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I once played 40k against a guy who would playfully correct me when I talked about firing a "missile", because it contains the word "miss". If I want it to hit, I should call it something else, like a rocket. He wasn't annoying about it... It was sort of a joke, and I humored him whenever I could remember.

There's also the ubiquitous "This die is clearly unlucky, let's use another" superstition, but I'm not sure it's entirely unfounded. When I re-roll a single D6, I'm pretty sure it gives me the exact same result at a slightly higher rate than 16.67%. Obviously it's not because of an actual curse, but simply because re-rolls are often done hastily with just a quick flick of the wrist, and a single die doesn't knock against other dice in your hand (which would introduce a hard-to-predict variable).

What superstitions have you encountered?

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Painting the eyes/lenses on your models increases their favour with the dice gods. I had one Missile Launcher Marine I’d missed the eyes on. Every single shot of his missed. Eventually got around to it, painted them in? And instant success.

I roll better if I’m enjoying my opponent’s presence. So I try to get on with people.

Do not “call the dice” on anyone, especially someone else’s game.

Never declare “watch this” prior to rolling (mostly RPGs)

Never say “anything but a one”.

Never roll the same dice, unless it’s a veritable bucket of attacks. So, if I’m rolling to hit four times? I’ll use different dice for wounding. If I’m rolling to save, I’ll use different dice for any potential Damage Mitigation. However if it’s loads of attacks (say Orkses giving some a taste of boot levver, you don’t have much choice) just use what you’ve got.

Was this "missile" guy blonde with glasses?

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I have a lucky strategy, that when I do it, I win games. When I don't, I seem to lose more often.

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Also, my dice are horribly mismatched, as I have sent the dice which have failed in their duty to the Emperor to the firing line as they were unfit for service.

Never "anything but a 1," rather "a 2+."

Freshly painted minis in their 1st game will always be blown off the table before doing anything. In fact it may take many games for them to find their mojo.

Poorly rolling dice should be removed from the table and sequestered from the others, so as to not spread the curse of low rolls to other dice.

Any dice you get from a GW box game will either always roll high or low as a group. There is no in between.

I use colour coded dice for each of my armies. I do not use dice for one army for another, that will jinx the roll.

In addition I never roll dice in groups larger than 10. Bad luck to do more than that.

 The Power Cosmic wrote:
Never "anything but a 1," rather "a 2+."

Freshly painted minis in their 1st game will always be blown off the table before doing anything. In fact it may take many games for them to find their mojo.

Poorly rolling dice should be removed from the table and sequestered from the others, so as to not spread the curse of low rolls to other dice.

Any dice you get from a GW box game will either always roll high or low as a group. There is no in between.

Uh oh. You figured out my lucky strategy.

Step 1: Listen to opponent drone on and on about his army and his new favorite model and how he has been wating to use it for months.

Step 2: Use every weapon available to remove that model from the game on turn 1 or turn 2.

Step 3: Win game vs. "Unlucky" opponent.

I stick by my dice through thick and thin. If you just throw away a die after it rolls poorly, it'll tell the other dice and then none of them will want to roll well for you.

Also, when my opponent borrows my dice, I expect them to roll well. At least average! It'd be rude not to.

Not sure if superstition, but I find my expectations of how fun an opponent is going to be is heavily informed by their personal hygiene, or complete lack thereof.

Dirty clothes, pissy whiff, BO, lank greasy hair, patchy beard where you’re never quite sure if it’s just a fungal infection gone ‘Nanners? Never, ever, ever going to be a fun person.

Clean clothes, hair at least put up if long, and perhaps just a slight pong of sweat? Probably a good guy overall, but might need to invest in a longer lasting deodorant.

Lovely and clean and fragrant (like me)? Almost certainly going to be a Good memorable game.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Not sure if superstition, but I find my expectations of how fun an opponent is going to be is heavily informed by their personal hygiene, or complete lack thereof.

Dirty clothes, pissy whiff, BO, lank greasy hair, patchy beard where you’re never quite sure if it’s just a fungal infection gone ‘Nanners? Never, ever, ever going to be a fun person.

Clean clothes, hair at least put up if long, and perhaps just a slight pong of sweat? Probably a good guy overall, but might need to invest in a longer lasting deodorant.

Lovely and clean and fragrant (like me)? Almost certainly going to be a Good memorable game.

You could probably have an entire discussion on this, and it would still surprise me what new thing being encountered somewhere. But probably isn’t a superstition unless they wear nurgle themed clothes.

I don’t think I have any superstitions around gaming, unless you count I sometimes bring plushies. But I just like something to hug,

Forgotten rolls always fail.

"Oh, I forgot I can roll one additional die because of the Burning Talisman of Insane Fthagn. I'll do that now, won't really change much."
Dice don't like to be forgotten, stuff like that never works.

However, if you don't forget to shoot that lonely sidearm after all heavy weapons have missed, it's very likely it'll do the most damage.

Played against a guy who would take dice that failed him and put them aside to place in the freezer later as a punishment. Was definitely a weird dude.

I know a guy that if he drops a card or mini on the floor he throws it away. And it doesn't matter the value or how integral it is to the game ((think boardgame parts).
He claims to be some sort of germophobe, so not really a superstition. But definitely odd....
I'm not sure how he squares picking up the contaminated piece to throw it away vs picking it up & simply cleaning it.

Dice based nonsense -

If I need to roll high I'll use the gold WarCry dice.

If I need to roll low I'll use my Morticians Guild dice. Even the GB devs wouldn't use the faction dice!

While you should never judge a book by its cover, I am with Doc 100% on the Ocular/Nasal Pat Down system for gauging the fun potential in new opponents.

I always check under the table before and after a game.

Club I used to play at, players would occasionally flip the table when things went south. Models would get lost, bits would fall off, etc.

Always have the sense I am about to step on something. Huge distraction until I check. The times I've told myself to ignore the feeling - stepped on something.

 techsoldaten wrote:
I always check under the table before and after a game.

Club I used to play at, players would occasionally flip the table when things went south. Models would get lost, bits would fall off, etc.

Always have the sense I am about to step on something. Huge distraction until I check. The times I've told myself to ignore the feeling - stepped on something.

Ouch. Table flipping is never cool. And a banable offense at the old store I used to haunt.

More commonly, we would get the angrily spiked model, that would bounce off into the wild blue yonder to be discovered later by an employee sweeping the floors.