The Friday night events may be better than the actual tourney!!

Just think about all of the drama, and the internet backlash that we will see in the following weeks.


GG

B/c I know there are plenty of people on the verge here ... we are down to 4 spots in 40k ...


EDIT

GG - For serious. In addition to the fact that any games will be live podcast, encouraging players to not act like douches ... I don't intend to pair people off who actively hate each other and can't bench it for good old fashioned in-person fun.

Hulk, if you have a shortfall on your sales thread, give me a call - no Skype on this PC, I'm out of town and won't be back to my computer until next week.

hmm should I make a shirt that is my avatar as well? If so... I may pick a sexier chick

frgsinwntr wrote:hmm should I make a shirt that is my avatar as well? If so... I may pick a sexier chick

Well, it would be awfully strange to come up to you and ask:

"Hello, aren't you fergsinwinter?"



You're from NJ too...

instead of making a shirt with my avatar on it I might just come in Ahriman costume, I know I am running out of time (like, fraggin summer came out of NOWHERE!) but I was working on an Ahriman cosplay for Otakon, if its successful, you might be facing the Exile of the Thousand sons, LITERALLY (then I won't get hurt by the RAW loophole that only allow AHRIMAN to cast 3 spells and reroll his to hit and to wound rolls! HA!)

I'm already rocking a shirt with my avatar on it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Down to 3 spots btw.

Get all your fantasy buddies to sign up, so then we can potentially expand the tournament =)

I am going to roll in gak since that is what blow flies do.

G

Black Blow Fly wrote:I am going to roll in gak since that is what blow flies do.

G

???

Nova Open Rules wrote:All players must attend the event showered and wearing deodorant; respect your peers!

ahem ...
http://novaopen.com/?page_id=67

maaksel wrote:

Black Blow Fly wrote:I am going to roll in gak since that is what blow flies do.

G

???

Hey Now that is a fairly accurate picture of Steve!!

Although Steve has less hair...... :-)


GG

You know, the Open's 40k side is nearly sold out. I could afford to cut people. I mean ... woah. Somebody shoulda been left in a snow storm.



http://www.asofterworld.com/clean/promnight.jpg

MVBrandt wrote:

Nova Open Rules wrote:All players must attend the event showered ((Using Old Spice Oder Blocker Body Wash)) and wearing deodorant((any kind of Old Spice deoderant)); respect your peers!

Fixt for a man!

I wear and utilize Old Spice, and approve. Perhaps I should garner their sponsorship ... I have an idea.

MVBrandt wrote:I wear and utilize Old Spice, and approve. Perhaps I should garner their sponsorship ... I have an idea.

If you're serious, I may be able to point you in the right direction... for a price!

MVBrandt wrote:I wear and utilize Old Spice, and approve. Perhaps I should garner their sponsorship ... I have an idea.

Given their current advertising scheme, I bet you probably could.

Edited to remove unnecessaryism.

What? Who needs to being a couple hundred bucks of swag now? >_> <_<

Black Blow Fly wrote:Hi Mike!

I just signed up. See ya this August. Looking for to the Friday night fights. Can we bring brass knuckles?

G

Is there gonna be a fight club too? Who ya got first dibs on BBF?

You know hte 1st rool...



G

Hulksmash wrote:

Black Blow Fly wrote:Hi Mike!

I just signed up. See ya this August. Looking for to the Friday night fights. Can we bring brass knuckles?

G

Is there gonna be a fight club too? Who ya got first dibs on BBF?

With his crusade against me, do you really have to ask? =p

I am gonna bring some fried chickens & grits to share. Uhmmm uhhmmm good. Hoepfully there is a KFC closeby.

G


Automatically Appended Next Post:

generalgrog wrote:

maaksel wrote:

Black Blow Fly wrote:I am going to roll in gak since that is what blow flies do.

G

???

Hey Now that is a fairly accurate picture of Steve!!

Although Steve has less hair...... :-)


GG

I wish I were half that pretty.

G

Black Blow Fly wrote:I am gonna bring some fried chickens & grits to share. Uhmmm uhhmmm good. Hoepfully there is a KFC closeby.

G

Reminder : Virginia is a southern state.

((Does that quell your concerns?))

Thanks for the reminder. I actually grew up in Virginia Beach and have many friends in the NOVA area so I should feel right at home. Nothing like fried chicken!

G

Weird but true story i'm actually alergic to chicken

So how many slots do you have left? And has Stelek signed up?

*EDIT* http://www.yesthetruthhurts.com/2010/06/out-of-basement.html

Apparently, he just bought his tickets? Mike. *ahem*. *AHEM*

Dashofpepper wrote:So how many slots do you have left? And has Stelek signed up?

*EDIT* http://www.yesthetruthhurts.com/2010/06/out-of-basement.html

Apparently, he just bought his tickets? Mike. *ahem*. *AHEM*

Make battle reports, so we can see you wipe the floor with Stelek.

EDIT-YES, YES, ONE-THOUSAND TIMES YES!!!!!

I am number 10 for top users this month, not sure if that is a good thing, though now that I have it, I may lie low.

Bah, no one from my group can go, looks like I will be taking the prize alone.

The stelek thing is great. If he wins, all the haters will be exposed as the bads stelek claimed they were. If stelek loses, he'll be exposed as the fraud that they claim he is. Sounds like a win for drama llamas like myself.

Looks like I managed to get in under the wire.

We have 2 spots left in 40k. Dass it.


I may be able to open up a couple, as a result of people shifting from attending to staffing the event. So, you know, pm me or whatever if you want to attend and are worried about it being filled up.

Wow this tourney is going to be an eaters paradise....We have someone bringing Steaks, someone offering free pancakes....and last but not least BBF's gonna serve us Chicken and grits!!!

This is Awesome!!

GG

Oh, and I promise - coupon code / link / etc. for blocked off rooms at Holiday Inn coming ASAP.

generalgrog wrote:Wow this tourney is going to be an eaters paradise....We have someone bringing Steaks, someone offering free pancakes....and last but not least BBF's gonna serve us Chicken and grits!!!

This is Awesome!!

GG

don't forget the drinking that will need to go on

I mean, how many non-21 year olds (more importantly non-18year olds) expect to be at the Friday Event, cause while I am not one of extreme prudence, my profession does force me to discourage underage illegal activities...

If the above is not an issue, I have no problem bringing a small bar to the occasion (as I have quite the liquor collection).

Also, quick tourny/FnF question, are guests (people who want to watch the events but not partake in the tournement for whatever reason) welcome, and if so what is the limit (I already know for a fact my girlfriend would like to attend as a spectator/Cheerleader for my 1ksons, and I have a small gaming group of buddies who might want to stop by and watch, there are more then 2 of them so they don't want to compete due to lack of slots, but they seem interested in seeing what a GT actually looks like).

^^ That would have been a good field for me to add at registration!

There's always next year! =)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

maaksel wrote:^^ That would have been a good field for me to add at registration!

Check box of 'are you over 21'

There's always next year! =)

Wow, this got to 12 pages? Go Go Internet Hype...

I wounder if I should feel insulted in that no one wants to call me out on Friday night Deathmatch?

hmmm.....

Dash of Pepper your an slowed cheating f-er....wanna play?

- edit for double post -

G

darwinn69 wrote:
I wounder if I should feel insulted in that no one wants to call me out on Friday night Deathmatch?

what do you play?

I play IG and Orks. More than likely I'll be running around helping Mike out on Friday...but we shall see.

darwinn69 wrote:Wow, this got to 12 pages? Go Go Internet Hype...

I wounder if I should feel insulted in that no one wants to call me out on Friday night Deathmatch?

hmmm.....

Dash of Pepper your an slowed cheating f-er....wanna play?

I'll play you Ryan... =)




Automatically Appended Next Post:
I want to play one of these internet tough guys on Friday night.

YOU BETTER PLAY ME OR I'LL DELETE YOUR TICKET AND NOT REFUND THE MONEY!!


*MUHAhahaHHAhahahHhahHA* =P

Daemon-Archon Ren wrote:I mean, how many non-21 year olds (more importantly non-18year olds) expect to be at the Friday Event, cause while I am not one of extreme prudence, my profession does force me to discourage underage illegal activities...

If the above is not an issue, I have no problem bringing a small bar to the occasion (as I have quite the liquor collection).

Also, quick tourny/FnF question, are guests (people who want to watch the events but not partake in the tournement for whatever reason) welcome, and if so what is the limit (I already know for a fact my girlfriend would like to attend as a spectator/Cheerleader for my 1ksons, and I have a small gaming group of buddies who might want to stop by and watch, there are more then 2 of them so they don't want to compete due to lack of slots, but they seem interested in seeing what a GT actually looks like).

a) I think we have 1 person under 21 signed up, and I know him, and he won't be at the Friday night activities. Regardless, I'll probably simply disallow people under 21 from attending.

b) We're trying to figure out final location for the Friday nighter. The best call is probably the "neutral" location of the collocated Holiday Inn, as they have some smaller ballroom space they'll grant us at low cost. That said, if we do it there, no outside food/bev - hotel has a restaurant/bar for that, and they naturally wouldn't want to share the wealth.

c) Guests can certainly attend, but I'm going to add a "donate optional" $10 "guest" ticket option, that will double as a waitlist ticket. I'm hopeful at least some guests attending will throw a few bucks in to help us pay for the extra Friday costs, as they were added in after establishing the ticket price. Not necessary, naturally!

More details on the Friday will be forthcoming ... I'm more concerned with polishing our FAQ and publishing it, fine tuning the details, obtaining more sponsors, and filling Fantasy.

- Mike


Automatically Appended Next Post:

maaksel wrote:




Automatically Appended Next Post:
I want to play one of these internet tough guys on Friday night.

YOU BETTER PLAY ME OR I'LL DELETE YOUR TICKET AND NOT REFUND THE MONEY!!


*MUHAhahaHHAhahahHhahHA* =P

Don't mind Mark, he's weird. I appreciate him helping me with web/techy stuff, though. Former dolphin training marine life experts don't make for very web savvy fellas.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Huh, interesting. We just got a sign up from Puerto Rico.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
CLARIFICATION - you can attend the tourney under 21, no worries at all!

Donation added to the Registration page =)

Reiteration - the donation Mark is mentioning is if any friends want to attend to watch / etc., donating gets them to the front of a "waiting line" if they want to play should someone no show, and more importantly would be greatly appreciated. We're trying to keep every penny over our fees going to prizes, and not to the funding of additional events that we've added to the schedule (naturally). This means for now, it's coming out of our pockets a little

Alright, Warhammer 40,000 is sold out.

If you want to be on the wait list, and donate a little to help cover our extra Friday / Sunday costs, feel free to buy a "Donation" from our registration page.

The cost is variable ... you can change it from $10 to $1, for example. If you do, your name will go on our wait list in our system. Make no bones about it, larger donations will positively influence your position on the wait list

If enough wait listed people show up on the day of to watch or hope to get in, we'll try to set up a sidebar "smaller" tournament using the same format and rules, and with some small prizes, so if you really wanna go, see the big shots go toe to toe, play some 40k, etc., feel free.

Fantasy is also still open, and may be a slightly "lighter" crowd, simply b/c not everyone will have really nailed down all the ways to break 8th edition yet. Come and enjoy yourselves playing in it, and win some great prizes there as well. Painting and WYSIWYG restrictions for Fantasy are lightened, due to the time you'll have to adjust your army from 7th to 8th in terms of build.

- Mike

Wow, this is actually gonna be one of the largest "GT"'s this year with 64 40k players. I haven't seen a single event other than adepticon that hit over 60. And I think only SVDM hit over 50 for just a single side. Though the Broadside Bash came close.

Just stoke to be there and rollin some dice. Now to decide.....Daemons or SW's? Hmm......

MVBrandt wrote:

b) We're trying to figure out final location for the Friday nighter. The best call is probably the "neutral" location of the collocated Holiday Inn, as they have some smaller ballroom space they'll grant us at low cost. That said, if we do it there, no outside food/bev - hotel has a restaurant/bar for that, and they naturally wouldn't want to share the wealth.

Does this mean I can't bring steaks either?

**EDIT**

Darwin, I'll play your orks with my Chaos boys, and Ill bring my Dark Eldar to fight your IG if you want as well. I always love playing orks, one of the least predictable armies I have faced in the past (and as a Tzeentch player, unpredictability is both my bane and my lust!)

Have the rooms at the hotel been discounted yet? When is a good time to make the reservation?

The sales person at the hotel is still working out the "coding" in the system; I'll have the rate ASAP.

In all serious note guys - please spread word to any of your Fantasy folks, we would love to fill it as well!

Just word of mouth goes a long way. We'll be doing 8th edition rules as noted and 'fair and balanced' scenarios. (Hint: Get familiar with the new book scenarios).

As Mike said, the TO and staff are not taking any sort of profit from this what so ever. The more people that show, the more prizes for everyone.

maaksel wrote:In all serious note guys - please spread word to any of your Fantasy folks, we would love to fill it as well!

Just word of mouth goes a long way. We'll be doing 8th edition rules as noted and 'fair and balanced' scenarios. (Hint: Get familiar with the new book scenarios).

As Mike said, the TO and staff are not taking any sort of profit from this what so ever. The more people that show, the more prizes for everyone.

