40k Tournament Armies

[Primarch]

Last week there was an event in the USA called WarGames Con and at the convention there was a massive 40k Tournament. A blogger who runs a website called Strictly Average got some photos of the armies that were there and you can view them here.

Looking through the pictures I can see some really really horrible armies. Dont get me wrong, the paint jobs and conversion work are all very well done. What I mean is the army builds. IG 'Leaf Blowers,' Eldar Lists containing nothing except Fire Prisms, Wave Serpents with 5 avengers in them and a seer council. Blood Angels with Predator/Razorback spam. Yuck. I wouldn't want to play against most of them and I certainly wouldn't want to play with most of them. If this is what I can expect at big tournaments, I'm glad I dont go to them.

I know that some members of this site are big fans of tournaments, but I really dont see the appeal of playing the game like this. I like variety in my games, I like balance and flexibility. Going to a convention and seeing nothing but lines of Chimeras all day just doesn't seem like fun.

[frans]

I agree, that is why I really dislike "themed" armies. 1 is balanced, 2 is spam and 3 is a theme.

If you would live in a more hobby active country you would have more kind of tournament to choose from. I have been to.

Completely free - everything goes
Limited lists ex. only one unit of nob bikers
Subjective komp - each list is reviewed and a point is set
Komp limit - no list is allowed a komp bellow a limit
Komp - depending on your opponent you get extra points or loose points

Generally I think that you opinion is mostly found at people that has never attended large tournaments.

[Admiral-Badruck]

I think that is the main thing most people that have never been to a big tournament don't really understand the appeal and other think that must be a blast... from what I can tell some people just like to go and hang out they could careless it they win and with the swiss ranking they are normally moved the lower tables where they get to play with folks that are like minded. All I know is what is fun for one is not really fun for all there is no way around it... I for one just like having a laugh and taking armies that I have not really building an army to get the best out of it... I guess on more thing to think about is. As long as you ar having fun play in tournaments if it is not fun then do not bother with it.

[Spevna]

I agree, that is why I really dislike "themed" armies. 1 is balanced, 2 is spam and 3 is a theme.

If you would live in a more hobby active country you would have more kind of tournament to choose from. I have been to.

Completely free - everything goes
Limited lists ex. only one unit of nob bikers
Subjective komp - each list is reviewed and a point is set
Komp limit - no list is allowed a komp bellow a limit
Komp - depending on your opponent you get extra points or loose points

Generally I think that you opinion is mostly found at people that has never attended large tournaments.

I agree with your point in general but I don't agree that "themed" is necessarily negative.

I am building a themed Ork army, the theme being an Oddboyz Warband. I am planning on having;

HQ -Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun
HQ - WeirdBoy

Elite - Burna Boyz with a Mek
Elite - Lootaz with a Mek

Troop - Deff Dredd
Troop - Lots of Grotz

Fast - DeffKoptaz
Fast - Buggyz

Heavy - Looted Tanks

I think this has a theme. There are no boyz as none would be seen dead with a bunch of oddboyz. Every unit has some kind of connection to oddboyz (the deffkoptas and buggys were built by Meks, the looted tanks stolen by lootas).

A lot of people say theme as a way of excusing/hiding there spammy armies, I do agree with you there. But themed can also make for an interesting looking army that is also interesting and fun to play with/against.

[The Other Dave]

Heck, my themed army for WHFB is borderline crippled!

[Primarch]

Heck, my themed army for WHFB is borderline crippled!

After hearing a particularly annoying phrase bandied around the interent a lot, I've always wondered, is losing a theme too?

The Smurfs may not be the best theme ever, but they are Smurfing cool to see on the battlefield.

[frans]

A lot of people say theme as a way of excusing/hiding there spammy armies, I do agree with you there. But themed can also make for an interesting looking army that is also interesting and fun to play with/against.

As long as people use the complete armyllist when they create there themed army. I think that a Khorne army is a very poor theme and a nurgleinfested deamonarmy is a good theme. Using a limited part of a codex is not a theme.

[Admiral-Badruck]

Hard not to take that personaly mate I think there is nothing wrong with one god chaos armies they are reall one dimentional and 1D armies are papper rock scissors at a torunament same goes with frendly games if some one knows I am bringing daemons they can be sure there will be plenty of bloodletters both in FB And 40k. I take the models I have and the ones I like. I have not really done well in tournaments since the one I organized a few years back. As long as one plays for fun who am I to say their army is cheese. Or over powered.

[Colonel Voss]

The spirit in which things are done should be factored in.

Using the demons, if someone thinks Khorne rocks and wants and all khorny army with all the good and bad mixed in, then its a themed army. If they do it just to get the best of the best, then you will probably get the spam. One person does it for the enjoyment of the hobby, another to get a competitive edge.

Limiting your troop choices alone doesn't make it a theme, but if a story is added on in addition to the limits, then yeah it would be themed (my Minotaurs come to mind here) and some armies like demons, a mono or two demon army works fine (slaanesh and tzeentch, the anti-nurgle and khorne army )

Likewise if a person brings three tac. squads, two captains and three dreads to the table because they were able to trade for three SM black reach sets to get their army together, then the spamming isn't as bad as those tournament players who specifically spam out the hardest units of their own volition.

My 40k armies all have some sort of theme attatched. I don't think any of them are over powered and all of them have restrictions in their list choices. If they are, it wasn't intentional and I'll downgrade if necessary. Then again, my first choice for FoW was Italians (Pikey talked me into doing LW instead so I got Fallschirmjager ) so I don't mind an against the odds fight. Uphill battles are actually quite fun. But if someone brought one of those spam armies, yeah I'd decline the fight; it just looks like a boring game from the onset.

[Spevna]

Using a limited part of a codex is not a theme.

Yes, it is.

So taking 2 meks, 2 Deff Dredds and 9 Killa Kans to represent a stompa mob isn't a theme?
Taking an all Termi SM army to represent a 1st company army isn't a theme?
So taking a Khorne Lord with nothing but Berserkers and Dreads isn't a theme?

You and I obviously have a very different view of what 'themed' means.