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So how do you build an army for no comp and other tournaments of that ilk?

Do you bring a list that overloads one aspect of the game and try to have your opponent try to stop you?

Or do you bring a well balanced list, and try to re-act to what your opponent brings?

There's a bit of a bias in the poll. Building a rounded army does not mean being reactive. In fact, I have had my overloading rock-paper-scissors lists trounced by rounded lists (well, they were Necrons) in just such a setting.

But I go the extreme way, because it's the only time one can get away with such a build in a tourney while still being counted as a good sport.

I'm bringing Necrons, which don't quite fit into the categorization here, but they are heavy on t5, 3+ save 4+ WBB units, so I figure that might count as trying to overload the anti-MEQ segment of enemy lists.

I play the same army list for years.

Is that helpful? Not sure. It is what it is.

I always play well-rounded lists, but I also consider Godzilla to be a well-rounded list. Same with Tri-Falcon.

I don't like rock-paper-scissors armies.

I wrote the question before lunch and I was in a hurry, so it was not as clear as it could have been.

I noticed a couple of things at the Gladiator. You see a lot of trick armies that you do not usually see at normal RTTs (the reason why you do not see them is comp+all forgeworld available). So you see the Baneblades, the Forgeworld Demons, the 2 titans, etc.

What I find interesting is that at the top tables you do not see the "trick" armies, but what you find most of the time are armies that you would say are well balanced, and what you would expect to see at a local RTT.

For example: At the top table 2 years ago you had a Drop Pod army playing against a normal Word Bearers army for the win. I did not see what won it last year (Eldar of some kind), but I think it was a regular Eldar army (And not massed Harliquins or all Falcon/Waveserpents etc.)

Well, trick armies meet their trap and lose.

I've seen alot of trick armies in my day, haven't lost to one yet. I run take-all-comer armies.

Even the armored company with a huge advantage against 'normal' armies, didn't make the cut.

Taking a Baneblade or Tri-Falcon does overload one aspect of the game, but it doesn't mean you can't have a balanced list build around it either, especially with some of the FW stuff that is way too few points for what it does.

I don't think any army that loads out on just one thing is well balanced, regardless of what that one thing is. The all tac squad marine army is just as unbalanced as the all falcon/wave serpent eldar army (although due to the poorly balanced rules for them, the eldar example would rank higher on the cheese meter). Half the point of non-comp tournaments is to allow everyone to load out on the cheesiest armies they can and bring it to the table. Since this isn't an environment I enjoy playing in, I don't attend such events, but that doesn't mean that plenty of others do not enjoy it. Regardless, I find that I enjoy running a balanced list where I have lots of tactical options. This does mean that I sometimes lose when I don't have enough paper to cover my opponent's rock. A lot of times though I find that even against armies that are overloaded on one thing or another, I do just fine.

Drop pod marines (or space wolves) do poorly against me
Necron phalanx armies do poorly against me
SAFH marine armies loaded up on las/plas squads do poorly against me

I'm about 50/50 vs Nid Zilla

3 Monolith necrons do well against me
All skimmer eldar tends to do well against me too

In the end, I roll with the punches and do the best I can. For the most part, it’s enough.

Blackmoor, the Eldar list which won last year was a grav tank/infantry mix with Eldrad and an Avatar. He had both harlies and FD in falcons IIRC. In the last round he was up against my friend Chris Flores, who was using Space Wolves assaulting w/tank support. IIRC he had some razorbacks to add shooty, and three Vindicators.

Neither had any forgeworld or other strangeness. They were pretty straightforward "balanced" lists.

There's also the phenomenon that I call 'wanna-be power gamers'. They just use all the cool stuff and load up on it, but have no idea how it works and how to create synergy with the army.

I've reduced one to tears and swearing in a tournament once.

@Mannahan, I played against that army (Troy's) at the Adepticon GT later that weekend. It was a great list and Troy played it very well. I got lucky to beat it.

Darrian

Wait... I think I voted twice.

Once logged out, then again logged in. The new dakka seems to log me out whenever I leave :S

Anyway, I voted balanced list, but I do cheese my army up a bit, just not to the point of being ridiculous. Games with balanced lists, no matter the environment, tend to be more fun and interesting.

It also depends on if it's advertised as a no comp tourny or there just happens to be no comp. Tournies advertised as no comp are specifically trying to be a test of who is the best dirty/waac player, so for those, I go a bit farther on the powergaming spectrum. Tournies that just have a lazy TO, I play my standard take all comers list.

-LE037

Only once has the AdeptiCon gladiator been won by an army with a significantly unbalanced army or significant forgeworld silliness. The other winners (Iron Warriors, Mech Guard, SM Drop Storm, & Eldar) were all relatively balanced list with little to no Forge World.

My list has a lot of weight in one area, but it is still a list I'd take to a RTT. I think my list will get owned though in a gladiator environment because my army simply has no answer to certain things like a Heirophant, etc. If I get matched up vs. more "normal" armies, I'll be fine.

Capt K

Centurian99 wrote:Only once has the AdeptiCon gladiator been won by an army with a significantly unbalanced army or significant forgeworld silliness. The other winners (Iron Warriors, Mech Guard, SM Drop Storm, & Eldar) were all relatively balanced list with little to no Forge World.

And that was because Anggrath had been ruled to be a scoring unit that year. If he wasn’t, the player wouldn’t have won, if I recall his tournament report correctly.

Correct, Mannahnin. He is a badass GD.

I enjoy playing against unbalanced lists.

Doesn't take much to spot the weakness and see if your balanced army can exploit it, which usually you can.

Mannahnin wrote:

Centurian99 wrote:Only once has the AdeptiCon gladiator been won by an army with a significantly unbalanced army or significant forgeworld silliness. The other winners (Iron Warriors, Mech Guard, SM Drop Storm, & Eldar) were all relatively balanced list with little to no Forge World.

And that was because Anggrath had been ruled to be a scoring unit that year. If he wasn’t, the player wouldn’t have won, if I recall his tournament report correctly.

Not only that...that year, the gladiator was pure VPs. He earned the most VPs over the course of three games, a feat that was greatly helped by one of the missions where he essentially took a 1 in 6 chance of losing to gain a bonus 888 VPs (which, IIRC, was what gave him the margin at the end of the day).

Hey Bill, who played that army at the Adepticon that year? That was 3 years ago, right?

Darrian

Darrian13 wrote:Hey Bill, who played that army at the Adepticon that year? That was 3 years ago, right?

Darrian

I think it was Muwhe/Hank

Yep. Hank crushed my dreams of back-to-back gladiator wins...

Hehe. My dreams were crushed once....

I'm just hoping I my army does better this year. Crazy fate really boned me last year in dice rolls....lol. I can't tell you how many Acts of Faith were failed, Unmodified LD 10 tests failed, etc...hehe. Literally 2 of my games came down to whether I can pass a Ld test. Oh well.

Capt K

Centurian99 wrote:Yep. Hank crushed my dreams of back-to-back gladiator wins...

why would you build a fluffy list when there is no comp. BRING ON THE PAIN!!!