We have expanded to 62 players, with currently 9 spots left.

Here's the preliminary infor for this years St. Valentines Day Massacre. Registration is at www.BigGunz-NE.com, by paypal. Any questions can be directed to me, either here on Dakka, or by Email: Mikenjudyc@aol.com, or call me at the shop at 610-891-9229.

Info here has been updated, and missions are at the bottom of the post.
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ST. Valentines Day Massacre Warhammer 40k Grand Tournament

When: Feb. 26th and 27th at Showcase Comics in Media, PA. (Philadelphia)

Where: The Showcase Comics Gaming Bunker at Granite Run Mall
1067 W. Baltimore Pike, Media, PA. 19063
This is a separate, private, area from the store, that we have rented from the mall on a permanent basis to hold gaming events. Lots of space, good lighting and air conditioning, fantastic amounts of scenery, wifi, and close to food and beverages.

Hosted by: Showcase Comics and the BigGunZ-NE gaming club

Tournament Organizer: Mike Clark, (Email: Mikenjudyc@aol.com , Phone: 610-891-9229)

Cost: 60.00 if paid by Feb. 1st. 70.00 if paid after Feb 12th.
We have 50 slots available. If that sells out, we may expand to more spaces depending on demand.

Registration: You can register online by paypal at www.BigGunZ-NE.com or pay and register in person at Showcase Comics in the Granite Run Mall.

Players that can’t make the event need to cancel by the 24th of February. We will refund ½ that amount if canceling after the 24th. (Canceling due to a family emergency or other real life emergency will always get you a full refund.)

Hotel info at: http://www.qualityinn.com/hotel-media-pennsylvania-PA560
Ask for the ‘Granite Run Mall Room Rate’ and it should by 75.00 a night.

Check in at 9am on Saturday, pairings will be set up at 10am, and game 1 starts at 10:30am. If for any reason you are late, it's up to you to call and let us know. In the event of late players, we’ll do our best.


We’ll be putting out Free Lunch on Saturday and Sunday. Menu subject to what I feel like cooking. At Border Raids it was sausage gumbo and slow smoked teriyaki chicken. I might do ribs this time, or it might be Blacksquig’s surprise.

Format: 3 games on Saturday, and 2 games on Sunday
1850 pt army lists from current codices. 2.5 hours per game.

Players will be randomly paired for the first round, with an attempt to not have club mates play each other. If you are attending with members of a club, please note that when you register, and be on time. Further rounds will have the players with high scores matched against the next closest high scoring players.

Scoring is a max of 120 Battle Points, (24 max per game), and a max of 40 points for Painting. There is no sports score. This does not mean you get a free pass to behave badly. The TO may warn players if they are stalling, or behaving in an unsportsmanlike manner. Persistent behavior may result in the forfeiting of a game, or ejection from the tournament

Each game will have objectives worth 24 pts. In most cases these will be mutually exclusive, where it is not possible for both players to meet the requirements for an objective. The primary objective will award 14 points, secondary 7 points, and tertiary 3 points. In the event of a tie for the Primary objective, there are tie breaking conditions.

Missions: Each mission will be very similar to missions from the basic rulebook, using objectives, kill points, or victory points, for primary and secondary objectives. The three basic deployments from the rulebook will be used. There may be special rules for a mission. Missions will be posted ahead of time. Based on player input, missions may be adjusted.


Painting: All models must be completely painted using a minimum of 3 colors, and bases must be finished. Unfinished models may not be used. 3 dots of paint on the base does not meet the requirement, nor does having paint on only one part of the model. If you’re unsure about whether your models have enough work on them, you should contact the TO. (Or go paint some more.)

Painting will be by a checklist. It includes points for basic painting skill, blending, highlighting, fine details, conversions, basing, model preparation, cohesive paint scheme or style, and display boards.

All models should be ‘What you see is what you get. Exceptions can be made at the TO’s discretion. Obviously, people are going to have some cool conversions that bend WYSIWYG, and generally I’m ok with that. If you have a question, contact the TO. Proxies and ‘counts as’ are not allowed, unless with express permission from the TO. A Sherman tank isn’t a predator, Chaos Marines are not Space Wolves, drink cups are not drop pods, and bloodletters on big rocks are not bloodcrushers. (Pink orks however, are perfectly acceptable, as they are as orky as the other boyz, just with more fashion sense.) If you’re not sure what the difference is between a conversion and a proxy, contact the TO. Pictures help.

Army Lists: You must turn in your army list at the start of the tournament, and have copies available for your opponents. This is an open list tournament. Lists should be legible and complete, listing all options taken and breaking out the points that you paid for them. Please, Please! Make your copies, or print out your lists ahead of time. IT IS THE PLAYERS RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE SURE THEIR LIST IS CORRECT. If you are found to be playing with an illegal list, the TO reserves the discretion to adjust the scores in your matches, or make you leave the tournament, and forfeit remaining games. Army builder is a big help here, both for you knowing your list is correct, and your opponent and the TO being able to read your list.

Collusion is not allowed. Players may not agree to a draw, or any other outcome, in a game. All games must be played out to their conclusion. Forfeiting is highly discouraged. Make your opponent earn his points. If a Player forfeits and removes his models from the table, his opponent should just take his turns to finish the game. Do not assume you will be able to achieve all objectives.

Players should bring their own rulebook and codex, relevant FAQ’s, army lists, dice, tape measure, templates, and anything else they need to play the game.

Prizes will be given out to the top 3 people in each category of: Best General (battle points), Painting, and Overall (Battle + Painting).

The Best General and Best Overall will receive invitations to the Throne of Skulls event in Las Vegas. If they have already received invites, then we move down to the next person in line.

We’ll be giving out trophies and a couple of thousand dollars worth of prizes from Forge World, Games Workshop, GF9, and Battle Foam.

Missions:
_____________________________________________________________
These are the prototype missions for SVDM. I’m just looking for feedback on each mission, or on the missions overall. Obviously, comments like "Mission X sucks" aren't really that helpful. "Mission X sucks because of Y, and Z, but could be made better by doing Q" are quite helpful. "

More discussion on the missions over at DakkaDakka: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/337801.page

These are quite a bit different from what I've used before. More points for the primary objective, and tiebreakers to ensure one side or the other completes the primary. Secondaries and tertiaries may result in either a tie with points for both players for both completing the objective, or zero points for neither completing it. There is a mix of VP, table quarters, KP, and objectives, and Capture and Control. All 3 deployments are used.

Feel free to email me at Mikenjudyc@aol.com if you have feedback, or post here.

More info on the tournament here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/330958.page and at http://www.BigGunZ-NE.com , and at http://www.showcasecomicsandgames.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3003


-All missions use the standard rules for scouts, infiltrate, seizing the initiative, reserves, and deep strike, unless stated otherwise.

-Random Game Length will be used per the 5th edition rulebook.

-Each mission is worth a maximum of 24 battle points, with Primary objective yielding 14 points, secondary yielding 7 points, and tertiary yielding 3 points. Primary objectives have tie breakers. (120 total possible points from games, and 40 possible for Appearance. No comp, no sports.)

-If a tie occurs in a Primary objective, use the listed tie breakers to determine which player gets points for the primary. First tie breaker listed is used, if that results in a tie, go to the second.

Mission 1: Encounter

Your mission is to scout out the no-man’s land between you and the possible location of enemy forces. If the enemy is found, your Primary focus is killing enemy forces before they can gain intelligence about our army, while advancing and scouting out the bulk of their army. If possible, move your command elements into a forward position to co-ordinate our attack.

Deployment: Dawn of War

Primary Objective: Kill Points
(First tie Breaker: use Secondary objective, Second tie breaker; Victory points.)
Secondary Objective: Having a more units of troops completely within the opposing players deployment zone than he has in your deployment zone. Troops that can’t normally hold an objective don’t count. If neither player has a scoring troops unit in their opponents deployment zone then, neither player scores points for this objective. If both players have an equal number of units are their opponents deployment zone, (other than zero), then each player receives 3 points.
Tertiary Objective: Having more HQ choices completely within the opposing players deployment zone than he has in yours. If neither player has an HQ choice in the opponents deployment zone then neither player scores points for this objective. If an equal number of units from both sides are in their opponents deployment zone, (other than zero), then each player receives 1 point.

Mission 2: Foreward Thrust

Quickly gathering the forces under your command, you are ordered to push deep into enemy territory while clearing out possible enemy ambushes adjacent to your route.

Deployment: Spearhead. 5 objective markers should be placed on the board. One in the exact center of the table, and one in the center of each table quarter.

Primary Objective: Control more objectives than your opponent. Tie Breaker: Secondary objective.
Secondary Objective: Victory Points. If somehow the two players have an equal number of Victory Points, each player receives 3 points.
Tertiary Objective: Control the objective in you opponents’ deployment zone while keeping control of the objective in your own deployment zone. If neither player controls the others objective, neither player scores points. If both players control the others objective, each player scores 1 point.

Mission 3: Supply Drop

Your army has advanced and taken enemy territory, but has overextended its supply lines. Supplies are being dropped in, but you’ll have to race hungry enemy units to get to them first. Hopefully it’s bread and bullets, and not another case of ‘Inspirational Pamphlets’.

