Take a look at the original here: Link

Conquer the world at tournaments and learn new skills at hobby days!
Events are your opportunity to immerse yourself fully in the hobby with, potentially, people from all over the world. Large or small, events are the places to spend your weekends.



Games Workshop Best Army Trophies
For 2010, if you play in a tournament, you'll now have the chance to win one of these fantastic Best Army Trophies designed by Forge World.
These wonderfully sculpted trophies are now available for participating tournament organisers to order (at cost) once they have registered their event with Games Workshop. These gold finish trophies are for the Best Army category of any event, as this represents the pinnacle of hobby effort, and not lucky dice rolls!

Are you a tournament organiser, Hobby Centre, Independent Stockist, or Club that's running an event? If you want to advertise it for free in White Dwarf & on the Games Workshop web site, simply drop us an e-mail with details of your event (see right for what we require) to: events@games-workshop.com.au

A Guide To The Information Required*:
Title of Event - (A bit obvious)
Date - When it will take place
Venue - Where the event will take place
Details - A brief description of the event
Cost - How much for entry per person
Contact - Who is the main public contact
Their email address
Their contact telephone number
Website - The correct URL For the event
*We often choose certain events to make feature advertisements in the White Dwarf, so if you'd like to include 200-300 words describing your event as well, this could come in handy if we choose to make a feature of your activity in this way.

Once your event is registered this way, we will contact you with details on how your event will be eligible to order one of these gold finish trophies (if you run more than one games system at your event, you may choose additional styles - although limited to one of each style), as well as apply for a limited amount of Games Workshop prize vouchers at discount. Under no circumstances are we able to supply product as prizes. This new support will begin after January 20th 2010. Conditions will apply to the supply of event support in this way.


The closing dates for receiving details for publication in the following issues are:
• 1st December '09 WD363 (March 2010)
• 1st January '10 WD364 (April 2010)
• 1st February '10 WD365 (May 2010)
• 1st March '10 WD366 (June 2010)
• 1st April '10 WD367 (July 2010)
• 1st May '10 WD368 (August 2010)
• 1st June '10 WD369 (September 2010)


Please note, we make every effort that dates and details are correct at the time of going to print, if your event details change after the above deadlines, we cannot alter them in that particular issue of White Dwarf. Games Workshop is also not responsible for the content, timing or price of events not organised by Games Workshop Oz Pty Ltd. Games Workshop is under no obligation to promote or support non Games Workshop games or activities you may hold in conjunction with your event.

Thanks Luke.

I like the trophies. I may have to steal that idea.

Loving the trophies, do we know what "cost price" will actually mean in actual $ terms yet?

Can we purchase more than 3?

My thoughts exactly.

I dont know what the profit margin on FW is, but I cant imagine it's especially high. The trophies are either going to be tiny, or rather pricey. Or both.

And best army seems an odd choice - Id have thought 1st place more appropriate. Or is that what they mean by "Best Army"?

They are pretty though.

Read again Alex, only for "best Army" catagory!

Bit of a gip.

No more prize support at all (as in product) as well, who read that?

Tournaments must really be eating into GW's bottom line (again) so they are basicly waving a carrot for player's to produce "the best army" and not supporting anything else.

Privateer Press has better support for it's tournaments.

Sad days........

Edit, Infinity has awesome prize support, the TO orders a "tournament pack" in there are best faction prizes, glass trophies and product.

Rumour is trophies will be $50 local here in OZ.
Also there is still prize support but will be based on an event by event basis, you need to contact GW with your details as TO and go from there.

It's worth noting that GW dropped around AUD $40,000 in vouchers into the community last year (I'm not sure of the exact stats, but they were willing to sponsor up to two events per month to the tune of $2K apiece. At least four Victorian events enjoyed that level of support).

At a local level in Vic, GW supply 6x4 boards where required for tournaments, and have also provided staff and a hire truck to load, drive and unload them; as well as in-store promotion and support. The entire WD editorial team are attending Arcanacon as special guests, flights and accomodation at GW's expense, not ours.

