From a Wooden Spoon to an ITS Event Winner

This month last year I have started this blog. I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep it alive for this long, let alone get almost 35,000 reads over that time. So I thought I would write something different for the one year anniversary. I have been planning this for a while. I been meaning to do it after my first ITS win but there was always something else to write about! I am hoping it will give you all some insight into "behind the scenes" and perhaps some idea on how to be more competitive with Infinity, if that is what you are after. That said, this is not a "how to guide" so I can't promise it'll work for everyone.

I have been playing tabletop wargames for almost a decade now, can't quite remember what year I got into Infinity (it was when N2 was already released) but it was in May 2015 when I started to really think about playing competitively. The only reason I remember the specific month is because it is directly linked to an article on Corvus Belli website. It was in May that they showed the Le Muet miniature (for the first time I think) and basically said if you want this miniature, you'll have to earn it by winning an ITS event. Until then I didn't really know you can win special miniatures.

My first thought was that I am not going to worry about it because I am never going to win one. The only tournament I have done up to that point was the first Northern Open and I came last, but I had a great time! Plus I wasn't that interested in the tournament scene. Bit later on I thought "Hold on, if other people can do it, why can't I? Infinity doesn't have meta game like Warhammer games." I went on the UK Infinity Facebook page and the forum list of UK events, and signed up for every tournament I could travel to. I actually did well on the second Northern Open and later managed to win my first ITS event in December.

So how did I manage to do it?

Well, short answer would be I went from casually playing Infinity once a week to playing as often as possible and going to about two tournaments per month, basically live and breathe Infinity. It wasn't enough just talking about it, playing it, reading online... I wanted to write about it too, which was the main reason I started this blog.

As you likely know, in its core Infinity has a very simple and efficient system but it also has tons of special rules and each unit has large amount of utility. The trick is to always find the right way to use a unit in each given scenario. To achieve that you need to practice, a lot. I am pretty sure its the same like with any other skill, the more you practice, the better you will be at it. Personally I have stuck with one army for the whole journey (Caledonia). Not only because I really like the army but it helped me to practice using the same army in different ways, I do quite enjoy finding out new utilities for the available units. One of my mates plays different army every few months and he is good with all of them, I'd say he is more efficient when it comes to writing army lists so he doesn't need dozen of models to try out different things.

If you can't practice very often, I would highly recommend to at least read up on tactics for your chosen army and Infinity in general, especially mission specific tactics. The missions do impact the army lists and how you play, which is another good thing to keep in mind. Its possible you can have one army that is good for all missions, but tailoring your army to missions where you can does help. In my experience it did anyhow. I have also noticed the impact practicing missions before an event has. We used to practice more often earlier in the year and I do feel I was doing better than I am now. If nothing else, it lets you see the things you could improve in your army list.

Another thing I found personally useful was finding my own use for units. Especially online you'll always have people trying to tell you what to use, what not to use and while their opinions on units might be valid, you ought to make up your own mind. For that reason I always try to only give recommendations and suggestions when giving opinion on units or army lists. It can easily happen that a unit that is being overlooked by others, could work amazingly for you and your play style.

So yeah, there really isn't any big secret behind winning tournaments. I do believe practice was the main thing and I feel lucky that the people I play and practice with are also competitive so we can always challenge each another even during casual games.

Even if you are new to go the game, go out to tournaments and have fun! It is the best way to learn new things and play new people. Don't worry about loosing either, keep at it, learn from all games and one day you can be ITS event winner too.