Game 1 Loss to Sisters with a Knight

Great opponent coming into this with no recent games. A good learning game to start the day and get on my feet. That said it was a total rout. With more time he'd have wiped me off the board. At the outset terrain placement is a big problem. Thank the emperor I didn't bring a baneblade. Movement was hugely constricted. Obscuring created weird avenues of sight. 

• Challenge. Learning when to reserve is a key weakness for me. I continue to have a bad matchup against sisters. I think it shows a lesson I've not come to terms with yet. In 10th edition it's worth more reflection on where I lose.
  • Solution. Using reserves and having the patience to play a conservative game is necessary. I tend to be much more willing to do the reckless all out attack when the time comes, but far less able to see when I need to tuck back. Which is odd - I used to be the opposite playing blood angels for years. I'd be hiding in and around terrain, not assaulting with an assault army. Now I tend to be overly belligerent with a shooting army. Anyway, the amount of first turn melta sisters (and a knight) can put out is devastating. 
  • Solution. Learn, learn, learn terrain. I need to be fluent in the rules or, as here, the pace of the game is completely dictated by what I don't really understand. So, I wanted to hold my lemans back. But, I also realized terrain placement meant none of them could move out when the time came. I'd be pinned in a far corner while the opponent sits comfortably on 4+ objectives. 
  • Solution. As I continue to learn deployment I think the redeploy warlord trait is just crucial. I suspect you wouldn't see it used by the top players as they see the board immediately for what it is, whereas I already make a mistake in reading what I can do. The warlord trait is therefore a very helpful tool, even if a bit of a crutch at my level of play. 
  • Solution. Blitz Division. Born soldiers is the best regiment. But, it's not the best in all scenarios. It's good in the shooting phase. I think my over reliance on it opens up bad match ups. Having Rogal Dorns or lemans coming as if it were turn 3 opens up a lot of the table. This means (1) more lines of sight on the enemy; (2) more opportunities to deny opponent line of sight in return fire. It's hard to call this a great regiment... but I need to start thinking more about my bad match ups. Especially as I'm less reliant on scions for any real damage these days, utilizing strategic reserves for hard hitters is more interesting.

Give and Take. There are always counters - vanquishers don't work when Tau have drones, or there's some body guard rule. But, that doesn't mean I should abandon units that ignore invuln saves. Rarely is there a panacea unit that does everything just right. Well, if there is it's spammed and winning all the tournaments. That aside, I think an overall issue is balance. Something like Born soldiers - getting that 6 to hit as an auto wound is very very good. But, where does my army fall flat on its face? Can I give up born soldiers and still be "good enough" at shooting, while bargaining some other rules to smooth out the weak points in my army? 

Game 2 Victory over Tyranids

Hadn't played Tyranids in a long time. I really had no idea what this list was about. Ah, got the exact same table again. Great. Awesome. But here he didn't have a lot of long range melta. He therefore didn't want to get out and exposed to my firepower. I tried to keep lines of sight on the three center objectives. Declaring the terrain obscuring again dictates the entire game. Terrain is such a huge piece of the game it's weird that players kind of handshake on what it means. Like if I can see through the terrain, he's dead right now. If I can't see, then he can maneuver around it and kill me. Hopefully 10th edition has a better terrain design. Annoyed with the terrain himself, he said he didn't want the final piece placed... I was fine with it. Still that left a huge gap for my scions to come on in for a neighborly bug barbeque. This game was unusually slow, I'm not sure why. Time ran out I think as we barely started turn 3. But, with barbicant's key kasrkins, and a whole handful of scions, his whole HQ and center section was crippled. The lemans also moved up for line of sight. Turn 4 and 5 would have been nasty. Still that little parasite bug came in and dropped rippers all over me. The bullgryns got infected repeatedly rolling a couple of 6's on that parasite and were really devastated. 

Game 3 Close Victory over Custodes

If you don't count my  paint score, I lose. If the Cadian command squad with the ogryn bodyguard dies in the final turn, I lose. If he makes a couple of key saves, I lose. If I didn't get first turn... probably lose. He really had me, but I squeaked it out. Great opponent, lot of fun to play. Custodes are so durable I was using vanquisher leman russes against his bikes. Ultimately he was afraid of my shooting, and played conservatively. I often feel that a hyper durable army can play recklessly. I really have no effective counter assault in this list (something like rough riders next to lord solar would be a totally different story - don't go charging units near that non-sense). My scout sentinels had some use in drawing him out onto the objectives - just a bit too tough for his shooting and he needed to get into combat with them... which is where I had lines of sight. 

• Challenge: I don't know all their tricks, but I know they can really augment pile in, charges and consolidate. If they get to my lines custodes bikes will bounce all over me. This means I can't shoot them effectively. Charges mean significantly augmented movement - they can be anywhere on the board. 
  • Counter: I can use a strat to shoot into combat, but (1) only one unit can do it; (2) rolls of 1 go on  my tank... with anti-tank guns. Also, if I fail to do damage, that enemy unit gets to hide from shooting while in combat, and lives to charge another. 
  • Counter: While lemans can shoot into combat and out of it, blast weapons still have limitations. Multi-melta sponsons can sometimes help a lot (though they're expensive). If it's ten thunderhammers charging you, there's not going to be any shooting back. If there's something dumb like a rhino transport trying to tag you in combat, there's defensive value here. Also, 3x heavy bolters and a stubber into the combat... that's not going to kill custodes. 
  • Counter: Just fall back? While necessary at times, this looks a lot like bad deployment and planning on my part. Also, if it's obvious the tank is dead, sometimes just shooting at what it can shoot at might just be better (acknowledging that falling back could instead mean using my whole army to shoot at the charging enemy). 
  • Counter: Why not get some practice games in to learn other armies. I even have custodes I need to paint up. 

It's hard to get too excited about rules in the twilight of the edition. But the larger principals of failure points in gameplay are likely going to play out again and again until I learn. And here's the list:

- Happy Hunting -