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Old March 7th, 2010, 11:08 PM
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"The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version 2)

I first want to state that the goal here is to make YOU a better and more creative player. We all play this crazy game called Heroscape. And we can get competitive you know. As you may have heard many people like to pick the best army for them and the game when getting ready to play. But there have been many who pick this "perfect army" and then get destroyed. That is why many players pre test or play test their army to see if it is a good one. But there is a problem with play testing that need's to be addressed. Improper challenge, an army played against an army that is designed to beat is not a play test. Or if you play test it against any army that is strong, but not applied right makes it a ineffective play test as well. So this question here is, how do I properly play test? Well its actually simple and I have comprised this concept into a term to be known as "the perfect game" The concept here is easy, but first you need to know how to play the game. Either way what you do is basically draft your army, then select 3 armies that focus on a core idea or strategy, each using a different strategy. You then select a map that will put the opposing army at an advantage. Whether it be a lot of snow, it has flyers, you have 4 move dwarfs, this is just one example. Now you pit the armies against each other, each turn being careful to make the best move possible on both sides.

Before you read on, I suggest you redirect your self to these threads and read through the initial posts if you haven't done so already. This way you will have an idea of what a perfect move is, and thus a perfect round, and then what a perfect game would be. Also if you choose an opposing army you need to know what kind of strategies are best for them.

Suggested Read 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11


Alright, by now you have either read all of them, or said forget it, I am going back to that original thread. Well my fellow scaper we shall advance then. "The Perfect Game" is a great tool, but in order to utilize it you need to know each step. So read below and you will understand this theory and then be equipped with the knowledge to truly create the best army possible. So read on for this is my good bye...

"The Perfect Game" - a play testing strategy to build the best army

step 1 armies
The obvious fact here is that you need yourself an army. So go ahead, based off of your knowledge of the good and bad units select your army. Wait what is that, where do you start? Alright, first thing you need to know what size army you need. Second you need to know what which units you enjoy playing with. Then the last step pick out your army based off of those criteria in edition to the information you retained from the suggested reads. So you have your army, great! Now you need to get prepared, look at your army, what flaws does it have? What weakens its effectiveness? Dont choose just 1 either, pick at least 2 or 3. For example, if I have a Vydar based army with a lot of soulborgs I am weak against repulsors, bigger range, and soulborg anti units like the Quasatchs. The next step is to pick who the armies to fight. Pick 3 cards out of the lot making sure that each card exploits a weakness's of your army to ITS ADVANTAGE; and that they are 3 different weaknesses. Now just like you did before, refer back to your knowledge and skill base and draft 3 armies, 1 for each of the selected cards. These armies need to be able to work together and be the perfect counter for your army. That is the ultimate goal here, pick 3 armies that are the perfect match for yours, each exploiting a different weakness.

step 2 other players new step
This is a simple step. You need other players for two things. Army choices and battling. No person can battle themselves and call it successful, when you get into the battling part of "the perfect game" you need another player who had read and is playing by these same guidelines. If this is done it will be a mathematically correct game with a different point of strategy for each army. Causing a probable outcome. You also need another player for army choices. while you are picking the 3 opposing armies have that player put in recommendations and ideas. This point of view will add flavor, ideals, and choices you would have not considered. All again making it the "perfect game".

step 3 maps
Alright, it may sound simple, but it is not clear cut. To pick a map you need to pick a map that will exploit you opposing armies strengths. For example, as earlier you have that vydar robot army, you facing a jandar omnicron sniper/repulsor combination. This army will benefit from range, choke points, and increased attack (height). Using these criteria either build a map or choose a map that benefits the army you wish to beat with your original draft. But since you have 3 opposing armies you will need 3 maps, but this just adds to the fun. So construct and place the armies. I would recommend using the Battle Fields of Valhalla for you maps.

step 4 scenario
Now although scenarios are not a required step i suggest them. There are classic kill em all, kill em all HOB, and ctf, among many more. If you choose a scenario based map or use a scenario you will be playing to a higher skill which can only increase the chance of either army becoming the winner because it is the better army. And it will develop your general play skills into a thinking and killing machine.

