So me and my mate played our usual weekly skirmish game last and it panned out the usual way... which is basically just pile in and see who comes out on top Aside from obviously trying to do the mission, it generally ends up with us trying to wipe each other out, leaving the board clear to complete the mission unimpeded Slight deviation from that last night, I shot with my Imperial Guard officer, then moved him into cover as he was wounded, but that was the only tactical move of the game .

We were laughing about our game play and I wondered if it was just is or do others do a similar thing or do you tactically move around the board taking things steady?

It depends on how competitive you are. If you enjoy winning at tournaments, then every game is an opportunity for you to exercise your squad/command cards to find strengths and weaknesses. Also, to discover tactics about the scenarios that you might want to try with different figures/abilities.

Personally, I don't enjoy every game being taken that seriously, but it's the difference between people who want to take championships and people who want to have fun with theme and friends and sci-fi games...

I'm split about 30% competitive and 70% fun myself. On this game at least...

I generally end up spilling beer on the game while trying to use the bottle kneck as a pointer :/

Usually, week to week, I play with themed / entertaining lists in fairly laid-back games, mostly against people I know well, though often against whoever turned up to the FLGS wanting a game. In these games, it doesn't much matter who wins or loses so long as we have a laugh.

Occasionally, I play in tournaments, and then the gloves are off (and would expect no mercy in return).

Like most games, either way to play is fine so long as both players have the same approach; typically problems only arise when the two philosophies are mixed. (I still shudder at the memory of my second-ever game of Warmachine, against a hardcore tournament player with a hardcore tournament list. That game could only have been less fun if he'd picked up my models and physically inserted them into various of my bodily orifices. Dude, I'm a noob, be gentle!).

That said, if I go to one more tournament full of nothing but Imperials with nothing but Imperial Officers, it'll be the last one I attend (and sadly I fully expect this to be the case). Taking a hard list to a tournament is one thing, the entire metagame being bland and homogenous is quite another.

Meta games often get like this, just gotta ride the wave till it gets better. It'll come...

Meta games often get like this, just gotta ride the wave till it gets better. It'll come...

Especially from a game with only a core and one wave.

Wave 1 wasn't even a 'real' wave, right? We did get some new skirmish/command/campaign cards, but really all it was was a fleshing out of all the 'token' figures, right? The real meat of 'expansion' comes in the next wave...

I used single quotes 'way' too much just then...

'Wave 1' only became Wave 1 because of delays with the game. It was originally supposed to release simultaneously to the Core set. In a very real sense, all we really have is the core for a game that's only around seven months old. This is why the constant 'oh the meta is broken and boring' comments are getting right on my nerps.

Back on topic, I had a couple of games last night using both scenarios for Chewie's map. The shield one we both went for shields and each other's deployment zones. The prisoner rescue we both just ended up whaling on each other and ignoring the objective altogether. I think a lot depends on what the objective/s is/are and how the deployments and first couple of turns work out. Either way, it's a hell of a lot of fun

'Wave 1' only became Wave 1 because of delays with the game. It was originally supposed to release simultaneously to the Core set. In a very real sense, all we really have is the core for a game that's only around seven months old. This is why the constant 'oh the meta is broken and boring' comments are getting right on my nerps.

OK, I'll bite. What do you think subsequent waves will include, that will mean Imperial Officers are not an auto-include?

I suppose we might get Rebel Officers. We might even get, I dunno, Trandoshan Officers or something. But the best Imperial lists will still be overflowing with Imperial Officers. You'll still never take one squad of three Stormtroopers if you could have three Officers. Even if you build a list not focussed around Officers, if you find yourself with four points to spend when you've taken the stuff you want, you'll still fit two Officers into what's left. Even if Rebels and Scum are brought up to the same level, there'll still be no better choice for Imperials.

Subsequent waves won't retroactively reset Imperial Officers to the same level as everything else - the best a subsequent wave can do is put out other stuff even better (leaving the rest of the stuff from the Core Set even further behind). The only thing that can retroactively change Imperial Officers is not a new wave but... wait for it... an errata, tada!!!

Waves are for the future. They can't fix something that's broken now.