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Tempo - Posting Pointed Questions and Controlling the Pace.
This one may be more amorphous and abstract than my usual posts, with less discussions on how things actually happen in real games. But this is because the concept which I want to discuss today exists in all matches, in almost all games. The concept is one known as “Tempo”.
You may also think of Tempo as the way in which the match flows, who has the initiative, who has the offensive, who has the answers - or rather, who is posing the question that the other must deal with.
This is often a game of match-ups, where you try to match your high DEF models to the enemy’s low MAT/RAT models; where you try to kill all the opponent’s models capable of killing high ARM models and then giving them your Focus-camping caster and hopefully a bunch of heavies, to which they cannot provide a suitable answer. Your goal in the game is to pose questions: “Can you deal with this? And how about now? And now?” You keep asking questions, and keep cranking up the pressure.
But of course, this is the exact same thing your opponent will be trying to do. While you try to give him questions which he must answer, he will also pose such questions for you to answer. And the question is who will be able to pose a question the other cannot answer. Sometimes it doesn’t work like that, and you both play defensively, or you both play offensively, and someone gets knocked-out, or out-attritioned.
This makes me want to return to an inaccuracy I’ve inserted previously, on purpose - to be more offensive is not to have the tempo advantage. When you wipe out 90% of the enemy army and they go for an all-or-nothing assassination attempt, it’s not because they have the tempo, it’s because you do, and this is their attempt to breach your control of the flow of the game, your control of the game.
This is another important thing, control of tempo is often unrelated to the game situation, but to the mental battle that players engage in when they participate in many war games. If you as a player are used to quickly go for an assassination, but are experienced enough to not go for it until a reliable assassination run comes along, face a player who’s happy keeping things even, or trading a piece here for a piece there? Well, even if you know better, after 5 turns of so, you may run out of patience and over-extend, whereas the other player would’ve been content to keep going in the same manner, and perhaps is able to ask more pointed questions as pieces dwindle on both sides.
He put mental pressure on you, while remaining in his element, and pushing you out of yours, out of balance.
Here is a counter-point, which happens to me sometimes against one of my more common opponent, a player who likes the solid Khador style, with multiple jacks and Men-o-War units (but also Doomies, eVlad, and Great Bears). When he plays solidly, advancing in a line, it is often quite hard for my mobile force with a very low concentration of very hard-hitting models to deal with his plethora of threats - his plethora of questions, which are also capable of answering my questions, and yet remain there.
So when we play, when I go quickly for the jugular, and he plays solidly as a wall for me to crush upon, I sometimes do (when I do not find a ***** in his armour - an open lane of sight to unleash through). But when I go for the jugular, and he tries to go “all out” against me as well, then I can keep my distance better, and from his actions result many open lanes to his caster, and an assassination often follows.
Have a plan, design your list for the play-style you are more comfortable, or at least be aware of the play-style and the way your list operates, and try to not be lured outside of it. Keep posing your questions. Keep answering the questions you want to answer, in the manner you prefer to answer.
And this is an important thing. Many players after suffering repeated defeats at the hand of one strategy, come to the forum and ask, “How do I defeat [x]?” Now, there are often answers, but I’m also wary of such questions in general, as I don’t like having a specialized answer for whatever “X” is, but rather find a way to deal with it in my all-comer configurations.
Now, in the context of this piece, those players whom you face are enjoying a temporal advantage over you even before the game started - they posed a question to you, and the only thing you can think of is how to solve that question, which can rattle you, lead you to bad decisions, and has you playing the game your enemy want.
If your enemy has high DEF infantry (Forsakens!) or high ARM multi-wound infantry, the best answer is “Ignore it” with the unsaid bit being “if you can”. Whatever your enemy does, you should try to ignore it, if it’s not to your benefit. If you run your Striders+UA or Raptors around his slower models to strike his unguarded back, then he’ll have to wheel his slow infantry to deal with it or face losses. So long you focus all your powers on the bad match-up you’re facing, you’ll funnel resources that are ill equipped to deal with what is thrown at you.
There are “resource match-ups” - low POW high accuracy ranged shots are not the way to deal with low DEF high ARM models, and vice versa. And if your enemy can get you to throw your ill-appropriate resources where he posed the question, he’s already ahead.
If the enemy poses a tough question to you, and you cannot avoid answering it, then at least try to pose a tough question elsewhere on the board. It’s always better than getting stumped and not tackling your opponent back. You must get them to play your game, even if you must also play their game - your beasts must fight their iron-fleshed infantry? Then use your Raptors/Striders to threaten the caster and support models from the flank.
Also, unlike Magic: the Gathering or Starcraft, the other player can see from the get-go what you have on the table. Try to conserve the models that the enemy cannot deal with, and if only one group of models can deal with the enemy’s models, then do try to protect them till they’ve done their job. Do not be left without an answer, or without a question for your opponent to answer.
If you have Venethrax, and you can kill all the enemy Forsakens/POW 20 capable models, you’ve won. If you play against Venethrax, you must conserve those models. This is the outgrowth of the two above paragraphs, which are the summary.
