Top 6 Questions You Should Ask Your Opponent

[@AoSCoach]

What questions do you ask your opponents? Leave them in the comments section so other players can learn what to ask. As always, if you enjoyed the video I'd appreciate a LIKE so more people can see the video.

[@lukeroberts440]

Question 1: Do you want a beer?

[@AoSCoach]

That might be a little later for me. Let's get those models deployed then grab me a beer 😉

[@lukeroberts440]

@@AoSCoach Question 2: I'll be honest, beer is like water to me, it is thus no way to salute a worthy opponent before a battle of generalship. I do prefer rum. I've got this rather special Austrian Rum on me, would you prefer a glass of that instead?

[@AoSCoach]

@@lukeroberts440 poor me one of those Austrian rums if we’re playing on the same table

[@lukeroberts440]

@@AoSCoach seeing as we are now talking Rum, have you heard of Stroh 80? One of my best friends, also a tabletop gamer, introduced it to me years ago. You can buy it from Dan Murphy's, but you won't find it in the shop normally - you have to ask the staff directly and then they will unlock the cabinet under their register and pull out a bottle. A single shot is about 2 standard drinks. You can get the Stroh 60, but if you are going that far you may as well ramp it up to the Stroh 80 and do it properly. It's 80% alcohol by content, 160 proof here in Aussieland. And years ago I figured out the best way to introduce it to people - you pour out a finger or so into a glass and let the person about to taste it for the first time know that the best way to get the full flavours and unlock the Stroh experience to its' fullest is to sample it like a fine wine - take half a mouthful of the glass into your mouth and swirl it around like a fine vintage...it will...evaporate completely doping this before you get to swallow it (it's 80% alcohol - universities commonly use a 70% alcohol to clean their science lab benches to put it into perspective). Now, the vast, vast majority of people will then repel going on about how strong it is and how potent etc, and only the smallest handful will drink it like so and have almost zero reaction outside of 'this is magnificent, I need some more'. It's fire water and whilst I'm sure it's decent mixed, it's totally a rum you drink neat. Next time you do a stream where any flavour of Dwarf/Duardin is discussed, said fire water should be imbibed to show to the world that you are qualified to talk about the finer points of the stunties because you can't trust a manling who can't hold his drink! :p www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_908842/stroh-rum-80-500ml

[@AoSCoach]

I can honestly say I have never tried this but I’m now curious

[@callumfinlayson-palmer8393]

My question I like to ask is: "What's that distraction over there?" A nice 10 seconds to move models or fudge dice :P

[@AoSCoach]

😲.

[@acerebralstringmorn]

These are good questions to ask your opponent about their army, but I also think its good form to ensure that your opponent knows the answer to these questions for your army as well, regardless of whether they explicitly ask the questions or not. I want to make sure that my opponent has a good time, and sometimes this means pushing back on the urge "to just get the game rolling and address things as they come up" to make sure that all possible "gotcha" moments have been covered. Solid content as always, Coach!

[@AoSCoach]

That’s a really good call out Carl. You should know what to say when they are asked of you too

[@kurukblackflame]

In terms of gameplay questions I tend to establish what all the terrain is, dice rolling convention etc. I also go through my army and explain what each unit can do plus any combos I tend to use ('this unit gets to shoot twice if it doesn't move. This guy has a command that gives them +1 to hit'-That sort of thing). After explaining how my army works I tend to ask 'What does your army do?'. Hopefully they'll give a brief explanation in a similar vein. That way we get a game decided more by informed decision making rather that 'Gotcha!' type moments caused by a lack of knowledge on a particular army or obscure combination of abilities :)

[@AoSCoach]

Terrain and dice rolling conventions is a good shout. I always roll the terrain using terrain dice with words

[@GatecrasherPod]

Really great video. It's stuff like this that isn't in your Battletome or your core rules, but is nonetheless a huge part of the game. The trick to having a great time (in anything) is communication!