Unless he decides the painting is too much, I just got you a player.

Cool that you guys are doing this.

Mike:

How many Friday night fights are you expecting to have?

@ Hulksmash

Bring yer furries. I'd love to get a game with you. Currently I am planning to bring my daemons... They are such a pain to transport though. :(

G

That's one vote for wolves

But in all seriousness I'll probably be playing my wolves for the whole thing. Unless I bring both since they fit pretty well in my case which barely fits flight regulations

Wolves for sure.

Good luck anyway.

Hrmmm, are we allowed to sell our ticket MVB? :p

Hulksmash wrote:That's one vote for wolves

But in all seriousness I'll probably be playing my wolves for the whole thing. Unless I bring both since they fit pretty well in my case which barely fits flight regulations

If you don't want to transport everything, you can use my wolves. I'll be playing Fantasy, so I won't be using them.

Also have Orks if anyone wants to use them for Friday as well.

Lol, I appreciate the offer Maaksel but transporting isn't actually that big a deal. The case I have is a perfect fit for carry-on. I think my second case that would hold my daemons and wolves is as well but I'll have to check that

Nope if I'm playing wolves then I'm playing my wolves. My dice would know the difference.....

dam sold out........just saw this stuff now. Wanted to get in on that friday ngiht action, wanted to witness Stelek face off against some grudge matches.

Expand the revenue? lol

Mafty wrote:dam sold out........just saw this stuff now. Wanted to get in on that friday ngiht action, wanted to witness Stelek face off against some grudge matches.

Expand the revenue? lol

Buy some fantasy stuff, paint it up, and watch the friday night carnage the night before!

DAMNIT!

I kept telling myself, i'll register a little later... i'll register a little later...

and it sold out. well, i'm an idiot.

Honersstodnt wrote:DAMNIT!

I kept telling myself, i'll register a little later... i'll register a little later...

and it sold out. well, i'm an idiot.

There's a waiting list you can register for, and its possible some folks might not show.

alright, well, donation made, hopefully someone will bail, or MVBrandt will expand the venue

steve your silly

yes... yes I am. EDITED FOR INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE

as an aside, if anyone wants to sell me their ticket, i'll pay via paypal $5 over list

New fantasy rules viewable tomorrow! The NOVA Open staff plans on having it memorized this weekend (no joke, there is a scheduled event to go memorize the book).

Once rules are clarified we anticipate the Fantasy sign ups to begin.

We have a ton of options if things fill up. Spread the word! I heard skywriting gets it done =)

I just reserved my room !!

G

At the Holiday Inn? We haven't gotten room blocks with cheaper rates yet, waiting on the deets today or so, fwiw ...

Yeah at the Holiday Inn. $99/nite on the NOVA Open discount.

Awesome.

G

Starting to build a wait list for 40k. If by some chance it doubles the total (to 128) we'll open up 64 extra slots.

So, if you'd actually pay the full $50 to attend, please let me know and/or use the waitlist registration option.

- Mike

lol i'll buy two slots, if you count my donation towards the second

For those who missed the cut ...

http://whiskey40k.blogspot.com/2010/06/and-then-there-were-96.html

You can make me open slots for you, by getting you and your 40k buddies to join the wait list.

Seriously, great for you guys for doing this, the rules are nice and easy, and I am sure it will be a blast, only one thing could make it perfect...

MVBrandt wrote:For those who missed the cut ...

http://whiskey40k.blogspot.com/2010/06/and-then-there-were-96.html

You can make me open slots for you, by getting you and your 40k buddies to join the wait list.

Id join the waitlist if it made you increase the size of the venue, but im not "donating" money so someone else can enjoy warhammer while im at home (sorry...). Also, if the wait list is something thats intended to be "show up game day and hope no one shows" kind of idea, than that wont work for me (or others I assume), since well VA is pretty dam far for me lol

Um, it's neither.

Per reading carefully, you may (and indeed should) change the donation value to $0.00 ... so you're not donating anything. You're just getting your name and contact information in our system. You could give me your data via e-mail or something as well, but it's helpful to us for it to be registered on the site.

Also, the wait list is to tell me how many people are there, and/or to give people a chance to sign up if someone drops out. If we get enough on the wait list to justify it, I will open up 32 more slots, and we'll adjust venue prep to accommodate.

So, a) I don't want your money without YOU, and b) you'll know before you travel whether you're "in"

Make sense? Because of the way our format works, I can't simply "open" slots helter skelter in a mad grab for money ... it's not really space related. We've had a dozen people wait list since we sold out, so I'm hopeful that we'll be able to open more venue space. Heck, I even asked GW for another pair of Vegas tickets due to the comparable size if we go to 96 (or 128).

Daemon-Archon Ren wrote:

MVBrandt wrote:

b) We're trying to figure out final location for the Friday nighter. The best call is probably the "neutral" location of the collocated Holiday Inn, as they have some smaller ballroom space they'll grant us at low cost. That said, if we do it there, no outside food/bev - hotel has a restaurant/bar for that, and they naturally wouldn't want to share the wealth.

Does this mean I can't bring steaks either?

AHEM!

MVBrandt wrote:Um, it's neither.

Per reading carefully, you may (and indeed should) change the donation value to $0.00 ... so you're not donating anything. You're just getting your name and contact information in our system. You could give me your data via e-mail or something as well, but it's helpful to us for it to be registered on the site.

Also, the wait list is to tell me how many people are there, and/or to give people a chance to sign up if someone drops out. If we get enough on the wait list to justify it, I will open up 32 more slots, and we'll adjust venue prep to accommodate.

So, a) I don't want your money without YOU, and b) you'll know before you travel whether you're "in"

Make sense? Because of the way our format works, I can't simply "open" slots helter skelter in a mad grab for money ... it's not really space related. We've had a dozen people wait list since we sold out, so I'm hopeful that we'll be able to open more venue space. Heck, I even asked GW for another pair of Vegas tickets due to the comparable size if we go to 96 (or 128).

Thanks for the clarification MVB. Ill toss my name on the list, hopefully more people sign up and it gets expanded (plus I want to see friday night death matches lol)

Inquisitor_Syphonious wrote:Seriously, great for you guys for doing this, the rules are nice and easy, and I am sure it will be a blast, only one thing could make it perfect...

Unfortunately the NOVA Open will be unable to provide 'Hookers n' Blow' for everyone. Sorry

maaksel wrote:

Inquisitor_Syphonious wrote:Seriously, great for you guys for doing this, the rules are nice and easy, and I am sure it will be a blast, only one thing could make it perfect...

Unfortunately the NOVA Open will be unable to provide 'Hookers n' Blow' for everyone. Sorry

You spelled blackjack wrong...

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel that this tournament and MVBrandt are....

1) 100% attentive to fans and ESPECIALLY considering that...

2) Doing the utmost to bring a real QUALITY event to us. One that is sure to repeat.

...............

I havent been this confident about an Indy event "delivering" since the second time I went to Adepticon. I feel that NOVA is going to deliver more of a competetive atmosphere however...if not all the fanfare. (not disparaging Adepticon, it is what it is...and its great)

I sure am glad I got signed into 40k. If I wasnt...I'd be seriously considering entering the Fantasy side, even though Fantasy isnt really my cup of tea.

BTW, MVBrandt, BBF says he's signed up for a discounted room....is the $99 the discounted price? Are the rooms ready?

I appreciate the positivity, and I hope it continues, but I'd encourage everyone to hold me up to delivering also ... hundreds of hours of work leading up ... but the key effort is a relatively small window of execution.

The Holiday Inn room block is set ... will publish data for it after I complete this work assignment.

Daemon-Archon Ren wrote:

Daemon-Archon Ren wrote:

MVBrandt wrote:

b) We're trying to figure out final location for the Friday nighter. The best call is probably the "neutral" location of the collocated Holiday Inn, as they have some smaller ballroom space they'll grant us at low cost. That said, if we do it there, no outside food/bev - hotel has a restaurant/bar for that, and they naturally wouldn't want to share the wealth.

Does this mean I can't bring steaks either?

AHEM!

Mike.... Don't make me destroy you...

Yes, it basically means no steaks /sadface

If you're in town BEFORE Friday, you're more than happy to get together anytime for steaks on other occasions, though. Duh.

MVBrandt wrote:I appreciate the positivity, and I hope it continues, but I'd encourage everyone to hold me up to delivering also ... hundreds of hours of work leading up ... but the key effort is a relatively small window of execution.

The Holiday Inn room block is set ... will publish data for it after I complete this work assignment.

See, THAT'S not acceptible. You need to publish that data NOW for people that require it.

(you said we need to hold you up to delivering!)

sooo Friday night? can we do a doubles event?

The double doosey !!

Grille in the hotel? I still expect a steak.

Dashofpepper wrote:Grille in the hotel? I still expect a steak.

1v1 in hotel parking lot, I'll bring the grill and steaks, you'd best bring ya boiz! (Also, if you are planning on being in town beforehand, there is always the possiblity of playing at a LGS or possibly one of my Gaming Group's houses (depending on # of people and such)

For hotel accommodations at the Dulles Expo Center's Holiday Inn, please use the group code "Z85" here http://www.holidayinn.com/chantillyexpo when registering to obtain our locked in group rates in the NOVA Open room block.


Ayup.

[url]When are you guys getting in early? There are plenty of LGS that are available to use. There is a GW that is probably the closest that is ~8-10 min away.

http://tinyurl.com/2839qnd for the map.

I just noticed my post above was edited... I suppose I can't quote my favorite recent war movie, "tropic thunder", in here anymore :(.

Well I'll be landing at 8am on friday so I'll have some time to kill. When it gets closer maybe I'll nail down a for fun pick-up game or something to keep me entertained until people start getting in to town

Reiteration for any of your buddies who want to come with you, being the generic "you" of everyone reading, I can't / won't open up new slots until/unless we hit that sweet spot of 32 extra. We'd really like to open that up ... just can't quite yet.

- Mike


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hulk, don't be silly, I'll just recruit you to help me set up the tournament you're paying me to attend.

shens natch


What I can and will do is talk to the Holiday Inn about seeing if we can set up a single table somewhere out of the way, for people to open game on as they arrive, until we open up the event space there that we've reserved for Friday night's exhibition and open gaming.

I'd be happy to help MVB. I'll shoot you my schedule and you can tell me where to meet ya Least I could do with how helpful you've been with this whole thing.

Well put my name down for the wait list. Here's hoping more interest and more slots!

Virus - you'll need to use the friday night donations button, set the value you want to donate ($0.00 for wait list), on the NOVA Open website. Fill in your data and stuff, and "buy" a $0 donation, and it'll give me your data for the wait list.

Booked hotel. w00t

Crap, just got informed by the wife that I WILL be attendinga wedding Friday. Don't know what the schedule is yet, but I just know it's going to cut into Friday fun time.

Hulksmash wrote:Well I'll be landing at 8am on friday so I'll have some time to kill. When it gets closer maybe I'll nail down a for fun pick-up game or something to keep me entertained until people start getting in to town

If you want, I can give you a ride into the nation's capitol and we can waaaugh around the mall for a few hours or other fun stuff, shoot me a PM if you want to chill at any time and I'll shoot you my cell,

also Mike and Maak(For lack of better name for ya) if yall need any help in the upcoming weeks, I'm a local guy who is willing to offer what little free time I have to this grande event, same deal with the whole "pm for cell number" thing. With that, Time to head into work.

I have no idea how the hell do use multi quote on this site.

Anyway @ Hulksmash, you need to get some tests in with that list I saw you post. You'll realize the few mistakes in there, but most of it looks good. Unsure if Mike will require lists ahead of time, or at check in. He's the type of guy that will actually go over all the lists and make sure they're legit =)

@ Daemon, It's Mark btw. I don't know how much physical work etc needs to be done this soon, that is up Mike's alley. All the boards etc will need help setting up that Friday night probably before/during/after the Friday Night Fights.

I am personally playing in the Fantasy event, which still has plenty of slots =(

You click multi-quote buttons for the posts you want to quote, then click "Post Reply" and in the reply page, your quoted material will be there.

Anywho, I am fairly certain the lack of Fantasy signups is probably due to 8th edition fear and not wanting to sign up for a GT without knowing if their personal playstyle is about to go the way of the Squat...

Other then physical work, I am a law minor (IT major) so if you wanted some assistance on particularly hazy FAQs/Rulings I would be extremely willing to help (and seeing as how virtually none of these rulings effect thousand sons in any way, you can bet I'd be impartial), as far as other things, group meetups, directions, greeting, etc, if you require my assistance on them, consider me your tech-priest.

Groody 40k sold out. Not sure if I have time to convert and paint up something new for fantasy. How do you sign up for an account on the Nova Open site? Am I missing something?

to get onto the wait list, just make a donation of $0.00.

it will take your name and address, so the TO can contact you if a slot opens up.

He has like 15 people on the wait list so far. If it gets to 32, those people can be worked into the tournament. Also, if someone drops out, he'll contact the next person in line on the wait list if they want to take their place (thats how I got in).

/bump

Handful more waitlists and we'll open her up.

Yup, that'll do.

MVBrandt wrote:/bump

Handful more waitlists and we'll open her up.

