Welcome back once again everyone to another week of Mayday, Miss Marcy! in which I take your questions and come up with what I think are the best possible answers to your quandries. Sometimes I enlist my friends, but generally it is just me, myself, and I, and three is already a crowd. Last week, I did ask my pal Pendulin to talk about Admech, but this week’s questions are all Marcy, all the time!
As a reminder, if you’d like to submit questions, we now have an e-mail you can use! Please send your questions to:
Marcy@goonhammer.com
With the subject “Miss Marcy: ”
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Quick Play or Slow Boredom?
Dear Ms. Marcy,
Do you have any advice for speeding up play, to most effectively get through tournament games within the allotted time? I have been to a couple of small tournaments, and have found it difficult to complete games.
I utilize movement trays, but I don’t feel like I have time to seriously adjudicate any rules dispute, or be especially precise with my movement.
I find it difficult to replicate tournament conditions outside of a tournament for more effective practice, since there’s not really a pressing need, in a casual game, to speed things up, and I really prefer to be more laid-back, and have time for table talk.
I know that a lot comes down to practice and familiarity, but if there are any tips you can offer, I would appreciate them.
Sincerely,
Tanker In A Tizzy.
Dear Tanker,
I know they are something of a controversial topic, but have you considered using a chess clock? While your opponent may not wish to use one, in theory, you could practice using one (or some other timer) to help consider how to play ‘faster’. I don’t think you should rush yourself, obviously, and this conditioning will require practice, but with a timing device or other option, there is a very real ability to notice the things you are doing that are taking up time that you could work on, and by ironing out your routine, you could likely cut things down to make optimal (or at least timely) play in your games.
It doesn’t sound like you play sub optimally or are prone to analysis paralysis, but it does perhaps sound that you get caught up in the emotion and moment of the game and don’t focus on playing over “play”, which is to say, it sounds like you are having fun playing the game and engaging with your opponent, but you aren’t keeping track of your overall timing and thus losing out and potentially dragging things to time by accident.
If a chess clock is out of the question or budget, your smartphone or some other physical device might be very helpful. I am a big proponent of physical, distinct items that serve a purpose for practice, conditioning, or training, and thus I do recommend something that is not your phone to work with, but if that is all you’ve got, well, that’s all you’ve got! A stopwatch, timer, or similarly functioning item would do great.
If you have a consistent practice partner or someone you go to competitive events with, see if they’ll engage with using a chess clock or other timer with you. It can help you both improve, but it’s far easier to use the clock when two people are using it rather than one, as you are both more likely to be aware of it. Again, if spending money on one isn’t an option, find some other timing device; just make sure it doesn’t annoy other people with loud alarms or ringing!
Married with Gaming
Miss Marcy,
My wife is supportive of my hobbies and even enjoys painting minis together with me. She also loves board gaming both with me and our friends. I’ve tried to find a miniatures game we can both get into, but keep running into pitfalls and dealbreakers. Systems we’ve looked at so far are either too complex/nuanced, take too long to play, don’t have a setting that interests her, have a lot of downtime during an opponent’s turn, or just aren’t fun for her. Shatterpoint fit the bill, but even that’s a little tough for her to keep up with and it’s been hard to get it back on the table after our first few games.
Are there ways I can make games more fun for her without making her feel like I’m dumbing them down or patronizing her? Should I just stick to what we already do and not try to force miniature wargaming on her? Neither of us is competitive when we game and she especially loves running goofy cheese strategies. Is there a game or ruleset that might be a good fit for us?
– Married… With Hobbies
Dear Married,
Your problem is probably far more common than you think, and also, not one that is as dire or as bad as it may seem. I know that some often feel a sense of anxiety or unease when they are unable to share a passion or hobby as deeply with a partner as they can with others, and also that there is some level of frustration on your end as you find that your desire to engage with your own hobby is hamstrung by trying to make it “fit” another person who has different priorities and levels of engagement with the hobby. There’s nothing wrong with spouses being honest about their need to engage with a hobby in their own way or own space, and honestly a lot more wrong with feeling like you either can’t do your hobby or have to include another person
Based on what you’ve told me, something that sticks out to me is that perhaps you haven’t fully noticed or realized that much of this issue stems from the difference in priorities you are both bringing to the activity. You didn’t say how she acts when she plays board games, but it sounds like when she plays games with you, she isn’t exactly fiercely competitive, while you seem to imply (or sound) like you play the games a bit more competitively than she does. I think this is going to cause an issue no matter the game you choose, because it isn’t the games, but the players, that is causing the disconnect.
