TOURNAMENTS

LEAGUES

PAINTING
COMPETITIONS

OFFICIAL GUIDEBOOK

WELCOME

TO THE

RTT EVENT GUIDEBOOK

Welcome to Games Workshops guidebook to running

RTT events! Inside, youll find information you need for
setting up, registering, and running tournaments, leagues,
or painting competitions in your store or club. The first
thing to keep in mind is that this book includes only
guidelines to get you started. You can make your event
as extravagant or simple as youd like. As long as the
participants have fun, youll have achieved the primary
goal of hosting an RTT event.

player under these circumstances is a dubious process.

On the other hand, it is precisely these circumstances
that make our events fun. Removing these factors would
be cutting the heart out of the system.
DO NOT run a gaming event to make money. The costs
of renting halls, tables, and chairs, plus staffing, time
spent making scenery, and coordinating the whole event
quickly add up. If you charged the real cost to cover
these expenditures, the players wouldnt be able to afford
it! At our own events, we aim to break even. Anything
above that goal is icing on the cake. If you run a store,
you will make money down the road by keeping
customers interested in the hobby. These customers will
expand their armies or purchase new ones to participate
in the event. If you run a club, you can potentially make
money from the dues of new members brought in by the
caliber of your events.

Why You Should Run a RTT Event

What Are RTT Events?

RTT events are Games Workshop sanctioned events run
by stores and clubs all over America. Games Workshop
provides the materials you need to run the event,
including downloadable results sheets, army rosters,
and scenarios!

Who Can Run an RTT Event?

Anyone who has some organizational skills and a desire
to see a bunch of people playing with toy soldiers can run
an RTT event. Stores have an advantage, as they have
the staff, the space, and the resources needed to pull off
such an event. With a little more effort, clubs can pool
their resources and host an RTT event too. Often, clubs
will get together with a local store and combine efforts to
run a substantially better event!

Why You Shouldnt Run an RTT Event

DO NOT run a gaming event as a way to find who is the
best. Judging these events, especially tabletop
wargaming events, is subjective at best. Depending on
the judges tastes, fickle dice, the particular scenario at
hand, and the terrain on the table, a tournament, league,
or even painting competition adds up to one fairly random
sequence of events. On any given day, the best player
could lose everything to the dice, while the worst player
could take it all. As you can see, trying to find the best

Gaming events spark momentum and feed the fire when

it comes to starting new armies, expanding existing
armies, and continuing and maintaining interest in
the hobby.
You could think of an RTT event like selling wonderful
sports cars to your customers and then providing an
amazing race track for customers to drive each car
around, modify and personalize each car, and constantly
test themselves against other drivers and cars.
In short, gaming events are every bit as important to
growing your business or club as just about anything else
you could possibly do.

How GW Games Are Different

Everyone seems to be familiar with competition only
events the World Series, the World Cup, the Super
Bowl, and other win-or-go-home contests. RTT events are
much more subjective and far less about winning. Wait,
its not about winning? Why call it a tournament
or competition?
Games Workshop wants people to play games. Games
are for fun, and part of that fun is competition. My army
against yours, and Im gonna win! Great! However, our
games are meant to be fun and played in the right spirit.
How do we decide who wins? We like to balance out
tabletop victories with hobby skills. In essence, we are
saying the best Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000
players of the day arent necessarily those who win every
game but rather the participants that have well painted,
fair, and balanced armies and win a majority of their
games in a sporting fashion. Imagine adding aesthetics to
a baseball score! This philosophy is difficult for very
competitive gamers to understand, but it is the RTT motto
dont play the game to win a prize, play the game to
have fun.

RTT TIP Running events are the best way to promote and grow any product line in your store or club!

RTT TIP Putting forth extra effort will mean the difference between another routine day of gaming and an event that people remember and talk about for the weeks and months to come!

THE GAMERS BILL

OF

RIGHTS

What Is the Gamers Bill of Rights? How It Can Work for You
This document is a promise from you and Games
Workshop to everyone who plays in an RTT event. The
rules and ideas in it, when followed, ensure that all who
participate in your events will have fun and be treated
fairly and in a considerate manner.

Why Make Such a Thing?

We feel that any gaming event that has our name
attached to it should be outstanding. Players should have
a guarantee that when they come to your store or club to
participate in an RTT event, they will see the best game
play, fair judging (as opposed to judges favoring their
friends), and basic rules that are similar from event to
event, store to store, and club to club.

The best stores and clubs vehemently adhere to the

Gamers Bill of Rights and earn a reputation for running
the very best events. Subsequently, these stores and
clubs will also get the highest turnout and attract more
gamers. Do your best to make sure that every event you
run is as fun as you can possibly make it! This dedication
will only help your organization in the long run.
Keep in mind that simply running events doesnt equal
success. If you run shoddy or lackluster events or do
shady things like fix the outcome so locals or friends win,
your store or club will surely earn a reputation for running
bad events, and in turn, no one will show up. Word of
mouth can spread very quickly in the gaming community.
Thus, you should do your best to spread only good news.

THE GAMERS BILL

OF

RIGHTS

Gamers have the right to all of the following.

1. Have lots of fun and meet new people.
Games Workshop events are for fun, and their main purpose is to give everyone a chance to have
even more fun by playing lots of games. Playing games is its own reward, and no cheating or
unsportsmanlike behavior will be tolerated.
2. Battle against other painted armies.
Each player spends lots of time painting and converting his models to make the army look good.
Part of the fun of going to gaming events is checking out other players armies, picking up painting
and converting tips, and, of course, showing off your army. Players who field a whole army of
unpainted models are not only missing out on a large part of the hobby but are also taking some of
the fun out of it for other players.
3. Have any disputes or questions settled by polite, impartial judges.
Impartiality is a must and should be expected at every gaming event. Judges are on hand to make
correct rules calls to the best of the Judges ability without skewing or bending the rules to benefit
friends or local favorites. However, right or wrong, the judges calls are final and should be
respected. Since players are there to play for fun, they should not feel as if the whole day is ruined
because of one bad rule decision.
4. Have the event organized and run in a timely manner.
Regardless of how far anyone has traveled to an event, everyone appreciates when games are
started and played in a timely manner. Players should be able to get a schedule from the Event
Organizer so they can plan their trip to the event location and back home.
5. Play in a reasonably comfortable environment.
Were trying to avoid any overzealous Event Organizers who cram too many players into too tight
a space. Keep in mind that players will need room to maneuver, a place to put their miniature
cases, and some storage space. Temperature may also be a factor were talking about excessive
heat or cold, as well as an inclement weather backup plan for any who are thinking about
outdoor activities.

PLANNING YOUR EVENT

Success in Gaming Events
A successful gaming event is 95% organization, and this
organization takes place days, weeks, and even months
before the actual event. Keep track of your answers on a
piece of paper for the following points to help you
determine what youll need to do.

Gamers Bill of Rights

First off, familiarize yourself with the Gamers Bill of
Rights (found on the previous page). If you do not agree
with these rules or feel you cannot meet the
requirements, do not run an RTT event.

Which System?
You can run an RTT event for Warhammer, Warhammer
40,000, Warmaster, Battlefleet Gothic, Mordheim,
Necromunda, or Blood Bowl. We heavily suggest that you
feature only one game system at an event, although large
conventions can be an exception.

How Often Can You Run

RTT Events?
You are allowed to run as many RTT events as youd like
over the course of a year. However, we recommend that
you run only one event in any given month. Remember,
these events are supposed to be large, exciting affairs.
Running too many burns out staff, players, and the special
feel of participating in a big event.

Size of the Event

How many people will be playing? You must guarantee at
least a dozen players for any game system to call your
event an official RTT tournament or painting competition.
Six players are the minimum required for a league. There
is no upwards limit on how many players may participate
(obviously, the number of players who can participate will
depend on how much space, staff, gaming tables, display
cabinets, and terrain you are willing to supply).

Rules Judges
RTT Event Organizers are responsible for providing at
least one person to settle rules disputes. The RTT Event
Organizers themselves may act as judges. You may not
have your Rules Judges playing in the tournament or
painting competition, as doing so sets up the possibility of
collusion and generally hurts the reputation of you and
your event.

Provide Terrain and Space to Play

RTT Event Organizers are responsible for providing
gaming space, tables, and terrain. You will need a 4' x 6'
table for every two players. Thats a minimum of six 4' x 6'
tables for a tournament. Youll then need to supply
enough terrain to fill those tables.

You Must Do the Work!

Who Will Act as Staff?
You must understand how the events run, how the data
are collected and organized, and how the winners are
determined. All the information is in this packet we just
wanted to warn those of you who havent run an event
before that it can be a lot of hard work, a lot of running
around and, in general, a stressful affair making sure all
your customers have a good time.

Set a Schedule of Games

For tournaments, allow at least 2 hours for a standard
game. The RTT Event Organizers may set their own
schedule, but at least THREE GAMES must be played by
ALL participants. Already, thats 6 hours just for gaming.
Some organizers may be gung-ho and want to plan even
more. Thats great! We just want to make sure that the
tournament is worth the trip for every player who signs
up. The number of games to be played should be clearly
announced to your customers and noted on your
registration form.
As leagues run over the course of a few weeks, you have
much more flexibility in determining the gaming schedule.

Register with Games Workshop

You must register and pay for your RTT event with
Games Workshop via our web site at least 3 weeks in
advance. If you want your tournament advertised in White
Dwarf, it must be registered at least 2 months in advance.
We will not guarantee delivery of any tournament
materials if you fail to register your tournament within
these given times.
If the RTT event is being run at a convention or other
special occasion, you may elect to turn it into a 2-day
event. Make sure the participants are informed!

Register Early
To make sure you get enough exposure for your event,
register it at least 2 months in advance.

