7th and I: A Gamer's Lament

Hey guys, BBT back on the blogging horse as I'm struck by a thought during my Communications class. Today, I'm simply going to tell a little story and some reflections. Have no fear, this isn't all doom and gloom, merely a sharing of personal thoughts and feelings.

I remember starting this hobby, in the glorious heyday of 4th, many years ago. As a 23 year old, I can say this was more then half my life ago, when I was too young to truly care about rules, and rulebooks were the neatest things I'd ever seen, and I cared so deeply about the stories, the thoughts and feelings reading about my favourite army (the Greenskins - man was that book fun!) evoked. I didn't look at what build was the most powerful and decide to collect, I saw something really neat, I related, I felt that they best reflected my vision for the army I wanted to wield as a hammer to crush my foes on the far flung galactic battlefields. The rules were neat, I honestly couldn't even tell you about balance or proper book design because I just don't remember, but I will never forget how much fun I had flinging my models at the enemy with heartfelt shouts of Waaaaaagh! that almost never failed to shock my friend's mother into checking on us in the basement. That, to me, was the perfect game, because it was fun, we always had fun, and the little plastic soldiers we treasured so deeply did nothing but enrich our young lives.

Now, I can understand that in large part, that was our youthful acceptance of things simply being as they were. We didn't know any different, so how could we judge the validity of unit statistics and game design? The mentality was simply "let's play a game and enjoy it." That said, I think that what made the game so much more appealing then was that game designers were fans of the universe, and wanted to put things out to evoke emotions and passion.

My next foray came years later, after I fell out of the game by life moving forwards, discovering the oys of girlfriends, partying, and the less enjoyable but fulfilling adventure of employment. I was in my twenties, and I did research into the game. Endless youtube videos of battle reports (a massive shout out to MiniWarGaming and the Beat Matt batreps, if it weren't for you guys I may well have never gotten back to something I love. Thank you guys for your massive efforts and incredible contribution to the community) and blogs and newsfeeds, and a great deal of scouring the used market for cheap, shoddy models later, and I was the proud Norn Queen of a splinterfeet. It was nice to be back, and I loved my army.

All this research and time spent analysing the numbers led to a phenomenal streak of 13 straight wins as I swarmed over the battlefield, and I was hooked. I was in a position of consistent, if unimpressive income, little in the way of expenses, and plenty of spare time, and I could devote much of both to the hobby we know and love. I began to focus more on winning then ever before, in part because of my state of ambition and desire to prove myself in all aspects of life as great and successful, and while it worked, it cost me many opportunities for developing healthy, fun, mutually beneficial gaming relationships. I don't regret it, exactly, but I wish I'd had the clarity of hindsight. I still have not painted a full model, despite several hundred dollars in paints and supplies, and becoming the owner of a compressor and airbrush. This was a very different state of gaming, and I believe this mentality is the source of a great many of the problems faced by the gaming community at large, not just this one lonesome soul. I played many more games, started a Dark Eldar Kabal, won a lot, bought more, and amassed an ever greater collection of models based on stats and performance.

Then came the new Tyranid Codex. This, to me, was the beginning of my shift away from the hobby. I didn't overly like the new book. I found the focus on objectives and playing against the game rather then fighting a battle much like the difference between games like golf and games like tennis. I wanted more focus on the assault phase and wiping out tactically selected units, not more focus on the movement phase and careful deployment of my weaker, unimpressive troops. I loved my Monsters being the focus because of their fearsome ability to destroy my foes, the ability to count on my damage dealers to win games. Alas, this focus on rules and game strategy disheartened me, and with school and work and life all taking up more and more of my time, my lacklustre inclination to game led to making less time for the hobby, and the actual hobbying falling from minimal to nil. The cuts of units from the game, and the clear balancing factor in the design of the new units drove me further into the mentality that was tearing my interest away. Gone, in my mind, was the passion that drove codex writers and the community that read and talked about their work, replaced by cold analysis of numbers and research.

