Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

You'll have the glasses and shirts on sale seperately right Mike? I'm just not interested in another case with another size of foam. Sabol, GW, and Battlefoam are enough

Brad, I reck'n so

Righty oh, you can count me in for one of each

MVBrandt wrote:In other news, Steve I got your question, and it's a go-ahead. I just need to craft the correct formal response for your PM box with some helpful tips. Been a crazy week at work but I hope to get to it today.

Awesome, I got the PM already! The tips are great and I should be good to go . Now to get painting to finish out the army!

I will be registering and paying early next week (I have a bunch of auctions ending Sunday). Already cleared the dates with my wife . Really looking forward to it!

I also hadn't realized it'd be possible to play in the GT and the Narrative campaign. Will check the times and see if I think that's something I'll be able to handle, or if I'll be all 40k'ed out after the GT

Based on a PM question, something that we should reiterate is what we half tongue-in-cheek call "Incidental Comp."

In evaluating and re-evaluating our format, last year we introduced a bracketing system that is oriented toward force-bracketing the field competitively, so that players are ALL participating in meaningful games as late as Rounds 5-8, regardless of their LIST and SKILL LEVEL.

What happens is, you play your first 4 games "in the field." 256 players compete for the first four rounds with no form of specialized pairing other than your WIn/Loss ratio, and your Win Path.

Win Path is the first key part of what we do, and it's done to enhance sportsmanship and fair play against peers. Effectively, you play people with the same W/L record, and who Won and Lost their games at the same time.

If you Win your first 2 rounds, and lose your third, your fourth game will be against someone who ALSO won their first 2, and lost their third.

This is especially helpful for players who lose their first game or two, and then win a game or two. You'll play someone who is having the same kind of tournament as you in terms of when they won or lost, and how their feelings mesh up with yours. Last year showed us quite visibly that this tends to encourage better sportsmanship, and more connection and common ground between players.

The KEY part of our "Incidental Comp" is that after Round 4, everyone's record is effectively reset.

People are bracketed based primarily on their W/L record into brackets of 16, and seeded within those brackets based upon their margin of victory/defeat so far. So, the 16 players who are 4-0 (if we have a full 256 after drops, which is actually unlikely) will play each other in Bracket 1, and the 16 players who are 0-4 will play each other in Bracket 16.

You DO NOT leave this bracket for the remainder of the event, which means that someone who goes 0-4 is guaranteed mathematically to go 4-0 during the Championship Brackets. EVERYONE who goes 4-0 in their subsidiary bracket wins honorrifics and prizes.

What this yields is a situation where you can bring ANY style of list you want, and still be playing meaningful games where tactics determine the win against people with similar list styles and skill levels during the key matches of Rounds 5-8.

Additionally, the Final Four in EVERY bracket advance to Day 3's Final Fours (Rounds 7-8). So, instead of it being only 16 people, 64 of 256 play in Final Fours on Sunday morning. Everyone else is welcome to continue to play within their brackets, or organized open gaming on Sunday morning, so no one is shorted games (we don't break all the tables down). But no one is required to labor through all 8 rounds either.

Finally, Best Overall is determined after Round 6 this year. Best Overall for the NOVA is only 50% determined by competition. So, if you're a gorgeous painter and manage to go 2-2 in your first Four Rounds, then 2-0 in Rounds 5-6 within your bracket of Peers, you have a legitimate shot at Best Overall, and our largest prizes.

To prove that point, last year Gabe Dobkin's gorgeous Cobra Commander IG army pulled off a 5-3 final record, and won Best Overall regardless. We truly keep everyone "in competition" to the very end, and you don't have to bring a copy-paste Netlist or a WAAC attitude to win Generalship honors and prizes at the NOVA.

The very top players with the most hardcore lists will still be competing for the top Best General prize in Bracket 1, but you can effectively play your way to an awesome tournament full of peers in Rounds 5-8 ... sort of whoever you are.


For those who need to know, the Narrative Event is also NOT competitive with the GT on the schedule - you can play in both, and they're worth checking out. Both, however, are rapidly running OUT of tickets.

I really like the sound of the layout, especially this part:

MVBrandt wrote:If you Win your first 2 rounds, and lose your third, your fourth game will be against someone who ALSO won their first 2, and lost their third.

Interestingly, I guess if you go 0-4 on Day 1, you'll have a better chance of playing on Day 3 than if you win a game or two (but not all 4) since the 4-0 and 0-4 brackets will be smaller than the others.

Looking forward to it!

Actually, we bump the high-scoring 3-1's up to the 4-0 bracket ... so contrary to popular belief, you can actually win the NOVA or any NOVA format event after losing a single game, unless the event both sells out, and has a dramatic enough present wait list to cover drops. To give examples of how difficult this is, I believe AdeptiCon's 256-player champs this year had 256 sell out with a 50+ wait list, and wound up with 246 or so participants.

That said, we do try to limit the bottom bracket to just 0-4 players, for the sake of those participants.

RiTides wrote:

I also hadn't realized it'd be possible to play in the GT and the Narrative campaign. Will check the times and see if I think that's something I'll be able to handle, or if I'll be all 40k'ed out after the GT

This is what I am excited about. I am gonna be tired though and still need to figure out what lists I am bringing (or bring the same list to both events)

I think it is worth a go because I suspect most narrative people will have just played hours of 40k and be in the same tired boat and ready for some casual facesmashing.

I bought one of the VIP bags on the 1st, but haven't gotten any kind of confirmation besides my reciept from paypal. Are you guys sending something out seperatly confirming out bag purchases?

PM me your name, if you will, so I can confirm you are good to go.

Nick - i think you're in the right place there in terms of what the Narrative will feel like (in addition to gorgeous terrain and a really, really cool and unique "non-hammer" story).

The other thing is, whatever your list is will influence who you play and why, so it's not like to be high stress in the "oh crap he's going to murder me!" department(s). Plus, three hour rounds and a one hour relax/get-food/briefing period.

Depending on who our final "celebrity" attendees are in the hobby for specifics (i.e. Black Library Authors vs. Well known gamers vs. Hobby / Vendor well-knowns), we'll have "Celebrity" Commanders giving the combat briefing and overall war status to their respective factions prior to the start of each round. Should get everyone in the playful and laid back mood, in addition to the various burned Newspaper Clippings that may be scattered around the hall, hinting at how the war is progressing from a public opinion p.o.v.

So Mike, with the date for 6th ed set at June 23rd, is the GT likely to be 5th or 6th?

Andrew, that's still TBD. If 6th is actually releasing on the 23rd, very likely. If nobody will actually see copies until July, very unlikely.

MVBrandt wrote:Andrew, that's still TBD. If 6th is actually releasing on the 23rd, very likely. If nobody will actually see copies until July, very unlikely.

Ah, I see. I think we should use a purely analytical way of determining 5th or 6th; that is, find the first person who shows up, blindfold him, spin him around a few times, and...

DarkCorsair wrote:

MVBrandt wrote:Andrew, that's still TBD. If 6th is actually releasing on the 23rd, very likely. If nobody will actually see copies until July, very unlikely.

Ah, I see. I think we should use a purely analytical way of determining 5th or 6th; that is, find the first person who shows up, blindfold him, spin him around a few times, and...

That's how some rules are written

Leaning 6ed,

Offer your inputs!

http://whiskey40k.blogspot.com/2012/06/opportunities-for-further-input-and.html

I would be fine all 6th. Think back and forth is going to be headache. I would hope most people going to an event like NOVA can learn the rules in a month enough to muddle through.

I put it up there but I'll put it up here too. I vote 6th for the main event. Heck, given a choice I'd vote 6th for the Invitational too if that was an option.

@nkelsch

And it's more than a month, more like 60 days

Two full months! 6th ed all the way

i would like to see the invite and GT be the same edition. Either edition at this point wouldnt bother me at all i would however prefer to not cross edition rule sets.

It might be worth asking folks in the invitational (via email?). If they all feel that way, perhaps everything could be 6th ed... 2 months is enough time, I think, to be ready.