step 5 the best move and correcting the mistakes
This step is the most intense part, because you are actually playing the game! With each round you need to refer back to how to play competitively and all of those other strategy ideas. Take at least a minute to consider the possibility of each turn for each card. Then upon deliberation place the order markers on the best possible choices. One thing to keep in mind is that each turn is to expand the armies advantage, exploit it's strengths, and create the easiest possible win. Remember that you are doing all this for each army! By the end of the game you will realize that doing this does take time, but that each army had perfect game and that the army that came out on top won because it is the most developed and strategically better combination of units. As you advance through the game you need to be paying attention to individual units as well. If a unit can choose between 3 things to do, choose the best that will benefit it and you for the rest of the game. While going a long if you realize you placed an order marker or took a turn and over analyzed so much you missed a huge move, go back! Restart the turn or the round.

step 6 dice new step
this is a very easy concept. as you should know the game of Heroscape uses the attack/defense dice system aden a d20. the first thing you should do for the sake of the play testing is rid your self of that d20 in regards to initiative rolls. The opposing army (not the one you are play testing) is always given the first turn of every round. This will kick you in the butt, however it is possible that it will happen. Your army should never take the first turn while play testing. It makes it act on a secondary note of war, causing a more realistic outcome. The next thing is the attack and defense dice. these dice use high amounts of math to them. but the fact that they can roll whiffs or lucky all skulls needs to be addressed. every time you roll attack and defense re roll either in the condition of you whiff, get all skulls or shields, your army wins the roll by 1 to 3 skulls or shields over the opposing army. This will eliminate the high chances of luck involved in the game and create a more mathematical and probable outcome.

step 7 aftermath the records
The game is done and the dust has settled, what now? Well you need to review your match. I will state now that while you play you should take notes and turn by turn records of the match. When you are finished sit down and read through your notes, think of ideas that you could have have used to better advantage your army under testing. By doing this you will realize new strategies and tips that will allow you to get that victory in the future.

step 8 aftermath the evaluation
Now for the final step, its time to reconfigure your army. Look at each unit, you should have kept a record of how many wins, losses, deaths, kills, and what the factors in those were. For anything beneficial to the cause put a 1 for anything un beneficial put a -1. Tally up the points once you have successfully done this for every card Look at your point totals. Does one card seem to die and not do anything else, or do have anti hero card that never actually killed a hero? Look at these things and consider the kinds of strategies you used. If a card did not accomplish anything good and has no wins or no use then remove it from your army. Once this is completed sift back through your shelves and find something you like that will work well with you forces in one way or another. Make sure that these units would have accomplished what the others did not then place them among your ranks. You now have you perfect army, and to make sure you should always take this army and replay the three games according to the "Perfect Game" and see if you can now succeed in any match. If you don't however that is fine.

Step 9 Redo new step
Now is the game changer. You dont have to complete this step but it highly recommended that once you think you have that perfect army to complete steps 1 through


Review
We come to the end of this article and you should realize three things that you will get from this, I can create the strongest army for me, I can develop new strategies and advance as a player, and I get to play Heroscape!

PS
Sorry for any spelling/grammar errors, I was never actually taught the proper application of each of them ...
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Old March 10th, 2010, 10:30 AM
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Re: "The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version

Any comments I feel that this article improves upon the original version. But what do you think?
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Old March 10th, 2010, 11:45 AM
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Re: "The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version

I appreciate all the hard work chief, I'm just not sure I completely agree with you.

Playing against other people is a very good idea. Adding to that, it's a good idea to switch armies to help you see the weaknesses in your army from the other side and to help mitigate unbalanced results caused by differences in experience levels between you and your opponent. Also, there is quite a bit of advantage to be had in soloscaping different maps since soloscaping goes quicker and you're always available to play against yourself. Your map choices should all be the maps for the tournament you are attending.

In addition to picking armies that exploit your weaknesses to test against, you should probably test against top-tier armies. I always make at least one run against a KoW/Nilf army and a Vydar pod army. If your army can handle both of those then it belongs in a tournament.

Getting to the lower steps, I think managing dice is a bad idea. One of the hardest things to deal with in Heroscape is initiatiative switches where your opponent gets two turns in a row. Another of the hardest things to deal with is when a stroke of extremely bad luck puts you in a position you weren't expecting. Oddly, yet another difficult thing to deal with can be exceptionally good luck that tempts you to overextend yourself. In the same way, I'm not sure going back and fixing mistakes you made is a good idea, but I recognize that this is an area where different folks benefit differently. I prefer getting crushed for making stupid mistakes. I find that to be the strongest motivator not to make them again.

