I have been playing this game for 7 years now (I started when my son was born so it is easy for me to remember).

Anyways, as I have played an increasing number of games my understanding of SBG tactics has changed greatly. With that being said the two biggest changes have come to my understanding of *how* to use might and shielding.

Might is a long story so I will spare your the details. Long story short, Might is great for heroic combats.

Now on to shielding. When I first began to play my thought was, "Why shield? I am forfeiting the chance to inflict a wound on my enemy, and is the purpose of the point match to break my opponent?" Since then I have come to understand the sweet mechanic that is shielding. What a difference it has made to my win:loss ratio. Not that I am a winning machine now, because I am not, but wow, shielding correctly made such a difference for my force.

What rules do you think are underrated? What took you time to grasp? Once you understood a certain concept how did it change your play style?

I haven't played a lot of games, and never in a tournament.
I play against friends so we don't have a great experience in term of rules.

But I have tried shielding recently, and it helped me a lot. Actually, I feel more confortable on the table since I do it

A point about might : I still have fear to use it to call heroic combats (what if I loose? It's a wasted point / Is it a good idea to call an heroic combat there? What would I do next? / ...).

Concerning deployment, I still have some troubles in doing it in "the most efficient way" (cavalry, for instance). But I use my bowmen better than I used to (and I don't fear to send them into melee when I judge that it's time :p)

I alors have learnt some tips by reading/watching battle reports : how do other people play, what kind of strategy do they use, ... I remember that I have sometimes said "Wait, what? Is it legal?" and checked the rulebook to confirm it... It was really helpul

In regards to heroic combats. You are right, the risk for calling a heroic combat is great, but so are the rewards. Sun Tzu says in the Art of War, one should never attack without a surplus of strength. If you apply that to a heroic combat, this means, don't call a heroic combat unless you are sure you can win it and kill his opponents in the fight. If your single hero model is surrounded, it is not a good time to call a heroic combat. If your opponent is feeding you one minion at a time in an attempt to stall your hero, that is a good time to call a heroic combat. If you out number your opponent in a match, and it is clear he can't win the combat, call a heroic. Sometimes it back fires, but the rewards far outweigh the risks.

Thanks for the advice

That's how I'd like to play it, but I still fear to do so ^^
I wish I could improve my understanding of where and when to call heroics But when I play with my friends, they don't always take the best decisions so I've never been in trouble

It comes with time. Also, watching battle reports helps. Both GBHL and DCHL have loads of bat reps filled with great examples of when to use might.

All in all, it is very situational. And even with your best laid plans, sometimes the dice don't treat you right.

don't forget sometimes calling a heroic combat can help when you need to do a certain combat first even if you have no hope of killing all your opponents, it's rare but it happens. One thing I virtually never do is lie my models down to avoid bowfire, something that has a good use but can backfire majorly.

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