half hour games even with 200 points? That's awfully quick. I can pull off 150 in that time, but I play too carefully in just about all 200 games.

If they're fun games 200 can go that fast. Nobody holds back or agonizes over movement/attacking options in fun games. Its pretty much a free for all.

At the local comic shop I play at we don't use gambit, but I've never seen anyone even try to win on points. We always play till the earth is entirely scorched.

I'd never be this rude at the LCS, since I don't know anyone there except superficially, but amongst my the guys in my D&D game, who play with squads built from my collection, even the suggestion that you could win by locking yourself in a room after killing a 5pt piece would draw boos, hisses and weeks and weeks of mockery. If one of them pulled something like that I can pretty much guarantee you someone would mentioned it everytime he killed a baddy. "Jance kills the degenerate serpent man. I assume he runs and hides in a closet now?"

I can totally see why someone would do it (if it were legal) in a completion where there was big money on the line, or a big buy-in. Or someone was like "Win or you die!" But seriously, short of that it's a cheese strategy that should always result in cries of "cheese eating closet monkey!"

I don't really like the idea of gambit though. It creates an artificial pressure on the battlefield, essentially imposing a specific scenario (king of the hill) on what should be a more flexible game. There are many strategies that fall far short of locking yourself in the closet (for the win!) that don't work with gambit. A good Rebel Run 'N Gun squad can run circles around another team, taking full advantage of the rebel factions mobility, but if that team it's fighting gets points for camping in the right spot, that discourages a mobile strategy to some extent. I just don't see any need for it unless it's for a scenario or high stakes competitive tournament.

This is against only certain other players. There is one friend that i play that runs similar squads. I run Jedi. He runs NR Mara. Whoever wins init 3 wins the game. Half the time we dont even play it out.

It must be nice to play at a venue where the other players just march their melee figs up the board.