Deployment: Pitched Battle

Special Rule: Air Drop
Before the game starts, place six objectives on the board. Players roll off, with the highest placing the first objective. Objectives must be place a minimum of 6” from any board edge, and 12” from another objective. After all objectives have been place, roll 2d6 and a scatter dice, and move the objectives the rolled distance in the direction of the arrow. (On a ‘hit’, use the small arrow). If the objective would go off the table or into impassable terrain, reduce the distance moved by the minimum to keep it on the table, or out of that terrain.

Primary Objective: Control more objectives than your opponent.
(First tie breaker: Kill Points, Second tie breaker: Victory Points)
Secondary Objective: Kill points. If players have an equal number of kill points, they each receive 3 points.
Tertiary Objective: Victory Points. If somehow the two players have an equal number of Victory Points, each player receives 1 point.

Mission 4: Hold the Pass
Controlling a narrow pass through the mountains may hold the key to victory. High cliffs to either side guard your flanks, but be careful! Enemy infiltrators may already be behind you!

Deployment: Opposite Table Quarters. Players deploy their armies in table quarters similar to the Spearhead set up. Instead of using the long table edge for moving on reserves, troops may move on from the table edges that form part of the table quarter their side has deployed in. (Half a short edge and Half of a long edge forming an L shape)

Place one objective in the exact center of the table.

Special Rule: Pass battle
Your area for reserves moving onto the table is the36" and 24" edges on the outside table edge of your deployment zone, and not the long table edge normally used for Spearhead. Units that outflank do not do so normally. When you are able to bring outflankers on the table, on a 1-5 they deploy from your table edge, and on a 6 they deploy from your opponents table edge. (Units such as Space Wolf Scouts or Boss Snikrot that may normally pick a table edge will deploy from their own edges on a 1-4 and enemy rear on a 5-6.)

NOTE: Obviously a bit confusing, and needs a diagram showing where reserves move on. This will be in the rules packet each player recieves.

Primary Objective: Table Quarters. To hold a table quarter, you must have units with a higher victory point total than your opponent in that quarter. If a unit is in two or more quarters, then they count as occupying the quarter that holds the majority of the unit. If equally split, the owning player decides.
Tiebreaker: Control the center objective, kill points, victory points.
Secondary Objective: Control the center objective. If neither side controls the objective, each side that can contest it receives 3 points.
Tertiary Objective: Control the table quarter that your opponent set up in, and the quarter that your army set up in.


Mission 5: Going for the kill

Fighting in the smoking ruins of the capital city, you battlet to control the enemy command post and assassinate the enemy generals.

Deployment: Pitched Battle
Place two objective markers similar to Capture and Control on page 91

Special Rule: Smoke and Flames
Before the game starts, roll a d6 for each piece of scenery.
On a 1-3, it is a smoking ruin. Smoking ruins give the stealth special rule to models inside the scenery. (non MC, non Vehicle.)
On 4-6 The scenery is still on fire, with collapsing walls and floors. Burning scenery counts as dangerous terrain, and vehicles must re-roll successful attempts to move through it. A vehicle that can re-roll failed attempts will simply roll once, instead of re-rolling both failed and successful rolls. Models that start the game in burning terrain must take a dangerous terrain test before the game starts.

We will have markers available to mark all terrain easily.

Primary Objective: Capture and Control.
Tie Breaker: Victory points, table quarters.
Secondary Objective: Destroy all enemy HQ choices. If neither side has an HQ left on the table, each scores 3pts. If neither destroys the others HQ, neither gets points.
Tertiary Objective: Have one of your HQ choices contesting the enemy objective. If both players have HQ’s contesting the enemy objective, both receive 1 point. If neither does, then neither side receives points.

mikhaila wrote:Collusion is not allowed. Players may not agree to a draw or other outcome in a game. All games must be played out to their conclusion. Forfeiting is highly discouraged. Make your opponent earn his points. If a Player forfeits and removes his models from the table, his opponent should just take his turns to finish the game. Do not assume you will be able to achieve all objectives.

I c wut you did there.

(aka bump)

After the "it's legal in MTG" thread, I promised I'd always put this in.)

Way to go ... it was humor only for the well-read until then

Still, nicely done.

I'll probably make it out to this one. And hopefully without comp this year (good job) I can pull something a bt better than general. Now only to decide tyranids? daemons? something new? Decisions decisions...

Coincidentally, I am now trying out an 1850 DE list in a local league...

Hrm...

Good tO see no more comp.

I want a rematch Ragnar!

yermom wrote:I want a rematch Ragnar!

Me too! Only if you don't bring daemons though!

Pod cast ! Pod cast !

Your coming Dash!? From Florida!? I might have to bring tyranids just for you

yermom wrote:I want a rematch Ragnar!

Daemons, nids, or what? If the DE work really well, I might bring them. Otherwise it's probably my regular CSM, which I have a lot more practice with than that silly 3 landraider list.

Oh, I'll be there.

Not only will I be there, but I'm going to be wearing an "Anti-Yermom" shirt instead of the typical Dashofpepper shirt. And I'm going to bribe Mike with beer to pair us up on round one. Which coincidentally will be nightfight the whole game, and any orks on the table get +1A bonus the whole game.

*edit* And Mike, I don't see anything in your post about pink orks.

Wish i could make it.. i have a school commitment that day

Tsk tsk Dash even with your whole game night fight and +1 attack for all orks I will still beat your face into the ground. You see Mike allows all people of the brown persuasion to use loaded dice that roll nothing but sixes and hits on scatters. I don't have to worry about leaderships due to the fact that every army I play is fearless. So it will be you who falls that day.

That's a shame Rich I was hoping you would make it down to this one.

yea... science bowl team...competition is always that weekend.

last year I kinda skipped out...

I'm sure you must be so excited

Dashofpepper wrote:Oh, I'll be there.

Not only will I be there, but I'm going to be wearing an "Anti-Yermom" shirt instead of the typical Dashofpepper shirt. And I'm going to bribe Mike with beer to pair us up on round one. Which coincidentally will be nightfight the whole game, and any orks on the table get +1A bonus the whole game.

*edit* And Mike, I don't see anything in your post about pink orks.

How can you miss Pink Orks? They're the ones with glitter on the bases and blood on the deffrollas.

I might try to make it out again this year. I feel like comp was what was wrong last year as well.

Without comp...this could be solid.

yermom wrote:Tsk tsk Dash even with your whole game night fight and +1 attack for all orks I will still beat your face into the ground. You see Mike allows all people of the brown persuasion to use loaded dice that roll nothing but sixes and hits on scatters. I don't have to worry about leaderships due to the fact that every army I play is fearless. So it will be you who falls that day.

That's a shame Rich I was hoping you would make it down to this one.

That's ok, because I got permission to use 3rd Edition Dark Eldar with Inquisition Allies.

That means no Invul saves from Psy Cannons, and Horrorfexes pinning all your fearless units. *yawn* I wouldn't even bother putting your models on the table during our game, I'll save you some time taking them off again.

A few bits of news:

-Working on first stage of the missions and should have them up soon for perusal and feedback.

-Prototype of something nifty we are working on for the event: http://www.customink.com/designs/svdmgt2011/cmt0-000g-x9vr/hotlink?pc=HL-46120&cm_mmc=hotlink-_-2-_-Body_txt-_-button1

-Looking at the list of sponsors you may notice the NOVA Open. MVB has given me two spots at the NOVA Invitational which we will be handing out to the top two players.

-Gale Force Nine will be making us up some custom counters.

-Battlefoam will be providing some of their excellant product for us to give away. If you've been living under a rock and are unfamiliar with their bags, head to http://battlefoam.com/ and check out their stuff.

-Mechanicon and boys at the Gaming Gararge will be helping out with some support.

Pretty awesome. Keep all of us informed of how it's filling up. I'm considering attending depending on some news I'll be getting in the next few weeks regarding work

mikhaila wrote:A few bits of news:

-Working on first stage of the missions and should have them up soon for perusal and feedback.

-Prototype of something nifty we are working on for the event: http://www.customink.com/designs/svdmgt2011/cmt0-000g-x9vr/hotlink?pc=HL-46120&cm_mmc=hotlink-_-2-_-Body_txt-_-button1

-Looking at the list of sponsors you may notice the NOVA Open. MVB has given me two spots at the NOVA Invitational which we will be handing out to the top two players.

-Gale Force Nine will be making us up some custom counters.

-Battlefoam will be providing some of their excellant product for us to give away. If you've been living under a rock and are unfamiliar with their bags, head to http://battlefoam.com/ and check out their stuff.

-Mechanicon and boys at the Gaming Gararge will be helping out with some support.

-The pint glass is a killer idea, I like my nova open shot glass, but I drink far more beer than i do shots!

I'll be doing my best to attend as well, and expect to be signing up in the next week or two when I find out which weekends are boned by work/school committments!

Dashofpepper wrote:

yermom wrote:Tsk tsk Dash even with your whole game night fight and +1 attack for all orks I will still beat your face into the ground. You see Mike allows all people of the brown persuasion to use loaded dice that roll nothing but sixes and hits on scatters. I don't have to worry about leaderships due to the fact that every army I play is fearless. So it will be you who falls that day.

