Since being crowned King of Warhammer 40k and being ranked the top 40k player in the country, I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails, PMs, phone calls, fan-mail, and even a plane flying over with a banner asking me how I manage to do so well.

Well, I didn’t want to answer them all individually, so I thought I’d give a bit of a walkthrough of my typical day and how I keep in top form for tournaments.

1030:  The Early Bird Gets the Worm!

My day starts early!  I roll out of bed filled with vigor for a new day and immediately sit down in front of my computer to surf the internet looking for new tactics or rules loopholes that need consideration.  You can’t let a day go by without looking for possibilities that you haven’t explored before!  The absolute worst possibility in 40k is to be surprised by someone pulling a fast one on you and pretty much all the pros work hard to stay on top of new information.

1130-1230:  Exercise!

One of the key things that separates us pro-players from the masses of regular players is that we’re ready to adapt to any situation.  I’ve got these flash cards – every one has a picture of a unit from one of the armies in 40k on it.  My trainer will shuffle up all the cards, and pull one out while shouting out an army.  Then I have five seconds to assess the tools that the army I use out of that list has and how I would deal with the unit.  If you want to be a pro at 40k, you have to keep your mental acuity up.  For every bad answer, a chapter of Dan Abnett’s horror-book Titanicus gets added to my homework to read later.  Just thinking about those titans firing their turbolasers makes me want to recoil in abject horror.  TURBOLASERS!  Being forced to read that canon-stomping garbage is powerful motivation to answer well.

1230-1330:  Fueling the Machine Spirit!

Around this time, my mom usually calls me upstairs for lunch.  Pro-gamers have a pretty regulated diet.  Fish is an important part of a pro 40k gamer’s diet to help promote memory and brain stimulation.  Fruit, vegetables, grain – all of the food groups need to be carefully represented in each meal to stay at performance levels.  Today’s compliance is meted out with a McDonalds Fillet O’ Fish Meal with a side Big Mac and an apple pie.  That pretty much hits all the food groups.

Part of being a pro 40k gamer is being ambitious, and I know that a lot of folks would watch T.V. or something while they eat, but I’m constantly training.  When I’m eating, I’m either reading my penance chapters (turbolasers *shudder*), or reciting unit statistics and special abilities.  Sometimes if I’m caught up on my work I’ll read a little bit of the fluff and backstory in the codex I’m working on, but mostly its training.

1330-1530:  Research and Development!

This is one of the most important parts of the day.  First thing in the morning is the first opportunity to see what’s going on out in the world of META, but this is the dedicated time to do it.  Being a Pro 40k player is synonymous with pushing the META envelope.  When Darkwynn took leaf-blower to ‘Ard Boyz and won, you don’t think he copied a netlist and used it do you?  NO!  He pushed the envelope of the METAGAME and created his own opportunity.  This afternoon research period is meant to look for new ways of beating enemies, reading comments and 40k blogs to stay in tune with the latest developments in the META across the various regional trends, and basically stay on top of your game.  This is also a good opportunity to answer fan-mail, give advice to worthy aspirants, and answer some of the haters.

Speaking of haters, these are the people who are always accusing us pro players of being WAAC, or of making up our win ratio, or arguing that the advice we give isn’t good.  Most of the time its best to just ignore the haters.  I mean, they probably don’t even have sponsors or a 40k trainer and if we were to ever get together for a game, my META would be so far ahead of their META that their META would just be like….ETA.  Or MEAT.  But sometimes the haters won’t stop and this is also a good time to champion your causes.  Most people will realize that as a pro-40k gamer your advice is just pretty much automatically right, but there’s always the risk of an innocent bystander or forum reader getting caught in the crossfire of haters, so you have to try keeping them in check.

1530-1730: Modeling and Converting

This is another important part of the day.  For the pro-gamer, every point that can be awarded at a tournament needs to be individually considered.  Every aspect of the scoresheet needs to be carefully addressed.  It isn’t enough to show up at a tournament and beat face, you need to be able to get all the points for painting and converting as well.  This time block is spent stripping, modeling, using green-stuff, and turning a model into a clever conversion to “Wow!” the scoring judges at the events you go to.  I mean, witness the awesomeness of this homemade Tyrannofex.  If you want to be a pro-gamer, you’ve got to always be thinking outside of the box.

1730-1830:  Refueling the Machine Spirit!

So my mom usually makes dinner around now.  If I’ve still got homework or codex exercises to do, I’ll try and get them done here.  Even though you might be a pro-gamer, you still need to pay attention to your family, so in case I get yelled at for being rude at the table, I’ll practice them in my head.  I can’t stress enough how important mental acuity is.

1830-2230:  Honing the Skills!

An important part of being a pro-40k gamer is to constantly be honing your skills.  After dinner, I try getting in a couple of games.  I want to stay sharp, so sometimes I’ll get in a couple of games at the same time, playing one of my armies on one table and a different army on a different table.  If you don’t have a shop or tables at home with a waiting list like some of the pros do, you might end up on Vassal playing 40k.  I’ll get a game going on Vassal and sometimes be dual-boxing with another computer playing Vassal there too, and with players from different areas of the country or different countries so that I have to work on my META skills for two different styles at the same time.   Nothing is worse than showing up on tournament day thinking that you’ve got the METAGAME there figured out and it turns out that someone brought some different META and you totally weren’t ready for it and can’t adapt to it on the fly.

2230-2330:  Personal Time!

This is where I poop.  I get the last of my reading assignments for the day in here as well.

2330-0200:  Painting!

Getting your models up to snuff is an important part of the hobby; its not all about beating face and clubbing people around.   This is a good time to watch a movie, or some music videos for most people.  For a pro-gamer, this is the opportunity to paint while listening to the various 40k podcasts and watching the video batreps that other people make.  One of the best ways to stay in touch with the METAGAME around the country is to check out other peoples’ batreps and listen in to what’s happening in different places.  Every nugget of information is like a bolter round – it might be the one that gives you a critical advantage in your next game.

0200-0300: Wrap-up

Its about time to call it a night.  I get the late-night postings in when all the haters are sleeping so that they can’t respond so that I win all the internet arguments here.   Being a pro at something means dedicating the time to ensuring you do your best at all aspects of your life, not just the ones you’re recognized for being good at.

That’s about it!  There’s a lot of work involved in getting to and staying at the top of your game.

So here it is, the big announcement: The Battle for Salvation club will be hosting its first annual Battle for Salvation Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament on October 9-10 in White Plains, NY. For our first stab at a two-day event we’ve decided to take a page from Mike Brandt’s book and go with the NOVA format, especially given its great success earlier this month.

The tournament itself will consist of seven games and admission is $50 for the whole weekend. The goal is to max out at 48 players, however we can accommodate 64 if there is enough interest. Given that we’ve sold 20% of the tickets in less than 24 hours this is a distinct possibility. Get them while you can!

For more information on the event, check out the tournament website here.

Disclaimer: I’m not the tournament organizer for the event nor do I have anything to do with planning or running the tournament aside from providing feedback as part of our normal club activities. I plan on playing in the event and defending my hobbyist crown from the NOVA Open. COME GET SOME.

http://www.battleforsalvation.com/

After the book-long drama thread that is still eating babies a bit further down the page, I thought that I would bring something a little bit lighter to Bald and Screaming.

