How to Win – SWMs Article Series by Billiv15
Part 1 – Playing to Win
To begin this article series, I need to explain a couple of key issues and components. First, this series of articles are intended for players who want to take their game to the next level. Star Wars Miniatures is a spectacular strategy game and fans of all types have picked it up and enjoyed it in a great many ways. I will admit, some of this information can be helpful to the beginner, but its really intended for those who are a little more advanced, those who know most of the rules, play on a semi-regular basis, and those who already participate in tournament play. So if you are a beginner, feel free to enjoy these articles, and glean from them what you can, but recognize, I am not going to fully explain everything that you might not be familiar with at this time. For the intermediate and advanced players, I hope you will find this series enlightening and helpful for you to take your game to the next level. For the expert player, well, you probably already are aware of everything I will say. These articles are designed to lay out the mindset, the principles that I follow, and the practices that I have used in Star Wars Miniatures tournament play. If you apply these guidelines, I am not promising you will all one day win Gencon, but you will find the game has a completely different level of strategy and fun that most people have never witnessed. And this article in particular, is meant to help you learn about the next level of competitive SWMs. I recognize that many people won’t be interested in this type of competition, but for those for whom are interested, well then, these articles are for you.
To start this out, and to set the context for what I am about to discuss in this first article, I recommend everyone familiarize yourselves with the concepts laid out by Sirlin (a video game expert). Here is a link to the article, “Playing to Win part 1” of which I would be remiss, if I did not acknowledge its importance in this first article in particular.
http://www.sirlin.net/articles/playi...in-part-1.htmlOvercoming our mental obstacles:
As Sirlin explained, the principles he is describing can be applied to pretty much any competitive game. But I think they serve a very unique and profound purpose for SWMs. Any Star Wars game will attract the usual audience, the general Star Wars fan, to the second-generation kid, to the hard core gamer, to the guy who just likes tournament games. SWMs is no different in that regard. What makes our game unique in comparison to the video gaming world that Sirlin participated in, however, is that this game comes into a preexisting universe. Star Wars has its “canon” of material, its rules about how things work, and its fans will spend hours debating the intricacies of just how is it that a force user controls a lightsaber. This means we have an added layer of mental obstacles to overcome about how anything Star Wars should work. The names of Special Abilities like Soresu for example, create long debates about whether or not the game mechanic really reflects accurately what the concept means in the Star Wars Universe.
So what do I say to all of that? Get over it. There is nothing wrong with discussing the issue, but when it comes to playing the game itself, it has nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with it. Some of you might be saying to yourselves, “Well I want the game to feel like Star Wars….” And while I respect your issue and do participate in these types of discussions often on the boards, when it comes to playing the game, the only thing that matters are the rules. You need to make a clear separation in your mind between the two issues, as they are really completely unrelated to one another. In our example of Soresu, it is nothing more than a special ability that allows a save of 11 to negate melee attack damage, and that’s it. These discussions are great fun I know, but at the end of the day, you have not improved your game by it. And that is really what we are talking about when it comes to competitive play.
The second major mental obstacle that players face is due to preconceived notions of what tournament play really is. Players will say, “Tier 1 (or the Meta squads) are boring to play. Every game is the same” or “I like playing the Dark Horse Band” or “I would never play cheese”. All of these statements are representative of the mental blocks Sirlin addressed in his articles. And all of them are in some way, false statements. In actuality, the people saying these things are almost universally hypocritical in their statements. They all run tier 1 minis, they just run them wrong and/or build their squads poorly. Their definitions of “cheese” basically applies to whatever figures and strategies they have recently lost to. These definitions are constantly changing because it represents nothing about their problems with the game itself, but a false sense of control that they have created.
In reality, the complexity and diversity in Tier 1 SWMs play is much wider than what these players play themselves. They just don’t understand it. So let’s go through these complaints and see if I can’t change your mind about how you think about them.
First, what is Tier 1? This will be the topic of another article so I will be brief, just to ensure we are on the same page. Tier 1 is a designation that players give to whatever minis or squads are currently winning consistently. Some of these are obvious such as a squad containing General Grevious Droid Army Commander. Others much less so. Of particular note, is that there is really never a static list. The best players are always, always adapting their squads and play styles. What is winning at any given time is simply a matter of choice, rather than a true reflection of any minis real in game power. People mistake this for all kinds of oddball things and constantly misuse the name to refer to a small number of pieces they “refuse to play with because it’s cheesy”. As soon as a Meta is established, the best players set about breaking the Meta immediately, before it is even universally accepted on the boards. It is never acceptable to attach a label to players using Tier 1 squads such as Cheesy, or Boring. That is a mental excuse you have created to defend your sub par skills at squad building and strategy. There is nothing Cheesy or Boring about it.
