40K Adept Interview: Geoff Zatkins
Interview with Geoffrey Zatkin
Reecius (Reece Robbins) here with some more interviews with our fellow wargamers. I was able to catch them for some 40K talk and get their input into what makes them such effective tournament players and what aspects of the hobby they enjoy best.
Reece: Geoff, thanks for taking the time to share your list and thoughts with the community.
Geoff: Always glad to chat.
Reece: How long have you been playing 40K and what armies do you play?
Geoff: I have been playing since 3rd edition came out – so about 13 years at this point.
Army wise, I have (in order of use):
1. A large Ork army that can be configured to speed freaks (my preference), as well as to horde and walker heavy
2. Witch Hunters, run entirely as a Sisters of Battle list.
3. Eldar, multiple variations (don’t play this list often, but it is fun).
4. Daemons, run entirely as a Tzeentch list.
5. A “War of the Worlds” army, played as Space Marines, custom built from a variety of GW parts to look like H.G. Wells/League of Extraordinary Gentlemen style walkers and speeders. This army uses 6 drop pod dreads, a horde of land speeders and a small force of marines.
Reece: Do you play competitively and if so, what is your preferred army for tournament play?
Geoff: I play in the local Game Empire (San Diego, California) weekly league in San Diego. Other than that, I play a four or five tournaments a year. Last year I went up to Chicago for the finals of ‘Ard Boyz – I think I came in 5th in the nation. For tournaments I bring what I usually play – versatile lists that can deal with whatever missions come up and whatever type of opponent I play.
My preferred army is mechanized Orks (Speed Freeks). I like the combination of versatile movement and hand to hand combat ability.
Reece: What type of build do you play with your Orks?
Geoff: I enjoy mobility in all of my armies, so my Ork builds are extremely mobile. My current build revolves around Battle Wagons and Trukks. Before the most recent codex, I ran a 9 Trukk army and overwhelmed people with hordes of mobile Orks. My current 2k build has 104 models, with 4 Battle Wagons and 2 Trukks. The front facing armor 14 helps ensure that the boyz get there, and the Deff Rollerz make sure that enemy transports are dead so that the boyz have something to charge.
Reece: What made you choose Orks in the first place and what was your overall strategy in designing your current tournament list?
Geoff: I love custom building Ork vehicles – that is what drew me to Orks in the first place. Almost everything I have is heavily converted / custom built.
In addition to the look, I love that Ork Troop choices are competitive. I’m a big believer that the Troops are what carry an army (especially with the current rules for claiming objectives). The fact that a mob of Ork boyz, led by a Nob with a Power Klaw and Bosspole can deal with almost anything and has good staying power makes the Orks a good Troop heavy list to run. In most lists of 1500+ points, I have 6 troop choices.
People don’t always have scoring units that fit the roles you “usually” bump into for most scenarios. For example, there are many scenarios that require you to park a Troop choice in your deployment zone on an objective. Does your army have something scoring that fills this role and doesn’t waste a Troop choice hanging out in the back field? Does your army have a scoring unit ready to claim an objective at the back of the enemy deployment zone? Or units that can hang out in the middle of the board for random game length missions?
There are a lot of other considerations. Durability of units (so that you don’t give up too many kill points), utility/versatility of the unit, movement capabilities, ability to play well with any of the standard 3 types of deployment, ability to deal with going second, etc. that factor into a good army. Additionally, you have to make sure that the army suits your style of play. Most really good armies don’t start that way – they get refined over time.
Reece: Would you consider yourself to be more of a math oriented player who focuses on points efficiency, or are you more driven by the background of the game and like to adhere to a theme?
Geoff: I spent 10 years as a professional video game designer (EverQuest was my biggest game) – and not just a designer, but a systems designer. That means that I spent over a decade professionally deconstructing and constructing rule sets – often revolving around math. This doesn’t mean that I don’t love the fluff, but my mind is wired towards the “math” side of most games.
That being said, I love challenging myself to work within a theme but to still make a competitive army list. Back when I used to play competitive Magic: The Gathering, my decks were usually things that surprised people – both because of how well they worked and the fact that they were… “different.”
Reece: What have you found to be the strengths of the list? Which type of lists would you like to see across the table from you at a tournament?
Geoff: So the list that I am currently playing in tournaments has 4 battlewagons with Deff Rollerz at 2k points. I took a variant of this to ‘Ard boyz last year (with 6 battlewagons) before battlewagons were as popular, and had been playing with this list even before that. We had the whole do they/don’t they effect vehicles – during ‘Ard boyz, they didn’t, and now they do again. I love the wall of 14 armor with Kustom Force Field support – this lets me put all of my more fragile stuff behind the wagons (safe) and move forward.
I’ve been espousing a “critical mass” theory for a while, as well as asymmetrical lists. The fact that I have no exposed troops/vehicles that don’t have armor 14 makes all of my opponent’s strength 7 and below weapons useless for the first few turns. The list does extremely well against strong vehicle lists, and is a lot of fun to play. There is something very Orky about killing enemy vehicles by ramming them or running over them with a large rolla of doom.
What list that I would like to see across from me at a tournament? One designed to kill large amounts of medium vehicles.
Reece: What have you found to be its weaknesses? What types of lists do you hope to avoid in a tournament?
Geoff: The list is vulnerable to lists optimized for destroying Land Raiders. It can also have a hard time fighting other extremely mobile lists. I’ve had quite a few minor victories in tournaments because my opponent spent the entire game running away.
