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(I dont know if it should go here or in tactics)
On friday i will be playing another player (at a local GW)
And i have learned that the way he (wins?) Is that he will demotivate the other player,thus making them make mistakes.
He also fields an IG unit that ALWAYS goes to ground
He will be playing IG
Any tips on how to counter it?
(Apart from dont listen)
(He will also try to use WYSIWYG to his advantage)

Hmm looks like i will field my "sevrin loth is now an unstoppable CC murder machine" tactic and use snipers as troop choices
Time to teach some lessons...

Don't play with him. Didn't enjoy it? Cut him out. Harsh but remember this is a game - banter is good, deliberately trying to demotivate your opponent to win a friendly game is just being a dick.

That, or buy something cheesy and embarrass him.

I would counter by playing someone who's actually enjoyable to play with. This game's a social contract and you two should both be playing a game you'd both enjoy. I'm sure there's some sadsack who'd be totally okay with that, but you shouldn't put up with his unfun garbage.

Play with someone else.

Is he any worse than the person that constantly tells you to hurry up and bullies you into making moves as fast as you can in hopes that you will make a poor decision? Or any worse than the joker who constantly makes up silly "joke" rules only to use that joke rule if you don't call him on it?

I am with the others here, don't waste your time. Don't fall prey to the sunk cost fallacy.

I'd rather not play than spend 2-3 hours with somebody who just wants to make me miserable.

Yup, don't bother playing someone you don't enjoy spending time with.

Politely decline the game and explain why. Maybe he'll learn and be a better opponent.

If he is going to be like that, just play someone else, it is a game at the end of the day, if you don't have fun with him why bother playing. sometimes being turned down for games can teach people they are doing something wrong.

Repeatedly punch him in the face. It may have some consequences, but is a nice solution to deal with donkey-caves.

Remember kids, don't be an donkey-cave!

Also don't play him, and explain why you are doing it.

I'm going with the rest here on "don't play him if he's that bad".

But something is bothering me. Why is it an issue that he has a unit that ALWAYS goes to ground?
They'll end up firing snap shots and won't be able to move.

Aye, no gaming is preferable to bad gaming. Don't suffer fools and don't play idiots. The quicker he runs out of opponents and changes his ways/quits playing, the better.

I'd lump this individual in with the stinky trodlodytes and vulgar no-social-skills idiots and avoid - the sooner these types are away from normal gamers and shunned, the better for all.

How exactly does he 'demotivate' people? A unit that consistently goes to ground is demotivating? I don't understand.

commander dante wrote:
(I dont know if it should go here or in tactics)
On friday i will be playing another player (at a local GW)
And i have learned that the way he (wins?) Is that he will demotivate the other player,thus making them make mistakes.
He also fields an IG unit that ALWAYS goes to ground
He will be playing IG
Any tips on how to counter it?
(Apart from dont listen)
(He will also try to use WYSIWYG to his advantage)

Hmm looks like i will field my "sevrin loth is now an unstoppable CC murder machine" tactic and use snipers as troop choices
Time to teach some lessons...

Flamers make Guardsmen cry... Torrent ones even more so... "Burnywagons" (unit in Rhino/whatever w/multiple Flamers and shoot out the top hatch) cause anger... Deep Striking Flamers lead to suffering... Shuntting Incinerators lead to unbridled hate!

Oh, and Drop Pods full of Combi-Meltas and Heavy Flamers lead to potential table flipping against donkeycave IG players.

I developed a rather effective strategy to counter people I don't want to play. I play another game with someone else at the store, we have a huge selection of demo-copy games to play, I have a cheap magic deck to play against friends, I even stoop so low as to own a handful of heroclix because it's popular in my area.

As for if you still want to play him, what's annoying about guardsmen that go to ground? It's plus 1 to their cover save, and they can't shoot effectively for a turn. If you insist on taking out a unit that goes to ground instead of ignoring it, charge them or use ignores cover. I don't know what army you play, but whirlwinds or the like can do a lot against guard. Any templates work well too. Also, have a fast or deepstriking unit that packs melta or similar to deal with tanks, or if you don't have that use something that can get into melee with them easily.... russes can't handle a few punches from decent melee units.

I also developed my own strategy to counter Debby downers

its called D.O.N.T

it stands for Doooooooooooooooooon't

commander dante wrote:
(I dont know if it should go here or in tactics)
On friday i will be playing another player (at a local GW)
And i have learned that the way he (wins?) Is that he will demotivate the other player,thus making them make mistakes.
He also fields an IG unit that ALWAYS goes to ground
He will be playing IG
Any tips on how to counter it?
(Apart from dont listen)
(He will also try to use WYSIWYG to his advantage)

Hmm looks like i will field my "sevrin loth is now an unstoppable CC murder machine" tactic and use snipers as troop choices
Time to teach some lessons...

anyone who does the whole WYSIWYG thing to counter you is being a huge jerk. If he does the whole "well not all of your space marines have krak grenades modeled so only the ones who can are able to use them...." then pick up your miniatures, say "the rule book says otherwise" then tell him good day sir. I can understand if someone is doing proxy shenanigans or if they do the whole "oh yeah, this plasma is a flamer" then uses it as a plasma later stuff is why we have the concept of WYSIWIG, but using it against someone to give you an advantage is the biggest pile of excrement that can ever be produced by anyone in warhammer.

