Firstly and for some, most importantly, the prize structure will be changing. As others have pointed out the prizes in the first 3 tournaments were pretty generous and as such people felt that they needed to bring something highly competitive because so much was at stake. In such a small tournament if you bring a decent tournament list against a field of mixed skill level, you've got a good chance of going home with a prize, such is the nature of one day tournaments. Therefore my plan for BW4 is to reduce the amounts of the big prizes and hopefully encourage people to bring something a little different without hefty comps. I'll be announcing the details of the new prizing structure once I've finalised it but suffice to say the prizes will still be decent but there'll be more on offer and everyone will have a chance of taking home something. I'm also quite keen to offer door prizes so I'm going to be contacting some companies to see if they can offer me deals on buying these things in bulk in exchange for a little publicity.
I'd like tickets to remain at £15 each but Maelstrom have recently put up their catering prices which now stand at £8 a head. Depending on the prize budget I work out this means I might have to slightly increase ticket prices. They'll be staying at around the £15 mark but I'm thinking £17.50 might be reasonable and allow me to improve the prizes on offer and maybe include trophies....
Now, everyone and his granny knows that 6th edition is right around the corner. Matt and I are heading to the Open Day on July 14th and rumour has it 6th will be out the weekend before. I'll obviously be posting up some coverage from the Open Day but the point here is that it's difficult to release scenarios etc without having seen the new rulebook. My plan is to announce that the tickets are on sale towards the end of the month and then release the scenarios at some point in August once I've had chance to get a few 6th edition games in. I fully intend to keep the compulsory special character rule in force and I can't see this having a dramatic effect no matter what 6th brings.
This also presents a problem for determining points limits and timings. Whilst I'm sure people will have had plenty of games by October it will still be a relatively new rule set and depending on how far reaching the changes are it might either speed up or slow down game play significantly. Therefore I'll have to make a decision about whether to alter the points limit to reflect this. I'm quite excited about the prospect of 6th edition. I'm sure they'll fuck plenty of things up but hopefully when we adjust to the new rules it'll be a better game for it.
Anyway, put the date in your diary and keep your eyes on the blog for announcements about tickets, prizes, scenarios and general 6th edition changes. I hope I can count on people's support to help take Blog Wars into 6th edition in the same spirit that it left 5th edition!
arse, i wont be able to go this time as i am best man at a wedding.
ReplyDeleteI swear you have a vendetta against me. >:( After loving the first BlogWars, you've managed to pick dates I'm booked on for all the following events. Perhaps I'll be able to make BlogWars5.
ReplyDeleteConversely, I think I might well just be able to finally come! It's a long drive for me to get up to Maelstrom... but I'm determined enough! I wouldn't be too concerned about publishing scenarios... this only tends to encourage people to gear armies to them and, like you said, who knows whats going to change scenario-wise!
ReplyDeleteFinally, I used to go to a pub quiz where they would, at the end of the night, pick numbers out of a hat, and if that was where you had finished, then you won a prize! Something like that could be a fun addition and shows that it doesn't matter WHERE you finish, you stand a chance at winning something!
Finally finally... I hear that 6th will ACTUALLY be out the 14th July, not the 7th July as is currently being guessed.
Sorry Andy and Andy. Sadly I didn't have a lot of choice for when I could book Maelstrom. I booked both of this year's events after BW2 but Nov/Dec was already full! I've even booked dates for BW5 & 6!! What with trying to.avoid school hols and the major tournaments it's really tricky!
ReplyDelete@oink the people who tailor lists to the scenarios will do so regardless of when I release them. Since I'm playing it seems only fair that ppl get to do as much play testing as I do. After BW1 I had a raffle of the newly released finecast range and I'm bringing a similar raffle back to BW4 hopefully. If nothing else it means ppl stick around til the end. Mind you I've not had anyone leave early yet!
Any chance of a heads-up of the provisional dates so I can try and keep them free? Perhaps with a years notice I can manage to not double-book myself.
DeleteI'd love to but I'm waiting for Maelstrom to get back to me and confirm them. Once I do I'll stick a post up.
DeleteHi Alex, sounds great as always, so please count me in.
ReplyDeleteI'll really try to get the Squats-as-IG ready for BW IV. I already have seven tanks half-painted and about 40 infantry completed, after which I'll just need to respray a couple of Overlord airships (Vendettas) and then I'm ready!
Of course, if 6th edition ruins tanks and ordnance, o may have to revert back to CSMs or Tyranids - especially if assaulting into cover loses it's initiative penalty and the bugs' claws suddenly become AP2... I can dream!
I also like the sound of dividing up the prizes a bit more. Whilst I have no problem with the top three places getting the majority of the prize fund (it IS s competition after all!) it would be great for everyone to have the chance of a spot prize too - perhaps one per game, like first one to blow up a tank/MC, first to lose combat etc.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to do spot prizes but if I'm going to play again the difficulty is that my opponents would get irritated by our games getting interrupted by people claiming spot prizes! Might not be so bad if I just had one per round. Therefore I reckon a raffle is a better option. I'll have a think and then post details up soon. Who knows 6th edition rules might give me some ideas!
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