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09-19-2010, 11:45 PM
So this weekend, I attended the Warmaster's Challenge tournament in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada and I wanted to share some of my experiences with the BoLS community. I'll first post that this was my first serious tournament I've ever attended and scored okay in the doubles tournament and horribly in the singles tournament. This isn't a discussion on tactics, but a discussion on the event itself from my perspective as an individual new with fresh eyes to the tournament scene.
First and foremost, the organizers did an excellent job of keeping things running smoothly. There were some timeliness issues, but I believe that arose more from players who stretched in extra turns on an already tight schedule. On either day, everything wrapped up later than expected. I find this part important because, as it was a two-day event, it really did feel like a marathon. With not only meeting so many new people where discussions were mostly limited to the hobby, but fitting in as much tactical prowess to last you through ~18 hours of gaming over the course of 48 hours, I found it difficult to keep up by the end of the weekend.
With many of the people I met, they explained to me their experiences in other large tournaments and the venues they were held in. Now I've played in a few small-scale tournaments (16 players or so) in our FLGS and I remember the discomfort of that stagnant sweat just looming in the air. With the heat constantly rising, I found it easy to be distracted by the physical discomfort of the warmth and the wear your body faces standing for so long. The Warmaster's Challenge, however, was held at a large recreation park and the facilities were large enough to fit in nearly forty tables and not have the climate change much at all. Temperature wise, it stayed warm, but not uncomfortably so. Nonetheless, my legs and feet are still sore so I'm starting to understand the need for comfortable clothing and shoes.
This reminds me of the importance of one of the simplest parts: preparation. The majority of my opponents came prepared with army lists designed with army builder, allowing for an organized, easy-to-read summary of their army. Myself, having never used the program, brought my lists printed, but without any proper formatting or indication of rules or stats. While most of my opponents didn't ask to see my list, they were all eager to offer theirs to me. Moreover, having the essential components to actually play can't be stressed enough. Bring backups! I lost my blast template, large blast template, scatter die, an objective, and some of my army lists - still not sure how - and I kept feeling terrible that I would have to ask my opponent to borrow theirs. Personally, no one seemed to mind, but I felt an appreciation for my opponent being so well-prepared to make the game run smoothly. Had both of us lost templates, situations in-game would be very difficult to solve.
Admittedly, my favourite games on either day were my first games. I felt that not only were we freshest at that point, but also more aware of the rules and flow of the game in general. Games later in the day become sloppy and somewhat more tense. My partner and I in the doubles tournament were doing really well, with each game escalating in importance. I made a really big mistake in our last game due a lack of foresight that I argue made that game a definite loss. This kind of pressure made my partner and I more competitive, hoping to capitalize on our own opponents lack of foresight.
My personal attitude towards the game is that while Warhammer is competitive, it's also cooperative. I play this game because I want to play with other people, not specifically against them. As such, I try to remind my opponents of their options or point out if they seem to have forgotten something during that phase, a Land Raider not shooting, for example. I don't believe this had much to do with my own standings, offering advantages to my opponents, but I try to illustrate the importance of those sportsmanship scores. After each game, every one of my opponents in the singles tournament told me that it was a fun game and that they had a great time. Those are the kind of comments that I prefer, much more than the "you kicked my ***!" comments; I don't need those to validate my experience with the game.
But player attitude is important, obviously, and while I always appreciate enthusiasm, I found that some of the other players were being insensitive to needs of others. For instance, several of the players would cheer and groan exceptionally loudly, throughout their games, and for extended periods of times during what I imagine to be critical turns of their game. This overpowering sound, however, disrupted my games and I assume others as well. I was happy to see others having such an awesome time, but when others' games are being interrupted because each player can't hear one another, I think that's a problem.
One of my favourite parts of this tournament was the opportunity to see incredibly beautiful armies that I don't get the chance to see at my FLGS. Seeing incredibly advanced painting techniques or wildly creative conversions made me exceptionally aware of the lacking appearance of my own army. I'm a fan-boy; I admit it. I play Ultramarines as I love the uniformity of their appearance and I appreciate their well-rounded structure. Several Eldar players with fantastic paint jobs have been tempting my loyalty to the boys in blue. I'm absolutely inspired to try and push my painting forward and hold myself to a higher degree of standards. The tournament is, for me, as much of a test for myself as it is a test against others. For me, that's an excellent motivator.
Lastly, I want to reiterate the concept of marathon. Registration for the Saturday tournament started at 8am and the day didn't wrap up until about 9:15pm or so. Even with a lunch break, that's a long day. Having to turn around and do an only slightly shorter event the following day is taxing. While all of my opponents were fun individuals, I hate to admit that I was doing myself and them a disservice because of my inability to keep focused on playing a hard-fought battle. I was apathetic by the end of today that even at times I knew my opponent was blatantly wrong, I hindered our game by not correcting those mistakes (running and shooting in the same turn with orks, for instance). Honestly, I zoned out and it became a game of moving the dolls around the table while rolling some dice. In the future, I hope that I can make myself focused all day. Perhaps I just didn't have enough caffeine.
Anyways, I apologize for the novel of a post here, but I've come to the BoLS community for advice on so many different aspects of the hobby, that I wanted to share my experiences. I know that a good portion of the BoLS community plays in regular tournaments and is well-acquainted with several of these incidents. By providing the experiences of a person new to the scene, I was hoping I could hear some of your experiences as well.
