Early lessons

After playing a few games with my Iron Hands, against Raven Guard (BOO!), Tau, and Death Guard Terminators, I've learned a few things.

The most important thing I've learned is that the tide of the game ebbs and flows. You can be doing really well, and then suddenly your kill team loses their forward momentum and you're left wondering what just happened. The game isn't over until the victory points are tallied. You may realize that, with secondary objectives, that it's a tie, or that the person that appeared to be losing just squeaked out a win.

Another thing I learned is that, if you're playing with the option injury table (Knocked Down, Stunned, Out of Action), then Instant Death weapons are HUGE! Normally, a combi-plasma or power sword would just paste one of my marines off the battle field. However, with the possibility of becoming a casualty only being 1/3, weapons lose a lot of their effectiveness if they do not cause Instant Death. It's good that there isn't a whole lot of Strength 8 stuff out there, but it can really put a bull's eye on the head of anyone carrying a Thunder Hammer, Power Klaw, or Missile Launcher.

Perhaps the hardest thing to learn is that this game is meant to epitomize the "Rule of Cool". It's not meant to be a broken, Win-At-All-Costs game. It's supposed to be a fun and action-packed narrative. The rules of 40k are already fairly unrealistic in certain aspects, and bringing it down to skirmish level makes it even harder. It's important to recognize when what you're doing loses a bit of the spirit of the game in the quest to get that win.

And probably the harshest reality of the game is that, even if you win the battle, you could come out of it in worse shape than the guy that lost. My first "official" game in the campaign saw my lexicanum librarian suffer a serious chest injury, dropping him to Toughness 3, while leveling up to Strength 5. I don't see him lasting too much longer unless he levels up and gets the +1 Toughness to get back to 4.