Little Rituals

This has nothing to do with the actual content of this blog, it was just the first thing to pop up in Google Images and it looked too awesome to pass up. I apologize, now carry on!

Last night I began going through all of my things and getting them in order for the Con Nooga 2400pt Team Tourney Saturday at Dicehead Games and Comics in Cleveland, TN. I began to go into auto pilot, running through the motions of getting everything packed, and I began to notice the little things that are so familiar to me,all the things that i do consciously and subconsciously during my preparation. I began to watch my ritual.

Everyone's ritual is...different

Ritual before a tournament - Everyone has one, in some form or fashion.That little something that must be done, rubbing that little good luck charm, whatever it is, no matter how pointless or "dumb", you do it anyway, every time, without question. This is not something that is relegated to wargaming. Look at professional sports. The playoff beard in the NFL, LeBron's powder clap in the NBA, and pretty much everything in baseball (if you've seen the Major League films, you know exactly what i am talkin about), all these are good luck charms or simple rituals that you do to get your head in the game.

Cause nothing says I love you like bein a dick.
Also has nothing to do with the Blog

I am no exception. When I get ready for a tourney, I have to go about it a certain way.The first thing I do is build a list. once I have it on paper, i get out the casualty board and I set the whole list out, just as I would if I was showing it off at a tournament. I am a very visual learning type of person, I have to see it in order to understand it. Therefore, by getting the army out and set up, I am able to then take all the numbers and letters from the list and merge it with the visual picture of my army. I then have a much better idea of whether I am happy with the list, or if it is back to the drawing boards. I then run through the list to check for WYSIWYG. Afterwards, I pack it all into my Battlefoam and then run through the list again, to ensure that I haven't forgotten anything.


Then comes packing of the gaming aids. Tape measure, TAC measuring tool, templates, wound markers, etc get packed neatly into a tray. When it comes to small/large blast and flamer templates, i always grab two of each, and stack them neatly on top of each other; don't really know why, as soon as i pick it up they are gonna slide and scatter, but I do it anyway.

Finally, we come to the good luck charm; rolling out the ones. Now, this may sound crazy and lack any logical sense, but hey, its a good luck charm, it doesn't have to. I take my dice bag, and pour it out onto the table. I  then separate them all by colors. Then i pick up all the dice from one pile and begin to roll them, picking up every die that lands on a one and put it back in the bag. I keep rolling the dice until every die's last roll was a one. I then move to the next group of dice and start over. That way, the last roll that every die in my dice bag rolled was 1, and so hopefully, it won't roll 1's back to back. I know, it is stupid and really has no bearing on how my dice will roll the next time out of the bag, but I do it anyway, before every tournament, without fail.


So, what are y'all's before tournament rituals? How do you prepare for "The Big Game"?