"Control Freak" Topic

I spent a good portion of the Spring painting up two punic war armies at considerable cost to my sanity. The grand unveiling at my local club went down a storm and 'Ancients' were declared a hit.
A month later and one of our members comes to the club with two superbly painted ancients armies bought through a pro painting company.
Now this might seem like a good thing, more armies means more choice, more opponents, bigger battles.
Unfortunately this was just another example in a long line of such behaviour by this individual. Someone introduces a new genre to the club and all of a sudden Mr X has 1-upped them. In addition, Mr X's sudden boundless enthusiasm for the new genre means they quickly end up controlling the agenda as no-one wants to get into an argument.

This all seems fairly trivial when written, but the sense of frustration by others at the club is very tangible and has lead to people leaving.
Have any of you guys encountered something similar? How did you tackle it?

Manned up.

I've seen some groups institutionalize their line-up of games each month.

The first meeting is Ancients, the second meeting of the month is Napoleonics, the third meeting is Naval, etc.

Seems to work for them.

Haven't had the luxury of a club. The closest I have is a group in Muskegon (1.5 hrs. away). They provide all the miniatures and a home grown set of rules. You either play what's on the table the way they say it is to be played or you leave. I enjoy it immensely. Why else would I make the drive?

The issue appears to be more than him having a professionally painted army….don't play with him and he'll get the hint.

In a club I used to belong to, before I moved, there was a guy who flat-out cheated on his dice rolls. I just refused to be involved in any game he was in. As others saw him cheating they did the same thing. Eventually he got the hint.

Arms Race! It's on.

Start buying and painting. Buy used painted armies on ebay. Get your friends to start buying. Everyone buy and paint the same era so his army becomes puny in comparison. He can't face all of you.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

"Boundless enthusiasm", you say that like it's a bad thing!

Is there perhaps some envy at work? Is "Mr X" annoying to game with per se? If he's okay as a gaming buddy, I don't see why anything else should interfere or even be addressed….

A pro-painted army doesn't play any better than a spray-painted army.

Choose a genre where simply buying. The most expensive toys does not in self give a big gameplay advantage. Most historicals are good for this, Warhammer and its ilk not so much. The high points, high money cost big fancy elements in many fantasy and Sci-Fi games definitely give a play advantage beyond their higher points cost.

Then having chosen a genre and rules where deep pockets are not the key to victory, then persuade the other members of the club to stick with it past the point where MR Dollar Bill has gotten bored with it and is itching to move I to the next period where he can become the "big fish".

Choose genres and games that a core of players will want to stick with for a while. Then play that. For fun, and don't worry about MR. Big. His ego is. Likely driven by insecurity. To puff himself up he needs to bring others down. Don't get sucked in. Just quietly keep playing what you enjoy playing.

I have dropped out game leagues before when it became obvious that the way to win was to out spend everybody else not necessarily to. Outplay them. This was largely a matter of game choice and design.

If I read you right the issue is the player taking over the group, not that he buys painted armies. Sounds like you need to canvas the other members, and confront him.

"We love your enthusiasm, but it takes over and others feel excluded/maginalized."

Play a different game each week. That way he's always an army behind. Ok, that's just my mean streak talking. Setting up an schedule of games is probably the way to go.

Play games with green army men :)

Dear Mikasa

Some people seem driven to always try to be the enormous fish in the itty-bitty pond.

First of all, sight unseen, I can tell YOUR army that you sweated and slaved over is infinitely better than HIS which he just purchased.

Second, what I sense here is an effort to control the agenda and the club. Been in this several times with guys who collected about them a "cool table" who determined what everyone played. You either played what the head of the cool table wanted or did what he wanted (including buying armies for the games he wanted to play) or you were frozen out and no one would do or play anything you suggested.

Happens all the time.

Otto

Seen it before I ended up in the middle of nowhere and found my company tolerable :
I would end up always shying way and going less.
I finally did my own thing with fun topics and games, I always had someone(s) to play and if this control freak got interested in what I was doing I did something else.
He's still likes to run the game and has his sycophants but it taught me a lesson to get on with my own enjoyment.
Cheers

Maybe I just need to shrug and move on.

Thanks for the comments

Wow! Fortunately, my group's nitwit is simply an uninformed hanger-on and no real threat to the group.

I'd say keep with your Ancients Mikasa and then you can field opposing forces with an opponent who you want to play.

Double win or triple

Positive-you have the pleasure of having your Roman army-painted all by yourself.

You can play with a friendly player.

Negs-You can watch the Dick seeth when he sees you having fun.

Double negs- just watch him buy a Roman army that sits at home in barracks.

Am I being mean here?

Power to you.

go 2mm!

In my very small gaming group we have a gentlemen's agreement that people take turns setting up games for the others to participate in. The guy setting up the game (usually also the plumpire), chooses what period/rules etc.
Works well for us.

Most of these problems with people trying to dominate the agenda have more to do with social relationships rather than gaming. I guess the local flower arranging society has the same problems.