OK!! so last week I jumped feet first into my first (ever) tournament, which was held at Grognard Games. It was with much trepidation that I went into this, mainly because I’m not really interested in playing tabletop games in a competitive environment, I much prefer to have casual games with no pressure. Couple this with the fact that I’m still really a n00b and not familiar with the rules as much as I’d like to be, well it makes for an intimidating prospect. Had it not been for the fact that my fellow Infinity players had said “ah don’t worry about it, it’ll be a good learning experience for you” and that they are a friendly bunch, then I’d have had no part in it at all.
In my last post I put up the list I intended to use for said event, as I’d been playing it on the Thursday night games and wanted to test it a little further (but mostly to familiarize myself with how things work). It is a fairly straight forward list, nothing too crazy, and in my head I wanted to make sure I had good long range heave hitters (sniper rifle, missile launcher), good mid-range stuff (HMG, Combi-rifles – both of which can suppression fire), and then some good up-close stuff like boarding shotguns.
My first game was against Haqqislam, and held up relatively well, although I achieved no objectives (I took down the most troops though). My 10 orders against about 16 was not fun. Coordinated orders, targeting and other shenanigans kept me from getting to my objectives. My second game was against Tohaa I believe, and while I was quick to get guys down into the streets, securing one objective, I got literally slaughtered by a bunch of stuff that had some obscene ARO nonsense that just steamrollered me. Ouch.
Game three I fared slightly better than game two, but not much, and this time I was actually able to take some enemy guys down. I tried to learn from my previous losses and use my Aquila in a more aggressive way, which kinda paid off a little, but ultimately I was crushed under sheer weight of numbers. First lesson: Keep your cheerleaders (Fusiliers) to hold ground, send your heavy infantry to start putting the hurt on the enemy. Second lesson: TAKE A F*CKING HACKER AND SOME REMOTES!
Anyway. Despite getting my dangly bits served up to me on a plate, I had a bloody good time, and learned a lot about the game, so it was a winning situation for me ultimately. Some of the best games I’ve had are ones that I’ve lost. Your mileage may vary, of course.
When Cannons Fade... 
Great stuff. I had a similar experience when I first went to a tournament – initial trepidation then relief when I found that tournaments weren’t the hives of scum and villainy that the internet had led me to expect.
I totally agree that you learn most from defeats, so well done for your good attitude.
Do you plan to attend more events?
Thanks for the post! I do indeed plan on attending more of these events. It’s giving me the push I feel I needed to up my ‘homework’ with learning the rules. One thing I have to say about the Infinity community I’ve become involved in, is that people are really ok with helping you out with rules and taking the time to explain things when I’m scratching my head. I see so much mathhammering online and ‘tourney this’ and ‘competitive that’ that it is very intimidating to the casual player.
Another plus is that it’s making me want to get all my stuff painted lol!