Tournament Play – Is The Juice Worth The Squeeze?

By C Shephard | June 25th, 2015 | Categories: Grey Knights, Space Marines, Warhammer 40k

Is it worth playing in 40k tournaments? Come see a story for the rest of us, as I attempt to get back into ‘Competitive’ Play!

I traveled the three hours up to Birmingham for my first tournament in over 11 years. I came relaxed, open minded, with a list that had a competitive edge and a very low expectation as to how I would fare. As someone who does not get that many games in, I was looking forward to seeing my best friend for some warm up matches.

Getting 5 games in was going to be a real treat. I planned to play to win where possible but by maintaining a low overall win expectation, meant any victory in such a competitive setting would be rewarding.

The internet is a fantastic resource and the research I did helped no end. Horror stories of over powered lists, argumentative players, petty gamesmanship and Eldar ruining everything doesn’t give the most positive impression of the tournament scene. Was the trip a waste of time? Was all that preparation and painting not worth the effort? Are people just going to have grey plastic armies incorporating the latest bullet proof combo? This could be awful…

On my first night in the hotel, me and my mate got a beer and set up for a late game in the tournament area for some much needed practice. I had painted my Grey Knights but I had never played using them… and they were my primary detachment. I knew my Ultramarine’s but not my GK’s. There was plenty of LoS blocking pieces which was good, just not for me having invested the points in a bastion for the purposes of LoS blocking! We got under way and met 2 other people who were in a similar position to myself. First time back to a tournament after a long break. They had similar concerns but we were all reassured that there are tournament goers who are inexperienced, all keen to learn. So far so good, maybe I can get away with my lack of game time? I hope my first opponent isn’t to harsh and will be patient with me – I needn’t have worried.

Game 1 vs Necrons (2 Large Wraith units, MSU Destroyers).

Necrons… Good saves and re-animation. My bastion actually helped out a lot here, preventing him from using the infiltrate warlord trait to get to close to me. Going second and got my 4 man Cent Star well hidden – I seized. Good start.

I explained to my opponent this was first tournament of sorts and he explained this was only his second tournament which broke the ice for both of us. I was as friendly as possible and shook his hand; we got underway. I ended up losing kill points 7 to 6.

There was an opportunity to take 2 KPs but I went for 3 and ended up getting only one. He also charged my Dreadknight turn 1 after infiltrating. We both clocked it at the top of turn 2; he was so apologetic but I was totally fine (I knew I would make mistakes as well!). We put the Dreadknight back on the table, moved the wraiths back and cracked on with turn 2, no harm done. No argument – maybe this tournament stuff isn’t so bad? I lost the game but only by 1 point, and we both had a really close game which I was competing in until the end. It wasn’t one sided and we both enjoyed it. I was up and running and had thoroughly enjoyed the first game.

Lessons learned

– Target priority and putting enough fire power into units you know to be tough (even if it may be a little to much – the dice can lead you to coming undone and getting nothing).

– Perils; don’t get greedy rolling powers that are nice to have early on. Could hurt when you need powers later and are running short of wounds.

Game 2 vs MSU Space Marines (5 Cents and Tiggy, Bike Zander and 5 Bikes, scouts and speeders).

I can’t lie this game did take me by surprise a little. I handed him my list and clearly he wasn’t to happy with my Cent Star (not optimized as I couldn’t run Draigo in the format). He has a Relic Scorpius Whirlwind, a TF cannon and 2 scout squads on the table. My Cents and Dreadknights killed all but 2 Scouts in the center and he actually conceded on turn 2, unimpressed by my “cheesy” list.

I felt terrible that he was irritated by my list. I talked him round and encouraged him to keep playing. I had traveled a long way and felt we still had a game. He had 6 bikes, a chapter master, 5 Cents, as well as the majority of all his speeders. He carried on and ended up winning 8 points to 7. I shook his hand and thanked him for a close game.

This game left me baffled. I was frustrated at having to keep the momentum going when I could have been equally frustrated by his Chapter Master, an AP 3 barrage whirlwind and a 5 man Cent unit. I came with a competitive edge and I don’t think that’s unfair in a tournament setting. The game was really close and I made some errors to do with mission focus. The win came down to a precariously positioned objective secured speeder. The game on the table was great it was just a shame there was some friction around the table I hadn’t expected.

Lessons learned

– Mission objectives; think early (turn 3 onwards).

– Primary objectives the priority; warlord and line breaker nice to have but only after the primaries.

Game 3 vs Guard (MSU Chimeras, Valkyries and Str 10 blast missiles!).

This was a fun game purely because it was a lesson for me in how powerful a gun line army can be. The rules set allow templates to hit invisible units so if you get a hit you are screwed. Over 2 turns my Death Star fell apart thanks to the Str 10 Manticore missiles. And that was that really. I fought a good fight in the corner with my Rhinos and Tactical squads however I had lost my key components and couldn’t pull anything out. A heavy loss and highlighted he weakness of the Centstar in this format and the fact I can’t take Draigo. I was aware this for the get go but it is what I wanted to use so I was ok with coming undone in the way that it happened. Fun was had and my opponent was a really nice guy. A great game and a good way to finish off the games on day 1.

Lessons learned

– Write lists with mission design and tournament format in the front of your mind. Sounds obvious but it may mean changing bits of your army and you might not want to which is fine. But it could make getting up the ranks a lot harder.

– Fight on whatever happens and make the points hard to get and pick up what you can even if you are loosing badly. Fighting when backed into a corner reminded me how strong some of my supporting units can be. And as in game 2, your opponent is here for a game so give him one despite things perhaps going wrong for you.

– Bad match ups can and will happen!

I was enjoying the tournament immensely and was looking forward to the following day after a few beers in a new city. A trip away with my friend, just hanging out looking at the art and effort put into the armies and the games being as good as they were, make a weekend like this really worth the preparation, cost and travel. If I can pull out one win tomorrow I will still have achieved my aim and I can see I am definitely learning and getting better….slowly 🙂 So far the return to tournament gaming has been well worth the effort. HTB.