ICI V Part Four - Day of Days
Welcome back to the in depth look at the fifth Inquisitorial Conclave Invitational. Last week’s post went exhaustively into the preparations for the event and today I’ll be looking at the actual day to give you an idea of what went on and what an event organizer actually does during this event.
If you’d like to read the previous parts, you can find them here:
Early in the morning
I loaded up my car the night before and left before dawn, coffee in hand. The seats of my hatchback were folded down, but even then there were boxes on the passenger seat.
I met Jacen at the venue around 7am, when we had access to the room. The first hiccup came when we went into the room: the 6’ tables we’d requested had grown to 8’. We adjusted the preplanned layout, and it still worked, but the room was tighter in general. This also meant that every table now had a sideboard for casualties and rolling dice, which was nice.
Around 7:30 volunteers started arriving. Jacen grabbed one and started doing runs to his house to grab the terrain, and I directed the others. Though I usually want to pitch in and help out (either ‘cause I’m a good person or ‘cause I get anxious people will think I’m lazy, you decide…), I stayed true to directing and let others do the heavy lifting. This was key to making sure setup went smoothly and someone was always on hand to answer questions about “where does this go?” A bunch of players were also bringing terrain, so we had a steady stream of people unloading. The room had an exterior door as well, which was clutch for unloading from the parking lot. Jacen and I were also setting up terrain in specific manners. Not that we didn’t let others help out, but we were checking all the tables to make sure they were up to par.
Vajo was our “intern”: he wasn’t playing but just showed up to hangout and help. He also brought a ringer army in case someone dropped out. Once terrain was set up, we put him to work handing out player packs, each consisting of a booklet, a dice tray, and a card with the player’s personalized Prophet rules. Due to a looming postal strike, we hadn’t mailed out the booklets as originally intended, but just posted the PDF to Discord in advance.
Jacen, Recusant, and I gave a brief introduction, talking about the story, giving a land acknowledgement, and going over narrative gaming in general, plus a few logistics things (where the washrooms were, there were other events at the hotel, don’t get too rowdy, etc.).
Then the games began.
Day One Games
We put pairings up on the projector screen and players were off, shaking hands with opponents and setting up armies. Jacen and I went round to every table to answer questions and go over any mission specific rules, then we started taking pictures. Each of us had brought a camera, and between us I think we took over a thousand pictures (I took over 600). About halfway through the first round, we handed out a black card to each player, which gave bonuses such as orbital strikes, rerolls, and bonus command points.
Jacen and I had a small command center in one corner where we had laptops set up, controlling the projector, music, and reviewing results as they came in (players reported games via a Google survey). We sent Vajo around to give a time warning and when games were done we went round and handed out Prophet Points in the form of the wooden silver tokens.
Unfortunately, in that first round, very few games went the full five turns. We had scheduled each round for two hours and forty-five minutes, which we reasoned would be enough time for a 1,500 point game. But, given how inexperienced some players were, plus the bespoke missions, most people didn’t finish their games.
After the first round, players were able to have a tarot “reading” with their team. We did a simple “spread” of each team’s cards and teams could pay Prophecy Points to reveal a card and follow the instructions. These had a short narrative of characters or units from their armies going on an adventure to gain bonuses (similar to crusade battle honours) while risking penalties (again, inspired by crusade, this time battle scars). Unfortunately for the players, it seemed like most of them rolled terribly that first round and incurred a lot of scars.
Next round, we did “old school” deployment for most tables: players roll off, the winner choosing to deploy their whole army first or second. The player who deploys first takes the first player turn, unless their opponent can seize the initiative by rolling a 6 before the game begins. This helped a little bit, but negated the redeploy abilities of certain units. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with rules like that, but players should ideally know in advance so they can take it into consideration when list-building.
By the third round, we really had a grasp of what to do with the bonus black cards. Taskforce Revelation (Imperial and Votann team) had fallen far behind in Conquest and Prophecy Points. The cards were an opportunity for Jacen and I to put our thumbs on the scale, so to speak, and try to give the lagging team a boost. The Black Cards were a late addition in the planning process, and we didn’t really have a great idea of what to do with them, but I was glad we had them. Some players, however, didn’t use the cards we gave them. Though I wish they had, I get it: there’s a lot going on in a game of 40k and the organizer coming up and throwing more mechanics at you doesn’t make the game easier to track.
