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.

Man just play it. The only way you get better is playing others. If you have a bad record or expeirence, dont throw in the towel...tried to change the environment. Go have lots of fun and if someone is being a munchkin or rules lawyer then just go with the flow. Those people are quickly recognized for what their worth...or lack there of.

I used to hate tourneys but man alive, I like playing now because I have more knowledge of the game and tournament behaviour and rules. Plus its free...thats right free. So what if you lose? Have fun and most importantly...learn from your mistakes and your opponents mistakes. The bad players comprise of about 10% of the people that attend. Even if you wanted to bump it up to 25% thats only (3) people at a 'ard boyz tourney. The chance you will play all three are very low. Think about the other players you will learn from and have fun playing with.

Hard boyz is a great place for a novice to learn a lot of things. As long as you don't mind getting curb stomped and bring an army you can finnish the games with in the time alotted, you will not have any problems.

Phazael wrote:Hard boyz is a great place for a novice to learn a lot of things. As long as you don't mind getting curb stomped and bring an army you can finnish the games with in the time alotted, you will not have any problems.

This. Lets set up a theoretical situation, similar to tournament play. I want to learn Arabic. So come next fall I will start taking classes in Arabic. Now everyone tells me this is a very difficult language to learn. Well I can get in the classroom and learn it, or I can sit on my ass and ponder learning it. Only one will let me actually learn the language. Its the same for 40k. If you want to improve as a player, you have to actually play. The best way to do this is in tournaments, where people dont hold back, and generally dont bring terribad army lists.

This right here basically sums up my 40k tournament philosophy. And I just made the connection a minute ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Q7YRDL90E

Mannahnin wrote:Messenger Boy: The Thesselonian you're fighting... he's the biggest man i've ever seen. I wouldn't want to fight him.
Achilles: Thats why no-one will remember your name.

Messenger Boy: Can I have your horse?

I like the scene in 13th Warrior where Banderes’ character grinds down one of the Viking swords to a lighter scimitar size/shape, shows off with it, and the inexplicably Irish member of the crew asks- “When you die, can I give that to me daughter?”

Mannahnin wrote:I like the scene in 13th Warrior where Banderes’ character grinds down one of the Viking swords to a lighter scimitar size/shape, shows off with it, and the inexplicably Irish member of the crew asks- “When you die, can I give that to me daughter?”

"I can't swing this. Its too heavy!"
"Get stronger."

Frazzled wrote:

Mannahnin wrote:I like the scene in 13th Warrior where Banderes’ character grinds down one of the Viking swords to a lighter scimitar size/shape, shows off with it, and the inexplicably Irish member of the crew asks- “When you die, can I give that to me daughter?”

"I can't swing this. Its too heavy!"
"Get stronger."

Quite possibly one of my favorite movies. My SW army used to be based on it.

GO! In my "Aard Boyz tournament debut (a warm-up tourney a couple of weeks ago), I had a lousy game, a fun game (though I got creamed) and on OK game. But I learned a LOT. Got to play against someone that I'm usually teamed up with & see what it was like to be on the receiving end (ouch!), got to play against one of the top players in our group and even got a chance to have a separate, friendly game with the opponent who I had a terrible game with later the next week and had a GREAT time!!

Take the chance... don't worry about the outcomes... just do your best and absorb everything you can.

There are several WAAC players at my flgs who I dont want to play even in "friendly" games because there is no such thng to them. So I skipped on Ard Boys.

I grappled the shoggoth wrote:
This right here basically sums up my 40k tournament philosophy. And I just made the connection a minute ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Q7YRDL90E

Al is, hands down, the single greatest character to ever grace a TV. I approve.

Honestly, as I have seen this pop up a few times, in my experience you really don't have to worry about the WAAC players because those with that attitude usually can't win regularly.

Confidence is one of the keys to winning competitively. This usually includes giving your opponent benefit of the doubt. WAAC attitude will usually lead to those who will try and cheat to win too. They usually suck, good players can still have fun. Look at the track records of the winners. For the most part they are not people that are difficult to play with or those you walk away from wishing you had never played.

The reality of competitive play is you have to know how to lose and still keep fighting and getting better.

I've played in 8 ard boyz, I had 14 problems with 1 player out of 24 ard boyz games. I really like these events, 1. Free 2. They draw everyone out from hiding, so you get to play against people you haven't met yet.
Go for it.

You guys act as if playing to win is a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with being competitive or trying to win.

BobTheChainsaw wrote:You guys act as if playing to win is a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with being competitive or trying to win.

Nothing at all, provided you (the generic "you") can do so in a polite and civil manner.

That said, it's hubris to enter a tournament with the expectation of winning.

Sazzlefrats wrote:I've played in 8 ard boyz, I had 14 problems with 1 player out of 24 ard boyz games. I really like these events, 1. Free 2. They draw everyone out from hiding, so you get to play against people you haven't met yet.
Go for it.

Hey now, our 14 problems were spread across TWO of those games!

As a non WAAC player I'm going to Ard Boys. I'm bringing a hard list, but that's completely irrelevant because there are so many hard lists at Ard boys having a hard list just won't matter. If 3 games are played in a day with a tough list against 3 other tough lists then it doesn't matter who has the best list as the winner will be the best player, especially in 40K.

I like the idea of the Ard Boys philosophy of man up and don't complain about nasty lists or game mechanics, but I can't stand the current philosophy of man up and don't complain about anything. It just feeds the most abhorrent behavior of WAAC players such as cheating and milking the clock.

