How competitive should I be for my first big tournament?

[Paulo187]

So far I have only gone to a couple of 400 point Combat Patrol tournaments at my local game store but I've never gone to an actual large event. I've decided that its time to leave my comfort zone and take a risk! I just signed up for the 1,750 point Warhammer 40k Championships at the Las Vegas Open in February! I'm pretty excited. I'm also worried.

I'm not a complete fluff bunny but I have never been comfortable with using spam lists, bringing triple Helldrakes, or having Space Marines with Xenos allies. Come to think of it maybe that does make me a fluff bunny. Either way, I can't bring myself to use the latest netlist since I'm not a WAAC player. I play to have fun but I don't consider getting tabled in turn two to be fun so I try to be at least semi-competitive.

Now my concern is just how competitive is the Las Vegas Open? Just how cut throat is this crowd? Should I screw my principles and bring the most competitive hardcore list I can think of? Am I being stupid for not min-maxing and spamming the most efficient choice. What do you guys think? What has been your experience at these events?

[Auticus]

Is your goal to compete or is your goal purely to play and have fun?

If its to compete, you will need to learn the power of list building since list building weighs so heavily in games in a min/max environment. If you are just looking to play and have a good time, take whatever you have fun with.

[Popsical]

Chat to some folks who went last year. If you get smashed every game you will regret bothering to spend the time and money. Then again you don't want to be seen as "that guy" with the uber, spam, beard, netlist, instant win, push button army either.
Its a balancing act, good luck tho.

[DarkLink]

I'm probably not taking my most competitve army. I feel like playing my Grey Knights rather than my much more competitive Eldar.

Edit: this is the first Las vegas Open, but Reece and Frankie are basically doing the same stuff as they did for the last three Bay Area Opens, which were awesome. So don't worry too much. There will be plenty of more casual armies out there, so at the worst you lose a game or two then end up with the softer armies in the lower ranks, but that doesn't mean the game can't still be fun.

[mathhammer]

re: Popsical
I think your comment is ........
re: Paulo187
It's a tournament, there is money on the table. You go to these for 1 of two 2 reasons.
1) You want the experience.
2) You want to win.

In either case you have fun, meet new people, see new armies. YOU must answer the only ONE question that matters,

Do you want to try to win and get the prizes?

If the answer is yes, then design your best army, play test it, practice and be ready to play hard. If the answer is no it doesn't matter what you bring. There is no "that guy", that is like saying the guy that wins the painting prize is "that guy" because h/she uses an airbrush. It's a competition, you bring your best, do your best, other wise you insult yourself and your opponent.

note: This applies if your going for a painting prize or some other prize.

[DarkLink]

There are also over 200 people signed up right now. There'll be a crowd for everyone, hardcore competitors and fluff bunnies alike.

[Ursa]

Ive played in a lot of tournies in my day and placed highly in the vast majority including a couple GTs in the day, the key has always been "how important is the sportsmanship score".

If there is none, all bets are off! Tau riptides with marine librarians are a go!

If its at least 15% of score then fluffer butter away! Six troop choices and a single heavy comin at 'cha.

The biggest and first thing to remember is this is your fitrst tourney. Odds are your going to get crushed. Everyone does their first time out. So I would go fluffy have fun and give it your all.

A few years back I went to a tourney in a suit of chainmail armor coif included. I didn't expect to win a game it was last minute hadn't plated in a while and was using an unproven list. I lost the first game. Tied second. Won the rest. Placed sixth overall and tied for first in sportsmanship. My prize was nearly as good as overall champ. So u see attitude is everything. Go to have fun and the rest will follow.

[Rogue428]

Paulo187. I'm happy to hear you decided to dive in and go to the Vegas Open. It's going to be an absolute blast. I'm heading there myself and I can't wait. I attend a lot of national tourneys, here's the rules I use to ensure I have a good time.

1. Are you going there to win? Forget it. You're not going to. I don't care how good you think you are or even how good you really are. You're not going to win. Good. Now that we've gotten that bit out of the way. We can have fun. Yes winning is fun. But if you're going just for the prize support (as good as it is) just stay home and buy the stuff, it's cheaper than going to Vegas.
2. Have fun. Approach every game as if it is a pick-up game with a new opponent and a chance to make a new friend. You will run into people who are really intense, especially in the first round. That's because people think they can win. They can't. Out of 200+ people, there's maybe place categories for 4 people...maybe 8 if they stretch it. After the first round, finishing in the top 8 is very long odds. Plan on playing in the doubles tourney or some other activity on Sunday. Some people might make the top 8, but it won't be you and it won't be me. So we might as well have a good time of it.
3. Make up a mini-objective only you know about. Maybe it's to kill the other guy's warlord, maybe it's just not to get tabled (sad to say, that's mine a lot of the time), this lets you still have fun and pull out a moral victory when you're getting handled. And you're going to get handled. It happens to everyone.
4. Forget what happened in the previous game. Treat every single game as if it is the first one and fresh start. If you're on a losing streak, don't let it affect your mood. If you're on a winning streak, just play the current game. The past games only matter for folks who have a shot at the top tables. We don't remember? So just play and have a blast.
5. Participate in everything you can. That's the big allure of these national events versus a local RTT, there's just so much to do. It is a crazy weekend of gaming and good times with 200+ other 40K Nerds. It is awesome.
6. Sportsmanship is clutch. That means your own too. Don't let other people harsh your buzz. Having a good time IS in your power and under YOUR control.
7. You're going to face some cheesy broken netlist. Fine. It happens. Nothing you can do about it. Move on, go for your secret mission. Move on to the next game.

I look forward to seeing you there.

[Mr Mystery]

It's entirely down to you. We play the same game, but my hobby is not your hobby, and vice versa.

Play how you want skip