Strategic Maneuvers/Tips and Tricks Index

[netherspirit]

Originally Posted by Tai-Pan

Well, I already did the links, but I can't remember how to delete the threads. If need be I can put the links back in pretty easily; I have everything in a word document on my computer. I only got rid of three things I think. Templar Charge, IX Legion Hokey Pokey, and Dund Deplocation.

You can only delete your threads if they don't have replies in them, which I know some of them don't.

Anyways, PM sent.

[Metaknight]

A whole new forum section based somewhat on this!?

Where can I or anybody else post more strategic manuevers?

[Tai-Pan]

pm me or post it and let me know. Malechi or I will come and format it if it needs it and put it in the index. I'm not sure what Malechi has in mind, but I suggested him as moderator because he helped format this guide.

[War Solves Everything]

Originally Posted by Metaknight

A whole new forum section based somewhat on this!?

Where can I or anybody else post more strategic manuevers?

Once this thread takes off. People will be able to suggest combo's and other things. They'll just be added to this.

[Tai-Pan]

UPC's stuff to add

To Disengage or Not Disengage, That Is the Question

Quote:
This strategy discussion kind of ties together a couple of previous topics of mine “Don’t Forget to Move!” and “Heroscape Strategy” where I introduced the concept of IGPV (in game point values). On a high level, it is nothing more than a dissertation on the importance and value of a figure’s placement on the battlefield in relation to everything else that is going on in the battle. However, I specifically want to focus on when Disengaging might be the best thing for you to do during a game.

First off, I want to start off with a couple quick hits…

“No one escapes the Cyberclaw!” If you are currently engaged with a figure that has the Cyberclaw Special Power (currently Major X17 and Gladiatrons), then Disengagement is not an option for you.

“There’s no crying in Heroscape!” It is rarely a good idea to attempt to Disengage from a figure who possesses a Special Power like A Coward’s Reward that allows additional dice to be thrown for Disengagement Strikes when Disengagement rules apply.

However, if your current turn involves a unit that has Disengagement, Ghostwalk, Stealth Flying, or any other Special Power that allows you to avoid Disengagement strikes, then Disengagement should always be the first movement that you think of taking.

Why such confidence in my previous statement, you ask?

Firstly, your opponent more often than not has failed to remember that your figure has the ability to Disengage and has not taken it into consideration when making his/her movements. It is always a good sign when your opponent whispers “Oh crud, I forgot about that” under their breath as you destroy their best laid plans from the previous turn via a simple disengagement.

Secondly, a figure’s IGPV is most greatly affected by its position on the board. Here are a few examples…
Raelin’s IGPV is greatly diminished if there aren’t any figures taking advantage of her Defense Aura because of her location on the battlefield.
A figure able to attack or defend with height advantage is more valuable than one without the advantage.
A figure standing on a glyph is more valuable than one not standing on a glyph.
A figure blocking an advantageous route from the enemy raises its IGPV.
…and so on.

Do notice that three of my examples do not involve necessarily “offensive” mindsets. Forcing your opponents hand on who and what to attack and when to attack generally assures victory. Heroscape, most of the time, is an “offensive first” game, however, do not forget that controlling your opponent’s offense is sometimes your best defense.

Thirdly, conversely, you should not let your opponent control your offensive strategy. If you are playing an experienced opponent, they are more than likely in the process of battlefield management themselves; moving figures to where they are most valuable or at the very least to where their apparent value is greatest or even moving to places that diminish your own unit’s IGPV. Generally, it will involve engagement of some sort (be it adjacency for melee units or “in range” for ranged units).
If the unit that you are about to move has the ability to Disengage, then always make sure that on your turn you assess the situation on what is the best strategy for your whole army and not simply reactionary to something that your opponent is pulling you into.

Now, to apply the original question of this discussion to units that do not have the ability to Disengage…

The definitive answer is that “it depends.” There are honestly too many scenarios to even comprehend that help to determine what your answer might be in a particular situation. But again, I will give you a few things to think about.

A Disengagement Strike only works half the time. It is a fairly obvious statement, but one that is often over looked. Is the glass half full or half empty? If Disengagement only works half the time that means that you can get away with it half the time as well.

