Mental Training and Wargaming: The Three-Minute Champion
How to go from soul crushing defeat to the mindset of a champion in 3 minutes!
We’ve All Been There…
Imagine this: you’re playing in a large Warhammer 40k tournament with your 22 kill point Dark Eldar army. The next mission is Purge the Alien. What is your mindset? You look at your match up and it’s a familiar name, a previous tournament winner well known for dismantling his opponents with comparative ease. Worse yet, he’s fielding an army with less than half the kill points as yours. How are you feeling?
Much like with any game or sport, there is a mental aspect to playing Warhammer or any tabletop strategy game. This is the first in a series of articles that will focus on the performance psychology behind gaming. It won’t help your strategy, or your dice rolls, but it might be enough to give you a competitive edge over your opponents. Many of the concepts I’ll be covering are outlined in the popular Sports Psychology book “The Art of Mental Training” by DC Gonzalez, abridged and modified to apply to the gaming world.
The mental aspect of tabletop gaming can expand beyond the game as well. Do you have a mountain of miniatures that need painting? Have you always wanted to collect a Chapter of Marines or an entire Craftworld of Eldar, but keep getting sidetracked? Goal-setting, visualization, attitude and other easy psychological techniques can help turn these from chores or distant tasks to achievable goals.
Master Your Mind
Okay, let’s go back to our original example. You’re playing a mission in which your army struggles. Your opponent is a tournament veteran, a former GT winner ready to advance to the next round. Your mindset heading into the game is probably that of anxiety and defeat, all before you roll a single die. Let’s look at how we can change your mental state from that of anxiety and defeat to that of a Champion in just three minutes.
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| 22 Kill Points in Purge the Alien? Don’t Care, Still Going to Win. |
Minute 1 – Ask yourself, what would the self-talk of a Champion be before this game? What would you be saying to yourself if you knew and believed you were going to win? This works best if you come up with 3 or 4 Champion statements. If you’re having trouble thinking of some, here are a few examples; “My strategy is flawless, I never give up, I control the game” or “I’m a Champion, I make the right decisions, My army is designed to win.” Spend a minute making these Champion statements to help erase any notion of defeat, and to fill your mind with positive thoughts.
Minute 2 – Look at the way you carry your body. What would the body language of a Champion be as you begin to set up and roll the first few dice for sides and deployment? During the second minute, keep the self-talk going, and begin moving around as a Champion would. Stand up straight, make methodical movements, carry yourself as if you’ve already won the game.
Minute 3 – What would the breathing of a Champion look like as he got ready for a game? When you’re anxious, your breathing becomes more rapid, your heart rate increases and you feel short of breath. By focusing on your breathing, and taking deep, deliberate breaths that fill your lungs with air, you can reverse the physical effects of anxiety in just a matter of seconds. Use the third minute to incorporate all three aspects; breathing, body language and self-talk.
So there you have it, in just three minutes you can change your mindset from that of anxiety and defeat to that of a Champion. The three-minute lesson won’t win the game for you, but it will prevent you from being defeated before the game begins. Practice these techniques before each game, and make them part of your pre-game routine. It will get easier with practice. In the coming weeks and months I will cover other aspects of “Mental Training and Wargaming” that will build on these skills, making this three-minute routine more natural.
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What’s your opinion on the mental aspect of wargaming? Does it exist? Is the three-minute lesson something you could see yourself using on a regular basis?
