Empire Cup - NYC Metro Area - April 25, 2014

[mzukerman]

Welcome Blood Bowlers! The Long Island Blood Bowl League brings to you the Empire Cup! A one-day, four-round swiss-pairings tournament that will be held at Game Master Games in Hicksville, NY (Long Island).

How close are you to the tournament???
o Within a 4 hour drive: NYC, Harrisburg, Pittston/Wilkes Barre, Binghamton, Albany
o Within a 6 hour drive: Northern VA
o Within a 10 hour drive/3 hour flight: Richmond, VA Beach, Hamilton, Toronto, Columbus OH, Ottawa

Vitals:
Empire Cup 2015 Rule Set (v1.0): http://1drv.ms/15aD1bG
Empire Cup Roster Sheets: http://1drv.ms/1xz3SWT
Questions: empirecupbb at gmail dot com
Cost: $21/$31 for NAF/non-NAF coaches. Payment via PayPal to empirecupbb at gmail dot com

Details:
**Where is this being held?
Game Master Games
954 S Broadway Hicksville, NY 11801

**What is the Empire Cup?
The Empire Cup is a NAF-sponsored resurrection-style tournament utilizing a Swiss pairing system. This means that any injuries sustained in one game will not carry over to the next. The tournament will be one day and feature four guaranteed games for participating teams.

**Is this tournament part of the East Coast Tournament Series?
Yes!!!

**What are the rules for creating a team?
All teams from LRB6 are allowed plus experimental teams plus Skinks (10-16 with 0-1 Kroxigor) and Warpstone Goblins (12 Underworld Goblins, 0-1 Warpstone Troll).

You have 1,100,000 gold crowns to build a team consisting of a minimum of 11 players. You may purchase fan factor, rerolls, assistant coaches, cheerleaders, and/or an apothecary per each team’s usual rules. Inducements may also be purchased at their standard price as permanent part of the team. Star players may also be purchased as a permanent part of the team, however you must already have 11 players on your roster before doing so. If two teams playing each other purchase the same star player, they will both be able to use the star player.

Once your team is created, you are given an additional 100,000 gold crowns to spend on player skills. Normal skills cost 20k, doubles cost 30k. No stat upgrades allowed. You can only buy any one skill up to four (4) times and a single player can only be given two (2) skills.

**Are there any painting or modeling requirements?
Any miniatures are allowed, however each of the models of a particular position must be easily identifiable as such (similar poses, features, etc.). Each of the models must be numbered clearly. Painting your models should involve a minimum of 3 colors. There will be a reward for the best painted team as voted by all participants.

**How do you determine the winner of the tournament?
The most points at the end of the tournament will win. Ties will be broken by strength of schedule. The two players who are at the final table in the last round will finish 1-2, so the loser at the final table will be the second place finisher even if they finish behind one of the other players after losing in the finals.

In addition, the top two stunty teams will face each other in Stunty Cup finals. The winner will be the Stunty champion. Should one of the top stunty teams make the tournament final table (and the second stunty team not), that team will automatically win the Stunty Cup and will be hailed in the annals of Blood Bowl history as being piloted by the greatest Stunty coach of all time. Seriously, we’ll plaster it all over the Talk Fantasy Football site.

Scoring will go as follows:
Win: 60pts
Draw: 30pts
Loss: 10pts
TDs: 2 pts ea. (maximum of 4 per game for 8 pts)
Cas: 2 pts ea. (maximum of 4 for 8 pts) (including fouls but not crowd-induced injuries). Brooklyn rules baby!
Long Island Themed Team: +10pts (This is open mostly to interpretation, but could involve Long Island towns as their homes, Long Island landmarks as mascots or other interpretations as well.)

**What awards can I win in the tournament?
The Montauk Lighthouse Award (winner of final table in final round)
The Orient Point Award (final table in final round, but didn’t win finals match)
The Beach Comber Award (most points not at the final table in the final round)
The Long Island Lolita Award (least points in the tournament)
The Snob Costas Award (best stunty team)
The Suffolk Award (most touchdowns)
The Queens Award (best defense/least touchdowns)
The Brooklyn Award (most casualties)
The Nassau Award (sportsmanship/theme winner)
The Soho Award (best painted team - can be won by a winner of another award)

**I hear this is a big deal in the New York area. Are there any stars coming to the tournament?
As a matter of fact there are! There are five local stars that have played in the Long Island Blood Bowl League that will be available for you to purchase as part of your team. All have a championship pedigree, we assure you. All stars are available to all teams. For more info, see the tournament rule set at: http://1drv.ms/15aD1bG

**What is the schedule of play?
We’ll be opening the doors at 10am for registration. You need to be there as close as possible to that time so that we can start on time. The matches will be limited to 2 hours in length, no timed turns. At the end of two hours, games will end and we’ll total up the scores, preparing for the next round. The tournament should be over around 9:30pm. There will be meal breaks.

