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delguidance
Sergeant
394 Posts
    
 | | 08/15/2006 3:41 PM |
| The one ticketed event I did at GenCon was the convention league. Here are the pros, cons, tips and tricks as I saw them.
Pros
1. Lots of minis from WotDQ: I pulled a Tundra Scout, Huge Spider, and Blackguard on Nightmare, in my packs, but over the course of the event I rolled for Dracolich, Huge Fire, Displacer Beast Packlord, Aspect of Hextor, Demonic Gnoll Archer, Warforged Captain, Ogre Skirmisher and various commons.
2. Fast play. Good for getting in lots of games. You can make mistakes and learn from them without too much of a penalty. I'd never played on the teleport temple before. Now I've played on it at least 7 times against a variety of bands. For a while there was four of us whose games where lasting about 20 minutes, then we'd switch because the rules said you couldn't play the same person twice. This maximized our dice rolls for new minis. Even more interesting it was a totally new way to play. There were virtually no pauses between moves so both players made mistakes, but it was frantic and fun. Thanks for thinking up speedplay Jesse!
3. Format allows for evolving warband. Once I pulled the Aspect of Hextor I really liked how my warband was running. One guy who was new pulled both Bahamut and Tordek, and got to play first one and then the other so he could find out what he liked best.
4. Can really refine your warband. It did not play as serious as other tournaments because both the winner and the loser got a chance to roll the dice. You could lose and still get a better mini than the winner. So people would discuss strategies or sideline general a bit and no body was too uptight.
5. Meet lots of new people. Was able to share discussions on Dreamblade. Some are opposed, some like it.
6. Easy wins. I've played a lot of DDM, but the Nightmare and Epic Spider were losing a lot early on. Until I played a newbie and beat his Bahamut on Queen Peregrine's. After the game I explained some tactics and gave him a few uncommons I had too many of. He was happy for more minis, I was happy to end the losing streak.
7. Great for learning more about the game. As people dropped from the grinder they came over and played, and they had great tips for the new players.
8. Great volunteers who stayed anchored to the desk endlessly shucking minis of their plastic.
9. If I needed a break from the rest of the con I could go there and play. It made a good place to go if there was no where better to be.
Cons.
1. Too few minis from other sets. Once they opened a couple of cases of Wardrums but for the most part it was WotDQ. If they'd mix up the boosters they drew minis from it would have made for a more fun experience.
2. Bahamut, Tiamet, and Tordek ran the show. Since it was mostly WotDQ boosters the tournament had the same faults as the WotDQ prerelease.
3. Lots of noobs. Some people would play for victory points some didn't. I didn't see victory points deciding many matches but it does affect how you play. Lots of mistakes with movement and AC. Judges were always accesible though.
4. Prize selection could suck if you rolled bad. In the future they might want to offer several commons, 2 uncommons.
5. Some people abused the honor system and brought in outside minis to make their bands better. They were jerkfaces.
Tips.
1. Play fast and roll for more minis
2. Not much need to refine your warband unless you get an excellent roll.
3. Make friends
4. Trade freely. I trade an Ogre Skirmisher for a white hoardling because the guy gave me a lot of good tips an I was working on a mob.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about it worked like this...
1. For 39.00 $ you got two WotDQ boosters.
2. Make a 500 point band and find someone else playing league. We were all in the same area so just standing by the prizes you could find someone.
3. Play a standard DCI rules game
4. Come back up and fill out a slip of paper listing the winner or the loser
5. There is a mat with slots 1-20 and a couple different minis sitting in each slot. It was something like slots 1-14 were commons, Slots 15-17 where uncommons and Slots 18-20 were rares. Although sometimes they'd switch it up and put rares in the 1 slot.
6. The winner rolled 2 d20s and decide which roll he wanted
7. The loser rolled 1 d20
8. After getting new minis you could rearrange your warband with the new mini or pieces from the original 2 boosters that you hadn't used.
Would love to do it again next year!
What did you think about this event? | |
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Vrecknidj
Warlord
10425 Posts
United States
| | 08/15/2006 8:08 PM |
| I helped judge this event on Saturday. It was my first time working a League table, so I had to work with the rules of the Tournament Organizers. After a while, we started giving away more rares, and having a better selection of minis to choose from--but, we had to have a high number of commons available (it's no good just giving every one rares, what would be the point of trying to win to get two rolls?).
I like league play. I did it at Origins and it gave me a chance to teach several people more about the game. I think that WotC does a service to its own games by having league play at the cons.
I'd love to do more work both as a player and a judge for league play at cons.
Dave
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Knowledge Arcana editor issues 5-9, Phoenix Lore Magazine editor, assistant editor for Rite Publishing;
My Trade Thread and My Reference Thread; Winner of WBC IV, IX and XIII; Rule #0: bshugg is always right! | |
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Kithmaker
Commander
3926 Posts
| | 08/16/2006 4:41 PM |
| This was the first convention league in which I played, and I think I will probably skip it next time. My draws were mediocre, but that wasn't the issue. I just felt I could have done things with my time other than playing a handful of matches with a ragtag sealed epic warband. For me, the "reward" (random rolls for usually a single common or uncommon) wasn't worth the time invested. Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed the 5 or so games I played, and meeting new people, but I'd just rather cruise the exhibit hall or do True Dungeon or something else that I can ONLY do at Gen Con. Ultimately, though, I managed to trade my Tundra Scout from the league and a Rikka from the Maxminis draft for a Tiamat, which I didn't yet have. | |
My H/W list is not current...
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