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One thing I often see players do (and something I've done myself) is to cling to an excuse after losing a game of warmachine. This has happened in games of warhammer fantasy I've played as well

I really think going for that excuse to justify the loss, instead of evalulating the game looking for mistakes and trying to learn is something that hinders a players growth.

I wrote a longer article on the topic on Muse on Minis about issue

Article is found here- http://museonminis.com/player-habits-dont-excuse-player/ -

Article uses more warmachine examples, but this is a general idea, that I feel effects any game system, and player habits are something we can all work on.

I agree with your overall message; You shouldn't let excuses interfere with the opportunity to do a post-mortem on the game so you can learn from it. However, there ARE really times when a single roll makes or breaks the game.

Consider alphastrike IG armies. Now, more than ever, it comes down to who goes first since you can't reserve/outflank your entire army.

Consider random game length. I just played a game against Tau where my controlling units were getting shot to pieces at the end of the game. He knocked just enough Terminators off of my objective to prevent me from scoring. At that point in time, the roll to go on to turn 6 was literally the only thing determining who won the game. That doesn't invalidate the rest of the game, and I realize that obviously, perhaps the mistakes that were made earlier in the game could have made the rolloff not matter at that point, but that doesn't change the fact that those happened, and at that point in time, there was only one die left to be deterministic of the outcome of the game.

tl;dr: Hindsight is 20/20.

I like the article OP. "Excuse Players" drive me crazy. We all might occasionally complain about dice rolls or have a game where your terrible rolling caused you to lose but when it is called out every game people are just making excuses.

I think its hard not to pick up bad habits now and then, but its part of the struggle as a player to try to maintain an overal postive attitude and review games as a whole, not just 1 moment of game.

A friend was telling me, how his opponent was making excuses that he rolled 7 snakeyes during the game. The fact that many of those snake eyes occurred, when the player needed really high numbers to hit anyway, didnt matter to that person making the excuse. HE saw snake eyes, and went off tilt. It didnt matter that he was making a bad odds attack already.

We always learn from losing. So when a person loses, its up to them to really take advantage of the expierence to help in future games

The flip side of that is when the dice are done going deep on you and your opponent is talking like he's Napoleon reborn when on average they should have been as dead as fried chicken.

Excuses are like crutches, they make you feel better, but it's hard to play hockey on crutches. -Dan Bylsma, Former NHL player and current NHL coach.
His point is that excuses make you feel better about a loss, but you can't walk if you use crutches.
To apply to Table Top games, Excuses are like crutches, they make you feel better, but you still are losing.

I would have read the article but I was distracted thinking about a text message I got earlier.

Ahtman wrote:I would have read the article but I was distracted thinking about a text message I got earlier.

I am interested to hear about this text message. Do go on.

carnage4u wrote:I think its hard not to pick up bad habits now and then, but its part of the struggle as a player to try to maintain an overal postive attitude and review games as a whole, not just 1 moment of game.

A friend was telling me, how his opponent was making excuses that he rolled 7 snakeyes during the game. The fact that many of those snake eyes occurred, when the player needed really high numbers to hit anyway, didn't matter to that person making the excuse. HE saw snake eyes, and went off tilt. It didnt matter that he was making a bad odds attack already.

We always learn from losing. So when a person loses, its up to them to really take advantage of the experience to help in future games

I find that one of theb est ways to ensure that I don't turn into an "excuse player" is to write up battle reports specifically about the games I lose. I also like doing it to games I win, but when you recount the ENTIRE game in detail you can see where you went wrong.

Excuse making really annoys me for two reasons.

1. It's childish. Be an adult about it. Accept defeat graciously and give your opponent as much credit as possible. It's not the losers job to try and denigrate their opponents vicotry and a gracious looser is much less likely to have their face rubbed in their defeat.

When I lose a battle I make sure to congratulate my opponent even to the point of a bit or self deprication, as in " Excellent job sir, you thoroughly trounced me" or "Wow, I really got served didn't I?"

Laugh a bit, and then shut the heck up!

2. It's self-centered. Follow me on this...
It takes the focus off of your opponent, who -whether they won by skill or luck- deserves a moment in the sun to enjoy the feeling of victory. It focuses the attention on you, and why you feel you should have won. It says alot about someone that even when they lose they have to make it "about them" by raining on their opponents parade.

If you want to ask your opponents advice about what you could have done better, that's great. Feel free to analyze and pick apart the game but don't use it to belittle their victory.

Suffice to say, enter and exit the game humbly and don't make excuses.