"Fighting In The War Room" Topic

When I used to play football I was the known as the most aggressive tireless #@$%@ on the pitch. But off it I was known as a kind, mild mannered gentleman. Still am (and humble)

Now I don't play a huge amount of social gaming like others here on TMP might but have played a bit. But I've never had a moment where lost my temper or even close to it (well maybe with my dice rolls or stupid tactical decision making) except for one occasion, quite recently actually. This moment of weakness happened while playing of all things a friendly game of "Frostgrave" in the comfort of our own home.

My wife and I had a few of our friends over and I was determined to at last introduce them to some form of gaming. I set up a large table of icy terrain and had already written up some teams for each couple. There was 4 couples including my 21 year old niece and her boyfriend.

As the game progressed I was delighted and kind of amazed how everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were really getting into it, taking it seriously but still having a laugh. I wasn't playing in the least bit tactically in fact I had allowed my wife to take most of our turns so as to help the other couples understand the rules etc…

For those unfamiliar with the game, it's basically a race to grab as much of the limited treasure off the table with your Wizard led team while fighting off your opponents who are doing exactly the same thing.

I soon began to be aware of my niece's boyfriend really taking a great deal of pleasure from the fact that he's just taken out an opposing "Wizard". He was being very loud and quite annoying about it. Now I should say that within the parameters of the game there was absolutely nothing wrong with what he was doing (although he wasn't gathering any treasure and there was an decreasing amount on the table. It wasn't at all the fact he was stalking the other player's Wizard's but the very annoying and loud triumphant glee he was expressing.

Now I found myself really getting incredibly angry although I kept this to myself but I became determined to track down and kill the insolent pup's Wizard. Unfortunately for me however as searched for the position of my Wizard I discovered to my horror that my wife had placed him in a terrible vulnerable location. Again there's a lot of high ground and cover in Frostgrave and if your Wizard leaves himself in the open, well he's toast.

So to the detriment of my failing interior disposition I then realized that this most annoying dude's Wizard is positioned on a height in striking distance of my main man. Of course the inevitable happens; he smokes my Wizard and enters into his fabulous gloating routine… I'm not proud of myself but I really wanted to punch the guy there and then and throw him out the door. Again I resisted any outward expression of my increasing rage and to the credit of my perceptive wife she intervened by asking me to get some drinks or something (I can't remember)

The evening passed without any incident and we did have a good time. To be fair it was spoiled somewhat by some immature antics but thank God I didn't react.

It did make me think however does this happen often? There must be a few undesirable types playing in Gaming Clubs that get up your goat?

What's the maddest you've ever being during a game and why?

I once had a grown man in his early 50s yelling at my then 8 year old son over a miniatures game marketed to kids, hero scape I think was the name. There was some situation where my son could hit his guy but he couldn't hit back due to where you could draw line of sight from. It got the the point where I had to tell him that if he raised his voice another time to my son that it would get really ugly. The same man years later was raising his voice to a friend of mine who is much older and tends to have 'senior moments' often. I told him to stop yelling and learn some manners. We exchanged a couple almost polite words and he quieted down. It's not that he picks on the vulnerable, he just has no control over his temper if things aren't going his way.

The most angry I have been (pretty much the only angry – most of the people I game with (myself included) are of the, "Holy crap … I won?" demeanour) was at a "walk up/beginner friendly" game at a con. The issue was that the game really wasn't being run as a walk-up or beginner-friendly and my family were the only people (as we later found out) who weren't veteran gamers of system or the group running it.

Needless to say, there were a number of "Oh, by the way…" statements that came after decisions on our side when opponents were taking their turns. The worst issues were: One of the units (all units move 12") charging DOMs forces 24" then conducting melee when she had positioned for a "No Man's Land" in front of a hedge that would let her get two shots before melee engagement. The identification of artillery that could shoot 48" (as opposed to the stated "all units have 6" 9" and 12" ranges) at the time it blasted DOM's force. The revelation that when my commander had lost line of sight to controlled units, so they blow up as they were being removed from the board. And the later explanation to SWMBO about the control of critical assets that directly contradicted the one given to her at the time she was deciding what to do about those critical assets.

Sad thing is, we actually have the rules and like the game. Now.

I don't think every con game has to be "beginner friendly". I just think if you're going to list a game in a category described as "No prior knowledge of the rules is required to play this game.", it should be so.

No one boiled over. The result was we just don't go to those peoples' table any more, and make excuses when they invite us.

I saw a game designer throw his SYW pewter cavalry against a brick wall because they missed hitting the target of their charge by less than an inch. That's the angriest I've ever seen someone in a game.

I watched a 40K tournament one time that had a guy who was less than pleasant. When he was winning, he would laugh and crow loudly about it. The last game was a situation where his Tyrnids didn't get as much cover. The guy he was fighting proceeded to just destroy his Nids. As the guy removed his dead Nids, he would crush them to pieces in his hands and drop them on the floor, where he walked on them. No one liked playing against him, poor winner and loser.

I posted this a few years ago, but it's worth re-posting (in my humble opinion).

The only serious disagreement/issue I've ever had playing wargames was because of 'blinds.' We'd played IABSM several times prior, and had always used poker chips (with the name of the unit or 'dummy' written on the bottom of the chip) as blinds and never had problems previously.

We were playing in 10mm, multi-based so that a whole airborne platoon with Big Man, 3 rifle squads, and a bazooka team were on six bases. I placed my standard-sized poker chip square in the middle of a road between two shelled out houses, which were no more than five inches apart. My opponent ran a blind right up to them, so that both were auto-spotted and placed on the table.

He was very giddy until I started placing my platoon in the two shelled out houses. "What the @#$% are you doing!?" I replied I was placing my troops (his were in a field). We must have argued for 45 minutes, with both of us getting increasingly worked up at the other's intransigence. He was calling me a cheating @#$% and my only reply was "you're outta your @#$%'in mind if you think I put that blind there so that I could set a rifle platoon in the middle of the @#$%'in street." This was clearly a matter not to be resolved by a simple roll of the dice (our usual method for clearing up misunderstandings).

Ultimately he conceded and we finished the turn. As I was reshuffling the cards (IABSM being a card-based game), I asked him if he wanted to keep going. He replied that he wasn't sure his derriere could take any more violating (that's the censored version). I swear if he was a bit younger he'd have taken a swing at me.

The kicker: I was playing against my Dad! Of course we had many great games after that, but six months later I still couldn't joke about it without him getting hot.

V/R,
Jack

Jack I'm at a restaurant and read out that story to my wife-and we both had a great laugh with the ending. What remarkable luck for her that her first "Jack" correspondence is with the only decent story you have 😉 Very funny!