http://www.maelstromgames.co.uk/index.ph...pc_001_000
From their site:
Crash and burn! The first Monsterpocalypse tournament held at the Eye of the Storm is the Riverside Rampage and it promises to be a day of smashing and bashing like no other! Organise your monsters and buy your ticket now!
event date:
23/01/10
contents:
this contains
1x
Riverside Rampage 2010 Monsterpocalypse tournament rules pack
1x
Riverside Rampage 2010 Monsterpocalypse tournament ticket
When I go to that link Carlos, it says my IP has been permanently banned from that site. Any chance of a cut n paste here please of what your thoughts are?
This is probably UK interest only but since there are some players from the UK here it seemed like the most appropriate place to write about it.
There haven't been that many Monpoc tournaments in the UK, and most of them have followed the standard Privateer Event format which, in my opinion is a good thing. Entry is free, PP provides prizes which are valuable for players but which wouldn't make someone turn pro on the back of them, and the mood in tournaments is generally friendly. Now there's a new player on the Monpoc tourney scene - Maelstrom Games. Previously they were only an online retailer of GW, PP and other products, but now they have their own shop in Mansfield (near Nottingham) and will have their first Monpoc tourney in Jan 2010.
They've chosen to completely disregard the standard way of running a PP tournament and opted to do their own thing. Fair play to them I say, but some of their choices are awful. I will start from the beginning and you can follow my reasoning going through their tourney pack here -
http://www.maelstromgames.co.uk/download...s_pack.pdf
- Tournament costs £15 to enter and this gets you lunch and coffee. Prizes are referred to but not specified. I'd rather spend £5 on food, £0 on ticket and get a mega or a glass figure for my efforts leaving me enough money to still buy a booster at the shop. If the prizes are worth it, great. If it's a piece of tin, no thanks.
- I have 4 major issues w/ the force selection rules.
First, why 6 buildings minimum? Several top players I know have been opting for forces w/ 2 or 3 buildings if they are using a monster that really doesn't want to get thrown like Mantacon. Since no reason is given for the change to basic force composition from the main rules, I assume this wasn't given much thought. Regardless it eliminates a player's choice with no good reason.
Second, why only 2 buildings of each type? This invalidates a lot of strategies in the game like the 5 ToC Cthul build, Tharsis and his many nuke plants and outposts, and so on. Why?
Third, the "at least 8 from your faction" rule doesn't bother me that much, but it affects more adversely players using monsters from NOW as they have less to pick from. UCI for example doesn't really have 8 good unit picks from its current unit pool and needs to splash lots of SSS to be remotely competitive.
Finally, why no Megas? Really, why no Megas? It's not like they are universally better than the Ultras so why restrict players this way?
- Game scoring is total bollocks. Fine w/ a two-form win being a total win but what's this mess w/ scoring points? Players will have a game sheet with them and will have to write down every single time they do a point of damage, kill a unit, or an installation. What a bore! One of the good design elements of Monpoc is that there is no record keeping. And now we have to be making ticks on a piece of paper whenever anything happens. Then, at the end of the game, out come the calculators... I don't think these people "get" Monpoc. This is not Warhammer!
- Sportsmanship is another legacy of Warhammer and a few other wargames. It adds nothing to a tournament except to give an opportunity for club members to improve each other's score when they get paired up and an opportunity to mark down potential competitors to the top spot. I played a lot of Warhammer and 40k during my early 20s and in tournaments sportsmanship was either always used as a weapon (see above) or people just gave each other top marks throughout which meant it was pointless. So a terrible idea brought to a game that doesn't need it since there's no measuring and few points of contention. Stalling can be a problem but not in a game that only gives wins for outright elimination of the opponent. Besides it's both hard to prove and hard to do in such a small board.
- Painting scores are absolute proof that the organisers don't understand Monpoc. So painted armies will be better ranked in a game of trading miniatures? Do they understand that a painted Monpoc figure, except for a minority of cases, loses its trade value? If I trade for an SSS figure at some point I know it will fit right in w/ my existing collection. If I'm trading for a PAINTED SSS figure then it will look absolute crap next to my existing figures. I think it's fine to give an additional prize for somebody who went to the trouble of painting their minis, but to make it a tournament-defining scoring category is a travesty of what Monpoc is about and subordinates players to doing something which is against their best interests. Heck, most if not all the Monpoc players I know personally are also Warhammer and/or Warmachine players and so far I've seen them paint zero figures. In fact, they say it's nice that the pre-paint is so good because they already paint enough stuff for the other systems.
End of rant. As I said in the beginning, they organise it so they should run it as they please. It saddens me because we have such a fragmented Monpoc community already and this type of event will surely polarize people even further.[/align]
Thanks Carlos.
I wont be going to the event and I was really looking forward to playing Monpoc at Maelstrom, especially as I went to the Blood and Iron event last year and enjoyed myself so know what the venue is like. Add to this that the owner of Maelstrom is a personal friend of mine that I have known for 12+ years.
Sadly, the reason I wont be going is down to the rules pack. I have to agree with your review of the rules pack.
Carlos doesn't pull his punches eh
TBH mate, I agree with everything you said.
I too am avoiding this on.
Similar issues are arising with their Warmachine events. But hey ho, each TO is a unique individual with their own ideas about running things. Just a shame that PP worked so hard on their tourney rules, only to be disregarded...
Well, that's how I really feel! I too would like to go to a large monpoc tourney in a dedicated gamesroom facing 4 players from a pool of 30+ or 40+. That would be great and believe me the £15 are not that big an issue honestly. I'm a grown-up w/ a job, disposable income, etc. Going out for a meal in London is around that price and it certainly doesn't "entertain" for a full day.
I just don't get why tweak with the rules like they did. For example, they could say their player base is very young to the game and thus the no-Mega ruling is to prevent newbies facing monsters they've never seen before. Fair enough. But then what's the point of the minimum 6 buildings rule? I just don't get it. And the rule that penalises players for letting their units be killed is pretty dire. I mean, how do you play Gorghadra w/ that rule? You have blue Riled, you want your units to be killed! It's part of the strategy!
So, who wants a game soon? Eh eh eh...