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Now be honest when you answer this. When I used to play 40k (can't anymore because I don't know anyone with an army ) I was, if I'm being completely honest, a pretty bad loser. I was aware at the time that I was whining like a girl but try as I might, I simply couldn't stop myself. I felt truly wronged somehow if I lost and constantly blamed my opponent for some various reason. I had a SM force and he a IG. For example, he turned up at mine one day with his army for a battle and he had kitted his army out with ELEVEN heavy bolters. The fact that he knew in advance that I wasn't using any transports didn't strike me as anything to worry about..until we started and it basically turned into a remake of WW2 on the beaches of Normandy. He poured that much fire at me that I had very little hope of reaching his lines with the kind of numbers that could ever be considered a threat. Post battle, I was furious because I felt as if I had basically been the victim of a turkey shoot.

It just didn't feel fair and I told him so. We didn't fall out or anything but my point is that I didn't enjoy the battles as much as I would have if I had looked at the battle as if we were creating a narrative for a story together which would have no doubt have been more enjoyable. Also, I genuinely did seem to be cursed by those damn dice! The number of ones I rolled was on the wrong side of hilarious and he was, in turn, so lucky with his 4+ cover saves that he passed about at least 80% of the time. Again, not fair! I once was so angry at my streak of rolling ones that I shook 100 dice in front of him, demanding that he counted how many one's I rolled and I rolled a staggering 46 of the blighters! He did the same thing and he got only a poxy 17! NOT FAIR WAAAAHH!!

I'm being maybe a bit too honest here and probably giving you guys the impression that I was a complete knightmare to play against, and I guess, to my complete and utter shame, I was.

Does anyone sympathise with me or am I basically a whiner?

Two paragraphs is not enough to really tell if you are a whiner so thats your call.

One thing I did notice, If you call "not fair" about people having opposite luck with dice then it is time to take a big step back. Yes some people seem cursed but that is one of two aspects of the game that the oppoenent has no control over.

I consider myself a VERY gracious winner and loser. I don't complain about armies or rolling. And only once have I gotten frustrated enough to toss a model(it wasn't even a hard toss more like an UGH toss into the dead pile.)

Chancetragedy wrote:
I consider myself a VERY gracious winner and loser. I don't complain about armies or rolling. And only once have I gotten frustrated enough to toss a model(it wasn't even a hard toss more like an UGH toss into the dead pile.)

Great. So far both answers have been from people who seem to be very good losers/winners. This makes me feel even worse. If I may Chancetragedy: what was the cause of your one-time hissy fit?

I wouldn't consider myself immune to getting upset about losing though. I've never thrown the blame at my opponent though.

The parking lot across from my FLGS however is littered with dice after tournaments. It's more a friendly blowing off steam tradition but still. That single die that rolls a 1 twice in a roll must be punished. If nothing else as a lesson the others.

Heh, i've been lurking the forums for a while, and this thread convinced me to register. Hi, everyone!

I feel it so much now because i just had to quit a match as one of my opponents basically threw dices and models away for an assault lost. It has become a major problem now, and it's ruining the game for me.
We started recently, somewhere around march, in a group of five people. We play like once a week, mostly 2vs2.
Since the beginning i had to concede most decisions: a thousand points armies from the start 'cause they wanted their pretty tanks on the field soon, and NEVER, EVER any decent terrain/cover on the ground because otherwise those tanks couldn't shot from one side of the table to the other (i play Tyranid, so no cover for my MCs in 5th).
On our second match, i threw a fit so embarassingly bad i still pity miself months after. Everything shot down, when a Death Company squad destroyed my Tyrant i lost it. Stomped my feet like a child, telling i would never play again. Really a kid, and i'm 29! The day after i was ashamed to say the least. The other guys weren't much better, though: my partner cursed at every single roll, and the others complained for each model lost in their own childish way.

I told myself that playing with toy soldiers wasn't that immature, but whining was. I learned my game, kept my cool and never, ever complained for anything ever again. And only lost a single match in months, too.
Unfortunately my opponents learning curve didn't go as well.
Two of them -Necrons and Vanilla SM- became pretty good winners/losers, and better players as well. I enjoy them so much, but we always play all togheter and the other two are a disaster. One switched from DE to GK to win, and still lose because his strategy is "I BUY COOL THINGS AND THROW THEM FORWARD!". His armies lack even a hand of primer.
The other is even worse, there is not a single game he doesn't quit or ruin because his own "MOVE FORWARD!" tactics don't work -and he plays BA....-.
Dunno, i'm just tired of this. I'd like a relaxed game once in a while :p

Oh well, that's all. Just had to vent after this night game

Veldrain wrote:
I wouldn't consider myself immune to getting upset about losing though. I've never thrown the blame at my opponent though.

