Looking for 40k GT's to Attend, East Coast (DC/Baltimore Area) Suggestions Please!

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**mikhaila**

I'll recommend Mechanicon as a good GT to go to.

We'll be running the Saint Valetines' Day Massacre again this year, probably the weekend after the actual Valentines day weekend. Details coming later, when my Games Day hangover clears up, most likely we'll use a format as follow: No comp, no sports, must be painted and WYSIWYG. Top prizes will be for best general (battle points), best painted, and best hobbyist (combined battle and painting.) Tickets to the top general, and top hobbyist.

Mechanicon is in Westchester, SVDM is about 10 miles east of that in Media, PA.

**Danny Internets**

yermom wrote:@Danny- is that GT going to be offering up some Vegas tickets by any chance?

Not this year, but hopefully next year. At least that's the goal (I think).

**Kirika**

I'll probably be going to Mechanicon despite the high price. Yermom said it was fun and I trust him.

I probably will skip DaBoys for the same reason frgsinwntr stated. Comp and its pretty darn far.

There also is Warstore weekend
http://www.thewarstore.com/TWSW.html
Dunno if their 40k tourney will give tickets for vegas though.

The event Danny Internets mentioned sounds interesting would like to see the details on it and do they offer Vegas tickets?

**frgsinwntr**

Kirika wrote:I'll probably be going to Mechanicon despite the high price. Yermom said it was fun and I trust him.

I probably will skip DaBoys for the same reason frgsinwntr stated. Comp and its pretty darn far.

There also is Warstore weekend
http://www.thewarstore.com/TWSW.html
Dunno if their 40k tourney will give tickets for vegas though.

The event Danny Internets mentioned sounds interesting would like to see the details on it and do they offer Vegas tickets?

i will agree. Danny's event looks good... but I have a wedding to go to then... seems I am of the age where I have a wedding every month to go to.

**Grokin**

targetawg wrote:Remove zee comp system and we'll talk!

I have to agree with tawg, remove the comp and I'd go to this.

**Avariel**

I always tend to have conflicts with family obligations or other hobbies.

Opera Series conflicts with Danny's event, Mechanicon and Warstore weekend. I guess I could get the tickets changed but thats a real hassle because it has to fit in my mom's schedule too.

Is mechanicon going to put up more information? I might switch the tickets around if I get more information. Thats far enough away that we haven't booked the month solid yet.

Conflict GT I haven't been able to make because of the faimily ski trip is right in the middle of January. This is the period when college students are off so my mom can take a week off.

Actual Valentines day would be bad for a GT since I would be spending it with my boyfriend. I'll probably be skiing that weekend after with him as well.

Has Nova Open 2011 been scheduled yet? Please do not make it August 4th to August 7th 2011 because that is Gencon.

Might just be outgrowing Wargaming along with Anime conventions. I haven't been to a big GT since the last Baltimore GW GT and I have not been to any anime conventions since I went to Anime Boston 2009 to see Kalafina and Otakon 2005 before that to see L'arc.

**frgsinwntr**

Avariel wrote:I always tend to have conflicts with family obligations or other hobbies.

Opera Series conflicts with Danny's event, Mechanicon and Warstore weekend. I guess I could get the tickets changed but thats a real hassle because it has to fit in my mom's schedule too.

Is mechanicon going to put up more information? I might switch the tickets around if I get more information. Thats far enough away that we haven't booked the month solid yet.

Conflict GT I haven't been able to make because of the faimily ski trip is right in the middle of January. This is the period when college students are off so my mom can take a week off.

Actual Valentines day would be bad for a GT since I would be spending it with my boyfriend. I'll probably be skiing that weekend after with him as well.

Has Nova Open 2011 been scheduled yet? Please do not make it August 4th to August 7th 2011 because that is Gencon.

Might just be outgrowing Wargaming along with Anime conventions. I haven't been to a big GT since the last Baltimore GW GT and I have not been to any anime conventions since I went to Anime Boston 2009 to see Kalafina and Otakon 2005 before that to see L'arc.

I don't know if your outgrowing wargaming... or if its Life just taking over. Besides one day we need to get a game in :p

**mikhaila**

Avariel wrote:Actual Valentines day would be bad for a GT since I would be spending it with my boyfriend. I'll probably be skiing that weekend after with him as well.

We call it the SVDM, but put it the weekend or two after. Not good to make people choose between gaming and taking out the significant other.)

**Target**

Thanks for all of the great information on events guys, I'll definitely be looking into more of these as time goes on.

I think Mechanicon is probably for me, at the very least I'll go once and see how it is, can't count an event out for the price without giving it a shot I suppose!

