Hello forums!

So I'm totally hyped to play in the UK regionals in a few months. However, I'm still new to the imperial assault competitive skirmish mode. I've done some reading and adore the twin trooper podcast. However, I'm interested in how people prepare for tournaments?

-Test out a few lists, see which resonates best with you and your playstyle, and then practice it. As often as you can. On each map, on both deployment zones.

-Find out if the list is still the one you prefer, or if it needs tweaking.

-Make sure you have atleast a basic idea of how you deploy in each deployment zone, and count out the squares to objectives/terminals/doors/good snipe spots etc so your deployment "fits".

-Have a basic play plan for the most common opponent archetypes, so you don't have to figure out everything on the spot on the day itself. Stuff like preferred target priority and such, if the opponent let's you. Try to focus damage, so you take out figures quickly, and don't let your opponent hang on to his points with all his guys on 1 hp.

-Have a good night's sleep. Especially if you have to drive far on the day itself, make sure you are well rested. Have some brain food on hand.

-Bring your best mood. You are there to have fun, and so is everyone else. Even if you are losing, you are still learning stuff, playing against fresh and exciting opponents and lists. And even if you lose them all, you still get a cool promo card.

Check the forums here for meta and the newest strategies to contest it. I personally like to bring anti-meta and a list around a figure or group that I like.

I suck at opening strategy, so for me it's all about practicing my openings from all 12 positions (Three maps X Two deployment zones X Two scenarios per map). My goal is to get everyone set for round 2 without getting someone killed on round 1.

Finally make sure you have all of the relevant gear. There is another thread from today that talks about what to bring.

Set a realistic goal. I go hoping to bring home the alt art card (which we all get LOL). If I win more, it's a bonus!

Bit of an old video now but it's probably all still relevant.

Other than that, just to second what fett said, work out your "openings" for each map, and when to change them based on what your opponent is running.

Good luck and I'll perhaps see you if one of your regionals is the South West one at Kirton Games

Rich

As long as we're plugging things, I outlined my preparation process in my Planning for Victory article: http://www.jodocast.com/2017/02/02/planning-for-victory-applying-strategic-operational-and-tactical-planning-to-imperial-assault-skirmish/

I'm in the process of expanding on Planning's unit classifications with my Taxonomy of Victory series. Part 1 is out and hopefully part 2 will arrive soon: http://www.jodocast.com/2017/02/02/planning-for-victory-applying-strategic-operational-and-tactical-planning-to-imperial-assault-skirmish/

I also had some tips on my Twin Troopers interview (episode 9 IIRC).

Finally, I've started a thread to track Regionals lists so you can keep a finger on the pulse of the meta to help guide your list building:

I hope some or all of these are helpful!

Play more games. That's the best way to get better.

Vassal is a great way to get more games in when you can't play in person. You can even play the world champion. The boardwars.eu discord channel has kind of become the defacto place to find out when people are playing: http://discord.me/bweu