Game Theory: Announcement

In a recent discussion I found myself defending the idea that list construction matters. A player was repeatedly told that his lists were fine, and his lack of experience with it, was his only problem.

I can't blame the player, because the people who told him this are amongst the best players in the country, so why would he question that particular piece of advice? These are players that teach me important lessons on a weekly basis, and players that are responsible for my greatest defeats, but nobody can know everything.

The player in question was on a six game losing streak, and whenever he actually won it was against poor opponents, or due to favorable dice. The thing that caught my attention was, that he kept telling people he made to many mistakes, and they kept agreeing. I had faced him before, and I just couldn't recognize him in the picture they put together.

We argued back and forth for a few weeks, but in the end he took my advice. Personally I would have chosen another unit, but he caught the idea behind the tool, and gave it his own personal touch. The player won his next five games, and is now an opponent I hope to avoid during the masters. Update: With the Masters done, I can safely say, that he turned out to be a great player. I managed a fifth place, and using just that one little change to his army, he came in fourth.

I'm not going to argue that knowing your list isn't important, or even tell you that you can win any game without knowing your army, because that would be nothing short of stupid. I am going to tell you, that constructing the right list is important, and having the right tool is more important than you know.

Now before I begin this project, I'll be honest and tell you that it might take a while. These are complex tools to be explained, and I'm not even sure I've named/mastered them all yet. Many of them tamper with the Warmahordes doxa, and will need some detailed articles in order to avoid confusion as well. Using these tools will not make you a fantastic unbeatable player, but they will make it easier to become one.

Obvious Tools:

• Screens
• Defenses
• Counters
• Assassins

Less obvious Tools:

• Sweepers
• Pushers
• Gobbers
• Buffers

Obscure Tools:

• Breakers
• Baiters
• Deterrents

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Updates.

With the wedding out of the way, honeymoon done, apartment refurbished (the kitchen is from the early thirties, so while it's not actually antique, it's damn close), and me back at work, I can get some regular updates done again. Updates also require some actual games, and since I've had very few of those during the last two months, I've had very little to write about.

Look ma! I caught me one of them good ones!

In last nights game I had some time to think about the fate of my Satyxis Raiders, and how my entire squad was wiped out by Gudrun (assumption is the mother of all fuckups, and I assumed he was an inch slower). That little mistake left me with just the Captain and UA alive, and the captain promptly took some boosted blast damage and died.

The Sea Witch power swelled and took out Gudrun in return (and that got her killed as well due to being parked in front of an entire army), but that one model cost me nine points worth of army, and my entire first line of assault/pressure. That's when I realized how much my army relies on that unit, and that's something I'll have to keep in mind in a week.

I actually feel rather good about the list, though I would have liked another Arc Node in there. It's got a fair amount of short/medium range firepower (potentially six 8" sprays, two Pistol Wraiths, Withershadow Combine, and a Captain/Witch in theory), great flow with Pathfinder, Incorporeal, and Ghost Walk available, and it hit's very hard with weapon masters and power swell (combined with pDenny the debuff queen).

One of the things I've learned from my two games is, that this army actually likes going second. With Advance Deploy Satyxis Raiders threatening 30" from my table edge in turn one, I can staunch the flow of fast or AD units before my turn even begins. My stealth and incorporeal units need to deploy across from their prime targets anyway, and depending on the amount of terrain on the board, I can spread out more when I know where the threats are located.

When going second, my Arc Nodes can reach his units on turn one, and throw Crippling Grasp on a prime target. This allows my Satyxis Raiders to severely damage almost anything in the game. When I go first, I can't reach anything in turn one, which means my Satyxis will probably be engaging before that CG ever lands (and it's a lot harder to find an unengaged model to target, when a melee of reach models clog everything up).

Warwitch Deneghra
- Deathripper
- Deathripper
- Skarlock
Bane Thralls (Leader & 5 Grunts)
- Officer & Standard
Bane Lord Tartarus
Satyxis Raiders (Leader & 5 Grunts)
- Sea Witch
Satyxis Raider Captain
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders (Blackbane & 9 Grunts)
The Withershadow Combine
Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren
Warwitch Siren
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pDenny 50, second game.

With a week to go, I finally had my second game with my backup list. I decided to go with the exact same pDenny list as last time, and I had the best match-up I could possibly imagine (or so I thought). I faced a Searforge list under Madhammer, and I was told it would be a free win.

Bane Lord Tartarus, 3 Bane Thralls, 6 Satyxis Raiders, my Raider Captain, and one of my Arc nodes disagreed with that statement after his first round, but at least it made the game a bit more interesting. After loosing 16/55 points in one round of shooting I was reeling, but as always Blackbane's Ghost Raiders saved the day.

I engaged his lines in a way, that would force him to blast his own troops to smithereens if he wanted to get rid of them. He only had one choice (since it was killbox and he couldn't retreat), which was to move up Madhammer and wipe the Ghost Raiders, but this left him open to Withering + Crippling, and after a Warwitch Siren hit him with Shadow Bind, he was a DEF 7 ARM 14 Warcaster, in range of a Bane Thrall.

I made such a mess of this game, but in the end the list took care of it. My opponent and I agreed, that he was fighting a hard uphill battle, and even the massive casualties in the first round, didn't count for much as the Ghost Raiders could basically win the game by themselves. I did however learn one thing from the game, and that is that my army is by no means immune to blast damage, even if they're all stealth or Incorporeal.
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