Over the years I ran over twenty tournaments, ranging from club to world events. While doing so, I've found ways to speed up play at the tournament level without complications. Unfortunately, not everyone knows all my secrets. Well, now you will.
1) Schedule for the players. Plan the playing times around when you think you'll get the most players. This means afternoon and evening. Not everybody is awake and ambulatory at 8 or even 10 a.m. to play.
2) Minimum number of rounds. Don't go overboard with scheduling as many rounds as possible in the time available. All you'll get is tired and tired players. A good tournament can be ran in as little as two rounds.
3) Keep scoring simple. Don't make long quadratic equations for figuring the scores of the duels. Also don't throw in 'give-me' points. The elimination advancement system works quite well.
4) Full movement. After all combat is done early in a turn allow the players to use the rest of their moves all at once. The only time this could be a problem is when not everyone has fired or there's a collision. Phase by phase, turn by turn movement is fine for beginners. At tournaments it just slows things down. Players not directly in combat should be allowed to do their full moves.
5) Oversee the event, don't become a part of it. A duelmaster primary duty is to oversee the tournament. When they stop the play for every major collision, they themselves become a part of the tournament and slow it down. They should be more interested in answering major questions and finding out who the winners are.
6) Leave the players alone. Most players are fine at running the game on their own. Once you have them ready to go, don't bother them unless needed. They'll come to you if they have a question. However, you can still move around and watch them play.
7) Don't be late. It's a bad sign when the duelmaster is late for his own game. It doesn't bode well for the game or them. A good duelmaster is one that arrives on time and is prepared. In fact, it's even better for the duelmaster to arrive early for each round before the first player shows up.
8) Plan for more. Always expect more players to show up than planned. Have extra arenas waiting just in case.
9) Go stock. Don't let the players bring custom designs to the preliminary rounds. This creates more work for you and slows down the tournament as you check over the designs.
10) Respect your players. Treat your players as friends, even if it's the first time you've met them. Show them the respect they deserve, because without them you have no tournament. Allow them the ability to surrender or leave the arena. Keeping them in play when they want to leave can only create further tension between players and you.
11) Have tournament rules ready. Never assume that everyone knows the rules of the tournament, nor that they have access to the Internet or reads all the magazines. Have copies of the rules available for all players at the beginning of the tournament. Any use of variant rules should be known at the start.
12) Going by the book. Most acknowledge the Compendium is a flawed set of rules and needs revision. Going by the book is asking for trouble. Iron out all rule changes before the tournament begins.
13) Arenas. In the preliminary rounds more than one arena can be run at the same time. Three or four at once is usually good. Most players know a lot of the published arenas, so bring in some new ones to spice things up.
14) Have fun. If you don't enjoy the game, then why duelmaster it? Have fun, one game isn't the end of the world.
15) Trust. As people mature they usually learn to trust others. The same cannot be said of Car Wars players and duelmasters. I've sadly found out through the years that some players and duelmasters don't trust themselves or each other. In a game this usually results in the players watching each other for cheating or infractions. This is not conductive to a good gaming atmosphere. In fact, it often kills the gaming atmosphere. The duelmaster must set up an open atmosphere in which he tells everyone that they're trusted from the start.
By using these suggestions you, too, can have a fast, fun running tournament. Drive offensively and have fun.