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**Blackmoor**

I have a huge shelf of trophies from back in the day. I had so many of those RTT resin trophies that GW gave out (and t-shirts too) that I started giving all of them to my friend that sent them back home to his club in Sweden.

I have not seen much in the way of trophies anymore for RTTs though. I just played in 3 where I won 2 stormravens and a grey knight codex, and didn't get even a certificate.

I have won everything from an Eldar army to a SoB army from the semi-finals of the 'Ard Boyz, and the prizes will never pay for the cost I pay to travel to them even if I win best overall at all of them.

**Oaka**

Add me to the list of people who prefer trophies over store credit. I only have one army at a time, so I usually already have whatever models I need before the tournament. Whenever Forgeworld is offered as prize support, though, that's a nice bonus.

My two favorite trophies I won at RTTs:

I've only won Overall Champion once in 12 years, and don't see it happening again anytime soon (DE WWP list without vehicles), so I like seeing other trophies at tournaments for Best Painted, Best Army, Most Attractive Player, etc. I'll win Best Painted over half the time, and that covers my entry fee, so it's a good system.

**Polonius**

I play equally hard for a trophy or a full army at Hard Boys. I like to win, and I like to win product, but I play tournaments to play.

When was in school or unemployed, winning $90 in store credit was a great way to bring an army along. Now that I work full time, I'd rather have a fun day playing, and win nothing, than have a frustrating experience and walk out the door with $150.

Admittedly, my job is pretty fun, but if I'm having less fun than my job, I expect to be paid better, and few tournaments meet that standard.

I'm also very comfortable with my ranking as a 40k player. I can hang with nearly anybody, but I've never come close to winning a major RTT, let alone a GT.

**Ajroo**

As long as you have fun DURING the games other than for the fact you are winning, thats very good.

i am however VERY IMPRESSED with way that you no longer need to spend on models ever again really, because
it saves lots of hassle from the Wife/Husband/GF/BF (if you have one or more ;D)
which is the hard part of the hobby

**Target**

Ajroo wrote:As long as you have fun DURING the games other than for the fact you are winning, thats very good.

i am however VERY IMPRESSED with way that you no longer need to spend on models ever again really, because
it saves lots of hassle from the Wife/Husband/GF/BF (if you have one or more ;D)
which is the hard part of the hobby

Trust me, that isn't actually the hard part. In order to win that product he had to convince her to let him out for extended weekends, pay for plane tickets, hotel rooms, etc. Convincing them that it's worth all of that money, thats the hard part.

I prefer trophies the most, and still have the little tiny first trophy I won (from years and years ago) all the way to some larger plaque/gt trophies. New armies/models are nice, but I find they somehow cost me money in the long run as I end up getting motivated to take on a new project because I'm already half way there. As for trophies: this is pure preference, but I'd much prefer some sort of plaque/wall hangable object to other large piece of grandeur. Both are cool, but it's easier to decorate my hobby space with a plaque

**Redbeard**

@Oaka - Congratulations on winning most attractive player. I could never win that. I've won best looking army before, but there's no way I could be the best looking player.

**Bat Manuel**

I've had my fair share of tournament success over the past decades and it's left me with a bunch of armies, battle forces, carrying cases, more trophies than I know what to do with. My fav's are the two RTT griffon trophies that I use as bookends. Most recently I've won random store credits, GK termies and unrelated to tournaments, I've won this...

**Hulksmash**

I've gotten a fair chunk of prize support over the last year since I really started playing in an average of 3 tournies every 2 months. Personally I like trophies to but since I've got a self diagnosed case of army ADD that is just short of needing medication for product works for me too. I generally use it for whatever random brainchild I've had that week so I've wound up with some truly weird product stacked at my house. Maybe I'll take a picture of just the stuff I haven't opened....

**Dashofpepper**

Alright....see those trophies are PHAT.

All the trophies I win are generic plaques, trophies with things like a champion's cup on top, framed certificates....the closest I've ever gotten to a "40k trophy" was for either winning one of the Atlanta Circuit events, or when I won the whole circuit - I got a framed Necron-themed certificate.

If I got trophies that had skulls and stuff on them that looked like those, I'd prefer to get trophies too. But I've never seen any trophies like that, its always more of a "Generic plaque with a copper plate etched with "Best Overall" or something. I'd rather get product than that sort of thing.

**Lord_Osma**

My local GW never does tournaments, and the few times they do you play for PRIDE, which had no cash value and is not a SM vehicle.

