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How hard is it to be in the Ard boyz tornament?

Can anyone give me a real life example to give me an idea of how hard it is?

Thanks

And wish you all a Happy Valentines day(If I remember right,it should be soon)

It is hard. It is like walking into a bar from a Western --- the type where everyone inside killed his mother for a dime. You then order a shandy, give the nastiest looking guy a wink and introduce yourself as Sue. It is hard.

If you are considering it, practice playing 3 2500 point games back to back. You will have to deal with an unusual level of fatigue by the end of the game, and everyone has a license to be TFG. You will have horrible rules arguments, particularly if the opponent is winning at the time. There will be unpainted hordes, and crummy conversions to spam massive numbers of the latest 'uber' units. It will try you, and your army.

It will either vastly raise your game, or turn you off 40k for a while. Either way, it is a very worthwhile experience. I suggest bringing snacks, a 6" measuring stick, dice groups for your most likely shots, plenty of your caffeine of choice and a quick deployment tray or box. Also practice your caffeine consumption- you don't want to crash midgame, or have to take a bathroom break. Personally I brought tylenol as well, I don't play that long frequently enough to avoid headaches from exposure to gamer funk and tension.

I guess I got lucky last year and everyone I played was pretty cool (or at least not TFG) from my local FLGS all the way to Nationals. Don't expect well-painted opponents, and definitely expect the cheesiest cheese that people can come up with. It's basically a no holds barred throw down. Bring some drinks and snacks, have a tray so deployment takes less time, and set in for a long day. I'm glad I did it last year and will almost certainly be doing it again this year.

Haven't played in 40k Ard Boyz yet, but I've spectated a couple and have played in one Fantasy Ard Boyz, and none of them struck me as any worse on the sportsmanship/rules arguements/TFG front than any tournament. You'll always have those people, but Ard Boyz doesn't particularly bring it out.

But yeah, there will be nasty armies, spamming all kinds of stuff, and chunks will be unpainted or painted differently due to people borrowing units to fill out to 2500.

Definitely practice the games, or generally, even if you don't practice 2500 point games, practice playing for 9+ hours in one day. It will be very draining, and take a while.

As far as what you might see there, imagine the most extreme ways you could take an army. 5 Land Raiders, for example. What do you do with it? (Or 6 Land Raiders in a CSM army.) Kairos and 24 Bloodcrushers, plus another 1200ish points of Daemons. 9 Vendettas in IG (plus a pile of other stuff). 5+ Battlewagon Orks, 4 JotWW SW with huge piles of TWC, Eldar with 12 Skimmers keeping the entire army in reserve. 6 Ironclad Dreadnoughts + piles of Tac and Assault Marines in Razorbacks.

Not every army will be like that, of course, but they will show up. It's an opportunity for people to play that list they've joked around about but never actually built.

But in general, I think most experiences you'll have with the actual players will be very good. The type of people that Gitzbitah describes are far from the norm. I did see a big argument in the last round of the WHFB semis last year between two guys at the top table, but it wasn't really about rules or shenanigans...it was basically one accusing the other of picking up a die that had been tracking wounds on a Vampire Lord while the other claimed that the wounds had been healed. Very heated, and no way to resolve it as it was simply each one's word against the other. But that's certainly not the norm, at all. And in the end, those guys ended up tying, letting someone else catapult into 1st after it was all said and done.

In terms of difficulty, it depends entirely on which round and which venue.

Last year, f'rinstance, there were several game stores with less than 10 participants in the first round--and I even heard about one store with only four! Given that you only have to finish in the top three, that fourth guy must have felt pretty lousy... On the other hand, I also heard about venues with 30 or 40 participants in the first round. Go figure.

As far as the semi's go, keep in mind that there's still the potential for playing against people who were seeded as the best from a flgs with a small or inexperienced player base. My sense of things from last year was that about a quarter of the players were decidedly under par, about half were average-to-good, and a quarter really knew what they were doing.

I had to cancel my finals plans at the last minute last year, so I really can't speak to that firsthand. From what I gather, though, the proportion sounds like it shifted to 25% 'good' and 75% 'excellent.'

lousy stinkin' double-post!

Elric of Grans wrote:It is hard. It is like walking into a bar from a Western --- the type where everyone inside killed his mother for a dime. You then order a shandy, give the nastiest looking guy a wink and introduce yourself as Sue. It is hard.

I'm assuming a "shandy" is some kind of fruity drink with a flower?

Anyhow, from the buildup, it sounds like "Sue" is going to be bent over the bar with her pretty dress flipped over her head in the next scene...

JohnHwangDD wrote:

Elric of Grans wrote:It is hard. It is like walking into a bar from a Western --- the type where everyone inside killed his mother for a dime. You then order a shandy, give the nastiest looking guy a wink and introduce yourself as Sue. It is hard.

I'm assuming a "shandy" is some kind of fruity drink with a flower?

Anyhow, from the buildup, it sounds like "Sue" is going to be bent over the bar with her pretty dress flipped over her head in the next scene...

HAWT.

OP:

I had a great time all three rounds last year. Only issue was a dbag at the store I was at 1st round, but it wasn't even in one of my games.

