"Aggression" Topic

I tend not to be an aggressive player. It's not in my nature. Some of my regular gaming pals are the complete opposite.

One, in particular, seems to believe in "attaque, toujours, attaque!" Give him a scenario where he's outnumbered, backed against the wall and only has to survive X game turns to claim victory… and he'll still launch the dreaded spoiling attack!

It got me wondering whether our rules subconsciously encourage this. Is attacking simply more fun? Do many rules reward seizing the initiative more than holding a strong position or conducting a fighting withdrawal?

How often have you seen a player throw away an excellent defensive position because they just couldn't resist going forward?

Or is my friend right, and aggression really is the best policy on the tabletop?

I, too, am a highly aggressive player so I sympathize with your friend. One factor that may be influencing our behavior is that tabletop games tend to limit or entirely omit hidden units and terrain. It's a lot easier to be bold when the risks can be accurately calculated.

Thinking commanders in real situations are not exactly as war gamers come

If you only have four hours or so for a game, who wants to spend it guarding a battery of guns on a hill, even if it is the right thing to do.

Yep. Static games are BORING.
It's like chess. You can't lose chess by not moving. But at that point, you're not actually playing anymore.

Take a siege. IRL, a siege is nothing but a loooong waiting game, hoping one side or the other will die of starvation or disease, while tossing big rocks/cannonballs/bombs at each other to kill the time (and the occasional enemy). Nobody moves, nobody strategizes, nobody risks it all until the situation is all but resolved anyway. Boring.

But what we actually game, if we game a "siege," is the big final assault— the storming of the castle that ends the siege, one way or another, not the siege itself.

Thus, we favor aggression because it means we get to DO something that we think will produce a winning result. Sitting around doing nothing does not feel like winning. It's not game-like and it's not fun. Might as well craft a diorama.

"Attack! Attack! Attack!"
"Fortune favors the bold!"
"The enemy is there, and I mean to attack him."
"Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"
"Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy!"
"We who are about to die salute you!"

That's wargaming. It may not be tactically wise or strategically sound, but we're gonna roll the dice (literally) and charge the trenches. Because *that's* what's fun.