Or really, just dont play them, as much as you would like to stomp them.

Ooooor, ally in severin loth and BA drop pods and drop in something insane like tons of centurions. Or just play drop pod sallies if he does lots of infantry. Also remember if hes THAT type, check out his rules for orders before hand, read them carefully, remember what can be ordered, that they only occur in the shooting phase, and nit pick him ON EVERYTHING.

Just go cut a nice pine switch and smack him with it any time this behavior come up. That'll learn 'Im good!

 Brother SRM wrote:
I'd rather not play than spend 2-3 hours with somebody who just wants to make me miserable.

^ This. I have time to play twice a month, outside of Adepticon. My gaming time is extremely limited between work and family life. I won't spend it with an donkey-cave.

Also, bring lots of Ignore Cover weapons for his dudes that go to ground. IG hate flamers.

 Ond Angel wrote:
I'm going with the rest here on "don't play him if he's that bad".

But something is bothering me. Why is it an issue that he has a unit that ALWAYS goes to ground?
They'll end up firing snap shots and won't be able to move.

IG can order guys to get up in the shooting phase, so there's not really that shooting penalty. It isn't the end of the world, but I can see how getting a 2+ cover behind an aegis and then getting back up to shoot effectively, only to GTG again, could be annoying. As a guard player, I agree with the flamer suggestion. Combine that with a drop pod or two, maybe with a dreadnought, and you have yourself a solution. It's not even really tailoring his list, because drop pods are good against pretty much everyone.

These threads are always one sided. Unless we know about the other player and their motivations specifically, its just an attempt at ego stroking of the OP.

For all we know, his opponent is interested in playing a clean game as possible, enjoy tournament quality competition and people view his aspirations as the "WAAC, try hard." I know, I was that guy. Sorry, if you're not enjoying that style of play, but it's a game and playing to win is part of any opposing player style system.

If he's actively cheating, that's a completely different issue. And if you are proxying models/weapons, the onus is on the owning player to explain such prior to the game starting. If you don't say "all flamers are actually melta" and he's based his tactical movements and actions on your dudes having flamers, then he's got a right to be upset over such.

Two sides to every story. Bandwagons do nothing productive.

 TheKbob wrote:
These threads are always one sided. Unless we know about the other player and their motivations specifically, its just an attempt at ego stroking of the OP.

For all we know, his opponent is interested in playing a clean game as possible, enjoy tournament quality competition and people view his aspirations as the "WAAC, try hard." I know, I was that guy. Sorry, if you're not enjoying that style of play, but it's a game and playing to win is part of any opposing player style system.

If he's actively cheating, that's a completely different issue. And if you are proxying models/weapons, the onus is on the owning player to explain such prior to the game starting. If you don't say "all flamers are actually melta" and he's based his tactical movements and actions on your dudes having flamers, then he's got a right to be upset over such.

Two sides to every story. Bandwagons do nothing productive.

The OP said he actively tries to demotivate and distract his opponents though. Though I'm not 100% sure what he means by "demotivate", it does give us some insight about the guy's intentions as not being particularly friendly.

Plenty of weapons that ignore cover saves work wonders and then beat him at his own game. Take twice as long to do EVERYTHING in your turn, roll attacks or saves 1 die at a time, and so on. He'll get so flustered and annoyed that he'll be the one screwing up and you can laugh at him the angrier he gets.

I've played plenty of people who try to intimidate their opponents into playing faster and doing things their way, but they really have only as much control of you as you allow them. One thing to try to request your opponent play their turns a little more quickly in a tournement setting, but another to pressure them to make them screw up.

Don't understand people who try to drain all the fun from the game, but I kind of enjoy messing with them and get some fun from that. Nothing is more amusing to me than watching someone trying to win through being a dick getting totally upset because their dickishness has zero effect on me.

Skirker

 TheKbob wrote:
These threads are always one sided. Unless we know about the other player and their motivations specifically, its just an attempt at ego stroking of the OP.

For all we know, his opponent is interested in playing a clean game as possible, enjoy tournament quality competition and people view his aspirations as the "WAAC, try hard." I know, I was that guy. Sorry, if you're not enjoying that style of play, but it's a game and playing to win is part of any opposing player style system.

If he's actively cheating, that's a completely different issue. And if you are proxying models/weapons, the onus is on the owning player to explain such prior to the game starting. If you don't say "all flamers are actually melta" and he's based his tactical movements and actions on your dudes having flamers, then he's got a right to be upset over such.

Two sides to every story. Bandwagons do nothing productive.

Perhaps so, but it really doesn't change the consensus advice (do something else). If there is not a meeting of the minds as to an enjoyable game, why bother to play? If I want a comorytive game and the other guy wants to try out his genestealer horde, does it matter who is in the "right"? As long as the two players want different things out of the game, at least one if them will be wasting their time.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
One other suggestion for playing with people you feel are unreasonable -- try playing 3ppl or 2v2. It is much harder to be an a*hole if it may provoke a gang-up.