Brain Training

Friday night I was lying in bed trying to figure out how I could improve my game of Warmachine. I already know that strategy and protecting my caster are my bigger weaknesses, but how can I remedy it? Playing a single game of Warmachine requires a lot of logistics - coordinating with a friend, finding a play area, getting terrain, setting up the board and models, actually playing the game, and of course cutting out a large chunk of time to do it all. While I'd love to play Warmachine on a regular basis, it's just not feasible.

Then I had the errant thought of "I really need to invest in a chess clock to help speed up our games," and inspiration hit me. Chess! I vaguely remembered playing chess as a kid, and I know that there was a least a modicum of strategy involved in it. Plus the King needs to be protected just as much as a warrcaster, except it doesn't have magic to do so.

So I snagged a free chess app and tried my hand at the game. I remembered all the basic rules, although Castling, En Passant, and pawn promotion were things I'd never played with before. I must say that I learned quite a bit from my first game. First and foremost, I really suck at protecting my King. I was slingshotting my pieces all over the place trying to initiate piece-trades and set up checks, then the AI just slid a Bishop over and laughed at the checkmate. Lame.

Next game I was much more careful, keeping a few pieces back to protect my King while slowly trying to set up my own checkmate so I could spike my phone in to the bed and break out in a victory dance. Lesson #2 is that while I can plan several moves ahead for my own pieces, my tunnel vision makes me blind to the fact that my opponent will be reacting to each move, blocking my moves while taking advantage of any openings I may leave. When I was finally ready to set up my check, I was a turn away from losing.

I have no idea how much a grid based, symmetrical game like Chess is going to actually improve something like Warmachine, but I hope it will at least get my brain used to evaluating the field and planning ahead so I don't lose before I've even made an attempt at winning. Plus it's something I can do every day, and it certainly won't hurt for me to play a game that most people have actually heard of! Who knows, I may even be able to find a live opponent to play against so I'm not fighting something that can instantly process every possible move.

I'm still looking for "the one" Chess app that I'll really enjoy. Something with training, nice graphics, adjustable AI... I will probably be very picky, but there are so many Chess apps out there that a good one must already exist. If you have any experience with a good chess app, or other ways to "train the brain" for strategic play, let me know!


See you tomorrow!

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