Ok so final Lesson today on bringing it all together.  I have sent out a lot of stuff in the past week or so, much of which may be incomprehensible to you.  Probably because my writing is terrible, or I don’t proofread anything, or I think its fine when its actually just terribly bad.  But hopefully there has been some good stuff in there as well.   A great friend of mine, you could almost call him a mentor, once said that anyone can achieve greatness, all you need is Practice, Perseverance and Passion.  Patience probably gets a run as well for me, something I always have to try and work on. J  So to really be good at Warhammer, you need to practice as often as possible.  You need to persevere, even when you are getting smashed.  And finally, the thing I think we all have, is be passionate about playing games.  If you combine these things together you will eventually improve. 

The one thing you can spend a lot of time on is preparation.  To be honest, I probably play one game outside of tournaments every month.  I rarely get practice games, the most I have ever had before an event was two, and that was the Masters last year.  But this does not mean I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the game, preparing army lists, strategies for combating specific armies, potential weaknesses in my lists, reading up on the new armies and talking with other players (better than me) that have had actual game experience.  All these things will improve your game eventually. 

As I said in Lesson 3, practicing without a purpose will achieve very little.  If you try and cram too much into a game, then you will probably take 5 hours to play it.  At the start of the game, consider what you really want to improve on, maybe it’s the movement phase, maybe you want to get more out of your combats and how you challenge etc.  Then just keep at it.  The more you play, the better you will get at noticing things like Panic areas, charging arcs, potential overruns, roll on combat possibilities, shooting LOS, countercharges and all the other little things that the greats of the game (like Charles Black) will remember without thinking about it.  The best person to practice with is someone who is much, much better than you, and who is also prepared to give you advice on your army and the game. 

So, just like Jerry Springer, here is my final thought:  I don’t play the game of Warhammer to win games.  I don’t play tournaments to win events, although making the Masters is a lot of fun and I do want to be successful.   My number one focus is playing for enjoyment.  Winning games is completely secondary to having fun.  But sometimes it can get disheartening getting smashed every game, so improving how you play can equate to more fun for you and your opponents.  Contrary to popular opinion, some of the best games I have ever had have been close run things between myself and another great player.  The to and fro of two equally matched armies, with the initiative swapping between both players at any moment makes for the most exciting, interesting and challenging games. 

Good luck with your games guys.  It is now time to open the floor to any questions and the many accolades I will no doubt receive for this masterpiece of literary work.

For more elucidation on the topic of better Warhammer play, I recommend you investigate my video series known as A Dogs Breakfast, perhaps in future episodes I will look at tactics and things like that. Maybe.  Just watch them anyway.  They are funny.

Cheers

Trent