Charlys bad form

[Charly]

after some looking at the stats on mikes computer we discovered my run of loosing rather a lot began when i faced simons tyranids for the second time and got wiped out. a truly crushing blow to any player :-p anyway id like this thread to be a place where ppl can slag off my lack of tactics... in a highly constructive way hopefully... basically a desperate attempt to get some pointers to improve my game. please ignore such farces as tournament 2005's army. *cough*

[El Capitan]

I assure you that by creating a direct debit of £50 to my account each week you will be become much more successful

Alternatively you can begin making battle plans, im sure you play wihtout a clear foucs as when a unit goes down you dont seem to know what to do. If we were playin fourth edition you could just use the lovable 6" nothing matters, but this is war and you need to plan roles for every unit including when it goes down. And get your infantry winning the game, vehicles come from the support section as thats exactly what they are, support!

[James 40K Champ ***]

I was thinking about how players forumlate tactics the other day, and I think i identifed a difference between some tactitians.

I myself when I play begin my battle assigning each of my squads ACHIVABLE objectives each. High priority are any targets which pose the largest threat to my force, once they are dealt with I turn my focus to targets I can squeez for VPs.

Baring my squads obj in mind is what dominates how I deploy, and how I follow through in the game.

I see lots of players either deploying in the same pre determined 'ideal' way every battle, or deploying relying too heavily on terain. This often results in them just declaring to shoot at whats in front of them. May be ok, but against a good opponent has he deliberatly placed them there to take the firepower?

I know this applies more for me than others as I can depend relyably on deploying 2nd (having a high necron strategy rating), but where possible deploy with your enemy in mind... no point having that expensive terminator squad out of the battle all game.

BE FLEXIBLE, being able to give your squads objectives means you must know your force inside you, and at least have some knowlege of what your facing. But even the best laid plans fall foul to the dice gods and so you must be prepared to reasign squads where and when needed.

Make sure you pick your army to handle a wide variety of challenges, but remember one unit/tank/character cannot be relyed upton to achive its goal.


ok, so hopefully your baring in mind your own army against the enemy and you have some kind of plan. Now try a bit of empathy and put yourself in your opponents boots, what resources does he have available, what is he most threatened by.
By looking at his deployment you should be able to identify his main plan, rather than play it out and see how good his plan is, why not try mess it up. If hes set up to take out one of your key units, consider repositioning in a clever way to bring the rest of your force as reinforcements.
If he is set up with a combat unit to clear a strategic area of the table, consider falling back, letting him have it, then blasting it off the face of the table etc etc you get the idea just watch what he is doing.

Quick tip: lots of players moan about how long peoples turns are taking. Use this time to annalyse his moves and plan you next moves. you will enter your turn with confidence and a quick movment phase denys you opponent thinking time.

One last thing before i end up writing a book:

If you spend lots of points on a nice shiney unit, such as a beefed up terminator squad, or prehaps an Avatar. FOR THE LOVE OF SCARABS, USE IT!
Too often I see players hold back these units fearing the enemys firepower. Or sending them on extremly wide flank attacks leaving them with perhaps one turn in action.
If someone sends a powerful peice down a flank, I will back off onto my other flank and try to smash everything over there.
send it forwards and see what happens (obviously still play with some caution, but dont be scared).
If I find an avatar charging down the center of the table at me I will need new pants!
A player in this situation has few options, take it out, or get minced. so naturaly almost everyone will dedicate a lot of firepower to taking down the huge threat.
A waste you say? but no, they may have taken down your nice shiney thingy, but the rest of your army should now be dominating the centre feild in a possition to strangle the enemy.
whats better surviving the game having achived very little, or obsorbing lots of firepower.. hmmm

[James 40K Champ ***]

Sorry for going off on one a bit there, but there are some important points and you didnt ask for anything specific. They are just some basics of how my mind works

[Charly]

exactly the kind of feedback i was looking for really, thanks. good to see u becoming a more active member on the website too by the way.

[James 40K Champ ***]

yeah cheers

[El Capitan]

Brown pretty much covered it all there, its pretty much a good answer to how he was playing a year ago...and now hes a champion so heed his words.

I can just reiterate his points, when approaching the game you need to think of that all ecompassing phrase, 'what does it mean to me?'. When deploying you need to think of your mission, which in 40k is always destroy the enemy, but how do you go about this? Against Masrines you'll want to take areas of ground to surrond them, wheras agaisnt tyranids you'll probably want to hold the line. Thus your mission is established.
Then look at your opponents force, they have say, a Predator with two heavy bolter sponsons...so 'what does it mean to me'? It can quickly counterract your advance with anti-infantry fire, so you'll want to take it out in order to take that position, thus your heavy weapons squads have their role, same applies when taking on marine infantry. However apply the 'wdimtm?' question to a devastator squad with lascannons and it pretty much means you wont want to send a tank at the position you want to take and thus infantry can be tasked for the job.
Its all a process of rapidly asking yourself questions and by process of elimination getting the best unit to perform the task given the situation. This is very basic stuff, but hardly anyone actually does it. To many players send units blindly forwards or stand there doing nothing, wheras by asking some basic questions that unit instantly becomes effective.

Also the point on speed is a good one, for one games are faster and even better, your oppoennt has little time to realise whats happening. The ebst players can make their plans rapidly and then execute them jsut as fast. And you can always pressure slow players to hurry up, which even further worsens their plans ;D

[Charly]

yeah all sound advice to any player, cool. il try and bear all this in mind next game. ps ive painted my veterans! woohoo

[James 40K Champ ***]

yeah cheers mike, thats what I was trying to say but didnt realise it, the main point is asking yourself questions

[James 40K Champ ***]

Noooo defeated at the hands of the Ultramarines! 10 - 8

Go charly

[Charly]

back in this

[Charly]

im looking forward to playin ur sisters soon actually, interested to see how the army works, how long before its fieldable?

[James 40K Champ ***]

thought I had everything, but realised im still short 7 sisters, that can be sotred tonight in a single ebay purchase provided it goes my way.

So prob a week at the earliest, im gonna take my time to paint it all thou, want it pro (or as pro as i go)

Lol, im looking forward to seeing how they work too :s probably lots of meat on both sides

[Charly]

ok so possible game on weds nite brown? where?

[James 40K Champ ***]

*shrugs*