[@AoSCoach]

Absolutely Kenny. It’s also about deliberate communication so you get off on the right foot with a new person

[@Stardog081]

These are legit questions I would not have thought to ask, very helpful.

[@AoSCoach]

Glad they were helpful mate. It's all about having a good game for you and your opponent

[@danielschreiber4710]

Great questions to ask! Moreover, I think it's a really good way to help organize your own train of thought before the game. Thanks for the video Coach, keep up the fantastic work!

[@AoSCoach]

That's a really good point Daniel. Get yourself ready to talk to your opponent and have a good convo

[@forehead84]

Question number 1: How competitive is the army/you as a player? Question 2: Anything I need to know about your army (if they're giving lots of detail thats a good sign). At the end of the game I will ask myself: Would I play this person again?

[@AoSCoach]

Good question.. I like the who competitive is the army/you when I'm playing at a local games store. Should I bring a tough as nails list or something more friendly and fun.

[@MrRockets182]

Great video coach. I especially like the movement shenanigans questions. As a new player, I like to ask what's the key to the army "generally speaking", which I find is okay because most games are more casual then competitive early on. Probably because they have to be.

[@AoSCoach]

Whatever questions work for you Levi. These are the ones I really find valuable

[@vaniljsas1615]

Threat Range, Drops, Teleports, Run&Charge, Run&Shoot, Activation Wars/Paralyse Abilities, I ask the first 3 in almost all situations. I won't ask about run and shoot if you can't shoot!

[@AoSCoach]

You nailed it here mate. Activation Wars stuff is only in a few armies but definitely important to understand

[@ImmortalDragon21]

Curious to know if its considered bad form to not answer certain questions that could potentially give away a strategy you have or is it considered bad form to not inform your opponent of a special thing that makes your army stand out ?

[@AoSCoach]

There is a fine balance between telling your opponent information and giving away your whole strategy IMO. You might tell them that you have a spell which can double or triple a models movement but you don't have to tell them who you're casting it on.

[@gump1119]

Seems like the consensus is that you are giving the person a puzzle to solve. Not trying to blindside them. “Here’s what my stuff does/can do. Here are some combos, he’s my deep strike, etc”. Here’s what I can do, not what I will do. If both players arm each other with all the knowledge, then it’s a battle of wits, maneuvering, strategy, decisions and occasionally RNG dice. It’s not a battle of secret abilities or knowledge, or hiding key information. “Was that fun and will we both want to play together again” is probably pretty important.

[@AoSCoach]

@@gump1119 I'd 100% agree with the puzzle to solve. This is what I can do but I won't tell you how I will use them to hopefully win... but I won't beat you by surprising you with a trick you didn't know was available

[@grimgar3048]

Great tips there coach - im not new to the hobby from a collecting and painting standpoint but I am new to the tabletop element (damn rona!) sp this will really help out

[@AoSCoach]

Glad it was helpful mate. I've usually got a list of questions I want to ask my opponent but getting those key ones down are important IMO

[@fullcirclenerd1774]

Great information and solid coaching advice. 👍

[@AoSCoach]

My pleasure Kevin. Any questions I missed that you ask?

[@fullcirclenerd1774]

@@AoSCoach Zero. I haven't had a chance to play an actual game against anyone-only sims against myself :) Thus, your questions have given me a solid bedrock starting point for when that day comes! Further, those questions work in reverse so I better understand my army.

[@SmoughTown]

Been looking forward to this, cheers coach!

[@AoSCoach]

Hope it lived up to expectation ☺️

[@SmoughTown]

@@AoSCoach Top notch as always

[@coolsodapop12]

Do you have hand of gork?

[@AoSCoach]

Definitely want to know about teleports and movement shenanigans

[@coolsodapop12]

@@AoSCoach I play with an Ork and a Gitz player so usually it boils down to that when they change their lists 😅

[@jedi9935]

How do you handle a situation when someone out right lies or deliberately doesn't tell you something. Example: My 1st time playing against a rogue idol. I asked what he does/do you have any movement shenanigans and the player gave me a little info and then we deployed. Then turn one he went 22" across-the-board. I almost flipped out! If that happens how do you handle. Going forward I refuse to play said person but in the moment....?

