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A friend of mine and I are thinking of running a tournament where there are no prizes of either store credit vouchers or GW product. Instead, the prizes would be rather nice trophies. The trophies would probably cost us close to $100 to build. Would you attend a tournament like this?

I'd rather have something I could use, rather than a pretty trophy. That said, I really liked MVBrandt's notion of giving out door-prizes to the dudes that don't win the tournament. Go to a tournament, and if you don't win then you have a chance of going home with something.

The trophy is cool, but why would they cost $100? Are you using models in them?

I'd rather have product, myself.

Yes, the trophies would be using Inquisitor-scale minis.

Can I just say I liked trophies and miss them from the RTT days?

I still have a few of the plaques and trophies from the 2000-2003 years when GW was really good about that stuff.

I would rather have a Trophy or something for winning and let all of the prizes (if any) be door prizes for attending. I think people sometimes attach too much to the games as a simple cash grab and forget it is supposed to be a fun event.

I think some of the door prizes for people who don't win are really a nice thing for tourneys, and I wish we would see a comeback of trophies.

Considering most tourneys I play in don't have too much besides trophies anyway, sure, why not. ^.^

I actually prefer trophies to loot. But in order for me to attend an event with no loot, the trophies better be sweet. No the spray painted gold models I've recieved in the past.

Depends on the trophy but I'd join for a small buy in if the tournament was a league format instead of a knockout style because I doubt I'd beat anybody :p

If it were a free tournament, yeah. If I have to pay to play and there's no prize then I'd probably pass on it.

I don't do tourneys, but I'd probably be more likely to attend a smaller event with a low entry fee, regardless of prizes. I wouldn't go in expecting to win, being a new and wholly inexperienced player, so not paying to support some other guy's prize is fine by me. A few bucks would be well worth it, though, to guarantee a few games against a few different opponents and for the novel experience of tournament play.

I'd say that a trophy is cool and product/credit is cooler, but that's because I don't have that much product or the money to buy it. If I could afford as many models as I could want, I'd much rather earn a pure and dedicated mark of victory. It seems more... significant, I guess, than a box of termies. Although, I could really use some assault termies...

I would be hard pressed to show up to a tournament with no prizes for a fee. but with what little business sense I have, I'd have a hard time seeing how, unless you two are independently wealthy, that you wouldn't end up losing out in the end.

At my FLGS, we have a moderate buy-in, usually around $10, and 2/3s go back into store credit for the winner.


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Plus, when one knows that there is a value added to a service, he or she tends to do a better job...

I'll add that I would consider entering a tournament with no prizes that charged a small fee, if the tournament was at least good and didn't use freaking Adepticon rules or the INAT FAQ.

Which apparently my local store is doing now...

That's the plan, Sid. We're trying to run a tournament with very low BS ratio. No comp. No soft scores added to an "overall" winner. No BS missions that hand some army builds an auto-win. Simply a trophy for The Winner, a trophy for the best painted army, and a trophy for the best sportsman.

willydstyle wrote:That's the plan, Sid. We're trying to run a tournament with very low BS ratio. No comp. No soft scores added to an "overall" winner. No BS missions that hand some army builds an auto-win. Simply a trophy for The Winner, a trophy for the best painted army, and a trophy for the best sportsman.

Heh. Wish there were more GW tourneys around here run on that model. Sportsmanship is fine, painting awards are awesome, but I can't stand it when everything gets rolled into a single prize.

I think that prizes depend on the tournament.

Winning a trophy instead of Loot for winning a 50+ player GT is worthwhile - that's a trophy to put in your warhammer room.

Winning a trophy instead of Loot for winning a local tournament (10-20 people) is not worthwhile. I would keep those at loot instead of trophies. If you've got 15 people and $5-10 apiece in entry fee to work with, that's $75-$150, or some store credit appropriately sized rewards.

agreed, I personally love tropheys over loot as they show an achievement of merrit. Now only though if were talking a 40 person and up tourney though as that does take some work.

Where's the 'yes' answer?

Yes, i'd still attend. I like events with trophies with a small buy in of 5-10 dollars where its clearly gone to the trophies. I enjoy those style events more, as they tend to be more fun and enjoyable.

If you bump that buy in to $20, there should be prize support. Once you get past the 5-10 range you get into people really investigating their time/ money. I've played in plenty of free events with a certificate and had a blast. To me its not about the compensation at the end, its about a few primary factors:

1. Do I have the day off, if so do I have anything else I need to be doing.
2. Will I have a good time, and not be on the way home thinking "i'd rather have stayed home and painted."

Here in Chicago we have our monthly AWC tourney w/ a modest ($10 pre-reg/$15 at the door) fee, hosted at the Chicago Battle Bunker. The fees go to plaques for the winners. Our reasoning is that we all already have full armies we'd rather have the bling.

willydstyle wrote:That's the plan, Sid. We're trying to run a tournament with very low BS ratio. No comp. No soft scores added to an "overall" winner. No BS missions that hand some army builds an auto-win. Simply a trophy for The Winner, a trophy for the best painted army, and a trophy for the best sportsman.

why bother with the best sportsman award then? most of the time people just give max points anyways (especially to their friends). having a sportmanship award is just as "BS" as overall award or comp. are you judging painting or is it done by players? is there a checklist for sportsmanship or is it totally subjective/chipmunkable?

