2022 was the year that I hung up my inferno combi-bolters (at least for the time being) and decided to give AoS a go. I found an army I liked the aesthetic of, a way of painting them that worked for me (thank you Slap-chop) and got some tournaments booked in.

As I learned more about AoS, I discovered that my chosen army, Kruleboyz, were not exactly setting things alight on the tournament scene, but I had already got cracking on the painting and had most of the army I needed, so I decided to persevere.

This short blog is about the benefits of sticking with an underperforming army, aka bringing a Man-skewer Crossbow to a gunfight.

1) Lots of cheap models on eBay! While there may not be a start collecting box for Kruleboyz, I managed to pick up lots of models extremely cheaply on eBay, despite the sculpts being great (should have wondered more about that in retrospect!).

2) You can never be called ‘That Guy’ with an underperforming army. It can make the social interaction of pickup games and/or tournaments quite straightforward if your opponent is less nervous as they know they aren’t about to be ROFLstomped by the latest hotness.

3) You can catch your opponent unawares. I’m not talking gotcha moments here, but people tend not to build towards defeating your underpowered army because a) their meta representation is quite low and b) to be frank, they probably don’t have to! This can mean that sometimes you’ll have a shot against someone who expects to beat you as soon as they pair into you.

4) Knowing your army. This goes for all armies really, but while the temptation might be strong to switch (and Big Waaagh has been buying me drinks all night), sticking with your army means you know how to get the most out of it.

5) The pressure is off in tournaments. If your army is languishing in the 30% win range, 2 wins in a 5 round tournament is you over-achieving! Well done, you! The same number of wins for an army at the absolute top of the meta, however, might be disappointing.

So there we have it: five reasons for sticking with an army that can seem to be hard work at times. And remember, once you’ve hit bottom, there’s only one way up and just imagine how match-fit you’ll be after receiving a balance update or White Dwarf glow-up!

Any more reasons for sticking with a struggling army? Pop them in the comments below.