'Ard Boyz Sportsamnship

[commander alexander]

Today, when I played at the 'Ard Boyz tournament, I was offended by not only the lack of sporstmanship, but the complete absence of it. One of the three players I faced was acceptable, another was tolerable, and the third was a plain <_< . DO you think there is a way we could fix this in the future> And di you experience it yourselves?

[Levitas]

That is sad to hear. Even in a tough no holds barred tournament there should be some sort of sportsmanship. Its toy soldiers not the freaking world cup.

 

Sad. I hope you smote them all.

[Brother Caleb]

Indeed. Nothing sours a hobby more than unsportsmanship. I hope you did well.

[commander alexander]

I did well against the one guy with good sportsmanship, and was massacred by the others. When people are being so rude, I don't even want to play or try to win any more, I just want it to be over. And what made it completely offensive, was when I extended them the same courtesy they extended me, they freaked out. The same thing happened last year, and I was playing against different people. The guy I played this year who had good sportsmanship, was in fact in the same "party" as the only guy I played with good sportsmanship last year, they're pretty nice chaps.

Do you think if enough people emailed GW about the problem,they might include some sort of sportsmanship scoring in the tournament?

[Wispy]

Such a score would defeat the purpose of Ard Boyz, wouldn't it?

 

My perspective of it is this: Ard Boyz is no holds barred, where elite players battle it out to the top. If you're not willing to act the part of an elite player, then you need to be thrown out. Zero Tolerance.

 

Sure there is no place for sportsmanship comps at ard boyz, but that does NOT make it okay to throw out basic human decency.

[commander alexander]

I'm not talking about huge amounts of victory points, I'm talking about maybe tie-breakers, it would at least give people an incentive to have some sportsmanship. What I've noticed in the players here, is since there are no sportsmanship points, that they think they need to act like :) . And they do, and I know this may sound extreme or like I'm a cry-baby, but when stuff like this happens, I'm ready to quit, its a game, meant to be fun for everyone, and they take it too far.

[LoneSniperSG]

What exactly were they doing to offend you? That's my question.

 

I should have expected differently of 'Ard Boyz entries, but in the first game I played I was completely smashed by a powergamer list. (Tell me Three Land Raiders, Abaddon and Khârn in one army aren't insane)

 

Second game I played I lost as well, but I don't feel bad about it because they guy has been playing for 15 years, and his Chaos Marines army was a work of art.

 

The first one was just.. ridiculous.

[commander alexander]

They make sure that they get the rules "bent" in their favor, or use "loopholes" of a sort, and then you catch on to what they're doing and do the same, they get pissed off. I'm not upset about losing, out of the dozens of games I have played, Ive only won about five or six, and I dont care, its a game, and I play games for fun.

[LoneSniperSG]

Oh yeah, oh yeah. I saw that same crap. A Tyranids player was exploiting the cover save by mashing his squads together.

 

For example, he would stretch out one squad of gaunts to the max of two inches apart, and fill in the space with another squad, granting both a cover save for the enemy having to shoot through another squad to get them.

 

Talk about freaking lame. What perturbed me the most was that the 'Nids player bending the rules was the father of the powergamer who floored me first.

 

I feel worse for the Space Wolves player dealing with that cheap Nids player. If he had enough time, he could have made a wall of his Rhinos to stop the stupidity, but the 'Nids were all over him by turn two.

[Decoy]

That's eventually why I ended up bowing out of the tournament scene. Tourney-boys, as a general rule, play to win , regardless of having fun (See Dakka forums for examples of that type of player.) These guys are the type of people that would step on the necks of children to escape a burning airplane.

 

I play to have fun first, and if I win doing so, great. Otherwise, if both people aren't having fun at the game, what's the point?

[Levitas]

I'd say on one hand Ard boyz is known for this kind of thing, not everyone mind, as I know some very good players that beat me with a smile and a hand shake. But some players see it as an opportunity to put basic human manors to one side in order to win a game at all costs. As one vet gamer once said to me "What are they gonna do? Put it on their resume that they won ard boyz?"

 

In the long run it is just a game, and no matter if your dead set on winning or not there should be no shenanigans. I guess for every good player you get two who will throw dirt in your eye. Such is Ard Boyz. You either love it or hate it.

[spjaco]

I wont play in a Ard Boyz tourney for some of the above listed reasons.

 

What gets me is the three or four guys we have at our local store who always seem to "advise" as to what this rulebook says or something similiar but never seem to show up with an army of their own to play for themselves.

 

I call em "Book-its," like Hobbits, only perhaps without the hairy feet (dont really want to know). They spend their money on the books and borrow an army from someone else once in a while.

 

"Okay Frodo , back to the Shire with you," I told one guy one time, LMAO. It was all in fun though.

 

I might feel different if these rulings EVER went in my favor....

[Vampyrer0me0]

I was lucky that where I played was a small shop. Everyone was pretty nice even allowed me to compete even though my army wasnt quite as WYSIWYG as it should have been. I know that when we ran Ard Boyz in Miami it was quite different. The larger the scene the more competitive it is. Miami had 18 players here in charleston was 8.

[jester262]

yea, I am not a fan of powergaming. That's why I'll never play in an 'Ard Boyz tourny.

[Allerka]

I had an absolute blast at the tournament. Even though I tabled all three of my opponents, I kept the mood light and fun, lots of joking, and shook their hands after. I'm in it to win it at things like the 'Ard Boyz, but no sense in not having fun while I'm doing it, and if you have to use tiny loopholes to win, then you're probably not going to make it in the big leagues anyway.

