Talk Fantasy Football

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The painting comp
"A bit more direction and transparency on painting and the duel comp would be nice next year. I realise it is an aside. But people put the effort in so the issue shouldn't be sidelined IMO.
Judging for the duel changed from the rules pack, which stated public vote. When I queried this (for clarity) i was given very short shrift by a couple of the judges. I have no problem with the Change of tac, but announcing it would have bee civil."

Actually the rules pack on the NAF site (http://www.thenaf.net/wp-content/upload ... _final.pdf) states, "This competition will be judged by a small group of skilled people selected by the tournament organisers. It will not be a public vote."

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Not true for the duel, the rules pack linked still clearly states that the duel will be decided by public vote. I too got short shrift when querying the change and lack of announcement. It's the NAF's train set to play with as they will but some transparency would stop a lot of muttering.Well done to Garrick on his win btw, a result I feel he would quite probably still have gained had it been a vote.

On a similar vein the draw for the team(s) were done in a very strange and anti-climactic fashion. Surely a tombola type thing with the yougest player present drawing the ticket or some such would be more fitting considering the amount of work that went in to producing the team?

There was some specific feedback received from one of the players whose match I had to call in Round 3. The round had expired around 10 minutes prior, however the referees as a whole may have been inconsistent regarding when we allowed people to play over the round time into lunch, and when we were strict. I guess that’s one thing we can be more clear on next time. Likely to remain an issue if NAFC remains this huge or even grows.

I did already discuss this with the Head Ref DaPiranah and also Jimjimany on the day but raising it here for everyone’s info.

Lots of other very positive feedback about the event from several people. The sheer scale of the organisation task, with very few glitches (if at all) was evidently really appreciated. It was great to see so many nice details – pitches, banners etc. etc. Great job Hawca!

neilnickson wrote:Not true for the duel, the rules pack linked still clearly states that the duel will be decided by public vote.

Ah, didnt spot that, I'll amend the OP and add any organiser comments when they come in.

Great job by the organizers, I thank you again for your work and am very impressed how smoothly everything went for such a large event.

Venue: Great.
Hotel: Great.
Tables: Not great, but a very good idea to get the slightly bigger pitches made.
New pitches: Loved them.

No real complaints from me. Thanks to the tean, and thanks to my 6 opponents for enjoyable and hard fought matches.

First I would like to reiterate that this year's NAFC set the bar for future large tournaments. The energy, dynamism and helpfulness of Hawca and his team was unsurpassed. The minor glitches of access to the draw (already being addressed) and lumpy tables (unlikely to be addressable but Hawca is going to have a go) were IMHO the only things that stopped this being the perfect event.

OK I am going to jump in re the duel . Early doors I asked why it was not a public vote (as advertised in the Rulespack I had) and I was given a very reasonable answer which I can see no reason not to share here: Non playing Judges / Staff would vote as objectively as they could so that the competition would be about the entries rather than a popularity vote for the painter involved (i.e. which painter had the most pals at the tournament).

Just want to preface my post by saying I was mighty impressed with the organisation of the event. Having an event of that size run as smoothly as it did is a testament to the work and skills Hawca and the crew. Well Done.

I do have a few minor observations or suggestions, which are not major issues, and did not in any meaningful way impact my enjoyment of the weekend.
- The boards - I loved that we were supplied with boards, and allowed to take them as a souvenir. The execution and design of the boards was top notch, with one minor exception, having reddish-brown square markers over the green pitch made it a bit hard to see them, especially the three rows nearest the endzone, where the underlying graphic was darker. FYI I'm not colourblind, I suspect someone who was would have found it impossible to play on. If you are lucky enough to have the support of the printer again in the future, I think white markers would work much better.

- Projector - I noticed the room was equipped with a data projector, and I can't help think it would be useful for two issues 1) putting the draw up on a big screen as a back up to the website, and 2) Throwing up a countdown clock during games, so everyone can easily keep track of timing. That helps satisfy both those that want constant updates, and those who only want an occasional verbal reminder.

- Lunch - Lunch bags were great, and obviously required for an isolated venue. Not sure where the mix of standard/vegatarian lunches came from, but it was a long way off IMO. Maybe in a normal population that works, but BB is obviously heavily skewed to males, with a resulting lower proportion of vegetarians. The reason this came up was that my Round 1 game finished on the dot of the official end time, yet before I had even packed up, there was an announcement that only vegetarian packs were left.

- Tables - I can see this has been raised before. I didn't have too much of an issue, I'm a tall guy so can reach, but I did find myself donning my glasses on my opponents turn so I could read their dice. My opponents probably thought I was a suspicious SOB, checking up on them. Just wondering if using rows of single tables would work? Are there that many people that would be strongly against playing side to side? Does the room layout still work as well set up that way?

So, as I said a very well run event, with only some really minor suggestion from me. Thanks again to everyone involved in putting it on.

Garrick wrote:
OK I am going to jump in re the duel . Early doors I asked why it was not a public vote (as advertised in the Rulespack I had) and I was given a very reasonable answer which I can see no reason not to share here: Non playing Judges / Staff would vote as objectively as they could so that the competition would be about the entries rather than a popularity vote for the painter involved (i.e. which painter had the most pals at the tournament).

As you say a reasonable answer which begs the question why not just put that in the rules pack in the first place....

GreedySmurf wrote: - Projector - I noticed the room was equipped with a data projector, and I can't help think it would be useful for two issues 1) putting the draw up on a big screen as a back up to the website, and 2) Throwing up a countdown clock during games, so everyone can easily keep track of timing. That helps satisfy both those that want constant updates, and those who only want an occasional verbal reminder.

Comes up every year - costs an insane amount from the venue.

sann0638 wrote:

GreedySmurf wrote: - Projector - I noticed the room was equipped with a data projector, and I can't help think it would be useful for two issues 1) putting the draw up on a big screen as a back up to the website, and 2) Throwing up a countdown clock during games, so everyone can easily keep track of timing. That helps satisfy both those that want constant updates, and those who only want an occasional verbal reminder.

Comes up every year - costs an insane amount from the venue.

Would they object to you guys bringing your own projector to project a clock on to that large white screen that was behind the Refs table?

I believe so.

Yes they absolutely do object.

sann0638 wrote:I believe so.

Fair enough seems odd to charge so much just to use a projector especially when you've booked the room for two days.

danger rat wrote:

sann0638 wrote:I believe so.

Fair enough seems odd to charge so much just to use a projector especially when you've booked the room for two days.

Same conversation every year sadly.

Hawca, if you want to take on the challenge then you could ask again and use your Welsh (and Scottish) charm. Good luck if you do decide to tilt at this particular windmill.

im not going to go into details for cost, but the costings are going up at an alarming rate each year and you would be stunned at what we pay just to get a mic for the 2 days.

that said it is a conference centre and they give us a good rate compared to many and what they could charge.

i have idea's,

But i ask this question, when games are told time is running out we still get hassle. I have 1 guy give me attitude, blaming me for interrupting him for his game over running. how will a clock help?

I've said it before, I'll say it again - part of the skill in playing Blood Bowl is playing to the time allowed.