Interesting article about NOT playing the new hotness

[Jack Shrapnel]

I like the spirit of this article:


warp-hammer.com/2022/03/29/you-want-to-play-tournaments-but-your-army-is-awful-now-what/

I am more a "play what I like" player than a "finely tuned GT level list" player so this kinda speaks to me a bit more, as I still want a competitive game, I just don't want to play whatever nutso meta list is out there at any given time. 

[lightcavalier]

Exactly... you can still play the game to win without just spamming the 3 most cost efficient datsheets in your army....or building an army around mechanics to basically farm points without interacting with your opponent.

The latter two will still win games, but youll quickly find yourself lacking games to play unless you run with a bunch of like minded people.

[artonas]

My friend went to a GT and played against a Daemon army and lost with Tau. When I looked at the list I was really surprised to see what they took. Belakor and his fancy army of renown, not a single unit spammed, pretty much one of each troop choice and a couple elites and it looked like a super fun list. That's someone who has played the game and collected what they want and knows how everything works and how to use it. I find if you know something well its much better then just taking the hotness.

[brujonation]

that was a good article, thanks for the link. definately feel it since I love me my chaos boys. but I'm not competitive, I just like to blast stuff and get blasted by painted army dudes lol so my losses don't deter me too much.

[question]

Thanks for the link Shannon! I agree with it as lots of people get too hung up on what the GT scene is doing, the lateest hotness, and forget that there are many reasons people play our game. To me, playing only to win seems boring but that has never been one of my reasons.

I love a good competitive game, and weired as it will sound to some, I have enjoyed losing to better players on many occasions over 30+ years because I both learned something (some times many things) and they were just a good person who knew their stuff and we interacted well. This includes a certain tournament where my opponent and I (both playing Orks) were informed by the TO that a complaint had been made about our having too good a time during that particular round at a "serious" tournament. It turned out that we both went on to beat Mr. Serious (playing the latest hotness) in later rounds with our less than stellar Ork codex from that edition.

I've played DA from my first game and my Orks appeared a few years later. Both have been considered "meh" to "useless" in various editions but I have kept playing them because I LIKE THEM. I have figured out ways to win some of my games even when they were bottom tier. Everybody really should read the article as it does a good job of giving ideas for how to get more from armies when they are in a down cycle. Even if you don't win, there are ways to keep top tier armies off the podium by tossing a wrench in to the works. As someone who has often been the wrench, I assure you it can be done. I love doing the unexpected: whether through my list construction, understanding the other army's weaknesses, or just pulling off an unorthodox long shot tactic. And though perhaps a bit perverse from some points of view, that can be enough to have a successful game or tournament.