FAQ

Maelstrom Mixer is a fun weekend of shared storytelling told through games between well-painted armies on amazing terrain in Games Workshop’s Warhammer universe. As a narrative event the focus is less on winning, and more about creating opportunities for epic moments to play out between storied combatants. While standard rulebook missions are designed to be “fair” in the sense of a standard mission played at a standard points level between two balanced armies, Maelstrom Mixer games will generally not be any of those things. Afterall, very few wars are fought between equal numbers of troops across a symmetrical battlefield! Although the games will generally be asymmetric in some way, the design of the missions and objectives will allow the defender in these scenarios to achieve meaningful outcomes to advance their faction's overarching goals, even while on the back foot.

To get a feel for what the event is like, check out this quick YouTube short from the 2023 event, as well as these Instagram hastags from previous years:

#maelstrommixer2025
#maelstrommixer2024
#maelstrommixer2023
#maelstrommixer2019

Faultline is a narrative-focused gaming club based in the Bay Area of California. We are a like-minded group of gamers and hobbiests who enjoy socializing through our shared love of Warhammer played with well painted armies on amazing terrain. If you live in the Bay Area and think you might enjoy being a member, reach out to us on our Facebook page, or send us an email at faultline40k@gmail.com.

Tickets will go on sale on Sunday, February 1st at noon (PST) on the ticketing page here.

In order to focus on delivering the highest quality event for our attendees, we've made the hard decision to restrict the event to armies built from the Codexes listed on the ticketing page. Our hope is that we can deliver higher production value and a more focused narrative experience in this way. Our plan would be to never exclude any race two years in a row - so if your favorite faction isn't part of this year's narrative, you can be assured that they will be an eligible choice next year.

Maybe! We ask that you leave your competitive mindset at home, and instead come prepared to roll dice, have fun, and create epic moments with new friends. That's not to say that you can't try to win your games; afterall, striving for victory is a very narrative thing for your Warlord to do! Rather the narrative mindset we encourage players to adopt involves two key components:

• Before the Game - While choosing units for your army, consider the relevance of the unit to the warzone, mission, and the specific backstory of your force, rather than just their raw in-game effectiveness. If playing a recon mision for example, choose faster, more mobile units that would feel at home on a scouting patrol. If playing a seige mission, consider heavier troops with support vehicles. "Why" you've chosen a particular unit is just as important as "what" you've chosen.

• During the Game - Once you've deployed your units and the game's begun, the gloves are off! Your Warlord would use all the tools at their disposal to accomplish their objectives, and so should you! That being said, consider the established backstory of your chosen faction when making in-game decisions. A Daemon Lord would never fall back from combat just to keep their opponent from scoring a few "Assassinate Points" (whatever those are?)! 

Of course! As a narrative-focused event, Maelstrom Mixer is attractive to a lot of people who are more interested in "other" aspects of the hobby (converting, painting, lore, etc) than competitive gaming. At a minimum, you should own and understand the core rules as well as your codex, and have a few games under your belt.

Each player's models help tell the story on the tabletop and a cohesive aesthetic is an important part of bringing narrative games to life; however, we recognize that everyone is at a different point in their hobby journey and don't want to exclude anyone because they're still learning. The most important thing is that you have clearly put in effort and are proud of the outcome. If you're looking for something a bit more objective, Games Workshop's published minimum painting standards for Warhammer World are a good starting point! If you would like to confirm a proxy or paintjob before the event, you can email us at faultline40k@gmail.com.

Game size will vary from mission to mission, depending on the specific scenario being played. In general though, players should expect to play games ranging in size from 1000pts to 1500pts. We will be standardizing this as we finalize the mission design over the coming weeks. Keep an eye out for a player packet coming in late February that will include more information about the game sizes and specific rules that will be in use for the event.

Yes! More information about prize support and swag will be released closer to the event.

Maelstrom Mixer does not use GW's Crusade system. While we love the idea of armies advancing and "leveling up" over time, the events of the campaign will take place over just a few days, and individual soldiers can't be realistically expected to have improved their fighting skills over such a short timeframe. Moreover, the additional bookeeping required to track Crusade upgrades adds a significant administrative burden to players who are participating in multiple games across consecutive days. Maelstrom Mixer will instead feature a simplified system for customization and advancement which will be detailed in the upcoming player packet.

We post photos from Maelstrom Mixer on Instagram and encourage event attendees to tag their own photos with each year's unique hashtag. For photos from past events, check out:

#maelstrommixer2025
#maelstrommixer2024
#maelstrommixer2023
#maelstrommixer2019

Great news, we’re excited too! Keep an eye out for an email later in February from our narrative team with more information about the conflict Warzone. This email will include a link to download the player packet and the event Discord (which you should join once you receive it!).

We strongly encourage everyone to attend all four of the scheduled games, as it will result in the best narrative experience. In particular, the narrative briefings at the start and end of each day will set the stage for the Warzone conflict and keep you connected to the story as it unfolds. If you must miss one of the four scheduled games, please let us and your faction allies know in advance and we can plan around your absence. If you know that you cannot make two or more of the scheduled games, we recommend not signing up for Maelstrom Mixer.

The ticketing page includes an option to put yourself on the waiting list for the faction of your choice.

We’ll miss you, but we realize that real-life sometimes gets in the way of gaming. You can email us at faultline40k@gmail.com and we can manually process a refund for your ticket price. A 10% processing fee will apply before April 11th, after that a 40% processing fee will apply. 

We are unable to process a faction exchange in this way. We can refund your ticket (as described above) and you can put yourself on the waiting list for your preferred faction via the ticketing page if you'd like. Another option is to post in the event Discord and see if anyone there is interested in switching factions with you. If you find another attendee willing to swap in this way, please DM one of the event organizers there and we can help facilitate this.