Business Ethics . . .

Ok, this post has nothing to do with business, but whenever I hear the word ethics it makes me think of Billy Madison . . . what a great movie.

Anyways on to the topic. I played in a local tournament and did reasonably well for my first time. I lost one game to a 20 year 40k veteran. He was playing Space Wolves and had a tough army list with all the options you can throw on there. He knew I was a relative newb at 40k, and he deliberately took advantage of that.

So, to start it all off, my list was in limbo right up until it was time to deploy the first game almost. I had the 2 razorback list, but at the last minute I figured I'd drop the TL lascannons and go for more Rhinos for my combat squaded tac squads. Come to find out, that is illegal. Only one transport per squad, even though you are dividing them up. I didn't know that, and my opponent pointed it out kindly to me. I felt mostly retarded, but then he said, "That's fine, don't worry about it." I told him I could change my list easy enough, but he said again not to worry about it. So I didn't. We played on, and he won solidly, but only because he was cheating. I don't know who would have won in the end had it been a legitimate game, he could have still wiped the floor with me, but I don't think that would have been the case.

He had Logan Grimnar in his list who can give one of a few USR's to the squad he has joined. Fearless, preferred enemy, relentless, and another I can't remember. Strong ability right? Well it's even stronger when you call out the ability you want mid-turn rather than at the beginning of the turn like the rule states. Now you might think, who cares. But he was into combat before he tells me that he wants preferred enemy. Then I shoot up Logan's squad and force a Ld check, and here is what could have turned the game around, Logan failed his check. He starts to roll the fallback distance and then declares, "I'll make him fearless this round." I didn't know he was cheating, but he did. He had to call that at the start of my turn, not after I force the check and he fails.

Secondly, he was cheating with his wolf claws. He would roll to hit me, and if was a terrible roll then he would call re-rolls to hit. If it went well, then it was re-rolls to wound. He had to call that before he started making rolls at all. It pisses me off.

And this is the kicker, mid-game he was trying to get his rune priest free line-of-sight on one of my dreads, and makes an illegal move. He moved right next to my tank, well within an inch, and I called him on it. So he moved his character slightly, and then was in coherency with another of his units, so he had to join. So I told him that, and he said, "Come on, you are playing with an illegal list, and you are trying to call me on this?" And I said, "You know what, you are right, its not that big of a deal, I don't want to be that guy." I let it slide, because it didn't affect the game much, his living lightning failed to hurt my dread and no big deal. But he tried to hang his supposedly wonderful sportsmanship over my head to guilt me into allowing him to bend/break the rules. Had I known he was pulling the BS with Logan and his wolf claw termies, who knows what would have happened. And he was the one that insisted I keep my list the way it was, and not revert to my legal version.

So what's the point of my rant? That's a good question, and I'm not sure I know the answer. I'm not going to confront the guy over it. If it happened again, I would call him on the rule at that time. I had an "illegal" list to begin with, but he was fine with that. If you all were in a similar situation where your opponent gave you a favorable call, do you then allow them to walk over you with their rules violations? I'm not going to let it happen again, that is for sure.

To top it all off, he was a nice guy after the game. He is apparently a Blood Angels fan, and showed me his list and how he runs it. He talked tactics with me after the game, and told me all the things I already knew, but just didn't do in deployment. I don't dislike the guy in the end, I would play him again. I just need to make sure I know the codex well enough of each of the armies to know when they aren't following it.

Chime in with your thoughts, ideas, etc. I'd really like to know how others feel about this.

And on a personal note, I passed part 2 of my national licensing exam for my Optometric License!!! WOOT WOOT! I am so stoked. Just 4 more months and one more exam to go and I will finally have some disposable income for this hobby! :)