I originally posted this on the Second Sphere forum. Since I put a lot of work into this I wanted to carry it over here.
As someone who plays some very quick games and some very long ones, I wanted to share some things I’ve learned during my years of playing that help speed up a game. Newer players will most likely find this more useful than the vets out there but hopefully there’s something in here for the vets too.
General Gameplay
* You should be formulating your strategy as the game unfolds. As your opponent is making his moves you should be considering your response. As you’re losing models from shooting and assault you should be considering your upcoming turn. Naturally the outcome of your opponent’s turn impacts yours but if you’re working it out as his/her turn progresses then you have less to consider once you’re up. Do not wait until it’s your movement before you start figuring out what you want to do. If you’re pondering during your turn and spending time debating with yourself what to do with each and every unit then the game will drag on and on and make it far less fun for both of you.
* When dealing with templates and how many are hit you should always either call all the hits under your own templates, or if you’re inclined let your opponent call all the hits under your templates. Don’t both sit there and look at it because without fail you’ll both view it differently and it can lead to arguing over 1-2 hits. For the sake of speed and arguement agree on one method and stick to it. (Suggested by: enderwiggin)
Rules & Codices
* Leave the rule checking for when it’s your opponent’s turn or after the game unless it’s critical and/or game altering. You should know the game rules and your codex well enough to not have to stop every turn and every phase to reference something. If your question isn’t going to alter the outcome of the game then just go with what you think it is and look it up later. When in doubt it’s best to err on the side of your opponent and not in your favor. If you both disagree on it then roll it off.
If you’re new to 40k and learning the rules then spend the most time learning things that directly pertain to your army. If you’re using Tau then make a point to get down the shooting rules and procedures while spending less time on assault rules (generalizing here). Tau also don’t have walkers, bikes and artillery (to name a few), so don’t worry about memorizing that stuff at first. You will want to know it eventually but first get down the items you are using then move on to the things you’ll be facing.
* If you’re new to the game or trying out an unfamiliar army list or unit, get a sheet of notebook paper and write out the stats and a brief line or two of any special rules and weapon stats that you haven’t memorized. Every player I’ve known who uses Army Builder extensively relies on those reference sheets way too much. It’s a nice program for training wheels, but when you rely on those training wheels for too long and all the time, you can’t ever get up to speed.
When you write it down and read it over to yourself, you can negate the trouble of trying to memorize everything word-for-word, the fluff around the rules, and soon, the stats. By writing them down, you increase your ability to memorize them threefold.
For example: the Ethereal with Honor Guard. You write down the Ethereal’s statline, and write out, “Honor Guard = Fws with BS:4″. Then, “Tau units in LOS re-roll Morale checks, even failed. Unit he joins Fearless. If he dies, every Tau unit on board takes Morale start next Tau turn or Fall Back. Not in combat or unit Falling Back. Take test, get Preferred Enemy.” — This example sums up 3 lengthy and wordy paragraphs filled with fluff explaining into 5 short sentences.
It’s simple, easy to read for reference in a way you know (they are your notes), and reduces the gobs of paragraphs and explanations you must skim through if you’re referencing the rule directly. Just be sure your notes get it right. (Suggested by: Colonel Marksman)
* Memorize the ‘To Hit’, ‘To Wound’ and ‘Vehicle Damage’ charts.
- In shooting to hit is always: 7 – ballistic skill, IE: 7 – BS4 = 3 to hit
- Wounding works as follows whether it’s shooting or assault. If the strength is equal to toughness then it’s always a 4 to wound. From there you scale up or down. If the strength is 1 higher than toughness then you need a 3 to wound, 2 higher would mean you need a 2 and a 1 always fails to wound regardless. So, with higher strength it’s naturally easier to wound so you scale in your favor using 4 as the base value.
The other way, if your strength is 1 lower than the toughness then you need 5 to wound, 2 or 3 lower means you need a 6 to wound. You can never wound anything that has a toughness more than 3 higher than your strength. So, a S4 attack can’t wound T8. Likewise, a S5 attack can’t wound T9. So, lower strength makes it harder to wound, again we use 4 as a base value.
If this makes it easier to remember, think of it like this, here’s two examples:
4 + (T3 – S5) = 2
4 + (T6 – S5) = 5
- To hit in assault seems trickier at first but it really isn’t. Any weapon skill less than your own means you need a 3 to hit and you can never do better than a 3 to hit. Any weapon skill equal to yours and up to a maximum of twice your weapon skill means you need a 4 to hit. Any weapon skill more than double yours means you need a 5 and you can never do worse than a 5.
- Vehicle damage chart is easy to memorize, there are only 6 results. Once you have the results memorized then work on remembering the modifiers, IE: glancing, open topped, etc.
* I find when it comes to remembering your army’s unit stats that it’s easier to find a common denominator. Orks for example, an Ork Boy stats are a good baseline to remembering other unit stats. Once you know a Boyz stats it’s easy to remember a Nob is +1 strength, +1 attack and +1 wound more than a Boy. Also, Boy stats are used for other units like Tankbustas, Stormboyz, Kommandos, anything that’s a ‘normal’ Ork. The same hold true of other armies like Space Marines. Also, take the time to learn the army you’re facing; use this same method to make it easier.
Weapons can be a bit trickier depending on your army but it’s still well worth the time to memorize them.
Deployment & Movement
* Don’t place your models (or any large amount of debris) on the table before you start the game. I don’t know why players do this. They show me everything they have, and then after they get it all out, they have to move it somewhere else. If you have the room to put them somewhere else, then use this room.
