Simply put, do you concentrate on winning Command Struggles primarily and winning/capturing Planets secondarily, or.... Do you concentrate on simply winning/capturing Planets primarily and when possible winning Command Struggles secondarily?

Of course I am posing this due to my total lack of gaming experience, and thus I would like to read any feedback that you guys post in order to gain information.

My tactic would be go for command in the early game, rake in the cards and resources, bring out the big guns and then go for the battles. I think a lot also depends on the position of the planet cards: if the first 3 cards all share one icon, it might be best to for battles immediatly.

Sadly all of what i just said is pure theory since i have yet to play my first game. (This tactic is purly based on my experiences with other card games. And usually resource generation and card draws win games)

So anybody who already has played a few games of 40C... Will my tactic work, or did i miss something?

@RG

Does your strategy hold true for all factions?

I would think that we would have to differentiate among the various factions in order to come up with workable gaming strategies in the initial stage, which is true for most LCG. (or all games, true?)

You cannot afford to lose command struggle by a large margin. While a lost battle costs you a planet, you can get back into the game immediately. Even a second lost planet can be overcome. However...

Once you start losing significantly in the Command Phase you will quickly lose control of the game entirely. Card and resource advantage will create ever increasing card and resource advantage (they can afford to put more and better capping units on the table), and soon enough that will translate into advantage in battle. You may have a chance to overcome this somewhat by winning Combat (for example, killing their units without losing yours, Sicarius' ability, etc.), but that tends to be a smaller and less reliable gain.

Try not to let your opponent out gain you by more than 1 or 2 (resource=1, card=2) net over the course of a turn. If they get more than a 3 or 4 total advantage you are going to find it extremely difficult to come back for a victory, no matter how many planets you have won.

Winning battles at key planets with Card Bonuses is crucial as well.

And to add to KO's reply, I would focus more on the resource part of the command struggle than the cards...I've already lost 3 games because of over doing it on the command struggle as a whole. Sometimes a good strategy is to let your opponent win those struggles over the extra cards and then watch him/her burn themselves out of cards.

Tau are VERY good at doing that (burning cards) I've learned (the hard way )

And to answer your question Papa Midnight about factions, I'd say Marines are great at the command phase of the game followed by Tau. Orks and Chaos are good at hitting you in the face. That's my opinion after 10 games 7 with each faction.

One of the aspects I like about this game is you can't really over emphasize one aspect (or at least I've never been successful at it). My play group basically emphasized combat, then command, back to combat and are currently trying to find the right mix. Depending on match ups, planets, and how my deck draws I might have to change emphasis game to game.

There have been many games where the person winning (or even dominating command) has not won the game because either their units were too spread out or while they were good at winning command they couldn't win a stand up fight when they had too (Eldar are probably the worst offenders).

My rankings for mono faction command dominance (No allies, as that can smooth out command deficiencies)

1. Eldar

2. Tau

3. Space Marines (3, 4 and 5 could be reordered, but I think Chosen put SM over the top)

4. AM

5. Chaos

6. Orks

7. DE

My Rankings for mono faction combat dominance (I think there are lots of possible arguments to my rankings, but if you forced me too this would be it)

1. Orks (The first 3 can probably be reordered. I think orks are able to start out strong and can maintain. But Chaos tends to become a beast the longer the game goes. Space Marines are just good)

2. Chaos

3. Space Marines

4. AM ( I don't think AM are far behind, but they need some tricks and the right cards to be effective.)

5. Tau (They can do massive damage, but require a lot of cards, and can struggle to remove threats if they don't have initiative.)

6. Dark Eldar (mostly because they can be super swingy)

7. Eldar (they require a lot of skill to be effective in combat, one misplay, and that usually spells doom for them)

Edit: fixed lots of typos and grammar.

Being something of an honorary member of that play group, I'll have to second what tofubones is saying here. You have to find the balance.

It comes down to this: Winning command struggles and thereby controlling the resource flow of the game is huge, but if it doesn't translate into winning battles and capturing planets, you are still going to lose. What I have learned is that thinking of winning command struggles as a goal unto itself is a trap. Getting more cards and resources than your opponent does not necessarily translate into taking planets or hurting warlords. You have to think of winning command struggles as a means to the end of advancing your win condition.

Hah, Dark Eldar is in both lists all the way down. At least they can probably benefit the most from having Eldar as allies for their Command icons.

Chaos cannot benefit from any allies that are better at the command struggle than themselves (having both Orks and Dark Eldar being at the bottom of that list).

Also note that I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive so my observations might not be entirely accurate.

I got mine (last copy left in the store) and i'll be playing with my buddies this weekend.

I'm gonna make a chaos/orks- just get stuck in and kill deck and a SM/AM deck for a more command approach.

**** u dark eldar! Y u no better? I want to play with dominatrix space elves and win dammit!

Maybe DE requires the player to be a masochist.

They're probably very powerful in the hands of somebody who knows what he's doing, aka, it's not a beginners faction. Maybe they rely more on allies than the other factions, I dunno.

Don't take my list too seriously. I could make cases for many different orders, and really the separation between the rankings aren't that big, and allies and deck building can overcome any deficiencies. In general the the game is very balanced.

