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I often see people spending their command points gradually over the whole game but I don't believe this is the best way to use them.
I have normally spent about half of my command points by the end of my first turn. Then half of what is left is gone by the end of turn 2. Turn 3 tends to eat up all but 1 of my CP which I save for a crucial reroll.
The way I see it if you spend points early you kill more enemies and don't die as much as a result, and this compounds over the entire game. Using them early means you are using them on bigger squads too so each CP affects more models than they otherwise would.
I also see the people who spend them more slowly have unspent points left at the end which is just a waste.
So how quickly does everyone else spend their command points?

Considering most games don't go past Battle Round 3 anymore, I can't exactly disagree with your position here.

I find guidelines for how many CP to use early on aren't tremendously helpful given that the impact of a given stratagem isn't necessarily uniform; if I use one of the Deathwatch to-wound bonus stratagems on turn one when all I've got is a few Stalker bolt shots it isn't going to have the same impact as after a four-frag-cannon unit has popped out of a Blackstar on turn three and is hosing something scary down with shrapnel.

It is better to use CP than to spend them, but it's also better to use CP on things that matter than things that don't, and when using CP matters depends on your army, your stratagems, your opponents, the game state...

Depends on the army, and what I'm facing. Often I'm out of CP by turn 4, but my most common uses:

1) rerolls on critical saves/attacks/damage
2) "all use" strats, I will ALWAYS save 1 CP to blow up a PBC with my Death Guard because it has proven to be pivotal often to finish off softened characters or vehicles.
3) If I'm playing my Knights, Path of Destruction usually twice on my knight (T1/T2 if it lives) and rotate ion shields
4) If playing 1k Sons, I use only rerolls
5) If playing CSM, Demonforge, VOTLW, the bring back cultists one
6) Demons I use CP heavily early on, Warp Surge, the reroll 1's for DR, and various banner strats
7) I almost always spend CP for extra relics - many codices have multiple good relics based on army comp

The majority of my games go to turn 5-7 and more often then not I am out of CP turn 4-5 depending on how much I had at the start.

With my imperial guard I mostly use them on "New orders" as there is not much else to use it on.
With my Space marines "Only in death does duty end", "honour the chapter" and "abhor the witch" make sure that I do not spend much the first 2 turns.

Rerolls for d6 damage.

Orks: Tellyporta (2 CP), Skarboyz (1 CP), Grot Shield (1 CP), Get Stuck in, Ladz! (3 CP), More Gitz (1 CP), Showing Off (2 CP), Wreckers (2 CP) mostly. Sometimes Mob Up (1 CP), Ramming Speed (2 CP), More Dakka (2 CP), Extra Stikkbombs (1 CP) and generic re-roll.

Drukhari: mostly Alliance of Agony (1 CP), Torment Granades (1 CP), Agents of Vect (when it was 3 CPs, now too expensive), Flashcraft (1 CP), Prizes from the Dark City (1 CP) and generic re-roll, tipycally on the D6 damage. Sometimes The Torturer’s Craft (2 CP), No Method of Death Beyond Our Grasp (3 CP), Webway Portal (1 CP), Screaming Jets (1 CP) and Lightning-Fast Reactions (2 CP).

Space Wolves: mostly Cunning of the Wolf (1 CP), Honour the Chapter (3 CP), Overwhelming Impetuosity (1 CP), Tokens of Fenris (1CP), Keen Senses (1 CP), The Wolf's Eye (1 CP) and generic re-roll on D6 damage, usually Lascannons. Sometimes Hellfire Shells (1 CP) and Flakk Missile (1 CP).

Denizens of the Warp, mostly.

Martel732 wrote:
Rerolls for d6 damage.

D6 damage is just so bad for the premium points you pay for it, and then spending command points on top of that?

For my world eaters, fury of khorne and VotLW.
For khorne daemons, I spend most if not all pregame on relics/deep strike

Straight_Memer wrote:

Martel732 wrote:
Rerolls for d6 damage.

D6 damage is just so bad for the premium points you pay for it, and then spending command points on top of that?

I'm with Martel on this one. I've lost count the amount of times I've rolled a lascannon damage roll from a "1" to a "6" . Especially when playing against Eldar of all varieties, when you finally do get past those -1/-2 to hits, you want whatever damage you can get to go through.

I'm usually out of CP's by the end of turn 2 and will bank a CP for that reroll save later in the game to save a warlord or something.

As others mentioned, no point in holding onto them for the whole game. You'll get the most impact early in the game whilst you still have a majority of your army on the table. Besides, 8th rewards offense more so than defense - if you cripple the enemy early on, there is less to shoot back at you.

I agree with the OP, most of my CPs are generally spent in the first two turns, mainly because that is when most of my army is still alive so that's when Strategems have the most value.

So it's mainly spent on:
Quins: Silken Knife, ishas weeping, Cegorach's Jest, reroll for Psychic powers cast (Twilight Pathways), Prismatic Blur, extra Relic, lightning reactions. Occasionally some more situational ones like Skystride, fire and fade, torments of the firey pit.
Drukhari: lightning reactions, torment launcher, eviscerating fly-by, fire and fade, insideous misdirection, and athletic arialists. (I don't play as black heart).
Harlequin strats are way better than Drukhari ones.

For Sisters it's really just Martyrdom and rerolls, CPs arent really that important for them yet.

up until recently (8th till now) I've only been using cp for command rerolls and Flamecraft the only Salamanders stratagem. last game I decided to build a 2 battalion list and had 13cp (5+5+3battle forged) and 8 tried using as many as I could & didnt really see the benefit to it. I get hit & wound reroll chapter tactic so the only rerolls I need cp for are dmg, #of shots, etc. and can only use 1 per phase. I'm just not sold on the blow as many as you can as fast as you can style. having played against deldar and all their trickery I can see the value, but SM strats suck, so it's not too pertinent to me.