Where Do I Register?
If you currently have a CID number with Games
Workshop and an account representative, you should
register via the Trade Web (if all this sounds foreign to
you, please contact your rep or territory manager).
If you are a club or store that does not deal directly with
Games Workshop, you can instead register directly
through the Games Workshop web site.
Point your browser to the Events section of the our web
site at www.games-workshop.com and click on the RTT
Events link. This action will being up the general
information page as well as the Register Your Event
Here link.

RTT TIP Proper planning from the earliest stages makes everything run much more smoothly later on. Get all your ducks in a row as soon as you can.

RTT TIP Registering as early as possible has a lot of benefits. such as longer promotion of your event and a safe amount of time for your materials to arrive.

On the next screen, youll get

to select the type of game
system you are running, how
many points per game, the
date of the event, entry costs,
maximum number of people
that can attend, and any other
relevant information to that
particular event.

The first registration screen lets you know when your tournament will appear on the web and in White
Dwarf and the deadlines for you to register to meet these times.
This screen also takes your information, where you want any items shipped, and what information you
want to appear in White Dwarf magazine and on the web.

The final screen captures any extra items youd like to order (including t-shirts and trophies)
and also requires your credit card information to cover the costs of the materials.

Same Time

Players

At a tournament, all the battles should take place on the

same day with everyone playing games at the same time
(no waiting in heats). Every player must participate! RTT
tournaments are not elimination matches, and there is no
playoff or end match. We guarantee everyone the same
number of games.

Your event should be set up to cater to the players in your

area. Players are expected to show up with fully painted
armies and play in a reasonable and mature manner. You
are responsible for making sure that no one person
disrupts a tournament or ruins everyone elses time.

You Cant Win Your Own Event

You CANNOT sponsor, run, or judge an RTT event and
compete in it at the same time. If you run a club or own
the store that is holding the event, its best to not enter. If
you are ever in doubt about fairness and collusion, err on
safetys side and dont participate. Why? It just looks plain
fishy, and the fastest way to anger customers and players
is by winning something you set up yourself. This rule
should also apply to your staff.
If we receive complaints about such behavior from
participants, Games Workshop reserves the right to
refuse any future registrations for RTT events.
Now that youve worked out the initial details, its time to
nail down the basics of running an event.

Limits
You may find it necessary to set an age limit. You may
even want to have separate events for young gamers and
advanced events for older gamers. Why? Experienced
gamers will quickly become frustrated with younger
gamers that dont know the rules (especially in a
tournament setting!). If youve driven 2 hours to play in an
event, would you want one of your three games to be
against someone who has hardly played before? We
suggest 14 years of age as the minimum. However,
based on your gaming crowd, you might want to go
higher or lower. Remember, there are exceptions to this
rule some 14-year-olds may know the game better and
be more mature than some 30-year-olds! You must use
your best judgement here.

PLANNING FOR YOUR EVENT

Tables

Cost

As mentioned on the previous page, RTT events should

be played on 4' x 6' or larger tables. The exceptions to
this rule would be Blood Bowl, Mordheim, and
Necromunda events that fit comfortably on 4' x 4' tables.
Tables can be anything from standard folding tables to
specially constructed wood platforms. As long as it is flat,
sturdy, and stable, youre set!

The budget that has been amassed for running the event
will determine the cost you should charge. As an
incentive, some stores will not charge any entry fee, but
most Event Organizers cannot afford that method.
This budget means you have to wrestle with charging
enough to cover your costs while not charging so much
that the cost keeps customers from signing up and
playing. On average, most clubs and stores charge $10.
In a minimum 12-player tournament, this amount would
bring in $120. A larger event could bring in anywhere from
$200 to $500. This amount should be enough to cover the
costs of the event package and any extras you throw in.
Remember, the goal isnt to reap the reward immediately.
Stores often see sales spikes before the event, as players
finish up units and squads. Sales often spike afterwards,
as players decide to try out new units to make their army
better for the next event.
If you are renting a hall, tables, and chairs (and possibly
even having the event catered) you can safely charge
more, as you are providing more of a service. Players will
respect this effort and be willing to pay more if they feel
like they are getting more in return.

Terrain
With evocative games like these, playing on a bland, flat
tabletop wont do. Gamers expect hills, trees, ruined
buildings, and other pieces for their models to hide behind
and maneuver around. Each piece should roughly cover a
4" x 4" or larger area. In general, we try to have 6 to 12
pieces of terrain on the table depending on the game
system (Warhammer uses less, while Mordheim relies on
dense terrain). A good rule of thumb is that each tables
terrain should cover at least 25% of the surface area.
Clubs can often count on fellow club members to help
stock the tables. Stores can hold scenery nights in which
customers and staff come in and build scenery for fun to
use in the tournaments. The bonus of an event like that is
afterwards, there will always be terrain to use in the store
at any event.
At this point, you should have a firm grasp of how many
players you can accommodate in addition to tables and
scenery for them to play on.

DATAPAD ENTRY
Defining Scenery Rules
To make sure everyone starts off on the same
page, you may want to make an announcement
at the beginning of the event about scenery.
You should say things along the lines of What
you see is what you get. For example, that hill
sitting on the table is actually to scale and does
not represent a 50' hill that allows your models to
see over all the trees.
If youve placed your trees on bases, make sure
players know that the woods extend to the edge
of the base and that the scenery piece represents
a whole forest rather than just two or three trees.
This way, players can actually have their models
in the woods by placing them on the scenery
piece rather than setting models to the side and
just saying that they are in the woods. However,
the sparse amount of trees can confuse players
and lead them to believe they can draw line of
sight to models inside the woods. Clarifying
things like these examples before starting the
event makes a world of difference.

Dates
Choosing when and how long to run your event plays a
large part in how many people can come and participate.
There is at least one major Games Workshop or
independent sponsored event running every month,
whether it is a Grand Tournament, Games Day, Battle
Tour, or painting competition. That doesnt include the
multitude of conventions that run across the country.
Scheduling your event around those dates will increase
the number of people available to participate.
Many organizers will schedule their event to coincide with
a larger upcoming event. For example, you can tout the
events as places to test out an army for a Grand
Tournament or convention and hold a painting contest to
get ready for Golden Demon.
Double check your event calendar, talk to gamers who
know what events are taking place across the country,
and schedule your event accordingly.

Advertising
Once youve settled on a date, let sure everyone know
about it! Post flyers in your store, mention the event in
your store newsletter, tell every player that walks in, and
post event details on the internet. The more people that
know about your event, the better the attendance will be.
As an added service to you, when you register your RTT
event with Games Workshop, we will post all the details
of your event on our web site. Our RTT event listing web
pages get more than 100,000 hits every week! In
addition, if you register your tournament more than 2
months in advance, that will give us time to list it in White
Dwarf magazine.

RTT TIP All of the details surrounding your event are best recorded in a single notebook or folder. Organization is NOT overrated!

RTT TIP Keeping things on schedule is also one of the most important things you can do to make a successful tournament.

DATAPAD ENTRY
Sample Schedules
Sample Schedule for a Painting Competition
Note Models are usually entered in for 1-2 weeks beforehand.

9:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Check-in. The last chance for people

to enter their models.
10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Round 1 of judging
12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. Break for lunch
1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Final round of judging
3:00 p.m. Awards Ceremony. Keep it short and
sweet with tons of cool prizes and lots
of laughing and cheering! Make sure
everyone leaves with his models!
3:00 p.m.-? Painting Class. Have the winners sit
down and share their painting theories
and practices with customers and
other participants.

Send everybody home to practice new painting

techniques and revel in their experience! Go to bed
happy knowing your customers/club members had a
really fun painting competition!

Sample Schedule for a 10-player league

6-Week Warhammer League:

Times
Making sure players have enough time to play the game
and take breaks is another essential. Budgeting in
enough time to handle missteps on your end will make
sure the event wont run overlong or force you to cut
playing or judging short.
Remember, Games Workshop does require a minimum of
three games at every tournament. You should allow about
2 hours for each game (for a 1,500-point game of
Warhammer 40,000 or a 2,000-point game of
Warhammer). Subtract or add a 1/2 hour per every 500
points you add or take away from the army points totals.
For example, a 2,500-point game of Warhammer should
take about 2.5 hours to play. Experienced gamers will be
able to finish their game much sooner, while new players
will take a little longer.
Plot out time in between games (say a 1/2 hour) so that
those who get caught by the time limit can clean up,
gather their forces, and get ready for the next round. This
1/2 hour also gives you some time to get the next rounds
matches sorted. We suggest a 1/2 hour in between
rounds for a 50-person or fewer tournament. For 50-150
people, allow at least 1 hour between rounds.
Make sure you throw in a break for lunch, snacks, or
whatever. The longer your tournament, the more
necessary this break is.
Leagues can be run on a much less strict schedule, as
they take place over weeks rather than days, and games
can even take place outside of the store.

Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week

1
1
2
3
3
4
5
5
6
6

Tue.
Sat.
Tue.
Tue.
Sat.
Tue.
Tue.
Sat.
Tue.
Sat.

5:30-9:00
3:00-5:00
5:30-9:00
5:30-9:00
3:00-5:00
5:30-9:00
5:30-9:00
3:00-5:00
5:30-9:00
3:00-9:00

League
League
League
League
League
League
League
League
League
League

Gaming
Special Event
Gaming
Gaming
Special Event
Gaming
Gaming
Special Event
Gaming
Final Event

Send everybody home to tell tales of battle, victory, and

defeat! Go to bed happy knowing your customers/club
members participated in a really fun League!

Sample Schedule for a 20-player tournament

Day of the Tournament:

9:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Check-in. Check army lists. Assign

table numbers and opponents.
10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Game 1 Collect results sheets.
12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. Break for lunch
1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Game 2. Collect results sheets.
3:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Have players fill out their Players
Choice selection paperwork.
3:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Final Game.
Collect results sheets.
5:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. Judging and tallying the final results.
6:00 p.m. Awards Ceremony. Keep it short and
sweet with tons of cool prizes and lots
of laughing and cheering!

