Kirby presents…3++con!
You know that NOVA tournament that’s running riot around the 40k Interwebs? I’m running one, too :). And it’s this weekend.
So as an advertisement for you to come along to 3++con – it’s pretty terrible, go figure. As of the writing of this article we are near capacity with 54 players attending out of a total 56 spots – considering the majority of tournaments in the Australian region are 30-40 players and the two NOVA based tournaments last year were ~32 players each, well we’re quite happy with the way 3++’s first tournament has gone and will brag about being the largest NOVA tournament in Australia (for the time being). As an aside, Centurion happens in the first week of March and Event Horizon late in May. If you’ve ever wanted to visit the lovely country, fight for your life against the native wildlife (and ladies) and have some good 40k games – well come along to those events as both will be an excellent time!
Back to 3++con… So a little about the tournament. We’ve been planning this for nearly nine months now though we’ve only had a venue and backing down for about four months – things have moved pretty quickly since then! The basic concept is based upon NOVA with what we have considered the best parts of other tournaments around the world along with a few changes of our own. Iroincally, a lot of these were implemented in NOVA 2011 so our playtesting got some practical running before 3++con even went ahead – nice.
What it’s about –
For those of you unaware, what this means is 3++con is a celebration of every part of our hobby. It doesn’t matter if you’re a crap painter and a great general, a crap general and a great painter, a good painter and a good general, a bad painter and a bad general or just a down right top-bloke – you’re going to have a good time at 3++con and you’ll have a good chance to be appreciated through a prize. Everyone likes prizes right? This is done through the Win/Loss system and bracketing and running three basically separate pathways to ‘victory.’
You have your generalship which is based on your ability to beat players of a similar combination of playing ability and list building ability. This is important and we shall discuss it in a bit.
You have your painting which is based solely off your ability to paint your models – most people should be familiar with this.
And you have your Overall which is a perfectly even mix of your ability to paint and your ability to beat other players of a similar combination of playing ability and list building ability.
There is also significant rewards for being a good sport – but that’s just part and parcel of being a good and decent human being!
The Playing –
So back to the generalship and what the bolded writing meant. What any tournament has ever told us was, who had the best combination of generalship and luck on the day. What Mike (MVB from NOVA) has aimed to do with NOVA is make the results as valid as possible by ensuring the best players have to go through each other to get to the end and claim victory. Again, the players who do well are, for better or worse, the best on the day – it perhaps just holds a little bit more weight to a lot of the community as they’ve accomplished this by beating players who are beating other players – not clubbing seals. By combining the Win/Loss system with Brackets after a certain amount of seeding games as BFS did in 2010, the aim is to not only provide this level of support for the best players and ensure they are fighting each other for the top prize at the end of the weekend, but to allow all players with different skill levels to do the same against players of a similar skill level.
This is where the brackets come into play which basically breaks the tournament down on Day 2 into multiple smaller tournaments where the one player who goes undefeated in that bracket is recognised as that bracket’s winner. That person is being rewarded for defeating his peers – not beating people they are better than nine times out of 10.
The goal of this is to ensure everyone gets as many games against players of a similar level/army list. Afterall, games against your peers rather than people who you are woefully better or worse than, should end up being closer and more enjoyable, right? What it also does, is give everyone a chance at a generalship based prize. You could be someone who regularly gets shunted to the bottom of the table but with the brackets and Win/Loss system, on Day 2 you’ll play against players who are in a similar position and you all have a chance at a prize. Nice to know that even if you lose all your games Day 1, you still have a chance to take home something.
The Statistics –
As many of you know, I’m a statistical nut – I just find the numbers fun. Last year we looked in-depth at the results of ‘Ard Boyz prelims and NOVA 2011. Whilst MVB gave me a lot of access to the NOVA data and what happened on the day, it will be nothing compared to what I have access to running my own tournament. Whilst the Australian scene might not be as strong as seen in Europe or North America and we certainly don’t have the numbers in comparison to the big tournaments, the amount of data mining I will be able to do will be amazing.
We’re aiming to be as open as possible so those not at the event can get a feel of how the event went down. This means I’ll be releasing all of the lists, trying to take photos of every table before the event starts and providing as much statistical information as possible. If you ask and it’s feasible, I’ll try and work it out for you! Also, I’m going to try and compute an opponent toughness rating so we can identify who had the hardest match-ups in terms of how their opponent’s did throughout the day. If anyone has any ideas here I’d love to hear them – either through the comments or via e-mail.
The Updates & Video –
I’ll obviously be at both days of the event the entire time and, assuming wi-fi works, be uploading results as they happen on 3++ is the new black. This means you can see who’s playing whom (or what armies are playing what armies) and how the seeding and brackets are playing out up to the minute. With timezones this may be less important to many of our overseas viewers but Rounds 1, 2, 4 & 5 will have been concluded before midnight central US time on their respective days (more than likely Europeans would miss the early Rounds in the day (1 & 4) depending upon when they get up). It’s based on GMT+10 time and the timings of each round can be found in the player’s pack.
We’re also aiming to setup a video feed much like Feast of Blades and NOVA have done in the past. This has been a last minute thing and is more than likely going to be a delayed feed and hopefully will include some interviews of the winners. We’ll post information in relation to this as soon as we know so you can see some video of games!
Feedback –
This is an event for the players so any and all feedback is appreciated – even if you’re not attending you might notice something we haven’t! This is our first time running a major event so it will be a new, and hopefully enjoyable, experience for us and we’re always looking to improve.
