Monday, April 26, 2010

Weekend Tournament and other Tournament Topics

Hmm.. so another post with nothing associated with new Miniature progress or items. I need to fix that. I'll take some shots of my Ordo Xenos Inquisitor and post him up. He still needs some finishing touches, but I love people's opinions, so maybe I can make some other changes too.

I played in a local 40k tournament this past weekend. 1850 points and we had about 18 people show up. Was a nice turnout I think and I got to see some folks I haven't seen in a while :) I ended up losing my first game to a Tau Piranha flying circus, but won my second two versus Tyranids and then Tau. And I took home the Best Painted Category :) Overall I was pleased with how the list played and am getting a better handle on some ways to move my toys on the tabletop. Gee, practice helps, go figure.

I had a rather interesting comment on my last post about soft-scores in tournaments, and thought I'd address that here in context of the local stage, the national one, and then a tournament like Ard Boyz (which I think is it's own beast). I'll address a "Comp" score after everything else.

Local Example:
While there was a Best Painted and a Sportsmanship award both at the local tournament I played in, which I'm MOST happy about in both regards, they didn't play into the overall scoring for First, Second and Third Place. They did and do encourage people to actually paint their stuff, as well as be a decent person to play so I can't and won't really knock 'em, though I do wish that they would have had a part in the overall scoring. Maybe it'll help you be a good opponent rather than ONLY worry about scoring the most kill points you can or that you're measuring down to the 16th of an inch to the objective to contest it.

I'm not saying don't play to win if that's what you want to do, but be good about it. Maybe missing out on first place because you weren't a nice guy will make you think and act a little different next time. a couple points maybe... or even if you just want to use the sportsmanship score as a tie-breaker. Something to make players more conscience of the person across the table is all. It doesn't have to be huge... it's a local tourney after all.

National Tournament: (Using Adepticon as my example)
Adepticon, in my opinion, NEEDS soft-scoring, AND HAS IT. I'm extremely happy to say that the sportsmanship and painting scores factor overall into your score. They have a great system of measuring sportsmanship, and I highly suggest that anyone who hasn't seen it, email the Adepticon Staff and ask for it. Their Judges go around to every army and have a specific way of scoring painting and appearance, as well as the Sportsmanship scoring is on a 1-12 point check-off system per round that asks things from "Did your opponent show up on time to the game?" to "Would you play this person again voluntarily?". Kudos guys, awesome way to measure these things.

Ard Boyz:
This answer's short and sweet. Ard Boyz was made by GW for those folks who just want to play and win. A Painted Army is not required to play in this, so painting scores are a moot point. And as I've never played in an Ard Boyz tournament, I don't know if Sportsmanship is scored or not, so I won't speculate. And while I'm of the opinion that it SHOULD BE (sportsmanship) a scoring factor, I wouldn't go into it expecting one. Heck, look at the name of the tournament folks :P :)

Now this is said about Ard Boyz, with me having played last years Champion at Adepticon and loving every minute of the game cause Darkwynn was just a great guy to play. (HINT... play nice.)

Whew. That was a bit of a play-by-play wasn't it? On to Composition scores:

Unfortunately.... while I wish there was some perfect formula to measure an army's composition, I haven't seen one yet. Not for 40K or Fantasy. The best 40K comp scoring question I've seen is "Does their number of troop slots filled number more than their Elite choices? Their Heavy Choices?" But even that's a bit arbitrary. Playing Steel Legion Guard? It's Fluffy for their entire army to be encased in armor and have a lot of tanks. How are you going to score that? I wish I knew :(

I'll close this by tentatively rescinding my wish for a comp score in tournament scoring, but reinforcing my wish for the painting and appearance, as well as the Sportsmanship award have a place in some way shape or form in all tournaments.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Gaming, Tournaments and Scoring, Oh My!

All this talk abotu Tournament Scoring, Balanced Lists versus Min-Maxed Lists, and whatnot has been an interesting topic... Since this is a Blog, I've got some thoughts to share, let me know what you think :)

I like to separate my gaming. I LOVE a good, narrative campaign, with rules for tracking your soldiers from beginning to end, with more emphasis on story and fluff than who beat who. At the same time, I enjoy the tournament atmosphere. This gives me the opportunity to take a break from both scenes as I need to.

Now, while I don't specifically attempt to tailor lists towards the goal of being at the top tables, I appreciate those folks at the top tables for their ability to play a tactical game. Tactics including what units to take as well as how to use them. However, I see a NEED for "soft" scoring to play a large part in tournaments. Your Painting, Composition (bring this score back please, organizers) and Sportsmanship SHOULD PLAY A PART IN OVERALL SCORING. This will help encourage people to actually care about those things. And to be honest, while I may appreciate a player or a list at the top tables, I RESPECT a player at a top table who's a good guy, and even if he's tabled me made sure we still BOTH had fun while we played.

My main point is that you can have a good game with the guy or gal across from you, in any environment, with any list played by either person, so long as you each keep in mind the fact that you're playing a game, and the goal for everyone is to have fun in any way. If for you that's taking home Best General in a Tournament, than great! But do so with the dual goal of trying to earn Best Sportsman at the same time.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

So I was Reading BoLS this morning...

I do that when I get into work. I grab something to drink, eat my processed chocolate-covered donuts and pop open BoLS for my morning gaming news fix. Here's how it went:

Hey, Darkwynn's got a post up...

Huh, he's retiring the Leafblower List he created, why?

Well I can see where he's coming from there... oh hey cool! He mentioned our game! Sweet! He linked my Blog!

Wait. He linked my Blog. The Blog I just finished editing photos for and haven't gotten them posted yet... OH CRAP!

So below this post, you'll find a smattering of Photos, highlighting the army and a Link to my Photobucket albums where you can peruse to your heart's content. As the week goes by, I'll highlight a unit and go through some of the conversion and painting techniques used to. And if anyone wants to chime in with questions, I'll happily put that as the priority of the next how-to or QnA post :) As it is, there's 13 images below. Yes, I'm still dialing in my lighting.

Getting back to Darkwynn's post though, (after finishing reading it) while I can understand where he's coming from, especially from the standpoint of someone who's the opposite of the hardcore tournament player, I'd hate to discourage anyone from not doing what they want with their hundreds of dollars they invest in this hobby. These are your toy soldiers, pay for them and do as you will.

Did I have fun getting crushed and tabled by turn 4 by Darkwynn? Heck yeah I did. Why? Cause He's a nice guy who did everything he could to make sure I was having fun while getting crushed. We talked, laughed, shared stories, all while I was putting my toy soldiers away and he wasn't :) Not everyone is like that though, and I applaud him for being who is and was across the table from me.

Can his list be taken down? Sure it could. How? I don't know, but I'd love to get the practice in to find out, talk tactics and see where the dice fall against it again. This is a tactical game folks, with the random element thrown in, please remember that!

Before I ramble on though, remember this is nothing else. Have fun, and make sure your opponent is having fun. Even if you are the Crusher or the Crushee. Otherwise your opponent is liable to take his toys and go home. Or at least to the next table over and play someone else.

Enjoy the photos folks :)

Tim

EDIT: Hmm... Having issues getting photos to show up. I'll explore this, but in the meantime, the photobucket link is below :)

http://s957.photobucket.com/home/Tims_Minis/allalbums