An uninjured Charos should never hesitate to disengage from a single figure if moving somewhere else is going to be more beneficial to you. As he begins to accumulate damage, the decision should become more difficult.

An uninjured Krug should definitely think about disengaging from a single enemy figure. The worst thing that can happen is that he gets angry…

Be much more hesitant with high defensive, low life Heroes when contemplating disengagement (Major Q9, Brunak, etc.). Their strength is in their ability to avoid damage, don’t remove that strength by giving away Life Points when unnecessary.

Fodder units are just that, fodder. Most, if not all fodder units are Common. Hopefully, you are fielding enough (multiples) of the unit that losing one or two to Disengagement Strikes is outweighed by the placement of units that have successfully disengaged. Don’t be afraid to have some figures “take it for the team.”

Over all, the final decision is in your hands. The more games you play, the better information that you will have to base your in-game decisions on.

Good luck and good gaming!

[Elginb]

I'm not newbie, but if I was, I'd like some sort of filter for these strategies-- something that would tell me which strategies were generally regarded as effective and which ones were regarded as questionable or risky.

If there was some good way to take a community strategy poll, and then you rank the strategies based on which ones receive the best response. Or maybe each strategy thread could have a poll at the beginning that would let people say how effective they thought that strategy was. Then the results could be listed in the index (something like "85% found this strategy useful" or "This strategy has an 8.5 community rating").

I don't know how feasible it would be to do it this late in the game, but it would be nice to have some way of seperating the wheat from the chaff.

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by Elginb

I'm not newbie, but if I was, I'd like some sort of filter for these strategies-- something that would tell me which strategies were generally regarded as effective and which ones were regarded as questionable or risky.

If there was some good way to take a community strategy poll, and then you rank the strategies based on which ones receive the best response. Or maybe each strategy thread could have a poll at the beginning that would let people say how effective they thought that strategy was. Then the results could be listed in the index (something like "85% found this strategy useful" or "This strategy has an 8.5 community rating").

I don't know how feasible it would be to do it this late in the game, but it would be nice to have some way of seperating the wheat from the chaff.

I agree that this is at least a nice pipe dream. If it is feasible and someone can figure out how to do it, great. Maybe the individual threads could have a poll added, especially the ones that have been there for a while and have received many comments.

[Tai-Pan]

Well, all of the links in this index are at least decent strategies. I mean, they may not win you any tournaments, but they should do alright and they're all functional. If anyone thinks that a strategy is not up to standards with everything else, they can pm me and I'll run it by a couple others and see what they think, then it will be kept or removed.

ALSO, I appreciate the enthusiasm of people trying to add new stuff for the Strategic Maneuvers, but they need to be well planned, properly checked for spelling, specific in how it is done, and have general use. Please pm me with new ideas and I'll decide if it can go in the index. Thank you.

Tai-Pan

[Jexik]

Originally Posted by rdhight

I don't understand why any of these need their own threads and index. A special post noting that Theracus with Venoc Warlord and Acolarh can fly 11 spaces on the first turn? Yeah, thanks for that. Might come in handy for those who refuse to read the books. The dreaded Deathwalker 9000 and Valguard friendly fire attack? Hope it works out for you, but it doesn't need to get stickied. A few of these are well thought-out, but I see no reason why the writers shouldn't just post their ideas in the books.

For what it's worth, I think the strategy articles that deserve to get permanently indexed are the ones like this:

http://www.heroscapers.com/community...ad.php?t=12071

It's independent of any one unit, so it can't belong in the books. And it concentrates on helping you play your own way, only better, instead of giving you a recipe for how someone else plays theirs. Finally, it's backed by tournament results, not theory.

While I appreciate the positive mention, I'm just as much of a theoryscaper as anyone else. I've played maybe 10 different people, and have yet to go to a tournament. (I've also probably logged a good 100+ hours playing Heroscape in the last two months.)

I'm addicted. I think about it a lot. I recognized patterns in the way I (and my close friends) use units. I attached colors to my mythical unit categories, and maybe got a bit carried away.