Thanks for reading!
tl;dr Warmaster's Challenge was fun and I had some interesting experiences. You?
First and foremost, the organizers did an excellent job of keeping things running smoothly. There were some timeliness issues, but I believe that arose more from players who stretched in extra turns on an already tight schedule. On either day, everything wrapped up later than expected. I find this part important because, as it was a two-day event, it really did feel like a marathon. With not only meeting so many new people where discussions were mostly limited to the hobby, but fitting in as much tactical prowess to last you through ~18 hours of gaming over the course of 48 hours, I found it difficult to keep up by the end of the weekend.
With many of the people I met, they explained to me their experiences in other large tournaments and the venues they were held in. Now I've played in a few small-scale tournaments (16 players or so) in our FLGS and I remember the discomfort of that stagnant sweat just looming in the air. With the heat constantly rising, I found it easy to be distracted by the physical discomfort of the warmth and the wear your body faces standing for so long. The Warmaster's Challenge, however, was held at a large recreation park and the facilities were large enough to fit in nearly forty tables and not have the climate change much at all. Temperature wise, it stayed warm, but not uncomfortably so. Nonetheless, my legs and feet are still sore so I'm starting to understand the need for comfortable clothing and shoes.
This reminds me of the importance of one of the simplest parts: preparation. The majority of my opponents came prepared with army lists designed with army builder, allowing for an organized, easy-to-read summary of their army. Myself, having never used the program, brought my lists printed, but without any proper formatting or indication of rules or stats. While most of my opponents didn't ask to see my list, they were all eager to offer theirs to me. Moreover, having the essential components to actually play can't be stressed enough. Bring backups! I lost my blast template, large blast template, scatter die, an objective, and some of my army lists - still not sure how - and I kept feeling terrible that I would have to ask my opponent to borrow theirs. Personally, no one seemed to mind, but I felt an appreciation for my opponent being so well-prepared to make the game run smoothly. Had both of us lost templates, situations in-game would be very difficult to solve.
Admittedly, my favourite games on either day were my first games. I felt that not only were we freshest at that point, but also more aware of the rules and flow of the game in general. Games later in the day become sloppy and somewhat more tense. My partner and I in the doubles tournament were doing really well, with each game escalating in importance. I made a really big mistake in our last game due a lack of foresight that I argue made that game a definite loss. This kind of pressure made my partner and I more competitive, hoping to capitalize on our own opponents lack of foresight.
My personal attitude towards the game is that while Warhammer is competitive, it's also cooperative. I play this game because I want to play with other people, not specifically against them. As such, I try to remind my opponents of their options or point out if they seem to have forgotten something during that phase, a Land Raider not shooting, for example. I don't believe this had much to do with my own standings, offering advantages to my opponents, but I try to illustrate the importance of those sportsmanship scores. After each game, every one of my opponents in the singles tournament told me that it was a fun game and that they had a great time. Those are the kind of comments that I prefer, much more than the "you kicked my ***!" comments; I don't need those to validate my experience with the game.
But player attitude is important, obviously, and while I always appreciate enthusiasm, I found that some of the other players were being insensitive to needs of others. For instance, several of the players would cheer and groan exceptionally loudly, throughout their games, and for extended periods of times during what I imagine to be critical turns of their game. This overpowering sound, however, disrupted my games and I assume others as well. I was happy to see others having such an awesome time, but when others' games are being interrupted because each player can't hear one another, I think that's a problem.
One of my favourite parts of this tournament was the opportunity to see incredibly beautiful armies that I don't get the chance to see at my FLGS. Seeing incredibly advanced painting techniques or wildly creative conversions made me exceptionally aware of the lacking appearance of my own army. I'm a fan-boy; I admit it. I play Ultramarines as I love the uniformity of their appearance and I appreciate their well-rounded structure. Several Eldar players with fantastic paint jobs have been tempting my loyalty to the boys in blue. I'm absolutely inspired to try and push my painting forward and hold myself to a higher degree of standards. The tournament is, for me, as much of a test for myself as it is a test against others. For me, that's an excellent motivator.
Lastly, I want to reiterate the concept of marathon. Registration for the Saturday tournament started at 8am and the day didn't wrap up until about 9:15pm or so. Even with a lunch break, that's a long day. Having to turn around and do an only slightly shorter event the following day is taxing. While all of my opponents were fun individuals, I hate to admit that I was doing myself and them a disservice because of my inability to keep focused on playing a hard-fought battle. I was apathetic by the end of today that even at times I knew my opponent was blatantly wrong, I hindered our game by not correcting those mistakes (running and shooting in the same turn with orks, for instance). Honestly, I zoned out and it became a game of moving the dolls around the table while rolling some dice. In the future, I hope that I can make myself focused all day. Perhaps I just didn't have enough caffeine.
Anyways, I apologize for the novel of a post here, but I've come to the BoLS community for advice on so many different aspects of the hobby, that I wanted to share my experiences. I know that a good portion of the BoLS community plays in regular tournaments and is well-acquainted with several of these incidents. By providing the experiences of a person new to the scene, I was hoping I could hear some of your experiences as well.
Thanks for reading!
tl;dr Warmaster's Challenge was fun and I had some interesting experiences. You?