The Philosophy of The Winner.

The philosophy of the winner.

  

This is a Warmachine and Kendo blog, with an intent to draw parallels between martial arts and miniature war gaming. Specifically between fighting styles and ways to present and disassemble conflicts or encounters, from a table top perspective problems and answers.

This post gets quite esoteric, but in the future I plan to have much more specific and applicable advice.

 

Tim Bankey had said in a podcast that part of his training program was to support the development of personal growth through the game. People came to him because they wanted to be better players. By being a better player I believe it leads us to be better people. This philosophy is at the heart of most martial arts. 

This Deathclock Has 60 Minutes.

The development of a player continues through years and years of experience.

I can think of few other martial arts where once the grade has been achieved you can still expect to win or lose gracefully to a less experienced player. Yet the development of a player continues through years and years of experience. You don't get shodan and expect to be un beatable, likewise you don't get to 7th dan and have that expectation either. 

Every match is its own entity with its own possibilities and as has been memed you can play the perfect game and still lose.

If any body picks up an army or shinai and waves it around, they probably wont do too well. But with a little training they can start to get it right. With a lot of training they start to carve in the patterns which may result in successes now and then. To win consistently, they need to be able to drawn upon the repeated practice, consistent successful experience and not make any mistakes. The truth of why we lose however I think is more to do with the concept of playing against yourself, rather than against your opponent.

So whats the point of doing Kendo for 30 years if I am still going to get punked by 18 year olds with 2 years of high school kendo under their belt?
The point is it is a path of personal development. I don't gauge my success on whether I win or lose so much, but on how far I have come. New practitioners encounter this wall a few months into their training. Plenty of times a player may think they have scored a perfect hit, but have not been awarded the point. Its almost seen as a bias towards more experienced or even Japanese players. Judges and teachers seem to focus more on all of the components of the strike, and use this as a reason for their judgement. So I could say, "Hey man I hit this guy like 5 times on the head before he even struck my glove, why did he win and I lose?" The answer is that I did not have "true" strikes.
This concept of a true strike is built into the foundation of Kendo. The mind and body must be in harmony to deliver a well timed and coordinated strike. If any part of the motion of the body betrays doubt in the mind of the attacker, then the strike will not be true, and thus not awarded. This is less of a representation of making an attack that would fell your opponent in one hit, but more of a display of self determination and control. 

As the saying goes, he who hesitates is lost, and such a saying is no truer than in a sword fight. If you can read the hesitation in your opponent then you have the opportunity to strike a winning blow.  Therefore if you get hit by your opponent, it is not a sign of their skill as much as it is a sign of your weakness. You may have had a lapse in concentration, confidence or courage and this created an opportunity for your opponent to overcome you. This psychological battle is key to Kendo and I would say to any competitive environment. The answer, in Kendo is to develop a fortitude of mind. To become hyper aware of your own state of mind and body and in this way overcome your opponent through strength of will. Strikes in Kendo can happen so fast, and almost simultaneously. This leads to the judgement system of a true strike to be a necessity. It distills it down from want-to-be-jedi going at each other with nerf bats to the confrontation of wills in a battle of self awareness. (not that beating eachother with nerf bats isn't fun, it is. And so Games Workshop is still a popular and successful company.)

Now look at Warmachine. Its not always your skill that wins you the game, its capitalizing on your opponents mistakes. This in fact is the key skill. Much like a Kendo player will seize upon the opportunity his opponent has opened for him. Your opponents mistakes come about through mis-placement, mis-judgement and mis-informed decisions and you without hesitation seize these opportunities.
I would argue that to not make these mistakes you need to know your own rules, know your enemies rules and dont tilt. This in other words is: know yourself, know your enemy and stay true. Because you dont want to give your opponent a mistake you have made, which he can capitalize on, you are essentially, as in Kendo, playing against yourself. 

Playing a good game is more important than winning.

