Weasel | 12 May 2017 9:41 a.m. PST |
We've all met that guy who took gaming a bit too seriously. Whether it's the guy who gets super mad when his favorite army is rated 1 point too poorly in a game, the guy who doesn't realize the civil war ended or the guy who flips out when he fails a morale check. So share some of your stories, the funnier the better.
My favorite remains a guy who, upon losing a 40K game, did this weird acrobat monkey leap in frustration.
He hits the edge of the table with his thigh and apparently the corner got him just right because he just crumbles in a heap on the floor, while his space marine army neatly plunges over the edge of the rattled table and on to the concrete floor below. |
ZULUPAUL | 12 May 2017 9:50 a.m. PST |
There was one gentleman who went ballistic & walked out after he was caught in flank fire from an unexpected source (me). |
T Callahan | 12 May 2017 10:00 a.m. PST |
20 Years ago at a con a player lost a die roll or something grabbed the picked it up and slammed it down. All the figures and terrain popped up and landed all over the place including the floor. He was told to leave and not to ever come back. The game ended because no could remember where a couple hundred stands should be. |
acatcalledelvis | 12 May 2017 10:12 a.m. PST |
We were running a participation game at a show once and one young lad wet himself with the excitement/horror of charging a trench and sadly dying. |
peterx | 12 May 2017 12:24 p.m. PST |
A guy at a con was playing 40k on the next table. His Space Marines must have losing badly, because he starting screaming and flipped the table up into the air. The miniatures went flying as well as the scenery. It was exciting. I had never seen such a display before or since. |
JimDuncanUK | 12 May 2017 12:43 p.m. PST |
I just smile and walk away. |
Norman D Landings | 12 May 2017 1:13 p.m. PST |
D&D 'Battlesystem', playing the 'Dragonlance' campaign. A series of outstanding die rolls resulted in one player's elite Draconians being ridden down by some lacklustre light horse (commanded by the player's younger brother.) Draconian player was red in the face, insisting that the result was impossible. He ended his tirade by stating that the Draconians "could kill them with one blow!" And I said: "Job." FLIP went the table, dice, figures, the lot, all over the room, as the rest of us fell about in hysterics. And the homemade apple pie – that this very player's mum had provided for munchies – went SPLAT against the wall and slid slowly down leaving a trail of stewed fruit and unbearable pathos. I'm not proud of myself. Maybe a little bit. |
Tom D1 | 12 May 2017 1:16 p.m. PST |
Almost 40 years ago I saw 2 guys get into an actual wrestling match, which spelled the end of gaming in the back room of the Compleat Strategist. |
vtsaogames | 12 May 2017 1:26 p.m. PST |
Is that why they stopped? I wondered. If the Forlorn Hope war game club didn't dampen their enthusiasm. .. |
skinkmasterreturns | 12 May 2017 2:11 p.m. PST |
In our club one player threatened another player physically after losing a round of combat in a game of Fire and Fury.Aggressor got himself banned from the club as a result. |
coryfromMissoula | 12 May 2017 2:13 p.m. PST |
Diplomacy game where the host, upon watching his allies dismantle his country in one obviously preplanned turn, flipped the coffee table and threw the custom wooden gaming box. The target ducked, the picture window smashed, and we all fled through the new exit. |
redmist1122 | 12 May 2017 2:28 p.m. PST |
Many many many years ago when I first entered the military, I posted at a alert facility while working the missile field in North Dakota, we would play the board game Risk. One day another patrol had stop by for lunch and wanted to jump in a game. Now I was pretty good at the game and was able to keep track of everyone's armies. If you played the game…the earlier versions. The counters were in roman numbers of I, III, V and X. We3ll this guy was supposedly got confused of the numbers and was laying down "Xs" as oppose to Is. And by turn three or four…there is no way you would have a force of about 80 armies. So, I called him out on it. Needless to say this guy said something colorful, and flipped the whole board over, knocked down the table and some chairs. and was ready to start fighting us…maybe me. What is really crazy, we are all armed with rifles and we're ready to fight over a board game… P. |
Striker | 12 May 2017 2:52 p.m. PST |
Risk: the cause of torment. 20+ years ago we were playing risk with 5 players and we were all very familiar with the game. Since I normally don't care about winning I was the first out and just chilled, munched, and socialized. The game came down to 3 players, one of which has a really big ego, (Players A, B, and E, E is the ego guy). Guy E gets eliminated and shortly thereafter player A knocks out B. All is well until E starts lecturing us on how he really won and player A didn't. A, trying to use simple logic, was getting more and more irritated with E until E, pointing to units on the board, flips the board over in a half-accidental way. Both stand up for a brawl and cooler heads intervene. I think that's the last time we played Risk with those guys together. |
robert piepenbrink | 12 May 2017 3:29 p.m. PST |
