Help: Planning a tournament

[nix]

Howdy all your Wyrd folk out there.... thank you for looking at this thread. I appreciate any help or suggestions you can offer.

So, the basics.... I am looking at organizing a Malifaux tournament in my area. There are a small number of experienced players and a large number of new players who would be interested in joining (i.e. 3-4 experienced vs 12+ new). Here are a couple of my thoughts:

- I am looking for something accessible to new players. The goal would be either 25 or 30 soul stones playable.

- I do not want to use the rule-book system of pick crew after you know your opponent/strategy as I believe this gives an unfair advantage to "He who has bought and painted the most models".

- I like the idea of a single Master for the day as this forces you to deal with the strengths/weaknesses of your master.

- I am going back and forth between having people bring 2 lists vs building a 40 SS list and selecting a 30SS crew for each game. Both of these provide some flexibility to deal with Rock/Paper/Scissors match ups along with different strategies.

Basically, here is the format I am leaning toward:

• 3 Round Tournament
  
• Fixed Shared Strategy per round
  
  • Round 1 - Supply Wagon
    
  • Round 2 - Claim Jump
    
  • Round 3 - Slaughter
    

  [*]Schemes

  • Must pick 1 general and 1 specific scheme per game
    
  • No scheme can be repeated
    

  [*]Bring 2 lists

  • Must keep same master for both lists
    
  • No henchman as masters
    
  • 30 SS per list
    

  [*]Time limit per game - 90 minutes

Questions:

- Doing schemes the way I have means the faction/master specific schemes will all get used through the day. Is there anything unbalanced here?

- For list construction, any suggestions on the one listed above vs the following:

• Lists will be created as follows:
  
  • All players pick 1 Master
    
  • No henchman as masters
    
  • All players bring 40SS of models
    
  • Each round players pick a 30SS list
    

- Time per round, is 90 minutes enough time per round?

Thanks in advance for comments/critique/help.

Edited August 25, 2010 by nix

[Monkey]

at 30ss 90 min is tight but doable. make sure to give gamers a heads up 15 min b4 the game will end and make it clear if at the end of 90 min its all over or do the players play on to balance up the number of activations ?

also 2 lists does not help people that are new to the game and manny of them will only have a starter set and a few more minis. it is hard to get round the paper rock match ups but there are other ways round it.

other than that looks kinda like hte one im running so it all sounds sweet

[nilus]

My thoughts

If you are dealing with a lot of new players I would stick to 25 SS matches. 90 minutes will probably be a good time frame.

Depending on how your experienced players are I would consider making sure they play new players the first round at least. If they are there mostly to have fun then they can help you out a bit by helping the new players learn the game as they play. This may not be the best idea for ultra competitive players though.

As far as rules for crews. I am personally a big proponent of the pick a crew each round rules, but for a tournament full of new people I can see why you would not do that. Honestly for that type of event I would just stick to having your players make one crew they use through the tournament. That gives the new players one less thing to worry about.

[powersoxette]

Having not played in a "tournament-legal" game yet, I don't feel comfortable commenting on game time or SS limits. However, I do have some questions that I (as a newbie player) would probably end up asking were I playing.

1. Rules on proxying - Are players allowed to proxy if they do not currently have the models they want to play (possibly helpful to newbies that might not have all their models assembled) or if they are only available in the 2nd book? And in that case, what is stopping someone from proxying Kirai's army in its entirety?

2. Terrain - Placement dictated by players or set up previously by tourney organizers?

On the whole, I like the set up and the fixed shared strategies as well as the rule that a strategy can only be used once. Good luck!

Edited August 25, 2010 by powersoxette
Edited for clarity

[nix]

@Nilus & Monkey,

The feedback is very helpful, thank you! I see the point regarding new players, and I think 25 points would make sense to drop down to. With fixed/announced missions before hand, the flexibility may not be as necessary.

@powersoxette,

Great questions. Terrain would be set before hand by the TO, not the players. Fixed tables and terrain, with tables being as approximately equal as possible.

For proxy, I would say proxy would be available although I am going for fully painted crews.

[Xango]

Also, you can divide the tourney in ranks, begginers and experts, this way no one will feel advantage, also, giving my opinion as a player, tournaments are good, go for it, but for me is more rewarding a weekly night, you can gather people every thursday night for example, have munchies, painting tables, friendly games, etc. this way you get a more friendly environment and captive clients.