That's a shame Rich I was hoping you would make it down to this one.

That's ok, because I got permission to use 3rd Edition Dark Eldar with Inquisition Allies.

That means no Invul saves from Psy Cannons, and Horrorfexes pinning all your fearless units. *yawn* I wouldn't even bother putting your models on the table during our game, I'll save you some time taking them off again.

Damn! This really would have been a reason for me to break out my IG for the first time since Ard Boys of 09' but once again I will be out of country! I leave for the Philippines on 2-25. One of these days my wife's immigration will be final and I can resume my gaming life again,,, sigh

This sounds like a really well run event!

Wish I could make it, but with school and stuff I can't do this one and Adepticon. Maybe next year...

Monster Rain wrote:This sounds like a really well run event!...

Working towards it at least.) If nothing else, running a couple dozen events last year gave me some practice. You screw up and then try to fix it for next time. Definitely had a few screw up and 'crap, wish i'd done that different'. And it was a year of watching what other TO's did at their GT's, and talking to a lot of them.

Too much talk at times. New Years Eve I downed a couple of beers while talking with MVB, and the wife was a tad upset. Something about inviting my daughters future inlaws over for dinner and me not getting ready).

mikhaila wrote:Too much talk at times. New Years Eve I downed a couple of beers while talking with MVB, and the wife was a tad upset. Something about inviting my daughters future inlaws over for dinner and me not getting ready).

Bah.

Let them know what they're getting into early. If they can't accept that you're a dedicated Warhams TO, that's their problem!

Edited for quote tag fail.

I'll be there, btw, was there any confirmation as to some gaming space for Friday?

I'd be interested in the relaxed game play mentioned above (complete with beer!)

Awesomesauce. The pint glasses are a killer idea. I think I can probably make it this year, too.

Targetawg, there's always Friday gaming space for Mike's events. He's not renting space in a hotel. He's got a permanent gaming store in the mall with several tables, and the permanent Bunker (main tournament space) elsewhere in the mall.

I realized that when I read this a tad closer I'd actually asked my question in the wrong thread, I meant to ask about conflict gt and somehow confused the threads... (oops).

But, I'm planning on going to this one too, so it's still relevant I suppose! Thanks Mannahnin!

Mike FYI I may try to come down for this. Sad part is I will be in Philly the week before so will have to make a second trip. I am trying to squeeze it into my schedule but the offer of free (good) beer might sway me.....

The Glass is sweet...only got 1 more unite to paint and one then a bunch of detailing to do...

Fishboy wrote:Mike FYI I may try to come down for this. Sad part is I will be in Philly the week before so will have to make a second trip. I am trying to squeeze it into my schedule but the offer of free (good) beer might sway me.....

Let me know when you're down the week before. I'll fill you up on beer then, and at the tournament.)

sigh....how do I sign up...hehehehe

Threaten me with a good time and I am ALL IN!! I will see if I can get some other guys from DaBoyz to come up.

If you've got paypal, head over to www.BigGunZ-NE.com and there's an automated registration that lets you use paypal. You can also use a credit card through paypal if you don't have an account.

Any problems with it, or you need another way to register and pay, give me a yell by email: Mikenjudyc@aol.com

We may have to do another '3 drink minimum speed painting contest'. I know there's no way in hell I can match your painting if you're sober.)

Hehehe the speed painting part is what kills me heheh. I will drink and paint any time!!!

Sent you an email asking how you will be handling some rules from the new faq.

Yeah, about those rules....decided to go drinking with some of the Dakka crew that came in early tonite. Jin, MGS and me just ran out of bars. I think after tomorrows games we hit south philly for steaks at Genos or Pats. I will get to looking at your question on Sunday when I'm in hangover mode.)

I swear, best part of running gaming events is having people to have fun with all weekend.

Hey Mike,

are you guys going to be using the latest GW FAQ and Errata updates?

examples:

Vehicles with POMS can fire one weapon when moving flat out.

Vehicles with POMS cannot fire a weapon the turn they used smoke launchers.

A ten man unit with a drop pod cannot be combat squaded to have half arrive via drop pod and half deployed at the start of game or put in reserve but not in drop pod because squads placed in reserve cannot be broken down into combat squads.

I'ts official GW FAQ's so no reason not to. We'll be using GW FAQs for what questions it answers, and INAT for what it doesn't.

Hey Mike, I was looking at the hotel, is there a way to book online and get the special rate, or for that rate am I going to need to book over the phone?

Hmm, not sure, but probably over the phone. I've just always called up and asked for "The rate for Granite Run Mall".

targetawg wrote:Hey Mike, I was looking at the hotel, is there a way to book online and get the special rate, or for that rate am I going to need to book over the phone?

I had to book over the phone to get the special rate - it's not listed on their website.

ArbitorIan wrote:

targetawg wrote:Hey Mike, I was looking at the hotel, is there a way to book online and get the special rate, or for that rate am I going to need to book over the phone?

I had to book over the phone to get the special rate - it's not listed on their website.

Thanks for the heads up both of ya, I'll be booking my hotel in a day or two, but I'm signed up and paid for the GT now. See ya there!

Fishboy wrote:Hehehe the speed painting part is what kills me heheh. I will drink and paint any time!!!

Mr. Johnson just signed up. Time to order more beer and alert the bar we need to stay open late for another '3 drink minimum painting contest'. That'll be on Saturday night with practice on Friday.)

The Ruby Tuesday's has taken a liking to large groups of gamers, and stays open late for us on tournament weekends.)

mikhaila wrote:

Fishboy wrote:Hehehe the speed painting part is what kills me heheh. I will drink and paint any time!!!

Mr. Johnson just signed up. Time to order more beer and alert the bar we need to stay open late for another '3 drink minimum painting contest'. That'll be on Saturday night with practice on Friday.)

The Ruby Tuesday's has taken a liking to large groups of gamers, and stays open late for us on tournament weekends.)

Drinking painting contest? This sounds like my kind of event...

targetawg wrote:

mikhaila wrote:

Fishboy wrote:Hehehe the speed painting part is what kills me heheh. I will drink and paint any time!!!

Mr. Johnson just signed up. Time to order more beer and alert the bar we need to stay open late for another '3 drink minimum painting contest'. That'll be on Saturday night with practice on Friday.)

The Ruby Tuesday's has taken a liking to large groups of gamers, and stays open late for us on tournament weekends.)

Drinking painting contest? This sounds like my kind of event...

We did it last year for the July GT. Pushed about 10 tables together at the bar, and I brought down a drop cloth, big tray of paints, cups of water, paper towels, dozens of old crappy brushes, and an assortment of figures. Stuff from Heroquest and battlemasters, old metal from bitz boxes, all sorts of stuff. Entry fee was buying 3 drinks at the bar. A dozen of us sat, drank, and painted for an hour and a half. Finally at 1am we remembered were going to have a time limit.)

Day is going well!

Got confirmation from GF9 on the little gift they are handing out to each player at the tournament. (I'll post pictures when they arrive),

and I think the souvenir beer glasses will arrive today. I'm thinking that a half dozen of them will need test runs for quality control tonite at the local pub.)

And since a couple of people have asked, no, the glasses and item from GF9 aren't prizes. We'll be handing them out to each person that attends.

mikhaila wrote:The Ruby Tuesday's has taken a liking to large groups of gamers, and stays open late for us on tournament weekends.)

That was good times this past weekend . Looking forward to it at the next tourney of yours I make it up to... hopefully your fantasy GT in the summer! (And likely before )

When setting up a tournament, there's a lot of things to consider: Thanking the sponsors that help you with the event, making sure the people coming to the event are happy,...and drinking beer. Ok, we think about drinking beer a lot!

For the St. Valentines Day Massacre we decided to be efficient and solve several of those tricky problems in fell swoop:





We'll be giving one of these out to all the players taking part in the tournament, the volunteers, and sending them out to our sponsors.
A souvenir of the event, and a helpful tool, for Friday and Saturday when we hit the local watering hole and hold the 2nd annual '3 drink minimum Speed Painting contest'.

Competition was so fierce last year that we forgot to stop drinking and painting and kept going until 1 am.) I'll bring a timer this year to remind me. We hold this event at the local Ruby Tuesday's. We supply paints, brushes, and primed models. Entry fee is 3 drinks of your choice. Drink them, or find someone to drink them.

Can you overcome the bad light, the fuzzy brushes, and the horror of painting old heroquest and talisman models?

For quality control, I'm testing out my glass tonite while doing a bit of work on my orks. Very important, that quality control. )

I booked a room at the marriott a few miles down the road. I have so many points it is a comp for me and free hehe. Trying to get a few of DaBoyz to show up but not sure if they will be able to make it.

I will get there sometime Friday afternoon. It is about a 6 hour drive and I am planning heading out around 10am. I should be bringing one or two free tickets to the DaBoyz GT in Rochester for you to use as prize support.

Are you supplying everything for the speed painting or can I bring my own stuff?

Awesome, that's a great tournament. Tickets will be nice to hand out.

You can bring paints, and brushes, even a figure. Not too many hard rules on this one other than the alcohol.)