Send everybody home to tell tales of battle, victory, and

defeat! Go to bed happy knowing your customers/club
members had a really fun day!

PLANNING

FOR

YOUR EVENT

STAFF THE KEY

TO THE

One of the most important parts of RTT Event planning (if

not THE most important part) is determining who is
working the event. Below are a few notes about staffing.
Staff can make the worst event spectacular and the best
event horrible. Your staffs enthusiasm, work ethic, and
willingness to tackle jobs will make or break your event.
A good rule of thumb is to have two people run an event
and add another staff member or helper for every 20
gamers. At our Grand Tournaments, there are usually
about 300 gamers, and we have a staff of about 17+
people including Data Entry, Selection Judges,
Appearance Judges, Walking Judges, Rules Judges,
and, of course, the Master of Ceremonies. The more
staff we have (and the more organized we are), the
more fun the event is to run!
Start recruiting staff early, since most people want to be
the ones participating in the event, not watching.
Look for people who are organized, fair-tempered, and
suited to the area that they will be working. If someone
is an outstanding painter, perhaps he should be in
charge of judging painting. If someone is a walking
rulebook, perhaps he should be the Rules Judge.

Jobs
The following is a list of jobs youll have to assign and
have covered before your event can get off the ground.
Read the descriptions over and think about what skills
you need and what personnel you have available.
Remember, you can assign a few of these jobs to the
same person (especially with a small number of players).
The Event Organizer
First off, somebody has to be in charge. This person
organizes the site, the materials, and the dates. Overall,
this person is responsible for the event running
smoothly. This person does not have to know all the
rules or the subtleties of the games, but he must
absolutely have an understanding of how everything
else in the tournament will work (e.g., paint judging,
scoring, filling out the paperwork). You must have an
Event Organizer.

EVENT

Data Entry
Which person is entering the score, tallying up the
totals, and planning out who will play whom in the next
round? This person has to be competent, thorough, and
organized, or everything will unravel. Someone must
enter or compile all the data!
Rules Judge
First off, the judge must be fair-minded, patient, and
very familiar with the rules. The judge MAY NOT
PARTICIPATE in the event. You should have only one
judge officiating rules at a tournament. This way, all
rulings are consistent. You must have ONE person that
can settle rules disputes.
Appearance Judges
Who is going to judge the appearance and selection of
each army or model in your event? With the sheets we
provide, this job is fairly clear cut, but it must be done by
someone with some knowledge of the games. The
Appearance Judges cannot be competing in the event.
Our estimate is that it will take 5-15 minutes per army
(or model if its a painting competition) to fill out these
sheets and come up with appearance and selection
scores. This job can be shared, split apart, or added to
someone elses responsibilities but it must get done
and done well.
Walking Judges for Tournaments
A Walking Judge is a friendly face walking the aisles
keeping an eye on things. These judges are the ones
who collect game results, make sure the forms are filled
out correctly, get them to Data Entry, help clean up the
inevitable soda spill, and keep on the lookout for bad
sportsmanship (before it gets out of hand). These
judges do not have to know the rules at all (it is always
helpful if they do), as Walking Judges ARE NOT allowed
to settle rules disputes (but can point things out in a
rulebook if the Walking Judge is absolutely positive
about the rule)! We have learned the value of this job
and take as many as we can find. This optional position
can help every aspect of the event run more smoothly
just by having more eyes and ears in more places.
How to Dole out the Responsibilities
After looking at the jobs on this page, how do you
decide who will do them? It is possible for one person to
do several jobs (acting as the Event Organizer and a
Rules Judge for instance).
Running an event single-handedly is a tough (close to
impossible) job. If you have the sole responsibility of
planning, setting up, and judging, youll run yourself
ragged. Even if you are running the smallest sized event
allowed, you should still try to recruit some help
(especially if you have a store and customers to look after
at the same time). Trust us getting some help should
translate into a more energetic and fun event for you and
the players to participate in.

RTT TIP If you can, prepare for the worst by getting backup staff for each of the jobs in case something happens and someone cant make it to the event.

RTT TIP Display the trophies before the event to generate excitement in the build-up period.

These new trophies allow plenty of space for engraving and allow you to customize them to any league, painting competition, or
tournament you run. The overall trophy (Space Marine vs. Warrior Priest) has one plaque that can be engraved with the name of
the event, the winners name, and date. The secondary plaques come with two plates for engraving. One plate is for the trophy title
(Best Appearance, Best Sportsman, etc) and the second plate is for the players name, date, etc.

WHERE

TO

GO

FROM

HERE

Get the Basics down First

Head to the Web!

Walk before you run. Make sure you can run the basic
events listed in this booklet before trying anything really
large or complicated. Its always better to run a small yet
fun event rather than have a large flop. Once you do feel
confident in your event management powers, go to the
next step.

There are numerous fan sites, club sites, and internet

magazines that have numerous tournament, league, and
painting competition ideas. Various conventions will often
have themed events that would work well in a store or
club environment.

Start with Player Feedback

What are they looking for? After all, you are running
events for your customers and to keep the hobby drive
strong. Do your customers want an involved campaign?
Do they want a no-holds-barred cutthroat tournament? Do
they want an expert-level painting competition that would
make world-renowned artists stare in awe?
Canvas your customers or club members opinions and
start to build a schedule of special events based on the
responses. Just dont forget all the basic ground work in
making an event successful. These steps apply to any
event, no matter how advanced.

Pool Your Resources

Looking to hold a huge tournament? How about a citywide league where players go up against customers in
other stores or clubs? You can get in touch with your area
gaming community by looking at the club listings on the
Games Workshop web site, talking to local stores and
clubs, or getting in contact with a Games Workshop
Account and Territory Manager in your area. While some
may think it would hurt their business or club by working
with the competition, building a stronger gaming
community only brings in more club members and
customers in the long run.

TOURNAMENT SPECIFICS
A tournament can be broken down into three basic parts:
Preparation, the Day of, and the Aftermath.

Preparation
The right paperwork will help make your tournament run
that much more smoothly. Weve designed several forms
to collect scores and help you tabulate all the points. In
addition, there are a few forms that will advertise and
promote your tournament in-store.

Forms
A majority of the materials that are available for download
are forms to help you keep the tournament organized and
running smoothly. You can find all these downloads on
the RTT site.
The forms package you have access to includes:
A Sign up Sheet. Post these sheets on your walls
as soon as you can!
Announcement Posters. Put these posters up too!
Results Sheets (Battle and Sportsmanship)
Judging Sheets/Army Lists (Appearance)
Player Sheets
Scenarios (For tournament events or variety)
Winner Certificates
Below are explanations of the forms and tips on how to
use them.
Sign up Sheet
This sheet contains areas for you to fill out concerning
the location, date, and admission fee (if any) of the
event. Thus, players will have all the information when
they go to sign up. The sooner you post this sheet, the
sooner people will begin to sign up and start getting
excited. Remember, enthusiasm feeds off itself.
Announcement Posters
These posters come complete with an area for the date,
cost, and location of the tournament. This way, potential
players can get all the information they need. You may
want to post any special rules, time tables, or other
special provisions near these posters. Hang them
somewhere noticeable.
Results Sheets
These forms are pivotal for the tournament, as they
record game results in the form of Battle Points and
Sportsmanship scores. Ultimately, these scores
determine who plays whom next round. A sheet with
wrong scores or that is entered incorrectly into the
database can cause you much grief, as people end up
playing the wrong opponents. Make sure players know
how to fill out these forms, and stress that all players
need to put their full names on the sheets. These
instructions will go a long way in making your
tournament run smoothly.

Judging Sheets/Army Lists Appearance

The Appearance score takes into account how well the
army is tied together in visuals and composition and
how closely it fits the background and theme coupled
with how well the miniatures are painted. This score is
derived via a simple check box system with scores
assigned to the answers to objective questions. Some
questions ask for the judge to give a subjective opinion
that can be answered easily if the judge has experience
in painting and is familiar with the background of the
armies in the game. It pays to have more than one
judge so that personal tastes or preferences are kept in
check by the other judges via discussion and mediation.
Player Sheets
Player sheets are given out to each player at the start of
the event. The players keep these sheets and track the
Battle Points from each game. Most importantly, each
player will select his favorite opponent at the end of the
event in three different categories: Favorite Opponent,
Best Looking Army, and Favorite Themed Army. Each
player may select the same opponent for any or all
categories if he wishes. These selections are important,
as all of these selections will give players bonus points.
Scenarios
Scenarios make players think in different directions,
provide players with new challenges, and make
everything more fun. Scenarios also encourage armies
that are more flexible as opposed to forces that are
geared only to wipe out their opponent. Dont reveal the
scenario to the players until just before the scenarios
round begins This way, players wont know what to
expect. Posting the scenarios early gives those players
who are regulars at your store an unfair advantage. The
surprise adds an element of mystery to the event.
Whether players admit it or not, they love speculating
about the things that will be asked of their army and put
a lot of thought into the creation of their force in an
attempt to meet all these imagined objectives.
NOTE For those running their first tournament, we
suggest using the basic scenarios from the main
rulebook for each game. When players fill out their
results sheets at the end of each game, make sure
you refer the players to p. 16 of this booklet for the
Scenario Battle Point modifiers. The scenarios found
online list all of these modifiers on the page.
You can find additional scenarios on the RTT web site
if youre looking for an extra challenge for
your tournament.
Winner Certificates
These certificates should be given to the winners of
each category. Its a good idea to keep the certificates
stashed somewhere safe until all results are in and all
scores have been double-checked. Fill the certificates
out in a private location or you may spoil the ceremony!