I do want to commend you for realizing that you don’t want to patronize her in your choice of games, although I will say there isn’t really anything inherently wrong with smoothing out or simplifying parts of games to make things easier or flow more smoothly. Since she likely doesn’t spend as much time with the hobby as you do, it sounds like she gets informational overload when you try to explain game systems and rules to her when you sit down to play, and frankly, many miniature games that are billed as “fast” or “simple” are almost anything but. Based on what you’ve said, I think Shatterpoint is your best bet, but if I could make a suggestion, see if you can track down a 2 player set of Guild Ball. The game is fairly fast, there are lots of ‘silly’ ways to play (with teams you’d have to track down or obtain), and it has somewhat easy ‘pick up and play’ rules. Otherwise, I think you may need to sit your wife down and ask her what type of game SHE wants to play and work from there; if she likes things that aren’t super competitive and fun, you may want to look at miniature/board game hybrids like Gaslands or even the Unmatched series.
Be Careful What You Say, Because it May End Up in an Advice Column
Hi Ms. Marcy!
First off, I wanted to say I’ve really appreciated your columns, they’re delightful. You’re doing great work for the community as a whole. Keep up the good work!)
On to my problem. I’m a relatively recent 40k player, and I’m obsessed with making Imperial Agents Veiled Blade Elimination force work. I know it’s a weaker detachment in an already terrible codex, but I love the lore and I love my army of little gals and guys.
With that in mind I joined an escalation league, and have yet to win a game. With the league wrapping up soon, I went in one of my last games with a pretty good attitude. Unfortunately, I had to use the restroom, and as I was returning to the table I heard my opponent griping to his friend that he had been hoping to have a competitive game, and that our game was a waste of my time because I brought a joke army.
I have two issues.
Firstly, the social one- I’m new at this game store (relatively) and there’s an established group of players, of which my opponent is a member. I’m now worried that the prevailing opinion at the club is that I’m a pest or hanger on who is wasting everyone’s time.Secondly, on the more competitive side, I’m not sure how to make my army a worthy adversary. I’m running a mix of armigers, assassins, with some terminators and arbites thrown in, and it seems like I am very much always coming up short across the board. When I ask my opponents for advice, a lot of it boils down to “invest in a better army” which is obviously true, but also unhelpful.
With my other armies, there’s lots of activity and better players who can show the way forward, but with few Agents players out there, I’m at a loss for good advice (although Goonhammers faction overview was a great start!)
Thank you so much for your time,
Amateur Assassin
Dear Amateur,
I appreciate the compliment. Also, I’m sorry to hear that your opponents are rude, because there’s really not a lot of ways to approach your question other than to call out unsportsmanlike behavior for what it is. You might say, “But Marcy, they were just complaining to someone else, that’s fair to vent your frustrations”, but the reality is that sort of behavior shouldn’t be done at the place in which the activity is actually happening. There are many, many ways that voicing criticism of other people’s play can cause interpersonal issues (such as this), and there are not a lot of fantastic ways of remedying the situation.
For example, it would not be great to suggest you find this person and go, “hey, I heard you talking about me,” because that moment has passed, and as L’esprit de l’escalier tells us, you can’t really walk back up the stairs and tell this person what for without it causing more problems.
To your two problems:
For the first one, I think you’ll need to evaluate if this is a group of people you want to spend more time playing with. While they are indeed an established group of players, there’s also something to be said for being accepting and welcoming of people to join your group from all manner of play experience. You shouldn’t need to expressly prove you are a “serious” player with a “serious” army in order to be treated with the respect a player deserves, and as this is a casual environment and not a GHO or something similar, your opponent sounds like they need to chill out a bit about “wasting time”. If the rest of the group seems similarly hyper-competitive and unwelcoming of “non-meta” armies, it may be worth looking for a different shop or group of people to play with. Your time is yours and you aren’t required to make concessions to improve someone else’s time in any manner other than being polite, courteous, and a good sport.
As for your second question, it may require finding ways to make your army more competitive by either side-grading or re-organizing priorities. It sounds like you want to stick with your theme of Imperial Agents, then as we mentioned in our articles (which it seems you’ve read) that the Imperialis Fleet is the way to go. It could really help you to build your army to be “flexible” to your meta, as well. What types of opponents do you see a lot of, and how could your army take advantage of that? What units do you not have that you could use more of in order to do that? Also, as a “boring” answer, you may need to look into an Imperial army that you can bring your Assassins into and make use of, but that does feel like you are perhaps sacrificing flavor for “meta”, at which point, yes, “buy a different army” is a solution but it sucks.
To wrap up this answer succinctly: if you want to keep playing with this group, you need to find ways to shore up your list and make an army that is competitive, but you can do that without sacrificing flavor by seeing what it is this group plays and take advantage of playing the “off meta” army that they aren’t very prepared to deal with. But if this experience has soured you on this group, I urge you to shop around and see if you can find another group that may fit the style of play and investment you have in the game. Because while your army may not be top tier or “meta”, you are looking to play the game and be invested, and you deserve to not feel like you’re being treated like a “joke” for wanting to express yourself in a hobby that is, frankly, about expressing yourself.
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