Running a Kill Team Tournament! Or any organized play, if that’s your thing

Or how to survive collective hallucinations and delusional goals

I recently had the honor of running the Dice Dojo Kill Team Summer Open of 2025 tournament for the first time. The Dice Dojo Open tournament series is a revered institution in the Kill Team scene of Chicago, where competitive intent coincides with a friendly atmosphere and an open minded attitude to discover more Kill Team possibilities. The event went well from my somewhat subjective point of view, and after everything was said and done, I suddenly became nostalgic about my journey as a Kill Team player and accidental side quests in community organization. The first Kill Team tournament I attended was a Dojo Open, in Fall 2023, the zenith of the 2nd edition - so we could say this is my alma mater. Which in turn made me think about the many conversations in random Discord servers I’ve heard from people considering organization of events. So, for those thinking about supporting their local scenes, or starting new ones, or bringing communities together, I thought I might dedicate a few words in case my experiences help - either as a helpful observations or thoughts to detract.

I’ll start with a few FAQ-like points, followed by more narrative anecdotes to present alternatives. Most of the principles apply to running local meets, or a league too - it’s mostly tactical differences. I know this is not “The Book of Five Rings” for Tournament Organizers (TO), nor “Zen and the Art of running a tourney” - but I don´t intend to write that just now.

Or do I?

What do I need to run a tournament or event?

The interest in running it and the time to organize it.

This is the core principle, even if it sounds glib or unhelpful. If you got this two factors lined up, you can start organizing events for your community, or even start a community. Everything else is merely contingent on the type of event you want to run.

No, really, what do I need to run a tournament?

A simple approach is to identify clearly what’s your goal, and start back from there.

For example - are you interested in a tournament that can be done in a day? Then you can take a check-list approach and see if you can get the basics. If you can’t go through your requirements, you’ll have a hard time, and maybe your energy can be better spent on other kind of efforts, such as trying to start a local scene, or joining an existing one and contributing there.

Example checklist:

You need to identify a venue with a public space and tables. In many cities, game stores with a room with tables can be found. In others, restaurants or bars rent rooms for affordable prices, or partner with events under the assumption that attendants will pay for food and drinks. On some others, public libraries or local community centers are interested in events. So ask around and check if you can find a venue that can promise you a space for 8 hours (or 10).
You need some way to promote your event. Maybe you’re already part of a gaming community, or are in a Discord server active about your game of choice. You can probe your network of gamers to see what dates work, what’s their interest, etc.
You need to decide whether you charge a participation fee to cover expenses, and a prize structure if you want to raise the stakes. Do you make your entry fee nominal? Do you need to cover expenses?
You need to define a tournament format (details such as whether to use a Swiss system, number of rounds, round length, etc). Make the structure clear, such as in publicly available tournament packet. Most players won’t bother reading it and will trust the Tournament Organizer to guide them, but I think it’s good to make things clear in advance - and it helps you to have a plan.
You need to handle the logistics in advance. Do you have enough terrain for your favorite wargame/skirmisher? Do you need to borrow some? Does a Local Game Store have everything you need?
Do you have a backup plan? If you get sick on the day of, is there anyone that can step up and cover you?
- This is probably the hardest item to decide. Many organizers don’t bother thinking about this one and trust their Fates.

If you can work through this, then you can dive head first and do your best. On the day of the event, be there as early as you can. Speak clearly, adhere to your tournament packet when it makes sense, and if you find a problem with your plan, then choose whatever is fair and keep things moving.

I don´t believe you

Sounds good, it’s a healthy attitude to be skeptical. I’m just words on the internet that your brain does not need to process to survive after all.

But consider this, if you may. In my teens, I organized random stuff without really knowing much of anything. I didn’t think about any of the items above, but I was lucky. I either improvised a solution to those problems on the spot, or most players were trying to keep things moving. I ran Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, a LARP, a Mordheim campaign. Later I did other stuff like a Battle For Middle Earth 2 league, or ran a guild in World of Warcraft. It took effort to keep people inspired and doing their part, but things worked because the requirements - place, logistics, social contracts - were there or emerged. I wish I had prepared a bit more though.

In recent years, I organized a bit more in advance, to increase the chances of success. And, the greatest boon to my efforts, is that I joined a lively scene that has been nurtured with care by the Dojo community, so that I could see a pretty healthy structure and emulate practices. Paying attention to the dynamics of a healthy gaming scene, or at least one that you align with, is invaluable experience that can help you a lot. If you can attend tournaments, be it small local events or big organizations like Adepticon, will help you see established practices in action. In particular, for the Dojo Open, most of the hard work such as building a healthy relationship with a LGS and creating a community of likely-minded players was already done by Rob P., our very own Chicago Kill Team patriarch. I could stand on the shoulder of giants.

