It has been brought to my attention that the more these lessons have gone on, the more bignoting, tootling my own horn, giving myself wraps and talking myself up has increased.  I apologize for that.  :)  Being bigheaded is something I try and keep to a minimum.  Please remember that I am only an average player, extremely inconsistent and terribly unsuited to giving out advice.  But since other quality players refuse to give out their tricks of the trade, aside from Chuck, you will have to content yourselves with me.

This lesson is all about Tournament play.  I think there are many intricacies in tournament play, but really only four fundamental things that will affect how you perform at tournaments:

Army List:  I can genuinely say that in all the events I have played in, I have only ever felt really confident of performing extremely well in two events.  The first was Convic 2007, I was playing with my Chaos Dragon army of Dooom, which I maintain was a sensational army, finely tuned and perfect for my style of play.  I was confident going into that event, as every game I had played previous to it, I knew victory was entirely dependant on how I played.  I ended up coming third in that event, winning my final game 11-9 against Marcelo, who won the tournament.  If I beat him 12-8, some 50 more VPs, then I won the whole event.  The other event was two weeks later at Big August, where I was clear of the pack by about 25 points.  My point that I am making here (not trying to talk myself up again) is that if you feel confident going into an event, that is a great start.  Every list I have submitted since then has always lacked something, just one army I do not feel good against, and this has prevented me from really performing well.  Flexibility is so important.  This is where my army list design strategies come into play.  If I have all the elements, and I feel comfortable about my list against most opponents, then you give yourself a chance at a good result overall.  This does not secure it, you still need to play well. :)  Something I like to do going into an event is consider how my list matches up against the main power armies.  Daemons, Vampires, Wood Elves, Bretonnians, Tomb Kings.  If you can think of specific ways to combat these lists, and are comfortable playing against them, then you are starting the event in the best way.  Something I need  to do more often....

Results Focus:  This is the main thing that I would like to try and stress.

As I said, if you win 3 games 20-nil, and lose three games 9-11, you finish on 87 Battle Points.  That is a huge score, pretty close to top 5 in any event.  If you walk into every game trying to smash your opponent 20-0, you will more often than not overextend yourself and walk away losing the game.  Set yourself a target, calculate how you are going to reach that target and follow through with a specific plan.  Against Dark Elves, you may only be able to beat them 12-8.  This is a good result because they are so tough to get points out of.  Setting yourself a goal will help you focus.  Maybe you do feel like you can smash the opponent - in that case, go for it!  Ultimately, unless you are a sensational player, you will get into a position where you need to take some risks.  However, when you get into bad situations always look for cheap points and easy options.  Dont try for risky plays to try and recover lost points.  This can only end in tragedy. :)  Retreating is an acceptable option.  Maneuvering behind hills is an acceptable option.  Position your characters hidden away to protect them.  Of all the things that those top players (not me) do extremely well, it is conserve points in poor situations.  Using their army correctly, playing to their strengths.  It is how guys like Jeff Traish can play Dogs of War and smash guys, yet only ever lose 11-9.

Matchups:  So the one element at tournaments that you cannot plan for.  I spoke to Locky about this the other day - what do you do when you get a bad draw?  He said to me: just beat them anyway. :)   I wish I could do it thateasily.  I guess what he is actually saying is that it is a mental thing.  If you go into a game thinking negatively then you probably will lose.  Be positive, and try your best with tough matchups.  As I said before, keep focused on what you want to get out of the game.

Intel:  One of the more interesting things that occur at tournaments is finding out information about the way other people play their lists.  For the guys that regularly perform well at tournaments, they usually find themselves playing the same crowd, at least at the latter stages of the event.  By this time, most of them know exactly what is in each others lists, how the use them, what magic decks they are likely to take etc.  Whilst reading your opponents army list at the start of the game is vitally important, this extra intel can give you some more little advantages that perhaps you can use to your advantage.  This is where having mates comes in extra handy.  Watching other games, asking your mates, planning in advance will all help the cause.

For me, I try my very hardest to leave as little as possible to chance.  I think its Murphys Law?  Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.  So dont let things go wrong. :)

Not much left to talk about here.  I dont really know how the top players go into an event, maybe they just walk in, smash guys and walk out with trophies.  This is just what I think about at an event.  I will try and do the next lesson tomorrow.  Its going to be on bringing it all together.

Question time starts now, if you have any specific questions, hit me with them.  Also, ask Sedgey how our game went the other night.

Cheers

Trent