Bravo Goatboy and COMP in 40K

Hey gang, I wanted to let you guys know about a wonderful article over at BOLS. Goatboy over at Bell of Lost Souls put up a great article today on how not to be a gaming douche! I love it, it is a great article and I highly suggest you give it a read:

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/05/goatboys-40k-thoughts-how-not-to-be.html

One of the things that he said that I especially agree with is that bringing a hard as nails list to a tournament, not a friendly game, a tournament mind you, is not being a douche, how you play that list is. I could not agree more!

Personally myself I do not feel that COMP has any place whatsoever in the game of 40K. GW, while they have made some mistakes and left a few units and rules out there that are capable of abusing holes in the 5th edition rule set, has done a fairly good job at keeping the game balanced, all things considered. If there is any kind of COMP structure that I would agree with, it would be a tiered point bump for obviously weaker armies, and not restrictions on armies that someone feels is unfair. For example, my poor beloved Necrons are far too weak in the 5th edition game to be competitive. We all know it. But what if in a 1750 tournament, they received a 200 point bonus? All of a sudden, maybe they could compete. Now, this is a loose system and I do not believe we should ever COMP 40K, but if we do, we need to bump up the weaker armies and not drag down those we deem as stronger. Those who claim that the 'Leaf-blower' lists, brought to you by BOLS, should be COMPed out of 40K are not being realistic.

I feel differently when I play for fun and when I play competitively. Fun is just that, fun. I could care less if I win, lose, or draw the game. I just want to have a good time with hopefully a friend or a new friend. Fun games is when I pull out those units I never use just to see how they do, or where I try out new tactics that I am unsure of. I do not take those games seriously at all, and neither should my opponent.

Tournaments are different, much different. It is a competition, it is meant to see on that day who is the best general, and I take that seriously. While I plan to have fun, and I hope you have fun too, I am there to smash in your face and place in the tournament. I could play my mom in a tournament and joke and laugh the whole time I am smashing her face in (my mom does not play 40K, yet...). I will not be a douche, I will have fun, I will joke around and laugh at my defeats and I will go out of my way to make sure my opponent is having as much fun as I am, but I play to win the game. So no list is to much, or too hard. If I get my head kicked in in a tournament by a list, I do not go home and cry about how unfair that list was. I develop new tactics, new strategies, and move to improve myself and my game. In the end, I am a much better player for it.

So think to yourself the next time you feel a list is 'broken'. Is it broken because it is obviously outside the rule set and not counter-able by anything anywhere, or is it that you were not prepared for it and you felt that your defeat to that list was unfair. Instead of claiming, 'we need to comp that', maybe go home, hit the lab, and build a better list to beat that list.