Tourney Style: Slow Play versus Playing Slow in 40k

by | Sep 12, 2011

As a tournament judge at the 2011 NOVA Open, I had the nearly unique opportunity to observe upwards of 800 games of 40k being played across 2 days with 200 players. The NOVA format this year was 2000  point lists playing 4 games per day over the course of two days. Granted, as one of five judges I was not able to dig too deeply into any specific game. Rather, the goal of a tournament judge is to passively monitor all games being played and (more importantly) to be a visible presence available to adjudicate any issues that should arise.


Having said all of that, here are a few of my observations regarding slow play and the notion of using a 2000 point list: 
  • There isn't a huge difference in model counts from 1750 to 2000 points; a horde army is still a horde army at 1750 points
  • Playing slow (as opposed to deliberate slowplay) seemed to be more of an issue with folks who didn't know their armies well
  • Having to refer to a rulebook frequently slows everybody down; this includes pulling a judge into a pedestrian rules question that is part of the core game mechanics
We did actively monitor any tables that we considered deliberate slowplay to be a potential issue. We did have some complaints of playing slow that really did just turn out to be inadvertent (see above for reasons). However, I don't recall a single instance that we decided a player to be slow playing on purpose. We even went so far as to discuss this with a players' opponents after the game ended and still did not come away with a verdict of slowplay.

This issue really seems to be one of learning how your army works and getting your playing time down to 2 hours per game. As a foot guard player, I struggle even at the 1750 point level to get a 2 hour game in and have had to practice that aspect accordingly. At 1750, the core of my army does not change. It still consists of a 45 man infantry platoon, backed up by tanks and a company command squad on foot. Going to the 2000 point level just lets me add in a chimera mounted vet squad and take an additional tank in one of my squadrons.

I have seen very few instances where the composition of a horde/foot slogging army radically changes from 2000 to 1750 points. The same problems of having to move many little figures around the board are still present. If you can't get your play time down to 2 hours (and be sure to try with both 2k and 1750 lists - you'll find its almost the same time) then you may want to take a different army to a tournament.

My personal experience from the NOVA was not that the number of models on the board dictated speed of play, but rather the facility with which a player was able to decide movement and move those figures into position. Ability to use your army and play within the constraints of a tournament window is all part of tournament play. Like everything else in this hobby, there is a social contract that exists and if both players hold up their end, then tournament play can be competitive and fun for both sides.