A long time ago, in a far away MMO called World of Warcraft, I used to make songs (parodies) to make fun of my guild-mates. A couple years later, while playing another MMO (EVE Online) under the name “Curzon Dax,” I had an epic space fight with the self-proclaimed PvP master and teacher of an alliance (I was a complete noob), and I spanked him. I thought it would make a funny parody, and so I wrote a song, performed it, and uploaded it to the interweb. It was an instant hit; while I’m not a particularly gifted singer, the content and delivery were funny and it ended with thousands of downloads, masses of mail, and comedy that would haunt “Sabre A” for the rest of his EVE career. Just like that, my career making parodies was born.

Two albums and several years (and a million+ downloads, Youtube videos, etc), I don’t play Eve Online anymore…but from time to time the parody bug bites me.

Since my hobby these days is 40k, and the context for stinky gamers came up in the drama-thread, I thought I would reintroduce my lack of talent to a new audience.

This is a parody of Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” titled “Dice Dice Baby”

And in honor of the stench many of us have to put up with around unkempt hobbyists, I bring you my rendition of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” titled “Stinky Gamer“

Not really sure what it is, but I’m having trouble getting excited over this one. I enjoyed Warhammer Online for a while and even went back to it recently, but again it fails to hold my attention. Anyone else feel the same?

In term of the army, Nick plays a Fatecrusher list with a typical core and some atypical filler, but at NOVA he was able to beat the odds (or at least the internet’s odds) and win the majority of his games, edging yours truly out of a spot in the championships by 0.01 points! In fact, Daemons performed well across the board, with at least two (or three?) of three players going 3-1. Obviously insignificant from a statistical standpoint, it remains anecdotally interesting in the most mech-dominated tournament atmosphere I’ve ever seen.

Oh, and did I mention that he, like Tony Kopach, is only 16? You’d never know it from looking at him though (I thought for sure he was in college). That just makes his success here all the more extraordinary.

Nick’s Chaos Daemons:

Nick Nanavati – Chaos Daemons – 2000 points

333	Fateweaver
270	Bloodthirster – Unholy might
280	6 Bloodcrushers – Icon, instrument, fury
280	6 Bloodcrushers – Icon, instrument, fury
180	6 Fiends
100	5 Horrors – Changeling, bolt of Tzeentch
95	5 Horrors – Bolt of Tzeentch
95	5 Horrors – Bolt of Tzeentch
95	5 Horrors – Bolt of Tzeentch
128	8 Bloodletters
48	3 Screamers
48	3 Screamers
48	3 Screamers

Below are some miscellaneous pictures I snapped during the Friday night Whiskey Challenge, the Saturday tournament, and the Sunday championships. I didn’t nearly as many pictures as I should have, and there are a number of absolutely stunning armies that escaped my lens (you can catch some of them at St. John’s blog, 3+ Save, including one of the coolest Eldar schemes of all time).

Also take note of the quality of terrain, which was outstanding and of consistent quality across both the 40k and WFB boards.

• ‘Ard Boyz Preliminaries
• ‘Ard Boyz Semi-finals
• Blood Bath
• Atlanta Circuit Opener
• Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre

Since most of my batreps devolve into drama even when they shouldn’t, here’s a fair warning to you, the reader: Making personal attacks to other Dakka B&S posters commentors in this thread article is likely to result with you not posting commenting on Dakka B&S. So don’t. The point of this thread article is:

1. Humor for you.

2. Warning for the general populace about this store and its patrons.

3. Cathartic therapy for me.

Setting the stage

I recently moved to Jacksonville, FL. The gaming community here is fragmented. There are two gaming stores here (in a town of 1.5 million people). Until a few weeks ago there were three, and until a year ago, there were four. I lived here for a brief time a couple years ago, and moved back because of a promotion at work that was simply too good to pass up; it put me solidly in the mid six-figures range, and I have a home office. And I expense my cell phone, my internet, mileage….it took that to bring me back. There are several groups of gamers in Jacksonville; not official “groups,” just collections of people that socialize with each other. Like in any gathering of people, there’s a lot of good people, and a handful of jerks. One of those groups has been particularly vocal on the internet (but nice as could be in person) about their hatred for me; labeling me as a WAAC gamer, I don’t “get” their local scene, various bad names….

Mission: Integrate into the 40k community here, help raise interest in 40k, support the FLGS to keep them from following the fate of the now defunct previous stores.

Deployment: Ah…is this format dumb? There are various places that I play. SunCoast Comics is the closest gaming store to where I live. My friends and I try gaming elsewhere when we can because the air conditioning setup inside is horrid; Florida is 100% humidity with 90-105 degree temperature – the building where Suncoast rents seems to hover around 90 degrees *inside* with 100% humidity. In the army, after being outside / field exercises in the heat I would get salt stains on my BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform); the only time I’ve managed to get them since that I’ve noticed is while playing at Suncoast. As a result, we’re hesitant to game there outside of a tournament setting because of the heat….combined with the unwashed nature of some gamers…leading to a distinctly unpleasant gaming environment. I’ve got a table at my house, three of my friends have tables at their houses (including one, who has a GIANT table in his gameroom – I think its 14′ x 10′. We can have two games on it simultaneously at opposite ends, with a bunch of space in the middle for all our stuff.

Turn 1: ‘Ard Boyz Semi-Finals

I had three fantastic games against three fantastic opponents. I was on Table #1 for my third game playing for a 2500 point army against a mechanized IG player….where we had the L shaped deployment with two board edges as your deployment zone – I lost the roll, was forced to deploy first with my mechanized assault…and subsequently took the beating of my life. You can read the batrep at the appropriate link above. Since I got beaten so quickly…we finished our game in about 45 minutes. I packed up early, congratulated him on winning ‘Ard Boyz (I’m a good loser; its where I learn the most after all), and went to the in-laws, and jumped in the pool clothes and all. So….I missed the drama.

Suncoast Comics isn’t nearly large enough to host a tournament like ‘Ard Boyz semi-finals, so they borrowed the restaurant next door to put half their tables into; with the agreement that the store had to be cleared out by 5:00 PM (tables, gamers, everything) so that they could open the restaurant for dinner patrons and karaoke night. As things ended up working out….Round #3 was nowhere near finished at 5:00. All the games got cut short by an hour. To keep things fair, the store owner announced to the rest of the gamers on the store side that everyone needed to finish the turn they were on, tournament is over – to keep it fair for the people who had their games cut short in the restaurant.

Exactly.

I’m not sure that I have permission to use names from any offended parties, but there were quite a few absolutely LIVID individuals who didn’t get a massacre because of the sudden game stoppage, or lost out on placing. I understood that there was a three-way tie for third place, and that the tie-breaker was awarded to the person who had their game cut off first on the restaurant side. I got a couple PMs on Dakka about it, a phone call, an e-mail….from various people griping / wondering if I was affected, etc. I understand some phone calls were made to GW to complain, but I don’t know more – I stayed out, and the whole issue apparently disappeared quietly.

Turn 2: Moving to Jacksonville, and my first tournament!

The local club (The Guardians) hosted a unique tournament shortly after I moved here and it was the first one I got to participate in. BMF Championship. Very cool idea – you can read the tournament structure and rules at the link provided. Basically, it was a single elimination 1500 point tournament. No sportsmanship, no comp scoring, no painting – BMF = Baddest Mother F*****; and the tournament announces, “No whining, no crying…you lose, you’re out.” This tournament was to find out who the baddest mofo around is. I brought my Dark Eldar. I had fun, and I beat face. There was a bit of baby-seal clubbing. Example: My first round opponent brought foot-slogging Space Wolves + a single dreadnought. I got to go first, and deployed pitched battle in the center of my board. He attempted a “refused flank” and deployed his entire army into a single piece of rubble. They wouldn’t all fit inside, so he dropped a long fang squad and a grey hunter pack outside of cover…tight together.

