Playing to win, but not how you think!
Most of us, when we hear the phrase “playing to win,” immediately think of tournaments, competitive play, and the latest meta warbands. Winning, in that world, means taking the strongest warband available, scouring the internet for the best deck, learning the sharpest strategies, and mastering every nuance until your hands are on the glass.
There is no denying the thrill of that kind of competition, and I will be honest: I like winning. I do not enjoy losing (who does?). However, in reality, I do not have the time to grind out endless practice games, study tournament results to track the shifting meta, or rehearse strategies for hours on end. This means that, realistically, I will win very few tournaments.
So where does that leave me? I am not giving up, but I am redefining what “winning” really means. For me, it is less about being the sharpest competitor in the room and more about embracing the challenge of less frequently played warbands, the ones most players dismiss as weak, flawed, or outright unplayable (often because they are).
In the past, that has meant taking up Cyreni's Razors, Daggok's Stab-Ladz, and even Lady Harrow's Mournflight. I like to think I was early on that one, as my tournament reports can attest. Now, I have returned to the Ogre Kingdoms, or Ogor Mawtribes as they are now known, to take on the challenge of Blackpowder's Buccaneers.
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| My Buccaneers |
On paper, the Buccaneers are not impressive. They have their moments, but their shortcomings are obvious enough that few players see them as serious contenders. In a tournament setting, they are rarely feared, rarely respected, and almost never considered a threat. That was exactly why I chose them.
Once you pick up a warband like this, the game shifts. You stop measuring yourself against other players and start measuring yourself against the game itself. Every small success becomes meaningful.
This way of playing has deep roots in the community. It is not new, and it is not unique to me. Over the years, many players have thrown themselves into the task of making weaker warbands work, simply for the challenge and satisfaction it brings.
I remember when The Wurmspat were first released. Their potential was recognised as limited, yet rather than dismissing them, a large part of the Underworlds community rose to the challenge. Decklists were exchanged, discussions flourished, and players searched for every drop of efficiency. The Wurmspat were never going to be top tier. They were too slow and inconsistent, with a poor faction deck. But that was the point. The fun was in trying to make them work.
That kind of collective puzzle solving is one of the most rewarding aspects of this hobby. It builds camaraderie through shared struggle, as though everyone is chipping away at the same wall, looking for hidden cracks. When someone finally ekes out a win with a supposedly hopeless warband, the whole community shares in that triumph. It is not about beating another person. It is about beating the game itself.
That is what I am chasing when I play Blackpowder’s Buccaneers. I know I am not going to storm a tournament with them. I do not have the time, and they do not have the stats to make it easy. Still, I can play to win.
Winning, for me, means finding a way to take a warband expected to fail and coax it into surprising victories. Sometimes those wins are dramatic, with Gorlock weathering every blow before striking down his foes with a single swing of his cutlass. Other times they are quieter, with Blackpowder’s mates just clinging on long enough to claim the last bit of treasure.
Those moments, whether they end in victory or a narrow loss, are the true reward.
There is also a unique satisfaction in watching an opponent’s reaction. When someone looks across the table and says, half-jokingly, “You got that warband to work?” it means more than any tournament standing. It shows I have done something unexpected. I have turned frustration into fun, weakness into strength, and impossibility into possibility.
Of course, this way of playing demands patience. I am not chasing dominance; I am chasing resilience. I am not trying to break the meta; I am trying to chip away at it until it gives me a crack to slip through.
Sometimes I will still lose badly, and that is inevitable. If Gorlock dies early, I am in trouble. Even in those games, there is progress to be found. Each match teaches something new about positioning, timing, and which gambits and upgrades unlock just enough synergy to make things click. Each game is another step toward consistency, and consistency, for me, is the truest definition of winning.
At the end of the day, I know I will win very few tournaments with Blackpowder’s Buccaneers, but I do not need to. The joy lies in the journey, in the puzzle, in the gradual transformation of a warband most people dismiss into something surprising and occasionally formidable.
Winning, in this sense, is not about trophies or prizes. It is about proving, to myself most of all, that with enough thought and creativity, even the weakest warbands can find their place.
That is what I mean when I say I am playing to win… but not how you think.
Checkout my first tournament with the Buccanneers - Agents Con - October 25
Checkout my Warhammer Underworlds for more articles.
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