Monday, January 30, 2012

The Second Foundation Of Vengeance: Patience

Vengeance is not a thing to be taken lightly or without planning. A wise man once said” Before embarking on a journey of vengeance dig two graves” This of course implies vengeance will eventually destroy those that seek it. If you go into a battle with a bad plan of attack or let yourself be lured into a trap your vengeance will go unfulfilled. I was contemplating this while Squaring off with Old School Terminator and his Tyranids. The game was a very bloody affair. I was using one of my prototype lists and he was using one of his very potent and decently tested tournament lists. As a side note Dakafexes, contrary to the “wisdom of the internets” are very viable and should be killed with extreme prejudice. I saw the error in my plan as I unfolded it. I had fallen for a trap. After my Reavers had dealt with his termagaunt screen with a nice fly by, Lelith and her wyches went to the center and assaulted the surviving termangaunts, some hive guard and a massive unit of Genestealers. The plan seemed good, but thanks to Leliths killing power and the massed attacks of 3 wych squads, with re rolls for failed wounds for combat drugs, I was left sitting in the open. I had underestimated the fury of the attack. The Carnifexes and tervigons started the clean up. I was able to hold on, but my thirst for vengeance and the thrill of the kill got the better of me. I contemplated this and saw what laid before me was the second foundation of vengeance. Patience.



Vengeance is a dish best served cold. This basically means letting time pass and having wisdom temper your vengeance. In this case it means to think before you act. Hind site is 20/20. I see what I should have done in my game against OST. The only real problem is I should have seen what was going to happen during the game. I was to impatient. I went right for a tempting soft target while ignoring what was around my forces. I also did not think about what would happen if I wiped out all the units.
I have talked about having a plan and sticking to it. I have also talked about being adaptive. I am talking more about thinking steps ahead and thinking about consequences.

When deploying your force you have to think about your plan of attack. Given the amount of monstrous creatures on the board in my game with OST, those should have been the targets. The Dakafexes and the Hive guard would be first. This eliminates the shooting. Then thanks to mobility I could have picked the vital targets off and then go in for the kill. A good hunter is patient. You wait for the optimal time to carry out the kill. You do it on your terms. You do not let the prey dictate the terms of the engagement.

SO the real lesson here is that you must not get excited. Bide your time and take on the opponents army on your terms. The key to doing this is in your deployment and your plan of attack. You must identify the biggest threats to your army and eliminate or circumvent them. If the enemy is a mobile force try and corral them and direct them where you want them. If it is a force that likes to not move force them to move. Basically you want to maintain control of the game and not act prematurely. A Dark Eldar force has the ability to maintain its distance and close the gap quickly. Use this ability to its fullest.

Be patient and maintain your cool. Emotion can really lead to bad tactical decisions. Stay cool and be in control. I will be trying out the other prototype this coming week. It may be a great example of the next foundation. Surprise.

Until then........



Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 comments:

  1. A very enjoyable post. Spot on with the "patience" part!

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  2. This game was a great example and one that I think of when trying to remind myself to be patient. I think one of my stregnths as a player is in that I will choose discretion over balls out assault when appropriate and can think back to many games where it won the game for me and quite a few losses where I let the killing frenzy take over and betray my better tactics.

    It comes down to the keeping the missions in mind, having an understanding of your caapabilties as well as the opponent's and looking at boardspace and movement opportunities. Assaulty armies don't always benefit from being in the fray, sometimes we must hold for the right moment to attack, break the opponent's momentum and take over the game.

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  3. Thank you Sidney.

    Yeah that was a pretty epic game. The traps within traps lo. it has always been a challenge for me to contain my competitive side and not turn into Archon douchey supreme when I play, especially in a tournament. you can ask any of he guys at the FLGS about SeerK and his temper tantrums. I have reined it in though.
    you just gotta go with the flow.....the dude abides.

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  4. I would further this by saying this foundation can be used against others. I really love to use units in ways that make the enemy overreact or waste time and energy pointlessly for a percieved threat. This puts the cunning player in a position to take advantages of them when they over extend themselves and is a little trick I pull with certain units, especially if I know a particular unit has wrecked havoc on an opponent in a previous game.

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