Speeding up play?

[Brother Captain Ed]

Comrades,

 

I'm beginning to put a guard list through its paces in preparation for local tournaments. As I have not played guard in any significant measure prior to this edition, it has been a learning experience. However, I continually have issues with getting turns done in a prompt and efficient manner.

 

At first, I assumed it was mostly unfamiliarity with the data sheets as I had not yet committed everything to memory. But after a few games I have not noticed the marked Improvement that I experienced with Space Marines once weapon profiles and special rules for memorized. The biggest offender is probably FRFSRF, since I'm a little slow on counting (can't fix that). But movement and sheer volume of dice are also causing issues.

 

This is not to say that my decision making and such is perfect. There's still a bit more muddling about than I'd like. I'm also wondering if I'm spending too much time on what are essentially potshots (lasguns on Tau pathfinders at extreme range, for example). But most of the problem is simply playing the game.

 

So, how do you guys tighten your play and squeeze extra turns out of a 100+ model list? Each tournament round is only so long and I prefer to win, rather than go to decision.

 

Thanks in advance.

[FallenSoldiers]

I prefer to have known "blocks" of dice (IE 40 red dice, 25 green... something like that). I also keep a note pad to recorded # of conscripts left in each squad so I'm not counting after my opponents shoots.

 

I also try to follow the same order of shooting in every turn (within limits). I always like to do everything that has possible rerolls first so once they're done I'm not focused on finding 1st and just look for the 4+s.

[Tirak]

Yeah, like Fallen says, make sure you've got your dice blocked out ahead of time. I have a dice cup preloaded with 40 dice for my Twin Punishers on my vultures, but it does a great job at helping quickly get enough dice together for my Conscripts. Color coded dice will help, so that you know you can just grab all of one color and you will have that many dice. I use 80 dice (not counting CP markers, Damage/Wound Counters and Turn Counter). 40 of the same color in the cup, 40 of a different color arranged in groups of 4, super easy to just grab what I need.

 

The cup also helps with rerolls and the like, as you just pile everything into the cup that hits, then hunt down your rerolls, then roll those and pile those into the cup.

 

Pick dice you can easily read, no symbols or stylistic pictures, simple is best here, and in easy to read colors.

 

Movement is easy now that there are no blast templates. Pick your corners, move them, then fill in the frame they make. If your opponent wants you to measure everyone, get used to locking a tapemeasure at 8in, and quickly sweeping the 6in line over them while pulling them forward. Don't worry about guys falling over or whatever, you can make them pretty on his turn.

 

Memorize your datasheets. Bookmark your Index and rulebook with the important stuff. If you're having a hard time remembering the stats for each weapon, make a cheat sheet that just lists the weapons and what they do, so you can quickly refer to it.

 

Practice your multiplication tables and have an easy way to keep track of conscript numbers like Fallen said.

Edited September 11, 2017 by Tirak

[Guardsman Bob]

The cup also helps with rerolls and the like, as you just pile everything into the cup that hits, then hunt down your rerolls, then roll those and pile those into the cup.

An actual dedicated cup with it's own dice for the Vulture. That is disgustingly smart.

 

As for my two cents in miniature games in general I like to bring some bright colored mini poker chips. For 40k I like to put down a yellow one and a die on it to show casualties, removing it when the moral is made. A blue chip to show they advanced, a red they've shot. A really small fishing lure case doesn't take up much space and aids in fast sorting.

 

My upcoming 1.5k point tourney force has six Infantry Squads so I'm totally with Brother Captain Ed on the whole preparedness thing.

[CoffeeGrunt]

I have a box full of various coloured dice, all in tens, so I can count out quickly. It's also sometimes quicker to roll, say, 9 dice twice rather than 18 all in one go. I've gotten quite quick at doing that.

 

My main issue is pushing mobs of infantry around atm, but I'm thinking that some five-man MDF movement trays might actually be the way to go. Makes movement a bit quicker, I can colour code them to denote squads, and I can track casualties by counting the missing troopers in the base. Can get a penny to note the last empty slot and I can easily get a headcount of larger squads by counting the number of full bases, multiplying by five, then adding the stragglers on the current wounded base.