Cheating: The true WAAC philosophy is "If your not cheating your not trying" What do you get when you combine that with the philosophy of "Man up and don't complain about anything"?

Deliberately milking the clock: It's highly advantageous to a gun line alpha strike army to milk the clock. If done right a 2 & 1/2 hour game should only last 3 turns at tops. Badger your opponent about everything possible during his turn, and use every opportunity possible to start a rules debate. Keep debating every rules argument and cover save until your opponent calls over a judge. This is after all ard boys so "Man up and don't complain about anything"

The only upside to playing WAAC players is they usually are not very good players. Most of them spend too much time using ultra hard lists against soft lists at their local store and have come to rely entirely on having a harder list than their opponents, exploiting a game mechanic, and bullying their opponents instead of actually learning how to play the game. At Ard boys every list is a hard list and players are mentally prepared for WAAC behavior so a WAAC player's normal behavior shouldn't give them an advantage so it all falls back on skill leaving a WAAC player at a disadvantage.

Unless of course they resort to abhorrent WAAC behavior such as cheating or milking the clock.

It's free! 3 Competitive games, a day of rolling dice and having fun, new missions... all for the low low price of showing up on time. You don't even have to be nice or paint your stuff (but both are appreciated)!

Mannahnin wrote:My first game was against a local who’s not very competitive, and was fine. My second game was from someone I had never played before, who lives a good distance away, but occasionally comes to the store for tournaments. He gave me a really good, competitive game and I barely eked out a Win that could very easily have been a Draw. He had a nice painted force, too, as I recall.

That was a great game. That 11 I rolled for my pinning check in turn 6 haunts my dreams, though your combi-meltas bouncing off my Land Raider more than made up for it! Great game...

OP: Ard Boyz is a lot of fun. I think it does tend to bring out some of the worst aspects of the game with all of the Gray/Metal armies and rules-lawyering, but to get the chance to test your skill against truly great players is worth dealing with a TFG or two. As has been pointed out though, they are thankfully rare.

Janthkin wrote:

That said, it's hubris to enter a tournament with the expectation of winning.

Its only hubris if I fail.

I dont think that ard boyz brings out as many of the WAAC players. Not competitive guys but guys who milk the clock, cheat, dont include points in their armies. I have played in at least 15 different events in 4 states, and only had 2 or 3 bad games. But you remember those. Nobody gets on here and says "that guy I played round 2, he was really cool. Had a fun game, etc etc." You are way more likely to tell stories about cheaters or cry babies then regular people.

I grappled the shoggoth wrote:

Janthkin wrote:

That said, it's hubris to enter a tournament with the expectation of winning.

Its only hubris if I fail.

"It ain't bragging if you can back it up!"- Muhammad Ali; aka Cassius Clay.

His mama call him Clay, I'm-a call him Clay.

Dakka community,

Thanks for the encouragement to go to Ard Boyz. I had a great time and met some new gaming enthusiasts in my local area. I managed to score one victory in the first scenario for the Greater Good against a fun player running a dual-lash prince Chaos list. I lost the 2nd game against vanilla marines and didn't get to play in the 3rd due to lack of an opponent. We only had 6 people at the store, and one guy had to leave, so I just played a 1500 pt pick up game and watched the top seeds battle for 1st place.

Anyway, had a great day. Hope to read some people's highlights from this weekend!

Good luck to those that made it to the 2nd round.

Very cool. See, it wasn't that scary now was it? Meet interesting new people... blow up their toys...

crazyK wrote:Dakka community,

Thanks for the encouragement to go to Ard Boyz. I had a great time and met some new gaming enthusiasts in my local area. I managed to score one victory in the first scenario for the Greater Good against a fun player running a dual-lash prince Chaos list. I lost the 2nd game against vanilla marines and didn't get to play in the 3rd due to lack of an opponent. We only had 6 people at the store, and one guy had to leave, so I just played a 1500 pt pick up game and watched the top seeds battle for 1st place.

Anyway, had a great day. Hope to read some people's highlights from this weekend!

Good luck to those that made it to the 2nd round.

Great news!

whalemusic360 wrote:There are several WAAC players at my flgs who I dont want to play even in "friendly" games because there is no such thng to them. So I skipped on Ard Boys.

And they continue to get better while you continue to fall behind.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

crazyK wrote:Dakka community,

Thanks for the encouragement to go to Ard Boyz. I had a great time and met some new gaming enthusiasts in my local area. I managed to score one victory in the first scenario for the Greater Good against a fun player running a dual-lash prince Chaos list. I lost the 2nd game against vanilla marines and didn't get to play in the 3rd due to lack of an opponent. We only had 6 people at the store, and one guy had to leave, so I just played a 1500 pt pick up game and watched the top seeds battle for 1st place.

Anyway, had a great day. Hope to read some people's highlights from this weekend!

Good luck to those that made it to the 2nd round.

Excellent! We had 18 folks show up for our tournament. It was well run, no complaints, very little rules arguments and there were quite a few 'competitive' folks playing and I don't recall a single game all day was called for time.

@crazyK
Glad you had fun, dude!

My friend went and it was his first tournament ever and he had a great time, too. He is already planning for next year!

It's all about your attitude, and it sounds like you went in positive and had a positive experience.

I bet next tournament you will do even better!