Tempo - Posting Pointed Questions and Controlling the Pace.
This one may be more amorphous and abstract than my usual posts, with less discussions on how things actually happen in real games. But this is because the concept which I want to discuss today exists in all matches, in almost all games. The concept is one known as “Tempo”.
You may also think of Tempo as the way in which the match flows, who has the initiative, who has the offensive, who has the answers - or rather, who is posing the question that the other must deal with.
This is often a game of match-ups, where you try to match your high DEF models to the enemy’s low MAT/RAT models; where you try to kill all the opponent’s models capable of killing high ARM models and then giving them your Focus-camping caster and hopefully a bunch of heavies, to which they cannot provide a suitable answer. Your goal in the game is to pose questions: “Can you deal with this? And how about now? And now?” You keep asking questions, and keep cranking up the pressure.
But of course, this is the exact same thing your opponent will be trying to do. While you try to give him questions which he must answer, he will also pose such questions for you to answer. And the question is who will be able to pose a question the other cannot answer. Sometimes it doesn’t work like that, and you both play defensively, or you both play offensively, and someone gets knocked-out, or out-attritioned.
This makes me want to return to an inaccuracy I’ve inserted previously, on purpose - to be more offensive is not to have the tempo advantage. When you wipe out 90% of the enemy army and they go for an all-or-nothing assassination attempt, it’s not because they have the tempo, it’s because you do, and this is their attempt to breach your control of the flow of the game, your control of the game.
This is another important thing, control of tempo is often unrelated to the game situation, but to the mental battle that players engage in when they participate in many war games. If you as a player are used to quickly go for an assassination, but are experienced enough to not go for it until a reliable assassination run comes along, face a player who’s happy keeping things even, or trading a piece here for a piece there? Well, even if you know better, after 5 turns of so, you may run out of patience and over-extend, whereas the other player would’ve been content to keep going in the same manner, and perhaps is able to ask more pointed questions as pieces dwindle on both sides.
He put mental pressure on you, while remaining in his element, and pushing you out of yours, out of balance.
Here is a counter-point, which happens to me sometimes against one of my more common opponent, a player who likes the solid Khador style, with multiple jacks and Men-o-War units (but also Doomies, eVlad, and Great Bears). When he plays solidly, advancing in a line, it is often quite hard for my mobile force with a very low concentration of very hard-hitting models to deal with his plethora of threats - his plethora of questions, which are also capable of answering my questions, and yet remain there.
So when we play, when I go quickly for the jugular, and he plays solidly as a wall for me to crush upon, I sometimes do (when I do not find a ***** in his armour - an open lane of sight to unleash through). But when I go for the jugular, and he tries to go “all out” against me as well, then I can keep my distance better, and from his actions result many open lanes to his caster, and an assassination often follows.
Have a plan, design your list for the play-style you are more comfortable, or at least be aware of the play-style and the way your list operates, and try to not be lured outside of it. Keep posing your questions. Keep answering the questions you want to answer, in the manner you prefer to answer.
And this is an important thing. Many players after suffering repeated defeats at the hand of one strategy, come to the forum and ask, “How do I defeat [x]?” Now, there are often answers, but I’m also wary of such questions in general, as I don’t like having a specialized answer for whatever “X” is, but rather find a way to deal with it in my all-comer configurations.
Now, in the context of this piece, those players whom you face are enjoying a temporal advantage over you even before the game started - they posed a question to you, and the only thing you can think of is how to solve that question, which can rattle you, lead you to bad decisions, and has you playing the game your enemy want.
If your enemy has high DEF infantry (Forsakens!) or high ARM multi-wound infantry, the best answer is “Ignore it” with the unsaid bit being “if you can”. Whatever your enemy does, you should try to ignore it, if it’s not to your benefit. If you run your Striders+UA or Raptors around his slower models to strike his unguarded back, then he’ll have to wheel his slow infantry to deal with it or face losses. So long you focus all your powers on the bad match-up you’re facing, you’ll funnel resources that are ill equipped to deal with what is thrown at you.
There are “resource match-ups” - low POW high accuracy ranged shots are not the way to deal with low DEF high ARM models, and vice versa. And if your enemy can get you to throw your ill-appropriate resources where he posed the question, he’s already ahead.
If the enemy poses a tough question to you, and you cannot avoid answering it, then at least try to pose a tough question elsewhere on the board. It’s always better than getting stumped and not tackling your opponent back. You must get them to play your game, even if you must also play their game - your beasts must fight their iron-fleshed infantry? Then use your Raptors/Striders to threaten the caster and support models from the flank.
Also, unlike Magic: the Gathering or Starcraft, the other player can see from the get-go what you have on the table. Try to conserve the models that the enemy cannot deal with, and if only one group of models can deal with the enemy’s models, then do try to protect them till they’ve done their job. Do not be left without an answer, or without a question for your opponent to answer.
If you have Venethrax, and you can kill all the enemy Forsakens/POW 20 capable models, you’ve won. If you play against Venethrax, you must conserve those models. This is the outgrowth of the two above paragraphs, which are the summary.
