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Hi good Dakkaites. I'm going to my first tournament in a couple of weeks time. I have only been playing for a short time, but I am keen to get a load of games under my belt and thought this would be a good chance. I know that I have a good chance of getting tabled in every game, but I'd love some tips for tournament play to help out a wide eyed novice. Know this is a little vague, But there must be things you see newbs consistently getting wrong at tournaments?

Thanks!

Good, comfortable shoes.

Sit down as often as possible.

Have a plan for food.

Bring bottles of water.

Have realistic expectations for your performance.

Brush up on the rules.

Find out if the tournament is using any third party FAQs.

Have a way of minimizing the time you spend playing. E.g., if you play psyker-heavy Daemons, make sure you can do all the pre-game rolls quickly and efficiently.

Do the boring bit of doing some hard BRB study time. Know all the special rules in play for your army and the games you'll be playing. I especially recommend memorizing the "to hit" and "to wound" tables. This speeds up the game tremendously!

Another note that while you should always be trying to move the game along so that you actually get to finish, don't skimp on certain things like measurements that can have a serious impact on game outcome.

Plan what you want to do during your opponents turn. Know what you want to move and where prior to start of your turn. That helps and will make you a better person to play against. Pay attention to the game. If you don't understand a special rule that is being played against you, ask about, maybe even ask to see the codex.

Take a small elite type army - this should release the pressure on your turn. Don't get me wrong it may be less forgiving but it will allow you to not get pressurised if results are not a problem.

Know your special rules.

Remember the objectives of the game - under pressure its easy to revert to "I must kill everything".

Enjoy yourself.

A few years ago i too attended my first tournament and really the best advice i can give is to remember to have fun. The games can be a bit stressful especally with a time constraint so always remember to try and have fun it will make the whole day go much better.

some other helpful things:

pack your gaming gear the day before so you do not have to worry about forgetting anything.
Dont forget to take: tape measure, templates, dice, objective markers (3+) or any other gaming aids you might want to use.
look for a quick reference sheet or make your own
print out the latest FAQ's for the rulebook and your army
WRITE YOUR LIST BEFOREHAND!!! a neatly printed list is much easier to read than a hand scribbled thing on a piece of random scrap paper, use army builder or similar program as it will make your list into an even better army quick reference sheet.

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN!!!

Bring a display board. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. This will save you the time and trouble of packing your army between each round.

This may seem trivial but DO IT, Shake your opponents hand and ask them if there is anything in their list they should tell you about their list.

Realistic expectations, I planned on losing every game at my first few tournaments, play the mission objectives (this is very easy to forget and veterans even forget this also), everything else they said above.

Thanks guys. Excited. Got three scythes to build now....