I'm a bit confused by the evaluating process and utterly baffled by how your perfect army can lose three matches in a row and still be a perfect army. Like I said, I appreciate the effort you clearly put into crafting the article, I'm just not sure I'd use a lot of those steps personally.

~Aldin, who must admit to being good but not great at tournaments

He either fears his fate too much
or his desserts are small
That dares not put it to the touch
to gain or lose it all
~James Graham
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Old March 10th, 2010, 12:00 PM
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Re: "The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version

I play in a lot of tournaments, but I don't playtest nearly enough for them. I rely mostly on theory and planning, which isn't the best way to do it.

For GenCon 08, I set up 4 of the maps that were going to be there, and I invited everyone from my area that was going to GenCon over. They all brought an army or two, and we played all day. I played 6 games:

3 games with on different maps with:

Nilfheim - 185
Q10 - 335
Zetacron - 395
Rats x3 - 515

2 games on different maps with:

Nilfheim - 185
10th x3 - 410
Airborne Elite - 520

and one game with:

4th Mass x6 - 420
Deathwalker 7000 - 520

I won all my games, but the games I played with the Rat-Podge won more convincingly and I felt the most comfortable with it, so I played it. It did ok.

That's the most I've ever done to playtest an army, and it's probably why I finish in the Top 6 or so a lot instead of winning or getting 2nd or 3rd (well that, and my insane desire to play crappy units).

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Old March 10th, 2010, 12:33 PM
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Re: "The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version

I would suggest changing the order up a little bit. In particular, I think you should know what maps and scenarios you're going to be facing before you ever start to think about your army. The only other thing that I would specifically change is to include initiative rolling-- if you're always planning to go second, you won't learn how to take advantage of going first; that uncertainty takes some planning. Otherwise, I think what you've written sounds reasonable, but let me tell you my process of tournament army building just to compare and contrast.

Step 1: Scenarios and Unit Brainstorming - once I know what the map formats will be, I'll jot down which units I think will excel in each format. If there are multiple formats, I'll cross-reference them, too, to see which figures excel in the most formats.

Step 2: Maps - if I know the maps ahead of time, I'll build some of them and maybe brainstorm units that would excel on them... though most tournament maps are built to be fairly balanced for all units, so unit brainstorming isn't quite as important here, IMO.

Step 3: Opposing Armies - based on the scenarios and maps, I'll list the type of armies I'll expect to face. Then I'll jot down units that I think are good counters for those particular armies (and cross-reference them, again, like in Step 1).

Step 4: Favorite Units - At this point, I'll list my favorite units and check to see if any of them also show up on my other lists of good units for scenarios, maps or as counters to opposing armies.

Step 5: Building My Army - I try to build an army around those of my favorite units that appear to be the most competitive against the opposing armies I expect to run into. To a lesser extent, I build around the units that I think will be good for each format.

Step 6: Playtesting - I'll build maybe three of the maps, then use a 20-sider to determine which map I'll play on, which army I'll pit myself against and which format we'll be playing under. Then I'll just repeat until I get a handle one which strategies work for my army and which ones don't. I'm not much of a note-taker, so it's all about repetition for me. I know it's best to play against another person, but I'll play against myself if no one is available.

Anyway, don't know if that helps, but maybe if other folks share their tourney prep procedures, we can start to see what works and what doesn't.
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Old March 10th, 2010, 02:17 PM
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Re: "The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aldin View Post
I appreciate all the hard work chief, I'm just not sure I completely agree with you.

Playing against other people is a very good idea. Adding to that, it's a good idea to switch armies to help you see the weaknesses in your army from the other side and to help mitigate unbalanced results caused by differences in experience levels between you and your opponent. Also, there is quite a bit of advantage to be had in soloscaping different maps since soloscaping goes quicker and you're always available to play against yourself. Your map choices should all be the maps for the tournament you are attending.

In addition to picking armies that exploit your weaknesses to test against, you should probably test against top-tier armies. I always make at least one run against a KoW/Nilf army and a Vydar pod army. If your army can handle both of those then it belongs in a tournament.