Da Boyz I'll probably stay passed on purely due to the comp as I said, I'm sure it's a great event for people that like the style though, I just hate the comp hit that purely saying "I'm bringing imperial guard" is sure to earn, regardless of the build.

Now we just need to get more info on the event Danny mentioned earlier!

Also, anyone know where I can find the events calendar for the Glen Burnie Battle Bunker? Wondering if they do a regularly scheduled small tourney.

**Danny Internets**

frgsinwntr wrote:

i will agree. Danny's event looks good... but I have a wedding to go to then... seems I am of the age where I have a wedding every month to go to.

Tell me about it. I've been to three this month... including my own! (belated reception)

Anyways, the tournament being run up here should be fleshed out this week. I basically finished the website today and just need the hosting information and review by the TO. I can give some preliminary details though:

- Location: White Plains, NY
- Date: October 9-10 (Columbus Day weekend)
- 2000 points
- 48 players (64 if we get enough interest)
- $50 entry
- NOVA Open format
- 4 games on Day 1
- Top seeds from Day 1 (possibly 8) will go on to Day 2
- Prizes for a number of things including Renaissance Man, Tournament Champion, Best Painted, Best Sportsman, etc.
- A number of raffles including a fully painted army

I think that's all I have on it right now

**mikhaila**

targetawg wrote:
Also, anyone know where I can find the events calendar for the Glen Burnie Battle Bunker? Wondering if they do a regularly scheduled small tourney.

Sept. 19th they close the doors, and it goes away.(

**TheRhino**

That sounds like an interesting event, Danny. Too bad I have two weddings that weekend to go to. Stupid 10/10/10 date. /eyeroll.

I've been looking for GT-style events in northern New England lately, as well. Seems everything is in the mid-Coast area, with GTs being rare north of Mass. PA is rife with 40K events. You popular bastards!

Boston Brawl was a good first-year event. I'm now trying to decide between Mechanicon and DaBoyzGT. I can only do one, maybe none if hockey season has its say. I'd love to see a larger event run in NH someday, so I don't have to do 3+ hours of driving and book a hotel.

**Target**

mikhaila wrote:
targetawg wrote:
Also, anyone know where I can find the events calendar for the Glen Burnie Battle Bunker? Wondering if they do a regularly scheduled small tourney.

Sept. 19th they close the doors, and it goes away.(

Wait what, they're closing the battle bunker?

Son of a...

**Deadshane1**

I think I'm heading to Mechanicon as well. The scoring from last year shows a bit of favoritism toward the paint/sportsmanship side with only something like 50% of your overall score being battle points, but I've heard it was fun nonetheless.

I'm more exited about the Friday Gothic RTT actually, and would travel almost just for that....

**Mannahnin**

Mechanican & DaBoyz GT both look good. Mechanicon is the weekend of my wife's b-day, which is why I missed it last year, and will probably miss it this year, too. :(

Danny, I'd love to come down to White Plains, but you're duplicating the main thing I was disappointed in about NOVA; no guaranteed second day. How about including a second-day consolation bracket to determine the "best of the rest"?

**gorgon**

Avariel wrote:Is mechanicon going to put up more information? I might switch the tickets around if I get more information. Thats far enough away that we haven't booked the month solid yet.

We don't have the rules packet quite ready yet. However, I think you can expect it soon. In the meantime, you can view last year's packet. I'm planning on making some tweaks to the painting rubric (I'm the head painting judge), but I wouldn't expect many fundamental changes for the 2010 40K tourney.

New stuff for 2010 is mostly our additional events for other gaming systems and the inaugural Iron Ogre painting competition.

Oh, and note that we'll also have a Friday 40K tourney for those coming in early.

http://www.themechanicon.com/1/wp-content/uploads/2009-GT-Pack-with-missions.pdf

Regarding the different East Coast 40K events, we all offer something a little different. Mechanicon isn't exactly like the NOVA Open, but the traits we share in common include no comp, a victory points system, big prizes (probably $4-5K when all is said and done), and a smooth-running, high quality event.

If anyone has any questions, I can pass them along to Tony, our TO, or have him chime in on this thread.

**Danny Internets**

Mannahnin wrote:Mechanican & DaBoyz GT both look good. Mechanicon is the weekend of my wife's b-day, which is why I missed it last year, and will probably miss it this year, too. :(

Danny, I'd love to come down to White Plains, but you're duplicating the main thing I was disappointed in about NOVA; no guaranteed second day. How about including a second-day consolation bracket to determine the "best of the rest"?

Actually I've been pushing for the same thing. I'll see if I can do a better job convincing the TO. I think right now the plan is to include a number of other non-tournament events (Apocalypse game, open gaming, etc.) on day 2.

**Mannahnin**

If you do get that second day, I expect several of the Mercs will attend.

