40K: San Diego Game Empire GT Review

Hey everyone, Reece here again from Frontline Gaming to talk about the San Diego Game Empire GT I recently last weekend.

First of all a big thanks to Game Empire San Diego and to Dave Fay for putting on this really fun event. You guys did a great job! I am offering up some critiques here, but I want to be crystal clear in saying that I really enjoyed the event and this is my way of offering up feedback to possibly help improve things.

This event was capped at 34 players due to space issues, but the skill level there was VERY high. 8 of the top 50 players in America (according to RHQ) were present, and some of the regulars there are easily good enough to be in the top 50, they just aren’t able to go to the big events to get the points needed to rank (which I am sure many of you reading this article can relate to).

The event used a modified Bay Area Open scoring format. The BAO uses all 3 book missions simultaneously with alternating book deployments. The player winning more of the missions wins the game. This event assigned 4 points for an achieved objective, 2 for a tied objective and 0 for a lost objective, meaning you could get between 0 and 12 battle points per game. Battle points allow players to feel like a loss doesn’t disqualify from victory you outright. However, it still encourages the absolute smashing of your opponent to achieve maximum points.

This was also a soft score event, meaning that your paint and sportsmanship score factored into your total score. We’ve talked about the pros and cons of this until we’re blue in the face, so I will just touch on the ups and downs of this type of scoring system quickly. With battle points weighing in at 60pts, Paint at 25pts, and Sports 25pts, soft scores account for 46% of your total score.

Soft scores were determined after your 5^th round game. You ranked all of your opponents on paint and sports between 1 and 5. You HAD to give out every number, so someone was getting a 1 and someone was getting a 5, etc. This forces players to stratify the field by not just handing out all 5’s as often happens (and therefore making the scores less meaningful), but it also forces you to give one of your opponents a low score, even if they didn’t really deserve it.

The other downside to this type of system, and the one that I dislike most, is that if you aren’t a really outgoing person, or have a very nicely painted army, your odds of winning are very low as you start the event down on points. I don’t think anyone should be punished for not being sociable or a talented painter. A simple fix to this is having a Best General, Best Hobbyist, Best Sportsman and Best Overall award and having each score separate from the others (apart from Best Overall of course). There was a Best Paint, and Best Sports award, but they went to the players who did not already have a Best Overall 1-3 award.

However, like I said, it was a great event and I like both Competitive and Soft Score style events, I simply prefer competitive style events from a philosophical perspective (although I have won more Soft Score events, which always amuses me!).

The event itself also produced some interesting data. The top finishers according to combined scores were:

11.)    My Footdar

22.)    Warboss Russ’ Battlewagon Orks

33.)    Dirty Hippy’s Green Tide Orks

44.)    LaJollaGrad’s Tyranids

55.)    Junior’s Blood Angels

66.)    GeoffZ’s Battlewagon Orks

77.)    Kevin’s Crons (mixed Scarab Farm)

88.)    Grimgob’s Battlewagon Orks

99.)    Braulio’s Draigowing

110.) Nilbert’s Draigowing

That’s a spread that will shock the internet pundits if ever there was one! I managed to take Best Overall despite only having 3^rdmost Battle Points because I tied for first in Paint Points and had above average Sports Points. Going strictly off of Battle Points, which is a more objective metric we have:

11.)    Junior’s Blood Angels and GeoffZ’s Battle Wagon Orks at 56

22.)    Blackmoor’s Draigowing at 52

33.)    My Footdar at 50

44.)    Warboss Russ’ Battlewagon Orks and Mortetvie’s Mechdar at 46

55.)    The Dirty Hippy’s Green Tide Orks, Nilbet’s Draigowing, Dok’s Mixed Grey Knights at 44

That still knocks conventional internet wisdom right on its butt, which I love. Nothing pleases me more than seeing good players win with “bad” lists. Orks taking the most victories beating out Grey Knights! Orks just stink, right? Ah man, I love beating that dead horse! Eldar in there too, still competing despite all the net-hate to the contrary.

The point that I strive to make over and over is that any army can and will be competitive in the right hands. Don’t let the talking heads on the net (who more often than not, have never actually won anything themselves) convince you that your idea for a list is bad. Try it yourself and see what happens, you may be pleasantly surprised! The best players in the country, most of whom don’t talk a big game as they are busy actually winning events, will say the same thing: a good player can and will win with an army from any book that they have built and fine tuned themselves over time. There are very rarely “garbage” and “auto-include” choices as the hyperbolic internet likes to say, simply more and less efficient choices dependent on overall list construction and play style.

So walk your own path and be an innovator instead of an imitator! 

Here is a brief video recap of the event to see the tables, armies and opponents I played. Be warned though! There is some mildly NSFW content in the video.