I think I have moved up to Intermediate Wargamer

[vodkafan]

 I feel that I must relate something here as I feel LAF is my spiritual Home...A  funny thing has happened in the past few months, I can't say exactly when it happened, but I have began  to actually understand rulesets when I read them....also when I play our multi-player games instead of just pretending to understand and waiting for someone to tell me what to do next, I am on top of things and know what's going on....I am no longer a Pretend Wargamer. 
 Analyzing this, I don't think it is to do with how long I have been interested in wargaming or wanting to wargame....(the wanting doesn't make any difference) ...no, rather I put this down to direct experience: all the one-to-one games I have had with my patient mentor (about 20 in the past 3 years perhaps?) and a few others before that (spread infrequently over several years) with other people. So I am thinking about 30 wargames of different types before I started to "get it".
I am interested in what other members think about this...after how many wargames did you start to "get it"?
And what comes next? How long until I am a "master"?
 

[Codsticker]

Woah woah woah... let's not be hasty.

[flatpack]

Hold on, this is a bit deep isn’t it ?
After 40 years, I still can’t roll a dice correctly 

[Harry Faversham]

You are a true Master of the Force when the toy sowjers play the game and you are a mere, but privileged, bystander.

[FierceKitty]

Hold on, this is a bit deep isn’t it ?
After 40 years, I still can’t roll a dice correctly 

Nor can anyone.

[has.been]

From my very first wargame, more than 50 years ago, when my Roman  commander
left the field after move 4 (admittedly chasing some Numidian cavaly) and NEVER
returned, BUT my army started to behave better, I realised I had almost nothing
to do controlling my troops. I still am learning.
From the 'Red mist' descending during our AK47 games, where I completely lose
sight of the objective, to my very poor initial deployment in games like 'to the Strongest'
where I end up asking myself, 'Why the hell did I put that unit there?'.
I try not to keep making the same mistakes, that I do achieve, but only because I
am far too busy making bigger and better ones.
When I look back at my many, many, MANY, wargames it is the laughs with friends
over my cock ups I remember fondly, not the (few) technical 'wins'.
Long may it be so.
To quote from a film about the Charge of the Light Brigade, 'I don't like it when a
British officer knows what he is doing, it smacks of murder.'

[LeadAsbestos]

I don't lose EVERY game, so that is improvement.

[Daeothar]

From an early age on, I had an interest in battlefield tactics and strategies, so when I finally was introduced to wargaming (40K), I was keen to put that (at the time) theoretical knowledge to use.

And failed miserably.

Turns out, those real life tactics just did not translate well to the rule set I played at the time (and in hindsight; what tactics would? ). What's worse; the rules were quite beyond m for some reason.

And while I did enjoy playing the game (most of the time), for me, it was a nessecary evil, as the game was the reason to paint and convert (which is where my heart truly lay and lies).

So for years, I had 'mentors' I played against. Friends whose focus lay mainly on playing the game. They certainly were more rules savvy than me, and patiently corrected me at every step of the game.

But over the years, I actually got better at it, and eventually was able to discard the training wheels and even participate in tournaments!

However, mainly through exposure to the LAF, I eventually discovered the miniature wargaming world outside of the narrow GW offerings, and after several decades, I discovered that it was actually possible to use that real life tactical insight in wargaming. Also; it's now possible to discern good from bad rule sets by looking at how units are represented; are they reflected correctly by the rules or not?

So much so in fact, that I can now confidently say that rules don't particularly matter anymore, as I can now overlay them with my tactics and play the battles as they should. The rules are just a crutch to get the narrative/battle going. No matter I don't always grasp them at first; once I get used to them after a game or two, it's just another rule set...

[vodkafan]

From an early age on, I had an interest in battlefield tactics and strategies, so when I finally was introduced to wargaming (40K), I was keen to put that (at the time) theoretical knowledge to use.

And failed miserably.

Turns out, those real life tactics just did not translate well to the rule set I played at the time (and in hindsight; what tactics would? ). What's worse; the rules were quite beyond m for some reason.

And while I did enjoy playing the game (most of the time), for me, it was a nessecary evil, as the game was the reason to paint and convert (which is where my heart truly lay and lies).

So for years, I had 'mentors' I played against. Friends whose focus lay mainly on playing the game. They certainly were more rules savvy than me, and patiently corrected me at every step of the game.

But over the years, I actually got better at it, and eventually was able to discard the training wheels and even participate in tournaments!

However, mainly through exposure to the LAF, I eventually discovered the miniature wargaming world outside of the narrow GW offerings, and after several decades, I discovered that it was actually possible to use that real life tactical insight in wargaming. Also; it's now possible to discern good from bad rule sets by looking at how units are represented; are they reflected correctly by the rules or not?

So much so in fact, that I can now confidently say that rules don't particularly matter anymore, as I can now overlay them with my tactics and play the battles as they should. The rules are just a crutch to get the narrative/battle going. No matter I don't always grasp them at first; once I get used to them after a game or two, it's just another rule set...

That was a good Bildungsroman story Daeothar, thanks for that. Glad that you didn't give up!