To comp or not to comp?

Background: I have played in both comp and no comp events and have success in both. I prefer no comp, but will play in any well organised and managed event.

Now that I said I will not use comp in Event Horizon, I will go though some of the reasons I did not use comp.

Most Australian players would be familiar with “comp” in tournaments. “Comp” tries to rate an army on its power and gives codex that are weak a chance to compete.

The challenge with comp is how do you rate an army on its power?

Generally, it is rated in a vacuum without consideration of missions. With people designing missions (on purpose or otherwise) that hindered certain build (which all acknowledge), this would be a double hit, but rarely is this recognised.

Second challenge with comp is who has the ability to rate an army?

I do not believe I am qualified. How could anyone determine how strong is an army when there are no measurable or criteria, it just become an opinion/perception of reality. 

I want balance. Not the subjective balance I place onto a codex thinking it is weak or strong but the balance where all entrants have the same expectation. You will enter this competition knowing you want to tune your list to cover all bases, has good fire power, has good close combat, and has good mobility. How much you choose to build and tune your list might be different, but no one will have any other expectation when they play.

This act of tuning your list and practicing the game is part of preparation, and I would always encourage people who want to better themselves to always practice and improve, not just in 40k.

As for people who believe “anyone can make a hard list”. I don’t think anyone would believe the statement “anyone can paint a Golden Daemon winning model”, so why would you believe the first statement. Just like everything in life, it is 99% perseverance.

Would this encourage “net list”?

Just like finding inspiration on Cool Mini or Not, it is a mean to the end and not the end itself. Ultimately it is not your work, you need to tune it to your way of play, test it out and find what works for yourself. Also, most people would have practised against a “net list” and understand its strength and weakness.

Understand that great generals would tell you “it is not just the list”.