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This finally went up on the website. I've known since Novemeber, and glad to see that it's finally up on the website and official. I'll see some of you down here for it.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=&categoryId=400002a§ion=community&aId=11200011a

So are the prizes really just going to be trophies and bragging rights? Since you have the inside line...

You would think that they would geographically pick centralized locations.

LA makes sense. Chicago....should move about one state south. And Pennsylvania....should be in D.C. or southern Virginia.

*shrugs* Would make sense to me anyway.

Dashofpepper wrote:You would think that they would geographically pick centralized locations.

LA makes sense. Chicago....should move about one state south. And Pennsylvania....should be in D.C. or southern Virginia.

*shrugs* Would make sense to me anyway.

Chicago wins for a few reasons: 1) Existing Battle Bunker; 2) easiest to fly-into city in the country (lots and lots of non-stop options); and 3) precedent.

Personal this pisses me off to no end that they split this into basic 3 giant regionals. if I didn't already buy my ticket I would cancel and say screw it.

Darkwynn wrote:Personal this pisses me off to no end that they split this into basic 3 giant regionals. if I didn't already buy my ticket I would cancel and say screw it.

Why?

Cause people wanna be the only #1 I suppose.. even if every year there is a huge problem with the 'ard boyz that ruins its competitiveness

Rather have more people be able to attend

Because why are we calling it ARd boys now? it went form finals to three regional areas. Going to Finals your not going for prizes that is for sure. You go up there for bragging rights , friends and a chance to take first. having three regional locations undermines the purpose of the tournament and now there is no point in going. Especially for people who have to buy plane tickets to fly into any of the locations.


Now we are going to have people saying "well so and so didn't play the person in L.A and and he would have won, and so and so didn't play the person in P.A." Whats the point? I want the best of the best to go to one location not three.

Perhaps GW has something in mind for the three overall winners... Perhaps they have a way to determine the 'Ardest one... something they could document and feature in White Dwarf. Say a paid trip to their headquarters and some crazy three player scenario for all the marbles.

Probably not... but it sounds cool, right?

The other thing that annoys me about it is the waited pretty much till the last minute for this. Why have something posted up for 6 months then switch it on people at two to three weeks away?

Because they are GW?

Magic does the same things with the Grand Prix invitationals and things.... You have the "large" tourneys to get invites to the "medium" tourney (which for most is a trip), win that, get invites to the cream of the crop touney for the year (like worlds for magic)... Its basically bragging rights, probably some nice prizes, and something for everyone to enjoy. I love reading who won, what lists were top, which bunked, etc.

And if you win a trip to the finals, weather you go or not, thats bragging rights all its own! how many people do you play with that can say the same? And to be the #1 player in your third of the country? Sure, we don't have "celeb" status like some MTG players, but hell.

Well LA is really going to cut down my travel expenses, I just hope the turn out is good. LA should have a good turn out because it's a large area and out of towners may actually want to spend a weekend in SoCal over Chicago.

Media PA? 1st thought was whereTF is Media PA, so I looked it up and it's a suburb that's only 6 miles from Philadelphia. GW really should say it's in Philadelphia rather than the suburb that it's technically in. The Chicago bunker is after all technically in Downers Grove but nobody calls it the Downer's Grove Bunker. I hope their turn out is good, but little things like that can hurt it.

Anyhow I guess I'm going to LA. I have the money to fly to Chicago, but going to LA would be about 1/3 the cost for me and the wife worries too much about money. I just hope the turn out is good.

We can start a thread here after the finals & let the three champions trash talk each other explaining why they are actually the best & would have massacred the other two.

j/k !!!

G

On another not for all those people with the "There can be only 1" mentality I could see 2 solutions that GW might do.

Overall battle score: Add the 3 scores from the 3 winners of regionals and declare the player with the highest score the winner.

3 way tournament: 3 games with 3 players, each player plays 2 games. Call west coast player A, Chicago B, and east coast C. Run the same scenario in all 3 games.

Game #1 Player A Versus player B
Game #2 Player B Versus Player C
Game #3 Player A Versus Player C

Total the point scores from all games and declare a winner.

Cage match would be hte best !! j/k !!!



G

If you know who the tournament is run BY (department) and the reason *why* its run you'll then easily understand why there are 3 finals

Hint: Its not to determine who the best is and it never has been

Kirasu put it rather nicely and succinctly.

That's kind of a slanted view-- any competitive tournament is run to encourage sales. WotC doesn't put on tournaments for the fun of it, you know.

