Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A big Thanks and Overview of Onslaught GT 2012!

First I would like to start this post with a major thanks to my friend Dave Taylor. His help in directing people to me for the sale of products has helped take a good chunk out of several bills that the wife and I were not sure on how we were going to pay. I have insurance mind you but my copays start adding up and it makes things difficult. At this time if anyone would like to purchase the lot as a whole btw I am making a great deal on it all. $250 and that includes shipping world wide so first person to email me about it will be my huckleberry at alexanderakers at yahoo dot com.

Now for the review of the Onslaught GT 2012 held at Templecon in Rhode Island. I like to break these down into event direct, venue as a whole, and other:
Event Direct: First off this was the Organizers first time running something so big. It is a daunting task mind you to run any tourney but when they spread several days it gets to be a major hassle and is very exhausting as a whole. Keith did a wonderfull job though and his prep was just fine with no flaws that I could see. Unlike the "Da Boyz GT" the scenerios were straight forward and not hard to comprehend but not so much that they would cause major unbalances either in final points. The terrain was perfect for the tables minus a few gripes from a few but thats honestly going to be the case no matter what. As far as awards they were rather nice looking plaques which personally I love more then tropheys, reason being trophies tend to break easily in moves etc. where are plaques sit nicely and look pleasant on the wall. They were from the convention itself so no overly large but still very nice and again unlike the "Da Boyz GT" at least there was awards as oppossed to product. Now there were no swag bags but for me this was actually rather nice because it took me back to how tournies used to be. Minus the minor personal quip of not having a best painted I understood the conventions reasoning on it as there was a comp outside with the coolminiornot people. There was players choice but this can get rather finiky as I noticed a bunch  of people were forgetting to even walk around and look at others armies as is often the case, and will just write whoever down. Normally I have several negative but really not on this. Like I said the minor issue is a personal thing but didn't detract from the event for me in the slightest.

Venue as a Whole: All I could say is WOW. First off the hotels food was by no account crappy, nor was the bar and the drinks...mmmmm whiskey. Suprisingly I found the food well above average and you could get a great filling meal for under $10 if you went to there restaurant, or buy from the vendor etc. Lots of parking so no issues there, and even with thousands of people they kept the place damn near spotless and odor free.. we all know of gamer funk people! Also Templecon is heavily into Steampunk and let me just say... THANK YOU!!!! Besides the fun of the costumes the actually attractive women in them made one hell of a show. To the fat women PUT MORE CLOTHES ON!!!!! Overall the venue was honestly as nice if not nicer in other respects to Adepticon and far surpased my last gt in Oct... wait for it... "Da Boyz". Yes I am no longer a fan of the Da Boyz!

Other: Honestly I am extremely picky about tournies and often take a firm approach to whats good and bad as I was spoiled on the west coast with great events in Seattle and such, but this one really did an outstanding job and I am very happy to see people stepping up to the challenge of running these big events and what's more doing it well! My hat is off to the organizers Keith, and the terrain man Sam Butler you all did an outstanding job and I for one plan to return next year.

Overview: Out of 5 pts
Event: 4.9 as nothing is ever perfect but this was damn close
Food: 4.5  great prices and well done just I am biased towards Chicago sorry
Tourney as a whole: 4.9 This one is one to watch as I see great things in it's future!