What is "Competitive Gaming" and Why I Feel 40k Never Has Been

[Popsical]

let me guess player 2? I like monsterous creatures and they seem fairly in vogue.

Player 4 wins the most as you'd expect.

The only player who isn't competitive is player 2.

I am player 1 and i play to win every game, the problem is that my armies MUST be fluffy or i have no interest in them and thus don't care about them and they get sold or never finished. I also will never spam units as i find duplication boring.

Player 2 almost never wins a game, but he just likes to play the game, so he is generally happy to plod along. He is just not a competitive gamer and so wont push to win. This is not good if your in a team with him tho lol.

Player 3 has zero attention span by his own admission and cant focus for more than a week on any one army, thus he loses big when he loses. He is competitive like me, and his constant buying of the newest and best units/ codex's allows him some wins from time to time.

Player 4 almost never paints his models, doesn't give a rats bottom what they look like (they sometimes are not even built totally). He also only uses the best units in each army EVERY time and his army build for each army remains static for years on end. This combination of repeated use of an army that doesn't change (means refined tactics), and the best optimum unit configurations, allows him to win big style lots. He either gets tabled or does the tabling.

From this you can see that being a "competitive" gamer means little, its how far you take the construction of your army that can make or break the game. GW simply doesn't care so the gamer's themselves have too. This is'nt going to change anytime soon.
We deal with it and i dare say other groups do too. We cant change ourselves or player 4's style, we just begrudgingly accept it and move on to the next game.

[Auticus]

Actually you can challenge yourself if you put down that deathstar/spam list, and try a fluffy/odd list where you have to fight to overcome your own weaknesses.

Back when Mechwarrior clicks was hot I was the dominate player in my area for a while. I always played faction pure but even then I could create powerful faction lists that dominated the field as my oppenants were less skilled.

One solution was to build joke lists that just had some silly theme or strange combo of units. Then I tried to win... Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't... to this day my best memories was my "Farmer's revolt" list that was purely agromechs, unarmored infantry, and some not MBT vees. It was a challenge to me as I had to build a list with heavy restrictions that took away my favored options and forced me to play something I was not comfortable with... and I had a blast!

I agree. This is something I started doing years ago and it made my games more challenging, more fun for the challenge, and my games less lopsided. The downside is that against other people rocking min/max lists that I have little chance of having a good game but in the non tournament world you can choose to not play against those types of things.

[lantzkev]

I'm sorry you have an area so one dimensional that player 2-3 can't ever beat 4.

It'd odd though, when I build my 2k list for a local tournament, I use the best units or go buy them... and then I paint them. My list hasn't been static, because the best has changed, and the rules have changed and impacted the best.

That is my 2k list, you'll notice three forgeworld models, yvarna, rvarna, and r'lai. I use the sensor towers with them magnetized to represent a void shield relay (but with a tau look), and as shields go down I pop off a sensor, or put em up as they come back up.

[Popsical]

I'm sorry you have an area so one dimensional that player 2-3 can't ever beat 4.

It'd odd though, when I build my 2k list for a local tournament, I use the best units or go buy them... and then I paint them. My list hasn't been static, because the best has changed, and the rules have changed and impacted the best.

That is my 2k list, you'll notice three forgeworld models, yvarna, rvarna, and r'lai. I use the sensor towers with them magnetized to represent a void shield relay (but with a tau look), and as shields go down I pop off a sensor, or put em up as they come back up.

You read my posts thoroughly then? Nope. I did write that player 4 wins over 50%. You state "cant beat ever".

[HERO]

Actually you can challenge yourself if you put down that deathstar/spam list, and try a fluffy/odd list where you have to fight to overcome your own weaknesses.

Back when Mechwarrior clicks was hot I was the dominate player in my area for a while. I always played faction pure but even then I could create powerful faction lists that dominated the field as my oppenants were less skilled.

One solution was to build joke lists that just had some silly theme or strange combo of units. Then I tried to win... Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't... to this day my best memories was my "Farmer's revolt" list that was purely agromechs, unarmored infantry, and some not MBT vees. It was a challenge to me as I had to build a list with heavy restrictions that took away my favored options and forced me to play something I was not comfortable with... and I had a blast!

Except I don't see imbalanced matchups as a challenge... hence why there's better games to play if I truly want to be competitive.

[Auticus]

Except I don't see imbalanced matchups as a challenge... hence why there's better games to play if I truly want to be competitive.

This is precisely why I feel 40k has never been a game meant to be played "competitively".

[lantzkev]

it's called exaggeration for effect, you've got a terrible argument and I did read it, it's pretty easy to thoroughly read a 12 sentence paragraph. My point is this, that army is "all the new stuff" it's well painted, it's fluffy, I enjoy playing the game...

Trying to paint with broad strokes your picture of how the world is, is ridiculous. People can be all of those things at once if they are inclined, and even change depending on the format.

with friends and casual games with nothing on the line? Fluff bunny have fun don't care.
in a league? competitive, but I adjust for who I'm playing with.
in a tournament with prize support? WAAC hardcore buy what I need to make it win... but I'll paint it all up and make it look great at the same time.

From this you can see that being a "competitive" gamer means little, its how far you take the construction of your army that can make or break the game.

No from that all I can see is that some work harder at their army and winning than others. A competitive player, and all warhammer 40k players that go to tournaments and want to win, know list construction is the first step to victory. The second, third, fourth etc, are how you play it and set it up.

If you don't like a game with the variables this game has, that's fine, but it doesn't mean it's not competitive.

You argument is bad, and you should feel bad.

[Popsical]

You miss my point completely. My point is that it IS competitive, but that there are so many types of player with so many variables involved that its pretty impossible not to have balance issues and thus problems. Very few players of any game dont play to win, so how could it not be competitive.
Im interested to hear how a player can be of a "must be painted" and a "hardly ever painted" at the same time etc.
Player 1 and player 4 are at total opposites of the wargaming spectrum in almost every respect.

[Path Walker]

I'm sorry you have an area so one dimensional that player 2-3 can't ever beat 4.

It'd odd though, when I build my 2k list for a local tournament, I use the best units or go buy them... and then I paint them. My list hasn't been static, because the best has changed, and the rules have changed and impacted the best.

That is my 2k list, you'll notice three forgeworld models, yvarna, rvarna, and r'lai. I use the sensor towers with them magnetized to represent a void shield relay (but with a tau look), and as shields go down I pop off a sensor, or put em up as they come back up.

Well done, I bet you're great fun to play against

[Popsical]

I like the way "I should feel bad", why?
I wont spend an endless stream of cash just to keep winning by buying the best to be the best?