Two things for New/old players to consider

Hi there ladies and gentlemen. I am Seven, Local eldar player of evolution games. I started playing warhammer 40k about a year ago, but I have been interested in the game for quite some time.

Eldar was my first army that I ever got into and played. Recently, SeerK has invited me to become apart of Craftworld Lansing. I have some experience as a guest writer for a different blog called Dark Future Games. I am very excited and pleased to be offered a position as a blog author and hope to be able to hold the interest of the 40k blog community. My posts will be focused around the eldar race. I’d like to get in posts on a variety of eldar related articles, from tactics to works in progress on my army, and maybe branch into some other subjects.

My first post will be about learning curves. As I mentioned my first army was eldar, I was told that I chose one of the more difficult armies to pick up as a first army. I learned this by first hand experience. My first ten games I played in were crushing defeats, but from defeat comes experience. I have now gotten to the point where even if I don’t win or tie. I always bring some challenge to the table. There are a few aspects I would like to highlight.

Tactical decisions: This is a integral part of the game, and even the most venerated players can be seen making mistakes that cost them dearly. Some things come to mind immediately for me, I have a nasty habit to spread my forces too thin. As an eldar player, my lists tend to have a good amount of firepower but my deployment or sometimes my target priority turn my army into a blunted weapon. I think that the eldar’s style of attack (more so than most armies) needs to resemble that of the rapier, deadly and focused to its target.

My first task when I started out, was to read the rule book thoroughly and then experiment in games as well as observe other players. Watching others play gives great insight because you aren’t involved with what either of the combatants personal interests. Being objective makes it easier to spot poor tactical choices and I really recommend watching your friends play (just don’t table crowd :/ ..... ). I don’t want to make it sound like battle reports are bad, but I don’t find them helpful for new players, they are just to short and underdetailed to give you time to consider options and tactical questions. If battle reports did have that much information, no one would read them. They would be longer than a fifty page report.

My personal suggestion to better your tactics is to play more games and at the end of each game ask yourself (and others as well), what choices did you make that impacted the game drastically. Maybe even write down a few notes so you can keep these things in mind easier.

Another thing about tactics that has been continually been floating around my head, If played correctly tactics far out weigh army list creation (not that any list can win but any reasonable list stands a chance). I have been watching games quite a bit and have seen that players that appeared to have much weaker lists have won because their tactics were far superior. One example off the top of my head is a game where SeerK forced a nob squad to go around his own units because there was not enough space for the nob squad to disembark. This kept a unit that has poor shooting and amazing assault out of assault for several rounds of combat, causing a huge swing of momentum in his favor. Something that came up in a game of mine was that I moved a wave serpent up to close the gap so my harlequins could jump out and pimp a squad of gargoyles. I ended up too close the the squad and the gagoyles surrounded the wave serpent, the squad was unable to pierce the armor but I was still unable to disembark the following turn and that killed rounds of combat where the assault driven squad did nothing. This caused a tie instead of a very potential win.

The U.S.S. SPORTMANS SHIP: I believe this is the most important thing about playing 40k. I am not talking about being a care bear and being a pansy so that your opponent likes you. What I am referring to, is that your opponent respects you at the end of the game. If your opponent is doing things you plainly don’t agree with, do not just let them continue as if nothing is wrong. Politely ask them what they are doing and ask for a reference to the rule that allows them to do so, then if you believe you have a stronger reason why they cannot, show them the rule.

There are many players that get caught up in either being so polite that they are already bent over the table (waiting for their opponent to pulverize their........well, you get the idea.........), or they are so aggressive that they make their opponent hate them. Try to be assertive, don't be taken advantage of, BUT don't be blind to any point of view other than your own.

I think this is a lesson that new players need the most, but still applies to the guys who have played since space hulk came out.

I feel like this post has gone a little bit longer than I intended it and will continue the learning curve line of thinking at a later time.

In the meantime, I would love to hear about some tactical situations the readers have come across where things the player did dramatically changed the outcome of the game (not just dice rolling). p.s A welcome to craftworld Lansing would be appreciated.