My reference is a marvellous website located here, made by John Watson. I will speak of the gaming angle of the points Sun Tzu makes.
Firstly, Sun Tzu was a General and master
strategist for China around 500 BCE. Some credit the “Art of War” treatise with
his descendant, Sun Bin, who lived in the early 300’s BCE. Regardless the Art
of War has been an insightful and influential work in overcoming problems of
all sorts, in particular warfare. Anyways, on with the article.
Five Constant Factors
The art of war is governed by five constant
factors: Moral Law, Heaven, Earth, Commander, and Method and Discipline.
Moral Law
signifies the accord with the rules of the game. The rules are constant until a
new edition or revision. If you do not know the rules, would gamers will
help teach them to you. If you continually don’t know the rules and misquote
them, you will not be successful in finding people to play against.
Heaven
signifies the environment you play in, or your gaming zone. How many players of
the game you play are in your area? What is the gaming area available? Is it a
chaotic schedule of events or a regular night. The larger your player base and
better your gaming schedule and playing area is, the more games you can play
and want to play.
Earth signifies the terrain you play with. Terrain does not have to be pretty but it has to make sense and be functional. A new player should look at a hill and tell what side is difficult terrain and what side is sloping normal terrain.
Commander
signifies the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and
strictness. Wisdom benefits strategy. Sincerity promotes trust. Benevolence
eliminates arguments. Courage encourages boldness. Strictness adds experience.
All these things lead to a commander you want to play against. To increase your
virtues in a game are things to aspire to in order to make you the
commander.
Method and Discipline signifies the army you play with, how they are supplied and how
they are brought to the battlefield. If you have an army that is not proxied,
in good repair, varied, in secure containers and have reliable means to get to
your gaming events then you are most of the way there. If your army is nicely
painted, custom built, custom carrying device, arrive to gaming events early
and often, and have the newest additions, then your method and discipline are
strong.
These constant factors individually make
for a good gamer. Together they make for a great one. When many gamers have the
constant factors then you have a fantastic gaming community.
Part 1 Basics
All warfare is based on deception.
Further to this: if you can attack, make it seem like you cannot. When you are
close, make it seem like you are far away. When far away, make it seem you are
close. If you make your units seem where
they are not by using terrain and maneuverability to your advantage, you can
guide them to where you are stronger. For instance, in the game Warmachine,
Constance Blaze has a spell Crusader’s call. It adds two inches of movement to
units charging near Blaze. I used this spell the turn after placing my units
close enough to where I believed my enemy would move their front lines. It
surprised my enemy as his plans did not envision me getting that close with a
charge attack. He did not think I could attack and my army seemed to be further from his front lines because of this. Opposite to this, I could have told him that I had this spell. This would make him hesitate to move closer if that was what I wanted to do.
Hold out baits to entice the enemy.
Feign disorder and crush him. Sometimes you have to
sacrifice a weak force to destroy a larger force. That way a small force can
draw him out and you can strike from strength and surprise. If your forces are scattered across a table but can strike at almost any point on that table, you have feigned disorder.
If he is secure at all points, be
prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. A fortified foe is a tenacious foe. You must either strike at his defences or wait for him to exit them. If your foe has the upper hand, do not allow him to strike. Move away until you have the upper hand. As well, moving away does not mean running away. Move to a fortifyable position, difficult terrain or anything to put distance or a terrain peice between you both to block his attack.
If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If you have an annoying tactic, unit of model then use it if it will upset your opponents plans. Get him to focus on it while you attack from strength. If you lose small amounts of models over time, an opponent may feel invincible. The game is not over until there is a winner and a winnner may have the weaker force at the beginning of the game.
If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. Do not give your opponent time to breathe and think. If playing timed games, conduct your turn quickly while making bold attacks and your opponent may flounder. If they did not have a good plan it will be a bad plan when they cannot change it fast enough.
If his forces are united, separate them. If the enemy has units everywhere but where they are needed, you can strike where he cannot strike back.
Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected. If you divulge to your opponent your goals and plans, they can plan against it. Do not be predictable and you will always have suprise.
Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose. Eisenhower once said that plans are nothing but plans are indispensable. You have to be flexable and planning helps you attain that flexability by thinking of options and strategies.
Thats it for part 1. Next will be part 2, Waging War.
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