Referees

The Tournament will be officiated by at least 5 referees 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, 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 players immediately after the round. Both relevant captains and 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.

A red/yellow card system will be implemented to handle any disputes/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.

Players Forfeiting a Round

If a player gets to the point like they feel they want to concede a round at the WTC, due to an issue, or a complement of issues arises, the referees and the WTC TO’s 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 or coaches or players involved unless the referees deem it necessary.

If there is a need for it, the referees or one of the teams can ask for the WTC TO’s to intervene on an issue. This may occur when the referee team feels they are not comfortable taking a decision, or if one of the players feels like the situation is still not treated fairly enough to continue playing the round, or if the referees feel like the situation supersedes their authority or mandate. In this instance the WTC TO’s will take an informed decision after listening to the three parties: referees and both players.

If a player still 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, 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.

Penalties at the Warmaster GT

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. Failure to do so will result in a player not receiving the ‘bonus 10pts’ per game for a legal list (this is instead of the ‘bonus 10pts’ for a battle ready army, see below). Players that fail to submit their lists 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.

Each individual game at the WTC will have 90 points available from in-game scores and 10 points presuming the player in question had a correct armylist that was sent in on time. These 10 points will be accorded each game, but players that have not managed to send in a correct armylist will automatically see a 10 point per game penalty that will be deducted from their score for the tiebreaker at the end of the event – namely -10 pts for each game that they would have used a wrong armylist-. This is done to ensure the penalty doesn’t apply to each game individually, but so that there is still a player incentive to provide a correct and properly formatted armylist.



List checking duties 

After the list submission deadline, each player will be assigned 2 other players lists to check for errors. Players have one week to complete said list checking. Thereafter players will have two days to make any necessary corrections to their own lists. Players that do not meet those deadlines and submit correct army lists will have 10 points per match deducted from their overall score at the end of the tournament. Player need to reply to the relevant section for the lists they are required to check with an OK, even when another player 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.

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 are first going to be posted on the wtc discord forum. After the submission deadline they will be published online via all our channels for everyone to see. 

Formatting errors

Any formatting errors will NOT incur a penalty as long as they get corrected IN TIME before the list correction deadline has passed. This penalty is for not properly listing the weapon options or wargear of models and units, not stating the Warlord, not correctly allocating dedicated transports to units, etc.

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 WTC 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 list 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/penalties, the relevant team captain will be audited.

Signing up to the Tournament Management Software

Any players who have not signed up their full complement of information in the tournament management software 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. This is harsh but too many problems and delays were caused in the past because of players using nicknames etcetc so to make sure no undue delays happen, this rule shall be enforced.

Event Penalties

Individual player penalties

The WTC/Warmaster GT employs a red/yellow card system for managing player behaviour and conduct. If a player 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 how many times previously the player in question has broken the WTC rules. The penalties for these offences stack if multiple violations (even if they belong to the same category) to these rules apply.

OFFICIAL WARNING

No penalty to their individual score

YELLOW CARD 

-50pts to their individual score for that game

RED CARD 

-100pts to their individual score for that game and immediate expulsion from the WTC

Additionally, the player in question will be imposed with a minimum one year cool-off period and will be expelled from attending the next WTC automatically.

The referee crew has the right to escalate any infraction to an immediate expulsion or even life-time ban from the WTC depending on the gravity of the infraction and the situation that presented itself. The WTC referee crew will motivate this decision in their post-event debrief before the WTC40K Captains.

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. For example, someone might have modeled his entire army in a thematic way but his opponent and the referees agree it falls into the realm of modeling for advantage and the player in question does not have enough stand-ins available. Referees will force the game to be played and at the end of the round apply any penalties that are in place for such transgressions. This way we are sure everyone gets their full complement of games under normal circumstances. A list of offenses follows below: 

Agreeing a result

It came to our attention that some games were not played in the past but that certain players simply ‘agreed’ on the final score without the game being played. This is unacceptable and may have unfairly affected final positioning of other players. To ensure the integrity of the tournament going forward, any PLAYER that is caught doing this or have 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… The WTC is the pinnacle of competitive gaming, regarded as the World Championships for our hobby, and every player should bear the ultimate responsibility for ensuring a fair and merit-based outcome for the rest of the tournament attendees. 

Time management and slowplay

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 will 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. 

Movement cheating – moving too far, pushing models outside of their regular movement allowance.

Dice cheating – loaded dice, incorrectly counting the number of passed or failed rolls, changing the value of dice rolled. 

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 the WTC the following applies: dice rolls will only count when the bottom of the dice surface is entirely touching the table or game-mat surface. Re-roll cocked or stacked dice when the event occurs, and re-roll any dice that land in terrain or on anything other than the flat table (mat) surface. This includes dice landing flat on objective markers. Reroll the dice. The use of dice-trays at the WTC is authorized.

When using GW dice, or any batch of custom dice, players need to ENSURE their dice pips (essentially the number on the dice) can EASILY be distinguished from across the table by their opponent. Where this is not the case, players will immediately incur penalty and the dice will be removed for the remainder of the tournament.

Poor sportsmanship or negative/aggressive attitude

Any player deemed by a referee to be acting in any manner not in-line with the expectations of friendly but competitive gaming at the WTC 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.

Illegal alternative models, modelling for advantage, non-battle ready models.

Any alternative models that have not gained prior approval by the referees will be removed from the board if an unfair in-game advantage is felt to have been gained. Models that have been converted or rebased that are deemed by the referees to gain an unfair in-game advantage will be removed from play.  Models that are not painted to a ‘battle ready’ standard, or that simply aren’t up to acceptable hobbying standards, will also be immediately removed. The player will have the opportunity to replace them with the official GW models. If no models are immediately available, he will continue the event without the use of said models whatsoever. If a player subsequently is caught reusing said ‘banned’ models he will incur an immediate red-card.

Illegal communication

Any communication between a player and spectators should always be in English wherever possible and have no relation to strategic or tactical advice regarding any games in progress. Players can of course seek the approval of their opponents to confer with a countryman in their native tongue prior to starting a conversation. 

Failure to do so will result in penalties. 

Obviously in some cases communication may not be possible in English, in such a case players should seek the assistance, where possible, of a referee or neutral third-party who understands their language so as to adjudicate. If such a person is not available then it is up to the discretion of the referees if it is felt illegal tactical or strategic advice has been given or not.

The use of cellphones or other media to discuss tactics and game situations once the pairing process has finished and matches have been assigned is strictly prohibited. Players suspected of, or caught, doing this will be immediately red-carded.