Now, my 1500 DE has three ravagers with triple disintegrators, meaning massed plasma templates. It took 8 dark lance shots, but I exploded his single dreadnought 5″….hitting a total of 18 models from different units. That’s how packed in they were. He conceded at the top of turn1 after my assault phase. Not all my games were so easy, but most of my opponents got beaten on horridly. After the tournament, I posted tournament feedback noting that I thought it was a brilliant tournament idea, inventive, and that I had a great experience. Drama ensued. FYI, I’m Shelix / Justin on those forums. Apparently, my lack of knowledge of the local gamers causes me to be a “douche” because the locals are friendly, not too competitive, and my “WAAC” armies and tactics are unwelcome around here. Its a great mini-drama. There is a lot of whining, crying, name-calling of me, and general rabble rousing that I’m a horrid person. I linked that thread to the Dakka Discussion “Worst experience at a local gaming store” and a couple people from Dakka apparently registered and responded that the local gamers were being absurd.

The result was the creation of a thread all about me titled, Things I hate about Shelix. Remember that Shelix = Dashofpepper.

Now, two things hold true about me:

1.  I’ll give the shirt off my back to help someone.

2.  I won’t sit by idly while someone is being attacked – friend, stranger or otherwise…LEAST of all me.

Read that thread for more simply absurd hatred. What this boils down to is simple: I don’t conform to the demands of this group of gamers. Seriously, click and read. Good stuff. I mean, it goes so far as a note from one of the gamers about how I’m a thoughtless and inconsiderate **** because I brought a personal fan (little oscillating thing) to the tournament and kept it pointed at me instead of oscillating it for other people to enjoy. I’m not a Florida native, and while sweat was pouring off of me and I bought 5 gatorades over the course of the tournament from the store, the heat didn’t seem to be bothering any of the natives, so I didn’t think much of it.

Turn 3: Trying to Raise the Bar

After all this hate pouring down on me about being competitive, a WAAC gamer, a total <insert your word of choice>, I was talking to my friends locally as well as on Dakka and elsewhere about the situation. Their advice was for me to tone down what I use locally and focus on trying to help folks better themselves, become more competitive….slowly trying to improve the local 40k gaming scene. I thought about that one for a bit. With two of the local stores having shut down, I had an idea to knock two birds out with one stone. A lot of people buy from TheWarStore and elsewhere to not have to pay retail prices. My idea: Anyone who buys $50 of merchandise at the store gets a token for a free game against me; and if you beat me, I buy you a free battleforce box from the store. The caveat: You get 1,750 and I get 2,000. Since Risk:Reward is 100:0, I can’t make it super easy to beat me, but it should inspire people to put together competitive lists for a shot at a free battleforce box.

I talked to the store, they liked the idea, so I announced the “Store Champion” thread, where beating me nets you free stuff. Serious flames ensued. Here’s quickly locked Dakka Thread where I announced the same. The idea got universally crapped upon. Apparently, the idea that I’m giving away free stuff and trying to help my FLGS isn’t so important as where I’m declared the “House Champion” and apparently think I’m a God among gamers, worthy of praise, and therefore an egotistical ass who should be castrated and burned at the stake for daring to announce that I’m a better than average player.

Turn 4: The Ensuing Crash

With my idea universally picking up hate, and the amount of personal attacks reaching record highs, I temporarily called off the event for re-evaluation. Since the words “Store Champion” were causing me to be reviled, I put out the idea of a “Council of Paladins” – basically, I would tap a few of the competitive local gamers to act as a screen for me; earning your challenge token lets you play anyone on the council in an even game. If you beat them, you get to play me for your Battleforce box. I’m still financially supporting the idea endeavor, but at least I wouldn’t get accused of trying to club and rape baby seals for kicks, and the games I *do* have should be suitably challenging if they made it past my screeners. This idea got flamed down as well – apparently, playing two games is too much effort to try winning a free battleforce box of your choice.

However, this idea never picked up off the ground – the store owner called me to rail against me for my unacceptable behavior. I had called off the event without informing the store first (instead using the community forums that is where pretty much all information is exchanged; their store forums are dead and unread). Only one person had made a purchase and been issued a token, and the store made a very public announcement that they would refund his merchandise, despite the fact that I had already told this member that I would honor his token. It wouldn’t have mattered, the person is part of the local group that despises me and had publicly announced that he didn’t plan on using his token, and wouldn’t play me voluntarily for any amount of free stuff. He’s never met me, never gamed against me; I’ve never gamed against his friends – this all just forum drama that they instigate by the way.

Regardless of my intent to honor his token and his intent not to use it….the store offered him a refund for his purchases, and berated me at length for poorly representing the store, having unacceptable behavior in canceling my event without calling them first; and while I probably should have called in person, the owner posts in the forum too and I was out of town on business in a hotel – not exactly high on my priority list to call the store. 30 minutes of this – the store owner telling me that my behavior is unacceptable, and there’s too much drama involved in it now, and they don’t know if they even want me hosting events there or not (I had plans to run a tournament, will note in turn5), when it is a few of THEIR GAMERS causing the problems.

I’m starting to feel uncharitable by now; the whole point of this was putting my money on the line and getting nothing in return to try helping the store and increasing the competitive abilities of the local scene, and in response I’m taking flak from both some local gamers AND the store. Not cool.

Turn 5: The Tournament Not To Be:

I had announced a Boss Battle to be held at the store – easy 350 point free for all fun fight. Some of you reading this may have even participated in one that I’ve hosted before live or on Vassal. Based on further advice from friends about trying to find passive ways to help the local community, I also offered a 40k tactics class after the Boss Battle. I planned to talk about deployment, analyzing your opponent’s list, and then pairing everyone up to practice what I had just taught. The announcement was made HERE with a copycat post on Dakka made HERE. While much of the flaming involved here took place in threads already linked, the premise was “You’re not qualified to hold a tactics class.” I seriously can’t win.

Turn 6: The Tournament that Broke the Camel

With multiple failed endeavors under my belt to try and bring something positive to my 40k community, I prepped for another tournament. This one is a doozy. The TO was new to being a TO. The store has been asking for volunteers to run tournaments, and he offered. He made his own missions….which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you know how to play 40k. Tournament Announcement. The premise: 2,200 point attrition tournament. Whatever you lose stays lost for the rest of the tournament. Winning each round is based on killing a portion of your opponent’s army. He announced at the beginning of the tournament that if the first player hit 700 points, the second player would still get a turn, and basically have to kill more than their opponent did to win.

Read the scenarios…they’re broken.

Game #1: Attacker vs. defender. Defender deploys in the middle of the board, attacker gets both flanks.

The TO is being a ringer, and places himself against me. 2,200 points of Space Wolves vs. 2,200 points of Dark Eldar. I brought Dark Eldar because they are always the attacker (codex mandate) meaning that at least I’ll get an alpha-strike. I show him my codex, explain that DE fluff requires them to be attackers. The TO then announces that all DEFENDERS will be going first. SERIOUSLY?!? He deploys in the middle of the table. He doesn’t have a particularly good list, nor does he deploy very well – long fangs in the open, thunderwolf cavalry interspersed at all points of his army. I obliquely mention that the rules call for the attacker to go first in this kind of mission, and he says, “This is my tournament, I’m making the rules.”

