As some of you may know, we ran a two-day Age of Sigmar tournament on November 9th and 10th. It was an absolute blast of an event, and our first major offsite event, even in spite of an unfortunate snowstorm that blocked our Southern players from attending.
Today I sat down with Ben, the Tournament Organizer of the event, to recap the weekend and look ahead to what he’ll be running next time.
Ben is a good friend of mine and previous employee of the store. He worked alongside our event manager to create a fun-filled 2 day Age of Sigmar event, designed to welcome both competitive and casual players alike.
Running a big tournament like the Winter Slaughter is a ton of work. How did you get everything together?
A lot of work, for sure! It actually started last year, when we ran our first winter 2-Day event. Folks had a lot of fun, but I felt like there was potential to do more, for a wider audience. That’s really when the Winter Slaughter idea was born.
First and foremost, I have to thank TEG for the continued support—there’s no way this would have come together otherwise! The key was to help build a strong community—show up weekly, host bi-monthly events, really get folks excited. Eliminate as many barriers to entry as possible, and really make folks feel welcome.
From a logistics standpoint, there was a lot to consider. What weekend is best? How many players do we want to support? What kind of venue do we need? A lot of action happens in the background to make these events successful, and you have to stay on task and organized to have a great event.
Walk me through the event. How was it structured? What was the gameplay like?
This was a 5-round event (3 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday), using Swiss pairings so that every player plays every round. Players had a set amount of time each round to setup and play their match, on a predetermined mission. Players were initially paired randomly, but afterwards, pairings are set by record, changing each round.
You never play against the same opponent twice, and we had a healthy spread of different factions and playstyles. It was great to watch.
What were your favorite moments from the event?
I wouldn’t really even know where to begin! As the organizer, I don’t usually get to play (although I always have an army handy in case we have uneven rounds!). As such, I get to see a ton of gameplay—players rolling piles of dice at once, players making miraculous and critical plays, and getting to see folks who have never met before get to play and have fun.
My favorite moment is when the community really comes together and focuses on playing the best game they can—it creates moments that you really can’t see anywhere else.
Who won, and what kind of prizes did you have?
Prizes Prizes Prizes! Everyone loves prizes, and I like to hand out a wide spread of prizes to give everyone a chance to walk away with something cool and feel like they achieved something. We gave away:
- A door prize just for attending—custom dice and a 3 inch measuring widget.
- Prizes of various sizes between each round—models, gaming supplies, even a game mat.
- Prizes for best painted single model and best painted full army:
- This was really important to me—painting can be a huge barrier to entry, so we did not require painting for the event. However, I still wanted players who enjoy painting to be rewarded for their work.
- We had two beautifully painted full armies, and 6 entries for best painted single model. I had two community judges with the difficult task of choosing a winner for each category!
- The winner for best painted army was Chad Graham, with Daughters of Khaine.
- The winner for best painted single model was Jos Chang, who painted Katakros from his Ossiarch Bonereapers Army.
- And of course, prizes by record. We awarded prizes to first, second, and third place.
- Our top finishers as well as our painting winners also received a custom cup, engraved with the date of the event and the place they finished or award they won.
- Our First place winner was Thomas Burgett, playing Nighthaunt.
- Our Second place finish went to Wyatt Moran, playing Cities of Sigmar.
- Our Third place finish went to Matt Eimers, playing Lumineth Realmlords.
- Our top finishers as well as our painting winners also received a custom cup, engraved with the date of the event and the place they finished or award they won.
- For anyone who didn’t win a raffle or one of the major prizes, we still had enough prizes to ensure every player (of 20) walked away with a token of our gratitude from the event. I like to give out a lot of prizes, and I have even more fun prizes in mind for next year including:
- Best in Faction for each Faction
- Best Sportsman
- Most Unique List
It sounds like you’re planning to make this a yearly event. What do you have in mind for next year?
I’ve got a lot I want to accomplish for this event—each year will be better than the last! Next year I want to increase the player cap, allow for more opportunities to play, and possibly expand to offer more games to play on Friday. With the community behind us, the sky is the limit for how great the event can be.
Thanks so much for taking the time to cover the event! I had a great time running it, I love the community building we were able to do up to the event, and I hope to only see it grow in the coming year. Cheers!
We had a ton of fun running this event, and can’t wait to see the Age of Sigmar community continue to grow. We’ll have more details to share about the events we’re running alongside Ben next year, so stay tuned!
If you can’t get enough Age of Sigmar in your life, we also host open play every Wednesday night starting at 4p.