Learning

I've found that while winning is important to me, it's not the most important thing.  Learning from a game is more important, and it's actually easier to learn from a loss than from a win.  (If I win, I tend to get complacent.  "Since what I'm doing already works, why work to make it better?") There are several ways to learn from 40k games, which I’ll go into below.

What went wrong?Think back over the game and try to determine if there were any mistakes that you made that might have cost you the game. Whether that was forgetting to move a unit that might have been able to claim a quarter or making an unsupported charge that cost you a good assault unit, or something else entirely, looking back for mistakes can help you prevent them in the future. If, for example, you had a key assault unit charge the enemy and they got tied up or wiped out, could you have done anything to avoid that?Would some more firepower have softened up the enemy unit, making it an easy kill for yours? Would adding another unit to the combat, even if they weren’t assault specialists, have tipped the balance in your favor? If so, were there any units that were close enough to do that, or could you have gotten one there if you’d delayed the assault until the next turn? Look back at the game and try to figure out what you could have done better. Hindsight is 20/20, meaning you can look back and understand things that occurred better than you understood them at the time. Take advantage of the perspective and analyze your performance.

What went right? While you are thinking back over the game, try to find any things that you did that worked particularly well. Whether it was a particular combination of units that you had working together, or a well-placed assault that broke up the enemy, what did you do and how can you do it again? Effective combinations of units are one of the keys to 40k, and finding a good combination and how to use it is very helpful. With both this and with what went wrong, remember to account for the luck of the dice. If your Ratling Snipers won the assault against a bunch of Khorne Berzerkers because you rolled a lot of sixes and your opponent rolled a lot of ones, that’s not likely to be a repeat performance. On the other hand, if they won because you threw a lot of firepower into the Berzerkers beforehand and teamed up with 2 or 3 units against them, it might work again.

What was missing? Were there any units that you could have taken in the game that might have made a difference? Would more antitank weaponry have helped? What about a dedicated assault unit or maybe just more bodies on the field? Try to figure out what would have helped you and what you would have to replace to field that item. For example, if you decide that more antitank weaponry would have done it for you, how would you get that weaponry? Would you replace some anti-infantry heavy weapons with antitank weapons, or would you get a dedicated antitank unit or vehicle to do the tank-killing for you? If you are bringing in an entire unit, you’ll have to get rid of more in your armylist to make room for it. Make sure that the unit you are replacing won’t leave you weak somewhere else. If you remove some anti-infantry firepower to make room for anti-tank weapons, make sure that you don’t need it, either because you don’t need the anti-infantry firepower, or because you’ve got it covered by something else, such as some close combat units.

Were there any surprises? Did your opponent bring any units or do anything that you didn’t expect? Generally, the surprise of a new unit is not a huge deal, since it is only new once, but if it brings with it a different fighting style or requires you to prepare for it differently than the rest of the army, it can be a rough change as you get used to the new tactics required. Alternately, did your opponent change their fighting style, possibly catching you off guard? Look at the new situation and try to find ways around it, whether by bringing a different unit or changing your tactics to counter the threat.

Do your homework. Remember, the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. Even before the most recent game, think about other games you’ve played against a particular opponent. Try to remember certain units or combinations of units that worked well against you and consider different ways of dealing with them. Then try to figure out how to counter each of the various threats, preferably using the same armylist. If you can use one type of unit to counter several of the threats, that is a very versatile unit and it should be included in your armylist as often as possible. On the other hand, if that unit is really only useful against one particular threat, it’s probably not a good buy and you should try to find other units that can still counter the threat, but that are otherwise useful too. Learning from 40k isn’t hard, but sometimes it takes a while to find the right solution to the problem at hand. Just keep making those steps and you’ll get better each time, until you eventually find what you are looking for. The important thing, however, is to keep learning, as it is the only way to get better.