Alrighty then. I reserve 2,200 points of Dark Eldar Wych Cult. With the Nova Open approaching, and my plans to attempt to beat face with my Dark Eldar, I’m getting in any practice that I can. The TO goes first and starts moving his thunderwolf cavalry models out towards the flanking edges where I’ll be coming in from reserves, and adjusting his central deployment – he’s measuring “very” loosely, taking absurd extra inches….I say nothing. Turn2 he does the same, and then I roll for reserves and get….a little more than half. I’m missing two wych squads, two warrior squads, and a RJB unit. Since I can move 12″, disembark, fleet and assault….he’s actually potentially in assault range of a few of my units because of his spreading out.

I move on carefully, have targets in mind, and boom: Turn1, I kill 658 points of his. If I could have killed 700 points, the game would have ended there. Nuts. However, I’ve cripped as much of his anti-tank as I could, so I’m not terribly worried about a response.

His turn two: More outrageous loose moves, and as he enters shooting….he rolls extra dice. Its not helping him. His vindicators scatter off my raiders, his plasma templates (on his longfangs, lol) scatter off, he focuses on Lelith’s squad with his grey hunters, she goes to ground with her retinue, and his entire turn, he kills 2 bikes, 4 wyches, and immobilizes a raider. All his Thunderwolf cavalry charged various raiders….that had all moved 12″. We’re ready to start turn3b as everyone else is finishing up turn1 because I reserved, and the score is 658 to…about 100 points killed.

Now at the beginning, he had announced that when someone hit 700 points, you would finish a full game turn to make sure everything was fair, but coming onto the bottom of turn3 I need to kill 30-50 points to win, and remember – what dies stays dead. I didn’t lose much and most of the rest of my army comes on, meaning I’m probably going to be able to nuke him so badly that his next opponent can laugh him off the table. Change of plans!!!!!!!! He announces on the spot that all games will end as soon as one player kills 700 points of another player’s army.

For our game, that meant that I killed a couple more models and the game ended. For everyone ELSES’ game….that meant that whoever went second auto-lost. And every person who *did* go second lost. Over lunch at Taco Bell (a few of us went together), several were noting that if they had gotten their turn in, they would have beaten their opponent. W…T…F. I pulled the TO off to the side before round two to *obliquely* mention that the scenarios were a bit unbalanced, and I’d be happy to help him build some for the next event. He told me to get lost.

Game #2: I’m paired up against one of the area’s “competitive” gamers. He’s playing Scout Marines, lost nothing in round 1, and I win the roll to go first. I deploy tight in the center (read the missions if you care), and he…infiltrates his entire army for the most part 18″ away from me. I’m an assault army. Well….ok. He doesn’t steal. As many wyches as possible + Lelith move 12″, disembark, fleet, mass assault. He loses 500+ points, and the game ends on *his* assault phase as we resolve more assaults. He drops out of the tournament afterwards, seriously pissed.

Game #3: My opponent had to go for a dinner engagement. The TO asked someone who had just come into the store if they wanted to fill in his spot against me, and so….I played against someone not even in the tournament. Interesting mission here: 16″ deployment zones, pitched battle, and if you’re in your deployment zone at the end of your turn, all vehicles get auto-glanced, all units on foot get auto D6 wounds. I win the roll to go first, deploy my raiders centrally, and my opponent castles up tight in his right corner (my top left). I move my entire army flat out, not really shooting anything….and wall of his deployment zone for 36″ so that he’s penned in; double thick layers to not give his daemon prince anywhere to jump out either. His turn: He tries to ram through me with land raiders and fails; assaults me with daemon prince and misses, vindicator scatters; I make all relevant cover saves….no damage. His entire army is stuck in his deployment zone. Heh. Daemon prince takes 5 wounds, fails 3 saves. vehicles all get stunned, etc. Mop up from there, and I win the tournament.

I asked who the newest gamer was, and donated my store credit to him – he happened to win second, so had enough credit to buy something pretty nice.

Turn Seven: The Game Continues!

I roll a 4+ and the game continues. ELEVEN PAGES of drama ensues, starting with the accusation that I had a tainted victory because in game2, my opponent and I treated some force field thingies incorrectly – we thought they made 12″ bubbles that you couldn’t shoot into / through etc instead of 6″ bubbles. I pointed out that if we *had* treated them correctly, I would have gotten to fire 13 dark lances and 9 plasma templates, and it probably would have been enough to end the game without my opponent actually getting a turn. Rabbling ensues. The TO, whom I had spoken to privately, shows up in the thread and VERY PUBLICLY denounces me as a douchebag who thinks I know better than him how to run a tournament. His friends join in the rabbling.

Alright.

Since he’s going to publicly rant about me, announce that I’m not going to be allowed to play in any of his future tournaments because I’m a know-it-all and a trouble-maker and such…I sent the store owner an e-mail with feedback about the tournament. Its posted in that thread – I made it public when he and friends got very ugly. Basically noting that a TO playing in his own tournament is dangerous…a TO running a tournament that automatically screws half the players is very bad, the TO playing in his own tournament, screwing half the players, and blatantly cheating….is simply unacceptable.

The store makes an announcement on their own website that they had nothing but compliments about the tournament, only a single complainer (me), and that they firmly stand behind their tournament oganizers and how they want to run their tournaments. And then, I was banned from the store.

Game End.

Post-Game tactical assessment: Seems like at every turn, my efforts to help the store and the community were beset by the store and a small group of the local gamers here. I’ve heard time and again that the little corner of the world where I live now (Jacksonville, FL) has a messed up 40k scene, and this was my segue into it.

There’s another store in town, two stores in a nearby town, and a good number of my friends (including myself) have gaming tables at our respective houses, not to mention that Vassal lets me play against anyone in the world. I find it interesting that I travel around the country playing in 40k tournaments, and always have fun, meet new friends, and have nothing but good experiences, win or lose….and my community is an absolute disaster.

Anyway, that was my real life battle report.

Chumbalaya’s list is noteworthy because, in conjunction with the other Space Wolves lists posted, it showcases the wide variety of build types open to the codex for competitive play. Even the better army books only feature two or three competitive army types, however the Space Wolves can pump out just about any variation of mech, semi-mech, or full infantry and retain the potential to crush face. This army demonstrates the last of those variants and doesn’t contain a single vehicle, instead relying on in-your-face threats such as Thunderwolf Cavalry and Lone Wolfs to dictate target priority backed up by an assload (scientifically accurate term) of BS4 krak and frag missiles.

