I haven't really begun playing the game in earnest (still finishing painting), but how much of the game is memorizing dials? It seems to me that in order to be good you need to know the initiative and ability of everything you're facing. Have you found that you get used to the capabilities pretty quickly? Also, does anyone have a cheat sheet of all the initiatives and dials?

1 minute ago, Hepitude said:

I haven't really begun playing the game in earnest (still finishing painting), but how much of the game is memorizing dials? It seems to me that in order to be good you need to know the initiative and ability of everything you're facing. Have you found that you get used to the capabilities pretty quickly? Also, does anyone have a cheat sheet of all the initiatives and dials?

Just look at the back of the 'Learn to Play' manual. There's a cheat sheet of all the dials and initiatives there.

1 minute ago, Willange said:

Just look at the back of the 'Learn to Play' manual. There's a cheat sheet of all the dials and initiatives there.

Awesome! Did not even notice that. Thanks, that'll be super helpful!

32 minutes ago, Hepitude said:

Awesome! Did not even notice that. Thanks, that'll be super helpful!

If you play a lot, you'll very quickly learn opponent unit's action list. Until then, use the reference.

I forgot about that too, found myself guessing, and guessing is not a winning strategy

3 minutes ago, KrisWall said:

If you play a lot, you'll very quickly learn opponent unit's action list. Until then, use the reference.

That's what I was hoping. Glad to hear someone confirm.

Knowing what they can do and when is only half the battle. Then you have to guess what they will actually do. That's where I screw up. Lol.

Suffice to say, knowing your opponents dials is important, you need to know what they might do in order to know what you can/should do. I think right now its fairly easy but with multiple armies, a bunch of new units... its going to get hectic. Good reference sheets are going to become a thing in particular if your like me and have the memory of a goldfish.

20 minutes ago, rowdyoctopus said:

Knowing what they can do and when is only half the battle. Then you have to guess what they will actually do. That's where I screw up. Lol.

Fortunately it can sometimes be pretty easy to guess.

That unit of Cavalry that is probably range 2-3 from me? It's almost certainly going to do a range 3 or 4 charge. If I can do a quicker initiative shift backwards, I buy myself a turn and he gets a panic token for failing a charge.

That unit of Reanimates engaged with me? Almost certainly going to fight. If I shift away before it can fight, I waste it's time. If I fight first, maybe I can take out a tray and remove a threat/re-roll.

Kari over there, hiding in terrain? She's probably going to shoot me. Maybe I should turtle up with extra defense? Nope. She shoots super quick. I'll just take the damage and run straight at her.

Other times, it's harder to tell.

8 minutes ago, BigKahuna said:

Good reference sheets are going to become a thing in particular if your like me and have the memory of a goldfish.

I've been trying to figure out the best way to make cheat sheets that will stay readable when printed kind of small (ok, I've spent like 10 minutes dicking around with it).

26 minutes ago, WWHSD said:

I've been trying to figure out the best way to make cheat sheets that will stay readable when printed kind of small (ok, I've spent like 10 minutes dicking around with it).

If you find a good solution you should let us know!

I've only played a couple of games so...

but I think it's mainly about learning/knowing initiative 'match ups' - so like if Cavalry is charging down some Archers, both players will want to know the initiatives of the dials involved.

It's a must to think of enemy initiatives during the plannification phase