Yup, that'll do.

sounds good, cant wait to get my canuck ass into VA.

NOVA Open has been opened ... to 80, for 40k.

We'll go up to 96 with more wait lists, though that will be affirmatively the FINAL cut. Please, if you've been on the sidelines ... send me an e-mail/pm, or use the wait list method from our website. I'd love to get it to 96!

I will talk to some friends now that more spots have opened!

Most of the 80 are already "held" pending the actual purchase by the wait listees ... that said, we're a lil over 2 months out and that's a lot of time ... if we get 16 more waitlistees we can accommodate exactly that many more, for a max out of 96.

MVBrandt wrote:NOVA Open has been opened ... to 80, for 40k.

We'll go up to 96 with more wait lists, though that will be affirmatively the FINAL cut. Please, if you've been on the sidelines ... send me an e-mail/pm, or use the wait list method from our website. I'd love to get it to 96!

were we emailed if we were "choosen" to sign up if we were on the wait list?

Mafty, check your private messages.

Does this mean that the Sunday gaming could conceivably go to three rounds instead of two?

not only is it conceivable, its impossible for it not to!

Yup, Sunday is 3 rounds.

If we stop at 80, 1-3 from Day 1 will get a "bye" and 4-5 will "play in" ... 1 vs. 4 or 5, 2 vs 3.

If we go to 96, 1-2 from Day 1 will get a "bye" and 3-6 will "play in," with the match-up obviously depending on winners (NFL Wild Card ish).

This small part we'll play more "by ear." Meaning, the people playing in the 5th round will have a group option of playing their first games that Saturday night, or earlier on Sunday morning. We have space reserved through 7pm on Sunday, so we're functionally set either way.

I hope that in the future, you'll have this as all one tournament instead of two tournaments. I have exactly 16 hours of vacation time. If I make it to Sunday, I need to take Monday off so that I can play on Sunday. And we don't have a room for Saturday night. How are we supposed to figure that one out? That's the most awkward part of it. ><

I'm honestly starting to wonder if I care about making it to Sunday or not, because not doing so would solve a lot of travel, lodging, and work issues.

Agreed with Dash. Making it a 7 round 2 day tournament where the only undefeated player left, and the best overall award are the actual winners of tickets would be good. With other prizes for other top finishers who go undefeated after say the 4th round and paintng and sports and such.

Maybe not for this years tournament but for future ones it would make planning a whole lot easier.

Dash,

In the future, we'll have exactly that - we couldn't "fund" a full 2nd day at the larger of our two collocated venues this year, unfortunately. In the future we'll have precisely that - all rounds for all players. Sunday's rounds should all be over by ~3-4, also. Not huge consolation, but some.

Yermom - what you suggest is *exactly* what's happening, per earlier discussion. At the end of the first day, the top undefeated all earn top general prizes, the best overall (Renaissance Man) is awarded, etc. Only the tourney champ / 2nd vegas ticket is resolved on Day 2 (this year).

Good input.

PS - We will have some open gaming space on Sunday either way, and I'll try to publicize exactly how much ASAP.

hem Id love to go to this thing now I just need to woprk out a ride or transportation lol

Alright, well the 16 new slots sold out.

We are not going to be able to go above 96 total (we're at 80 now), so if you have been fencing it, wait listing now is about required. Effectively the next 16 people over the next 2 months to waitlist in are probably going to get to go ... and that's it.

Appreciate all the Dakka attention on this, and happy to continue fielding any questions people have.

- Mike

Mike, might be a good idea (since you haven't updated since beginning of May) to drop a note on the first page with updates and changes so that people don't need to read through 16 pages of a thread to find out what's going on.

glad to be coming, but an odd question, is there a reason the group rate on the hotel is more than the regular rate for the exact same room? lol......

do I have to reserve a room? or can I just show up and pay for one there?

The rate should not be higher than a regular rate for the exact same room. Can you PM me with the deets so I can make sure everything is square. Heck, signed a contract giving us lower rates

Honersstodnt ... possible, but the hotel may sell out (a couple things going on this particular weekend), and I can't lock in the group rates past a certain point.

Any update on the Tourny FAQ?

Working on it. Still actively participating in what is now a 24 hour workday, hence delaying plans to polish the rest of it off today/tonight. I don't know what today/tonight is anymore, actually.

So, with any luck, the tourney FAQ will see the light of day tonight ... or tomorrow. Whichever day tomorrow contextually is at the moment.

Mike a question for you concerning Space Wolves. A few different things have been circulation around my local area so I definitly would like to get a ruling from you on this issue.

Question: With Wargear Wolf Tooth Necklace it is stated that basically anything with a WS will be hit on a 3+ regardless of weapon skill value in close combat. Now here locally this has been ruled to effect Melta Bomb placements as well. When placing a melta bomb on a vehicle standard rules apply because no WS is present. The question comes when fighting a Dreadnaught. Because Dreadnaughts have a WS this would mean that placing a Melta Bomb on the dreadnaught would be on a 3 instead of a 6 like normal. How will this be viewed for the Nova?

MVBrandt wrote:The rate should not be higher than a regular rate for the exact same room. Can you PM me with the deets so I can make sure everything is square. Heck, signed a contract giving us lower rates

Honersstodnt ... possible, but the hotel may sell out (a couple things going on this particular weekend), and I can't lock in the group rates past a certain point.

pm sent


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hey Mike, I also think you should include in the FAQ (if its not done) the whole bit about how marines and IG LOST allies from DH. Which mainly affects IG, because it means no more psy hoods or mystics in IG lists.

Well I'm signed up. Just have to finalize my list and finish up some models. See you all there.

Couple of spots opened up due to waitlistees not confirming once we opened it.

So, a couple more spots left.


Mafty - based upon e-mail from the overall circuit organizer, allies are still a go.

Grimwulfe - will be in FAQ, which comes out hopefully in a day or two ... polishing it off took more time than desired ... it will also be a living doc, so immediate input from anyone who reads it is more than welcome

Seriously bro, I can't wait for that FAQ, I'ma chew it up and send you and equal-to-if-not-greater-then document of questions I'm sure I will have afterwards.

I'm counting on it

1, 2, 3...



G

People who are (OR AREN'T) in the DC area, who would like to help staff the NOVA Open or any of its various nights, please feel free to drop me a PM or e-mail.

We'll take all the help we can get, and need help in a variety of departments. A little goodie bag and probably a shirt are about all I can offer as payment, plus of course good times and a front row seat to a great, packed GT!

PM Sent!

Two spots held for NOVA Open are not being "confirmed" by those for whom they are reserved.

I'm opening the spots up tomorrow at close of business. Please PM or E-Mail me if you'd like a shot at them when they release.

- Mike

When is the 40k FAQ going to be publicly released?

G

By tomorrow; check your inboxes, "big 40k tourney e-mail #2" sent out earlier today.

- Mike

Awesome bro !! You are doing a dynamite job so far.

: )

G

We have, ahem,

One spot OPEN for the OPEN

Our last wait listee holding a spot had something come up, so ... sign up while it lasts, as I don't expect it will.

FAQ Beta ...

http://whiskey40k.blogspot.com/2010/07/nova-faq-beta-v1.html

Please note, comments here will not be addressed; concerns / cohesive arguments? Send them to me via pm / e-mail

I anticipate a lot of reply, these are rules questions after all ... you all should anticipate the usual responsiveness / adjustment on my part as required. Also, we'll have a "pretty" and polished version out a few weeks before the tourney.

It looks pretty good, left ya a few pms on gchat with some quirky things i saw, but pretty solid so far.

There will be many questions coming soon!

Be ready!

Looks good to me. Nothing game changing.

G

Mike: One spot open for 96 or for 80?

Just curious to see how big this is getting.

Ghazghkull and the Pink Waaaugh! will be there; I need to know how many stumpied I gotta beat down, eat, feed to my squigs, and take trophies from...

woah.....when did the pink wagh get a professional paint job?

They didn't.....just a single model did.

Centerpiece.

Dashofpepper wrote:They didn't.....just a single model did.

Centerpiece.

I can't wait to blow it up!

It is AV14 with 6 structure points and 5 void shields with a 2++ cover save. Also, shooting it may result in your dice melting. Try if you dare.

I just...I don't even...how do...what...I...Wow. Just. Wow.

Dashofpepper wrote:It is AV14 with 6 structure points and 5 void shields with a 2++ cover save. Also, shooting it may result in your dice melting. Try if you dare.

My dice are thousand sons dice, they are AP3 and have 4+ invulsaves and can turn trukks into Spawn; saves, structure points, and Void shields (which I am going to assume you meant power fields) are ineffective (as are Spidey-webs, portals, and harry-potters)

Mafty wrote:

MVBrandt wrote:The rate should not be higher than a regular rate for the exact same room. Can you PM me with the deets so I can make sure everything is square. Heck, signed a contract giving us lower rates

Honersstodnt ... possible, but the hotel may sell out (a couple things going on this particular weekend), and I can't lock in the group rates past a certain point.

pm sent


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hey Mike, I also think you should include in the FAQ (if its not done) the whole bit about how marines and IG LOST allies from DH. Which mainly affects IG, because it means no more psy hoods or mystics in IG lists.

Except of course, that the allies rules are still in place............................. Just gotta have the codex.

can I bring a tent, and sleep in the parking lot?

I drive a pickup... could I just sleep in the bed, under the stars? do I *need* to pay for a room, or can I just go "au naturale" for the weekend?

You do whatever you think you can get away with, man

For what it's worth we have more people on the wait list now ... and if we get enough more, we go to 96 and enable others to attend, so seriously - send me an e-mail and get wait listed.

hmm. I think i'm going to wear a tinfoil viking hat and spend the entire time muttering under my breath. I'm going to bring a large stuffed animal, and whenever something doesn't go my way in game, I'm going to scream at my animal how it's his fault.

bonus points if I can find a taxidermied squirrel to be my stuffed animal.

Honersstodnt wrote:hmm. I think i'm going to wear a tinfoil viking hat and spend the entire time muttering under my breath. I'm going to bring a large stuffed animal, and whenever something doesn't go my way in game, I'm going to scream at my animal how it's his fault.

bonus points if I can find a taxidermied squirrel to be my stuffed animal.

Make sure you name him something classy, like Wiggles or Captain Spanks.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Taxidermy-1-small-flying-squirrel-Java-ss-/220621260490?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item335e0d46ca

VERY TEMPTED... I could put him on a wire attached to a motor in my viking hat, to make it look like he's flying around my head.

You should bring a stuffed shark mounted on a Harley. That would get people attention, which I think is what you are going for here. Good luck with that .

G

Please limit the taxidermical cosplay kids!

Handful of waitlistees away from upping 40k to 96

I will be very interested in seeing the results of this event.

Mike, I got at least 2 zombies err volunteers for your ranks. After my gaming group meets this sunday, I will tell the others who make it, and you will probably be getting some emails shortly!

Just booked my flight and added an extra day so I can come back on Monday... gotta love those rewards miles !

G

also just booked my room, been busy painting like a madman trying to get my army ready (lol at last minute prep)

I created a Q & A for the site, so any weird questions go ahead and ask there as well. It will be posted so others with the same questions can see them.

Questions will be answered here as well, but it's a good way to distribute the knowledge =)

Questions will be directly emailed to us, so you won't have to wait for a response too long.

http://novaopen.com/?page_id=139

(and yes, I'm still working on making it actually say something other than page_id=# !)

Great! I submitted some very important questions.....such as, "where do babies come from?"

mostly from your mom.

I did indeed receive that question. Thank you so very much.

Dashofpepper wrote:Great! I submitted some very important questions.....such as, "where do babies come from?"

I debating on answering, and linking a wiki to storks.

Other noteworthy questions pertaining to 40k gamers:

1. Will you have deodorant for sale at the event?

2. Can participants be disqualified for obnoxious body odor?

3. Can I bring my pimp hand?

4. Will the AC in the venue be working?

5. Can we bring spray deodorant and cologne and douse stinky people?

I understand that large spray dispensers of Febreeze will be placed at each door disguised as magnetometers.

I just have to hope that I get a slot. SHould have thought to check for this sort of thread earlier.

Dash:

1. We could get actual spray deodorant and have it available for stinky people.

2. Unless they are playing Nurgle, they'd be disqualified for poor smell AND for not being WYSIWYG. There's actually a component of the 40k tournament rules requiring attendees to shower and put on fresh deodorant before attending.

3. I would prefer you not bring your pimp hand. Also, according to recent GW FAQ, the pimp's hand does not count as an additional combat weapon for purposes of calculating the # of cc attacks you get.

4. The Air Conditioning will be working, except over table # "this one's where Dash is right now." No, but seriously, I'm going to make sure to turn it off near you.

5. I would prefer you not spray people with cologne. Spray deodorant is fine, but a bunch of unkempt gamers smelling like GQ models is the most incongruously bad thing to enter my imagination in the past 5 hours. Fortunately at least a few of us are actually well groomed. You may colognerize the well-groomed ones.



Dan - since you're probably in driving distance, if for some reason I can't get you in by go time, you might want to attend regardless and try to get in off wait list. I'll keep you posted ... did you e-mail me earlier? I know someone did.

Has Deadshane found someone for his ticket MVB? If not Dan could contact him. Just a thought since I know Deadshane was looking to get rid of his.

