Bartertown.com

As the title says I'm tired of losing. I need some help. I play mostly with friends and always lose. I have imperial guard and dark angels.
I've looked at a few tactics online but I keep messing things up. Can you guys give me some strategic advice

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

This is a pretty big topic.

We need to know:

What army lists you are using. (The whole army - spell it out for us)
What army lists your opponents use.
What plans you have that aren't working. Other stuff you've tried.
What your opponents are doing that you can't seem to stop.
What kind of missions are you playing. (Or if you are even playing missions at all)
What kind of terrain you have on the table. (This one is HUGE, particularly for Imperial Guard)

That's just scratching the surface.

I'm sure we can help you up your game, but it's going to take a lot of knowledge transfer.

--Robert

Also the point value you normally play at, this can change things as well. My friend who plays Dark Angels does not like going over 1850 because viable choices tend to shorten compared to other codeci over that point value.

Without more data my advice is Practice! I got my poo pushed in for years before I actually managed to win regularly.

Alright here it goes.

Point value ranges from 1500 to 6000. We have played most of the missions.

First list I ran bilial and a whole deathwing army and got eaten by tau/eldar ranged fest.

Switched it up went imperial guard heavy weapons crews behind lazguns with creed pushing out orders and leman Russ tanks leading the way got *edit* by necrons annihilation barge and ctanshard

Tried bikes and got *edit* by wraiths

Most recently I looked up some dark angel imperial guard stuff and paired 4 tactical squads in drop pods with a command squad sporting a banner of devastation and a guard platoon with ezekiel and azrael for 4+ invuln and blessings from divination. And got my bit kicked buy melee daemonsI've tried others but to know avail .

My opponents are tau eldar grey knights daemons necrons and orks on occasion.

We have a ton of terrain buildings craters ruined buildings hills rivers the whole nine.

The daemons charge distance and saves killed me. Out of 136 shots and 94 wounds 7 punched through after 2+ invuln and feel no pains and 4+

Tau have just as many shots as I do and they are all 7+ str and ap 2/3 so my guys go pop.

Necrons vehicle avs are to much. for most of my stuff to punch through and reanimation rolls are vs.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

How many times did you try each of those lists? Sounds like you're running them once and then trying something else.

It is very hard to judge someone after one game with a list.

I've tried a couple of them more than once. I tried the da ig list twice yesterday but I used scout rule from tactical genius and one platoon and plank on the other from akeim and failed reserve rolls turn two on the first game and the second I took an astropath didn't outflank and daemon Calvary got to me turn two with no overwatch because of some daemon jankyness

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

Keep practicing. Find a list you like and bash your head against it.

As I said, when I started 40k, I lost... a lot. Eventually, I played enough games where I got good with the list I used and branched out.

My personal advice:

1. Pick one point value and play that for a while. 1500, 2000, 3000 whatever you find mutually agreeable, and stick with that for 15-20 games. Inconsistency makes learning very difficult.
2. Once you establish that, create an army for that point value, and play it at LEAST five times. Stop worrying about losing for these five games. You are establishing data.
3. After five or more games with a list, you have some information to work with. What performed well? What failed repeatedly? What disappointed or surprised you in gameplay?
4. Change your list about 25% and repeat this process.

I know it's discouraging to lose, but consider this: you learn a lot more from losing than winning, IF YOU ARE WILLING TO LEARN. Your opponents may be high-fiving their wins, but you're learning their tricks and you're figuring out counters. The shoe is going to be on the other foot, soon.

--Robert

(Edited for a typo - dangit!)

Thanks for the help guys

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

also, make sure you army plays like you do.
If you like sitting back and shooting, don't get a HTH army.

Understand the role of each unit, then use it that way.
Remember the objectives of the game, not just killing the other guys units.
Kool looking models aren't always effective ones.
Expensive models; points cost or $$, aren't always effective ones.

Jumping in late here, but whateverone else has said: practice, practice, practice!

I'll play a list 5-10 times to learn before I switch. I may make minor adjustments here of there (swap a plasma for a melta) but I avoid any change larger than a squad size adjustment.

It takes time toe learn a list and how it plays. A marine bike army plays very different from an IG mech gunline.\

Are you asking questions of your opponent durring the game? IE What does this unit do? How far can they move? What is thier Ld value? What special rules do they have? Don't be afreaid to ask questions, I rather know this unit has a 5++ in addition to their 2+ before I shoot my AP2 weapons at them.

areo wrote:Alright here it goes.

Point value ranges from 1500 to 6000. We have played most of the missions.

Said before:
Pick a point value and stay there for a few games.
Pick a list and keep it for a few games.

Keep the 6k point games out of your head. Those are APOC and should be more about fun that tactics.

Jason

It's not as important in 40k as it is in other gaming systems (particularly thinking of Warmachine), but... more than anything, I think knowing the opponent's army is the best thing to do to increase your chances of winning. Find out a way to get your hands on a particular opponent's codex and don't just flip through it, but think about how you would put an army together out of it and how that army would operate. If they bring similar lists each time, think about why they're bringing what they're bringing.

I win more often than not with the few people I play with not because I'm a better strategist (I'd honestly say I'm worse in most regards), but because I flip armies all the time and have played or at least had serious army building time devoted to every army (except 'Nids... one day.) This means it doesn't usually surprise me when they move their units and I know who their guys want to target. On the other hand, they never peek beyond their own codices, so it's usually on me to tell them what my guys do during the game. I also try to take the time to tell them why I'm doing what I do in the hopes of getting them to pick up on it, but that's not exactly a requirement of the game and shouldn't be expected.

It's also been a good idea to do a little checklist for yourself with your list, I've found. Make sure you know what general threats a particular unit in your list is intended to counter (light infantry, heavy infantry, light tanks, heavy tanks, monstrous creatures, fliers, etc.). Then look through your list and make sure you aren't super lacking in any particular area. It helps you to bring a balanced list and makes sure you aren't blindsided with a unit you can't kill right from the beginning, which is an incredibly frustrating situation.

This is all advice for friendly games, mind you. I'm not a tournament player, and usually play people that bring balanced, 'fun' lists rather than gimmicky triple Riptide/Heldrake/Screamerstar/whatever lists. Combating a gimmick-heavy meta is a whole other thing entirely. Nothing wrong with playing that way, but it may require more specific plans to develop counters and may leave you unable to make a particularly balanced list.

With my beloved guard I like to take massed clumps of infantry to take objectives and use lots of artillery to blast away. I like to run 3 Basilisks, and A manticore or Wyvern, and use some mortar teams to back those up while my two combined guard squads of 50 troops and maybe a primaris psycher or two attached to em and the command squads marching in right behind em. I usually give my command squads medics and standards, and always, always put vox casters on both the command squads and the troops. I also dont bother with special weapons for the troops. I just flashlight people to death. Its scary when your primaris psycher can give your troops rerolls to miss via the precience power under divination and make 50 guardsmen do the first rank fire! Second rank fire! Order and reroll fails to hit. In my experience, that gets the job done.