How do you organize your Kill Team tournaments?

I use Google Docs to write Tournament Packets. I make the document publicly viewable. I define a projected time structure with milestones that players should have as guidelines - e.g. how much to spend on setup, turn , etc.

I also use google docs with private notes to track the logistics. I work out a conceptual game stage - I analyze layouts, both from Games Workshop (such as Approved Ops 2024 or 2025), or community-authored maps. Here are the ones I used last time:

I use Discord to get word of mouth out. I promote/spam messages and link to my events in a few friendly servers for communities where I have attended an event, or I know the community leaders to be open to cross-promotion. One fine example is Just Another Kill Team podcast’s Discord server, where many TOs happen to participate. The Local Game Store itself also does promotion in their newsletter, posters, etc.

I choose the concrete game layouts in advance based on my understanding of the game’s meta. I want varied terrain offering a wide spectrum of choices to different types of factions - I can’t guarantee that there won’t be bad match ups for everyone, but I aim for a level field where any healthy team has a chance.

I use https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/ to set up a front end for players to sign up, and to manage the results and progress during a tournament.

I have built a “backbone” of terrain. I have two Volkus, two Gallowdark, two Bheta-Decima, Two Tomb World, 2 Bandua/WTC, 1 Octarius and 1 Chalnath killzones. This means that by myself I can support 20 players with the currently in vogue maps, with 2 killzones to spare if there’s an emergency or if I’m feeling extravagant. The Dojo store has a few sets, and so does First Aid Comics (my other haunt), and I also rely on the generous help of a few attendants to lend their terrain sets for the event.

The sum of all entry fees goes into the prize structure, as store credit. This gives back a bit to the venue that kindly hosts.

I keep the fees as low as I can (order of magnitude: a meal or two at a fast food chain). This makes it accessible, but adds up to relevant prizes to make the podium an interesting place to be at.

How do you run your Kill Team tournaments?

On small tournaments, where I have enough time in advance with access to the venue, and I brought the entirety of the terrain corpus, I show up early and set up the terrain myself, measuring as tidily as I can, and then double-checking everything after a small break.

If I can’t satisfy the above conditions, I rely on attendants to help me set maps up. I designate a layout on every table and ask early birds to set them - with one last round of reviews.

If there is an uneven number of players so that there are BYEs, I wait until every game in the round is finished, and then give the BYE player the average of the winning scores. This way, there is no points inflation. There is no perfect solution, but at least I can fool myself into thinking this is Salomonic.

On some places, I collect all entry fees myself, and then pass on to the venue. On others, a bigger organization (such as Dragonfall) handles that for me.

I do a small round of announcements before the event starts, trying to set the tone. I thought of a speech in advance on my first events, but then forgot them on the day of so I ended up improvising.

Then I start Round 1. I keep track of time, and loudly announce fixed milestones. I take a few passes around each table, staying a few minutes to check how the game is going. I observe the terrain in case it got accidentally nudged out of place; I pay attention to the rules being played, in case anything sounds to be misunderstood. I pay attention to personalities and try to check emotions. Some people are confident in a tournament scene, some others are shy. Some might be new to competitive events and might need a bit more support to not get lost in the chaos.

By Turn 2, I can tell which games are lagging behind. In my experience, about half of all games are in this scenario. Most of them catch up by turn 3, but a few stragglers remain. I start incentivizing those to speed things up. When the time runs out, I encourage most tables to put the dice down and score the game up to that point - or let them finish if it’s down to the last one or two activations.

I make mistakes all the time. I realise I’m not been able to get a point across in a table, or that I’m running late. I merely breathe and try to keep momentum. I hydrate and caffeinate a lot.

Players make mistakes too. If you’re lucky, they spot it and tell you so you can help get things fixed. For example, when a round was about to begin, two players informed they entered the scoring wrong and their game was actually a tie - so I made sure Best Coast Pairings was updated. Unfortunately the pairings were already generated and some games had started early, so there was no way to guarantee fairness of pairings. But everyone was ok with how things were playing out.

In the final round, as early birds finish their games, I try to get the terrain sets that free up to be disassembled and packed up. Many times I can do this, but most tournament veterans will offer to tidy up on their own volition.

When all rounds are done, and everything is entered, I double check Best Coast Pairings. I check any other minievent, such as Hobby track, and prepare final announcements. I thank everyone for showing up and participating, try to give any highlights that don’t hurt any feelings, announce the winners, and get their prices sorted out.

On very small tournaments, if there is an uneven number of players, and I know the playerbase, I might decide to participate so nobody gets BYEs, if I trust players to not need my judgement. On one tournament, I didn’t participate - I merely offered the BYE player a game with no downsides - if they lose, they still get averaging scoring as a win, but if they beat me with a high score they get to keep it. On another, I paid the fee to the store and played like everyone else, so everyone got a competitive game on every round.