The parking lot across from my FLGS however is littered with dice after tournaments. It's more a friendly blowing off steam tradition but still. That single die that rolls a 1 twice in a roll must be punished. If nothing else as a lesson the others.

So I'm not alone after all. But even so, you didn't blame the other player and I did, like the moronic idiot that I was. Every time, before every battle, I said to myself that I was going to be a more enjoyable guy to play against. Then I started my turn and before long, true to my nature, I was off again. I knew, even as I was whining, that I was being a whiner but I just couldn't help it. I'm not usually a bad loser in any other area of my life too so it puzzled me. I think the thing that made me so mad, on reflection, was that those one's popped up almost on demand. I'd say to my opponent, before I was about to roll an important dice "I bet you any money that it's a bloody one" the dice was duly rolled and what do you think popped up, staring right at me as though it had a mind of it's own and was laughing at me? A one! It happened far to often for it to be pure chance but the best part of it was that my opponent rolled the same dice and passed his cover saves with predictable ease. No matter how much my logical brain tries to tell me that it was just random chance, I will never truly believe that I wasn't the victim of some kind of cosmic joke. Hmmph!

 Muhr wrote:

Chancetragedy wrote:
I consider myself a VERY gracious winner and loser. I don't complain about armies or rolling. And only once have I gotten frustrated enough to toss a model(it wasn't even a hard toss more like an UGH toss into the dead pile.)

Great. So far both answers have been from people who seem to be very good losers/winners. This makes me feel even worse. If I may Chancetragedy: what was the cause of your one-time hissy fit?

It was turn 5 in a league game. I had 10 BA assault marines, and 2 Libby's tied up by vulkan. I had 7 TH/SS termies running over to assure the win as I was in the lead by denying his objective. Only to have an auto cannon, 2 melta, 3 bolters, and a bolt pistol kill all 7 termies. And then have vulkan fail 1 save in a challenge and get force killed by the Libby giving him the win by 1 point. I tossed the last 2 termies that died to the most obscene 1's rolling ive witnessed to the side. As soon as the game was over I immediately apologized and we both laughed at my bad luck.


And dude frankly like you posted above your not alone. Every gets frustrated occasionally, we are all human after all.

I don't generally mind losing if it's because of a tactical error, or my opponent playing a really strong game. The only time I start to get frustrated is when I'm losing because I can't hit or wound anything.

I played a game against my friend a month or so ago, my Eldar v.s his Chaos marines. I had a fantastic first turn, blowing up his land raider with a single bright lance shot and destroying all but one of his rhinos with my pathfinders and fire prisms. After that first turn I couldn't kill a thing. My luck turned so bad that for the next 4 turns, I killed a grand total of 3 berzerkers, 5 chosen and a rhino from the combined shooting of 3 squads of rangers, a 6 man fire dragon squad, 2 fire prisms and a wraith lord. It's one of the first times that I was actually glad to see the game end, and I was pretty frustrated. I only lost the game by a couple of points, which isn't too bad, but I definitely didn't have fun, sitting around rolling ones and twos impotently while my opponent tromped through my army.

I would say I'm a pretty good winner. I never gloat or lord it over my opponent (unless of course it's one of my close friends, in which case all bets are off ) and I make sure to shake their hand and thank them for the game.

I am a great sport.

I always shake hands and congratulate my opponent (or always try at least).

If dice rolling is mentioned, I point out where my opponent outplayed me. I focus on decisions and not rolls.

If a match up seems imbalanced, I focus on how to play out that imbalance. In the OP he mentioned 'like Normandy' and that sounds like a recipe for a narrative to me.

I'm consistent, if there is a discussion about a rule I don't swing back and forth based on whether it is advantageous to me.

Do I consider myself a poor sport? Not at all.

Do people at my FLGS? Depends on who you ask. I can be a bit abrasive and blunt. For example, when I was offered a game by a necrons player, I accepted. When I saw him pull out a half dozen scythe chassis for a friendly game, I told him to his face that a flyerspam list was cheesy and I wasn't going to play one. I didn't ask if he had any other army lists as I could see the contents of his case quite clearly, I just packed my army up and headed back to the bench to keep working on expanding my army. I know for a fact that guy thinks I'm a poor sport, he made it very clear for the rest of the day what he thought of me.

Not that I particularly give a gak, but that's probably the reason why I'm not a sore loser or winner. I don't give a gak. It's a damn game, worrying about winning or losing injects stress into a hobby that's meant relieve stress. Whining makes it even more stressful. I'm a college student, I've got bigger crap to worry about than dice rolls. I've got three fething research papers going concurrently right now, two more papers for my honors English class alone and a goddamn group project. When I put my soldiers down on that table, I want to have fun and unwind. I don't want to worry more. I don't want to get wound up over something utterly inconsequential. I want to crack jokes, talk about good movies and books, talk about the hot girl I occasionally bring into the store, no she's not my girlfriend, no she doesn't play 40k she just paints, yes she's got a boyfriend. Not that I get asked those questions, nope not at all.

