Which army do you use at tournaments and why?

[Chikout]

 After a conversation on twitter I got to thinking about army selection. I am curious about why people take particular armies to tournaments. Is it just to win, to have fun games, to create narrative moments, to show off your painting etc. 

So if you've been to a tournament in the last year or so , what army did you take and why did you take it?

Edited December 5, 2019 by Chikout

[Dolomyte]

In 2019 I’ve run Daughters, flesh eater courts, darkling covens, fyreslayers, big waagh, and will hopefully run bonereapers this weekend. 

I personally never play an army twice if I can top 20% of the event with it. ie top 2 in a 10 man or top 20 in a 100 man. I will run the same faction but it needs to be at least 50 percent different list construction wise, ie witches one time snakes the next. 

im more in the game to paint cool armies so I flip my stuff a lot.

 

[Double Misfire]

Cities of Sigmar. All I have painted, and I'm probably a closet 9th Age player.

[Eevika]

I currently play my Maggotkin of Nurgle. Its my best painted army and my strongest one. Those are pretty much the reasons I like winning best painted and some games. My main army is still Gitz but as it was my first one it isnt as nicely painted and well its gitz so it sucks ass in tournaments. 

[Skreech Verminking]

7 hours ago, Chikout said:

 After a conversation on twitter I got to thinking about army selection. I am curious about why people take particular armies to tournaments. Is it just to win, to have fun games, to create narrative moments, to show off your painting etc. 

So if you've been to a tournament in the last year or so , what army did you take and why did you take it?

I’ve been playing the skaven for the last 10-13years, and enjoyed them even when they were neglected and not used.

they are also my only tournament army, since I’ve been playing with them against everything, from the start of aos till now, meaning that I basically know how to use them efficiently.

As for the competitive reason and/or for tournaments, I usually bring a build that 

Well works with the fluff pretty well, It may not look very frightening or has some trouble against mind razored witch aelves, but it has won me some battles (and I even scored high  in the last two Tournaments).

so I guess you could call me the guy who uses surprise and the lack of knowledge of my opponents vision of the skaven unit roster (who probably didn’t think that skaven were playable with anything else then plague monks, Stormfiends, Jezzails and max./min. of 60clanrats), to my advantage.

edit: Oh right and the reason I took the skaven with me was, mostly to just try them out have fun and just show my painted minis, and maybe score high, or at least not last like the first 5times I took part in an aos tournament, although that has been a few years ago.

Edited December 5, 2019 by Skreech Verminking

[sal4m4nd3r]

I consider myself a competitive player. . not to be confused with "winning at all costs" (waac). I am constantly preparing for the next event I can go to. I have found a core group that travel to several GT's a year, and to several majors as well. We practice at local RTTs. We always play each other as a means to better optimize our armies, perfect a tactic or build, or to learn mission strategy better. There isn't ever a game I play where I am not trying a combo/build/list to see its legs for a tournament. I enjoy the competition aspect of the game VERY much.

With that said I'm a devoted nurgle player.  I started playing them right before the first GHB came out, and have had them as my ain army ever since. I do have other aos projects but mainly for hobby fun and mini collecting. I love playing nurgle competitively. I am the top ranked nurgle player on ITC currently.. and 24th overall. I know there are better nurgle players then me out there, so that's not me saying I'm better then anyone.. just a bit of context on my "event credentials" 

[JackStreicher]

Daughters of Khaine (only 40 witches) because it is my only army that is mostly painted

[Televiper11]

For 2019, my tournament army was Legion of Azgorh because I loved their aesthetic, had them all painted, and only had to worry about a handful of rules and buffs (compared to a full tome army). I had a lot of fun with them. 2020 is going to be Cities of Sigmar and possibly Seraphon for me, depending on their new tome.

[Forrix]

For context I don't travel for tournaments and mostly just do 1 day 3 game tournaments and about 1 two day 5 game tournament a year depending on what's going on in my city.

