REFEREES
Referees and the WTC
The Tournament will be officiated by at least 5 referees, at around a ratio of 1 referee per 40 players, that are vetted by the WTC TO’s. As a general rule, a referee may not rule on a table on which their own nation is competing unless both players at the table agree that it is OK to do so. A referee’s word is final and a decision may not be escalated. This is because there are stringent procedures in place for how a referee makes a decision at the WTC, and any that may have a severe impact on the outcome of a game are only ever made in concert with other referees. Abuse, of any kind, will not be tolerated where our referees are concerned.
Official complaints after the round will be handled by request of either player immediately. Both relevant captains, players, and a minimum of two referees will participate. Referees will hear one statement from each player and their counterparts response. After this referees will make undisputed judgement about the case. Possible infractions and associated cards are valid in the next round of WTC, but may be applied retroactively to the game that was just played. Note that there may not be anything that the referees can do in these cases, and so it is imperative that if you feel anything is off during the game that you call for a referee immediately.
A red/yellow card system will be implemented to handle any disputes or issues (see discipline section below).
If you are interested in joining the event as a referee, or know somebody who does, please sign up with our REFEREE SIGNUP FORM . One of the WTC TO’s will be in touch.
FORFEITING A ROUND
Players forfeiting a round at the WTC
If a player gets to the point like they feel they want to concede a round at the WTC, due to one or more issues, the referees should be advised immediately.
If it is a gaming issue between two players the referee team can try to defuse a situation and come to some sort of fair resolution for both parties. Referees and players are the only involved parties here. There will be no onlookers, coaches, or other players involved unless the referees deem it necessary.
If a player feels that the outcome of the above is not sufficient to continue playing, that player forfeits the round. There should be no gaming situation that warrants people coming from so far away, paying so much money, and then not playing a round, and there should be some consequence to players that force that kind of situation, for whatever reason.
PRE-EVENT Penalties
List submission
Players need to submit lists in the correct format without errors. Making correct lists and submitting them in the correct format should be no difficult task for seasoned players. Players that fail to submit an accurate list on time will have 10 points per match deducted from their overall score at the end of the tournament. No exceptions, no comebacks, no second chances. All penalties will be evaluated on a case by case basis.
The 10 point per game penalty that will be deducted from their score for the tiebreaker at the end of the event.
List checking duties
After the list submission deadline, each country will be assigned at least 3 other countries’ lists to check for errors, which would usually be the teams that are in their pod. Teams have one week to complete said list checking. If a team fails to complete the required checking then they will suffer the same penalty as above. Teams need to reply to the relevant section for the lists they are required to check with an OK, even when another team has already checked said lists. No reply post automatically means a penalty. Going over the deadlines will also automatically incur a penalty. Just replying OK when there are obvious and glaring errors will also automatically incur a penalty. This will be applied very strictly. This is also overly harsh but list checking is serious business, and as such every player should make the effort to comply.
Players within teams that have their list flagged as incorrect will have two days to make any necessary corrections to their own lists. The player should send their captain the corrected list, who should then send it to the TO to correct on BCP. Teams that do not meet those deadlines and submit correct army lists will have 2 team points deducted from their overall score at the end of the tournament for each incorrect army list.
The referee group will be in charge of overseeing this process. Glaring errors might result in a reduction in points, under the purview of the referees.
Army lists will be posted on the WTC discord forum first. After the submission deadline they will be published online via all our channels for everyone to see.
Formatting errors
Formatting errors are considered to be incorrectly filling out something that has information about your list like the header, or formatting the list in a way that makes it hard to read or understand for your opponent. Any formatting errors will NOT incur a penalty as long as they get corrected IN TIME before the list correction deadline has passed. If the issue was with the list itself then the penalty is applied as above for an incorrect list.
Illegal lists
In the case of an illegal list, a penalty WILL be immediately incurred. Illegal lists are those that do not follow the 40k rules, codex, or WTC rules. There is no excuse for this, as teams and captains can freely ask if a given list would be OK well before the event starts. Changes made to an illegal list to make it game legal will always have to be as minimal as possible and are subject to referee approval. If the substantial parts of, or the list in its entirety needs to be changed, the referee corps will apply additional penalties at their discretion because of unfair advantages gained after list submission.
Any checks required as a result of incorrect or illegal lists, will be done by the referee corps to make sure it is done quickly and the corrected lists are final and compliant.
Our team of referees have authority to implement other penalties that are not currently included in this list. In case of infractions or penalties, the relevant team captain will be advised.
