Freshly back from attending the ATC, your boy Max is here with 4 tips for a better tournament experience! I.E. How to not drink too much and make friends in the process…
Very few of those have to do with actual games. In fact, there are so many aspects of tournament that one can enjoy, from crushing people to drinking beer to showing off nice models with no hope of winning, its impossible to give a one size fits all do this at tournaments to have fun guide. This is after all one thing so great about tournaments, bringing all kind of hobby fanatics together. If you only want to play Bob in your mom’s basement, that’s all fine, but you’re missing out on so much,
However, attending a tournament can be a daunting prospect, and rookie mistakes can be easily avoided.
4 Tricks to have a blast at tournament for the tournament-going neophyte.
1- Print lists in advance.
(Like 12 of them.)
A good number is however rounds you are playing plus 2. This way you can give one to the tournament organizer early on and one to each of your opponents and still have a copy. This saves you time and trouble as you never have to ask for list back or show your opponent your list, and it also ensures you have something to write your spells, powers and the mission book keeping.
This should go without saying, but please type your list, nobody wants to see all those scribble lines on a wet cocktail napkin.
2- Keep track of points.
Speaking of bookeeping, keeping track of the mission points is a great thing for your game, as it keeps you focused on the goals at hand ( rather than just waaaagh across the board ) and will avoid most disputes and discrepancies throughout the game.l, specially with kill points, summoned units and progressive ( turn by turn ) objectives.
Its also good to check every so often with your opponent if hes also tracking score to ensure your numbers match. And if your opponent is not keeping track, more power to you; let him waaaagh across the board and remind him later how you scored a bajillion points.
3- Know your booze.
Now, no man should be told how to drink, or what for that matter ( except pink tequila, don’t drink that ). However, I am somewhat of an expert at drunk-hammering. My theory is this: There’s 2 ways to approach drinking and playing.
1- coasting. Staying lightly buzzed throughout the day. This should be everyone’s method of choice, as theres no real downside, you wont really be hungover and you can start fresh the next day.
2-smashed. Either you are trying to forget you lost to that dark eldar/ sisters army or you are in bracket tinfoil at 1-3 on day 2, mistakes were made, you played battleshots, you are drunk.
Now when you reach this step, there are 2 things to avoid: 1- the point of no return. Pissing your pants, falling, breaking models and puking is the point of no return. 2- sobering up. Sobering up will make you crash and feel terrible about everything.
Pace yourself in that regards also. The is a time to sober up, and its called the night or the plane ride home.
4- Have fun.
It sounds stupid to say or like something your mom would tell you, but so many people set unrealistically high expectations and become sad/angry/dissapointed. They end up missing out on all the fun.
Ive been in both the 5-0 and the 0-5 brackets of tournaments, and besides roughly 3 cases through 15 tournaments, I’ve enjoyed every single game, and made new friends regardless of the game results.
Keep in mind that regardless of scores, results and outcomes, you are spending your weekend drinking beer and playing toy soldiers. Life could be worse.
If you enjoy these tournament talks, be sure to tune in on my blog Thursday morning for my ATC recap!
