Holding a local tournament...any tips?

[K/H_Addict]

Okay, afew months ago, i made a thread on HQ about this. I want to hold a tournament between me and my play group. right now, i am looking at about 6 or 7 people to be there. I am thinking about charging a small admission fee like 2 bucks a piece and saying that the winner of the tourney gets a small expansion of their chjoice, so long as i can find it in stores.


My questions to those of you who have done local tourneys are as follows:

"What size armies do you use?"
"Do you use official maps and scenarios?"
"Do you set a time limit for matches?"

[Codeman]

Last year I’ve hosted a tournament at my house with the help of my son ( he did most of the work – I just furnished a place to play ). That tourment had 8 people and then I’ve been to several others each getting bigger and better each time. Last March 16 people attended.

These tournaments all had an hour time limit for each round. A four hindered point army almost always seemed to end within an hour. A five hundred-point army can get done within the hour but you may find a few tables not getting done and we would then decide by points.

I like armies closer to the 500-point size than the 400 and if you start with 6-7 people then you could probably go longer rounds with larger armies.

The tourneys I’ve been to also always use official scenarios which I think is smart… it is a tournement so it helps keeps you out of the controversy over the fairness of the rules and map.

I’m used to paying $5 entry fee, and I don’t think anybody thought that was bad. Everyone all left with a prize. The winner picked first and the last place person may leave with a few hex tiles that came out of an expansion. Typically a few expansions get opened and you get two or three prizes from one expansion. The last tournement was great Jomi-Boced got sponsors.. Everyone got a custom Heroscape T-shirt, several on-line game houses donated prizes or gift certificates, and all the entry money went to by expansion sets for prizes. These prizes were great, however I’m sure everyone would have had just as much fun playing each other.

What every you do…people will have fun and the best thing is that you are doing a tourney. Good Luck

[K/H_Addict]

thanks codeman. we may have more people by the time i do do this tourney; i wanna wait till july/august to do it. ya know, give the newcomers time to ;earn the rules, get some strategies goin, get some new pieces, etc.


i was thinkin 2 dollar admission (only one of us is employed currently) wopuld give me 12 bucks to buy a small expansion for the champion of the tourney. and when i say "local" i mean local. this is going to be me and my playgroup, which will hopefully expand between now and the date of the tourney. If any of you guys here are in richmond VA, lemme know and i'll see what i can do.

but for now, i gotta go move boxes into storage cuz we're moving.

[Codeman]

K/H_Addict I smiled when you gave me your definition of “Local”. One of the best parts of having or going to tournaments I feel ….is meeting new people. I would recommend posting your tournement details on this site and see who shows up. That first tourney that mentioned that only had 8 people. One person drove approx 90 miles to attend ( my local tourney ), this was the first time I or anyone at the tourney meet him. I also met a couple of other games in town that I did not know. This scenario of making new friends has happened at every tournement since, and it also adds to the fun of playing HS against new opponents/friends.

I’ll be in Washington DC in a couple weeks but will not have any time for HS, otherwise I defiantly would look you up for a game or two. If you find yourself in the Midwest drop me a line as well maybe we can line up a quick gamming group night.

[Jandars_Hope]

I'd love to meet fellow Heroscapers but i don't really think there are many in my town, if any!? and because i'm in the Uk i don't think it'll be as big as it is in the US!
But i'm just glad i can chat to fellow Heroscapers instead, meeting people online.

[K/H_Addict]

i think im going to make a flier and post them at hobby shops and street posts....when i get more details, i'll make another thread asking for registration. At the moment, i am expecting this tourney to be in my front yard, but maybe i can hold it at a hobby shop about 10 minutes from my house. Thanks for the help, Codeman!

[D-Dyzzle]

If i were holding a tournament i would want huge armies in it...

Army Size:
Between 1000 and 2000 pionts


Map/Senarios:
Use offiscial maps so people dont think they were designed to give one player an advantage. Dont use any senarios.


Time Limit:
None



Hope i helped

[Barfodor]

That can get way out of hand realy quick. With that many points, and no time-limit, people would be staying the night, sleeping at your own house (if the tourney was there) and would take way too long. For tourneys, games have to be quick. That way you can meet other people, become friends, as codeman said, and play a variety of people each mostly with a different strategy. And by playing with people with different strategies, you can then, in turn, evolve your onw strategies until you become a Heroscape GOD. :shock:

[D-Dyzzle]

Well if its local i wouldnt think many people would be there & if you start it early then with about 8 or so people you would most likely be done by the end of the day. Trust me its not that many pionts. :headshake:

[Jason]

"If i were holding a tournament i would want huge armies in it... "

"Army Size:
Between 1000 and 2000 pionts "

I agree that each round would last forver. PLUS saying between 1000 and 2000 is meaningless since everyone would choose to make a 2000 point army. Nobody would logically choose to use 500 or 1000 points less than their opponent if they were competing in a competitive tournament and trying to win

[Barfodor]

Yes, but honeslty, would you want to sit on a chair, look at some old dude's face and move little men around for 24 hours? I would not. I play games with about 400 pt armies, and by then end and have to get up, and do something standing up because my rear end is sore. In my touneys, 1000 pts or more would be way too much. I can, however, see as high as 800 pts.

