Kezz thanks for the quote of me.

Yes it is just a game. There are tons of things I hate seeing in this game (Dodonna being one of them) but I try to keep the game in perspective. We have a young man (he is over 18) at our LGS that one time cried (literally) because he lost like his 200th game to me. I hate to sound mean but I laughed at that. Really, it is just a game. I am not saying I have not gotten mad at myself for making a boneheaded decision in a game. But even now I dont really care anymore. I made a boneheaded decision in the Champs at Gencon. I thought Urbanjedi's Sidious had activated. Whoops he had not. My Yobuck died and the game was essentially over at that point. I did not get worked up about it. I just had to laugh. It was boneheaded and really we are just playing a game.

After retiring from law enforcement I have found it is easy to laugh at something when there is zero chance of getting killed.

So I dont really care what happens. If my opponent brings cheese or cheap pieces, I must do my best to eliminate them in one hour. I dont manage to do that well then I lose.

If you want to bring the word "honor" into the fray, which probably has no bearing on the game (it's just a bunch of nerds trying to out nerd each other) and allude to Samurai, then one must not forget one of the greatest samurai of all: Miyamoto Musashi.

He is arguably one of the most successful samurai of all time. He fought in over 60 duels and was never defeated (some of which were duels to the death). His book "The Five Rings" explains his strategy, technique, and mantra. Musashi was famed for being "cheap" in his duels. He would position himself so the sun would be in his opponents eyes, he would arrive late to prescheduled duels to perturb his opponent, he would arrive unkempt and dirty. It was all mind games with him.

His most famous duel was scheduled on an island. He purposefully arrived late on a boat going with the tide. As he sailed to the island, he carved a bokken (or wooden sword) out of a paddle. He arrived at the island, faced his enraged opponent, killed him quickly with his make-shift sword, then jumped back on his boat to sail away with the changing tide away from the outraged entourage of his fallen opponent.

Is this cheap? Some would say it was "dishonorable" but others would say it was strategic. Certainly the parallels between a samurai duel and SWM is few and far between. However, despite all of these tricks and strategies Musashi employed, he would have never been successful if he was not a skilled warrior. Anyway, some food for thought.

Ha, that's great! I only got his book because I was beginning fencing and figured what better way to learn strategy but from a swordmaster himself.

Unfortunately, I learned that first one must be IN SHAPE to even begin to think about strategy, let alone getting through a single match.