Spoilers and Discussions

The first year of Iron Gauntlet has come to a close, and what a year it was! The final tournament at Lock and Load 2014 in particular held some of the best games of Warmachine and Hordes I've ever personally watched, and the final match between World Champion Jay Larsen and Jason Watt stole the show!

Its almost time to begin season 2 of Iron Gauntlet, which includes an entirely new format from last season. You can find the new rules documents here: privateerpress.com/organized-play/iron-gauntlet

While I recommend that you read the document to fully understand the new format, let me also lay it out in this thread as well. The 2 list, multifaction, specialists format of last season is no more. Instead, this year will feature a format that is more familiar to competitive players while also challenging their skills in unique ways.

Iron Gauntlet events require the following:

Three 50 point lists
Character restrictions
Each list must be played once in Preliminary Rounds
Single Faction
No Specialists
Deathclock
Fully Painted
Event splits between Preliminary Rounds and Gauntlet Rounds.


Now that looks a lot like Masters with fully painted requirements ... and for the preliminary rounds that is basically true. Which begs the question: What are Preliminary and Gauntlet Rounds?

When an Iron Gauntlet event begins, it starts with Preliminary Rounds. These rounds play out like exactly like a Masters events, including requiring a player to play each of their three lists at least once.

However things change once the tournament has 4 or less undefeated players. Once their are 4 or less undefeated players, the Gauntlet Rounds begins. Standings are determined, and players who rank #5-#16 will earn qualifier points. The tournament now cuts to top 4, with only those players continuing to play.

The Gauntlet Rounds are single elimination, a Semi-Finals and a Finals. The players who lose in the Semi-Finals will finish 3rd or 4th (based on their performance in the Preliminary Rounds). Players who lose in the Semi-Finals do not continue to the Finals. The player who loses in the Finals will finish 2nd, the player who wins will finish 1st. One interesting thing to note about this is that it is possible in some cases for a player who has lost one match in the Preliminary Rounds to make top 4, and then finish 1st for a dramatic comeback!

Gauntlet Rounds also play differently than Preliminary Rounds, and are a great challenge of a player's mastery of Warmachine and Hordes. Once a player is seated against their opponent in a Gauntlet Round, they review their opponent's three army lists. The two players then reveal which caster they want to use in the match. Players may use any caster in a Gauntlet Round regardless of how many times it was used in the Preliminary Rounds ... it is impossible to get list locked in the Semi-Finals and Finals of each match.

Now, the player steps away and is given 20 minutes to build a 75 point army list using models that were in any of their three 50 point armies, lead by the caster their choose and revealed. Each instance of a model/unit can be taken once in the players 75 point army list. Think of it like having all of your three lists laid out in cards in front of you, and you can take any cards there to make a new list. So if a player had a unit of Bane Thralls with a UA in one of his lists, and a Slayer Helljack in each of his lists ... that means his 75 point list could have up to three Slayers and a single unit of Bane Thralls. That unit could min sized, max sized, with or without UA.

The new 75 point list also allows players to change their model relationships, just because a model was jack marshalled before doesn't mean it can't be part of a battle group now. The new 75 point list can also be a Theme Force even if that Theme Force wasn't present before. There are no character restrictions in the 75 point army (you still can't use two characters with the same name though ... so no double Eiryss in one list), you have access to use any model available in your three 50 point lists as long as your final 75 list is legal.

This process is done both in the Semi-Finals and the Finals, so a new list is created for each by players in those rounds.

Gauntlet Rounds challenge players in a new and unique way, requiring the player to adapt on the fly and demonstrate not only how good they are on the tabletop, but how good they are at list building.

After a year of gathering feedback from players, we are incredibly excited to unveil the new format. This season of Iron Gauntlet tests competitive players to demonstrate mastery of the game by showing they have what it takes on the tabletop (winning games), with a brush (fully painted), and are able to innovate and create new lists (Gauntlet Rounds).

We cannot wait to see what this season of Iron Gauntlet holds. What creative lists will come out of the Gauntlet Rounds? Will World Champion Jay Larsen successfully defend his claim to "Best in the World", or will a new champion rise? Iron Gauntlet Season 2 begins in just a few weeks at Texas Wargames Con, and continues on to RatCon in Germany. Get ready, this year the competition is only going to get more fierce.