My steps to success

I thought I might do a quick non ToMB related blog (well its sort of ToMB related) about the phases I have for learning to play a crew. It links in quite nicely to the debate that going on about the VP Diff / VP scored scoring system. It will also, hopefully, help me take a step back and re-focus on how to play Jack a little better.

Phase 0 - Learn the game mechanics.

Well, Duh! I'm not going into this but if you are a brand new player learning the core mechanics of the game is probably the best thing you do before you start figuring out what your crew can do.

Phase 1 - Stress Testing

What I mean by stress testing is putting your said crew to the test in extreme circumstances. I tend to do this early on with new masters. I find you can look at your crew on paper and say 'well it should be able to do this, that, etc but its not until you get it on the table that you find out if that's true or not. An example of this was my first game with Jack where I threw him across the table to engage Ramos turn 1. This move was not conducive to winning the game but I knew in theory he could do it and I wanted to see how easy it was and how he fared when I did it
which gives me more of an idea of what models are capable of.

Again when I started playing Tara I figured the best way to go was to heavily go for burying enemy models. In stress testing this didn't work for me, even throwing my all into it, so I went back to look to see what else she could do.

I find this to be more appropriate with a brand new master / crew and do this alot less when integrating models into an existing crew

Phase 2 - Learn how to score points

Starting with the Strategies I then learn how my crew scores points, who does the killing for Reckoning? Who holds the ground in Turf war? This is alot of trial and error and takes a few games against different crews to get right. At this stage I'm not too bothered about preventing the opponent from scoring more about finding out how I can score. If you can score 10 points every game you wont lose. I try to work out how many resources to dedicate to each task (schemes / strategies) and this phase tends to give you quite high scoring games, hence my objections to putting VP's scored over VP differential in tournament play.

Part of this phase is also learning which schemes to take, which schemes can your crew achieve. This is probably one of the most important parts of this phase. A great way to do this is to follow @malifuxschemes on twitter and whenever it throws out a set of strat/schemes think about what you would chose for that combo and what models you would take.

I haven't figured this out with Jack yet after one game but an example I can give with Resser Tara is with Turf War. Starting out I decided that Flesh Constructs would be hard to remove so started placing 2 of them just to hold the ground. Then I started backing them up with the Graveyard Spirit to add armor and thirdly finding it more effective to back them up with a Nurse instead of the Graveyard Spirit. Of course this all comes apart if you are facing something with Lure due to the very low WP and quite high walk so making sure you have a utility model like a necropunk on hand is a must, and similar tailoring is something you will need when you learn what other opponents crews can do.

Phase 3 - Denying VP's

Having mastered phase 2 and cut down your investment in Soulstones to achieve this its time to look at how you stop your opponent scoring. If you can score 10 points each game you wont lose, if you cant stop your opponent scoring 10 points you wont win. 

I tend to focus on denying VP's from the strategy first for this, the reason being if you are denying points from the strategy and scoring all your schemes you will win. It also makes your opponent think about their resources, it makes them make a decision as to whats more important, re-allocating resources for the strategy? scoring for their schemes? Or denying you. 

Preventing VP's from the strategy puts pressure on your opponent, and there are only 5 strategies.

An example of this, again with Tara and Turf War, is use of Belles. Sure we all know Belles can lure, but its a long way through the turf war area and out your side to get the enemy models to stop them scoring, so by using Tara to bury Sybelle and Sybelle to call Belles you can be on the opposite side of the board using you Belles to lure the opponent back toward their table edge in turn 1/2, putting alot of pressure on the opponent at the beginning of the game.

I find that most of VP denial come from careful model positioning and I theory-faux alot on this phase. I have found it very useful to put up a Vassal map just to practice where I am placing my models to ensure they are most effective.

Denying points from the schemes is more difficult (depending on the scheme) but if you can have a trick up your sleeve that you can pull to stop scheme scoring its always handy.

Phase 4 - Combining phases 2 and 3

This phase is all about resource allocation, seeing a set of schemes, allocating Soulstones to achieve those while also allocating Soulstones to denying them and having a back up plan for if things go wrong. 

Combing the 2 is very tricky and I tend to have models / sets of models that each do a job. If you have ever played me you may also notice that I also quite often have a model that just seems to hang around, maybe moving for side to side across the back of the board (usually a fast model) This is for two reasons, the first is I am indecisive and the second is its there to plug gaps

Phase 5 - Learning your opponents

This is all about experience. You could argue that Phase 5 actually should be Phase 1, or 2, or whatever, that you should read the cards of all the models and know what the can do, and adapt to this before you play.

For me this isn't the case. As discussed in Stress Testing  I don't know what things actually do until I see them in action. I can read all the cards I want (and yes do read them, it does help) but the plain fact of the matter is I cant remember them, and I have even more difficulty in M2E trying to remember upgrades which alter play styles etc so I tend to focus on Phases 1-4 first.

Its not until I've played against a master that I really know what to expect. Sometimes this is fine, the preparation I have made in Phases 1-4 will win through, other times I will just get hit by something out of the blue. If this happens its important not to panic and re-group, keep the pressure on and even if you are going to lose keep trying for the VP's.

I remember the first time I played M2E Raspy I was hit with the spell that did 3 damage for each upgrade I had. That was one dead Tara. The second time I played raspy I knew this could happen (and her other tricks as well) and adjusted my play-style accordingly.

I believe this, and not some massive amount of skill, was the reason I won the Isle of Faux tournament. I learnt my tactics for scoring and denial and every crew I faced (Raspy, Sonnia and Seamus) was a master I had faced before.