WHFB tournies

[Jack Shrapnel]

So I've had a couple of days to process yet another WHFB tourney with quite low attendance... it's strange because it used to be for a while the 40k tournies had such low attendance they had to be cancelled for a while... now the 40k ones are full of players, and we are struggling to have enough attend the WHFB ones to even get enough matchups and to have a variety of armies present.

Now I will say I was very happy and thankful to those who attended... Scott for example has a big drive back and forth.. and he's there pretty much every tourney and Thursday gaming night... AND donated an extra prize at this tourney (and has given his painting services in past tourneys as well!)

And another special mention to Frank who brought his prize from Ottawa and donated it to our tourney prize pool... AND didn't even accept his prize from our tourney! (for those who don't know this, Frank often does this... and he does so just to promote local tournies, add to the prizes, and basically just come to play for fun)... Local tournies and our local club are as good as they are due in large part to Frank... (I've benefitted from his wisdom more times than I can count) So thanks!!

Now what can we do to bring our tournaments back to what they used to be??? we have a bunch of new players over the past six months... we have a good core of very helpful vets... a nearby town which also has a bunch of great players...

AND we have a store that is extremely supportive of our local club, and VERY generous with prize support (I've seriously seen tournies here with prizes which cost more than ALL of the entry fees) Mike also supports tourney after tourney, and with all these thanks a big one goes out to him...

So you'd think this would be the perfect situation for tournies brimming with players? Well, unfortunately not... I took over running our local tournies from Matt last year, and I've certainly tried my best (although there's a substantial learning curve - Matt and Elizabeth have been a great source of info... hey look, another thank you! ) but I gotta say, I'm don't get the attendance thing....

So I'm throwing it out there... Do we want local tournies?

if we don't, that's totally okay of course... I'd just rather know either way... so we can work on growing the club/hobby in the most effective way possible... if it isn't tournies, then maybe we need to try something else....

If we want local tournies... what could we do to increase attendance?

Believe it or not, that is actually essential to the continuation of any tournies. Nexus is a business... we can't just expect this heavy prize support... we have to make it worthwhile... comes down to being fair to the guy who's supporting gaming in Kingston... (and Mike does a LOT to support local gaming out of pocket)

Anyhow, I'm throwing it out there for any and all ideas/views/thoughts... this is OUR local tourney environment... it's success or failure depends solely on us....

[fritzthedwarf]

I like having local tournaments. I am also thankful, as you have mentioned, for Mike's support and a great central place to game (which cannot be understated). I am also thankful for Matt, Elizabeth, you and Frank for running tournaments and supporting the gaming.

So yes I would like to continue having tournaments. I did plan to attend the tourney (even though I am not a big fan of tag team) because I believe it is an important element for the gaming community and I wanted to try to get back into fantasy. An unavoidable circumstance required me go to Newmarket (hopefully I will be able to attend the 6th March 40K tourney before going back to Newmarket but that is not clear at this time - mother in hospital)(I will paint the rest of my models to be ready if I can attend). Anyway, how many people did attend?

I don't think there was a problem of notification. The info for the tourney was up well ahead of time and you did seem to have a lot of people listed as wanting to attend.

I wonder if one problem is the game itself, and everyone would have a different view of that. I mean with fantasy not everyone was happy with certain elements of 8th (as happens probably with any edition) but was it enough to keep people away?

I know with 40K I am unhappy with the new nids and though I have gone to all the tourneys I could to play and support the gaming community which is very important, GW has put me on the fence regarding their products.

That said I do still want there to be local tournaments.

[Jack Shrapnel]

Oh and I guess I should have said.... totally understandable if someone couldn't make it! Life happens and there's certainly other stuff that takes precedence over gaming! I'm just going by the last three tournies we've run for WHFB... which seem to have less attendance than a Thursday night!

Total number of attendees to this tourney was seven....

so you bring up a good point though Mark... could it be that there are people not attending because they have issue with 8th ed??? There were certainly some faces missing that although they never signed up on this site, usually turn out in the past to WHFB tournies, even if they aren't on forums here...

[LizardTau]

I still have my fantasy army i just havent had time to come out and play, but that said im actually moving toward 40k more. less models and i like the game play better then the new 8th style. That said im not sure about past tournys and thursday nights but from what was on here looks like some people just had stuff come up.

Althought i am going more towards 40k i would still play fantasy if im off durning a time you guys are playing and there is a tourny i have only been to two but i had fun at each i would love to get into a 40k tourny some time when im of a day you guys have one

[stonecutter]

I don't believe there is any single reason for the poor fantasy tourney attendance but it is likely a combination of factors. In general, 40K has always had more people than fantasy since it was easier to play, required fewer models and readily attracted the younger crowd since it had futuristic weapons and cool looking vehicles. Based on what I have seen elsewhere in the WFB tourney scene, there does seem to be a decrease in tourney participation since 8th ed was introduced. As an example, Game Summit in Ottawa this weekend had only 16 people show out of 26 that registered while the 40K tourney was filled with 64 people. I think that interest in both systems waxes and wanes and right now fantasy is in a down cycle. Overall, I think we are doing a good job locally of keeping fantasy active as we get a very good turnout regularly for Thursday night.

With regards to tourneys, I enjoy them a lot but anything is more attractive when it is rarer. That being the case, I think one way of increasing participation would be to limit the number of fantasy tournaments to 2/year, with KingCon being one of them. We can always fill in the gaps with campaigns and experimenting with new rules but with only a couple opportunities per year I think people would be much more likely to try and not miss the chance to play new people in a tourney setting. At the end of the day, I don't feel it is fair to Nexus to keep running the current tournies as the events should at least break even with enough revenue generated to pay for keeping the lights and other expenses on top of prizes. As Shannon has indicated, Nexus is a business and it provides all of us with an excellent venue for our hobby so we need to help it stay in business by ensuring that the tournaments that are run actually help Mike keep the store going rather than being a drain on his resources.

[redshirt2375]

As has been mentioned, 8th has turned a few people away from WFB. Perhaps, once GW gets around to bringing all the armybooks in line with 8th, you may see an increase in players again as they finally have a new book for their army(ies)

[trevor]

I am going to start playing now so thats one more person. ;D

[Jack Shrapnel]

Feb 22, 2011 20:11:02 GMT -5 trevor said:

I am going to start playing now so thats one more person. ;D

that's awesome!

[darkken20]

ya sorry i got a little to drunk saturday and slept in. plus i looked like i was from the 1920s

[shaner]

Hey Shannon,

I used to run the tournies in K-Town years ago. Frank is absolutely correct in that there is no one real reason for low attendance. We struggle with the same here in Trenton. I totally agree with the Frankster, we should limit the number to 2 WFB tournies per year...same with 40K. I say promote them at least 4-6 weeks in advance. I can help you coordinate with our Trenton tournies. In this way, you "might" max out your local turnout (and perhaps get a few Trenton guys). The more dedicated players, who want to play more tournies, can travel up to play in ours and vice versa. Another thing to think about is just having gaming days...no entry fee...no prizes...no stress. Just friendly games run in kind of a tournament style.

Personally, I am fastsy'ed out...and I am not particularly enjoying 8th ed. For our next tourny, Erik is using 8th ed rules, but using 7th ed terrain rules to put the tactics back into Fantasy. We are also enforcing a strict magic cap. I'm pretty sure we are going to do the same for everyday games as well...kinda like a house rule.

Right now, I am putting more focus into 40K as most of our local players are kind of tired of WFB.

Anywhoo, I'll keep you guys in the loop as to our gaming activities.