The second core element of the army is the damage. Now, this may seem obvious. Yes, you need some level of damage to keep you in the game. A lot of players go overboard and feel as though they have to have the ability to destroy everything on the table every game. It just doesn't work like that. I include just the right amount of damage to give myself the ability to remove key units that are going to pose me the biggest threat. These targets can change based on deployment and mission as well as the faction or style of list you are up against. It is incredibly important to have the ability to identify the potential problems your opponents list will have for you. When those key threats have been removed, if you have taken the right steps in identifying the problem units, your opponent will start to lose their ability to stop you from asserting board dominance and controlling all relevant objectives. It is a slow process that edges your opponent out of the game and will result in more consistent wins across the board instead of smashing a few games and taking a few big losses.

The way I play 40k has evolved over the years, and I have trained my brain to go through a series of thought processes that now happen without me sitting down and taking the time to walk through it slowly. When I step up to the table, I am calculating exactly how this game will play out, how I will set the tone for this game to play out like a story already written. This mindset allows me to be several steps ahead of my opponent before the game has even started.

The single most important thing to train yourself to do and perform as if it were muscle memory is to identify your opponent's win condition. Being able to do this comes through experience and a lot of thought, but what it allows you to do is shut down your opponent's game plan before they have even determined how they will play the game out. This then sets off a chain reaction of you already working your way towards what you need to do to secure the win while beginning to prevent your opponent's second-best option to regain control of the game. By the time they realize their go-to game plan is for the most part ruled out, they begin scrambling to find another way back into the game, thus making it like they are playing out a game in story mode where the result is predetermined.