Questions have been answered.

I'm going to wear my MoN pin.

G

What if one were going for the world record of longest time without a bath/shower? Would they still be allowed into the event?

Also does febreezing oneself count as showering?

Will there be a smelling judge ?

G

OMG! Please add Smell as a soft score. Right along side painting and sportsmanship.

Score yer opponent as follows for their odor:

5 / This opponent smelt like a rose garden. I'm not lying ! Vahalla should smell this good really .
4 / This opponent was well groomed even combing a part in his neck beard. I was impressed .
3 / Nothing special but no funk.
2 / Dark sweat circles under his pits plus a distinctive odor permeating this stinker.
1 / Where was the smelling judge ?? I went out back and barfed .
0 / True son of Nurgle...

Mike, thanks for coming by our club tourney Saturday.
Looking forward to this in three weeks!

I really want to open up 16 more 40k slots. We're actually close ish to being able to do that via the wait list.

Come on fellas ... TWENTY EIGHT US STATES IN ATTENDANCE, along with multiple Canadians (does that make it 31 us states?)

Live podcasting and exhibition matches + open gaming and cash bar Friday night August 13

Entire day of gaming with the VAST majority of prize support distributed to the "average" player ... we'll be running around handing out land raiders and the like all day - your best chance of winning things is gained simply by showing up

Open gaming and finals with more live podcasting on Sunday

Support and Sponsorship from ...
Games Workshop (including a chance to win VIP passes to Games Day!)
The Warstore
Gale Force 9
Battlefoam
Adepticon
Soda Pop Miniatures
Back 2 Base-ix
and more

Gonna be a fun weekend, with folks from all over, in a unique tournament that's built upon the input of YOU the average hobbyist and gamer.

Just a few more 40k players and you'll be playing in a field of 96! Help those on the wait list and yourself to a lil fun, and PM me, post here, or e-mail me at mvbrandt@gmail.com

we have a couple of cars leaving from Greenville SC so if you are on the 85 corridor and are looking for a ride PM us.

Wow is it ever getting exciting now !

G

If anyone has a private Jet that has extra room and is flying in from Wisconsin, lmk and I'll go.

Don't worry, I'll febreeze myself, I mean shower, before I get in.

+16 slots

Some can pretty much be guaranteed not to "sell" to wait listees.

Send me an e-mail or PM here if you'd like to attend; the spots are OPEN. I cannot physically open more, so ... betta do it now.

Yeah, no stinky gamers on my jet!!

Huzzah! Looks like I'll be heading up with the South Carolina crowd.

Now to figure out if I slap paint on 60 unpainted orks or run Templar...

Washes and Foundation paints can be your best friend for an Ork army.

9 unpaid spots left; there are people on the wait list who have first dibs at them, but we're using a much more accelerated replacement approach for those who don't respond / don't pay quickly for the last spots ... send me a PM / sign up quickly, I literally can't possibly add more spots after those 9 for 40k.

We still have a handful of spots left in Warhammer Fantasy too.

The Iron Fist League ran the NOVA Open primer missions at our quarterly RTT over the weekend and I had a very good time with them.

I'm even more excited to be going than I was before. And I think the tournament will have some pretty nice looking terrain, too

So 128?

G

Turns out my wife and I are closing on a house earlier that week and moving that day... sounds like it'll be awesome, though!

UPDATE:

Friday and Sunday the collocated Holiday Inn's bar / restaurant will be having 4-8 PM happy hour specials and half price appetizers for us

Saturday evening from 10PM - ??? we'll be having a bar event / hang out post tourney with some sponsorship/little prizes/half prize apps/etc. from various well, let's let that out when we detail it.

Suffice to say through a little extra effort there's no cheaper food and booze for ya'll Fri / Sat / Sun.

Lots of heavy drinking sessions is always lots of fun !!

G

I may or may not also be bringing some Absinthe. Depends on how much I have left over from Otakon!

Nice ! It's hard to find here in the states.

G

Really totally legal here in MASS. Want me to take orders and bring some bottles down?

Totally legal in VA, but in a lot of cases the US still has bans on certain types of Absinthe.



Beer is superior. Absinthe tastes like ass and the narcotic effects are overrated / largely false, unless you're talking about the kind you can't get anywhere in the US anyway

If you're not a beer fan, get into some of the more evolved liquors ... I don't know, any kind of quality bourbon or scotch comes to mind. So does rum (go PYRAT!). Absinthe is for weedy types who think they're all highfalutin.

Ratsafratsa.

PS - Anyone planning on responding with "I don't like the taste of beer," get the fug outta here. There's beer that tastes exactly like Creme Brulee (http://www.southerntierbrewing.com/for%20download%20page/downloads_cremebrulee.html), and there's beer that tastes like pisswater (http://www.anheuser-busch.com/brandPages/naturalLight.html). There's every flavor in between. If you don't like beer, you haven't tried enough of the 10 thousand year old human tradition.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm, Scotch............

I don't like the taste of beer. Seriously.

How about Mike's Hard Lemonade?

Mike:

What all celebrity deathmatches do you have lined up?

I know you've got me lined up for Stelek, and that's going to be fun....moreso if I'm drunk!

I know you have Hulksmash slated to play BBF - has BBF and Hulk accepted? I know Hulk will play anyone, but given the amount of crap that BBF has spit out about Hulk lately, I can't imagine he'd stand face to face with him, let alone face off across a table and get obliterated. I wouldn't want to face off against Hulksmash; he'd obliterate me too. ><

Who else do you have matched up? How many matches?

War, you should now sign up for the Open, and come on down.

So that I can slap you.

WarOne, don't you read my batreps?

I'm a liquor kinda guy. Fifth of Captain Morgan in my Battlefoam and I'm all set.

Hmm, I did ask Hulk and BBF about doing one of the Whiskey Challenge matches, but I think BBF has a good buddy he wants to play against, and that'd take precedent. I also asked Danny Internets about facing off vs. Hulk.

I'm actually interested in "hands raised" who'd like to participate in that ... can probably do 2 more tables.

We're not calling it a "Celebrity Deathmatch" anymore, b/c while some of the attendees, like Stelek, certainly do generate "celebrity" like attention, it's more now about pairing up people who often post about their chops, or who have known chops ... but who don't really get to play each other or play each other often.

Hence Dash the espouser of Orks vs. Stelek the denouncer of Orks, from Carolina and Utah respectively.

Hence, if that's how it works, Hulk from Cali vs. Danny from NY ... both known great players ... yatta yatta.

I don't want to overemphasize it though ... just being well known doesn't mean you'll win, or win the Open ... but there's been a lot of positive feedback from people who can't make it about some higher profile matches ... and we're all about providing some interest and entertainment for the community at large, especially since it has had so much input on the format.

We'll have the podcasting teams of the 11th Company and the Gamers Lounge on hand to catch all the action Friday night (open games, and whiskey challenge matches) and Sunday for the finals (and other open gaming activities).

- Mike


PS - You a blogger, poster, gamer who wants to try a shot against another fella attending without the pressures of the actual tournament day? Let me know and I'll see what I can do about getting your game some air time.

Dashofpepper wrote:WarOne, don't you read my batreps?

I'm a liquor kinda guy. Fifth of Captain Morgan in my Battlefoam and I'm all set.

Of course I have read your Pink Waaagh and Purple People Eaters smackdowns! But you didn't answer my question:

How about Mike's Hard Lemonade?

MVBrandt:
Hmm...Washington D.C. is too far away for a person of my means/budget, so I shall have to pass.

WarOne wrote:

Dashofpepper wrote:WarOne, don't you read my batreps?

I'm a liquor kinda guy. Fifth of Captain Morgan in my Battlefoam and I'm all set.

Of course I have read your Pink Waaagh and Purple People Eaters smackdowns! But you didn't answer my question:

How about Mike's Hard Lemonade?

MVBrandt:
Hmm...Washington D.C. is too far away for a person of my means/budget, so I shall have to pass.

There's nothing wrong with Mike's Hard Lemonade, but it wouldn't be my drink of choice. If I'm at dinner, I drink water. Mix in some lemon, add a Splenda or three and you have some tastier than ordering lemonade. If I'm having a drink socially at a restaurant, probably a Margarita - on the rocks, light salt, preferably with a double shot of tequila to make it not taste like a glass of sour mix.

If I'm going to attempt anything more than a social drink (if we're sitting around drinking), I'm going to revert to straight liquor. Unfortunately, my body processes opiates and alcohol so fast that their use is almost pointless, so if I want to get drunk, I hit a bottle. At home right now I'm drinking Seagram's 7 and Sprite, mixed 50/50. If we go to a restaurant to "get drunk" instead of spending $150 in a vain attempt to get there with watered down drinks, I'll get a head start with the real stuff, then have a glass of something that I sip from.

I also think its a crime to pay what restaurants charge for drinks. A Perfect Margarita at Applebees: $9.00. Jesus - a fifth of tequila is $20, and paying $9.00 for one of the shots in there mixed with triple sec, sugar water, and some lime juice just doesn't sit right with me.

I like Absinthe, beer, and love scotch. Equal opportuniy drunk.

This is looking cooler and cooler, Mike. I hope you have a big hit; I can't wait for next year when it's a full 2-day event.

Mike I think matching up personalities that could tend to clash for the Friday evening event could be an equation for disaster. Lots of pressure to win, lots of high profile attention... Someone will lose and that could be a bad start to a long weekend. Better to match up people you know will enjoy playing each other for fun games versus the possibility of grudge matches. Top players will most likely face off on Sunday and to me that is the best time and place for serious games to occur. No need in my opinion to create a potential for lots of unwanted/un needed drama.

G

*clicks unblock to respond*

BBF:

Hulksmash is an easygoing, laid back California hippie. He's got nothing to prove, is an established superior player, and despite accusations to the contrary, he doesn't run a netlist; he runs a very personalized flavor of daemons, Orks, and Space Wolves. This is the guy who wears a shirt that has a picture of his avatar that says, "Sportsmanship FTW." He lets his opponent determine models under templates, whether things are in range....he lets his opponents cheat if they want to because he's simply that good that it doesn't matter. He still wins. I can't beat him, although I haven't resorted to cheating to try yet. My next effort is going to be to get him drunk. Then turn him in circles, put a blindfold on him, and make him play with a 250 point deficiency.

There is zero chance of there being drama in your game unless you create it. There is zero chance of him having a bad weekend if he loses the game. If you aren't stable enough to have a game without pitching a fit, or not letting your issues with him on the forum get in the way of having a fun game, or if getting stomped in a game is going to ruin your game, then that's fine; but I can promise that if you keep yourself in check, you two will not have any issues. A *LOT* of people are looking forward to a game between you two. frgsinwntr didn't know you were lined up for a celebrity match, but has been messaging me about Tau stuff; he'd rather see you play Hulk. So would the entirety of the 40k community.

Just relax. Have a good time. Have a couple of beers beforehand. And during. And after. Don't get personal. Roll dice and have a good time. The fact that its Hulksmash across the table from you should mean nothing except that its what people want to see.

I can easily see whay someone might not want to play a game that "the entire 40k community wants to see". If someone doesn't want to be in a 'celebrity match', then there's really no reason they should be encouraged to play. It's a 40k tournament, not entertainment for the internet.

mikhaila wrote:I can easily see whay someone might not want to play a game that "the entire 40k community wants to see". If someone doesn't want to be in a 'celebrity match', then there's really no reason they should be encouraged to play. It's a 40k tournament, not entertainment for the internet.

^ This. I would much rather play a good friend who is also a great Gamer than try to prove something (utter fail) in a one off game. Don't get yourself involved in my Friday night game. I will appreciate that sincerely. Like I said the top gamers will have the opportunity to square off when it really matters on Sunday. I'm not by any means saying I will be one of those. I'm going to have a fun time and have no interest in playing in a game that proves nothing.

G

I'm just looking forward to Dash and Stelek playing- I've become a better player just from reading YTTH, but lately the posts are mostly drama, and the tactics discussions rare. I think he doesn't give Orks a fair shake... and I hope Dash can demonstrate that aptly : )

Looking forward to the event- any time I get to play against players outside of my little pond is always a learning experience.

Im sure you will do well.

: )

G

Mike Clark's comment is the best of them.

Stelek and Dash independently agreed to a game, and went so far as to promise the best of behavior ... a great time, a great game. Should be fun, people are looking forward to seeing it.

While I've done my best to schedule a few intriguing matches, I want people to have FUN ... that's their right, and the whole darned reason for the entire tournament.

Heck, we sold out multiple times, yet I've spent hundreds of hours constantly trying to add more and more for people whose money I already have ... at this point, if BBF wants to play out of the podcastery limelight and with a buddy who lives in another area altogether, more power to him ... Hulk and Danny Internets are looking forward to playing each other, and it should be a great game.

So should Dash v Stelek

I like the convo, I like the lil bits of contention, but I'm glad that everyone's kept it in check, too ... the "World" needs to see more of the reality that everyone gets a little over the top on the internet from time to time, and most of these "competitive" players are just as solid on the personality front in person.

mikhaila wrote:I can easily see whay someone might not want to play a game that "the entire 40k community wants to see". If someone doesn't want to be in a 'celebrity match', then there's really no reason they should be encouraged to play. It's a 40k tournament, not entertainment for the internet.

