darthbinks1 wrote:
Also, why are there rulings/restrictions for tournament play but not to be instituted when I play my friends in my house?
A good amount of the rulings are to reduce the influence of the maps and luck on the outcome and increase that of the squad buildup and player skill.
Maps are restricted as one side can have significant advantage over the other or is massively biased against some squad archetypes. Rigid's removal is for the same reason as otherwise some units could not leave the starting area on one or both sides.
The single activation for the first phase is to eliminate games coming down to a single initiative where the victor delivers a one-two blow that irreparably cripples the other player.
Gambit is there to prevent players from turtling and actively avoiding combat once they get a lead.
Time limits are there to ensure the game is, well, completed in a timely manner.
With casual play, you generally don't have to worry about most of that stuff, as a bad map choice or a turtler can be solved with a "C'mon dude, don't be a dick." In competitive play, people are playing to win, and they will use everything in their arsenal to defeat you. If you brought a melee squad to Mustafar in a competitive match, you'd get a "sucks to be you" then be mercilessly crushed, whereas in a casual environment, you could change the squads and/or map to make the match fair.
Some people do like to play casually with tournament rules in effect as it is more structured and they can enter into a competition and not be surprised by the game playing differently than they are used to. But ultimately, how a person plays in their own home is up to them, but in competitive play, everyone needs to be on the same page, playing the same game, as otherwise it'd be confusing and unfair.