The Economy of Wargaming: Part 1 (Points)

Sir_Mike here again.  Something has been on my mind for awhile when it comes to wargaming.  Many credit themselves with being master tacticians or extraordinary list builders, but cannot give an explanation as to why other than "I win. A lot."  Ok, cool so you win a lot, but you can't explain why?  UNACCEPTABLE.  Strategy is more than being able to pull off a victory, and there is a place you have to start first.  Economics.

This has more to do with the planning period of a game than it does with Gamesworkshop increasing the cost of models.  Though we can wish we could effect that with out planning.

1. The Economy of Points: Spending.
So you got yourself a cool new army, wargamer?  Awesome. What did you buy?  Why did you buy it?

What gamers fail to realize is that points rule everything around them.  Look at chess, while not a hard indicator of how you are doing, pieces are rated by a point system that is based on their perceived effectiveness (minus the king, though he is rated by importance).  Did your queen get removed?  You are at a distinct disadvantage now showing in your points.

A better example of an actual wargame is Axis and Allies.  You spend points per round to buy units based on the point values of territory you control.  My dad and I play every time I head home, and we have a pretty even win/loss record.  He is a much better tactician than I am.  We are talking a guy who has been wargaming since they used lead to make minis, who makes military maneuvers that leave your jaw dropped.   The way I win these wars of attrition? Economics.  I look at the amount of points I can spend, look at the board and decide what unit composition would give me the most bang for my buck.  Not the standard "I'll take one of those, and a few of those maybe?" I look at exactly what he has been building and where, has he been massing large battleships and aircraft carriers with few destroyers in the area?  Submarines are cheap and attack strong, planes can't attack them.  The key idea in point spending is knowing what you are going to do with the unit before you get it on the board.

And hopefully economics will sink their battle ship.

Spending points is something that players think about, though not on the level they should perhaps.  First consider the unit and what it can do, and what you will use it for.  Will it sit back and claim objectives?  Go forth and destroy?  Fulfill some deeper purpose?  How much is that really worth to me?  Let's talk about this in the realm of 40k.

For this reason scouts and the half of the combat squad with the long range weapon are great for protecting upfield objectives.  They cost little, and add effectiveness (long range weapons that don't seem like much threat and scouts have a natural advantage in cover).

This is one of the reasons that "Best of Marines" works well.  Massed cheap units that are all good at why they do per point.  Sure rifleman dreads could have been loaded up more, made venerable or even eschewed for a terminator squad with a chainfist and cyclone missile launcher. However, for the amount of points you are spending you are getting a very reliable unit.

For 5 points less on those Wolf Guard you could have gotten a power fist vs. a thunder hammer (are the hammers that much better? only situationally) and saved points add up.   Jalil posted a little about this in reference to HQ's and I couldn't agree more.

Though I will say the name of the game isn't completely about being spendthrift.  Sometimes an HQ will have something you need to make your list work (which is often why they are a good place to start shopping before building your list).

Let's say I'm looking for a HQ for an aggressive CC army.  Should I pick the cheap generic HQ or go with the special character?  Depends on point level played at and how much that HQ is.  If you are playing at less than 1.5k I wouldn't even look at a Special Character that is more than a little over 150 (Ko'Khan is often a good choice for this reason, loaded up with a few good special rules and only 65? points more than a naked captain).  Around 1/10th isn't too bad a ratio for your HQ slot, I wouldn't apply this logic further and take 2 HQs being 1/5th of my army though.

I used to run around my local store shouting Sanguinor!
After finding out about the mini, but before looking at the point cost.

A lot of times as war gamers we seem to gravitate towards what is cool vs. what is effective.  Certain badass units are "goodish" but over-costed with points that could be spent in other places.  This is also why we see a rise in mech: transports got both cheaper and safer because of the revised vehicle damage table in 5th (no longer steel coffins, but unstoppable steel trucks).


2. The Economy of Points: Denying
While spending points is mostly what people think of when discussing the matter, denying your opponent points is equally as important.  I'm not advocating telling them the wrong point value to play at while you bring a much bigger army...though that would probably work.

When looking at the board notice where they place their units, do they have their expensive units guarded?  Are their units spread out to ensure board control?  How do they deploy?

As a wargamer, I'm sure you know what units cost what points, and often they are a good indicator of how much you should worry about a particular unit.  You should also keep in mind how hard they are to get rid of (or render ineffective) and concentrate on targets of opportunity.  For every unit you destroy that is that many less points for him to play with, try to keep this ratio in your favor.

Monoliths are a classic example of this conundrum.  They are expensive but very difficult to render ineffective, most will say that you should ignore them and concentrate on the phase out.  It's a tough call often, what gets your anti tank fire power?  Goon #28 or a big floating pyramid?  I can't answer that question, however the monolith is extra effective in preventing phase outs by giving a unit a chance to re-roll we'll be backs and teleporting them away from harm.

Everything is an opportunity cost, which will lead us to my next article: The Economy of Time

Using Gamer Culture Against the Gamer

My name is Mike.  I've been playing 40k for about 4 years, though less so for the last 2.  I remember the hay days of 6-man las/plas of 4th edition and remember fondly the advent of mech in 5th.  However, I'm here to give you some guidance that can greatly increase your likelihood of winning.  It may not make you super popular, but hey! we play 40k! none of us are popular!* Best part. Cheese free.

One thing gamers tend to neglect is psychology.  We are good at psychology on the small scale, terrifying our opponents from charging into an objective, or making them think twice about whatever action.  That is well and good, but there is a meta-psychology most gamers are not aware of, and that is the psychology of the local game store.

Gamers have commonly held beliefs and habits, like so many wild animals.  This article will hopefully show you how to take advantage of gamer culture and use it like a device of destruction (cue heavy metal music).

