Orc's Tips to Improve Fast

[OEAO]

As a member of the competitive Scape community since 2011, I've made the rounds a few times. I attended my first GenCon in 2012, and have been to GenCon every year since (except for 2016). I was blessed to be able to play tons of games against my dad, who is also an accomplished player in the competitive scene. In this article, I'll introduce eight concepts that will quickly up your game. Note that it takes years of practice, and EVERYONE (except maybe Matthias) still has room to improve.


The first eight are general truths that are generally the same from game to game.

1. Don't Blame the Dice
Don't blame the dice. Don't blame the dice. DON'T BLAME THE DICE!

It's almost certainly not your dice. There is a high correlation with bad players complaining about "bad dice." I've seen it time and time again. To quote MajorQ23, "in only 1% of losses did dice make it unwinnable."

Look for your mistakes. If you can't see them, ask your opponent. Most of the time, the opponent won't say anything unless you ask.

But my opponent said "I had hot dice and your dice were bad?" Certainly I lost because of dice? I can almost guarantee you that they are saying that to make you feel better.

I've played almost 200 tournament games of HeroScape. I've seen dice decide a game a grand total of three times in all those games.

Please note that this section in particular is the coldest and hardest of all the truths, but is not intended to attack anyone or make them feel bad. Rather, I hope you learn from this, and stop making excuses when you misplay (we all do that from time to time).

2. You've Never Played a Perfect Game
I've never played a perfect game. I don't think anyone has; there are simply too many decisions in each game for you to have executed every single one correctly. It could be as small as "I should have had this guy one hex to the right."

Look for your mistakes in your wins as it will help you clean up your play and tighten your fundamentals. Once you reach that higher understanding, you'll continue to elevate your game. This is the number one way to avoid the Skill Plateau that most hit at some point. You don't want to stay where you are, keep climbing!

3. Building An Army
So what do you play? Play what you like and are comfortable with. Bringing a B+ army that you know the ins and outs of will give you a better chance than an A- army that you've played once. That being said, don't dip too far below a B+. Talk to other players and bounce ideas off them, and ask veterans for advice.

I'm going to leave this one at that because it should really be a whole article on its own, and it depends so heavily on the format.

4. Range on Height Fallacy
A huge mistake that I see players, new and old, make is falling into the Range on Height trap. True, it's often good to get height. Range figures are good on height. However, it is more useful for Me-Burq-sa to stay behind the wall of Romans and plink from afar while remaining safe rather than running him up onto height where he is exposed just to fire off a marginally better shot.

Maximize your range. Kite. Utilize screens. These are incredibly important concepts that will let you keep your range units alive longer and get more value out of them.

5. The Odds Fallacy
A few years ago, I would have said that smart play in HeroScape is about playing the odds, or maximizing your odds. I think that's true.. to an extent. I am actually convinced now that smart play is about reducing the opportunity for variance.

In the above example, if Me-Burq-Sa is exposed and your opponent runs a Knight of Weston adjacent to him, he shouldn't die from that swing. However, there is always the chance that the KoW 3 for 3s and MBS whiffs, dying in the process. In that situation, you were "playing the odds." However, if you had instead kept MBS behind your wall of Romans, the OPPORTUNITY for a kill based on variance wouldn't have been there.

This summer, I was testing out my main event army vs a Zombie build on Draugur. I put Concan in the shadow under the single hex of snow on my side of the map. My dad put a single Zombie on it and made 3 attacks on 3 separate OMs, killing Concan. Now, statistically, Concan should not have died from that; 3 3v5s shouldn't deal 5 wounds. However, had Concan not been there, the OPPORTUNITY for it to happen would not have even been there.

6. Time for Change
If you're behind and standard "safe" plays won't help you at this point, it's time to get ballsy. Take those chances because you'll lose if you don't. If they pay off, you're back in business. The same applies if you have a bad matchup, except you may take risks earlier in the game when you're still even on points.

7. Do the Math
"HeroScape, 5 minutes!" Nathan yells. The game looks pretty even. What do you do?

The math, of course. Figure out exactly where each of you are at points-wise, and figure out exactly what pieces you need to take of theirs, as well as what pieces of yours that you can't afford to let them take.

Most games don't go to time, but if you have one that does, follow this simple rule to make sure that you don't lose by 10 points simply because you let them kill that last 4th Mass or didn't see that they had a Nagrub hidden behind a ruin.

8. Play to Win
Don't play to not lose. Don't let your foot off the gas pedal. Even if you're ahead, give no quarter. If you have the advantage, press it and stomp out any hope they had of coming back. Even if a game is lopsided, the other side can still win if certain things happen: some good dice with some unexpected and great plays, as well as mistakes by your opponent.


The next three are points to consider when you sit down from the table across from your opponent.

9. Analyze Unit Roles and Matchups
Know your units. Know all of the units and how they function. You need to know what your army wants to do, and what each unit in the army wants to do. You also need to know what your army's weaknesses are, as well as specific matchups that each of your units struggle in.

10. Find Comparable Advantages
Take the previous concept and apply it to this matchup in particular. If you have 2x Warriors of Ashra, 2x Phantom Knights, and Eltahale, you want your WoA against their melee units, your PKs against their range, and Eltahale against their special attackers. Threat sequencing becomes important here to make sure you get the matchups you want and your opponent doesn't. This is extremely important especially in the RtW meta.

11. Analyzing Maps and Glyphs
Figure out how the above applies on a specific map with a few specific glyphs. Figure out where you want to engage and where they want to engage. If you engage on your terms you are on your way to victory (assuming you've mastered the other topics covered in this article). Maps and glyphs are another thing that will be covered in future, more specific articles.


I'll add more if I come up with it (as well as adding good comments from others), but I think that's most of what I wanted to say. As always, feedback is welcomed and happy Scaping!