Victorian Miniature Gaming

Competitive Play is NOT a death sentence.

Woah, hold up there. A death sentence to what? What nonsense are you talking about, Al?

What I'm talking about here is this idea that somehow wanting to win, and even building an army to win, is often seen as a dirty thing. Cheese, filth, beards - so many names have been made up for people who like to play a hard up game where they have a solid army that not everyone will like to play against.

See what I said there?

"Not everyone will like to play against.". Let's look at some of the reasons that people don't like to play against some of these lists. I've actually compiled a list from rifling through a few Facebook groups.

1. "I can't take what I want to take when I play against them." - this is an interesting one, because it sorta invalidates itself. The person taking the hard list is taking what they want to take, too.
2. "Some things are better than others, so it's unfair to take lots of them." - depending on the system this can be pretty subjective. It's certainly accurate for some, however.
3. "The guy using it is a jerk." - let's be honest, there's a good chance you feel this way because you lost. However, it does bring up a point I feel I should stress.

Playing like a jerk means you won't get to play games.

And I mean being a jerk. If you can see your opponent is hating every moment of playing against you, talk to them. Try to get them involved in the game. If you've used your dirty list against them three times in a row and pounded them into a fine paste every time, try to help them out a bit. I'm not even saying play a different list either - I'm saying help them tweak their list, or show them the weaknesses in yours. Strutting around like a showpony after crushing people doesn't help much, either.

A crushing doesn't have to be a negative experience. When you're doing the same old dance every time it almost always is though. We all like to feel like we've made some progress in a game, even if we're not winning while doing it. Relax - not every movement you make has to always count, not every roll (or flip) needs to win the game for you. Try to remember that when you play your mate with your tournament list, especially if he's just there for a beer and chips do. 

But COMPETITIVE GAMING CAN BE FUN.

This is the rub - everyone has different ways they like to enjoy their games. Some may only like to play their games around the kitchen table after the kids have gone to sleep, some may build elaborate backstories for all their units - some people like to build the most furiously aggressive list they can. To those of you who hate "that sort" of gamer - try it for once. But to all of you out there who do nothing but - how about trying a different way of playing too? Take something a little more gentle, try out a list that you think won't perform - try models that you've never used before and don't think will work. The worst thing that could happen is you'll lose a game - but it can also greatly improve your play. Because at the end of the day, if you need a really strong list to win a game - that's why they always call it crutches right?

Play games. Have fun. Try to play out of your comfort zone - you might find a new love. And just because someone doesn't play the way you do doesn't automatically mean they're crap either. :) Don't get me wrong - not everything is for everybody - but I feel like we're far too down on people who like to play hard to have fun.

I'll stop preaching now.

- AL