ActA at Gaelcon 2006 part the second, now with Pole!

[Digger]

Right! That's the flights sorted - Digger will be there with his tourney fleet!

Now then, Narn or Centauri? :?

Hash is going isn't he? So it will be 2 x Shadow Hunters and a Scout! :shock:

Perhaps I'll have more luck this time. :evil:

 

[Burger]

might be a bit harsh even off-putting to put newbies straight into a tournament with its gamesmanship, tooled up fleets etc

The tournament at Q-Con was very friendly. All players were reminding each other of the rules, there was very little powergaming or "oh you forgot, tough luck!"

 

[TenaciousB]

Reckon I might head down as well - just bought a new computer, but should have the money to get the enterprise down.

From Qcon experience, I wouldn't be surprised if there was more than 1 shadows tourney fleet there.... :twisted:

 

[Reaverman]

Reckon I might head down as well - just bought a new computer, but should have the money to get the enterprise down.

From Qcon experience, I wouldn't be surprised if there was more than 1 shadows tourney fleet there.... :twisted:

Well I did buy a new fleet when I got back

 

[Burger]

Reckon I might head down as well - just bought a new computer, but should have the money to get the enterprise down.

From Qcon experience, I wouldn't be surprised if there was more than 1 shadows tourney fleet there.... :twisted:

Well I did buy a new fleet when I got back

Me too

 

[TenaciousB]

that'll be 3 rounds of shadows v shadows games then....

 

[Burger]

that'll be 3 rounds of shadows v shadows games then....

Hehe, neither of us said we got Shadows
Just new fleets................

 

[TenaciousB]

yeah, I was thinking about that - by the time Gaelcon starts, the Armageddon book should (hopefully) be out, and perhaps the Vorlons will get the kicks up their backsides that they so desperately needed....

 

[Reaverman]

yeah, I was thinking about that - by the time Gaelcon starts, the Armageddon book should (hopefully) be out, and perhaps the Vorlons will get the kicks up their backsides that they so desperately needed....

The Tourney Vorlons are hard already, have you looked at them. You just have to have the right mix of ships, and its bye-bye to anyone you fight.

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

might be a bit harsh even off-putting to put newbies straight into a tournament with its gamesmanship, tooled up fleets etc

The tournament at Q-Con was very friendly. All players were reminding each other of the rules, there was very little powergaming or "oh you forgot, tough luck!"

I have a pathological hatred of powergamers and rules lawyers, so anyone who's not being a good sport is likely to find them getting their fleet surgically removed from various painful orifices.

 

[TenaciousB]

might be a bit harsh even off-putting to put newbies straight into a tournament with its gamesmanship, tooled up fleets etc

The tournament at Q-Con was very friendly. All players were reminding each other of the rules, there was very little powergaming or "oh you forgot, tough luck!"

I have a pathological hatred of powergamers and rules lawyers, so anyone who's not being a good sport is likely to find them getting their fleet surgically removed from various painful orifices.

Nah, there was nothing like that at Qcon - it was a surprisingly relaxed atmosphere with a good lot of banter. Not fond of powergamers meself, so it was a good experience - hopefully to be repeated at GaelCon!

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

Yeah, that's what I meant - that I'd be ensuring a similar level of good sportmanship.

 

[Black Omega]

The tournament at Q-Con was very friendly. All players were reminding each other of the rules, there was very little powergaming or "oh you forgot, tough luck!"

I have a pathological hatred of powergamers and rules lawyers, so anyone who's not being a good sport is likely to find them getting their fleet surgically removed from various painful orifices.

Nah, there was nothing like that at Qcon - it was a surprisingly relaxed atmosphere with a good lot of banter. Not fond of powergamers meself, so it was a good experience - hopefully to be repeated at GaelCon!

After all the horror stories i had heard about running tournaments I have to say i was pleasantly surprised when the QCON tourny ran so smoothly. But then the ACTA players i have met are all much more friendly and relaxed than some other gamers I have met who take themselves and their games way too seriously.

Lorcan if your experience at GAELCON turns out anything like mine at QCON then you won't need to ensure a good level of sportsmanship- it will just occur naturally!

I think your idea of possibly running a big mass participation game and the tournament is a great one. I would have loved to have done that QCON!

Why not hold the participation game the day before the tournament so that if any potential noobs turn up and have a crack at the participation game then you can suggest they play in the tournament too. If they are playing in the large game they can pick up some of the basics of the rules and get some general tactics from the other players so that they aren't going into the tournament completely cold. You might want to generate a couple of generic tourny fleets with counters so that any noobs who do want to play can just pick up a fleet and enter on the day.

We had a couple of guys at QCON who had only played a couple of games before playing in the tournament and they got on just fine. They weren't too successful but that was mainly down to their fleet selections rather than poor playing or lack of rules knowledge (another good reason to have reasonably good fleets generated by yourself for any potential noobs). Anyway, the point is, their inexperience didn't really hinder them much in the actual games. I saw lots of friendly tactics given to the new guys (usually from the mates of their opponents lol!) and the generally good atmosphere meant that they didn't feel intimidated or left out.

 

[TenaciousB]

Good stuff! October can't come around quickly enough!