The nail in the coffin was 7th. I have the book, I have the codices, but I have yet to play a game. I don't think it is bad, I don't hate my armies, I simply don't have the passion required to force time into my schedule for games. This is my Lament. I miss the days of simple, unfiltered joy in the game. I miss the casual attitude towards rules, and the focus of game designers and players on balance and a properly competitive environment. The wargaming world has plenty of arenas filled with proper balance and meticulously designed armies focussing on an even footing. I choose warhammer because I own some 80 black library books, and my plastic soldiers have more heart and soul then any other game on the market. I have written thousands of pages of role playing for Dark Heresy, Ascension, Deathwatch and Rogue Trader, even some Black Crusade. I've written background for my Kabal in huge amounts. I didn't need GW to force a narrative, because I forged one for myself far from the gaming table, and I lost the will (or maybe ability? I'm not sure) to bring that narrative to what I see as a colder, detached battlefield. I'm selling off much of my army, and I don't see too much trouble with this, as I'm keeping a great deal, but I do see the lack of will to find time for games as the terminal symptom of the disease of apathy plaguing our community. We deserve the experience I had as a kid. We deserve, as fun, imaginative people, the joy and fulfilment that comes when both players smile, shake hands, and mean it when they say the words "Good game."

On that note, I'll wrap it up. This is no great rallying call, nor is it a condemnation of anyone for participating in the hobby in their chosen way, from game designers to marketing executives, all the way down to the glorious few who own no more then a single tactical squad lovingly assembled and painted. This is simply my experience, and my hope that I can recover from the spiral towards exiting the hobby and recover my joy.

BangBangTequila signing off, with the promise that I will be posting some fluff based articles within the week. May you find your next Good Game soon!

Target Saturation: How to do it, how to beat it

So we'll start with the simple question that needs to be answered for this to be a comprehensive post: what is target saturation? Target Saturation is the idea of having so many high priority targets that your opponent is unable to properly address all of them, leading (often) to panic and confusion, and an inconsistent goal. An example would be a Tyranid list featuring three Tervigons, a flyrant, and a smattering of trygons. The opponent must choose between shooting the resilient and very important baby-makers to prevent the board from flooding with troops, taking out the devastating and fast flyrant, and the combat monster trygons that will devastate his lines. Few armies have the sort of firepower or close combat punch to reliably take all of these things out before they wreak havoc, which puts whoever is facing them in a position of trying to do too many things at once, and leaving only a slew of bad options.

So, the first segment: How to do it?
It largely depends on the army, but the basic principles apply to every single one. For starters, you must have that ever important basis of boots on the ground. Most games involve scoring, or at least getting linebreaker, and for that you need some infantry to get you the points for winning. My general policy is to dedicate 1/3 of my points in smaller games or 1/4 in large games to putting raw, basic troops with no upgrades on the table. So, in a 1500 point game, I would take 325 points and cover the basics, bringing 25 Necron Warriors or 20 Immortals. The beauty of this system is the simplicity: Having covered troops, I now have a dedicated points allotment of 1175 to simply bring as many deadly units as I can. In Necrons, I may bring 2 Annihilation Barges for anti infantry and flyers, a Monolith to provide a tough, dangerous centrepiece, two squads of six wraiths for a fast moving multi-threat squad that is very difficult to wipe of the board for 800 points. Now imagine trying to determine what you're shooting at with that list, with 5 separate targets that are all too dangerous to ignore. Complement this by spending the remaining 375 to fluff out your core, put in a Destroyer Lord for counter-assaulting, add some extra troops to a squad and maybe a resurrection orb for stiffening gives your backfield a sturdier foundation and some much needed counter-assault from the fast movers, and perhaps some scarabs for the ever valuable invisible assault.

The second key component to using this kind of list is playing it well. All of these powerful options present huge threats that must be dealt with, but how do you stop them from being dealt with? The key here is to push equally hard with all your options. Don't rush forward with your wraiths, putting them and them alone in the dangerous focus of enemy heavy fire. Rather, advance them a turn or two behind your monolith, or use the serious speed of them plus the frightening rush of scarabs to outflank, forcing your opponent to shuffle and lose firepower instead of focusing and eliminating one target at a time.

