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Couple of months ago I tagged along with a mate to the LGT. I didn't compete, I just wanted to see what it was like and maybe buy some stuff while I was there. Despite it being an absolute farce, it got me interested in the tournament scene, as I had never even attended one before, let alone competed.

With that in mind however, I've also been made aware of a few controversies in the tournament scene in recent times, particualrly the LGT, but also the ATC which has a thread on here, so I'm a bit dubious about doing something like this for a number of reasons, would like some advice on these questions:

1: How stringient should you be on rules? I've seen the Twitch stream of the LGT final (wherever or not it was justified isn't for this thread), and there were a few things that I wouldn't have picked up on before but now I'm aware could be interpreted as cheating. If I were to enter a tournament, how much should you call-out a guy if you're unsure on something? If there's a general confusion such as "is this 24" because I can't see it from this angle", I don't see a problem with that, but I'd be worried about maintaining the balance between ensuring fair play, and coming off as TFG.

2: Are there any good means of transport? I've seen a tournament in Cardiff that sounds promising, but train fare is close to £90 if I book it now. I'm a bit reluctant to do a coach as it'd be a long journey if I'm going after work and I'd be worried about my models getting damaged in the hold.

3: Could I actually have fun at these events? I've played with good semi-competitive lists before but I can imagine rocking up to such events and getting swept away by Guilliman+Hellblasters, Slamguinius and Jetbike Custodians. I know some people are there to win (obviously, it's a tournament), but can you compete and have fun in the process?


Some advice on these would be very helpful before I commit to anything.
Thanks

#1 - you should know your rules inside and out.

#3 - is up to you. Can you powergame and have fun at the same time? That answer is subjective.

I'd say find a small local tournament and get your feet wet with that. In a tournament setting, I do my best to pay extra close attention to what my opponent does. Make sure you're keeping score right along with them. Also, absolutely don't hesitate to call judge if something is screwey. As far as the 2 big events go, I think those are polarized examples of an issue that's only an issue in huge events. The tournament I was at last weekend went off flawlessly along with every other event I've been to, 3 of them being ITC Major events.

Most of all, have fun while trying to stomp your opponent! It is a game after all. Yes, even with spammy lists it's possible to have lots of fun. I get whooped a lot, because I don't play shooty army. But I still have lots of fun.

1) In a tournament setting you'd be good to have all rules material (FAQ and Errata for your forces) with you including a copy of the core rules. In addition any expansion or custom rules that the tournament is making use of - eg they might have house rules on certain things.
You should know the rules well, no not perfectly for every race, but the core rules of the game you should know. You should also know how your army plays.

If at ANY point you are confused about what an opponent is doing; not sure if the rule is correct or such then you ask and confirm. You check the rules. There is no shame in doing this and it a normal part of the game. If you suspect cheating you call a judge/TO/official over at that moment and confirm the situation. IT might be that your opponent gets something wrong; or that they are very casual in how they play and are not used to playing strict to the rules (eg they might move models in a very lazy manner).

The only times this will become a problem are if you are asking a lot of basic rules questions all the time or you are questioning their every move. Ergo if you are causing considerable delay to the game; or if your opponent is. In such a situation one would expect a TO to be called over and they would likely oversee part of the game to enforce good play.

2) Yeah I think the only real solution is waiting for the rail services to be nationalised again... Train fares are an utter nightmare. You can shop around (the national rail website tends to be the most expensive) but you might end up on a strange route that takes longer and takes you all over the place. Otherwise see if anyone local is going too as a group fare can be cheaper by any transport means or heck someone might be driving all the way

3) Oh yes. First up if its a bigger event there will be a spread of players. Tournaments for Warhammer are not typically built up of a series of events and are instead mostly one-off events. This means you get everyone attend from beginners to experienced pros. So even if you are not the best you'll still have many games of the day and chances are should settle into a bracket of around your skill level.
Cheaters and problems are RARE. They get a LOT of attention online and a lot of chatter and lots of worried potential stories and such all come out to the point it can sound like its totally unfun - but that is just an amplification of the complaints and issues and random unfounded worries.
In reality most gamers are there to game and have a good time and are not out to cheat.



