The Song of Nice and Friendly - Casual ASOIAF Tournament

What Do I Need to Know?

This is a friendly tournament, but it’s still a tournament. The stakes have never been lower, but to keep things running smoothly we’ll still be using the official tournament rules, so if you haven’t already, please familiarize yourself with the official Tournament Guideline Season 4 document linked below.

In brief, we ask you to bring:

• Your own army, with two 40pt lists that have at least one distinction between them. This can be as simple as swapping a single Combat Unit, NCU, Commander, or even Attachment out to make the lists technically different from one another.
• Your own terrain. If you have any faction starter box, you should have all that you need.
• Your own dice, measuring implements, cards, etc - anything you need to play the game.

We’ll be playing with selected terrain unless you and your opponent both agree on one of the alternative terrain selection methods listed in the rules. Tournament rounds will be 90 minutes each to allow for a short lunch break after the first round, appropriate time between rounds to find your tables and get set up, and awards at the end. Finally, CMON announced earlier this year their plan to release a seasonal update this summer. If that happens before NOVA and any of it affects this tournament, I'll message you all to let you know. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the event, and know we can make this year as fun as last year!

Modified Game Modes

Friends and Buddies (Fire and Blood)

Friends and Buddies uses the same rules as Fire and Blood, with the following additions:

Setup

• Place 1 Objective token in the center of the table.

Special Rules (Objectives)

• A unit ending a move with its tray entirely overlapping a token Claims that token.
• A unit Controls a token it has Claimed, as long as it is not engaged by an enemy Combat Unit with more remaining Ranks than it. The moment this happens it immediately stops Controlling that token.
• Solo units count as have remaining Ranks equal to their remaining Wounds for Controlling and Contesting Objectives.
• Tokens that are not entirely overlapped by a unit’s tray are not Claimed and are not Controlled by any unit.

Special Scoring

• Beginning on Round 2, the player that Controls the center Objective at the end of each Round scores 1 Victory Point.

Why Did You Change This Mode? Because the only way to score Victory Points in Fire and Blood is by destroying enemy units, and the best way to do so is with your Commander’s unit, this is a game mode that often sees players circling each other for much of the game to try and deliver a decisive strike, or even completely avoiding one another and then rushing to score just enough points to win in the final round. There’s nothing wrong with playing cagey per se, but due to the time constraints of this event, I felt it would be useful to add something that would incentivize players to engage with each other from the beginning. A single static Objective that grants a single Victory Point per Round creates a ticking clock that either player can use to keep their opponent from castling up in their deployment zone and avoiding them for most of the game with impunity.

Nice Wings, Nice Words (Dark Wings, Dark Words)

Nice Wings, Nice Words uses the same rules as Dark Wings, Dark Words, with the following exceptions:

Replace the “Special Rules (Replacing Missions)” section with the following:

Special Rules (Replacing Missions)

• When a friendly NCU Claims a zone, you may pay your opponent a compliment. If you do, you may replace that zone’s effect with: “Discard 1 Active Mission and replace it with a Reserve Mission, or discard 1 Reserve Mission, drawing a new Reserve Mission from the deck.”
• When your Commander’s unit Activates, you may pay your opponent a compliment. If you do, you may discard 1 Active Mission and replace it with a Reserve Mission, or discard 1 Reserve Mission, drawing a new Reserve Mission from the deck.

Why Did You Change This Mode? This is a friendly tournament, and as such I want to encourage an easygoing atmosphere and fun interactions. Saying something nice to your opponent is a good way to do this. Please keep your compliments genuine and respectful, especially if you don’t know your opponent well. Comments on a person’s body by a stranger are rarely considered to be compliments by the recipient. Similarly, “that’s a great shirt” generally comes across as well-meant if the shirt in question is a graphic tee with a cool design, but less so if it’s just a low-cut blouse. If in doubt, relate the compliment back to the game you’re both playing and the hobby you both enjoy. It’s harder to go wrong with “I love how you painted that unit” or “that was a clever play you made last turn”.

Awards

There will be three awards this year, each one consisting of a lovely certificate with your name on it and bragging rights.

First Among Friends: The award for best overall score. This will be determined by the system of points laid out in the official Tournament Guideline Season 4 document.

The Fairest: The award for the best-looking army. This is a purely subjective decision that will be determined by me, the event organizer.

The Soul of Chivalry: Our sportsmanship award. Players will be asked to privately submit a vote at the end of the event for another player that they felt best embodied the Nice & Friendly spirit. It doesn’t have to be someone they played against themselves; just a player that they noticed was particularly friendly, sportsmanlike, or - dare we say - chivalrous.