In our Road to LVO series, we’re following several different players and hobbyists as they prepare to play in one of the largest wargaming conventions on the planet. This year’s Road to LVO series is sponsored by Frontline Gaming.
Welcome back to my Road to LVO series. Previously in this series I’ve been documenting the more or less weekly events that had marked the second half of my summer, leading up to the biggest show on earth, the Las Vegas Open. The year has been kind to me – my results have been good enough to put me within scoring distance of taking down the entire ITC (Rob: Not the first time! Ben was notably one of the very few top players who somehow wasn’t at the World Championships last year, as none of the events he won were qualifiers. He finished 18th overall after finishing 20th at LVO in January).
As of this writing, I am currently ranked 11th globally in the ITC circuit with some monster events ahead of me which could shake everything up. It’s a big task, and winning the ITC – or even finishing with a high rank – requires foresight and planning to set yourself up for success. Not just in the “be good at 40” sense but also in the how to spend your time and set up your schedule. So today I’ll cover what I’ve been doing, some of the things I’ve learned, and some of the things I’ve done this year that may have run counter to my goal of winning the ITC.
1. Play at Big Events, Especially LVO
Your ITC rank is determined by your points, which are a total of your six highest scores taken from among all qualifying events you’ve played in during a single season. The algorithm for the score is a secret but breaks down to extremely large events being very important to attend to get the most points.
An Aside from Rob
Rob: I can help here – I’ve done some work reverse-engineering the algorithm for this and essentially the key factors here are the total number of players at the event, the number of rounds you win before your first loss, your final placing (with bonuses for finishing first, second, and third), and your total wins. Of these, going to larger events matters much, much more – the number of players at the total event has a massive effect on your score for that event, to the point that placing 47th at the GW US Open in Tacoma was worth more points for me this year (231.9) than winning a five-round GT (191), and placing 25th at the clutch City GT was worth more (183) than being on the second place team in Ottawa (153), in part because it had 30 more players in attendance, and in part because of how teams are counted – more on that in a moment. Going to the largest events is a huge part of the ITC scoring rubric, and the reason we’ve seen a lot more Brits at the top of ITC scoring is because the UKTC puts on a super major every month now.
Back to Ben
Thanks, Rob – as another example: I played in the January 2025 LVO and that is my second highest score for the season even though my overall placing was 20th, outranking GT wins and other podiums I have had this year. So to truly have a shot you really do need to schedule the six largest events available to you in order to give yourself a best shot, focusing on events with 200+ attendees. If I had to assemble an ideal list, it would be:
- LVO (twice this year)
- World Championships of Warhammer (WCW)
- NOVA
- GW US Open Tacoma
- Adepticon
- The London GT (LGT)
That said, you also have to do well at those events – it’s possible to outscore them with other majors if you do well enough at those and poorly enough in the largest events – and you can obviously play in more than just these for your best chance, but these are the singles events which give you the best chance at the highest score, with oodles of ITC points just for attending. Of these, the WCW is the only one that requires an invite to go to, but anyone else could book this schedule to give themselves the best shot possible.
I didn’t do that myself at the start of the year as winning the ITC wasn’t a personal goal for me this year – it’s just something that happened with my current standings and results, where it turns out I’m in a position to compete. This year is also special and I get to count my “home” game twice – specifically LVO. The Las Vegas open is an absolute must-attend to secure the ITC crown and always has been (Rob: In past years there has been a points bonus for winning at LVO, worth so many points that the LVO winner would typically end up winning the ITC). The ITC has only been won once by someone who didn’t attend and do well at the Las Vegas Open, so if you’re planning a big run at the ITC, circle LVO on your calendar and plan your flights.
Photo Credit: Brandon Roddy
2. Teams Events Aren’t ITC Point Winners
Okay, it’s time to admit it. Teams 40K has a downside: Attending a lot of teams events can really hold back your potential ITC scores. This happens because while team events can have hundreds of attendees, each each is only counted as one opponent. So that 560 person, 8-man team event is the equivalent of a 70 person GT in the eyes of ITC scoring. Going back to Rob’s notes on player count, that really hurts those events when it comes to your final score.
I am at a place in my 40K career where my team events are more important and fun to me then playing in singles, but I have a relatively even split between the two types of event. At this moment in the calendar I have attended more multi-day teams events this year than I have singles, attending events with Art of War, Smite Club, and Team USA activities. I spend far more of my 40K time, effort, and money traveling to and preparing for team events so I’ll be the last person to say don’t go to them.
So while I’m not saying it isn’t possible for someone to play in lots of teams events (Innes Wilson is currently #1 and no stranger to teams events), and still win the ITC, it does hurt your chances. This year I definitely prioritized some teams events over big singles events and while I don’t regret it, if winning the ITC had been a personal goal of mine I’d have probably made slightly different choices with regard to some of the events I attended this year.
3. It All Starts with Your Calendar
I start planning my schedule for the 40K year relatively early. Not only to include some must-attend events but also to clue in everyone else in my life in as well. Google calendar is definitely your friend here. Let this also serve as your reminder to have some life outside of the game of Warhammer – Play other games, hang out with friends and spend time with family.
