Is it time we all just got along? Checkout what may be a great way to make a kinder and gentler 40k competitive experience for everyone!
40k is a hobby that contains many facets of social interaction, the most obvious is tournament play. I’m sure we’ve all had to play against, or heard of “that guy” right?
But what if we gave players the power to deal with those those individuals, so that slowly they were ostracized from tournaments / events altogether? Or, conversely, they could be at least forced by the event itself to be more amicable to their fellow players.
Sure I mean TO’s want players to come to their events, but whats the preferred scenario: a blowhard WAAC player alienating a potential pool of tournament goers, or that player being alienated / forced to change their tabletop manners via a sportmanship score?
The Social Contract
We are part of what may be one of the most awesome niche hobbies out there, Tabletop Wargaming. As such I feel like as competitors we should not only put some hobby love into our armies, but also perhaps “play with our opponents” instead of “against them”.
American Football games last for about the same amount of time that our 40k games do, so perhaps we should endevour to have the same level of sportsmanship that they do?
No one wants to play against “that guy”, so in short just don’t be that guy to start with. Sometimes meeting your opponent halfway goes miles to making a new friend and game you can remember for years.
Be a Sport
Our idea, and we kinda mentioned this in post about comp recently, is just to let players rate all of their opponents by favorite to least favorite on a scale of 1-5 for example if the event was a 5 round tournament. Then the scores are averaged and multiplied out into everyone’s overall score.
So for example a fun player with a fun list, or just a super nice and personable player, may get 25 extra points and a “free” extra win points wise by having all his opponents vote him the best they played.
Conversely a player was a complete B-hole, or brought a WAAC list and just went though the motions of playing, well then there is a good chance he’ll get 5 sub-par comp scores from his opponents and earn himself a “free loss” standings wise.
Sure it’s a completely arbitrary system, but think about it – the scores should average out over the course of the event. If you have a random bad game and your generally a fun guy with a cool army OR even a fun person with a tough army, your score should bounce back to the mid range of 20-25 when the rest of your opponents rate you well.
For example someone has to get rated last right? Well in a perfect world every player would only get one last place vote if everyone had great games in each of their rounds right? In a three round event, it seems pretty certain that unless someone is very off-putting that most sportsmanship scores will all be average.
If you’re not a fun person, and none of your opponents enjoyed playing you (for whatever reason) you could find your self a game down off the lead points wise if you’re not careful.
Best of all perhaps is there is real way to have collusion on scoring. There would be only 5 spots – someone has to be the best, and someone has the be the worse…. that’s just the way it is.
Would this system fix a lot of what ails the 40k tournament scene? Maybe?
It does seems to give players the power they need to make their option heard in what may be the most fair and balanced manner yet.
What say ye? Time to give the power to the people?
Top 10 Rules That Tau Needs! – Long War Episode 15
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
