How to Win Wargamesby Tom Setzer and Erik SetzerThe following article is a primer on how to win wargames consistently. Even though the article is somewhat aimed at beginners, the advice contained within can also be used by more advanced players. This is the same advice I've been giving to gamers for many years, many of whom became successful playing wargames. I hope you enjoy the article and can take something from it as well!
Choosing an Army First off, you need to know what army you should be playing. To do this, you must learn which is best for you. Not every army will work for you, so you need to find out how your tastes and how you play the game will apply to choosing an army that works for you. Go to your local store or gaming club and watch several people play. Ask a few players to let you command their armies and play a few games with them. This will help you learn the strengths, weaknesses, and playing styles of different armies. Try to do this with as many armies as you can. This will give you a pretty good idea of which army suits your style of play and your particular learning curve, as some armies are more oriented to a certain playing style and some may be harder to learn than others. Don't choose an army solely on the basis that you like the way it looks. Also, don't listen to the hype about an army. Hype is just that: people talking up an army because they have a certain bias toward it. Just because a friend thinks an army is cool and works well for him doesn't mean you'll have all that much fun with it. Similarly, an army that looks 'cool' may not be all that much fun to play, and you could wind up losing with it more often than you win (which is fine if your goal isn't winning consistently, but not if you're playing the game to win as well as have fun modeling, painting, collecting, and socializing). Make sure you get an army that suits you, so that your style of playing and your mind set will complement the strengths of the army and downplay its weaknesses. If you're more into the feel of massed melees and/or one on one combat, don't go with an army that uses a lot of missile fire. In the end, you'll only lose a lot of games and have very little fun while you're at it. If you decide to pick an army that is biased toward hand to hand, remember that it will still need some troops able to lay down supporting missile fire for the melee units. The winningest armies are those that combine both missile and close combat units. If you like a predicatable army that is well trained, stable, and dependable, you should choose an army that fits those traits. Don't try using a volatile army like barabarians or irregulars that might not be dependable. Your idea of tactics will be unsuitable, and you'll find your plans falling apart as your troops do unpredictable things that don't go along with your plans.
Knowledge is Power The phrase may be cliché, but it's also very true. The more you know, the better prepared you will be to face an opponent and win. It's important not only to know your own style of play and your own army's abilities, but also those of your opponents. You should do all that you can to learn the strengths and weakness of the armies you'll be playing against. Play a few games with and against each of the armies, using a different army at every opportunity. Borrow from a friend if you need to, or just use proxy figures if your friends will let you. This will allow you to learn what works best for those armies, and how they win, as well as what weaknesses they may have. The best way to learn an army's strengths and weaknesses is by commanding that army. Even if you can't play an army, you should try to get a copy of its army list or book. Having all of the army lists will allow you to study their rules, including the stats of their troops and vehicles, and any army special rules. Borrow a friend's book or magazine if you need to. If you have the money, buy them yourself. Having a complete library of the game books and all articles applying to the game or army you are playing in both gaming and history magazines is very useful, as you can remind yourself often of what a certain army can do. History magazines will show you what ancient and midieval commanders did with a force similar to yours, so don't ignore them! Also, check out the history and military sections of your local library or bookstore. Researching your chosen army (or armies) and period(s) can be a very enjoyable part of the hobby. Do your reconnaissance! Just like real military commanders, you need your intelligence. Don't stumble blindly into a battle. Take every chance you can to observe your opponents playing. Learn what their favorite tactics are, their special troops and weapon combinations, how they use terrain. This will let you counter their tactics more easily. Question other players who have beat them, so you can find out what works against them. Find out every bit of information you can about your opponent, and take that knowledge into battle with you. In the words of Sun Tzu, "Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself you are certain in every battle to be in peril."
Designing a Balanced Army As any good player can tell you, it takes a well balanced force to win a tournament or campaign. When you're preparing to play in a competitive environment such as a tourney or campaign, use the knowledge you have obtained to design an army that can meet most, if not all, threats it will face. To do this, you must build an army with a good combination of missile and assault capabilities. You'll also need to put together a good mix of infantry, cavalry, heavy troops, skirmishers, artillery, and chariots, if you have access to these units. A special note of consideration should be made for the great chariot armies in ancients wargaming. They aren't easy to use, so I don't recommend you play with a chariot army if you are a novice player. Your elite troops are not always the best troops to have in your army. Most of the time, the best units in your army will be the ones you're required to take (ie, Core Units in Warhammer) and/or historically used as mainstay units. Even though most armies do not have specialists as basic units, no army can win without their basic troops. These are often flexible units that can be used in a number of roles. They can plug a gap in your line, lend some aid in an assault should the need arise, and hold objectives, not to mention protecting your missile units and artillery. Remember, cavalry and infantry should support each other. For this reason, you should select infantry and cavalry units that complement each other. It's no good having a heavy, slow-moving cavalry unit when almost your entire army is already heavy, slow-moving units. Get some speedy light units to flank your opponents with! Conversely, if you already have an abundance of light units, it's worth grabbing some heavier units to act as shock troops.
