The four states of mind.
In this philosophical post I will introduce the four states of mind as known in Kendo or Zen, try to briefly describe them in English and relate them to the table top.
How often do you tilt? What makes you angry at the table? Are there any play style habits that get under your skin when you watch your opponents do them?Warmachine is a game, its a nerd game. Nerds are passionate people. We get passionate about fiction, thats why we are nerds and not your average sportsball dude or dudette.
So when things get a bit heated, you can be excused for your behavior. Most people would excuse you, possibly in Warmachine even more so than some other games.
Between strangers, there is generally a stronger code of ethical behavior governing their games than say, between you and your friend with whom you have played Warmachine with on every Thursday night for the last 3 years.
Because of this in competition it seems that as a general community there is less calling eachother out on dodgy play, as you would get in some other games. We owe this in part to the nice tight rule set and un ambiguous sentences created by Privateer Press. But sometimes I wonder if its not a good thing.
When I picked up Skorne, the game had just changed from mk2 to mk3. I was playing against a very excited opponent who could net deck like a boss. I was dropping Makeda3 into his mk2 style arm spam lists in Khador and Menoth. The thing is I was playing her feat much like Vyros1s feat used to be. So I would have ball busting turns when Makeda would charge in, eliminator for 3, kill 3 guys, get 3 fury back, move 6 inches, ground zero, get all her fury back, Eliminator again.
I mean it was a mistake. A terrible one. If I knew at the time, I would have forfeit the game/s immediately. But I didn't realize until weeks later when I went back to Retribution that I had been cheating terribly with Makeda3.
My opponent has moved towns. So I don`t see him much these days. Did he know what I was doing? If so why didn't he call me out on it? I think we don`t call people out as much as we should, maybe for fear of being wrong, but its a good way to get rules right. In general the house rule sometimes goes. "He never read my cards, so I technically was allowed to get away with it."
This is half true. Its an open information game. This is one of the best things about Warmachine and really helps stop a lot of conflict before it happens. But it means that the responsibility is on both players to know whats happening. The downside of this open rule system is we tend to take the other persons word for it. This is bad and I encourage everyone to read the rules yourself.
If I would be called to a table and told that player Y was misreading his card and playing wrong. My first question would be "Did player X read the card too? Did player Y read the rules of the card out to player X?" Technically if player X did read the rules out, it is a courtesy. Also technically if player Y says, "uh no" or "I didn't pay attention" Then I would say, ok either you both lose or nothing changes, using not being able to go back in time and change the table state as an excuse. I would warn player X not to do it again and I would warn player Y pay attention and read the rules.
Zanshin, the prepared mind, the perceptive mind.
残心
In Kendo, Zanshin is generally what my sensei says to me after I have made a strike and charged through. Usually while holding his shinai out in the extended guard position to demonstrate it. Zanshin translates a little to both Awareness and Preparedness. If you are as aware as possible then you are also as a consequence prepared. What it means for me practically is; Keep your guard up.What I interpret my sensei as saying is,
"Always be ready to receive or make your next attack"
This is even if your attack scored a point, and the game resets. Zanshin in this respect is one of the essential components on which your strike is judged. On one hand you need to behave like your strike is a perfect hit and on the other, you need to be prepared as if it were not. This duality enforces the nature of zanshin in that you see your action through to completion, successful or not, while constantly being aware and prepared for the necessity of the following action.
One of my favorite examples of zanshin is when removing your shoes at the door, you place the heels towards the house with the toes facing the door. This way its easier to put them on again when you leave. Or as I would have you believe, you can get out faster when the building is on fire after an earthquake. (Like I give a damn about putting my shoes on if I am fleeing a burning building, yet somehow it seems very sensible.)
Over the table top, this means paying attention to the game. Knowing which models are being activated and which ones they are engaging with. Make it clear every time which model you are pointing out. Develop a style of doing things and stick to it.
When you started playing Warmachine did you forget to feat? Forget to reposition? Forget aiming bonuses? Things get forgotten, so when your opponent is shooting unit X at unit C or charging. It helps to go over all of the active and passive effects on the unit again.
Gotcha moments, while they can be enforced are not inducive to good experiences. I certainly feel better if my opponent remembers my caster has Arcane Vortex and doesn't over commit their caster to an impossible Scourge assassination run. In a friendly or practice game I would allow a take back but in a competitive match it stands. In a friendly game I would not hesitate to remind my opponent of Arcane Vortex for example, but in a competitive game perhaps I would be more subtle.
In any case I would not position myself to ever try to take advantage of my opponents lack of awareness of rules interactions.
Eventually taking the time to pragmatically remember these passive effects and abilities as they come up means you will start to play faster smoother games. Over time these routines commit habits to muscle memory and you are less likely to forget things.
Cultivate a habit of keeping track of all of your active and passive effects. Tokens should be out for Polarity Shield or Shield Wall, but there is no harm in reminding yourself of Set Defense, Stealth, Force Barrier or Counter Charge.