Definitely practice some larger games, and timed. I took a horde ork army, and finished all but 1 of my games (and that was 1st round). You just need to make sure you keep your turns moving, and keep an eye on opponent-- I had to nudge a couple of turns along in one game, but that was mostly opp being chatty, not intentionally slow-playing.

Had a good experience last year-- looking forward to it again this year.

I saw a huge host of pictures from 'Ardboyz last year, many of which were of 5 Ork Battlewagons with Tinker Toys deffrollas, all spraypainted glossy red. That's all I really need to know about 'Ardboyz.

To be fair though, I'm not a super-competitive player. Tournaments and cheesy gimmick lists aren't really my thing.

Gitzbitah wrote:and everyone has a license to be TFG.

Uh.... No. Just no. They do not have any such thing.

Note about Judges, Rulz and being a Git
All participants be advised: all judges rulings are final.
This applies to rulings during games as well as all
matters of health and safety.
`Ard Boyz tournaments are all about commanding
large armies and doing your best to blast your
opponent to bits. At its heart though, the `Ard Boyz is
about having fun. So don't be a git! In other words do
your best to win, but win nicely.
Anyone not adhering to these principles may be asked
to leave the tournament.

Anyhow, from the buildup, it sounds like "Sue" is going to be bent over the bar with her pretty dress flipped over her head in the next scene...

I believe the reference is to the Johnny Cash song, in which case sue is a boy. A boy named Sue

ard boyz is harder than trying to watch 2 episodes of sailor moon back to back!

Admittedly, probably 6 out of my 9 'Ard boy games have been good. I had two people pack up and leave because they didn't feel they could place anymore, and one nasty argument about why Snikrot and his Kommandoes could not multi-charge in the other bad one. I met some great players, and had some great games.

A license to be TFG doesn't mean everyone will be, but they are in this tournament. In my opinion, the combination of no entry fee and no sportsmanship score means that players tend to feel that they have nothing to lose by backing out or being unpleasant. Cheesed out list also leads to people attempting to use rules loopholes. Remember the fuss last year about Deffrollas working at some preliminaries and not at semis? I guarantee that none of those games were pleasant for either side. I've found that players were overall less pleasant in 'Ard Boyz than they are in RTTs.

I had a friend that played against a guy that was winning with half an hour left to go in thier game. The guy saw in the next turn he was going to get smoked and tried to end the game by saying there wasn't enough time to play another turn.
My bud called bs on that and had to get a judge to make the guy take his turn.
Since they were both playing Orks, after his opponent had completed his turn, my friend had about 10 minutes left to take his. He was a fair blur and ended up getting a massacre on the guy.

4 rules of 'ard boys:

1: DON'T SLOW PLAY- Either intentionally or not. You only have 2 1/2 hours to get through a 2500 point game, if you can't run your horde very quickly, don't take it. If you need lots of though over where to move your models, this might not be a tournament for you. In 2008 I played against a player who was so slow we only got through 3 rounds in 2 1/2 hours and it was not fun for me at all. If you think you are being slow played grab a judge ASAP.

2. KNOW THE RULES- You don't want to end up taking 5 minutes looking up a specific piece of wargear in your codex that you took because you had 5 points left over. Know the basic rule book rules and your army rules, this includes stat lines, weapons load outs, and special rules. In 9 'ard Boys games I can count the number of times I've needed to pull out my base rulebook to look something up one 1 finger. If you don't know the rules, get better before playing in 'ard Boys. I really don't like having to teach someone how to play 5th edition 40k in a timed 2500 tournament. Casual games, fine, but not when I'm trying to win a 'ard Boys game. Also knowing other armies rules inside & out helps so the person you are playing doesn't bend or break their own rules.

3. PLAY TO WIN- Bring the army you think has the best chance of winning. Don't be afraid to be "cheesy." 9 oblits and 2 lashes are fine! Usually, in order to win a place to the next round you'll have to win at least 2 games as massacres, so don't be afraid to pound the other player into the ground. If you feel like your best move is to keep everything in reserve then do so. Don't get mad when a sneaky tactic is used against you, but rather learn from it.

4. DON'T CHEAT- Don’t alter your army roster to include one more upgrade that you don't have the points for. Don't all of a sudden selectively forget that your warp spider’s weapons are AP- and that destroyed rhino is really just immobilized. If you think your opponent is cheating or forgetting a rule remind them once. If you think that they are trying to bend a rule to gain an advantage don't be afraid to call a judge.

If you can't play by those 4 rules, don't play in 'ard Boys.

Oh and here is an example of how hard a list can be, I placed second in the Semi finals last year with this list:

Vulkan
Libby with null zone & avenger
5 TH/SS terminators in a Land Raider Redeemer with multi melta & extra armor
6 TH/SS terminators and 2 Lightning claw terminators in a land raider crusader with multi melta & extra armor
2 10 man tac squads with multi melta, flamer, and combi melta sgt in a rhino
5 scouts with combat blades sgt with power fist & combi melta in a land speeder storm with multi melta
3 land speeders with multi meltas & heavy flamers
3 attack bikes with multi meltas
thunderfire cannon
Vindicator

13 twin linked multi meltas, 11 master crafted thunderhammers, and enough flamers to deal with hordes.