SIGNING UP TO TOURNAMENT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Any players who have not signed up to Best Coast Pairings (BCP) will have 10 points per match deducted from their overall score at the end of the tournament (not cumulative with other pre-event point penalties).
Furthermore, player profiles MUST reflect their actual name. NOT their nickname or any other handle. If for some reason players want to keep their anonymity, it is fine to refer to yourself as N. Kerr or Neil K as long as it would not be confusing to the TOs or referees in any way. Players that have concerns regarding the use of their real names for this event can get in touch to approve the use of an alias prior to signing up to the event. In EVERY situation where this is not the case, teams will have 2 team points deducted from their overall score at the end of the tournament. If an issue arises from a player not following this then there may be a penalty given. This is harsh but too many problems and delays were caused in the past because of players using nicknames etc. so to make sure no undue delays happen, this rule shall be enforced.
EVENT Penalties
WTC run events employ a red/yellow card system for managing player and team behaviour and conduct. If a player or team is deemed by the referees to have broken any of following rules they will be immediately subject to one of the following penalties. The application of a particular penalty is dependent upon the nature of the infraction and if the player or team in question has previously broken any WTC rules. The penalties for these offences stack if multiple violations to these rules apply even if they belong to the same category. Penalties can be found at the end of the offences. Please note that the offence list is not exhaustive and anything not listed that the referee team feels should be treated as an infraction may still receive a penalty.
The referee team has the right to escalate any infraction to any card at first offence, and even to an immediate expulsion, or even life-time ban from WTC events depending on the gravity of the infraction and the situation that presented itself. Take note that the referee teams main concern is always that games are completed naturally within the round time allocated.
Individual Player Penalties
Agreeing a result
Agreeing the result of a game is unacceptable because it may unfairly affect the final positioning of other players. To ensure the integrity of the tournament, any player that is caught doing this or has done this, whether at the event, or retroactively, will be punished by imposing a year-long ban to attend the WTC. Do not take the integrity of the tournament lightly. Additional very harsh penalties will be incurred by the team that the player is on, see the team section below.
Also, if a player or players are caught “Talking out” their game for whatever reason a penalty may apply. If you have not finished your game in a timely manner you should not have the opportunity to score rounds that have not been played. There is a separate penalty for Timekeeping that will apply if you run out of time.
If a match is not played but a result simply agreed, any TEAM that took part in this, whether at the event, or retroactively, and whether or not the action was performed by an individual team member without consent from any of the other team members, will be punished by imposing a year-long ban to attend the WTC on all the players from said team. The captain position of said team will be immediately opened up to other willing captains from said nation. The WTC is the pinnacle of competitive gaming, regarded as the Olympics for our hobby, and every team should bear the ultimate responsibility for ensuring a fair and merit-based outcome for the rest of the tournament attendees.
Excessive rules questions
If a player is found to be repeatedly calling referees over for rules questions which are clearly answered in any of the relevant game literature including the WTC FAQ, they may receive a penalty as this is a form of time wasting. The penalty is determined on a case by case basis – this prevents people being penalized for language issues resulting in such questions, and also stops players “playing the system” and stopping before a certain threshold before a penalty is attained.
Dice-, movement- or rules-cheating
Any instances of the following, or anything else within similar confines, that is witnessed by a referee and/or an impartial bystander (i.e. a person not associated in any way with either player or team) and deemed as deliberate cheating will result in an immediate penalty:
Rules cheating – forgetting core rules for your OWN army and models. will all result in an instant infraction. This is usually a Yellow card.
Movement cheating – moving too far or pushing models outside of their regular movement allowance.
Dice cheating – incorrectly counting the number of passed or failed rolls, changing the value of dice rolled, rolling too many or too few dice. If a player is found to be using Loaded dice, they will receive an immediate red card.
A note on dice etiquette: in regards to dice policy and “cocked dice”, “dice that land on top of each other” or in terrain and such, note that at WTC events the following applies: dice rolls will only count when the bottom of the dice surface is entirely flat. The use of dice-trays at WTC events is authorized. In all cases where dice are rolled you should ensure that your opponent has adequate time to see the rolls before picking up the dice.
Players need to ensure that all dice can EASILY be distinguished from across the table by their opponent. Where this is not the case, players will immediately incur a penalty and the dice will be removed for the remainder of the tournament. Where dice have a symbol to represent a number it should only be on the 6 facing.
