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So, our FLGS runs tourneys about once a month and several of us travel to others in the state, but we're talking about getting together our own tournament (something akin to a friendly poker cash game).

Any suggestions on structure or things to look out for?

We'd initially been kicking around the idea of a 4/5 round match using either standard scenarios or ones from a major tournament. Ideally, there'd be no TO, as we'd all like to play [this is the main point I'm concerned about... we can usually come to a consensus on rulings, and sometimes use the INAT, but it's 40k-- there's bound to be some convoluted issue we haven't considered].

Our main goal is to get some more competitive play in- our friendly games tend to be well-fought, but, like poker, it's more exciting when there's something at stake.

So, any ideas, suggestions, criticisms, concerns, etc...?

/no, we're not all WAAC fethheads
//well, at least not WAAC...

Competitive play, especially for prizes or money, without an impartial judge is a recipe for disaster.

Using something like the INAT would have the benefit of everyone being able to dislike the answers equally while also being able to know the answers ahead of time. Or the other way around.

My club (Cold Steel Mercenaries) does annual Invitational events, one in England and one in the Northeastern US.

All the attendees are members of the group, and know each other, so it’s not too big a deal to not have a non-participating TO. Rules questions are handled with reference to a FAQ (INAT’s a good choice, IMO, as it’s clearly-written and comprehensive), or by grabbing an available player from another table for a quick ruling.

The prize is a big trophy/cup, and the winner gets to get their name engraved on the base, and keeps the cup for the year. They have to bring it back the following year, and surrender it to the winner the following year.

The UK one has been going for a while, and is a six-round, Sat & Sun event. The US one had its inaugural last October, and we did four rounds of 1000pts in one day, then retired to the pub afterward. Good times!