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So, I just want to get an idea for the makeup of the community in this forum. How many People here are really tournament players whose main focus is tourney and competitive play, and how many people here are mostly just casual and gaming-for-fun players.

I know it may be hard to figure out an accurate number, but just try to ballpark it.

It's not 0-10% for me, it's 0%.

This game isn't good for tournaments IMO. The rules are too unclear and armies too unbalanced. when I play competitively I pick a better game. Plus I have seen some real jerk hole things done to win tournaments in this game. Too many to go into. I have been playing this game for over 20 years and nothing sucks the fun out of it more than competitive play. Warhammer 40K is just to have some fun and look at cool models on the table for me.

We wrote:
It's not 0-10% for me, it's 0%.

This game isn't good for tournaments IMO. The rules are too unclear and armies too unbalanced. when I play competitively I pick a better game. Plus I have seen some real jerk hole things done to win tournaments in this game. Too many to go into. I have been playing this game for over 20 years and nothing sucks the fun out of it more than competitive play. Warhammer 40K is just to have some fun and look at cool models on the table for me.

I echo this post in its entirety.

If I want to stroke my competitive ego, there's much better ways of doing so than a table top dice game full of only a million or so major balance issues.
I play 40k & video games in general to relax & escape the rigors of life. I don't need some try-hard, over-entitled, spoiled dillhole trying to bash a square peg into a circle hole ruining my hobby time.

I never play in tournaments, but there is a group of people I play with where we tend to alternate between being fiercely competitive and very casual.

Have to agree. 40K is not only a poor game for tournaments, tournaments in general attract the kinds of players and gameplay I'm just not interested in.

Yea, you really should have had a "none" option. I am not interested in tournament play. Just seems silly.


But I love pulling out the toy soldiers, grabbing a beer, and killin' 'em by the dozens. Good times!

Zero, 40k is a very poor tournament game besides I don't want to waste money playing against the newest OP army. I play other games for tournaments

We wrote:
It's not 0-10% for me, it's 0%.

This. The defining starting point should be NONE.

Well the 0-10% is probably mostly going to be for the people who put 0. but i figure some people may sign up for a casual store tournament once in a awhile, and that would still put them in the 0-10.

But yea, I myself would be a 0%. never played in a tournament once. But i have played against people who were prepping tournament lists many times.

0%, because I don`t play tournaments at all. And the actual ruleset isn`t that usefull for that anyway(We tried twice and it ended in stubid discussions... ).

I only "play to prepare for tournaments" because I'm fairly new and figured that "tournament level" (whatever that is) is as good as any level to consider myself a capable player.

I had my fill of taking wargaming seriously though, that's why I got into the warhammers in the first place.

I have to go with what seems to be the general consensus here: It's not a particularly tournament-friendly game. For it to be tournament-friendly, they'd have to sit down and do a hell of a lot of balancing, a lot of which would go out the window the moment they continue adding new stuff. They could add little bits at a time followed by huge amounts of balancing, but lets be honest - they're a modelling company first and balance doesn't take the priority seating.

My other reason for picking 0% is that I don't know if I have the models required to run (at the very least) a semi-competitive list, let alone how to play it properly on the tabletop. Not to mention Black Templars are generally not very competitive (especially if you run them fluffy).

My vote is artificially high for my general mindset.

My last FLGS would occasionally run tournaments, which were far, far, more casual then what people think of. So while I count them, we are not talking about high level of play. The fact that they were 3 games back-to-back meant that attending even one was a large percentage of my games for the year (I’m lucky if I get in one a month)

The other thing that boosts my tally is that I played a number of games with some friends working on doubles lists for adepticon. So while they were not prepping me for a tournament, they were tourney prep games.

We wrote:
It's not 0-10% for me, it's 0%.

This game isn't good for tournaments IMO. The rules are too unclear and armies too unbalanced. when I play competitively I pick a better game. Plus I have seen some real jerk hole things done to win tournaments in this game. Too many to go into. I have been playing this game for over 20 years and nothing sucks the fun out of it more than competitive play. Warhammer 40K is just to have some fun and look at cool models on the table for me.

This. Couldn't have said it better.

I only voted for 10 - 20% because in the past year I have about 2 months prepping for competitive games. That's changed to only playing casually and even then slowly leaving the hobby unless things change. Partly due to some of our gaming group joining the bandwagon on the latest flavour of the month. They've slowly become, if they weren't already, WAAC players which I don't want to deal with for pick-up games.

I only play against a few select people these days who I know, even if they bring cut throat lists, I'll have a decent time with and are willing to compromise on lists if I don't want to face something.

When I start playing competitively again, it'll be for Infinity.

I voted 90-100%...Sadly.

All my games in the past year have been at tournaments. I don't like some (most, truthfully) of the people that they draw around here, and I'm well aware that the rules are far too unclear and disorganized for tournament play, but unfortunately tournaments have been the only chance I've had to play 40k in the past year or two with my work schedule being the way it was. New job has opened up all my nights and the odd weekend now, but I'd rather spend the money and time on X-wing or MtG events.

I will say however, that if I even feel the need to play in any more 40k tournaments, they'll be Kill Team ones, as they have been a lot of fun when I've attended, and there's next to no BS to deal with from what I've seen. When the most 'OP' thing you see is a mob of 30x Boyz, it's good times...

So far I find these results fairly surprising. Perhaps I should have posted it in the tactics section to get that crowd more involved, but in truth this thread is not about tactics. But most people seem to post in both general discussion and tactics.