Reece: I know you have had a great deal of success with your Greenskins, would you mind sharing a few of your accomplishments?
Geoff: ‘Ard Boyz last year was pretty good with a 5th place finish. I’m probably at a 90%+ win ratio with my Orks over the past 12 years.
One of my favorites was a 6 week league in San Diego at Game Empire, where you started with a 1k list. You brought the same list each week, but for each loss, you added 200 points to your list for the rest of the league. I went 6 and 0 that league, in week 6 beating my opponent’s 2000 point list with my 1000 point list.
I promptly lost the finals, running into an opponent that I just couldn’t beat with that point deficit – but going 6 and 0 in the regular weeks of play was a lot of fun.
Reece: Roughly, what would you say your win/loss/draw ratios are?
Geoff: I’ve maintained about an 85%+ win ratio since I started playing 40k – both in tournaments, leagues and even in the ‘Ard boyz. Of my 3 ‘Ard boyz experiences, having played a total of 21 games, I believe that I lost 1 of them and tied 1 other. This isn’t to say that everything was a massacre – but something in my brain is wired for strategy games.
Reece: Last year at the ‘Ard Boyz finals you showed up and found that they ruled Deff Rollas to not affect vehicles, but they had in the previous two rounds. How do you feel about that last minute rules change and how do you think it affected your performance?
Geoff: Well, it’s not my game – I play with whatever GW decides that the current rules are. I’d brought the Ork list because it is competitive and fun to play.
I have worked on Massively Multiplayer games and know how hard it is to maintain a good rule set for large audiences that invest massively in their army/character. It isn’t easy, and every change that is “good” for someone ends up being “bad” for another group. As a note, this is also why I’m not on message boards anymore. I dealt with them for so long at work as work that I have a hard time not feeling that I’m “working” when I read one.
That being said, it was disappointing to have the rules change at that point in the tournament. With the three opponents that I drew, I think that I could have won the finals using the rules for R1 and R2 Rollas – I fought 3 mechanized lists in Round 3 of ‘Ard Boyz that were perfect draws for the army I brought, had we been using the full Deth Rollaz rules. Instead, I believe that I only had 1 massacre and 2 strong victories. That being said, with different rules and different victory points, my round 2 and 3 opponents might have been completely different. 3 round tournaments are hard because of luck factor – they are highly dependent on the armies you end up fighting.
Reece: When you play, what are some of the things you try to keep in mind during a game?
Geoff: The objectives. It is amazingly easy (especially with Orks) to just go stomp and kill. You need to be thinking of how you win much earlier than that. Winning starts with your army list – designing it to be able to meet a variety of different game objectives. Winning starts with army deployment – some games are lost before the start of turn 1. Winning starts with your turn 1 movement. People that start thinking about the victory conditions turn 4 after they have a “good rousing fight” often end up losing because they played for kills and not for the scenario.
Reece: If you had one tip to give to a new player designing a list for tournament play, what would you suggest?
Geoff: Look at the basic scenarios in the main rules book. Look at the deployment methods. Design a list that will play well for all of those.
Browse around and find out “common” style tournament lists that you might have to play against. Think about what you would do if you had to play those lists.
Know your rules.
Reece: Thanks again for your insights and good luck at the Ard Boyz semifinals! I still can’t believe that you managed to pull a tie on my Wolves in our last game when it looked to be a route, but that just goes to show that you are a very skilled opponent.
Geoff: That reminds me of my final piece of advice. Sometimes your plans don’t go “as planned.” Be sure not to get yourself in the mindset of defeat – you will occasionally get lucky breaks. Be positioned to act when they happen.
Geoff’s List (2000pts):
Mad Mek Kintaz’ Speed Freakin Boyz
HQ:
Big Mek: Burna, Eavy Armor, Kustom Force Field, Cybork Body
Warboss: Power Klaw, Kombi Skorcha, Attack Squig, Bosspole, Cybork Body
Elite:
Burna Boyz x 7: Mek Boy w/ Big Shoota
Troops:
Meganobz x 3: Kombi Skorcha
Battlewagon: Big Shoota x 2, Armor Plates, Boarding Plank, Deff Rolla, Grot Rigger, Red Paint Job
Boyz x 20: Nob, Pole, Klaw, Eavy Armor
Boyz x 20: Nob, Pole, Klaw, Eavy Armor
Boyz x 20: Nob, Pole, Klaw, Eavy Armor
Boyz x 12: Big Shoota, Nob, Klaw, Pole, Eavy Armor
Trukk: Rokkit Launcha, Red paint, Ram
Boyz x 12: Nob, Klaw, Pole, Eavy Armor
Trukk: Rokkit Launcha, Red paint, Ram
Fast:
Deffkopta: Buzzsaw
Heavy:
Battlewagon: Big Shoota x 2, Armor Plates, Boarding Plank, Deff Rolla, Grot Rigger, Red Paint Job
Battlewagon: Big Shoota x 2, Armor Plates, Boarding Plank, Deff Rolla, Grot Rigger, Red Paint Job
Battlewagon: Big Shoota x 2, Armor Plates, Boarding Plank, Deff Rolla, Grot Rigger, Red Paint Job
Hi everybody. I hope you enjoyed the interview, and I would like to thank both Reece for putting it together, and Geoff for volunteering his time and list for the piece. Have at it guys.