I'd say go with a view that you'll play your best and aim to have fun no matter if you win or lose or draw every game on the day. Have fun, socialise, see new people, be amazed by conversions and painting, ask a few questions, learn some stuff and have some tough games of warhammer. Even if you lose you can learn from what went wrong and what went right.

1. If it's a big tournament like LGT or LVO then it'll be stricked rules lawyering all the way, if it's a smaller tournament then people are more lenient; you'll still need to strictly play by the rules but people are more open to letting you go back and do stuff that you forgot to do and will remind you if you've forgot any of your rules. Smaller tournaments are more like just playing a string of regular 40k games with some friends.

2. Coaches are often the cheapest way to travel cross-country, though they do take much longer.

3. There will be people who take their best ultra-comp lists but other people will take more varied armies. If it's a ladder tournament then you'll generally find the ultra-comp lists will all find themselves at the top of the ladder fighting for first place whilst semi-comp and fun lists will be fighting each other in the mid to lower end of the ladder.

auticus wrote:#1 - you should know your rules inside and out.

#3 - is up to you. Can you powergame and have fun at the same time? That answer is subjective.

I'm well read up on the rules for my particular armies, and have read in-depth the rules for others. It's more about where the line is between "calling out someone who made a mistake" and "coming across as scrutinising every move made". At the LGT there were a few times during my buddy's game where the opponent had done a few things wrong. I kept quiet as I was only spectating but that got me concerned that if I was playing instead, would I be a dick for calling him out?

chimeara wrote:I'd say find a small local tournament and get your feet wet with that. In a tournament setting, I do my best to pay extra close attention to what my opponent does. Make sure you're keeping score right along with them. Also, absolutely don't hesitate to call judge if something is screwey. As far as the 2 big events go, I think those are polarized examples of an issue that's only an issue in huge events. The tournament I was at last weekend went off flawlessly along with every other event I've been to, 3 of them being ITC Major events.

Most of all, have fun while trying to stomp your opponent! It is a game after all. Yes, even with spammy lists it's possible to have lots of fun. I get whooped a lot, because I don't play shooty army. But I still have lots of fun.

Finding a small local tournament would be a good idea, do you know of any resources that would be a good place to start looking? I've found a couple of sites but they seem to focus on the big leagues, mostly in the US. Anything in London or South-East is even better.

I think the thing with my armies is that I've never started one with the sole aim to attend tournaments, they've usually been a mix of stuff I can get cheap/stuff I like, with a semi-competitive vibe. At the moment I have something put together that I think would do ok:

Guard CP Battalion
Custodes Battalion - Jetbike Captain, Regular Captain, 3x3 Custodes, 3x Jetbikes
Either a Valdor Tank Hunter (because I love the model), Telemon Dreadnought or Knight Gallant.

I've used this general idea before and it's come up with some very close victories against some tough lists. No experience with the Telemon yet (still waiting for it to arrive), but with something like this, am I likely to get steamrolled?

Overread wrote:1) In a tournament setting you'd be good to have all rules material (FAQ and Errata for your forces) with you including a copy of the core rules. In addition any expansion or custom rules that the tournament is making use of - eg they might have house rules on certain things.
You should know the rules well, no not perfectly for every race, but the core rules of the game you should know. You should also know how your army plays.

If at ANY point you are confused about what an opponent is doing; not sure if the rule is correct or such then you ask and confirm. You check the rules. There is no shame in doing this and it a normal part of the game. If you suspect cheating you call a judge/TO/official over at that moment and confirm the situation. IT might be that your opponent gets something wrong; or that they are very casual in how they play and are not used to playing strict to the rules (eg they might move models in a very lazy manner).

The only times this will become a problem are if you are asking a lot of basic rules questions all the time or you are questioning their every move. Ergo if you are causing considerable delay to the game; or if your opponent is. In such a situation one would expect a TO to be called over and they would likely oversee part of the game to enforce good play.

