Heartland Xwing Players, it's time to gear up for Worlds with the first annual HOTH - Heartland Open Tournament for Henry. October 4th, North Liberty IA (just north of Iowa City).

In collaboration with many many helpful faces (Hothie, Sean Dorcy, Dave Curtis), we're going to hold a charity tournament for the Extra Life foundation on October 4th, benefiting the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. It will be the last major tournament prior to the World Championships in November and we anticipate people coming from all over the region so the competition will be fierce. We hope for a 6 round swiss with a cut to the top 8, but rounds will be based off attendance. We would like a minimum of 40 people and hope to see around 80 competitors. The entry fee will be $20.00 IF YOU PREREGISTER BY 9/27/14 and $30.00 at the door if you don't and any and all profits after hard costs going to charity.

PRE REGISTRATION BUTTON!

Start times: 9:00 - 9:45 on-site registration and check-in. Player meeting 10:00 with start immediately thereafter. Number of rounds based on attendance followed by a cut to top 8.

Regarding the Charity, Extra Life is a national organization dedicated to raising money for children's hospitals nationwide. My page on the Extra Life Website is HERE. While I will also be participating in the gaming marathon on October 25th, my personal idea for fundraising is to host an xwing tournament. When I spoke with Hothie, we decided we might as well make it a regional event and the ball has been rolling ever since.

On a personal level, my son Henry was born without a right pulmonary artery. His lung was not connected to his heart at birth, six weeks early. Through unbelievable efforts, a radical surgery by the late Dr. James Davis which was recently published in a journal of medicine, and state of the art facilities at the UI, Henry is a happy and healthy 4-year-old with no artificial parts in him and a spectacular heart and lungs. I owe my world to the UI Children's Hospital which I why I've selected them as my recipient for any funds we raise through the charity.

There will be more news to come as we're putting this on in incredibly short notice for an event of this size, but if you wish to help at all it is highly encouraged. You can either donate directly on the website to the charity, or if you're really helpful you can donate towards prize support in the form of anything you can think of. Simply send me a message and I'll get you my address and you can mail anything you want to me to either be included in prize support or silent auctioned. I'm talking anything here. Ships, art, lint, whatever. Maybe not lint. Basically since this is a charity tournament, we need your support to make sure this good cause gets the support it deserves.

So let's fly some ships and blow each other up..... for the kids!

More to come!

Sunny

I will be getting a trophy made up among other prizes coming from the Des Moines/Ames groups. We will be bringing a good crowd with us, and like Sunny said, this will be a great warm up tourney for Worlds. So we hope to see as many people there as we can get. And with the personal connection Sunny has to this hospital, it's well worth the cost. Let's raise some money for the kids.

I look forward to helping out with this great cause. Let push for 100.

it's going to take a lot of travelers to get to 100. I'd like to see people saying "I'm coming!" etc.

Are you starting to feel like Indiana Jones? Because this is a very big ball that is now rolling.....

I feel less like Indiana and more like the rats that the ball unceremoniously rolled over.

UPDATE: Got our first Sponsor who added a $25 gift card to Geek City to the prize pool! We're off and running.

Update 8/15/14

Added a pre-registration link for payment. Added start times.

I picked up a rebel aces and outrider to add to the prize pool.

I will make sure Lambda City comes in force.

GOOD NEWS! Got some gift certificates from Yotopia. Sooooooo..... frozen yogurt abounds!

**UPDATE** We have decided to allow players to bring 2 lists if they want. Players will use their primary list to start and may switch to their secondary list at any time. But once a player switches to their secondary list, they must stay with that list for the remainder of the tourney. Players will fill out 2 list sheets upon registration.

Also the suburban hotel has agreed to hold a block of 10 rooms for $69/night for us. So if you want a hotel, you can stay there. We also are in the process of getting sponsors (Pancheros and a frozen yogurt place so far), so more to come.

Is anyone other than me stoked about the frozen yogurt gift certificates?

I am going to talk with the group I play in and see if I can get 4 to 8 more people to come to this. It's not too far of a drive from Kearney NE

That would be awesome man. I've been to Kearney. Had a friend who went to college there.

I'm in St. Louis, so it's not impossible that I try to make the trip up to play. Aside from the list-switching options, is it normal a 100 points dogfight?

This will be a Worlds prep tourney, so all standard 100 point dogfight rules apply. Would love to see you there!

We're starting to get some people sending in donations for prize support and I really truly appreciate it. We've got some regional templates and translucent dice on the way. I received a 12 inch Malgus statue, a fabulous coffee table book (I think it's worth about 50 bucks easy) and a star wars blanket too. Not only that, but we're getting donations from local businesses as well, which is just awesome. Coffee, room blocks at discount rates, burritos (yes, burritos). Great support.

Guys, we need to be really clear that preregistrations are important. It helps us pay for the facility, and also gauge how many people are ACTUALLY coming instead of just saying that they'd like to. Let's start preregistering!

I'm talking to my guys tonight about it

Bump just for some visibility. We're getting close!

Do you have a total for preregistrants yet?

Bump for eyeballs.

We've got a ton more prizes including some really great stuff from personal donators (lightsaber, statues, ships, acryllics, burritos, etc.

Get your preregistration done today to get your discount!

All info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/708567439209837/?ref=2&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

On Monday I am picking up the special event maps we will be using for this tournament. They will be given away to the players at the conclusion of the event. So come and get yours!

HOTH RULES UPDATE: maybe the last update for this charity event on Saturday Oct 4th

Dual List is in. You can have a primary list and a secondary list. If you decide that you don't want to play your primary list anymore, you can discard it and go to your secondary. You CANNOT go back.

Rebel Aces Expansion is ALLOWED.

Wave V (decimator, YT2400) is NOT ALLOWED. This was a tough decision, but the lack of its commercial availability was the clincher. I would have loved to allow it, but we made a call and said that we're not going to allow it for this tournament. Very sorry.

https://www.facebook.com/events/708567439209837/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming