Manus is a debased alcoholic, who's also a heavy user of internet forums and chatboxes. Some would say his need to troll is unhealthy, but I believe any addiction can be turned towards productive, positive contribution - with the proper mentoring.
40k, I believe, is a lot like business. You have a limited set of resources, and you want to accomplish as much as possible with them. While you're doing this, there are others who are directly competing with you in the same area. One of these techniques used to understand the business environment is called SWOT. What is SWOT? SWOT is a methodical system for analyzing a businesses’ Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Its not something the people on the assembly line, or lower level management would use. This is what the suits in the corporate offices use. When you want to increase a business’s profits by 25% over the next 5 years, you might use SWOT. SWOT breaks down into 2 separate things. The internal factors, strengths and weaknesses, and the external ones, opportunities and threats.
In a business environment, the internal factors are the business itself, and the external are the overall marketplace it operates in. Relative to 40k, the internal factors would be the actual army list itself, and the external should be analyzed in 2 ways. The first is certain list archetypes that will give it problems, and the second is how it will perform against specific lists.
So, why use SWOT analysis in 40k? I think SWOT, while being very limited in its applications, is useful within them. These being, when you have a list ready to go, and want to see how good it can perform in general, in a local meta, or against specific armies. Its main advantage over an intuitive understanding of the game is that anyone can use it effectively. SWOT is a formula, and so is more rigorous and therefore, I believe, less prone to error. In addition, you don’t have to have played hundreds of games with an army to get a good understanding of it. This can help jumpstart your understanding and performance of a list.
So, let's take an example army list. The 2k jumpers army I took to the Nova open this year.
HEADQUARTERS
Dante-225
ELITES
Sanguinary priest-75
-Jump pack
Sanguinary priest-80
-Jump pack, melta bombs
TROOPS
Sanguinary guard-240
-3 infernus pistols, 1 fist,
Sanguinary guard-230
-2 infernus pistol, 1 power fist.
Sanguinary guard-230
-2 infernus pistol, 1 power fist.
10 assault marines-240
-Sergeant with thunder hammer, 2 melta guns
10 assault marines-240
-Sergeant with thunder hammer, 2 melta guns
FAST ATTACK
Vanguard veterans-220
-2 storm shields, Sergeant with thunder hammer
Vanguard veterans-220
-2 storm shields, Sergeant with thunder hammer
2000
This army is very good for demonstrating a SWOT technique, because it has a one dimensional play style and obvious weaknesses in certain match ups.
First is the Primary analysis, where I analyze all 4 factors in the list. Opportunities and Threats are done in a very general sense. Stay mindful of certain armies that you can crush, and how to crush them. Threats works the same way. Keep everything fairly general here - you aren’t looking closely for specifics. This is useful because, at local events, you often have an idea of the meta. So if you know several players like to run a certain archetype you are weak against, you should probably avoid taking that army. Or, make changes in the army list itself to compensate
Primary analysis. Trying to keep it simple, I'll go for 5 characteristics per section in this example.
Secondary analysis. This is used to determine your opportunities and threats in certain, very specific, match-ups. Since your list's strengths and weaknesses have not changed, you don’t need to analyze those again.
So here, I'll compare my jumpers to Willydstyle’s IG match up wise.
70 Primaris Psyker
50 Platoon Command Squad w/ 3 Grenade Launchers
55 Chimera
70 Infantry squadw/ ML, GL
65 Chimera w/ heavy stubber
70 Infantry squadw/ ML, GL
65 Chimera w/ heavy stubber
65 Special Weapon Squad w/ 2 flamers, demolition charge
65 Special Weapon Squad w/ 2 flamers, demolition charge
100 Veterans w/ 3x melta guns
65 Chimera w/ dozer blade
100 Veterans w/ 3x plasma guns
55 chimera
225 3x hydra flak battery
160 Manticore
160 Manticore
270 2x Devil Dogs w/ dozer blades, hull heavy flamers, smoke launchers
140 Vendetta w/ heavy bolter sponsons
140 Vendetta w/ heavy bolter sponsons
Total: 2000 points
Conclusion
Based on this analysis, I would say that Willy has the upper hand. My army is limited to deep striking, and trying to hit him as hard as possible turn 2. Knowing this, he can deploy in a way to mitigate that, and then destroy enough of my stuff with AP2 weaponry that I simply cannot win.
In summary;
Step 1 - Write up an army list you like, and think would be good competitively.
Step 2 - Analyze its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, as honestly and best you can.
Step 3 - Make any changes you need to and want to, based on problems you notice through this method.
Any complaints or lavish praise should be addressed to Manus, preferably in the comments.
