For those interested in playing, or concerned about the Advanced setup, this just in:

They have just confirmed (5 mins ago) that an advanced structure of games will be played so 4 swiss and a top 2 play off. timings they estimate are 9am to 7pm then the final .

Also no time for lunch anymore, but runners are being provided to get people food.

Ninja'd drat.

As for newness to tournaments, i am travelling up on my own and don't think i know any other players at the event, but i remember my first x-wing event a few years back was like that too. All the players are generally friendly types, and tend to have something in common with everyone else - the love of playing games and/or Star Wars!

So just have fun, i am hoping to meet 31 new players and some of which i hope might be local ish to Nottingham for future games.

As for newness to tournaments, i am travelling up on my own and don't think i know any other players at the event, but i remember my first x-wing event a few years back was like that too. All the players are generally friendly types, and tend to have something in common with everyone else - the love of playing games and/or Star Wars!

So just have fun, i am hoping to meet 31 new players and some of which i hope might be local ish to Nottingham for future games.

Nottingham isn't a million miles away, and I enjoy a train ride.

I gues we'll find out on the day weather is 4 round swiss or 3 with some people saying they wont go for a 4 round tourney. All about those numbers

As for newness to tournaments, i am travelling up on my own and don't think i know any other players at the event, but i remember my first x-wing event a few years back was like that too. All the players are generally friendly types, and tend to have something in common with everyone else - the love of playing games and/or Star Wars!

So just have fun, i am hoping to meet 31 new players and some of which i hope might be local ish to Nottingham for future games.

Nottingham isn't a million miles away, and I enjoy a train ride.

As someone who grew up in Australia, I find it hilarious that people consider anything within the UK "Far Away"...

I know its a misnomer of perception and distance... But for me, a 12 hour drive across the state was "Just something I have to do on Tuesdays", and a 3 hour Each-Way drive was just getting to the Outskirts of Melbourne each day for work...

As for newness to tournaments, i am travelling up on my own and don't think i know any other players at the event, but i remember my first x-wing event a few years back was like that too. All the players are generally friendly types, and tend to have something in common with everyone else - the love of playing games and/or Star Wars!

So just have fun, i am hoping to meet 31 new players and some of which i hope might be local ish to Nottingham for future games.

Nottingham isn't a million miles away, and I enjoy a train ride.

As someone who grew up in Australia, I find it hilarious that people consider anything within the UK "Far Away"...

I know its a misnomer of perception and distance... But for me, a 12 hour drive across the state was "Just something I have to do on Tuesdays", and a 3 hour Each-Way drive was just getting to the Outskirts of Melbourne each day for work...

I don't get the distance thing either. But train tickets are bloody expensive

I can't make it to the first UK Regional but wish everybody a good time and good luck!

Need to keep myself happy with a Spring Kit event at Warboar, hehe

For myself, i'd love love love the opportunity to play Armada against new players in new places and really like the advanced format. Does it make the day long? Yeah, but time well spent. And lets be honest, most other 2h+ wargames have big communities that play special 4 round tournaments on a regular basis. Wouldn't like to see the Armada community be known as 'play shy', haha

Once a year shouldn't be too much for anybody.

Last but not least, Regional events should be something special and not just like a kit event with more fancy prizes.

The tournament was advertised as 3 rounds, times were listed, travel times were worked out....a month ago, I and others like me have other commitments that cannot be cancelled, but due to it being 3 rounds, I was able to go, 4 rounds, well I can't because I have to be someplace else inside the new time span 4 rounds and a final 2 cut takes it to.

It's got nothing to do with being play shy, but having things that I cannot just cancel.

I did free up my ticket for someone else to take, the bye can just sit with all my challenge coins and my plaque. Hope you all have a great day.

The tournament was advertised as 3 rounds, times were listed, travel times were worked out....a month ago, I and others like me have other commitments that cannot be cancelled, but due to it being 3 rounds, I was able to go, 4 rounds, well I can't because I have to be someplace else inside the new time span 4 rounds and a final 2 cut takes it to.

It's got nothing to do with being play shy, but having things that I cannot just cancel.

I did free up my ticket for someone else to take, the bye can just sit with all my challenge coins and my plaque. Hope you all have a great day.

How about turning up for the 3 rounds then go ? Least you came, saw and played...

As for newness to tournaments, i am travelling up on my own and don't think i know any other players at the event, but i remember my first x-wing event a few years back was like that too. All the players are generally friendly types, and tend to have something in common with everyone else - the love of playing games and/or Star Wars!

