Why is every tourney always in Plainsville?
ok honestly im not going to post more in this because it will become a flame war.
After that I've got to work on a "Monster Mash" for Halloween. If you don't have a monstrous creature, now might be the time to get one.
ok honestly im not going to post more in this because it will become a flame war.
There's nothing to start a flame war about, Steve. No worries.
You're literally the only Abington regular (excluding Rick, if he still counts ;)) that's come to a 40k event in Plainville maybe in all of 2013. I'm generalizing of course, but it may be true. I know Riley has signed up for a couple but hasn't been able to make it.
Look at the number of people the leagues that are run there attract relative to the number of people that play in tournaments. WHFB, 40k, and WM/H have all had successful leagues in Abington this year. Each one has been community organized and run, with the exception of the "score keeping" in the current 40k league. It's the nature of how things currently are and currently work in Abington. The proof seems to be in the numbers, and WM/H crowd might be the single best example of that. Bloodbowl is another great example. TONS of people in Abington play Bloodbowl and love it. Ian and his friend put together an awesome tournament and got like 3-5 people to come out for it. It was a total shame, but it's just more evidence to support the fact that the community there doesn't love tournaments (competitive events).
Abington loves engaging, casual, "let's get together and play this game" type of "events." They do not seem to love competition for competitions sake.
To further things, there's not an employee in Abington that is taking the reins on things related to organizing miniature events. This could be for a number of reasons that I won't get into. When it comes time to give Abington some love it's very easy for me to justify spending my time and effort on other things. I think, "Well, those guys have a league currently running and don't seem to turn out for tournaments in the way they do for other things so... Maybe next month."
I am very out of touch with the desires of the Abington community because I'm never there. I only hear from you guys when you post on the boards. I have no idea what the miniature community there wants or needs because I never hear about it. If you guys want something or are dying to try something out, you know where to find me! :) You also probably know the names of the employees there, so feel free to ask them about stuff.
Is Magic popular in Abington? Yes.
Does it eat up a TREMENDOUS amount of the employees time? Absolutely.
Does the amount of time Magic eats up have to do with the attention the miniature community has been given? Yes.
Has the community there stepped up to fill in the gaps? Yes, very much so.
Will Battleground continue to host store run 40k events in Abington? Yes.
When? Give me some time. I'm in the process of figuring out 1 event that I might move to Abington. After that I've got to work on a "Monster Mash" for Halloween. If you don't have a monstrous creature, now might be the time to get one.
To be honest, the "room" issue is equal at both stores. Ive done 1 or 2 events at plainsville and compared to abington when they have one is more or less the same. Not alot of space.
But i think the main issue is since most 40k players are casual, they rather not take off time from work unless its something they normaly dont get to do, like doubles or 500 games. Or apocalypes 8).
And im right along steve D. The hour or so drive down sucks in the morning
I don't understand why some Plainville players aren't willing to drive up to a Abington tourney once a month, and vice versa.
I don't understand why some Plainville players aren't willing to drive up to a Abington tourney once a month, and vice versa.
Thats just it my freind we are. If I recall correctly the last few Abington tournies the majority of attendees were in fact Plainsville Regulars.
And hell if terrain is an issue MAKE SOME! Bring it in, donate it!!
The numbers are there and I think Ian hit the nail on the head. The Plainsville community is very active AND vocal and we make it a point to ask Chase to accomadate us in our need for tournies.
Ben has the right Idea as well if yall want a tourny then speak up. Now I get this is what your guys are doing now and we Plainsville regulars support you obviously since we are filling out your tournies when they are there.
All in all I think you guys have a great casual community but remember that doesnt always lend itself to running successful tournaments, but the passion is there for a few of the more vocal among you. Get together work out what you guys want and a time frame (not exact dates most likely wont fork for BG) but a timeframe when the Abington regulars can show in force and prove to BG that they need to do more in Abington tourny wise.
Makes sense, To be clear, I'm not looking for 1850 crazy competitive situations here, you guys have the corner on that market for sure :)
IMNSHO 500 pointers and doubles are far more suited to the Abington crowd than the tournament practice.
So a few smaller tournaments and doubles would be appreciated, and despite memory issues, expectations were clearly set about the new store having more of these, watching Plainville host these over and over again is bumming out more than a few..
Abington will definitely be having another 40K tournament soon, despite my expectation that it will probably be attended 80/20 Plainville/Abington regulars if it's a singles tournament, 60/40 if it's a doubles. The reasons why it didn't happen over the summer was because we ran a very long, and well attended league. The "hunger" for organized and competitive 40K was being met, in my opinion.
Terrain for 40K in Abington is also very good right now and has been for quite some time. The store has what I believe is the "best" of the buildings owned by the store (thank you Paul Gaughran!). Warmachine/Hordes also has recently made huge strides in specific terrain for that game, thanks to the efforts put forth by Ian, Stephanie, Rob, Dan, Rich, Nick and others. A project is also in the works that will hopefully put an end to the occasional deficits in terrain at one location or another. I'll be calling on the community at both locations for help...
The space issue is something I simply don't agree with. I organized the tables a little strangely for the last event in order to maximize seating for people. Abington, with the right configuration, can host as many, if not more tables than Plainville.
Abington players, I would like to hear your preferences as to what type of tournament you'd like to see next. Any particular format desired?
Come on Derek make this happen the Mountain needs to go on tour!!!
Abington will definitely be having another 40K tournament soon, despite my expectation that it will probably be attended 80/20 Plainville/Abington regulars if it's a singles tournament, 60/40 if it's a doubles. The reasons why it didn't happen over the summer was because we ran a very long, and well attended league. The "hunger" for organized and competitive 40K was being met, in my opinion.
Terrain for 40K in Abington is also very good right now and has been for quite some time. The store has what I believe is the "best" of the buildings owned by the store (thank you Paul Gaughran!). Warmachine/Hordes also has recently made huge strides in specific terrain for that game, thanks to the efforts put forth by Ian, Stephanie, Rob, Dan, Rich, Nick and others. A project is also in the works that will hopefully put an end to the occasional deficits in terrain at one location or another. I'll be calling on the community at both locations for help...
The space issue is something I simply don't agree with. I organized the tables a little strangely for the last event in order to maximize seating for people. Abington, with the right configuration, can host as many, if not more tables than Plainville.
Abington players, I would like to hear your preferences as to what type of tournament you'd like to see next. Any particular format desired?
Please keep that can of worms closed. Forever.
please note the smiley I used I was joking
please note the smiley I used I was jokingBut there's no smiley after that statement. Does that mean shit just got real?
please note the smiley I used I was jokingBut there's no smiley after that statement. Does that mean shit just got real?
I am sorry, but it is a rare day that I can make that drive over to the PV store. Honestly, I agree that we here in AB do have a diffrent feel to us, but we like playing and love events. Just look at the last 500pts game played. It really was a good time. I have noticed that we tend to play events that are not straight foward one on one death matches. But we do run events like 10 man king of the hill, 750pt seek and find, and three on three capture the flag type games that are never sponsored by the store. That stuff gets us going. To say that PV wants it more than us because they like compition for compition sake is just plain wrong. I want a reason to spend money at Derek's store, but if the game I play has really no events, then I'm either not playing or on the floor at someone's house. AB has player like myself who have been coming to AB for over ten years and want to keep coming back. I love it here, and will never feel that passion for a store well over a hour away from where I live. I and do agree that the issue about terrain can be sovled easily. Split it. PV can use less, give AB bare bones for now. A lot of us worked on that stuff before there even was another store. I'm really getting heated about this, so I'm done.
With deep respect,
Thank you.
So this really boils down to a few of key things that are probably not obvious.
1) Battleground currently doesn't have enough decent terrain to put together 15+ tables at each location.
Here's some insight into how this has worked up until recently:
Chase: Derek, my 40k event is coming up this weekend. I'm going to need something like 5 or 6 tables and all of the buildings, ruins, and other 40k terrain you've got over there. [Pro Tip: Having a lot more terrain than you need speeds up the "set up" phase considerably.]
