Today I'm going to give a rundown of a tournament I ran here in Stafford on May 13th, I'll just give a brief overview and a little chat about what did and didn't go well and some of the things I had to deal with on the day.
The day didn't start well as I was late getting to the club, arriving at half eight. I'd been hoping to arrive earlier to give me a chance to set some of the hall up, before players started arriving. Unfortunately though, I was late (my own fault really, for being lazy and disorganised). Once we'd got in, and everyone had settled, I handed out list sheets due to most of the players forgetting theirs. (as I mentioned in another article... that happens a lot!). I made another small error here, advertising a three list tournament and printing off 2-list list sheets, oops!
Planning ahead for this tournament, I selected four scenarios that have similar placements on the board. In the end, I went with Standoff, The Pit II, Spread the Net, and Recon II. I chose these as it involves taking away one zone between round one and two, then another zone between round three and four. This means you don't have to hand out additional zones over the tables, which makes for a small time saver.
Once I'd gotten all the tables setup, scenario laid out, and pairings done we were into the first round. I started the day with an odd number of players, so round one and two had a bye which for round one was randomly chosen. One of my players had to go to work after round two so that resolved my bye issue for the other two rounds. Once round one had started, I got some painting I'd brought with me to keep me occupied and set about that.
Round one was uneventful with only two judge calls, both pertaining to line of sight. The players finished their games as the round progressed and they handed in their completed list sheets. Small note here, some players will forget to write either their name on their sheet, or they'll not write the name of their opponent. Check this as they hand sheets in because it's hard to work out after the fact.
Round two was also uneventful, one judge call regarding the spell Terminal Velocity on Lich Lord Venethrax (it still affects the jack if it charges out of control range). Unfortunately, due to starting late, the round finished later than it should have. In order to catch up, I had to shorten lunch to a half hour from forty-five minutes. Thankfully, the players were all okay with this.
In round three I had to get a bit harsh on start times, because I was still running five or ten minutes late. I explained to the players that the clocks were starting at 13:35 regardless of where the players were in their discussions. Once the clock struck 13:35, I went table to table starting the clock on whichever player was going first. This was necessary to get the round finished in time. The players weren't happy about this, but understood the need for it. At the end of round three two players dropped (dropping in pairs is very helpful as a TO, because it'll leave you with no bye if you still have an even number of players).
Round four started just 5 minutes later than it should have and ran without issue, leaving us with an overall winner and finishing just a little late. We did a prize ceremony after I'd worked out the rankings (strength of schedule was not too difficult to do manually here in a 16 player tournament). We rounded out the day with a short prize presentation and a photo of the top three and I.
Finally we packed up the room and were away just a little later than expected. On the whole a good tournament, if a little frantic in parts (the start of round three in particular). A solid tournament, which I can improve by starting the day off without being lazy! Don't forget to ask people for feedback after the event too, as this will help you improve for future tournaments.
Thanks as ever to Rob "Pun one, Pun all" McCormick
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