I just got back from King Con II in Kingston and I had a great time! This is the first time that Kingston has hosted a premier event and the second annual King Con. I was there to play in the 40k tourny but there was other games including board game and role playing. I was able to attend the first King Con and there was a noticeable improvement in the way the whole weekend was organized and run. With that in mind I have a couple suggestions on how to improve for the next King Con.
Warp Stone Painting - Allow entries all weekend until the judging on the Sunday at noon, that way the most people can enter. Also, if the intent is to have fantasy on one day and 40k on another have the warp stone competition set up the same way ie on Saturday have single, unit and large fantasy models (let them be judged and awards won) and then on Sunday do it for 40k.
Tournament Running - Overall it went very well with the dedicated staff doing a great job make up the match ups quickly and keeping to the time line. Having a print to be able to post the tables and names would cut down on having everyone gather around. I personally like the idea of a projector and screen so that you can just flash up the match ups.
Tournament Length - Most minor tournaments are 3 rounds, King Con was also 3 rounds which although it does let you finish early I would suggest that 4 rounds would allow for a better spread in points for determining winners. Plus if someone has an off game it gives them a chance to get back into the standings, with only 3 games it means you can't have that mistake game and people will build lists accordingly. I am looking at the overall winner with 2 greater demons, a demon prince and 3 vindicators.
Tournament Scoring - They organizers took a new direction for presentation and changed it to best army, which is a combination of presentation and composition scores. I wasn't a big fan of this I think they should be 2 seperate categories. I think that presentation should be part of the score cards but that the judges should pick 6 armies and then open the judging to the players on those 6 armies over lunch. This was the system that was used for the Conflicts and the GTs in days gone by and I think it worked the best. Sportsmanship, at the end of the tourny have everyone write down their favourite player. It will almost always elemenat ties and gives the players that deserve a bump in points by how much fun they are to play.
Painting - I need to preface this by saying that to play in the tourny it was only $20 which is awesome for those of us old timers that paid $100 to play in conflicts. However, with the reduced cost it means that people that would not play in the expensive events will play in this one. That means that armies were not always up to the standard I've seen in other premier events. The rules for the tourny clear stated that all models had to be based and have at least 3 colours. Sadly, this wasn't the case the first 2 armies I faced were in my opinion unpainted or at least unfinished. Whole squads were simply primed black or primed and then dry brushed with silver. If the organizors are going to let people play without the minimums I suggest that they get 0 points for their painting scores. I don't expect tourny players to give the 0 score (although they should, darn Canadian mentality) but when the judges go around to determine best painted army they look at the other armies and ones that have unpainted models get zeros. I know this sounds harsh but if it is posted clearly in the rules before hand it will force people to pull out their paint brushes and get to work. Because nothing beats playing in a tourny with a nicely painted force against another nicely painted force on some good looking tables. I brought my camera with me and only took pictures of one game because it was the only one where my opponents army was all painted.
Stay tuned for that game in the fourm of a battle report as well as some of the Warpstone painting entries and Ian's Emperor's Children and Paul's Legio Cybernetica (Deathwing).
1 comment:
Part of the trouble is the fact that it wasn't actually a Premier Event - all GW support got yanked at the last minute (less than 2 weeks before) when GW Canada went the way of the Dodo and GW North America apparently didn't feel compelled to support community events any longer.
They actually did allow entries all weekend on the Warpstone, even up to the last minute before judging. Good call on two separate events between the two tourneys. Again, no support allowed the original rules to be relaxed, and the lack of "official" judging. No sleight against the judges, but models with plenty of visible mold lines shouldn't be winning prizes.
I belive the 4 round format would only really work if the points were capped back to 1500, and 1 1/2 hour games, otherwise you're looking at things not wrapping up until 8 and 9 pm, and 12 hours is a rather long day, especially for those traveling an hour or more to get there.
I agree on your points in scoring, and found the individual who won Best Army a touch of an odd choice.
For the painting, I point you to the first segment of my commentary. Since it was no longer a sanctioned GW event, the rules were relaxed on painting (something which had been stressed as absolutely critical in the weeks leading up to the event by the organizers).
As you say, though, it was a good day, reasonably smoothly run, and in general an enjoyable event, improved from the year past. Let's see what next year brings...
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