2) Yeah I think the only real solution is waiting for the rail services to be nationalised again... Train fares are an utter nightmare. You can shop around (the national rail website tends to be the most expensive) but you might end up on a strange route that takes longer and takes you all over the place. Otherwise see if anyone local is going too as a group fare can be cheaper by any transport means or heck someone might be driving all the way

3) Oh yes. First up if its a bigger event there will be a spread of players. Tournaments for Warhammer are not typically built up of a series of events and are instead mostly one-off events. This means you get everyone attend from beginners to experienced pros. So even if you are not the best you'll still have many games of the day and chances are should settle into a bracket of around your skill level.
Cheaters and problems are RARE. They get a LOT of attention online and a lot of chatter and lots of worried potential stories and such all come out to the point it can sound like its totally unfun - but that is just an amplification of the complaints and issues and random unfounded worries.
In reality most gamers are there to game and have a good time and are not out to cheat.


I'd say go with a view that you'll play your best and aim to have fun no matter if you win or lose or draw every game on the day. Have fun, socialise, see new people, be amazed by conversions and painting, ask a few questions, learn some stuff and have some tough games of warhammer. Even if you lose you can learn from what went wrong and what went right.

I think the first point is my main worry, and like you said, I suppose it won't really be an issue unless I make it one, so that eases my nerves a bit.

Damn about the train fares, I've never found sites that actually offer anything cheaper than NR.

I think the last point is what is attracting me to the tournament scene; it's a completly new way of playing, new people, new armies, new styles, something I've never seen before.


Thanks for all the advice guys, if anyone has anymore tips I'd love to hear them.

I'm not sure about the London area but the Best Coast Player app is what I use for finding events.

You should never be punished for confirming things during the game.
Warhammer, even in its current "simpler" form, is still a complicated game. There's a lot to remember and its very possible for players to get things wrong; to remember a rule from a previous edition; to miss interpret how something is supposed to work; to have sloppy play methods etc.....

during Warhammer its as much your job as it is your opponents to watch them on their turn to ensure fair play. you're not playing "GOTCHA CHEATER" its "hey that's not right" or "that doesn't sound right lets just check that" etc..

A good place to start in the UK is Warhammer World - either at a Throne of Skulls event, the GT Heats or a doubles event.

I started at a doubles event and felt it was a lot more chilled out, plus you have a buddy alongside you so you're not so exposed and isolated in a game. Found people were really great at the event and would definitely recommend it for someone wanting to get into tournaments. It lets you get into the vibe of playing a bit faster for time limits and meeting new people / general tournament etiquette.

Just remember the Warhammer World events are strictly out of the rulebook / CA missions so you wont be playing ITC / ETC rules. Again though, that might be a bit nicer for your first dip into the tournament scene as you're not trying to learn a whole new mission set along with everything else.

EDIT* Just wanted to add - don't worry about playing super-hard lists. You might get one for your first game, and maybe your second, but tournaments generally use the swiss-system to separate out winners and losers after each round and those lists will more likely be at the top end of the list so you shouldn't meet them for your later games. With that in mind don't expect to win every game at your first tourney! My buddy and I went 2 wins 3 losses in our first tourney and still had a great time!

That's another thing I wanted to find out about, forgot to add it to the OP:

What are these terms like ITC/ETC, swiss-system, etc. I've heard ITC is some sort of championship, does it differ much from other tournaments?

 Valkyrie wrote:
That's another thing I wanted to find out about, forgot to add it to the OP:

What are these terms like ITC/ETC, swiss-system, etc. I've heard ITC is some sort of championship, does it differ much from other tournaments?

ITC/ETC is essentially a third party company that runs the competitive side of things. They have their own missions and scoring system.

Swiss is where you play every round, instead of single elimination like it used to be. It keeps the playing field much more even. Plus it gives everyone a chance to play.

Yep in elimination if you lose a game you were basically out of the competition. So you had to win every single game to progress to the final.

Of course this also meant that lots of people were then without a game to pay and would either have to hang around and hope someone wanted a casual game, which wouldn't always work out as any who lived locally might leave once they'd left the competition so you could end up paying a lot to go to an event and only getting a couple of games.



Swiss basically means winners play winners and losers the losers of each round. So in theory you eventually ennd up playing your skill level in the event; plus it means that you can still place well even if you lose one match. It keeps everyone there competing until the end and keeps you playing the game rather than filtering away as the day develops.

GO! Go to tourneys! They're great. I look forward to monthly RTTs and around 3 to 4 GTs a year.

