Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, my local store has 5 players that are all really, really solid, and all 5 of us are gunning for Ard Boyz. We also have about 5 more guys that are right there on the cusp of becoming serious competitors and most of them are gong to be coming with their A game, too. Since only three players can make it, some of us are talking about dispersing to other stores to increase our collective odds of winning those huge Semi final prizes and making it to finals.

Is anyone else doing this? I think it is a smart play if you have a big store with lots of heavy hitters.

People have been doing it for a while. My local store two years ago had at least one guy up from NJ.

Our store tried this last year and got 9 out of 13 players into the semis (whereas of course if we did not disperse we would have only gotten 3)

So it worked out well for us. Not for me, though, I wasn't one of the 9. One thing to look out for is that the judges may have wacky interpretations of the rules that are not only totally bogus but you will be playing against local players who are used to playing under their idiosyncracies so will think you are stupid for disagreeing.

(I wish I could say that is why I did not make it, but the one time I did get royally screwed over by a judge I massacred that game anyway . I didn't make it because of an Ork player who made about 10 of 13 instant death saves with his Nobs.)

So the ideal situation is you feel you are a really strong group and you disperse to other stores that have few players but have strong judges. But that's rarely the case, as a combination of few players and casual players doesn't tend to build strong judges. But the results still seem to speak to dispersal working in your favor despite not knowing the house rules.

Yeah, I agree. With the top 5 of us, it is honestly a coin flip in most match ups. It will come down to mission, match up and luck. We like to have more control over the results.

I think we may have to do it so that we don't bump each other out of the runnings.

Keep in mind as well that although 'Ard Boyz is on the 15th, some stores may run it on the 16th. There's a tacit acknowledgement of this on GW's 'Ard Boyz site.

GW wrote:Before committing to an event at a specific location, please check with them first to confirm the dates of the tournament as these dates may vary slightly at some locations

This is actually happening in Portland. One store is on the 16th, most of the others are on the 15th. So you can strategize that way as well.

I'm trying to find a place willing to run it on the 14th so I can go to the Brawl as well.

Mannahnin wrote:I'm trying to find a place willing to run it on the 14th so I can go to the Brawl as well.

I've heard someone is trying to play it on the 14th in Dover, NH. I was invited to do so, but can't get the time off work, plus I'll be gearing up for the Boston Brawl the next day.

Feel free to head anywhere Reece. Be careful you don't run into me, george, or touradj Then you might be ok! In fact I'm still not sure which store I'm playing at personally since there are like 4-5 within less than an hour of me

TheRhino wrote:

Mannahnin wrote:I'm trying to find a place willing to run it on the 14th so I can go to the Brawl as well.

I've heard someone is trying to play it on the 14th in Dover, NH. I was invited to do so, but can't get the time off work, plus I'll be gearing up for the Boston Brawl the next day.

Yup. I'm working with the store and their tournament organizer to get this off the ground. Hope to see you at the Brawl, anyway!

Hulksmash wrote:Feel free to head anywhere Reece. Be careful you don't run into me, george, or touradj Then you might be ok! In fact I'm still not sure which store I'm playing at personally since there are like 4-5 within less than an hour of me

Yeah, I was thinking that GMI games might not be much better. Maybe I will head to a little store in OC, or LA?

Hmm, or maybe I will just try and do it the old fashioned way and earn it here in SD!

Reecius wrote:

Hulksmash wrote:Feel free to head anywhere Reece. Be careful you don't run into me, george, or touradj Then you might be ok! In fact I'm still not sure which store I'm playing at personally since there are like 4-5 within less than an hour of me

Yeah, I was thinking that GMI games might not be much better. Maybe I will head to a little store in OC, or LA?

Hmm, or maybe I will just try and do it the old fashioned way and earn it here in SD!

Haul your backside up here! I'll see if I can apply a whuppin'.

Obviously your best bet is to find the smallest store possible that is actually hosing 'ard boyz. I know where I would go if I could play...

But then I'd be there Lambada! Waiting for you

I know when I was a part of the tournament scene in LA a few years ago the heavy hitters got together to see what stores everyone was going to so that they would be spread out.

The best strategy is to find the smallest store. If they only have a few tables (like 5 tables) then you have a good chance at being in the top 3 if there are only 10 players.

That means that you should go to Aero Hobbies in Santa Monica.

I don't really think there are any easy stores in SoCal. GE's in Pasadena and SD have some solid players. Aero Hobbies is Shep's crew of crazies. GMI out in Riverside is pretty heavy on the good players. Ard Boyz brings some of the better players out in Brea. And I don't know about Adventures Guild in Riverside but it's the only one I don't know about for sure.

**taps chin** Where to play?

Fewer people is always better. And if Shep is playing 'nids then there's one less person you have to beat in "ard boyz at aero!

For $20 I'll show up at whatever store you're at and get the organizer to pair us in the first round and then lose on purpose.

No way am I playing nids...

