One topic I've been meaning to write about is playing slow.
Do you only ever get 3 or 4 turns in at a tournament before time is called? Do you look at other tables and see people playing while you are still pulling your army out of it's case? Are you frustrated because your swarm takes longer to play than smaller armies of the same point value?
I often finish my tournament games well ahead of time, and find myself sitting around bored for an hour or so. There are advantages and disadvantages to playing your games quickly.. And I'll discuss a few things you can do to speed your game up.
First off, some advantages:
1. You will find your opponent will often try to match your pace. They don't do it on purpose, but if you are playing quickly often times they will speed up too. An obvious advantage here is that if they aren't used to playing at a hurried pace, they are more prone to make mistakes. Sometimes this doesn't work, and you end up standing around bored while your opponent takes his sweet ass time. I played a guy recently who had about 15 minute turns on average. 15x7=105. In a 2 and a half hour tournament round, he used up the vast majority of the time. Slow playing intentionally? Possibly. It just meant I had to play even faster, which if I wasn't used to doing may have cost me the game.
2. Faster play will enable you to use a larger army. Typically a large army takes a while to move, shoot and assault. Take a look around at a tournament, those guys with the "huge" armies are usually the last ones to finish their games or they run out of time.
3. Playing quickly also means your games will usually go the full duration. Losing a game on turn 3 just because you ran out of time is frustrating. Especially when you are handing the other guy his ass.
4. I used to not call people on questionable rules just for the sake of time.. Now I do. I find since I'm playing faster, there is more time to discuss a rule interpretation.
Disadvantages:
1. You will sometimes make mistakes. If you aren't comfortable with your army or aren't familiar with what you are fighting against, the odds of this go up. These mistakes can make your game difficult or even cost you a win.
2. If you move too quickly from phase to phase, you may forget units. I'm guilty of sometimes forgetting to shoot a unit before I launch assaults, by then its too late.
3. Going fast pisses some people off, they feel hurried or pressured (which isn't the case since there isn't a player time limit like in chess). This could result in your sportsmanship score suffering a bit.
So, playing quickly will often put your opponent on his back-foot. Slow players give the impression of being unsure of what to do, or not confident in their abilities.. Moving fast will send the message that you know what you are doing, and there isn't shit the other guy can do about it. It may cause him to second guess himself every turn, which can bog the game down.. But from what I've seen, its more likely they will just try to match your pace and end up making mistakes.
So, how can you speed yourself up?
1. Use a display board/movement tray. Set your army up on this by unit in between rounds. When it comes time for deployment, you don't have to dig around in your case for every unit.
2. Practice deploying your army at home. Set up a table if you have one, or proxy one if you dont.. And time yourself setting up your army. While your opponents deployment my dictacte yours a bit, it will allow you to get a feel for what to put where and how quickly to do so.
3. Have lots of dice, with 2 or more sets if possible. The less groups of dice you have to roll, the better. During my opponents turn, I often lump my dice into groups of 10 so that on my turn I don't have to waste as much time counting them. While he's making armor saves or pulling models, I'm seperating my dice back into their groups. The different sets allow you to roll different colored ones for speed rolling.
4. Don't worry about organizing your casualties. Do this in between rounds, not during your game.
5. Scatter dice. Try to roll this as close as you can to where you are shooting. The results of this stupid die are one of the most debated things in most games. Rolling next to your target eliminates this debate.
6. Coherency. While it may seem wise to always be spread out the maximum of 2" to avoid blasts spreading out every unit not only makes it so you have less room to deploy, but it also takes a lot of time to measure everything.. Try to eye-ball your coherency when possible, and only spread out the maximum if you have to. Is it worth spreading out 150 ork boys from one side of the table to the other just to avoid a few blasts? No, its not. It probably hurts your deployment, takes a lot of time and makes your army spread thin. Just eat a couple blasts on the chin and speed your game up.
7. Measuring sticks. Make 2 of them at 6" and 2 more at 12". One set is for you, and the other is for your opponent if they would like to use them. It allows you to measure movement quickly and fumble with a tape-measure less. You only need a tape measure if you are doing anything longer than 12", which surprisingly isn't a whole lot outside of shooting heavy weapons.
8. Practice some more. You've been practicing deployment with your fancy army tray/display board? Good.. Now practice movement phases. Learn how to quickly move your army. This is important for swarm style lists.
9. Know thy enemy. Do your homework, read the other codexes even if you don't own the army. Get a feel for what they can do and their rules. This is very important to tournament play in addition to playing quickly. It allows you to have a good idea of what the other guy is capable of. Playing fast will do nothing for you if you are going to let the other guy plant his foot in your ass just because you didn't know any better.
So, if you can speed your game up you will get in full games, leave your opponent second guessing the whole time or put him on his back foot and get to realize the full potential of your army.
If you are new to the game, don't worry about playing quickly. Get comfortable with the rules and your list before jumping feet first into "speed play".
Hope this helps!