 Valkyrie wrote:
1: How stringient should you be on rules? I've seen the Twitch stream of the LGT final (wherever or not it was justified isn't for this thread), and there were a few things that I wouldn't have picked up on before but now I'm aware could be interpreted as cheating. If I were to enter a tournament, how much should you call-out a guy if you're unsure on something? If there's a general confusion such as "is this 24" because I can't see it from this angle", I don't see a problem with that, but I'd be worried about maintaining the balance between ensuring fair play, and coming off as TFG.

As others have said, it's okay to clarify every time. At the last GT my opponent added d3 daemons when rolling for daemonic incursion. I asked about it, my recollection being only 1 daemon gets added. He was sure it was a d3 daemons. I was tired, back-sore and looking forward to beer and burger (going on 7+ hours at the time, 3 hour rounds). We got a tie game.

It turns out he was wrong, and the next day, when I asked him to double check the codex entry very friendly, like, (because I finally remembered solidly as I had played Nurgle daemons last winter) and he realized he'd made the wrong call. He was about to go to the judges to reverse our tie to a loss for him, etc, but I waved it off and reassured him that we were cool & shook hands. I honestly didn't mind and saw not point to making the change. We had had a great game (all those games were great) and were had games rolling at the moment (we'd drawn tables next to each other).

Those extra plague drones quite likely cost me the Win. If I had been a little more assertive, I would have asked for the daemon book during the game, and the effort of killing 3 extra plague drones could have been diverted to killing more plague bearers, Epy, and so forth.

But, as we'd both had a loss already (Round 1 losses), there was no real point in trying for a correction, not in a field of 100+ players. I suppose if we'd both been on track to a Top Table, then yeah, I might've pressed for a reversal in scores. And the FLGaming guys they would have, based on my direct experience. It was done to me. I had an illegal Yannari list last year (I missed the FAQ the Monday before on including Yvraine, the Yncarn, etc), and the opponent who lost to me Round 3, had the judges flip the loss on Sunday. I was flabbergasted that I'd missed the FAQ, but happily continued on as Eldar for those last 3 games.

 Valkyrie wrote:
2: Are there any good means of transport? I've seen a tournament in Cardiff that sounds promising, but train fare is close to £90 if I book it now. I'm a bit reluctant to do a coach as it'd be a long journey if I'm going after work and I'd be worried about my models getting damaged in the hold.

California is a different planet than you're on, so I have no helpful advice there, except what a few others have posted. Hit some local events first, from a purely economic point of view, since a 90 pound train ticket ...

 Valkyrie wrote:
3: Could I actually have fun at these events?

Yes, yes, and yes. I have never had all losses at a GT, but going 1-5 does suck, taking a good measure of stoicism to be happy for that Round 4 or 5 beating.

At the RTTs, my local TO often gives a dice box prize out to the 0-3 player (and I have 2 of those, Scorpion green/yellow GW dice and the blue/yellow GW, eldar dice), because, "You lost, not because of your skills or list, but it was your dice."

Further advice:
a. Comfy, supportive shoes. Flip flops or sandals are not your friends.
b. Bathe, brush, deodorant. Nurgle's Rot is funny for pretend, not for real. Since you said you'd attended the LGT, I guess you got a dose first hand.
c. For longer games, have Advil or a favorite pain relief source for lower back pain ... Unless you're under 30 years old. Then screw you.
d. Eat well, maybe packing a banana. Protein is better than carbs, like when hiking. 10 ounces of water per game is a good idea, too. Even when my chess clock time is running on my potty time.
e. Find the pub within walking distance, line up mates to go with you to that pub, and hoist a pint in between rounds. I am not the Team Beer Hammer guy for nothing.

Tournaments are largely just 3 or so pickup games in quick succession. There's really nothing to them that makes them any more weighty beyond your own expectations. Go, play, see how you do. The worst thing that might happen is you lose, same as any other game. Going in feeling like you must or even deserve to win it all is what causes the lack of fun in most players. Drop that expectation (even when winning) and there's no reason a tourney game can't be as fun as any other. There's a reason that going 0-1 in the first round is often called getting into the fun bracket after all.

I would say just go play.
Tournaments are something you can ask about at your local club/store. they are usually pretty well informed on the local scene and I'd advise doing your first event as a local one. Keeps the cost low and usually local smaller events are easier going.