So just have fun, i am hoping to meet 31 new players and some of which i hope might be local ish to Nottingham for future games.

Nottingham isn't a million miles away, and I enjoy a train ride.

As someone who grew up in Australia, I find it hilarious that people consider anything within the UK "Far Away"...

I know its a misnomer of perception and distance... But for me, a 12 hour drive across the state was "Just something I have to do on Tuesdays", and a 3 hour Each-Way drive was just getting to the Outskirts of Melbourne each day for work...

I don't get the distance thing either. But train tickets are bloody expensive

The distance thing in the UK is because the fuel costs are so high. We pay 5 times more for petrol than in America and 3 times more than Australia. Plus since the privatization of the railways the costs for even short journeys are crazy.

Anyway political rant off, I am looking forward to the Regionals on Saturday and hopefully walking away with some shiny dice

The distance thing in the UK is because the fuel costs are so high. We pay 5 times more for petrol than in America and 3 times more than Australia. Plus since the privatization of the railways the costs for even short journeys are crazy.

Anyway political rant off, I am looking forward to the Regionals on Saturday and hopefully walking away with some shiny dice

This is the same for me: a six-hour round-trip to Sheffield represents a significant portion of my income spent on petrol. By the time you throw in the cost of the event, food, and in my case, hotel, the event is running up to £80 or so. It'll still be awesome, but it's a lot for one day.

Speaking of hotels, waking up at 5am to get to the event is the opposite of fun. Who else will be staying in Jury's Inn on the Friday night?

I'll be there sporting a Rebel fleet, unsure of what yet, I have 3 lists in mind.

Great news, I got a place at the event.

I phoned Patriot Games on Tuesday to check if there had been any spare tickets and was told no. So I left my details with the helpful chap just in case.

I just had a return call from them explaining they have a couple of cancellations and so I grabbed a ticket.

NB: This is ALLLLLLLL In TOTAL JEST:

and 3 times more than Australia.

Well, I just ran a little bit of Comparison.

http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/costs/fuel-prices/

Average Price for the UK is 107.65 for ULP... That is of course, Pence per Liter. That swings between 114 and 104 to come at an average of 107...

Now, let's look at Australian Prices. (And I'll even compare to my area, where I specificlaly grew up and worked)

http://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/racv/Internet/Primary/my+car/fuel/petrol+prices/Unleaded

I chose the state of Victoria, because, Geographically, its roughly the same size as the United Kingdom. Of course, it has a fraction of the population, but maximum-drive-distances without Getting "Wet" are about the same...

The advice given here is:

Highest price today 126.9c per litre Lowest price today 103.7c per litre Average price today 122.7c per litre Don't Pay More Than 122.5c per litre

NOW, Xe.com gives the following Exchange Rate:

1.00 GBP = 1.97193 AUD

So, what does this tell us?

Fuel Prices are higher in the UK than they are in Australia as a direct comparison. They are not as much as 3x. Its even just less than 2x Higher...

BUT THEY ARE HIGHER.

So I will give you that.

Hey, Look at that! I Mathed and Referenced something that WASN'T Armada!

Am I a Nerd now?

Now, if I could only easily access Rail Price information on both ends

https://www.thetrainline.com

Enjoy

Geographically, I'm not familiar enough with the UK to be able to pick an approximate distance. But I'll try.


Woo!

On the Australian Side:

From Bairnsdale, Victoria - to the Capital... Is about 280km, and there is a direct Train line Service... It is about a 4 hour Journey with stops....

At the moment, it is classed as off peak travel due to rail line maintenance in the area, so a first class ticket (one way) is $42.60 (~20gbp).. On Peak, the one way ticket is more $115 AUD (Economy is 32 / 15gbp)

So, on a quick map measure, that's going to be similar to a Trip from Liverpool to London.

THAT gives me...

$81 gbp

So $160 AUD one way...

So yes, the Train System is also more expensive, but its also less than Twice the Price on a Normal day...

Flying!

Cheap Flights lists flights from Liverpool to London at about 50GBP, which is cheaper...

Flights from Melbourne to Bairnsdale....

... nope.

Flights to Sale, since there's an Air Force Base there...

... nope.

Crap.

Um.

Yes, there. You can Charter an aircraft to fly you from Melbourne to Bairnsdale, on a return trip, but the charter cost is $9620 AUD.

