Army composition at Maelstrom IX: Disjunction

I have attended 40k competitions almost since the Dark Ages (ok... so since 2nd Ed.). One of the great things that 3rd Ed. (and 4th and 5th Ed.) did to the competitive scene was to evolve the entire game into something reasonably simplified (without losing all of its complexity) by getting rid of all sorts of overly complicated rules (you only have to look at some of the 2nd Ed. datacards, weapons profiles or Wargear Cards to get a feel for this). It also put some structure around the formation of an army i.e. 1-2 HQ, 2+ Troops etc. 

So, having played in and run a few tournaments along the way, and seeing where 7th Ed. is at the moment (with the reasonably unfettered ability to pick whatever you want), I started having some discussions and general reminiscing with some of the regular (and not so regular) attendees about ye olde dayes - and how it would be nice to have an opportunity to play using those sorts of armies.

The outcome of all this was the players pack for Maelstrom IX: Disjunction. The restrictions that I put in the pack were:

Armies must:

• Consist of 1500 points or less
• Be Battle-forged (no Unbound armies)
• Be sourced from a single parent Codex (e.g. Space Marines: Salamanders Chapter Tactics; Imperial Knights)

No allies of any sort are allowed apart from the following exceptions:

• Adepta Sororitas and Inquisition and/or Officio Assassinorium
• Grey Knights and Inquisition
• Astra Militarum and Militarum Tempestus
• Militarum Tempestus and Inquisition
• Craftworld Eldar and Harlequins
• Dark Eldar and Harlequins
• Tyranids and Genestealer Cult
• Cult Mechanicus and Skitarii
• Space Marines (any Chapter Tactics) and Kill Team Cassius

Armies may only be constructed utilising any of the following options:

1 Combined Arms Detachment
OR

0-4 unique Codex Detachments or Formations presented in a Dataslate* (for any army that does not have Codex Detachment or Formation options, e.g. Adepta Sororitas this includes taking a CAD + allied detachment/formations)

AND

0-1 Lord of War/Gargantuan Creature (and only if listed in the army’s parent Codex, e.g. Logan Grimnar, Ork Stompas, Tau Stormsurge etc**. The exception to this is Codex: Imperial Knights – there is no restriction to LoW from this Codex, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to take them!.

* Each specific Codex Detachment and Dataslate Formation is considered unique (0-1) and may not be duplicated. Remember you can only source from a single parent Codex with the above exceptions.

 For example, if you took a Space Marine Gladius Strike force consisting of a Demi-Company, Librarius Conclave, and a 10th Company Task Force, this would count as 4x Unique Codex Detachments or Formations (i.e. 1 Detachment and 3 Formations).

** So no allied Imperial Knights… even if compulsory in a Formation

Armies may not include:

• Allies of any sort that are not outlined above
• Fortifications
• Apocalypse/Planetstrike/CityFight/Escalation/Spearhead/Stronghold Assault/etc. supplements (excluding Codex updates/Formation options from Warzone supplements). Note that you are allowed to use the Lords of War Warlord traits from Warhammer 40,000: Escalation
• Apocalypse Formations
• Forge World army lists/formations/detachments
• Forge World units (it is completely appropriate to use FW models as proxies for core rules models, as long as they are not too divergent)
• Material or army lists from the Horus Heresy books (using HH models in your 40k army is acceptable, as long as they are not used as proxies for something else)
• No Rules or Army Lists marked as ‘Trial’ or ‘Optional’

People who have been playing 40k for a while will recognise the nod to the 3rd/4th/5th Codexes + allies. There is also a small composition score towards the overall score (worth just over 15% of the total), with maximum points for someone that takes a CAD only. So it will be interesting to see what people come up with...

See here for a quick batrep using the composition and missions from the Players Pack (thanks Ryan and Gareth)

The feedback so far has been pretty positive - apart from a couple of people who don't like these sorts of restrictions to how they want to play the game (and were unlikely to attend anyway in my view) - and that's fine. This is aimed at my target audience (and anyone else who wants to play something different).

Already 11+ people have either registered or noted their intention to play, and with it only being sent out this week and nearly 3mths to go I am reasonably happy with that.