Now how to beat it?
The first step is to ensure you are building the right lists. If your army is one that focuses on long range death-dealers like tau, ensure you have enough units capable of dealing damage. Now that doesn't mean weapons, because we all know how well a crisis or broadside team can deal with almost anything. This means you must have enough separate units capable of dealing severe enough damage to be registered as a threat to split your opponent's attention, and to dish it out to multiple enemy units each turn. This means not investing too many points into any single unit, which prevents you from properly distributing potential across your whole army. Tempting as a 250 or 300 point riptide or crisis team can be, the difference in effectiveness between a 300 point riptide and a 200 point riptide is nowhere near as big as it needs to be to justify the extra cost. A good rule of thumb is 200 points per unit capable of destroying or crippling one vehicle or infantry squad per turn. Yes, this is almost identical to the above segment, because good list building is important no matter what.

Now, the play. Against powerful assault lists, unless you're tau with supporting fire, DO NOT CASTLE. Castling (a static, overlapping deployment causing attackers to have to go through layer after layer of troops before reaching the juicy center). Castling causes meat grinders like Daemons and Tyranids to drool as they surround your small army and simply feed your poor soldiers into sausage. Against assault lists, it is important to control how they move, draw the strongest and fastest enemies into overlapping fields of fire and perform a fighting retreat - deploy along your front edge, then move back with all your infantry and vehicles while maintaining a fusillade of fire to keep the opposing front rank declining. This constant mobility, even at a mere 6" a turn, can deny the first assault by 1 or two turns, and since your strength is their weakness this is key!

Against shooting armies, you actually want the opposite. You want to cluster as much of your firepower into as small a part of their line as you can, ideally on a flank, while presenting a strong enough appearance on the weak flank to draw the enemy into defending it. By dividing your opponent's forces, you allow the statistics behind your superior force to deal enough damage to their weakened counterpart to give you the advantage when the rest of the armies wheel and reform. This is easier for highly mobile armies, like Dark Eldar, who can re-position and change the match ups with frightening efficiency.

Finally, fighting what I call spoiler armies. These are ones like the Dark Eldar, who simply can't be caught in conventional traps by virtue of their unique builds - in this example the insane mobility of a purely fast skimmer army. These you must play on a case-by-case. Dark Eldar fear Castles, because they need to pick off flanks, and with only one knot of resistance they're forced into a straight up fight - their worst nightmare on the field. The Necron Air Force is another, they are simply too much of a niche for many armies to face. The over-saturation of flyers and the inability to account for so much unique threat leaves armies with little to no skyfire out in the cold.

Hopefully this was helpful, please leave some comments below!

Archon Khasirdeth Dryear'Khyuath, Lord of the Screaming Claws

So, having touched on the basic fabric of the Dark Eldar, and what I view to be one of the best troop choices in the game, I now bring us to another perfect example of the Glass Cannon: the Archon.

I named mine using an Eldar lexicon and some creative license, but it translates to The Herald of Eternal Dusk, with his House name being the Champions of the Crimson Lance. I plan on modeling him using the old pewter Archon with a flayed face pinned over his own and the great claw on his right hand, however I'll be snipping off the pistol arm and replacing it with the first really cool lance I find, possibly one of the plastic ones from the Venom or Raider kits with an assortment of bits and chains.

Enough about mine, let's talk about yours. The archon is one of the few hq choices in the game that is this versatile. He can become an incredible tarpit with an electro corrosive whip and some shardnet bloodbrides, and a clone field, or he can run the train of doom over almost anything with a huskblade and soultrap. He can run blasters, agonizers, he can take a 2+ invulnerable, he is just a fierce beast on all fronts. The real thing to remember is that he can do many things, but you should only concern him with one.

