The Off-Seasonal Arena: Number Three

[Demandred]

A cool breeze rolled in from the Bay of Corsairs, pennants and flags rippling in its salty embrace. Up and over the sandstone walls of a garden oasis it raced, the fresh breath of air flowing through the darkened halls and empty passages of the house before bursting out into the central courtyard, bringing the salty tang of the sea, mingled with the myriad scents of the city, to the two figures lounging on shaded divans.

The first reclined with a languid grace, an aura of controlled decadence surrounding him. Silk robes, a deep burgundy colour, covered his body, golden rings bedecked his dark fingers while from his neck hung a large ruby glowing with some inner light. A jewelled dagger rested in its opulent sheath on his woven gold belt.

“Tell me Hajim, how go the preparations? Have the invitations been sent?” the first figure asked, slowly bringing a brown date to his mouth as his dark eyes regarded the robed figure opposite him.
“My lord, proclamations have been sent to every corner of the known world. The greatest fighters from all over have been notified of this competition. The stage is set, we are merely awaiting the players.” Hajim replied, bowing his sun browned head as he addressed his master. Unlike his master Hajim was clad in a simple white robe, a plain brown leather belt held a curved dagger at his waist. No rings adorned his fingers, no necklace hung from his neck. A simple bronze badge in the shape of a curved moon was his only adornment.

One hand, fingers encrusted with gold rings, slowly twirled his oiled, black beard as Grand Vizier Siad Oba, advisor to the Caliph of Lashiek, reached for a goblet of wine, beads of condensation slowly running down the outside of the golden cup. Leaning forward his dark eyes possessed an unidentifiable gleam as he stared hard at Hajim, the hand lowering to gently caress the large gemstone hanging from his neck.

“Excellent. It is all coming together perfectly.”


Fluff Courtesy of Exarch Thomo

********************************************************

We are looking for a maximum of sixteen characters. Places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If there is an odd number then we will enter one to even the numbers.


How to enter:

You are allowed to use any Lord or Hero character from any of the current army books. Storm of Chaos and the like are out. 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 250 points in total.
· They cannot ride monstrous mounts (mounts with more than one wound).
· No special characters.
· All Hero choices may select 100 points of magic items, rather than the usual 50.
· In addition, each one must be accompanied by a background and a description of them for my write ups.


· To enter, you reply in this thread along with:

· Name of character
· Background
· Equipment
· Total cost

Rules

Equalizers

· Goblin Warbosses (Night Goblins included) may go up to 20 points over their magic item limit providing that they do not exceed 250 pts in total.
· Skink Chieftans may go up to 20 points over their magic item limit providing that they do not exceed 260 pts in total.
· Skaven Warlords may go up to 20 points over their magic item limit providing that they do not exceed 260 pts in total. The Appendix Plague Lord is no longer permitted.
· Vampires get 35pts extra – they may not exceed their magic item limit.
· Tomb Kings get 25 points extra, they may not exceed their magic item limit.
· Empire characters that do not take a Runefang may go up to 20pts over the magic item limit providing that they do not exceed 250 points in total.
· Wood Elf characters may exceed their magic point allowance by 20 points, as long as they do not exceed 250 points in total.
· Dark Elf Assassins are counted as Hero choices for all intents and purposes.
· 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.

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.)

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
- Kurbog's Curmudgeonly Klobbera
- Virtue of Confidence
- Annoyance of Netlings
- Palanquin mount
- Pendant of Kaeleth
- Any and all items/weapons/armor that nullifies or breaks magic weapons or armor.


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 challenge as 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.

We 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.

Combat

- Always 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. In essence, we will follow the rules as outlined by GW for ASF, great weapons, and the like.

- 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, 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. After that, fear has no effect.

- Hatred
Hatred is also handled as normal. The warrior will re-roll failed 'to hit' rolls against hated foes in the first round, unless a specific army book overrules this.

- Stupidity
Since stupidity is ignored in combat, it only effects the first turn when the model suffering stupidity is attempting to charge. He or she will take a stupidity test as normal; if failed, the model strikes last, no matter what. I.e., no ASF for failed test.

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

***** Organiser's Note *****

We may make some more rule changes, most likely only to restricted items as we take on the task of surveying the new books for unsporting items.

Cheers, and get those characters in quickly!

Also, after witnessing the ease that it creates in some of the other arenas, please post a character summary to make it easier on me

[daelrog]

What can I say? Can't resist another chance to enter the fray. This will be character 8 for me, so let's celebrate this half way point with... A DWARF! I'll have the build and fluff within the day.

[Demandred]

***Note that spaces are only reserved until there are no more open spots. When that happens your spot goes to the first person with a full character to enter.***

Characters Entered

1. Murdim Stonebeard- daelrog
2. Cohen the Barbarian- mpdscott
3. Kroxankha- RobtheGuru
4. Xuanzhong- AFG
5. Trevor Bidleman- DavidVC04
6. Kalloren the Wanderer- Exarch Thomo
7. Gar-Loc- Lore Colten
8. Silverblade- avatar of khaine
9. Madoc Proudfoot- Arklite
10. Skinja- Phoenix
11. Durtram Notrelle- Tekore
12. Ice- Atilla the Hun Jr.
13. Drubnot the Artist- Andre
14. Phas-thra- Tuxedo Clank
15. The Shadow Prince- xanaq
16. Naldic Darkheart- Stunted_Merc

[mpdscott]

Character has been PM'd.....

Mwhahaha!!!!!
Now you'll all just have to guess at what I've entered....Mwhahaha!!!!!

Signed
The Opera Ghost

[RobtheGuru]

This is me claiming a spot. Will have the character up in about 10 hours, depending if im up by then.

[ArchonFarseerGuy]

I'm in. now to decide who to enter...

*gets thinking*

Might wait for the fluff to come up first. But save me a spot.

-AFG//

[DavidWC09]

I want a spot. I have something in mind...

Though I do wonder if it's time to reconsider the point allowance considering the new army books. Top tier lords are expensive.

[Exarch Thomo]

Spot Saver - will get my character posted tomorrow night (when I'm back next to my army books)

[Lore_Colten]

Gar-Loc, Chosen of Quetzl.

Lizardman Oldblood,
Scimitar of the sun,
Aura of Quetzl,
Spawn of Quetzl,
Enc shield.

Hailing from Lustria, Gar-Loc isn't like normal Sauras Warriors. Instead of being born in a spawning pool, Gar-Loc was found outside the Great Temple of Quetzl. His scales are as hard as diamonds, Spikes producing from nearly every surface of his body. He wields the scimitar of Quetzl(scimitar of the sun). He has come to the arena, through rumor of a powerful artifact of Quetzl the grand prize
I'm sorry for the late response. Family issues. Secondly, I apologise for the cutting in of your fluff, (It is a rumor if it's that bad)


WS6, Str5, T5, W3, I3, A5(7),
2+ save,
4+ ward save againist Str5 or more,

[avatar of khaine]

my space!

question:does this arena allow prizes to be used?