I guess the comparison breaks down there.

CONSEQUENTLY

I can't speak for the United States, but it is ALSO a comparison between Calgary, where I live now, and Edmonton...

Both are about 300km away...

Fuel Prices here are lower than Australia... That is partially because Alberta, where I am, is a fuel and oil production state, so its artificially lower due to that circumstance...

When you compare to the national average, it evens out between Australia and Canada to be roughtly the same... and the Dollars are roughly the same, too...

There is no passenger rail Service between Calgary and Edmonton... But prices to travel:

$68.00 to $85.00

One Way, of course.

So about half the price of the rail between Liverpool and London...

Average UK salary approx £26k,

Average Aus salary approx $75k

Ok better figures could be found, this was just a quick google, but there is the rest of the perception that its even cheaper to travel elsewhere.

Mmmhmm.

I am really, really surprised baout the Aus salary.

For the first 28 years of my life, I never earned more than $30k. Even when I was working a Government job in an office environment.

So, yeah. It seems skewed

To be honest (and we're about as far off topic as Australia is from the UK here ), the issue is around the perception of distance, rather than the distance itself. When I was growing up, my grandparents lived about a two-hour drive away, so that now I live an hour away from my own parents, it doesn't seem a particularly long distance. When my partner was growing up, her grandparents lived about a twenty-minute drive away, so that now she lives an hour away from her parents it does seem like a long distance.

Multiply that up a couple of times for Australia, and what is considered a long or short drive is skewed depending on your personal experience. More than cost and prices, it's about what you perceive to be near or far.

Fortunately for me, the tournament's a half hour walk away.

Looking forward to hear battle report and statistics!

Good luck everybody! Fly casual

Seems like Easy has ten accounts on the forum 'cause I just read ten excuses like "I can't go because the event is 30 minutes away."

That is, of course, exaggeration on my part, but ...

Meh. To each his or her own. I am not going to the NY regional this weekend because it's more than six hours drive (from NY!) and happening on a Sunday. Others will probably call me out for that as they're driving eight hours and taking time off work for it.

Meh. To each his or her own. I am not going to the NY regional this weekend because it's more than six hours drive (from NY!) and happening on a Sunday. Others will probably call me out for that as they're driving eight hours and taking time off work for it.

I am right there there with you. I love this game but driving more than 4 hours usually means getting two days of a hotel room to play 3 games of Armada is a bit much for me. If I had no options locally less than 4 hours I would def consider it but thats a lot of time and money to invest for the average person.

Dras

I've done a lot of long distance traveling in the UK ( I worked a 120 miles from home) The real issue about travelling long distances by car in the UK involves 65-70 million people living on a small island with most of them living in the same bits of said small land mass... This involves.....

1) traffic jams, basically for a lot of time driving in the UK involves traveling at a speed of exactly 0 miles an hour. Some roads are better known for being car parks. it is better to walk in a lot of towns during peak times ( that's before you get to the cities).

2) accidents, lots of those every morning leading to traffic jams that can last for all eternity.on more than one occasion it's taken me more than 5 hours to travel 10 miles.

3) lots of twisty roads, round abouts and traffic lights added to a ridiculous number of cars on the road lead to very stressful and tiring driving conditions, there are no long strait empty roads.

4) it rains a lot, just add that to number 3 and you tend to get even more of number 2...........

As for trains, there are very few direct routes so you will in general do a lot of train hoping in trains with standing room only. The whole system regularly ( like every week) collapses due to dead people or leaves on the line leaving you totally stuck.I've spent many hours sat at random stations with hundreds of other sad people wondering A) when is it going to stop raining, b) how the hell I was going to get home as train after train gets cancelled c) why can't they make waterproof signals or (very inappropriately) why do people have to jump in front of trains when I want to get home....

O yes and trains smell..........God I hate network South East and trains.... So much of my life wasted.

I got back from Sheffield and it was a great event. I was 9th place out of 30 (I think it was 30) with 24 out of a possible 40 points. I didn't stay beyond 19:30 to watch the final cut game.

They gave out the regular FFG prizes and also had extra prizes/vouchers by Patriot Games for painting, sportsman, best Rebel/Imperial and a prize for the best player for each admiral. I thought this was a great idea. Nobody took Vader or Garm. I diddn't win best Rieekan.

I saw a reasonably even mix of Rebel/Imperials although I was always drawn against fellow rebels. I only saw 4 Nebulons in all lists, 1 of them mine.