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Trophies, FTW. I have a trophy I won from a Grenadier Models painting competition back in '82 and it still sits proudly on my mantle. It sits alone, but still have good memories everytime I gaze upon it.

Scooter, you get a bunch more of your Fantasy crew to sign up for the Open, I'll get you a damned lamp leg.

Ig i sing up can I have a lamp to?

With so many votes for trophies, I can't help but to show off our completely custom 40K trophies for the Horustooth Heresy on July 3rd.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/297127.page#1673204

those look very cool.

BUt leg lamp i mean come on

Meh, trophies don't interest me, though "trophy objects" like Dash mentioned earlier would be fine. How about a banner proclaiming the victory to be affixed to the store wall in the gaming area? Like schools usually do for their championship teams in their gyms? Bragging rights are always good.

In general, I think loot is the most useful... (credit, not actual objects)... but, there are some mitigating issues...
There is a certain appeal to Forge World items as they are expensive and hard to get, that being said... you still have the "match the prize to the recipient's army" issue.
A custom shirt or coffee mug declaring your victory and martial superiority might be fun... gives you a little "in your face" thing you can wear at future games. 'Course there's the size issue to contend with in the shirt.
Cool, custom built terrain or objective markers. Something anyone could use in their gaming that would be army neutral.

I really like to have a trophy, but I like getting loot as well. Store credit is the best. I'd absolutely hate getting a coffee mug, and I've already got more than enough gaming t-shirts. Which is why we're doing combinations of trophies, credit and loot at the Horustooth Heresy.

i like that shirts. But Theres somthing cooll about winning a whole lot of stuff. armys hard to get stuff.

That leg lamp thou is really cool

Participation T-shirts would be awsome. I've gone to the same game store for years and not once have I had the oportunity to win or buy a T-shirt form them.

Well, I'm a relative n00b at large tourney events, but here's my two cents:

I played my very first out-of-local-shop event with the Dorkamorka club, in Watertown, MA. Great event, great guys.
During one of the games, a custom objective marker was placed on each table, for use as an objective in that game. The person who controlled that objective at game's end got to take it home. If no one controlled it, the winner of the game took it. If it was a draw, you fought to the death for it (or diced off, whichever was easier).
Prizes for winners included a trophy for some, as well as a battleforce box. The club had purchased one of the three most recent battleforces, and allowed the winner to select one. The remainder wnet back into the club's coffers for later usage in the prize pool. I thought that was a neat system.

I also played at the Boston Brawl. 40K prizes for that one included a cool, clear Lexan, custom-made trophy for each award, and random box sets and Battlefoam. I won the Best Painted award for the 40K side, and received a trophy, and a box of Sanguinary Guard. I play Ultramarine Bikers. I was far more impressed with my trophy than the box set, honestly. I appreciate the box set, but won't ever use it. In fact, I've had trouble pawning it off on players in my local shop, so it'll hit eBay soon. The Brawl also included a "swag bag" for each entrant that contained stuff like GF9 markers, resin bases, etc. A small baggie of custom-etched tokens was also included, which is neat. I use them for wound markers or objectives now. I have 15-20 of these, since various folks decided to discard all their unwanted swag bag items onto the floor as they left the venue. I snagged them during cleanup

At our local shop, we have a monthly tournament where the only prizes are store credit. Honestly, I don't play as hard at these, and really don't care if I win or lose. I have a metric ton of unopened or unboxed product that I've amassed in my time in the hobby. I don't really need more product!

So, for me, it's about the permanent prizes...the trophies, the shirts, the banners, the hollowed out skull of a Genestealer, etc. Stuff I can put on my bookshelf and gaze fondly at, or drink fine Talassarian wine from...