Poor sportsmanship or negative/aggressive attitude
Any player deemed by a referee to be acting in any manner not in-line with the sportsmanship policies at WTC events will incur an immediate penalty. As a community we all believe that this is a gentlemans’ game to be played in a friendly but competitive manner. Failure to uphold this belief will be met with immediate reprimand.
A few examples to make it clear:
– A player forgets to bring in his reserves, and his opponent objects to this when the player remembers later in the turn during any given phase. It is BOTH players’ responsibility to ensure mandatory things that happen in the game take place. It is customary to ask your opponent at the end of his movement phase if he is sure he does not want to bring any reserves on before moving on to the next phase.
– A player forgets to announce he will use a certain rule, ability, stratagem or wargear at the start of the turn or phase and remembers later in the turn or phase. It is OK as an opponent to disallow the use of said rule or item, but let it be known that we strongly discourage such behavior and encourage players to work together rather than against each other.
– A player physically and intentionally creates an environment that is uncomfortable for their opponent, such as excessive use of fragrances or smells, or acting aggressively even in a manner that is not directed towards their opponent.
Illegal alternative models, modelling for advantage, non-battle ready models.
See our modelling policy (Team Event Pack page 16) for the event for full details on policies that apply to players that are not using the official models and instead have converted, or sourced alternate sculpts. Models that are not painted to a Battle Ready standard, or that simply aren’t up to acceptable hobbying standards, may also be immediately removed – at a referees discretion – from the table until they have reached an acceptable state or have been replaced with other models. If a player subsequently is caught reusing said banned models he will incur an immediate red-card.
Illegal communication involving a team member
Any communication between a player and spectators must always be in English and have no relation to strategic or tactical advice regarding any games in progress.
Failure to do so will result in penalties.
The use of cellphones or other media to discuss tactics and game situations once the pairing process has finished and matches have begun is strictly prohibited. Players suspected of, or caught doing this will be immediately red-carded.For the policy regarding communication between playing and non playing members at the WTC see the event rules pack. In brief, any team communicating in a way that is not authorised will be penalised. Any instance of communication in a way that a player’s opponent is not present for, or can hear, or is in a language other than English will very likely incur a Team Yellow card at its first instance.
Time management and slow play
Please refer to our clock rules for details regarding how this is managed at the WTC.
CLASSIFICATION OF PENALTIES
List of penalties
OFFICIAL WARNING
No penalty to a player or team’s individual score. A player or team may receive more than one Official Warning if the referee team feels that would be enough to correct or stop any issues that arise at the table or away from it. In some cases having more than one Official Warning given during the event may escalate your penalty to a card. You should expect repeat offences that you’ve been given an Official Warning to also result in being penalised with a card.
YELLOW CARD
The player will receive a 50 point penalty to their individual score for that game. If a player is given more than one Yellow card, then at the referee’s discretion, the penalty may be escalated to a Red card.
RED CARD
The player will receive a 100 point penalty to their individual score for that game and will get immediate expulsion from the event.
Additionally, the player in question will be given a minimum of a one year cooling-off period and will be banned from attending the next WTC automatically. If a player receives a Red card their team can either find a substitute player to take their place in following rounds at the discretion of the referees, or else their remaining games will immediately be allotted as a loss with a VP differential of 100pts.
Penalties may be applied after a round has ended and may affect either the game that has just been played, or will affect the game that is about to be played. This is at the referee’s discretion.
Take note that the referee corps main concern is always that games are completed naturally within the round time allocated. This of course depends on the transgression but normally the focus should always lie on games to be played even if certain penalties will apply. Everyone paid good money to be at the WTC and to play their full complement of games. A list of offenses follows below:.
Cumulative Team Penalties
Any penalties occurred during the WTC as a result of player infraction also incur a team cumulative penalty, and will be strictly imposed upon the round points. As an example, Team A and B have a result of 5-3 wins in the round with a VP differential of 123pts, but Team A incurred their second team penalty that round and lost 25pts (see below). This brings the VP differential under the requirement for having the team win condition and consequently changes their team’s match result to a draw. It does not affect the match result for the opposing team.
1st infraction – official team warning
2nd infraction – 25 Victory Points per team
3rd infraction – 50 Victory Points per team
4th infraction – 75 Victory Points per team
etc… etc..
These penalties are applied incrementally and cumulatively over the course of the tournament. This means if player A on a team gets penalized, then subsequently player B on the same team gets penalized, the penalty against their Team escalates as the Team has then effectively committed 2 offenses. Again, this can cause that team to lose a match, it cannot cause the other team to win the match. This can result in a match result of a draw/loss or loss/loss in extreme scenarios.