There has been much talk about Centurion, all of it good and constructive, but very little from me.
As I was the guy responsible for Centurion, I get to say a few words on a few things about lay out my feelings about the whole event.
Firstly, thanks.
MVB, for the NOVA Format (or as it is getting known in Australia, the Centurion format - I am trying to correct people!)
Second, Alpha Hobbies for their prize supprt, as well as b.smoove for his.
The players who came long distances, Loriness, Kirby, Vince, Archnomad (hencefor known as Billy), and everyone else.
Right, onto the meat of the discussion:
I had a ball. The people, the armies, the good nature, all up, I had an amazing time, and I only rolled dice during the weekend to prove that the dice packs weren't cursed.
Friday
I picked up Kirby, Billy and Vince from the airport around lunch after having collected the game boards from the local club. Dropped them off at the Cri, went home with the 4 (found ComradeCowboy sleeping at the Criterion in the lobby, bum) and went to grab the terrain. The terrain for 12/15 tables was borrowed from Quartermaster, probably the premier Queensland tournament. Sure, it's comped, but it is good games, good fun, amazing terrain, and good people. Anyway, from there, I got rid of the boys again, went home, showered, spent some time with the wife and bub and met them all back at the hall for the Str 10 Challenge.
Billy quickly stole my army, so I instead went off on my own and started setting up the hall, tables, etc. Thanks to all that helped out - Eyespy, Thabian, Wonna etc.
Around 10 I packed up and went to say hooray to everyone and found they had all shot through! Bastards!
Saturday, Day 1
Well Saturday rocked up, and the games began. Everyone set up and deployed, I did my 'G'day!' speech, and games started. Everything from here on in becomes blurry, as I spent a lot of time taking horrible photos and watching games.
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| SneakyDan Castling up vs Vinsanity |
Dinner was good, steaky, and beery. Everyone else can tell you stories, but suffice to say, Kirby drinks like a girl, SneakyDan drinks like a fish, Vinsanity sits quietly, Rawrtime drinks G&T's, I drank water (driving) and we all had a blast.
Sunday
Loriness turns up covered in what we thought were mosquito bites, turns out it was Chicken Pox. Way to win a tournament Denis! Don't expect sympathy votes next time :P
Games came and went, and the conundrum of the weekend happened...
Loriness player J.McGowan Round 3, and beat him.
J. got back into the 4 on battle points, won Game 4 and went back up against Lori for the final.
I manually seeded the top 4 for their games, and allowed grudge matches for Round 5 within reason (no seal challenges) as by Round 5, players had pretty much sorted themselves out and this wouldn't have a hige overall effect. 1st and 2nd overall did not run grudges for those who are curious.
Loriness took it out in the end. The games went:
Loriness v Archnomad (Loriness wins)
BohicaBob v J.McGowan (J. wins)
Archnomad v BohicaBob (Archnomad wins)
Loriness v J.McGowan (Loriness wins)
J.McGowan voluntarily DQ'd when he realised that his list he was playing was not the same as the once he submitted, and he was a LasPlas Turret over points. Note here, he notified me that he was wrong, and this was discovered by J. himself. This DQ was him being honest about his mistake, and telling me he would DQ, not me hitting him with a "cheater" stick. For all those in Australia who know who J.McGowan is, do not judge him negatively on this, quite the opposite. Who of you could tell me that they would own up after taking home a StormRaven?
This means that in the game off to see who gets into the final, BohicaBob goes through instead of McGowan so we end up with this:
1st Loriness
2nd BohicaBob
3rd Archnomad
Last: J.McGowan
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| Bruce's Necrons (I think). We had a tonne of 'Cron players, which was odd. Even more odd is that 2/3 won their first games. |
Overview
Well I agree with everything that has been said, and it all will be taken on board, as well as the experiences from NOVA 2011 and Event Horizon.
Stelek's 5x5: If players want it gone, it will go. It did however, perform how I wanted it to. The local players are largely middle-lower grade players, and the 5x5 was put in place to make them think about their games more. I think it worked in that respect. I did lose a player or 2 because of it, but that's always going to happen.
Format: Wow. Was amazing to watch the games being played. It was a little confusing to some players (not just Billy) and it cost some people games as such. That is life, and you need to read the missions better.
Prizes: Every person who was there on the Sunday (and played) got a prize. Whether it major or minor, they got something. For their money they got a well-run event, 36 dice, foor, 5 games and a prize of some kind.
How can you go wrong!
Dice: Never again! You need to be 110% confident in the dice you supply as a TO, and these were nice dice, but every single person complained about them. Good idea, but probably not again.
Players: Very happy with the caliber of player at this event. Games were hard from the 2nd game for most players, which was awesome.
What else:
I will Swiss pair next year. I don't agree with it personally, but that's the majority ruling.
I will look into standard KP (with a 2/3 KP win range) for next year and see what the locals think - it's their event after all.
I will ensure table double-ups don't happen again. That was 100% my fault and I still feel horrible about it.
I will be increasing the points to 2000 pts in 2012. There, official.
The event will once again be the 1st weekend of March, so BroLo, start looking for cheap airfares now son! You need to bring some BT next year :0 I think it was one of 2 codexes not at the event.
As I think of things I will add them here. I am sure there is heaps, heaps more to discuss.
Oh, the stopwatch program I used is here. Simple, stupid idea that worked out so well, other events are starting to steal it. If you run an event you need a projector and this little app. It will make your players so very happy.
Results:
I have bolded the names you might/should know from the ChatBawks or as authors.