I've played against so few people that I didn't even realize that some played without order markers. I even hinted that they didn't know what they are doing.

I've been lambasting Sgt. Drake Alexander II, even though I've played maybe 3 games with him, all of which were in the stock scenario that comes with SotM, which probably doesn't accurately depict how he performs in actual games.

When it comes to tournaments, I don't really know what I'm talking about, because like I said, I still haven't been to one. I'm a new player, when it comes to time. I just see what top players choose, and try to analyze why.

Until about 6 weeks ago, I didn't even know that Q9 could attack the same target more than once in the same turn! I had used Nilfheim first, and when I glanced at Q9's card next, I presumed they worked the same way.

But I guess as far as tournament results are concerned, I guess I did have the ability to copy and paste successful armies, and try to point out why they worked.

I think I should go catch a ride on the humility train. Sorry to those who got attacked in my thread.

Let's remember that this is a simple game, and that we're all here to have fun.

Take it easy,
J.

[rdhight]

I'll go you one better and say that not only am I a relatively new player, and not only have I not been to a tournament (and not only do I play with order markers, what a newb!), but I don't know what the value of being a "tournament player" really is.

I mean, every map I've ever made is bigger than the tournament maps I see on here. And all my games are draft-based. A lot of middle-ranked units that never seem to get praise from the "serious" tournament crowd show up in my games as counter-drafts, or because there's a castle, or for some other good reason. I don't think a 1 vs. 1, 500-point, pre-made army game on a (to me) tiny map is the highest or purest form of Heroscape.

The players who enter a lot of tournaments are probably better than I am, even at a casual table, because they have much more experience and play many more skilled opponents. But since I've never played one, I don't really know how much credit and respect to give their achievements. And I don't know whether they're good at really understanding how the game works, or just at the turn-by-turn tactical decision-making.

But since you came on these boards, Jexik, you've said plenty that I agree with and am glad to have read. It's fine with me that you don't have tournament experience, because that's not where I'm going to apply the insight I get from reading your article. To me, being a "serious" tournament player is a lot like having a high post count. I suspect that the person who made all those posts is a good source of information, but I don't really know for sure-- maybe he was just BSing in the Tavern.

So often, I read comments like, "well, he works as a counter-draft to X, but for tournaments, you need..." or "They could have some usefulness in a castle siege, but on tournament maps..." Well, guess what? I counter-draft and beseige all the time, and I don't play tournaments at all. So I hope this particular forum won't obsess about tourney environments, or make a unit's worth in a typical tournament game a bigger deal than its worth in a casual game. A particular unit may be hell on wheels in a 500-point head-to-head game on a 1-MS map, but there's more to the game-- a lot more.

[Metaknight]

I sent one in. I know you guys may be busy but I'm just telling you...

[Lupus Grex]

I Will Avenge you or IWAY for short.

This strat was developed about a year ago when I got the gladiators Crixus, Retiarius, Spartacus. In a 400 point game I decided it would be cool to field these three. The resultes were meh. As I didnt play them right, 3 chars got crushed (Mind you, Jotun was in said game vs me :)

Anyway, I'll use the above three figures as examples.

What you would need to do is figure out which one of your opponents figures needs to die. You would place order tokens 1 on Crixus to charge him out and paint a giant bull's eye on him. order token 3 & X goes on Retiarius, and the 2 on sparticus. Alot depends on the size of the map as well. We'll just use a small one for this example other wise this post will turn into a novel.

After this turn is over, hopefully you've found a hiding place for Ret, and Crixus at worst is down 3 wounds you would place order marker 1 & 2 on Retiarius and 3 on Sparticus, and the X on Crixus. Since both you and your oppoenents moved forward Ret should be with in range of what ever needs to be killed. If Crixus dies in the 2nd turn, then Retiarius and Sparticus will have to avenge him, hence the Iway strat.

Incase I rambled to much, the basics of the startagy is, everyone has at least 1 unit made for droping opponents figures like a bad date. Most players will have a way of dealing with said figure, so a bit of bait, maybe a sacrafice or two topped with some vengance and everything should work out :)