**MVBrandt**

You'll also see three full days plus Thursday evening at the Open next year, with a true multi day for all tourney format.

**Tironum**

Almost all the information about MechaniCon can be found on the site, if you want help finding a specific bit of info please drop us a line at:
info AT themechanicon.com

Rules packets for MechaniCon tournaments will be up very soon, including the additional side events.

The basics are below and lots more can currently be found on our site at:
http://www.themechanicon.com/

The Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament pack will be very similar to last year with just some tweaking of the sportsmanship and painting scoring sheets as well as new missions. Mission 1 will be in the packet and Missions 2-5 will be presented at the beginning of each round. There will be a bit of everything in the mission objectives, so there is a real need for a balanced army.

Friday Night Fight - Forge World army lists RTT - 1850 points, 3 games, Friday 11/5
http://www.themechanicon.com/1/friday-night-fight-2010/2010/03/

MechaniCon 40K Grand Tournament - National Independent Circuit event - 1850 points, 5 games, Saturday 11/6 & Sunday 11/7
http://www.themechanicon.com/1/warhammer-40000-grand-tournament-2010/2010/02/

Philly Fall Brawl - Blood Bowl GT - Saturday 11/6 & Sunday 11/7
http://www.themechanicon.com/1/philly-fall-brawl-2010/2010/02/
Please Note - event is changing to two days, details coming soon.

Battlefleet Gothic GT - Friday 11/5
http://www.themechanicon.com/1/battlefleet-gothic-tourney-2010/2010/03/

Full rules for the Privateer Press events are listed on the site:
http://www.themechanicon.com/1/privateer-press-events-at-mechanicon-2010/2010/02/

High Noon Warmachine/Hordes Tourney - 11/6

Highlander Warmachine/Hordes Tourney - 11/7

Other events about to be announced:

Iron Ogre Painting Competition -Saturday evening 11/6
-Fantasy, Historical and Sci-Fi categories from any manufacturer

Bitz Trading Sessions - Friday evening 11/5 and Saturday evening 11/6
-Space will be provided for bitz trading, not for vending (vendor tables are available)

Costume Contest - Saturday evening 11/6
-Costumed attendees get free entry for the contest

Charity Auction - Saturday 11/6
-Silent auction from noon to 8pm. Benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Vendors - All weekend
-The WarStore will be our main vendor, bringing a huge amount of gaming goodies
-The Games Keep, our local store only a half mile from the event will offer board and card games

We also have a new volunteer admin bringing us to FaceBook and Twitter
-Watch for announcement of our social networking expansion and then follow us for the latest info

Thanks,
Tony

**Target**

So participants in the 40k GT won't know what the missions are until they get to the tournament and the round starts?

Not to be too critical, but won't that create some confusion (missions being played incorrectly at some tables) and present that "GOTCHA!" moment that many players hate when they realize that they paid a lot of money, spent a good deal of time, and then one of the scenarios 'bones' their respective army?

Another possible issue that I've seen at events that do this is that "no one knows until the round starts" usually plays out, in reality, as "no one knows until the round starts, unless you're a local or a close friend of the guys who wrote the scenarios, in which case, you've already been told more or less".

Once again, I do want to attend, and I'm sure from the feedback I'm hearing its going to be a great time, but some of this makes me a bit leary.

**Avariel**

Life tends to be taking over for the moment but might be able to make Mechanicon.

Regarding Mechanicon:

Will codex lists be allowed for the Friday RTT or is it Forgeworld lists only?

Targetawg does have a point that locals might have a leg up with scenarios unless you post them ahead of time so please do post them ahead of time.

**Target**

Avariel wrote:Life tends to be taking over for the moment but might be able to make Mechanicon.

Regarding Mechanicon:

Will codex lists be allowed for the Friday RTT or is it Forgeworld lists only?

Targetawg does have a point that locals might have a leg up with scenarios unless you post them ahead of time so please do post them ahead of time.

And just to clarify, I'm not really suggesting (although I guess it's one possible way) that TO's or scenario designers would be leaking the scenarios to the locals on purpose or in any way malicious, but we all know that with the creation of scenarios, we usually brainstorm with our friends/guys around us, which gives locals insights into what the final copy will be.

**Tironum**

Avariel wrote:Life tends to be taking over for the moment but might be able to make Mechanicon.

Regarding Mechanicon:

Will codex lists be allowed for the Friday RTT or is it Forgeworld lists only?

Targetawg does have a point that locals might have a leg up with scenarios unless you post them ahead of time so please do post them ahead of time.

Avariel - Yes normal codex lists as well as current FW lists are legal - note the 1850 point limit. Some guys want another 3 games for the weekend and they will play with their GT armies and some sold their souls for an all FW army and have nowhere to play it.