I’ve seen this waste as much as 20 minutes time, and half an hour once when two players did it. I’ve also seen players attempt to save time by leaving their models there and telling their opponents to ignore it, and then there’s sometimes confusion about models and then the issue of moving said models if anything happens in that area. (Suggested by: Colonel Marksman)
* When you deploy a unit, give a brief description about the unit and explain some of the special rules. This lets your opponent to get any question aside BEFORE something gets messy. You save time by talking about what you’re setting up rather than deploying silently and then getting frustrated that you’re stopping the game to look something up after you explained a rule because your opponent is calling you a cheater or wants to see this for himself. It also allows the rules to sink in easier for the opponent rather than have it hit him in surprise later. If he wants to see something, you can say, “sure”, hand him the Codex, and continue your deployment. (Suggested by: Colonel Marksman)
* Measuring unit movement can take forever if you have an infantry heavy army, at least if you’re measuring each single model in that unit. It’s far faster to measure one model and then move the rest if you’re keeping the same formation. I’ll measure again for models that may need to circle around something or shift position, but for everything else that’s staying in formation there’s no need to keep measuring. You may not be 100% accurate but you’ll be close enough as long as you measured accurately for the first model you moved.
Dice Rolling
* Just pour out all of your dice before the game begins. Once the dice are out, keep them out. When you have the spare time, sort the dice in groups of 5s or 10s for easy grabbings (and if you have multi-colored dice, sort them and keep them sorted). I have seen a surprising number of players put their dice up and then fumble to get them out of their containers for use later, and then sort them out before counting them up. (Suggested by: Colonel Marksman)
* Roll all your dice for a unit at once. If you have a unit with different weapons, stats, saves, etc. then color code your dice. Try and keep your color coding consistent to make it easier, IE: always roll blue dice for plasma weapons or red for power weapons.
If you have saves like Feel No Pain that can be made then make those saves as you fail your normal saves. It’s far easier to just roll those dice as you fail them then to track them and do it later.
You can overdue color coding though. If you have a complex unit, lots of uniquely equipped models, then I find it’s easier to forgo color coding and just roll each model one at a time. Trying to remember what each of your 6 different colored dice mean tends to be confusing to you and your opponent. If you have a system for it and it works for you then by all means use it, just make it clear to your opponent.
* If you can, setup the dice you need to roll ahead of time. If your opponent just won assault and is making his consolidation move(s) then go ahead and get your shooting dice setup for your turn. Or if your opponent and collecting his dice to make his assault attacks and you have another assault to deal with after then get your dice ready for it. I’m making the assumption that you can trust the person you’re facing and they aren’t going to sneak dice into their roll.
Don’t be readying your dice though once the rolls start, stay focused on what’s going on. Distraction adds time to the game and also can cost you in terms of the game.
* When you are rolling for wounds, always pick out the least amount of dice for the roll. For example: If you need to roll a 3+ with re-rolls, don’t try and grab all the 4s, 5s, and 6s to set them aside. Grab the 1s and 2s. Alternate example: When you roll a large number of 1s and 2s, pick up the 4s, 5s, and 6s. You can practice recognizing majority rolls by test-rolling hits and wounds when your trying out some new weapons or combinations against certain enemies to get a good idea of what it’s like in the rolls and not just on paper. (Suggested by: Colonel Marksman)
NOTE: Colonel Marksman is suggesting for the sake of speed that you remove the least amount of dice from the rolls. If you’re playing with friends this is probably fine. However, if you’re playing in a tournament or against someone you don’t know then the more standard procedure is to pick up your fails. This way if you make a mistake and pick up the wrong dice then you are only harming yourself.
* If your opponent is rolling dice, and you are fixing to roll to compensate (armor saves being the most common), start putting dice in your hands, counting them or sorting them quietly as you pick them up so your opponent can continue doing his calculations of results while you’re preparing for them.
This is useful when you have a unit toss 40 hits and gets lucky with 29+ hits. Instead of waiting on your opponent and watching him like a hawk, get some dice ready, even sort a few out if you know who you’re allocating the first wounds to anyway. If you find out you don’t need them, no harm is done. It’s easier to subtract 3 dice from your group than to try and pick out 21 dice after the roll is made. (Suggested by: Colonel Marksman)
* My cousin came up with this one. If you are hitting differently, but wounding the same (e.g. Exarch and his Aspect Warriors) at the same time, roll everyone’s to-hit rolls first, keeping the dice in a “row”. When you’re done, scoop up all the dice and roll the wounding together. This can also be useful for different weapon systems on a tank. (Suggested by: Colonel Marksman)
If you make a point to do these things then you’ll be very surprised how much faster your games go, seriously. All those little things that only took an extra minute add up a lot more than you realize. I can play at the local shop against someone who utilizes the above mentioned stuff and we can play a 2,000 game in 2 hours. I’ve played 1,500 games in an hour. We’re not playing speed 40k either, we just know the rules, our own rules, usually enough of the army we’re facing and make a point to use the procedures mentioned. On the other side, when I play someone who is constantly checking game rules, his rules, measuring every model, using bad dice rolling procedures, then I’ve seen a 2,000 game take upwards of 4-6 hours and at that point the game loses a lot of fun.
Remember, the more efficient you can make your games the more you can play. Not only more games in a day, if you’re fortunate enough to be able to do so, but if a game takes less time out of your day then you can more easily find the time to play them; you don’t have to set aside a 6 hour slot to play.
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