6.27.2011

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

11 comments:

Gauthic said...

At least you didn't have to worry about the TECHNICAL (keeping score, positions and setting opponents and tables) side of handling the tournament..... but you didn't mention THAT in part one didja? :P

Evil Homer said...

Hey I recognize that terrain! It wasn't really built to accommodate 40k but whatever.

suplegal-gangsta for "what's up lawyer man, and now can we go?" got to love word verification.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha... this story is obviously not true and those pics are clearly photoshop'd. There is a female in them. Oh Brent you crazy fool... always toying with us like that.

Master Manipulator (every store needs one) said...

Girls do show up in stores sometimes and they are normally like this one...spouse to a gamer. I highly doubt she would step foot in a game store otherwise(and probably was not that hip about it that day).

Master Manipulator (every store needs one) said...

As a side note...can we start a collection to get Tye some t-shirts that fit and don't make him look like a go-go dancer from a gay bar.

Brent said...

I don't know a 'Tye' - at Strictly Average, we refer to the individual in question as the Card Pimp in Question.

Or CPQ for short!

The Card Pimp in Question had a good showing, coming from behind even after a brutal pounding by Stetson's Friend in Round II.

You could see the agonized expression on CPQ's face as SFM rolled up his flanks...

What were we talking about again?

Darkwynn said...

You know Wolf and my comments about Fateweaver :) Only bad players pick him :)

40K + T&A said...

Who's the hot broad with the laptop? No boobs, but cute...

Gauthic said...

HACKSAW's wife (the gentleman getting models out of his case in the stage left foreground)

Loquacious said...

All these pictures and discussion of a tournament and the noticeable element is a lady. Sheesh. I've got my work cut out for me....

Evil Homer said...

Using HACKSAW and gentleman in the same sentence is a bit of a misnomer.

(A new favorite!) Anon: I haven’t even bothered playing a game of 6th yet, cause I have read the rules, and actually understand how they interact with units. I know my armies no longer function how they should, and so I need to change them.

Strictly Average: 'cause 6-inches is all you get.

Stalking Jawaballs since 2009.

Jawaballs: "My butt just tightened up."

Brent, preferred 2-to-1 over Not Brent in a recent, scientific poll.

Brent: emptied the Kool Aid and DRINKING YOUR MILKSHAKE with an extra-long straw.

Unicorns don't exist.

Home of the Stormbuster, the Dyson Pattern Storm Raven.

I'm a comment whore and this whore is getting no play.

Not Brent hurts Brent's feelings.

I think, therefore I blog.

"You should stop writing for everyone else and worry about your crappy blog." - Anon.

Not Brent has been spotted lurking around with a green marker.

He's not like a bad guy from a cartoon, all devious but never quite evil, Not Brent is bad beans, man, bad beans.

Dethtron: "Again I feel obliged to remind you that trying to sound smart only works if you are."

MVB: "I am not one to join the unwashed masses of self-titled 40k experts out there distributing advice from their blogs about exactly how your list should be built..."

Shiner Bock on tap: that's how I choose hotels.

Strictly Average: The Home of Hugs and Gropings.

Don't feed the trolls!

MoD: "Welcome to Brent's head."

Competitive is Consistent.

Dethtron: "...you could use that extra time to figure out a way to get your panties unbunched and perform a sandectomy on your vagina."

Dethtron: “When calling someone an idiot, it's generally best to avoid making grammatical mistakes.”

Warboss Stalin: "You know, if it actually WAS funny, maybe I wouldn't mind."

Mike Brandt: "It's not a successful bachelor party if you don't misplace someone".

"The Master Manipulator (every store needs one): "...now, enough stroking."

Kirby: "I don't know about gropings. Seriously, Brent, keep it in the pants, please."

Loquacious: "No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get Hugs & Gropings or Stalks Jawaballs into Brent's little tribute."

Captain Kellen: "I rate this article a Brent on the Faith Hill to Nancy Pelosi scale!"

Drathmere: "Come for the balls, stay for the Brent? Kind of disturbing, man."

Go no further, lest thee see something thine eyes would fain look past!

Isabelle: "So, thank you for supporting your local and not so local unicorns. A noble gesture like that can show some scared kids out there that they don't have to hide from everyone and it's ok to be who they really are."

There is nothing more interesting than We The People... in all our beautiful, ugly glory!

On Internet Advice: You see, I have an almost religious belief that's it's a huge, colossal waste of time.

...I think I'll call it the Gun Shy Pattern Stormbuster, because after the Internet destroyed my first humble effort, I find I'm a bit worried about the reaction to this one.

Lauby: "Is it left over from that time you thought that you could just complete step one 12 times to meet the mandates of that court order?"

Not Brent: "I guess we'll have to read on and find out. Signed, Not Brent. Especially today."

Cynthia Davis: "I think the scrolling text is from Glen Beck's new book."

Grimaldi: "Spamming certain units creates interesting possibilities but also fatal weaknesses."

Purgatus: "Math can inform decisions. It cannot make decisions."

Thoughts? Comments? Hugs and gropings?

You'd be that much quicker to figure out what I mean when I refer to a Unicorn if I covered it in a rainbow flag.

SinSynn: (To Brent) "Curse you and your insidious influence on the internets..."

Dave G (N++): "You know you're an internet celebrity when your following is more akin to tabloids."

I prefer the term Internet Personality (or IP) myself, seeing as how I coined it.

Lauby: "Your attempt to humanize him as failed. I feel nothing but scorn for his beard - it's like a warcrime or something."

BBF: "I've always thought you are a good player but I finally figured out that you are a great player. It's hard to see sometimes because your personality is engaging, sincere and quite charming - to me that is kind of a rare combination."

'Clearly cheating?' I didn't misspeak: you jumped to conclusions. If you'd like to apologize I'll be happy to send you an autographed picture of my ass.

Ass.

I thought I was doing alright before I realized I was losing.

Age and treachery beats youth and vigor every time.

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