Frodo’s doom squad went a little something like this:

J. Chamblee – Space Wolves – 2000 points

275	Logan Grimnar
120	Rune Priest – Living Lightning, Tempest’s Wrath, chooser of the slain, saga of the beastslayer
85	Lone Wolf – Terminator armor, chainfist, storm shield
85	Lone Wolf – Terminator armor, thunder hammer, storm shield
285	10 Wolf Guard – Terminator armor x2, cyclone missile launcher x2, storm shield x1
150	5 Wolf Guard – Terminator armor x1, cyclone missile launcher x1, chainfist x1
150	5 Wolf Guard – Terminator armor x1, cyclone missile launcher x1, chainfist x1
150	5 Wolf Guard – Terminator armor x1, cyclone missile launcher x1, chainfist x1
105	1 Thunderwolf Cavalry – Powerfist, storm shield
105	1 Thunderwolf Cavalry – Powerfist, storm shield
105	1 Thunderwolf Cavalry – Powerfist, storm shield
155	6 Long Fangs – Lascannon x2, heavy bolter x3
115	5 Long Fangs – Missile launcher x4
115	5 Long Fangs – Missile launcher x4

Note that Dash takes an unconventional build here, opting for more Battlewagons over what have become modern staples of successful Ork armies, such as Killa Kans and massed Warbuggies. Perhaps the most unconventional element is the huge mob of (15) Burna Boyz in a Battlewagon. Because Battlewagons are open-topped the template can be placed touching any part of the vehicle when fired…and multipled by 15 since there’s no limit to the number of models firing out. If you let that unit survive you can kiss a full unit goodbye every turn – nothing short of Plague Marines survive 80-100 S4 AP5 hits.

Lastly, I learned one more nuance to this list in the brief dealings I had with Justin over the weekend. Initially I thought that Ghazghkull would ride with one of the Boyz squads (the one without the Big Mek) to diffuse the threat levels more evenly across the 3 wagons, however Dash told me that he puts him with the Burnas because it’s more valuable to have a powerklaw in each vehicle to make use of the boarding planks.

And the last of the Tournament Ace lists is as follows:

Justin Hilderbrandt – Orks – 2000 points

225	Ghazghkull Thraka
85	Big Mek – Kustom force field, powerklaw
~325	7 Nobs – Cybork body x7 + wound shenanigans
140	Battlewagon – Deffrolla, boarding plank, grabbin’ klaw, armor plates, grot riggers, big shoota
112	12 Slugga Boyz – Nob with powerklaw + bosspole
35	Trukk
136	16 Slugga Boyz – Nob with powerklaw + bosspole
40	10 Gretchin – Runtherder
225	15 Burna Boyz
75	5 Lootas
75	5 Lootas
105	3 Warbuggies – Twin-linked rokkits x3
70	1 Deffkopta – Twin-linked rokkits, buzzsaw
70	1 Deffkopta – Twin-linked rokkits, buzzsaw
140	Battlewagon – Deffrolla, boarding plank, grabbin’ klaw, armor plates, grot riggers, big shoota
140	Battlewagon – Deffrolla, boarding plank, grabbin’ klaw, armor plates, grot riggers, big shoota

This Eldar army features some of the most expertly painted miniatures that I’ve ever seen on display. Looking back on the day, I should have taken more pictures. I also should have learned how to focus my camera.

Like Tony Kopach’s winning list, this one features Njal at the helm, but with less emphasis on Troops and heavy reliance on large packs of Thunderwolf Cavalry. But perhaps the most striking thing about this army is the complete absence of Long Fangs.

And the full army list:

Samuel Penson – Space Wolves – 2000 points

245	Njal Stormcaller
102	4 Wolf Guard – Combi-flamer x2, power weapon x2, meltabombs x1
125	5 Wolf Scouts – Meltagun, power weapon
125	5 Wolf Scouts – Meltagun, power weapon
105	7 Grey Hunters – Flamer
35	Rhino
75	5 Grey Hunters – Flamer
40	Razorback – Twin-linked heavy bolter
75	5 Grey Hunters – Flamer
40	Razorback – Twin-linked heavy bolter
280	5 Thunderwolf Cavalry – Thunderhammer x1
275	5 Thunderwolf Cavalry – Powerfist x1
210	3 Land Speeders – Multi-melta x3, heavy flamer x3
130	Predator – Twin-linked lascannon, heavy bolter sponsons
130	Predator – Twin-linked lascannon, heavy bolter sponsons

I run a crusade space marine army.  That means that every unit in my army gets a different color scheme and a different backstory.  It also means that I get to paint a lot of marines.  Like, a LOT of marines.  While I was working on my latest batch to go with the terminator librarian you see on the left, (I call them STAR REAVERS,) I thought I would take some pictures so I could teach the good folks who play 40k that it’s not hard to get a decent paint job in no time at all.

I’ve seen a lot of painting articles out there that give step-by-step methods to achieving excellent models.  30 steps to make a power sword and all that.  This is not one of those.  This is about how I painted the marine unit to continue the theme I started with that librarian in 4 hours.  Or five episodes of Xena.  If you need to get your stuff ready for a tournament quick, or just need to paint a whole bucket of dudes and don’t relish spending an hour+ on each (like I used to do) then this is the guide for you.

Note that in this guide I used crappy starter marines.  I’ve acquired a lot over the years, and it’s about time I made them usable.  If you’re using a real marine kit, you can easily do the same thing.  Put your guy together, but not all the way.  Assemble the legs, torso and head as one piece, put the shoulder pads on the arms, and leave the backpack off.  That way, you create no hard-to-reach places while you’re painting.  However, if you really want to, or if your models are already fully assembled, this should still work.

So here is our basic marine.  Woohoo.

Step 1 is to prime all the models.  Buy some spray to do this.  Seriously.  Do it.  It makes life about 1000 times easier.  Undercoating by hand is VERY time consuming and actually tends to give worse results than undercoating by spray.  Just get some black and go to town.

You can also put your models on bases first, I don’t but that’s just a personal preference.

You’ll also want a brush that looks like this one.  Mine claims to be a “Citadel Small Dry Brush” but I think that may be a LIE.  Just buy any brush that looks like this one and you’ll be set.  You can drybrush an entire marine in about 10 seconds with this baby.

As an aside, I love this brush maybe more than life itself.  It is the best and you should get one.

Okay!  The next step is to drybrush the whole damn model boltgun metal.  If you don’t know what drybrushing is, it’s very easy: dip your brush in paint, and then wipe that paint off on whatever you’re painting on, until barely any more paint will wipe off with each stroke.  The brush is effectively “dry”, and that’s where the technique gets its name.  Then simply brush over the model.  Because you are applying a very thin layer of paint, it won’t sink into the cracks of the model (which will remain black) so your figure will retain a lot of definition.

I always recommend a first drybrushed coat of boltgun metal, as a lot of colors go over silver much better than they do with black.  If you want to paint your guys a different color, use the same drybrushing technique after the initial silver coat with the color of your choice.  I would recommend, however, that you avoid painting the head, stomach and whatever extravagant thing you have on the chest while you apply this coat, as these tend to be metallics and you’ll just have to redo them later.

Also be aware when using bright colors. (white and red, I’m lookin’ at you!)  These colors tend to be very watery and let the base coat show through, so you’ll need multiple coats to get that good flat color look.  My model will have both, so you can see how they look.

Alright, now to add some color!  Switch away from the big brush back to the small detail brush you are used to using.  I want the same split on my marines that was on my librarian, so first I’m going to add red to the left leg and right shoulder pad.  Also, the right side of the face but I forgot to do that until I was applying white (my bad).  If you’re painting a different color, now would be the time to paint the head you avoided earlier.

I would like to note, however, that you should continue drybrushing.  Don’t glob paint onto the model, as it makes it very easy to make mistakes, and you can very easily start ruining details.  Be patient, drybrush, and enjoy the results.  Don’t forget to paint your pack as well, and your boltgun if you’re making it something other than silver.