Getting to the lower steps, I think managing dice is a bad idea. One of the hardest things to deal with in Heroscape is initiatiative switches where your opponent gets two turns in a row. Another of the hardest things to deal with is when a stroke of extremely bad luck puts you in a position you weren't expecting. Oddly, yet another difficult thing to deal with can be exceptionally good luck that tempts you to overextend yourself. In the same way, I'm not sure going back and fixing mistakes you made is a good idea, but I recognize that this is an area where different folks benefit differently. I prefer getting crushed for making stupid mistakes. I find that to be the strongest motivator not to make them again.

I'm a bit confused by the evaluating process and utterly baffled by how your perfect army can lose three matches in a row and still be a perfect army. Like I said, I appreciate the effort you clearly put into crafting the article, I'm just not sure I'd use a lot of those steps personally.

~Aldin, who must admit to being good but not great at tournaments
I can agre here, I wrote this to make the player fight the hardest battle. Ultimately making them pick the best army. One thing is what do you mean by
" I'm a bit confused by the evaluating process and utterly baffled by how your perfect army can lose three matches in a row and still be a perfect army. "

Quote:
Originally Posted by Elginb View Post
I would suggest changing the order up a little bit. In particular, I think you should know what maps and scenarios you're going to be facing before you ever start to think about your army. The only other thing that I would specifically change is to include initiative rolling-- if you're always planning to go second, you won't learn how to take advantage of going first; that uncertainty takes some planning. Otherwise, I think what you've written sounds reasonable, but let me tell you my process of tournament army building just to compare and contrast.

Step 1: Scenarios and Unit Brainstorming - once I know what the map formats will be, I'll jot down which units I think will excel in each format. If there are multiple formats, I'll cross-reference them, too, to see which figures excel in the most formats.

Step 2: Maps - if I know the maps ahead of time, I'll build some of them and maybe brainstorm units that would excel on them... though most tournament maps are built to be fairly balanced for all units, so unit brainstorming isn't quite as important here, IMO.

Step 3: Opposing Armies - based on the scenarios and maps, I'll list the type of armies I'll expect to face. Then I'll jot down units that I think are good counters for those particular armies (and cross-reference them, again, like in Step 1).

Step 4: Favorite Units - At this point, I'll list my favorite units and check to see if any of them also show up on my other lists of good units for scenarios, maps or as counters to opposing armies.

Step 5: Building My Army - I try to build an army around those of my favorite units that appear to be the most competitive against the opposing armies I expect to run into. To a lesser extent, I build around the units that I think will be good for each format.

Step 6: Playtesting - I'll build maybe three of the maps, then use a 20-sider to determine which map I'll play on, which army I'll pit myself against and which format we'll be playing under. Then I'll just repeat until I get a handle one which strategies work for my army and which ones don't. I'm not much of a note-taker, so it's all about repetition for me. I know it's best to play against another person, but I'll play against myself if no one is available.

Anyway, don't know if that helps, but maybe if other folks share their tourney prep procedures, we can start to see what works and what doesn't.
I see your points, I can definitely see the value of choosing armies that you would expect to be tough based of the scenario.
__________________________________________________________

I do want to say as you may have noticed in this version 2 I added and changed things based off of the original threads feed back. I will be doing the same thing here. Because obviously I am by far no perfect player. But I I feel like I have a genreal good concept. By the time I get to the final version I will have hopefully compiled a complete and complex read for "the perfect game" So keep the good advice coming!
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Old March 10th, 2010, 02:30 PM
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Re: "The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version

Quote:
Originally Posted by chief View Post
One thing is what do you mean by
" I'm a bit confused by the evaluating process and utterly baffled by how your perfect army can lose three matches in a row and still be a perfect army. "
Here's the relevant portion

Quote:
Originally Posted by chief View Post
Now for the final step, its time to reconfigure your army. Look at each unit, you should have kept a record of how many wins, losses, deaths, kills, and what the factors in those were. For anything beneficial to the cause put a 1 for anything un beneficial put a -1. Tally up the points once you have successfully done this for every card Look at your point totals. Does one card seem to die and not do anything else, or do have anti hero card that never actually killed a hero? Look at these things and consider the kinds of strategies you used. If a card did not accomplish anything good and has no wins or no use then remove it from your army. Once this is completed sift back through your shelves and find something you like that will work well with you forces in one way or another. Make sure that these units would have accomplished what the others did not then place them among your ranks. You now have you perfect army, and to make sure you should always take this army and replay the three games according to the "Perfect Game" and see if you can now succeed in any match. If you don't however that is fine.
What constitutes beneficial? What constitutes unbeneficial? I don't understand what is being evaluated here.

