Before getting into it, I want to genuinely thank all the players who came to the event. I know some guys have kids and one gentleman drove all the way from Poughkeepsie. Thanks also go to all the wonderful stores (Dirty Goblin Games), Forums (the Freebootas and the ICs), and clubs (the Overlords, some local colleges) who let me promote the event. Thanks, of course, to Grimfoe Games for hosting the event.
My initial feelings going into the first tournament our group has run since moving to Grimfoe were trepidatious to say the least. I'd been ill for a couple of days prior and the responses to the store for sign-ups were light. However, think I shouldn't have fretted so. I believe that, as we have more events and get the word out about our commitment to the community and friendly attitude, we should start drawing more people.
When the day of the event came, however, everyone came on time and were excited about starting. As the first game progressed, I felt really comfortable with the turn-out of our first tournament and I feel that, as we gain a reputation for running events, that should improve. It was good to start using the format and getting people used to using it.
During the first game, one of the store owners informed me that they had some damaged box goods that we could use to sweeten the pot and make another trophy with. I thought that was a rad idea, so I took one of the kits, built it, and made another trophy. So, the winner this time got $40 store credit, The Goldensprue Cup, and The Damaged Box Bonus Prize. I think that, in the future, this prize might instead go to the furthest traveler or the person who took last place. We also gave away a $30 second place prize and a $30 hobby prize going to the best army which did not win first or second place.
Congratulations to all the winners!
For the most part, response to the Bay Area Open format was very positive. Some players would rather see less of one deployment or mission, but that's all personal preference. I won't be making changes to any of that.
The attendees also seemed to really like the effort to compromise on terrain placement. In case you are unaware, we had set narrative terrain for the tournament with the positions marked underneath with masking tape. Players with Fortifications replaced one of the pre-set pieces completely on their half of the table with their Fortification and then players were all allowed to move one piece of terrain completely on their half of the table. This allowed players to have some say in what their deployment zone looked like while, at the same time, reducing aggressive terrain placement and saving time during the event.
I would say the terrain density and placement compromise was an unqualified success.
The games were a fun mixture. I randomized which missions would be played and this is what we ended up with:
Game 1: Bay Area Open Scenario 4 - Crusade primary and Emperor's Will secondary
Game 2: Bay Area Open Scenario 3 - The Relic primary and Big Guns Never Tire secondary
Game 3: Bay Area Open Scenario 2 - The Scouring primary and Purge the Alien secondary
People seemed to enjoy this mixture of scenarios. However, I should note that folks were a little scared of what to expect on game three. Some really hoped we would not get a similar game or deployment to the previous two games. I think that, in the future, for these small tournaments that having a few different 3-game sets to choose from might be a good idea instead of making each and every game random.
At any rate, we had a fine time for the most part. There were some really fun moments and a couple of frustrating moments for our players as tournaments tend to draw out in people.
Here are the standings. The sheet from the last game went missing, so I am unsure whether our Ultramrarines player truly had 13 points or 16 points. It doesn't matter anyways, because win/loss comes before Battle Points in the standings which is an important feature for me.During the first game, one of the store owners informed me that they had some damaged box goods that we could use to sweeten the pot and make another trophy with. I thought that was a rad idea, so I took one of the kits, built it, and made another trophy. So, the winner this time got $40 store credit, The Goldensprue Cup, and The Damaged Box Bonus Prize. I think that, in the future, this prize might instead go to the furthest traveler or the person who took last place. We also gave away a $30 second place prize and a $30 hobby prize going to the best army which did not win first or second place.
Congratulations to all the winners!
For the most part, response to the Bay Area Open format was very positive. Some players would rather see less of one deployment or mission, but that's all personal preference. I won't be making changes to any of that.
The attendees also seemed to really like the effort to compromise on terrain placement. In case you are unaware, we had set narrative terrain for the tournament with the positions marked underneath with masking tape. Players with Fortifications replaced one of the pre-set pieces completely on their half of the table with their Fortification and then players were all allowed to move one piece of terrain completely on their half of the table. This allowed players to have some say in what their deployment zone looked like while, at the same time, reducing aggressive terrain placement and saving time during the event.
I would say the terrain density and placement compromise was an unqualified success.
The games were a fun mixture. I randomized which missions would be played and this is what we ended up with:
Game 1: Bay Area Open Scenario 4 - Crusade primary and Emperor's Will secondary
Game 2: Bay Area Open Scenario 3 - The Relic primary and Big Guns Never Tire secondary
Game 3: Bay Area Open Scenario 2 - The Scouring primary and Purge the Alien secondary
People seemed to enjoy this mixture of scenarios. However, I should note that folks were a little scared of what to expect on game three. Some really hoped we would not get a similar game or deployment to the previous two games. I think that, in the future, for these small tournaments that having a few different 3-game sets to choose from might be a good idea instead of making each and every game random.
At any rate, we had a fine time for the most part. There were some really fun moments and a couple of frustrating moments for our players as tournaments tend to draw out in people.
Army
|
List
|
Place | W/L/D | Battle Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyranids (5th Edition) | Take all comers with biovores, doom, ymgarls, Tervigons, gaunts, hive guard, and some flying monstrous creatures |
1
|
3/0/0
|
28
|
| Ultramarines | Extremely mixed bag with a stormtalon, a thunderfire cannon, assault centurions, devastators, assault marines, tactical marines, and a captain with a command squad in a drop pod. |
2
|
2/1/0
|
13
|
| Blood Angels | Another nice mix including a Librarian with a jump pack, several mixed assault squads, a tactical squad or two, a dakka dread, an aegis with a quadgun, and a ba'al predator. |
3
|
1/1/1
|
14
|
| Imperial Guard | Huge infantry army led by Yarrick. |
4
|
1/2/0
|
12
|
| Iron Hands | Bike army with a captain and a chapter master, one on a bike and one with a jump pack, a Storm Talon, with a stalker and vindicator for support. |
5
|
1/2/0
|
11
|
| Black Templars | A mixed bag of troops in rhinos, on bikes, and in a land raider with a bike commander leading them and vindicators for support. |
6
|
0/3/0
|
3
|
In the end, Curtis's 5th Edition Tyranid list makes a great showing and he hoists his trophies in victory, sweet victory!
And then a few of us took a delightful trip to Denny's...
At the end of the day, this was a great event for trying out this format. We'll have another tournament after school lets out in June. Between now and then, I'll be running a 40k campaign in the store. Details shall emerge sometime in early February.
If you'd like to see more images, go ahead and click one of the pics below to zoom in and you should be able to page back and forth to view them all.
Very nice... wish I could have made it but I was still on winter break and out of town. RPI's Genericon could use some 40k (http://genericon.union.rpi.edu/wordpress/) bounce that around your brain housing group for a little bit.
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