Its not only passive and active effects, but threat ranges, movement distances, other non linear movements. Also things like getting your tokens out, pre writing your spell effects on the tokens, thinking about focus allocation before the end of your opponents round and target priority. If we intentionally keep these things in mind while we go through our games it will keep us prepared.
On the table top, Zanshin encompases placement and positioning too.
Tim Bankey had given advice on moving large model count armies, unpacking them as it was called. He said to try to imagine where they will be 3 turns from now. This is zanshin in practice. Every move you are making at turn 1 is with the fore site in mind of where you want the models to be by turn 2 and 3.
This can be applied to selecting table edges too and even deployment. Can you see where the opponents IFP are going to be in 3 turns? Is that where you want your MHSF to be?
Of course awareness of scenario and threat ranges come into this too. But threat ranges will be in another post.
Basically when it comes to the flow of the game its about keeping a step ahead. Paying attention and taking the time to commit rules and interactions to memory.
This comes into tactics too. Awareness due to practice, of the potency or limitations of your units will allow you to make more successful decisions more easily. I know I can expect a unit of MHSF to drop an arm 18 jack with a round of shooting but not an arm 20 jack confidently. I know I boost 7s. I know to camp 3 fury or focus as I know 3 boosted pow12s can kill most casters. I know my Artificer can swing defense enough to make whatever is thinking of shooting at whatever it is that he is protecting, consider other targets. I know people underestimate Issyria because she has no offensive abilities and I know I need the alpha strike with her to get the game under control.
These are just conclusions that I have come to in my own experience. But they supply me with confidence, expectations and an awareness of possibilities. I came to these conclusions due to practicing zanshin during my games.
Following through on these habits is what essentially cultivates...
Mushin, the clear mind, the unfettered mind.
無心
Mushin as I had touched on before involved thinking clearly. In sports its much more easily identified but even in competitive electronic gaming its visible. On the table top the flow of the game is much slower so its not as easy to be aware of.It does come down to executing practiced maneuvers without having to think about them, because you have developed confidence in your awareness of all of the rules interactions possible in this match up. How this effects the game is mostly on your clock, but to a lesser degree it also effects your confidence.
As I have said before about Kendo if any part of the motion of the body of the attacker betrays doubt in their mind, then the strike is not true. So to strike true, you must be confident.
Mushin isn't something somebody can tell me to do. I suppose I get told to relax my shoulders a lot. Which may mean that I am carrying tension in my shoulders, which would be symptomatic of stress. Having stress would mean that my mind is not calm. Meditation is a great way to get used to this feeling. But also just doing something that you know and love will unlock the flow. Cooking, gardening, moba with your faceroll character or best friends. There are good habits and dangerous ones, just make sure you are reaching your flow point through a constructive activity and not by shooting crack into your genitals, for example.
To quote Sun Tzu, (not a Japanese guy) "Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win"
Winning first basically just means being in the right frame of mind. Which is facilitated by practice, experience and confidence. It still applies in Warmachine that if you do not approach the table in a confident way, doubt will cloud your mind and disable you from making game winning decisions or seeing plays and options.
However something can be said about the merit of keeping your expectations low. If for example you know you are not the best player and accept that winning is most likely unlikely. Its good for morale to keep your expectations in check.
So this brings us to...
Shoshin, the beginners mind.
初心
Shoshin is something that we should never abandon. It is always good to have this point of view. Shoshin embodies the eagerness and willingness of learning for the first time. Specifically learning to do something we really want to do, like learning to kiss, or ride a bike.For most players Shoshin is at its highest when you are learning to play Warmachine or Kendo. But it can be quickly blunted when you hit a wall of some kind. After this, keeping enthusiastic about it can be a chore.
In Kendo for me it was learning that Kendo really isn't sword fighting. All those H.E.M.A videos and articles I read didn't apply at all to Kendo. I had to look at other kinds of development to get me through. I am still interested in more practical martial arts for example, but I sought a deeper understanding of Kendo to get me past this phase. Thankfully my sensei had anticipated this and they gave me books on the way of Kendo.
I wont go ahead and say that there is a deeper way to Warmachine that we all need to unlock through spiritual development. But I do think that there can be development as a person by playing Warmachine for example Social skills, mental acuity, focus and analytical skills.
Anticipating the wall is the first step in overcoming it. I suspect there are a few walls in Warmachine and Chain Attack Episode 49 deals with some of these points in what they call dealing with burnout. About 20 minutes in.
Often players may plateau in skill. They get to a level where they don`t win tournaments but also don`t feel themselves getting better. Maybe they also lack a challenge in their local groups.You have a couple of ways to deal with this.
One would be to keep challenging yourself, either with small goals: I want to win this game by assassination only, or I can only win by using a power attack throw, or by changing your lists. Or by going out of your way to play with different people.
It is at these times that reminding yourself that you should be seeking to learn something from every interaction. This can make you a better player and keep you enjoying the game until the next challenge comes around.
