Why don't you go to large tournaments?

[Duke]

With games day this weekend i got to thinking as to why certain people don't go to large tournaments... I know I personally didn't go for a while causse I was burnt out after going on "the circuit" essentially in third edition.

If you fall into one or more categories let me know in your reply. Thanks.

Duke


(I'm mostly talking about big events like adept icon, bolscon and games day.)
1. I don't have the money to go.
2. I don't have to the time to go to these events
3. I don't feel like I want to play at that level
4. My wife/ significant other/ parents won't let me.
5. I'm not notified far enough in advance
6. Other

[Sister Rosette Soulknyt]

GW or no other one holds tournaments in my local area or for that matter anywhere close by.
I guess at conventions they might but thats once a year at best. Not that my army isnt painted, or im not upto that level of competitiveness, its just id rather play more fun and enjoyable games than play against serious minded, no crap, your armies not as good as mine,its not painted sort of people.

And for that, the whole judging of serious tournaments is a turn off as it doesnt award for new players trying to learn to paint, or get into the game.
Ive seen first hand the way some people at tournaments treat people learning to start the hobby, or how they treat woman in this game. Makes you sick to be near them, and want to bash there heads in ou in the carpark.
Give me local fun games against freinds, kids, and gaming clubs where they want to play, not squish you or demoralize you and your army in tournaments.

[Gotthammer]

Being an Aussie, like SRS, we have no Games Day, and there are few tourneys around. Additionally the biggest ones (Leviathon and CotT spring to mind) in my area are held close together at the begining of the year, which being around New Years and Easter makes it hard to get time off work to go. Then there's pretty much nothing for nine months (GW's conflict was on early this year too).

Could be why our GW's seem to be much better than everyone else's for the most part.

[Lerra]

I love going to big events, even if I don't play every day. Just looking at the armies is great. Usually, I can only make it to Adepticon, though, because it's only a 6-8 hour drive away. For most cons, I'd have to miss more time from work than is acceptable.

[gwensdad]

I could go to Chicago but...

1) no job=no money, and when I did have job they'd never let me off to go to something like that (the last day I requested off was for my brother in law's wedding reception-AND WAS DENIED!)

2) I haz da Gwen. Either she comes with me or I negotiate with family that HATES gaming to watch her.

3) Same with da GwenMom (wife)

The conversation came up yesterday afternoon at the gaming store about renting a bus to go to events like large tourneys (or GenCon), but I don't know how serious this will be taken.

[fuzzbuket]

too far away :(

[Duke]

Well fuzz, you are pretty far... As well as he Aussie guy.

As far as the cost: is it the cost of the tournament? Or is it everything involved to get there? (ie plane, road trip, etc.)

Duke

[Pendragon38]

If I didn't have so much going on like work and my Boxing Gym it would be fun

[Chuck777]

Money and Distance.

Airfare alone can cost you a few hundred dollars, which could also be used to buy you a lot of Models...

[DaveLL]

Lack of money, lack of time. I make enough to afford rent, food, medical stuff, travel to see family/friends, and occasional gaming supplies or books. That's the limit... I've seen two movies in the theater in the past year, and one of them was on somebody else's tab. I can accept that places need money to run a good event, but I need money to give them money, so I do without.
Also, I'm in that period of a person's life where everybody around me is getting married; when I have a rare free weekend, I generally use it to sit at home and do nothing whatsoever.

[Vaktathi]

Firstly, large tournaments, while they can be fun, tend to have higher degrees of unpleasantness than smaller store tourneys, at least in my experience. More rules lawyering than you might otherwise encounter, and much more exploitative things (e.g. Chaos Sorcerer with Wings in a a Rhino, as wings don't actually change their unit type to "jump infantry" as per the CSM FAQ) Also, terrain typically sucks.

Second, I have lots of non-GW models that I like better than their GW counterparts that I couldn't use at a large GW run tournament, so I won't contribute to them.

Money and Travel time are also rather large issues.

[DrLove42]

Lack of Tournements! Theres none around here I could get to

[HsojVvad]

You have missed an option of too far away. I have picked other because of too far away and I don't care for that you have to have fully painted armies and WYSIWYG.

I am in the hobby for fun. Once someone puts standards that you have to have, takes away from the hobby. From reading past threads most people like these standards you have to have, to participate but I do not. If an amry is fully painted great. If an army is WYSIWYG, great, but if not, who cares, we are in it too have fun, or I thought that is how it was suppose to be.

[Duke]

Yea, I was going to put "too far away" but for some reason I didnt... That is why it is nice for people to respond and not just troll/ vote and not post.