The Friday night event is purely for fun and even though we will track battle points, it will not have a competitive theme. We have a bar in the room and will have some interesting prize categories and trophies. Whether you play because you have Elysian drop troops or you just want to meet new folks, it will be laid back and maybe help others catch on to playing with FW lists once in a while.

Targetawg - you have a very good point, and I have seen that happen myself. The missions last year had very little questions and we tried to cover all the details in each one. It really sets a different tone of an event when you need to adapt your army and play to the mission rather than custom building your army to beat the missions.

Also, the locals getting a leg up is an issue that comes up at some events. ALL and I mean ALL of our locals are staff in the event. No one else is privy to the missions.

I know that some of you have heard this in the past and been lied to in other events but if you ask past attendees you will find that there is no secret squirrel/shenanigans/conspiracies/alien intervention going on at our events. Scoring is printed out each round so that players can check for errors, no local player gets to influence our staff since we are all playing in the event.

While I am responding to these questions here I will let you know I do not spend much time on the boards posting. We also are not getting into debates about VPs versus KPs or anything else about how to run the event. We have more than enough to deal with in providing a top notch event without trying to pump up threads or get into long discussions about a feature of the events. We have our own jobs and families and doing this is part of our hobby - we are giving up our chance to play so that others can.

**Danny Internets**

OK, for those who expressed interest, The Battle for Salvation Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament is now open for registration!
http://www.battleforsalvation.com

From the rules page:

Inspired by the success of the NOVA Open, and with the help of Mike Brandt, The Battle for Salvation Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament will closely emulate this format with a two-day Swiss pairing system and separately awarded achievements in various hobbyist and competitive categories.

On the competitive side, Win-Loss performance within the tournament structure will be aimed at finding a single undefeated player at the end of the event and crowning him Tournament Champion. Prizes will also be bestowed upon the players who remain undefeated at the end of the first day, and who shall be recognized as the Tournament Aces.

On the hobbyist side, each player will be judged on the appearance of their army. Furthermore, players will be asked to designate single models to represent their entries for best painted and best converted miniatures, the scores of which will be combined with the army appearance score to create an overall appearance total.

We also recognize that sportsmanship is integral to all parts of the hobby. At the end of each day all participants will be asked to rank their players with respect to how sportsmanly their conduct was during each game. These rankings will translate into scores. For instance, if the tournament consists of six games and you rank Bob first and Tim last then Bob will get 6 sportsmanship points and Tim will get 1 sportsmanship point. We recognize that you may want to give multiple players top marks for sportsmanship, however this ranking system provides a wider spread of scores that allows for the recognition of truly outstanding sportsmen.

Like at the NOVA Open, each game will end in either a win or a loss–there are no ties. Every round will have a primary objective and multiple subordinate objectives to act as tie-breakers. The missions will be made available prior to the event with as much advance notice as possible. The goal of the BFS GT is not to surprise anyone, but to single out and recognize the best performers at the event.

Format

Saturday, October 9: FOUR GAMES

On Day 1, all 48 players will compete over the course of 4 tournament games. For each round, those who win by the largest margin of victory (based on an algorithm taking into account accomplishing the primary and subordinate objectives) will be paired against those with the smallest from the previous round. Similarly, those who lost their previous match by the smallest margin will be paired against those who lost by the biggest.

At the conclusion of games on Saturday the awards ceremony will take place in order to recognize and reward the Tournament Aces, Renaissance Man, and winners of the Best Appearance awards. The drawing for the raffle will also be performed at this time.

Sunday, October 10: THREE GAMES (+ other events)

The top 24 performing players (based on win/loss record and the algorithm mentioned earlier) will be ranked and arranged into 3 differentt 8-man brackets: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Players in the Gold bracket will be competing for the right to call themselves the Tournament Champion, and for the loot that comes with it. Silver and Bronze bracket competitors will compete for the Tournament General awards.

Each bracket will function as an independent single elimination tournament and the last man standing after three games will be crowned champion. That means when you lose you’re out! But don’t worry, there will be a number of other events going on in addition to open gaming on Sunday, including a large Apocalypse game run by Fritz (from the Way of Saim Hann) designed specifically to allow gamers to drop in and out with each turn.

Awards

Tournament Champion – The player to go undefeated after all 6 games of the tournament

Renaissance Man – The player with the highest combined game performance, overall appearance, and sportsmanship scores (all equally weighted)

Tournament Ace – Players who have gone undefeated in their games at the end of the first day

Tournament General – Players who go undefeated in their respective (Gold, Silver, Bronze) Day 2 bracket

Best Appearance – The player featuring the army highest rated for overall appearance

Best Painted Single Miniature – The player with the single miniature rated highest for painting

Best Converted Single Miniature – The player with the single miniature rated highest for modeling