Awesome stuff, Mike.

For anyone who didn't know, this tournament will also offer 2 qualifying spots to the NOVA Invitational and a shot at 2 $1,000 cash prizes, plus 40k GT tickets to boot.

Will be trying to attend myself, if life and proposals permit.

MVBrandt wrote:Will be trying to attend myself, if life and proposals permit.

Intriguing! Are we talking 'proposals' (plural) as in "Oops, I asked both Betty AND Veronical to marry me"

or the much more boring "Have do get a bunch of proposals done for work".

If you can shake loose and come up, tickets on the house.

Mike if you can make it out for this thing, I'd love to get a game in with you.

yermom wrote:Mike if you can make it out for this thing, I'd love to get a game in with you.

It's not enough to lose to one guard player, you want to lose to two?!

Well I figure beating you wouldn't really be a challenge or a fair test to see what a good guard player is capable of, so hopefully Mike will be a bit more of a challenge.

yermom wrote:Well I figure beating you wouldn't really be a challenge or a fair test to see what a good guard player is capable of, so hopefully Mike will be a bit more of a challenge.

Fight fight fight!

I can't wait!! Always look forward to seeing cute bartender girl at Ruby Tuesdays!!!

Organizing some of the cool prizes we have, and thought I'd post a picture of some of the forgeworld.



Lots of packs of crusade armor, phobos pattern bolters, and weapons packs to start up a crusade army. These will be going out to the Overall winner.


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WarsawTom wrote:I can't wait!! Always look forward to seeing cute bartender girl at Ruby Tuesdays!!!

and in agreement with you on this. We got the bar to stay open late, and made sure our favorites are tending bar.

Sweet prizes, and even sweeter pint glasses! Wish I could make it. Hopefully next year.

Mannahnin wrote:Sweet prizes, and even sweeter pint glasses! Wish I could make it. Hopefully next year.

Suck it up Cupcake, you know it's a short little drive, not even a full day.)

mikhaila wrote:When setting up a tournament, there's a lot of things to consider: Thanking the sponsors that help you with the event, making sure the people coming to the event are happy,...and drinking beer. Ok, we think about drinking beer a lot!

For the St. Valentines Day Massacre we decided to be efficient and solve several of those tricky problems in fell swoop:





We'll be giving one of these out to all the players taking part in the tournament, the volunteers, and sending them out to our sponsors.
A souvenir of the event, and a helpful tool, for Friday and Saturday when we hit the local watering hole and hold the 2nd annual '3 drink minimum Speed Painting contest'.

Competition was so fierce last year that we forgot to stop drinking and painting and kept going until 1 am.) I'll bring a timer this year to remind me. We hold this event at the local Ruby Tuesday's. We supply paints, brushes, and primed models. Entry fee is 3 drinks of your choice. Drink them, or find someone to drink them.

Can you overcome the bad light, the fuzzy brushes, and the horror of painting old heroquest and talisman models?

For quality control, I'm testing out my glass tonite while doing a bit of work on my orks. Very important, that quality control. )

Can i assume those models in the picture come with the pint? They probably sit around unused gathering dust. Right?

Some new scenery I'm building this weekend to upgrade a couple of tables. I did about 4 tables last year of the overgrown, rocky terrain. Adding in 4 tables of GW ruined buildings done in a sandstone color, with an overgrowth of moss earth. We'll have about 6 tables at the GT of 'jungle ruins', mixing some of the building tables with the rocky outcrops, and then some foliage. Most tables at the tournament should be 25% terrain, with a mix of building ruins and area terrain, and a lot of it high enough to provide some cover for MC and vehicles.

Lovin' the mossiness on those ruins... takes what are otherwise somewhat tired profiles and makes them pretty awesome

The GW kits really look good with a little work. These actually are a little work, I want to make a set for home where I take my time and do all the little details. These get put together, mounted on masonite, and then a layer of sand and glue on the base. I put glue and sand in areas where the wind would blow debris, and patches on some of the floors. Done right, it reinforces and addes strength at key seams. Desert Yellow primer from Army painter. Drybrush with Bleached Bone. More drybrush and details in Skull White, and Shining Gold. Hit the whole thing with a layer of Army Painter quickshade, I like the soft tone for this. Wood glue and heavy flocking. Then hit the flocking with Krylon Clear Coat to really harden it up. Two coats of Testors Dullcote to take off the shine. Drybrush the sand around the base to match the table.

We'll see how it holds up after a few dozen games. Trying to make scenery that will last through tournaments and shipping. This will most likely be traveling down to Blob's Park for the Inner Circle GT.

Should be a blast! I'm registered. See everyone there. Now to finish painting... The bugs are hungry!

The terrain looks amazing! I'm registered now and good to go!

I'm hyped up for this event and am looking forward to the Massacre!

Welcome aboard!


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We have 35 players registered and paid, still room for a dozen more.

Let's get registered everyone!

If not - more prizes for me!

Bwahahahahahahahah!

Two weeks to go. 40 slots out of 50 are taken, 10 available.

Mike get on DaBoyz website and tell Jay he should come or he is a twinky!!!!

Fishboy wrote:Mike get on DaBoyz website and tell Jay he should come or he is a twinky!!!!

Mission accomplished, taunts and insults thrown.)

46 down, 4 to go.

If you're thinking of coming, now would be the time to register. We've filled 46 of 50 slots. I'll be talking to the mall about cheating out a bit and putting in a couple of more tables, but they are usually pretty tight bastards about it, and it's a longshot.

I'll take folks on a waiting list if we sell out. Always someone that needs to drop right before due to work or wife or kids or school. Or not getting their army done, or started.)

49 down, 1 spot left.

I'll take people on the waiting list, and expect we can get a couple in, as there's usually a couple of folks that drop.

Sold Out!

Starting a waiting list, if we get enough folks, I can rent the courtyard area and open registration back up.

You can register for the waiting list at www.BigGunz-NE.com
or give me a call at the shop for more information.
610 891 9229

I am number 4.......oh wait that's a movie!

I am number 50 !!!!!!!!

I will be there, all registered and all (I think I was 37)! My wife has given permission!

I will almost assuredly be dropping by ... but not participating in the tournament (couldn't really commit for sure to attending) ... Looking forward to running into some Dakka'ites, etc. there.

Congrats on selling out Mike! It seems like events are just doing better and better this year. Which is great. Though it means more and more that planning to attend events is going have to happen farther out

Hulksmash wrote:Congrats on selling out Mike! It seems like events are just doing better and better this year. Which is great. Though it means more and more that planning to attend events is going have to happen farther out

Yep, we went from only a few of the large independent 40k events in the area to a huge increase in quantity and quality over the past couple years. There is now something for almost any type of tournament player with all the different formats, so its just a matter of getting your schedule set in advance.

In the immediate area we have...

Conflict (NY) in January
SVDM (PA) in February
Colonial (NJ) in April
Big Show (PA) in July
NOVA (VA) in August
Blobs Park (MD) in September
Da Boyz (NY) in October
MechaniCon (PA) in November

(apologies if I forgot to mention any)

and that is just for 40K!

Each of those events have had a great variety of styles and most share a good bit of attendees. I love the diversity. The enthusiasm of players seems to be way up. It is a good time to be a gamer!

And the TO's have really been helping each other out a lot. Its been great sharing advice, helping with logistics, tables and scenery, promotion, etc..


I am going to SVDM, hope to see you there MVBrandt!

I will also be going to the Colonial for sure and now can work on scheduling the summer and fall events I can attend. The only problem I really have is figuring out how I can do new armies for each tournament!

Let's make sure to get a beer together at the SVDM!

My wife is starting to notice.)

I hadn't traveled and played in tournaemnts for years. Too busy with stores and the twins. Last November I hit Mechanicon. Next up I'm going to Adepticon for the first time, then Colonial, TOS, Blobs Park, down to Nova to help with the WFB tournament, and then back to Mechanicon in Nov. Gaming is addictive, and tournaments doubly so.

I signed up and paid. Looking forward to seeing all you from dakka there.

I'm gonna start some friendly trash talking.

I'm putting my money on Brad N taking it again this year :p

Rich I thought youd put your money on me after I whooped your ass so hard Sunday

yermom wrote:Rich I thought youd put your money on me after I whooped your ass so hard Sunday

Just make sure you don't get too discouraged after I give you a good slapping around at open gaming friday to play in the main event

And I dunno about the prediction, without baby seals like frgsnwntr in the field...Brad will have a tougher time!

edit: ohhhhh snap!

targetawg wrote:

yermom wrote:Rich I thought youd put your money on me after I whooped your ass so hard Sunday

Just make sure you don't get too discouraged after I give you a good slapping around at open gaming friday to play in the main event

And I dunno about the prediction, without baby seals like frgsnwntr in the field...Brad will have a tougher time!

edit: ohhhhh snap!

oooo Harsh.... considering we are 2 and 2 Andrew....

And nick, you know damn well you shouldn't save as much as you do. you save with a 5+ as if it were a 4+ and 4+ as if it were a 3+.....