Also, thanks for all the input guys, I like hearing things like this.

Duke

PS. added the option of "too far away".. might be too late now though, lol

[mysterex]

We have one tournament in this country that I'd consider large (70+ players), otherwise it means flying out of the country.

That said, if I can only go to one tournament instead of my usual 4 -5, I make a point of going to that one, even if it does mean ditching my other commitments like this year.

On the topic of playing internationally, it works out cheaper and less hassle to fly half way round the world to the UK than to go to the States, which is approximately half the distance. Go figure.

[murrburger]

Too far away. : (

[Duke]

Well, "Too far away," seems like a popular one... With "can't afford it." However, most of the too far away crowd seems to live in the middle of nowhere (i.e. scotland, lol)

Questions: What constitutes "Too far away"?
- Pure distance
- Cost for Distance: I.e. plane flight round trip = $200 is close, while $500 might be too expensive.

As far as "can't afford to."
- If total costs were lower would you consider going? Or is it more like "even if I save 20% it is still 80% too expensive." ?


Again, thanks for the input.

Duke

[eldargal]

Let's see:

-Sick of over-competitive geeks getting upset when I beat them.
-Sick of over-competitive geeks getting gleeful when they beat me.
-Sick of being groped.
-Sick of being hit on when I'm not being abused.
-Sick of being asked if I'm a prostitute.
-Sick of being asked if I'm a lesbian.
-Sick of every element of my appearance being scrutinised and criticised.
-I find tournament play boring, give me a story driven campaign.
-Oh god, the smell.

These are some of the reasons I don't go to large tournaments anymore.

Eldargal is grumpy wench this morning.

[Sister Rosette Soulknyt]

I sympathys with you Eldargal.
Thats the reason i hate seeing at tournaments. Even my local gaming store is sometimes not worth the trip.
Bad customer service, ignoring you unless you frequently stop by, buy something from him or he just doesnt like your army.
Most of the players there are a 50/50 mix of teens to adults so thats good though, just wish they had more room to play. Maybe it because i know a store that doesnt mark up prices like he does and i get 20% off GW stocks.

Oh he runs a monthly tournament but you have to pay $10 and win only shop credit.

[scadugenga]

Eldargal is grumpy wench this morning.

Apparently. ;)

But then, you've also (per some of the posts I've seen) run into more than your fair share of knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing troglodytes too.

Personally, I've found large tournaments (mostly WM/H) to have more genial folks than the smaller stuff.

I've heard (and witnessed) nightmare stories about the kind of whiny childish behavior that goes on at the local battle bunker tournaments.

By grown "adults" no less.

Yeesh.

[Duke]

@EG: wow, I think a few of those weren't on the list... Good thing for the "other catagory."

I do know that girls do have a different view (and are viewed differently) in this hobby. I went to a tourney recently where the guy who won had a girl with him and as i was leaving I overheard Simone say "I would have beaten him, but the girl was distracting... She shouldn't have been allowed to be at the table." It was both pathetic and hillarious at the same time. So, long story short... If it is as bad as you say. That sucks.

Other than that what if a convention offered somthing like a non-competitive-story-driven campaign where you could still win prizes and it was running the whole weekend. Would that enhance or detract from your possibility of going and if so. By how much?

[DaveLL]

"I would have beaten him, but the girl was distracting... She shouldn't have been allowed to be at the table."
I weep for humanity.

[scadugenga]

I weep for humanity.

Don't weep for humanity for that. Perhaps weep for just the one small socially unadept subculture...

[cheesyfluff]

For me its a bit of can't afford it and a bit of the over competetive argument.

The first tournament i played was the 40k doubles at Warhammer World in January. It was a great weekend and i met some great gamers and played in well 4 out of 6 good games. Even at that 'friendly' tournament we encountered some questionable opponents though. Rolling or a turn 6 with 4 minutes let on the clock (turned a win for us into a win for them) and an ork boys/ dark eldar raider spam list that was painted 5 minutes before the tournament were low points. Playing a marine army that had lost every game and feeling kinda bad for beating them but having a right old laugh with the guys playing it and seeing our other friends team play a daemons army and watching 10 guardsmen rapidfire/first rank fire a daemon prince to death in 1 round of shooting were highlights. On the financial front, that was £50 to enter (i have family in Nottingham so no need for hotels) which when you have 2 kids to feed and clothe and a space marine army that needs more sternguard its hard to justify. That said i have just got a job after 6 months out so i am definatly going to next years doubles and hopefully going to have a crack at the throne of skulls.