I run Khasirdeth with a huskblade, shadowfield, phantasm grenade launcher, soul trap, and incubi. Sometimes drugs if I have the leftover points. This build compliments the incubi ability to run terminator units into the dust quite well by taking characters down with ease. Ideally, use him to kill a sanguinary priest, or wolf guard, or a member of the necron royal court to give him strength six and allow him to become the bane of any multiwound models your opponent has left. The downside to this unit is that hordes, by which I mean any unit that puts more then five or ten wounds on the board, will slaughter them. For example, a unit of twenty termagants. The four incubi would account for likely five or six, the archon another two, and then they would take three or four casualties, by statistics. With this in mind, running him with wyches may be the best course. A clonefield archon with drugs (which almost all help greatly) is resilient, virtually immune to sergeants and power weapons, only at risk from select special characters, is a massive asset, and a bargain at 125 points.

Kabalites: The Bread and Butter for successful raids

As the title suggests, I'm breaking down Kabalites. For starters, these guys are just cool models. The spikes and blades are elegant on them, black with silver highlights look amazing, and proper blood effects can take a fairly under the radar unit and make them a centerpiece. Add in the glowing trim (the green of the Black Heart, for instance) and you have a truly stunning set of models. The downside, of course, is that they are cheap and many, and fragile, so you can sink a tonne of effort into some models that see half a turn of field time, and that is discouraging to me.

Now, aside from the aesthetic value, these guys form the core of your army in two ways: they give you a cheap, accessible scoring unit that can, for a measly 540 points, put six ten man scoring units on the board. That said, this is foolish, because it ignores the damage dealing potential and strengths of these models. They have a phenomenal statline for their points, with 4 WS and BS, I5, and the potential for feel no pain. Toughness 3 causes problems, and the weak armour saves mean bolters rob you of it. They wield splinter rifles, wounding on 4's always due to poison, with 24" and rapid fire, and 1 out of every ten may take a dark lance or splinter cannon, which gives off heavy 6 or assault 4 also poisoned shots, and allow you to take a blaster or shredder. This poison gives you a huge advantage, because it will cause approximately the save number of wounds on ANY target, and in your tactical thinking it makes it easy to simply allocate wounds in your head without worrying that toughness will change results - for instance out of every 15 shots, 5 should miss, and 5 should fail to wound, so you can simply allocate each shot as 1/3 of a wound when determining where to lay down your fire.

So, we know they are cheap, fragile space marines, with bolters that are worse against low toughness but better against high toughness. Now my three breakdowns of use - subjectively - are maximized splinter shots, infantry swarms, and the Mr Clean (all purpose). These are not mutually exclusive, for example an infantry horde lends itself well too massed splinter fire and if you're putting so many points into one unit then you're best served by making that unit able to deal with many different situations. My personal use is the massed splinter fire most often, as I find that a 10 man squad in a raider with a splinter cannon, sitting at 170 points with nightshields on the raider, is a force to be reckoned with. A dark lance gives you rhino popping power or an instant death weapon on lonely characters and the fact it is on your transport means you can pick one target then allow the troops within to target a group of infantry. Being both Fast and open topped, this allows your troops to all fire, fire powerfully, and make maximum use of the speed and jink save to give your paper plane some survivability.

Firestorms are great, with 20 kabalites able to put out a massive 30 shots per turn at 24" or an insane 48 at 12" or in overwatch. Throw in a Haemonculus and put them in cover and you have a 250 point unit with dual saves and huge firepower. This is a good squad to put the Duke in. This squad is a good reserve choice, since it is most lethal at short range and despite some survivability it can be whittled down quickly and while not expensive, they aren't cheap. They also don't have the Dark Kin mobility I wax eloquent about. Just follow that golden army rule about synergy and this can be a devastating tool.