There is a tournament, but the night before isn't part of the tournament. BBF was eager to play me in his well publicized blog "Everyone knows Dash is a cheater, but I'll play him if we can have a judge...." so I don't buy that he's looking for a friendly game after starting that drama. I've got a match against Stelek that involves professional disagreement without any personal drama; not sure why BBF would turn down a better matchup without any drama in it except for the aforementioned reasons.

Dashofpepper wrote:*clicks unblock to respond*

BBF:

Hulksmash is an easygoing, laid back California hippie. He's got nothing to prove, is an established superior player, and despite accusations to the contrary, he doesn't run a netlist; he runs a very personalized flavor of daemons, Orks, and Space Wolves. This is the guy who wears a shirt that has a picture of his avatar that says, "Sportsmanship FTW." He lets his opponent determine models under templates, whether things are in range....he lets his opponents cheat if they want to because he's simply that good that it doesn't matter. He still wins. I can't beat him, although I haven't resorted to cheating to try yet. My next effort is going to be to get him drunk. Then turn him in circles, put a blindfold on him, and make him play with a 250 point deficiency.

There is zero chance of there being drama in your game unless you create it. There is zero chance of him having a bad weekend if he loses the game. If you aren't stable enough to have a game without pitching a fit, or not letting your issues with him on the forum get in the way of having a fun game, or if getting stomped in a game is going to ruin your game, then that's fine; but I can promise that if you keep yourself in check, you two will not have any issues. A *LOT* of people are looking forward to a game between you two. frgsinwntr didn't know you were lined up for a celebrity match, but has been messaging me about Tau stuff; he'd rather see you play Hulk. So would the entirety of the 40k community.

Just relax. Have a good time. Have a couple of beers beforehand. And during. And after. Don't get personal. Roll dice and have a good time. The fact that its Hulksmash across the table from you should mean nothing except that its what people want to see.

Although I think I was lined up with BBF first... asked him like a month and a half ago lol.

I'll play Hulk smash afterwards

Turns out I "kinda" know what I am doing with this game.

I kinda like BBF vs. Frgs, and Hulk vs. Danny ... refer to my top-of-this-page post, though.

If someone doesn't want to play a game, I'm not going to make them natch. Planning this tournament and constantly trying to give people more with it has been an ENORMOUS amount of work.

No particular interest in going completely against nature and forcing someone into an uncomfortable situation before the tourney even starts

MVBrandt wrote:I kinda like BBF vs. Frgs, and Hulk vs. Danny ... refer to my top-of-this-page post, though.

If someone doesn't want to play a game, I'm not going to make them natch. Planning this tournament and constantly trying to give people more with it has been an ENORMOUS amount of work.

No particular interest in going completely against nature and forcing someone into an uncomfortable situation before the tourney even starts

W00T!

Danny is a good player. Kinda wish i could rematch him since my ardboys situation vs him wasn't the best test of skill vs him.

More power to hte people who think they can keep it friendly in any highly publicized attention laden match. We will see how these turn out. Like I said I am coming up to have a fun time, not participate in any grudge/death matches. I did at one time challenge Hulksmash but he never responded and since then there has been some exchanges on the forums that have turned me off to the idea.

G

I'll play anyone. And I've told Mike over and over again I'll play anyone who wants to get a game in that night. I'm just looking forward to meeting people in person and rolling dice

Besides I'm more than likely going to be drunk by the time we start anyway since it'll be after happy hour

@BBF

You never challenged me man. Mike asked me if I'd be down to play you and I responded sure. That's the only thing I've heard. Heck I heard very round about that I'm playing Danny now. Which is totally cool with me We've had our exchanges over tournament structures and such but I think a game against him will be great. Plus I've heard he rocks it up so I can probably learn a new trick or two (or twelve ). Only way to get better is to play people better than me.

I stopped paying attention to this a while back when work took over my life, but now I come back to see that all kinds of interesting developments have sprung up!

Ah man, I wish I could make this event.

Well, good luck to everyone, I hope team Dakka slays all before them. I will be participating in a Triathlon that weekend, so no plastic army men for me.

Would someone be kind enough to take pictures and do a BatReps on the celebrity matches?

I'll do you one better. The Gamers Lounge and 11th Company podcasts will both be there with HD vidcams, podcasting gear and a "sportscast" style mandate.

Danny is a good player. Kinda wish i could rematch him since my ardboys situation vs him wasn't the best test of skill vs him.

I'm not sure what time open gaming starts/ends, but if we both finish early enough I'd love to get a re-match without a crazy scenario.

Plus I've heard he rocks it up so I can probably learn a new trick or two (or twelve ). Only way to get better is to play people better than me.

I appreciate the compliments, but I fully expect to receive a gentlemenly ass-kicking. That's not to say I'm not looking forward to it, though!

Dashofpepper wrote:

mikhaila wrote:I can easily see whay someone might not want to play a game that "the entire 40k community wants to see". If someone doesn't want to be in a 'celebrity match', then there's really no reason they should be encouraged to play. It's a 40k tournament, not entertainment for the internet.

There is a tournament, but the night before isn't part of the tournament. BBF was eager to play me in his well publicized blog "Everyone knows Dash is a cheater, but I'll play him if we can have a judge...." so I don't buy that he's looking for a friendly game after starting that drama. I've got a match against Stelek that involves professional disagreement without any personal drama; not sure why BBF would turn down a better matchup without any drama in it except for the aforementioned reasons.

My feelings Dash... you step on them so easily! I thought we had a game lined up as well?

Don't tell me the Orks are running tails-between-their-legs from the Thousand sons?

Also, @Hulk, I'll take you on Before/After my Dash match if you are willing. The way things are looking, I will probably still have a good deal of Absinthe left, we should play a "Shot" points game (its like kill points, with shots of Absinthe)

I am looking forward to this event!
~DAR

Please save me the headache and don't make a huge visible deal of drinking outside beverages when in the hotel that wants us to buy from their cash bar fellow. I will say no more on the subject.

Daemon-Archon Ren wrote:

Dashofpepper wrote:

mikhaila wrote:I can easily see whay someone might not want to play a game that "the entire 40k community wants to see". If someone doesn't want to be in a 'celebrity match', then there's really no reason they should be encouraged to play. It's a 40k tournament, not entertainment for the internet.

There is a tournament, but the night before isn't part of the tournament. BBF was eager to play me in his well publicized blog "Everyone knows Dash is a cheater, but I'll play him if we can have a judge...." so I don't buy that he's looking for a friendly game after starting that drama. I've got a match against Stelek that involves professional disagreement without any personal drama; not sure why BBF would turn down a better matchup without any drama in it except for the aforementioned reasons.

My feelings Dash... you step on them so easily! I thought we had a game lined up as well?

Don't tell me the Orks are running tails-between-their-legs from the Thousand sons?

Also, @Hulk, I'll take you on Before/After my Dash match if you are willing. The way things are looking, I will probably still have a good deal of Absinthe left, we should play a "Shot" points game (its like kill points, with shots of Absinthe)

I am looking forward to this event!
~DAR

Wait wait wait....was I promised booze in exchange for a 40k match? I don't remember this!!

*EDIT*

Maybe I should change the Pink Waaagh! to "The Pink Waa*hiccup*" Or, "The Pink Drunken Orkgy" or "The Pink Drunks" or "Int-ork-xicated Assault" or something.

Please save me the headache and don't make a huge visible deal of drinking outside beverages when in the hotel that wants us to buy from their cash bar fellow. I will say no more on the subject.

Oh, make no mistake, I plan on buying gallons of drinks from the bar, I'll even let the bartender/hotel manager know whats going on ahead of time. You can't buy Absinthe in the states (therefor, the bar can SELL Absinthe) and for those reasons, bars typically do not care if you bring your own, pretty much same deal with everclear and basically anything 65%+ in VA (since ABC doesn't sell anything higher then that in our state). I have no intention of taking sales away from the bar

Wait wait wait....was I promised booze in exchange for a 40k match? I don't remember this!!

yes, Originally I was going to bring steaks, but then we were told no outside food stuffs, then I was going to bring booze, but then happy hour happened and outside booze (to an extent) was barred. However, there is nothing that says I can't bring you the bottle I promised and you can just drink it later (after happy-hour/last call for instance).

I will also be bringing Caffine Pills/other means of fighting the 'sleep monster' for anyone worried they will not be able to be up all night drinking/gaming and still able to compete in the morning!

That's hte spirit !!

G

While I think the idea of "matchups" can be good - or may be an utter fiasco - I kinda like the idea overall.

Next year you should have people contribute to the matchups and donate the money to a charity or something - Nova Charity Celebrity Death Match.

and if (when) Dash hands Stelek his behind on a platter - someone PLEASE buy the man a lot of alcohol and pat him on the back. Although the fact that Stelek would put his "unbeaten" record on the line in the public eye I actually find pretty ballsy of him, which I respect.

Stelek will not lose.

G

Next year you should have people contribute to the matchups and donate the money to a charity or something - Nova Charity Celebrity Death Match.

Brilliant! But I think the charity should be gaming related in some way... Here's one, I have no idea if it is any good...

http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

Three 40k slots are all that's left of the 96.

Black Blow Fly wrote:Stelek will not lose.

G

You are such a [MOD EDIT: NO PERSONAL ATTACKS! SERIOUSLY!]

Dodiez wrote:

Black Blow Fly wrote:Stelek will not lose.

G

You are such a [MOD EDIT: NO PERSONAL ATTACKS! SERIOUSLY!]

Even if she's telling the truth?

IMO it doesnt matter if(when) Dash beats Salek. If (when) he does, it will merely make my victory all the more satisfying!

Well, there's a chance that I might be in D.C. for longer than just the weekend of the GT.

Then we can play 40k whenever!

I just asked at the casino down the street what the line was for Dash vs. Stelek and they looked at me like I was crazy...

Looking forward to the reports, sounds like a great event all around that I would love to be able to attend next year.

Some well-known bloggers and posters who subjected themselves to the idea of being live video podcast (u-stream) and recorded in all sorts of ways while throwing dice around during Friday Night's Whiskey Challenge open gaming / cash bar event.

http://whiskey40k.blogspot.com/2010/08/whiskey-challenge-friday-night.html

Oh, and .... about 2-4 spots left ... varies by the day as last waitlistees decide whether they can come or not.

Sorry if its been mentioned, but are the Whiskey challenges going to be using the same lists for the rest of the tourney?

Looking forward to reading/listening to the batreps!

Dashofpepper wrote:Well, there's a chance that I might be in D.C. for longer than just the weekend of the GT.

Then we can play 40k whenever!

Now you know... you are going to HAVE to explain this one!

I'll play one of you internet tough guys (ITG).

I'll be busy setting crap up during the day, but should be available for a game in the evening.

My army is up to you. 'Optimized' Wolves, or 'Optimized' demons. Demons are fun to play with/against, and games go incredibly quick.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ohh, I have dOrks too.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Is Mike playing? He is our local super star - you guys need to be challenging him!

Super Star?

Quit yo jibba jabba!

I'm just a harmless tournament organizer.

MVBrandt,


I'm quite sorry that I haven't noticed this thread until now. I'm very tempted to read through all 18 pages to get up to speed, but unfortunately I don't have the time at this very moment to do so...perhaps later.


Anyway, I want to applaud you again for running such a cool tournament. It contains many rules/elements for a tournament that I've thought would be great to utilize for a while along with many other concepts I've never considered but sound fantastic and inventive. So kudos to you!

I would love to attend (obviously not this year), although finding the justification to fly cross-country for a 2nd 40K tournament a year might be a little hard for me to come up with, but if I was going to add something beyond Adepticon to travel to, I think this is definitely the tournament I would want to attend.

However, I have a few questions regarding the fundamental structure of the tournament that I'd love to get your perspective on. If these questions have already been brought up and answered before somewhere in this gigantor thread, please feel free to simply direct me to the page you answered them (assuming you can even find/remember the page, if you know you answered them but can't remember the page just let me know and I'll get dig into the thread and try to find your response). Also, if you don't have the time to answer these questions due to the prep required for the tournie, don't sweat it!

Anyway, here goes:

I think you'd probably agree with me that the most important thing for a miniature gaming tournament, besides deciding a winner, is to make an enjoyable event for as many people as possible. While I absolutely love the concept of the pure win-loss format coupled with the 'bracket-style' pairings to absolutely determine one true winner, are you at all concerned that doing so will effectively make much of the overall tournament experience for the majority of the attendees less enjoyable?

In a typical tournament that uses some sort of point-spread system, players are able to weather an early loss or a couple of draws a long the way with the knowledge that they may still be able to win the tournament by pulling off a few major victories later. Even so, most large tournaments start to suffer a drop-off in later rounds as players who realize they have no shot to win the whole thing decide to cut their losses and call it a day.

In your tournament (if I understand it correctly), after the first round half of the field knows without a shadow of a doubt that they have absolutely no shot at winning it. After round two, 3/4 of the field knows this, etc. Considering the 'pure' nature of your scoring system, I think it is safe to say that your tournament will draw a high percentage of players who are coming really hoping/believing that they have a shot to win the whole thing, and I'm curious if after the first round when half the field is effectively 'done', if there will be kind of a massive deflating feeling amongst the 'lower half' that are out of it and perhaps even a higher percentage of drop-outs than most tournaments?