:p

frgsinwntr wrote:

targetawg wrote:

yermom wrote:Rich I thought youd put your money on me after I whooped your ass so hard Sunday

Just make sure you don't get too discouraged after I give you a good slapping around at open gaming friday to play in the main event

And I dunno about the prediction, without baby seals like frgsnwntr in the field...Brad will have a tougher time!

edit: ohhhhh snap!

oooo Harsh.... considering we are 2 and 2 Andrew....

And nick, you know damn well you shouldn't save as much as you do. you save with a 5+ as if it were a 4+ and 4+ as if it were a 3+.....

:p

I dunno...my memory is a bit fuzzy...

Even if you can't come for the event, you should see if you could stop in for a while Rich, would be good to catch up

What is Brad playing? I would root for him if he was playing Double Wing or Black Templar if not Andrew with his Guard. Sorry Nick.

That's what I always say to Nick when we play at our local store! lol!

Here is a question, are allies still in? Can the imperium armies have daemon hunter/witch hunter allies?

DevianID wrote:Here is a question, are allies still in? Can the imperium armies have daemon hunter/witch hunter allies?

Unless there is something on the GW website that has changed to disallow them, yes, they are still fine. Far as I know the WH and DH books are still valid, although the PDFs don't have the allies rules in them. An imperial player that wants to take DH or WH as allies needs to have that book with them, as well as their own codex.

What is the schedule for Friday Night gaming?

More Space!

We managed to get the mall to let us section off the courtyard next to the bunker. We'll be locking it off, opening the sliding doors wide, and spilling out into some more area. Makes for a roomier tournament, room for more gamers, and I finally know where I'm putting the pots of chili and barbeque.)

We'll be making the change ASAP at www.BigGunz-NE.com and opening up 12 more spaces.

Wish I could come to this one, but I've been vetoed by the wife this year. :(

Kirika wrote:What is the schedule for Friday Night gaming?

Working with the mall to let us play later. But 9:30 usually, and then we hit the bar until 2am.)

Current list of players attending:

AlEdel
Andrew Gonyo
austin Leech
Bill McFadden
Bradley Nichols
Brian Pauli
Chris Dubuque
Chris Reeder
Dameon Green
David Tilghman
Doug Waltman
Ed Miller
Eddy Miller
Ian William Galloway
Jake Chupashko
Jano Roze
Jeff Breil
Jeff Omundson
Jeff Smith
Joe Giuliani
Joe Johnson
Joe Matthiesen
John Bonham
John Bonham
Joseph Zipprich
justin cook
Kevin Reighn
Kevin Whitlash
Louis Branco
Matt Wallach
Matthew Delpech
Matthew Shestack
Mike Belczyk
Mike Ludwig
Mike Paparo
Nicholas Walters
Nick Nanavati
Patrick Haynes
Paul Miglino
Rob Ottaviano
Roz Mario
Scott Banzhaf
Scott Ripley
Shawn Bair
Simon Leen
Taylor Alsobrook
Tim Hudak
Tom McCole
Tom Niedbala
Tony Spino
Vincent Pau
Walter Hinds
Will Vieira
William Stock

Looks impressive! I was hoping to stop by just to see everything in action, but I'll be out of town this weekend. Need pics

RiTides wrote:Looks impressive! I was hoping to stop by just to see everything in action, but I'll be out of town this weekend. Need pics

Learned my lesson at Dakkacon. Making sure I have extra batteries for my energy munching camera.) Going to take a bunch of pictures. I really liked what Tony did for Mechanicon with his photo galleries.

Sadly, I am not going to be able to make it for the weekend.
I was planning on taking a day trip on Friday just to pay a visit and check out whats going on, maybe get a game or two in.
Whats the Friday scene going to be like, is it worth me taking the drive for a visit?

I know there's going to be some good open gaming going on. And it would be cool to catch up Ted.

Sounds good, then I'll make it a point to make the trip, get in a game or two, and of course buy some stuff that I don't need at the store...

The mall is balking about us staying open for a 'late night'. That said, we need to set up in the room after the mall closes, so we'll be hanging around the bunker doing bitz and pieces of set up, and folks should be able to game until 10 or so, and then head down for a beer or six.

Where is the beer being served?

Dashofpepper wrote:Wish I could come to this one, but I've been vetoed by the wife this year. :(

Yea same here.

Good luck Mike! Sounds like it will be a great event! A lot of my buddies are really excited for it this year!

Can't make it but I'll make it there next year

Off topic question, but semi pertaining:

Mikhalia, do you carry a selection of vallejo paints at the bunker? I was going to place an order for some but figured it'd be easier to just pick them up at the event this weekend.

targetawg wrote:Off topic question, but semi pertaining:

Mikhalia, do you carry a selection of vallejo paints at the bunker? I was going to place an order for some but figured it'd be easier to just pick them up at the event this weekend.

Whenever Vallejo restocks suppliers. They are a tad lax in shipping their product at times. ) Send me a PM with the ones you need, and I'll pull those from the rack, or put them on the Thursday order if I'm out. We keep their line in stock, but we sell a hell of a lot of paint during the winter months.)


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DevianID wrote:Where is the beer being served?

We hit Ruby Tuesdays in the Mall. Then if it's a late drinking night, head to the pub 100ft away when Ruby's closes up.

mikhaila wrote:

targetawg wrote:Off topic question, but semi pertaining:

Mikhalia, do you carry a selection of vallejo paints at the bunker? I was going to place an order for some but figured it'd be easier to just pick them up at the event this weekend.

Whenever Vallejo restocks suppliers. They are a tad lax in shipping their product at times. ) Send me a PM with the ones you need, and I'll pull those from the rack, or put them on the Thursday order if I'm out. We keep their line in stock, but we sell a hell of a lot of paint during the winter months.)


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DevianID wrote:Where is the beer being served?

We hit Ruby Tuesdays in the Mall. Then if it's a late drinking night, head to the pub 100ft away when Ruby's closes up.

Awesome, I'll shoot you over a pm shortly. I don't have much in the way of a local game store at the moment, so this saves some hassle for sure.

Hey! Arrived in NYC. I should be driving from NYC around 10pm on Friday night. If you're still in the bar, I'll pop in...

ArbitorIan wrote:Hey! Arrived in NYC. I should be driving from NYC around 10pm on Friday night. If you're still in the bar, I'll pop in...

It is hard to imagine that I won't be in the bar until it closes at 11.) Beer is needed after a long week, and before a GT.

Ruby Tuesday, Beer, Gaming, Ruby Tuesday, Beer, Gaming, Ruby Tuesday, Beer, Gaming...etc.

If anyone is down for a game Friday evening, me and Nick(yermom) will hopefully be arriving around 5:30ish.

Yep, I called dibs on Nick at open gaming though!

And then beer...

So...tired....

Went shopping. Just made up two huge pots of Sausage gumbo that will be cooking for a day or so, and cut up and marinaded 40 pounds of chicken that I'll be smoking tomorrow during thunderstorms.)

Printing out rules packs and paperwork now, with lots of coffee.

Will need beer tomorrow.

Bathroom plumbing that was replaced two months ago decided to leak. Water in the kitchen does not make the wife happy.

Hopefully I can have repairs done and still make it on time.

Just got to work after a full weekend of great games and a 3.5 hr drive. The tournament was a lot of fun and Mike did a heck of a job with the tournament and was flawlessly run.
The quality of gamers were top notch with very tough armys which were almost all wonderfully painted. Its great to see so many armies done to such a high standard in one place.

Ive taken my son to play in tournaments with me since he was 11. He is 13 yrs old and i guage the quality of gamers not only by how well they perform on the table but also by how they act twards someone my sons age. Everyone was a gentleman to him and it speaks highly of the guys Mike had there.

I will let others get into details regarding the actual outcome of the tournament but IG and Vulcan Lists were very dominant.

Terrain was plentiful (maybe a little to much imho) but i need to stress that the Tourny had the best looking terrain ive ever seen. Every table has nicely done and i really want to thank Mike for putting forth the hard work and effort in providing such wonderfully done terrain.

The Store Mike has at the mall is awsome and a great gaming atmosphere. Any level of gamer would feel welcome there plus there displays are incredable i highly recommend anyone who can to stop in and check it out.

The Hotel Mike recommended was cheap $75 a night and clean. Breakfast included. Not a bad deal at all for a nights stay.

Prize support was great as well. Raffles for smaller items were plentiful. The Top winners all won awsome Trophys made by Mike plus tons of boxed sets and forgeworld stuff. Tix to Nova Invite and GW throne of Skulls were also given to top players.

Speaking of Nova, this is where my one very small complaint is. I personally love the Nova format and as you know we ran it at the BFS. The Nova format requires that there be no losses every game and has a winner with secondary and tertiary points included. As the Tournament progresses the winners start rising to the top leaving a good bulk of the tournament players behind.This is the one difference in tournaments using battlepoints with ties allowed. Now this isnt a bad thing from a pure gaming General stand point. The winners of the tournament were for the weekend the best players and this is the desired effect of the Nova format. Yes painting is included so there can be points tacked on there. However when ties are allowed in games it does allow some players the chance of gaining on the top players in the second day of gaming. Am i an advocate of that sort of format ? no im not when discussing a 2 day tournament format. For a one day format yes i believe its a better format.

