One of the things that frustrates new tournament players is when they feel they’ve played a perfect game, and still lost. They may blame their dice, the mission, or Games Workshop. If this sounds like you, take a deep breath and consider this: Warhammer 40,000 is a dice game. It is also unbalanced. Every army has several matchups that even if played perfectly, won’t win unless their opponent makes a mistake. That’s ok. 40k is fun because of the people you play, the models you get to play with, and the wonky rules that make for an interesting 3 hour battle. The more popular this game gets, and the more professional the top competitive players get, the clearer it is that the key to actually winning most games and being a top player is to know everything about all factions, and build a list that minimizes chance. Consider a 9 inch charge has a 27.8% on 2 D6, it is not fair to you or your opponent to blame the game on you failing that charge. If you want to play competitively, sure you may want to win, but the real goal is to perfect your game. If that leads to you going 8-0 at a GT, then great. But even going 0-5 can be a blast if you play to your strengths and keep the games fun.

So next time you play a game, set a goal to achieve. Instead of aiming for a win, try score higher in primary, or kill a certain unit. You’ll find that even when the game has gone downhill, you can still find a slice of victory.