GW Grognard: There is always an exception

Hey everyone! Adam, from TFG Radio, here to to throw words on the wall and seeing what sticks!

If you read the previous week’s article, I talked about how we need to preserve and nurture the baby seals in our community in order to allow the community to grow. As with may rules, there are exceptions. Now, I did say we should shy away from laying into new players to the game, as it would deter them from continuing their journey into the game we loved called 40K. However, there is a place where you are relatively free to roam and, should you come upon a “baby seal”, are normally not shunned for laying into them with your ultra competitive army, Tournaments.

As you well know, I enjoy tournaments a lot. I normally don’t recommend tournaments for people that are just starting out, but sometimes you just have to jump in the deep end and either sink or swim. In a tournament setting I don’t want to say”all bets are off”, in regards to how much to step on the pedal when playing someone, but in this instance, that really is the case.

Unless otherwise stated, when a player signs up to a tournament they sign up knowing that the tournament is being run to establish a winner among all the participants. By attending a competitive tournament, they are allowing themselves to be in the cross-hairs of some of the more cutthroat lists that they may not have encountered yet. Although this may seem bad, at first, the baby seals should use this opportunity of being slaughtered to learn the games that they play, and hopefully grow from it, and decide if they want to continue down the rabbit hole of competitive 40K.  You can almost think of it as separating the wheat from the chaff for future 40K competitive players.

Its is very important that the baby seal is aware what may happen at the tournament and what they may encounter. If they expect it to be like when they play their buddies in the garage, they will have a miserable time. You may hear comments like, “Why did you bring that army?” or “Why are you such a bad person?” (These are actual quotes). These are comments indicative of someone that was totally unprepared for what awaited them in the tournament scene. One of my first tournaments was the first Los Angeles Grand Tournament in 2000. I didn’t do well, but I learned a lot and, although I got worked, I was hooked and have been playing competitive ever since. So, get out there with your clubs, and get those furs for your new coat!

That’s all for this week, I hope you enjoyed the read. Let me know your thoughts, and if you have any stories of either you “teaching” a baby seal in a tournament, or if you were the baby seal, in the comments section. Don’t forget to visit our Facebook, Twitch, and Patreon pages to stay up to date on what we’re up to and when episodes drop!

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