[@AoSCoach]

I like to generally think that people are good natured and try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they forgot to tell me or I forgot. If a player wasn't very forthright in giving me information about their army, I'd want to look at their army list and compare it to their battletome and warscrolls to find the information myself before we kick off. In the moment, I would call it out but try not to let it put me off my game. You don't HAVE to play the game, even if you're at a tournament, and if you felt that the best course of action would be to conceed and remove yourself from the game, that's an option too. No point standing there for hours letting it escalate further. Hopefully that's a last resort and maybe they forgot. I guess it depends on the person in question.

[@lukeroberts440]

The question that needs to be asked though is what sort of tournament was it? Was it a more casual based affair or a much more hardcore one? Because different people play the game for different reasons and you do come across people who play to win at all costs. Now part of a tournament is that you should have a working knowledge of what opponents can throw at you heading into the tournament beforehand. these days it's relatively easy to pick that up online, so it's not a stretch to do some prep there. Now some players also won't be giving you any hints if they know you've missed something in a phase because it is a tournament and you should be on top of that, again preparation on your behalf, cheat sheet to remind yourself (if people arc up about that you tell them it's better then you flipping through your army book constantly and the game lasting at max 3 turns as opposed to the full length with this handy cheat sheet you have prepared earlier, if they continue and say it's against the rules or against the spirit of the game you call the TO over and sort it right there and go with whatever the TO says) etc and whilst some people will be chilled enough to let you do things out of phase because you forgot to do it last phase before rolling dice or moving something right now at the beginning of this phase, a lot of people won't stand for that either, again it's up to you and your knowledge of your army and what it can/can't and needs to do each turn. I digress slightly. In your case, you got a brief overview - how much info did they give you on spells? Did you ask for specifics? If you were satisified with the answers then that's on you, and you need to step back and recognise that it was not the other players fault here, but yours. However, if not satisfied with the answer/s, they have their army book there, it's not hard to show you the page and if they refuse, you call a TO over and get them to read you the rules. Once they've done it, keep the TO there and ask your questions again asking for specifics so as neither of you are wasting the TO's valuable time and the game is played to its' fullest extent and make sure the TO knows this is the reason you want them to stick around a little longer. To expand on Aos Coach's point though, if the tournament has a sportsmanship award and points you need to assign, then right off the bat, your opponent is not getting max points from you, but don't just auto give them the minimum points, judge them across the whole game and be the better person here and if the opponent stomps you through superior generalship don't give them a crap sports score. Again, this comes back to not everyone at a tournament is there to play and enjoy the experience how you want to play and enjoy the experience. Moving forwards, it might be in your best interests to ask a TO before the day/s of the tournament what sort of questions pre-game you are allowed to ask opponents and what sort of depth of responses they should be giving back. this will make things crystal clear to you for your expectations of the event and make 5things run smoother overall as it will mean more or less preparation on your behalf is needed.

[@lukeroberts440]