I know you're going to offer prizes throughout the tournament and there are other goals to shoot for besides the 'top 4' spots, and that any good 40K player worth his salt ( ) should enjoy playing games of 40K even when he's out of the running...but the reality is that many players are grumpy losers and having a bad draw in game 1 and getting effectively eliminated in the first round may be kind of a rude awakening to players who are used to playing in tournaments where they still have a shot (or the belief that they still have a shot) no matter what happens in their first game.

If this kind of deflation and/or high level of drop-outs does occur after the first/second rounds I honestly wonder if this style of tournament despite being very cool on paper (and most excellent for determining a 'true' champion) might possibly fail at the other goal of providing a fun event for as many players as possible?

I could be totally and completely off base on this, but it occurred to me while reading a bit about the rules for your tourney, so I thought I'd mention it and see what your thoughts were.


Another point kind of related to the first one, I think we can all agree that 40K results often depend on the type of army draws a player gets. There is always the chance that you can draw the 'kryptonite' anti-army build to your army and really be hard pressed not to get obliterated in that game. With the tourney structure of the NOVA, it seems like this 'bad draw' concept would actually be heightened, because if you do end up facing your army's 'kryptonite' it essentially puts you completely out of the running, whereas in a more traditional tournament scoring system if you have one bad game you can sometimes make up for it with dominating performances in other games.

Obviously there is always the problem in a traditional tournament scoring system that a player can get 'big wins' against easy opponents/good army match-ups and then 'coast' into an overall tournament victory while getting very tight wins/losses against quality opponents in the later rounds...which is obviously what your system is trying to combat, but I wonder if perhaps you aren't throwing the baby out with the bathwater a bit?

I honestly don't know what or if there is a good solution to this issue within the constraints that tournaments operate under (limited number of games due to time concerns). While I really like the W/L and bracket system, perhaps if you were to make the tournament a true two-day experience for everyone (I know you want to in the future) and assign a bit more weight to the final games played. So the first couple of games played a win would be worth '1 point', the 3-4 games a win would be worth '2 points', the 5-6 games a win would be worth '3 points' (along with some sort of tie-breaker points built into the missions in the case of an overall tournament tie).

Obviously this structure wouldn't provide a 'true' winner like your system will, and I guess players could purposely try to lose the first two games in order to try to 'backdoor' a tournament win (assuming someone doesn't win every game, of course), but still, such a format could still use the bracket system and would also allow players to not feel like they're out of it if they lose their first couple of games or get one bad match-up early on.


Anyway, those are some of the rambling thoughts I had when reading about your tourney, so thanks for taking the time to read them, and again, if someone else has brought up something similar earlier in the thread, feel free to point me to your answer there rather than wasting your time responding again.

And best of luck with your fantastic event!

3 x 40k spots left due to last second drops off the wait list

Was sold out, so ...

MVBrandt wrote:3 x 40k spots left due to last second drops off the wait list

Was sold out, so ...

Very tempting...sadly I just checked and it looks like it would cost $800+ dollars in airfare at this (very) late date!

Interesting points, yakface! I think the only thing that keeps this from being pure NCAA March-Madness awesomeness is that it's impossible to seed the first round. Maybe the best opponents will end up facing one another! But I think it's a cool idea and well worth trying out

I'll chime in, if I may. I get the feeling that the people that signed up for this tourney know exactly what they are signing up for. I sure do. If I were to lose in the first round so be it, I'll still get 3 other games in + get to see DC on Sunday. I think there are going to be some of the best players from the east coast showing up, so I don't even really expect to get far anyway.

That's just my 2cents.
GG

Yakface,

I have a couple of items to provide you feedback with; some of this has been addressed, but it doesn't hurt to reply again!


In regard to the several paragraphs addressing "deflation" and people losing their interest after a loss ...


1) The Best Overall for our event is actually more forgiving than ... well, as far as I know, any other GT in the country as far as losing games is concerned. The name of the award is "Renaissance Man," and is the first Vegas Qual we award. The composition of its total is 33% based upon Competitive Rating, 33% based upon Appearance Score, and 33% based upon Sportsmanship Score. Since we also use a Sports Score that "averages" a 50%, this places the majority of emphasis for this award upon Appearance and Sports. It's entirely possible to ace sports, have a strong appearance score, and go 2-2 ... and win it.

2) The top 2 3-1 finishers advance to day 2

3) Every loss nets your name in a hat, and it grows exponentially. In short, if you start 0-1, you get a copy of your name in a box. If you go 0-2, you get 2 more copies of your name added, etc.; random draw prizes are the majority of our prize value, and these go to those players

4) Most of what you say is true - the average 40k player should not be focused on WAAC, and I think most aren't; the emphasis we've placed on equal prize and major prize / trophy award for non-competitive scores (Ren Man/Overall, Sports, Army, Mini, Converted Mini) hopefully defrays the compeittive edge somewhat

5) The "goal" here was to create a format within which all 3 player types could "best" compete ... A trio of appearance-only awards, a series of purely competitive awards, and an overall that values sportsmanship, appearance, and competitiveness equally (instead of your typical scenario where the Best Overall is really just 70-80% battle points moderated by sports that everyone or almost everyone maxes, and painting).


As far as Battle Points and recovering from a minor loss ... well, no, not really. In general, this becomes a fundamental thing. If Duke is edged out by Mason in an upset, should Duke get "rebuttals" in the tournament? Should you be "nice" to the Duke fans and keep them excited for their team? I would contend "no," that on the purely competitive front of the event, you need to acknowledge that a loss is a loss, and if some people go undefeated, you shouldn't be able to "massacre" your way back over them.

To wit, it is a common FAILURE in tournaments these days that players will go through an entire 3, or 5, or 7 rounds WITHOUT a loss, but with numerous close wins over tough opponents while others LOSE or DRAW games but then massacre easier draws or better match-ups for their armies and "win" the event ... I know Hulksmash can quote numerous examples from just this year.

While it's all nice and cuddly to encourage players to game the Battle Point system by taking "rock" armies that hope for strong match-ups, I think it actually encourages a "nastier" game play. In practice, the NOVA Open's missions - and we've got about 1,100 stress test games from all over the world collated by now - encourage close games that are forced down to tiebreakers and 2nd tiebreakers on a regular basis. The kind of missions where massacres are more difficult, and where a close game is not punished - the battle point system does this. Close games become draws, or bare wins, which actively punish BOTH players in a larger tournament field. The larger the field, the more pronounced the phenomenon.

I can address this from personal experience even - at Adepticon this year, I went 3-0 against three tough opponents, with no massacres / full points wins. Two gunline guard players with "leafblowerish" edges (hydras, ordnance, psyker battle squads, lots of chimeras, vendettas, etc.) and one razorback/thunderwolf player ... all of them great opponents, I enjoyed my time. I finished 7th in Blue, 9th overall. I watched someone ... equally undefeated, but who had 3 "arguably" easier draws go up and take the gold.

This isn't a knock on the person who won, but a knock on a system that arbitrarily awarded a "best" out of a large number of undefeateds. I don't think this is Adepticon's fault ... there was hardly time for a more definitive evaluation, but the question becomes - what do you value more? Trying to keep people interested with a format that explicitly overturns the notion of undefeated being valuable, or being more innovative with your approach to ensuring that even those who have lost out on the "best general" equivalent remain at the event and continue to have fun?

I think it's a lazy / fallback option to stick with a system that attempts to arbitrarily quantify the "value" of a win in as small a field and test set as a tournament. No offense again at all, but the very fact that at Warcon someone was able to LOSE, and then come back and get to rebut the person that beat him ... strikes me as inappropriate. I don't intend to attempt to mandate "my" way on them or anyone else, but this is what we've come to with a lot of "global" feedback (and I do mean Global).

Lots of thoughts to digest, and there's a lot more discussion of this subject throughout this thread and on the Whiskey & 40k blog (http://whiskey40k.com)

To the related / different post ...

I don't believe 40k is a "kryptonite" game. I've gone out of my way to prove this personally over the years I've played, and others have as well. It's not, I personally dislike the notion that it is. Regardless, your problem is also my answer - "kryptonite" if it does exist is a completely random, and thus completely fair phenomenon. It is as likely that someone has a bad draw in one round as a super easy draw in the next, and there's where we get into our problem. If someone has a couple of easy draws where HE is the krytopnite, he can achieve an insurmountable lead in our current tournament battle point tradition. That is FAR more unfair than someone getting a BAD draw (IMO). Playing through to an undefeated for your BEST GENERAL ONLY, and having a loss be an eliminator from that SINGLE award, ensures that random draw / kryptonite is never an avenue by which a player gaming the system can simply overpower his way out of a minor loss or draw (which he forces against his own kryptonite by simply playing drawish or minor lossish, not hard to do when you "quantify" the value of a close game or loss) by massacring his "good" draws. A win is a win, a loss is a loss. Quantifying it with levels of victory and "dominant" performances or "poor" performances actively subjects your system to punishment by the kryptonite/bad draw you speak of.

Acknowledge what a tournament really is ... it's a small series of events over a very short time period where attempting to give people "rebuttals" absolutely demolishes the legitimacy of your approach. A tournament is NOT a league! 40k games don't take a short enough time to allow players a "series." Therefore, and I speak ONLY in reference to the "competitive" side ... you harm legitimacy the more "comeback" you offer people, and the more you attempt to stratify games. If you don't wish to donate the time or can't to establishing a clearcut winner, award ALL undefeated players equally (we do this on the first day). Frankly, the "upsets" are part of this ... you don't give the Colts another shot at the Saints simply b/c they were higher rated or massacred more opponents on their way to the Super Bowl (not that they did, mind you).



Furthermore, adopt the approach we take to Best Overall .... and make it a true best overall. By emphasizing appearance and sports more, and de-emphasizing competitiveness on that front ... ALL players have a shot at winning it really until nearly the last game. If you're 1-2 going into Round 4, you have a shot still. How? Better be a damned fine human being your whole way through with your chin up and your best attitude on, and better take some time to make your army look decent. Certainly notions I think we can ALL get behind.

What we're doing in the future is adding a 2nd day, where the brackets parse down into "fresh" starts - no matter how you do on the first day, you have a shot at some kind of glory on the 2nd. Literally a series of mini tournaments, where the first day becomes more of a way to "rank" you in a certain league (think A, AA, AAA, Majors). If you go 0-4 on day 1, you have a chance to be the best "D" level player at the tournament ... etc. We'll be possibly doing an impromptu version of it THIS year, depending on the Open gaming interest for day 2 ... we do have about 20-25 tables available for the 2nd day, we shelled out of pocket to get the collocated Holiday Inn.

It was a bizarre misstep in that we did not anticipate the kind of positive feedback and attendance we received ... and so we didn't have a full sized venue for Day 2. Next year we'll also be going "full convention," and adding a very wide range of "non competitive" events for people to participate in at all levels ... step 1 = NOVACALYPSE. Because I just have to call it that.



I actually would love further back and forth on this one, as these are just my off the cuffs, and off the cuffs become wonderfully more concrete and detailed with feedback and back-and-forth


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Yak - there are a couple of guys offering their double bed at the Holiday Inn to stay at ... and I reck'n I could help you find a better air rate ... let me know, I'm always happy to get more of the "big typers, big talkers" to attend ... increases cooperation, integration of our already small community, and positive feedback (or constructive criticism).

MVBrandt wrote:

Furthermore, adopt the approach we take to Best Overall .... and make it a true best overall. By emphasizing appearance and sports more, and de-emphasizing competitiveness on that front ... ALL players have a shot at winning it really until nearly the last game. If you're 1-2 going into Round 4, you have a shot still. How? Better be a damned fine human being your whole way through with your chin up and your best attitude on, and better take some time to make your army look decent. Certainly notions I think we can ALL get behind.

Ahh, I didn't know you had a Best Overall. I take it Best Overall = Renaissance Man...just a different name unique for the event?

Yup



The purpose was not to create a "purely" competitive event, only one where all competitors had a fair shot at proving the true "best for the event" (which is all a tournament proves ... you need a league with numerous match-ups to prove a best for the year ... and the best ever? Well, how long a career did it take Jordan or Gretzky or the Babe for those superlatives?).

We ALSO want a "True" best overall ... not just "prettiest best general" (which is what best overall is at most places). Equal balance to sports, appearance, gameskill.

ETc. etc.

Ref back to large essay in re: Yakface.

MVBrandt,

No offense could possibly be taken by your well reasoned and written response (and man you type fast)!

I first want to re-iterate that I believe of all the 40K tournament structures I have ever seen, what you are presenting absolutely most appeals to me. So any comments/criticisms I bring up are solely for the sake of inquisitiveness, rather than me trying to poke holes in what you're creating.

Furthermore, I am a really big proponent of the idea of there eventually being so many different types of 40K tournaments across the nation that players really feel like they have choices of attending events that speak to 'them'. Currently, most tournaments seem to follow roughly the same format, with only slight modifications to the scoring systems, which hopefully can and will start to change. My hope would be that more events perhaps may model themselves after what you're doing and hopefully even other wackier formats as well (although the wackier an event gets obviously the harder it can be to draw people interested in such things).

