| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:32 pm
Posts: 6414
Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania USA
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First off here is the photobucket ePilgrim was nice enough to set up.
http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/epilgrim/
Check out pictures, including Jervis (who -contrary to earlier comments on Warseer- is still with GW). There was so much going on there, it really was a whirlwind of activity. First off, thanks to Steve Rogers (ePilgrim) who helped me run the tourney, provided the vast majority of terrain, drove, and helped me make some excellent contacts within the GW staff.
Tourney Armies and Participants:
10 Participants were involved and army lists of all types were represented there. Space Marines, Imperial Guard Steel Legion, Minervan Armored Legion, Daemonhunters, Chaos BL, Dark Eldar, Biel-tan, Demiurg, Orks, and Necron. There were long time players and guys who had only played a few games of Epic. Not one rule debate came up, not one complaint about over-powered armies, not one argument or bad attitude. It was a real treat. We drew randomly for who played who and right off the bat we had some great match-ups including...
Eldar vs. Dark Eldar
Space Marines vs. Chaos SM
Corey vs ePilgrim (grudge match from previous tournament) 
Players came from all over and the majority of them were NOT Tactical Command posters. Most came by word of mouth and the Games Day posting. You folks in the UK probably see this as a small tournament but the U.S. is geographically challenged with its players spread out considerably. Getting to the tournaments can be quite costly in time and money. Ask a fellow countryman Lord Inquisitor. 
Winners:
Best Overall went to ePilgrim who took on a novice Minervan player and an experienced Necron player and pounded them both into submission. 10 objectives met in two games made him a force to be reckoned with.
1st Prize was a $200 voucher and a trophy from Games Day. As a tournament organizer, he was gracious enough to slide the voucher to the 2nd place winner...
Lord Inquisitor with his Daemonhunters. Feedback on his army was quite good, both how they played and how they looked.
Best Appearance went to my Dark Eldar  and I must say I was quite honored. Once again there was a trophy and a voucher ($100). Following ePilgrim's steps, I declined mine and slid the voucher to 2nd place who was Corey and his Necrons. A stunning army.
Games Workshop Support
I must tell everyone that we were surprised -nay, shocked- at the extraordinarily high level of support GW provided for us.
-$300 in prizes
-Trophies
-Exclusive Handouts (multi-part SMs from Forgeworld) for the tournament participants
Dave Taylor, Alan (forgive me I don't remember his last name) and Chris 'Go-Go' were wonderful. They came over several times before and during the tournament to make sure all was well. Feedback from the staff throughout the day (and into the night as things travelled to the Hard Rock Cafe) was positive. Everyone wanted the tournament to succeed and most were surprised that there was the level of participation that we had. There were many invites to do the whole thing over again in Baltimore. There was even a half-joking request for us to run the Epic tournament in Chicago!
Seriously, let me know if anyone is interested in running an Epic Tournament at a GW event. I'll put you in touch with the right people and get you on your way. I highly encourage players to do this because it is all about momentum. Let's keep it up!
Kommando Clubs
One of the things dropped to us that I just don't know much about yet. I'll try to get the details but support from GW may be coming to gaming clubs and that DEFINITELY includes Epic Clubs.
Jervis Johnson
While I was placing hills and sprucing trees, ePilgrim walks up and introduces me to Jervis Johnson. Now I had never met anyone from GW, so it was a real treat to finally meet the man behind the game. He struck me as quite personable, easy going, and very tall. We talked for about 15 minutes or so which I understand is a pretty long time to get Jervis' ear for, so I was stoked.
Once thing he wanted everyone to know was that the Epic model ranges are NOT going away. He did confirm what most of us already knew - there is nothing coming down the pipeline anytime soon. Steve and I asked him various questions, most of them relating to support, model ranges, etc. I had made the suggestion that they produce the models without making any supplements if that would be easier. I don't know if GW will do it, but it was worth a shot.
On a personal bragging note, Jervis handled the Dark Eldar models I brought and smiled broadly. "Utterly fantastic" was the description.  What an ego stroke that was! I know, I am shameless.
Raiders
The first copy handed out went into Jervis Johnson's hands. He thumbed through it for about 3 minutes (that's a long time... Ask an egg!) and just kept saying how much he liked it. I briefly explained that it was fan produced and that it was not-for-profit. He thanked me and took his copy.
This was more than just a fun thing for me though. This is a copy of Raiders going deep into the jaws of GW so if there is a legal problem with creating the supplements I am sure I will find out about it soon enough. Not only was it seen by lots of Epic players who were not participating (there were many, surprisingly) but a lot of GW staff came by and thumbed through it as well. A few eyebrows went up but not a negative word. This was the litmus test for sure.
Requests
One thing that GW requested is feedback. Go-Go and Dave both asked us that we get feedback from the Community and send it to them.
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
It is an open-ended question but by all means post here or email me. Obvious support is production of models and rules. But is there anything else? What kind of club support would you like? What can GW do for you?
To give you an example, Lance from Specialist-Games Direct Sales offered to let people who were ordering Epic models know about the Games Day tournament. The offer came a bit late but with enough advanced warning that can be a huge help. One of my suggestions is a email gong out to former Epic customers letting them know about events. All of this could easily be applied to other Specialist Games for sure.
Thanks for reading all of this and taking an interest. What a wild ride.
_________________ author of Syncing Forward and other stories...It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.
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