Australian Masters Invite

Last night I logged into Wargamerau for the first time in ages and saw that I had an invite to the Australian Masters in my Inbox.

Since their first Masters back in 2005 the highest ranked NZ player has been invited to the Australian event. I was lucky enough to qualify in 2008 and 2010 (where I qualified on my Top 10 Oz ranking as well) and in both year's attended and had a great time.

This year I won't be able to attend. The reason for this is a clash of dates. At the start of 2012 I posted the NZ Masters dates (as organiser) and contacted the Oz organisers informing them of when the NZ event was. Unfortunately there are only a limited number of dates and the Oz Masters organisers need to split out their Fantasy and 40k events. This has meant by scheduling for early December (1st/2nd and 8th/9th) that one was always going to clash with the NZ event.

So due to my prior commitment to organising the NZ event, I've had to decline. My invite passes onto the #2 Ranked Player - Tim Joss and I've let him know and I've passed his details onto the Australian organisers. If Tim declines I understand the next ranked Oz player picks it up.

However that said, even if there was no clash, I was always going to decline my invitation. One of the most pleasing parts of the last eighteen months' Warhammer in New Zealand has been the annihilation of subjective composition scores. The move to a Hard Cap system has taken so much niggle out of events and made life much more balanced. Coincidently, the last subjective comp system I played in was the 2010 Australian Masters system (used at both the Oz and NZ Masters events that year) and I started with "handicaps" against my playing opponents of 48 and 51 points respectively. When there were only 120 points on offer that size of hurdle proved in surmountable. It allowed the weaker armies to look for draws, small losses and ride the comp score through. Good on them, they played to the system and received the rewards. However, it really soured me on subjective comp.

Since then I have been a devotee of Hard Cap comp - both as a player and as a TO - as it removes the "hard done by" griping that people like myself felt. This means there is no whinging, whining or squealing like little girls before or after the event.

Australia seems to be one of a very limited number of countries that holds on to subjective comp, most TOs now using the more transparent hard cap system.

Despite all that, I wish the organisers and the participants in this year's Oz Masters all the best. I know everyone will have a great time - from a social point of view both the 2008 and 2010 events were highlights for me. If Tim decides to pick up his invitation he will surely have a great time.