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I’ve been playing war games for most of my adult life but got away from the tournament events over a decade ago due to personal reasons (job, marriage). But one thing didn’t help my exiting was getting stuck playing "that ** guy" at them.

Now this spring a bunch of buddies and I are starting to hit the local 40k tourneys and I am not going to lie, I am big time rusty. I know the rules for my army mostly, but my biggest worry is a change to the environment. In the past we never exchanged lists and no one used WYSIWYG. I now have extra lists printed out and all my miniatures match my army list.

Now my questions, outside of the basic items, what should I bring with me?

Is there a special way that you guys deal with the social misfits that only leave their mom’s basement to attend these gaming conventions? (That ** guy)
Is there certain rules/abilities that you almost need a giant note so you don’t forget it and sometimes you still do?

Way back when, I made a checklist that I ran through for each turn so I wouldn't forget things. Cards for each unit. As for TFG, bout all you can do is sigh, call over the judge every time he starts TFGing, and soldier on.

Main thing about a tourney. Go to have fun. Sure, it's nice to win, I have a competitive streak about 5 miles wide myself, but don't let it overwhelm you. Enjoy, have fun, socialize with players outside your group. I've come to know players from all over the US and a few outside at the events I've attended. It's always fun to meet them again.

First, welcome back!

I think you sound like you’re on the right course, willing to accommodate to stuff that’s now a strong part of the tournament culture, like WYSIWYG and sharing lists.

As far as stuff to bring:

I’d say water is a big thing. Or Gatorade or other beverage. Something to drink all day long is key, and preferably something non-caffeinated, so you don't get dehydrated. Wear comfortable shoes, since standing all day through three games can be unaccustomedly tiring. I always bring ibuprofen (generic Advil) for my sore legs or back. If playing an army with a lot of models, especially if you’re tall, bending over the tables constantly to move the models for three games can really make the back hurt. You may have meant these when you said “basic items”, but make sure you have your basic rulebook, codex, templates and tape measure, of course. It never hurts to bring a spare tape measure too, in case yours breaks or one of your opponents has forgotten his own.

Optional extras: Some kind of markers to indicate wounds on multi-wound models like characters, and/or damage results on your vehicles. You can use dice just fine, but sometimes they accidentally get picked up with all the other dice on the table. Cotton or some other kind of marker to indicate smoke launchers used. Modeled craters the size of your vehicles to replace them when a Vehicle Explodes result happens. These are all not really necessary but nice to have.

Oh, while you’re printing out your army list, it’s often a good idea to go on the GW site and print out the current FAQs for the main rulebook and for your army:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=cat210004&categoryId=600005§ion=&pIndex=1&aId=3400019&start=2


Dealing with social misfits:

Be nice. Be patient. If they pull some rules shenanigans which seem questionable to you, I recommend asking politely if you can pause the game for just a sec, and take a look at said rule in the rulebook or codex. You can let them know honestly that you’re getting back into the game, and tell them you’ll remember it better if you can see it and read it. It may turn out that they’re actually telling you the truth, and seeing it in the rulebook definitely helps me remember it for next time.

Commonly forgotten rules:

I can’t think of any one major thing. Different people have different stuff. I definitely like to use markers to remind myself which vehicles are Stunned, Shaken, etc.

Genoside07 wrote:Now my questions, outside of the basic items, what should I bring with me?

Pepper Spray.

Genoside07 wrote: Is there a special way that you guys deal with the social misfits that only leave their mom’s basement to attend these gaming conventions?

Pepper Spray.

Genoside07 wrote: Is there certain rules/abilities that you almost need a giant note so you don’t forget it and sometimes you still do?

When I started to get back into 40k after being out of it since 3rd edition, I found a 'flow chart' someone put together- it was a pretty nifty step by step if/then sort of guide. The biggest change though has to be the mission structure, always pay attention to the mission goals or you're gonna lose if ya go in with the 3rd ed tactic of killing everything

Oh, and almost everyone at any game shop is going to look alot younger than they used to- so be prepared to feel like an old fart with figs that may be older than the kids you're playing against

Mistress of minis wrote:

Oh, and almost everyone at any game shop is going to look alot younger than they used to- so be prepared to feel like an old fart with figs that may be older than the kids you're playing against

When did you see my army?