The point im trying to make is that speaking with alot of guys at the tournament there was one common element mentioned and that was.. "Did we really need to show up today" ? Obviously we all showed up because we love the game and we dont just show to win the top spot. However my feeling is that the Nova format works best when the first day is used for the purposes of seeding all of the players into day 2 multiple brackets. Day 2 then consists of players fighting for the top spot in there perspective bracket.
Mike did this with the top 8 in Nova1 we did it with the top 50 % at BfS, Mike is now doing it for 100% of the open attendies in Nova2.

I think the only suggestion i could make would be to follow a similar format if using the Nova style of tournament.

Im not knocking any format here, i think they all have there places. The Nova is my favorate.. not everyone will agree. Im also not knocking SVDM. Mike put on a great tournament and i intend to be back next year regardless of format.

SVDM was my first tournament and I learned many things, met many great people and had a great time in the process. The store and bunker are the best I've seen!

The gaming was bountiful and the beautiful armies were awe inspiring! My Ork Horde kept me a bit too busy to visit the other tables but I took away some key lessons from the weekend:

1. Salamanders own Orks.
2. Looted Wagons aren't as good as Lootas.
3. Don't charge a Furioso Dreadnaught with Boyz.

Thanks again to Mike and his crew for hosting all weekend!

Sounds like the SVDM was a fantastic weekend! I'm eager to hear more of the feedback, and I am super bummed I wasn't able to make it up (personal and work life got in the way, as is wont to do). Congrats to Mike and his crew, and to whoever won the event / NOVA Invitational spots / etc!

Dakka_X3 wrote:SVDM was my first tournament and I learned many things, met many great people and had a great time in the process. The store and bunker are the best I've seen!

The gaming was bountiful and the beautiful armies were awe inspiring! My Ork Horde kept me a bit too busy to visit the other tables but I took away some key lessons from the weekend:

1. Salamanders own Orks.
2. Looted Wagons aren't as good as Lootas.
3. Don't charge a Furioso Dreadnaught with Boyz.

Thanks again to Mike and his crew for hosting all weekend!

Salamanders own mobs of Ork BOYZ, but don't necessarily own orks. =D I will admit though that the only game I've ever lost to Salamanders with my Orks was against Tim Hudak's Salamander list last February at the SVDM. That was my first time experiencing a Redeemer land raider. Thought those were lascannons.... =p

I can honestly say that the Massacre part of the event was my sallamanders being massacred by everyone else hehe.
I had 5 fun games but was honestly not a fan of the format. If you lost one game then you pretty much lost the event with no chance of making it up. That is great for ard boyz but a GT should cover more than just a win loss with no reason to continue after your first loss. If NOVA wants to do it I am happy for them but why does every event think they have to copy that? Make your event just that, your event.

There were no ties and primary tie breakers were pretty much the secondary. This meant that if you tied without the secondary or lost the primary you pretty much lost all points. Paint was the only secondary scores which pretty much meant there was not enough scoring diversity to make it a hobby event. Just smash your opponent and move on.

MVBrandt wrote:Sounds like the SVDM was a fantastic weekend! I'm eager to hear more of the feedback, and I am super bummed I wasn't able to make it up (personal and work life got in the way, as is wont to do). Congrats to Mike and his crew, and to whoever won the event / NOVA Invitational spots / etc!

I ended up taking Best Overall, but since I got my tickets at Conflict, Vinny Pau, a good friend, managed to get his for 2nd best overall

Ideal ending for me, and an overall great event. I never thought I'd develop such a love for Ruby Tuesdays...


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Fishboy wrote:I can honestly say that the Massacre part of the event was my sallamanders being massacred by everyone else hehe.
I had 5 fun games but was honestly not a fan of the format. If you lost one game then you pretty much lost the event with no chance of making it up. That is great for ard boyz but a GT should cover more than just a win loss with no reason to continue after your first loss. If NOVA wants to do it I am happy for them but why does every event think they have to copy that? Make your event just that, your event.

There were no ties and primary tie breakers were pretty much the secondary. This meant that if you tied without the secondary or lost the primary you pretty much lost all points. Paint was the only secondary scores which pretty much meant there was not enough scoring diversity to make it a hobby event. Just smash your opponent and move on.

I will say...2 of my wins were unbelievably close games. One of which I wasn't able to pull off both Primary and Secondary because of it (against Tim)

Tim ended up taking best general (with a loss) and 3rd best overall/general (don't remember which) was Kevin (the guy I played in the guard mirror match)

Actually, the only undefeated person at the end was myself, so the other 5 top spots all went to players with a loss. I do agree that the format needs some refining, and I think one change to consider is just making sure that the tiebreaker for the primary, isn't the secondary objective. Because then if it's a close game and goes to tiebreaker, you win both secondary and primary and basically get max points. I think 1 or 2 missions were like this (I'll check my packet when I get home).

yea Mike SVDM was alot of fun. Was looking to toss a few back with you over the weekend, bummer you got tied up.

Speaking of tied up. Fishboys biggest problem was that for the majority of the Tournament he spent admiring what a real Salamander army should look like not something you see in a fruit bowl.

However much to Jawaballs disdain, fishboy took best paint with his Vulcan Space Neuts. Fishboy i suggest you watch it...Jawa is contemplating something along the lines of a Tonya Harding if he sees you on the registration list of the next Tourny he attends.


Ed"pissclams"Miller

I would like to thank Mike and his helpers they put on a great tournament. It was tons of fun with some excellent terrain and great looking armies. It was worth the drive and I look forward to next year.

@Dakka_X3 Come on down to NOVA and I will buy the first couple rounds. Bring your eldar too so maybe we can do the iconic DE vs Eldar fight!! besides my DE are still tired from working through all of those orcs.

@zedsdead I agree with almost everything you said. With one exception. too much terrain. I disagree and think that we tend to play on too little terrain and it gets us into this rut where we do not realize how much terrain equals 25% of the board. Most of us are use to 10-15% IMHO. But then again I am a DE player so I love terrain

Take a look at the NOVA primer missions that came out. They are calling out specific terrain pieces to use in practice that include 3 pieces that block LOS to some of which can block LOS to a unit the size of a LR or carnifex.

Check it out Page 5. http://novaopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Primer-2011-GT-Missions-v3.pdf

zedsdead wrote:yea Mike SVDM was alot of fun. Was looking to toss a few back with you over the weekend, bummer you got tied up.

Speaking of tied up. Fishboys biggest problem was that for the majority of the Tournament he spent admiring what a real Salamander army should look like not something you see in a fruit bowl.

However much to Jawaballs disdain, fishboy took best paint with his Vulcan Space Neuts. Fishboy i suggest you watch it...Jawa is contemplating something along the lines of a Tonya Harding if he sees you on the registration list of the next Tourny he attends.


Ed"pissclams"Miller

ROFLMAO!!!! By the way that is Skittles Marines so its the candy bowl not the fruit bowl hehe. I enjoyed talking smack with Jawa...now I can not wait to see how bad he smashes me on his blog hehe.

Ed it was good to see you and your group again.

Fishboy, while I do think every tournament organizer should put his own heart and soul into the definition of the format, it would be important to me to clarify that the NOVA does not have a one-and-done format in terms of w/l ... undefeated as a requirement ONLY applies to Best General. Best Overall can be won with a 50% win record if your sports and painting is high enough, as competitive score/win record is only 33% of the total.

Furthermore, as stated already, there will be 16 best generals at the NOVA this year - anyone who goes 4-0 on their 2nd day (including the 4-0 finisher on Day 2 from among the 0-4 finishers off Day 1, turning Day 1: win or loss: into a seeding/heats day, not a make or break day).

I'm back in NYC and about to fly back to London.

Thanks for a fantastic tournament. The weekend was a lot of fun, flawlessly run, and everyone I played was a great opponent. Unfortunate that I couldn't stay around for the last game but not to worry.

I didn't take many Dakka names though, so if we've met but I didn't get your Dakkaname, let me know..

I had a blast. It was the best event run by Mike yet.

The format was clearly advertised well in advance, and it has a unique approach. It may not be my favorite format but I enjoy diversity at events, so I have no gripes there.

There is now a HUGE amount of events going on and if you want to just run the same system at every event then many gamers will not have a chance to play how they like. Some like the hardcore competition, some like hobby style, and many do not like any type of competitive format and just enjoy being able to get games in. The next event at Showcase is a Forge World List approved 1850 RTT - Talk about something different!

I would suggest ditching the display tables in the center to allow easier movement in the main room. It was great to see the armies lined up but the traffic flow suffered.

The tables and terrain were all well above the norm and it is wonderful to see a focus the play surfaces. In my opinion, having proper terrain and tables can be more important that your rules pack and many attendees were able to get good ideas about how to improve the tabletop environment at their home clubs.

Wish that I could have been there. :(

Grats on the event Mike!

Vinny, glad you got your ticket.

Thanks Mike and crew for a great weekend! This was a great experience for my first tournament. I am now spoiled with nice terrain... I learned a lot and met some friendly players along the way (I was the Nid player that didn't do so hot). At the end of the day, the goal of playing 40k all weekend was achieved. I'll definitely be back next year. Oh yeah, being able to basically trip and fall in to the bar after a day of gaming was damn convenient. Showcase is a bonus too, because it has EVERYTHING.