Recounting the conquests over mead and ale
Jacen had made a 19-person reservation, and every attendee came out for dinner. We locked up the room and players took their armies with them. That meal sticks out in my mind as a highlight of the event: surrounded by friends, talking about all things nerdy, watching as people who’d only interacted over Discord chat in person for the first time. Not to mention the food was good and there was a huge beer selection. We had done all three rounds before dinner, so there were no night games: reopening the room for pickup games might be something we could do in the future, but it had been such a long day I sure as hell did not want to do that (and I don’t think anyone requested it, anyways).
Day Two
Jacen and I arrived early again on day two, about 45 minutes before the players. We set up our command centre and did some light tidying up from the day before.
Once the players had arrived, we gave a brief narrative update. The Omens of Blood (Chaos team, which was half World Eaters) had gained a substantial lead, while Taskforce Revelation was lagging, but not out of fight. The other two teams—the Prophecy of Liberation (Tyranids/Genestealer Cults) and the Ascendancy of the Outsider (Necrons with one enslaved Rogue Trader)—were neck and neck, and not far from the Omens.
This dictated how we distributed the Black Cards: every Taskforce player received one (sometimes even two) and any opponent of an Omens player received one.
It was around this point that we realized the Black Cards were substantially different power levels, some giving very minor, situational buffs while others were potentially game changing. I was sorting through the deck before dealing the cards, pulling out the least powerful to strengthen the deck.
At lunch, we did an armies on parade, where players displayed their armies and Jacen and I took pictures. Day two also had the award ballots (a Google survey feeding a spreadsheet) go live so players could vote on the various prizes. An issue arose where some players got prime spots in the middle of the hall while others set up their armies in the corner and I heard from a few players that they completely missed a few armies. We also did multiple options for most of the categories, so players could vote for their favourite three, though several people said it was still almost impossible to choose.
During the second day, the Ascendancy (Necron team) had stopped doing Tarot readings, as they felt the chance of gaining a reward wasn’t worth the risk. I felt this was a shame, and we did boo the Ascendancy players, but I’ll discuss thoughts on the cards in the next post.
Awards
After game five we did awards and clean-up. I won’t list all 19, but some highlights:
Kelly won Best Painted Army for her awesome neon nids.
Noah won Best Painted Single Miniature for his Prophet.
Greg won Best Prophet for the One True Salamander.
Recusant won Big Mek (Best Conversions) for **gestures vaguely at the whole damn army**.
Mathias won Chief Librarian (best army lore or theme) for his Genestealer Cults. Throughout the event, Mathias was in character, extolling the virtues of his four-armed god and handing out union cards to his opponents. This went a step further when he began to hide them in people’s army cases.
Alys won Fulgrim’s Fave (best dressed/cosplay) for her fantastic inquisitor cosplay.
Jeff won Best Terrain for his amazing trench table.
As I said at the event, it’s important to note that the level of hobby at the event was so great that every single player received at least one vote for a painting or converting award.
Finally, the outcome of the battles was announced. The Omens of Blood stood atop a massive plateau of skulls, having beaten back their rivals and conquered the planet Exitus. Meanwhile, the Ascendancy of the Outsider had gathered enough Prophecy Points to discover the location of the Apocrypha Engine.
After that, everyone pitched in to pack up the terrain and tear down the room. We convoyed a bunch of stuff back to Jacen’s, and I loaded the hatchback and headed home, exhausted, burnt out, but also excited for more.
Next time
Next week will be the final installment of the series with a retrospective on organizing the ICI 5, what we’re doing differently next time, and my overall feelings. If you’ve enjoyed this series so far, feel free to send us your thoughts at contactus@wrongsideofthemaelstorm.com.
Read Part Five Afterword here.
Credits
Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Ian.
Raptors Space Marines by Alys.
Salamanders Space Marines by Greg.
Ultramarines Space Marines by Chris.
Leagues of Votann by Erik.
Word Bearers by Recusant.
Night Lords by Jeff.
White World Eaters by Zach C.
Red World Eaters by Tony.
Black and Green Tyranids by Mike.
Blue and Black Neon Tyranids by Kelly.
Black and Orange Tyranids by Jacen, Greg, Ian, and Elton.
Genestealer Cults by Mathias.
Rogue Trader Imperial Guard by Noah.
Purple and Gold Necrons by Zach D.
Gold, Silver and Green Necrons by Phonsy.