How do you suppose a squad obtains the title “Tier 1” to begin with? I often see people say things like, “Tier 1 squads are obvious.” But that isn’t really the normal experience. The intricacies often associated with Meta play are much smaller and more significant than most players recognize. I often lift up the example of my choice of using a bodyguard instead of General Dodonna at the Gencon Masters in 2008. Most players will look at the squad variants of Speedy Cannon and underplay the significance of the difference. Looking back, the top tier seems “obvious” to most players. But it’s the looking ahead that separates the top players from the rest of the pack. So how do Tier 1 squads come about? Generally, a great player uses it with success, and writes about it on the forums. It is when the squad is net-decked by local players that the cries usually begin about stale Meta or how boring tier 1 is, but that original great player has already moved onto the next level of play and is making counters and counter counters.
Well, this is exactly where you have gone wrong. You are blaming the wrong issue. It isn’t the squad you are losing to. It’s your mental attitude. If an average or bad player wants to net-deck a squad and run it 5 weeks in a row at the LGS, then he/she has already done half your work for you. This person is doing this for only one reason; they want to win. Of course what they don’t realize, is that have actually handed you the win if you are simply willing to move past your mental challenges and take it. In another article, I will talk about how to assess your Meta and beat it on a regular basis, but for now, think of what should be obvious to most players, that they completely ignore. If you know what your opponent is going to run every week, all you have to do is figure out how to beat that one particular squad type. The only reason venues get “stale” is because the other players don’t really want to do the work to keep it interesting. Star Wars Minis is a strategy game, and one aspect of it is squad building. If your plan is to simply throw together some random pieces each week, then you have no right to complain about your losses. Heck, your opponent at least went to the work to find a squad online, so it should be no surprise when you lose to him or her. Tier 1 squads do not obtain this level because they are significantly better than all the other options out there. They are often only marginally better, and sometimes not even that. They get this designation because the players using it are winning with it.
This brings us to the third mental block of the SWMs player – that the “Power Squad” is what beat me. I will also be covering this topic in more detail later, but for now I will say this. Rarely, perhaps 1 out of 100 games are you actually beaten simply by the opposing squad. We often debate how much influence game outcomes are based on the varying factors, like squad construction, strategy and tactics, Meta assessment and the random dice rolls. But suffice it to say, the non-serious player, almost always blames factors that are not in his or her control, like the opposing squad. The greatest proof of this I can give you is right in front of most of our faces. Think for a second about which players usually win your sealed events. Is it the person who most often wins your regular constructed events? At the Alliance and Empire release event, I pulled Yomin Carr and Han Solo on Tauntaun as my two rares. In the first game I faced Mara Skywalker Jedi. I won easily. In round two, I faced a guy with a dream combo of Han Solo in Stormtrooper Armor and Aurra Sing, Jedi Hunter. And again, I won handily. At Gencon 2005, we played a 100pt sealed event where you received one booster and a Clone Wars starter. I ended up using a squad of General Kenobi and a Reek. In the second round I beat a guy with Darth Vader Jedi Hunter, and in the third round, I was one hit (4 block saves made by the other player) from doing it again. The good players win these events much more consistently than the average player because they don’t necessarily need to pull the best pieces to do it. At the midnight release for Clone Wars, I won it with Anakin Skywalker, Champion of Nelevaan and Baris Offee, Jedi Knight.
You are almost never beaten solely by the opposing squad. When we step back into the constructed play, how can we apply this principle? Does this mean we can simply ignore squad construction then? That is not at all what I am saying. The best players build the best squads, and they play them better than you. It’s why some players can take a less than ideal squad variant, win consistently with it, but another player will lose every game. Squad construction is an important part of the over all strategy of this game, but that only extends as far as the player running the squad understands the squad, knows the match ups, executes the strategy, adapts to his opponent, and the rolls of the game.
Consider this scenario. MtMagus and I, sit down to play out a given match up of tier 1 squads. We decide to play 10 games of this exact same squad match up. Do you think it would get boring after a couple of games? Do you think the games would look exactly the same? Absolutely not! Nothing about one game would look like the second. And I am not even considering the random dice rolls. Each of us, will have learned from the previous games and will adapt, and then we will adapt on the other’s adaptations, and so on. In this scenario, none of the games would look anything like prior games, and if either of us tried to repeat the previous game’s success, the other one would dominate the match, because we would counter each other’s choices.
The fourth major mental block is the issue of really how wide the top tier really is. Players generally think it’s rather small. Its really not. Even in top-level competitive play, the very tiniest of squad details can make a difference. There are never truly only a few competitive squads, heck, in just variants on those alone there are at least 20-30 different squads, and beyond that are those that people have simply chosen not to play that particular event, but very well might bring it at another. So how wide is it? Well that depends on your Meta and your preparation. A great player can recognize a given figures abilities and deficiencies and maximize the effects of the former, and minimize the latter, to the point that a mini others would never consider top tier, can be. It isn’t as simple as saying what I often hear from people in response to this concept, “Well, that only works because its you playing it Bill”. Wrong! It works because the theory is sound. It works because the strategy is there, and is executed correctly in a given situation. It works because the person I am playing generally has dismissed the given piece as not top tier and then doesn’t expect how I use it.