In short, I have no complaints about the level of GW support for our event - since 1999, it has been amazing. In that time we've grown from 16 players to 200 players.

As Leigh notes above, contact White Dwarf for further details of event support.

Cheers,

Mark

ooh - nifty looking trophies those, almost as nifty as a golden demon! I want one!!

So - we are losing the $$$ support and instead being 'allowed' to buy trophies (out of our entry fees one assumes)? erm, is that even a comparison?

From my (admittedly limited) experiences as a T.O. that seems like a step backwards, and considering how little benefit there is in even informing GW of tournaments anymore if not for the voucher support (last tournament we got 2 players / 100+ via GW advertising) it just seems like all they are to use now are an alternate trophy company.

That said, the trophies themselves are nice enough, I suppose I would give them a look in next time once we get some solid some indication of price, size etc...

P.S. - I also note how much they are trying to push 'hobby days' over actual tournaments - interesting...

definatly gonna get me one of those nifty WHFB ones somehow...would look good and make people think I was teh biz at warhammers

As Emperor's Legion gears up for the WHFB tourny of '10, we were offered 'up to' $250 worth of vouchers to be purchased at 45% discount. As well as a single trophy.

Considering we used (past tense) to be able to purchase $600 worth of stock at 45% off retail (we handed out a 1st,2nd, 3rd, Best Army Best Comp, Best Sport, Best Painted and Players Choice - a fair amount) and would put any money made from that tourny into the Wargames Club at the PCYC as a form of "fund Raising"...

lol at the fact that just occured to me - the fund raising money would be used to buy terrain for the club as well as books.... GW trees, terrain and books. Woe is me, the circle is borken! lol

I don't know what to do - either drop the prizes to a first second third scenario ($110-80-60) or keep the same categories and cull the prizes (50-40-30-25-25-25-25-25) .....but then we need to drop the entry fee to compensate the players for lower prize support..... or be more aggressive with our local games store.


Sad days but kind of expected in these days of financial downturn....

I'll start off by saying that I think GW does a great job of supporting tournies. Perhaps I am used to being spoiled, I remember a time when I could pretty much pick a randpom hall and not only get prize support (as much as our budget could afford), but also table tops and more importanly terrain, all from GW, and all for free!

I agree prize support was fantastic last year.... provided you could get Premier Status... And they diodn't forget smaller events, and gave support for those at a higher level than seems proposed for next year. I don't think anyone would suggest GW hasn't thrown a lot to our hobby in this past year.

I still prefer the original system (as I experienced it) where there was no imposed limit on the amount I could get at the big discount.

To my mind, if GW was worried about cost blow outs, they surely could decrease that to 40, or even 35% discount level, and then the small profit should keep tournament support self-funding.

I really do not understand why a model such as this can't be arrived at? I reckon such a system would support all levels of tournaments equally, which was the only possible criticism one might have had with Premier support.

I have always liked to give heaps of prizes back to my participants. My preferred method is to give back something like 70% of people's entry back in prizes. I tend to do this without seeking free or heavily discounted support from other wargame companies because I dont want to interfere with the various club's big events.

Having seen what wargamers do at events, I would suggest GW made back a heck of a lot more than $40,000 profit directly linked to model sales directly attributable to an event (considering sales on the day from hucksters,and the participants building armies in preparation for the event).

And the vouchers themselves promote more sales. Personally I have gone in with some vouchers but come out having spent ten times as much as I begin a new army.

In summary, GW have always been there for the tournament scene, and so often in a big way. I have no doubt this will continue. I will say having the system change every year or so is rather discomfiting. I hope down the track we see the evolution of a more formalised and permanent arrangement. One that caters equally to all levels of event.

And as much as I like to remember the "good old days" I recognise "the times, they are a changing". Great to see GW is continuing to support the tournament scene - at whatever level it is always appreciated by this TO.

The trophy's look great.

Dont see what people are complaining about, you get something for free, its not as much as you've got before but id rather save something than nothing.

Sorry glynaynsley, but what do To's get for free?

