Goatboy’s 40k Thoughts – How do you like to Lose?
Goatboy here again – We all can’t be the best, and no matter how many times someone says they can’t lose, we all will at some point. So today’s question – how do you like to lose?
Now I know that the question is kind of odd, as obviously we all don’t like to lose. What I want to get to the heart of is how we like to lose if we had to lose. So lets look at some of the reasons/ways we might lose.
Better Weapon!
We all know how the internet as a whole creates tiers for army lists. Unit X is math hammered ranking 8 while Unit B has a math hammer of 8.5. I know I have talked in the past about it and I still stand by that some armies are just on paper better then others. So the question is, do you like to lose to what is commonly thought of as the best of the best? We all know that sometimes dice can fail you and winning with a subpar army can be a ton of fun, so do you not care to lose with what might be described as a dull blade? If you take an commonly “bad” army to a tournament do you know you will most likely lose to so called awesome lists? I know personally I don’t like to lose to point and click armies a lot of the time as I feel it wasn’t that much fun. Now beating one of these armies with something craptastic is so much fun the threat of an unfun loss is worth it just to get a chance at an awesome upset win.
Bad Luck!
How many times have you played versus an opponent that just can’t fail a save? There are those times that the moon was aligned, you didn’t wear your lucky underwear, and some poor kid just needed more luck elsewhere in the world then you needed that day and you just roll like ass. Those games are going to be there and there is nothing we can do to stop them. No matter how perfectly square the dice are you will roll bad at some point. It might be the first game of the tournament or the last one for all the marbles – the dice are all going to come up 1’s. I have talked about this before as a way to stop being a sore loser and most of the time I find these types of loses a bit more acceptable. Rolling bad is out of your hands so losing this way is not really your fault. Plus it lets me make terrible jokes about saving lives with all the stolen luck I should have.
Fancy Trick!
Have you ever lost to what some people think is a manipulation in the rules? Or something you didn’t quite understand? Lucky for us the newer codexes are starting to feel similar in design philosophy and it is easier to know what unit does what. But there are times when a moldy older codex pulls out what some feel is almost a design cheat or exploit meant for a ruleset 1 or 2 editions ago. What about those times that someone uses a tactic that might not make real life sense but fits within the physics of the game? I know I for one don’t like to lose based on misinformation. That is why I always say read the book or call a judge or an unbiased 3rd party player. This game has a lot of grey areas at times and the only way to really get to the heart of it is to figure out what works for the whole. I just don’t like to lose by loopholes in the rules instead of just a better general/army. Now forgetting the rules and getting things mixed up happens all the time so again just get a book if you don’t think something is right.
Random Game Length/Stalled Out
Have you ever been slow played? It is probably the most frustrating thing to have a game in your hands but a few manipulation of turns can take out any and all generalship. On of the best players around here will just go livid if someone tries to pull some slowplaying BS on them. I have talked in the past on how to help games move along smoothly and swiftly so I won’t go into it, but really it is up to you as a player to not lose this way. What about those games where the dice comes up as a 1 on turn 5 and the game is over when the opponent just has one stretched out line of Orks holding whatever nonsense you were fighting over? I know it isn’t realistic to see a game just end as obviously armies don’t have breaks for tea and crumpets. We have our dear friend Fritz to thank for the turn 5 Eldar win. 🙂 Most of the time it isn’t a real issue of a loss as obviously the other player knows you had them so losing on this is not nearly as frustrating as being gimped out on time.
Non Game Scores taking the top Prize
Here is where I find the most disheartening loses. We might all play the same game but not everyone is on the same page. What some people consider mean, unsporting, or just plan bad for the game others find to be the awesome aspects of it. I am currently seeing a more push for the competitive nature of the game which for me is where my heart lies when actively competing when I play. This doesn’t mean I am always set at 11 when I play, this just means that I enjoy the aspects of competition and find playing games with full honed swords to be the most exciting. But this doesn’t mean that the swords have to be the biggest and the best, it just means I want to play players that want to go for my throat. So when a tournament isn’t decided on games and instead of some random opinion of what looks cool or is cool I get sad. Now of course I think if you state your tournaments goals and desires it makes it a lot easier to find enjoyment in it. Heck I am playing at the Boyz with a neat Space Wolves army and they have a very strict comp system in place this year. I am positive I will have a blast up there and can’t wait to get out of Austin for a bit. Like I said above I am going into this knowing the rules and so I won’t be surprised at the end by who wins and who loses. I just want to throw some dice and hope the Goats don’t get too bored and wander off to eat some grass.