I play several armies and when picking one I choose them on the basis of:

1.) Theme- could be squigs, Fyreslayers in general, or a specific model like Archaon. I then build the most competitive list I can adhering to that theme and within the limits of my collection.

2.) Play speed- I try to make sure I can reasonably complete a 5 turn game in 2.5 hours with the list. This means I try to avoid attrition based armies or armies with tons of special abilities. In practice this has resulted in me shelving my Nurgle army and avoiding grot/endless spell spam with Gloomspite (seriously, Netters make stabbas a super fiddling unit).

3.) Competitiveness-I'm not seriously gunning for tournament wins but I really dislike games where I feel like I didn't have a snowballs chance in hell. If a list just can't compete I'll shelve it until the meta changes or I can make the changes to the list to bring it up.

[TheCovenLord]

Darkling covens (Cities of sigmar now I guess)

 

I do not attend tournaments too often (mostly local 1-2 day tournies) as I am simply not that motivated to WAAC. I like the challenge presented by players doing their best to win. But I will almost always lose at the list building portion of games as I will always pick armies that appeal to me then try to maximize their abilities (often against insurmountable odds) and I am aware that not trying your hardest in every single portion of the game (list building to piloting) often leaves a bad taste in true competitive players mouths as some armies can definitely treat me as a free win (heres looking at your skaven/slaanesh).

Edited December 5, 2019 by TheCovenLord

[Acid_Nine]

First ever out of LGS tournament, so I am going to bring my idoneth deepkin. It's lacking the 18 spear eels of most armies, in fact it is playing two of the Garbage tier units out of the book (turtle and shark)  in a pretty crappy battalion, but I like it, and I'm excited to see how it does in an actual tournament. I want to try and see how I could make the list work and see how my army can fit in with tactics rather than bringing a face stomping list.

Edited December 5, 2019 by Acid_Nine

[Predien]

1 hour ago, Acid_Nine said:

First ever out of LGS tournament, so I am going to bring my idoneth deepkin. It's lacking the 18 spear eels of most armies, in fact it is playing two of the Garbage tier units out of the book (turtle and shark)  in a pretty crappy battalion, but I like it, and I'm excited to see how it does in an actual tournament. I want to try and see how I could make the list work and see how my army can fit in with tactics rather than bringing a face stomping list.

Respect and good luck!

[amysrevenge]

Mostly depends on how far away and how I'm travelling.  I've got a Bonesplitters army that fits in a medium-sized Battlefoam, and a FEC army that can only move on a bespoke 2'x2' board.  Sacrosanct bundles up really nicely, Ogors are medium-sized, Slaves to Darkness I can pack an army I don't like in a small box, or an army I do like in a large box.  Spiderfang are on a couple trays but super fragile.

[someone2040]

Generally either the army I am currently working on if I feel like playing unpainted or have enough painted to play, or my previously painted army.

[Thiagoma]

Phoenix Temple and Order Draconis (RIP). 

I dont care about winning but i did on once with Draconis and used to be on the middle of the table with PT.

 

Now i am going PT within CoS for the first time.

[Dead Scribe]

Daughters, Flesh Eater Courts, and now slaanesh.

I run them because they are usually the most powerful builds and give me the best chance of being the overall winner.

[Kramer]

58 minutes ago, Dead Scribe said:

Daughters, Flesh Eater Courts, and now slaanesh.

I run them because they are usually the most powerful builds and give me the best chance of being the overall winner.

No judgment just curiosity. You do sell every army right. How much do you roughly spend every time a new army is top dog? So for example now bonereapers might become the #1 list. How much would you actually have to spend to get that army running after sales? 

[drkrash]

I only attend 1-3 tournaments each year and still consider myself a tournament newbie (especially since I usually do poorly).

I run BoK for the practical reason that it was the only army I owned until recently.  However, I also would have chosen it because I like the scary demons and the blood and because it's fun to kill lots of things even if I lose.

I find that many players find the army scary - for the 1st 2 rounds anyway!

