Great event. One of the best I have been to in terms of player skill and down to earth players. Congrats Sean.

4 rounds? Looking forward to seeing the data

Speaking of the data, I have all 44 lists. I'm working on typing them out in order by placing.

8 hours ago, Overdawg said:

Great event. One of the best I have been to in terms of player skill and down to earth players. Congrats Sean.

I fully agree with this. Everybody I got to play was top notch and extremely sportsman. Shoutout to Weston and Tyler, I dunno if they are on the forums, but they put up with my accident prone hands which only got worse later in the day.

As an aside, I probably shouldn't say this but I thought Games & Stuff was the poorest host of the 4 regionals I've been to so far. I understand 44 people is a lot to host, but the effort seemed lackluster at best. Half the tables were literally only 6x3. Most players stuck on these were forced to shuffle their ship cards around the play field as the battle moved from place to place. The nice tables, which were large and higher were claimed by the Guild Ball regional scheduled the same day, which seemed like poor planning, and honestly made me feel slighted as an Armada player hunching over a table while I shuffled my ship cards around the battlefield to get out of the way of my corvettes. Mats of any kind were a luxury.

Compared against Raleigh's regional, where Scott, the store owner, literally BUILT tables to facilitate the Armada regional, it just felt like G&S was treating the regional as something to give as little effort to as possible.

I feel bad to come down on anybody, but I really hope if G&S gets the regional next cycle they put more effort into it, at minimum by not scheduling another large table-space regional the same day.

Thanks for the congrats everyone. I had tons of fun and some great games yesterday. Hope to see some of you all again at Stele Open.

Here's the list I ran yesterday:

400pts

Advanced Gunnery

Contested Oupost

Intel Sweep

MC80 Assault Cruiser - Ackbar, Walex, Engine Techs, Adv. Projectors, ECM, Leading Shots, XI7s, Defiance (193)

MC30c Scout - SFO, Gunnery Teams, TRCs, Admonition (92)

Med. Transport - Comms Net, Leia (23)

Med. Transport - Comms Net (20)

Med. Transport - Comms Net (20)

2 - VCXs, 2 - A-Wings (52)

I'd have been really interested to see how my list would have faired against yours Sean. Sadly, I had to give up my spot for family stuff.

Motti get mean
Author: Englishpete

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 400/400

Commander: Admiral Motti

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation Objective: Minefields

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Admiral Motti ( 24 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Damage Control Officer ( 5 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- High-Capacity Ion Turbines ( 8 points)
= 178 total ship cost

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Minister Tua ( 2 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 90 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
= 23 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
= 23 total ship cost

1 IG-88 ( 21 points)
1 Colonel Jendon ( 20 points)
1 Valen Rudor ( 13 points)
1 Saber Squadron ( 12 points)
1 TIE Advanced Squadron ( 12 points)
1 TIE Fighter Squadron ( 8 points)

1 hour ago, WuFame said:

I fully agree with this. Everybody I got to play was top notch and extremely sportsman. Shoutout to Weston and Tyler, I dunno if they are on the forums, but they put up with my accident prone hands which only got worse later in the day.

As an aside, I probably shouldn't say this but I thought Games & Stuff was the poorest host of the 4 regionals I've been to so far. I understand 44 people is a lot to host, but the effort seemed lackluster at best. Half the tables were literally only 6x3. Most players stuck on these were forced to shuffle their ship cards around the play field as the battle moved from place to place. The nice tables, which were large and higher were claimed by the Guild Ball regional scheduled the same day, which seemed like poor planning, and honestly made me feel slighted as an Armada player hunching over a table while I shuffled my ship cards around the battlefield to get out of the way of my corvettes. Mats of any kind were a luxury.

Compared against Raleigh's regional, where Scott, the store owner, literally BUILT tables to facilitate the Armada regional, it just felt like G&S was treating the regional as something to give as little effort to as possible.

I feel bad to come down on anybody, but I really hope if G&S gets the regional next cycle they put more effort into it, at minimum by not scheduling another large table-space regional the same day.

That's a shame to hear since so many other stores are out there with the ability and desire to host regionals but don't get to.