That said DE, are definitely difficult to win with consistently once players become experienced. Compared to other factions the Dark Eldar weaknesses are harder to over come; lack of command icons on low cost units and low attack/HP on high cost units. Add in a Warlord who doesn't have good synergy within the faction, or even within the signature squad and your playing from behind. If you can get kymera den out early that makes a huge difference as long as you can avoid area effects.

I think making the cut at worlds will be the ceiling for a good player with Dark Eldar. Of course that's assuming the field isn't Space Marine heavy, then the ceiling is probably a winning record. Hopefully some does really well with the DE at Worlds and posts the decklist so I can figure out what I'm missing.

I seriously don't understand all the Dark Eldar hate. They are terrifyingly good in the right hands. They can utterly dominate the command struggles (granted, with a little Eldar help) and have so many clutch events that can swing entire games. The most games I've lost have been to DE, usually because they have some trick up their sleeves right when I think I've got the game. They maybe aren't the most obvious to win with... but they work really well...

I find that when playing Dark Eldar you often have to let the opponent win the first 1-2 planets, while you set up the raids, draw for Archon Terrors, set up Murder of Razorwings shenanigans, etc.

If this succeeds - and when your opponent is resource starved, loses a few cards and has all his forces in one basket (HQ), you'll be able to swing the game in such a manner that your opponent cannot recover.

DE seems awfully draw dependent, compared to the other factions but, as has been mentioned above - with a little Eldar help + winning the command struggles on the right planets you can get around this.

TL;DR: DE are fine but play a bit differently.

Chaos cannot benefit from any allies that are better at the command struggle than themselves (having both Orks and Dark Eldar being at the bottom of that list).

I'd argue that Chaos can benefit quite a bit from DE. DE has some pretty good 1-3 cost units with command icons that can fill the "low cost command icons" hole in Chaos much better than Orks can. IMHO, of course.

I find that when playing Dark Eldar you often have to let the opponent win the first 1-2 planets, while you set up the raids, draw for Archon Terrors, set up Murder of Razorwings shenanigans, etc.

If this succeeds - and when your opponent is resource starved, loses a few cards and has all his forces in one basket (HQ), you'll be able to swing the game in such a manner that your opponent cannot recover.

This seems to be one of their greatest strengths; at least in the Core set.

Well said.

I hope my post does not come across as DE hate. I really don't hate the faction, they are very close to my preferred play style. (I might hate the warlord and the signature squad a little). If there's one faction I hate it's SMurfs. They are just too above average and have high utilty throughout the faction. They always seem to have an answer. I think the other 6 factions are pretty well balanced. Really a lot of Dark Eldar weakness shows up against the SMurfs more than the other factions. Though Warpstorm will ruin a Dark Eldar players day.

I find that when playing Dark Eldar you often have to let the opponent win the first 1-2 planets, while you set up the raids, draw for Archon Terrors, set up Murder of Razorwings shenanigans, etc.

If this succeeds - and when your opponent is resource starved, loses a few cards and has all his forces in one basket (HQ), you'll be able to swing the game in such a manner that your opponent cannot recover.

DE seems awfully draw dependent, compared to the other factions but, as has been mentioned above - with a little Eldar help + winning the command struggles on the right planets you can get around this.

And this is probably why DE struggle the most. Every other faction I feel like I can deal with bad draws; not getting the right cards at the right time. DE are a glass cannon. Hopefully as the game expands the DE will get some more resilience. Though FFG always seems to have a faction that seems to be on a knifes edge of being overpowered or underpowered without much middle ground.

Chaos cannot benefit from any allies that are better at the command struggle than themselves (having both Orks and Dark Eldar being at the bottom of that list).

I'd argue that Chaos can benefit quite a bit from DE. DE has some pretty good 1-3 cost units with command icons that can fill the "low cost command icons" hole in Chaos much better than Orks can. IMHO, of course.

And I think we can Blame Chaos for why DE are a little behind. If Marksmen, Strike Force, and/or Coliseum Fights had a command icon, they would probably be fine in a DE or Eldar deck. But in a Chaos deck with the core Chaos Warlord they'd be bonkers. 1 cost for a 3 strength ranged attack or 2 cost for a Area Effect 2; and I can have hangout and win command struggles. Chaos would be super destructive.

DE have a few really good cheap units, some amazing events, and a warlord with an awesome aggro power.

But you end up overpaying for everything else. Examples: Eldar get a 6 stat, 2 command mobile unit for 3. Dark Eldar pay 4. Chaos gets a 6 stat, 1 command body with an attack boosting ability for 3. Dark Eldar pay 4. Dark Eldar have the most expensive 2 attack unit in the game.

Even some of the cheap stuff is actually expensive. The Beasthunter Wyches are 3 cost for a 2 cost unit's stats, and you have to pay extra for the tokens.

My current best DE deck is actually a Chaos deck in disguise.

SM's on a card by card basis look scary, but have yet to lose to them once. AM on the other hand is always a tough battle, I always play DE and eldar, switching back and forth.

I think making the cut at worlds will be the ceiling for a good player with Dark Eldar. Of course that's assuming the field isn't Space Marine heavy, then the ceiling is probably a winning record. Hopefully some does really well with the DE at Worlds and posts the decklist so I can figure out what I'm missing.

That's my goal....