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

I have a pathological hatred of powergamers and rules lawyers, so anyone who's not being a good sport is likely to find them getting their fleet surgically removed from various painful orifices.

Nah, there was nothing like that at Qcon - it was a surprisingly relaxed atmosphere with a good lot of banter. Not fond of powergamers meself, so it was a good experience - hopefully to be repeated at GaelCon!

After all the horror stories i had heard about running tournaments I have to say i was pleasantly surprised when the QCON tourny ran so smoothly. But then the ACTA players i have met are all much more friendly and relaxed than some other gamers I have met who take themselves and their games way too seriously.

Lorcan if your experience at GAELCON turns out anything like mine at QCON then you won't need to ensure a good level of sportsmanship- it will just occur naturally!

Oh, I've no doubt. The horror story players in Ireland seem quite content to stick to GW games. Hairyheretic traditionally runs the 40K tournament and he's got some great horror stories. But it's those horror stories that have me ready to swoop down and kill.

In any game i'm involved in, especially a con event or somesuch, my main priority is to have a ton of fun, and make sure everyone else does too.

I think your idea of possibly running a big mass participation game and the tournament is a great one. I would have loved to have done that QCON!

Why not hold the participation game the day before the tournament so that if any potential noobs turn up and have a crack at the participation game then you can suggest they play in the tournament too. If they are playing in the large game they can pick up some of the basics of the rules and get some general tactics from the other players so that they aren't going into the tournament completely cold. You might want to generate a couple of generic tourny fleets with counters so that any noobs who do want to play can just pick up a fleet and enter on the day.

We had a couple of guys at QCON who had only played a couple of games before playing in the tournament and they got on just fine. They weren't too successful but that was mainly down to their fleet selections rather than poor playing or lack of rules knowledge (another good reason to have reasonably good fleets generated by yourself for any potential noobs). Anyway, the point is, their inexperience didn't really hinder them much in the actual games. I saw lots of friendly tactics given to the new guys (usually from the mates of their opponents lol!) and the generally good atmosphere meant that they didn't feel intimidated or left out.

That would be ideal, but naturally My giant Robot Melee is on Sunday. also I really wanted to have a day off running games this year. That said if we can get ActA and the melee to kick off near each other I can run the melee and moderate any ActA issues on the side.

Hairyheretic and I are talking with the wargames and special events heads now to see what we can cook up.

 

[hairyheretic]

Oh, I've no doubt. The horror story players in Ireland seem quite content to stick to GW games. Hairyheretic traditionally runs the 40K tournament and he's got some great horror stories. But it's those horror stories that have me ready to swoop down and kill.

In defense of 40k players (which I've been ever since Rogue Trader came out) about 75%+ of those stories concern one particular individual. I'm convinced said individual would play just as poor in whatever game was going. He has no concept of fun or spirit of the game, and wants only to win at any cost.

In any game i'm involved in, especially a con event or somesuch, my main priority is to have a ton of fun, and make sure everyone else does too.

Exactly. That's why I've tried to move any tournament I've been involved with away from the concept of points just for winning games.

That would be ideal, but naturally My giant Robot Melee is on Sunday. also I really wanted to have a day off running games this year. That said if we can get ActA and the melee to kick off near each other I can run the melee and moderate any ActA issues on the side.

I'll be involved with the 40k Sat and Sun (due to the nature of it being a map based team campaign I will be constantly doing something with it), the WFB Sunday, and ActA whichever days we have it on.

Hairyheretic and I are talking with the wargames and special events heads now to see what we can cook up.

Whatever we find out we'll post back here.

 

[hairyheretic]

After all the horror stories i had heard about running tournaments I have to say i was pleasantly surprised when the QCON tourny ran so smoothly. But then the ACTA players i have met are all much more friendly and relaxed than some other gamers I have met who take themselves and their games way too seriously.

I've been involved in running tournaments for the past several years, and find that its only a very small minority that cause problems.

Why not hold the participation game the day before the tournament so that if any potential noobs turn up and have a crack at the participation game then you can suggest they play in the tournament too. If they are playing in the large game they can pick up some of the basics of the rules and get some general tactics from the other players so that they aren't going into the tournament completely cold.

We'd like to, but we may be constrained by available space and tables. The wargames traditionally takes up a lot of space (naturally enough), and with a variety of other stuff running, we my not have the tables available to do everything we'd like to.

At the moment we're checking what its possible to do, and when.

You might want to generate a couple of generic tourny fleets with counters so that any noobs who do want to play can just pick up a fleet and enter on the day.

We have discussed that. Between Lorcan and I we can probably provide a couple of trial fleets for each of the major races (EA, Centauri in Lorcans case, Minbari and Narn in mine). They might not be the most tournament competative, but they'd provide a variety of options for people to play with.

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

EA and ISA for me . My centauri fleet is aenaemic.

 

[hairyheretic]

EA and ISA for me . My centauri fleet is aenaemic.

We're working on that. I should have that lot from my friend in the US in a couple of weeks. That should bulk it up a bit.

 

[Hash]

So...Lorcan, any news?

Just getting round to book Gaelcon tickets today and note the B5 war event is running all day Sat - is this likely to be a tourney now or a demo?

I don't mind either way and will defn be turning up to give any other ACTA players a match or two but would be nice to know if we had tables to play on