Greetings gamers! For some time, the tournament scene was dominated by a powerful corporation, dominating all around them and forcing TO’s to labor tirelessly, a slave to the screen, sweat dripping from their faces as they enter data for their event while the onlookers cry out “How long!” They said, “I must travel hours to my homeland and need my scores now!”
That corporation was Microsoft, the master software? Excel.
Now you may guffah, but I assure you, you have no idea the strain TO’s have had entering data into said spreadsheets only to have hearts sink when the information was inputted wrong, or there was some kind of error in the information and you had to retract a prize already given. TO’ing can be very stressful and having to enter everything by hand made the system rife with errors and was a very stressful process in those last moments of the event.
There have been many software iterations, pretty much all of which I have used and still use today like Warscore for my league event. But when I run tournaments, I only use Best Coast Pairings.
It needs to be said I am not being compensated for this article. I see something that needs to be supported by players in the ITC and that is Best Coast Pairings.
Before Best Coast, TO’s had to enter in tons of information by hand into a spreadsheet and then had to send it to Reece, who also entered the info into the database by hand. He had to spend hours upon hours each week just inputting data. Now things are seemless and automatically updated when the scores are entered. BCP is one of the best new gaming aid inventions for tournament play today.
Now, with Best Coast, TO’s have a tool that handles the scoring of events for them so they can do more important things like handle rules calls, walk the room, take pictures, and just enjoy the event more as a whole. It frees up a ton of time for TO’s to be on call. Another great feature is that it reduces errors in scores as both players need to agree on what is entered and put in their personal password o confirm. Without BCP, super large events such as the upcoming 500 player LVO, would probably be logistically impossible or at the very least extremely time consuming and filled with errors.
They have done all of this, pretty much for free, looking for alternative avenues to raise funds for their business. They are acting as the credit card service and will process payments for the event, paying out to the store/TO/event before the event and only taking a modest fee. I wish we had done this for our event The Boise Cup GT last year as the store’s web cart has had some hiccups and the point of sale system was clunky and very hard to know how much money we actually had.
Its been a bit since they introduced their latest venture, but still not too late to get in on it! Behold, the subscription service! They have three payment plans – $4.99 a month, $27.99 for 6 months, and $49.99 for 12 months. I am proud to say I’m Number One! First to sign up (outside of the BCP team I am told) I’m getting a tat to remind others of my accomplishment!
What you get is:
- access to all the rosters from every event in the BCP database.
- Access to all events in the BCP database.
- Points that you use to get discounts with retailers, such as FLG!
- Other bonuses as time goes by.
If you are a TO and use BCP, you should try to find a way to help them out. At the very least, please try to get everyone’s list into the system as this is a big selling point for the subscription service. It also helps you and your event. It helps your players so they can see their opponents list and it helps the community see what players are using to plan their own lists. It costs you very little except some time and helps keep this great app going. Next I would suggest using their app for players to purchase tickets. It helps put pressure on those procrastinating as they can see just how many tickets are left, its fast and payment comes very quickly to your account. Finally, I would suggest supporting the app with a subscription service as it is a small price to pay to have seemless tournament running software powering your program.
If you are a player, then you should also consider a subscription service. You get access to every event that publishes lists (and with more putting them up as part of the award packages) you get to see the meta as it forms and get some great ideas for your own army, as well as seeing what you will need to be prepared for.
Again, I’m not getting anything for this, just the knowledge that in supporting BCP I get to continue to use it for my events, which I will do each and every time for my one day tournaments and larger GT’s! We are using it right now for Boise Cup 2018 so get on over and get your tickets to Boise’s premiere GT on June 23rd and 24th, 2018. Its going to be a good time.
At any rate, try to find a way to help these guys out. They have provided an excellent free service for us gamers and I would hope that we would rally to support them.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
I will second this testimony. I used BCP for our Come the Apocalypse GT event in September. We used it to track the rounds and scoring but also to collect entry fees for the event. This app was a huge burden off my shoulders as a TO. And we made sure every list was uploaded. The support is also quick if you ever have any issues. I never had to wait longer than a day for any issues I had with the app. If you are a TO use it. Will make your life a lot easier. If you are a player definitely consider subscribing.
I really like the system and would gladly subscribe… if it wasn’t for the price.
The Warhammer Sigmar app subscription is $1/month and gives you points and a solid army builder tool on your phone that is constantly updated. I use it basically every day. Even unsubscribed, it’s filled with tools and warscrolls.
Battlescribe is ~$3/year for the upgraded service, which allows favoriting specific unit setups and a few other options that you don’t get with the base service. I also use this nearly every day for playing with 40k lists or looking at setups. Baseline Battlescribe is still an incredibly powerful tool that I would use without a problem.
