Raleigh, NC - Triangle Throwdown: The Returnening

[Granite-M]

Hello, all, and welcome once again to another Triangle Throwdown. As this thread evolves, I'll be editing this post so as to conform with whatever our discussions produce.

Current Vital Stats:

Date: Saturday, August 2nd
Starting Time: 11:00 AM
Location: Amazing Tales FLGS off of Avent Ferry.

Format: 4(ish) rounds of Swiss-style play (500 pt. armies) on official or Battlefields of Valhalla maps. Scoring and seeding to be based on a (gently modified) Simple PNP Tourney System pattern, with winners ordered by Win/Loss, SoS, and Losing Points, in that order. An official tournament score card will be posted shortly.

Tournament score card available, here. Note that there are two cards per sheet. Plan on writing out your army on the back of your card.

Confirmed Attendees:
-Granite-M (organizer) (bringing maps Arctic Divide and Broken Skyline)
-DarkBladeCB
-Boozehammer (bringing map Ticalla Sunrise)
-Griffin
-J-Unit94
-EagleOne
-d3athkiller
-JoutnFAN77
-obsidianGuard (bringing map Road Rampage)
-Altron_ZERO (bringing maps Embattled Fen and Turret Rocks)
-Kain76 (bringing map Stroll Through the Park)
-Wargamer56

Discussions to follow...

[Granite-M]

Triangle Throwdown Rankings:

8/2/08 Tournament Rankings:

Name -- Win/Loss -- (SoS)

J-Unit94 -------- 4/0 -- ( 9 )
EagleOne ------- 3/1 -- ( 9 )
Boozehammer -- 2/2 -- ( 11 )
DarkBladeCB ---- 2/2 -- ( 9 )
obsidianGuard -- 2/2 -- ( 6 )
Griffin ----------- 2/2 -- ( 4 )
Altron_ZERO ---- 2/1 -- ( 7 )
Granite-M ------- 2/1 -- ( 6 )
Wargamer56 ---- 1/2 -- ( 9 )
JoutnFAN77 ----- 0/4 -- ( 8 )

Match 1
Griffin (L) vs.obsidianGuard (W)
DarkBladeCB (L) vs.Boozehammer (W)
Wargamer56 (D) vs.Altron_ZERO (D)
JoutnFAN77 (L) vs.Granite-M (W)
J-Unit94 (W) vs.EagleOne (L)

Match 2
DarkBladeCB (W) vs.JoutnFAN77 (L)
Wargamer56 (D) vs. EagleOne (D)
Altron_ZERO (W) vs. Griffin (L)
Granite-M (L) vs. J-Unit94 (W)
obsidianGuard (L) vs. Boozehammer (W)

Match 3
Boozehammer (L) vs.J-Unit94 (W)
Altron_ZERO (L) vs.EagleOne (W)
obsidianGuard (L) vs.DarkBladeCB (W)
Granite-M (D) vs.Wargamer56 (D)
JoutnFAN77 (L) vs.Griffin (W)


Match 4
Altron_ZERO (D) vs. Granite-M (D)
obsidianGuard (W) vs. JoutnFAN77 (L)
Griffin (W) vs. Wargamer56 (D)
Boozehammer (L) vs. EagleOne (W)
J-Unit94 (W) vs. DarkBladeCB (L)

[Granite-M]

Reserved for later usage and whatnot.

[Granite-M]

Obviously there were a few issues with the last tournament that I'd really like to iron out before the next one. Off the top of my head, here are a few I recall:

-We had everyone play two games and then the top four battle for top rankings. It seemed that some people who made long trips may have been a little disappointed that all they got were two games and then had to leave empty-handed. With that in mind, a couple of possible changes...

-Start earlier. The last tourney "started" at 2:00, but I don't think the first games actually began until more like 3:00 or so. If we begin the games earlier in the day, we can get more games into the Swiss-style circular matchups. This will (among other things) simply allow more games per player.