For big events turn up expecting to play all your games, with an attitude towards fun and making some friends.

If you have issues with rules or need to call your opponent out do it in a friendly manner. There is a world of difference between "That rules wrong you cheater" and "Hey, that sounds a bit good, do you mind if we look that up?"

Ulttimately 40k is a fun game with toy soldiers, don't take it too seriously, turn up for a few games, some time spent with like minded people and probably a few beers too. Play honest, if you make a mistake its a mistake, they happen, try not to make it again and make sure its a genuine mistake. You can't go far wrong.

Also tournaments are great as a deadline for finishing an army as well and taking a project to completion.

I suggest you try smaller tournaments first, because it's very nervous wracking at bigger tournaments. I've been to three tournaments in the past 3 months.

The LGT, Throne of Skulls and a campaign tournament.

I thought I would catch every rule, well all the ones that mattered and sometimes I was caught flat footed by an opponent's stratagem which was in the BRB and sometimes my opponent used a cover rule for a hill, when he shouldn't have, but that was an honest mistake as we just treated any of the styrofoam boards as cover.

But my point is, the biggest and most competitive the tournament, the more likely that you're going to forget things and so will your opponent and it's up to the both of you to remember all the rules necessary to play the game as correctly and well as you possibly can.

So, start going to small and more friendly tournaments first (or lots of games in general) and start hammering those rules deeper into your subconcious with experience, because whenever I go to tournaments, I always have a list of my army and a cheat sheet summarising all my spells, tactics and deployment strategies and even then, I miss things that I could have done to play more to how I planned to play from the beginning.

Bringing your A team to a tournament is one thing, remembering all the necessary rules under pressure is another..

Oh and a general rule of thumb:

Let's say that the opponent forgets to do something in their shooting phase and now is halfway through the assault phase. Generally, it's okay to ask if they could backtrack and do that shooting attack they missed, but if you're asking to go back more than 1 phase say from assaulting to movement. Then it's not okay to ask, but if they ask to go back one phase, then you generally want to give them it, because:

1. It's sporting
2. If you beat them knowing that they normally wouldn't make that mistake and could have beaten them, it's a hollow victory and not worth celebrating by advancing in the tournament, because you'll always know.
3. You may very well make a similar mistake and it could cost you the game.

But the more competitive a tournament is and the closer it is to game 5 and near the top of the ladder, the less likely those players will adhere to the rule of thumb, because the pressure of forgetting is accepted as part and parcel of the game and that's okay. It's just for the first 3 games (win or lose) it's best to stick to the rule of thumb. for games 4-5 and if you won all the ones before, then if you forget something, then it's just "tough luck.". you snooze, you lose, even if that mistake costs you the game.

But I'd still stick to the rule of thumb, mostly because of point 2. When I win a GT, I want to know that I won, because I was best and not because my opponent forgot to do something, because then I know that my army was tested to the limits.

I go to tournaments to see if I'm the best and I am to be the best, not by winning (although that's close second), but by beating everything thrown at me and if ignore moments of an opponent's forgetfulness (not to be confused with mistakes like shooting when you should have advanced) win me games, then I didn't achieve my goal to show myself that I'm the best, even if I did win the GT.

Find a local gaming store and do a few tournies. The ones in our area in Australia tend to be around 20 people strong which is a perfect start. Allows you to get use to the pace of the game and meet some people who you can then go with to a bigger tournament.

There is a group in London that do casual and sometimes more formal tourneys once a month. Small affairs form what I've heard they are decent bunch of people with no aggro ( I have never been).

Do a search for the London wargaming guild and they meet in central London I think in the seven dials covent garde area.

Check it out. That sort of thing is the best place to start.

 nurgle86 wrote:
There is a group in London that do casual and sometimes more formal tourneys once a month. Small affairs form what I've heard they are decent bunch of people with no aggro ( I have never been).

Do a search for the London wargaming guild and they meet in central London I think in the seven dials covent garde area.

Check it out. That sort of thing is the best place to start.

Went there once, was very cliquey and didn't feel welcome at all. They're the same people who organised the farce that was the LGT if I'm not mistaken.

 Valkyrie wrote:
Couple of months ago I tagged along with a mate to the LGT. I didn't compete, I just wanted to see what it was like and maybe buy some stuff while I was there. Despite it being an absolute farce, it got me interested in the tournament scene, as I had never even attended one before, let alone competed.