Point is.

More of my opponents leave the table smiling and cracking jokes with me than those who leave upset.

Personally? I consider myself both a gracious winner and loser. Why? I play Nids...nuff said

I consider myself a good sport.
I usually play to have fun sure, but I'll play to win and I expect my opponent to do the same.
I'm very gracious when I win, but I actually feel bad for my opponent when I do (weird, I know)
But I NEVER throw a hissy when I lose.

 Doomhunter wrote:

I'm very gracious when I win, but I actually feel bad for my opponent when I do (weird, I know)

That's not weird at all. I typically feel bad when I win despite me and my opp. Usually having a great time. I feel awful when its clear they aren't having fun because they're losing(unless its a tournament game)

Chancetragedy wrote:

 Muhr wrote:

Chancetragedy wrote:
I consider myself a VERY gracious winner and loser. I don't complain about armies or rolling. And only once have I gotten frustrated enough to toss a model(it wasn't even a hard toss more like an UGH toss into the dead pile.)

Great. So far both answers have been from people who seem to be very good losers/winners. This makes me feel even worse. If I may Chancetragedy: what was the cause of your one-time hissy fit?

It was turn 5 in a league game. I had 10 BA assault marines, and 2 Libby's tied up by vulkan. I had 7 TH/SS termies running over to assure the win as I was in the lead by denying his objective. Only to have an auto cannon, 2 melta, 3 bolters, and a bolt pistol kill all 7 termies. And then have vulkan fail 1 save in a challenge and get force killed by the Libby giving him the win by 1 point. I tossed the last 2 termies that died to the most obscene 1's rolling ive witnessed to the side. As soon as the game was over I immediately apologized and we both laughed at my bad luck.


And dude frankly like you posted above your not alone. Every gets frustrated occasionally, we are all human after all.

This makes me feel a little bit better. Because the reason that got me so riled up was the sodding die rolls which seem to be the same reason for most peoples ire. It's just that I had bad luck far more than could ever be considered random chance. For example, I must be the only person on this entire sight that has charged Kharn into a poxy ten man Guard squad like the frothing nutter that he is....and got his head kicked in. I mean, ok, he did tear through half of them on his go but the other five, that didn't have any special weapons of any kind, dished out, to my eight foot tall killing machine, a complete and utter pasting that was as unexpected as it was humiliating. Think about it: lets say that a couple of them had two attacks which would make seven in total, 4's to hit, 6's to wound and 3+ save to fail, and he lost all 3 wounds! The frequency that I lost terminators to something as innocuous as a las pistol was just woeful. My opponent was loving it! The one thing I wanted him to agree with me on was that I did have bad luck with the dice but he never would which drove me crazy.

Happy days...

If the battle was a close run thing, I didn't give a monkeys if I won or lost, it was great. It's just that all too often my legendary rolling ability, or lack thereof, was so immense that it all too often resulted in a match that was embarrassingly one sided. A massacre basically and the utter feeling of hopelessness was so thick in my throat that I was practically choking on it. To be fair, my opponent was an excellant tactician that really knew how to best use his forces and I was a bit...well....lacking in that department. I didn't think enough of how best to use what was available to me. I was one of those 'everything MUST have a 2+ save' kind of guys which made my force very small and without transport to get them to where they needed to be...it was a crapshoot.

Oh, and welcome to Dakka PoWy!

I typed out a real long reply to this, hit post, and dakka gakked out on me and I lost it. So I'm not going to retype it.

Maybe that makes me a poor loser.

Honestly, I'm a gracious winner and loser. I play every game with the intent of doing my best and aiming for a win, but it will always be a social activity for me. Smile, crack some jokes, and never forget you're pushing around little army men.

Make friends so you can create a healthy gaming community.

 Blacksails wrote:


Make friends so you can create a healthy gaming community.

That's the bit that, to my shame, I didn't get at the time and I truly regret that. Sometimes my mate, who is like a brother to me, left my home after the battle feeling a bit gloomy because I'd denied, through my whining, his enjoyment of what should have been two good mates having a good time. I feel really really bad for that when I think about it. I've since apologized to him more than a few times and he tells me to forget about it but still....it showed me a side of myself that I really didn't think was in me which has hit me quite hard to be perfectly honest. *walks off with a big black cloud raining on him while muttering to himself*.

