I decided to shift around my planned article schedule to take some extra time to prepare the Power Attack Tips and Tricks article I am working on. In this article I want to talk about a topic that ALL beginners struggle with, no matter what faction they play. "How many games do I have to lose to get good at this game?"
When I think about this topic the first thing that pops into my head is the scene from the movie Knockaround Guys where Taylor (Vin Diesel) says: "500 fights, that's the number I figured when I was a kid. 500 street fights and you could consider yourself a legitimate tough guy. You need them for experience. To develop leather skin. So I got started. Of course along the way you stop thinking about being tough and all that. It stops being the point. You get past the silliness of it all. But then, after, you realize that's what you are."
If you have never seen the movie, check it out. It's not too bad. I think it is fitting he is talking about being a "tough guy" and I write Trollblood articles. Get it?
The Problem
I was talking with a beginner Trollbloods player recently about this topic. He is having trouble with one specific caster but his frustration comes from the same root problem that beginners are going to lose, A LOT. He comes from 40k but is frustrated with not being able to catch on to this game quickly, given his prior war-gaming experience. I broke it down to him like this:
"The problem is there are over 120 casters in this game and at least 3 ways to play each one. So, that means you have to play 360 games at least 5 times to know how to play against every possible list in this game." These numbers are extremely general but I wanted to drive the point home that even if you play against every caster in the game one time that is over 120 games. But each caster can have an extremely varying list. After that, you have to account for in game play decisions, estimating that after 5 games with no changes to lists you will see enough variance in play to "maybe" understand that caster. All of this is assuming that you are using the same list for ALL of these games. Change your caster and you start the process all over again. So, 138 warcasters/warlocks with 3 variations played 5 times with 12 warlocks comes out to 24,840 games to play against every combination 5 times, and this is assuming you don't change your list at all. I won't go any farther with the ridiculous math because I'm hoping by now you get it. Luckily, not all warcasters/warlocks see a lot of play and those that do don't all have 3 different ways they are being played.
The Exploration Phase
One thing, I think, that stunts the growth of players is what I call "The Exploration Phase." This is where the player is looking at ALL of the models, units, casters, and beasts/jacks of their chosen faction and IT'S ALL SO BEAUTIFUL! The possibilities seem endless and nailing down exactly where to begin this journey isn't going to happen in this phase. Players buy the models that look cool and as many casters and they can afford right away so they can "mix it up" and try as many new things as they can come up with. Eventually they have played a number of games over what they believe is a decent amount of time to have learned their faction and they start looking at their win/loss record. For most this is a really bad ratio, well below 50%. This is the point where some players follow "The Obvious Solution" and others follow "The Less Obvious Solution".The Obvious Solution
The Obvious Solution is a two part trap, I'm afraid. Sorry I didn't warn you ahead of time. One set of players will look at their failing win/loss record as a failure in their faction. This will lead to those players away and land them into a sea of new shinies and their exploration phase begins anew. The second set of players will quickly look at what lists have been successful in tournament play and make those lists. This is a better idea for the reactionary player because at least the list has seen success even if the player has not. This can still be a trap because the list they pick up is most likely a result of someone else's trials and tribulations developing it over a long time. They won't have that player's experience with the list to know how to pilot it. If they stick with the list and play it over and over against a wide variety of opponents then they shift over into "The Less Obvious Solution".
The Less Obvious Solution
The Less Obvious Solution is for players that realize that, while exploration can be fun, players really need to specialize and hone specific skills sets to advance to higher levels of play. I listen to tons of podcasts and read as many articles as I can find online and I hear the same suggestion that I am going to say here, "Choose two casters and stick with them." I will add to that by changing it ever so slightly, "Choose one proven successful list in your faction and one caster to experiment with." This approach will give you a list with proven success that you can play over and over without worrying if the list is the problem or you. There will still be bad matchups that the "tried and true" list won't like to play against, but that is where the other list can come into play. You can experiment and tailor that second warlock's army to have decent matchups against those the first list doesn't like. By gosh, this sounds like tournament prep. It kind of is, but you can apply this to your local meta's game night(s), too.