This isn't about the players (who pay an attendance/enrty fee) but the Tournament Organisers. Who have to organise a hall, tables, chairs, scoring system, terrain, insurance if they dont have it already by hall hire....

95% of this has a cost. 45% off GW prices is like paying Wholesale for the prizes, so theres a saving for the TO and GW is not out of pocket (couldn't that be written off as Promotional Expenses in tax?)

And for the record, we are not complaining - just giving voice to the fact that this is a change that is going to affect the bottom line of some clubs (mine in particular - PCYC wants activities to be relatively self funding and we will now struggle which could cause our closure) and that people aren't alone.

I still appreciate the support from GW just wish it wasn't capped at $250.

I think there are a couple of things to think about

1 - Security with prize support

It has happened in the past, not sure if it has happened recently but some prizes have been 'kept' by TO's and not given out. So by having vouchers GW can effectively check who is cashing them in.

2 - Changeover of stock and stock levels

Having prize winners come back to the store to swap unwanted prizes is a bit of a hassle postentially interefering with stock levels etc of the stores. having vouchers eliminates this.

3 - Selling stock at a discount to TO's

I think even if GW made 5% on prizes TO's purchased it is still profit to offset tourney support in other areas but once again security comes into play with TO's buying stock for personal use (rare but can happen)

4 - Getting players to come to a store

A physical prize doesnt draw someone to a store except for excahnge, a voucher draws every winner to a store to hopefully get add on sales.

5 - Size/ease of transprt/delivery

Vouchers are easy to carry around, easy to post and easy to hand out. Why carry big boxes of prizes to a tourney, then have to carry them home and back again for day 2. Just put the vouchers in a folder, much easier

As a long time TO vouchers win 100% over physical stock for me.


As for "as well as apply for a limited amount of Games Workshop prize vouchers at discount"

It comes down to diversifying your sponsorship. If GW are only going to come to the party for $200 in vouchers then hook up with a local store, I am sure they would love to give out a few prizes, get their name mentioned and try to attract more customers. Also look at sideline companies like paint/base/terrain companies for some sample packs etc.

As a TO you might have to do a little bit of legwork initially but if you find the right store to affiliate with you can often help each other and take some of the burden off of you especially with preregistration, tournament posters and advertising etc etc.

Anyone know if GW prize support is now standard across the globe?

I notice from my forum wanderings, that in a lot of places overseas, non-GW stores seem to almost have a tournament every weekend for a handful of people.

None of our events at WSWA this year received prize support from GW, we got events listed in White Dwarf and left flyers in our local stores.
I think one of the larger issues this year was the provision of Premier Event status to events ($2k of vouchers for nothing) and then a failure to meet the 100 attendee requirement, seems to have happened to several events. Smaller events in the 40-60 area generally only get a prize discount from GW, so it still costs them $$$ to buy the prizes, yet they continue to run at a profit, go figure.
If your a TO and looking to supply prizes consider other sponsors to supply at a discount or even some other sources.
Also if your directing 70% of your cashflow towards prizes you might want to think about scaling back entry costs (just my opinion Alex).

this would really make me want to paint a high standard army

45%, I realise that its the TO that do all the forking, but 45% is still 45% thats all im saying.
Its better than nothing i think, and if you have so many people attending your tourny that the caps a problem you could get independent sponsoring, or im sure GW would be happy to have a chat.

Right, I get it now. Sorry. What happens is that the 45% off gave the TO the opportunity to spend more on prizes (or rather gave the TO the ability to make the money allocated for prizes go further).

Absolutely better than nothing, just a step down from what I used to supply (about $680 worth of prizes costing me around $390 ).

Already had a chat with GW and $250 worth at 45% discount (so $250 worth of Prizes Vouchers for $137.50) is the max for an event of 30-50 people.

I think the Independents are feeling the squeeze from online stores as well and thus not that likely to be able to help. Up to us TO's to find another way. I love a challenge....

GW have their reasons and like most of their decisions I don't think we will ever get the full story.

On the brighter side of life ACiD Gaming will be happy to meet with and support TO's throughout NSW.