Overall it is expensive to attend but also its a once or twice a year thing so i can live with that. As for the asshats, i fully expect to meet a few but its kinda that way in life whatever you do. Walk down a busy street and i guess 1 in every 200 will be doing something that you find questionable. That said i am a 16 stone guy, i don't have to put up with the sort of crap Eldargal and other women/girls do at tourneys. mind, if the guy across the table is distracted by my boobies, he may well need one of those nice jackets with sleeves that strap up at the back!

[RocketRollRebel]

I'm a huge fan of big tournys! If anything the process of getting your army ready and getting all psyched up is one of the best parts of it all. I guess cost of travel and stuff keeps me away from more so I can only do a couple a year but fortunately being in the north east I have about 4 GT"s to choose from each year. Planning on hitting "DaBoyz GT" in Rochester NY in Nov and maybe the Conflict GT in Jan or Dec, when ever it is. Mechanicon sounds sweet but just don't think I have the money to hit that and Da Boyz since they are about a week apart. I'd love to go to Adepticon but fear I'd end up blowing a bunch of money to go alone and I find these things to be way more fun to attend when you have friends along with you.

I will say I've had a pretty good experience at all of them I've been too and had the pleasure of being stomped by to ETC players (one from US and one from UK) in a row at the Boston Brawl. If not even for the competitive aspect, these events are just a great way to meet new people, see new armies and take a fun road trip with friends. Totally recommend people give them a try regardless of how competitively they play.

[mynameisgrax]

My reason is 'other':

I hate 'those' players that always come out in droves for the large tournaments.

Now, I'm not talking about people who are merely geeky or strange. No, it's the whiny, screaming toddlers in the bodies of full grown men that argue every last rule, constantly accuse you of cheating (ironically, you have to watch them like hawks to keep them from cheating), and throw full blown temper tantrums every time a game doesn't go their way.

Unfortunately, I have 3 of these players in my area and despite doing my best to avoid them, you can be certain that all three will go to each of the big tournaments, even if they have to drive several hours to get there, and more likely than not, there will be a half dozen more players there just like them that I've never met before.

It's almost enough to make a guy switch to Magic the Gathering.

[Lord Anubis]

Other, straight out.

I've tried three small local events, two large ones. Out of all of these, I had two enjoyable games with strangers. And granted, one of those players I now consider a friend and love it when I bump into him.

But the others...?

There was the thirteen year old whose Daemonhunters list had three HQs and an Imperial Guard "squad" in it, and another kid who would wander away from the table whenever it wasn't his turn. The man-child who said absolutely nothing to me the entire time except his dice results, which was still better than the other one who only told me his dice results and all the things that were "wrong" with my army. Or the guy who threw a tantrum because he'd been deliberatley "misinterpreting" the Necron rules in all his previous games and I called him on it. Which, again, was better than the guy who took any statement I made as a rules challenge that needed to be cleared with the judges.

Why on Earth would I keep paying money to play people like that? Screw that. I've got six other players in my own gaming club, and even my girlfriend's learning how to play.

[Duke]

It sounds like some of the "other issue" could be solved by good tournament organizers penalizing "jerk" players... The only part that is hard is getting the opponents to report a bad opponent.

Also: I am starting a sister thread ti this one with another poll... Please post on that one as well. Thank you

Duke

[scadugenga]

It sounds like some of the "other issue" could be solved by good tournament organizers penalizing "jerk" players... The only part that is hard is getting the opponents to report a bad opponent.

Also: I am starting a sister thread ti this one with another poll... Please post on that one as well. Thank you

Duke

Yeah, that would be nice--but you'd have to have a) enough TO's who are b) ballsy enough to actually make the call, and c) stick to their guns and realize those people aren't returning next year.

That's a lot to ask of people who probably haven't gone through any actual confrontation skills training. ;)

[Duke]

Yeah, that would be nice--but you'd have to have a) enough TO's who are b) ballsy enough to actually make the call, and c) stick to their guns and realize those people aren't returning next year.

That's a lot to ask of people who probably haven't gone through any actual confrontation skills training. ;)

True, Or just make sure you have multiple TO's that are ex military officers and NCO's, they love confrontation!

Duke

[chromedog]

I've played in a few "big" events. The ratio of tools to non-tools is a bit lower than at smaller events, but in a strange ironic twist, your chances of meeting them across the table is quadrupled. Even our largest event is but a drop in the bucket compared to an "origins" or "gen con" or "dragoncon".