And finally, the infinite logic loop of self-deception. A lesser player often creates his/her own set of squad building rules, such as “I only play Vong or NR” or “I will never play Han Cannon because it’s too cheesy and easy to run”. And then these players can wrongly conclude that any time they lose to one of those squads, it was only because the other player was using “cheesy” squads or tactics. What eludes them is that even the best combos in the game can be countered. And you don’t necessarily need hate to do it. Some players can naturally figure this out based on a wide knowledge and experience with tactical gaming, but almost all will need to at some point play with the “cheesy” squad to really figure it out. When you play a given squad, you learn the intricacies of how it works, where it works, where it won’t, when to use the gimmick, and went to hold back. It is then that you can actually begin to prepare your counter squads and tactics to actually deal with the threat effectively. There is a reason that the best players in the world can take an otherwise lower tier squad and beat you with a tier one squad so easily. Generally, its because they know your squad as well as you, if not better, and have already thought one step ahead, in how to counter it. Of course the tragic loop begins, because the lesser player, who really wants to win games with his “Dark Horse” or “Rogue Band” could actually learn to do so effectively in many cases. But they will never learn it because they have built up this mental block that keeps them from learning how to do it.
I give you an example from my personal experience. Remember Black and Blue? If you don’t know what I am talking about, here is the link.
http://the-holocron.com/index.php?op...d=97&Itemid=50Once Bounty Hunters released, Lord Vader Black and Blue (or Vader Jedi Hunter for those who played 200 more commonly) dominated many local venues. So naturally, the best players in the world began to figure out ways to deal with it. One of those ways at 150 was Jedi Weapon Masters together with Mon Mothma. Basically, force Lord Vader to face a riposte and a death swing from 4 different Jedi and essentially kill himself. Against a lesser player who could not adapt, well that was the end of B&B and they moved on to play another squad. About 6 months later I was challenged to a Vassal game of this very match up to prove a point, that B&B was not dead. I changed up the tactics, and did something the other player had never seen or thought of. I used Thrawn offensively. I repeatedly put his JWMs into the Force Bubble while my Lord Vader would swap just outside it, to allow me to spend the FPs for Assault and Rage. He eventually killed Thrawn, but I won the game easily. Now, while Black and Blue wasn’t exactly a true “Dark Horse”, in this particular match up, it absolutely fits the bill, as very few people had bought into my argument about how to win the supposedly “auto-loss” match for Lord Vader. You see the best action, isn’t always to simply dismiss a squad because of a loss, but rather, to rethink what you are doing, and what options you might use differently the next time. And in this case, I was able to adapt, because I knew what the JWM squad had going for it, and where its weaknesses could be located. I recognized that Thrawn didn’t have to survive for me to win the match, rather, he could be used offensively, if timed properly, to provide protection for Lord Vader, both with force immunity, and as a distraction for my opponent.
What I am trying to illustrate is that there is a massive depth to the competitive game that the lesser player has never seen or realized because of their own self-inflicted limits. If you want to play the odd squad and win a game or two, that’s great, but you have to work at it. You have to stop blaming others, stop blaming their squads, stop blaming the dice and start looking with new eyes at your game. Talk to your opponent after a game and see if there were things that you or he/she could have done better. After a loss think about what you could have done to tweak your squad, your set up, or your map choice to better prepare for that particular match up. If you want to stop your local players from always running the same stuff, the power is in your hands. Complaining might convince one of them for a time to change on their own, but generally it’s not the best solution. You can change it by beating them consistently. If you want a piece to be better than you think it is, it might well be that it isn’t the piece, but the player using it. Instead of complaining about how it should have had X power or a higher Y, its on you the player to figure out how to make it work.
I am not denying that there are differing power levels, and that some pieces are better than others. That is a reality in any collectible game with 600+ pieces available to it. Some combinations of abilities will always be better than some other possible combinations. But those combos have to be run and executed by the player, to truly be seen. That also doesn’t mean that once we have found said combo, that there aren’t other ones out there better than it, or counter to it. It is almost without exception that in fact this is the case. I constantly hear people say things like, “I can’t wait until the next set because I am so tired of the same old Meta squads.” You are tired because you have limited your own game to those squads and to that Meta. It is within your power to change it, and within your power to even make your opponent change it. If you want to win at Star Wars Miniatures, then get to work.
Until next time,
Billiv15
I really don't think it would have that kind of draw. In the end, I want as many people to read them as possible.