Your skill or your level as a player, should be judged on how clean and precise a game you have played, and not on whether you have simply won or lost. Adopting this mindset allows one to play more calm, level headed and rewarding games of Warmachine. Imagine if instead of the normal victory condition, a player was deducted points for every mistake they made, like a test.
Oops left him in charge range, I let that beast frenzy, I left my jack out of control, gambled on 2 models with tough to block a charge lane, forgot about this effect, forgot to use that effect. 

It is my presumption that if you decided to become a better player, by not making those mistakes you would win more games. 

You could bring the latest op broken theme list jankery and maybe faceroll all of your opponents, but it means little if you played a sloppy game and won only on the merits of the list, or luck. On the other hand you might have played the perfect game, but simply been diced, in this case you can be happy that you played well.

In the legend of Miyamoto Musashi, he had beaten an opponent in a duel with a sword made of wood, carved from the oar of his boat. In this fight he supposedly showed up late, to specifically tilt his opponent. Who, upon seeing this unkempt, late, wooden sword wielding excuse for a samurai, was soundly defeated. Its not because Musashis wooden sword was longer, or heavier, or carved from a tree which gave him 18 free points worth of solos. He simply was a player who knew himself, knew his opponent and had the advantage of a calm confident mind over an enraged one. Now whether or not it was dirty play for him to show up late on purpose is another question. I see it as unsportsmanlike , however in a duel to the death, he could be forgiven. Thankfully Warmachine is not a duel to the death, so then people need not be so cut throat. In fact usually the simple act of remaining calm in a crisis is enough to generally unhinge all but the most resolved opponents. 

This ability to be a calmed centered person is what we might call being, cool, calm, level headed, in the zone, on fire, in a flow state, Zen, or possessing mushin. Its basically being in a mentally prepared fortress where there are no distractions to allow you to make a mistake. You don't need to think or analyze any action and everything is the result of a completely subconscious natural reaction.  The legendary Zen master Takuan Soho said: 

"The mind must always be in the state of 'flowing,' for when it stops anywhere that means the flow is interrupted and it is this interruption that is injurious to the well-being of the mind. In the case of the swordsman, it means death. When the swordsman stands against his opponent, he is not to think of the opponent, nor of himself, nor of his enemy's sword movements. He just stands there with his sword which, forgetful of all technique, is ready only to follow the dictates of the subconscious. The man has effaced himself as the wielder of the sword. When he strikes, it is not the man but the sword in the hand of the man's subconscious that strikes."

The sword in the hand of the mans subconscious that strikes. This is basically a description of the act of creating art. Warfare is an art, combat is an art, conversation, argument, essay writing. They all involve an aspect of creativity which is unlocked or catalyzed by the power of an unfettered mind. 

So keep calm and apply sentinels. 

No really, know what your units are capable of, know what the enemy is capable of. Expand your awareness to be prepared for what your opponent can do. Keep calm and do what you need to do, without over thinking it. Learn to trust yourself and grow from your mistakes.  

There is a lot more to talk about, but I am going to end this post on this advice. 

We play Warmachine to have fun, and to win.  What we can change to increase our level of fun is our concept of winning. Winning should not be going 4 and 0 at local games night. Winning is when you have witnessed your development as a player. Winning is when you learn something new or discover a way to overcome a challenge. Winning is a side effect in the state of positive change in personal development. Winning is watching your opponent dice you, not tilting and congratulating them. Winning is playing that unplayable caster, unit, or match up and playing well. Winning is building your own lists and answers, problems and skews. 

Winning is finding your own way to be a success.  

The MMA fighter Connor McGregor attributes in part some of his HUGE success in MMA to being a gamer. Others attribute part of his success to his unorthodox way of fighting.

My point is to become successful in what you love you need to locate the tools to develop your own style and practice working on the strengths your unique style has. 

Success is in imitation and innovation and accepting failure positively.

I hope we can find our own paths to becoming better people and players together.