Switching from Warhammer to Warmachine: I Just Lost the Game!

In what might turn out to be a pretty interesting series of articles, I'm going to share with you my experience of slowly departing from my days of shouting "WAAAAAGH!" and gradually getting to know the glory of Warmahordes. While I still love Warhammer 40,000 and even Warhammer Fantasy I can't help but feel alienated by Games Workshop's policies and just general business presence. I could go on and on about the things that went wrong, but I don't want waste your time with my rants.
It is what it is.

If leaving the Warhammer 40,000 scene and getting into this whole Warmachine business has taught me ONE thing, then it is the following: I am no longer the top dog. Gone are the days of me knowing the outcome of a game long before it even began. I can no longer underestimate my opponents. I don't have a superior understanding of the rules which can give me an advantage against my opponents. I no longer look at an opponent's list and see all the wrong choices. I can't win games by making mistakes or expecting my opponent to make more mistakes than me. The list goes on..

I guess what I'm trying to say is that.. there is challenge for me in Warmachine. I might sound a little snobbish at first, but 40k had been very stale for me.. for quite a while, actually. I did keep on trying to motivate myself by thinking big. I wanted to have an army of 100 Deff Koptas.. but that never panned out. I wanted to re-do my Space Wolves - to finally highlight them and to get my army up in points. I wanted to have an Apocalypse-ready army of Space Wolves. That's probably never going to happen with the current prices on things and the fact that there's no way I can duplicate the paint scheme for my armies anymore. But I digress. Again.

So true..

Like I said..
I am no longer the top dog.
I don't have the confidence that I'm going to win anymore.
I do win some of my games, though!
But then I lose just as many. I lose a lot.
I make mistakes.. and I lose.
I get outplayed and outsmarted.. and I lose.
I decide no to boost that one attack.. and I lose.
I become too confident and reckless.. and I lose.


There has been a whole lot of losing as I'm dealing with the learning curve of this game. That was not the case of my Warhammer 40,000 days in which my Orkz dominated the Ultramarines and Necrons of my gaming buddies. Hm, I guess my whole wargaming career so far has been an avalanche of success due to a lack of challenges. Oh, I've had my ass handed to me more than once, naturally.. but not enough. Once again, this is not the case. 

So.. I've been learning how to lose properly while enjoying the game as much as I can.
I can't say that I don't play to win. I enjoy winning! Victory achieved by outplaying and outmaneuvering your opponent is awesome.. Which is why Warhammer 40,000 was getting boring - victories were just victories. I wasn't getting anything out of winning anymore, I wasn't losing enough to learn from my mistakes and when I did lose it was more often than not due to time, a rules dispute or Matt Ward.


Of course, saying that I don't mind losing would be a lie. Losing still really rustles my jimmies sometimes and I mean.. that's normal. I put a lot of thought into the game and I really do my best, but sometimes even my best is not enough. I'm still learning, though, and will be learning for a long time.
There are so many armies out there and just changing a warcaster or a warlock completely changes everything. So many lists to win and lose against, hahaha...
I've been learning how to lose. I always do my best and when I do lose a game (again - that happens a lot!) I always try to leave the store with at least one important lesson learned.

I have made it my mission to only feel defeat if after a game I cannot see my own mistakes and the things I could have done better. That's why I really like Warmahordes, guys. Even losing is awesome!

Here are some of the lessons I have learned by losing..

• Charging pStryker with pSorsha when Stryker has 20 ARM, even if made Stationary is a bad idea..
• Relying too much on 'jacks and not enough on the Old Witch's toolbox to save her when being surrounded by Mercenary Steelheads, when an Iron Flesh and dropping a Murder of Crows on her could have saved her..
• Being too aggressive with Scrapjack and getting it killed on turn 2 on more than one occasion.
• Putting too much focus on 'jacks while preparing for a possible charge on a Getorix after a nice Gallows without boosting the attack roll with the Old Witch, causing Gallows to miss. 
• Allowing pSorsha to get knocked down by slammed 'jacks.

So far all of the games that I have played have had that "ARGH!" moment. I bet you know what I'm talking about - it's the turn you fuck up. You either forget to move, shoot, boost or you fail to allocate your resources properly. Or you fail to see a way out of a situation. "ARGH!" moments are always different as as long as you keep them that way and avoid making the same mistakes you should pat yourself on the back, because avoiding making the same mistakes is what makes us better gamers.

So.. that's it from me.. for now.

And until then,
Keep on losing!