Cheers.

vwjetta1997 wrote:Thanks Mike and crew for a great weekend! This was a great experience for my first tournament. I am now spoiled with nice terrain... I learned a lot and met some friendly players along the way (I was the Nid player that didn't do so hot). At the end of the day, the goal of playing 40k all weekend was achieved. I'll definitely be back next year. Oh yeah, being able to basically trip and fall in to the bar after a day of gaming was damn convenient. Showcase is a bonus too, because it has EVERYTHING.

Cheers.

It does not have strippers.

Mike... Your store needs more strippers

frgsinwntr wrote:

vwjetta1997 wrote:Thanks Mike and crew for a great weekend! This was a great experience for my first tournament. I am now spoiled with nice terrain... I learned a lot and met some friendly players along the way (I was the Nid player that didn't do so hot). At the end of the day, the goal of playing 40k all weekend was achieved. I'll definitely be back next year. Oh yeah, being able to basically trip and fall in to the bar after a day of gaming was damn convenient. Showcase is a bonus too, because it has EVERYTHING.

Cheers.

It does not have strippers.

Mike... Your store needs more strippers

Actually I think he did have strippers....paint strippers that is >

Fishboy, while I do think every tournament organizer should put his own heart and soul into the definition of the format, it would be important to me to clarify that the NOVA does not have a one-and-done format in terms of w/l ... undefeated as a requirement ONLY applies to Best General. Best Overall can be won with a 50% win record if your sports and painting is high enough, as competitive score/win record is only 33% of the total.

Furthermore, as stated already, there will be 16 best generals at the NOVA this year - anyone who goes 4-0 on their 2nd day (including the 4-0 finisher on Day 2 from among the 0-4 finishers off Day 1, turning Day 1: win or loss: into a seeding/heats day, not a make or break day).

Glad to hear you say that. All I kept hearing is this is the NOVA format and even Mike stated he was copying NOVA.

For a few extra bucks, I'm sure you could entice some of the Big Gunz to remove articles of clothing...

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little......

Fishboy wrote:
Glad to hear you say that. All I kept hearing is this is the NOVA format and even Mike stated he was copying NOVA.

This happens - truth is that the format is numerous tournaments all going on at once. Since the competitive types want straight w/l style competition for clear(er) evaluation, they get that. The traditional types want battle points + painting + sports so they get that. The composition types want more army variety and to be able to compete with their softer lists, so the new bracketing system gives them that. The emphasis last year was definitely on the "competitive" undefeated best general track, helped along by certain blogs covering it pretty hard. Just trying to clarify it a little more as we mature

Dashofpepper wrote:For a few extra bucks, I'm sure you could entice some of the Big Gunz to remove articles of clothing...

In no way would I ever consider giving Justin or Mike Ludwig money to take ANYTHING off.

I would consider giving them money to put things on

Fine, at the next Showcase event ... I'LL take things off.

frgsinwntr wrote:

Dashofpepper wrote:For a few extra bucks, I'm sure you could entice some of the Big Gunz to remove articles of clothing...

In no way would I ever consider giving Justin or Mike Ludwig money to take ANYTHING off.

I would consider giving them money to put things on

No worries, you won't have to pay a dime, I'll buy lap dance after lap dance for you from those two.

Id quit 40k for that

lol there are some things even I don't have a response too........

Dashofpepper wrote:Salamanders own mobs of Ork BOYZ, but don't necessarily own orks. =D

You are correct. Thank you for the neccessary clarification. Waaagh!

vwjetta1997 wrote:Thanks Mike and crew for a great weekend! This was a great experience for my first tournament. I am now spoiled with nice terrain... I learned a lot and met some friendly players along the way (I was the Nid player that didn't do so hot). At the end of the day, the goal of playing 40k all weekend was achieved. I'll definitely be back next year. Oh yeah, being able to basically trip and fall in to the bar after a day of gaming was damn convenient. Showcase is a bonus too, because it has EVERYTHING.

Cheers.

Were you the "stealer shock" player? If so, a great game!!! I was the anchient Alpha Legion lizard herder.

MVBrandt wrote:Fine, at the next Showcase event ... I'LL take things off.

Damn, if Mike starts taking things off, ladies might start showing up at 40k events.

targetawg wrote:

frgsinwntr wrote:

Dashofpepper wrote:For a few extra bucks, I'm sure you could entice some of the Big Gunz to remove articles of clothing...

In no way would I ever consider giving Justin or Mike Ludwig money to take ANYTHING off.

I would consider giving them money to put things on

No worries, you won't have to pay a dime, I'll buy lap dance after lap dance for you from those two.

Now I just threw up a lot


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Dashofpepper wrote:

MVBrandt wrote:Fine, at the next Showcase event ... I'LL take things off.

Damn, if Mike starts taking things off, ladies might start showing up at 40k events.

Only to make them appreciate what they have at home!!!

Cable wrote:Were you the "stealer shock" player? If so, a great game!!! I was the anchient Alpha Legion lizard herder.

Yup. That was me. Nice, army and fun game! Had to take a while to get all those classic models. Good stuff.

I would like to Thank Mike Clark for the well run tournament and excellent choices of swag like a glass and tactical templates which are useful for everyone. The terrain was excellent looking really awesome with a decent mix of line of sight blocking and area terrain. Prizes was really nice as well. Got a Khorne daemon prince which I will convert into a bloodthirster using max mini wings for my daemon army.

Would also like to thank my opponents for 5 fun games.

Also thanks to Brad who gave me a ride and was a great roommate.

Mike could you please share the painting rubric that would be really nice so I could know what I could improve for next time? Am sure other people will be interested.

I have to agree with targetawg that Ruby Tuesdays has some really good food.

Will write tourney reports at some point

Kirika wrote:I would like to Thank Mike Clark for the well run tournament and excellent choices of swag like a glass and tactical templates which are useful for everyone. The terrain was excellent looking really awesome with a decent mix of line of sight blocking and area terrain. Prizes was really nice as well. Got a Khorne daemon prince which I will convert into a bloodthirster using max mini wings for my daemon army.

Would also like to thank my opponents for 5 fun games.

Also thanks to Brad who gave me a ride and was a great roommate.

Mike could you please share the painting rubric that would be really nice so I could know what I could improve for next time? Am sure other people will be interested.

I have to agree with targetawg that Ruby Tuesdays has some really good food.

Will write tourney reports at some point

Kirika actually reminded me of a conversation that came up at Ruby Tuesday's between a bunch of us about swag bags.

The swag for this event was absolutely A+. I think one comment was that at some events (and swag is free, so I'm not complaining!), swag is centered around more eccentric items, bits bags, odd bits and bobs, which unless you're lucky may not be useful or apply to you/your army. The swag may have been "less" in a volume sense at SVDM, but the quality was incredibly high. A logo'd tactical template (which I've always meant to get but never did) is useful for everyone, and who doesn't love a logo'd pint glass! Beer or not, it's a nice keepsake, and is a good drinking class. For me personally, this was a huge plus for the swag.

The terrain also was top notch, for me it felt like a bit too much of it, but I play Imperial Guard and of course, like open shooting ground, so I'm a biased reviewer.

Mike was also really receptive to questions about paint scores, and was very candid with what I could improve on to up my score, which I appreciated. I never expect to get full points, but I try to get progressively better, so knowing what I didn't earn points for is really useful.

I'll be back next year for sure, and if any of you folks were on the fence about whether or not to attend, do so next year, you won't regret it!

Hopefully by this time next year my house will be unpacked and I won't have just moved across the country, and be waiting on reimbursement for all my liquid capital. =p

Sorry I missed it Mike; sounds like it went smoothly. Haven't seen any of the stupid junk that followed you last year. =D

Where are the pics, for those who were there! I'd love to see some in-game shots, or just shots of how everything was set up. Sounds like it was awesome!

I had a great time at the SVDM. Met a lot of cool peeps. Armies were looking great this year. Mad pops to the Drop Pod Vulcan list that got best painted. I hope I can achieve that caliber of painting in the near future. I felt I had really great games with all my opponents. There were no serious disputes and everyone I played was cooperative as far as helping each other along for a smooth game. Round 5 took longer than I expected, I don't know how that happened, but I do apologize for the inconvenience of having to wait for us to finish. But it was a good game none-the-less. Had fun picking on Nick (Yermom) with everyone at Ruby Tuesday's. Thanks to Mike for all the prize support and giveaways and to all the others who helped in the event. See you guys at the next tourney. I think I will be at the Colonial GT in April.

P.S. ... Oh, and congrats to all the winners!

have to agree with targetawg that Ruby Tuesdays has some really good food.

Hehe I love all the comments about the "food" at Ruby Tuesdays. The "food" was sooooo good that everyone kept dropping things on the floor to see the "food" bend over to pick it up heheh.

Mike looking forward to this next year.

Fishboy wrote:

have to agree with targetawg that Ruby Tuesdays has some really good food.

Hehe I love all the comments about the "food" at Ruby Tuesdays. The "food" was sooooo good that everyone kept dropping things on the floor to see the "food" bend over to pick it up heheh.