Knowledge is Power
Nothing can compare to experience but we must always remember that we play a game where the more you know the more prepared you are to deal with different situations. There are tons of resources that players who want to raise the bar for themselves should be using.
Warroom
So many people want to know ahead of time what model x and unit y do but don't want to pay for faction books. For the price of some units, you can buy every card that exists in the game, forever. This app is an amazing resource for not just what models do but it even explains rules that are on the card. Sure, it is missing key components like how to actually perform a power attack, but it still provides great detail into what factions have to work with. Any player with the time to look through factions they don't play and analyze, even a little bit, about what opposing factions bring to the table can turn around and look at what things they can bring in their lists to counter them.
Prime/Primal MKII
For the love of all that is holy/unholy/holy moley read the core rule book. Read it 5 times. Honestly, I think everyone should just flat out own a copy of either one (probably best for the game system you play). Many players learn to play the game on the table, with someone else teaching them. That is great and I will get into that more in a minute, but EVERY player should still read the core rules at some point, including the Battle Engine section of Wrath/Domination and Colossal/Gargantuan section of those books. There are far too many things that a player can do in this game for one person to teach you all of it in demo/battle box games. Even as you move through higher point games you will miss some thing you could have done that you never even knew was a thing. Privateer Press has these in digital form now so you don't have to worry about lugging around cumbersome books.
Community Involvement
The last thing I want to discuss on this topic is Community Involvement. One of the coolest things about this community is that people are willing to share. As I am writing and you are reading and maybe you tell some friends about my articles or this site, full of articles from other community contributors, the data is flowing to any and all how reach out to get it. There are a multitude of places within this community to get even more information.Podcasts
Listening to podcasts can give you a look into the heads of players of different areas of the country, or world, about what works, what doesn't, their thoughts, and the most important part (I think) is you get to know your community. After listening to at least the second half of the current episode count of Removed From Play I feel like I know Omnus and Bloodrath, at least a little. I know well enough I would love to go have a beer with them and talk Warmachine/Hordes.Battle Reports
Battle reports can show you how a list is played. They come in audio and video form. I mean no offense to the audio versions but I prefer the video battle reports because I think they are a thing better shown than said. Endgamegaming.net is an amazing resource that everyone should use. They post lists that people use in tournaments, tournament results, videos, and the guy works extremely hard (by himself) to provide all of it to the community. Show that guy some love and use the site. One thing I do love about audio battle reports is the commentary. Chain Attack and Removed From Play: Into the Arena are the two I listen to. If there are more I should check out people should let me know. I am always hungry for more podcasts to listen to while I ride my bicycle. The format for these battle reports is really nice because you hear what the player's priorities are going into the turn, their rough plan for the turn, and then the result.Facebook/Social Media
I was lucky to stumble upon the Trollbloods facebook group by searching one day. The members of that group are so helpful. We definitely don't agree on everything but the level of constructive criticism vs. flaming/trolling is so much higher than anywhere else I have found. It sometimes makes me forget that forums even exist. I don't know if there is a group such as this for every faction but it is definitely something worth searching for.Forums
Forums are a grey area. There are many of them available and they CAN be extremely helpful. They often times have a negative reputation because they have been used to express heated opinions about releases or lack of releases or reactions to things going on in other forums and not a lot of solid information. Luckily for Trollblood players there is a super sweet sticky section of the Privateer Press Trollblood Forum. This sections has been compiled by a few but has many contributors. Anyone who hasn't discovered the wonders here should stop reading this article and go there...or finish the article, then go.LGS
We can't talk about anything related to community without talking about the Local Gaming Store (LGS). Without these sacred monuments there probably wouldn't be much of a physical community. A physical place to get together with other people who like the same thing you like and want to talk about it and experience it together, sounds too good to be true. Well, these places exist and we should all find and support ours. There are probably many other community resources I haven't named and it definitely isn't meant to slight anyone. The important thing to take away is remove yourself from your basement and get out there and become a part of something bigger than yourself. You will experience growth like you never thought you could.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. As with all Kith, Kriel, and Kin articles this is not meant to be the end of the discussion but, rather, the beginning.
~IAmSweeps
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