[D-Dyzzle]

800 is nothing in my book. I play with 1200 piont armies all the time and the battles do last longer but not to the drastic 24 hours you claim. Maybe bout 30 min to an hour. I imagined 8 players in the tourny. that would be no more than 7 hours. as for the piont limit i meant pick a number between 1000 - 2000 and make that the point limit

[reapersaurus]

A couple weeks ago I made a thread in the Events forum (which I think is more appropriate for a thread about running events) that discussed some of these exact aspects, and provided a central point (hopefully) for people planning events :
http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=397

[Jason]

"800 is nothing in my book. I play with 1200 piont armies all the time and the battles do last longer but not to the drastic 24 hours you claim. Maybe bout 30 min to an hour"



You somehow play 1200 point games in 30-60 minutes????? I do not see how that is possible. That would be quick for a 400-500 point game much less with 2x-3x the amount of units

[Grungebob]

Holding a local tournament...any tipsIt is bad form to accept tips or any other monetary gain from holding a tourney!! Hasbro really frowns on that!!

[Barfodor]

That there isnt possible. 400 pts games take atleast 1 hour. Any more would take much, much, MUCH longer than 1 hour.

[reapersaurus]

400 point games with experienced players take anywhere from 20-50 minutes.

[Jason]

It partly depends on figures. A 400 point army of Charos and Su Bak Na vs Braxas and Taelord could be done in 5-10 mins. Granted though they would be increidbly stupid armies

[shakey_snake]

10x blade grunt swarm.

[Revdyer]

No tips? Well, there goes the HS bris. <ducking>

[bighamrules]

where is this happening at

[markwars]

My tip is to hold the tourney in Dallas. You'll get a good turnout guaranteed. :P

[daevablacc]

I would suggest using a custom map that is symetrical so that it is all up to the generals to see who wins.

[K/H_Addict]

i was planning on using a custom symmetrical map.


it's being held most likely in my front yard.


MARKWARS: Pay for about 8-10 round-trip tickets from RichmondVA to Dallas and i'll gladly host it there.

[markwars]

No need to pay...ninthdoc will pick you all up early on June 17th. :wink:

[Rÿchean]

K/H,

Not sure what you want to accomplish but if you are only going to have 8 participants, you have a great deal of flexibility.

First of all, you only need four maps.

Second, you could go pretty high on your points if that is you guy's thing, no higher than 600 though. I would recommend 500pts for a small tourney like this.

Third, use official maps: Forsaken waters, Soulrazor canyon, Wolfswamp road, and Searing pass are all very nice maps for one on one competition without being completely symmetrical. Plus you have the documentation for quick set up.

Time limit? Again, with only 8 players you could just play the games out, screw the time limit.

Now when you have 28 players like we did in Dallas tourney...things change and need a great deal of structure.

Peace, beer, and Heroscape.

Ry

[K/H_Addict]

No need to pay...ninthdoc will pick you all up early on June 17th. :wink:


well, that blows my *expletive deleted* because i am moving that day.

K/H,

Not sure what you want to accomplish but if you are only going to have 8 participants, you have a great deal of flexibility.

First of all, you only need four maps.

Second, you could go pretty high on your points if that is you guy's thing, no higher than 600 though. I would recommend 500pts for a small tourney like this.

Third, use official maps: Forsaken waters, Soulrazor canyon, Wolfswamp road, and Searing pass are all very nice maps for one on one competition without being completely symmetrical. Plus you have the documentation for quick set up.

Time limit? Again, with only 8 players you could just play the games out, screw the time limit.

Now when you have 28 players like we did in Dallas tourney...things change and need a great deal of structure.

Peace, beer, and Heroscape.

Ry

i still have no set date for this, and am not even sure if it will actually happen. If it does, i will probably run a poll here on the MS fields, and build 4 of the winning one, and do like 800 point armies. I'll probably start in the morning around 10 or 11 or so and not have a time limit. If i do, i'll make it a lot, like 1.5 hours