The Off-Seasonal Arena- Number 1

[SteamTankDriver]

Since both Kuffy and Cyric seem to be busy with things like that ever-present and oft pesky real-life I figured I would start up something I have been wanting to do for awhile as a longtime reader of the LO forums: an arena. The same rules will apply as in the seasonal arena but I will do my best to keep the write-ups coming as long as you folks will bear with me. For the sake of propriety I will post the rules below. Note that I am in no way trying to take over the seasonal arena...I am simply trying to supply those of us who like reading these things with our fill.

(NOTE: I took the following verbatim from Cyric's post)

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I am looking for sixteen characters maximum, places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. If there is an odd number then I will enter one to make up the numbers.

How to enter

You are allowed to use any Lord or Hero character from any of the current army books, this includes any official and legal supplements (ie SOC or Lustria). Below you will find a list of rules on how things work, however there are a few limits on your characters.

• Each character must be named
• They must be legal and cost no more than 250pts in total
• They cannot ride monstrous mounts (mounts with more than one wound)
• No special characters
• All Hero Choices may select 100pts of magic items, rather than the usual 50.

In addition, each one much be accompanied by a background and a description of them for my write ups. Failure to do so will result in myself taking liberties with your entrée – such as an ugly, hunchbacked elf for example. -__^

To enter you reply in this thread, along with:

• Name [of character]
• Background
• Equipment
• Total cost

[NB: DO NOT post rules for items. I have all current army books and can easily find out what each does myself. If I am unsure, then I will PM you]

Rules

Equalizers

• Tomb Kings: Tomb Kings and Princes get 25pts extra – they may not exceed their magic item limit.
• Strigoi and Blood Dragon Vampires get 25pts extra – they may not exceed their magic item limit.
• Von Carstein and Lahmian Vampires get 35pts extra – they may not exceed their magic item limit.
• Skaven Warlords may go up to 20pts over their magic item limit providing that they do not exceed 250pts in total. The Appendix Plague Lord is no longer permitted: he is replaced by the Plague Lord from the Lustria book. Those who want to use a Plague Lord but only have the Skaven book can PM me for the stats.
• Empire characters who do not take a Runefang may go up to 20pts over the magic item limit providing that they do not exceed 250pts in total.
• Wood Elf characters get 20pts extra – they may not exceed their magic item limit.
• Exalted Daemons get 40pts extra – they may not exceed their magic item limit. For the purposes of the Daemonic Aura, Daemonic Legion Exalted Daemons (with non-cancellable auras) are allowed.
• Chaos characters can take the marks of Tzeentch and Slaanesh for free.
• Bretonnians must pray to gain the Blessing, allowing their opponent to charge them and gain all the benefits thereof in the first round of each combat. A Bretonnian player who does not wish to pray should specify this before the match is rolled.

Against Incantations/Bound Items, you get 1 dispel dice (2 if you’re a dwarf or have the Mark of Khorne or an Empire Warrior Priest/Arch-Lector) Only bound spells allowed are those that are combat orientated, all others are banned.

Additional Rules

Gaze of the Gods - Same points cost, before the battle roll a D6 - 1 = you get a 6+ ward, 2-3 = you get a 5+ ward, 4-6 = you get a 4+ ward. Such is the fickle nature of chaos.

Warpstone amulet - Same points cost, but roll to see if you die BEFORE the fight instead of afterwards.

Killing Blow - If a character scores a KB hit then this is how damaged will be worked out: D2+n

(n stands for the number of original wounds the character had minus two. This gives a 50% chance of killing a character off.)

Empire Prayers - All prayers work as normal, but Unbending Righteousness is not available and the Soulfire pray does D3 hits, not D6.

Dwarfs – Any dwarf lord entered may be mounted upon shieldbearers, all rules and restrictions apply as per usual.

BANNED ITEMS

The following items are banned, they are found to be too powerful or have an unfair advantage in an Arena of Death game.

• Tress of Isolde
• Sword of Fate
• Van Horstmann's Speculum
• The Daemon Sword
• The Fellblade
• The Bane Head
• The Grudge Rune
• The Talisman of Saphery
• Kurbog's Curmudgeonly Klobbera
• Virtue of Confidence
• Annoyance of Netlings

Also, any item that includes in its rules "nominate one enemy character" is illegal.