RTT TIP Hold onto all of the forms you use during the tournament. This way, you can double check the scores before declaring the winners.

Number of Rounds

Bonus Points

As we pointed out on the Making Your Schedule page

(p. 7 for the forgetful types!), you must set the number of
games played per tournament. The total number of points
for game play remains fixed, but the number of games
you schedule will determine the maximum number of
Battle Points each particular game is worth. Typically, a
player can earn 17 Battle Points for a win, 11 for a tie,
and 7 for a loss in each game. These Battle Points are
then modified by the pluses or minuses found on
each scenario.

At the end of the event, enter the bonus points given to

players by their opponents as indicated by the players
sheets. Players are only allowed to have a maximum of
votes equal the the number of games played.
Favorite Opponent
Players earn more Sportsmanship points on a sliding
scale from Favorite Opponent voting.

Running the Tournament

By now you should have advertised your tournament, had
scores of players sign up, and have all of your tables set
up for the tournament. However, before getting into the
particulars of the actual tournament, its a good idea to
review how players earn points and get matched up.

What Gets Tracked and Recorded

Besides players names and armies, youll also be
entering three different scores for each player in each
round. While getting a players name or army wrong isnt
horrible, misentering one of the scores can skew the
entire tournaments outcome and result in disgruntled
players and a red-faced Data Entry person! Below is an
explanation of the four different scores used to determine
who gets what award at the end of the tournament. The
max scores listed are based on the minimum three-round
tournament. The more rounds, the higher the scores!
Enter these scores carefully.
Battle Points
These points are found on the Results Sheets and are
entered at the end of each round.
Battle Points determine who plays whom.
Battle Points can total 51 points max and receive no
bonus points.
Sportsmanship Points
These points are found on the Results Sheets and are
entered every round.
The Sportsmanship score can total 18 points max from
the results and receive up to 6 bonus points
from opponents.
Theme Points
These points are found on the Result Sheets and are
entered every round.
The Theme score can total 6 points max from the
players and receive up to 4 bonus points
from opponents.
Appearance Points
These points are found on the back of the army list and
are entered after the judges finish scoring the armies.
The Appearance score can total 18 base points max
from the Appearance Judge(s) with up to 4 bonus points
from opponents.

One vote
= 2 points
Two votes = 4 points
Three votes = 6 points

Four votes
Five votes
Six votes

TOURNAMENTS

RTT TIP There sure are a lot of numbers here, right? We cant stress enough how vital it is to be extremely organized and careful when it comes to tracking scores.

= 8 points
= 10 points
= 12 points

Example Jim has three votes for Favorite Opponent one

from each of the three opponents he played during the
tournament. According to the list, Jim will receive 6 extra points
added to his final Sportsmanship score. He cant get more than
that, because he played only three games.

Best Looking Army

Players earn more Appearance points on a sliding scale
from Favorite Army Appearance voting.
One vote
= 1 point
Two votes = 2 points
Three votes = 4 points

Four votes
Five votes
Six votes

= 6 points
= 8 points
= 10 points

Favorite Themed Army

Players earn more Theme points on a sliding scale from
Favorite Themed Army voting:
One vote
= 1 point
Two votes = 2 points
Three votes = 4 points

Four votes
Five votes
Six votes

= 6 points
= 8 points
= 10 points

Remember, accuracy is a must, and taking the time to

double-check the scores keeps things running smoothly
and everyone happy.

DATAPAD ENTRY
Sportsmanship
One of the most important parts of the tournament is
Sportsmanship. Everybody wants to have a fun game
and shouldnt have to suffer a crybaby, a cheater, or
someone who is overbearing during a game. Thats why
points are given for Sportsmanship. People who are fair
and make a game more enjoyable should be rewarded!
Of course, giving Sportsmanship points should be done
in an honest fashion. Sportsmanship should reward
those opponents that were fun to play and not give
away points to those players that were horrible to play.
This system can be easily abused if a player
intentionally scores friends higher and other people
lower to further his own placement in the tournament.
This system relies on pure honesty to work, and you
need to stress this fact to players. If players insist on
cheating and breaking the system, they should be
barred from participating in these tournaments and told
that they are sad individuals! You should make it clear
that players are to fill out the Results portion of the form
together and then fill out the Sportsmanship portion on
each form apart from one another. This way, a player
doesnt feel pressured to give a particular score with his
opponent leaning over his shoulder. Once these sheets
are completely filled out, each player must give them to
the judges.

11

TOURNAMENT SPECIFICS

DATAPAD ENTRY
Always Something to Do
Here is a quick checklist to review before the tournament:
1. Set up the hall or gaming area.
2. Make sure that each table has the proper amount of dice,
scenery, and gaming materials.
3. Make sure that you have a list of who is coming as well as a
preliminary list of table assignments.
4. Greet players as they come in. Check off their names. Tell the
players which table they are on and have them go to that
table and start preparing to play.
5. Hopefully, all the players you expected to show up will arrive
(if youre luckier than us). If not, quickly fill in with alternates
or pair up the players with missing opponents. Make sure you
have on paper who is playing whom (as participants are not
supposed to play the same person again in the tournament!).
6. Hand out scenarios and allow players 5 minutes (or so) to
read over them.
7. Before game play begins is a great time to give em the quick
Welcome speech, yell a group WAAAGH!, or any other
tidbits you must announce (e.g., my wife baked cookies, the
bathroom is around the corner). Briefly explain how the forms
work. Next, begin play!
8. Distribute paperwork, make sure each table has two Results
Sheets, and confirm that the players know how to fill the
sheets out.
9. Get the Appearance Judge(s) out looking at the players
armies. Make sure the Rules Judges are available for players.
Basically, make sure everyone is playing and having fun.
10. Some games will finish well before the round ends, and
others will go to the limit. Begin collecting the Results Sheets
as soon as games end and get them to Data Entry. This step
is pivotal, as you will invariably have only a short time
between games. Help yourself get a jump start every round.
11. Once all scores are entered, post the new match ups (or call
them out if you dont have a printer).
12. Pass out new scenarios and repeat steps 8-12.

Running Your Day Step-by-Step

Set up
If at all possible, set up all your tables and lay out all your
scenery and any other items you are providing the night
before the tournament. This method gives you a whole
night to finish any scenery that may be missing and to
think about any other items you may have forgotten.
There is a lot to be said for not frantically running around
trying to get things done at the last minute.

Table Assignments
The night before is also the best time to work out the first
round of match ups and table assignments. Working this
system out beforehand will make things run faster in the
morning when players come to check-in. Just checking off
a player and telling him which table to go to is a definite
upgrade over players milling about waiting. Once check-in
is done, you can pair up any players that dont have
opponents because someone dropped out at the last
minute. If necessary, you can pull out the tournament
ringer army (see What Can Go Wrong on p.14) and
have it set up if you have an odd number of players.

Scenarios
Once all players have found their tables, it is time to hand
out the scenarios (or point out the appropriate one in the
rulebook). Make sure your Rules Judge has thoroughly
read through the scenarios beforehand. That way, he can
quickly and confidently answer any questions that players
may have about the scenarios.
At the end of the round (or once a game is over), players
should refer to their scenarios for any Battle Point
modifiers that will be applied to their Win, Loss, or Tie
totals. You will find a default list of modifiers on p. 16 for
scenarios that are taken straight out of the core rulebooks.

Getting Started
Once all the scenarios have been given out, it is time to
announce that all the players should begin setting up their
armies and start playing!

What to Do During the Game

While the players are battling it out, its time to do the
appearance judging. This task will keep you very busy, as
you will also be answering questions and most likely
spending some time looking at the players armies strictly
for your own fun and enjoyment!

The Paperwork You Hand in

and Collect
During each round, players will finish at different times. As
players turn in Results Sheets, go over the sheets to
check that theyre completely filled out and do a quick
scan for any irregularities before the player walks away.
As the end of the round approaches, many players will
finish up at once, and youll get a ton of forms. Do your
best to keep the forms organized as they come in. You
may run out of time sorting the forms after theyve all
been returned.
It is vitally important that all of these scores are entered
with complete accuracy and in a timely fashion. Entering
scores incorrectly could sound the death knell for your
event, so its impossible to stress the importance of
accuracy too much. Quickness is also essential to easily
keep the tournament on schedule.

Smooth Transition to the Next Game

The best way to keep things running smoothly is to make
regular announcements about the time remaining in a
round and the time the next round begins (remember that
schedule you made earlier?). When most of the players
have finished their round of gaming and are wandering off
to get a soda or a breath of fresh air, it is the perfect time
to announce the starting time of the next round. Also,
make sure that the players who are finished do not
disturb the games that are still going on. Again, a couple
of minutes before the next round starts, make an
announcement so that players have time to finish up what
they are doing and get ready to receive their table
assignment for the next round.

RTT TIP Once the tournament starts, youre about halfway home. However, the second half is just as important. Make sure that youre on top of the event while its running.

Setting up Matches the GW System Other Winners

There are some rules for setting up matches. If youve
never run a tournament, this process can be confusing.
Like plays like winners play against winners. This
method keeps great players challenged and keeps notso-talented players from getting crushed and becoming
frustrated. Basically, everyone plays against someone on
his own level.
No participant plays the same person twice.
Everyone gets to play in every round.

GW Swiss System
With the Player Tracking Sheet or the database file from
Games Workshop, you can match up winners against
winners and losers against losers in each round. Players
that win always have more Battle Points than players with
losses or ties. This system is used at all of our Grand
Tournaments and it works very well. This system is
MUCH easier to execute when you use the computer.
Simply sort the data by Battle Points, and youre ready to
assign tables. The file will alert you if players are matched
up with players theyve already faced. Do a small amount
of row juggling, and conflicts should all be resolved.

