Saturday, October 9, 2010

This Is One Busy Quarter for Tourneys!


Unless I got it wrong, this is one busy quarter as far as wargames tournaments go in Malaysia.

We got some expectedly fierce FoW action going on today with an 1800pt Mid War Monsters tournament (of mayhem). October 30th is Hobby Forge's 500pt WFB tournament (great excuse to paint your next or first 500pts of Old World harbingers of mayhem). November 13th is the annual Legio 40k tournament, and this year we're building on the epic Ghemehaal mythos (and this time it's 1500pts of mayhem - plus free troops!). And for a change of air (fresher I think), there's Just Wargames' 1750pt 40k tourney in Sabah on December 5th. Did I miss anything?

Looks like the wargames hobby is starting to heat up again in Malaysia - or is it? I noticed over the past 10 years that when it comes to tournaments, there are broadly four kinds of wargamers, from my point of view:

Type 1: Waaaargh!!!! Just the excuse I need to build and paint a new army! I know, I'll theme it after an Imperial Navy boarding party so most of the troops are conscript sailors with a core of veteran armsmen, painted in the colors of Battlefleet Obscurus, circa M38.2237!

Type 2: Waaaargh!!!! This is going to be a blast! New opponents to play against! New interesting diabolical scenarios and themes! Great games on kick ass terrain! New models to paint! Woohoo, is this fun or what?!

Type 3: Waaaargh!!!! Kill 'em all!!! Must get into training now! Where's my great tome of meta-game stats? My models all got 3 colors on them right?

Type 4: Wah, got tournament ah? Shy la. I'm not so good. I lose most of my games. My army still not finished painting yet ... etc.

Okay, maybe there are more than 4 types, but hey, this is not an empirical thesis for a Harvard MBA. There's nothing wrong with the view of each of the above - simply because it's always and ever will be your hobby. You get out of it what you want to get out of it, and it usually has to do with what you put into it.

Having said that, I do have some thoughts for the Type 4 people.

If you are a Type 4, trust me, there's nothing to be shy about. Wargames tournaments are not sporting events, and it's not just about winning or losing (of course, it's nice to win, but it's not the end-all be-all of wargames tourneys). And don't worry if you don't think your painting is not good enough (the Type 3 people never think about that, lol) - the point of painting your army for the tournament is the sense of achievement you get for actually getting your army fully-painted. It's your work, and nobody can take that away from you, and you should rightly be proud of it (also, tourneys are probably the best catalyst for people - me included - to finish painting an army on time). What's important is that you have FUN. And the fun is in preparing your army for the tournament, the anticipation of the coming big day, the playing with people you've never played against before, etc. So go sign up for the next one!

Anyways, that's my thought for the day. Wargames tournaments, just like the wargames community and hobby in general, lives and breathes on your involvement. The more people get involved, the better the hobby gets. And playing in tourneys is one of the easiest and fun ways to get involved. Maybe next time we'll talk about other, more effort-heavy, ways to get involved in the hobby.

12 comments:

  1. Wise words Azlan. I remember my first tourney with my dreadfully painted altansar eldars. I was such a newbie :) But i had a BLAST!!! Had so much fun!!!

    Yes i was shy to join. Shy that my painting was so bad, shy that i didnt know all the rules, shy that i didnt remember all my army's stats and had to keep refering back to the codex....etc.

    But i'm glad i joined. My opponents recognized that i was new to the game and were super friendly and supportive during the tournament. And i believe most players will have shared the same experience i had during their first tourneys.

    Never a better time than now to experience a tourney environment, trust me :).

    I've come to enjoy more the wargamming hobby after that first tourney. Meeting new friends, getting inspired to improve my painting, talking hobby stuffs and tactics, late nite drinks at the mamaks. Man ohh man i miss Hobby Nites!!

    Love from Bangkok.

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  2. Nice post dude! I laughed reading "Type 1". Sounded a bit too familiar lol...

    Khairul, good to hear from you dude. How's Legio Thailand going...? ;)

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  3. I am torn between being a Type 2 or Type 3. I have a kick ass Type 3 Emperor's Guard Army which I am sure will demolish all opposition. But I am building a fun Type 2 army which won't probably win me any games but would be great for the sheer fun of it......then again winning is fun too...

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  4. i think im 2.5. just like type 2 but add in: the one who comes to meet friends and talk crap for giggles and embarrass myself.

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  5. actually arzmi, i don't really have a "type" for the ][ ... no need to risk exterminatus unneccesarily ... lol

    I range between Type 1 and 3 myself

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  6. Bro, you forgot the Type 5- The HuuHaas!
    Comes once in awhile, then missing for a long time. Then come back again. But when he comes, there is always a lot of HuuHaa!
    I think I fall in this category.

    HuuHaa(Huu'Haa) noun - 1.To make incomprehensible noise. 2. Noise that the baboons make. The HuuHaas - A group of people who make a HuuHaa. (Wikipedia)

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  7. wolf is also doin a newbie tourney end of this month.

    cookie

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  8. thanks for the update cookie ... get him to mail us details and we'll post it in the calendar ... btw, are you playing in any of these tourneys?

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  9. Yup, still negotiating with Wolf to enter that tourney. I think I still qualify as a newbie.

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  10. yo, this be da link
    http://wolfgameshop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1484&start=0
    :)

    cookie

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  11. Back then at the late GC, I remember me and Dann always encouraged the kids over there to join Legio Tournaments. Not only were they good enough for it, we also believe it will be a very good hobby experience for them, especially for their half-painted armies. Dont know what happened to them now (except for Shaun whom I fought to a draw a couple weeks back)

    As for myself, I used to be Type 3. All for the win. Damn it was stressfull. But now I'm more of Type 2 i guess. All for the fun of it. Too bad I can't join any tourney this time around.

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