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Event is over, and I hope my participants had fun. Results and the like are below, along with pictures, and some comments.

Let's start with pictures. You can view a gallery of the ones I took, but here are a few favorites:

Dan M's stunning Thousand Sons; Dan took Best Overall, helped in no small part by his fantastic painting score and 8(!) "Best Army" votes.


Some very nice Ultramarines.


Some "lovely" Deathguard.


Part of a fantastic Imperial Fists army.


You may need to click on this picture & zoom in to see the neat flower petal motif on the Raiders.


There are a LOT of fun details in this Adeptus Mechanicus-themed army; I choose to highlight the Clown.

Scoring breakdown:
I scored 3 categories: Battle (straight win/loss, on Swiss-style pairings); Painting (using Adepticon's scoring rubric, plus Best Army votes on a 1-1 basis, capped at 40); and Sportsmanship (using a combination of this system, with no penalty for a single downcheck, and Favorite Opponent votes). I also scored a Best Overall category, using the following formula:

Best Overall=(Wins/5)+(Paint/37)+(Sportsmanship*/15)

This gave me a number between 0 & 3.

*Why 15, you ask? I didn't want a single Favorite Opponent vote to swing the overall score by a full 0.2, so I assigned a "baseline" sportsmanship score of 2 per round (assuming no downchecks). This meant that a Favorite Opponent vote counted for 0.066 of the Overall score; contrast with winning a game (0.2) or a Best Army vote (0.027).

Results:

Best Overall: Dan M. (Thousand Sons)
2nd Best Overall: Doc G. (Nurgle-ish CSM)

Best Painted: Oscar K. (Imperial Fists)
2nd Best Painted: Joel T. (different Nurgle-ish CSM)

Best Sportsman: Bryan L. (construction-theme Orks)
2nd Best Sportsman: Randy G. (Necrons)

Best General & 2nd Best General: ...see "Army Lists" below.

Best Guts: Howard N.

(One of the usually-unmentioned corollaries to a Swiss-pairing system that generates a single winner, is that the same system will also generate a single individual who simply does not win, at all, across a multi-day event. For sticking it out, and enjoying the games he had, I had a bonus prize for our "Best Guts" player.)

I also had some spare prize support for random prizes. Rather than just doing a raffle, I decided to give them away, one per round, based on unlucky dice. Here's how that worked out:

Round 1: First boxcars on a Morale test.
Jon M. - for heroically getting his Wolf Priest & friends pinned by their Wrecked rhino.

Round 2: 5 or more 1's on a single roll in the Shooting phase
Doc G. - for masterfully whiffing on his massed bolter shots against a close-range unit of Scouts.

Round 3: First snake eyes on a Difficult Terrain Test
Bryan L. - for his epic advance of one Killa Kan over the crater of a second Killa Kan.

Round 4: 6 or more 1's on a single roll in the Assault phase
Dog G. - for his incredible feat of strength by charging Plague Marines against Grey Knights.

Round 5: First casualty to dangerous terrain
Will T., whose Bloodcrusher found the Grey Knights' Sanctuary just too dangerous.

With the good, though, comes too the bad. This was my first multi-day event, and I found myself running it solo. I learned a few lessons, and (unfortunately) contributed to a major mistake.

Logistics: I'll score myself reasonably well here. Even working solo, I stuck pretty much to my posted schedule, and games were starting and ending on time. I made the classic results sheet blunder (in spite of telling myself not to), and did not lay out my packet to facilitate tearing results off from the back.

I started with 24 players, but had a single player drop (without telling me) before the second day; also, in spite of knowing, none of his friends told me either. As such, one player had a bye in round 4 on Sunday morning; I was able to get a ringer in for round 5.

I believe I responded reasonably quickly to every request for a ruling, and I'm content with the answers I gave.

Also, there was a Pokemon pre-release tournament going on Sunday morning in the same store, which added to the fun.

Army Lists: Here's where I failed. Turns out, our single undefeated player turned in a list that was over 300 points too high.** I choose to believe this was inadvertent - I know he hasn't played often in recent years, his decision to bring Tyranids was very last-minute, and he was writing his lists out by hand under time pressure - but regardless of why it happened, it certainly did happen. And I didn't catch it; one of his opponent's PM'd me late last night, having just noticed it himself.

I believe a tournament organizer's primary responsibility is to ensure that everyone has the opportunity for a fun experience on a level playing field. By not catching this in a timely fashion, I deprived 6 people of that opportunity (and yes, I'm including the Tyranid player in the mix). This also screws up Best General, of course - Frankie G. was his opponent in Round 5, being the only other player with a 4-0 record at that point, but I can't even guess who Frankie's opponent might have been otherwise.

