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Hi folks. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm kind of a ringleader of 40k players here in town. People play at my house on one of my three tables, I host apoc games, and people seem to end up learning or getting into it through me. I enjoy my de facto position, but I feel like I could do more. A game store just opened up and it turns out there is a much larger enthusiastic crowd of 40k players in his area.

The store owners seem amicable towards customer organized events, but even without the store I've always wanted to get a smallish event going. ~10 people would be awesome! But I need to learn how to run a tournament. I understand the basic concepts, and if I listen to it discussed, I can keep up. I don't want to rely on brutal single-elimination formats. I need to learn more about:

1)How to determine a clear winner at different participation levels.
2)Formats; brackets, swiss pairings, round robin, and when to use each
3)Tools to facilitate this. Calculations on the fly aren't my strong suit.

If anyone has any advice or resources, I'd really appreciate it. Articles, links, whatevs.

I know I could just google this, but holy moley that has produced mixed results. I'd rather take advantage of the awesome pool of knowledge here on dakka!

When it comes to the rules, there is no right and wrong answer, just be aware that certain rules decisions will attract and repel different players, so if you want good attendance, attract your target audience. In that time have a rulespack prepared and readily available.

What really matters is the organisation. Make sure you have a location sorted and stamped at least 4wks in advance for advertisment purposes, and make sure you have a good place to advertise. Make sure you have a reliable source for prizes.

For running numbers, learn the basics of Excel and that will tide you through fine (it can do all the math for you while keeping tables of everything). Be sure to make current standings viewable in between rounds to avoid and hick-ups later on when it is too late.

Oh, and be sure to have a bye-buster prepared in case of odd numbers; if people are paying for 5 games, you want to make sure they get 5 games.

Great advice, thank you. I'm pretty damn good with Excel so I guess I have a head start!