-Higher entry fee. Our entry fee at the last one was $5, which generally seemed to work for people, except for a couple things. We established the $5 a bit before the day itself, and in the days before, we lost a lot of players. As a result, we had to reevaluate our prizes on the same day. What I'd rather do is establish a somewhat higher fee (nothing too crippling, though-- I'm a recent college graduate, myself). This will fix two things. One, we'll be able to get a better idea of our prize pool early on, and two, we can give out more prizes.

-For the people who don't make the top 4 or 5 or what-have-you, we may also do something along the lines of giving all players a coupon good for Amazing Tales merchandise. That way, there's no need to feel the day was a total wash.

-Refined scoring / seeding system. The system we used last time was [opponent's units killed] + [your units alive] = [your match score]. I'm inclined to simplify this to merely [your opponent's units killed], having read a tournament guide that suggested that this scoring style can encourage more aggressive playing. Another thing I'd like to implement is a seeding method of setting similarly-skilled opponents against one another. This way, we don't give artificially inflated scores to players who play against less-skilled opponents, crush them, and take the big win away from others. This can be accomplished by taking the scores from the last tournament, and from early rounds of play, and using them to arrange up our opponent sets.

Looking forward to getting input, and by all means bring up issues that you'd like to see resolved.

[DarkBladeCB]

To address some concerns you raised, I still stick by my previous suggestion(s):

(1) 4 rounds (everybody gets 4 games)... this would probably require an earlier start time
(2) Re-seed after every round; winners play winners, losers play losers, with scoring differential breaking any ties
(3) End of the day, the most wins and highest differential takes the cake... prizes for placement accordingly.

By re-seeding, by AT LEAST the 4th game everyone is playing in a competitive game... everyone gets lots more games in... and that should solve the biggest problem we had last time. Just my thought.

[Hogg]

Sounds good to me.

Now, should I bring Taelord again or a greek/10th foot army?

[bunjee]

Since I'm coming down soon enough, I'm going to toss my 2¢ in here.

Originally Posted by DarkBladeCB

To address some concerns you raised, I still stick by my previous suggestion(s):

(1) 4 rounds (everybody gets 4 games)... this would probably require an earlier start time
(2) Re-seed after every round; winners play winners, losers play losers, with scoring differential breaking any ties
(3) End of the day, the most wins and highest differential takes the cake... prizes for placement accordingly.

By re-seeding, by AT LEAST the 4th game everyone is playing in a competitive game... everyone gets lots more games in... and that should solve the biggest problem we had last time. Just my thought.

That is how we run our games. Swiss style, 5 rounds, point differential and win/loss balanced matchups.

Additionally, for prizes, the Seattle space I use doesn't let you charge for events in the space, so we had a policy that you could play in the tournament, but if you wanted to take something from the Prize table, then you had to donate money or a prize to the prize table. I took an idea from the Treetown events and when people donate boosters, we open them and split them down to squads and heroes. We'd also managed to build up a collection of things for the prize table by keeping an eye on sales ($12.50 SotM at Amazon for example)

I'll link to the scoring sheet we use, modified from something linked from here a while ago, I just have to find it.

[Soul Shackle]

Originally Posted by bunjee

Since I'm coming down soon enough, I'm going to toss my 2¢ in here.

It just sounds great to hear that from you,

[Griffin]

I haven't' ever played anyone other than my wife or brother inlaw and I would love for my first Scapers experience to be a tournament! You guys name the place, time, entry and rules and I am there! I will try to add my input if I think it is needed but I trust you guys know a lot more about this than me.

[Hogg]

We'd be really glad to have you play with us Griffin. We all had a good time at the last tournament and it sounds like Granite-M is going to make this one even more enjoyable.

[Griffin]

Originally Posted by Hogg

We'd be really glad to have you play with us Griffin. We all had a good time at the last tournament and it sounds like Granite-M is going to make this one even more enjoyable.

I really wanna just show up Sunday to meet you guys and check the place out, but I have a lot of work to do this Sunday and next. Can you tell me what I should bring with me and what I should expect when I do go to the Local shop for game nights or tournaments? Anyone can respond.

[EagleOne]

I put a notice in the VA players thread. Hopefully some other Virginians (besides me and boozehammer) can make it.