Running Tournaments (and other events) – Large
and Small
Running gaming events has been my passion for the last
15 years and above all I enjoy tournaments the most. Although open gaming, demos
and introductory games are what invites most people into the hobby, tournaments
are where they all get together and use all they have learned about the hobby.
The techniques of game play as well as all the time and effort put into constructing
an army are all showcased at tournaments. The competitive style of play brings
out the character in people and teaches them humility at the gaming table.
But running such events does take time and organization, and a desire to try
and get dozens of gamers together in one location. It does help if you have some
background in event organization of some sort. I didn’t just start running
tournaments, I began with small intro games of Warhammer Fantasy Battles 4th
Edition, Man O’ War demos and Advanced Heroquest scenarios. I would set
up the time and date of events with the store manager and hope that people would
arrive to try out the game. I started running intro games when I realized that
I had many miniatures painted up that I only used infrequently. I thought it
would be cool to let others enjoy some games with my painted figs and this way
it felt like they had more value to me.
Once I started to get regular gamers attending my events I started to see that
I needed to evolve my program. I started to run larger mega-type games, which
became very popular. Also during this time I went to regular gaming conventions
and was always willing to set up a game and demonstrate to passers by. It wasn’t
long till I started to contact convention organizers and volunteered to run large
intro games and eventually small tournaments up to 12 players. For these tournaments
I always had some sort of format to work with for scoring and match ups. For
years I did all the painting and army selection judging categories myself. Sportsmanship
is something I was very careful with so I tried several ideas before coming up
with a system. I gave each player a small card to rate his or her opponent out
of 10. This worked fairly well and I tried to make sure that everyone understood
the importance of this score.
There was a time when scoring players on their painting skill became quite controversial.
Many players would know that someone had not painted their army themselves. We
tried to devise a system to dock points for this and give credit to those that
actually painted all their own armies. Again it’s tough to score and judge
this so I decided that if someone borrowed, bought or had an army painted for
them it was up to them to decide if we should be aware of it. We just scored
armies for their quality and hoped that the individual who did the work would
receive the credit.
Now with the Hall of Heroes kit available from Games Workshop it’s a little
easier to start to organize an event and have all the necessary scoring sheets
and scenarios. I always add some extra scenarios of my own with themed tables
and have some plaques made up for the winners which are presented along with
the Games Workshop trophies.
If you have the desire to run a larger Hall of Heroes tourney just get out and
advertise at your local stores. Tell all your gaming friends and remember to
have fun. It’s always good to have some help for scoring, setting up and
rules judges. I usually have 2 or more people helping me out and I make sure
there is an odd man out, someone ready to play if you end up with an odd number
of players.
Rob
Kuster: