NAFC 22 feedback

[lunchmoney]

Now the dust has settled on a great weekend please take a moment to think on anything you would like to feedback to the team. As always please remain civil and constructive

[PercyTheTroll]

A couple of things stand out from a generally excellent weekend.

The 8:30 start on Saturday wasn't needed for registration for people who had presubmitted rosters. It might have made the morning easier for people traveling if this had been known in advance.

The web app was brilliant, but it could be improved by making the rankings and draw searchable (same search box as the result submission page would be ideal).

The pitches were a little tight but I think they worked better than any possible alternative would have. I might bring second ed models next time though

All in all a brilliant weekend and everything seemed to go smoothly which means that whatever you guys were dealing with, you were dealing with right.

[Be4ch]

I agree on the registration point. A note to say if you'd pre-submitted a roster then you didn't need to register would have been good.

The Web app was great and a huge improvement on previous years with paper submission. As was mentioned, a search function for match ups would be good but it wasn't essential.

I really disliked the pitches. 1.They were too small for the majority of bases and quickly became crowded if/when a scrum developed. I use 3rd ed minis on 28mm bases and with the thinnest skill rings I could find, it was still too tight. The 32mm bases were way too big. 2. The squares in some areas of the pitch were very hard to read and all my opponents and I had problems with it. That combined with the square sizes meant there were many "where is he again? This square?" conversations. 3. The material kept snagging on the bases/skill rings and the pitches were rucking up.

Edit: I've realised feedback is only good if it's constructive. I think, in future, if it's made clear in the rules pack that, due to space/table restrictions, the pitches are slightly smaller than the (now) standard size and that skill rings on bases are not recommended it might help. Suggest loom bands that hang on models, maybe? If new pitches are ordered in the future then a heavier, neoprene type material might work better to prevent rucking.

That said, I really appreciated the new tables and not having backache from leaning over the old, huge tables was a relief. I understand that there has to be a compromise made due to the new tables so I hate to complain, especially when so much work has gone into it, but the pitches did knock the edge off the shine for me.

Having more vendors there was great (even if I did spend a lot of money trying to find skill rings to fit the pitch ) and having the t-sports network there was great as well. Having attended the 1st NAFC at WHW all those years ago it's amazing to see how far on the tournament has come and that's solely down to the hard work of all the people who have taken on the task of organising it each year. So, thank you all.

Overall, it was a brilliant weekend, really well run, and it was nice to see such a healthy turnout. I'm looking forward to next year already.

[Wulfyn]

Don't the organisers put up an official questionnaire and feedback thread? Why not just wait for them to do it? I bet they are still tired after such a big weekend!!

Now either they can't do it , their comments will be buried here, or we'll have comments split across 2 threads.

[Filthmonger]

Completely agree about the pitches, but they were probably the only sized pitches that would work and it just meant the occasional clarification with an opponent about where a player was situated. I would have preferred the match time remaining to be displayed on a big screen rather than verbal announcements. I had 2 games that were running late at half time and I insisted on a chess clock as allowed in the rules pack. The chess clock rules were not widely known it seems, and I think it would have been easier to promote some urgency before half time with a visual display of the round time.
Overall a fantastic weekend, great atmosphere and the website was incredibly easy to use, even for a phone moron like me.

[lunchmoney]

Don't the organisers put up an official questionnaire and feedback thread?

Do they? Haven't done in last few years, I have.

... , or we'll have comments split across 2 threads.

And I can just use mod powers to merge threads, if need be.

[Halfabrain]

Thought the whole weekend was very well organised, venue was excellent, staff good and playing times were clear.
The pitches were a touch small but I didn't really find it a problem, they fitted the table exactly and its better than having tables far too big. I'd be more than happy to play on them again even though most my mini's have 28mm bases, it really wasn't that big a deal.
Website was great, quick and easy to find what you need. If I could add anything to it it would be being able to view other people's rosters, though that would probably be a huge amount of work.
Nearly everyone was so nice and sportsmanlike and the refs were fantastic.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[howlinggriffon]

I thought the gaming side was awesome. I didn't have a problem with the pitches but it did mean I resorted to using loom bands as skill rings on my 25mm base minis. Better than having back ache on the big tables for sure. I did see someone trying to use a 2016 silver range ruler on them though. Website was great - would be cool if could be set up as an App next time. Lunches were good and everything ran very smoothly. Absolutely top work.

Only negatives for me were on the hotel side. Bar didn't seem to have much in stock and wasn't serving anything apart from an expensive buffet which looked desperately poor. Seemed like a waste of a fairly captive audience as everyone went out for beer/food or ordered pizza instead.

[gr4n0t4]

First NAFC for me. The organization was excellent.

- The website was neat, easy and incredible useful, It would be amazing if you release it as Open Source for other tournaments, we could also help to include new features as searchable draws and https

- The only negative thing was the price of the beer, It would be cheaper for me if the ticket price was double and the beer price half

[lunchmoney]

Only negatives for me were on the hotel side. Bar didn't seem to have much in stock and wasn't serving anything apart from an expensive buffet which looked desperately poor. Seemed like a waste of a fairly captive audience as everyone went out for beer/food or ordered pizza instead.

That one was on covid. Staff shortages in the kitchen leads to reduced menu.

[Stig]

Thanks so much all - was a brilliant event - really well done; loved it as always Only minor suggestion would be if there was an alert that the draw is up - that way those outside/at the bar don't have the anxiety of checking their phone every two minutes.

[lunchmoney]

Re the website - it was generally great. Uploading results via web is such a boon for TOs (we did similar at Thrudball).
I did overhear several people lamenting over the lack of a search option (which was not obvious) and is there anyway to see the TDs and CAS results on the final table?

[Loki]

Reading through, I'd have made a similar comment to others about pitches...

1. Better than big tables
2. Squares were too small for 32mm
3. Snagging was a bit of an issue

My constructive response would be if I'd know before hand I would have brought an older team on 25mm bases. So communication woudl be my request i.e. if its the same pitches next year confirm early and suggest 25mm bases for participants.

Overall a fantastic weekend, well organised and run. Thank you to all who gave up their time and energy to make it so good.

[besters]

Agree with Loki. Great event, only surprise that no one has mentioned lunch, even if format kept the same, can the quality not be improved?

[Joemanji]

Honestly I can't imagine a tournament of this size being run more smoothly. I think a lot of people take for granted just what a Herculean task it is just getting 300 nerds sat down playing their games on time. Major props to the organisers, some serious hard work has gone in to make it seem this effortless. I liked the pitches, I thought they were the perfect compromise to the years of bitter complaining we have seen about the tables being too big. I also enjoyed my apples, they were delicious both days. Great to see Rob, Scrivo and the Honest Wargamer / TSports guys there too!