Bails I'll catch you up this Sunday and we can discuss what I can do to help fill the shortfall in your prize pool.

Thats why you go 52 Bails

lol I think thats why the problem began! All these Premier Events for more than 100 that peak at 70-odd but still get full support...

Wonder if they would let me get the prize support for both tournys I run at the same time.... nearly 100 there.....

Those lame trophies have nothing on the prizes for GenCon 40K this year.

I mean, what genuine utility do they really have?

Maybe I should ask for a battery pack to be attached to next years trophies

I have to admit I found this a little dissappointing. Missing out on Premier support because we honestly didn't feel we had a genuine chance at 100 gamers in our second year, yet the healthy 68 level we achievced was significantly higher than some premier events...

Roy -

Yes, I'm thinking exactly the same thing. Provioding huge prize support made me feel justified in charging a little more, giving me a lower break even point, it is very conservative but also comfortable for me to run.

But you're quite right, with a change in system anyway, plus more focus on trophies, reducing the entry price sopunds like a very good idea.

And hopefully I really don't need to be quite so concerned by the contingency of just 20 people showing up... at least the risk of that is surely much less in our 3rd year...

----------------

So long as GW doesn't mind, I am totally prepared to seek extra sponsorship. I have already done this a little bit in the past, so I simply need to do more of this in the future, that will work out well enough.

It is very nice to have access to such a desirable trophy... I am pretty confidant the number of people who'd really like one quite exceeds the supply, so thank you GW for giving access to such a valuable marketing tool.

Sanguinary Lord, expect a pm...

So, has any potential T.O.'s (or even people pretending to be T.O.'s) got in contact with GW about the cost of this thing? This is the internet after all, so they can't think it will remain a big 'secret'.

If it's $50 or under I'd consider getting one for my tourney but I don't think I'd even bother giving them any more info than neccessary, just becuase I know it will not help get any more players in....

Ouch! I'm sure all those top players are what they are because of 'lucky dice rolls' !!!

I contacted GW before I saw this thread. They gave me the run down of how it all works. On 24/11/2009 I asked how much the trophies would cost and I am still awaiting a reply.

perhaps try picking up the phone

I approached GW earlier in the year, via email as that's my preferred contact method, regarding support for Dogcon and asked for Premier status, as we get over 100 players to the event, last I check we were at 145 or so paid up players for 2010. At the time I was told we could have advertising in WD, and on the webpage, but prize support was on hold as they were sorting out what was happening in 2010. The advertising in the WD happened, and it looks schmick, we're on their website: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/...sp?aId=4300035a now its just a matter of the prize support.

I contacted them via their preferred contact for this stuff - the email address - the week after the info was released and have not got a response. I'm interested to know what the prize support for an event that actually gets over 100 players is, considering the prize support mentioned earlier by Bails, it appears they;ve gone for a staggered system this time around.

Here's hoping I hear from someone via email in the new year.

Cheers,

GT
TO Dogcon 2010

You're lucky it's Christmas because that statement piss's me off in so many ways.

Then you'll probably be angered (as I was) to learn that there was a WA event earlier in the year that achieved premier event status with a mere 11(!!) players.

They were giving away free GW gift vouchers with hot dog purchases because they didn't know what to do with them. No - I'm not kidding.

So-called "Premier events" have been the biggest fail in the history of GW Oz event support IMO.

Why don't they just go back to how it was, 45% discount worked well across the board.

*scratches head*

*strokes goatee* why not indeed.

I am pretty sure some TO's would abuse it and just get a heap of stuff for their own army.

The good thing is most independants are happy to step up and fill the void left by GW prize support.

Alpha Hobbies helps organise and host three 40k events across the year and we are more than happy to help out other events with their prize support. Last year we helped out the TOs of Big Tsugua, Cowcon, Gencon Fantasy and Wide Bay 2009 to name a few.

Irresistible Force not only runs events but we sponsor and support a wide range of other TO's and their events as well including Orktoberfest, Dogcon, Tides of War etc etc etc

Like Alpha said Indies are well and truly happy to help out....