Chase: Derek, my 40k event is tomorrow. Will you have a chance to get some stuff down here? I need enough stuff for like 17 tables total.
Derek: Hey dude, I'll be coming down sometime tomorrow night. Is that going to be alright?
Chase: Yeah. I'd love it here ASAP but tomorrow night is okay. I'm going to be here until 3 or 4am anyways.
(So sometime Friday night, in the midst of 30-60 Magic players signing up for, buying cards for, and playing in Friday Night Magic Derek, needs to find a bunch of 40k terrain and a few tables, consolidate them, pack them up, load his truck, and drive down here to unload it all, sometimes help set up, and then drive home.)
After the event it works something like this:
Derek: So we'll have to get some of the terrain back here for Thursday night.
Chase: Okay, cool. Are you, Lisa, or Beth going to be able to come pick it up or am I bringing it back?
Derek: I'm not sure, we'll figure something out.
(At some point before Thursday I need to find stuff, consolidate it, pack it up, and set it aside or load it into my car and drive it back to Abington.)
Moral of this story: HAVING TO DO THIS ONCE OR TWICE A MONTH BLOWS! It's a giant chore that at least 3 people (excluding Caden, Derek's 4 year old) have to plan half a day around. Also, terrain gets damaged in transit. Shocking, I know.
2) The amount of behind the scenes work that goes into running a 40k event is not small.
Between keeping an accurate roster, chasing people down for their lists, checking the lists, getting in touch with people who have sent incorrect lists, making sure the new lists are correct, dropping people, adding people, creating / stealing the scenarios, editing the scenarios, going back and forth getting the packet created, and making sure the tables and terrain are all squared away, a lot of time and energy goes into things. This is something that the Plainville staff does exclusively (Lisa puts together the packet in photoshop). If the Abington staff would like to take it on for their own events, it would make things considerably more manageable and a lot easier when it comes to hosting events there with more frequency. I'm not saying the Plainville staff won't continue to do it, however.
I know this may come as a surprise, but we're busy people before events get factored in. Also, I know it's easy to forget but we've got stuff going on for a few other game systems too. :)
There's a couple more logistical "problems" involved with the Plainville staff working on Abington events, but they're beyond the scope of this. We hope that in the future this will be less of an issue.
3) I'm reasonably sure that hosting regular tournaments in Abington is not an ideal fit for that community.
It's common knowledge that the two communities are pretty different. Non-tournament events are much better suited to Abington. Tournament attendance numbers over all miniature games are indicative of this fact and have remained the same over the 3 years Plainville has been open.
This is not to say that non-tournament events don't and wouldn't do well in Plainville, it's just my opinion that they're a much better fit for the Abington community vs. the "competitive" environment that's associated with tournaments. Of course we still run into the problems that number 2 presents, like designing and actually running the non-tournament events over there, but solutions have already presented themselves.
It seems Abington needs a dedicated 40k employee, because I couldn't tell you who it is.
Are you saying that Cale should wine and dine you to convince you to move to Abington?Flattering, but Plainville's my home and it's lowly skeleton crew like family. It probably takes that level of devotion to do whatever it is I do, and there's certainly no emotional motivation lacking in this thread.
Battlegrounds owns Massachusetts in terms of gaming support and events. Like, legit for real. Other clubs in the area don't run 40k tournaments every month, and some don't even have a dedicated website, just facebook pages.
I think the BG staff does an outstanding job at running events. I personally only play GW games but they also do a great job with Magic, Warmachine, and basically whatever other game is thrown at them.
This summer we even had a really great 40k campaign that actually strengthened the 40k community because it gave gamers a chance to meet other gamers in the area.
BG even has annual megabattles where the staff rents out a hall to play 40k Apocalypse.
BG caters to casual and competitive gamers all year round, so I really can't see why anyone would have a problem with support for events. In my experience as long as their is a demand for a particular gaming event, BG will meet and execute it in an efficient manner.