People would likely say I'm not. I get a little too focused on the points in the game where things swing too far outside of likely probability, and then after that, I have a hard time accepting that I won/lost, and that it wasn't just utter chaos swinging either in my favor or not.

Of course, that frustration doesn't mean that I go out of my way to be a dick to my opponent.

Im a good winner. I dont recognize that other word tho... Seriously i think we can all be poor losers at times, the thing that seperates people is the 'tude. If you and your friends can jokingly complain about the bad luck and learn when you make a mistake then good, if your ranting about how unfair life is and throwing a tantrum well then its just rude.

After many many years of playing Dark Eldar and Tau ive become so accustomed to losing that i do get a bit excited when i win, but i always like to point out to my opponent that i got lucky, to make them feel good. When i lose i always talk about the things i learned and what things i may need to address in the future, or curse the dice gods! The only time i find myself whining is when my opponent uses a super cheesy combo designed to specifically counter my army. I rarely extra tailor my army, and half the time i do crazy experimental combinations just to see what works (cheese such as rune priests, longfangs, or necrons). I have even found myself on occasion losing on purpose through feigned idiocy when i know my opponent has been having a rough time or just is down in general, everyone needs a good win once and a while! Im not sure if that is being a good loser or not.

 Muhr wrote:
I think the thing that made me so mad, on reflection, was that those one's popped up almost on demand. I'd say to my opponent, before I was about to roll an important dice "I bet you any money that it's a bloody one" the dice was duly rolled and what do you think popped up, staring right at me as though it had a mind of it's own and was laughing at me? A one! It happened far to often for it to be pure chance but the best part of it was that my opponent rolled the same dice and passed his cover saves with predictable ease. No matter how much my logical brain tries to tell me that it was just random chance, I will never truly believe that I wasn't the victim of some kind of cosmic joke. Hmmph!

I've noticed that if you even have the passing thought of "anything but a 1", or "please don't be a 1". Then it will be. No exceptions.

I think when I first started playing Tau I was easily demoralized, as I wasn't yet a very good player, didn't really know the army, and made bad decisions. I was happy when my opponent failed some rolls, and got a bit unpleasant (never shouting or tossing models, but still a bit whiny) when they rolled well or played well. Eventually as I became a better player, I realized that I was playing with s low-tier codex (and with minimum suits and no broadsides), so I shouldn't be expecting to win a lot. This attitude has helped me try to concentrate on enjoying the experience of the game rather than on the outcome. As a result I am (if not an amazing sportsman) certainly nicer to play with than I was.

Kind of depends on the margin of victory/loss

If I win or lose a game that is really close, down to the last roll kind of stuff, its the best game ever regardless of the result and seem to be the most enjoyable.

If I am getting my butt kicked I just hate it, my competitive personality comes in and I guess you could say sore loser.

Same if I am tabling an opponent, probably get to cocky, however I am now older and wiser and this happens less often than before.

I'm a good player. I play the game for the sake of playing, spending time with my friends, and the general experience of it. I couldn't care less about who wins or loses. That being said, if I played against a person who threw a model, pouted, or whined throughout the game, I'd never play against them again. I don't have time or patience for that crap.

 Lokas wrote:
When I saw him pull out a half dozen scythe chassis for a friendly game, I told him to his face that a flyerspam list was cheesy and I wasn't going to play one.
...
It's a damn game, worrying about winning or losing injects stress into a hobby that's meant relieve stress.

Apparently you do care, or you would have played the game and gone down fighting.

 snooggums wrote:


Apparently you do care, or you would have played the game and gone down fighting.

Don't take those out of context.

I didn't give a gak about his pissy little attitude because I refused a game I knew wouldn't be fun. I didn't refuse the game because I knew I'd lose. I simply don't play games I know I won't enjoy. I'll refuse to play green tide or true horde guard. Because they're cheesy? Pfft, no. Because I don't want to spend thirty minutes with my thumb up my ass while this guy does his movement phase. A scythe list isn't fun to play against, plain and simple. I want to have fun, to enjoy my hobby. So I'm going to refuse a game I won't enjoy.

Never won a match, so I can't say.

I wasn't kicked out of the group I am going to so far, despite a crushing defeat and a sound beating, so I suppose it means I am an alright loser.

I've lost enough to know what not to do when doing so.

If the "Oh no I'm about to lose" mentality sets in, I feel it's best to face it with jokes and tactical gaffes

Win or lose though, the only way to end a game is shake the opponents hand for a good game

I've been practicing my 'I Am The Best' dance for some time and as such consider myself to be an excellent winner. When there's lots of new hobbyists in the store, I sometimes get to do it ten times in one day.

As I have yet to win in this century, I consider myself a good loser. Last time I won was in, I think, 1998 and it was a 3 way battle of Wood Elves (me) vs Bretonnians vs Undead.