Next we add our secondary color.  For me, that’s white.  Easy enough, just paint the leg, the shoulder pad and the other half of the face.  We’ll also want to add at least one other color for our details.  Gold is nice because it goes with any color and it’s a pretty standard thing for space marines anyway.  I painted the eagle on the chest as well as the lining on the shoulder pads.  (Also the skull on the backpacks and eagle on the boltguns, not visible in this picture.)  That’s all you really need from a highlight color like that, enough to be noticeable but not enough to monopolize the model.

Here’s another pic after the backpack has been attached.  This is also the time I paint the models eyes.  I wanted dark eyes to contrast with the otherwise bright coloration, so I went purple.  I like to do my eyes in a unique color for the model, so that they stand out and don’t look like they’re made of the same material as the rest of the armor.

Alright, now for final details.  Bags get to be painted terracotta.  (Or if you don’t care for them than FUCK THOSE BAGS THEY’RE METAL NOW.)  Grenades get to be Catachan Green.  Also, the strap on the boltguns, if they come with one.

Allllll right!  Assemble yo stuff and you are pretty much good to go.  Beat the three color standard, standard painting times, and most of the paint jobs I see at the game store.

As a final step, you can also ink your models.  (Or wash, it’s effectively the same thing.)  To do this, either buy some black wash at a your local game store, or you can easily make your own.  If you want the cheaper second option, it’s very simple: get some chaos black, water that shit down.  Like, REALLY watered down.  So it’s like black water.  That’s your wash.  Hooray!  Then apply it to the model.  It sill sink down into the cracks but leave the painted bits untouched.  (Well, a bit darker, but not much.)  I didn’t do it to these guys because I drybrushed so much that I didn’t kill any detail, but as a general rule inking makes things better.

If you have any questions, comment away!   =D

I have to admit that after reading Stelek’s list I was left scratching my head as what makes it tick, but seeing it function made things clear. This list is extremely balanced and is a veritable Swiss army knife of 40k resourcefulness – it’s got everything it needs to deal with any situation that can be thrown at it. Unsurprisingly, this wholeheartedly supports Stelek’s assertion that take-all-comers armies are the ones that win tournaments in 5th edition.

On to the list:

Andrew Sutton – Space Wolves – 2000 points

175	Wolf Guard Battle Leader – Combi-melta, wolf claw, thunderwolf, saga of the beastslayer, Fenrisian Wolf x2
0	Wolf Guard (split off into other units)
75	Razorback – Lascannon, twin-linked plasmagun
118	5 Wolf Scouts – Meltagun x1, Wolf Guard Leader with combi-melta + power weapon
118	5 Wolf Scouts – Meltagun x1, Wolf Guard Leader with combi-melta + power weapon
113	5 Grey Hunters – Meltagun x1, Wolf Guard Leader with combi-melta + PW
35	Rhino
113	5 Grey Hunters – Meltagun x1, Wolf Guard Leader with combi-melta + PW
35	Rhino
113	5 Grey Hunters – Meltagun x1, Wolf Guard Leader with combi-melta + PW
35	Rhino
113	5 Grey Hunters – Meltagun x1, Wolf Guard Leader with combi-melta + PW
35	Rhino
70	5 Inquisitorial Storm Troopers – Plasmagun x2
70	5 Inquisitorial Storm Troopers – Plasmagun x2
70	Land Speeder – Multi-melta, heavy flamer
70	Land Speeder – Multi-melta, heavy flamer
70	Thunderwulf Cavalry – Wolf claw
115	5 Long Fangs – Missile launcher x4
75	Razorback – Lascannon, twin-linked plasmagun
115	5 Long Fangs – Missile launcher x4
75	Razorback – Lascannon, twin-linked plasmagun
115	5 Long Fangs – Missile launcher x4
75	Razorback – Lascannon, twin-linked plasmagun

Also worth of note, Mark managed to best Dashofpepper’s Ork’s in the closest and most exciting game I’ve ever witnessed, which ultimately came down to a single die roll to decide which table quarter Mephiston would claim as he straddled the line at the end of turn 7.

Mark Ferek – Blood Angels – 2000 points

250	Mephiston
100	Librarian – Shield of Sanguinius, Fear of the Darkness
145	5 Honor Guard – Meltagun x2, flamer x2
50	Rhino
145	5 Honor Guard – Meltagun x2, flamer x2
50	Rhino
140	5 Assault Marines – Remove jump packs, meltagun, infernus pistol, power weapon
16	Rhino – Searchlight
140	5 Assault Marines – Remove jump packs, meltagun, infernus pistol, power weapon
16	Rhino – Searchlight
140	5 Assault Marines – Remove jump packs, meltagun, infernus pistol, power weapon
16	Rhino – Searchlight
140	5 Assault Marines – Remove jump packs, meltagun, infernus pistol, power weapon
16	Rhino – Searchlight
115	Baal Predator – Assault cannon
115	Baal Predator – Assault cannon
135	Predator – Autocannon turret, lascannon sponsons
135	Predator – Autocannon turret, lascannon sponsons
135	Predator – Autocannon turret, lascannon sponsons

Tony Kopach – Space Wolves – 2000 points

245	Njal Stormcaller
265	Wolf Lord – Runic armor, power fist, storm shield, saga of the bear, wolf tooth necklace, thunderwolf
110	Rune Priest – Chooser of the slain, living lightning, jaws of the world wolf
129	3 Wolf Guard – Combi-melta x3, powerfist x3
85	5 Wolf Scouts – Meltagun
150	8 Grey Hunters – Meltagun, mark of the Wulfen, wolf standard
35	Rhino
135	7 Grey Hunters – Meltagun, mark of the Wulfen, wolf standard
35	Rhino
135	7 Grey Hunters – Meltagun, mark of the Wulfen, wolf standard
35	Rhino
75	5 Grey Hunters – Flamer
75	Razorback – Twin-linked lascannon
75	5 Grey Hunters – Flamer
75	Razorback – Twin-linked lascannon
64	8 Fenrisian Wolves
140	6 Long Fangs – Missile launcher x5
140	6 Long Fangs – Missile launcher x5

Not that I expected to have a serious shot at either, but getting the Renaissance Man award really came out of left field for me. Honestly, no one was more surprised by the result than I was. Hell, the only reason I was even paying attention was because I expected Jawaballs, Nick Nanavati, or Hulksmash to win it. I almost didn’t bother taking my army back out for paint judging because at no point did I think I was in contention for anything other than Tournament Ace (going 4-0 in the first day).

Having gone 3-1 on Saturday, the clincher for me was my sportsmanship scores. I tied the guy who was awarded Best Sportsman with a near perfect score (three of four opponents awarded us favorite opponent, and the other awarded us second favorite) and I guess my army looked fairly decent (you be the judge). Also, while I didn’t dominate my games, all of my wins were via the primary objective, so that might also have given me a boost relative to the other competitors who might have had to fall back on secondary and tertiary tie-breakers.

