Getting Great at FoW - Part 2

Mastering FoW - hi everyone, I thought I would display my arrogance finally and talk about being 'great' at FoW. Am I 'great'? No, am I better than I was this time last year definitely - and over the course of the tournaments and games I've played I've developed a few insights into getting really good at this game. The areas I think you need to master are 'lists' , 'rules' and 'Implementation'. So here's another trio of articles exploring these.

Lists

It is important to realise that there are better lists than others, but bringing a good 'net' list  will not mean you auto win. 

Take for instance the famous 'Steve Willcox' 7th armoured list. I could not just take this list and use it - firstly you need to use it a certain way (I believe in a post Bill talked about being 'chipmunk aggressive with it' - that's not my style, nor do I know instantly know how the interactions of the list work. 

I said it before in my articles on 'improving at FoW' you have to practice a list, but I would also say now, you need to build a list you are comfortable using. This has been made apparent to me in two cases, the first is watching Ben try and use tanks - it doesn't suit him, he's far more of an infantry player the more I watch him play, secondly my own attempts trying to figure out the SS Westfalen list, I spent most of my first half dozen games trying out combinations of units, refining my thoughts, trying out another iteration, gradually getting closer to what I enjoyed and what I feel was successful. I doubt I could just give the list to Winner and expect him to do as well. The balance of the list may be different for him, the utilisation of the units, tactics, etc. All of these are variables you have to consider.

Also realistically you have to know when you're list is going to struggle or when it will wipe the floor - and what your options are then. This is real tournament thinking in my head. Taking the 'BA 1 day' as an example. I knew going into my 1st game that my elite infantry attacking the Jagtiger list was a potential 7-0 and I had to play the game spot on to get all those points on offer, conversely I knew I'd struggle to hold off the vast US nisei platoons in my last game, and thus I played for the 4-3 loss. I however screwed up a bit by taking enough casualties to lose a point for a broken company. This is another tip - if you are going to lose, work out how to lose well. Don't slow play or any of that crap as some people talk about, just work out how to claw as many points as possible based on the scoring, and as mentioned if you are going to win, win by getting all the points - read the tournament scoring! 

So what is my take home message (other than bring your reading glasses) - practice, refine, practice refine. I found this easier when I had one army, now it's trickier when I have so many options I want to play with. But you need to enjoy that army, and it's style - otherwise when you've lost two games on the bounce and you're hating your models you'll have already lost the tournament.