So I had an interesting conversation the other day which lead me to thinking – are games lost before dice are even thrown? I’m not talking about unfair match-ups like Necrons vs. Imperial guard but rather a perceived notion that the army you are up against is too powerful or cheesy. The person I was talking to was convinced that the Eldar army is under priced and overpowered. That an army utilizing farseers was game breaking and full of fonda. I’m sure most of us out there are familiar with the plight of the Eldar and their overpriced transports in this mechanized edition we call 5th. He continued to say that they were his hardest match up and after losing to an Eldar player, suggested that this was to be expected. They were cheese after all.
I know that Tyranids are my vice. I always get a chill when I’m matched up against them even though I know and feel that their book is sub par. I found myself saying after a loss to them that, that went exactly as expected. Had I already lost before the game started?
This is also fairly common with new books – lets take the Dark Eldar book as an example. All I see online are people lamenting about how their mech army is done and who can possibly stand up to the Vec alpha strike… And then when they lose to them, it further enforces this idea. The term for this eludes me but I remember it from my psych classes all those years ago. People don’t realize that maybe its just NEW and you really can’t know what to expect yet. Give it time.
Lately, before a game starts, I take a critical look at my opponents army LIST and not which codex he/she is using. Just because someone is rocking the IG, doesn’t mean they a) know how to use them and b) have brought a synergistic list. This has actually really helped me out, not only do I not psych myself out before the game starts but I already start formulating target priority based on what I know in their list will hurt me.
Thoughts?
Feel free to subscribe to this blog as well!
ALL OUTTA BUBBLEGUM 
Ha you wouldnt deam the nids that army you like least to play against because of me would you? I cant think of many others who play them and i know i became reasonably adept with them.
You are definitely one of the reasons to be sure. You actually made me worry about genestealers (Ymgarll) and see the power of termagants when near a tervigon. The other person would be a guy I use to game with in Vernon who goes by the name Kelly. Back when I first started and played Necrons, I saw the awesomeness of the hive tyrant model as well as learned what a 2+ save was and just how much firepower you needed to take one down!