So, despite my sign off last time, I sadly don’t have shiny clockwork minis in my hands. I wasn’t planning on writing another article before Lock & Load, so Boots has made a liar out of me.
Boots, seen here “motivating” his contributers.
Anyways, with convention season for me kicking off into full swing (Lock & Load in a few days, Gencon in August) I figure I’d touch on something that goes hand in hand with conventions: preparing for a tournament. Now, just because I have convention play in mind doesn’t mean that the tips don’t apply to tournaments at your friendly local store. A lot of the advice is equally valid for that, too.
For now, this is basic, big picture advice. There are all sorts of other tricks that I can focus on in later articles, such as considering your meta, list pairings, etc. but I figure that broad strokes about what will give you the best play experience at a tournament (perhaps even your first one) will go the furthest.
“Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.”
– Robert H. Schuller
Do: Know Thy Format
A little reconnaissance work is necessary before you go to a tournament. Nothing would be worse than driving (potentially hours) somewhere, only to show up with the wrong size armies to play with, or not having enough models to fill out the required number of lists. Is there a painting requirement? That can drastically limit what you can play if your collection isn’t 100% painted.
Other, subtler factors can also influence what you need to bring. Timed turns or death clock? If you’re not comfortable running a list in a timed turn format, you’re most likely going to have issues. What’s the primary tiebreaker? A tournament with Control Point scoring will require a drastically different strategy than Assassination scoring, for instance.
Do: Bring Your Gear
By this, I mean all of the non-miniature kit you’re festooned with: dice, tokens, markers, cards, templates, and tape measures. These are the bare minimums that you need to play the game. There are a lot of other bits of gear that you can get for tournament play (proxy bases, measuring widgets, extra templates, laser lines, etc.) and while a lot of these can streamline play and attempt to resolve issues, they’re not strictly necessary. Have spares if you can, nothing will frazzle you (or eat your clock time) quite as much as struggling to find a working marker or a spray template.
War Room is considered a viable alternative to cards, but even if you’re only planning on using War Room I’d recommend bringing cards. I’m not super confident that my tablet or phone can last the entire event on one charge or without freezing or crashing on me, and if you lose the game state on your device and can’t recover fast enough you have to forfeit. Personally, I still love War Room for tournament play, but mainly to look up my opponents’ models without having to slow things down and ask for cards.
Do: Keep Fueled
Rodent keggers: Not a laughing matter.
This might seem like a bit of a no-brainer, but make sure that you have enough to eat and drink. Some events will have food and drink provided to you as part of a planned lunch break, but often it’s every gamer for themselves. If you come unprepared to a 10 hour convention tournament with no scheduled breaks, you can end up very hungry and very thirsty, which besides being unpleasant will also hinder your performance and will most likely make you cranky (and thus not fun for your opponents to play against). At the very least, bringing some water or other non-sugary, non-caffeinated drink (like an herbal tea) to keep hydrated will do wonders. Convention halls and game stores can get pretty warm when crowded with nerds, and playing a game of Warmachine involves a lot of talking (often loudly to be heard over the din) which can give you a bad case of cottonmouth or sore throat in a hurry.
Don’t: Take Things Too Seriously
“Chewie! I know he’s playing Harbinger, but this is clearly an overreaction!”
Another thing that probably shouldn’t need mentioning, but this is a game we’re playing. It should be fun for you and your opponents. Remember the best game you’ve ever played, against the nicest, most fun player ever? Strive to be that player to everyone you face in a tournament, and I guarantee that you’ll get more enjoyable, memorable games in return. People will tend to treat you how you treat them.
All entrants to the tournament would like to win, but sadly that’s not possible for everyone (participation trophies are decidedly against Page 5), so losing a game or two shouldn’t ruin your day. I’ve seen plenty of great people get bent out of shape over a loss (myself included, I’m not perfect) and have the rest of the tournament get ruined for them. Try to take a loss in stride, bounce back, and learn from the process. You might be out of the running for first place, but you can still strive for second or third.
In Conclusion
The key to having a fun and successful tournament is to have as many things taken care of ahead of time, so you worry less about external factors and can focus on enjoying your games. This certainly wasn’t intended to be a primer on how to win a tournament, but winning certainly comes easier when you’re less frazzled.
Do: Take superglue.
There’s always a risk of a model getting knocked off a table, damaged in transit, or just a joint giving way. At a tournament, much better to be able to stick it back together there and then.