I began this year wanting to end up, in my first full tournament year, in the UK's top 16.
I naively thought that if I could attend 5/6 tournaments this year and place extremely well at each of them, I could do it, I'd end up with enough ranking points to make an impact.
The first tournament of the year, down at X - Legion, Atreides and I did very poorly.
And that was that really..neither of us would hit enough tournaments the rest of the year to make up for it.
This year I managed to hit 6 tournaments.. the 6th, Blog Wars 2, is actually a week away. So this post is perhaps a little premature, but I'll look at "A Year in Review" in a couple of weeks.
I've won one, placed 3rd, 8th, 20th, 29th ...in the 3rd placing I had the same results as the winner and better than the 2nd, but had lower soft scores so came third ....in the 8th placing, I was in the running for the tournament and on top table final game, but lost, ruining my overall results and with tight competition, dropping to 8th.
So I am happy with all bar the 20th and 28th placing.. again, I'll cover them in "A Year in Review"...
I'll only make it to 6 next year too, so they need to be good ones. I've been scouting about the tournament calendar and I've got 5 lined up already.. sort of..
* OGC - 2000 point NOVA style event in February - I have my name down on this one and can't wait!
* Calendonia Uprising - 1850, 5 game event in late January - There appears to be a couple of places and I have emailed to enquire..
* 3 x Brighton Warlords singles which I'd like to attend
* Blog Wars will hopefully run as a one day event at least once
And of course, the Sons of War (that's me derp!) have their own gaming club now and we will be organising tournaments in the new year, getting us set up for our first in the first quarter of 2012.
There is a slim chance I will make it to one or two more.. but for a busy dude, 6 weekends away is more than enough - I can't do more. I have my wedding, stag, honeymoon, scoial commitments (i.e. actually hanging out with IRL friends to maintain 'normal' social interactions! lol), sport and family as well.
If any of the above fall through, then I will find another.
One main goal for next year is to get to the UK40KGT in 2013, as I missed the tickets for 2012's.. d'oh!
Realistically then, what are my tournament expectations for next year? Certainly not to get in the Top 16 in the UK Rankings..we don't attend enough.
I think more realistically it has to be to attend the tournaments I want to attend and try to finish in a respectable place each time.
What's respectable?
Top Ten.
Everytime.
So is this a more realistic goal than my stated goal at the start of last year? I think so.. I look through all the guys in the top 20/30/40 of the UK Rankings and I know I can hang with them. I've played many of them, beaten (including tabled), drawn and yup, even lost to one of them...bloody Courtney Rhodes and his Black Templars...twice!
To recap, those listed above are the tournaments I'd like to hit up, of course it may be that I get to others instead, but 6 is the target and Top 10 everytime is the challenge..
Next week (after the 6th and final tournament of my year) I'll post up a big Annual Report style piece.. stay tuned...not really sure what comments I would expect below..but let me know how your tournament year has been, did you meet your targets?
cant believe it's been so long since we got our dose of reality at X-Legion... that really did make me a better player, and i havent even changed my list!
ReplyDeleteAim higher! There's no reason why you shouldn't aim for the top 16. A good chunk of those currently in those positions have only played 6/7 this year. If you're aiming to compete with well-ranked players, it's entirely reasonable.
ReplyDelete@Atreides.. yeah man, it really was a dose of reality wasn't it. You have no reason to change your list up from that, it was strong at the start of the year and it is strong now.. stonger, since you have played with it for even longer!!
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to come away, throughout the rest of the year, and realise it was a bit of an anomaly!
@Mr Sinister. As hopefully you'll read next week, there was an element of arrogance from me at the start of the year, taking armies that we not truly tournament armies and as the year has gone on, my Space Wolves have gotten leaner, meaner and my experience with them has truly grown against a wide variety of players and codices.
But then of course, I am looking at playing Necrons for this next tournament..but the key is to play one force consistently and built to win tournament games.
Something I have not gotten fully used to yet.
Aim to win it all each time. Its not like you dont have the skill.
ReplyDeleteI'd seriously just buck down in 2012, take wolves each and every time and just look to craft, hone and perfect both the list and your play with it. Use you practice games to get your army ADD out of the system, and also get familiar with other codex's.
Look at Andy, over the past year he barely touched his list, and each and every tourney he got better and better. Sure he loves little retarded men with peashooters and tanks, and lots of them, but its undeniable that Andy has gone from a "tough and ready" opponent, to a serious threat each time.
