On the Path... Oadius Astartes 201

We are mobilizing for war here in Reno/Sparks, and its time to take the stategery to the next level in preparation for the upcoming events we plan to attend. I can advance us to the next chapter of the Oadius Astartes for I am a true disciple. Trust me - I have already said and performed the appropriate rites and rituals. Now we move onto the stage of hard knocks recruits, and you will need to prove your mettle on whole new levels.

The game is not the same at 1k, 1500, on up to 2k and beyond. Each tier changes what combo of elements are Necessary to have a winning competitive force. Missions and tournament formats limit or warp the value and availability of some elements in various ways. There is plenty of reasons (mostly not great reasons) for composition scoring, limitations, rules and modified or super-funky mission/tournament formats. The Bay Area GT will have Zero of that funky business with no comp whatsoever and pure book missions. Two hours and Fifteen minutes per game, Four the first day and three on the second - its serious grim dark future war stuff there.

General Oadius didnt just warn you about buying that snazzy lukas the trickster model because you like it. He gave you an order Soldier! Dont do it - paint him pretty and use as an objective marker, you will get more use that way - practicing for And performing at the GT. TWO HOURS AND FIFTEEN MINUTES per game. Get your shit together - the General wont give you no slack leading up to this event, its Not Just A Game. If you want to line up your rhinos horribly with no cover etc, we will shoot them dead and move in for the kill. The General told you to use proxies and figure out what works, dont limit your army selections and options because you spent your $$ on pretty lukas.

Bring The Big Guns, always - Playing, building, painting the army. Writing lists and studying the Codex. You will learn what works, Bring them to the fight. Bring them all, as many as you can usually. Use proxies and play many games against many opponents. Dont skip on the third Predator because you have forced yourself to - yay pretty Furioso - give it a cool name and paint a Tally on the side for how many times it died uselessly and you wished you had more Predators. SEVEN GAMES in TWO DAYS! This wont be easy, you need to know what you are doing. The other guys will have 9 Venoms, or 30 missiles, or 6 psyflemen dreads, you Will need some of that too.

Bring Somethings to Kill Stuff With - Use proxies and play many games against many opponents. You do need a power weapon in your army. This is a hard skill to really learn on the tabletop and list building. All of the Death Company guys dont need power weapons, and Two full teams of Thunder Hammer Terminators are expensive. If you have not followed the Generals Orders building and preparing your first army to win, you are building in obstacles to the tabletop and your list building. We just dont buy into the pure spam here, we are sure you need something sharp to actually cut stuffs throat with - more often than not.

Re-roll Things, re-roll Everything! - The General told you to bring lots of good troops, and few good hqs. Two uber squads fails vs 5 semi-uber squads All with uber-buffs. Think about this for a bit before we get to the next article, you dont win games Squad vs Squad, General vs General. Another reason you use proxies and... find out what actually works in many situations. Wolf Lord with claws and saga of the warrior with runic armor and all the other fixings... is expensive - many of those points could probably be used to amplify the rest of your forces better, at least 35 of them.

3 wounds IS Better than 2 - 35 points IS another Wolf Lord instead of Wolfguard battle leader. 4+ invul is way better than a 5 up. Do the math if you need to... or play many games vs many opponents. One terminator in a longfang squad extends the life of the long fangs by 2 or 3 turns sometimes. These decisions matter greatly and will make or break you on turn 5.

Play Out Your Lists - the weight of lots of games cannot be ignored. For rookie list builders, one of two games is Not enough to make big decisions on. Its not enough to learn how to use Thunderwolf Calvary correctly or effectively. This is the only way for You to identify the Real problems and figure out Real solutions - and even better, Multiple solutions. Two Hours Fifteen Minutes per game - you wont have time to spend figuring out the Problems or Solutions there. The other guys will have put the time in here.

Deployment... Pre-Deployment - General Oadius might have a checklist for each section of each section of his army. You Must practice deployment on your own and even work out many tactics and maneuvers at home, on half of the kitchen table if necessary. Now we are way past list building and maybe even the proxies (for your army anyways.) How do you plan to murder and be murdered? Your guys are going to get shot and shit will explode. Whats your plan? The GT is going to be action packed and fast paced. You will Need to know what weaknesses need to be protected and which exploited to achieve each win each round vs each match up Long before your army hits the tabletop.

Next you will need some real strategy... get in step and prepare that brain for a long march. Until next time... MURDER.