Ok, so this has gotten a little more interest than I perhaps expected… J  Oh well.  It should be pretty fun.  For the record, I consider myself to be an average player, and an above average list writer. 

So todays lesson consists of revisiting some thoughts from yesterday, and contemplating how to start the game on the right foot.  As I said, 50% of the game is won before the first turn roll.  The main part of this is army list design.  You really need to build a list that is capable of dealing with the many challenges that it may face.  If you read through my SMAW articles, I have a lot of elements that I like to have in my lists, and most of those elements are designed for when you face specific armies.  For example, multiwound creatures are essential for playing High Elves.   A lot of my own personal thoughts for playing Warhammer stem from an article I read by Charles Black in IF4.  He basically goes through every single element of the game and describes it in detail.  If you want to learn from one of the real masters of the game, read that article.  As reference to how important list design is, I played six games at Dogcon.  I won four against reasonable players because I played much better than them.  I lost two games, both against players I consider not quite as skilful as me (horn blowing again, I am trying to stop it).  The first was against Wood Elves, and I did not have the tools to beat him.  Even though I played better, luck went against me and his army was capable enough and I lost.  In the last game, I got beaten by a much better army, simple as that.  I could have won the first game with better luck, but the last game I lost before the first turn.

So, when building an army I have a lot of things I try to incorporate.  Its all related to the armies you play against, which was part one of the 50%.  Your army, and your opponents army.  Do you have the tools to stop his, and vice versa.  Make sure you plan for the following things-

Bretonnians:  You need to have at least one unit or character that can negate armour saves, or at the very least remove 50% of them.  S6 or S7 minimum.  You also need several small, cheap diverting units to draw out Errant Knights and pull things out of position.  Shooting is not ultra useful, although every wound you cause on Grail Knights is valuable.

Vampires:  Rather than focusing on dispelling lots of raising spells, concentrate on being able to stop a single phase of Magic.  If you can prevent the Vampires from bringing back a whole pile of casualties in a single combat, at a critical stage then you can press home the advantage.  You need magical attacks to deal with Wraiths.  A Killing Blow option is useful, particularly as it will keep the Vampire general in line.  By keeping the Killing Blow model nearby, you can prevent him from being ultra aggressive.

High Elves:  With ASF you need to keep something alive – thus, either heavily armoured, multi wound or Chariots will work.  I recommend at least one of these options, but more is better.   Often, a lot of these things will overlap into other areas.

Dark Elves:  Heavy shooting and great diverters, plus minimum points for the units you can get, Dark Elves are one of the hardest armies to plan for.  Some units to take out their diverters, whether its shooting or diverters of your own, plus something that is capable of taking out Bolt Throwers early on.  Of all the armies out at the moment, Dark Elves are the one that is hardest to plan for.

Wood Elves:  I like to prescribe to the theory that Wood Elves tend to have lots of small units with minimal combat res.  My policy on defeating this style of army is to take fast moving characters that have either a static combat res bonus, or lots of attacks.  Charging into the smaller units of Dryads, Wardancers, even Archers with your fast movers can eliminate a lot of the punch.  Wood Elves will always be hard to beat because once you get on top they melt away, but taking a good result from them is the key.

Empire:  Psychology is the weakness of the Empire.  A Terror causer is the key to maximising your results here.  As most Terror causes tend to be Large Targets as well, you need elements that can take out the Cannons, but this is the perfect use for the fast moving character.

Skaven:  Again, Terror causers will definitely cause some grief to Skaven players, but the key is targeting the units outside the range of the generals influence.  Once you remove all the chaff units that can pull you out of the way and deny you flank charges, then you can concentrate on the major units with the characters. 

Tomb Kings:  Tomb Kings sit in a similar vein to Vampires, except they are much weaker in combat.  Thus, if you can get stuck in, take some casualties off them, they will continue to drop down.  As they operate in a very structured way, its easy to plan ways to stop their structure from working to their advantage.  Generally speaking, if you can stop one phase of incantations, you will win the game.

Now sometimes it is impossible to build in all the things you want due to points constraints.  That is where redundancy comes into play.  Having units fulfil dual roles is important, and why writing a list is such a vital part of playing the game.  I have responded to a few emails with list advice so hopefully something of what I have said helps.  Anyway, onto the other important part of the pregame.

Deployment and Use of Terrain are the other major parts that needs to be considered before the commencement of the first turn.  Here is one of the nuggets of pure champagne Warhammer that make me a legend – I reckon in 95% of games I will take the second turn.  Especially against Bretonnians… J  Having second turn allows you to do several things – in the final turn, you can attempt to rally troops without any fear of reprisal, you can move units into quarters to contest or claim, you can force late turn Panic tests without needing to consider LOS or potential countercharges and you can make a last turn grab at points if you want.  However, to fully realise the potential of the last turn, you need to ensure that you have units still alive… Mouse, something we need to work on.  Maybe later, another Lesson.  Another of the great advantages is that you get to see what your opponent is trying to do.  My own experience has taught me that usually, the player who reacts to his opponent will lose, but in the first turn, you cannot really force your opponent to do anything.  Letting him move forwards gives you a better understanding of how he plans to play the game, defensively, offensively, attacking a flank, refusing a flank etc.  So after seeing his movement phase you can go from there, formulating your plans.  So, after establishing that going second is preferable, the one thing you need to do is make sure that you plan out your deployment based on the fact that you ARE going second.  Always think about protecting your major units behind hills, forests, buildings, or worst case other units.  Make sure you have checked over the table for LOS from the enemies perspective.  Super tip number 1 – check out the other side of the board, see how things look from that side.  This is where clearly understanding the terrain can help.  Look over the board, look for potential bottlenecks where your units may get stopped in their tracks, blocking other units behind them.  Look for buildings that the opponent may look to hide major units in as protection from cavalry.  Avoid impassable terrain, particularly putting yourself in positions where you can flee through it.  Be mindful of forests, including Moonstone possibilities.  Remember Ethereal models and Yhetees that ignore terrain modifiers, assess where you can best use your shooting with clear LOS.  Hills are usually the worst spot to put your war machines – despite giving clear LOS over other models, you set up a massive target on your forehead for flying models and fast moving characters to chop them.  I usually don’t worry about what side I am on, often just choosing the side I am sitting on because I am lazy or the sun is not in my eyes.  Very occasionally I will pick a side to deny my opponent a specific terrain piece, usually a forest vs Woodies. 

So armed with this information about the importance of the pre game stuff, it becomes apparent that rules knowledge is even more valuable than first thought.  Having the understanding of your opponents army allows you to clearly formulate a plan and work forwards from there.  Fighting blindly leaves you open to a lot of potential stuff ups….

As Sun Tzu once said – Know Your Enemy.  And as I once said – Trent is the best

Cheers

Trent