1 hour ago, WuFame said:

As an aside, I probably shouldn't say this but I thought Games & Stuff was the poorest host of the 4 regionals I've been to so far. I understand 44 people is a lot to host, but the effort seemed lackluster at best. Half the tables were literally only 6x3. Most players stuck on these were forced to shuffle their ship cards around the play field as the battle moved from place to place. The nice tables, which were large and higher were claimed by the Guild Ball regional scheduled the same day, which seemed like poor planning, and honestly made me feel slighted as an Armada player hunching over a table while I shuffled my ship cards around the battlefield to get out of the way of my corvettes. Mats of any kind were a luxury.

This is a real shame. Planning two major, large-table tourneys in the same day without adequate table space? Really?

And no mats?? I understand 44 mats is a lot to provide, but... you know what? Virtually every one of those players has mats of their own, you just ask players to bring mats, problem solved. Making players at (I believe) the largest Regional in the US play on bare table tops is frankly kind of embarrassing.

2 hours ago, WuFame said:

As an aside, I probably shouldn't say this but I thought Games & Stuff was the poorest host of the 4 regionals I've been to so far. I understand 44 people is a lot to host, but the effort seemed lackluster at best. Half the tables were literally only 6x3. Most players stuck on these were forced to shuffle their ship cards around the play field as the battle moved from place to place. The nice tables, which were large and higher were claimed by the Guild Ball regional scheduled the same day, which seemed like poor planning, and honestly made me feel slighted as an Armada player hunching over a table while I shuffled my ship cards around the battlefield to get out of the way of my corvettes. Mats of any kind were a luxury.

Compared against Raleigh's regional, where Scott, the store owner, literally BUILT tables to facilitate the Armada regional, it just felt like G&S was treating the regional as something to give as little effort to as possible.

I feel bad to come down on anybody, but I really hope if G&S gets the regional next cycle they put more effort into it, at minimum by not scheduling another large table-space regional the same day.

You weren't the only one that felt this way. I don't get to travel to other Regionals, but compared to Martinsburg last year, they really phoned it in. They reduced their maximum attendance at the last minute, forgot to order lunch until the T.O. reminded them we had all paid for an event with food, and were threatening to make the top 2 players come back the next day for the cut if they wanted to actually play it out. G&S is routinely this disappointing with their Armada support to be honest. It's a shame. Their usual T.O. always does an awesome job (and he's an unpaid volunteer), but they never advertise their Armada tournaments. I'm told that it's supposed to be every third Saturday, but it rarely makes their own event calendar or the NOVA Facebook group. Hopefully this Regional shows them how much excitement there is for the game in the area (TONS of people new or newer to the game were there) and they shape up.

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I was really afraid I was going to come off more of a jerk than I wanted to be. It's comforting to know I wasn't the only one having those thoughts about the event. I'm more than willing to give G&S another chance, and as a store, it looks pretty solid. I'm hoping it's like you said and they just didn't know there was this much hype for the game.

I wouldn't disagree with those sentiments. When I get to G&S it's normally once a month early on a Monday, so I don't have the opportunity to participate in the weekly Armada night or what should be their monthly tournament. From what I was hearing after the prizes were handed out however, they don't seem to be really supporting the game at all, through the Organized Play program of FFG.

I was also very surprised to see they were having a Guildball tournament at the same time as the Armada regional event, I wasn't sure how that was going to work out if they had 60 people coming. Hopefully they've figured out Armada can be very popular if they support it.

Wait, there were tables without mats? Tournament regs place emphasis on getting mats on every table.

Playmats

In events where players provide their own playmats, only official FFG X-Wing™ Playmats, including official prize playmats given out at select events, are allowed. This is to guarantee a consistent experience for all players and prevent any advantage players may gain from familiarity with a particular playmat that is not widely available. FFG playmats are widely available for examination and play. If a venue provides playmats for their event, they may use third-party playmats. Players may replace third-party playmats if they provide their own FFG playmat to use.

Organizer Materials

In addition to arranging a location, the organizer is responsible for securing tables that can hold a 3’ by 6’ play surface for each game of two players, as well as chairs. While the organizer can mark the required play area on a table with tape or another simple method, providing playmats or a similar material in 3’ by 6’ dimensions to create friction and prevent ships from sliding out of place is strongly recommended.

It does say it is not a requirement, but I think FFG should pick a new store that will put for the effort to give everyone the same experience. This makes me even more happy I didn't go.

