Bolt Action Melbourne in February

BAMF! February 8th saw The Old Man Morin running another of his Bolt Action tournaments, and he roped me into helping him run it. OK, truth be told; I have a bit of an obsession with Excel and any chance to over-engineer a spreadsheet to deal with players is an opportunity not to be missed. But I digress: the day was about the playing and the players.

I've not seen a lot of Bolt Action action, but I know my way around a tournament and drawing players is more-or-less independent of game system. I listen to Brad's podcast (perhaps I find his voice soothing on a subconscious level) and by the end of the day I knew a fair bit about the game. 

 

The players were great, with no clashes other than those between miniatures. I met a lot of good guys, and caught up with some I knew already. Despite not playing, I found I wasn't short of a chat or a cinematic game to watch.

It was great to see that most armies were painted. I was given the job of picking Best Army, which a gave to Brian Cook's French. The army really popped, and had consistently crisp highlights. The vividly coloured (for WWII, anyway) headgear really stood out. 

So many prizes

Prize support was incredible; Brad had more prizes than players! On top of the myriad small prizes that were handed out for in-game accomplishments, Brad also had a substantial (ie, worth more than the entry fee) prizes for every player, in addition to the prizes for the top of factions, best painted and Hanoswag (my interpretation of that being an army that favours historical accuracy instead (or at the cost!) of gaming power. I liked how these were awarded: everyone sharing from the same pool, but accessing in order of placing. Last place got two picks, but Brad made sure that it wasn't just leftovers.  

Speaking of prizes, Brad saw to it that I was compensated for my time. He even kept it in line with games I play!

 

I was really impressed by the day. It makes me keen for two things: getting a Firestorm Armada tournament run similarly, and maybe even dabbling in some Bolt Action myself.