I want to apologize to everyone involved. While others had the opportunity to detect this problem, no one else had the responsibility to do so. I hope this doesn't dampen your experience too much, and I hope you had enjoyable games against fun opponents.

**For those who are morbidly curious: he brought a list comprising 2 HQ Tervigons w/Toxin & Catalyst, 2x 20 Genestealers with Broodlord, and 3x Trygon Primes w/Regen; he unpaid for each 'stealer unit by exactly 100 pts, and did not pay for the Prime upgrades on his Trygons.

I've attached the final version of the tournament scores, with names diminished and the Tyranid player (and my single drop-out) redacted.

It's nice that you're giving the benifit of the doubt but 100pts off isn't an explainable math oopsy based on the types of units your talking about.

Either way sounds like a great event. Wish I was still in Cali where I could have made it. If it you keep it going for a few years I might actually get to attend

Looks like you weighed overall pretty heavy on paint and sports for a 2-3 player to pull overall but it was an impressively pretty army

Hulksmash wrote:It's nice that you're giving the benifit of the doubt but 100pts off isn't an explainable math oopsy based on the types of units your talking about.

All you have to do is forget to carry the 1.

I just don't know how neither I nor his 5 opponents (including 2 Zero Comp guys) managed to avoid noticing.

Either way sounds like a great event. Wish I was still in Cali where I could have made it. If it you keep it going for a few years I might actually get to attend

Looks like you weighed overall pretty heavy on paint and sports for a 2-3 player to pull overall but it was an impressively pretty army

I bet if you were there, Reecius wouldn't have canceled on me.

After normalizing, battle, paint, & sports were each 1/3 of the possible Overall score.

Kudo's for organizing this event. Everyone was great and it was a blast to meet and put some faces with the names here, on Dakka.

Thanks again & I have no doubt I'll see you at the next event you host!

There is no one to forget to carry on the genestealer unit. The total numbers are to small. But it's all good.

Excellent balance for Overall. I've always been cool with that scoring being a mix as long as Best General is rated about equally

As for Reece he still might have cancelled. He's been busy

Janthkin wrote:

Hulksmash wrote:It's nice that you're giving the benifit of the doubt but 100pts off isn't an explainable math oopsy based on the types of units your talking about.

All you have to do is forget to carry the 1.

I just don't know how neither I nor his 5 opponents (including 2 Zero Comp guys) managed to avoid noticing.

I was his first opponent and didn't bother to check his math, assuming he had done it correctly. Not being familiar with the Tyranid dex I would have had to use the codex to check his list, cutting into play time. Funny thing was the third Trygon Prime he was running scattered off the board on it's deep strike and played no part in our game. Even then I still had my head handed to me on a silver platter with what was left.

As for the tournament I had a great time and saw some amazing armies, especially the other Necron player's army with the seamless Monoliths. He put a lot of work into them (and his army) with OSL.

Can't wait for the next one.

Hulksmash wrote:There is no one to forget to carry on the genestealer unit. The total numbers are to small. But it's all good.

Grab a pencil and do it by hand: 20x14 + 46. If you forget to carry the 1 during the addition step, you end up with 226, instead of 326.

As for Reece he still might have cancelled. He's been busy

That's what he keeps saying, yes.

Ah well. Primary goal accomplished - a lot of good games, some locals motivated to do more painting than they ordinarily would have, a few new locals introduced to the store, and at least 5 absolutely gorgeous armies. The lighting effects on the dual-Monolith army in particular were really well done.

Damn 300pts?? I could have been 4 and 0 in round 5 as well. Having lost to the Nid player round 4.

Haha, I was dinged twice on the 2nd day. Played someone over 300pts, then somehow playing the "ringer" when I was in the running for 2nd. Who just so happened to be playing Draigowing, with my daemons. That was a bit odd.

Anyways, will his prize be pulled from him?? 300pts over is a little mind blowing.

Dang 300 points thats rough no wonder vect went down like a little baby. I didnt realize your tournament favored tyranids Kevin jk.

If Hulk would have been there, I would have come for sure! We are split in tournaments and I need to beat him one more time to pull ahead!

Janthkin, I have to offer some constructive criticism. Putting the ringer against someone who is in the running to win a prize when the ringer is a very good player with a Draigwing army is a bit rough. Especially when you put them against a Daemon player. That may have been a random pairing, I don't know, but I know that was as bad of a match-up for Will as possible.

The Ringer shouldn't play someone who is in the hunt to win something as it isn't fair to everyone else if the ringer is bad, and it's not fair to that person if the ringer is really good, particularly if they have the perfect counter list.

