GW Grognard: The First Step is Always the Hardest

Hey everyone! Adam, from TFG Radio, here to hopefully bring more people into the fold (of competitive 40K).

I attend a fair number of tournaments. from the largest tournament in the world to the smallest RTT, especially during 6th edition. In the past, I ran a few myself but mainly focus on trying to do my best. There have been a lot of high and lows, excitement and disappointment. Through the good and bad I have enjoyed it all. I have met a lot of good people over the years, and still are friends with them 20+ years later. All this wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t make the decision to step into the world of competitive 40K.

Now, you have to remember this is in the late 90’s. I didn’t belong to a club, or team. There was really no store local to me and there were not a lot of RTTs in my area, at the time. When Games Workshop announced that they were having something called a “Grand Tournament” I decided to participate. I didn’t play because I thought I could win, I played because I just wanted to play games against people other than my younger brother. Once I got my first taste of tournament play, I was hooked. I started attending 40K events at least once a month. At one point I was attending an event every weekend, as I was also playing in tournaments for Games Workshop’s other game systems, like Warhammer Fantasy, Battlefleet:Gothic, and Blood Bowl. Although i took a bit of a break, I did come back and immediately started playing tournaments and leagues again. There have been other benefits besides making new friends and seeing old ones. Playing in tournaments has helped to keep me working on my armies. I hate playing in tournaments with an unpainted army. As a result, if I want to use a certain unit or army I will move heaven and earth in order to make that army the standard of the tournament I am attending. If I didn’t go to tournaments my armies would probably still be grey plastic.

Why tell you all this? It is really to show you the possibilities of playing in a tournament. Is there a down side? Of course. You read and hear about all the horror stories that have occurred both recently and in the past. In fact, at that very first tournament that I went to, there were a couple of players that went out of their way to get kicked out of the tournament. It didn’t affect my enjoyment of the event and obviously hasn’t soured my enjoyment of tournaments. In anything you want to do there will always be those that bring a negative experience. This doesn’t just happen in competitive play as I have seen plenty of non-competitve players act in ways that would be an embarrassment if it happened at a tournament. Will you get your teeth kicked in? Probably, but when you get your first victory, or even get close to winning a local event, it can greatly increase your enjoyment of the event. Don’t be afraid of taking that first step. Go with friends if you need their support and even to support them as you experience your first tournament. “Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.”

That’s all for this week, I hope you enjoyed the read. Let me know your thoughts, and your first experince in a tournament, 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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