With that in mind however, I've also been made aware of a few controversies in the tournament scene in recent times, particualrly the LGT, but also the ATC which has a thread on here, so I'm a bit dubious about doing something like this for a number of reasons, would like some advice on these questions:

1: How stringient should you be on rules? I've seen the Twitch stream of the LGT final (wherever or not it was justified isn't for this thread), and there were a few things that I wouldn't have picked up on before but now I'm aware could be interpreted as cheating. If I were to enter a tournament, how much should you call-out a guy if you're unsure on something? If there's a general confusion such as "is this 24" because I can't see it from this angle", I don't see a problem with that, but I'd be worried about maintaining the balance between ensuring fair play, and coming off as TFG.

2: Are there any good means of transport? I've seen a tournament in Cardiff that sounds promising, but train fare is close to £90 if I book it now. I'm a bit reluctant to do a coach as it'd be a long journey if I'm going after work and I'd be worried about my models getting damaged in the hold.

3: Could I actually have fun at these events? I've played with good semi-competitive lists before but I can imagine rocking up to such events and getting swept away by Guilliman+Hellblasters, Slamguinius and Jetbike Custodians. I know some people are there to win (obviously, it's a tournament), but can you compete and have fun in the process?

OKAY. I've been to a fair few UK tournaments over the years (including all three of the fething awful LGTs, though I'm definitely skipping it next year), and I'm mostly there for a fun weekend of geeking and never bring anything close to an optimised list.

1. Yeah, be aware that you're meant to be playing 'properly' and keep in mind the current version of the rules. I always take pretty simple armies to tournaments for this reason - so that I don't have to remember many rules and don't have to stress about playing fast enough. In a typical tournament you've got around 10/15 minutes to complete each turn. Make it easy on yourself!

2. The best option is to go with a few local friends and all travel together in someone's car. You can also team up on hotels and the like. Much cheaper than train fares!

3. Absolutely. don't get put off by the 'competitive scene' in podcasts and online. The important thing to remember about all 40k Tournaments is that, while a vocal minority think of themselves as some sort of serious sportsmen there to COMPETE ( ), for the vast majority of attendees it's just a fun weekend away playing different people to usual. The majority of attendees aren't expecting to win it, have brought a list that's decent enough to not get completely removed in turn 1, but probably not the most optimised thing in the world, and hope to come away with a decent spread of wins and losses. Expect to have to face some sort of 'dick list' at some point, and when that happens just have fun and get it over with - the game can still be a laugh. The Swiss system most tournaments run - where people are matched in each round against others with similar scores - means that the 'dick lists' all end up playing each other on the top tables and (hopefully) you mostly end up playing armies of a roughly similar power to yours.



..

The coach from Cardiff to London doesn’t take much longer than the train - maybe even less depending on how from Victoria you are vs Paddington! And it’s super cheap in comparison. Take your minis onboard with you and chuck your clothes etc in the hols if you have a second bag, or just pack light enough to not need to have a hold bag.

 Valkyrie wrote:

 nurgle86 wrote:
There is a group in London that do casual and sometimes more formal tourneys once a month. Small affairs form what I've heard they are decent bunch of people with no aggro ( I have never been).

Do a search for the London wargaming guild and they meet in central London I think in the seven dials covent garde area.

Check it out. That sort of thing is the best place to start.

Went there once, was very cliquey and didn't feel welcome at all. They're the same people who organised the farce that was the LGT if I'm not mistaken.

Didn’t see this before, but if you’re in London, come down to the HATE Club! We’re the opposite of LGG. Very casual, big, friendly club in Behnal Green. We still travel to lots of events, including stuff like the WHW 40k Doubles, but the club itself is very casual focused so a lot of us are just bringing stupid lists we can still remember the rules to after all the beers. .

 ArbitorIan wrote:

 Valkyrie wrote:

 nurgle86 wrote:
There is a group in London that do casual and sometimes more formal tourneys once a month. Small affairs form what I've heard they are decent bunch of people with no aggro ( I have never been).

Do a search for the London wargaming guild and they meet in central London I think in the seven dials covent garde area.