Well, I can recall a particular player who, discovering that the other side had planned and practiced and were not being slaughtered as scheduled, threw his dice against the wall and went downstairs to watch basketball on TV. Mind, you, he was a side commander, the game designer and the host. And there was the middle-aged man who was cheating blatantly against 10 year old first-time players. They were still winning, of course, which was some comfort. But for actual involvement, pride of place has to go to a board gamer I knew, playing AH's Battle of the Bulge, who not only lectured a couple of cardboard counters prior to a critical die roll, but held a lit match to them, scorching them slightly and telling the counters they'd be burned if they lost the combat. (Yes, they won. But still…) |
Korvessa | 12 May 2017 3:35 p.m. PST |
I kind of like that last one mentioned by Robert P. |
Weasel | 12 May 2017 3:39 p.m. PST |
I was wondering how long before Risk and Diplomacy stories popped up :) |
Ottoathome | 12 May 2017 4:26 p.m. PST |
The best story is when I as he umpire was sandbagged by two friends. The incident happened when I was putting on one of my "Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna Games." In this game if you fail a question or a test you can have several "saves" like asking your own question etc., all the way down to sanding on a chair and singing us a song. Well my two good friends introduce their niece and nephew who want to play. The niece they introduce as Hermione Grange and the nephew as Ron Weasly. I had not at that time read Harry Potter so the high sign from left field went right over my head. The tests are answering questions on 19th century painting, art, drama, humanities, customs and mores etc. If you get it right you get to read the iformation which is crucial to winning. So the game goes along and Miss Hermione gets a question and says "I want to sing." "Ok, so what do you want to sing for us?" Asks I "I want to sing Butterfly's Aria from Puccini's Madama Butterfly." Sez She. After a moments surprise I turn to my friend with an accusatory look and she sais "She's enrolled in the Metropolitan Opera School. So the girl gets on the chair and belts it out in full Soubrette at a Historicon which brings all the surrounding tables to a dead stop, and when she finishes brings a round of applause, and Brava Brava!!! I loved it. The only way it could have been approved is if my friend had gotten her nephew a bouquet to present to the girl. By the way she made here met debut last year in Boheme-- not as Mimi- but as a minor role. |
21eRegt | 12 May 2017 5:12 p.m. PST |
At the US Open (chess) in 1975 a disgruntled player who had lost leapt across a table to assault someone who had "shushed" him. In a Napoleonics game the French dragoons charged some Cossacks. He had a 95% chance of winning and rolled…. a 98. He spun about uttering a drawn out vulgarity that rhymes with grit while loosing the mother of all loogies which hit the floor with an audible "plop." After ten minutes of hysterical laughing we resumed the game. |
Narratio | 12 May 2017 8:13 p.m. PST |
A game of Diplomacy, Spring 1916 went wrong for the German player. He spent the rest of the game writing snide personal comments/insults on the back of his 'diplomatic correspondence'. Around Winter 1920 the pushing, shoving fist fight broke out. He left, we never played Diplomacy again. |
Whitestreak | 12 May 2017 9:17 p.m. PST |
While stationed in Spain, I was refereeing a blind game of Squad Leader – the scenario was Germans vs. Soviets. The USSR was defending, and I watched in awe/surprise as the German player sent his forces past a single wooden house on a slope – not a single unit passed next to the house. During the Defending Fire Phase, a Soviet HMG opened fire on the rear of the German forces, which were nearly destroyed. The German player screamed, which caused one of the Rec Center staff to come running up the stairs. After the game was over, I asked the German why he ignored the house. His response? "Every time I've played this scenario, there never were any Russians in it and I didn't expect them to be there this time! It wasn't fair, you know!" He never played Squad Leader with our group again. |
(Phil Dutre) | 13 May 2017 1:14 a.m. PST |
Diplomacy is bad. In my gaming group we installed a ban on Diplomacy because all the bad vibes it was causing. But Magic the Gathering in the early days of the game was even worse, and brought out the worst in people. The mix of collectible cards with money value, often unclear rules, and tournament settings brought out the worst in people. At one point we had to call the police because one player was threatening another with a knife. |
John Treadaway | 13 May 2017 2:39 a.m. PST |
Nobody I've ever played with (more than once) has ever been as awful as any of the stories related, above. Thankfully… Mind you, my group had to stop playing the Junta board game: just too toxic… John T |
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 13 May 2017 1:51 p.m. PST |
Many years ago, I was the referee of a Diplomacy game. We had beer, but one player was drinking somewhat faster than the rest of us. Actually, a lot faster. You can see where this is going. After a few hours, some set of orders required a careful reading of the rules. I concluded that that guy came out on the wrong end (dislodged or eliminated, I guess; I don't remember the details). He argued vehemently, but incoherently. Eventually he was literally crying into his beer as he accused me of favoritism, and me and the other players involved in that move of being a clique, and I don't recall what else. Then he resigned from the game and staggered home. Worst Diplomacy game ever. |
Dynaman8789 | 14 May 2017 11:14 a.m. PST |
That sounds like a pretty run of the mill Diplomacy game… |
Great War Ace | 14 May 2017 12:37 p.m. PST |
