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Hey there tactics crowd!

So I was wondering, what do YOU think is more important for both new players and veteran players:

1) Playing many games with the basic units of your faction and becoming more tactically familiar with them.

2) Getting lots of new gear/toys/power units to play with in the hopes of gaining advantage.

I would like this to be a "general" thing, but specific armies and examples are also nice :-)

Neither. The basics of an army, Tactical Squads, Gaunts, Eldar Guardians and Fire Warriors don't win matches. You can be as familiar with them as you like but you're still playing on the back foot compared to most players. Don't get me wrong, it's important to know how to use these models, but they aren't all important.

Getting new gear and toys isn't the answer either. I don't care how many S10 pie plates I throw, and building my new army I have a lot of those at my disposal, if I don't use my other elements just as well then I'm going to lose.

No, the most important thing is learning how units work together and amplify their strengths. How using Cultists as area denial but Plague Marines as Objective denial, or Guardians as a 'pile out, shoot, pile back in' while Windriders actually stay there and keep shooting, or Gaunts used as screening units for three Carnifex. Without synergy nothing works. look at the top two lists from LVO. Weak units working together to be so much more than they could have been.

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
Neither. The basics of an army, Tactical Squads, Gaunts, Eldar Guardians and Fire Warriors don't win matches. You can be as familiar with them as you like but you're still playing on the back foot compared to most players. Don't get me wrong, it's important to know how to use these models, but they aren't all important.

Getting new gear and toys isn't the answer either. I don't care how many S10 pie plates I throw, and building my new army I have a lot of those at my disposal, if I don't use my other elements just as well then I'm going to lose.

No, the most important thing is learning how units work together and amplify their strengths. How using Cultists as area denial but Plague Marines as Objective denial, or Guardians as a 'pile out, shoot, pile back in' while Windriders actually stay there and keep shooting, or Gaunts used as screening units for three Carnifex. Without synergy nothing works. look at the top two lists from LVO. Weak units working together to be so much more than they could have been.

This. It's best overall to first learn the fundamentals, shooting phase, psychic phase, etc., and then understand what units are best at.

Side note, Lictors yes, but 3 Hive Tyrants, 3 Mawlocs, and a Bastion are hardly weak units.

I remember an old line which stated that good players build lists with the intent and means to take on many unforseeable foes. Bad players build lists hoping that it cannot be handled by other foes.

Once both armies are organized in a reasonably coherent manner with proper duality and redundancy distributed evenly throughout, the advantages of lists diminish and player skill tends to shift the battle more.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle"

- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

 jreilly89 wrote:

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
Neither. The basics of an army, Tactical Squads, Gaunts, Eldar Guardians and Fire Warriors don't win matches. You can be as familiar with them as you like but you're still playing on the back foot compared to most players. Don't get me wrong, it's important to know how to use these models, but they aren't all important.

Getting new gear and toys isn't the answer either. I don't care how many S10 pie plates I throw, and building my new army I have a lot of those at my disposal, if I don't use my other elements just as well then I'm going to lose.

No, the most important thing is learning how units work together and amplify their strengths. How using Cultists as area denial but Plague Marines as Objective denial, or Guardians as a 'pile out, shoot, pile back in' while Windriders actually stay there and keep shooting, or Gaunts used as screening units for three Carnifex. Without synergy nothing works. look at the top two lists from LVO. Weak units working together to be so much more than they could have been.

This. It's best overall to first learn the fundamentals, shooting phase, psychic phase, etc., and then understand what units are best at.

Side note, Lictors yes, but 3 Hive Tyrants, 3 Mawlocs, and a Bastion are hardly weak units.

I would combine what those two are saying, it has to do with how your units works together and interact with these phases. Sort of how a cadre fireblade, firewarriors, pathfinders an ethereal, and a devilfish can work together, and how they relate. I.E. Etheral can call move shoot move, after pathfinders mark something, and ensure the firewarriors hit. They all stay in formation to provide support in case of an assault. Together they are better together and how they need to be used in each phase. I may understand firewarriors, but they are alone a mediocre unit on their own, with others they become much better.

Know your forces. I find it best to combine both.

'Power' units are usually considered such from a very one-dimensional perspective of statistical killiness/durability/mobility. It doesn't take into account such things like area denial, board controle and supportive synergy.

From my experience, troops are very important and they do win games. But not in the way of raw bloodshed.