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EDITORIAL: That Tournament Let Down Feeling

By Rob Baer | August 6th, 2012 | Categories: Videos, Warhammer 40k Articles & News

Have you ever had that tournament let down feeling?

You know what I’m talking about, right? For weeks on end you feverishly paint and play-test your list for the “big event”.

Undaunted by sleep deprivation, wife/girlfriend/significant other aggro, you press on just to get your army ready for the big event.

Then the day arrives, and after traveling either right down the street or several states away, you get to the event only to let down by the very thing you so had just devoted everything too.

The reasons for suckage vary. I’ve personally show up at repeated national tournament qualifiers only to see a barren wasteland in place of terrain, and no one sufficiently qualified to field rules questions.

I’ve seen “home rules” ruin an event as well, such as rhinos being allowed to pivot their rear hatches forward allowing rampaging Bersekers to come changing out- assaulting everything on turn one.

I drove halfway across the state one time with a group of friends just to find out that White Dwarf published a date wrong, and the tournament was the next day….grrrr.

How about store owners that like to play in there events and alienate thier customers by smashing them to pieces? I’ve seen a few of those in my time, and the stores they ran never made it very long either.

Heck I’ve even been followed into a restaurant next to an event one time by someone I called out for cheating.

Getting confronted someone in a family establishment over a questionable toy soldiers encounter will always be a highlight of my tournament career.

Here at my store I start setting up for an event hours before registration starts. I try to make sure each table has enough terrain, and that the are enough tables set up for the registered participants.

I also do not play in my events. Playing in your events is one of the quickest ways to alienate your customers that I can think of IMHO.

Magic the Gathering actually prohibits tournament organizers from playing in their own events even, so why should Warhammer be any different?

So the other day as I prepared for our first Sixth Edition tournament here at FTW Games (the home of Spikey Bits), I made a little video showing some of what I think goes into getting ready for a good event.

Enjoy the video!  What are some of your terrible tournament horror stories? -MBG

About the Author: Rob Baer

Virginia Restless, Miniature Painter & Cat Dad. I blame LEGOs. There was something about those little-colored blocks that started it all... Twitter @catdaddymbg