Listening to episode 53 of Dice Like Thunder, specifically their discussion of Risk vs. Reward, spurred my mind into action. One of the points they bring up is getting too bloodthirsty in objective-based missions. It’s an easy trap to fall into; more than once, I’ve managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory because I’ve lost my focus. Rather than playing the mission at hand, I switch into annihilation mode, and while I may end up racking up more kill points, I lose the game because I didn’t seize any/enough objectives. The solution to this problem seems easy at first glance – always focus on the objective. However, this often isn’t a logical issue, but rather an emotional one. Our emotions get the better of us and pull us off the game plan. So, let’s look at the problem emotions:
Pride
It’s easy to fall prey to overconfidence. Sometimes, it’s overconfidence in one’s own position. When you feel your army is placed more securely than it actually is, it’s tempting to take additional risks just to kill more enemy models. This can occasionally lead to underestimating your opponent and overextending yourself. Before you realize what’s just happened, the objectives that you solidly controlled are now in your opponent’s hands, leaving you with little time to recover. Another form of overconfidence is placing too much value into a particular unit. By fixating too heavily on one unit and its killing capability, you can lose sight of the big picture. Worse still is if you lose the unit; with the linchpin of your tactical thinking removed, it can be hard to shift gears and maintain your battle plan.
Anger
This one’s easy to understand. The enemy aggravates you, whether by disabling/killing one of your units or surviving one of your attacks (see “Pride”, above), and you overreact, becoming more focused on dealing pain to your opponent than on completing and winning the mission. It’s easy to exploit an angry player; throw a baiting unit in the way, bloody their nose, and then pull their focus off of the objectives. Straying through anger can also come from more than just what’s happening on the table. If you’re playing an opponent who annoys you, aggravates you, or has consistently bested you, the temptation exists to bring down as much death and destruction upon them as possible just to prove a point. While it may be cathartic, it can pull your attention away from the mission’s objectives. This can lead to some tragic irony when you end up handing the game to your opponent because you’ve tried too hard to kill them, rather than focusing on beating them.
Fear
The opposite of angry play, fearing what the opponent could do to you can also lead to poor tactical decisions and draw your mind away from the mission. While it’s good to understand and respect what your opponent’s army can do, it’s easy to take that too far and focus solely on stopping them from doing what they do. This is a common trap for me as a Tau player; I dread assault units, because I know that my army does not fare well in close combat. This often leads me to go out of my way to kill any such units, rather than focus on claiming and holding objectives. This can leave me scrambling to run up a unit of Fire Warriors on turn 5 in a mad dash to claim the objective I’ve completely ignored. Also, much like angry play, fearful play can have a strong metagame component involved. Whether it’s fearing a particular player after having been tabled consistently in the past, or fearing a particular army list, entering the game with the wrong mindset can make you lose before you’ve put a single miniature on the table.
So, what’s the solution? One word: focus. Keep your mind on the mission. Don’t underestimate the opponent, but don’t overestimate them either. Don’t take the game personally. Keep your attention on the table and the task at hand. Watch the objectives, and play to win the game.