In all my (many many) years of competitive gaming, I wouldn't go out of my comfort zone, except when forced to. In an FPS game I'd play the gun/class I was best with, and the positions that suited my play, or mixed with the team best. We demanded the best results possible. Sometimes that even meant me taking the bench. In World of Warcraft, it meant sticking to 1 class (and later a secondary class for tourney games, imagine if you could swap out bits of your lists on turn 3 in a tourney because it sucks vs that specific army). Variety is the spice of life. Winning is just better!
Bull, that's sound advice man - and without doubt a strong contender for strategy 2012, i do believe i will buckle down with one army for tournament gaming... wolves or crons...
ReplyDeleteI dunno, depends what kind of gamer you are. In mmos & FPS games, my team always had problems such as drop outs or what not, and I always had to fill in holes. I take that into play in 40k, for example I took a BA army I never used before to Onslaught & came 3rd, and the same with my GKs. Its dependant on the player, some people like COurtney or myself can pick up a new army and do well, some people enjoy perfecting one army.
ReplyDeleteAs for tournaments, Its obviously best to aim for the 40+ man 2 day ranked tournies for rankings, but that requires a lot of effort which you clearly lack lol ;)!
Would be good to see you at caledonian, a fair amount of top players there so could be good experience and possibly ENDLESS FAME!!!!
Btw Bully, been on Beta (SWTOR) with some mates, enjoyed it so far, but my mates are all sith so been playing Bounty hunter (would prefer Commando). But since you guys arnt recruiting, guess Ill have to kill you instead <3
I get what you are saying Killswitch, but you've used BA before (as far back as 2010 tournaments) so that's not entirely a correct statement is it.. and GK's were used (according to rankings) in a good number of tournaments (4/5 if I remember correctly) which is over a good period of time and demonstrates, at the very least, relevant tournament gaming experience over a variety of armies/players/environments.. in addition, your historic GK posts here are indicative of at a minimum extensive theory hammer and more aptly, rigorous playtesting..
ReplyDeleteSo I guess I'm calling bullshit on that one bro!
;)
I suppose it all depends what you call "pick up and play"... <3
I personally beleive that a decent player CAN and DOES pick up an army and can run with it with success.
On the otherhand, I also believe that over time, through development, experience (in all matters gaming - number of games under belt, variety of oppoonents, variety of missions vs said armies, tournament environs and psychological issues) and understanding of all contextual issues...the gamer who plays with one army in all of those criteria gets better and can apply his/her force in a far more coherent and effective manner.
As for tournaments, yes - it is definately better to aim for the Ranked events.. but then Blog Wars could be ranked if the guy sent in the results, granted it would only be proportionate scores due to relatively low numbers (40 required for full 100 points, proportionately less for smaller events or 3 game events)... I may see if he'll throw them in for us...to see the complete picture.
But you are right in that respect.. the bigger tournaments are the ones to go for bro, without a doubt.
OGC 2k NOVA should be up there, Brightons are good, X Legion is too far away really, Caledonian looks like there are places, but I can't be sure till Timmaaa gets back to me...
....*pauses*.... reads all that shit I just wrote... don't take any of that the wrong way dude!
I think you miss understood me mate, I wasn't trying to bash anything or infalte an ego, was just coming across in such that its still fun and you still can have that capability of picking up new armies to play with.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for me, that was the first tournament I took BAs too, yes I have played them before, but a long time ago and a completely different land raider build for some fun. This was the first time I actualy took a BA list and used it which was decent Same for GKs in terms of my first tourney back at Warpstorm where I took an unconventianal list I finished painting the night before, never had a game with them and ended up table 1 (or 2 can't remember) on game 6 losing on KPs. Its fun to be able to pick up armies and still do well, but what I meant was some players arn't comfortable doing that.
No bad vibes taken mate either way. Ill still punch you this weekend cause I feel like it ;)
Haha good man, wasn't supposed to be a slating from me either, just wrote it and then realised it may come across that way!!
ReplyDeleteI'm securing a spot on the Caledonian Uprising tomorrow.. pumped to try 1850!
Sweet man, yeah 1850 should be good :)! I can fit all the goodies I want in 1850 :D
ReplyDeleteYeah I am already thinking of some cool little touches that can be done in just that extra 100 points..
ReplyDelete