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2011/09/12 22:46:31
Subject: Empire Games 1750 GT 9/10 Results and Review
Each player received an awesome t-shirt, custom chessex dice and gf9 template.
The Loot
Best Overall (wins, painted, sportsmanship) - over 2000 points of Dark Eldar worth $497
Best General - over 1500 points of tyranids worth $348
Best Painted - over 1200 points of grey knights worth $308
Best Sportsman - over 700 points of space wolves worth $150
Two "secret prizes" - an orc battle force, and a space marine battle force
The Journey
My wife and I were planning on visiting her family in Scottsdale that weekend. Since this is Blackmoor’s stomping ground I was thinking about getting a pickup game with him and chat about the Nova Open. Checking the local game store calendar sites I noticed that Empire Games is running a GT with a hefty prize. The GT wasn’t advertised on a lot of forums and was supposed to be for the locals. I quickly called the store and talked to Jimmy who informed me that the GT is full. Since there are usually a few cancelations and I was coming out of town they charged me the early entry fee and put me on an alternates list. If no drops happened I would still get the shirt, template, dice and a $25 gift card. I see this as a win.
The rush to finish the Templars is now on. 2 weeks to finish 35 models seems doable, but life gets in the way with a 6 month old (not that I’m complaining, he’s a bundle of joy). I decide to take a few days off before the tournament and leave early to take advantage of the in-laws. Free babysitting, comfy house and 2 days of minimal interruption = painting and modeling spree.
Painting comes down to the wire. In the final hours my wife, sister and mother in-law come to my rescue and help with basing. I finish at 4 a.m. the day of the tournament.
I was in for a surprise with my round 1 opponent…
Store Review
Easy to get too, walking distance to fast food choices, Starbucks and grocery stores.
Tall tables and awesome terrain make strategic games and no back agro.
Jimmy, Brock and Josh ran a tight ship.
Day 1 started at 9:30 and ended at 5:00. Day 2 started at 10:00 and awards were given out at 4:30.
Each morning we were greeted with doughnuts and cookies.
Hour long lunches and 2.5 hour rounds made for a relaxing environment with little rush.
Before each round Jimmy gave an overview of the mission and clarified any player questions.
There were also 2 door prizes given out consisting of an Ork and Space Marine battle force.
During the rounds they announced extra prizes:
Assassin award ($20 gift card) - first to have HQ kill HQ which Blackmoor won.
Worst dice roller ($20 gift card) – first to highest percentage of 1’s in a roll of dice. Drew won with a 6 1’s out of 6 dice.
Tactical retreat award ($20 gift card) – first to fail a leadership check
The scoring matrix was 70% wins 15% painting and 15% sportsmanship with victory points as a tie breaker for place.
With this logic I think John should have won best sportsmanship instead Ryan as he had more victory points. (Glad Ryan won, he’s a great guy)
I think painting should have had a heavier weight or a more defined painting rubric. It was explained to me that if you have a fully painted army to 3 color standard you got 8 points automatically and bonus points were given if you went beyond that. Only 17 out of 40 armies were fully painted and 10 beyond the 3 color standard. With this system painting does not account for much. The devil’s advocate would argue that this reduces subjective scoring.
Closing Thoughts
I would have won overall if Blackmoor hadn’t seized the initiative ;p (maybe?)
This is a must go to event and store.
Hopefully they do it next year with more advertising.