This is just my experience, I've been coming to Battlegrounds on and off since 2004.. this is actually the most active I've ever been in the wargaming scene, mostly due to the 40k campaign. I look forward to future events and campaigns @ BG.
Honestly, The best thing abington people can do to get more tournaments, is to 1) talk to derek/chase, etc... about it. 2) show up to plainville events.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard chase mubble about wishing more of the Abington people show up to events. I am sure that all
Also, note that I said SHOW up to events, Signing up and then not Showing up is about the worst because it makes all of the abington people(assuming it is abington people who do this) look like flakes. Don't reflect badly on your community!
I makes no business sense to move an event FROM where all the attendees are. I would love to have more events at abington if more abington people would show up to events there AND at plainville.
Honestly, The best thing abington people can do to get more tournaments, is to 1) talk to derek/chase, etc... about it. 2) show up to plainville events.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard chase mubble about wishing more of the Abington people show up to events. I am sure that all
Also, note that I said SHOW up to events, Signing up and then not Showing up is about the worst because it makes all of the abington people(assuming it is abington people who do this) look like flakes. Don't reflect badly on your community!
I makes no business sense to move an event FROM where all the attendees are. I would love to have more events at abington if more abington people would show up to events there AND at plainville.
Honestly, The best thing abington people can do to get more tournaments, is to 1) talk to derek/chase, etc... about it. 2) show up to plainville events.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard chase mubble about wishing more of the Abington people show up to events. I am sure that all
Also, note that I said SHOW up to events, Signing up and then not Showing up is about the worst because it makes all of the abington people(assuming it is abington people who do this) look like flakes. Don't reflect badly on your community!
I makes no business sense to move an event FROM where all the attendees are. I would love to have more events at abington if more abington people would show up to events there AND at plainville.
well there in lies the largest problem. PV is to much of a hike for some of us at early morning hours. I know I will be falling asleep behind the wheel.
I think we need to actualy utalize the new space in Abington and hold tournaments even small ones.
Abington will definitely be having another 40K tournament soon, despite my expectation that it will probably be attended 80/20 Plainville/Abington regulars if it's a singles tournament, 60/40 if it's a doubles. The reasons why it didn't happen over the summer was because we ran a very long, and well attended league. The "hunger" for organized and competitive 40K was being met, in my opinion.
I makes no business sense to move an event FROM where all the attendees are. I would love to have more events at abington if more abington people would show up to events there AND at plainville.
Hey does everyone remember when I fell and bashed my knee at work went to bed at 1 A.M. Got up early drove 50 minutes to Plainville limped my way into the store for a 40k tournament. Or that time the Fuel tank on my car ruptured and I had to find a ride which required me to do a 40 minute walk to my Father's work with my 40k stuff to get a ride to Battlegrounds to play in a 40k tournament. Pepperidge Farm Remembers.
If you want to play in a tournament you get yourself there somehow someway. I may be absolutely insane but that is how I see it.
Wow this had turned into a "us vrs. them". So warhammer is in PV, they earned it more. Got it. Cool. I have no intrest in playing there. I will keep gamming in a "casual group" here in AB. I know the rest of us will as well. Thank for answers. Not much more to say, since this thread is breaking down into a round of insults. Its great you have people coming from all around Chase. You group up there as said before, is diffrent than what our style is. I want to game with others in that style, a a style we as an independent community developed over the last 10 years. Thanks for hearing us and please Bradpowers keep posting. I love feeling hate from PV players.
My issue with this whole conversation is that it seems that people are unappreciative of what Chase, Sam, Matt, and the other movers and shakers do for US, Plainvillers, Abingtonians, and area wargamers alike. Frankly, saying that you're not willing to make a drive for a fun day of gaming, but that you EXPECT Chase et. al to do so, especially given the situation he's in (and which Chase has made clear in multiple posts) is disrespectful of Chase et. al.
Saying that it's unfair, given historical turnouts for Plainville and Abington tournaments is absurd. The fairest possible location to play in would be the average of all attendee's locations. Unfortunately, that location is probably outside, and is also likely lacking in terrain. Given that we have two locations to choose from, I suspect that Plainville is the "fairest" of them all. The fact that a few vocal members are complaining loudly that the location doesn't suit them doesn't outweigh the dozens of silent tournament participants, nor should it.
