You walk through the door of your local game store, models in tow, and approach the table for your first “real” game. Maybe you’re attending your first Steamroller Event, or maybe this is just a game organized on Facebook – it doesn’t really matter.Hopefully you’ve walked in knowing your army, at least on paper, and maybe a little about the other models in your own faction.

Likely your opponent hands his lists to you and it looks like a foreign language. New faction; New casters; New units. All that new information comes with a stock of unknowns. It’s easy for the New Player to be overwhelmed.

Now, assuming you can’t frantically go to Battle College to read on every model: How do you size up your opponent’s list? What are the big threats on the table?

This post provides some initial considerations to get the most important information you will want on your opponent’s models. Method below is intended as a starting point to get your gears turning.

Goal of This Post: Get the New Player thinking about the variables in an opponent’s list, and how to make a strategy to accommodate. My philosophy is that this kind of analysis should be kept as simple as possible at first. You want to focus on your own play first when you’re new to Warmachine. (Which is another way to say that I didn’t – and it cost me in my early games!)

Remember: This is just the approach I take as a new(ish) player and some might disagree (Probably not with #1, but maybe #2 and #3). If a more veteran player wants to chime in on anything here – Please comment!

#1. Ask (Don’t be afraid – Players don’t usually bite)

One thing all Warmahordes players have in common is that we all love this game. We wouldn’t play if we didn’t. What this means is that we are (rightfully so) proud of our models, our lists, how the lists work, and players usually want to share!

Additionally, veteran players are also usually good about wanting to grow the community. Even in a competitive environment (or at least those a New Player finds themselves in) a vet won’t want to crush you because of your ignorance of their models. Instead – They will usually want you to have a good experience to help encourage you to participate, and are willing to teach along the way (different players to different extents of course).

Take a second before any dice even hit the mat to tell your opponent your situation. You’re new, you’re not familiar with their models, and you’d like to improve how you play! Likely they won’t want to give you a Russian Novel on everything, but you can usually get the vital information this way.

So: Ask questions like… “How does your list work? What’s your caster’s feat? That unit looks fierce, Can you tell me what it does? I’ve never played against your faction, Can you give me a breakdown of your army?” Remember that being polite will go a long way in this regard. With a little luck you’ll also interact with someone who, next time you come to this store, will be a friendly face in the crowd.

Worst case scenarios: You get a vague answer or the answer isn’t well explained. Either way you’re better off. If you get no answer at all – at least you tried. Some players aren’t particularly chatty and that’s fine too.

Remember that this doesn’t have to end once the game begins. Most players like SOME table-talk and if you forget something you can usually ask. Of course – don’t be excessive – and remember that you’re likely eating your clock to talk. Again: Try to focus on executing your own play, and don’t get too caught up in trying to know every possible thing that can happen or every stat on the table.

I played games in my first few months where my opponent explained their caster’s feat to me when I Asked…And I completely forgot how it worked when turn two started. Don’t get frustrated. You’re not alone.

#2: Ask to See Your Opponents Cards + Assess

Now you want to try to do some legwork to assess the threats on the table. Politely ask to see the cards for your opponent’s list and offer yours in turn (This is one of the reasons I use cards over War Room – more on that at a later date).

Any information you think you might be missing from your “Ask” stage can be gleamed here by connecting the dots on the cards. As a result: Look at their caster’s spells and feat first. Often this will tell you where their army wants to get to, as the list is often tailored to compliment the strengths of the caster. Start by assessing the “Big Picture”: What does this list want to do to win the game? (Scenario Control, Assassination, Attrition?)

If this is one of your first games – Don’t get over ambitious with the assessment of any of these cards. Give yourself a few key things to look at and focus on. If you try to memorize everything – You’ll quickly be overwhelmed.

Here are my suggestions for first-game approaches:

Calculate a Threat Range (Singular) Look at the cards for the SPD stat and find out what their maximum charge distance is (Melee “Threat Range”). Calculate like this: SPD+3+Melee Weapon RNG. Ask your opponent if he has any spells or abilities that might change this calculation. The number you get represents the absolute maximum distance a melee unit can come in to smash your toys. My strategy when I started playing was to come up with a single number to assign to the army. Ex: If the longest threat range on a unit in the list was 11′ – that’s what I considered the “danger zone” for my units if I didn’t want to be charged (This keeps the info you’re juggling to a minimum). Depending on your confidence you might try to memorize numbers for more units in addition to this. IF you do: Choose key units to keep an eye on (I.E. Things that look big and scary).