It is what it is, and no one here is mad, we're just laughing at the way it went down. Frankie lost the championship game to a guy who had 300pts too many, and Will got knocked out by the Ringer who was playing Draigowing against his Daemons! Just kind of a bum deal.

But the sun will come up tomorrow, and there will always be more events to go to.

You'll have your chance at Adepticon my friend

And Nova if you ever stop being such a little girl and make it out

Zathras wrote:As for the tournament I had a great time and saw some amazing armies, especially the other Necron player's army with the seamless Monoliths. He put a lot of work into them (and his army) with OSL.

Thanks for the kind words. There were a lot of beautiful armies out this past weekend and the tables were great too... Really made for some epic battles!

One of these Thursday's I'd like to get a game in against your barge army for some Cron on Cron action!

italiaplaya wrote:then somehow playing the "ringer" when I was in the running for 2nd. Who just so happened to be playing Draigowing, with my daemons. That was a bit odd.

Reecius wrote:Janthkin, I have to offer some constructive criticism. Putting the ringer against someone who is in the running to win a prize when the ringer is a very good player with a Draigwing army is a bit rough. Especially when you put them against a Daemon player. That may have been a random pairing, I don't know, but I know that was as bad of a match-up for Will as possible.

Just to be clear - italiaplayer wasn't in the running for 2nd Best General at that point. The format being what it was, two 4-0 players meeting in round 5 would be (and were) playing for 1st & 2nd in that category.

As to where the Ringer was placed.... I had an odd number of 3-1 players going into Round 5. My best option for avoiding repeated pairings was to slot jy2 into that bracket, and I know from personal experience that he plays at (at least) that level, which would make him good competition; the random pairing software handled the rest. It's supposed to be hard to go 4-1 in a Swiss setting, right?

Anyways, will his prize be pulled from him?? 300pts over is a little mind blowing.

I have no control over that. I informed the coordinator at the store, but I don't know that they can do much - gift cards are the next best thing to cash.

Janthkin wrote:

italiaplaya wrote:then somehow playing the "ringer" when I was in the running for 2nd. Who just so happened to be playing Draigowing, with my daemons. That was a bit odd.

Reecius wrote:Janthkin, I have to offer some constructive criticism. Putting the ringer against someone who is in the running to win a prize when the ringer is a very good player with a Draigwing army is a bit rough. Especially when you put them against a Daemon player. That may have been a random pairing, I don't know, but I know that was as bad of a match-up for Will as possible.

Just to be clear - italiaplayer wasn't in the running for 2nd Best General at that point. The format being what it was, two 4-0 players meeting in round 5 would be (and were) playing for 1st & 2nd in that category.

As to where the Ringer was placed.... I had an odd number of 3-1 players going into Round 5. My best option for avoiding repeated pairings was to slot jy2 into that bracket, and I know from personal experience that he plays at (at least) that level, which would make him good competition; the random pairing software handled the rest. It's supposed to be hard to go 4-1 in a Swiss setting, right?

Anyways, will his prize be pulled from him?? 300pts over is a little mind blowing.

I have no control over that. I informed the coordinator at the store, but I don't know that they can do much - gift cards are the next best thing to cash.

We're just messing around Janthkin haha. It was a great event, and we'll all show up next year if you run it again. Glad to see more tournaments pop up in the area.

As a side note, I know I wouldnt have been 2nd best general. But I may have placed somewhere between 2nd to 4th place in overall rankings. Wasnt looking for the prize, just braggin rights among the guys .

And what bragging rights if would be indeed if you could somehow pull off the win on my grey knights, which you almost did if only it hadn't gone on to Turn 7!

Ironically, I did to you what I did to Reece last time he played here at GK. I was the favored army coming in, but both you and Reece almost had me had it not go on to 7. Good job overall.

Reading this thread has made me understand why some events require you to submit your lists in advance.

Dang, I wish Norcal was not so far...north! Otherwise I'd love to go, it was cool to see the Zero Comp guys come down for that one tournament last year =).

What was the Thousand Son army like? Having played Thousand sons since 3rd I am really curious how he pulled it off with their current dex... I'd love to see his battle reports =).

mortetvie wrote:Dang, I wish Norcal was not so far...north! Otherwise I'd love to go, it was cool to see the Zero Comp guys come down for that one tournament last year =).

What was the Thousand Son army like? Having played Thousand sons since 3rd I am really curious how he pulled it off with their current dex... I'd love to see his battle reports =).

I believe he went 2 and 3. Scored a full paint score, and the most favorite opponent votes.