The second bolded part has you declaring the evaluated army "perfect", but recommends playing three games with it to be sure - but not to worry if the army loses all three! Why bother with that three game gauntlet if the results are irrelevant and why would you accept the army as "perfect" if it couldn't win any of those matches?

~Aldin, preparedly

He either fears his fate too much
or his desserts are small
That dares not put it to the touch
to gain or lose it all
~James Graham
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Old March 10th, 2010, 02:40 PM
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Re: "The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aldin View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by chief View Post
One thing is what do you mean by
" I'm a bit confused by the evaluating process and utterly baffled by how your perfect army can lose three matches in a row and still be a perfect army. "
Here's the relevant portion

Quote:
Originally Posted by chief View Post
Now for the final step, its time to reconfigure your army. Look at each unit, you should have kept a record of how many wins, losses, deaths, kills, and what the factors in those were. For anything beneficial to the cause put a 1 for anything un beneficial put a -1. Tally up the points once you have successfully done this for every card Look at your point totals. Does one card seem to die and not do anything else, or do have anti hero card that never actually killed a hero? Look at these things and consider the kinds of strategies you used. If a card did not accomplish anything good and has no wins or no use then remove it from your army. Once this is completed sift back through your shelves and find something you like that will work well with you forces in one way or another. Make sure that these units would have accomplished what the others did not then place them among your ranks. You now have you perfect army, and to make sure you should always take this army and replay the three games according to the "Perfect Game" and see if you can now succeed in any match. If you don't however that is fine.
What constitutes beneficial? What constitutes unbeneficial? I don't understand what is being evaluated here.

The second bolded part has you declaring the evaluated army "perfect", but recommends playing three games with it to be sure - but not to worry if the army loses all three! Why bother with that three game gauntlet if the results are irrelevant and why would you accept the army as "perfect" if it couldn't win any of those matches?

~Aldin, preparedly
oh wow, that is utterly a mistake on the second bold, I defiantly typed in a completely wrong sentence. I did not realize that, well thats one thing that will have to be changed for version 3. As for beneficial or not I state
Does one card seem to die and not do anything else, or do have anti hero card that never actually killed a hero? Look at these things and consider the kinds of strategies you used. If a card did not accomplish anything good and has no wins or no use then remove it from your army.

I can see the confusion though. What I mean is if a figure died before use, never won an attack, etc, they receive a -1 but if they did they receive a 1. Then units with a poor tally should be looked at being removed. This is however something that needs rewording. I think I see the problems and they are just wording problems. I need to make sure to clarify those later on ...
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Old March 10th, 2010, 03:07 PM
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Re: "The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version

If you have talent for the game, the rest will come. If you don't, it won't.

That being said, you need incredible patience and incredibly patient opponents to carry out your regimen. When you come up with the Perfect Army, let us know!
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Old August 14th, 2013, 11:01 PM
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Re: "The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version

Quote:
Originally Posted by chief View Post
step 6 dice new step
The next thing is the attack and defense dice. these dice use high amounts of math to them. but the fact that they can roll whiffs or lucky all skulls needs to be addressed. every time you roll attack and defense re roll either in the condition of you whiff, get all skulls or shields, your army wins the roll by 1 to 3 skulls or shields over the opposing army. This will eliminate the high chances of luck involved in the game and create a more mathematical and probable outcome.
Ok, I know it's been 3 years since anyone posted lol, but I had to comment.

You CANNOT re-roll 3/3 skulls or good defense rolls! These are part of the game, and the 1/8 chance of 3 skulls really isn't very unlikely. If you do this, your drastically swinging the game in favor of defense. How are your stingers ever going to take down Q9 if they attack him 8 times and have to re-roll the one hit of 3 skulls?

I'd recommend counting the attacks you've made on each figure, and understanding if the figure died too quickly, in the middle, or just right.

In other words, 3A vs 3D does an average damage of .75 hits, so it takes an average of 7 attacks to kill 5 life Raelin like this. If it takes 6-8 attacks to kill her, fine. If it takes 9+ attacks to kill her, you'll want your army to be able to adjust to that. If it takes less than 6, maybe you'll want to make an executive decision and let her live.

Still, re-rolling the extremes is NOT the way to go as it really messes with the odds.

Your initiative idea on the other hand is awesome and I can't believe I didn't think of that. We all know how a timely initiative switch can change a game and you eliminated that from play-testing. Genius.

