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So, earlier today I got my rear end kicked in the ard boyz, I expected that actually, I've been playing for what, 6-8 months? But I noticed some things about my games, I make lots of careless moves.

I donno if it's just general lack of planing, or maybe it's bad planning. "Oh yeah I'm gonna assault all these tanks (that moved) with every single one of my boyz and I'll even up on kill points!" "I'm gonna divide up and try to kill both halves of this highly mobile eldar army" ect. I did stop myself from making a few mistakes, but too late, leaving me in an unstable position. While I was thinking about why I had made mistakes, I remembered something.

A few years ago I had played in a chess tournament. I lost almost every single game, but in the last game of the last round, they paired me against the points leader, because no mater who won, it wouldn't affect the standings. So, I was playing on 'table one' being watched by grand masters...and they all said "We don't know why he moved there..." quite a lot. The thing was, looking back, I don't either, I made a lot of impulsive moves, made unfavorable trades, and fell into my opponents traps...I guess it was a general nature of mine to act on impulse.

Wargamers, good generals, I ask you, how do you combat impulse? How do you become more of a thinking player rather than a reactive player?

Simple. You stop. You think. And THEN you move.

Sorry, easiest way I could put it.

Every player makes impulsive moves, thats part of what makes us human, so you shouldnt kick yourself for doing it every so often. The key is to get control of the impulses. The easiest way I can think of doing this, is to ask yourself questions. Before you make a decision, stop. Think about what you want to do. Ask yourself: What is the most likely response from the enemy? What is the probability of this succeeding? Is it worth the risk? etc. etc. It helps to have a basic understanding of math and familiarity with the enemy in a lot of cases, otherwise... well, its ALL impulse at that point.

If you prefer something a little bit more formal, there are problem solving processes that you can look up, such as the 6 step problem solving process (Recognize problem, Gather data, List solutions, Test solutions, Select solution, Implement solution) or my personal favorite, the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act).

In a game a while back my friend's Wraithlord was tearing my army apart. It got to the point that I was so fed up I just surrounded him with my army, missed all 5 plasma pistol shots dispersed in the tactical sergeants, the combimeltas from my sternguards, and even my land raider's multimelta. Five seconds later I realized I should have shot him with the assault cannon instead. :(
EDIT: 1000th post!