My last point is this: If YOU want to see tournaments, megabattles, etc. happen, MAKE THEM HAPPEN. Chase has made it clear that due to terrain and other issues, he lacks the hours in the day to run multiple tournaments per month in multiple locations. Instead of whining about it, fix it. Build terrain and donate it to the store. If you can't afford supplies, find someone who can and help them build the terrain. Want to see some sort of event happen? Write up a basic sketch of the idea, email someone at BG, and with their approval, go for it. I'm currently working on a few ideas slanted at beginning hobbyists and a more casual crowd, completely unasked for by Chase. Why? Because I want to see these things happen, and I want them to be awesome.
This shouldn't be about Plainville vs. Abington. This isn't a zero-sum situation, we don't have to take away Plainville tournaments to add Abington tournaments, IF AND ONLY IF people on both sides step up and quit whining.
I turned down the snark.... a little bit.
Battlegrounds owns Massachusetts in terms of gaming support and events. Like, legit for real. Other clubs in the area don't run 40k tournaments every month, and some don't even have a dedicated website, just facebook pages.
I think the BG staff does an outstanding job at running events. I personally only play GW games but they also do a great job with Magic, Warmachine, and basically whatever other game is thrown at them.
This summer we even had a really great 40k campaign that actually strengthened the 40k community because it gave gamers a chance to meet other gamers in the area.
BG even has annual megabattles where the staff rents out a hall to play 40k Apocalypse.
BG caters to casual and competitive gamers all year round, so I really can't see why anyone would have a problem with support for events. In my experience as long as their is a demand for a particular gaming event, BG will meet and execute it in an efficient manner.
This is just my experience, I've been coming to Battlegrounds on and off since 2004.. this is actually the most active I've ever been in the wargaming scene, mostly due to the 40k campaign. I look forward to future events and campaigns @ BG.
I completly agree. Chase we love what tis store does for us and never has been our focus to imply otherwise. I like you thoughts also. I understand that both stores must bring it together so that we NEVER create a "us-them" situation between the two stores. I think the heart of the issue is that Friday night is among the best time for most of us to meet and play, but that night is for Magic and can never not be for Magic (the store needs to make money and has other people who play other games). I work like most people and showing up on a weekday nightafter 5 to play a 4 hr game is hard. I know this to be true for most of us. AB has the player base, but the space/time is an issue. Try Sat? We have and at times some of us can work out the time off. This is not an issue of the store's, rather one of those times the real life Fs it all up. There is not enough space on Friday nights, nor should we ask for it (If Derek does not make is money then there is no store). The issue about the warhammer stuff has become silly. Chase I trust that the staff does whatever is in thier power to do thier best and I think we all understand that shit breaks. I regule my destoryer arms before every game. And yes, I think it would be ideal to get a store employee to oversee warhammer in AB. The only issue that is getting us upset is way wording is being used, not by the store staff (I think). AB has shown over tens year of dedication to the events held at Battlegrounds and for some to imply that we are otherwise due to a diffrent gaming philosophy that is a bit more causal is ridiculous. With that said, I see this issue more as "Hey Chase this is what we need/ would like to do" and us helping him out. Chase I think you take the heat to much (but in away like it), and I just want you to understand that in no way are you this time at fault.
There's a lot of time that could be spent organizing things being wasted here, guys. How Derek's post didn't fix things for everyone is beyond me.
1. a small tournament in Abington that had 10 players show up from the local community is considered a failure by [Chase], but a success by the regulars.
--- This should highlight part of the problem, I don't think anyone in Abington is requesting huge events to draw from across the neighboring area, they just want an excuse to get down and have fun.
2. A lot of that community really does not enjoy playing in Plainville, that's coming over as excuses and travel issues etc. but the reality is the fun factor is a different, or at least perceived as being that way. Right or wrong its a perception and that is everything which means people are not going to go to Plainville.