Tactical Studies One of the best ways to learn how to win with your army is to increase your knowledge of tactics. The quickest and easiest way to do this is to hunt down every tactics article you can find that applies to your army, fighting in certain situations, or just the game in general. Take what you read with a grain of salt until you try it out. You find a lot of tactical gems in the articles scattered across the web and in both gaming and historical publications, but there are also some rather silly and, dare I say, stupid ideas out there. You might find a trick that will win game after game for you, but you're also likely to find a number of idiot moves that will only get your troops slaughtered. Avoid cheesy combinations of equipment or gimmick troops in any genre, or magic items in fantasy wargames. Those will never win you games, and will only earn you the scorn of your opponents. Read up on some battle reports and watch a few games involving your army. If you are playing a historical wargame, read some history books about your chosen army to learn more about them. Don't just check out battles in which your army wins. You can learn something from winning, but more often than not you will learn a great deal more from losing. Only by experiencing defeat will you find out how to overcome it with consistency. Don't be afraid to talk to people who've lost with the army you're playing. Most players are humble enough to discuss their losses and what they've learned from them.
Missions and Scenarios There's not enough room in this article to discuss what to do if you're the attacker or defender in every scenario that could arise in a wargame, so this section is dedicated only to giving you some general advice for such games. The first rule in any mission or scenario is to never forget the objective. Don't let yourself be distracted by your opponent and his troops. If you allow yourself to be drawn into a massive melee, it is very possible that you will forget about grabbing table quarters or jumping on an objective until it is far too late. Likewise, don't go off attacking units that are not your main target if you can help it. If you must, only dispatch a small portion of your army to take out these threats. Your main force should concentrate on achieving your objectives. In many scenarios, you can have 75% casualties while your opponent has only 10% casualties, and you will still win if you follow the mission's guidelines. However, if you can take out opposing threats while still achieving your main objective, it's advisable to do so. Most scenarios have special rules. It's important to know these special rules and how to compensate for them. For example, you could be fighting a night time battle against an assault-oriented army with an army based around missile fire. To compensate for the short range, try to keep moving your troops around and set them up so that any unit that comes in range of one of your units will also be in range of one or two others, giving you a better chance to take apart your opponent's force as it shows up in the night. Another problem is scouting units that move ahead of the main force; though you might have some yourself. Don't count on these units always popping up. If you have troops that use forward-positioning rules, make provisions for having to use them without their abilities. If your opponent has access to such troops, try to have a few units that will help combat them, such as a reserve and/or flank unit ready to fire upon or assault any unit that appears too close to your line. Even though it was stated above, it's worth repeating. Never, ever, forget your mission objectives! If you do, you are bound to lose the mission, no matter how much death and destruction you rain upon your opponent's forces. Never has a battle been won in the history of warfare by forgetting why the battle is being fought. The same is true for any wargame.
Terrain Many great battles have been won or lost on the involved generals'
ability to exploit the terrain of the battlefield. Woods, rivers, hills, swamps - they all
provide a tactical advantage waiting to be exploited. Terrain can have many effects, from
slowing down troops to giving them cover or a better position from which to fire upon
their enemies. Before we leave the subject of terrain, it is important to note that terrain can have an adverse affect on your overall battleplan and the formation of your army. If the center of the table is dominated with difficult and impassable terrain, you'll likely be making many flank attacks. If the sides of the table are congested with terrain, then a push across the center of the battlefield may be necessary. Sometimes, it is neccessary to split your forces to move around a large obstacle, though this can be used to your advantage as you hit your opponent with two forces from different sides of his army. Try not to ever let the terrain totally dictate your battleplan; predictability loses more games for a general than many other factors combined.
Conclusion I hope you've learned something new from reading this article, and gained some insight into how to build a winning army and take it to victory in a wargame. As you gain more experience and get better at winning, try out a few other armies and give them a shot. Winning consistently is fun; doing it with a variety of armies is even more fun!
Suggested Reading Here are a few books to get you started on learning tactics and strategy for wargaming in both historical and fantasy genres. This list is just a primer; there are several more books you should read. Take a trip to your local library or bookstore and find out what other books are available.
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