co-exist, but not interfere. Reform ---> Resolve entire random move (dice, push) ---> Reform

No. After you have rolled the dice, push the model that far forward in the direction you are facing. I am only saying that the Skirmish rule comes into effect outside of that random move action. To assume it doesn't would require an explicit statement.

Check out my last sentence.

Without getting too deep into the rules-lawyering, the arguments against the reform all hinge on one tenet: that the random move rule over-rides the skirmishers rule. Without a specific statement that one rule over-rides another, we are left with no option but to assume that the rules combine. The simplest (only??) way for those two rules to combine is to follow the Random Moves rule by the letter during the actual random move (i.e. between rolling the dice, and pushing the models that far forward), but to respect the skirmishers rule outside of it. So reforming the hoppers before the dice-roll, and after pushing them 3d6" forward is entirely acceptable. By the same logic, pivoting a hell-pit DURING the random move is not acceptable. We simply cannot assume that one Special Rule negates another without an explicit statement, or else we run into all kinds of problems. Also, there is no issue about not knowing whether the reform is possible before rolling the dice. We know 3d6 movement is at least 3", double that is 6". There is no reform that a 5-wide unit of hoppers could try to make that is not achievable with 6".

I'll throw in my two cents. I think Swedish is definitely the way to go, and I mean full-on Swedish, where the difference between list scores multiplied by 100 is added to the VPs of the player with the lower scoring list. Otherwise, if we just require lists to be in the 10-18 range, the more competitively minded players will turn up with something that hits 10 on the nose (altho hopefully captains would discourage this), which still may not pair well with the fluffier lists. Using the points difference method, most players will show up with something around the 14 mark, which will lead to some delightful matchups. I also think that if Swedish is used, then everything covered under the Swedish umbrella should be allowed, but nothing else. So no Storm of Magic, Monstrous Arcanum or Dogs of War, because Swedish cannot account for them. But certainly Special Characters should be in, because Swedish penalizes for them wherever necessary (and honestly, its not necessary with most 8th Ed S.C's). And there are some lovely themed lists that are just not the same without their special character! Similarly, Chaos Dwarfs should be allowed as long as Swedish keeps updating their comp for them. They will only keep updating the comp as long as the tournament scene as a whole accepts Chaos Dwarfs, so its a good metric of how suitable the broader tournament community feels the army is. Again, Swedish does a good job of penalizing and balancing the CD army where necessary. Yes there a few slightly wonky or ambiguous rules, but no more so than some of the other fantasy books. Like with the ambiguity-laden WE book, the community just needs some simple consensus on how certain things will be ruled and there will be no problem. I played with Chaos Dwarfs at this event, but will not be using them at the next OFCC, so this isn't coming from a self-serving place. I just think they're a cool army, that are handled as effectively as any other by Swedish. And all of my opponents seemed to have a lot of fun playing against my evil little stunties this time round, or if they didn't, they did a good job of hiding it .

To echo above, many thanks to Raindog, AgentP and the rest of the team for their hard work organizing the event, and for inviting our Dimensional Cascade Podcast team to attend. We all had an absolute blast, and hope our opponents did too. I for one had five outstanding games against five outstanding gentlemen who deserve individual shout-outs: Pete (Ordo Alpha), Art (Ordo Omega), Paul (BlackSheep), Juno (Scared Hitless), and Pete (CHOP!). It was an honor to meet and play you all. And big thanks to my team, especially the inestimable Ricky Fischer whose gargantuan paint efforts dragged us up to the Best Overall podium. We're already planning something special for next year, and looking forward to many future OFCC's, as long as you'll have us .

After a couple of setbacks, Dimensional Cascade Podcast Team have finalized our team, submitted lists and paid up! Thanks to Ronnie for stepping up and becoming our 4th member. Dimensional Cascade Podcast Tom Weber (captain) - Chaos Dwarfs Ricky Fischer - Night Goblins Aidan Rogers - Wood Elves Ronnie Cox - Ogres Looking forward to it!