To the Victor, the Plunder: Tournaments with Firelock Games

By Tyler

There’s been a bit of a Firelock Games ‘drought’ here on No Dice lately. In that time, the gang from Miami has kicked out the ‘Fire on the Frontier’ expansion, nearly finished their Kickstarter, launched a new game out of nowhere, and teased one more in the works. We haven’t been quite as busy as all that, but we haven’t been idle this whole time either. The Tales-men have jumped out of the digital space and started running tournaments of our own. Captain ‘Chairborne’ will be along to talk about his experience at our most recent event, but today I’d like to share with you how we’ve been doing… well, what we’re doing.

Grabbing a Venue

Choosing a venue is the first step to any event, unless you’re running at a Con. It would been simple enough for us to pick one of the excellent local gaming stores in the area to host us. However, if you can find a venue that stocks the game, that’s an advantage.

Some of you might know that Firelock had to pull out of the 2022 Adepticon. They had their reasons, but it was disappointing to have people who wanted to pick up a new force or jump into a new game without anywhere to shop.

That’s why we chose Critical Hit in Abingdon MD for the ‘Easter Island’ tournament. The store has a great Firelock section, so we were able to grow the community and also help them shift some products. Ask not just what your store can do for you, but also, what you can do for your store.

While working with the venue, consider your timetables and… tables. One advantage to the Firelock games is that they’re designed for fast play on small tables. For every 6×4 table, the store had for those “other games,” we could host 2 games on a 3×4 space. We also scheduled 90-minute rounds. This gave more than enough time for players to finish their games but also left room for a lunch break.

We played 150pt games of Blood & Plunder. 150-200pts of Blood & Valor can be handled in the same 90 minutes. Sea Games are usually faster, but until players get used to the rules it’s best to allow more time. The slowest game by far is Oak & Iron. I recommend leaving two hours for those games, or else finding ways to expedite the pre-game phase.

Advertising

With the venue chosen, the next step is to fill it with people. For conventions, that usually means submitting your event to the organizers and making sure that everyone knows where to register. For local tournaments, advertising at the shop and on social media is a necessity.

Advertisements can be simple, but make sure to contain all the information that players will need. Dates, times, systems, and any points values or size limits for the game should be front and center. Make sure to also include a way for the players to contact you with any questions.

Be sure to leave time for people to clear their schedules. We started advertising Easter Island 3 months out. With that amount of advance warning, we were able to get 20 players into the event. Confusion reigned around Adepticon, and the result was a lower turnout for our events there.

Preparing Materials

With a venue and attendance sorted, it’s time to get working on the materials you’ll need for the event. Actually, you should be working on some of these things even earlier. Otherwise, you’ll end up doing what I always do: working until 4 am the day of the event, covered in hot glue and foam flock, fueled by nothing but strong coffee and a fear of failure.

One of the first things we put together was a tournament pack. It wasn’t ready in time for Adepticon, and players asked about it. All the “big kids” have them. Our Easter Island packet had some bugs in it – we’re fixing them, and will make it available for download in the future. In the meantime, if you’re running an event, feel free to reach out to us and we’ll get you a copy to at least get you started.

The biggest undertaking was terrain. Firelock was kind enough to send a box of their own terrain to Adepticon. We were able to split the terrain three ways for Easter Island. Put in the effort to make the terrain look good. After all, a tournament is more than a chance for existing players to come play the game – it’s also an opportunity for the public to see it in action.

There are plenty of resources on YouTube and this very site, to help you strike the balance between good-looking, durable, and inexpensive terrain. For the Easter Event, Glenn covered the basics with an industrial amount of trees and buildings. Tom and I put together detailed bits; including his awesome hills, and my full-table builds.

Putting it All Together

With players on their way to the venue and the terrain in the bag, the last thing was to run the event. We used the same scoring cards for all 3 games Adepticon, and for the Easter Island event. All Firelock Games use a similar ‘Strike Point’ method to determine victory. We recorded wins and losses but also asked players to report how many Strike Points they received during the game. Players who accumulated fewer Strike Points won any ties. The final tiebreaker was the usual ‘strength of schedule’.

For the Easter Island tournament, we were also able to have superlatives. We handed out awards for Best Painted and Favorite Opponent.

The Future!

The year is far from over, and we’re not done running events. The No Dice team will be at all the upcoming HMGS events, starting with Historicon. We’ll be running the ‘Iron Man’ series, with prizes for players who compete in multiple Firelock events. In the meantime, the Tales-men will be running a Sea Tournament at Critical Hit, for any players who want to knock the dust off beforehand. We’ve also got some exciting things in the works for later in the year, but it’s still a bit early to be announcing those. Forgive the cliff-hanger.

We encourage you to run events in your locale as well, and we’ll be sure to support you however we can. No Dice hosts a public calendar of events, and the Tales podcast is always glad to give your Firelock events a shout-out.

As always, support your local game store, and pleasant plundering!