Yes, there were a couple tables that were bare particle board. It was also difficult to find the table you were assigned to sometimes because not all of them were labeled.

Games & Stuff is a great store. Great selection of a huge variety of tabletop games, miniatures, wargames, etc.

And their back room is huge--much larger than many other stores in the DC-Baltimore area (where retail space is expensive).

So yeah, I was disappointed that we didn't have enough mats, when I could have easily brought four, as I am sure almost everyone else could have.

On 2/19/2017 at 5:20 PM, WuFame said:

As an aside, I probably shouldn't say this but I thought Games & Stuff was the poorest host of the 4 regionals I've been to so far. I understand 44 people is a lot to host, but the effort seemed lackluster at best. Half the tables were literally only 6x3. Most players stuck on these were forced to shuffle their ship cards around the play field as the battle moved from place to place. The nice tables, which were large and higher were claimed by the Guild Ball regional scheduled the same day, which seemed like poor planning, and honestly made me feel slighted as an Armada player hunching over a table while I shuffled my ship cards around the battlefield to get out of the way of my corvettes. Mats of any kind were a luxury.

Compared against Raleigh's regional, where Scott, the store owner, literally BUILT tables to facilitate the Armada regional, it just felt like G&S was treating the regional as something to give as little effort to as possible.

I feel bad to come down on anybody, but I really hope if G&S gets the regional next cycle they put more effort into it, at minimum by not scheduling another large table-space regional the same day.

I fully agreed with this, and even mentioned it in my write up in the battle report. Is there any way to report them to FFG so it'll go to another store in the region next time?

1 minute ago, Formynder4 said:

I fully agreed with this, and even mentioned it in my write up in the battle report. Is there any way to report them to FFG so it'll go to another store in the region next time?

Contact Organized Play.

I'm not sure if it is best for everyone that the store "loses" the regional for next cycle. I think some constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement is best. I'm not sure about the area myself, but I highly doubt there are a ton of stores with the capacity to support the amount of players that ended up coming.

For next time, I'm hopeful that the store will be mindful of how many rounds an amount of players means, and also that maybe the store reaches out more to players to see if some can bring mats. This seems to be common practice for other regionals I've gone to and works pretty well.

Huzzah Hobbies would be another option. They just added a room with enough space for 50 players.

Battlegrounds in Richmond has plenty of room too.

I may just be playing devil's advocate here but I think generally we might be focusing on the wrong aspect. Say what you want about the venue but I'm not sure we'd get 44 people showing up to a lot of other venues if you stray too far south or north from the DC Metro (Baltimore through the 95 corridor to Northern VA). The area has some decent tabletop gaming pedigree considering GW America was stationed in MD for quite some time and saw massive growth in tabletop gaming in general in the mid 90 to early 2000s. I don't know why but in the past it did seem like FFG was disregarding the DC metro area when it came to scheduling big tournaments. I think that's a mistake considering how it can be a struggle to get participation levels up.

I'd play on cardboard if you could guarantee that 50 people would show up to every Armada tournament. I guess what I'm really stressing is that we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater. 44 people showing up to an Armada tournament is awesome. Let's focus on the positive and work to improve the experience instead of taking the regional from the area in general.

19 hours ago, ImpStarDeuces said:

I may just be playing devil's advocate here but I think generally we might be focusing on the wrong aspect. Say what you want about the venue but I'm not sure we'd get 44 people showing up to a lot of other venues if you stray too far south or north from the DC Metro (Baltimore through the 95 corridor to Northern VA). The area has some decent tabletop gaming pedigree considering GW America was stationed in MD for quite some time and saw massive growth in tabletop gaming in general in the mid 90 to early 2000s. I don't know why but in the past it did seem like FFG was disregarding the DC metro area when it came to scheduling big tournaments. I think that's a mistake considering how it can be a struggle to get participation levels up.

I'd play on cardboard if you could guarantee that 50 people would show up to every Armada tournament. I guess what I'm really stressing is that we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater. 44 people showing up to an Armada tournament is awesome. Let's focus on the positive and work to improve the experience instead of taking the regional from the area in general.

Those are absolutely mitigating factors FFGOP should consider in deciding what, if anything, to do about it.

