First, I would like to apologize to you all for not putting up any live bat reps or updates the past weekend as I promised. I hate making excuses, but between a crappy Wi-Fi in the hall, the hurricane knocking out the internet for a bit, and the complete lack of time in between rounds, I was hard pressed to make any posts. Things just did not come together as I had hoped. However, I still have all the notes and photos, so I will be posting the bat reps over the next few days.
I had to start a new Flikr page, so here it is with updated photos: Flikr
Now my review of the NOVA Open 2011.
The UGLY:
Hurricane Irene. It screwed up my internet connection, caused some people not to make it to NOVA, and generally made Saturday night a bust. Darn you mother nature.
No cell phone reception or 3G/4G service in the convention hall. It was kind of annoying to go upstairs to try and get in touch with someone or check out 3++ from my phone. (yes, I’m spoiled).
The BAD:
Day 2 delays. Quite a few people did not show up to the Day 2 brackets, often without notifying Nova staff. In fairness to MVB and staff, this was not their fault. I think staff handled the situation as best they could and were good about notifying 40k players of what was happening. Because day 2 was effectively a new tournament for everyone, many people that lost the first game on Day 2 left before the second game. My bracket started with 16 and ended with only 11 or 12.
Two possible options for next year to avoid this: 1) Make the day 2 brackets single elimination. (except maybe for the 4-0 bracket). This will avoid the issues of people dropping and it will make Nova staff’s life easier when it comes to doing pairings. Option 2) Get rid of the brackets all together and just make it a continuation of day 1. Effectively an 8 game tournament. I would think that would make pairings easier to handle.
A common complaint that I heard was that the terrain was too close to the center of the table and often blocked too much line of sight. Having the quarter terrain pieces centered in the quarter would have been preferable. That being said, the quality of the terrain was good and it was consistent throughout.
The GOOD:
First, I want to thank all the NOVA staff. I think they did a wonderful job and volunteered for long hours. Whether they were general staff, paint judges, or rules judges they all get my appreciation.
The venue for NOVA 2011 was quite suitable for a tournament of its size. The room was spacious and long, with a separate section for the fantasy and Malifaux tournaments. You can see pictures that I took on Thursday night for the length/size of the hall. The hotel itself was reasonably priced. $109 per night, a stone’s throw from DC is a good deal.
Paint judging and paint scores. I have no idea what my paint score was, but those judges worked tirelessly to provide consistent and strict judging on all of the painting/conversion requirements. They must have looked at over to 300 armies between the Invitational, Trios Tournament, fantasy tournament, and 40k GT.
I cannot comment on the 40k side, as I left before those prizes were awarded, but the Fantasy tournament had solid prize support. Two of my local gaming friends took best general and renaissance man for Fantasy, so I got a firsthand look at the prizes. Raffle prizes were solid too.
Another solid plus was having Spikey Bitz, the Warstore, and Battlefoam represented at the entrance. You can see pictures of their set up on my flikr page. I definitely left some cash in their stores.
Of course, the 40k Tournament was a blast. But the best part of NOVA was meeting all the players. Seeing everyone’s army and finding out where everyone is from was a lot of fun. I did not get to meet as many 3++ people as I would have liked, but I was able to hang out with Roland and his friends throughout the tournament. Kirby, you will have to make it next yearJ and we need to get a 3++ author in the Whiskey Challenge to represent.
There were many people doing stuff behind the scenes, but I want to thank a few people in particular that I saw. Thank you Austin for running the Trios Tournament, it was a blast. Thank you Scooter and Brian for running the fantasy tournament. Thank you John for being the man on the microphone all weekend and running the 40k GT. And thank you MVB for putting on a fun weekend!
I will be putting up some bat reps over the next few days. So keep an eye out for them.