Choosing the Winners

Everybody that participates is a winner. After all, the
participants just spent a day playing with toy soldiers
rather than suffering at work or school! However, there
are some people who have done exceptionally well at this
tournament, and it is always fun to win something.
Once all the scores are totaled, you can begin working on
deciding the winners. Print out a page with everyone
sorted by points scores. Find the player with the highest
points total (this total includes Battle Points,
Sportsmanship, and Army Appearance). This player is the
Overall Winner. Write down the name and take the name
off the list. This player has just won the top prize and isnt
eligible for anything else. The next step is to pick the
person with the highest Sportsmanship score. This
person has won Best Sportsman. Cross his name off the
list. Now, pick the person with the highest combined
Theme and Appearance score. If there is a tie, use the
Sportsmanship score to break it. This person wins the
Best Army award. Remove his name from the list. Finally,
pick the person with the highest Appearance score. If
there is a tie, use the Sportsmanship score to break it.
This person will receive the Best Appearance award.
Overall Highest total points.
Best Sportsman Highest Sportsmanship score.
Best Army Highest combined
Appearance and Theme score.
Best Appearance Highest Appearance score.
Note In Mordheim, Blood Bowl, and Necromunda,
theres no Best Army award. Instead, there is the Highest
Rating Award. This award is simply the Gang, Warband, or
Team that has the highest rating at the end of the event.

You may award prizes for any number of subcategories.

The more you choose, the more fun players will have at
the awards ceremony. We add in silly prizes like fuzzy
dice for the person with the worst dice rolls or blocks of
cheese for the best Skaven player. Use your imagination
for the categories and things lying about the shop (e.g.,
damaged product, gag gifts) to serve as the prizes.

TOURNAMENTS

RTT TIP As there is always something to do, make sure staff dont end up standing around talking to one another during the tournament!

In the Event of a Tie

If you have a tie for a category, use the Sportsmanship
score to break it. If Sportsmanship scores are tied, pick
another category starting with Battle Points and moving to
Painting and then Theme. In the bizarre event that all
those scores are tied, immediately have the players buy
lottery tickets!

Awards
Make sure you have all the winners names written
down along with their armies and any special notes to
go with them.
Play up your awards ceremony. Make sure all staff are
present to clap and cheer people on. Thank everyone
for coming, Because without the participants, there
would be no tournament!
Having a quick line or two to go along with each award
makes it that much better. For example, The Best
Painted award goes to an awesome High Elf army. Each
model was immaculately painted, the banners were
outstanding, and even the wood grain on the war
machines looked real. Congratulations to Mr. Smith and
his High Elf army.

13

TOURNAMENT SPECIFICS
What Can Go Wrong...
and What to Do About It
Murphys Law enters every tournament without ever
signing up. The nerve! Here are some of the common
mistakes and our advice on how to solve them.
Some players dont show up or have to leave in the
middle of the tournament.
During promotion and advertising, make sure you have
a reserves list. Encourage a few people to show up that
day just in case there are dropouts. You can always
recruit these extra gamers as Walking Judges (as long
as you trust them to work hard) if there ends up being
no one to replace.
It also pays to have a ringer army in reserve. A ringer
army is an army used by a staff member to fill in an
open spot and make sure everyone has someone to
play against in each round. This army can be a store
army, a staff members army, or an extra army supplied
by a player. At every tournament, one or two people are
bound to drop out because of illness or emergencies.
This problem can leave you with an odd number of
opponents one person would have no one to play
each round. Obviously, this situation will cause a
problem, because players are supposed to be playing in
each and every round! The army can be played by a
judge, staff, or a mix of people that would like to take a
crack at it (just make sure they know the rules well!).
The ringer army itself should be fairly balanced and fun
to play. This army shouldnt be built with winning in
mind. After all, if your staff member takes the overall
award when they are supposed to be filling in a spot, it
would be rather embarrassing for all involved. However,
we are not suggesting that the staff member throw the
game, but he should play to the best of his abilities with
a fair army instead. We suggest using an army that has
under 50 points in magic items or wargear and at least
65% percent of the points spent on troops or regiments.
The tournament doesnt start on time.
Make sure to schedule break times and adequate time
in between games. You can eat into this spare time to
keep things on track.
The scores have been entered incorrectly.
This problem results in someone else winning a prize
when he shouldnt have. Most often, this flaw is caught
well after the tournament is over. In the best of cases,
you can issue an apology to the parties involved and
learn next time to be more careful when entering scores.
CONTACT US for assistance.
A player is horribly disruptive.
Dont let one person ruin the tournament for everyone
else. Remember that one of the rules of the tournament
is to conduct yourself in a manner that doesnt bring the
hobby into disrepute. If someone is being particularly
disruptive, you are well within your rights to remove him
from the tournament. Dont let a player bully you into
letting him stay. Its your call.

My rules guy cancelled.

If you cannot find an adequate replacement, alert
everyone at the tournament to the situation. Players will
have to settle disputes among themselves. In the end,
as long as people have fun, it will all work out fine.
Make sure you encourage the players to settle rules
disputes by rolling a D6!

Your Own Area

Its always a good idea to have an area set aside for Data
Entry and other official tournament business thats as free
from distraction as possible. Whether its a separate room
entirely or just a roped-off section of the game floor where
players arent allowed (no peeking over the Data Entry
staffs shoulders, please), it will prove invaluable. Privacy
helps to ensure the accuracy of Data Entry and to
preserve the sanity of the Data Entry staff.

What to Use to Record Everything

There are two ways to record all the information that will
be coming in during the tournament: write it down by
hand on paper with our Player Tracking Sheet or enter it
into a computer database. If you do it by hand, you will
need a much longer amount of time and much better
organization. Using the computer allows you to enter
information quickly and re-sort it in a variety of ways.

How to Keep Organized

Try to have a separate folder or envelope for each
rounds Results Sheets as well as the Judging Sheets for
reference. Dont just toss the sheets all in a pile and later
have to sift through the wreckage to find one piece of
information you need to double-check later!
Make sure that everything starts on time! Keeping to the
schedule is utterly important to the running of a tournament.
Good scheduling also makes it easier to keep track of the
results and check scores. Make regular announcements of
start times, time left in the round, and ending times. Make
sure players stop playing if the allotted time is up!

Troubleshooting Tips
A score is entered incorrectly.
Although its very important to be accurate, mistakes do
happen. It is not the end of the world, and catching the
mistake quickly and correcting it will fix the problem.
A player thinks his score was calculated or written
incorrectly by his opponent.
Find the results sheet in question and go over it with the
player and his opponent. If its wrong, have the players
correct the sheet and agree on the correct scores.
Uh-oh! I cant undo what I just did to the database!
If you are using a computer to track the results of the
tournament, make sure you save often and save the file
under a slightly different name for each round (Round 1,
Round 1.1, Round 2, Round 2.1, and so forth). This
way, if something goes horribly wrong with the program,
you can refer back to the latest file and do not have to
start from scratch.

RTT TIP If you want to be very thorough, you can require players to turn in army lists a day or so ahead of time and double-check the point totals.

 Ive got a partially filled out Results/Player Sheet!

If you receive forms without names or that are only
partially filled out, you will have to track down the
players. This task results in a lot of time lost running
around and sorting things out. To alleviate this potential
problem as much as possible, announce often for
players to include full names and to fill out all the sheets
properly. You should also check the sheets as theyre
being handed in to the judges. If the tournament is small
enough, you may even want to spend 10 minutes
demonstrating how to fill out the sheets!

Finding a Place to Run an RTT

At one point, unless you have a very large store or
clubhouse, you may want to think about renting a hall for
a day. Obviously, renting a hall is going to add a level of
expense to a tournament. Try a smaller tournament in
your store first to gauge interest and attendance. Here
are some more things to keep in mind:
You need space for the gaming tables. The number of
tables should equal half the number of your participants.
You need space around those tables for players to move
and possibly sit on chairs.
If you are running the tournament in your store, then
you also need to take into account space for customers
to maneuver! Showing off a great tournament to
potential customers can really generate interest and
excitement. Onlookers will see the fun and start building
an army right away. Your tournament will be your very
top priority, but its a good idea to post someone on
guard duty to explain whats going on to newcomers!
If you are trying to find local VFW or American Legion
halls and Moose, Mason, or Knights of Columbus Lodges
and the like, we suggest letting your fingers do the
walking through the local yellow pages or firing up the
trusty old web browser. Most cities have a web site that
caters to tourists and lists all the major hotels. You can
use an internet search as a jump start on your quest for a
good tournament venue. You should try to find a site
thats relatively close to your store or club. You should
also definitely scout out the location yourself before
making a commitment to make sure its easy to find and
meets your tournament needs.

Tables
Now that youve solved the space issue, you have to fill
your gaming area with everything else that youll need.
The gaming tables themselves should be at least 4' x 5',
and you may want a larger area than that (up to 4' x 6'
or 4' x 8') so that players have room to place their
casualty models, reserve models, rulebooks, and so
forth. We recommend a 4' x 6' playing area. That size is
what we use for all but the largest of games.
At Games Workshop tournaments, we have two types of
table set ups. Both go on top of ordinary folding tables.
These tables can be rented cheaply if you dont own
enough. Heres a brief description of the table types.

The first gaming table is framed hardwood with a

plywood sheet on top. It fits over the folding table and
gives players a 4' x 6' gaming area. These tables are
heavy and difficult to store, but they last a long time!
The second table travels better. We have specially
made 4' x 6' gaming mats. These mats fit perfectly
over two folding tables placed side by side (just make
sure your folding tables are the same height). The
mats are much easier for travel and set up just
unfold them early so your battlefield doesnt have that
embarrassing crinkle or fold mark on it! As an
alternative, one of the best things weve found is a
green military blanket.