Anyway, you've answered most of my queries...for example I didn't know that the top two 3-1 finishers would advance to day two. I think what I originally read at the start of the thread indicated that only the 4-0 finishers would advance, but perhaps you've adjusted things or I simply didn't read closely enough.

Regardless, I think you're probably right that your copious prizes and generous 'overall' scoring will likely keep the interest of players who lose their early games, but ultimately I'd love to hear how you think that particular element of the tournament turns out after the fact, along with any details you can give about the level of drop-outs in round two and on.


Going back to your discussion about battle points vs. Win-Loss scoring, I completely agree with your sports analogies...that is the traditional way that sporting tournaments are run and those structures work perfectly fine. However, I would also contend that there are many other variations of tournaments that can absolutely be run that are 'fair', ranging from simple double-elimination and even tournaments that take into consideration in-game performance.

For example, the early stages of the World Cup makes goal differential (in-game performance) a major part of the tournament. Of course, ultimately the tournament climaxes with straight elimination matches, but my point is, the NFL or NCAA basketball tournament could start to include in-game performance as a determining factor and it wouldn't necessarily make the tournament unfair or imbalanced, just different.

Coming back to your experience at Adepticon last year, I think we can both agree that the amount of games vs. the amount of players in that tournament absolutely meant there was a major issue in terms of getting any kind of meaningful separation in the field. From what I've heard they're making changes so hopefully that will be better this year. But I digress, your point was that battle point scoring punishes close games and rewards lucky lopsided matchups. While I certainly agree that this absolutely can be true, hopefully if missions are well designed with a multitude of objectives that require different strengths in an army over the course of many games only the best players with a good army they know how to play can consistently accomplish most or all of the objectives. The fact that you finished 9th overall despite playing 3 tough/close games I think speaks well to that fact with ultimately the biggest issue being that they just did not enough games to get any real separation.

Obviously the more games you have to play, the less likely any player will get a lucky draw of favorable opposing army types and (again assuming the missions are well written) the player who consistently is able to achieve more of the mission objectives will rightly win the day. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that while the purist in me prefers the tournament you're running, I also don't have any problem at all with the 'different' challenge of a battle point tournament system, provided the missions provide enough diversity in scoring and there are enough games to even out some of the pairing anomalies.


Anyway, thanks for the offer to attend. I've done myself in for sure by waiting this long. There's no way at this point I could get the Friday off (I work at nights on Friday) and the airfare, even the one I'm sure you could find is still going to be a premium for a last second ticket.

But I'll look forward to reading about all the coverage and next year I will most certainly put strong consideration into attending.

yakface wrote:
MVBrandt,

No offense could possibly be taken by your well reasoned and written response (and man you type fast)!
I first want to re-iterate that I believe of all the 40K tournament structures I have ever seen, what you are presenting absolutely most appeals to me. So any comments/criticisms I bring up are solely for the sake of inquisitiveness, rather than me trying to poke holes in what you're creating.

Thanks man.

yakface wrote:Furthermore, I am a really big proponent of the idea of there eventually being so many different types of 40K tournaments across the nation that players really feel like they have choices of attending events that speak to 'them'. Currently, most tournaments seem to follow roughly the same format, with only slight modifications to the scoring systems, which hopefully can and will start to change. My hope would be that more events perhaps may model themselves after what you're doing and hopefully even other wackier formats as well (although the wackier an event gets obviously the harder it can be to draw people interested in such things).

I think you'll see a lot of people modeling after the Open's format ... I say that only b/c so many people have been contacting me asking for just that. This isn't "Mike's format," as it's far and away based upon the input of everyone who has offered intelligent constructive commentary. It has met hurdles, but almost all of them are soluble with deep thought and critical analysis ... people seem to just "kneejerk" to things that are different. Frankly, I think - with no real offense intended - that the original systems and tournaments were invented by people who lacked any real qualification to do so, and while it's honorable to carry on tradition, it's foolish not to try and improve things.

That said, I think a variety of tournament formats are fine ... my only irritation comes when there's no real deep thought applied to it. Composition, for instance, almost "obviously" (to me) punishes more casual players, and simply provides a new "game" for hardcore / power list builders to master and break. Yet, often you hear people make absurd claims that composition helps "fluffier" players. I feel the same way about other things, and just want tournament organizers to feel the incumbent responsibility they have to put forth their best possible effort.

yakface wrote:Anyway, you've answered most of my queries...for example I didn't know that the top two 3-1 finishers would advance to day two. I think what I originally read at the start of the thread indicated that only the 4-0 finishers would advance, but perhaps you've adjusted things or I simply didn't read closely enough.

Regardless, I think you're probably right that your copious prizes and generous 'overall' scoring will likely keep the interest of players who lose their early games, but ultimately I'd love to hear how you think that particular element of the tournament turns out after the fact, along with any details you can give about the level of drop-outs in round two and on.

It will be fascinating either way, I think; I'm sure there'll be a ton of after action, from me and ... well, everybody else. A material percentage of the 40k "blogosphere" is attending, feels like.

yakface wrote:Going back to your discussion about battle points vs. Win-Loss scoring, I completely agree with your sports analogies...that is the traditional way that sporting tournaments are run and those structures work perfectly fine. However, I would also contend that there are many other variations of tournaments that can absolutely be run that are 'fair', ranging from simple double-elimination and even tournaments that take into consideration in-game performance.

For example, the early stages of the World Cup makes goal differential (in-game performance) a major part of the tournament. Of course, ultimately the tournament climaxes with straight elimination matches, but my point is, the NFL or NCAA basketball tournament could start to include in-game performance as a determining factor and it wouldn't necessarily make the tournament unfair or imbalanced, just different.

There are certainly major tournaments that are run differently, but I don't think that changes their fundamental flaws when they are ... well, fundamentally flawed. The BCS for College Football is horrific in a competitive sense. There's no "mystery" here ... the rationale has more to do with class schedules, money, and other factors than it does with delivering a "fair" evaluation of who the best team is. Therein lies the point - if you have extraneous variables that make it IMPOSSIBLE (or improbable) to have a "best" format, you do what you can ... you don't just sit on a subpar approach and go "well, other tournaments do it differently!"

I think with the World Cup, you see something that can't be done in a 40k tournament, but that we're thinking of doing for the NOVA Invitational next year ... i.e. having top qualifiers from tournaments around the country "round robin" each other for the actual qualifier (was one of a billion ideas being tossed about right now). Again, that happens to be my point - you should not use a format that is untenable for a "Warhammer/Warhammer40k Tournament," if your defense is that a tournament with a far different space of time / format in which to execute it exists. To wit, you can't round robin the field down off a 40k tournament for a week, before moving the best performers onto a single elim series. Trying to do "half" of that, where in-game performance actually is allowed to matter in a tiny 4-7 game test sample, and where you can recover from a loss ... well, terrific misapplication of a format to a situation in which it doesn't work.

yakface wrote:Coming back to your experience at Adepticon last year, I think we can both agree that the amount of games vs. the amount of players in that tournament absolutely meant there was a major issue in terms of getting any kind of meaningful separation in the field. From what I've heard they're making changes so hopefully that will be better this year. But I digress, your point was that battle point scoring punishes close games and rewards lucky lopsided matchups. While I certainly agree that this absolutely can be true, hopefully if missions are well designed with a multitude of objectives that require different strengths in an army over the course of many games only the best players with a good army they know how to play can consistently accomplish most or all of the objectives. The fact that you finished 9th overall despite playing 3 tough/close games I think speaks well to that fact with ultimately the biggest issue being that they just did not enough games to get any real separation.

I think the problem I have is in evaluating any game. I would strongly argue that someone running over a Necron player didn't perform better than someone barely beating a leafblower. It shouldn't matter, b/c there's no establishment of seeding prior to the tournament, or list caliber, or anything, and so there's no capacity to evaluate the "strength" of a win. If you could establish a fair and accurate pre-tournament seeding, and then apply a player's seeding mathematically to the strength of win ... you'd start to have something ... but you can't. So you shouldn't try to involve strength of win at all.

My issue comes when someone can lose a game, and come back and beat people who didn't lose games. The argument is made that "well, he had more quality wins, and simply drew an unlucky match-up." Well, either his list wasn't good enough to handle all comers, or the missions weren't properly designed, or ... any number of arguments, none of which address the simple fact that he lost, yet was awarded over someone or someones who didn't. In a very small sample set tournament (and 7 game is a small sample set), there's not a "fair" way to evaluate if you're not rewarding people who haven't lost. Scale of victory is inherently flawed over that small a section (and some would argue, at all in 40k).

yakface wrote:Obviously the more games you have to play, the less likely any player will get a lucky draw of favorable opposing army types and (again assuming the missions are well written) the player who consistently is able to achieve more of the mission objectives will rightly win the day. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that while the purist in me prefers the tournament you're running, I also don't have any problem at all with the 'different' challenge of a battle point tournament system, provided the missions provide enough diversity in scoring and there are enough games to even out some of the pairing anomalies.

I don't think the battle point system is so much a challenge, as it is flawed. I have no problem with "other" approaches, but I can't see battle points being right, *UNLESS* they are simply used as a seeding process during rounds. That actually makes sense (heck, it's what we do, basically) ... have your primaries each round be well-designed, and never "tied." After that, establish the seeding of a player in each round based upon how many battle points he scored off the primary/secondary/tertiary/quadrupilary/whatever. Poof, you retain battle points and the evaluation of "strength" of win / performance, but you also maintain the integrity required in a small-game#-format of "a win is a win, and a loss is the clearest way to establish brackets and separation."

I don't want to get into a big "vs. match" with old school traditional systems and a newer style, but I do want people who run their systems to really give deep thought to why. Furthermore, I think Battle Points and coming back from losses on the "best general" front are at their heart traditions that are continued b/c a) they're established / it's easy to convince people to play, and b) they give the appearance/feel of being "in it" after losses ... I think innovative thought and approaches can BETTER address both of those, while retaining more integrity with the actual competitive evaluation inherent to a system.

Just my $.02, but at least I can rest easy knowing I've put enormous amounts of thought (while taking enormous amounts of input) into the system I run, instead of just "winging" it and hoping my creative over-detailed "3 mission + 3 bonus point + random other stuff" systems work.

Anyway, thanks for the offer to attend. I've done myself in for sure by waiting this long. There's no way at this point I could get the Friday off (I work at nights on Friday) and the airfare, even the one I'm sure you could find is still going to be a premium for a last second ticket.

But I'll look forward to reading about all the coverage and next year I will most certainly put strong consideration into attending.

I look forward to it

MVBrandt wrote:I don't want to get into a big "vs. match" with old school traditional systems and a newer style, but I do want people who run their systems to really give deep thought to why. Furthermore, I think Battle Points and coming back from losses on the "best general" front are at their heart traditions that are continued b/c a) they're established / it's easy to convince people to play, and b) they give the appearance/feel of being "in it" after losses ... I think innovative thought and approaches can BETTER address both of those, while retaining more integrity with the actual competitive evaluation inherent to a system.

I'd offer one more: c) battle points can create separation, in events where pure win/loss cannot be run to completion. For any event with fewer rounds (and/or more people) than you're managing at the Open, something must be used to separate the undefeated players at the end of the day (or else you simply drop the idea of finding a Best General, something organizers and players are loathe to do). In a large field, there is no "coming back" from a loss, or even a minor win, and I don't believe that is a factor in, say, Adepticon's mission design for the Championships - Battle Points are used there solely to distinguish between players who won all their games. (Funny side note: battle points are theoretically unnecessary at the Team Tournament, as the combined 8 games IS enough to run a single-elimination format, but the "play 2 games simultaneously" nature of the event breaks the system - 2 "undefeated" teams can win one & lose one in the same round.)

Actually, interesting you should bring that up.

We DO create separation with our format, using de facto battle points ... it's not as if they aren't there.

Further, I strongly encourage tournaments that can't evaluate down to a single ... to reward EVERY undefeated finisher with equivalent prize/trophy support as a "Top General," or "Tournament Ace," etc., even if you have to use the battle points to arbitrarily nominate ONE of them as your Vegas ticket recipient. Far better than punishing people for not MURDERING opponents harder, or getting easier draws.

In the Open, your rating is always Win%x10 + Goal1% + Goal2% + Goal3%, with the goals always being the primary/2ndary/tertiary. As such, they actually work just like battle points on a seeding front - the more of them you accomplish, the better your rating / seed. So you can still evaluate a "best" from a smaller field.

How you reward the undefeateds at the end of the day is up to you ... I personally find it unconscionable to randomly award just one of them, for all of the reasons already discussed.

MVBrandt wrote:Actually, interesting you should bring that up.

We DO create separation with our format, using de facto battle points ... it's not as if they aren't there.

Further, I strongly encourage tournaments that can't evaluate down to a single ... to reward EVERY undefeated finisher with equivalent prize/trophy support as a "Top General," or "Tournament Ace," etc., even if you have to use the battle points to arbitrarily nominate ONE of them as your Vegas ticket recipient. Far better than punishing people for not MURDERING opponents harder, or getting easier draws.