Let's see, Arizona, haven't been there in over 10 years, use to play at Pyramid Comics in Sierra Vista.

Well I went to my first tourney last weekend and had a great time, outside of the fact I did encounter a questionable player in one round. It was a Rogue Trader Tournament with all the standard requirements. BUT…

*He didn’t have a painted army; Most of his army was primed black, if that.

*His army list was a few random notes hand wrote on to notebook paper. I couldn’t make head or tails of what he had.

*He didn’t have any of his rulebooks or Codex, no templates or anything. Had to borrow my templates for our game.

*None of his army was “What you see is what you get”. Example: Whole unit of marines with combi meltas popping out of a drop pod. [Found out the hard way]

*When he deploy his drop pods, he would roll dice of all the same color and picked what he wanted and where. When I called him on it, he moved to the other side of the board rolled real fast and stated that he got the pods he needed.

*He wouldn’t tell me what was shooting and where, he would roll a bunch of dice real fast on the far side of the table, then tell me you need to make eight armor saves. Most of the time my answer was “Where??” Crazy thing was I had a unit of nurgle marines and he wasn’t asking if they had a different toughness saves or anything.

*He didn’t understand the difference between dangerous and difficult terrain. When I made a test he wanted me to make a dangerous check, when he made a check it was difficult, had to keep calling the judge over to tell him the terrain was difficult, there was no dangerous terrain on the board.

The judge come over a number of times over to our table for rules issues that he wanted to argue about. I wanted to show him in the rulebook but he wanted the judge to tell him. One example is when I tried to fleet my defiler; he told that walkers could not run. Of course the judge corrected him.

With the number of figures he fielded made me wonder if his point totals where right and have never played against the army, I couldn’t tell if he was just pulling stuff out of the air.

About half way through the game I gave up on arguing and just allowed him to run free and removed figs when he told me too, I lost the game but I was there just to play and have fun. I got tired of arguing with the guy and the judge was from the same game club as him so it didn’t really matter. How did I know this, they had matching T-shirts with their gaming group logo on the back.

In the same tournament a guy I know had to play a round with him also, and had the same trouble. We both gave him a sportsmanship rating of one and it wasn't like we where playing a child or special needs person either, he was a twenty something old guy. At the end, the questionable player won all of his games and then won first place at the tournament even though there were three or four other guys that won all of their games also. Outside of that I did have a great time at the tournament and met some really nice people.

So… How would you guys handle this situation?

That would be a cheater. And one that the judge is collaborating with, if he got min sports twice and still took overall with an unpainted army.

Often if you contact the store, tell them you were very disappointed with how the tourney was ran, and why- and then tell them your gaming club wont be attending any tournies there in the future unless the issues are fixed- you can get good results. Shop owners dont like thier stores getting a bad rep from fixed 'Buddy tourneys'. RTT score lists are supposed to be kept for accountability on stuff like this- and if the guy had no clearly written army list that should have gotten him disqualified as its a basic rule.

And if that fails- just refer to my previous advice.

Pepper Spray ^_^

Glad to hear you had a good time, but very sorry to hear about that absolute bull-pucky. In eleven years of tournament and league play I have never seen and rarely heard of such ridiculously inappropriate and uncalled-for shenanigans.

I concur with MoM's recommendation to complain (politely) to the store owner. This kind of junk drives customers away, and rightly so.

As for how I'd handle the situation, I'm a stubborn sort. I'd be stubborn about my opponent producing a legible and legal army list at the start of the game, or request that he be disqualified. I'd refuse to honor or acknowledge any die roll not made where I could see it. Just stand there and require my opponent to re-roll where I could see it. If the shenanigans got bad enough I would speak with a judge, and reques that my opponent be disqualified from the event, or that said judge stay at the table during the entire game to prevent the blatant cheating.