I get that it's run by marketing, but attributing every perceived flaw in its design and/or execution to some sinister marketing ploy a) smacks of angry fanboi-ism, and b) gives GW a bit too much credit.

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."

On the flip side more people get to play & I think that is a good thing.

G

Actually I dont remember stating anywhere that more tournaments = perceived flaw. In fact I said above that more people attending is better :p

My answer was in response to the competiveness question. It's never been about that, it's always been about getting people to buy 2500 pts worth of models for the chance to... win 2500 pts worth of models

WOTC is a semi-bad example.. Thats like comparing the NHL to some group of people who run amateur hockey leagues or something .. MTG circuits are touted as being "professional" IE the prizes are massive for the winners. They make money off advertising and all sorts of other things that completely eclipses any tournament GW does

Its true competitive tournaments are run to encourage sales but the 'ard boyz was "created" to make sales :p Slight difference.. And im not even saying there is malice, its just the way it is

Its just obvious having players be #1 isnt a big concern.. Atleast in MTG tournaments you go until there is a top person. Now we'll have 3 winners! and probably 30 undefeated people

And as a bonus if you are in LA you can photograph Yakface like your a real paparazzi.
And if you are in Chicago you can get locked up in Malfred's basement (rubbing lotion on its skin is optional I hear).

Hope some of the local dakkaites will come down to watch.

At first I was dismayed because I wanted the "best" players to congregate to one spot for a chance to be the winner, but I think of how many good players didnt participate this year or wouldnt make the trip to Chicago anyway. I know of a couple of last years top 20 that didnt even try this year. It will stillbe a competetive tourny and whoever wins will probably be an excellent 40k player.

There is a downside though IMO. There were what 30-32 semi final locations. That is roughly 90 players. Geographically even if all qualifiers were going to go, other than west coast, AZ, west Texas I am guessing most qualifiers will go to Chicago or Penn. So 20 players go to LA, 40 to Chicago, and 30 to PA. for example, it would feel weird to me to win LA with 19 other players and say I am the Ard Boyz champ when I won a tourney of 20. Not to take anything away from whoever wins, just saying it would be a little anti climactic to win at a tourney with less players than either of the two previous rounds.

I would love for everyone to head to Chicago but I am just two hours away by car so I am a bit biased. If GW had a "central"location,say Memphis, I would probably make the trek for Ard Boyz finals. For people flying, I would assume Chicago is better than Memphis.

I will be a bit disapointed if I dont get a chance to see/play some of the armies I have read about online, but Im sure it will still be a great time with lots of awesome players, and a night at the Weston. I think its hard to complain, but I understand it would be awesome to get as many players as possible in one location instead of spread over several locations.

90+ entries into the finals does make 1 location problematic. I'm really starting to like the idea of a west coast ard boys.

3 Tough games against 3 tough opponents is all I ask for.

I like the idea of 3 finals also.

A three round tournament with 90 players isn't going to find the "best" player any better or worse than three separate tournaments with 30 players. Without some kind of elimination system you generally end up with the "top" players never having played each other.

Multiple tournaments will at least give more people the opportunity to play. Without prize support I imagine many people, such as myself, would be skipping the finals altogether unless they can make a day trip out of it.

Bah, I'm glad I didn't make it to the finals now. They are all so far away. :p

I've been to the finals of 2 different ard boys. 1 fantasy 1 WOTR this will be my first 40k finals. After going to Chicago over and over, and seeing what the prizes are like. I would much rather go to a closer location then have to drive 13 hours to play in Chicago. I love the idea of a store within 90 min of me hosting the finals. Bragging rights if I win its fine with me if the Chicago player wants to say he is better than me. 40k celebs that’s just silly.

On a lighter note good luck to all the players getting ready to play in the finals.

I don't know what kind of prize support the finals have ( I welcome someone to fill me in as I am curious) but they USED to be amazing from what I remember the first 2. They were listed and advertised on the web page back in the day (remember the FW greater demon of slaanesh and the FW trygon models and so on?). Now since they don't advertise the prizes I imagine they might be greatly toned down!?

Anyway, I got an email from someone doing the semi finalist's prizes and the top 2 at each finals location will get a free ticket to the LV throne of skulls GT; that in and of itself sounds pretty sweet to me!! =)

If GW had a Las Vegas location for the final instead of Los Angeles it would be much easier for me to convince the wife to go since she enjoys travelling to Las Vegas.

Win first at LA, get a ticket for LV in 2011.)
Make the wife happy.