 Icculus wrote:
Well the 0-10% is probably mostly going to be for the people who put 0. but i figure some people may sign up for a casual store tournament once in a awhile, and that would still put them in the 0-10.

But yea, I myself would be a 0%. never played in a tournament once. But i have played against people who were prepping tournament lists many times.

My first tournament is this weekend, but I'd hardly call it a competitive atmosphere. It's more about us trying to draw in a few more local gamers to our rapidly-growing circle.

I've been in a total of 2 tournaments (though this was with warhammer fantasy when it still existed). I think I prefer more casual games esp. less power lists with power factions (tau and eldar). You know in '07 when I first went to the GW in the mall that years after closed down they generally told you to play the army you like. That's right. You went for what army you liked the style of and general aesthetic. If you like a close combat horde you went either nids or orks and if you wanted tanks and ordnance out the wazoo you'd go imperial guard. The fact that people now play the most OP armies in the store I'm currently in is very telling of the game in the store.

Don't take all the super cheesy armies with power/net lists that suck the fun out of the game. Seriously you spend ungodly amounts of money to buy OP models for an OP army to give yourself an 'I win' button? That's kind of pathetic. Play a game with more balance if you want to compete.

Most of my games were for local tournaments, but it burnt me out on the game. I wanted to play for fun every now and then, but the meta is skewed heavily in those competitive lists and I am just not feeling it right now.

We wrote:
It's not 0-10% for me, it's 0%.

This game isn't good for tournaments IMO. The rules are too unclear and armies too unbalanced. when I play competitively I pick a better game. Plus I have seen some real jerk hole things done to win tournaments in this game. Too many to go into. I have been playing this game for over 20 years and nothing sucks the fun out of it more than competitive play. Warhammer 40K is just to have some fun and look at cool models on the table for me.

Quoted for truth.

Considering all the whinging and moaning about competitive balance, and X needs to change and Y is too overpowered and Z is the only thing worth playing?

I am shocked at the poll numbers right now. Out of 79 votes, roughly 65% straight up picked never, let alone just occasionally.

Proof the internet talk doesn't actively reflect actual players in the real world. Good to know.

Balancing the competitive arena is good for the casual player, too.

 SRSFACE wrote:
Considering all the whinging and moaning about competitive balance, and X needs to change and Y is too overpowered and Z is the only thing worth playing?

I am shocked at the poll numbers right now. Out of 79 votes, roughly 65% straight up picked never, let alone just occasionally.

Proof the internet talk doesn't actively reflect actual players in the real world. Good to know.

This is exactly where I am. Surprised that the nature of the discourse doesn't connect to the nature of actual gameplay.

HOWEVER: just because people aren't playing in tournaments or making tournament lists, that doesn't mean they aren't trying to maximize lists and play the nastiest cheese. The question then becomes; Why? Why play the nastiest most competitive cheese if you are just in a casual pick-up game? And I think the real truth is that most people in the world of 40k don't play the most competitive lists. This is a hobby that requires time and patience and at least some artistic and creative capacity. So most people like playing fun/fluffy lists as compared to competitive games. But then again, people like to win, even if not in a tournament. So even though these poll numbers show that the majority of games are not in tournaments, it doesn't mean people aren't playing with a competitive mindset.

 Psienesis wrote:
Balancing the competitive arena is good for the casual player, too.

Exactly. The game as it currently stands is a powerful tool for WAAC/Cheaters to use against the casuals players. The anti-balance crowd our their own worst enemies. It's like supporting giving monkeys guns and then complaining when a monkey shoots you. Tight rules help everyone.

0%. I play narrative games where I often make decisions that are illogical in terms of game mechanics. Competetive gaming does not appeal to me at all.

I still want a balanced ruleset though! Points values don't exist in-universe, after all.

I voted 0-10%, because most of my games have been casual. I have only ever attended 1 tournament since I started playing in 2013; it was 6 players, and the store it was hosted at has since closed. The other local game stores stopped hosting 40k tournaments some time ago (years). One of the store owners told me that the game is just too unbalanced, and there isn't enough interest to justify hosting a tournament anymore. The gaming community here is split between 40K, War Machine, X-Wing, Infinity, Malifaux, CCG's, and RPG's. There are some 40K players, but it's a small group. There just aren't any tournaments locally. Driving or flying 100's of miles to one of the big tournaments isn't practical, and it doesn't really interest me.

None/0%. And never will.

Apart from one fun - and casual - occasion with members of this board, I only play 40k with friends.

10-20% more leaning to 10 than 20%. (small time local stuff beer and pretzel type league play not like official tournaments) I enjoy a good tough competitive game but only if me and my opponent both go in with that mindset and understand one of us might get wrecked (so lets have a few beers, throw a few dice and have at it!)

 SRSFACE wrote:
Considering all the whinging and moaning about competitive balance, and X needs to change and Y is too overpowered and Z is the only thing worth playing?

I am shocked at the poll numbers right now. Out of 79 votes, roughly 65% straight up picked never, let alone just occasionally.

Proof the internet talk doesn't actively reflect actual players in the real world. Good to know.

It's actually proving GW right, that rules don't really matter - models do.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 SRSFACE wrote:
Considering all the whinging and moaning about competitive balance, and X needs to change and Y is too overpowered and Z is the only thing worth playing?

I am shocked at the poll numbers right now. Out of 79 votes, roughly 65% straight up picked never, let alone just occasionally.

Proof the internet talk doesn't actively reflect actual players in the real world. Good to know.

It's actually proving GW right, that rules don't really matter - models do.

When playing with friends quick decisions on ambiguous rulings are easy.