 

Conversely, though, at the table next to me in the first game, one of the guys playing got angry enough to the point of threatening his opponent, which of course got him ejected from the event. That was the only instance I'm aware of of tempers flaring out of 20+ players, otherwise a fun time was had by all.

[Thylacine]

Tournaments bring out the worst in the worst people, some people are cheats and others are pigs.

 

Ard Boyz, is the type of tournament that appeals to the 'win-at-all-cost' attitude that some players have, I know of a few local players whose bad attitude, which can include arguments and bullying is a part of their game plan.

 

You can try an number of approaches to these type of players, like smiling at them and being polite no matter what they do. Try asking a lot of questions about their list and codex, even if you already know the answer. this will interrupt their game plan. Or accept the bad attitude and ignore it and them, just play on and freeze them out.

 

I had an unusual run in with an opponent in a tournament, he staredt taking photos at the start of my turn, at the start of all my turns. Supposedly it was for some blog, or battle report, by turn five it was annoying and I was forgetting to move units or shoot units as the camera was always present. Later I found out that it was just a ploy to put opponents off, he had no blog and did not submit any battle reports!

 

 

Like I said some people are cheats and others are pigs.

[antique_nova]

Thylacine: And some are angels ;) Amen.

 

Personally, i did do the cover save thing with marines, but i found better tactics and the thought of using the cover save with several units didn't really appeal to me much due to the gamesmenship feeling involved and i stopped after using it in two games. They were local friendly competitive games and not tourny ones, so i was alright.

 

At the end of the day at a tournament or anywhere, you just have to bear it with a poker face or a grin - if you want to get home without any sort of incident or trouble ;).

 

Or just pitty the fool! :yes:.

 

thanks

antique_nova

[the jeske]

You find that someone is cheating on a tournament ? stop the game and call a judge or an org . Dont go on and on how you got cheated/bullied in 3 games out of 4 and how tournaments suck , because of it. Yes tournaments are tough , yes people wont let you pull back moves or do stuff you forgot . tough luck and learn to play in a tournament setting . If you dont like it , dont play at tournaments . people who play at HB for real , not just to show up at a 2.5k points tournament your shop is making , want to go to the regionals and win . This means they will serious about the game . Does that mean they will table someone with a "fun" list ? yes it does mean that .

 

 

I mean realy , I remember the guy from last year , won one of the US GT and got DQ after years and years of cheating and why , because he was playing against people who let him do that. that would be a such a no go in europe.

[Grimtooth]

Out of my 3 games, my first two were against just great guys laughing and having a blast. My last opponent was a total wreck. Complaining about every bad roll by him and every good roll by me. Complaining about his army, how it was going to meet the freeway on his way home, and just being a general whiner.

 

While Ard Boyz is supposed to be the elite gamers of 40k, being a good sport should be part of being considered "elite gamer".

[Vampyrer0me0]

Out of my 3 games, my first two were against just great guys laughing and having a blast. My last opponent was a total wreck. Complaining about every bad roll by him and every good roll by me. Complaining about his army, how it was going to meet the freeway on his way home, and just being a general whiner.

 

While Ard Boyz is supposed to be the elite gamers of 40k, being a good sport should be part of being considered "elite gamer".

 

 

This is the truth. If you think you are among the best there is nothing wrong with being courteous about it. Winston Churchill said something like that. "If you have to kill a man there is no cost to be polite"

[Simo429]

i think this is indicative of the sort of tournament ard boyz is from what I have read

 

ive never played in a tournament but being from derby I normally cross the border into shottingham to watch some games in the big tournaments and have a look at the armies and normally everyone is sound, in the bar they dont mind chatting and at yesterdays war on terra one lad started chatting to me while I was just standing there about his wolves that I were admiring however when ive seen people talk about ard boyz it seems like its a win at all costs tournament for people who dont give a :) about any part of the hobby but the end result

 

i find it a bit sad personally

[antique_nova]

HOLY JIIIIIIIIIII@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@. I mean holy crap, Simo your pm'd. :), i am from there too!

thanks

antique_nova

[TiguriusX]

I think if you enter a highly competitive tournament you need to be prepared for everything.

 

If they aren't cheating and breaking a rule then they may be acting like an a$$ but it is something you have to expect and deal with.

 

I also agree with those who said you don't let them cross the line. Once they start cheating call them on it. Don't be intimidated.

[LoneSniperSG]

Three Land Raiders, Khârn and Abaddon. That's all I can say.

 

I did try to keep my composure, although I was nearly screaming at the top of my lungs that my most expensive unit (Land Raider) was not destroyed. I didn't want to be "that guy" raging on about how lame it was to even bother trying to take that on.

 

After that game, I needed a couple cigarettes to mellow out.

 

I think I'm staying out of all Ard Boyz, atleast until I get or know something sneaky or horribly destructive.

 

 

My question is, how do you deal with someone bending the rules? I mean come on, mashing two squads together to get a cover save for both? What do you do to beat that? You can't call a judge, because the units are all within 2-inch squad coherency..so he's within the rules.

[Captain Juan Juarez]

After that game, I needed a couple cigarettes to mellow out.

 

They'll kill you, y'know.. Though not as fast as three Land Raiders, Khârn and Abaddon. :(