CROSSING THE RUBICON: SETTING GOALS
With the Alliance Open Teams Championship (AOTC) now behind us (congrats to Aaron and his parade) and with the Balance Data Slate now in full effect, it’s back to preparing for singles. With the calendar of this season’s events in The Netherlands beginning to fill up, it’s time to announce my goals for the 2023 - 2024 singles season and take you on a journey with me to cross the rubicon and go from an OK tournament player to a GT winner. What I’d like to do with my hobby and competitive time this year is the following;
Work on my detailed play
When watching the WTC games that were streamed or any high-level competition what you see is that all the little things are done and done well, almost without any thought on the player themselves. In a brief analysis of my games and my play, I spend too much time trying to remember the steps in the Command Phase or, in the worst cases, the basic stat lines for a new unit, recently added to my army. I want this part of my game to be automatic. With the basics out of the way, I can focus more on the tactical decisions - how to score my secondaries, how to keep primary points rolling in and how to deny my opponent either of these turn after turn. These are the tools needed to compete at the top tables and reach my ultimate goal of winning a GT. Mastering the basics requires three things, time to study, more reps and most importantly knowing the faction, the units on the table and all their abilities inside and out. This brings us to goal number two.
Even broken datasheets need to look pretty.
Dive deep into a faction
As many of you who have seen me around the competitive tables know, sticking with an army, or even a faction is not one of my strong suits. I’ve played a different army at each and every event last year. There’s just something about the way a new army looks and feels on the table that appeals to me - but that’s not going to help me master the basics. Continuously changing armies means constantly needing to learn new rules and datasheet abilities and this flies in the face of goal number one. I need one army (or maybe two - I know, but I can’t help myself!) that I can dive in deep and get to know the play style, the datasheets, their strengths and weaknesses. Understanding each of these things will help me to squeeze the most out of the army, make it hard for my opponents and set me up for success. The hardest part now is choosing.
Stay on top of the meta
We play a game that is constantly changing. Well done to GW for following up on their promise to update and rebalance the game quarterly. What this means is that there’s no foundation upon which to make a choice as to which army to play. What’s hot now may not be the thing that ultimately gets me across the line months down the road when I’m finally ready to win a tournament. Standing firm on the constantly shifting sands of the competitive meta is difficult enough, thriving is even more complicated. It requires time and focus, not only to help me pick my army but to better understand who I may see at the top tables. Constantly listening to podcasts, reading blog posts, talking with teammates, friends and our local competitive crew and then trying to turn all the information gained into actionable decisions is an exciting proposition and one that I hope you all enjoy as much as I do. Many of you reading this now will undoubtedly have had a hand in my decisions and will likely see the outcomes of our many discussions across the table someday soon.
We have a fairly broad competitive meta in The Netherlands, but there are definitely a few favourite flavours. Now the choice is to join the cool kids with the shiniest factions or plan to counter those armies that are popular (Tau, Eldar, Space Marines and Tyranids).
The Orders finest, Jort & Adam.
Adam’s spiritmodel: Trajan Valoris
Win a tournament
My ultimate goal for this season is to win a tournament - my first. To do that I will have to develop as a player, understand the competitive landscape and most importantly and most difficult (for me at least) I will need to choose one army to stick with for this ride across the river to the promised land. That army needs to not only compete with the top dogs but also to do so in style. It needs to be able to score around 100 points per game because winning an RTT will require me to outscore many of you and having an army and a battle plan to maximize the army’s output will only help to better my positions at larger events. This series will walk you through this process from the beginning to hopefully a happy end. The next entry in the series will discuss which army I have chosen and why. As always, your input is welcome. Leave a comment on our socials or reach out to me directly if you have any good ideas.
And that’s it for the first “Crossing the Rubicon” gents! We’ll check in with Adam in two weeks again to see how his adventures in the competitive 40K are faring. Want to know more about Adam? Take a look at his introduction interview here or just head on over to Tabletop Kingdom in The Hague, big chance you can find him in the store;)