So you have your list (I'll talk about this another day) that is the end all and be all. You may have pulled it off the internet, you may have playtested something that you think gives you a an edge in the metagame, or perhaps are just fielding every bad news unit your codex has to offer. At any rate you know approximately 90-95% of what you will be playing (except that damn pesky 45 points!). What now? I have the list, and I've been playing the army for (hopefully at least six months).Locking In
Stop playing all that other stuff that confuses you first. No more Warhammer Fantasy (I don't care they get a new edition! This Is 40k!), no more Kill Team, no more Apocalypse, no more Spearhead, Cityfight Planetstrike or whatever brand of offside you enjoy on the side. I like it too, it's ok to like it, but you are trying to get ready for a cut-throat tournament.
Play your list, play it against as many opponents as you can, as often as you can. Try NOT to play your good buddy and beat him every week. This is not making you a better player, or helping you learn any new tactics. No list that you can make is perfect, it's all about you being good with it. As Jay said in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, "That's it boy, put the dick down. You gotta go from the heart, yo. No little perv-bullshit's gonna work for this one. Be smooth. Be Don Juan de la Nooch."
For instance, I fought against a friend's 60 blood angels with feel no pain/5+ invulnerable. I shot them with the thunderfire cannon that makes jump troops move through dangerous terrain. Ever watched someone make 60 dangerous terrain checks? Your list has nuance and things that it can do that you may not even know, explore them, it will make you a better player.
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You get my point... right?
You need to learn the unusual ways to play your list, because if you have one way of play, and that it is it, you are going to run up against that list/mission that puts you into a horrible position. I played a mission last weekend that used a table full of terrain and 4th edition "all area blocks LOS" against a HTH tyranid army. I ended up pulling a minor victory (and would have pulled a bigger one if I had thought straight in round 5). However it was a rough mission for me.
Missions
Don't play stuff out of the games workshop book.... any of them. All their missions can be fun, but they aren't tournament quality. Also, don't play missions that your friend made from down the street. If you want to try some missions, try the ones from Adepticon 40K tournament. Play the missions from last year's BoLS con. If you want to make your own (which is a good idea) I suggest that you download Dice Like Thunder (link to the left of here under websites) missions book. They have a tournament mission creator that I think works quite well for making balanced, three tier missions to really test your list.
The Enemy
You have played all of your friend's lists, and you think you are ready, but have you played against the Netlists that may be 20% of the tournament? Go out and download the Leafblower, Goatboy's Wolf list from Adepticon (but make the fixes that he mentions about more missiles and less heavy bolters), and a solid Blood Angels Assaultback (Assault cannons w/razorbacks) army with Baals/Predators/vindicators. If you want to stretch out a bit, play against Fatecrusher build, Stelek's Tau list, Dark Eldar Lance span, Mech Eldar, Frtiz Style Null Deployment (Eldar and Nid). Don't just have your friend's play the lists, YOU play the lists against their tournament armies. See the weaknesses that they have.
How You Play
I play fundamentally differently in non-competitive games, then I do in competitive ones. From the last battle report I posted, I didn't let my opponent take back firing all his smoke on round one, even though my entire army was in normal reserves. In a casual game, I would have. If, when you are prepping for tournament, you let your friends, or yourself, get away with this, you are hurting yourself and them. Use every rule, learn even the small things. Your opponent will most likely not let you go back and change things once a turn is done, and he shouldn't. Forgot to move your tau suits in the assault move back, and didn't realize it till he is already half way through his movement phase? Ouch, that will hurt. Forgot to make fleet/run moves onto an objective?
My friends and I are still prepping, and we haven't done everything that I am suggesting, but by the time that I get there, you bet I will. Will you be ready?
