Hi All,
I was recently able to chat with the organizer of the Squarehammer event at the coming Nova Open. For those not in the know, this will be a Warhammer armies Project 5-round tournament. This will be one of the first Warhammer Fantasy events in a long time and, possibly, the first Warhammer Armies Project event ever at NOVA. A few tickets are left so if you are interested, better act fast!
1.Tell me a bit about you and the other organizers, what armies do you play? How long have you been playing and what are some past events you have organized?
I started my nerd journey with super Nintendo – my favorite game was King of Dragons. Once in elementary school Pokémon came out and I “had” to have some cards. Best place to buy these cards were game stores – Camelot and One-Eyed Jacques in Richmond were my stores. I saw some 40k on the wall and was like whoooaaaaa!
The first mini I ever bought (a gift from mom lol) was the pewter imperial guard sentinel chicken. I have been playing fantasy and 40k for 25 years now. I run fantasy events every other month – could just be a gathering of 6+ people or a tournament with 14+ I have been running these events for a couple years now as I keep trying to build the community.
2. What types of events are you running? Narrative? Competitive? Both? Have you decided on WAP or 8th edition?
When it comes to the style of events, I’d say a bit of both. We trying to curve the meta to limit dick-stomp lists; although we have run ‘ard boyz style tournaments just to see which faction reigns supreme. We will be using 100% WAP – 8th ed was ‘all right’ but WAP revitalized the community by bringing back the fun of the game instead of 1 bunker with lots of chaff. WAP provides 20+ factions to play as well as rules from 3rd – 8th edition.
3. How do you develop your ideas for these events? For competitive events how do you try to balance the armies?
With a ton of play-testing and tournaments to ensure missions and list restrictions are “fair” to as many factions as possible. Limiting spam and the OP and under-costed special characters is the main thing. Rules-wise, WAP has almost everything locked down pretty well.
4. How is running an 8th/WAP event different from running a 40k or Age of Sigmar event?
For a TO, running the event itself isn’t very different. For all events a TO has to deal with late players, drops, rule questions, and matchups while also trying to create a fun and/or competitive atmosphere. I find it important to balance out the try-hard with narrative elements to bring in as many players as possible; the more players, the better the prize support. I always have more than just Top 3 as winners – best painted, sportsmanship, and last place are key. I try to make it a friendly atmosphere so that even someone who only gets stomped into can still have a good time vs random players. This will keep them coming back and improving their game/list.
5. What are you most excited about for this event?
Honestly, just being able to run the first fantasy event at NOVA in over a decade is AMAZING. It truly is an honor that the community has grown as large as it has and it gets to be hosted at one of the largest gaming conventions in the country. I couldn’t be happier about it! I hope that GW sees that there are still many players and that it pushes them to make The Old World sooner and more in line with what the community wants.
Thank you for your time! There is some chatter about an impromptu mega battle on Friday night as well. Maybe I will see you there! If you would like to track any updates baout the event or learn more about Squarehammer’s content they have a Facebook and a Youtube that I can recommend!
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
