Test Games...

Hey guys its been FOREVER since Ive been on this blog because of school, chores, projects, etc. But now Im back again with some more ideas for y'all to ponder about when you're working up a fun/competitive net list, or a fun/fluffy list (*cough *cough...ahem Lord Alchemy, you might like this article, so read on). Say you're like me and don't have much time to play games at your local gaming club, or just visiting your flgs on the weekends for months at a time. Then when you do you have time for a game it has to be short and you may not have any ideas for tactics, deployment, etc while your opponent has probably got an edge against you because he/she has plenty of practice with their army and you haven't. Well, I have some ideas that I have to share that will help shed some light on the disadvantage of knowing less about your army due to lack of time to play.

Sorry this picture of the table is blurry but here was a side view of the table me and Sean, a regular gamer, played on. I was pretty much confused with what to do because I didnt play for weeks and the terrain hindered my fire lanes (there was a built in temple on the table that blocked LOS for my Preds and ruined my deployment in the end.
So based on my observation, I realized from this picture that terrain placement can hinder my army if it blocks my fire lanes. I'll make a note of that below so you all can follow me as I list things to think about BEFORE I play a game.
1. Terrain placment can cripple my fire lanes if Im not careful.
Next time I need to reconsider how much terrain me and Sean really need. This concept of what I call a Test Game is really helpful for players like me who are new and have new lists. The objective is neither winning or losing. Its more about observation so playing a Test Game is beneficial in a limited amount of time.  Taking pictures of everything is key here so afterwards you can look back on them and make one or more observations or even inferences. So you can ask yourself questions like "What could I have done better in this situation?" "What if I had done this differently?" "Was my Target Priority well thought out?" etc. Try to come up with scenarios and develop questions as you make your analysis. Me and Sean never finished our game but we still had fun and I gained from my experience back then. So that leaves me with several scenarios I can come up with on how the game would've turned out in the end. I won't go over everything that happened but I will still continue to list mistakes.

This is the blasted temple that was in my way. The area with the green blast template is where my pitched battle deployment was located. Notice how my army faces the opposite direction. I couldn't get many shots because there was a building that also blocked LOS to the left, leaving a parallel fire lane that I could pump all my shots through.
2. Be careful with tables that have built in terrain and think about how it could help or hinder my movement, and shooting.
Not only were my shots limited but my movement was also. I didn't want to roll my rhinos, preds, or troops through that molten temple because I knew it could immobilize my stuff, or cause my troops to march through slowly and get shot up and then assaulted in a heartbeat.

Here I  have deployed two Predators to shoot at whatever tries to cross my lines and to stay away from missile devs. Heres what I shouldve done.
1. Deploy the Preds in range of the enemy objective. If I did that I couldve destroyed the single tac squad squatting on the objective. That meant, Sean would have to focus more troops on the objective. I focused too much on protecting them from missile shots and couldve used them as a distraction so those missiles dont have to hit the rhinos, marines, and dreads advancing towards the objective.
Jeez, a picture does mean a thousand words! Alright to cut this article short, Ill end it right here since I want to finish other things for now. However I may continue this some other time. But for now yall can get the basic idea of using a test game to come up with scenarios, new deployments, tactics, army construction, etc.