Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: Why Should You Change Armies?
Goatboy here with tips on why you should change 40K armies.
Being a competitive player this is something I think about all the time. The idea of creating, building, painting, and playing with what most consider is a good army. It is the idea that to be truly competitive you need to have the best tools in the game available to compete on the battlefield of 40k. This is also a pretty great undertaking unless you are one of those players that always has – well everything ready to go at all times. Which isn’t most of us at this point as armies shift, change, and get more expensive. Changing 40K armies is just part of the game from time to time.
Watching the Meta
So what do you do? Do you go for the newest hotness knowing that it might get nerfed into the ground? Are you willing to throw it all on a credit card knowing it might to stay relevant due to a new release, update, or just shift in how the game is played? Is it better to just pick an army you like that is hopefully decent enough to win some games with?
All of these questions haunt competitive players as they try to come to terms with the thought that – gasp – you could lose the game. Personally I have moved away from the constant 40K army switching as I find having the time to build/paint/design is a lot less and then trying to find any time to practice makes it hard to get good with something that is considered to be good. In fact – as we speak I plan on playing the next two events with the same type of army I took to my last one and not just shift and jump around. I feel like it is time for me to really concentrate as much as I can on a single style of list and get good with it versus trying to utilize a tricky choice or an off-the-wall idea to get me a better winning percentage.
RESIST! RESIST!
The Allure of the Bandwagon
Now I know GW is there to sell models so having new stuff come out that is good is relevant to how they do business. I also know that I am someone that can knock out models fast enough to be a bandwagon jumper if I wanted too. But I don’t think it is worth it nearly as much. Grabbing what is considered the best and winning with it isn’t always the best representative of skill you might want to be known as a good player. I think coming to an event with something a bit harder might make you stronger player even when you lose.
What Is Your Actual Goal?
I have told you my goal for most events is to win more than I lose and maybe make the top 8. Heck even if I don’t it usually means I get some time to talk to friends beyond the after dinner arrangements or hangouts where we end up drinking a bit and theory crafting some kind of new nonsense. This goal means I can come to an event looking for a good time and hopefully giving a good game to each of my opponents as I shove whatever nonsense I built these last few weeks and slapped some paint on.
I advise all players to sit down and think about what they want when they got to a tournament. Then they need to think about is it actually doable by their play skill. Really think about if you can win the whole thing. Do you have the time to stay to play all the rounds? Are you going to be mentally wrecked on that last day after playing some Shadow Rounds versus other Shadow Ninjas to make it to finals? Is it going to be worth it for you to play that “on” for all those rounds to make it in the end?
Remember Why You Came In the First Place
I think expectations are always something we need to carry with us when getting to the table. The expectations to have a good time, give a good game, and see something cool. If that includes winning your game then awesome. If that doesn’t conclude with a win than that is cool too because you hopefully had a good game. It is what we hope is the outcome as GW looks at more balances and other things as we continue having events that are keeping the competitive drive alive in 40k.
So if you see me in my next two upcoming events – the GW Austin GT and the FLG New Orleans Open come say hi and tell me what how you did in the event. And if you see me as your opponent give me a high five (and be prepared to face the wrath of my Dreadknights)!
