Potential Tournament in Fort Smith

Hello, after I returned from the IDM I was rigrously interregated by our local shop owner about the details. Come to find out he is thinking of holding a 40k tournament in Fort Smith. The exact detail are up in the air but he wanted me to put the word out and get some input.

1. I need to know about how many people we would be talking, if you are interested respond, it is by no means a commitment but just to get an idea.

2. We were thinking of a late September to early October weekend, would this work for people? If not what would be a better date?

3. Would a 1 day 3 round or a 2 day 5 round work? We may not rent a hotel, the shop holding this is right next door to a vacant building (WITH AC) and we may use that but a hotel is NOT out of the question.

4. We were thinking of a $40.00 entry fee, this would probably include lunch.

5. 2000pts? 1850pts? 2500pts? How many points do you think would work in terms of points and yes/no SC's? We are thinking of 2000 w/no restrictions on army.

6. Im also thinking of giving prizes to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Best General, Best Paint, Best Sport, and maybe a best club table, any others?

If you think of anything else let me know. We need to get an idea soon so we can start working.

-DreadArchon (Nick Huisman)

When is it?
If i have enough pts with my Dark Eldar i will play

I'd like to play, but 40 is pretty steep for me. I'd play if it were around 20 and a one day, 3 game event.

Before you try running a 2 day event, I would run some one day, 3 game events. That should be enough for you to get your feet wet and work out the logistics of holding tournaments.

First thing to think about, what is your max players you can support? Afterall, you need tables and terrain to start with.

As far as date goes, look at what other tournaments are going on around the time you would like to hold it and see what could potentially draw players away from your event. That is if you want a large 2 day event. For a 3 game, one day event, throw out a couple of dates and see what works best. After you run a few of these successfully you can get the locals behind you.

2k seems to be the points limit that we play in NWA. You can look at the other tournaments and see what points limit they use if you would like to change it.

I say Yes to scenarios. It is a nice break from the standard missions in the back of the book. The main thing about scenarios, don't use a scenario that penalizes someone for using X. I thought the scenarios at IDM were great, didn't screw anyone.

I'm sure Ares could add some more insight into this.

I second everything vermin said.

I haven't mentioned it but i thought the idm scenarios were a step up this year - very good! Very fair!

Okay so well say its a 1 day 3 round (if we have it). Right now we are assembling terrain and tables but we should be able to fit at least 15 tables in.

$40 is a high end estimate at this time, personally I think it will end up more like $30.

We are shooting for September 24, October 1st or 8th for the date.

Also its probably going to be 2000pts SC's allowed. Paint will be completion with voting for the best painted.

I will have more details as the month progresses.

Hopefully we will have an affirmative yes or no by the end of the month!

-DreadArchon

I'll play if I have the date free. Usually not a problem on Saturdays unless I have the day scheduled.

1 day, 3 games is fine.

2k points, allowing for SC is also pretty well accepted.

Usually for a 1-day event you see a price point of 10-20. If it's 30 or 40 you might lose attendees. Proving lunch can offset that, but it is a factor.

Yes to scenarios! Looking at the IDM scenarios or past BOLS/WARgames scenarios are great jumping off points. We use a lot of those as practice events and they really stretch your noodle for tactical play.

Most everything looks pretty good my only suggestion would be to drop the price to $15-$20 and give people and hour or hour and a half to go out and get lunch.

Okay, the price point seems to be the area that need the most work.

There is a lot of restraunts in the area so we may not need to provide lunch. We also need to see where we can play and how much it costs. Also how much prize support we can expect will be a huge factor.

Going with what Capn said, the price range of a RTT is ussually around 10-15 dollars. IDM's price range was a typical range for a GT event. The difference lies in what the tournament is and the prize support that is offered.

I would shoot for 8 -12 players the first time out. This will keep it manageable for your first time out of the gate.
I think $15 - $20 is a good fee. $40 for a one day event is way to steep.
Usually this size tournament has 3 - 5 payouts. 1st - 3rd, and then paint and sports.

I would also attend provided I have that day off as I work every other weekend.

At an RTT I usually plan on prize support for:

1st (army box), 2nd (vehicle/squad), and 3rd (squad/blister) place
Best painted, player's choice (squad/blister)
Best sports (squad/blister)

That should give you a rough feel of how much you'll need to procure.

Nah. With only 10-12 people there should only be first overall, best general and maybe paint. Never give out prizes to more than 20% of entrants

Wildeyedjester wrote:

Nah. With only 10-12 people there should only be first overall, best general and maybe paint. Never give out prizes to more than 20% of entrants

That is why I put 3 - 5. Also, some aren't a fan of the "winner take all" mentality. In my experience, the more you can spread the wealth, the happier the players are.

Not all of us are 40k geniuses.

Wildeyedjester wrote:

Nah. With only 10-12 people there should only be first overall, best general and maybe paint. Never give out prizes to more than 20% of entrants

I like to give people who consistently place *ahem* 7th or 8th a chance to get some prize support.

/forever a-boned.

Firstly, I'm no 40k genius.

Secondly, Merely from a financial standpoint you can't give 8 of 12 people a prize. Otherwise it will cost 40 a head for a one day.

I was being silly. That is unreasonable to expect to hand out 50% prize support. 20-30% is the number that I feel is most fair for prizing.

I would totally be down for a 40k tournament in Fort Smith. At the shop I worked at down in Orlando, we did 10-15 entry for a 3 round, one day event. Prize support broke down similar to the way FNM support went, but that was when we were just using space we had. As far as scenarios, usually I took either standard missions and tweaked them, or I used Adepticon missions and simplified them. Players tend to like it better when they can play missions they normally wouldn't be able to do. If yall need any help, pm me. Also, where is the store that is thinking of running this and when are players there to play?

We are aiming for 20 people and it sounds like our shop will provide product. Im thinking a cap at 30 players (of which we have like 15 people interested and I still have a lot of local guys to talk to)

We hope for at least 20 because I will have help from a few guys who have run 20+ person tournaments before and we have been running small (8-12) person local tournaments for a while. Also with the cost of GW product and the potental lack of prize support this target number of attendees will be needed to cover cost of product and location.

I'd be interested if it is a 1-day event.

Ok so right now here is were we are. But we are not certain that the tournamet is a go yet ....

2000pts no restrictions, 1 day 3 rounds, $20 entry (only includes entry, no lunch) with a cap of 30.

Questions though..

What kind of senarios do people like? Totally new or variation on the book? Primary and secondary objectives okay?

Just food for thought,
second round of 40K Ard boys is Sept 17th. Don't know how many it would pull but might get a couple.

Okay that is good to know. With that we probably will kick it back to October 1st or 8th.

I'm interested in a tournament down in FSM. Scheduling wise, the fall is tough. The other item I don't think you would want to conflict with is important Arkansas Razorback home football games. For a smaller tournament, its probably not a big deal, but if you're trying to draw a crowd then I'd reccommend avoiding them.

Alright, the 8th is a home game against Auburn so we are shooting for the 1st now.