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Tips in order..

1)Make sure you are playing a 'war game' with actual tactical choices that are meaning full.(Eg 'luck and list' are not the primary deciding factors over player skill.)

2)Stick to 1 or 2 war games, and learn the rules.

3) Make sure the lists you play reflect your play style.(Proxy till you find how you like to play..)

4)When you have found your play style and the list you like playing.Stick with it and learn to play to your strengths and negate your weaknesses.

5)After game chats are a great way to learn about other players and their play styles and lists.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
End of the game, make time for a post-battle chat with your opponent.

You'll pick up good tips from that - unless of course your opponent is TFG. As 99.99999% of gamers aren't though, totes worth your time.

You may discover that at certain moments, you gave him Squeaky Bum Time - and with a little luck they'll give you food for thought on how to capitalise on such situations.

Why does this work? Only TFG is concerned solely with winning by the biggest possible margin in the shortest time possible time. The rest of us like to win, but enjoy a challenging opponent just as much - and if some post-battle coaching helps that, so much the better

This. Straight up asking better players (or more experienced with your army) for tips is good too.
It turns out (*gasp*) that "some" people want to share their hobby with people and helping people play better makes it a better experience for everyone.

 DarkBlack wrote:
This. Straight up asking better players (or more experienced with your army) for tips is good too.
It turns out (*gasp*) that "some" people want to share their hobby with people and helping people play better makes it a better experience for everyone.

I have always thought you could take the measure of a man by his sports manners
- that is to say, the way in which he conducts himself on the playing field, or even over a game of chess or cards.

Graydon Carter

It is another means of social interaction, ignore manners at your peril.
I feel investing in others to make them improve and possibly even surpass yourself is not a bad thing in gaming terms, promotion within a department however...

Acquire a good sense of space.

I tend to win a lot even playing weaker armies. I chalk it up to being pretty good at designing a strategy and a good spacial awareness on the table.

Understanding the distances things can shoot and move allows you to think 1 or 2 turns ahead. You start playing chess at this point. Moving your guys to maximize their effectiveness while minimizing your enemies. Baiting your enemy into attacking some units while making key moves with other units.

The nuance of this will obviously change game to game but that strong spacial awareness means everything on the table.

My list building is based around a good TAC strategy but my tactics on the table is probably what pulls me through more than anything.

You need this book.

1. Understand the rules.
2. Have a plan.

That alone will put you ahead of many players.

Alas, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Which is why you make multiple plans and remake them as the game unfolds.

One thing that I think doesn't get said enough is play your opponent, not his toy soldiers. Try to pick up on his play style early on. Is he aggressive? You may be able to throw bait units at him. Is he timid? Aggressive play may throw him off.

Sun Tzu paraphrasing.....

Watch what your opponent does, and then do the opposite.

I.e. if he attacks, you flit away. If he stays put, you move. If he goes right, you go left. If he is strong in the center be weak in the center.

Keep in mind, I lose all the time so....

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Alas, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Absolutely. But starting without a plan is just setting yourself up to fail.

 Scott-S6 wrote:

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Alas, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Absolutely. But starting without a plan is just setting yourself up to fail.

Or the more cliche way to say it is, "Failing to plan is planning to fail."

Lessons I've learned:

Have a plan prior to deployment. Once both armies are deployed, the options and choices become much more limited. You may not know where your opponent will deploy, but try to guess what they will do given their army, deployment zone, mission, etc. then leave yourself flexibility. I like to put my slow units in the center and fast units on the flanks (it's worked in warfare for thousands of years). This way, if your opponent deploys in a refused flank with all their forces on one side of the table, you won't have units left out of the action on the opposite side of the field. The slow units in the center will be able to contribute to the action no matter where the fighting happens and the mobile units on the flanks will be able to get across the length of the table quick enough to support.

Sever all emotional attachment to your troops. After lovingly converting and painting that special unit/vehicle/character, it may be tough to sacrifice it and you may subconsciously play too defensively, especially with "relatable" units like humans. It is much easier for some of us to keep the big picture in mind and play purely tactically when using non-human aliens like Orks or Tyranids. Sometimes you gave to throw your favorite unit to the wolves in order to accomplish the objectives.
"There comes a time when every commander must consider his warriors not as men but as materiel, and when it comes, it is his duty to spend those lives to the greatest possible effect. Each of us know and accept this fact, whatever our rank or station." - Strike Marshall Halkus Fin, Legiones Astrates Raven Guard

Stay focused on the victory conditions, not just destroying the enemy.

Dictate the flow. Exert your will. If you don't have a plan, you will be left reacting to your opponent. Try to force them to play on your terms by controlling the pace of the game. For example, do you want to engage head on or skirmish/kite?

The biggest one for me: Don't allow your units to get spread out and destroyed piecemeal. Make sure they are in a position to support each other. If you are only presenting one serious threat at a time, your opponent will pick it off one at a time. Even if a given unit can charge a juicy target, if it is going in alone and will be unsupported against multiple enemy units, it may be better to hold back in cover another turn until you can move forward with multiple units at once. This one starts with deployment, but doesn't end there. Concentrate your fire. Don't take two hull points off three different tanks. Destroying one completely is usually better as it reduces the enemy's ability to counterattack.

And when in doubt, just have fun and do something aggressive. Personally, I would rather go out swinging than lose because I played too cautiously. It makes the games more fun for everyone, win or lose, when both players advance and get stuck in. But then again, I'm an Ork player!

Goid luck!