Anyways, my list was nothing special – just standard mechanized Veterans with Vendettas and Manticores:

Dan Matulich – Imperial Guard – 2000 points

120	Company Command Squad – Astropath, meltagun x4
55	Chimera – Heavy flamer
80	Psyker Battle Squad – Overseer, Psyker x6
55	Chimera – Heavy flamer
35	Ordo Malleus Inquisitor – Emperor’s Tarot
12	2 Mystics
40	2 Warriors – Meltagun x2
105	Veterans – Meltagun x2, flamer x1, autocannon x1
55	Chimera – Heavy flamer
105	Veterans – Meltagun x2, flamer x1, autocannon x1
55	Chimera – Heavy flamer
100	Veterans – Meltagun x3
55	Chimera – Heavy flamer
100	Veterans – Meltagun x3
55	Chimera – Heavy flamer
100	Veterans – Demolitions
55	Chimera – Heavy flamer
140	Vendetta – Heavy bolter x2
140	Vendetta – Heavy bolter x2
140	Vendetta – Heavy bolter x2
160	Manticore – Heavy flamer
160	Manticore – Heavy flamer
75	Hydra – Heavy bolter

Event Awards

Renaissance Man (Best Overall) – Dan Matulich (aka Danny Internets)
(Click here for army list)

Heart of Gold (Best Sportsman) – S. Chase (tied with Dan Matulich)

Greater Than the Sum (Best Army Appearance) – E. Furman

Well Beyond the Crayon (Best Single Miniature) – T. Williamson (aka Old Shatter Hands)

A Miniature Frankenstein (Best Converted Miniature) – D. Brown

Renaissance Man? More like Renaissance Dan. No one in the room was more surprised than me to hear my name called for that one. Winning my ticket to the Las Vegas invitational tournament by means of an award that I typically deride as a nonsensical measuring stick for competitive events made the irony almost palpable. As Chumbalaya and Dashofpepper later told me, I’ll probably never hear the end of it.

On an unrelated note, the Eldar army that won for Greater Than the Sum was unbelievable. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to check out the other appearance winners.

Tournament Awards

Tournament Champion (Best General) – Tony Kopach
(Click here for army list)

Tournament Finalist – Mark Ferek
(Click here for army list)

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Tournament Ace (Undefeated on Day 1) – Mark Ferek
(Click here for army list)

Tournament Ace (Undefeated on Day 1) – Andrew Sutton (aka Stelek)
(Click here for army list)

Tournament Ace (Undefeated on Day 1) – Tony Kopach
(Click here for army list)

Tournament Ace (Undefeated on Day 1) – Sam Penson
(Click here for army list)

Tournament Ace (Undefeated on Day 1) – Justin Hilderbrant (aka Dashofpepper)
(Click here for army list)

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Top 3-1 Seed – J. Trueblood
(Click here for army list)

Top 3-1 Seed – J. Chamblee (aka Chumbalaya)
(Click here for army list)

Top 3-1 Seed – Nick Nanavati
(Click here for army list)

It can be definitively said that every single one of the top 8 who made it through to day 2 of the NOVA Open were extraordinary players. Mark Ferek whooped my ass at the end of day 1 to knock me out of contention and he also managed to best Dashofpepper’s Orks to make it to the finals. But Tony Kopach, the 16 year old Warhammer prodigy, was able to take both him and Stelek out to go undefeated with six consecutive wins. Winning the most competitive 40k event that has ever been at that age, at ANY age, is a huge accomplishment. It might not get him chicks, but he just earned at least a few years of bragging rights.

Also, it was awesome to see Nick advance to the second day. I met Nick back during the ‘Ard Boyz preliminaries this year where I was able to best his Tyranids, but he’d scored so high in his previous games that he was able to hold on to 3rd and earn his ticket to the semi-finals. Nick is another great guy who can not only paint, but play, and at, like Tony Kopach, at only 16 years old. Don’t be surprised if you see Nick winning GTs in the near future.

Lastly, it’s worth looking at the army representation amongst the 88 participants of the tournament. Mike released this data on Dakka earlier today and according to Whiskey40k there’s a lot more on the way:

Army Representation

Space Marines:	14	(16%)
Blood Angels:	14	(16%)
Space Wolves:	11	(13%)
Imperial Guard:	10	(11%)
Chaos Space Marines:	8	(9%)
Orks:	7	(8%)
Eldar:	6	(7%)
Tyranids:	4	(5%)
Tau:	4	(5%)
Chaos Daemons:	3	(3%)
Dark Angels:	2	(2%)
Witch Hunters:	2	(2%)
Black Templars:	1	(1%)
Daemon Hunters:	1	(1%)
Necrons:	1	(1%)
Dark Eldar:	0	(0%)

Source

Interesting to see that none of the Imperial Guard players managed to stay undefeated going into the second day. I can’t wait until the full results are released to do some real data mining.

(Army list links will be updated as the lists are posted individually today and tomorrow.)

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago

The match-ups and results were as follows:

Stelek (Space Wolves) vs Dashofpepper (Orks)

With the amount of pre-game trash-talking that went on (most of it not even from the players themselves), this was clearly the main event of the night. Stelek and Dash both took the lists they would be using in the actual tournament and fought tooth and nail, and almost to a complete stand-still. The result? Tied by both table quarters (primary objective) and objectives markers (secondary objective) it came down to victory points where Stelek was able to pull ahead by roughly 200-250 points (by his estimate).

Winner: Stelek

(Battle report)

Danny Internets (Imperial Guard) vs Hulksmash (Space Wolves)

I’m working on the full battle report for this one, but for the meantime I’ll admit that I got beat fair and square. We both had terrible shooting for the first 3 turns, trading about 1 unit per turn. When given the opportunity to decisively swing the game in our favor we both failed in epic fashion, first him then me, but Hulk was able to finally crack open Chimeras and start rampaging through Veterans to take the game.

A great guy and an even better player, this game was a pleasure from start to finish.

Winner: Hulksmash

Jawaballs (Blood Angels) vs Old Shatter Hands (Tau)

I’m sure Chris is working on the full battle report for this one and I don’t know the details, but suffice to say it was a very, very close game that Chris was just barely able to win. When the reports go up I’ll be tossing a link in here.

Winner: Jawaballs

(Battle report)

St. John (Blood Angels) vs Chumbalaya (Dark Angels)

Lulz from start to finish, I wish I had taken the time to actually watch this game. From what Chumby told me, John played his Sanguinary Guard list (which he also played in the tournament) while Chumbalaya brought the most ridiculously terrible Space Marine list that’s been seen since the glory days of GTs and Rogue Trader Tournaments. Needless to say, it was a blowout.

Winner: St. John

Scoring

No two events in the 40k community seem to have the same scoring these days, and nearly all factor soft scores into who wins the so-called tournament portion. Personal preferences on event format aside, this presents an enormous problem when attempting to build an aggregate data set by drawing on results from different competitions. If Hobby Event A weights game outcomes 90% and Hobby Event B weights game outcomes at only 30% then is it appropriate to include winners from both in the same analysis? Obviously, the answer is no–nevermind apples and oranges, it would be like comparing apples and elephants. Throw in differences in rules, wacky scenarios, and skewed army representation and any hope to draw conclusions from the set goes out the window.

Now, some have attempted to resolve this roadblock by looking at rankings by battle points alone, thus disregarding all other scoring categories. With universal weighting (battle points = 100%) the scoring format effect should be negated, right?

The answer again is no. Like in formal research analysis, post-hoc revision of the variables under investigation must be discouraged because of bias and other subtle but powerful effects that the method of gathering data can have. Continuing with the example above, we should expect that the scoring weights will affect the types of people who choose to attend the event. In addition to ticket prices, lodging and travel can total hundreds or even thousands of dollars for gamers to make their way across the country and compete in various aspects of the hobby they love. However, not all gamers love these different aspects equally. Some people refuse to attend events that don’t place strong emphasis on presentation while others wouldn’t dream of spending money on an event that includes soft scores. The demographics of the attendees at Hobby Event A versus Hobby Event B will likely be very different, even if they take place in the same geographical location. Specifically, players chiefly concerned with competitive play will be less inclined to go to events where players compete to see who is the top hobbyist rather than the top gamer. This will in turn affect the types of armies taken and the quality of game-play featured on the tabletop.