What other things do you organize?

I started a small friendly wargaming scene close to my home. I got in touch with First Aid Comics, a gaming-friendly comic shop, and started organizing open meets where I showed up with terrain and miniatures for passers by to get curious. The store would promote the event so people interested in this could pop up, and I would show them the ropes.

I also organized a narrative campaign for Kill Team 2nd edition, mostly via Discord and google docs. There were even trophies and everything, courtesy of Francesc M that printed some grimdark effigies.

Lately, I launched a Kill Team Competitive League using Approved Ops 2025.

How did your events go?

The first tournament (in my recent era) I organized was a Kill Team tournament at the Dragonfall Convention on 2024. I got into it because my Soul-Brother, Kwame S, decided to organize an event because he’s into the charitable spirit of the convention. He was very bold as he was new to the hobby and even the competitive scene - much bolder than I was. He invited me to help so it ended up been a joint effort. He did most of the relationship management, coordinating with the convention, and herding some cats and recruiting terrain sets. I handled some of the technical aspects of the tournament and was head judge. Attendance was a bit low, because the event ended up coinciding with the release date of Kill Team 3rd edition, and most of the competitive players I knew were eager to get started on the shiny newness. However the tournament went well, with a good atmosphere and friendly participants. The first place was taken by Talons of the Emperor, in a very emotive last hurrah before they disappeared from the official rule set!

My second tournament was a funky “Aeldar only” tournament, were only Aeldar Kill Teams could participate. Unfortunately attendance was low too, in the dead of winter at a cold snap, with many participants falling ill on that week or dropping on the day off. I ended up participating to avoid BYEs. It was a cozy event, and every Aeldar team got exactly one representative, so the spirit of the event was fully realized.

My third tournament was a small 3 round, 8 player event at First Aid comics. Unfortunately, I wrote the timing in the package wrong - the event start time was listed earlier there than the actual event listed on BCP. A diligent player that had read the packet showed up early, and I will burn in the deepest recesses of the warp forever because of this failing. I hope to never make this mistake again. The event went well though, with good vibes, and I was hardly needed for any rules or lines of sight resolutions. Naturally, many players were native to my local scene, and I was happy to see them go toe to toe with some veterans of the wider Chicago/Dojo scene.

My fourth tournament was the aforementioned Fall Dojo Open of 2025. I had unforeseen problems in the morning so I didn’t arrive early enough - I had to rush through registration and defer some guidance to start in the nick of time. As far as the gaming itself went, it ended up being a very competitive affair, with many players evenly matched and multiple ties - both in the game dimension and in the hobby category. We had newcomers and veterans as well, with a healthy spread of teams composing a fun meta. The event played out well and mostly ran itself. There were a few new players that needed a bit of assistance, so I tried to loop around their tables more often. For example, I noticed a new player’s operative was about to be wrongfully killed - it had defensive rules that had been forgotten, and luckily I was there to correct it so it could use its special powers to stay in the fight. My one mistake is that I think I ended up intimidating a few of the players and making them nervous, so that I need to try different communication strategies to avoid introducing extraneous friction to the game. But all is well that ends well. I can’t stress enough how much of its success is due to the spirit and structures set up by Rob P. I’m glad to have been entrusted with this fine Kill Team gathering.

One fun anecdote on the last one. I had a friend from out of town for a visit that weekend, and he wanted to swoop by the tournament and watch what all this Kill Team stuff is about. I wasn’t sure how fun it would be to spectate these games without being familiar with the game - I only had a little time on the drive over to explain the basics. My friend ended up sticking through the entirety of the event. He helped me with some management, and by the end of the day, he was actively following the dynamics. On the next day, I did a more detailed explanation of the game, and we played. He gave me the hardest game a first-time player ever has, and a big part of me winning that game was his intercessor gunner miserably whiffing two shots in a row against my melta gunner. So, we could say, he went through the kill team version of the “13 warriors crash course in Viking Language”, or is destined for great kill team things.

Wait, so you’re speaking about running events and you only ran 4 Kill Team tournaments? And they sound easy-mode on top of that?

Yes. And a narrative campaign. And other random stuff.

Conclusion

Lulz there is none

The very last thing I should say is - thank you for reading this far. If you happen to be considering getting into the path of the TO, I hope the above thoughts give you a feel of how the challenge plays out. If you know how to find me on discord, do feel free to reach out and share any words that come to mind.

I wish you all a safe arrival through your event journeys, wherever they may lead you!

Bonus rec: I really like this youtube report from a Tournament Organizer in China going over his experience running a GT for the first time.