1. ALL GAMERS ARE SUPERSTITIOUS
At least when it comes to games.  Hell, even though I don't believe in the "dice gods" you better believe I will still switch d20's mid DnD session if I feel one going cold on me.  It's just habit.  Here are some fun things that take advantage of this.

-Everything is either blessed or cursed to a gamer.  I almost had a favorite pipe of mine thrown out of tournament use, because I would make above average roll sets. Of course I was also pointing to the dice with my "damned pipe."  While this seems foolish (and maybe you think they wanted to throw my pipe out for me being a jackass) this was not the case.  You can ask Jalil-my opponent had a very real fear of my pipe. As such, he would think twice before any risky action due to my "good rolling, damn pipe."

-Next is to wreck one of their units they constantly brag about (more on this later), with a hard counter (if you have one handy, which you should).  When this happens, claim they must be cursed.  This one can take awhile to sink in properly.  Eventually your opponents will take other units even though that was the one you were afraid of.

-Use this to your advantage.  Look at your own statistics, try not to get sucked into the superstition, but if a unit is fizzling on offense, repurpose it.  Make them chase it.

2. Gamers are notorious for overestimating and underestimating things.
Yeah, I know you laughed when your friend bought Necrons.

-Rhinos are invisible after you launch an attack with their cargo.  They might as well be, opponents typically "save them for last." Make them regret it, tank shock everything.  I once removed Lysander and a full squad of HB devastators by tank shocking them over and over. Also ram them.  Make them rue the day they let this box on treads break into their lines.

-Death stars. What are they good for?  Distractions, distractions and killing things.  Make them chase the Death star or put it on a soft flank, even though there are less targets, there are even less reasons to worry, and it may also cause them to shift their forces. Outflanking Death stars will scare the crap out of an opponent who sees them on the side of the table...waiting...menacingly.

-If something "works" in a gamers mind, it will always work.  Exploit this.  Look at their strategy, what do they always do?  Why is it flawed?  I had an IG player who parked his tanks in the back giving fire support to his troops.  I outflanked a bunch of angry assault terminators with a little known man named Ko'Khan in a land raider and multi-charged the tank (hammers auto-glances from FC).  This happened on several occasions.  He never moved his tanks because everyone else let him get away with it.

-3 way games.  Stay out of that mess if possible.  I took second in a tournament Jalil mentioned in his first post because, instead of getting gutsy, I made sure that I held onto just more than enough points to clinch second.  Had I gone to first, I would have had to separate my forces against Black Templars and Imperial Guard on either side of me.

-Speaking of Black Templars.  Look at old codexes for rules that didn't transfer correctly to 5th Ed, (preferred enemy going from hitting on a +3 to being a reroll in cc).  Also they get 2x special weapons per Terminator Squad and can buy tank hunters (or FC).  Even before the update, I was wrecking with these guys.  However, I had one advantage.   We had a Black Templar player.  After the tournament I described above, he swore them off, saying they couldn't work in Fifth Ed. He switched to IG. I played Black Templars the next tournament I played in. People laughed.  Final placing: first was Dark Angels (veteran), then New IG (not the player mentioned), then me.  Laugh at codex creep while you exploit codices getting better because of how rules work.

3.Many gamers are arrogant.
I couldn't tell you why this is.  Something about little plastic army men make people badasses overnight.  However, use this to your advantage yet again.

-Listen to your friends brag about what unit rules, or this strategy or that strategy.  Keep it in mind.  Think about how you can wreck their collective day.  Are you seeing a lot of local push towards mech? horde?  Make your list around the local meta.  Net-lists?  Don't get me started, my Black Templars have a handy winning record (ARROGANCE)  against "best of marines." Net-lists just give you more time to prepare, with more information available.

-Gamers are willing to adopt strategies without knowing how they work.  Learn how they work.  Why does redundancy work?  Because every time you kill a unit, another one replaces it?  Or is it because of concentrated strengths.  Armies can typically be broken down into Back-Field, Up-Field and Hybrid (not to be confused with shooty, choppy and both).  It is important to be able to take a unit out of it's comfort zone (why assault works on guard or shooting works on wyches).

-This arrogance leads to 2 behaviors typically.  Bragging and pouting.  If a rival player brags about decimating your terminators on a lucky go, let him have his day.  Don't react.  Better yet, laugh and make a joke about yourself.  Watch his face, not letting him have power over you will hurt his confidence.  Soon he will be doing whatever he can to break your stride, including making risky (costly) mistakes.  Next is pouting, players who take themselves too seriously pout after alpha strikes or losing their ultimate unit instead of trying to salvage the game.  The best thing you can do is encourage them.  Tell them they still have got a shot, or that "I just got lucky." With luck this will make them pout further and cloud their judgement.  (Another way to use this in your advantage is after you have clearly lost an objective game by fighting power, avoid fighting and race to contest objectives at game end, it will take luck, but can scrape out victories.)

-When everyone is bragging about what they are taking to next tournament, and they ask you, be vague as possible.  Out and out lying is something I won't agree with, but when people asked me about my BT list, I just responded with "Templars." I'm sure they had visions of crusader squads running around and hitting things with their BP/CCW.  Not massed Terminator tank hunting AC's (Though I did end up with a huge crusader squad, as the league escalated and I didn't have the models).

4.Final Advice
Don't go native. The hard part is you are among friends, and their bad habits quickly become yours.  I've fallen into all the above categories multiple times, and it's only when I pull myself out and start playing my game that I get results.  Resist the urge to brag.  Keep your head cool.  Resist temptation.


Mike, out.


*Did that hurt your feelings or did you get defensive?  Read the article war-gamer. I am here to help.