Changes

I've got a lot of changes to make for next year. Some people have been kind enough to write with some great feedback, and we've been having some good conversations that I'm pulling a lot of information from.

A small handful of the scenarios need a closer look at - in particular the ones that reduce a particular units attribute to much. It isn't fun, it isn't tactical, it's just being mean. However, there will still be some scenarios that penalize a particular phase of the game - the goal is to encourage a balanced army that can perform well in every phase. A couple scenarios took much longer than others, so I'll be looking at adjusting them so they play a bit faster. A couple scenarios gave a few more points than others, so again, I'll be adjusting those.

A few interesting numbers:

• Round 1, the average game time was 2 hours and 21 minutes, with only 2 people going over 2:30. We can gain 15 minutes back!
• Round 3, the average game time was 2 hours and 34 minutes. However, this was only because 2 people ended at 2 hours. Most games went to 2:40 or beyond, so we'll leave the later game at 2 hours, 45 minutes.
• The Favourite Opponent votes are my favourite part of the spreadsheet - out of 26 participants, 17 people got at least 1 vote and 1 person got all 3 votes. That's stunning.
• Best Overall had 63 points in Visuals and 36 in Gaming. I'm going to adjust this balance towards Gaming next year, such that Patrick doesn't just walk away with the trophy every year, but I'm not going to adjust it all the way. Work on some great conversions and paint jobs for next year!

If you have any feedback, now is a great time to write - I'm in the mode of writing and organizing it all into "things to deal with now" and "things to deal with next December", and it's best to write while it's still fresh in all our minds. :)

Photos!

Nathan took a hell of a lot more photos than I did, but here are a few to tide you over. Second game I was busy talking with Chris Jones for most of it, and the third game I was talking with THE Mr. Chris Powell. Good times. :)

Iain and Matt

Patrick and Vern

Jamie's flying circus and Shayne

Andy and Andy

Duke, the ringer, and Dave. I think Dave is teaching.

Nathan was photographing and video taping the event, so I'll see if he got any good shots. :)

Finale!

Iron Brush is over! I had a great weekend, with only a few fuck-ups, and a good number of lessons learned!

The biggest problem -- Facebook! There is a "known issue" whereby events after Daylight Savings were off by an hour. Jind had checked the time there, and had gone by that time, which is why he and Simon were late. Super shitty that this happened to them, and hopefully it never happens again! I gave them a few extra raffle tickets to help make up for it.

A few thanks, again, before we get to the spreadsheet:

• Strategies Games -- I approached Darren first because I knew they'd help out, and they didn't disappoint. A bunch of gift cards and 20% off prizes -- which is where most of your tournament entry went to!
• Imperial Hobbies -- a bunch of gift cards and the Battlefield in a Box and Watchtower!
• Secret Weapon -- a gift card and the 10% off coupons that were in the tournament packs!
• Dale, Patrick and Peter for being my comp guys! I certainly couldn't have done it...
• Duke for being my day-of gopher, bringing me lunch, and doing over half of the paint judging!
• Me! :P Seriously, I had a ton of fun organizing this, and so long as the feedback I get doesn't read "You suck!" I'll probably do it again in the future. :)

A few things about the spreadsheet:

• "Donation" is an amount that we'll be donating to an Eagle's Club charity. They let us use that space free of charge, based solely on you guys eating and drinking there, but we want to show that we're helping the club as well.
• "Profit" is money that will go to the CHOP club. We buy terrain and promote our club, so that you can show up and have lots of people to play!
• We did tie-breaks on the final winners, such that when Lil' Pat won Overall, and Dale won Painting, they were disqualified from winning a bunch of the other prizes. However, I feel that when the players vote for something, their votes should go directly to those players - so Best Army and Best Single model were awarded as you guys voted.

Here's the spreadsheet. If you have any questions, please read around this site for the answer first, there is a decent bet that I've written about it already. If you don't see the answer, feel free to write me.

This blog will die-down in a bit, but I'll have some photos to post "soon", and I'll likely post changes to my tournament system as I write them down. If you're interested in being part of the conversation, keep on reading. :)

Lastly, if you have any feedback about the tournament I'd love to hear from you -- ironbrushvancouver@gmail.com. I've got a lot of ideas of what to change for next year already!

Prizes!

We now have a ton of cool stuff thanks to our sponsors -- Strategies Games, Imperial Hobbies and Secret Weapon.

I'll be giving away gift cards as prizes to the winners of the categories outlined already.

I'll then be raffling off everything else! Everyone will receive a number of raffle tickets in the tournament pack to put towards whatever item you like best. We'll then be selling off further tickets, if you want to increase your chances of winning a particular item, with the proceeds from that going to the CHOP club.

See everyone tomorrow morning, bright and early! Remember that the first game is at 9:30am, which means you need to be there earlier to register! Doors open at 8:30am!

Daylight Savings?

Apparently this weekend is Daylight Savings. Or the reversal of it. Which ever one it is, it's bad news for us.

Remember to set your clocks forward by an hour on Saturday night at 2am.

The first game is at 9:30am, and the doors will be open at 8:30am. If you arrive at 8:30, you'll be put to work setting up a table. :)

I'm very sorry for the loss of an hour. I've written it down as something to pay attention to in the future. I really didn't want to wake up at "6am" to get this tournament going either. >.<

Scenarios

I was trying to get the scenarios more sorted out before I posted them, but since we're 3 days until the tournament I think this is as sorted as they're going to get.

We're doing 2,999 points because I asked my friends "How many points should we play?" and Jamie got this manic gleam in his eye and demanded we play 2,999.

We're playing scenario per table, for exactly the same reason. Because a friend gave me some advice - that I'm running this tournament, so I should run the kind of Warhammer that I'd want to play!

Some of the scenarios are minor variations on the rulebook scenarios. Some of them have a little more to them! My hope is that none of them are so complicated to demand your constant attention, nor are they "every turn, random craziness happens! woojweiojwerwe!!", but instead that in general they evoke interesting strategic and tactical decisions.

Here's the link. Go ahead and read, and if you see something onerous, or broken or not fun, let me know. But remember - hobby tournament - epic fun - a little different - and you'll be well on your way towards winning!

Most Lists

We're done with "public voting", but since I posted some of the lists I have to post all of them.

There are 3 people who still haven't provided their lists. 1 of them I don't know about, 1 is running behind and I suspect the third is using this as a strategic advantage. You know who you are, you gamey c%@*. :P

I have a shared Google Drive folder where I'm keeping all of the lists, without their owners names. I'll add to this folder as I get the last few lists in.

Feel free to look around and see what you're up against this Sunday!