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Wargaming tournaments - why bother?

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Author Topic: Wargaming tournaments - why bother?  (Read 1286 times)
usrlocal
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« on: July 20, 2014, 09:23:57 am »

What's the point of wargame tournaments anyway? Most wargames have enough random **** in them that you can play your best game and still get hosed by bad die rolls (or card draws). Why bother?
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Calandale
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« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2014, 09:26:11 am »

To find out who has the biggest penis
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usrlocal
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« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2014, 09:30:22 am »

To find out who has the biggest penis

Hang on, that's assuming a male:female ratio of 1:0. Oh wait...
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desertfoxleo
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« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2014, 10:01:03 am »

I've often wondered what the attraction is as well, but that's because of how I approach wargaming. I am rather competitive, so it's not the competitive aspect that is at issue in my case, but it is the camaraderie of wargaming. Simply put, I wargame with friends, or, at the least, acquaintances. Playing a wargame with someone I don't know, in a competitive setting, in a public place quite frankly sounds awful to me. I like having some friendly banter during play, and some tangential discussions of the history behind the game's subject, or even some totally off-tangent ramblings on sports or current events. I can't imagine doing that with a total stranger, especially if I'm in a competitive setting. These kinds of things never sounded appealing to me, though I wouldn't mind watching others play - I do like spectator sports, after all. 
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« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2014, 10:10:23 am »

I play for the experience rather than the win. But then I usually lose so perhaps I am just over-rationalising the issue.
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« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2014, 10:29:46 am »

To find out who has the biggest penis

Hang on, that's assuming a male:female ratio of 1:0. Oh wait...

Seriously. There are few enough female wargamers out there,
and those that are seem to avoid conventions.
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« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2014, 11:05:30 am »

Playing a wargame with someone I don't know, in a competitive setting, in a public place quite frankly sounds awful to me.

BINGO!!

I used to play in a couple of the big ASL tournaments in the midwest back in the day, but never really got comfortable with the setting. I've never been a very competitive player when it comes to wargames, I just want to play and have a good time. It's not that I didn't have a good time at the tournaments, as most of the people that I played against were good dudes, but now I'd much rather just do open gaming with friends who like to just shoot the shit as we play.
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« Reply #7 on: July 20, 2014, 11:37:13 am »

I would be terrible in this kind of setting.  I am 100% okay with casual play where people can take back their moves or resetting a turn if we've screwed something up.  I don't put a ton of stress on myself to learn games perfectly, though I try to so it slows down my ability to get more games to the table as quickly as I'd like...  When I play, I want to just play.

Tournaments, on the other hand, require a level of douche-baggery that I can't handle.  Moved that guy without doing X first?  You better speak up...and you end up wondering if the person did it to take advantage of a perceived knowledge gap.  I like discussing my play during play and pondering what-ifs outloud...also tournament no-nos.

In effect, I'd be playing the games with almost none of the things I enjoy about playing them!
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« Reply #8 on: July 20, 2014, 11:45:54 am »

WBC seems popular enough.

ASL has a fair number of tournaments. SFB used to, but I understand most of that crowd had moved to SFBOL for online tournaments.

It's obviously attractive to some people.

Our local cons get a small number of wargamers, enough that we can get our own room, but it's more akin to organized open gaming than tournaments. Still, it can get pretty competitive.

Since I'm NOT a tournament gamer, I'm going to talk out of my ass and say that some people like the competition, some people like the chance to play face-to-face and don't usually have access to people outside of the tournament. And some people like the big fat prize checks and the cheering fans.
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Meh.
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« Reply #9 on: July 20, 2014, 12:08:12 pm »

I used to play at DBA tournaments. It was all very casual and done to hang out and have fun. I don't think I met a competitive type player once. I think I lucked my way into a few decent wins. Good times.
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« Reply #10 on: July 20, 2014, 12:30:20 pm »

What's DBA?
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desertfoxleo
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« Reply #11 on: July 20, 2014, 12:46:01 pm »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Bellis_Antiquitatis

An Ancients miniatures wargaming system. I knew a guy who was into it, but I never played it myself. I'm generally too impatient to paint minis.
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« Reply #12 on: July 21, 2014, 02:18:01 pm »

What's DBA?

Yup as noted

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Bellis_Antiquitatis

Very simple 12 units as side on a 2ft square board. Extremely fun.
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« Reply #13 on: July 21, 2014, 02:26:26 pm »

I seem to ask that every time I see it. Tongue

Known some guys into it. I like more meat on my system.
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« Reply #14 on: July 21, 2014, 07:28:39 pm »

oh for sure it is light. What is interesting is the author (Phil Barker) made some of the more complex war-games rules during the 70's and 80's then out of the blue he flipped and came out with DBA. A bit like Berg with the Men of Iron series after GBOH.

He has a heavier version called DBMM which you may like. Playing it with bases (which is what I did to begin with) is a very minimal cost if you ever feel like giving it a spin.

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