TOURNAMENTS

RTT TIP When renting a hall, find out how good the ventilation system is. Lots of bodies packed in a small room generates a lot of heat and discomfort!

The Army List

When you register, one of the forms you can download is
an army list format for the game system you choose to
run. We highly recommend making copies of this sheet
and supplying one to every player who signs up. Tell
these players that their list must be entered on this sheet.
NO EXCEPTIONS! The list makes it easy to figure out a
players army by breaking it into components and making
the player break down all the percentages. Otherwise,
you will receive army lists in a multitude of formats
ranging from computer printouts to hastily scrawled letters
on a crumpled page. Deciphering peoples handwriting
will quickly slow your tournament to a crawl!

Core Rules Sets

Each RTT event has a core rules set. A small percentage
of these rules are fixed. The rest you can modify to suit
your gaming area and players. When you register your
tournament, you will have the option of changing the
modifiable rules and adding in anything else that you
would like (i.e., Citadel Journal Adeptus Arbites rules will
be used, or all rivers will count as impassable terrain at
this tournament).
You can find the core rules for each game that Games
Workshop expects each player to abide by on the RTT
Event web site during the registration process.
By having all the rules laid out, each player will know
what to expect when he comes to your tournament.
Now you know everything you need to successfully run a
tournament from start to finish. However, this step is just
the beginning. You can expand your tournaments to do all
sorts of neat things.

From Here
One thing wed like to impress upon you the most is that
these are just guidelines, a starting point to familiarize
yourself with running tournaments. Once youre
comfortable with the basic tournament, dont let it keep
you from running more elaborate tournaments.
From tailoring scenery, army lists, rules, special
scenarios, and more, the possibilities are almost limitless.
In the end, a high level of fun at the event will inspire and
encourage players to return again and again.

15

TOURNAMENT SPECIFICS
Scenario Modifiers Info

Blood Bowl

The following are suggested modifications for using

scenarios straight from the rulebook in tournaments. Add
these Battle Point modifiers to each players Battle Point
score when filling out the results form.

+1 BP to a max of +3 for every point by which you beat

your opponent.
-1 BP up to a maximum of -2 for each model of yours
who was KOd or suffered a serious injury.

Warhammer

Battlefleet Gothic

+1 If your General is still alive, is not fleeing, and has not

fled off the table by the end of the game.
+1 If you have a unit at 50% or more of its starting unit
size in your opponents Deployment Zone.
+1 If your highest point unit is still at or above 50% of its
starting unit size and not fleeing at the end of
the game.
-1 If no enemy unit is destroyed, is fleeing, or has fled
off the board by the end of the game.
-1 If you dont control at least one table quarter.

Warhammer 40,000
+1 If you have a unit over 50% of its starting unit size or
an undamaged vehicle in your opponents
Deployment Zone at the end of the game. Fleeing
units do not count.
+1 If your General is still alive at the end of the game.
+1 If your highest point unit is still at or above 50% of its
starting unit size and not fleeing at the end of
the game.
-1 If you control no table quarters at the end of
the game.
-1 If none of your opponents units are under 50% of
their original unit size or none of your opponents
vehicles were destroyed by the end of the game.

+1 If your opponents Flagship has been reduced to

0 Hits.
+1 If you have more operational Cruisers in your
opponents Deployment Zone than he has in yours.
+1 If your flagship has at least 50% of its original Hits at
the end of the game.
-1 If no enemy Cruisers have been crippled or destroyed
and if no Escort squadrons have been reduced to half
strength by the end of the game.
-1 If all your Cruisers have been crippled or destroyed
by the end of the game.

Warmaster
+2 If the enemy General is killed.
+1 If all your Characters are still alive at the end of
the game.
-1 If no enemy units were destroyed.
-1 If your highest point unit was destroyed.

Necromunda & Mordheim

+1 If your opponents Gang/Warband leader is out
of action.
+1 If you defeated a Gang/Warband with a higher rating.
+1 If your Gang/Warband leader is not out of action by
the end of the game.
-1 If your opponent put three times as many of your
models out of action than you did of his.
-1 If you put no enemy models out of action.

Necromunda and
Mordheim Modifications
Captured!
Models captured in a tournament may only be traded or
bartered. Due to the time constraints in a tournament
situation, a Rescue Mission can not be played.
However if a model has been captured, you may trade,
sell, or slaughter the prisoner at your leisure.
All models must be WYSIWYG for the original gang,
warband, or team. Some weapons, mutations, and so
forth throughout the tournaments will tend to change.
These items do not necessarily have to be modeled,
because there is not time to modify or convert models
between games.
However, new additions to the gang, warband, or team
must have an appropriate model to represent them.
Otherwise, such additions may not be used.
RTT TIP You can use the modifiers above as a starting point when making your own scenarios for your tournaments.

RTT TIP Around 4-8 weeks is the optimum amount of time to run a league. Resist the urge to run the league too long otherwise people lose interest and drop out.

John
Khorne

Ty

Dave

Nurgle

Orcs
LEAGUES

If tournaments are fast paced 1- to 2-day events that

pack a huge amount of gaming into one little space and
painting competitions are hobby skill focused events, the
league is the perfect combination of both spread over 4 to
8 weeks.
While leagues can come in a variety of shapes and
forms, the underlying principle is that a group of gamers
play a series of battles among one another over the
course of a few weeks and either crown the player with
the most wins (or points) at the end or have it culminate
in a tournament playoff. The real fun of a league is
developing your army along the way, evolving veteran
units, and having special events, mega-battles, and other
bits interspersed throughout.
Leagues are a great way to focus on a specific gaming
system and participate in all aspects of the hobby. If you
have a gaming system in your club or store that you think
needs some attention, a league is usually the perfect
medicine for it.
In the following pages, well discuss a few types of
leagues that you can run in your store or club.

TOURNAMENTS

LEAGUE SPECIFICS

Ken

Len

Harry

Bretonnians

Skaven

Wood Elves

Drew

Eric

Mark

Chris

Bryan

Khorne

Orcs

Chaos

Dwarfs

Undead

Pyramid Leagues
The Pyramid League is an in-store or club league system
designed to promote a constant level of gaming and
hobby activity. The program is very low maintenance and
(if run properly) can continue indefinitely. The system
allows for open gaming and league nights to work side by
side, and players can join and drop out with no impact on
league flow.

Set up
The league system requires an in-store display like the
one shown above. A board has tiles or cards for each
participant. The tiles can be moved up and down the
display to show each players present standing. Velcro,
magnets, or small hooks make for an easy to maintain
board. Each tile will show the players name, army
affiliation, and an area for a challenge token or sticker.

The Goal
The goal of the league is to fight your way to the top of
the heap to be the King of the Hill and defend your
position successfully against three challenges. Upon
achieving this lofty goal, you will be immortalized with all
due pomp and circumstance. All manners of bragging
rights and accolades shall be heaped upon you and your
glorious army as well as any additional prizes the league
organizers deem appropriate. Your army will then be
retired from the league. You may still use your army instore tournaments and will be eligible to participate in the
State or Regional championship for your area. Only
league champions will be invited to these hallowed
events. To enter the league again, you are required to
use a new army.

A rough representation of the structure for a pyramid league board.

Start up
The best system for starting the league is to hold a
tournament and fill the pyramid according to the final
scores of each player. First place goes to the overall
winner of the tournament. The rest of the tournament
results indicate each players position in the league
standings. Thus, the best player in the store will start on
top and have the first crack at immortality, and if it is an
army that dominates play in your store, it will quickly be
out of the league pool and allow others to advance.
Everybody wins.

Advancing
Players on each tier of the pyramid may challenge any
player on the next tier to a match. The right to issue a
challenge is earned only after the player has successfully
defended their present position. This is where the
CHALLENGE TOKENS come into play. When a player
defends his spot, he gets a token. He may then spend the
token to challenge the next tier. If the challenger wins, the
two players switch spots on the pyramid. If the challenger
loses, the winning defender receives a challenge token.
This method is the heart of the system. The only
exceptions to this rule are:
1. The bottom tier may challenge at will. No one wants
the bottom spot!
2. The top position must collect three challenge tokens. If
the top position achieves this goal, that player wins and
his army is retired from the league.

17

LEAGUE SPECIFICS
Helpful Hints
Theme the Board
A nebula of stars with player cards shaped like
spaceships is perfect for Battlefleet Gothic. An Imperial
Eagle with the board forming the wings would be great
for Warhammer 40,000. Use your imagination!
Expiration Dates
Players should be encouraged to play at least one game
each week. Failure to do so will cost a player his
position on the board. Randomly select one player from
the tier below who has a Challenge Token to swap
spaces. This act uses up the players token. If no
players on the row below have a token, randomly fill the
spot! Do not leave empty spots on the pyramid. You
may want to mark the date of the last game played on
the back of each tile to make updating easy. This rule is
at the discretion of the league organizer and is meant to
encourage constant play. Feel free to make exceptions.
Nobody Will Fight Me.
In the event that you have a player that no one will
challenge, it is the responsibility of the League
Organizer to grant a free Challenge Token. Use this
method only if the player has gone at least a week
without being challenged and has been available for
play. This free token is totally at the League Organizers
discretion. What if the inconceivable happens, and this
player is at the top of the pyramid? After 3 consecutive
weeks where the top player has been available for
games and no challenges have been issued, he will be
declared the winner. The two players in the second tier
shall be banished to the bottom for their cowardice!
Refill the pyramid randomly as above.
Point Values
There are several ways to approach this concept. For a
game that is strong in your store, set a solid point value
for the league (i.e., 1,500 points, 2,000 points, and so
forth). If it is a game you are trying to get off the ground,
set the point value for each tier of play. For example, set
the bottom two tiers at 500 points, tier four at 1,000
points, tier three at 1,500 points, and tiers two and one
at 2,000 points. This way, the top of your pyramid will be
empty at the start of the league, and players will be able
to advance just by building their army!
Scenarios
You can let the players agree on each scenario or
mandate a random roll on a predetermined list. You may
want to have a different list for each tier of play. This
method really keeps the players guessing.
Army Lists
Players are locked into the army they register with but
not the specific list. Players are encouraged to change
and improve their army throughout the league. Each
player may customize his army list based on the
opponent he is about to face. This flexibility encourages
players to continually add new units to their army pool in
an effort to improve their performance. This process
converts directly to more interesting and varied armies.

