Cincinnati Draft Pool Tournament 1/15/11

[Johnnylama]

Cincinnati Draft Pool Tournament 1/15/11

Cincy has been a tourney dead zone for a while, so let's see what we can do about that...

Date: Saturday, January 15, 2011 (MLK Day Weekend)

Time: 10ish AM to 5ish PM.
10:00-11:00 - Setup/Registration
11:00-11:55 - Round 1
12:05-1 - Round 2
1:10-2:05 - Round 3
2:15-3:10 - Round 4
3:20-4:15 - Round 5
4:25-5:00 - Prizes/ clean up

Location:
Sci-Fi City, Cincinnati (Northgate Mall by Macy's, Exit 33 off I-275)
9527 Colerain Ave
Cincinnati, OH 45251
Store Phone: 513-245-9105

Format: Draft pool format-- bring a 1000-1100 point pool, 450 point armies pulled from communal pool of both participants (See below for how this will work). 5 round swiss. 24 hex armies. Five 50 minute rounds (including draft time). Partial card scoring. No Marvel or custom units allowed; however, repaints of unreleased official figures (EX Samuel Brown) allowed.

How the Draft Pool Will Work:
I'd like to keep the specifics as close as we can to those in the rulebook. Once players are paired, the two of them place all of their units together in a communal pool. (You might want to either mark your cards or keep each player's cards in two piles right next to each other.) Each player rolls a 20-sided die, and the higher roller gets to decide which start zone they get or whether to pick first or second. The loser gets the remaining choice. Then the draft begins: the person picking first will pick one card, and the person picking second will pick two; after that, each alternate picking one more card (1,2,1,1,1...).
*As in the rulebook, common squads may be drafted one card at a time like everything else. (Please bring multiple cards for multiple squads.)
*If both players have the same exact unique (EX two Sgt. Drakes from ROTV), only one may be drafted in either army; however, each player can have their own unique unit with the same name (EX Sgt. Drake ROTV & Sgt. Drake ROTM: one in each army is okay, but not both in the same army).
*All figures will be placed in the starting zones after both players have finished drafting.
*Please allow a few minutes for each player to familiarize his or herself with unfamiliar units before the draft begins, but after the draft begins, please move it along to maximize playing time: Aim for a 5-10 minute draft, which will allow 45-50 minutes to play.

Dice, wound markers, and order markers will be provided, but feel free to bring your own if you prefer (shortages are unlikely, but possible).

Glyphs: Not all maps will have glyphs, but those that do will have treasure glyphs: One communal pool placed before each match. You will never know which ones you have and could possibly have multiples of the same glyph. If you fail to disarm the trap your opponent will roll 3 dice for attack. The only exceptions: Atlaga's Grove will have a Glyph of Wannok [Wound], and Ticalla Sunrise will have a Glyph of Wannok [Wound] and a glyph of Ulaniva [unique attack +1].

Heroscape Glyphs - The Definitive List
Holy Symbol of Pelor - Attack +2 vs. Undead (Perm)
Talisman of Defense - Defense +1 (Perm)
Heroic Rune - Attack +1 (Perm)
Brooch of Shielding - Disengage (Perm)
Giant Hunter Stone - Attack & Defense +1 against large or huge (Perm)
Oceanstrider Amulet - Free water movement (Perm)
Belt Of Giant Strength - Attack +2 (Temp)
Bracers of Teleportation - Move 10 spaces (Temp)
Cloak of Invisibility - No visible hit zones (Temp)
Elixir of Speed - Move +4 (Temp)
Potion of Healing - Heal 3 Wounds (Temp)
Ring of Protection - Defense +3 (Temp)


Entry fee/Prizes: No entry fee. If you provide a prize for the prize table, you can pick out one at the end. The top player will pick from the prize table first, etc. Prizes can be anything...Heroscape related, other games or even a gift certificate to somewhere. Sci-Fi City is a full-service game store and does carry Heroscape, and they would probably appreciate your patronage since they are allowing us to use their space. : )

I'll try to contribute some gift certificates to the store and a Samuel Brown Figure with card (10th Reg. Repaint)

Maps
Atlaga's Grove


Jagged Causeway


Overgrown


Failed Negotiations


Arctic Divide


Vorago


Jack of Spades



Trailblazer


Ticalla Sunrise


Attendees
( ). Johnnylama (Woodland_elfgirl will be there to help everything run smoothly, so I will be available to play if needed to round out pairs).
1. Jandar70 (aka Zach)
2. WOOKIE
3. SuperflyTNT
4. Father Of Julian
5. StormShadow
6. Dragonmaster384
7. wdgrant
8. Hahnarama
9. ravenwolf64

Possibles
+3 with Dragonmaster384
Fire Ninja+2
Mooseman+1

Total including possibles: 17


Additional Information about the Draft Pool Format
Draft Tournament - Options and Tips for TDs

Special Thanks
Sci-Fi City-- for being so open to us
Wookie-- for the nudge and support
Weesel99-- The Columbus NHSD was organized so well, I asked him for some files to help me get this going, and he graciously provided them.


