Ok guys, it’s time for another NETS (Not Enough Terrain Syndrome) post. The Wild West Shootout happened almost 2 weeks ago in Arizona sponsored by Battlefoam. I’d like to give props to Blackmoor for winning the event with footsloggin’ shooty Eldar (OMG!!!), and to the rest of the participants for enduring through a severe outbreak of NETS, plus surviving the worst mission in the history of 40k during which all terrain was removed from the table. Yes, you read that right round 4 of the event was played out on terrain-less tables; what the Hell?
Blackmoors battle reports and pics that speak volumes about the tables.
Wild West Shootout game #1
Wild West Shootout game #2
Wild West Shootout game #3
Wild West Shootout game #4
Wild West Shootout game #5
People paid money to participate in and travel to this event and they get this crap dropped on them. It’s just shameful, that the organizers thought that this was acceptable. The community at large really need to put tournament organizers to task, and stop laying down to be walked upon just to have someone run an event.
I’m not saying that I don’t appreciate all the effort that goes into running an event, because I have first hand knowledge from running my own. I’m saying that is someone is running an event, either do it right or don’t do it at all; especially if you are running an event that is geared for people to travel to it.
I know that sounds harsh and it’s meant to, but 40k has enough problems rules wise in a tournament environment that they should not be compounded by other factors. Never male a paying participant feel cheated by an issue the can be solved through proper planning.
As I said before, I know it’s not cheap to buy and time consuming to build terrain, but being silent about the issue is not going to make the problem better.
Organizers need to man up and ask for help if they need it. If you are light on terrain ask for people to bring some and offer prizes for best table or terrain piece.
It is time for the gamers to make a stand and speak up. Demand better terrain on your tables and make sure that it’s placed well, so every piece of terrain is not on the edges.
You can blame TastyTaste at Blood of Kittens for the proceeding post. He brings up this event in his post about when TO's should release the missions for an event.
I was gonna make a post about this, but I was so disgusted with the terrain that I couldn't even type.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, even the tables that "had terrain" had 3 to 5 pieces of terrain. It was a open battlefield.
Because of the open nature of the battlefield, I think that explains why the drop pod armies were doing so good, they could atleast bring in some of their own cover.
While the missions needed work, I was really disappointed with the terrain.
That's pretty bad, any shooty armies are bound to get an unfair advantage with setups like that.
ReplyDeleteOn the no terrain round, it's a novel idea for a game but if it's going to be done in a tournament, then it should be balanced with a heavy terrain game for the CC armies. If they didn't have enough terrain to pull this off, then some simple fog of war rules would have been fine.
I'm not surprised that a shooty army won the tournament.
Thanks for the comments.
ReplyDeleteYeah and the table that did have terrain had 80% of it placed on the edges, with very little placed in the center.
I'm not going to slam any of the participants, some brought armies that worked well on this type of terrain.
Maybe they appropriately named the Tourney a Shootout because that's what it was.