WAAC, The addiction that dare not speak its name!
Hi, my name is Grumhelden, and I am addicted to competitive gaming.
I was once like you are now, playing for fun, loving the chummy cameraderie of playing with my chums, all enid blyton and wooly jumpers.
Then it happened.
It started in Dundee, at a well run, and very friendly tournament. When I got home I felt OK at first. Then I felt a kind of hunger growing inside me. My local gaming club seemed to be filling that hunger at first. Then the hunger got deeper. Forums and blogs helped, but not enough...reading the fluff and the rules over and over just made it worse...I had to admit to myself that I was changing, I was becoming both more and less human at the same time. Some deep, ancient, dark hunger was taking over my every waking moment.
I was becoming a hard gamer.
There have been many names for us throughout history, WAAC, Cheese, Beards, Arseholes, but, as all things change, the hard gamer has too. He has realised that WAAC does not mean anti-fluff, that playing the rules does not mean you cant play the game, and that despite has original protestations, WAAC can be FUN! And fun does not mean that you use anti-WAAC sentiment to excuse your own inability to win, compete, or try.
Please note "Win, compete, or try", not "Win, Win, Win", only an idiot believes they can win 100% of the time.
A true champion is not born, but made, "undefeated" is only true for an arbitrary time frame. Every champion has been beaten, and those that use defeat as a learning opportunity become the ones you hear about. The ones who use defeat as a way to whine...well...a hero dies once, a coward dies a thousand deaths.
Yesterday there was a small tournament here in Glasgow, low turnout, but hadn't met or played with some of the guys before. 4 matches each. Here's mine, in all cases I played a Severuis/Knights list, I will go into more detail about each match, and the lists used, and it's lessons over the next few days.
Match 1:
Vs Cryx banespam.
Problem:
Target rich environement, many layers, objective traffic jams
Match 2
Vs Everblight
Problem:
Massive damage soaking, Fast objective contention
Match 3
Vs Cygnar Gun List
Problem:
Massed Guns, Massive Concentration of Force, Missed Opportunity
Match 4
Vs Mercenaries
Problem:
Target Rich Environment, many layers, objective traffic jams, dejected players
I will post up each day a summary of the action, so as to not bore you to death here.
But the main lesson I learned this time:
Competitive Play Is Fucking Awesome!
I was once like you are now, playing for fun, loving the chummy cameraderie of playing with my chums, all enid blyton and wooly jumpers.
Then it happened.
It started in Dundee, at a well run, and very friendly tournament. When I got home I felt OK at first. Then I felt a kind of hunger growing inside me. My local gaming club seemed to be filling that hunger at first. Then the hunger got deeper. Forums and blogs helped, but not enough...reading the fluff and the rules over and over just made it worse...I had to admit to myself that I was changing, I was becoming both more and less human at the same time. Some deep, ancient, dark hunger was taking over my every waking moment.
I was becoming a hard gamer.
There have been many names for us throughout history, WAAC, Cheese, Beards, Arseholes, but, as all things change, the hard gamer has too. He has realised that WAAC does not mean anti-fluff, that playing the rules does not mean you cant play the game, and that despite has original protestations, WAAC can be FUN! And fun does not mean that you use anti-WAAC sentiment to excuse your own inability to win, compete, or try.
Please note "Win, compete, or try", not "Win, Win, Win", only an idiot believes they can win 100% of the time.
A true champion is not born, but made, "undefeated" is only true for an arbitrary time frame. Every champion has been beaten, and those that use defeat as a learning opportunity become the ones you hear about. The ones who use defeat as a way to whine...well...a hero dies once, a coward dies a thousand deaths.
Yesterday there was a small tournament here in Glasgow, low turnout, but hadn't met or played with some of the guys before. 4 matches each. Here's mine, in all cases I played a Severuis/Knights list, I will go into more detail about each match, and the lists used, and it's lessons over the next few days.
Match 1:
Vs Cryx banespam.
Problem:
Target rich environement, many layers, objective traffic jams
Match 2
Vs Everblight
Problem:
Massive damage soaking, Fast objective contention
Match 3
Vs Cygnar Gun List
Problem:
Massed Guns, Massive Concentration of Force, Missed Opportunity
Match 4
Vs Mercenaries
Problem:
Target Rich Environment, many layers, objective traffic jams, dejected players
I will post up each day a summary of the action, so as to not bore you to death here.
But the main lesson I learned this time:
Competitive Play Is Fucking Awesome!
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