Building a Better Blog Wars: Part Three - Everything Else!

For me the main things that require tweaking are the scoring and missions but there are a few minor bits and pieces that I wanted to address as well so here goes.

Prizes
I'm happy with the prize system at the moment. The tournament prizes are decent and worth competing for (I reckon so anyway). I'm glad I dropped the sizes down a bit though because the £50 top prize just encouraged people to bring horrible lists to win it. Obviously you can't completely stop that from happening but it's a step in the right direction. I'm keen to keep the prizes as store credit as this helps to support the venues that events like mine are reliant upon. I don't think for a second that Maelstrom had anyone but themselves to blame but I'd hate for another venue to disappear.

I've often toyed with giving out a trophy but, whilst they look good on your shelf, they don't really do much but collect dust. If you've paid for a ticket and then managed to win the event after three tough games a piece of metal or glass isn't much reward. The cost of the trophies would reduce the prize pot and I don't think that's something anyone wants to see happen. Of course I can probably pick up some cheap trophies on eBay so I'll look into that possibility as a token gesture!

The raffle and spot prizes will be here to stay. For me it's the best part of the weekend and to pay £15 for a ticket and walk away with a wraithknight or even just a codex is pretty good. The spot prizes are a decent way of compensating for having something go badly wrong in a game.

I've considered offering more painting prizes but I think the two on offer now are sufficient. Even if I added more categories it would probably just mean giving more prizes to the same painter! One thing I'm seriously thinking about adding is a "Best Conversion" prize. I think too often the Best Painted Army award at an event goes to an army that has great conversions rather than one that is particularly well painted. Sometimes you get both of course but I'd really like the award to actually reflect masterful painting skill rather than conversion skill.

Other Event Types
I'd love to run a Blog Wars weekender or doubles event (or both) but they present certain difficulties. From previous discussions a weekender would probably get as many people interested as it would put off. Last time a few guys showed up on the Friday night and had a couple of warm-up games so it's worth considering getting there early and seeing who's around for a game and a couple of beers.

It's a well known fact that I'm a fan of doubles events but since I usually struggle to get 30 people I'd be unlikely to get enough takers to make a doubles viable. I've not totally given up on the idea though.

Forge World Units
This is something that comes up a lot and I yo-yo on whether I allow them. For Blog Wars 6 they won't be permitted. The reasoning behind this is that the general gaming population doesn't know enough about them. It's one thing to keep track of the new codices that come out but trying to know all the Forge World stuff too is too much. I know no-one who participates in this hobby is particularly poor but FW units do favour those with more cash to splash. Some would argue that they fill gaps in the some of the older books such as providing anti-air. However, for the most part their rules are superior to standard GW stuff and they prevent a level playing field in my opinion.

Tickets
Tickets will remain at £15 and will go on sale soon. Keep an eye on the blog for details.

Suggestions
I'm always keen to hear suggestions from anyone who has a good idea. If there's something you've seen at another event that you think would work well at Blog Wars then please let me know. Likewise if there's something at Blog Wars that you really don't like then let me know about that too!