The price on BCP is comparatively less functionality and asking far more money. The base tool is extremely frustrating to use since you can’t view lists and it’s not searchable, meaning it’s basically just there to look at matchups. The upgraded version is a step up… but seeing lists is a lot to ask $50+ a year for.
Maybe if there was like some big data parsing that would give real-time infos about list popularity or something like that, but the functionality they’re asking for doesn’t feel worth the pricetag.
Battlescribe is one of the worst applications I’ve ever tried to use, clunky and non intuitive, don’t even start with the formatting nightmare that is a printed list.
BCP is a little over a pot of paint, or any Starbucks order, a month. Pretty much everyone coming through this site is buying more than one of each of those a month. It’s really not that much to ask for a resource that lets me review who is playing what in the big and small tournaments around the world. If it’s not a tool you think you’ll use, then that’s fine. But in this hobby, to say $5 a month is too much and overpriced is laughable.
This article doesn’t even mention discounts at gaming stores and FLG that are available through the app, which if actually used, can help you actually gain value from a subscription.
>But in this hobby, to say $5 a month is too much and overpriced is laughable.
Things can have different worths. Paint will last me months (less for batch painting, of course). Looking at lists once a month when they might get posted somewhere else anyway is just… Not the same thing.
That kind of thinking is what leads people to become broke. “I can do x, y, and z because they’re not really expensive individually” is the road to wondering where your paycheck goes =D
I love the BCP app. One of the most useful tools for searching for events and checking out other players lists. Also, because of the extra discount codes you can buy with the points you accumulate every month, I have more than paid for my yearly subscription with the extra 10% coupon codes with FLG every other month. Gaining access to the BCP collected data and the points to buy discount codes make the $50 a month great value. I would like to see a list search function and see some of the server issues go away, but I’m pretty sure they are working on those concerns. I’m happy to support this company to get them off the ground and see them reach the potential that they can achieve in our wargaming community because the more successful they are the more we win and get a better tool!
Thanks for the support and for using your coupons. it’s a thing we’d really like to see take off.
I unsubscribed from BCP due to its buggy nature and event lists not showing up or being illegible when trying to read them. I didn’t feel I was getting my money’s. Perhaps it’s been upgraded/fixed, however I’m not willing to pay $5 to find out.
Keep attending events and following the events we sponsor.
We’ve been working on stability and features.
As for the readability of lists, we’re looking at some changes to the way the camera import works but, really…. remind people to copy/paste in text lists or upload their own PDF exports.
Yeah, I’m subbed to them. But it’s really buggy, crashes a lot. I have to go to “redeem points” in order for the app to realise that I’m a subscriber every time I turn the damn thing on. If I go to search I get “only to paying subscribers” :/
Basically, I’m here because I don’t have a choice…
Has it ever been updated? I feel like it is just a database that was made and forgotten :/
If you ever have issues let us know at support@bestcoastpairings.com you should not be experiencing a login issue, and we would like to track it down and eliminate it if there are issues. Unfortunately we dont know there is an issue if we arent notified, this is especially true with Android devices which is why it gets difficult, a samsung may not have an issue while an LG or HTC might. Unless someone lets know, we dont know.
We are working everyday to make things better and have huge plans for the player app. The tool will be everything that everyone wants it to be, but it just takes time. We appreciate our subscribers that we have, its helping to keep us going. This year will be huge for us and you will see a lot of great things. I know I am excited as a player at what i know is coming.
It still doesn’t fix the underlying problem of the game sorely needing an official list building app. What good do army lists do you when half of them are written in crayon and generally illegible and then a bunch of other lists (particularly good players trying to keep their “tech” a secret) aren’t uploaded at all?
Maybe if tthere was actual battle point, android, or customizability
This is an advertisement. And not a good one. BCP might be useful for more folks if there was actual battle point tracking, android support for TOs who dont have IPhones or IPads, or customizability of scoring (paint scoring, for instance). As it is, BCP is just too limited. If your event is different in any way from the ITC standard, its more trouble than its worth.
We’re working on the Android port as fast as we can.
In the meantime… Battle Point ( non Swiss ) events have been supported for quite some time and their setup is currently better exposed to the TO.
Soft scores are in as of the latest release. We’re working on an FAQ/How-To but, the sort version… Name your soft score, set a multiplier for how it will affect Overall score and as TO, fill it in from the Roster page.
As a TO I use the BCP app at every event I run. It makes life so much simpler and cuts out mistakes as mentioned above.
Like anything it does take a little getting used to but have now run 10+ events using it including a GT and can safely say it made those events much, much easier to manage.
I’d be interested in knowing more about the discounts offered, is there a published list of participating retailers somewhere?
At present I’m unsubscribed but would be happy to pay for a very useful tool if I’m getting value as a TO and as a plastic crack addict. Being UK based I’m concerned the retailers wont be in the Uk so the discounts might not be relevant.
Thanks,
James