[CaptainSarathai]

These are the basic rules for the Arena of Death events. I felt that it was important that these should be in one place so that they are readily accessible to both the entrants and any future arena writers. Notice that the rules on which this list is based, originated back in 7th edition. As such, the new books and items may not be fully recognized in this list. Also, with new books coming out all the time, we'll try to keep an eye on new items and rules that we should be aware of. It's all a case of trial and error guys - if we see anything in an arena that seems too powerful, suggest a change and I'll look towards amending these rules.

Last Updated
January 25th, 2013.

Basic Rules

:: Each character must be named by the player (Sir Cumference of Bretonia, etc)
:: They must be legal and cost no more than 250 points in total.
:: 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 the write ups.
- note, Missile Weapons and Magic are banned from the Arena. The arena consists only of items and weapons which may be used in the Close Combat phase of the game.


Equalizers
• Skink Chieftans may go up to 20 points over their magic item limit providing that they do not exceed 250 pts in total.
• Wizards (of any kind) get 35pts extra per Caster Level – however, they may not exceed their magic item limit.
• Wood Elf characters get 20 points extra; they may not exceed their magic item limit.
• 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

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.)
the easiest way to think of this is that a Killing Blow will only "auto-kill" on a 4+. On a 1-3, it will inflict enough wounds to leave the target with only 1 of their original wounds remaining. If, during the previous rounds of the duel, the character has already suffered one or more wounds, then this result will still kill them as usual.

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

Eye of the gods table: chaos characters will receive a single roll at the start of the tournament to represent the champion having the favour of his gods to take part. However unlike in a normal game further rolls will not be made after any victorious matches. However, should the player wish to change his result on the gaze of the gods table at any point of the arena he has a single re-roll which he can make before a match is fought to represent the fickle nature of chaos. Note that the player will be stuck with the second result regardless of the outcome. (Example: Daniel the chaos champion rolls +1 attack at the start of the arena, but later decides he wants something else in round 2. unfortunately he rolls stupidity and is stuck with it for the remainder of the arena in place of his +1 attack)

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
- Van Horstmann's Speculum
- The Daemon Sword
- The Grudge Rune
- Virtue of Confidence
- Annoyance of Netlings
- Palanquin mount
- Pendant of Kaeleth
- Any and all items/weapons/armour that nullifies or breaks magic weapons or armour.
- Any and all items/weapons/armour 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.

The Arena Master will roll a 'duel' -very similar to a Challenge on the tabletop- between two characters until one perishes. The one who remains standing will be the victor and progress to the next round.

Combat

- 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 will also have no effect.

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

- Fear/Terror
Fear is handled as normal. Terror counts as Fear.

- 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 unless an item or rule says otherwise. Frenzy is regained after the conclusion of the match, along with wounds etc, don't worry.

 

[CaptainSarathai]

Arena Etiquette, courtesty of Arklite

Librarium online Arena of death forum etiquette

Recently we’ve been having some complaints about people derailing arenas, manipulating the fluff of other peoples characters and generally pestering arena masters/participants. As such in the first stage of my Arena of Death forum restructuring I’m going to impose a set of rules for anyone wishing to take part in the arenas of death.

1. Rail Roading – everyone keeps their characters to them selves, the arena master leads the story and that’s it. No members should attempt to turn arenas to their own ends or try to manipulate other player’s character fluff without express permission. In turn arena masters can’t impose anything on participant’s characters without their permission. Basically, keep your hands to yourself.

2. Pestering – often we see members requesting that an arena goes faster and it can get to the rather bothersome stage of downright pestering. In turn arena masters have been known to harp after members. While the occasional question of progress is fine, don’t let it escalate

3. Fluff – lets face it, the arenas of death are driven by fluff and its always good to give the arena masters a good head start. Try to put in some effort when coming up with character descriptions. No one likes to see “lord haxxors, pwner of all mankind” appear with his single sentence of fluff on how he has killed everyone 3 times over and kicked their corpse for good measure. Keep it realistic, keep it cool.

4. Stats and rules - in order to protect GW copyright and intelectual property i'm going to request that all character item loadout synopsis are sent via Personal message to arena masters. fluff sections and item names can remain within the arena of death signup threads. posting the individual stats and rules however, is out.

If anyone else has any ideas on what to add to this let me know via PM. I will be enforcing these rules if any examples come to my attention, any recursive breaches of these rules will result in a visit from my Marauder 'Bouncers of Doom'.