Mindset and listbuilding of friendly vs comeptitive games

How do you guys approach playing with friends vs turnements? Do you play highly comeptitive list vs friends?

I am a competitive guy, so are most of my friends, but I am the one who knows my team the best, and I wont say I am the best 40K general out of everyone but I am defently one of the best. But as I am highly comeptitive I usualy play wtih my turnement lists, but they tailor. But even tho they list tailor I usualy win. Since 6th ed I have lost 1 turnement match and 3 friendly games. (and we play quite alot). I have just 5 games I havnt tabled my oponent (the 5 matches I lost + two other)

Yesterday I played against GK, he is quite new to the game, and really didnt stand much of a chance. Now I am thinking about toning down my lists abit to make it abit more "fair", but again this isnt really the DE way... We play dirty!

And from experience I feel that if I just take the foot of the peddal a litle bit with DE, then I get frak.

Do you think I play to comeptitive with friends? also looking to see how you guys play (and yes I find it fun with competitive lists)

I've never liked "taking it easy" when playing games. I want to know that I played my best and that my opponent played his best. If that means I lose (say I was the weaker player and my opponent was the one thinking of tuning it down) then so be it. I'll learn and get better. I don't see much point in pity wins though.

That's just me though and I know for a fact that not everyone feel as I do. I've had more then a few people say they won't play against me because they don't like losing. So I guess it depends on your friends and how they feel about it. Are they upset about losing or do they seem to be ok and working to get better (or just not care)?

I am thinking exactly the same Murkglow.

Now they arnt upset, ofc they want to win but they are cooping quite good considering them never having anything left on the table... One is considering changing army now tho to Necrons from Tyranids. This to actually get a better chance against me.

They are working to get better, but the problem is that many of them has this opinion that DE are overpowerd and easy army to play. And that they dont have a chance in hell to beat me. I have tried to say DE are neither overpowerd or the easyest to play. (Now DE isnt as hard as many want it to be either). But I have learned from mistakes from listbuilding. When I started with DE I was loosing almost every game, but I have gotten better and better, while I dont think they have improved much...

Personally, I use friendly games to try out new lists and unit types that I haven't used before. This means that I often (usually?!) field a sub-optimal army and play with units I haven't quite fathomed the best tactics for yet.

That's the advantage of friendly games in my mind: my friends know what I can do with my DE but it's fun to try out new and unusual builds and see if they can work for me.

I haven't played many tournaments, but when I do, I at least try to field a competitive list

Is there any other mindset other than competitive???

Joking aside. I do see the merits of fluff/scenerio players, but I will only do that if I know my opponent is doing the same (not some random that asks me to do so). I bring 100% all the time, no matter what.

I will not tailor my lists to beat his, especially if i know his list, especially when i helped to build it.

Otherwise i play as always.

Azdrubael wrote:

I will not tailor my lists to beat his, especially if i know his list, especially when i helped to build it.

This. Not all of my friends share my passion for list-building, so I often help them out. It wouldn't be sporting otherwise.

Besides, Dark Eldar are an army where a great play can really make a mediocre list work. Not every army can claim the same, especially Tyranids.

I try to build armies that work well in battle but also contain the things that I like. I despise the imaginary barrier that so many people place between the two. Can't I care about the fluff and how well the army performs at the same time? An army that isn't very good in a fight isn't very fluffy at all.

It isn't about purposely throwing pointless upgrades and weapons onto a unit or taking an army with only two anti-vehicle guns in it and calling it 'fluffy' or 'non-competitive', it's about taking the models and fluff you like and doing them justice both on and off the tabletop.

Anggul wrote:

I try to build armies that work well in battle but also contain the things that I like. I despise the imaginary barrier that so many people place between the two. ..... it's about taking the models and fluff you like and doing them justice both on and off the tabletop.

^ +1 to this.

I play whatever I want. I do try to be competitive, and not only that I do play to win, but I also play for relaxation, even in tournies. I don't tailor my lists for certain opponents, and I'm not necessarily fluffy, but I often have some sort of theme going on.

I play what I feel like at that point in time, and I try to make it work for me. It's also fun to give your opponent something they may not have seen before and make them figure out how to deal with it.

I normally build a decently competetive list for games, but during a game, I would let my opponent shoot/move/etc. a unit they forgotten about, and let them know what my unit does(anti armor/anti inf/etc), and remind them of not shoot rapid fire weapon if they wish to assault etc.

