Hey everyone.
Lately I've seen quite a bit of discussion on Composition Scores in tournament use. Now I'm not here to tell you my opinion on it quite yet, but I would love to know how you guys feel about it. So I'll detail out a couple of the options that are being used, and see what you guys think.
Option 1: No Comp Score. (Easy enough)
Option 2: Comp Score based on units taken. Can be seen at some tournaments such as Astronomi-Con. The scoring system can be found here, http://www.mts.net/~xian/astronomi-con/websiteV2/rules/composition.htm
To summarize it, it says you get to use a set number of FOC choices for free. If you go beyond the free ones, points are deducted from the Composition Score depending on what and how many of those FOC slots you take.
Option 3: Judges scoring. I can't remember the tournament, but it has 3-5 judges and the judges look over each list and try to determine how many games the list is expected to lose. The more games it's expected to lose. The better the composition score.
Option 4: I want a Composition Score, just not one you described. Here's my thoughts on how I would like Comp Scores to be.
So it's all about you guys today, let's hear what you have to say :)
-CKR
Well, the real problem with comp scores is the varying way in which each codex is written.
ReplyDeleteA perfect example is IG. They don't have anything that is "must have" in their army that lives in the elite slots.
Most armies do. So right there most comp scores show a bias towards IG players.
Nids are another great example. Most of the anti MEQ for a nid army lives in the elite slot. You really can't be competitive if you aren't taking zoantrhopes or hive guard and using all of those slots.
I think that most of these soft scores like comp, painting, and sportsmanship lead to cronyism or at least the perception of it.
I think that a good way to solve this, if you "must" have a comp score is to very much spell it out and say "if you have more than 3 of any one type of identical unit, you will lose the XX amount of points awarded for composition. That would at least hurt the IG Chimera spam, and razorback spam lists that are so prevalent in 5th edition.
I really can't agree with any kind of comp scoring system.
ReplyDeleteThere are too many variations between codices that Option 2 really doesn't work. Some codices get hit far too hard, while other ones aren't even affected.
Option 3 tends to be overly biased and open to favoritism.
The only option that is even remotely balanced is one that covers each codex individually and list what can or can't be taken. But this requires a ton of work on the part of the organizer and needs to be clearly spelled out to all participants.
Ultimately, comp just makes the game more confusing and really hurts more than it helps. I want to be able to build my army the way I want, without having Joe-Shmoe telling me how to play based on his ideas of what is fair. not to mention that almost every kind of comp can be broken by the people who want to break it.