@@AoSCoach The one point I will disagree with you here is at a tournament you don't have to play the game - Your opponent is there to play games, and they, in all likelihood spent real money for that privelege. People need to be more open minded and recognise that there are many differing types of people that play our hobby and any one of them can attend a tournament meaning you could face them or their particular personality in a tournament setting. It's no secret that our hobby attracts a lot of more socially challenged people, and there's nothing wrong with that but when people go to a tournament there is an expectation that you as a player are prepared to play all your games against all your opponents and if conflicts arise, call the TO over but also, step back and look at your opponent for a minute, take a few deep breaths, and figure out what sort of player they are. If it's not fun for you, you now have a TO mediator to come to an agreement in how the game will play moving forwards, but generally, the lack of fun comes when you have a power gamer vs a casual player or someone who hasn't prepared themselves for the possibility of facing a WAAC player. If you forfeit, that player will take the win, presumably max points moving forwards. They've pissed you off in some way, you've either come to an agreement or you are told to continue playing it out as it is a tournament setting and we're all adults (in terms of maturity) here. But this is where your mindset as a player can come to the fore. You may have no chance of winning this game now, but it is a perfect time to learn and try new things, things you wouldn't dare otherwise. Experiment and play to reduce the overall points your opponent is going to take from this game. If they are being a dick, use it to sharpen your generalship skills. If they are the type of person who will wave the rules in front of you at every opportunity if you've forgotten something, then not giving them any ground in response is perfectly acceptable. They have, afterall, laid down the sort of game they are wanting to play, so now you are going to step up and show that you can actually play the game and you came here to play. At the end of the day, if a TO is involved in games with the same person multiple times and doesn't do something to pull that player into line at that tournament or moving forwards for future tournaments they host, then it's also an opportunity for you to give critical feedback to the TO after the event to help improve their events in the future. But again, different types of people with differing types of personalities play our game and tournaments don't always bring out the best in people or their personalities, but if people have spent money to play x amount of games, forfeiting shouldn't be a course of action you entertain. Get the TO involved and move forwards as positively as possible.

[@AoSCoach]

I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said Luke and context is important. Is this a game at a local store, a tournament, a friends home. How did the initial conversation go leading into this interaction. As I mentioned before, I like to give players benefit of the doubt and assume it was an honest mistake but sometimes it’s not and you can read the player with other interactions. My point was really if this moment creates a toxic environment and something you’re unable to move past, there is no point continuing to get more and more toxic. Remove yourself.

[@lukeroberts440]

@@AoSCoach Back in 2012, when I was playing tournament 40k (5th ed, still one of the best editions in terms of balance imho) and also authoring on (at the time) one of the most popular 40k based competitive blogs around (an Australian blog no less) called 3plusplus.net under my alias of "Auretious Taak" (though GW based people also know me as "Ram Rock Ed First" from Mordheim, as well as "Khorne On the Cob" (because, steam based 40k games and I was sick of everyone using Khorne Flakes as the only Khorne pun name around {yeah, I have hundreds I can use now haha}), I attended the 3plusplus-Con non-comp 40k tournament as a stand in on day 2 (worked day 1 so couldn't play the tourney as a whole). My opponent forfeited on me at the top of my turn 2 shooting phase because I used a slaanesh demon prince psychic power to move her large unit of sisters of battle into the open to clump them so she wouldn't get a cover save and so no save vs what I was going to throw at her that phase, and she lost it, threw the tape measure down and quit - despite being in a better spot then me if she'd stepped back and thought about how to abuse the table as a whole. Anyhow, I did a write up at the time (comments got wiped due to a blog bug years ago though) which I feel is very pertinent here and is well worth the read, even though it is 40k based and not AoS the principles are the same. For reference, 3plusplus is largely dead these days, most of us who authored haven't played competitive 40k in several editions because 6th ed ruined the game and it took a while for it to get good again but that also coincided with a lot of us graduating university or otherwise having life take priority over gaming and hobby. Still have a gander, I think you'll appreciate this one here: www.3plusplus.net/2012/02/post-3con-forfeiting/

[@tripledmusic1802]

Great tips

[@AoSCoach]

Cheers Triple D!

[@andrewsimmons2711]

You want a beer? 🍺

[@AoSCoach]

Seems to be a popular question.

[@Tlmmli]

I really love you content, but i have to say you have to losen a little bit up in this kind of Videos. You are so stiff in this one. In your faction focus Videos you are really relaxed. Anyways great video as allways!

[@AoSCoach]

Fair criticism, thanks for bringing it up Tlmmli. The short sharp video style might make it feel more stiff compared to my hour or more conversations. I'll see what I can do