**Redbeard**

Lord_Osma wrote:My local GW never does tournaments, and the few times they do...

I'm not sure we're quite clear on the word never.

OT: Our local (Chicago) tournament series has plaques with the AWC seal etched on them. One of the guys knows a trophy store owner and has them custom made for all our events. They're pretty nice. But even a simple certificate in a frame is something to remember the event by. Any product quickly gets built (or sold/traded) and painted and lives its life in a foam case.

**Acardia**

I want to win Waaaghpaca, they have the coolest trophies. working trebuchet, working spear chucka(in honor of previous years winners.) And Dwarf won this year so next year may be a cannon.

http://www.gorcus.com/waaaghpaca.html

But my loot stash was an army book, and some skellies from Waaghpaca raffle this year, and a few tanks from this weeks 'ard boyz.

so far over $100 of product this year.

**Mannahnin**

nkelsch wrote:I understand why prize support exists. If you collect money for entree fee from each player and it then gets turned into guaranteed sales for the FLGS in the form of store credit or prize support, then the owner supporting the tourney knows he will move 200$ of merchandise that day.

Personally I would rather have a trophy or something, but then the store owner doesn't get any benefit for hosting the event.

They can balance this, though. Many of my trophies are piles of skulls and things GW used to give out, but a lot of them were also home-built by the local store's staff terrain dudes. If you can build a couple of cool trophies for 10%-20% of the entry pool, you can still give out 80%-90% of it as store credit at the same time.

**Aldonis**

Well....while I may have one a box or two of swag from tournaments over the years - that is insignificant compared to the true rewards of gamings and tournaments.

1) Met people who are some of my best friends today - Sabote, Gimli, etc.

2) Have built a great network of people who I am proud to call friends from all over the US gaming areas. I've met and gotten to know people from several clubs (WC, da Boyz, Toledo, Spikey Bits, AWC, etc) who I enjoy hanging with at tournaments and keeping up with and discussing the hobby online.

3) The comaraderie at tournaments - the fun of talking about past games, good times, and embarrassing moments with your friends.

I'm blessed with a decent job that allows me to buy pretty much anything I want gaming wise - but the people aspect of the hobby is priceless to me.

**frgsinwntr**

good job dash! I had a pile that big too..,. but i stoped most local RTTs since... so I can catch up on building armies!

**Mannahnin**

Aldonis wrote:Well....while I may have one a box or two of swag from tournaments over the years - that is insignificant compared to the true rewards of gamings and tournaments.

1) Met people who are some of my best friends today - Sabote, Gimli, etc.

2) Have built a great network of people who I am proud to call friends from all over the US gaming areas. I've met and gotten to know people from several clubs (WC, da Boyz, Toledo, Spikey Bits, AWC, etc) who I enjoy hanging with at tournaments and keeping up with and discussing the hobby online.

3) The comaraderie at tournaments - the fun of talking about past games, good times, and embarrassing moments with your friends.

I'm blessed with a decent job that allows me to buy pretty much anything I want gaming wise - but the people aspect of the hobby is priceless to me.

Aldonis wins the thread.

**Blackmoor**

Aldonis wrote:Well....while I may have one a box or two of swag from tournaments over the years - that is insignificant compared to the true rewards of gamings and tournaments.

1) Met people who are some of my best friends today - Sabote, Gimli, etc.

2) Have built a great network of people who I am proud to call friends from all over the US gaming areas. I've met and gotten to know people from several clubs (WC, da Boyz, Toledo, Spikey Bits, AWC, etc) who I enjoy hanging with at tournaments and keeping up with and discussing the hobby online.

3) The comaraderie at tournaments - the fun of talking about past games, good times, and embarrassing moments with your friends.

I'm blessed with a decent job that allows me to buy pretty much anything I want gaming wise - but the people aspect of the hobby is priceless to me.

+1

That is the reason why I do it too. As I said, I pay a lot more than I will ever win.

**Dave_Fay**

Dashofpepper wrote:
Spellbound wrote:What I'm curious to know is how much entry into all those tournaments and travel expenses cost. I'm sure you come out ahead, but those winnings aren't "free" exactly.

Uh....tournament entry fee for non-GT events: Generally $10-25. In the last two years, I've won every non-GT tournament I've been to everywhere with the exception of four.

