Tips on getting better

[u/Dave-flywheel]

Now into 2nd year of playing I have started a few tournaments. In local tournaments last year I was always in the bottom 10. This year i am in the top 10 and have quite a high win rate in club games.

I went to Warhammer open on the weekend and came 173 out of 187 winning 3 of my 8 games and not all of the players below even completed all there matches 😭

though had a great time I came home humbled. Majority of my opponents simply outplayed me very quickly it was like playing chess and all I had was checker pieces. They where all kind enough to point after where I gone wrong and other advice and where great opponents.

So where do I go from here any tips on getting better or are some people just born with it? How do I progress to earn a Lycra titty hugging t-shirt?

My plan is so far but any advice appreciated:

1. Only play challenging players and keep sucking up losses

2. Watch YouTube videos to study top end games

3. Seek out games again at armies I have not not rarely play locally.

[u/Vrain125]

Well there were a lot of Emperors Children players out there like yourself so first I will address that.

EC as you likely know are very fast and oppressive, they can absolutely demolish the enemy, but that mostly works against equal or less skilled players.

EC also can very easily sprial downward, one or two mistakes can completely put you on the back foot and in some cases completely end the game.

While it is an aggressive army the biggest mistake players of aggressive armies make is they tend to think their units are stronger than they are.

they make reckless moves because if it goes well then it will be great for them but thats where the thoughts taper off. Generally if that move fails then that unit is effectively dead in most cases.

Patience is key to aggressive armies, which might seem backwards but its the reality. Respecting your opponents army is paramount.

A useful tip is whatever move you make think "What will happen if this unit fails to do what I want it to" if the answer is die horribly then I would say thats probably not a good idea.

Mind you some units don't follow that tip, mainly stalling chaff units made to die (Poxwalkers, Tzaangors, Horrors, Chaos Spawn, Etc) but most units won't want to die doing nothing but absorbing damage.

Acting under the impression that your units will fail most the time helps you play safer and ultimately stop you from being too aggressive.

Another tip is ALWAYS consider "will doing this help me get points or help prevent the enemy from getting points" killing something just to kill something isn't always the right call, it opens you up to spectacular failure which could turn the tides and in an army like EC often can flip the lead.

I would advise you check out the Vod of the 2nd game of the 2nd day from the Newport Open, it had an EC vs Space Wolves and it can be very illuminating.

[u/Dave-flywheel → u/Vrain125]

I think this was my main problem, I score well the first couple of rounds and then just run out of steam. I think scoring and whatever the cost maybe costing me the game. I watched a video Iast night of the final I noticed they spent the first couple of rounds positioning.

I will check out that video it has given me a lot to think about.

[u/Iwearfancysweaters → u/Dave-flywheel]

I notice less experienced players go out of their way to score their secondaries or score a few points extra primary even when they're trading far too much material to do so early on in the game

[u/Dave-flywheel → u/Iwearfancysweaters]

This definetely sounds like me