Check it out. That sort of thing is the best place to start.

Went there once, was very cliquey and didn't feel welcome at all. They're the same people who organised the farce that was the LGT if I'm not mistaken.

Didn’t see this before, but if you’re in London, come down to the HATE Club! We’re the opposite of LGG. Very casual, big, friendly club in Behnal Green. We still travel to lots of events, including stuff like the WHW 40k Doubles, but the club itself is very casual focused so a lot of us are just bringing stupid lists we can still remember the rules to after all the beers. .

Oh yeah I've been going there for a couple of months now. Great place, cheap beer, used my Knights last Wednesday and was a very enjoyable game.

 Valkyrie wrote:
Oh yeah I've been going there for a couple of months now. Great place, cheap beer, used my Knights last Wednesday and was a very enjoyable game.

Oh great - we've probably met! I was there last Wednesday playing with some pink Emperor's Children vs some Grey Knights.

My first tournament was the Nova Open. I went just to check it out. Immediately signed up for the LVO, and then adepticon...then some local tournaments. It's been four or five years now, and I haven't missed a Nova or adepticon since! (LVO is on the other coast, so much more of a financial stretch, but still a wonderful time!)

The community is so amazing and welcoming that you can't help but get instantly hooked. At some of the larger events, you don't have to sign up for events to play. Can just play pickup games on the tables (adepticon even has a dedicated area for pickup games).

Cardiff is quite a long way to go for your first tournament.
If you are in London, have a look at the closer options. You have Bones Con in Guildford coming up in a few months and you have the Kent Tournament just down the road.

So apologies for the thread necro, but it's probably more fitting to just continue this discussion rather than start a new thread.

Couple of months back I participated in my first tournament, nothing too big, just 3 games at the FLGS with a £15 buy-in. I ran a Knight list and came 4th out of 14, pretty happy with that. However, I came across one of the issues in the OP which is half concern, half personal-rant.

The last guy I played ran a Guard Brigade + Raven Castellan. The guy in particular had a reputation for being a huge power-gamer, and even plays friendly, casual games as if it's the LVO final. He used a rules exploit during our game meaning his Guard were able to move 24" each turn and pretty much claim all the objectives straight away. The scenario went as follows.

1. He moves his Guard.
2. He declares he's going to advance them and rolls D6.
3. He then states they'll be moving again due to the Move!Move!Move! order, and simply moves again without rolling to advance again.

Now there are many holes in this tactic, and a previous thread on here confirmed that this breaks the rules, and it raised the issue of as he had done this tactic throughout the whole tournament, he would have earned a fair few extra points and skewed the results like this. His argument for this rule seemed to be deliberately confusing, like "Well if you check this rule here, and reference the Tyranid FAQ in conjunction with this errata here..." at which point it seems pointless to continue arguing. His other argument of "Some guys (can't remember who he said) plays it like this and they're the best players in the UK so it must be right" also doesn't hold much weight.

Now the shop is running another tourney in a couple of weeks which I'd like to participate in, but that particular guy was one of the first ones to sign up. I don't want to give the impression that I'm bitter about this loss, far from it, I'm more concerned that this overall hyper-competitive (I mean *incredibly* competitive) may spoil the experience.

What would be the best way to manage an experience like this, and prevent this exploit from being used again?

Presumably, this is illegal for the simple fact that 'Move Move Move' is an order given in the Shooting phase? So you have to complete ALL movement in the movement phase before you're allowed to start doing that. It's important because models can't move through each other, so if you do it correctly you have to be careful not to bottleneck other units whereas if you do it the way this guy is your models are unlikely to get bottlenecked in the same way.

TBH, I'd actually try and get him first game where you can loudly comment that you hope he's not going to try that again, and bring it up with the judges as soon as he tries - hopefully that will solve it for the rest of the event. Or make a casual comment to the organisers so that they're aware of it.

Cheating or twisting of rules and interpretation to give clear unintended advantage shouldn't be tolerated. If you think someone is abusing the rules then tell the TO/Officials at the time. You don't have to be hostile just call them over to confirm if that is how the rules are meant to work.

If you are already aware its cheating then write down how its abusing the rules and take that info with you so that if it takes place you are ready; or if you're aware this player does it all the time present this info to the TO before the event and in private.