Napoleon's comment assumes that
all his Generals were good ones and recognises the fact
that luck plays a major part in warfare. However, you
can't rely on luck alone. 
The most important step to
becoming a good general is to have a plan. At the start
of a game decide what you want each unit to do and write
it down. It doesn't really matter how good your plan is,
a stupid plan that works isn't stupid. The only proviso
is to keep it simple. Experience shows that the more
complex the plan, the faster it comes apart!Once you have the plan, try
to stick to it. It's important to act, not react. Make
confident moves that keep your enemy off balance.
However, be flexible! No matter how good your plan is it
will start falling apart upon contact with the enemy. The
key to flexibility is to make your plan events driven.You must focus on your Mission Objectives. Tolerate minor losses as long as you make your objective.
Plan Checklist
- Study your opponent and your own army.
Develop your plan based on
your opponent`s army:- What are their strengths?- What is essential to the
success of their system?- What are their critical
vulnerabilities?- Which weaknesses help
defeat their System?- How can I undermine their
System?Consider the abilities of
your own forces.- What are my strengths and
weaknesses?- How can I protect my
System?- Analyze your mission
Choose a Style - Attrition- ManoeuvreChoose a Strategy:- Defensive- Offensive- Combined- Unorthodox- Decide which unit will attempt to complete the mission.
This unit is then defined as
the "Main Effort."Choose unit most likely to
succeed at this Mission?- Remaining units then act in
support.- Support Priority is given
to Main Effort at all times.- Assign a Combat Role to each unit and write it down:
What are they going to do? i.e.: Heavy Unit Role:
Firebase- Assign an Purpose to each Combat Role.
Why are they doing this? i.e.: Heavy Unit Purpose: To
support Assault Unit in its Mission- Make your plan "events" driven.
After Assault Unit secures
objective Heavy Unit will move forward.Note, when using an army which is essentially unchanging from one game to the next, it's an excellent idea to develop a series of plans for each Mission and keep them on index or recipe cards in a box. Try them out in battle and learn from the experience. Feedback lesson learned to improve your plans. Keeping a fixed army with its boxed set of plans allows you to start playing very quickly.
Flexibility
React to the unexpected and exploit opportunities ruthlessly. If your Main Effort gets bogged down with stiff resistance and a supporting unit breaks through, reassign the Main Effort Role to the unit that broke through. Your old Main Effort now becomes a supporting unit and does its best to support the new Main Effort.
For flexibility in tactics to
work, it is essential that the new Main Effort gets total
support from all other units. All support roles must be
reallocated to the new Main Effort.
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