Testing units

[ANERIS1982]

How do you test units before purchasing them?

[Kyban]

Most people proxy a similar unit for a game or two, just ask your opponent if he's okay with the substitution.

[SotonShades]

I think it kind of depends on what you mean by testing and why you want to test them.

A lot of people Mathammer how effective the unit is likely to be against Marines, in shooting and combat, and/or against a few light, medium and heavier vehicles. They can then compare that to other options for their army at similar points values, essentially working out how effective per point that unit is. Of course, that generally means thinking of the test unit and the target unit on a flat table with no terrain at ideal distances apart... sperical chickens in a vacuum kind of thing. It is never going to be quite that straight forward in a game, so you should never use mathammer as the be all and end all of whether you will take that unit or not. I like to follow this approach as a basic idea, but actually roll the dice a few timesrather than rely on the probabilities (despite having an engineering masters degree) to actually see what happens.

As Kyban said, the next step is to proxy them. Use some similar sized models (at the very least the same size bases if you can) and make sure you and your opponant know exactly what each model represents. No point taking 10 eldar guardians that are armed the same and saying they are 10 chaos terminators that are all armed differently and picking and choosing which armament combinations survive... it will give you unrealistic expectations of what the unit can actually do. However you proxy it, don't rely on just one game. Use the list several times if you can, with at least a few games being against the same opponant with the same list so you can get an idea of their average performance.

Once you have those games under your belt, try tweaking the unit, seeing how a few option changes effect their results. From the first play tests you should have a good feel for what did and didn't work, but don't be too hasty in making big changes. If it is a fairly unique unit in your lists (such as the aforementioned terminators would likely be), maybe consider changing the rest of your army list to better support them in the role you had intended for them. If you had a shooty squad that was getting assaulted by outflankers or deep striking units, maybe consider getting a buffer unit that can sit with them and at least allow them an extra chance to get away by taking the assault themselves for example. Obviously this isn't so important if they are your bog standard troops who are repeated 4 or 5 times in your list, but it is still worth thinking about whether your elites, FA and Heavy options can be better selected to help them achieve their objectives of, well, grabbing objectives! As I said before, it is very unlikely that one unit will operate completely on it's own without any support. Even most Deathstar units rely on other units taking some of the enemy's firepower or providing flanking assaults that force your opponant to divert some of his resources so your Deathstar doesn't get completely swamped.

Now, that could be quite a lot of games played to test just one unit, but I'd advise against trying to do this with several units at the same time. While small tweaks to the rest of the list is fine, trying to keep track of exactly how well several units are performing at the same time is confusing, and making many large changes to several units may blur the lines of how effective each is being in game.

As a final point, I'll go back to my first sentance; why are you testing them? For a tournament, this kind of approach makes sense, and gives you a way to hone your army to a fine edge before investing a fair few £££s/$$$s in new models. I know form experience that it is not fun to spend a decent amount on a new unit to watch it be less than useless in each and every game played. On the otherhand, if you are just wanting a new addition to your forces for pick up games against your mates, then this approach is probably a little overkill. You don't want to be 'that guy' who is constantly testing and trying to out do his mates and never actually gets that new unit he says he is still planning. Met a fair few of them in my time, and have avoided playing as many of them as possible since. Rather than trying to find out what is the most effective, work out what suits your play style and what you find as being the most fun. I've always found that the units I really enjoy fielding are not always the ones that mow through my opponants with statisical probability in their favour, but the ones that have an "all right ish" chance but because I play them too aggressively, get over excited when shooting them etc they outperform their statlines or my opponant goes all out to make sure they don't. Nothing will make someone fire more shots at Big Shoota Deffkoptas then when you are literally bouncing on the balls of your feet as you reroll not a lot of misses Even being a fire magnet can actually make them a very effective unit choice, so long as it actually means the rest of your army gets to do what it needs to for an extra turn or two.

[Wolfshade]

The test I do is look at them and think, does this look cool?
If it is a yes then I buy it.
If it is a no then I don't buy it.

[walrusman999]

Personally I do a bit like shotonshades does, Ill plan it out on paper first (i usually skip trying to figure out the exact probability) then ill get a group of friends together to play and test it out on the battle field. Most of the time its strictly me changing a single unit or two in my overall army. If i was starting from scratch i would print out paper circles with the units on them and large squares for tanks to proxy in a game for a little. Sure it looks crappy but I don't wanna spend lots of $$ on units that i will barely use or not at all. I do keep units that are not part of my normal army on standby should i feel they are appropriate for the upcoming challenge, aka i don't use dreadnoughts normally but I have 2 should their Battle Brother Spirit gets restless and they must be fielded to vent their fury against the ruinous powers.

*Yeah if the model doesn't look good either then I don't get it, regardless of whether I could win all the time or not with it. Though if I can find a cooler version of it, I would get it

[SotonShades]

The test I do is look at them and think, does this look cool?
If it is a yes then I buy it.
If it is a no then I don't buy it.

Yeh this is what I do 90% of the time. Only my tournament lists actually get the other treatment lol

[magickbk]

The test I do is look at them and think, does this look cool?
If it is a yes then I buy it.
If it is a no then I don't buy it.

I come up with a story for my army, determine what units from the Codex fit the story, and then make army lists constantly trying to figure out how I would win a game given the units I've restricted myself to for story purposes.

[walrusman999]

I come up with a story for my army, determine what units from the Codex fit the story, and then make army lists constantly trying to figure out how I would win a game given the units I've restricted myself to for story purposes.

Sounds like you get pretty good at coming up with unconventional methods of winning.

[magickbk]

Sounds like you get pretty good at coming up with unconventional methods of winning.

I have the luxury of not having played against a Marine army since 3rd Edition.

[walrusman999]

Lucky you, i only ever get to play against Marines, or CSM... Pisses me off that all my usual gaming group run one or the other. There are like 2 guys who play something else, orks and nids :/ and they never show up to play anymore.