Okay folks, this is some bullshit.
The Flylords have every right to roll out the red carpet for one of their own winning a major US tournament. There is zero wrong with that; had someone here at YTTH done the same, you can bet they'd post it. None of this is 'crowing from the rooftops' or bragging, and you can't minimize this away: for right now, with the scene the way it is, Hard Boyz is THE competative tournament.
Now Stelek is planning a tournament next year that promises to, if all goes well, take that spot. I believe he can do that; I'm planning on attending. But that's then and this is now.
Getting to the tournament isn't easy, no matter how you cut it. Sure, the first round can be hit or miss, but by the time you play in Round Two you've got to wade through some nonsense. Placing is an accomplishment, and certainly luck is involved in doing it. Luck is also useful in winning the whole thing: who you play, choice of move, maximizing points, et cetra. Keep in mind, there was no special rules in this last round.
Each scenario was right out of the book. The scenery was spread evenly on every table. The judges deliberately didn't want anyone claiming they'd win Hard Boyz 'if only I didn't play in table 10...'.
I'm guessing some of you are thinking you'd have won if only you'd been there. And I call bullshit. It wasn't a soft event.
Now, all that notwithstanding, I've got no beef with Stelek taking a shot at the list - it's what he does. Frankly, I don't think anyone else does army creation better (and I had my nose rubbed in that last weekend, thank you very much), so it's always interesting to visit YTTH.
Just keep some perspective. The King has it right; congratulate the man before you have a go at him.
Anyway...
In Round Three the top table was IG v Ork, IG v Ork, and Ork v Eldar. I took a picture and frankly was thinking it would be funny to Stelek, figuring it would be hard for him to say Orks weren't competative after all. So then what happens? The Orks all lose.
I found that pretty interesting, considering that the best armies, with of course the few odd exceptions, made it to the top tables.
Anyway, enough of all that. As always, take care all - Brent(And of course I put some pics up there to look at...)
4 comments:
hi the is dj from ard boys i most say i have ejoyed reading your blog
Brent, I told you :D
There are a lot of random factors that go into winning tournaments and being at the top tables at the end, and these are more important as the number of rounds is reduced. With the scenarios given, I would have expected more Mech Eldar at the top tables and fewer Orks, but it seems like people got more aggressive for the finals than I would have thought. Agressive deployments helped Nick to win, but would have been very problematic if his opponents had siezed the initiative (probably not nearly as much in scenario 1; Dawn of War is really great for a Guard Alpha army). This takes nothing from Nick, because after all other factors are figured, he won, and no amount of kvetching changes that.
As to comments from the peanut gallery, what is there really to say? A guy who has never won a championship denigrates people who do win and claims moral superiority for not even trying - why would anyone take such a person seriously? I got the same garbage after winning Gladiator, and I even won with my list moreso than my play. I would have thought that the "list is the most important thing" crowd would have viewed that as some sort of personal triumph, but instead, I got poop flung at me by every monkey in that cage.
Of course, anyone who thinks there is such a thing as a "best of" list for any army has already demonstrated a lack of competitive prowess. What is best changes over time, as the evolution of lists in a competitive environment naturally marginalizes the list that was best last tournament (or week, or yesterday). Building lists to beat the expected competition means making some choices that seem suboptimal in order to have all the right tools in the box. "Best of" conceptually tries to force every task into driving nails, which is great if you only have nails to drive, but 15 hammers sort of sucks for sawing boards and pouring a foundation.
I think the one thing that caught me off guard for this event is that all of the scenarios in the previous rounds were objective heavy, and the finals were mainly annihilation. I guess it was poor planning on my part, but I think that Brent and myself were definitely focused on taking objectives. I think that our army list reflect that kind of mission. I know for me kill points was just a second thought, especially with three drop pod in the list. Just something to think about.
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