What-If Machine

I had an interesting conversation at the last tournament I attended at Tower back in March.  One of the other players (Professor Lust, I think?) was talking about preparing for a tournament by essentially playing the same game out a bunch of different ways.

Basically, both players take their first turns as normal, getting everything set up where it would be just before Turn 2, when most of the fighting starts.  Then, they'd mark where everything was (or just remember, since it's pretty casual), and play out the turn or the round, or even a couple of rounds.  Then, they'd reset the board, and play it out again, this time making different decisions, and seeing how the game plays out differently.  It gives people a chance to actually play out all those times where they said "oh, but I should have done..." after a game.

This doesn't give you the same kind of competitive experience as a normal game of Warmachine, but that's not the point.  Instead, you get to practice trying multiple things against the same army, with the same setup, which is a great way to learn how to use your lists.  It seems especially useful in tougher matchups, where small mistakes can really cost you.  I can definitely see how solving those kinds of problems casually, with time to go back and try again if things don't work out, could be a better way to improve your tactics than a normal game.  It gives you a lot more time to consider you're doing and what your opponent can do, and a lot more repetition of similar table positions, which helps you think and react quickly in a timed game.

Basically, it seems like a very interesting way to practice for more competitive games.

Anyway, I'm going start doing this at some point, although I don't have a whole lot of extra time between league games right now.  I'll probably even do a Groundhog Day style battle report, where no matter what we try, we always come back to turn 2 sooner or later.

Thanks for reading!