It's dangerous to go alone, take this!

Imagine you are playing a game of Warmachine on your kitchen table. Picture everything you need to actually play that game. Now imagine you've got three more games, or even seven more games going on at the same time! Suddenly, you need a large amount of stuff! This is probably the most daunting part of running tournaments, ensuring you have enough stuff for your tables. The easiest way to handle this is to break it down into parts. In a similar vein to the last post, let's ask ourselves some questions.
What are the players going to play on? Tables, kitchen worktops, the floor? Any surface can be made suitable for Warmachine, but I doubt you'd get many returning players if you mark our 4'x4' squares on the floor! Tables are probably the best surface to start from. Though tables come in many shapes and sizes, this is where viewing the venue comes in handy. If they have their own tables, you can see if they're suitable as they are or if you'll need some 4'x4' boards to play on. Most tables aren't that big, even when placed beside each other, some tables will have lipped edges, others won't. Finding out if your tables will work without boards is a great start, as it's less you'll need to bring later, but if you do need boards it isn't the end of the world. If you do need boards, I'd recommend asking around your group of players if people have any at home that they can bring, as buying many boards isn't cheap. What if the venue doesn't have tables? If the venue doesn't have tables, you're going to have to bring some with you . If your local club (like mine) has transportable tables (folding, collapsing, etc), ask them if you can borrow them. It'll save you space and money if they say yes. If they don't, however, you're likely to have to beg and borrow from the players attending the event. Thankfully, most Warmachine players don't mind bringing extra bits and pieces with them to help a tournament function, and tables aren't a massive stretch. Do you have mats? So we've got our tables set up, with some blank 4'x4' boards on top, we're starting to look a little like a respectable tournament now. Comparing this to our mental picture of a Warmachine table we can see something that's missing. There's nothing exciting on this empty board, no forest to hide behind, no trenches to duck into, no houses to fly over. What's going to generate some excitment? Mats are nice and add a level of aesthetics to the game, but aren't completely necessary. I've played a few games of kitchen table Warmachine on bare wood boards and, as mats can be pricey, this can be reasonable thing to do without when you're starting out. Again, ask your players and usual venuei f they have mats you can borrow for the tournament. Remember you only need one half of your players to bring a mat and you'll have all you need! Do you have terrain and zones? These are a necessity for Warmachine. Few players want to play on a bare board, so lets discuss terrain. Imagining your table again, with the current scenario packet suggesting 8 pieces your table looks quite full of terrain. You've probably dreamt up some forests, some rubble, some walls, all sorts of nice stuff. Now multiply that by 4, maybe 8, maybe even 16 or 32! Suddenly, that's a lot of terrain. Where does it all come from? Naturally our first port of call, is as always, the local venue. They might not have enough for 8 tables, so we can also approach other local clubs, or the players coming over. They might be willing to bring their club terrain and zones with them. Importantly, make sure their stuff is labelled or kept separate to your own equipment, to save having to work out who owns what later. But what if no-one has this stuff? In this case, then you're looking at making or purchasing your own. Thankfully, this can be cheaper that you'd think if you get creative. One of our local players made a full table of terrain and zones from some brightly coloured foam that cost less than £5. It's simple, but it's very clear and works a treat on the table. Cork mats for flooring also work well. You can cut these to whatever shapes you like and either paint them or simply write on the bits what each is. It's not glamorous but it'll save you time later explaining what each bit is. Terrain and zone sets are an option you can look into, if you have a little more money to play with, and these can be picked up from several websites. Be on the look out for bargains as well, like a local store or convention selling off their equipment as they replace it with newer stuff. When starting out, don't be disheartened by simple budget terrain, it's a great place to start from. How are we going to stick to the timings we've set out? Round timers and chess clocks are important to keep everyone running on time and unfortunately they are one of the more expensive parts of running tournaments. As always, the local club may have some and you can ask players if they have any personal clocks to borrow. Another option is to ask players to bring clocks with them, or a device (for a example a phone app) that can track the game time. There are a few free chess clock apps that players can download with a bit of notice. I've found this to be common with the UK Warmachine scene. That about covers the equipment you'll need, as usual, any questions of comments put them down in the comments. Next time I'll get to another important part - players.

As before, thanks go to Rob "The PUNisher" McCormick for proof reading my rambling.