Preparing for a tournament

[wcgnidz]

Hey all,

Just seeing if there's specific things you guys do(perhaps something seemingly out of the ordinary) when preparing for a tournament. I have one I'm super excited for sunday that I feel I can *feasibly* do well in(somewhat-matchup dependent cause it's like 30 people and we bring the cheese). Just getting out of the hobby touch up phase and contemplating making like a cheat sheet for my army. 

[hivefleetkerrigan]

I've only participated in a semi competitive league at a LGS, but I usually organize strategem cards by phase so they're a bit easier to keep track of. That way, I can see if there's a rarely used strategem that fits the situation.

If you're playing a psychic heavy list, it also helped me to cut out index cards that I could place on each unit. Makes it easier to keep track of who can cast what.

One of my opponent's had index cards for statlines and such for each unit. I think that really helped keep track of the units function for everyone. (Granted we we're both playing nids so it was less helpful that game)

[tomcaet]

Have your rules, (maybe rulebook, Chapter Approved) and FAQs for them (Designer's Commentary and Stepping into a New Edition too), rules for the missions and other event rules, tools (dice, tape, maybe counters for CP, statuses and other), something to write on and with (for counting points, maybe other notes). A readable roster of your army, maybe in several copies for you and your opponents to use.

Take your army, too. With extra models you might need (last time I remembered Spore Mines but missed the crew for a cannon, managed to replace them with other spares I brought though).

Next time I'll probably also take some sugary drink with me. I tend to skip on drink and food at such events so it'd be reasonable.

[mule]

Yeah bring snacks.

Honestly if youre going for wins its a lot of thinking and you do become fatigued. Bring food and drinks even if some is supplied.

Bring multiples of your lists so you can just give them to your opponent.

Dont be scared to ask your opponent to see their codex if you dont believe a rule or a unit to be true and expect the same.

Most importantly have fun!

[kazetanade]

Fun? At a tournament?? Hogwash! =P

I'd say bring lots of water; sugary drinks give you a short term spike then you feel worse than before taking it. Water and keeping hydrated throughout the day keeps you awake and alert, without the resulting crash for the last game of the day.

Have a way of keeping track of spells on who, and effects on who. Manual memory works but your opponent might contest that. Having little indicators or the spell cards help. I would bring a set of dice specifically to be used as indicators, if I need to track enemy's spells.

Remember your standard Strategems always; having a checklist helps. I checklist my movement phases to remember what I havent moved. Remembering seldom used strategems by using cards is ok as well, it's a good suggestion.

Remember certain gimmicks or tricks of the major codexes and the main phases of the game. People may intentionally or unintentionally misremember some things, so if you're familiar you can catch them off guard (and sometimes that misremembering basically costs them their game). Exercise your rights to call the TO if the opponent is not being reasonable in resolving issues. Dont be bullied into letting things slide, unless you know how to bully them back when you need to.

[irondreddknight]

Just a suggestion that I haven’t seen anyone else say. Take some glue, just in case of any accidental broken models.

[devilrules]

I usually go out the night before and get hammered, then struggle the whole day.

its lile a self imposed handicap

[cypheon]

It's been a solid 10 years since my last "more than 20 attendees" tournament, but the best pieces of advice i ever got was back in highschool...

Relax. Don't stress out over a mistake in deployment, or a die roll not going your way. The quicker you stop letting such things bother you, the quicker (in-game) you can recover from them.

If yo do make a mistake, don't draw attention to it. 9 times out of 10 people will think you chose not to move, or shot "the wrong target" on purpose, as a set up to a trap and they will make their own mistakes trying to avoid it. If you blurt out "oh no i meant to move that unit"... you just handed that round to your opponent.

[mattblowers]

Jun 23, 2018 21:32:01 GMT cypheon said:

If yo do make a mistake, don't draw attention to it. 9 times out of 10 people will think you chose not to move, or shot "the wrong target" on purpose, as a set up to a trap and they will make their own mistakes trying to avoid it. If you blurt out "oh no i meant to move that unit"... you just handed that round to your opponent.

I'll disagree on this one. I take the opposite approach. I talk everything out loud as to what I'm doing and what my intention is whilst I'm playing. It solves tons of issues and arguments later. You don't hand an opponent a round when you admit you made a mistake, you hand them the round when you make the mistake itself. A good opponent knows when you made a mistake. A mediocre player might get caught off guard by your secret plan, but a top player knows what's up already. Gimmicks might win a game here or there, but they won't win you any tournaments.

Most important rule: have fun. If it's not fun, you wasted your day. If you feel a game going sidewise and fear it is a lost cause, don't concede. Pick a new objective just for you (kill a specific character, defend an objective, control a table quarter, etc) and play for that. It keeps you involved in the game and having fun and I've pulled a few of these out and won. Most memorable GT game was when my opponent asked me if I would like to concede on the bottom of turn 1 after I had an especially bad run of luck. I said, no let's play it out and see what happens. My dice got hot and I tabled him on turn 5. Most satisfying win ever.

[harleyxjguy]

I like to make sure my beer cooler is well stocked.

[nidzy]

Jun 23, 2018 15:14:37 GMT devilrules said:

I usually go out the night before and get hammered, then struggle the whole day.

its lile a self imposed handicap

^^^me at LVO, all weekend.