“To learn who rules over you, simply find out whom you are not allowed to criticize.”
― Voltaire
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  #11  
Old February 7th, 2016, 03:17 PM
ekoxe1 ekoxe1 is offline
 
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Re: "The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version

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Originally Posted by chief View Post
step 6 dice new step
this is a very easy concept. as you should know the game of Heroscape uses the attack/defense dice system aden a d20. the first thing you should do for the sake of the play testing is rid your self of that d20 in regards to initiative rolls. The opposing army (not the one you are play testing) is always given the first turn of every round. This will kick you in the butt, however it is possible that it will happen. Your army should never take the first turn while play testing. It makes it act on a secondary note of war, causing a more realistic outcome. The next thing is the attack and defense dice. these dice use high amounts of math to them. but the fact that they can roll whiffs or lucky all skulls needs to be addressed. every time you roll attack and defense re roll either in the condition of you whiff, get all skulls or shields, your army wins the roll by 1 to 3 skulls or shields over the opposing army. This will eliminate the high chances of luck involved in the game and create a more mathematical and probable outcome.
If the dice go Skull x 3 Shield x 2 Blank x 1, I would simply ratio that out for all dice rolls


If you roll 5 attack vs 2 defence

5 x 50% (3 skull results out of six per die) = 2.5 skulls
2 x 33.3% (2 shields from 6 per die) = 0.67 skulls

difference is 1.83 which I would use to add 2 wound markers (anything above X.5, round up, but for more stringent challenge just change the round up point)
you can also do a quick and easy version by making it 50% for each but always rounding up, then its just (Attack Dice - Defence Dice)/2 and rounded up

eg you roll 6 attack dice vs 3 defence

give 2 wounds (you would expect 3 skulls vs 1 shield anyway using the exact ratios)

or lets say 5 attack vs 1 defence (expected 2.5 vs 0.33 = 2 wounds), the quick and easy version is (5-1)*0.5 = 2


or lets pick a weird one, say 7 dice against 4 defence
expected (3.5 skulls, 1.33 shields, or just over 2 wounds)
quick formula (7-4)/2 which is 1.5 rounded up, still gives 2 wounds
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  #12  
Old February 8th, 2016, 05:10 PM
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Re: "The Perfect Game" the correct way to play test (Version

Quote:
Originally Posted by ekoxe1 View Post
If the dice go Skull x 3 Shield x 2 Blank x 1, I would simply ratio that out for all dice rolls


If you roll 5 attack vs 2 defence

5 x 50% (3 skull results out of six per die) = 2.5 skulls
2 x 33.3% (2 shields from 6 per die) = 0.67 skulls

difference is 1.83 which I would use to add 2 wound markers (anything above X.5, round up, but for more stringent challenge just change the round up point)
you can also do a quick and easy version by making it 50% for each but always rounding up, then its just (Attack Dice - Defence Dice)/2 and rounded up

eg you roll 6 attack dice vs 3 defence

give 2 wounds (you would expect 3 skulls vs 1 shield anyway using the exact ratios)

or lets say 5 attack vs 1 defence (expected 2.5 vs 0.33 = 2 wounds), the quick and easy version is (5-1)*0.5 = 2


or lets pick a weird one, say 7 dice against 4 defence
expected (3.5 skulls, 1.33 shields, or just over 2 wounds)
quick formula (7-4)/2 which is 1.5 rounded up, still gives 2 wounds
The problem with doing it that way is that average damage isn't the most important statistic in Heroscape. In general, you don't even really care how much damage you do on average, you only care if you actually kill a figure, as that protects figures for your next turn. Most of the time that means doing one wound, to kill a squad figure. For most matchups, the odds of getting 1 wound on a specific figure don't vary that much, probably from about 1/3 to about 2/3. I guess you could do something like kill every other squad figure you attack, but I mean you might as well just actually roll the dice so you can't abuse the strategy by killing the more important squad figures and letting the less important ones die.

I guess average damage is the one Heroscape statistic you can easily estimate in your head, but that's not really a reason to use uninformative numbers. Instead, use Sterilizing Pear.

My dad and I used to do a little bit of fudging rolls that we thought were unreasonable, but we've stopped. I think it makes you play worse when you take back things that happened. Unlikely outcomes are just as likely to happen in tournament games and it's important to be ready for them.
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