Coping Strategies for 6th Edition

A guest article from Skari about coping strategies for the edition change! Skari here with a small handout on Crisis Survival Strategies. I would like to thank Reece and the FLG team for allowing me to contribute to the site. This would be a great time to discuss different things that we can do to brace our personal selves from the changes that are imminent in our hobby lives. I will be putting forth a list of skills that we can all practice in times of great stress, taken and redefined for wargaming by myself from “Skill Management Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder” by Marsha Linehan (1993 Guilford

Press). The objective of this guide is to help us tolerate the change and emotions that will come from 6^th edition, something that we can’t make better right away. And before you go rage quitting and selling all your models this guide might just save your hobby! There are three main aspects to consider: To Distract ourselves, to learn how to “Self-Soothe” our senses and to Improve the Moment. We shall go through each of these steps and what to do with each one.   First we should Distract the Mind, we can do this by accepting (no not just blindly accepting… its an acronym!)

We can distract with:

Activities: Do something else that is not what’s causing stress, go for a walk, put the 6^th edition book down and clean the kitchen, play some sports or computer games.

Contributing: Do some volunteer work, help your local hobby shop organize a 5^th edition burial party… write something for someone’s blog.

Comparisons: Read about “finecast” horror stories, or remember the people that played sisters of battle and then got a WhiteDwarf update(or the squats) … Sometimes you have to make yourself feel better by seeing how much others have been screwed over more than you.

Emotions: Pine… yes, remember the good old days, cry over the great days of the rhino rush, or the golden years of the falcon. Think about the time your terminators failed 5 outa 5 armour saves, or when that lone model dragged your non fearless HQ character off the table! Make sure you laugh at these moments of crazy!

Pushing Away: You might need to just take a break from 40k for a while. Build an imaginary wall (or if you’re a good mason, a real one?). Refuse to think or talk about it! Box it up and shelve it for a while. (hey, it worked for the fantasy players!)

Thoughts: Count to 10… (lol cliché much). Think about the sky and the birds, daydream.

And finally Sensations: Stress ball, music, cold shower, Polar Bear dip… These are some of the ways that we can distract ourselves, so if you are finding that 6^th edition is too much to handle make sure you try out one of these options, and see if it helps!

Second is to Self Soothe all five of our senses. If they are being over stimulated by the new artwork or images of epic fail! Or utter awesome.

Soothe your Vision with flowers, light a candle in a dark room… paint a very sexy model that has been sitting on that shelf for ever.

Soothe your Hearing with music, or the sounds of nature, or of your enemies being destroyed by your 5^th edition army in 6^th edition.

Soothe your sense of Smell with cologne, or a whiff of geek at a crowded event, boil cinnamon, bake something that will make the house smell nice.

You can also soothe your Taste, get that coffee that you like so much but put whipped cream in it, chew on gum… take some tasty treats to your first 6^th ed game. Our sense of touch is harder to soothe, but maybe a new set of dice that are heavier or lighter, make sure you sit in your favorite chair when you read the new edition book feel the cover and the pages… Take it all in.

If all still seems grim then IMPROVE… (yes another acronym! Those shrinks sure like an easy way to remember things), but try and make the moment better by:

Imagery: Imagine a better place, where assault cannons are 10 pts, and Grey Knights are in the warp somewhere…

Meaning: Create a purpose, make a new army list that fits 6^th ed just right (even out of spite) and work towards that.

Prayer: Join the Church of Kelly, praised be his name!

Relaxation: Stretch, have a hot bath get a massage.

One thing in the moment: Focus on one thing, what is going on at that very moment, what are you up to? What are you doing? Be aware of yourself. Take a

Vacation: Sometimes all we need to do it take a step back, play another game for a while, change up the routine. Basically take a break, and for each person it will be different especially when it comes to the amount of time that we each need.

Encourage yourself, be your own personal cheerleader. Tell yourself that its not all that bad, have a more positive attitude. Remember “I am doing the best I can”.

Take that moment of change and improve on what you feel, perceive and think. This will change the general outlook of this time of crisis in your Hobby life. These strategies and personal skills might come in handy in the few months ahead so read them again!

Share them with your friends and come up with your own personal strategy to help cope with what is ahead. On a last note, make sure you take into account the pros and cons of both using and not using these strategies, focus on long term goals and the consequences of the choices that you want to make.   Well, hope you enjoyed this little segment in Gaming Psychology.

You can hit me up on my Podcast and Blog http://skared.podbean.com .

Thanks for reading! And good luck.

Skari – out