Mike looking forward to this next year.

It was all about the exceptional quality of the service. And Fishboy's apt ability to give me a swift kick when I wasn't paying enough attention to it.

California Chicken Quesadilla... that thing is Amazing there! (Somehow listed as an appetizer, but don't be deceived by that)

RiTides wrote:California Chicken Quesadilla... that thing is Amazing there! (Somehow listed as an appetizer, but don't be deceived by that)

Yermom wasn't sure if he liked it, so he didn't order it the first night, despite us urging him to...


That smokehouse burger was pretty awesome. Also, a beer selection with more variety than bud/miller/coors/etc. Flying Dog, Dogfish Head, Sierra Nevada, etc etc

And did I mention the service was good?

Kirika wrote:Mike could you please share the painting rubric that would be really nice so I could know what I could improve for next time? Am sure other people will be interested.

No problem. This is the checklist that I used for the tournament. For a 1 day tournament, we use 20 pts for painting. For two days, I double the total. SVDM had a max of 120 for battle, and 40 for painting. Transferring the scoring from the bunker computer, which has no internet connection, to this one, and getting the scores posted tonite.

Basing: (0-2 points)
0 points: Basic sand, flock, gravel
1 point: Drybrushed sand and flock, painted pattern, drybrushed resin.
2 points: Sculpted bases, intricate resin bases, overall army theme. Bases have been painted to a high level, or have multiple levels of drybrushed efects and basing materials for a natural look. Water Effects or sculpted flames. Time has obviously been spent on each model's base.

Coherency and Theme: (0-3)
+1 point: Army has been properly put together, with no mold lines, excess glue, or gaps in the models.
+1 point: A consistant painting style was used. Colors, techniques, and style draw the army together.
+1 point: Overall or consistant army theme. Models are obviously all in the same army, with theme, basing, colors, or conversions giving
the army an overall look.

Highlighting, Washes, Blending, and overall army quality. (0-7 points possible.)
0 points: Why is this army here? It's not fully painted. No, primer isn't a color.
1 point: The army is fully painted. It lacks most highlighting. It might have a wash put over it or be dipped. Might have a couple
models that aren't really fully painted.
2 points: The army has dry brushing or some highlighting done to it. Possibly just on characters. It's a decent tabletop army. Much better
than what you see at the typical gaming store, but still not really ready for taking to a GT. Could be obviously be dipped
and some details done. Could also be a work in progress with just basecoats and a wash. Little fine detail.
3 points: Complex dry brushing with several colors, or highlighting with more than one layer. Use of washes. Some detail work
done on most models. Characters have had highlighting and fine details added. An average army that you see at a large
tournament or GT.
4 points: Several layers of highlighting with smooth transitions. No clumsy drybrushing. Detail work done on most models: teeth, fangs,
claws, skulls, shoulder pads, etc. Characters stand out from the rest of the army. Better than average tournament army. Could
also be an army that would score a 5 or 6, but has some obvious flaws that knock it down some.
5 points: Skilled use of blending, washing, and highlights. Good attention to detail. A high quality tournament army.
6 points: As number 5, but to a higher level. You could see this army could easily compete for best painted at most tournaments.
7 points: Superb level of painting. Every model has had a lot of time and attention. All small detail work has been done on each model.
Character models have had hours of work done on each one and stand out. You could easily see parts of this army entered in
Golden Demon and making at least the first cut. Armies will rarely get this score.

Fine details, free hand, banners. (0-3 points.)
0 points: Little work has been done on details. Maybe simple white on teeth or claws. Army is finished, but not much work has been
done on each model individually.
1 point: Small details painted on most models. Fangs, claws, eys, belt buckles. etc
2 points: Nicely painted banners, icons, eyes, and simple freehand work. Rivets on vehicles stand out, searchlights painted like glass
Shoulderpad icons, vehicle numbers, tatoos or warpaint,
3 points: Incredible detail, extreme freehand on banners, tatoos, or flame effects. Eyes painted on all models. Fangs and teeth have
multiple layers. Wiring, rivets, and damage on vehicles stands out.

Modeling and Conversions (0-3 points)
0 points: Not much done to the army. Very vanilla out of the box. Maybe a couple of small things, but not very generic and minimal..
1 point: Some models have been reposed or had extra equipment added. Character or general has custom work. A vehicle has had
some bits of work done to it. Minor greenstuff work. Head or weapon swaps. Trophy racks, etc.
2 points: Either most of the army has had minor work done to it, or the army has some pieces that have had major conversions done to
them. Custom models, large amounts of good quality sculpting.
3 points: Major conversion work has been done to the army, and it's very obvious at a glance. Vehicles has extra armor, battle damage,
and unique elements.
Note: Conversion probably is the most wide open of catagories, ecompassing many different things. Subtle variations to high elves or necrons might be harder to pull off than flashy things on Orks or Chaos. Judges may use their discretion to give points in this catagory for a number of things that just don't fit elsewhere. An example might be a full army of forgeworld Deathkorp models.

Display Board (0-2 points)
0 points: No display board, or something you just use to move models around with. Does not match your army, little work done.
1 point: A Basic board. Sand gravel and flocking, hopefully matching the army. Does the job, looks good.
2 points: A themed display board with scenic elements that match the army, and adds to the overall effect when displayed with the army.
Even a fabulous display board is only worth 2 points, so these may have a wide range of skill and looks. For more points, you
should work on your army, instead of the display board.)

Thanks Mike for posting the painting rubric

Here are some pictures.

Pictures I took of other people's armies on display boards
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-5770-14514_Svdm%20Gt%202011%20Army%20Pics.html

Pitures I took of other players games
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-5770-14518_Svdm%20Gt%202011%20Other%20Players%20Games.html

Tourney reports will have to wait for now.

Wow! Those armies are gorgeous as are the tables from the in-game shots.

I need to add this event to my calendar for next year... I live driving distance so this makes a good east cast event.

Looks like it was a ton of fun and those display boards are really sweet!

Final numbers.

Took me awhile to figure out how that was sorted, looks like it's in order of Battle Points (with the exception of the last name on the list). Also looks like the overall score didn't show up for the second person on the list, although it's easily added.

Nice to see how people did, I'm not familiar with most of the names but I'm surprised Scooter was near the bottom... he's a terror to face in fantasy!

Overall
Andrew Gonyo
Vincent Pau
Dameon Green

General
Tim Hudak
Pat Haynes
Kevin Whitlash

Painting
First place was a tie between Joe Johnson's Vulcan drop list, and Joe Guiliani's Death Korps or Kreig. Both of these guys scored a perfect 40.
I punted and decided to give out two first place prizes, rather than agonize over which was better. Both superb painters.
Chris Dubuque (Jawaballs) was next in line with his Blood Angels.


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RiTides wrote:Nice to see how people did, I'm not familiar with most of the names but I'm surprised Scooter was near the bottom... he's a terror to face in fantasy!

Ha! Scooter came up and had one hell of a time. I got this call two days before "Hey Bro, I'll be up, pick me out an army, don't tell me what it is, I want to have fun." He spent the whole weekend throwing a Khorne Berzerker list at people and pretty much having a great time. I heard from all his opponents that they had a great time playing him.

mikhaila wrote:First place was a tie between Joe Johnson's Vulcan drop list, and Joe Guiliani's Death Korps or Kreig. Both of these guys scored a perfect 40.
I punted and decided to give out two first place prizes, rather than agonize over which was better. Both superb painters.

Nice! They must have been fantastic to score perfects on that painting rubric.

Kudos to Mike Clark for running a great tourney in a super "battle bunker" Had a good time against great opponants.

Favorite game against---SCOOTER !!!!!!!

Only thing to improve-------more "hot stuff" in the chili.

does anyone know if Tm Hudak was running godhammer or redeemer Raiders ? The pic is a little blurry.

zedsdead wrote:does anyone know if Tm Hudak was running godhammer or redeemer Raiders ? The pic is a little blurry.

Godhammer on both. His RB's are TL Las as well, not Las/Plas

This was quite possibly my favorite 40k tournament I've ever participated in. I'm trying to make it out to the march 12th one at the same venue.

Nice to see Tyranids fairly high up the board on battle points... what kind of list was he running?

I was running a quasi-reserve list, containing swarmlord, dual twin dev tyrant, each with guards, three squads of genestealers, minimal ymgarls, six hive guard, a tervigon, and the obligatory termagants. The only person I lost against was the guy who placed first overall. I still got 7 bp off of him and probably could've won if my target priority was better towards the end. The hive guard decided to crap out halfway through.

HiveFleetAku wrote:I was running a quasi-reserve list, containing swarmlord, dual twin dev tyrant, each with guards, three squads of genestealers, minimal ymgarls, six hive guard, a tervigon, and the obligatory termagants. The only person I lost against was the guy who placed first overall. I still got 7 bp off of him and probably could've won if my target priority was better towards the end. The hive guard decided to crap out halfway through.

And damn you for seizing the initiative in that game! (I was your guard opponent)

Your game was a blast man, kudos on your finish, I loved seeing (even though I'm friends with the guy you played) Tyranids smash deathwing!