I could go hard and try to do everything but I usually set the pace at one two-day event per month with the occasional exception. This could be a singles or team event. So I try to pick out where I will be in what month and which events I want to go to that are new to me versus which events I’ve been to before I know will be absolute bangers. I usually have this set out six months in advance, with only one nebulous grey area occurring around Team USA starter selection. Since I have been competing for a slot, I know that, if selected, the time period after would leave me with no time to attend other events as I’d have to be on the grind for team prep. And on that note, it’s far more productive to focus and grind with the best players in the country than it is to travel and play in singles events. This pace of scheduling in addition to an active lifestyle outside the game makes my local RTT scheduling quite difficult, but I do make the cameo appearance once in a while. So while I’m a Vegas local, my main way of playing with the local community is through a league.
As of this writing, I am planned out until about the spring of next year, having just added a 6 man Asian teams event being hosted in Phuket, Thailand to my calendar for January. So I take my scheduling seriously. That also includes many of the planned weekly practice nights, plus a couple of private charity events I’ll tend during the year as well. When you add it all up, it’s a very full plate.
But you don’t need to do this all – you could just plan around those six large, tentpole events, ensure you do well at them, and take that route. This is just the annual route I take, and your calendar will likely be very different from mine.
Rob: This is the part where I remind everyone that I looked at the number of games played per year by the game’s top players and if you are planning to win those six big events, they’ll likely need to be part of a plan to play 200+ games.
Different Goals, Same Method
So what if you don’t feel you’re there yet to make a run at the top? I’d say do it anyways and just see where you land. When I was starting out and people were more excited about the ITC, I just wanted to finish in the top 100. I thought that felt cool on its own. It’s a solid goal and achieving it still means you’ll need to yourself up for as much success as possible, planning your schedule around large events that help you improve your score. And also, it’s a good excuse to travel.
And if you’re a faction specialist? Well then there’s also Best in Faction. I have yet to win the ITC but I do have a couple of Best in Faction trophies on the shelf. Let me tell you they are nearly the same trophy physically at the end of the day. It’s a very worthwhile goal to chase, and can be just as impressive if you play a faction that has some tough competition, but isn’t incredibly popular. And the nice thing about best in faction is that it only takes your four highest scores, so you can get a little more leeway with your planning, putting in a bit less effort. Though if you’re super motivated, you could try and snag more than one best in faction award.
If you can’t travel across the country to all these majors, set yourself up to the best of your ability to get to the biggest events close to you. Some factions get so under represented in a year that a player could take home a BIF award with three big RTT wins and a top 25 LVO placing.
I am mostly a goal-oriented individual: I set a goal and plot the best possible course and set myself up with the best possible way to get there. “Winning the ITC” wasn’t on my “to do” list at the beginning of the year but circumstances have aligned such that maybe just maybe I can make it happen and will give myself a little extra push to go for it. Things are certainly stacked against me a bit going forward – I’m down nearly 100 points from first place, I’m still within striking distance, and that’s because the method to get there is nearly the same as the one I’d plotted for myself earlier this year.
And if I Miss?
Oh well! One of the best pieces of advice I can give to anyone on competitive 40K is do your best to detach winning at 40K from your personal identity. While I want to be recognized as a great player, both by standings and by my peers as a sportsmen, I don’t need to win every single game of 40K I play. It isn’t life or death. It does not need to be stressful. It is a game of war dollies. There is not a single game of 40K which I have played or have yet to play that is more important then the friendships and camaraderie I have at the tables.
Of course I want to win. This isn’t saying I don’t care about doing well or the my final placing at an event. I have walked away from some events feeling incredibly deflated, but I am not going to tie my self worth to a game. What I try to maintain instead is being known as a dude who is genuinely good at this game and is fun to play. I haven’t always been successful at that but damn do I try to be the best example I can be.
The thing is I always know I can do better. I know I can do more but I have personally been my happiest in this hobby doing it this way, but I got there after learning my lessons.
Avoiding Burnout
In the 2023-24 ITC season I made the ITC podium. I took full advantage of the power of early tenth edition Eldar brokenness (Rob: I have never forgiven Ben, whose Discord name I changed from “Warboss Ben” to “Big Time Autarch Ben”) and won multiple super majors and had one of my best statistical years on record. That was the year I chased the dragon. It didn’t start that way – it wasn’t until after my 3rd GT win in a row in August 2023 that I decided “this will be the year.”
So I planned and practiced to the nth degree. I definitely made some fumbles – in particular, not giving WCW the weight it was worth hurt my score – but I had many successes. I really wanted to finish first. And so it came down to LVO 2024 as the big decider. Necrons were fresh off their Codex release and I remember pairing into them, the mission, and seeing a very undesirable table layout.
And as I went second into Canoptek Court on The Ritual, I slowly felt the majority of a year’s worth of planning and effort drain from my soul. I played my heart out and it was honestly one of the best games I could have played. I kept it close, but our hero was slain there, my shot at the ITC over in an instant. One game, one bad matchup, one bad mission – a confluence of events that I just lost my agency over.
The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. I did a lot of reflection and learned a lot about not tying my worth to winning and what it can do to you when you do that. I looked back at when I gave up time with family and friends to go to events and the burn out that had set in from other event prep. I realized I had “paid” too much. I paid a lot just to feel crummy – even if I still made ITC podium.
So heed my cautionary tale! Play 40K responsibly. Everyone has their own limits, goals and standards. Costs are relative. I have made shifted my priorities since that LVO and now I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in the hobby.
What’s Next?
Coming to Las Vegas? In the next article I’ll be talking about travel tips for 40k and putting my status as a longtime resident of the city to the test, talking about how you can get the most out of your trip to LVO.
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