3. Being told you MUST go to Plainville events to get one in Abington; seriously? Why have two stores? This also feeds into point 2 above..
4. Expectations were set by Staff about more numerous events at Abington, can you blame people for wanting to play in their shiny new store?
5. Terrain, if we need to wait until we've more tables built and terrain built then that's understood and will happen, just don't get all butt hurt when the Abington players point out that a lot of terrain from their store is now in Plainville...
The culture here does promote playing by the rules though. This isn't any sort of jab, but I know some people dislike when they're corrected and view it as "rules lawyering" which may leave a bad taste.I didn't know this perception existed.
Dark Star is hosting an event in honor of this thread.
This Thursday at BG Plainville (Ironic I know /wink) we will be hosting a little thing called Hughammer. Anyone who shows up and wishes to do so can get a free hug from anyone there from Dark Star. As a bonus anyone who requests and receives a hug can also make a game impacting roll in any of the games we are partaking in, if and only if they have received a hug.
I will be playing against Bill McMuffin and if you decide you want to feel the power of a devastation banner and 24 TL bolter shots come on over, ask for a hug and grab a handful (not of my ass) of dice and chuck em!. Want to see a silly space marine chapter master on a bike in combat and feel his power then you know what to do!
See you there!
Dark Star is hosting an event in honor of this thread.
This Thursday at BG Plainville (Ironic I know /wink) we will be hosting a little thing called Hughammer. Anyone who shows up and wishes to do so can get a free hug from anyone there from Dark Star. As a bonus anyone who requests and receives a hug can also make a game impacting roll in any of the games we are partaking in, if and only if they have received a hug.
I will be playing against Bill McMuffin and if you decide you want to feel the power of a devastation banner and 24 TL bolter shots come on over, ask for a hug and grab a handful (not of my ass) of dice and chuck em!. Want to see a silly space marine chapter master on a bike in combat and feel his power then you know what to do!
See you there!
Being clean and as odor free as possible is a club requirement, not a choice for our members.
Being clean and as odor free as possible is a club requirement, not a choice for our members.
It's why I haven't been allowed to attend a tournament in a while... :'(
I'm going to crush Dark Star. Literally. During hugtime.
Derek you obviously havent been around Darkstar during our annual meetings!!! They are hugtastic!! We bring the Pink to the Grim Darkness!!
Seems pretty stupid to make a post announcing you think something that will upset people but then say you don't want to.
9) I can promise that I won't be passing out hand jobs. Sorry to those of you who are disappointed by that. I can also promise that all of you can find someone that is willing to give you a handjob.A clip from Wayne's World that's suddenly relevant.
Also, lets not kid ourselves. GW games lately have been going DOWN in quality, that, combined with the player base growing UP and having less time to spend on a hobby, and less of a desire, because the game is not as good.
Mid 2000s' We used to get 20+ to a WHFB event at Gamehaven, same thing for danger planet. probably 10-14 at abington. Now, we have a tournament like once every 3 months or so at best, and it has 12 people, and the other stores are closed.
Mini purchasing is also in bursts, magic is more constant. Honestly, Magic is what allows game stores to be open so we all have a nice place to play.
I don't know what the financial numbers look like, but I can attest even in Plainville, the number of regular players seems down. Last summer we'd struggle to have enough tables, topping out at 12. This summer, we'd struggle to fill the 6 already set up. It makes hard work even harder.
ETA: We're steady, just not growing like we have in years past. A polarizing rules set, a subdued economy and the rising prices of the hobby all contributed to this.
I think Ben was talking about Thursday 40k moreso than the Tournaments Phoenix.I was, but those stats are very, very interesting.
I don't know what the financial numbers look like, but I can attest even in Plainville, the number of regular players seems down. Last summer we'd struggle to have enough tables, topping out at 12. This summer, we'd struggle to fill the 6 already set up. It makes hard work even harder.
Chase the simple fact that there was no Invitational this year could of had a direct effect on attendance. I know of many people that went out of their way to attend tournies for that simple reason. And I know a good number of people that were bummed it didnt continue.