**How much is this tournament going to cost?
The cost will be $21 for NAF members (including PayPal fees), $31 for non-NAF members (including PayPal fees). All fees should be made via PayPal to empirecupbb@gmail.com.


**Are there any other prizes or giveaways that we may receive at the tournament?
There will be a special prize for everyone who preregisters at least 10 days before the tournament. In addition there will be raffles for Impact Miniatures products including a full team!

**I have questions!!!
If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Tournament Organizing Staff at empirecupbb@gmail.com.

[mzukerman]

Added tournament specifics and links to rule set.

[mzukerman]

Prize support and trophies have been ordered for the tournament! It's time to start getting an official count. Anyone who is officially registering, please use PayPal and send to empirecupbb *at* gmail *dot* com. Teams do not have to be sent in yet, but I want to start getting an official count.

NAF members $21
non-NAF members $31

NAF membership is $10 and you get a free prize! So join!

[mzukerman]

We have audio commercials!

30-second spot: http://1drv.ms/1wP68yV
2:35 spot: http://1drv.ms/1wP6aH5

[mzukerman]

Hey there coaches, only one month until the Empire Cup! Gofiz is revving up the chainsaw in anticipation! Trophies and prize support have been ordered, registrations are starting to come in and the excitement is building! Coaches are coming in from New York City, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and even Virginia to take a shot at the Cup! And don't forget, the Empire Cup is part of the East Coast Tournament Series (requires NAF login).

So far we have 11 "hell yeah" and many "I want to" answers. It's time to turn some of those I want to's into hell yeahs and hell yeahs into paid entries! If you are paid ($21 for NAF members, $31 for non-NAF members) by April 15th, you will receive an extra prize! That's on top of the raffles for minis and stuff that we're going to have for all attendees! Please send all payments via PayPal to empirecupbb@gmail.com. Any questions, feel free to email empirecupbb@gmail.com.

The ruleset is here. You can also start putting together your roster by getting the custom Empire Cup roster sheet here.

Keep checking http://facebook.com/empirecupbb for more info and get those teams ready!

One month to go!

[Guy in Suit]

My schedule cleared up and I am now free to attend. Excited for this!

[mzukerman]

Wonderful to hear!

[mzukerman]

There are less than three weeks until the Empire Cup! At this moment, we have 16 commitments! Of those 16, 5 have paid already, so please help me out by either giving me the money in person or sending $21 or $31 (NAF member vs non-NAF member) to empirecupbb at gmail dot com. The first 15 who pay by April 15th will get a special prize!

So what do you get out of this tournament you ask?

• There are ten, count ‘em – 10 – trophies we’re handing out: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, last, stunty, most touchdowns, most casualties, best defense, best sportsmanship and best painted.
• There will be raffles galore! We ordered a whole package from Impact Miniatures that should be in soon! It includes individual minis, sprues, tokens and dice, one full team and another full set of minis! More details on that as we get closer to the tournament
• Every attendee will get an instant $5 off any purchase of a game from our benevolent hosts, Game Master Games! I think there’s a minimum there, but it’s worth it. Dave and the team at GMG are even opening the store up early so we can get our game on!
• What do Long Islanders have that everyone else craves? Bagels! We’ll have a bagel spread so everyone can sample the best of the best.
• And of course: four games of Blood Bowl guaranteed!

Oh, and it’s time to start working on those rosters! Get them here: http://1drv.ms/1xz3SWTc. Please send them to empirecupbb at gmail dot com when you are done.

Are you excited? I am! Blood Bowl coaches, represent!

[mzukerman]

Hi Blood Bowlers! 2 week update here from your friendly neighborhood tournament organizer (TO). With just two weeks to go, we have 16 commitments and a bunch of others that are still looking to see if they can come. We also have 8 of the 15 early birds claimed. Remember, for all those that pay their entry fee before the 15th (which is this coming Wednesday), you get a special giveaway! Send your $21 or $31 entry (NAF member / non-NAF member) to empirecupbb at gmail dot com to claim your early bird prize!

