Monday Ramblings

 

A recent “demon” has arisen in the Local gaming Circle (LGC).  Our competitive natures are starting to get the best of us, and sometimes we try to eat off each other’s heads.  One or two conditions tend to bring this up but a pattern in forming.

The two touchy points are:

• Unit Counters - Hard & Soft Counters, and;
• Knowledge of the basic rules

 Before we get started some definitions to help those unfamiliar:

• A hard counter is something that beats its counterpart even with inferior investment.  Whilst a soft counter usually beats its counterpart, but may lose with inferior investment (or bad dice rolling).
• Knowledge of rules tend to run in two circles - RAW va RAI - RAW= Rules As Written- i.e. the literal interpretation of the wording of the rules to determine its true meaning.  RAI= Rules As Intended- I.e. trying to understand the motivations and the basis of the rule to understand how the words should be applied in action. (or using examples shown)

 These points are very hard to not ignore as they can stop a game in its tracks.

In WFB there are many counters to most units on the table. Some counters come on the form os specialized units and others are built into the rules.  NO UNIT IS UNKILLABLE!!!  Now that I have said that, it is often hard for players to forget that one rule.  And it can result in a very frustrating game as your ‘uber’ unit is taken off the board for your opponent not suffering much in return (soft counter) or having your ‘uber’ unit get destroyed as it faced another ‘unkillable’ unit (hard counter).  WFB is a game of dice, and the Dice Gods can (and are) very fickle.  This is hard to remember, and can lead to laughs when taken as intended.  I personally try to not field units that would be deemed ‘unkillable’ in certain situations, as I do now the frustration of facing them and the utter joy of watching them at work. 

Common ways to deal with a hard of soft counter:

• Identify it and avoid it like the plague
• Identify its (strength) weakness and confront on your own terms
• Bait-n-Switch
• Booze (drink booze, get drunk, enjoy the carnage inflected on you) <

Knowledge of rules is always a touchy subject and can devolve quickly.  I am quite guilty of adopting a (bad) approach on this matter from personal interest.  RAW vs RAI is a lengthy debate and can lead to allot of confusion and in-fighting.  The best approach is over all knowledge of rules.  Whilst not the best, solution it does help if parties know the rules of the game system and their armies.  If an opponent asks for clarity, fully read out the rule/ability (in full) from your army book, and/or give the page in the BRB.  This has been my recent approach and can come across rather cold when giving opponent the pages in the BRB to look over themselves.  Whilst not justifying my reasons, I do this as I have did abit too many introduction games and am tired of repeating basic rules when I play with ‘experienced’ players.  Have a rulebook (an updated FAQs) actually makes most arguments mute as allot of common questions are answered in said FAQ.  This also boils down to some trust in your opponent (to not cheat), it is , frankly,  too much work/hassle to attempt to know the rules for your army and an opponent you are playing against.  This also leads into a length debate over having a visible army list (preferably written the f@#$* down  - as you can see a very touchy subject for me) and WYSWYG vs Proxy but those are for another time.

The hardest thing (even for me to remember) is the Golden Rule – THIS IS JUST A GAME, RELAX AND HAVE FUN!!

Well time to get on with the rest of my week....But I need to work on my daemons.

What other daemons do players find get in the way of enjoying games?