Another issue with scoring is derived from the use of battle points as a performance metric. Though it is widely used throughout the community, battle points are not part of the core rulebook–they are a community house rule used because it provides a convenient way of comparing players based on their performance in a given event. Its establishment as a standard grows out of understandable necessity–how else can a tournament organizer be expected to select the “best” general without having every player battle each of the others?

The problem with battle points is that the system rewards players most for scoring Massacres rather than merely beating them regardless of margin, as in the rulebook. This impacts how people design their lists for tournaments, how those lists are played, and, most importantly, which lists perform best. It all stems from the baby seal phenomenon:

Assume Player A is able to play any number of games against any number of opponents and always come out on top, but by a small margin of victory.

Player B is a good general who wins about 65% of the time by a wide margin, but loses the other 35%.

Player A competes in a tournament and wins all of his games with Minor Victories, including the final game against Player B. His scores are 17, 16, 17 (total = 50).

Player B competes in the same tournament and wins the first two games with Massacres, but incurs a Minor Loss in his last match against Player A. His scores are 22, 22, 7 (total = 51).

Player B wins the tournament despite only winning 2/3 games and losing to the first runner-up.

Was the tournament successful in selecting the overall most competent general? It depends on your frame of reference. Without the battle points system, Player B was clearly superior. But with respect to actual Warhammer 40k, Player A, who does not lose and was able to beat Player B, has demonstrated more skill. The community seems content with rewarding Player B rather than Player A despite the systemic flaws that this hypothetical yet entirely possible situation makes apparent. If we’re rewarding people who don’t necessarily perform best at a 40k event and then use that data to draw conclusions about the relative balance of different armies then we are potentially drawing bad conclusions. Garbage in, garbage out.

Rules and Scenarios

Closely tied to the issue of scoring are problems with different variations of the rules and different scenarios being used between tournaments. A battle points system influences the degree of victory that players must vie for, however introducing wacky scenarios can fundamentally alter the very victory conditions of the game. Imagine playing in a chess tournament and finding out that winners will be those who capture all of the enemy pawns rather than the king. Are you still playing chess?

Victory conditions are the most important factor when considering game balance because everything in every codex ultimately exists to serve one purpose: winning the game. And if one unit helps satisfy the victory conditions better than another it generally costs more points to field to ensure a fair game. This is overly simplistic, but it holds true in general. In order to see the consequences of wacky missions one needs look no further than this year’s ‘Ard Boyz Preliminaries; during the first round, the third mission of the tournament modified the kill points condition so that any unit capable of moving more than 6″ in a single phase would be grant triple points. Naturally, this gave a tremendous advantage to infantry-based armies as opposed to mechanized ones, and, unsurprisingly, many horde armies advanced to the semi-finals.

The same can happen, albeit to a lesser extent, when house rules are used. For the sake of commensurability (and fairness!), the 40k rulebook should be the ultimate authority when it comes to deciding how to play 40k. A tournament FAQ can be a good thing, but one must take caution not to overstep one’s bounds and start re-writing the game, as has been the case with the INAT FAQ. For example, the INAT FAQ includes a rule that allows units to gain cover saves by moving flat-out in their Scouts moves despite this not being permitted in the rulebook. This has a dramatic impact on certain armies, such as Imperial Guard, who can field large fleets of scouting Vendettas, all of which can now gain a 4+ before the game begins. Yourtyk is not always compatible with 40k.

Popularity, Population, and Sample Size

Not all armies are fielded equally – an obvious and yet frequently overlooked fact. Dark Eldar, for instance, are respected by many as having a codex capable of generating some very powerful armies, particularly in a mech-dominated environment. But despite this inherent power, the army is probably the most rare in all 40k. If no one brings Dark Eldar to tournaments then obviously no Dark Eldar armies will be winning tournaments. Even with a standardized set of data one might erroneously conclude that the book is weak given the lack of tournament success. People often claim that Tau suck, but how often do you actually come across Tau armies? Now think about how often you come across properly designed Tau armies. It’s probably close to the number of times you’ve been struck by lightning while high-fiving Jesus in your hover car.

How can this issue be overcome? Statistically speaking, it is possible to compare how often certain armies take the top spots at tournaments to how often they should be expected to do so based on their prevalence with random outcomes. However, as with any small population, sample size matters. In order to accurately determine the likelihood that placings are due to skill rather than chance there needs to be a large volume of data with which to work, which brings us to another problem: the size of the 40k community.

While many areas are able to maintain healthy 40k communities, our hobby remains an obscure niche. Only a select few among us have the means and desire to travel across the country to tournaments and hobby events. There are many excellent players whom I know locally and from afar who can’t or simply don’t want to spend hundreds/thousands of dollars to jet-set around the USA playing with toy soldiers. Consequently, event attendees don’t necessarily represent a good cross-section of the community.

More importantly, most of the well-known tournament competitors attend multiple events per year, further skewing the results. If one stellar player manages to attend every independent GT in the country and place in all of them with, say, Necrons, does that it stand to reason that Necrons are a top army? It’s possible for talented players to have multiple good showings and therefore over-represent their army within the data set. Garbage in, garbage out. If the same handful of players keep winning tournaments then it doesn’t really tell us much about the relative strengths of their army books. Arguably, better insights would be obtained by looking beyond just the top finishers and examining the entirety of each tournament’s placings.

Just some food for thought next time someone brings up tournament performance in a 40k discussion. As always, it’s important to view all evidence through a critical lens.

In this case, it’s the latter.

My opponent will be Hulksmash of Dakka Dakka, a player well-known for destroying people on the West Coast with his Space Wolves and a sensible guy to boot. We’ve had some disagreements on how tournaments should be run, but that’s really the limit of my interaction with him.

Objections to the importance of tournament/hobby event records notwithstanding, his past performance, army list, and comments about 40k lead me to believe the knows how to play the game and that this will be a tough match. What will I be facing? Like in any tournament setting, it could be anything. But my Google-fu is strong and I never go unprepared. Hulk did well at the Broadside Bash out in California earlier this year with the following 2000-point army, so I suspect he’ll bring something similar:

2 Rune Priests
2 Lone Wolves w/Termi Armor, CF, SS
4 WG in Pod w/4 CM’s, 1 TA, 1 CF
2×9 GH’s w/WG in a Rhino w/MotW and Melta
2×5 GH’s w/Melta and PW in a Razorback
1×5 GH w/Flamer in a Razorback
3×6 Long Fangs w/5 Missiles in an Assault Cannon Razorback

Source

If he takes Razorback-based Space Wolves, as I expect, then it will be an uphill battle for me–super shooty marines always given my IG fits. Furthermore, I’m not really happy with my list yet, but with my slow painting and time running short I’m afraid I won’t have the chance to shake things up. I will of course be bringing my mechanized Imperial Guard, scaled up to 2000 points.

Excuses aside, I’ve heard nothing but good things about Hulksmash so it should be a good time, win or lose, though I fully expect a gentlemenly ass-kicking.