On the other hand consistently losing is the best environment for learning. But it may be bad for your motivation, thus keep reminding yourself that you are learning and improving to keep your spirits up.
I have been playing Warmachine for over 7 years and I have won a maybe a third of the tournaments I had attended and countless other social games so I tend to enter competitions with an expectation of winning or doing well. I have however only been to 2 Kendo tournaments over 3 years, and both times I was soundly and swiftly defeated. What I took away from that is that I was beaten exactly the same way twice, so I have a weakness I need to work on. Rather than focusing on how much I suck, its better to try to learn why my opponents find that the weak spot in my defense and learn ways to mitigate that.
In order to do that in the best way, I need to be enthusiastic about it. I need to be open minded to the instruction I get from my sensei and the feedback from my peers. I cant just throw it off and say, "oh but its just the way I naturally move, or its because of my size."
We tend to make excuses for our failures when we are doing something we think we should be good at. The way to avoid this is never to assume we are really good at it, but in stead are always learning. Then we don`t excuse our mistakes but rather have the state of mind to learn from them.
In Warmachine we could be learning from our mistakes, or it could be our preconceptions of the strength of factions and models within the factions too.
Particularly with shoshin its important to consider where you are getting your instruction or inspiration from. Some sources will not be as helpful or constructive as others.
I am not saying nothing is bad, some things certainly are. But its also well accepted that lots of things are considered to be bad without being fully discovered.
If you approach new things or old things in your faction without pre conceptions but rather like you did when you first picked up the rule book, you may be able to work out combinations and tactics through trial and error that other people have not allowed themselves to see.
Of course I`m not saying this is going to make you the next Will Pagani but even local meta issues could be solved by approaching the problem with a fresh perspective, which a mind entrenched in old ways and misplaced confidence would not consider.
When I started Warmachine it was with a group of friends and we were all on the same level. But I went out to find a second group of players who had already been playing for 3 or 4 years before me. I was excited and eager and saw their experience so made a request. First of all I wanted them to never hold back on me. Hit me with your best shot was my theme song, and I got soundly crushed, defeated, assassinated and humiliated time and time again. I also asked that they play through all of the casters they can play and with all of the tricks that they would usually bring. "Drop your most OP list against me, tell me what it does or how it works and let me figure it out.
I wanted to see it all, I firsthand felt the lash of the learning whip as they crushed me with mk2 Haley, Siege, Amon, Vindictus, Kaya1, Baldur1, Denny, Makeda2, lillith, Vayl... I took Molik missles to the face, combined sniped long gunners, pop and drop Repenters, Stone Skinned Blood Trackers. I soaked it all up and asked for more, because when I went back to my first group of friends, I took those lessons and quickly became the dominant player. Losing is good for you, losing teachers you the most when you accept shoshin and you are willing to learn.
However suffering through all of those defeats can be pretty harrowing. Putting your models out on the table and knowing that you are going to get annihilated somehow is sometimes daunting.
Keeping calm in the face of insurmountable odds brings me to the final lesson...
Fudoshin, the resolute mind, the immovable mind.
不動心
Being the calm center of the storm is what this is all about. When we imagine Zen masters, this embodies what we think about them.
The biggest advantage of fudoshin is mitigating stress.
I stress out big time going into Kendo competitions. Usually only me, no friends. With a language barrier, generally being the only foreigner around hundreds of spectators and other practitioners in a culture that generally stigmatizes differences, or different people.
I am certain I cause a lot of stress for my opponents too. This is my best weapon, because in reality most of these people have been doing Kendo since they were 12 years old. I know that and that probably hinders my performance more, because I expect to get beaten.
In any case, I am going through a lot of different stresses.
However going into a Warmachine competition is completely different for me.
For starters I am almost always going with friends, and I am involved with groups of people who I can relate with. Language barriers are more friendly and the general atmosphere is less formal. I have also been going to Warmachine tournaments a lot longer than Kendo ones.
Warmachine should be your happy place, even in tournaments.
The best piece of advice I have about stress is don`t worry about it.
This lovely lady has told us the best mechanism for coping with stress. It turns out its not stress that is bad, but worrying about stress. Its worry that`s bad.
Worry is by its nature is in direct opposition to Zanshin and Mushin.
So its worth recognizing that fudoshin is not simply not being stressed, but its also being able to use your stress positively. It prepares your mind and body for anticipated challenges. And no matter how relaxed and focused and prepared you are, stressful things do happen and will happen. Accepting stress and keeping it under control is the key.
Therefore...
Things that help me mitigate stress are related to the other 4 states of mind. Mushin, not over thinking things and keeping a relaxed mind. Zanshin, being prepared, having lots of experiences and memories to draw from and knowing what to expect. Shoshin, approaching it with an enthusiasm which reminds me that even if I go 0-4 I will take away some valuable lessons.
Well done if you made it this far. I don`t really expect anyone to read all this. But if you do feel free to leave a comment. Tell me I`m wrong, or right or just tell me what you think and thanks.
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