One Player with Multiple Armies

This idea is fine as long as the player participates in at
least one game with each army every week.
League Night vs. Open Gaming
Do both. Have a set night each week, make sure that
players know they will be able to find matches on that
night. Allow players to set up their own games as well.
This idea is why you put the contact info line on the player
cards. This method creates a fevered play environment
and allows the league to grow unhindered. Do not limit
the number of games a player may play per week.
The Bottom Tier
The lowest tier on the board that is more than half full is
considered the bottom tier. If its half full or less, its
combined with the tier above, and together, theyre
considered the bottom tier. This method prevents the
bottom from being hopelessly outnumbered by the tier
above and increases the number of challengers.
What if the Boards Completely Full,
but There Are More Players That Want to Join?
GREAT! That means the league is a huge success, and
there is no limit to how many players can enter. Any
players that do not have a spot on the board hold on to
their cards and try to fight their way on. If the number of
players off the board is greater than the bottom tier, that
group becomes the bottom tier with no limit on the
number of participants in that group. A position on the
board becomes a coveted goal.
Painted Miniatures
Ideally, all of the models in each players army would be
completely painted. However, requiring such a thing
could discourage new players from joining up. You can
use relaxed painting requirements for new players or
additions to a players army. This should inspire people
to continue to upgrade their forces and allow them to
easily add reinforcements.
The Farther They Fall
This optional rule says that if the player in the top spot
should be defeated, he will fall all the way to the
bottom tier. Fill the resulting openings in the pyramid
randomly as above. This rule shakes things up, makes
the league a bit more challenging to win, and keeps the
upper level of the pyramid from stagnating with just the
top three players trading spots back and forth.
King of the Hill
There should be a theme to this concept that relates to
the game being played. Examples include Lords of
Middle-earth for The Lord of The Rings Strategy Battle
Game, Admirals of Renown for Battlefleet Gothic, and
so on. Make King of the Hill status a very big deal. Put
up pictures of the winning army or present the winner
with an engraved plaque. You could also give the winner
free registrations in all in-store tournaments. Another
alternative is to allow the winning army to always choose
his table edge in-store events or some other small game
advantage. The cooler you make this hallowed status,
the more dedicated the players will be to achieving it.

RTT TIP A good dry-erase board is the easiest way to handle the daily changing of league statistics.

RTT TIP A good games master can really enliven a league by throwing in random events to mix up games and keep players on their toes!

This is your league. Feel free to adapt it to your store in

any way you see fit. This system provides a basic format,
but the details are up to you. In the end, the success of
your in-store or club gaming program will convert directly
to sales and membership. Make it exciting. Keep it fun.
Gamers will stay where they play.

Points League
A Points League is similar to a tournament, except it runs
over 6 to 8 weeks rather than 1 or 2 days. Each game
played earns points depending on a win or loss.
Throughout the league are special events like megabattles, modeling and converting competitions, and other
events that earn participating players even more points.
One of the first things you must decide is whether to limit
the number of games players can participate in per week
(only count league games on a special league night, for
example) or allow participants to play as much as they
want wherever they want (this method encourages home
gaming and more in-store participation).
All data should be tracked on a large in-store board. You
should recommend that each player use a results sheet,
and you should have a box these sheets can be placed in
so the standings can be updated after closing or in the
morning before things get too hectic. This way, youll have
eager participants stopping in each day or calling to get
the latest standings.
We also recommend tailoring the number of games the
same opponents can play in a row (this way, participants
cant play 10 straight matches against one another in an
attempt to rack up points). You can even go so far as
setting up a strict schedule of gaming along the lines of
baseball or football. This method ensures that each
player gets to play everyone participating in the league
and that no one participant monopolizes another player. It
all comes down to how much time you can devote to
micromanaging the league.
A great way to to keep a Points League underway is to
set goals and important dates for things like modeling
competitions and mega-battles.

Types of Modeling/Painting
Competitions
The best modeling or painting competitions are based on
units that participants have recently picked up at the start
of or sometime during the league (like a reinforcements
week or something along those lines). This way, all
players start off on the same foot. Our suggestion is to
run this competition in the fourth week of the league. This
method gives the players time to get in a few games and
determine what new unit or commander would be
beneficial to add to the army.

Types of Mega-Battles
Mega-battles are an excellent way to inject a lot of fun
into a league by getting multiple players to join their
forces together in an all out slugfest. The easiest way to
do it is line up all the good armies against the evil
armies and let them battle it out in a special scenario that
you create.
We always suggest putting in timed rounds to keep the
game moving. We suggest 5 minutes per side. This
amount of time gives players 1 minute to move all the
troops, 2 minutes to resolve all shooting, and 2 minutes
for close combat. This time limit keeps players thinking
fast and on their toes the whole time and gives more of
an air of excitement to the event, as players have to
make snap decisions in the heat of battle. Of course, time
limits require a Games Master to enforce it.

LEAGUES

Conclusions

More Inspiration
If leagues work very well within your store or club, the
next step you may want to take is running a campaign.
Campaigns are very similar to leagues but have more indepth rules, scenarios, and gaming situations. Campaigns
usually require a Games Master to keep track of the data
and push along the story line. Campaigns heartily
encourage army conversions to represent veterans and
special characters that are acquired during the campaign.
Some of the best campaign references can be found in
The Generals Compendium and on Games Workshops
web site e-zine Black Gobbo.

Game Shacks Warhammer 40,000 League Standings

Wins

Name

Losses

Draws

Event 1 Bonus

Event 2 Bonus

Total

Tom

III

Jim

II

II

Erin

III

IIII

II

16

16

Stuart
Bob

IIII

Nick

IIII

III

II

14
8

Here is an example of what

a tracking board would look
like in a Points League.

19

PAINTING COMPETITION SPECIFICS

What Do I Need to Do to Run a
Painting Event?
Should you decide to host a painting competition in your
store or club, simply follow the guidelines we have
prepared for you here, and all will be well.
You can find downloadable materials (judging forms, an
electronic version of this document, and plenty more) to
help run the event at the RTT Event web site
www.games-workshop.com.

Why Run a Painting Competition?

Many of the people who purchase Games Workshop
boxed games in your shop will be having their first
experience with collecting and painting miniatures. For
some of these people, painting miniatures can be a
daunting task. "What if I mess up the models? I cant
paint them to look like they do on the box. The brush is
HOW small?" Once someone actually sits down and
immerses himself in the task, he will soon find that it is
not nearly as daunting as he had imagined. Painting turns
out to be its own reward, and it doesnt matter how well
the miniatures actually turn out. With practice and
patience, anyone can indeed produce professionallooking paint jobs.
Painting competitions can spark the creative instinct in a
lot of hobbyists, new and old alike. Seeing a display of
well painted miniatures often inspires a painter to pick up
his own brush and get to work. Usually, a creative spark
will lead to customers heading back to your store both to
participate and purchase supplies. Traffic very often
translates into business, and that in itself is a good
reason to run the event. As an added bonus, youre
showing the customer that you actually care about his
patronage by supporting his purchases with events.
Events inevitably foster good will between you and your
current customers and should lead to attracting new
customers as well.

Choosing the Right Staff

As mentioned previously, the right staff is the ultimate
secret weapon when making anything from promotional
events to overall sales a rousing success. Staff can make
or break anything that goes on under the roof of any
place of business. The staff you choose to coordinate this
event should be:
Customer service-oriented. Staff will wind up dealing
with lots of people and fielding a loads of questions!
Organized. Staff will be dealing with a lot of paperwork
and inch-high models. Your staff must be able to keep
track of both without losing or damaging a single piece!
Enthusiastic. Staff must convey to the participants and
potential participants (i.e., customers) that the staff
honestly cares about running the event.
Your staff does not have to know anything about the
games themselves or even painting models to run this
event. However, we guarantee that your staff will have
learned a lot by the end! If your staff can talk to
participants in a friendly manner, make sure that
everyone is registered correctly, and return the models to
all the participants, this event will almost certainly
be successful.

Advertising the Event

Make sure to have information posted around the store.
One great method is to have a store news board for all
upcoming and current events. This board also makes a
good place for customer challenges, specific gaming
nights, and more. This board will quickly be a place
customers will check when they first walk in the door to
see what is going on. Another great location to advertise
is right next to the register. Remember to include
information about the painting competition in any store
newsletters, mall or community pamphlets, or even an ad
in the local newspaper. Inform every customer that your
store will be running a painting competition. The more
customers who know, the more participants will enter, and
the more purchases they will make. You can download an
advertising poster off our web site.
RTT TIP I know we say it more than once, but its worth mentioning many times the judges do not have to discuss their scores or choices to participants at any time.

RTT TIP Its perfectly acceptable to make purchasing a new miniature an entry requirement for ALL participants, not just new painters.

The majority of the people who are going to enter this

competition will own the boxed game along with a set of
miniatures. However, many other entrants will be
interested after seeing an advertisement in a magazine, a
web site, or an in-store display. Its these people you
should keep in mind when stocking your shelves. To
participate, new painters will have to purchase at least
one Games Workshop miniature. Many of them are very
likely to proceed to purchase not only the boxed game
but at least one set of miniatures and even a paint set!
As most store managers know, if you dont stock what
customers are looking for, they will look for it somewhere
else. To avoid missing out on these sales, make sure you
have enough stock on hand for the inevitable demand.