It wildly depends on what I'm playing and what I'm playing against, but with my Eldar I'm using up most, if not all of my CP by the end of turn 2.

My thoughts on CP is that I may as well use them to let me win and let me keep winning, no point saving CP and not having a use for them.

In a word? Poorly.

 BaconCatBug wrote:
Considering most games don't go past Battle Round 3 anymore, I can't exactly disagree with your position here.

You're playing some pretty sad games then friend. Maybe try bringing good stuff?

ERJAK wrote:

 BaconCatBug wrote:
Considering most games don't go past Battle Round 3 anymore, I can't exactly disagree with your position here.

You're playing some pretty sad games then friend. Maybe try bringing good stuff?

I find the opposite to be true. If both players take the best of best, 8th is so deadly by turn 3 the game isn't over but both sides could probably switch over to kill team rules.

ERJAK wrote:

 BaconCatBug wrote:
Considering most games don't go past Battle Round 3 anymore, I can't exactly disagree with your position here.

You're playing some pretty sad games then friend. Maybe try bringing good stuff?

Not sure if this is trolling or you genuinely don't play many games in 8th

I drop three right off the bat with my harlequins.
Cegorach's rose (extra relic on my solitaire, normal relic is starmist raiment on my warlord)

2 for the great harlequin upgrade on my warlord troupmaster with a powersword.

Then I spend a couple to keep my transports alive first turn and save a couple to turn one troupe into a blender by letting it attack twice. (Warlord charges everything to soak up overwatch, skyweavers get stuck into whatever he can't, troupes declare attack on everything as well. 5 players hitting on 3s rerolling ones to hit, rerolling all failed wounds, with a 6" pile in and consolidate move let's them just tear up a table!)

GW is slowly steamrolling the three-round game out of the game. The cover strat and no first turn DS at all seriously hampers alpha strikes. Even marines can live a little longer now. Long range weapons with large AP are countered easily by lists like Tau an Drukhari.

Personally, I end up out of CPs around turn 3. I'd like to have some left, but my army just doesn't generate enough and really needs to use them.

Linked Fire is a given every turn, but the majority of my CPs are spend on the Command reroll each phase.
I only even use it, however on rolls that are good, but for some reason still rolled a 1 or 2. I never use it on 5+ or worse, unless I am truly desperate.
Lightning Reflexes and Fire & Fade are 2 others that I often need

-

 Elbows wrote:
In a word? Poorly.

Oh yes, it goes like- forget I have them at all, then use the strats I wanted to use on turn 1. Repeat step 1 for much of the rest of the game. Remember I have them at some random point.

Straight_Memer wrote:

Martel732 wrote:
Rerolls for d6 damage.

D6 damage is just so bad for the premium points you pay for it, and then spending command points on top of that?

Hence deffskullz are so good and no one seems to care...this whole thread: how would you like an army with 100CP?

I think they are good.

"All right, I'm gonna fire my Doomsday Ark. D6 shots"
>Rolls a 1
"I'll spend a command point to re-roll that"

Basically how I use my command points.

 NurglesR0T wrote:

ERJAK wrote:

 BaconCatBug wrote:
Considering most games don't go past Battle Round 3 anymore, I can't exactly disagree with your position here.

You're playing some pretty sad games then friend. Maybe try bringing good stuff?

Not sure if this is trolling or you genuinely don't play many games in 8th

I play lots of games of 8th. Roughly once a week.

Games with my sisters rarely go past turn 3 or 4. We're fragile, fast, hard-hitting, and short-ranged, and as a consequence we either win or lose really fast.
Games with my Imperial Guard and other armies, though, usually run to turn 5 or 6.


That said, I mostly use CP for Overlapping Fields of Fire, Grenadiers, and Take Cover.

Lol at sisters being fragile.

Martel732 wrote:
Lol at sisters being fragile.

Second the lol

I'm not sure how we are tough.

Dominions, once dismounted, will die to literally anything that looks at them. Seraphim are reasonably resilient.

And, of course, because everything is within 12" or less at the end of turn 1, most basic infantry squads can kill off the special weapons units.
And because of rule of 3, there's not a lot of redundancy in the Dominions, so once they're dead, there's not really much of an army left. You can't at least, saturate the field.


And I'm aware you're referring to BSS. Sure, you can make a big horde of BSS, but you can also make a big horde of tactical marines, and the latter will also be really tough to dislodge. But in the same way, said giant block won't achieve anything offensively in return.

 Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:
I'm not sure how we are tough.

Dominions, once dismounted, will die to literally anything that looks at them. Seraphim are reasonably resilient.

And, of course, because everything is within 12" or less at the end of turn 1, most basic infantry squads can kill off the special weapons units.
And because of rule of 3, there's not a lot of redundancy in the Dominions, so once they're dead, there's not really much of an army left.

Its because more turns than turn 1/2, you play/plan for a 4 turn game (sometimes longer sometime shorter) that is what plan for, 5/6 is standard but is decided by then usually.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:
I'm not sure how we are tough.

Dominions, once dismounted, will die to literally anything that looks at them. Seraphim are reasonably resilient.

And, of course, because everything is within 12" or less at the end of turn 1, most basic infantry squads can kill off the special weapons units.
And because of rule of 3, there's not a lot of redundancy in the Dominions, so once they're dead, there's not really much of an army left. You can't at least, saturate the field.


And I'm aware you're referring to BSS. Sure, you can make a big horde of BSS, but you can also make a big horde of tactical marines, and the latter will also be really tough to dislodge. But in the same way, said giant block won't achieve anything offensively in return.

If you only think one move ahead (one phase) how do you play? (You think that and the next and the variable abilities of them, that's what makes it fun??)