I always recall the "Crazy Ranger", Dickie, over to resolve a campaign battle in the ancmed "period": it was an anachronistic campaign a la "Hyborian Age" matchups, which allowed each player to have his budding empire be anything from Assyrians and Egyptians of Rameses II all the way up to late medieval Swiss. Dickie's army were Spartans. He was beating on a non player town, whose militia were of course outclassed. His combat rolls were as bad as any I have ever seen, followed by universally bad morale checks. Finally, in complete frustration with his favorite combat dice, he white knuckled them, drew back his fist in a slow windup, and hurled the cubes at my unfinished basement concrete wall. I was of course warned of what was coming and ducked for cover. Shards/shrapnel of dice flew in every direction (these were big dice, the one inch size). I was finding pieces of dice in my gameroom for literally years after that. |
Great War Ace | 14 May 2017 12:47 p.m. PST |
At one point we had to call the police because one player was threatening another with a knife. YouTube link c. 45 second in. Truth is stranger than fiction. :D |
Ottoathome | 14 May 2017 3:03 p.m. PST |
Diplomacy is a great game, but a terrible one at the same time and for one single reason. It's a "you're it" game. Who you pitch your diplomacy against is entirely up to you, so that means it's all too often taken as mere spite and malice. Granted, those who are strong afficianados of it would more likely accept a Germany versus Russia policy as a legitimate strategy in the game, but a British anti-Turkish game may be another thing. Far more dangerous to player harmony however is a refusal by one or several players to adopt the predatory attitude of I'll cut this guy at the first opportunity, then turn on my allay in a moment and then three of us will gang up on two, the two of us on the remaining one. Far more divisive than that is when one player actually develops a consistent policy. For example, a Germany sees the preservation of Austria Hungary against Russia as a greater boon as a barrier than simply a plum pie to be divided. Or an Italo – Turkish Alliance interested in the support of Austria again, as a barrier against Russia is far more irksome to a Russian player than out and out treachery. This is because the benefits to Italy and Turkey from carving up Austria are immediate and obvious and Russia resents being forstalled on its own gains. this is why I say it's a "You're it!" game Now if you want to REALLY see the fur fly, wait till someone realizes that Italy/ Austria/ Turkey are going for a joint win! My best game was a seven player game where by 1920 I had managed a seven player win. |
Ottoathome | 14 May 2017 3:11 p.m. PST |
Oh yeah. There once was a gamer who we played multi-player games with dozens of times. With an almost clockwork predictability he would betray, and egregiously so, several players in a game, every game. Diplomacy, Civilization, History of the World, Third Reich, Junta and half a dozen others he would routinely betray and attack a good ally for extremely trivial reasons. What drove him several times to flip the board situations was that after about a year or two NO ONE would have anything to do with him in the game. They wouldn't ally with him, trade with him, or even consider his proposals. It became impossible for him to betray anyone because no one would trust him. One day, he actually said "This game sucks. How am I going to stab anyone in the back if no one will trust me!!! We pointed out to him that his not seeing the problem with that statement was perhaps the problem in itself. Now and then someone would feel sorry for him and be his ally, only to have him two turns later stab his benefactor in the back. |
Khusrau | 14 May 2017 4:29 p.m. PST |
Following one particularly bad ancients competition, I saw one player pick up each of his very well painted elements of miniatures, and literally hurl them one by one, with full force into the metal toolbox he used to transport them in.. the rest of the room fell silent as a couple of his friends tried to persuade him not to destroy hundreds of dollars worth of his figures. I don't recall him playing again. |
GreenLeader | 15 May 2017 4:23 a.m. PST |
I am almost too frightened to ask, but what is a: "weird acrobat monkey leap"? |
GreenLeader | 15 May 2017 4:29 a.m. PST |
Not a player losing his temper as such, but we used to play Space 1889 as teenagers, and one of the 'skills' a character could have was 'gunnery'. We were playing at my best mates' house one evening and the GM was saying: 'OK, have you got gunnery?' to one of the players, just as my mate's rather intemperate and unpredictable father walked through the room. He heard this and shouted: 'WHO'S GOT GONORRHEA!?' roaring with delight at his joke. We thought it was hilarious, but as his guffawing father left the room, my mate shook his head and said something like: 'stupid old er'… which, alas, his father overheard – and returned to the room and give my mate an almighty whack across the back of the head. Which we also thought was hilarious. |
Martin Rapier | 15 May 2017 8:50 a.m. PST |
Ah, Diplomacy, what a great game. Our finest moment was tape recording the conversations in one of the negotiating rooms. Really, how else can you beat Turkey? |
Cold War Minis | 15 Jun 2017 2:25 p.m. PST |
Not so much over serious but a drunken and overly competitive round of one of GWs Troll Games (Squelch possibly or Trolls in the Pantry, I don't remember) in about 92 did result in my mate losing a front window to a flailing foot! |