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I have been given the unofficial title of tournament organizer at our LFGS any advice I should know for this other than to know the Main Rule Book inside and out?

There are several good articles on Tournament play in the sticky above. Many are for players, but there are a couple written for TOs as well.

- The most important thing is not knowing the rules, the most important thing is being fair to everyone, and maintaining a reputation for integrity. If you favour anyone, word will get out, and your events will suffer from a bad rep. Do everything above the table, and be willing to answer 'why' questions (why did I get this score, for example). Be firm (dice down means dice down, once you've made a ruling, there is no more pleading a case, and so on), but polite. Treat all the participants with respect.

- When it comes to judging paint scores, if you do that, it helps to have a clear checklist that you can refer back to, and that you can point to if someone asks why they got their score.

- Don't be afraid to ask a disruptive player to leave. It is better to do this once (setting an example) than allow such a player to create a hostile environment in which other players choose not to attend.

- If you have to get involved in a rules dispute, listen to what each player has to say, and make a decision, then stick to it. Don't ask players to d6 it, and be consistent - if you've decided something once, that's now how it is in 'your house'. If you have to change it later, make sure everyone knows in advance, rather than waiting for it to come up.

- You don't need to know all the rules. It is a good idea to have all the rules available. The best way to do this is to require all players to have all rules that they're using with them.

- Picking one of the various FAQs, such as the INAT FAQ, will provide a clear guideline that everyone can use, even if you don't agree with all the rulings in it.

- Try to keep things running on schedule. Do prep-work in advance and it'll save time in the long run. Print extra copies of the tournament missions because someone will lose theirs. If you have access to a laptop, set up a spreadsheet in advance that will tally scores for you and help you pair up the subsequent rounds.

- Show up early, at least 30 minutes before you expect players to arrive. This gives you time to get settled, put your stuff down, and make sure that the terrain is, if not set up, at least evenly distributed between the various tables.

- Depending how big you expect it to get, bring a friend to help, and just to chat with during rounds.

- Make sure there's a ringer army, and a ringer player (possibly the friend from the above item) in case of odd numbers. In a pinch, you can run the ringer, but this makes everything else more complicated, and is not advised.

- After the event, ask the participants what they liked, and what they didn't like, and listen to their concerns without taking them personally (this is not easy, but remember, they're not criticizing you, they're trying to help make future events better). Make an effort to address them between events.


Good luck.

so as TO my job is to pair up players (names in a hat ect.) solve rules disputes, set up tables, set the missions, and keep things in a general semblence or order.

Among many other things.

There's no cut and dry checklist, as you'll be called to handle just about any unexpected thing under the sun. It's all the stuff that a tournament player never sees.

Someone shows up late, but had signed up already, how do you handle it?

Disruptive player, how do you handle it?

Rules disputes. Since you said you are at the FLGS, you more than any other have to know the rules down pat, as to remain impartial.

Organization. There's a ton of work in organizing this. Someone mentioned showing up 30 minutes early, I'd show up an hour early.

You gotta be able to keep your head through the whole thing. While a player can simply step back after a bad game for a breath of air, or a smoke or whatever, as a TO, you pretty much cannot do any of that, as you'll be working from before the start of the event until after.

That is all great advice and I hope to be a good TO even if we don't have a ton of space at our local FLGS

Make sure you are clear on prize support. Some stores are great with this and some not so much.

For example 50% of the entry fee for 1st, 30% for second and 20% for third. And what these entail.

or

Trophy for first, certificates for other categories.

Just set the expectation and stick to it.

Remember to bring a bolter or chainsword for those players that might have to be removed.

Also remember that your word is final and it's worse when a TO second guesses themselves.