Sportsmanship

Principles of Sportsmanship
Before I get started I'll first explain how my personal sportsmanship code while playing games. I play to the best of my ability, to the natural end of the game no matter how it might be going for me, with respect to my opponent, and I always shake their hand afterwards. I've won my fair share of best sportsman awards at events, the largest being at the 40k The Friendly Tournament at Adepticon.

Having played in a variety of sports from age 5 until high school good sportsmanship was an easily identifiable thing. You play to the best of your ability with respect to your opponent during the game and line up and shake hands after it's all said and done. Now, there is always the exception to the "playing to the best of your ability" part of that. When your pounding the other team into the dirt, it's always polite to not play your absolute best players, try out some new plays, etc. The principle of sportsmanship is easily translatable to every single sport, BUT for some reason the wargaming community seems to have difficulty with this.

As there are many different approaches to wargaming I'll break it up into a few different categories since I believe wargaming sportsmanship does change depending on what environment you're playing in.

Pick-Up Games
Going into a store or club and playing someone completely random. Could be a complete stranger or could be a good friend, but this was not a prearranged narrative game and you're not playing in a tournament. Just a couple of guys (or gals) that are looking to play with your toy soldiers. Here is how I would define good sportsmanship in this scenario:

1. Play with respect to your opponent
2. Play to the best of your ability
3. Shake hands after the game

Alright, pretty easy to understand, right? With #2 there is going to be some lee-way if you have a demanding lead in victory points. Should you wish to ease up and not play to the best of your ability, I believe that's perfectly acceptable, but in the end that's up to the individual. Either way, if you play following these tenants you'll get a tip of the hat from me good sir. 

Narrative Games

These you don't see happening in the stores or clubs very often, but I have a feeling they are the predominant mode of playing games for all of our basement-dwelling wargamers (and I don't mean that they live with their parents, that's just where the games generally take place). Here is how I would define good sportsmanship while role-playing you're favorite character on the tabletop:

1. Play with respect to your opponent
2. Play to the best of your ability
3. Shake hands after the game

Yep, nothing changed from pick-up games, but I'm guessing you're not surprised with that. In regards to #2 you could play that depending characteristics of the general being fielded on the tabletop. Would a bloodthirsty rampaging vampire let the poor beleaguered guard flee the battlefield? HELL NO! (Well, at least my bloodthirsty rampaging vampires don't...unless you're into Twilight or something...) What's cool about this though is that you can reflect you're characters attitude in your style of play. Should you're noble honorable knight think it dishonorable to kill every single peasant in enemy village, so be it, stay your sword good knight!  

Tournament Games

Be it a one-day, two-day, weekend, 10 player, or 100 player event a tournament is a tournament. You're attending for the competition to see who can come out on top. This is how I would define good sportsmanship in this scenario:

1. Play with respect to your opponent
2. Play to the best of your ability
3. Shake hands after the game

Huh, that's odd. Nothing changed. That's right folks! The tenants of sportsmanship don't really change at all! Addressing #2, I would say in a tournament situation you don't have to worry about easing up on your opponent. You play to the best of ability and give it your all the entire event. Especially if it's scored on the 20-0 scale you don't get bonus points for easing up on your opponent, so feel free blast away until all that's left of your opponents army is some shoes smoldering in a crater. This doesn't mean you have to play like an asshole, whooping and hollering when you do well and crying like a giant-asshole baby when you don't, but you just play smartly and don't hold anything back. 

What I Don't Agree With

There are a lot of things that I see around on the interwebs and blogs that I don't agree with at all. For example, two of the things I see commonly are playing the kind of game your opponent wants to play; not choosing certain lores or spells because to do so would be unsportsmanlike; and the whole concept of sportsmanship and composition being confused in event scoring. 

Playing the game your opponent wants to play.

I'm assuming this is saying that don't play a casual pick-up game with a tournament game mentality, but if not, it's not on you to make sure that your opponent is having a good time (of course while being a polite, courteous, and decent human being) it's up to your opponent to do that for themselves! If they are upset because a unit that they thought would win them the game got blown of the table and start complaining and whining about it, guess what, it's them that's being unsportsmanlike! Not you for killing the most valuable high-priority target! They should stop crying and get back to playing the game. Maybe this hobby has more than the average amount of man-children, but this is something that I see a lot that I find incredibly infuriating. Maybe I'll rant about that at a later time though. 

Not choosing certain lores or spells.

While I agree that certain lores/spells have definite advantages over others (looking at you Purple Sun and Dwellers) to just have them in your arsenal and perhaps use them is not in itself unsportsmanlike. In fact, these spells are one of the main, and sometimes only, tools that a player has to deal with deathstar units. While I agree it would be silly to pronounce your prowess of a game due to your ability to roll dice for a specific spell, I don't think that it's unsportsmanlike. 