How it works

If you have never fought in one of these, the point is to pit two characters against one another, one on one. In all essence it is a duel [challenge] in a normal game but with a few differences. Namely, they’re trapped in an arena with the only way out is to kill or be killed.

There is no magic phase or shooting phase, but bound spells are allowed if they are combat orientated. I [KU] will roll a match up between two characters until one perishes. The one who remains standing will be the victor and progress to the next round.

The battles will be represented by a ‘story’ format written by myself and following that will be a note of how many wounds were caused by each other in each round. For example:

[ (i) CA: # CB: # (ii) CA: # CB: # ] etc

[CA = Character A, CB = Character B, (x) = Round number (#) = Number of wounds caused]

Combat

- Strike First

- First round of combat
In the first round of combat, both warriors count as charging for the purposes of lances and other special rules. If neither warrior has a 'strike first' ability (or a 'strike last' ability), the person with the highest Initiative will strike first. If both warriors are equally entitled to strike first (usually because they have equal initiative), striking order will be determined randomly.

- Later rounds
In later rounds of combat, neither warrior gets charging bonuses (pretty obvious ). Strike order will be determined using the same system as in the first round of combat - however, in cases of equal initiative, the die to determine strike order is not rolled. Instead, the person who struck first last time will strike first again, combat alternating between each warrior.

- After the Fight
After the fight, the victor advances to the next round. Any wounds they suffer are healed, as well as any other effects (such as the manbane poison: or anything else that permanently reduces statistics). It is as if the last fight never happened!

Psychology

- Break tests
Break tests are ignored in the Arena (where are they going to run in a ring of death?). Other psychology that may force an opponent to flee from combat is also ignored. THERE IS NO WAY TO FLEE IN AN AOD. For this reason, panic, unbreakable and Stubborn also have no effect.

In addition, undead warriors ignore the rule that causes them to take wounds from combat resolution. In a similar manner, daemonic characters do not suffer from instability.

- Fear
Fear is handled similarly to normal. In the first round of combat, a warrior facing a fearsome foe will take a Ld test. If he fails, he will hit on 6+ for that round of combat.

- Hatred
Hatred is also handled as normal. The warrior will re-roll failed 'to hit' rolls against hated foes.

- Stupidity
Each turn the warrior will take a Ld test. If failed, a further die will be rolled. On a 1-3, the warrior will not strike, on a 4+ they will strike as normal.

- Frenzy
While there's nowhere to run, you can still have the confidence and fighting frenzy knocked out of you, and therefore models do lose frenzy as normal.

[mpdscott]

Very well....while waiting for the Seasonal Arena to get back on track, I guess I'll enter yet another arena


Name: The Blade Weaver (Dark Elf)

Background: Almost nothing is known of the creature known as "The Blade Weaver". An assassin of incredible ability, he (possibly she) has inhumed an impressive array of victims from most races currently residing in the Old World. Victims are recognised through the intricate lace-work of wounds detailing the reason for the contract that has resulted in the death.

Equipment: Hand Weapon, Extra Hand Weapon, Black Amulet, Manbane, Rune of Khaine

Total Cost: 229 points

[Demandred]

Ill submit my ogre again, I really want to see how far he can get in an arena.

Hrothgar Mawseeker the Ever-Hungry

Hrothgar is by no means an intellectual, its actually quite surprising that he can even walk and breath at the same time, let alone the cunning way he fights. He has two focus's in life, to fill his gut with fresh meat, and to fight anything he comes across to fulfill his first focus. He was kicked out of his tribe years ago for being both too violent and moronic (even for an ogre) and has been wandering the old world ever since, terrorizing any settlement he comes across.

Don't let his drooling moronic look fool you, he is the veteran of many a battle and has a collection of "Shiny Fings," some of which are merely pretty bits of glass and metal, others of which are powerful arcane artifacts that lend him aid in a fight. He also wields a massive iron-bound tree trunk that he uses to smash the life out of his enemies.

Hrothgar has come to the Arena of Death on accident, before viciously attacking the arena organizers it was somehow made clear to him that if he participated in the arena there would plenty of both of his favorite things in life, fighting and fresh meat. Who knows, maybe one of the spectators will get too close and he might get a free snack....

Tenderiser
Heavy Armor
Greedy Fist
Wyrdstone Necklace
Mawseeker Bigname
Spiky Bits (Counts as 2 Sword Gnoblars)
Lucky Gut Plate (Counts as Luck Gnoblar)

Total: 249 pts

[timk1111]

Ah, good stuff. Just missed out on the main arena, so Ill enjoy this me thinks.