Big events to us means "more than a hundred players". We have a few of these a year, usually at least ONE in each state - unfortunately, most of them are scheduled on the same weekend (they are scheduled to fit in with school/university holidays mostly, to improve the chances of attendance). This is the main thing that stops me going to most of them. Time. I cannot be in multiple locations at the same point in time.

Our big conventions will often have on the order of 8-10 'moderate or larger' sized games and a few smaller
demo events. We don't have the population nor the density of players to supoport something like the mega US events without it being a cross-genre multi-media thing as well.

Hell, even Salute is bigger than many of our events.

Games days here were never going to be more than a net loss to GW.
It's impossible to run one in the largest city here at a profit. The venue hire fees are the highest in the country (on the order of 2-3x higher than anywhere else). There is also a rather pathetic cross-city rivalry thing that stops many people crossing state borders.

[Petite Francois]

Hello all!

I live in Hawaii, so I only get to go to local tournaments and gaming events, which one of our friendly local game stores puts on around every 3-4 months. But speaking hypothetically, if I could afford to go to the mainland I wouldn't go to a full blown mega-convention. I have a fear of crowds, and I don't feel really comfortable playing people I don't know well. Still, it's so tempting... I'd like to watch the best of the Sisters of Battle players in action and see how they win. And being able to shop at the booths and see the painting competitions... But I get some of that with our local events:)

Be well, be blessed!
--- Frankie

[Gop]

Being an Aussie, like SRS, we have no Games Day, and there are few tourneys around. Additionally the biggest ones (Leviathon and CotT spring to mind) in my area are held close together at the begining of the year, which being around New Years and Easter makes it hard to get time off work to go. Then there's pretty much nothing for nine months (GW's conflict was on early this year too).

Could be why our GW's seem to be much better than everyone else's for the most part.

Go to the Penrith Emperors legion tournament held in September mate, it's a ripper!

[DarkLink]

I've got better things to spend my money on than entry fees. 5-10 bucks at a local tournament is one thing, a 3-4 hour drive and $50 entirely different. And forget about anything involving a plane.

[asmodai650]

I like going and seeing the different armies, but I wouldn't play in any of the tournament games. My skill level at 40K is horrible. That is why I play for fun, and usually only against folks who feel the same as I do.

[Entropic]

I was planning on going to a bigger tourney in January, but I'm still pretty noobish in this game, and this thread is doing a great job at talking me out of it. Can we get a "because I read this thread and was scared away" option in the poll?

[JonnyRoxtar]

I voted other for a couple of reasons.

I have been in a couple of tournaments a long time ago run by GW which left me kinda jaded.

The Second tournament I entered I won the Best Army at. I paid 15 or 20 pounds to enter it, Im not sure now it was a while back. My prize for winning best army? A framed certificate saying I had won and a keyring.

The next year I won a GW run shop tournament . The prize was tickets to enter the next GW tournament. Did I get the tickets? Nope.

Compare this to 6 months before I won the best army prize when I walked out the shop with £250 worth of stuff from the birthday celebration painting competitions in the shop and you can see where I might be disapointed with the direction GW was taking.

At the moment Im just getting back into the game so I dont know jack about the new rules. Tournaments are fun and I wont rule them out , but when youre paying to enter a competition, is it so wrong to expect a decent incentive to enter?

[Xas]

It comes down to not wanting to spend the money but the reason is the distance.

I'd go to gamesday/adepticon/bolscon and the like if they were not two 200-1000€ flights away from my place :(

[BuFFo]

Why I don't go to large tournaments?

The people.

[Nungunz]

Most so called 'large tournaments' usually aren't actually very competitive. Adepticon, Throne of Skulls, Bolscon all rely too much on comp, sportsmanship, and painting with minimal emphasis put on actually playing the game. All of them (and I've been to all except Throne of Skulls) have poor scenarios, poor scoring systems, and just aren't any fun.

'Ard Boyz, the NovaOpen, and a few local tournies are really all I've gone to and actually had fun, challenging games and surprisingly, very little drama.

I'm hoping for more tournaments to start being organized like the NovaOpen (barring the shenanigans of the winner having an illegal list). That event was a ton of fun. Nova has shown that both competitive gaming and fluffy/fun events can go hand-in-hand.

[erwos]

I voted "don't have the time", since they always seem to hold them on the Jewish sabbath! :(

But, honestly, I play for fun, not fame and fortune. If an appropriate tournament came up nearby and I had the time, sure, I might give it a whirl. Worst that happens is that I play a few games of 40k and go home minus a few bucks.