I don't have any first hand knowledge about the store--maybe they've had great success in running FFG events in the past and just had a new employee running things this time, who knows--but it's definitely something that should be addressed from both the players' and OP's sides. The players in the area need to be sure the store owner gets the feedback that has been brought up in this thread to ensure that they are aware of the issues and that the customers think it was unacceptable; FFGOP needs to know that there were issues so that they can evaluate cost/benefit of hosting elsewhere vs. having a conversation with the owner about expected improvements next year.

I don't think lacking mats for one tourney is worth blackballing an otherwise great host with a solid track record, if that's the case. And most of us aren't in a position to look at that kind of trend data. But FFGOP is in such a position--assuming they get this feedback this time, and got the same feedback last time if it was similarly warranted--so they can make an informed decision that internet randos cannot.

It should be stated, tournament regulations only care that an appropriate play space be sectioned off, and that there be room for your components.... Not that you are required to play on Mats.

52 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

It should be stated, tournament regulations only care that an appropriate play space be sectioned off

Strictly speaking, they don't require, but do care:

Tourney Regs pg 3 said:

While the organizer can mark the required play area on a table with tape or another simple method, providing playmates or another similar material in 3' by 6' dimensions to create friction and prevent ships from sliding out of place is strongly recommended.

They didn't do anything illegal with respect to the rules, just out of keeping with them.

1 hour ago, Ardaedhel said:

Those are absolutely mitigating factors FFGOP should consider in deciding what, if anything, to do about it.

I don't have any first hand knowledge about the store--maybe they've had great success in running FFG events in the past and just had a new employee running things this time, who knows--but it's definitely something that should be addressed from both the players' and OP's sides. The players in the area need to be sure the store owner gets the feedback that has been brought up in this thread to ensure that they are aware of the issues and that the customers think it was unacceptable; FFGOP needs to know that there were issues so that they can evaluate cost/benefit of hosting elsewhere vs. having a conversation with the owner about expected improvements next year.

I don't think lacking mats for one tourney is worth blackballing an otherwise great host with a solid track record, if that's the case. And most of us aren't in a position to look at that kind of trend data. But FFGOP is in such a position--assuming they get this feedback this time, and got the same feedback last time if it was similarly warranted--so they can make an informed decision that internet randos cannot.

They are an extremely popular X-Wing Regional location. My understanding is their store championships have been known to draw bigger crowds than Regionals at FFG HQ. The problem has been a lack of support for Armada. They frequently either forget or treat the Armada players poorly. Frankly, based on who showed up and where they came from, I think the Regional could have been at Huzzah, which is just north of DC, and attendance would have been the same. That's generally where most of the area's Armada players reside. A lot of the crowd made around a 45 minute drive to get there.

My hope, however, is some light admonishment from FFG and the attending players, combined with the fact that they just hosted the largest Armada Regional in the world, gets them to shape up their support. The enthusiasm is clearly there. They just need to be more consistent in their support and advertise their events better. Supposedly they have a monthly Armada tournament, but you wouldn't know it from their calendar or the NOVA Fleet Facebook group. I am routinely looking for events in the area and I never would have known.

1 hour ago, Truthiness said:

They are an extremely popular X-Wing Regional location. My understanding is their store championships have been known to draw bigger crowds than Regionals at FFG HQ. The problem has been a lack of support for Armada. They frequently either forget or treat the Armada players poorly. Frankly, based on who showed up and where they came from, I think the Regional could have been at Huzzah, which is just north of DC, and attendance would have been the same. That's generally where most of the area's Armada players reside. A lot of the crowd made around a 45 minute drive to get there.

My hope, however, is some light admonishment from FFG and the attending players, combined with the fact that they just hosted the largest Armada Regional in the world, gets them to shape up their support. The enthusiasm is clearly there. They just need to be more consistent in their support and advertise their events better. Supposedly they have a monthly Armada tournament, but you wouldn't know it from their calendar or the NOVA Fleet Facebook group. I am routinely looking for events in the area and I never would have known.

Talking with the TO, it seems like Armada participation is flaky at this point. People definitely play but he gave the impression that tournaments only have 6 people show up regularly. With a history like that I can kind of understand the lead foot on supporting a tourney. That's not an excuse but past experience is generally what businesses forecast on (they did pre sell out of tickets so who knows what happened).

That being aside, G&S is about as far south as I can go reliably so I intend to start dragging 4-5 people to their tournaments and yelling at toy ships until thaey can't ignore me anymore.