Sportsmanship/Comp Scoring

Again, here is something else that it's own post, but I'll try to summarize. Sportsmanship and comp should be scored in completely different categories; however, I've found in many of the events that I've attended that they are not. One question commonly asked is "Rate how much you'd like to play this player again", now what army that player has an effect on their opponent. Did they just get tabled? Do they not enjoy playing against their opponent army? Well, then they might rate their opponent low for that question; however, that does not address their opponents sportsmanship! At all! The questions that should be asked in the sportsmanship section are the following: "How many times did your opponent complain about his/her dice?" "How many times did your opponent curse at you?" "How many times did your opponent throw dice or models?" Alas, they do not. 

 

Gaming Guide for New Parents

Earlier this year my wife and I brought our first little one into the world. He’s amazing and everything is going great, but as all of you veteran parents out there know things are going to change. One of the things that I quickly realized I had to change was my gaming habit. Now that a several months have passed life is starting to settle down and I think I’ve learned some tips that I wanted to share with my fellow parents (and prospective parents). 

1. Reduce gaming frequency. Yeah, you thought you were going to get away with playing just as much as you used to, didn't you? Nah, it’s just not going to happen. It just isn’t. I used to go to my local gaming club twice a week, Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings. On the weekend sometimes I wouldn't get back home until the afternoon. That just doesn't work anymore. You’re SO is going to really appreciate all the help they can get with your spawnling (which is vital for tip #2) so make sure you’re actually around to help. So far I’ve reduced it to once a week during a week night, and that seems to be working out pretty well so far. 
2. Cultivate those brownie points. Grow and lovingly nourish that pile of brownie points. This is the key to getting in some gaming. Help out as much as you can around the house. Do dishes. Change diapers. Fold laundry. With all of your good deeds how can you not but be rewarded? 
3. Redeem brownie points. When you go to play games on your game night, or when you want to get some painting in, cash in those brownie points to play or paint guilt free. Well, maybe a better way of saying it is that you’ve at least payed your dues and earned some game/paint time. 
4. Try to stay awake. Gone are the days of 4-5 hour painting sessions. If you want to get some painting done you’re going to have to do it in small increments, which means paint while baby is sleeping. Or better yet while the baby and SO are sleeping. Sure, this means YOU’RE not sleeping, but those models aren’t going to paint themselves, are they? 
5. Game consolidation. Pick a few of the games that you truly enjoy and stick to them. You’re not going to have as much time to game now, so make sure that when you do you’re at least having as much fun as possible. Personally, I’ve been sticking to painting my Bretonnians to getting in games with them as I can. 
6. Plan games. Planning games ahead of time can be a huge time saver (it also helps with tip #7). You can arrive at the hobby store ready to play straight out of the gate and you know for sure that you have a game. There is nothing more frustrating then leaving to get some games in and standing around twiddling your thumbs. 
7. Communication. Good communication, as it often is, is vital to a healthy relationship. Make sure that you communicate with your SO any events or games you might have scheduled far in advance so that it isn’t a surprise to anyone. 
8. Enjoy your family. Our own little man nugget has only just arrived and already it seems like it’s going by way to fast. Enjoy your family because while games come and go, your family will always be there. Cherish the crap out of them. 

That’s the guide! Follow it and reap the gaming happiness that it brings you. And in no time at all, you’re little guy or gal is going to be ready to play games with you too! I know that my son is pretty much destined to be as much as a gamer as his mom and dad. :D

Kicking this sucker off

I’ve been thinking about starting my own little wargamming hobby blog for a while now and today I finally got the random gumption to start it. So first, how about a little introduction.

I’ve been playing wargames for quite some time now. I first got into Warhammer Fantasy back in 1999 when I came across some figures in a Gamer’s Paradise store at the mall (I don’t believe that retail chain exists anymore...le sigh, things that make you feel old). That Christmas my parents got me the Warhammer Fantasy starter box with Bretonnians and Lizardmen and I’ve been hooked ever since. Sure I’ve had periods when I might not have played as frequently, namely in college when I didn’t have a designated hobby space, but the drive to collect, paint, paint and play has always been there. A few years ago I got into Warhammer 40,000 at the tail end of 5th edition mainly because 40k is much more popular than Fantasy is; however, I'm not only just interested in Games Workshop games. I’m interested in starting Dropzone Commander as well as historical games such as SAGA, Tomahawk & Musket, and Warhammer Ancient Battles (or whatever the equivalent is since there is not longer support for that game).

Well, that’s it for now. Expect to see more posts about my hobby progress, general thoughts gaming, and whatever else is generated by this thing between my ears. Until then, may your dice be good to you!