So where is everyone coming from for this tournament? We have a really good mix of commitments so far! Virginia (2), Connecticut (2), Pennsylvania (3), NYC (3), New Jersey (1) and Long Island (4). A lot of the people on the fence are locals, so hopefully we'll get a few more in.

The prize support has been shipped! As soon as it arrives, I'll start telling everyone what we have.

Mrs. TO is looking into our bagel spread for the tournament. We're going to maximize every dollar we have to make sure that everyone gets a great sample of what Long Island has to offer.

So what is the schedule? Game Master Dave is opening the store at 10am for us (2 hours early!) so we can be ready to rock and roll by 10:30. That first 30 minutes will be everyone getting their final money in (if they haven't paid yet) and a final check of rosters. If you want to help things run a little more smoothly, send your roster in beforehand. You can get the official Empire Cup automated roster sheet here: http://1drv.ms/1xz3SWT. So far one brave soul has sent his roster in.

At about 10:30, the first game we'll begin. The plan is to get each game (2 hours) in with a 30 minute break between each game, but with an extended break between games 2 and 3. We'll have the tournament standings displayed on the wall through the first 3 rounds so everyone knows where they stand. In the last round we'll keep things a little secret so there's some anticipation going into the awards ceremony. We anticipate the day being complete around 9:30pm.

For those who have not played in resurrection-style tournaments, you have the same roster every round. All of your injuries and deaths are healed by my own clerics from the Church of the Wayward Athlete so you do not need to be worried about that Wardancer who was killed by a Black Orc miscreant in the previous round. In addition, you do not collect star player points for your players as there is no leveling up. Matchups will be random the first round, although we will do our best not to have folks from the same region play each other in that first round. After that, we will be doing "swiss style" which means that you will be playing whomever is closest to you in the standings (assuming you haven't played them before). Check out the rule set (http://1drv.ms/15aD1bG) for how scoring will be done.

The most points at the end of the tournament will win. Ties will be broken by strength of schedule. The two players who are at the final table in the last round will finish 1-2, so the loser at the final table will be the second place finisher even if they finish behind one of the other players after losing in the finals. The one exception to this rule will be if the players behind them are tied with them (but lose in tiebreakers) going into the final round – in that case all teams that are tied will be eligible to win the championship.

This tournament will also feature a stunty championship. The top two stunty teams (and I know there will be at least two, so we should be good there) will face off in the stunty finals and the winner will go home with the Snob Costas Award. Should they tie, points will win out. Note that even if these two teams have already faced each other previously in the tournament (which is possible), they will still face off in the finals. This is the one exception to the rule where you will not play a team twice in the tournament.

We're looking forward to seeing everyone on the 25th!

-Zuk (TO)

[mzukerman]

We have one week to go for the Empire Cup! The order from Impact Miniatures came in today, so get excited! We've got: Halfling Thom A Sanders & Cauldron, Hired Gun Wizard, Potion Peddler, Bomb Sprue, Imp Crusher, Hacker Slasher, Weather token/dice set and two teams - Women of Impact and Timberline Elf Team. We'll be raffling these off at the tournament.

Plus everyone who paid by April 15th will receive a set of Rubber Skill Rings. That's: Larry Cutlip Mason, Matt Kelly, Lawrence LaSpada, Anthony LaSpada, Jack Warecki, Jim Luft, Zafar Tejani, Robert Kopp, Mathew Thomas, Andrew Weakland and James Guastavino. Thanks to all those who paid early, it's helped in the layout for the trophies and the prize support. The rest of the players, don't worry, you can pay at the door.

Those of you who are coming to town the night before, let me know. We have a board game night in Rockville Centre if you are interested.

Please get your team sheets in. You can find them at http://1drv.ms/1G7us2l.

Just one week to go!

[mzukerman]

Who's excited?!?! We've got just 4 more days until the Empire Cup! Finish up those paint jobs, get those rosters in (http://1drv.ms/1G7us2l) to empirecupbb at gmail dot com and make sure you've got some Long Island flavor to get 10 bonus points! We've got a great distribution of teams coming in.

What's new? All of the table cards are printed, raffle tickets are bought, the prize support has been sorted, the food has been budgeted (still need to place that order), the Score app has been configured and I'm coordinating with the +1 player if we have an odd number of teams.

Try to arrive at or before 10am if possible on Saturday so we can get started right at 10:30 with the first set of games. I'll even set up in the parking lot of the store a little early for those of you who haven't gotten in your rosters or have some last minute tweaks.

I'm stoked! Are you?!?