I don't like gaming against players that are very tourney competitive, not letting any step back, and then try to take something back themselves, then if I disagree, they pout and gives me a poor sportsmanship..

Welcome to The Dark City macknight!

macknight wrote:

I normally build a decently competetive list for games, but during a game, I would let my opponent shoot/move/etc. a unit they forgotten about, and let them know what my unit does(anti armor/anti inf/etc), and remind them of not shoot rapid fire weapon if they wish to assault etc.

^this. Just because you play to win doesn't mean you need to exploit your opponents lack of knowledge concerning the rules. It's important to be able to play in a relaxed environment.

Anggul wrote:

I try to build armies that work well in battle but also contain the things that I like. I despise the imaginary barrier that so many people place between the two. Can't I care about the fluff and how well the army performs at the same time? An army that isn't very good in a fight isn't very fluffy at all.

It isn't about purposely throwing pointless upgrades and weapons onto a unit or taking an army with only two anti-vehicle guns in it and calling it 'fluffy' or 'non-competitive', it's about taking the models and fluff you like and doing them justice both on and off the tabletop.

Bravo and well-stated sir. I have nothing to add to this.

i use a compettitve list at all times and expect my friends to do the same, but that doest not mean we cant have fun and if 1 of us makes a mistake we rewind and correct it, if i play someone with limited experience i help them so that they get more enjoyment out of playin. i do however swap 1 unit out for another 1 from time to time just for the fun of it. current list remains un beaten, some players wont play it (calling it too dirty) but others step up to the challenge and relish the chance to bring em down, got a challenge this thursday from a GW shop manager, he wants to try his luck. win or lose this will be a great game as he is a great gamer without having to win,win,win

Actually we dont let people do stuff they have forgotton. Might be abit to competitive, but we do it this way because, what happens if you do this in a turnement? So we say you need to learn from your misstakes. But I try to remind them to remember everything, so i dont stand on the side and keep shut if I know he havnt shot with something etc.

Anyway great to hear what you guys think I actually played against Nids this weekend (well we had to go before the game was finished so are still standing on the table.) But I totaly frak up movement and got [beaten badly] .. But to be fair, he have had luck with every important dice, and taken out a veichle everytime he have targeted one, and I have been unlucky. But still got a chance

Modded for inappropriate language. Gob.

Yeah I think the important part is to at least remind people, that being said it depends on the skill level of your opponents. The last thing you want to do is scare off newcomers to the hobby/game.

Hehe thats true!

Now there is only one newcommer amongst us, and I try not to be to harsh on him. Problem is that I have whiped him of the table in turn 3 at latest the last 3-4 games.... So I doubt his motivation is at the highest these days :p

Always competitive lists. If my buddy gets upset i'm beating him, i just crack a new beer and pass it over. Vice versa as well. There`s a reason i dont usually go to game stores or tourneys. I play to win but 40k is full of people with inferiority complexes who just can't take it easy. I feel it's very important to be able to crack up when your prized termies all fail their 2+ saves vs lasgunfire.

i often get so into the moment that i move & fire usually remember afterwards that i have forgotten to move my other units. this is so common that in my local group this called "pulling a (my name)" but if i do this i leave things where they are & go on. Doing that i feel is the only way i can learn not to do it but so far it hasn't helped. lol

dolcet40 wrote:

i often get so into the moment that i move & fire usually remember afterwards that i have forgotten to move my other units. this is so common that in my local group this called "pulling a (my name)" but if i do this i leave things where they are & go on. Doing that i feel is the only way i can learn not to do it but so far it hasn't helped. lol

Hehe, have had that problem in the start myself, but now I rather have a system I go through before each endphase.

Our "casual" gaming group play is very competetive and I wouldn't enjoy it any other way... that said I also will include (and find ways to make useful) units I like because of fluff/models, but I do that at tournies as well.

That said, our friendly games have a couple "unwritten rules" that we adhere to:

- avoid special characters from army books from old editions (keeps exploits caused by non-errata'd
old rules from happening, ie: Lelith manning a emplaced cannon).
- avoid combos that seem more of an exploit, than an intentional rule, that would require a special list
to even play a fun/competetive game against. ie: 10 flyer necron list.

Other than that, we find that we are usually tougher on each other than most tourney players...

I play for fun.

Sometimes that means 15 death company and priest in a crusader, others it means six tactical squads in rhinos.