This is an attempt to describe the overall gaming style of my friend Marc Parker, which I call the Parker Doctrine. The primary goal of the Doctrine is to win without creating controversy. As Marc likes to say it's Toy Soldiers, lets keep it fun. He has won the most major 40k tournaments that I know of with a few awards for best sport and general. He has also been an innovator in army construction having created some of the strongest armies ever to hit the table. I figure this is a good first post because of all the approaches to the game I have seen none is as competitive, especially while remaining sporting and social.
First a quick explanation of how I got into and became a dedicated 40k player.
I started playing in 3rd edition and had been getting lucky against Marc at local tournaments. The local DE players were using the Harlequin rules to field Harlequin Wraithlords(4+ cover save) and I would be damned if they would have better Wraithlords than my own. So I ended up with 3 of each in my list. Marc was using one of his less powerful armies at the time, shooty marines. A strong army against the field but not so hot against 3 shot starcannon wraithlords hiding behind the same but with 4+ cover. I would tie and occasionally beat Marc even though I was a noob and he a GT winning veteran.
One day we played a game with my Ulthwe against his Speed Freaks. My whole army was dead by the end of the second turn. I was emotionally crushed for a week or two. How could the game be so broken after seeming like such a decently fine game? I had wanted to play for years because of the 2nd edition aspect Warriors and I had just dropped about $800 on a massive Eldar army!
Over time I found out that though there were a lot of busted armies that was ok specifically because there were a lot of busted armies! I ended up playing alot of games with Marc and learning everything I could. And so I took constant beatings at the hands of his armies that sported power levels simply ridiculous compared to normal lists of the day like IG, DE, Shooty Marines and Blood Angels. I followed his progress with the GW GT reports with full scoring and lots of profiles of beautiful armies by guys like Chris Courtney, Mike Butcher, Shaun Kemp and the masterful Victor Hardy . Seeing the epic heights of modeling and peering at the tournament scores seeking understanding kept me interested in the hobby and the competitive aspect of the game. It took a lot of missteps, countless terrible army ideas, a lot of meditation about sportsmanship and most importantly the advice of Parker himself but eventually I learned the Parker Doctrine.
I guess about 5 years ago Marc and Kenny Boucher started the Wrecking Crew Club for players on the GT circuit. Since then we've been kicking ass(and getting a few boots ourselves from time to time - oh yeah we still give out beer even when we lose), having fun, drinking beer(BEER!) and talking good natured trash at the GTs. If you want to hang out just introduce yourself and you quite possibly will wind up with one of our beers in your hand(depending on venue policy - damn lawyers ruin everything!!).
1) Don't argue about rules, play a clean game.
I don't think I've ever even seen Marc ask someone to roll for a rule dispute. If it's no big deal(95% of them) then the easiest way to treat any confusion about the rules is let them choose to play it there way. It makes the game more fun and doesn't waste time. Sportsmanship was always a big part of tournament scoring and still can be even in this more enlightened era of 40k. No one can really complain about an ass whooping if their opponent never once asked for a rule to go his way while also never bringing up an issue with the rules. Just in case you think this could hurt the chances of a person winning the game by being too soft, it never seemed to stop Marc from chalking up win after win. Oh yeah and what is the point of winning a toy soldier tournament if some of the people you beat are out there holding a grudge? If you had 5 good natured games at a GT they should be at worst indifferent to your victory, if you plied them with enough beer they should be cheering you on at the awards ceremony! : )
We have all had the misfortune of playing 1 or more TFG/WAAC player. It's usually a really bad experience exacerbated by the fact that most of our opponents are good dudes and we become accustomed to that. These horrible gaming experiences can sometimes makes us think about quitting a playgroup/store/tournament/the game itself. I just want everyone to know that there are plenty of competitive players out there at the GTs that play for the love of the game and the thrill of victory. And we hate the TFG/WAAC just as much as you do.
2) Bring a really big stick and come out swinging!
A simple fact of almost all 40k tournaments in North America is that they scored by Margin of Victory. To win the tournament you have to have gotten 4 or 5 Massacres. Major victories are fine but you aren't going to win any trophies with more than 1 Minor unless you a godlike painter or as much fun to play as <insert favorite comedian here>. Depending on the soft scores 5 Massacres may not be enough! A friend of ours named Rob Carr managed this magnificent feat even though he has massacred his opponent in round 5 of The Necro. That same person proceeded to take Best Overall while Rob got Best General! Soft scores can be a real son of a gun.
What this means is if you have any aspirations of the greatest victory a 40k general can experience you need a really really big stick! You have to administer whole sale beatings to your opponents and quickly! You don't want to go to time and lose out on points. You don't want your opponent feeling like they have the upper hand the whole game and then shaken when the rug is pulled out from underneath them. They might just get sore and decide to give you a lower sports score than you deserve, maybe even something like a 0 out of 10! It used to be pretty common but luckily TOs have tried to fix that problem. Anyways you ought to give your opponent a good fight, not many people appreciate someone taking the entire game hiding their units to eek out a tie or small win. It's like one party took both out of the running by preventing either side from scoring a big win because of a dogged adherence to a favored style.
The truth is if you play a quick aggressive game you have the greatest possible chance in each game of winning big. Also you will have plenty of time to chat, joke around and swap stories while other people are playing a tight precise game and going to time! If you have played a bunch of 40k and are proficient with your army that just should never happen because of your use of the game clock. 40k is a great game where regardless of what people like to believe skill is the predominant factor and there is little extreme short term luck. There ARE games where everything goes wrong(9 wounds from one unit shooting at 3 Thunderwolf Lords, all 9 armor saves are 1's WTF!?!) but they are super super rare, much more rare than people make them out to be. Humans focus on the negative event and believe them to be the norm when they just aren't. Don't reduce the skill factor by letting the game get bogged down allowing it to possibly go to time.
So I guess I could have saved you some time reading all that crap.
I could have just typed 7 words at the top.
Play clean, have fun, and bring it!