Categorize the DEF/ARM of Units in General Terms Decide what constitutes “high” DEF and ARM compared to the stats in your own list. Ex: If you have lots of high POW units, a “high” Arm unit will be different than if you are stock full of POW 10s. If you have a lot of high MAT/ RAT in your army, then “high” DEF will be a different threshold. At this stage, identify the models/units that fall into each stats “high” category.

Look for “Heavy Hitters” Same process as above. Assess the POW of the enemy models, and compare them to your models’ average ARM. Pick out the “heavy hitters” in the list. These are the models you think will be used to remove your key units (usually your heavy jacks/beasts).



Once you are comfortable assessing these basic criteria – You can branch out to memorizing and assessing more. For example: Looking for units that synergize, units that have mini-feats or * actions, AOE effects/weapons, or keywords (Stealth, Assault, Pathfinder, etc.).

Again: I suggest you keep what you juggling mentally to a minimum at first. More early games will be lost because of mistakes in your own positioning or forgetting important things about your own units. Everything here is a secondary consideration until you get more comfortable with the game.

Perfect Example for Fun: One time I forgot that my caster had a feat; I just didn’t use it the whole game. I got so caught up in thinking about everything else that the fundamentals just went out the window. Don’t be me – Learn from my mistakes!

#3 – Cross Reference With Your Own Army

Now you have an idea of your opponent’s basic strategy (or at least think you do), and you have assessed the major threats. What do you do with the information?

Cross Reference.

Decide which units/tools in your army will fulfill a few roles to respond to what you’ve identified:

Stick-in-the-Mud(s) Units that will try to frustrate your opponents preferred win condition. Ex. If it looks like they want to assassinate you (Like your starring down the barrel of Caine2’s assassination feat) – Think about units that can block lanes to your caster or block line of sight. Consider any bonuses you can rely on to keep your caster safe (Ex. Shield guard, Anti Knockdown, etc.).

Beat-Stick(s) You know which of their units are high-ARM and high-DEF from #2. Now you want to pair those units with the ones you think can handle them for favorable trades. If your opponent has heavy hitters (their Beat-Sticks) you need to avoid, decide which units frustrate them the most, or consider (later in the game) how to avoid them. Ex: Ranged threats might be frustrated by having big durable units block their line of sight to squishy targets or only having high DEF units in their range as available targets. You then use this to decide your deployment and your first turn. It’s also handy down the road when deciding who should smush whom. Remember to do a cost-benefit analysis on whether you need the counter, or if your units can get more value in the 3rd category below.

Stick-to-the-Plan(s) Units that don’t seem to fit into frustrating your opponent, but which are best used to further your own preferred win condition. It’s often best to just stick to the plan in early games and use the information you’ve gathered to judge things on the fly later. In fact – I’d go so far as to say you want the majority of your army to be in this category at first. Focus on getting your goals accomplished and learning the most efficient ways to do so.



This exercise gives you an idea of what your units might do in response to your opponent. Remember to be flexible, and don’t get frustrated if you make mistakes.

Conclusion/Reflection

What I want to emphasize here is threefold:

Don’t stress about learning everything that could happen; Don’t be afraid to ask when you don’t know; Focus on your own play first and on your opponent second.

I made HUGE mistakes in the 3rd category when I first started playing. In particular I would focus so hard on wanting to get favorable trades, or keep out of threat ranges, and then forget completely about my end-goal. Ultimately – You can’t always get a favorable trade out of every unit and it’s often better to use your models to just get you closer to the finish line (even if they die gloriously in the process).

And remember – If these are your first games, you’re probably going to lose. Learn from the loss and keep trying. Expand your repertoire from the new cards you’ve analyzed and learn slowly about which units cause your list the most problems.

Trial and Error is King!

J

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