[Dead Scribe]

2 hours ago, Kramer said:

No judgment just curiosity. You do sell every army right. How much do you roughly spend every time a new army is top dog? So for example now bonereapers might become the #1 list. How much would you actually have to spend to get that army running after sales? 

I haven't really spent any  money on any army.  My first army was actually a kunnin rukk army and I bought that by selling off some of my older magic cards that collectors were after.

After that because I get them pro painted I can usually get more than I paid for them from people.  I think right now I've actually made about $1000 from playing AOS when I look at how much I have gotten vs how much I have had to pay out because of the investment I make in the right painting crew as well as the cash I have won at tournaments.  Narrative gamers love how the models look and don't care when they fall out of power so they spend a pretty penny on them for their own projects or stories.

So if I wanted to do bone reapers, I know that what I could make from my slaanesh army would cover the entire cost of the bone reapers (bought on discount not full retail mind you) with enough left over to pay for them to get painted at a very very high standard.  

[Kramer]

7 minutes ago, Dead Scribe said:

I haven't really spent any  money on any army.  My first army was actually a kunnin rukk army and I bought that by selling off some of my older magic cards that collectors were after.

After that because I get them pro painted I can usually get more than I paid for them from people.  I think right now I've actually made about $1000 from playing AOS when I look at how much I have gotten vs how much I have had to pay out because of the investment I make in the right painting crew as well as the cash I have won at tournaments.  Narrative gamers love how the models look and don't care when they fall out of power so they spend a pretty penny on them for their own projects or stories.

So if I wanted to do bone reapers, I know that what I could make from my slaanesh army would cover the entire cost of the bone reapers (bought on discount not full retail mind you) with enough left over to pay for them to get painted at a very very high standard.  

Haha that’s awesome! Thanks. 

[TMS]

Soulblight is the only army I have and the one I've taken to a couple of tournaments last year. I love vampires and I'm too lazy/unmotivated to get anything else done at the moment. Results have been mixed and I've never gotten a better result than 2-3 but I've caught some people off guard due to the army being rare and I enjoy showing off the conversions I've done. I'm hoping for a proper battletome to expand them into something more complete.

[123lac]

15 hours ago, Kramer said:

No judgment just curiosity. You do sell every army right. How much do you roughly spend every time a new army is top dog? So for example now bonereapers might become the #1 list. How much would you actually have to spend to get that army running after sales? 

That sounds like so much work.

Edited December 10, 2019 by 123lac

[Kramer]

3 hours ago, 123lac said:

That sounds like so much work.

Oh it's also not my thing. But I do find it interesting how that side of the hobby works. One of the common 'accusations' about Tournament gamers is that their 'buying' wins. But seeing some of those ebay listings I suspected you could get quite close to even if you're a bent savvy with sales. 

[Dead Scribe]

6 hours ago, 123lac said:

That sounds like so much work.

Its not really work.  It depends on your goals.  If you are playing AOS to drink beer and throw dice I could see how that might be more work than someone might want to put in.  I am 100% a tournament gamer whose goal is to win tournaments, so I have to make sure that I have the most mathematically optimal force that I can bring to give me the best chances of doing that.

[Deepkin]

42 minutes ago, Dead Scribe said:

Its not really work.  It depends on your goals.  If you are playing AOS to drink beer and throw dice I could see how that might be more work than someone might want to put in.  I am 100% a tournament gamer whose goal is to win tournaments, so I have to make sure that I have the most mathematically optimal force that I can bring to give me the best chances of doing that.

Why did you choose Age of Sigmar as your competitive outlet as compared to something more skill-based like chess? Im not judging, just curious. If you dont enjoy the hobby aspect or form an attachment to any army  and its lore, then Im kinda confused as to why someone would even play these games when there are far superior competitive outlets (IMO).

I admit I am biased, as I havent played Warhammer competitively in a long time and my own competitive outlet is a variety of combat sports, and my wargaming is essentially all skirmish campaign games like Mordheim and Necromunda, or coop games like Rangers of Shadow Deep.