-I didn't win 'Ard Boyz semi-finals last year in Florida; Mech IG took down my Orks in the third round.
-I didn't win the "Win an 1850 Army" tournament in December; Mech IG seized the initiative on my DE in game 2 and it was a turkey-shoot.
-I didn't win one of the five Atlanta Circuit tournaments; two of the players intentionally played me for a tie and managed to avoid me the whole game.
-I didn't win a local tournament a month or so ago; my last round opponent slow-played me with a virtually completely proxied army; in two hours we got three turns. I was completely in reserve too, and got two units on turn two. Seriously. Slow-played me out of the game despite being the only player on the table. =p

The cost of travel for GTs makes up any sort of profit I've made off of local events. Attending a GT is about $750-$3,000 depending on how far I'm going, whether I'm flying, and whether my wife is coming. I'll be going to my first GT solo in May when I fly to Bugeater.

So I don't make money off of 40k if we account for travel. On the flip side, I live in the middle of nowhere, and EVERYTHING is 1,000 miles away or more.

Socal Slaughter ;p ?

**Blackmoor**

Dave_Fay wrote:
Dashofpepper wrote: In the last two years, I've won every non-GT tournament I've been to everywhere with the exception of four.

Socal Slaughter ;p ?

I think he lists that as "GT Tournament", just like the Nova Open.

**Dashofpepper**

Yes, the SoCal Slaughter in Space GT would definitely fit my category of ....GT. =D

**Happygrunt**

Hmmmmm. After reading through this, it seems that the Chicago Area, Socal, and the Eastern half of the US do big RTT and GTs, and Seattle dose nothing... (Silly privater press and your silly location)

I did win best sportsman ship at a tournament. Its a cool little trophy with two dire wolves fighting on a stone wall.

**AgeOfEgos**

Aldonis wrote:Well....while I may have one a box or two of swag from tournaments over the years - that is insignificant compared to the true rewards of gamings and tournaments.

1) Met people who are some of my best friends today - Sabote, Gimli, etc.

2) Have built a great network of people who I am proud to call friends from all over the US gaming areas. I've met and gotten to know people from several clubs (WC, da Boyz, Toledo, Spikey Bits, AWC, etc) who I enjoy hanging with at tournaments and keeping up with and discussing the hobby online.

3) The comaraderie at tournaments - the fun of talking about past games, good times, and embarrassing moments with your friends.

I'm blessed with a decent job that allows me to buy pretty much anything I want gaming wise - but the people aspect of the hobby is priceless to me.

Right on. They did a study where they measured happiness in people who bought an object they wanted-----vs.----people who paid for an outing with friends (dinner, go cart driving, anything).

The correlation between happiness/experiences was very high------while the happiness/object correlation was pretty low. Happiness fell off significantly after purchase---probably due to regret of other object they could have, etc. Experiences however----stick. As do friends!

Which brings up interesting thoughts----if it means you have a more enjoyable time with your opponent with sub-par lists-----over bringing a ball breaker list for prizes----it almost seems the way to go.

Good post.

**Dave_Fay**

Dashofpepper wrote:Yes, the SoCal Slaughter in Space GT would definitely fit my category of ....GT. =D

Yes but it's not listed in your 4 loss's ;p. Although your ratio to Cpt. Morgan and Dice tossing i can understand why.

This is the stuff that i have at the office. Not including certificates. Almost all from SoCal and AZ.

I prefer both prize support and trophies.

**Dashofpepper**

Dave_Fay wrote:
Dashofpepper wrote:Yes, the SoCal Slaughter in Space GT would definitely fit my category of ....GT. =D

Yes but it's not listed in your 4 loss's ;p.

Dave, that list of losses was specifically for non-GT events....like it said. =p

If it helps, you definitely took the win from me at the SoCal Slaughter in Space and took Best Overall, leaving me a drunken best general. Most fun loss I've ever had! What I remember of it...my most vivid memory was getting you to pose with a chaos lord who abandoned you.

**Dave_Fay**

;p i can't read.

**The Bringer**

Oaka wrote:

That made my day.

**thehod**

@ Dave_Fay

Your chun-li statue is pure win.

**Kurgash**

Best I've gotten is 30$ store credit for coming in 3rd place at a local tourney. Even sweeter was tabling a SW player that routinely cleaned house in tourneys prior. It's the little things that keep me coming back for more. Come update, I hope to reap in the winnings and throw myself into a pool of resin and pewter. It's the proper way to enjoy a victory.