In the Open, your rating is always Win%x10 + Goal1% + Goal2% + Goal3%, with the goals always being the primary/2ndary/tertiary. As such, they actually work just like battle points on a seeding front - the more of them you accomplish, the better your rating / seed. So you can still evaluate a "best" from a smaller field.

How you reward the undefeateds at the end of the day is up to you ... I personally find it unconscionable to randomly award just one of them, for all of the reasons already discussed.

As you note, the Open is using BPs for *seeding*, where a BP-oriented tournament uses them for both seeding AND separation. I like your format; I just don't see how to apply it to (for example) Adepticon's 110-player 3-round "Championships," and achieve anything like a definitive outcome. After 3 rounds, there are going to be 13-14 "undefeated" players.

I agree with Yakface that good mission design rewards players for achieving multiple goals within a game (this year's Championship missions, particularly Mission 1, failed on that front, in my opinion). Rather than rewarding overwhelming performance in one area of play (e.g., "MURDERING opponents harder"), a good Battle Point mission will award points for, e.g., KPs (or VPs), plus objective-claiming, plus advantageous battlefield positioning. "Easier draws" is an essentially unsolvable problem, this side of playing everyone at least once (and maybe not then, if people showed up with more of one army than another).

I really like your "Best Overall" approach.

Glad you do.

Re: the difference on battle points, seeding IS separation.

If someone wins all primaries in a battle point only tournament, and someone else wins all primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries ... the "else" is going to have more points than the primary-winner-only, but they'll both be undefeated ...

Similar to someone tanking his seed score by barely accomplishing any of his goals, but barely winning each game ... vs. someone who maxes objectives/quarters/vp in every game.

The numbers will look different, but it is in practice IDENTICAL to battle points if you're forced to select between multiple undefeateds.

I vote that we create a league of TOs, call it the "Galactic Council of People Who Bring Us Fun" and elect Mike as the Chairman.

Just kidding.

But seriously, its good to see your ideas promulgating throughout the 40k world.

Heh, stay at just kidding. I'm happy to spend time collating input and creating what I believe are quality tournament formats and quality tournaments, but I think I've generally avoided the big red targeter of e-hate.

Make me (or anybody) the chairman of a tournament council?

Ho boy ... that person's e-life would go to hell in a big damned hurry.

MVBrandt wrote:Yup



The purpose was not to create a "purely" competitive event, only one where all competitors had a fair shot at proving the true "best for the event" (which is all a tournament proves ... you need a league with numerous match-ups to prove a best for the year ... and the best ever? Well, how long a career did it take Jordan or Gretzky or the Babe for those superlatives?).

We ALSO want a "True" best overall ... not just "prettiest best general" (which is what best overall is at most places). Equal balance to sports, appearance, gameskill.

Well, this certainly piques my interest for next year (This year would have been impossible). As long as there are pretty armies to ooh/aah over, considering how well planned out this event seems to be....I think I could talk my wife into two major gaming events a year...so I hope there is a follow up Nova!

My army will unfortunately be a bit less pretty than others there, I'm sure (painting what seems like a brazillion orks right now- dakka is my break time!) but I'm definitely looking forward to trying out this tourney format.

See you all on the battle field!

Anyone going down from Boston and interested in car pooling? Could save some money.

Will there be an effort to not pair friends and club members from the same area at least for round 1? Is less then stellar to be traveling all the way from NJ to play one my friends round 1 that I can play any weekend. I understand if its later in the tournament because we have the same battle points though.

Just finished my single minature/conversion piece:



Come say hi if you see this model or anything that looks like it (my army all looks this color scheme). Hopefully meet some dakkaites while im VA.

No one should be playing friends in the first round. We random paired, but prevented same state from playing each other. This was easy enough to do, due to the absurdly wide range of attendee origin.

I consider anyone with Dice and an Army a friend of mine! That doesn't mean I will hold back in a competition against friends however!

Btw, I plan on having a Tally sheet for all the SCs I claim in this tourny!

I have it on good authority that Mike has LOADED DICE!! =p

I used his union jack and confederate dice today during a practice game (Necron vs Mech IG) and my wraiths passed about....15/17 3+ invulnerable saves, and made all WBB rolls (one had to teleport through monolith for a second WBB.

I'm totally stealing his dice for this weekend! Necrons FTW!

Any tournament encounters late drops ... please feel free to show up if you are a local and missed getting in, and see if you can attend last second / if someone drops.

- Mike B

*Curses moving date once again...*

Looks like a large number of Dakka-ites are incoming! I'll also be hoping to attend next year, since I'm in the area and will have planned ahead for it this time next year, like I did for GamesDay this year.

Have fun, fellas!

RiTides wrote:*Curses moving date once again...*

Looks like a large number of Dakka-ites are incoming! I'll also be hoping to attend next year, since I'm in the area and will have planned ahead for it this time next year, like I did for GamesDay this year.

Have fun, fellas!

I heard that next year there are going to be bikini-clad chicks toting round numbers around!

Fly out tonight. I'll see all you'se bastards at the Challenge or the Tourney. If you see me say Hi Dakkites

It'll either be Blue Robe/White Armor Space Marines w/7 Razorbacks or a Red/White Adeptus Mechanicus Counts-As Daemon Army w/4 Speeder Storms. You see someone running that it's me

Hulksmash wrote:Fly out tonight. I'll see all you'se bastards at the Challenge or the Tourney. If you see me say Hi Dakkites

It'll either be Blue Robe/White Armor Space Marines w/7 Razorbacks or a Red/White Adeptus Mechanicus Counts-As Daemon Army w/4 Speeder Storms. You see someone running that it's me

Or if he's wearing a shirt that says HULKSMASH on the front with a picture of his avatar.

I'll be pimping my Dashofpepper shirt.

I don't know which day I'm wearing mine. Friday night fights or the tournament on Saturday. Another thing I'll decide tomorrow Just like which army I'm playing. Nothing says nerdy gamer like bringing 2 armies across the country

Good luck everyone, I hope everyone has a great time!

Hope to put some faces to the DAKKA handles.

GG

Are the matches going to be broadcast live still? Would be interesting to see that in action (I think that's a first?).

If so, is there a link?

Hulksmash wrote:I don't know which day I'm wearing mine. Friday night fights or the tournament on Saturday. Another thing I'll decide tomorrow Just like which army I'm playing. Nothing says nerdy gamer like bringing 2 armies across the country

That's why I have.....TWOOOOOOO Dashofpepper shirts!!!!

Just for added confusion, I'll be wearing MY Dashofpepper shirt on Friday!

Well, maybe not... but I will be pulling for Dash as he demonstrates Orks aren't third tier/noncompetitive/blah blah.

How about wearing this shirt:

From the Gamers' Lounge guys ...


Friday, August 13 at 8:00pm the NOVA Open live broadcast will open up to the internet and we hope to see you in the chat room! Preparations have been underway and we at the Gamers Lounge are excited to be hosting this broadcast from the Friday night gaming activities. We will be interviewing the players in the Whiskey Challenge, getting thier insights, and tracking how their games go. Who are these players and what is the Whiskey Challenge you ask?

Andrew Sutton (Stelek, Yes the Truth Hurts) vs. Justin Hilderbrandt (Dash of Pepper, Dakka poster)
John Steele (St. John, Three Plus Save blog; YTTH co-author on occasion) vs. Jeremy Chamblee (Chumbalaya, Blackjack and Hookers blog)
Tim Williamson (The Tau of War blog) vs. Chris Dubuque (Jawaballs)
Daniel Matulich (Danny Internets, Bald and Screaming blog) vs. Brad Townsend (Hulksmash, Dakka poster, Hulksmashstudios)

Then on Sunday, August 15 we will be broadcasting footage of the top table for the NOVA Open finals, the games that are determining who gets the "Vegas Golden Ticket"!

For those who can not participate in person this year, join us in the chatroom and take part in these parts of the events.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nova-open-live

Alright, getting up in 4.5 hours for a 10 hour drive to D.C., guess I better get to bed. See y'all tomorrow!

The UStream channel says that it opens up at 5 pm.
Which is correct?

Are you on the east coast or the west coast?

5pm here (West Coast) is 8 pm there.

Good luck to everyone! Wish I could have made it but too much on my plate this year. I'll have to come out with Hulk next year and see if I can't drag a few of the other Cali Dakkites with me.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the results of this!

Reecius, East Coast.

I'll be wearing a canvas-y jacket and most like will be smoking for a majority of the weekend, if that doesn't help you find me, I'll probably be the only Thousand Sons player there with a "Magnus the Red" model, as a Daemon-Prince. I will also probably end up with a backpack full of "Spirits", if that helps you find me!

Good luck to everyone attending, I can only wish I could have attended this year.

Maybe if Mike runs it next year I shall certainly attend.

8PM US EST Friday
8AM US EST Sunday (Finals coverage)

MVBrandt; Slavedriver, TO, quite awesome guy.

Even with the above, you strike me hard with the 430am wakeup time... thankfully, I am used to no sleep.

(Btw, this post makes perfect sense to me, if that helps to decipher my current scambledness)

The NOVA open turned out to be a huge success

congrats to all those that showed up and played
I am very happy that team Fair oaks did not go 0-4



nice to meet a couple dakka players as well (mr Hulksmash and Dash)
thanks dash for some Captn.... it makes the day even better.

and grats to the NOVA open team for a good tourney.

Had a damned fine time even if I did win only one of my four games. Congrats and thanks to the guys running the show.

As of the end of tonight, there are 5, 4-0s with Stelek being one of them.

Chumbalaya got in at 3-1, and Danny Internets won Renaissance Man, getting himself a ticket to Vegas in the process

Grats to Danny and good luck to everyone else tomorrow!

Tomorrow's players that post here (or have) that I know are:

Dash: 4-0
Stelek: 4-0
Chumba:3-1
Yermom:3-1
5 other dudes, 3 of them 4-0 and 1 3-1

And the dude that beat me out for a spot tomorrow is a lurker here but he pulled a nice solid win out of me in the last round

Amazing tournament. No shennanigans. No drama. Excellent staff. Personally one of the best GT's I've been to since GW stopped running them. They had to have had 8-10 rules judges roaming the floor and another 10 dude that could flag one down for you. Wound up 3-1 running my Daemons. There will be Batreps!!!!!!

Thanks Mike for an amazing tournament!

Sorry you didn't make it Hulk. Grats to those who did.

No worries Timmah. It was an awesome time. Besides now I get to visit my Granny in southern VA before flying home

Well, let's see if Stelek will lose or not. .

Well he only has 2 games to play unlike the other players which have three games. So I think he has a really good chance.

tastytaste wrote:Well he only has 2 games to play unlike the other players which have three games. So I think he has a really good chance.

Why this?
All players normally play the same number of games.

Hey Guys, this is Jay from the Gamers Lounge. Nova Open day two is here.

Round 1 will be starting shortly between ranks 4 & 5. Space Wolves vs Orks.

We will going all day. Come join us!

http://ustream.tv/channel/nova-open-live


-Jay

***LOST AND FOUND DISPLAY BOARD***

If you're missing your display board, I'll get it back to you. We picked it up when we cleaned the expo out yesterday, it was left by it's lonesome in the corner.

Please PM me here or email me at MAAksel@novaopen.com (PM is better as I'll get a notification).

wuestenfux wrote:

tastytaste wrote:Well he only has 2 games to play unlike the other players which have three games. So I think he has a really good chance.

Why this?
All players normally play the same number of games.

From YTTH:

stjohn70 wrote:Okay, we've had a number of people ask why certain people are getting a bye and others aren't - so I'm going to try to 'splain it to you, Lucy.

Entering Day Two, there are five 4-0 armies (coulda been 6 but only 5 made it). Three 3-1 armies were added to fill in the bracket.

But this creates a problem - Mike is adamant that the winner have no losses, and with a straight bracket, a 3-1 army that wins out would be the victor...

So at 8am the 4th and 5th seeded 4-0 armies had to play each other: everyone else gets a bye. The loser of this game drops into the "loser" bracket with the 3-1 armies and they play out. The winner of the loser bracket can win 2nd place. Not sure, but I think they compare overall score with the loser of the final game for determining who gets it.

This way there are 4 teams with perfect records playing for 1st, and 4 teams with 1 loss playing for 2nd/3rd.

I've been following this all intensely.

I SOOO wish I could've gone.

If I was a more competitive guy, with a better grasp of the rules and the money and time to actually go to a tournament, I'd love to go, too.

Tony Kopach (16 y/o, local, Springfield GW) beat Andrew Sutton (Stelek) in the semi-finals to advance to the finals.

Mark Ferek (local, Springfield GW) beat Justin Hilderbrandt (DashOfPepper) in the semi-finals to advance to the finals.

Tony vs. Mark in finals
These guys deserve a lot of credit - they battled through two of the toughest "strength of schedules" and army list opponents yesterday. Mark beat multiple golden ticket holder Dameon Green and Renaissance Man Danny Internets plus 2 other tough opponents to get through. Tony had to take on 4 optimized space wolf lists and a mechdar to get through.


Dash diced off with Sam Penson (who drove down from Maine) for their game (which was a rematch of Round 5), and Dash won (again) .... they were both exhausted, and are taking naps before coming to watch the end of the finals.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nova-open-live

That's the link to the finals, which are about to happen live.

What aremies do Tony and Mark play?