See, that's all it takes to make Tyranids undefeated tournament champions, 1/5 extra points!

Seems fair to me.




But seriously I actually think it would be interesting if a store ran a regular RTT series and after each tournament they'd take the overall win % of each codex played that day and use it to subtly adjust how many points each army would be allowed to bring to the next tournament. So if Grey Knight players had like a 12% higher win percentage over the median, then they'd get 12% less points in the next tournament. And conversely if Tau players had a 10% lower win ratio than the median, they'd get 10% extra points for the next tourney.

Obviously you'd need people with an open mind and willing to fight a bit against the odds, but I think it would be fun experiment to run for like 6-8 months (one tourney month) if a bunch of people were down for it.

yakface wrote:
But seriously I actually think it would be interesting if a store ran a regular RTT series and after each tournament they'd take the overall win % of each codex played that day and use it to subtly adjust how many points each army would be allowed to bring to the next tournament. So if Grey Knight players had like a 12% higher win percentage over the median, then they'd get 12% less points in the next tournament. And conversely if Tau players had a 10% lower win ratio than the median, they'd get 10% extra points for the next tourney.

It would take all of my willpower to not game the hell out that system. Since I'm usually the only Sisters player, I could sandbag in the first tourney and then roll into the second one with an extra 500pts or so and blow everyone out of the water.

Hey folks,

First post here, there's never been much need to say anything though I do poke around from time to time.

I brought the 1ksons to this event. To answer mortetvie's question of how they play the answer is 'not well.' I didn't really plan to win games, I just wanted to get this army judged on painting. I wasn't sure if it would hold up to some of the other great armies that I see in the bay area.

I just play locally at events big and small, but I'm definitely more in the hobbiest category.

Despite the points hiccups for the 5-0 bugs this was a really fun event. Yes I had to play the bugs. My other 4 opponents were all Zero Comp team members. Go figure.

I'm not one to write big battle reports but here's a snapshot of my games: http://www.thepreferredenemy.com/2012/01/tournament-lists-and-pictures.html

Captn Dees's Recap wrote:Game 3- Joel's Chaos Marines ...
I actually didn't grab a picture of the army, but it looks great. It is another fellow's army that you can see on his own page:

So the guy who won the award for 2nd Best Painted didn't paint his army? How lame is that? I hope he gave his buddy the prize money.

Yep, he pretty much tossed it at him once it was announced. It was a nice easy going event and I don't think anybody brought out the pitchforks and torches over it.

Captn Dees wrote:Yep, he pretty much tossed it at him once it was announced. It was a nice easy going event and I don't think anybody brought out the pitchforks and torches over it.

I was there. (I'm the Sisters player) I didn't realize that the guy who painted the army was also there. It's nice that he was able to give the prize to the guy who did the actual painting. At the same time, if he had won three games instead of two, he'd have taken the 2nd Best Overall prize. That kind of makes me wonder about including painting scores in tourney results.

Captn Dees wrote:Hey folks,

First post here, there's never been much need to say anything though I do poke around from time to time.

I brought the 1ksons to this event. To answer mortetvie's question of how they play the answer is 'not well.' I didn't really plan to win games, I just wanted to get this army judged on painting. I wasn't sure if it would hold up to some of the other great armies that I see in the bay area.

I just play locally at events big and small, but I'm definitely more in the hobbiest category.

Despite the points hiccups for the 5-0 bugs this was a really fun event. Yes I had to play the bugs. My other 4 opponents were all Zero Comp team members. Go figure.

I'm not one to write big battle reports but here's a snapshot of my games: http://www.thepreferredenemy.com/2012/01/tournament-lists-and-pictures.html

Nice, I'll totally check out your blog. Thousand Sons are one of my favorite armies and I have some cool conversions going on my army, maybe I can share some pics with you.

That kind of makes me wonder about including painting scores in tourney results.

Well I'm king of the soft scores (that sounds like a movie on cinemax), so I do like having painting a part of the tourny. I also am a better painter than a general.

Beyond that I'd be fine with whatever as long as it is stated up front. In this case there was a painting rubric and that was that. It wasn't like the TO said 'bring your own minis'. I'm pretty sure there were others who were doing some borrowing as well.

I can't remember where I saw a tournament but it had a "If you didn't paint your own army -5" to paint. That way you were scored to likely not win painting. You overall might shift a little, but you weren't just DQ'd altogether from having a shot at the overall title. I think they also had a "and if you lied -20" kind of deal also.

Hey Mort, I atgree Thousand Sons can look great! That's why I chose them as a painting project too. Hopefully we will be remembered by Tzeentch in the next dex!