Gav

and Indies do it much better also.

They have more of a vested interest in the local tourney scene and the players/TO's that are involved because their business is directly involved rather than the global conglomerate which just churns through teeage $$$ whether there are tourneys going on or not.

Plus it is hard for GW to endorse tourneys where people might not be using their branded products whereas Indies dont care what models/paints/water containers you use as they usually sell such a wide range themselves.

As a TO running up to 6 events a year, *all* of them completely voluntarily, I find this attitude greatly offensive.

It would be simplicity itself for GW to audit a tournament for genuine entries if there was any fear of this as well.

I was a big fan of the 45% system - to my mind it worked very well as the prize support was always related to the size of the event ...

I think I said above, if GW wanted to layer a 10-15% profit on that, I'd still cheerfully get prize support from them at 30% discount...

And I will say, the system seems to be in flux, I'll take the optimistic view that perhaps GW will offer a little more prize support down the track, but not for 2010. We'll have to employ our imaginations and networking skills even more this year. It is my experience that they try to be as generous as they can... the GFC is worse in the rest of thew worlkd than here, perhaps they bneed to reduce costs?

And yeah, +1 Indies, I have a great relationship with Good Games and have always found they are always only too happy to help, all I need do is ask.

[quote name='ArchonCryx' date='Jan 2 2010, 09:43 PM' post='1173785']
As a TO running up to 6 events a year, *all* of them completely voluntarily, I find this attitude greatly offensive.

It would be simplicity itself for GW to audit a tournament for genuine entries if there was any fear of this as well.


+1 ArchonCryx, highly offensive to the TO and I know several and their all good people.

I have been a TO for many years and I dont find it offensive, I find that it is highly probably a statement of fact.

There are alot of great TO's out there over many years but there have been and will be TO's that take a slice of the pie for their own benefit. You cannot simply dismiss a possible problem like that by claiming it is 'offensive'

And its crap like this that should be stepped on just as hard as those who bull###### GW to gain Premier Event Status.

Complete ######e.

I have run Emperors Legion for 10 years now and not made a single bloody cent from it, and I personally would resent any suggestion I had. I run it for the simple aspect of serving the community of which I am a part, being able to give baclk to others as a way of repaying those that inspired me to take this on.

Anyone who runs tournaments for personal gain such as free gifts from support needs shooting.

/rant

Come on GW give back the 45% off Retail and let us little events have a go at giving something to the community.

This happens in everything like this. I know for a fact the SCA had a big problem with organisers taking cuts. There is no reason for GW to believe any TO wont take items for themselves or personal sale with the old 45% off, so they are trying to find the best method for their pockets.

Back on topic - Has anyone actually found out how much these suckers will cost a T.O.?

If it's a worldwide change (which I believe it is), then we have no idea what's happened and where to justify the change. I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere, a group of people decided that the easiest way to boost their armies was to run a series of "tournaments."

"It's our gimmick - you pay $80 entry and everyone receives a free battleforce for participating."

How can i enter one of these......tournaments

Under the old system, just grab together 10+ friends*, say your club* is running a tournament*, apply for prize sponsorship and voila! 45% off RRP.

*friends, club and/or tournament need not actually exist.

Hell, most clubs could just take a few pics of their regular gaming night, fudge up some results and it'd be easy to "prove" that they held a legitimate event. Meanwhile, a bunch of people walk away with cheap plastic crack.

Changing support to premier status (with associated WD advertising) makes it impossible to run a bogus event. You tend to get legitimate players actually wanting to turn up and participate.

Good point Occulto. Would you believe this sort of malignant crap never occurred to me?

Does that make me honest or naive?

The earlier incarnation also required WD entry as well, so be interesting what would happen if some one outside showed....

Not to mention the fact that we have always had GW personnel playing at our tournys kind of makes it hard to fudge....

Oh well, still wondering how much the trophy's are...

Have your rung anyone about it?

I am sure there are those who know the prices for the items somewhere...

I did. $50