Hosting the Event

You should provide a secure area to display the models.
The easiest way to display the models is in a locking
glass display case. This way, participants, spectators,
and judges can all view the models. If you have the
space, a stand-alone display cabinet is the best option.
No matter what you do, make sure you have a secure
location with little to no danger of being disturbed.
Have fair and impartial judges for this event. It is almost
inevitable that friends, fellow club members, or store
regulars will enter the competition. These people must
not, under any circumstances, be given any extra
credit when it comes to deciding which models are
chosen as the winners. If there is even a hint of
collusion or favoritism, other participants will most
certainly think that something is up and cry foul. If
theres any doubt in your mind whether someone picked
as a judge cannot be fair and impartial, please replace
him before trouble has the chance to arise.
Keep accurate records as to who has entered the
competition and which models have been entered. No
one wants to enter a competition only to have the credit
accidentally given to someone else, or worse, have his
model accidentally handed to the wrong participant! It is
up to you and your staff to keep things in order.

Rules for the Participants

Participants may only use models produced by Games
Workshop. Legal models include Citadel, Marauder, and
Forge World models.
Participants may enter into any of the categories. Once
you determine which categories you want to run, make
sure you let all possible participants know so they can
get started on their entries.
Models must be mounted on the base that they are
packaged with. With the exception of most vehicles, all
models come with a base. Contestants may not mount
their models on anything else. If you dont enforce this
rule, someone will eventually enter a single infantry
model on a 12" x 12" base and make it very difficult to fit
all the entries in your display case.

Displaying the Models

If you are a store or club that has never run an event like
this one, you should know that one of the hardest parts of
this competition will be figuring out how to display all the
entries you will receive. An important thing to remember is
that the models are, for the most part, approximately 1"
high. Since these models are rather small, people will
need to get close to see all the great detail and paint
jobs. Providing a glass display case for the models will
facilitate viewing and allow people to get up close without
touching the models. A display case also prevents the
models from getting stolen or damaged. Glass display
cases come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and costs. It
never hurts business to have well painted miniatures
displayed in an pleasing manner in your store, whether or
not the models are for a competition.
Some stores will use their window displays for this
competition. This method can cause traffic walking by to
stop and gander for a while. Such displays have the
same effect as a glass display case as long as people
dont have access to the miniatures and thereby cant
walk off with them.

LEAGUES

Make Sure You Have Proper Stock

Judging the Event

Along with the rules and guidelines booklet, you will find
check sheets outlining the process of judging a painting
competition. The people in charge of judging the event
must be impartial (we simply cant state that enough). The
judges do not necessarily need to know anything about
painting, as most people can judge what looks good and
what doesnt without any sort of formal training. However,
just as a reminder, here are some things to look for when
judging the models:
A neat, crisp paint job.
Combinations of colors that look good (an example of
what doesnt look good would be pink Goblins).
Extra details like tattoos or insignia (e.g., the Eye of
Sauron, hand painted Space Marine Chapter insignias)
that have been painted on.
Any extra effort that helps detail or improve the base.
As a rule of thumb, winning models should look cool,
be suitable for display in a store case, stand out as
having good paint jobs, and be worth a closer, more
scrutinizing look.

21

PAINTING COMPETITION SPECIFICS

Optional Rule/Event
Players Choice
One fun additional competition you can hold is the
Players Choice award. Such a competition has become
a tradition at our Grand Tournaments and gives the
participants as well as non-participating customers
something extra to take part in. Come up with a ballot box
(any cardboard box with a hole cut in it will do, but a
themed box will look much more professional) along with
slips of paper and pens or pencils so people may cast
their votes. A small sign saying something along the lines
of Vote for Your Favorite Model should get the point
across nicely. The voting should take place on the day of
the awards (thus making sure that all the entries are there
before the voting begins), and votes should be tallied just
before the awards ceremony. You can expand on this
idea by adding a Staff Choice, Managers Choice, or
anything else you think of.

What to Do Before Judging

Staff. Choose staff to run the event. Choose one person
to be the main contact for the competition. Having a
main contact gives the participants a visible go-to guy
for information on the competition and decreases the
chances for confusion. Make sure that all store staff
members have a basic knowledge of the contest and
can answer questions themselves or direct questions to
the main contact person. Choose three people to be
your painting judges now and make sure they familiarize
themselves with the rules and the judging criteria.
Create Awareness. Put up posters, copy and distribute
the flyers, place ads in the local paper, and do whatever
you can to get the word out that your store will be
running a painting competition.

What to Do the Day of Judging

Make sure staff are all equipped with plenty of judging
forms. Get a fresh start on the day of the judging to look
over all of the miniatures entered and then score them.
After all of the judges have scored each of the
miniatures, select the top three scores in each category
for awards. If there is a tie, the judges should discuss
and settle the tie among themselves. There should be a
clear winner in each category, and the tiebreaker should
be noted on the judging form.
After the first, second, and third place models have
been chosen, complete any extra events that you have
added to this competition (e.g., Players Choice). Note
this award on the models judging form as well.
Participants should be allowed to win one award from
the judges along with any of the extra awards such as
Players Choice or the random drawing.
Have the judges write down what they thought was neat
or outstanding about the models they chose for awards
along with the winners names and what character the
model represented for the MC of the awards ceremony.
Make several copies of the list of winners, as these lists
have some sort of supernatural predilection for getting
lost, and nothing is quite as awkward as an awards
ceremony featuring an MC just standing around and
staring at the crowd.
Make sure the awards ceremony starts at the appointed
time, and have fun with it!
Many players will want to take their models home after
the awards ceremony. Before you hand out any
miniatures, make sure you have all the paperwork and
get the winners to sign the forms confirming that they
have picked up their entries.

RTT TIP The downloadable judging sheets have reference guidelines for judging models on the back. Make sure you take a look at it!

RTT Make sure you allow plenty of time for the judges to look over all the models in detail and do not have to make a snap decision due to time pressures.

During and After the Judging

During the judging, it would be useful to equip the judges
with clipboards and a cover sheet that can keep the
judging sheets from participants eyes. This practice
allows the judges to concentrate on looking at the models
without having to worry about people trying to peek at the
scoring sheets.
One important lesson weve learned throughout our many
events is to keep the scores and judging forms secret. Do
not pass the judging forms out to participants or give the
forms back with the models. Although this event is for fun,
it can quickly turn sour if participants want to argue or
debate a judging point with staff. The judges decisions
are final and should not be changed once rendered.

The Awards Ceremony

We recommend that you hold a complete awards
ceremony after the judging has been finalized. A
ceremony allows you to bring closure to this big event.
Most of the people who entered the competition will show
up to see how the chips fell. The more prestige you try to
give the event, the better. Here are some tips we use in
our awards ceremonies:
Be sure to thank everyone for showing up and entering
the competition. Make it clear that without the
attendees, there would be no competition.
Instead of simply rattling off the winners names, say a
little something about each winning piece. It had some
amazing (insert amazing bits) here, and there was no
doubt this beautiful piece would take first place!
Have the winner come up, shake hands, take a picture,
and make sure everybody claps and cheers. Obviously,
the more pizazz you put into it, the more people will
come away with a good feeling. As odd as it sounds,
make sure the MC of the awards ceremony is smiling
and enthusiastic (like a good game show host).

Award Ideas
Here are some ideas for awards to give out to winners:
Store gift certificates.
Special edition models.
The Lord of The Rings, Warhammer, and Warhammer
40,000 trophies and busts from Sideshow or The Lord of
The Rings action figures from Toy Biz.

First of all, dont panic! As tight as weve set the schedule

and as much as it would be nice to assume that
everything will go off without a hitch (and it very well
might in most cases), theres bound to be some sort of
problem that rears its ugly head during your portion of the
competition. Here are some of the foreseeable problems
and how we suggest that you approach them. If
something we dont cover here comes up (or if you think it
might), please let us know, and well see what we can do.
A model gets lost, is returned to the wrong owner,
or gets stolen.
While there is a disclaimer stating that it is possible for
participants to lose their models, participants will not
always be understanding when it actually happens. If it
turns out to be an honest mistake or a paperwork error,
do your best to remedy the situation as quickly as
possible (find the miniature and have it returned, if
possible). If the entry is most likely gone for good, offer
the customer a replacement. Although a replacement is
little consolation for losing a miniature the participant
has spent hours preparing, the offer serves as a display
of good will and helps smooth things over.
Theres been a mix-up, and weve declared the
wrong person a winner.
This situation is probably the stickiest you can
encounter. The best resolution is to not take the award
away from the winner but have co-winners instead.
Either match the award youre giving to the winner or
find a comparable way to make everyone happy.
Theres a participant who disagrees with the final
standings (I should have won!).
In these competitions, one rule must be adhered to
without fail the judges have the final say. Once the
winners have been determined and the paperwork
checked, nothing should be reversed or argued. If you
have chosen fair and impartial judges and followed the
guidelines by not letting staff enter, you shouldnt have
any suspicion of collusion. However, some people will
always question the decisions of the judges. The judges
do not have to explain themselves or defend their
choices. It is recommended that judges do not discuss
their decisions with already disgruntled participants, as it
rarely makes the situation better and can cause more
problems than it solves.

PAINTING COMPS

What to Do if Things Go Wrong

Painting Standards
In the RTT Events area of the Games Workshop web site,
you can download various forms to help you with the
painting competition. On the actual painting judge form
are a few examples of the various levels of painting you
will see. These examples are a guide to help you in your
judging of your customers entries. On the form, we have
made examples, given a painting score, and critiqued as
to why the model received the score it did. If this format is
followed, the overall judging will be consistent and fair
every time a painting competition is held.

23

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