Running a 2500pt Tournament, Part One

I had my first experience with running a tournament this last Saturday.  In brief, our local TO wasn't available and it looked like the event was going to get cancelled... and given there were only six people or so scheduled to show, I'll admit it wouldn't have bothered me much.

Still, there were a few vocal locals (heh!) who were disappointed, so the owner decided to push forward himself.  I was asked to, "be available for rules questions, if it comes to that" since all the people who would have been asked ahead of me weren't available.  Six people?  No problem!

Suffice it to say, I learned the night before there was something like 16 registered players, almost all from out of town.  A quick change of plans later and I'm bring 'Daemons Light' to fill in if there's an odd number of players, but otherwise I'm playing judge.

I can admit it now:  I was nervous.  I'm neither temperamentally nor scholastically suited for the job, and while I've got a strong grasp of the basic rules... it's fair to say those aren't the questions that come up, are they?

I was pleasantly surprised by the army lists; they were all at least decent for a Hard Boyz prep tournament, which this was, and at least half of them were optimized builds to a greater or lesser extent.

Interestingly, there were two Daemons players, not including me.  (It should be noted there was a drop after Round 1 so I no longer had to play, leaving 7 tables.)

Stetson's Friend Matt runs what's widely considered the best build in the Daemons book, Fatecrusher... whereas I run the not-so-widely known other-other optimal build in the Daemons book... which I actually consider the best build in the Daemons book due to its consistency... uh, where was I?

Oh, yea!  Fatecrusher: Stetson's Friend Matt runs the beatstick version of the list, which runs something like...

Fateweaver
Blood Thirster
Crushers x8 FC x2 Squads
Crushers x7 FC
Plaugebearers x5 x4 Squads
Daemon Prince of Slaanesh x2

Matt beat my Abaddabaddon & Friends Seal Stick with his 2K version of Fatecrusher a few years back, so I'm well aware of how tough it can be once it's rolling...

...and I like it.  There, I said it!  Even though I'm the loudest Blogosphere voice against the universal Fateweaver builds, it doesn't mean I don't appreciate it.

It means I don't think it's consistent enough for my strategies - and the reason happened in this very tournament!

 But I've gone down that road before, so I'm sure you're not interested.  (Are you?  Huh?  Huh?)

Moving on, the other Daemons player was a very cool guy who's been coming down from Lawton, Oklahoma lately - I just hadn't met him.  Turns out he plays Daemons, and it turns out he's read this blog some.  He told me at lunch it influenced his choice on Fiends, which naturally made me a happy dude!

END PART ONE