This is my first time running a tournament, but I've been to a number of them. Let me know if I left anything out! Questions? Comments? Proofreading? Scathingly harsh or pleasantly constructive criticism? Sarcastic barbs? Altruistic affirmation? Feel free to fire away!

[SuperflyTNT]

I held one HS tourney in Sci-Fi city, and it was a pretty cool place to get down.

I'm really, really not digging the drafting aspect here, though. I'm sure to come, no doubt, but I'm just not digging the whole idea of having to come with a million figures and cards.

Maybe I can photocopy the ones I have multiple squads of but only one card..?

[WOOKIE]

I'm there. I'm excited about it since I've never done a draft at a tourney.

[Johnnylama]

Originally Posted by SuperflyTNT

I'm really, really not digging the drafting aspect here, though. I'm sure to come, no doubt, but I'm just not digging the whole idea of having to come with a million figures and cards.

Maybe I can photocopy the ones I have multiple squads of but only one card..?

We'll probably bring a bunch of extras (figs and cards) in case people need some, so maybe you can let me know what you want to bring and we'll set them aside for you if you don't want to bring them. 1000 points is only the size of two 500 point armies. I guess if you bring a bunch of low cost squadies that could be a lot (You could bring 80 goblins for 1000 points! ). One of the cool things about a draft is it doesn't have to be squad-scape unless you want it to be. You can bring whatever you want in your pool. Heck, you could bring Charos, Jotun, Braxis, Tor-Kul-Na, and Sujoah, and that could be your whole darn pool if you want. There seemed to be a lot of excitement around the draft pool idea at NHSD Columbus and among those who have tried it, so I thought it was worth a shot.

[MattserTruckRally]

ManTrain brought it to our group's attention that there was a possibility of a Dayton/Cincinnati event that would be happening. I'll ask the Columbus Crew to see if there is interest in going, barring some bad snow.

[killercactus]

Even if you bring 10x a common squad, you really only need 2 cards - 1 for you and 1 for your opponent in case you both happen to draft them. It's not like the card really needs to be sitting out for you to draft it - especially if you have your pools written down on the scoresheets or something for both players to see.

I'd love to come, but 4 1/2 hours is a long drive and it's really close to the start of tax season.

[MattserTruckRally]

Originally Posted by killercactus

Even if you bring 10x a common squad, you really only need 2 cards - 1 for you and 1 for your opponent in case you both happen to draft them. It's not like the card really needs to be sitting out for you to draft it - especially if you have your pools written down on the scoresheets or something for both players to see.

I'd love to come, but 4 1/2 hours is a long drive and it's really close to the start of tax season.

Yeah I learned this the hard way when I brought Wyrmlings to left4onya's event. With the exception of the Uniques you should have 2 of each card for any common squads that are brought. With multiples of Red/White/Black Wyrmlings in every round my opponent and I drafted them and often would have 2 of each color. Luckily Shieldcrusher bailed me out by having some extra wyrmling cards.

[Dragonmaster384]

You can put me +3 down as maybes, I'll talk to my dad about him and my brothers coming along, but I'll likely be there whether they come or not.

[Johnnylama]

Eric at Sci-Fi City just told me that they just got four packs of D3 in for $14.99 a booster. The last time I was there they had a good amount of D1 and D2 for $12.99 a pack. Nothing older than the D&D stuff.

I've been thinking about what to include in my draft pool, and I'm really not latching on to any kind of strategy. Right now I'm leaning toward the "bring cool figs that I usually don't get a chance to use" approach. I'm certainly not going to include any of the big names (Q9, Bacon, etc.). I think winning using this format will be more a matter of good draft decisions (or draft luck) and actual game play. Thoughts?

[Fire Ninja]

you can put me and 2 others down as maybeys

[Mooseman]

Oooh cool, cincinnati tourney.

Me+1 as maybes.

[Johnnylama]

I'm glad to see a few new names! (At least new to me. ) Keep 'em coming, people! The more the merrier.

Zach likes the looks of Geothermal, so I added it to the map list.

I noticed that the build for Atlaga's Grove calls for a Wound Glyph, so I updated the Glyph information to reflect that. Otherwise I like the idea of treasure glyphs to promote the use of heroes.