I was glad that NOVA was going to maybe be 5th edition, but then I thought about it and there's no real reason why I should want it to be 5th. Go with 6th all the way!

Hi

I'll echo Hulk and zedsdead - One edition for the invite and the GT please. I don't care which one, but just one.

Honestly, if the invitational was done and dusted before the GT was over, I wouldn't have any issue with 5th for it and 6th for the GT, but the notion of playing 3 rounds of 5th, then 8 rounds of 6th, and then going back for 2 more rounds of 5th makes it not my idea of a great time.

That being said, it won't stop me from coming however you rule - all 5th, all 6th or a mix - but I will make my preference known.

+1 for RiTides suggestion of polling the Invitational players - EDIT - for the format of the invitational event.

Cheers,
Nate Stevens, Nova Invitational Qualifier

carlosthecraven wrote:Hi

I'll echo Hulk and zedsdead - One edition for the invite and the GT please. I don't care which one, but just one.

Honestly, if the invitational was done and dusted before the GT was over, I wouldn't have any issue with 5th for it and 6th for the GT, but the notion of playing 3 rounds of 5th, then 8 rounds of 6th, and then going back for 2 more rounds of 5th makes is not my idea of a great time.

That being said, it won't stop me from coming however you rule - all 5th, all 6th or a mix - but I will make my preference known.

+1 for RiTides suggestion of polling the Invitational players.

Cheers,
Nate Stevens

I don't think 256 players should have their tournament edition based on the wants of 32 players.

You can always not play in the invitational if you don't want to.

@Keithb

Um......They were suggesting polling the 32 players that are playing in the invitational to determine what edition they would want to play......in that portion of the event.

They wouldn't have any impact on the 256-man event. Hope that clears it up for you

Hi

I think you misunderstood. The wants of the 256 are based on Mike's (and company) opinion on what will be best for the 256, based on feedback. The invitational is not going to dictacte anything to the GT.

The wants of the 32 however, could be done in consultation with the 32. If the majority want 5th, then fine. If the majority want 6th, then fine. My vote (if given one) would be based on which edition the GT was using.

Cheers,
Nate

hulk and nate sum up my position as well.

carlosthecraven wrote:

I'll echo Hulk and zedsdead - One edition for the invite and the GT please. I don't care which one, but just one.

This implied that they either both be 5th, or both be 6th. Mike so far has stated that the invitational will be 5th. I do not want to the GT to be 5th, least of all to make things easier for the Invitational players.

keithb wrote:

carlosthecraven wrote:

I'll echo Hulk and zedsdead - One edition for the invite and the GT please. I don't care which one, but just one.

This implied that they either both be 5th, or both be 6th. Mike so far has stated that the invitational will be 5th. I do not want to the GT to be 5th, least of all to make things easier for the Invitational players.

This is more so the invitational players hinting that they'd prefer that their event follow the lead of the GT, whichever way, rather than that they want the GT to mirror the invitational, but I see what you were talking about.

6th edition all the way. I was waiting for 6th to teach my girl to play so it will be nice to have the opportunity to teach her at the same time as prep for the tournament. Lots of practice games to be had

From the blog post about the Nova Open that Mike linked to above:

MVBrandt wrote:The question then becomes, do we stick to our contemporary plan of going with 6th edition if there's 2 or more months for players to prepare?

Right now, we're learning toward yes, but can't make a firm commitment until we get closer in.

...

Aside from the Invitational, which will remain 5th no matter what, all other 40k events would be in one system ... Narrative, Trios, GT.

http://whiskey40k.blogspot.com/2012/06/opportunities-for-further-input-and.html

So, keithb I think you have a great point that the preference for edition used in the Invitational should not effect the GT. However, from the rest of what MVBrandt posted, I don't think it will.

What he's been saying is that the Invitational will stay 5th, but that they are leaning toward 6th ed for the GT.

As carlosthecraven reiterated, I think it'd be a good idea to poll the Invitational players and ask them, if the GT is going to be 6th, do they really want to keep the Invitational as 5th ed? It seems like all the people posting here who are in the Invitational would prefer just one system (i.e., matching whatever the GT is decided to be).