The Timey Wimey Conflict
December 9, 2008

  

This week’s letter is from James:

 

Hello mister Dragon. I have a question for you. I'm getting better at the game, but am still having trouble beating the clock. I've played/watched a few games where one person has a swarm squad (Black&Blue with a bunch of stormtroopers, Han in Armor w/ Ithorian Commander and a swarm of fringe pieces.) and just takes their time. Nothing so long as to be against the rules, but long enough that there is not enough time in the game for the other player to make any real headway. I was wondering if there is any counter-strategy to the stall tactic?

Thanks

 

LOL, wow – Mr. Dragon.  I think that is a first.  Now I feel really old.  Anyway, thanks for the letter, James.  Time control and stalling is perhaps the most controversial and gray areas in the game, and one that comes up every time Gencon rolls around.  There are really two issues at play here.  You have slow play versus stalling.

 

Facing naturally slow players can be very frustrating, but you have to ask yourself if they are doing it intentionally or are just naturally slow player.  If it is intentional or you feel that they are just taking too long, the best thing to do is call a judge over and let the judge make the call.  There is no set time for a move, so this is the hardest ruling for a judge to make.  In the end you have to go with what the judge decides. At Gencon, we had a player or two that we had to watch as judges because of the time issue.  The person is a great guy, and did not play slow to stall.  He was just that thorough when counting things out.  I don’t believe that we ever made a call even though we kept a close eye on the games, but it can be frustrating. 

 

In fact, the eventual Gencon Champion, Bill Russell, turned it to his advantage and you can too.  Bill knew exactly what he was going to do, so the minute the opponent was done, Bill made his move and said go.  In many ways this makes a great counter to a slower player because they really don’t get a break to look things over before they have to move again.  This is an option you probably have to know your army fairly well along with what you are doing.  Bill ended up getting a point lead and allowed his opponent’s slow play to work against him.  His opponent could not get enough done to catch up.  Granted Bill is a great player, but San builds are also very good at this.  Since you are just spinning ugs 90% of the time to start, it can really pressure your opponent.

 

People that run swarm squads and then take all day with them really annoy me.  If you are going to run a huge activation army, then it is your responsibility to be able to move in a timely fashion.  If you know someone is going to bring this fairly consistently, then you simple need to learn to build against him.  Swarm trooper squads are weak to movement.  If they have to advance on the opponent they lose a lot of their effectiveness.   Also, having mobile attack and/or super stealth can hurt stormtrooper swarms as it again makes your opponent advance, which again is what trooper squads are poor.  If they are running swarm melee, like the Ithorian squads that were wide spread for a while there are a couple of options.  You can run area effects like grenades to mass wipe out the grunt pieces.  You can run high defense riposte pieces.  That way you are taking out their pieces even on their turn.  The final piece is disruptive; of which Kyle is usually the best.  Swarm squads are heavy on CE’s and get hurt substantially when they lose them.

 

In the end, experience is going to be your greatest ally in learning how to deal with time, both yours and your opponent’s.  Learn what squad works and what do not when it comes to swarms, and just relax and put the pressure on your opponent.  If you (or anyone) wants me to be more specific on anything send me a line and I will follow up with it.  Keep practicing! J

 

Next up I will address the Muun Tactics Broker, and how/if to best use him.  If anyone has any questions or ideas you would like me to address, please drop me a line (sithdragon13@yahoo.com) or find me on the boards.  Oh yeah, a little Elf told me that Santa might have dropped some top 10 lists somewhere around here, so don’t be surprised if a few get “leaked” soon. ;)  Take Care – SD13