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NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 9:30 am
by Boneless
Hi all,

Thanks for attending this year's NAF Championship. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves, but if you have any feedback then please post below. As ever, it is possible to leave positive feedback so that we know something has gone well and we should continue doing it.

Thanks

Andy
Hawca

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 9:48 am
by Garrick
An excellent event. Some specifics:

There were more bar staff in the event bar which meant far less waiting time to get served.
There appeared to be a more ample selection of lunch this year.
The hotel and venue are just fantastic, please always have the NAFC there!
The organisation was very smooth indeed (I really appreciated feeding my Elves to 4 different Dwarf teams ;) )

Congratulations to PeteW for winning and thanks to him for letting me use the same roster (Assassins rock!!)

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 9:50 am
by HairyPete77
As someone who couldn't make it this year, I have to say that the online coverage of the tournament was not good enough - there wasn't any other than from the coaches there.

The NAFC is one of the biggest gaming events of the year, not just Blood Bowl, and it should be an advert for the game, the NAF and the community in general. I would love for the NAF to be able to showcase the Majors online.

The minimum for an event of this type should be the round draw, results, standings and some photos shared on multiple platforms. Ideally it should have a streamed match and other live video. The World Cup set the bar very high but recent independent AoS tournaments have done equally well for a similar sized event.

As someone looking in wanting to know more about the weekend it was really hard to tell if it was even going on, let alone what was happening.

I'm sure that everyone there enjoyed themselves, but it has to be about more than the people in the room.

(p.s. This is said with a love of the game and wanting the event to be as good as possible. I know the volunteers there do a great job and it is not a criticism of them.)

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 10:32 am
by Joemanji
You need to wind your neck in, or at least learn how to communicate your points more diplomatically. Your line in totally uninformed serial complaining isn't doing anyone any favours.

Here is an example of how you could have written your post without seeming like a moaning twit :
As someone who couldn't make it this year, I would love to have seen a lot more the online coverage of the tournament side of things - there wasn't any other than from the coaches there.

The NAFC is one of the biggest gaming events of the year, not just Blood Bowl, and it should be an advert for the game, the NAF and the community in general. I would love for the NAF to be able to showcase the Majors online.

For an event of this type I would hope for at least the round draw, results, standings and some photos shared on multiple platforms. Ideally it should have a streamed match and other live video. The World Cup set the bar very high but recent independent AoS tournaments have done equally well for a similar sized event.

As someone looking in wanting to know more about the weekend it was really hard to tell if it was even going on, let alone what was happening.

I'm sure that everyone there enjoyed themselves, but the more we can involve people other than just those in the room, the better.

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 11:28 am
by frogboy
Good points, well brought out.

I think the organisation was great, the referees were all very friendly also the time keeping for the rounds was spot on. It really helps with the announcements with an hour to go followed by the refs doing a circuit to ensure people are into the second half etc. I had six very good and very close games but I always felt in control of the time and wasn't panicking at any point, which serves to having more enjoyment of the game.

A lot of other events I've been to supply free Tea a Coffee, I know the venue is a business but for the price it would have been nice to get a drink with the packed lunch. This is a negative for me, I don't mind paying for quality but i'm sure it dosnt need a five star chef to make a packed lunch.
The venue is first class, toilets always stocked with plenty TP bar always open, very clean perfect temperature. Hotel was gleaming :D

It was good to see Hungry Troll & Tritex there this year, this was an improvement from last year :) last year it was just Tritex I believe (and Thrudd Bowl) selling stuff. It would be nice if others could be encouraged to attend too for next year.


Overall it was good fun and I had six great games against six good opponents.

:orc:

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 12:04 pm
by HairyPete77
Many thanks for your feedback Joemanji. This thread has been created to capture feedback about the 2016 NAFC with a view to making the event better every year. Rather than assume that anybody listens to a word I say on other platforms, I hoped that by posting here it would at least be considered by the organising team for next year. I feel that this is a gap in the overall event at the moment.

If you have anything to add, positive or negative, that you think could make the Championship better then you can. If you'd like to start a thread to allow you to comment on my writing or the mechanical nature of my neck or otherwise then please do so.

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 12:11 pm
by straume
I also would love to be able to follow live scoring or whatnot from the distance.

Another point I would make is the scoring system (uh-oh!). For big events as these I think the final should be dropped and the six rounds be played out. Using SoS after 5 rounds feels a bit arbitrary. I realize this is the customary NAFC way (and I realize there is a prize for league winner), but keeping all those at similar points after round5 in the running for winning the tournament seems more fair to me.

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 12:30 pm
by Mr Frodo
An excellent event as always. A great venue. Brilliant opponents. Friendly officials. Top thumbs up.

A suggestion was made for us to use timed turns if we were running behind. In two games my opponent and I used a chess clock app on my Ipad, once it became apparent we were behind. In both cases this seemed to spur us on, with the games finishing on time. Rather than timed turns, we split the time remaining in half, as some turns take longer than others.

My suggestion then is: buy a small collection of digital chess clocks. Refs to place these at tables that are way behind after the one hour mark.

Other game systems use chess clocks at tournaments (Warmachine, Guildball), but I don't think they are generally necessary at NAF events for most games. Although I know many of us have a skewed perception of how long we take versus how long our opponents take.

Andrew

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 1:20 pm
by lunchmoney
Mr Frodo wrote:
My suggestion then is: buy a small collection of digital chess clocks. Refs to place these at tables that are way behind after the one hour mark.
We doing the same as you with our own phones.

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 1:40 pm
by Garrick
Some of us know we are slow and as one of the slowest I do try my best to play quicker. In the first 5 rounds I succeeded without a clock but in the last round we had to do 2 minute turns for the last third to catch up. I can only apologise to inforthepain as although it felt as though I was playing fast enough, I am realistic enough to realise it was probably entirely my fault we ran short of time and I would also like to thank him for the gentlemanly way he responded to the situation. Sir you were a star.

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 2:01 pm
by Pipey
Am I allowed to offer feedback even though I was a referee? Here goes anyway... :)

Tweeting, results and pic posting on line - yes we could've done much more. Plenty of people with expertise in this area; just a matter of giving them the role.

There were occasional data entry glitches. I think we can rework the results slips / change that process a little.

Timings, schedules, chess clocks etc... If we can get a projector that will help as we could put a clock up each round showing the progress. Yes we could provide some chess clocks, there is a cost there of course, and keeping the ticket price down is important.

One thing I've been thinking of - I'd like to see players who are always the last to finish, often not finishing at all in 2hrs 15 (there are a group of regular offenders, I hope you know who you are!) take some personal responsibility for this and provide their own chess clocks and self police by implementing this themselves. What do others think of this idea?

Preparing the laptop and Score ahead of the tournament + registration - that could be improved so things run smoothly into round 1. Easy enough with the right prep.

I can also feed back that the refs had a lot of fun and hope you did too. Great to see this feedback thread (thanks Hawca!) so we can make things even better next year.

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 2:20 pm
by sann0638
Worth saying (as I did on Twitter) that the plan was to have 2 laptops - one for refs and one for coverage. Hawca's car broke down so his laptop was not there and mine had to be used for scoring, so the coverage suffered. Not bad planning, just unlucky.

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 2:44 pm
by Wulfyn
sann0638 wrote:Worth saying (as I did on Twitter) that the plan was to have 2 laptops - one for refs and one for coverage. Hawca's car broke down so his laptop was not there and mine had to be used for scoring, so the coverage suffered. Not bad planning, just unlucky.
Maybe not taking a backup counts as bad planning? I am happy to lend the organisers my laptop next year if you need it.

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 3:19 pm
by Boneless
Wulfyn wrote:
sann0638 wrote:Worth saying (as I did on Twitter) that the plan was to have 2 laptops - one for refs and one for coverage. Hawca's car broke down so his laptop was not there and mine had to be used for scoring, so the coverage suffered. Not bad planning, just unlucky.
Maybe not taking a backup counts as bad planning? I am happy to lend the organisers my laptop next year if you need it.
Just to clarify,me had back up, mechanical failer for my car the issue. Had we not had back we would have not had started in time as mikes laptop was the back up.

For me while we missed on the social media side was pleasing to see that our planning and back ups worked and the event could run as smoothly as it could,

The 'Final' I will give thought to this, but as the biggest of the majors the Naf Championship (formally the Blood Bowl) has always been a final. With a league champion too.
I feel change would not be a good thing, it adds excitement to the end of round 5.

All points are welcomed

Re: NAF championship 2016 feed back

Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 3:42 pm
by Tritex
Well I had a great tournament, I came so close to winning most TD's just a 1 on the last go for it would have nailed it but at least I got to wear the cape a few times. Of course I got to wear the Most Cas Cloak by mistake and my wood elves were the least dangerous really

https://www.facebook.com/tritexgames/ph ... =3&theater

but things were amended later...and all was right with the world:

https://www.facebook.com/tritexgames/ph ... =3&theater

I have read the comments above. I agree that drinks with lunch would have been better as a the pack lunch is pretty basic for a hotel of this standard. The venue otherwise is great and easily accessible.

I am happy to support this event and glad that the prize support went down well. Had some great, challenging games throughout the competition and actually happy that the prizes went to others as what would I do with a voucher to spend at my store..he he.

Thanks to all the players who came and said hi and to all those who bought off me during the weekend it helps to cover costs :) Looking forward to next year.