Ill enter Skull Cleaver in this on too, just with a slight change....

Beastlord Skull Cleaver, champion of Khorne

'After many a battle, cutting through swathes of enemy troops with the might granted to him by Khorne, Skull Cleaver decides he must enter the Arena to further prove himself to Khorne. Upon attempting to walk through the gates, they are slammed shut. "Sorry" exclaims the Ogre gate keeper "Only 16 allowed".

Frustrated, Skull Cleaver takes his business elsewhere and as if controlled by Khorne himself, a piece of paper blows into Skull Cleaver's face. Skull Cleaver quickly finds a nearby goblin to "offer" his services and attempt a translation. It reads: " Come one, come all, to the arena of SteamTankDriver!!!!"

Now, only Daemonhood awaits...'

Skull Cleaver is a Beastlord. He has:
-Mark of Khorne
-Crown of Everlasting Conquest
-Armour of Damnation
-Sword of Might
-A mundane Shield

Total - 238 points.

BRING IT ON!!!!

Regards, Tim

[Bluehorrors]

Sweet i might as well chuck my old blood back in there

Name: Kraken The OldOne
Equipment: Aura of Quetzl, Sword of Might, Mounted on a Coldone,shield, light armour
Spawning: Itzl
Total Points 243

Fluff: Hailing from the dense jungles of lustria comes Kraken a powerful Oldone, bodyguard to the slann themselves, the slann have entered kraken to represent the true power of the lizardmen and bring back any stolen relics and or artifacts.

With this mission entrusted to Kraken he will not fail......

[DavidVC04]

I'm in.

Can I do a hero with the new VC book? I'm going to GW today, so that'll give me a chance to look at it again.

I'm thinking a Wight Lord. Cheap, cheap hero. Wouldn't need any special ammendments for point allowances.

[Phoenix]

Im in. Going with my Tomb King. Ill have a think about his gear etc and confirm it all in a bit.

Enkrah, the Scopion King.

Tomb King
Sword of Might
Armour of the Ages
Golden Ankrah
Shield

Incantation: My Will Be Done (Smiting)

Total cost: 273

Background: As his Legions fight alongside him in the great (vote) War, Enkrah decides to take upon himself an additional challenge, seeking out Arena glory.

As for a visual description, please see attatched pic Its taken from the GW site.. i hope im allowed to do that lol. If not, please remove mods. Thanks.

[SteamTankDriver]

Originally Posted by DavidVC04

I'm in.

Can I do a hero with the new VC book? I'm going to GW today, so that'll give me a chance to look at it again.

I'm thinking a Wight Lord. Cheap, cheap hero. Wouldn't need any special ammendments for point allowances.

I plan on picking up the book myself sometime this week so you are more than welcome to use the new content as long as it follows the guidelines for the arena. As soon as I get it I'll review some of the equipment to see if any of it might be considered for the banned list, but I trust you to use your discretion when picking equipment anyway so there shouldn't be any problems. Much obliged.
-Tom

[LittleBlueMan]

Allright, I'll submit my Lizardman Oldblood.


Name: Adohi-Mazda

Background: He is an ancient Oldblood. His temple city long dead, he wanders the world attacking anyone who does not fit in his view of the Old Ones plan. This has caused him to have many enemies, not that he even cares in his Cold Blooded state.

Equipment: Light Armor, Aura of Quetzl, Shield, Blade of Revered Tzunki.

Points: 246 points.

Enjoy.

[Orkimedes41792]

Submitting my chaos dwarf lord:

Thorek's evil but not as beardy twin brother Bill

While Thorek endlessly trained in the arts of rune smithing, his brother Bill looked forward more to combat and bloodshed. Thorek aided his allies with his masterful rune striking ability and was renowned (and despised for it) however, Bill only thirsted for the fight which is odd for a dwarf general and rather than sacrifice a good fight for a tactical withdraw or flanking maneuver, he would charge head first into obvious traps. his blood lust grew so great that he was banished from the dwarf stronghold and began his own chaos dwarf faction where his blood lust was tolerated and encouraged.

Bill has:
Black Hammer of Hashut
Armor of Gazrakh
Gauntlets of Bazhrakk the Cruel

He comes out to be 215 points