Ah, the Learning Curve is Back

If you read my last post, I had a great time playing my first game with my Menoth army. It was a blast, but it reminded me of something.  The learning curve. Ugh!  I forgot about this guy.  I have been playing Warhammer Fantasy for 8 years and 40k for about 2 1/2 and they are very similar.  I totally forgot what it's like to not know something about everything in the game (note I didn't say everything about everything).  I feel I have a reasonable grip on the rules, though I need a ton of refining, but knowing all of the faction specific rules and styles, the various warcaster/warlock effects on units and armies, and just the special rules for every model is incredibly daunting.  In my game last night, I basically played according to what I thought were solid choices for my army and the situation at hand. Past that, I hoped and prayed my opponent did smash the crap out of me with impunity. 

Luckily, he didn't.  Aside from the extraordinarily lucky turn of events that lead to an easy road to the caster kill and dominance of the game, I really didn't have a solid knowledge foundation to stand on and that reminded me that I am once again a small fish playing in an extremely large pond. 

So, my thoughts on this:

1) Read, read, read.  I hope to get my hands on as many copies of rules as possible to read up on the various factions and their models.  I also will make some stops to Battle College for information. Information gathering is going to be a key to success.  A large part of playing Warmahordes is knowing what your opponents can throw at you.  Thus, I need more information.

2) Play more games.  I love that Warmahordes on average takes far less time than 40k or WFB.  That means that in a given night at a 35pt. level, I can get in around 2-3 games, especially since I am a noob and will get my butt kicked fairly easily. 

3) Watch games.  I am loving youtube right now.  There are tons of games online that I can watch and learn from.  I have watched quite a few Menoth battle reports, but I need to start watching battle reports from other factions to see what various players do.  This is definitely next on my list. 

So, the road has started.  I am pumped.  This game rocks!  Now I need to do some homework.

What other things should I consider when prepping for upcoming battles?  What are those key pieces of information that will give me the edge?  I'm interested to hear from some readers out there. 

Here are some other Warmachine articles:
Warmachine the Way I See It: Warcaster Study, pKreoss
The Harbinger of Menoth: Model Review
How Important is the Front Arc, Really?
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