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  #1  
Old May 14th, 2008, 10:34 PM
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Mind Games

I'd like to briefly discuss a psychological aspect of playing HS. We all know about stats, powers, drafting... but what does it take to really get in your opponent's head? There are many issues I could bring up, but I'd like to focus on one in particular.

I love to play poker, and one commonly known aspect of poker mind games is "tells". A tell is a physical mannerism a player shows that represents either what the player is feeling, or what the player wants you to think he's (or she's) feeling.

Now, in HeroScape, this may seem obsolete since a player has nothing really hidden except his order markers. Yet these tells may still come into play during a game, and you may want to watch out for them.

If you know anything about poker, you know the rule: "Weak means strong, strong means weak." If a player has a bad hand, he may act overconfident or show aggression with his chips, hands, smoking habits, etc. In HS, if you're making a move, and the other player quickly picks up his defense dice as though he's ready to roll before you're even done moving, for whatever reason it may be, he's probably upset that you're making that move. He's showing strength because he's "weak". You're spoiling his strategy or doing what he didn't expect and doesn't like. I've found if you can consistently do what your opponent does NOT want you to do, you'll do well.

Conversly, if a player sighs, shrugs, or acts meekly with the dice or with his gestures, you're probably playing right into his hands, and may even be falling into a trap.

Watch your opponent while you're making a move, and see if he's (again, or she's) acting strong or acting weak... because that's probably all it is: "acting".

I'd also like to say, that this reasoning is typically more true in competetive settings, such as tournaments. If you're hanging out, having a few, on a weekend, these may not come into play as much. Then again, they may... you may want to pay attention to find out.
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  #2  
Old May 14th, 2008, 10:41 PM
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Re: Mind Games

Good post SS...I act pretty much the same regardless of how/what I am doing as I try and keep things light and joke around with my opponent.
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Old May 14th, 2008, 10:43 PM
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Re: Mind Games

Thanks for posting this. I'm unfamiliar with poker and think (from my own reactions at least) that this may well be valid. Next game I'll be sure to look out for sighs, shrugs, or meekness just in case...
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Old May 15th, 2008, 12:41 AM
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Re: Mind Games

Very nice post. I have really never seen it come in to play to much but I will be looking out for it when I play next.
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Old May 15th, 2008, 01:33 AM
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Re: Mind Games

I don't know about acting but the best way to get into your opponents head is to MINDSHACKLE...

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Old May 15th, 2008, 03:13 AM
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Re: Mind Games

Man, I wanted to Rep you, but it says I've got to rep others first. Good post, one which I'll probably never remember to use, but very good post.
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Old May 15th, 2008, 08:57 AM
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Re: Mind Games

Good piece, Soul Shackle.

The downside of it (and at tournaments, I think many people have run into this) is the scene: touch piece, glance at opponent, start to move piece, glance at opponent, move first squad piece, glance at opponent, start to move second squad figure, glance at opponent... <sigh>
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Old May 15th, 2008, 09:21 AM
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Re: Mind Games

Good post! I'm a poker player myself and have picked up on quite a few tells in my heroscape playing. I've seen more than one player get emotional during the midgame, which sometimes gives away their order marker placement. I've also seen people try to act, doing the same thing to try and "sell" their X marker. You have to be conscious of the type of opponent you're up against to decide whether their emotions are real or if it's a charade.

New players tend to let their true emotions give away their plans, which sucks because I want to help the new player, not have them help me. Sometimes I'll give them a little piece of advice to keep that kind of thing a little closer to the vest. More experienced players learn to control their emotions when say, the character they have their #3 marker on is killed before they get to use it. They might even start checking the positioning of another character and looking at the army card, trying to sell to you that their #3 is on that figure, not the dead one.

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Old May 15th, 2008, 09:26 AM
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Re: Mind Games

Quote:
Originally Posted by King of the Marro View Post
I don't know about acting but the best way to get into your opponents head is to MINDSHACKLE...
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. The best way to get into your opponent's head is to steal his beer.

Soul Shackle, I don't think I've seen this at a tournament yet. Most of my opponents generally look shaken when I shake them and generally look confident when I have overlooked something and they have a good strong move coming up. I'm definitely going to have to keep my eyes peeled though. My hypothesis is that this philosophy is only true with older (30+) scapers, mainly because they have had more poker experience and have had time to perfect the art of bluffing.

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Old May 15th, 2008, 11:43 AM
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Re: Mind Games

Another trick is manipulation. I've actually convinced an opponent that it would be better to ignore my Dr. Doom and go after something else because I could use mind exchange to hurt the third player...he soon regreted that mistake as I rolled a 17 and took control of his Nilfheim and had him commit suicide via lava.

Good times.

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  #11  
Old May 15th, 2008, 12:00 PM
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Re: Mind Games

Quote:
Originally Posted by holylink718 View Post
Another trick is manipulation. I've actually convinced an opponent that it would be better to ignore my Dr. Doom and go after something else because I could use mind exchange to hurt the third player...he soon regreted that mistake as I rolled a 17 and took control of his Nilfheim and had him commit suicide via lava.

Good times.
That is awesome. I am sure if I did that with my gaming group this one guy would be so P.Oed. He gets into the game a little to much...
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Old May 15th, 2008, 12:28 PM
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Re: Mind Games

Nice post, Soul Shackle. I feel bad when I take advantage of my wife or daughter's tells--they definitely have them. I honestly try to just not look at them too much, b/c they are always giving away things (like who is going to move next).

However, in a more competitive environment, these things do pay off. You can often tell who is next on the order markers and where the X is, if you are watching. (What I need to work on is better hiding these things myself!)

Quote:
Originally Posted by holylink718 View Post
Another trick is manipulation. I've actually convinced an opponent that it would be better to ignore my Dr. Doom and go after something else because I could use mind exchange to hurt the third player...he soon regreted that mistake as I rolled a 17 and took control of his Nilfheim and had him commit suicide via lava.

Good times.
This is true, but I always remind players (esp. young ones) that there will be another game. If you get too much into backstabbing manipulation, then you will lose all future credibility.

I have a nephew who would stab me in the back almost every game we played. I would remind him that those choices had consequences. By the third time, I took advantage of a weakness that I would have otherwise ignored in a 1v1v1v1 (bigger fish to fry) and hit him pretty hard. (I haven't had the same issues with him and the backstab since. I still lose of course, but it isn't because of these kinds of meta-game antics.)

Anyhow, there is winning the game and then there is remembering that another game is coming and what goes around likely will indeed come around.

Last edited by 1Mmirg; May 15th, 2008 at 01:26 PM. Reason: fixed some errors
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