I know that no sportsmanship style is perfect, but I do think that people like being able to win for reasons other than just winning, and I think good sportsmanship should be encouraged.

I was thinking of doing the "rank your opponents, best to worst" style.

Yes, with buy in.
Winning for bragging rights.
(*cough*with under the table cash reward...*cough*)

I'd almost rather get nothing from a small tournament than a trophy. I've got nowhere to put it, and while I applaud the effort, it'd be wasted on me.

that said, If I'm paying ~$10 to play a full day of 40k against some decent competition, I don't care what I win, if anything. I play for the joy of it, not because I might win stuff.

I voted yes, because I have played in exactlt that style of tournament before (an internal club challenge -- loot was raffled off and tickets were bought seperate) and have ran or attended something similar. SpoCon has trophy for overall and medals for the category winners -- no loot for them. Astronomicon is the same.

All of these had some sort of raffle but I don't drive 8 hours to play in tournaments for the loot. I don't paint until my eyes bleed for loot. I look for good games on good terrain and hope to meet new people.

willydstyle wrote:That's the plan, Sid. We're trying to run a tournament with very low BS ratio. No comp. No soft scores added to an "overall" winner. No BS missions that hand some army builds an auto-win. Simply a trophy for The Winner, a trophy for the best painted army, and a trophy for the best sportsman.

While trophies are an awesome idea, these are the elements that make me all tingly...

Yes, 1988 I won a huge castle 4x3 in a 2,000 pts WH40k tourneyment and I get all kinds of use out of it. As a stand for my entire army (Chaos) or a huge defencive postion on a 40k game. My other trophies I have hanging on my wall or collecting dust on a shelf, I will never get rid of them.

I think you're missing a couple of options in the voting.

I'd pay to go to a tournament for the variety of opponents and the lunch/dinner provided.

Nothing else is needed. Anything else is a bonus.

willydstyle wrote:A friend of mine and I are thinking of running a tournament where there are no prizes of either store credit vouchers or GW product. Instead, the prizes would be rather nice trophies. The trophies would probably cost us close to $100 to build. Would you attend a tournament like this?

Yes,

Of course.

In fact I wish there was a 3rd option in the poll:

"Would you attend for a large buy in?"

Because I still would. There's a lot more 'cost' necessary for a tourney than prizes. Venues aren't necessarily free, labor to run it, cost for nice terrain, possibly food for participants.

I would rather have stellar terrain and a well run event in a spacious venue than another prize.

Furthermore, I play for love of the game and go to tournaments for spectacle.

Also, I don't mind entry fees, if entry fees keep the people out who can barely afford their armies in the first place so much the better.

A nice 40k army is probably worth at least $500 these days, and much more in time labor and construction materials. Why bemoan a few dollars for an entry fee or demand a prize when you have that kind of commitment already? Really?

The concept of going to tourneys as a lucrative experience brings completely the wrong attitude to the event. Obviously if you had to spend $500 on your army, winning another box set of Tac Marines is really irrelevant right? The prize would have to be an entire army at a minimum and that seldom happens.

NOTE: I do like swag bags though, especially at Adepticon, but then everyone gets those! Which is the right way to do it IMO.

Augustus wrote:
Also, I don't mind entry fees, if entry fees keep the people out who can barely afford their armies in the first place so much the better.

Damn poor folks, cluttering up our streets and clogging our tournaments with extra entries. They've no right!

I agree 100% with Augustus. The poll is missing an option for "Yes", without the caveat about cheap entry.

I've entered many events for trophies rather than monetary or product rewards, and will keep doing so. EVERY GT I've ever attended has been for the gaming and possible glory, not for prizes. Very rarely will prizes come anywhere close to the investment made in prepping an army and traveling to a GT (plus hotel, meals, booze, etc.), so prizes are almost irrelevant for a lot of GT players. A nice trophy for recognition can make the experience even sweeter, though.

I think Dash has a point, too, that if you have a small local event which happens frequently (like 10-12 guys every month), a trophy is less appropriate there. Might be better in that situation that you give a small credit prize for the monthly ones, and every three or six months run a bigger event with a pricier entry, but with bigger prizes including proper trophies.


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Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:

Augustus wrote:
Also, I don't mind entry fees, if entry fees keep the people out who can barely afford their armies in the first place so much the better.

Damn poor folks, cluttering up our streets and clogging our tournaments with extra entries. They've no right!

I do think that comment was a little over the line. However the investment can be a great incentive for people to put some real effort into their armies. If there's no cost at all, you often have people sign up then drop out last minute because they have nothing invested.