I don't like ice-skating up hills

I think it'll be IG, something in the neighborhood of 24 vehicles.

lol, I'm torn between Tau and Orks. I don't feel like runnin my wolves (whose sweet spot seems to be 2k). IG can be plain scary at higher point levels. I ran it last year and only had 15 vehicles but 6 were LR's

I crammed 28 into 2500 points for guard, but it wasn't very good. 31 may be the max but that is just silly, just wanted to see how high a number I could get. 24 seems like the sweet spot. It is also almost as many tanks as my 2500 point army had models. Man this is making me want to ditch my obligations to play in 'ard boyz.

There are only 2 places that I can think of within an hour of where I live. The place I usually game at probably has some of the best players in the Columbus area, and I think they know the rules and probably would have the best judges, but it seems they aren't on the list. I guess it's because the store owners don't feel particularly motivated to run tournaments and everyone else is too busy or too lazy to sign them up for it.

So the 2 places I have left are a small hobby shop called Hobby Town, which only has a small area for Warhammer 40k. I couldn't imagine more than 10 people showing up there. Only thing is I've heard lots of un-favorable things about the people that run 40k there.

The other place is called Comic Shop Plus in Newark. They run tournaments on a regular basis and usually get at least 8-10 Attendees for any given tournament with Prize support. They usually run softer tournies and I've played there once, but they definitely seem to have a good mix of solid players. Although, I don't always agree with their rulings and they're somewhat strict on converted models counting for WYSIWYG.

Anyways, I'm not sure which place I would rather play at. I think I would enjoy the atmosphere of Comic Shop Plus, but I might have a better chance at winning at HobbyTown, albeit I may be playing a lot of little kids or Scrubs...not really sure though, since I really don't game at either location.

SOunds like you have some options, Darkzephyr, which is nice.

We here in SoCal have a ton of choices, but the problem is we have a ton of good players, too!

I think Aero hobbies would be the best bet simply due to the small number of players.

GE SD will have about 12 tables, and a lot of skilled players. One bad game and you are out on your backside.

Hmmmm.


@Janthkin

Hahaha, if I came all the way up to San Jose, that would be some serious dedication. Although I do want to come up to a SF tournament, I love the city and would like an excuse to get up there.

@Shep
Yeah, Nids at Ard boyz? No way man, I doubt they would stand a snowball's chance. Even with 9 Hive Guard and 3 T-Fexes you would still struggle with mech armies on the scale we will see at Ard Boyz. That build out barely works at 2K!

Oh we had people come from ohio, michigan and new york to the pittsburgh area.. They heard it was an easy mark

They were shown why their assumptions were incorrect

Anyone know of stores running on the 16th around Ohio? I may not be able to play on the 15th but could the 16th. I've been asked to run the ard boyz event at a local shop

All this unimpressive talk about driving to another store. If you're not willing to drive to another state to win, you're just not trying hard enough.

Corbett wrote:Anyone know of stores running on the 16th around Ohio? I may not be able to play on the 15th but could the 16th. I've been asked to run the ard boyz event at a local shop

Idk, Corbett. You could try some places in Dayton. I would look up the list of the places that are running it in Ohio. So far the only places I know near Columbus are CSP in Newark and Hobbytown, I've also heard the GuardTower might be running it. You may try calling one of those places and seeing if they are hosting it. Worst case scenario, you could try calling some of the places in Dayton.

Ludovic wrote:

So it worked out well for us. Not for me, though, I wasn't one of the 9. One thing to look out for is that the judges may have wacky interpretations of the rules that are not only totally bogus but you will be playing against local players who are used to playing under their idiosyncracies so will think you are stupid for disagreeing.

(I wish I could say that is why I did not make it, but the one time I did get royally screwed over by a judge I massacred that game anyway . I didn't make it because of an Ork player who made about 10 of 13 instant death saves with his Nobs.)

So the ideal situation is you feel you are a really strong group and you disperse to other stores that have few players but have strong judges. But that's rarely the case, as a combination of few players and casual players doesn't tend to build strong judges. But the results still seem to speak to dispersal working in your favor despite not knowing the house rules.

Good luck and I have had it happen to me where the judge sided with his own player than what the rules stated. Had one Space wolf HQ and one Witch hunter and Daemon hunter HQ.

solkan wrote:All this unimpressive talk about driving to another store. If you're not willing to drive to another state to win, you're just not trying hard enough.

See, and I was thinking more along the lines of, "If you have to to drive to another state to win, you're just not hard enough."

: )

Eric

Out of curiosity...

What happens if a store forbids you from playing in their 'Ard Boyz because they're protecting their local players and don't want you taking it away from them?


Do you call GW and complain?

You could, but it's their store. As private property they have the right to deny service. Not much GW can do about that, though you certainly could complain. Be sure to write a polite letter of complaint to the owner, too, if their staff or local club are driving away business.

Dashofpepper wrote:Out of curiosity...

What happens if a store forbids you from playing in their 'Ard Boyz because they're protecting their local players and don't want you taking it away from them?


Do you call GW and complain?

Absolutely. May want to do it ahead of time even.