[Kinstryfe]

I haven't found the secret to speeding things up, but I will say that you should take every potshot you can. It sounds silly, but a 1:36 chance of wounding anything is worth it. I used to ignore things like my Commissars' bolt pistols, priests' laspistols, and extremely unlikely shots, but more than once now I've taken a critical wound off a model with an unlikely shot, and if you're playing in a tournament scenario that becomes all the more important.

As far as movement, I think the best advice was Tirak's, moving the outline then plopping models inside it. The other thing that I've yet to do that could really help is making sure that somehow each model's unit is obvious at a glance. I've ended up with Conscripts next to a squad of Guardsmen flanked by two special weapon squads, and it takes some mental feat to constantly remember at a glance who is part of what. Either something on the bases or clear markings on the models themselves could help remove any confusion for you and your opponent, thus speeding things up. If you have any idea of a good looking way to accomplish that, let us know as well :)

[FallenSoldiers]

 

The cup also helps with rerolls and the like, as you just pile everything into the cup that hits, then hunt down your rerolls, then roll those and pile those into the cup.

An actual dedicated cup with it's own dice for the Vulture. That is disgustingly smart.

 

As for my two cents in miniature games in general I like to bring some bright colored mini poker chips. For 40k I like to put down a yellow one and a die on it to show casualties, removing it when the moral is made. A blue chip to show they advanced, a red they've shot. A really small fishing lure case doesn't take up much space and aids in fast sorting.

 

My upcoming 1.5k point tourney force has six Infantry Squads so I'm totally with Brother Captain Ed on the whole preparedness thing.

I like that poker chip idea! I'm gonna to have to appropriate that into my play style!

 

Also, as silly as it sounds, you should also be trying to play a turn ahead. Know who's moving where and who has what target. It doesn't always play out perfectly, but I've been trying to make sure I spend less time going "hmmmm where should this squad go..."

[NatBrannigan]

Movement trays have really helped speed my movement phase up. I don't know if tournaments get a bit iffy about them though? I really can't imagine why. The element games ones I keep going on about work really well (or it's easy to make your own) but they can get unwieldy in close combat.

 

My first army (long since sold) turned into a mobile infantry force just so I could have squads starting in Chimeras. That way it was really quick to deploy and the first few turns movement phases were a piece of cake. That's extreme, especially for a tournament though. You could take two Stormlords and put all your infantry in those!?

 

I've moved to the coloured dice batch thing as well. 20 of Black, 20 of White and 10 of Grey, Yellow, Green and Blue. Just means you can easily grab multiples of 10 without having to add Worst case is you accidently roll less and at least that's not cheating!

 

The poker chip idea is good. I may steal that but make / buy some cardboard counters to track which units moved / advanced etc instead.

 

I think there's a book in this you know. "Wargames efficiency and how to achieve it!"

Edited September 12, 2017 by NatBrannigan

[Mitchverr]

So i am considering going heavy into engineers with my kriegers, the current army i am looking to field is a good 170 models when i finally finish buying and building, but with the engineers they all have a gets hot option for their shotguns, if i go with it, thats a good 8-10 dudes (pending on special weapon used or not) which will be firing the gets hot possibly.

 

Anyone got any good idea for speeding this up other than having a set of 20 dice in 10 different colours to set aside for when they unleash hell on some kind of big monster? Going to do movement trays for my regular movement to help that out, just have the issue of deciding how i will do this bit as going 1 guy at a time is going to be painfully slow, especially when fielding 30 of the guys.

[WarriorFish]

Aside from the tricks mentioned such as dice rolling and using the corner models as "markers" for quicker squad movement I highly recommend doing as much of your own turn during your opponent's as you can. There's less to do then anyway so moving the planning stage of your turn forwards makes a lot of sense, especially as you can update your battle plan in bite sized chunks as your opponent acts. It's win-win ;)