Re: [Epic] Re: Mostly off topic (turns into a rant)

From: Matthew Sprange <altsain_at_...>
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 12:18:59 -0000

>So I'm not saying you necessarily deserved low marks, but if you like to
argue rules and
>nitpick movement, you might want to watch yourself next time. That really
goes for all
>of us.


No worries, I get what you are saying ;) The Sportsmanship thing was
introduced so that you could be judged by your peers and hopefully this
would eradicate some of the cheese. But unfortunately, it goes too far the
other way and can be open to immense abuse itself. You could do brilliantly
in a game, make jokes with (not at) your opponent, discuss the tactical
issues that cropped up and buy the guy a drink afterwards. But if you
absolutely creamed him in the game whilst taking very little losses, is he
likely to be well disposed towards you? This is a tournament after all,
where there are stakes to be won or lost.

I cannot imagine what it was like on the 1st place table in the last game of
the tournament - just think of those two guys playing hard until finally a
winner emerges. You then have the Sportsmanship questionnaire placed in
front of you. No matter how well you did in the battle, you will be very
aware that any points your opponent gains here could be enough to take him
soaring past you into first place. I'm glad I didn't have to face that, but
a similar thing happens in all the games. You know what you write grants or
takes away points from the guy you just played.

I never questioned any of the rules my opponents tried to play, except on
one occasion where there was no 'interpretation', the guy was just flat
wrong. On several occasions my opponents questioned me, but I could always
show them the relevant entry in the book or I had to wait around whilst they
left the game to ask a judge. The waiting hacked me off somewhat, but even
with those people, I marked them very high myself - I'm just too nice, I
guess.

And incidentally, that last army I faced, the all Jet Bike & Vyper army
(with Wraithguard thrown in), scored one of the highest on Army Selection.
Yeah, GW really hates this cheese aspect, don't they?
Received on Tue Mar 03 1998 - 12:18:59 UTC