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Hello all (hope this is in the right spot)

I am becoming increasingly interested in attending Circuit tournaments and becoming more involved in all of that jazz. I have a few questions for more experiences tournament players.

1. Where is the best place to begin? How do I get started?

2. Tounament etiquette? Some of the Do's and Dont's? I don't wanna be that guy that ends up as a story on dakka

3. General advice and comments

Thanks!

Well for one, tournaments are good fun and I hope you jump in and enjoy yourself with them as much as we do.

Where to begin? Anywhere you can, really. Depending on where you live, you may have a very active or not so active tournament circuit. An RTT is a great place to start as it is a single day and gives you an idea of what to expect.

But, a GT is a great event, too. You have to commit to more time and money (2 days, 5 games) but they are what tournaments are all about, IMO.

Once you have a taste for the tournament scene and you feel like taking it to the next level, Adpeticon, NOVA, the SoCal events, Da Boyz GT, Wargamescon all make great events. You get to travel to a new city, meet new people and see a huge gaming spectacle that is worth the price by itself.

But start locally if you can, any RTTs or one day tournaments in your area provide a great starting point.

As for etiquette? It's pretty simple. Know your rules, give your opponent the benefit of the doubt while playing and remember to be gracious in victory of defeat. Always be sure to define terrain pregame and to clarify anything in your list that needs explanation such as counts as, etc. Exchange lists pregame and always offer to explain anything on your list that your opponent has any questions on.

Other than that, always read the missions rules fully before starting the game. You'll be fine if you keep that in mind, tournament games are more formal than casual games but still follow the same rules.

In general, go to win, have a lot of fun and in your first few tournaments keep an open mind and don't take it too hard if you get beat. You'll get up to speed in no time and before you know it, you'll be thinking about how many tournaments you can fit into your calendar and budget! They're great fun and an awesome way to motivate you ot finish painting armies, meet new gamers and get all kinds of inspiration to make new armies or start events of your own.

Good luck with it!

NightChild wrote:Hello all (hope this is in the right spot)

I am becoming increasingly interested in attending Circuit tournaments and becoming more involved in all of that jazz. I have a few questions for more experiences tournament players.

1. Where is the best place to begin? How do I get started?

The first place to start is to look up the closest Circuit Event to you by going to the GW site:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=5200003&pIndex=2&aId=14700053&multiPageMode=true&start=3

After you find one that you are interested in, it should have a post on this sub-forum here, or you will have to go to the events website. There you will find all of the rules that you will need to know. Things like cost, point limits, rounds, times, scoring, and how you sign up for it. That should tell you everything you need to know.

2. Tounament etiquette? Some of the Do's and Dont's? I don't wanna be that guy that ends up as a story on dakka

For 99% of the population, just play your normal game of 40k. If you are one of the 1% that is TFG, then you might know it by a bad sportsmanship score, the judges coming over to your table to talk to you, or that look on you opponents face that says that they want to be anywhere other than playing a game against you.

3. General advice and comments

Just go to your first one to have fun. You will play a bunch of games against people you have never played before, playing armies and builds that you have never seen and, you should just enjoy it. Do not go in with the idea that you will do everything possible to crush 5 guys and win the event because you will not be able to do either one.

You didn't mention fantasy or 40K but I'll spit it generic like:

1. First your goal should be to have 5 great games against 5 great armies (note that this does not mean you have to field a soft list) you should still play to win.
2. Find a few competitive opponents and play against them, decide on an army, I suggest picking one of the newer armies for WFB or 40K as you will get much more mileage out of the army before it gets re-done and your favorite units get hit with the Nerf Bat
3. Decide on a few choices that you KNOW you will include in the army and start painting them
4. Enter a few one day tournaments to get up a good list*
5. Paint your army to the highest standard you can, paint only your finalized list first, then add any "flex" units later
6. Make a nice display board for your army
7. Enter GTs and expect to lose at first
8. Don't let losing bother you just enjoy the experience, you will get better

* Alternately if you have an army in mind attend a grand tournament (without playing) and see what kind of lists top tournament players tend to play for your race- example for WFB Warriors of chaos tend to have a "Standard Chaos Army"
1 Unit of Dragon Ogres
2 Units of Chaos Knights
1 Block of infantry
1 Block of Chosen or Warriors
2 Sorcerers either bunkered or on disks
Some other stuff

Best advice... don't take yourself too seriously! I have friends that won't attend tournies because they don't like the culture, and tourney players who would prefer not to play said friends for the same reason.

Another tip, as always have fun, BUT... pay really close attention! You'll probably learn a lot, either about tactics, list-building, fast gameplay, etc. so it's best to have a good night's sleep!

Also, if you have an issue with anything, ask your opponent or especially Ask the tournament organizer!!! (TO) It's always best to do it as soon as possible after something happens... better to ask about it and be satisfied (whether the ruling is for or against you) than to not ask and be upset about it.

Finally, be sure to think about all of your basic necessities- I like to bring my own food so that I don't have to worry about going to grab some, especially if I'm in an unfamiliar area or it's a new tournament format, etc. Gives you more time to set up for your next game!

Oh, and last one... have a good way to move your models around! Putting them back in foam is terrible for moving just a few tables over. A tray of some kind, even if you don't have a display tray, is pure gold!!

The only thing I would add is to practice playing games with a timer. Tournament rounds are timed and nothing is worse than driving hours and paying money to have time called one turn before you're able to seal the deal and win.

If need be, play smaller more elite armies. This is my personal choice. I think because of the time restraints they are just better suited to tournament play. If you want to play larger armies by all means do it, but be especially conscious of how long your turns take and how much time that leaves your opponent to play as well, it can really affect your sportsmanship scores. If you want to be a top notch player you need to win, but you also need to have people still like you afterwards, and slow playing or taking up 2/3 of the play time will hurt you.