Is it just me missing something, or is this a really bad combination. As far as i can figure out, when the "weak" armies get bonuses from ETC, and THEN all armies have to build a 10 comp Swedish list, won't the Swedish either completely mitigate the ETC, or won't the ETC reverse the situation? Making the armies with %10 percent points earned and 200-300 extra pts much stronger than the other armies? A friend recently posted up a tournament using both comps, it's the first time he wants to introduce a comp, and only the 2nd tournament, but i am greatly considering not participating because this feels like he did not take the proper time realizing what a comp actually is, and the fact that they seem not necessarily mututally exclusive, but they will mitigate each others result / reverse the roles and thus reintroduce the solution they're intended to provide. He completely disagreed, so i'd just want a third / fourth / fifth opinion (and so forth) from you guys, since i'd rather not spread "poison" in our small gaming community. HIS argument is, that one Comp provides balance in the individual lists (i believe he thinks that's the sole mission of swedish), and ETC provides balance between the armies.
I'd say that it seems like overkill. The ETC is supposed to level the playing field, whereas the Swedish Comp is to reward you for making an inherently neutral list. Right? That's my understanding anyway. ETC has limits on what abilities do what, how many of a certain troop type you can take, restrictions on the magic phase, restrictions on magic items, stuff like that. Swedish is more like, if you take one good thing then you have to take a couple bad things to neutralize it. I'd opt out of that tourney, personally. I think Warhammer works fine in a no-comp environment though, so maybe I'm just biased.
Swedish Comp is definitely meant to balance between armies as well as within armies. Using it together with extra points would be a huge benefit to some armies. On the other hand, more points means more penalites in the Swedish comp, so it might not be as bad as it seems. You might actually get Beastmen or Tomb Kings placing high! I think it would be a better idea to settle for Swedish comp OR ETC but I hardly think it would break the game. I wouln't let it put me off the tournament if I liked the crowd and organisers. The ETC restrictions won't do much with Swedish comp since they only limit the very worst combinations and you probably can't afford those anyway.
He reluctantly agreed that it was silly and went ETC only. About your reply Antone (thankyou both BTW) ETC also makes some armies worth 10% less points, not a lot, but still some.
i dont think it would have mattered that much anyways. comp tends to change so little at the end of the day /shrug.