So here's the scenario (one I am currently stuck in)...
The club/shop has planned a long term campaign with prize support for the winner. Entry fees are paid and rules etc have been published to the participants. But....and it is a whopper of a but...the organizer drops off the face of the earth in week 4 of a possibly 10 week long campaign. No one else was keeping score, no one has access to the last 4 weeks of scoring.
So the shop owner picks up the slack and tries to reset/restart the campaign. Problem- he doesn't know the old scores and doesn't know how to keep score for 40k any ways. Can't tell the difference between Kill Points and Victory Points.
The question here is...is the campaign savable?
The answer on many of our lips is No.
How do we recoup our entry fee and possibly get some prizes too? We hold a closed tournament. Closed as all of the participants already have paid and are all chomping at the bit because of the whopping $35 entry fee. That's nearly $500 worth of possible prize support, not including the store's included prize support.
With a small shop, only able to put up a maximum of 5 (maybe 6 tables) and some of the players in the campaign only able to field 1500 points this becomes another problem. I can field 3500 points worth of GK, do I want to field that many in a tournament? No but 2K is nice to play for me, I like how the army works at 2k.
How do we make it fair and even for everyone?
We have 14 players, ages and experience vary widely. From late middle age to a 12 year old, from long time players to guys who own little more than 1400 points of 2 battle forces and some small stuff who is still learning what the lingo is.
Tournament is the only answer, but punishing those with small model counts is bad form. Do we make it a speed tournament (1250pts with a 1.5 hour time limit)? Or do we make it a 2k/1500 tournament, everyone brings a list for 2k but keeps a 1500 list for back up to play the low model count new guys? But then how about scoring? Keep the Massacre/Major Victory/Minor Victory/Draw/Loss scoring set? Possible bonus points for secondary objectives? I dunno.
These are the things that plague me today.
I suggest you hold the event at 1500 pts. That way, everyone can play. Many of the people with smaller forces are gimped by their lack of selection or newbness anyways, this will balance the vets playing out of their 2k comfort zone. 1500 pts. games are quicker games too.
ReplyDeleteDivide up the bulk of the prize support so that everyone gets a piece of the pie. I suggest the winner picks the first box, then the second place person picks the next box, and so on down the line. If some of the boxes are big starter sets consider dividing them up (black reach rules, orks, and marines could be 3 separate prizes for example)
That's a good idea about splitting the prizes.
ReplyDeleteAs for the tournament idea, I am working even getting him tracked down to talk to the shop owner to see if he's willing.