Casual versus competitive wargaming

Greetings,

My name is Jerimy Elliott and I am a contributor to this blog. Please don't take anything I say too seriously.


Recently I have been thinking alot about the types of war gaming that people do. Generally there are three types of war gaming experiences; Casual play (you versus a friend or friends) Leagues (casual/competitive play over time versus friends or strangers) and Tournaments (competitive play over and afternoon or weekend). Each style of play can be a challenge and each style offers up its own set of rewards.

Casual play helps people learn the rules and develop strategies. It can also help someone get a new army into circulation or try a new build for an old army. Casual play is generally more forgiving of mistakes and less pressure packed than a tournament. It's inherent disadvantage is that you can see the same armies and opponents constantly and get used to their play style. You may fall into the trap of engaging the player instead of the army. That may be okay for a time, but it will handicap you when you play a different person who may use the army in a heretofore un-thought-of way. Casual play is great for fun and army trials but you wont get the full range of opponents and strategies until you get out and play in a tournament.

League play is a good cross between casual and tournament play. League play has the atmosphere of a casual game night with a long term, competitive goal. League play usually lets you develop armies or build an geographic empire. League play has the disadvantage of being scaled to favor the victors. Generally in war gaming leagues, the victors in early going soon become unreachable and discourages the rest of the field from participating in later rounds. (Infinity Escalation leagues do a good job of navigating this hazard {http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/downloads/its/%5Ben%5DEscalation%20Leagues.pdf})

Tournament play (my personal favorite) is the most competitive and the most rewarding when done well. A good tournament will be run well and very organized. It makes for interesting games with new strategies and ideas. It also brings out the best in terms of army painting and competitive play.

I don't want to paint too rosy of a picture of tournament play. Tournaments can, at times, be filled with shady or whiny players and disorganized organizers. Just remember that even if you are in a less than perfect tournament scenario, you can still benefit from the experience of playing multiple games in a given day.

Remember the goal of the game is to win but the point of gaming is to have fun.