Finally, the all purpose. This is, in my opinion, best used in small games where you cannot afford to put enough specialist squads on the board. By all purpose, I mean they can pose a viable threat to anything on the board, at least in enough quantity that your opponent must take them into account when planning. Commonly this is a squad of ten with cannon or lance and blaster, with a sybarite wielding a power weapon or agonizer for close combat stiffening or else an independent character, mounted in a raider. These squads are expensive, but the versatility allows them to very quickly tally up their points in kills. These guys are the doom of mechanized lists, and they can function well against heavy points cost units like terminators and warlords with entourage, the forced saves and the removal of good saves (2+) allowing them to give that edge to another unit. I tend to run these squads in mid-field, using mobility and firepower to finish the jobs my heavier offensive units start. They mop up small units of elites very well, and are great at taking the last hull point or wound off a tank or monstrous creature.

Dark Eldar: The One-Shot Cannon

Dark Eldar, in my experience, are singularly powerful in their ability to dish out focused punishment. Even tau and leafblower guard can have trouble matching the concentration of force that the mobile, fast, and deadly Dark Kin can bring to bear. Note, that I know a vehicle heavy guard list can put down more high strength hits then anyone else, but Dark Eldar can put all of their hits exactly where they want them to be better then anyone. I'll break down the three keys to success in my raiding force style of play.

1) Mobility
The Dark Eldar have two main assets in this regard: The Venom and the Raider. Both are fast open-topped skimmers with a powerful weapon. The raider boasts 10 man transport capacity and a Dark Lance, capable of cracking transports with ease and giving you a 50-50 at taking a point off a tank. The Venom carries only 5 men, but brings 2 splinter cannons - or 12 poisoned shots at BS 4 - to bear on anything within 36" even after it moves 12. My favourite part, however, is that unlike rhinos and razorbacks, these transports don't render your powerful shooting units (a kabalite squad with splinter cannon lays down 15 BS 4 Poisoned shots at 24") useless while inside. You can bring squads right where you want them, focusing the power of your full force against a fraction of the enemy's without sacrificing turns to pure movement. That ability to stack the odds to ensure your force is always overpowering compared to the forces that may be arrayed against them is one of the things that makes the Dark Eldar so tough to face.

2) Firepower
At 170 points, a Kabalite squad of 10 with a splinter cannon and a raider can fire a dark lance at one target (a transport, in the case of a mechanized list, or a tank if there are exposed infantry) in order to free up a target that the 15 poisoned shots coming to follow can ravage. Math wise, they put out 5 wounds to be saved, regardless of toughness, or 8 if in rapid fire range, which is damned impressive for the cost. Add that they have a 30" potential movement if their transport flat outs, are scoring, and gain feel no pain if they kill anything, and you have my MVP.

For less points, you can drop four Trueborn with Blasters in a venom for a similar cost, which while more fragile (once the transport is gone these are just waiting for any kind of attention before falling over) allows you to put out a similar number of poisoned shots (12 at 36") but gives you more tank stopping power with 4 dark light weapons. I use them as tank hunters, targeting the venom at either the occupants of the transport my dark light took or an infantry target of opportunity. Regardless, open topped vehicles loaded with hungry warriors lays down a huge curtain of fire for cheap.

Our heavy support, which I only bother counting as Ravagers, Razorwings, and Voidravens, put down huge swathes of hits and wounds, the specifics of which I'll leave to the big guns tactica upcoming. All of our army shares the same trait with few exceptions: they lay down huge amounts of fire on the move.

3) Initiative
This is what I call the ability to control the battlefield and proactively direct the flow of battle. That is to say, you can decide when and where combat, predominantly assaults but you may also control how and when shooting happens. This is done through the combination of the two above traits, but I feel it is important enough to count on its own. Ensuring your mobile fire platforms are positioned for an aggressive move towards a portion of the opponents field, or defensively to make sure that if they have first turn you can minimize their potential damage and maximize your maneuverability in the following turn, if the key to keeping the initiative in the battle. This is especially effective against static armies, like gun lines, and against medium speed assault armies, like infantry blobs (tyranids come to mind). Both allow you to move around the battlefield and focus your forces in such a way as to give your army the advantage in any combat that unfolds.