If someone goes around calling aspects of a game cheap or unfair instead of trying to learn or improve, they are a scrub.

If I am playing a game and the objective is to win, how is it unfair or cheap to use all legal resources and techniques at my disposal to accomplish that?

To better explain the overall mentality of scrubs and competitive players, I'd suggest reading the book Playing to Win by David Sirlin.

The last tournament I was in had myself facing a buddy using Dodonna. He announced at the start of the match that unless he stated at the beginning of his phases, he would only activate one figure. I agreed to this to help with speeding the game up. I beat him because he forgot his own statement and tried to activate a 2nd figure without saying so. I called him on it which allowed me to kill his Cade Skywalker, BH. He argued against what happened and said I should have allowed him to go back and let him make the announcement. I told him that if the game was a casual one, I would have no problem with it, but we were playing a tournament and refused to allow him to correct his mistake. Was that a "cheap" move? Maybe, but I was abbiding by the rules.

Some people just can't get in the mind-set of tournament play. Yes, we all want to have fun; but for those of us who are also competitive, we are going to try and use the rules to our advantage. That's just the nature of the beast at work.

Sincerely,
Jester007

wow, that's pretty brutal. but it makes sense.

on the card. You say at the begining of your phase.

I consider millions of mice with Dodonna/Ozzel/San/Mar Tuuk to be cheap. Well, in game sense, not monetary! :P

They say Japan was made by a sword. They say the old gods dipped a coral blade into the ocean, and when they pulled it out four perfect drops fell back into the sea, and those drops became the islands of Japan. I say, Japan was made by a handful of brave men. Warriors, willing to give their lives for what seems to have become a forgotten word: honor. - The Last Samurai

For some people, there are no cheap pieces; everything can and should be used in any way that the rules allow to destroy any opponent.

For some people, there are things that are just not done; sometimes it is figure selection, sometimes it is certain strategies.

If you have to ask if something you are doing is 'cheap' because there's a feeling about it bothering you, then you are probably one of the second kind of people.

If you are really confused by the concept and think that "All's fair in love and war." then you are one of the first.

well i have my own definition of cheap. I have a friend who uses the same minis over and over again. they are NR and theyare. Wedge, Dodonna, Reroll leia and twi lek blacck sun vigo. and he also uses the vong lol. now when it comes to the vong there isnt much choice and theyre lack of range attacks makes them beatable. Now the reason I say he is cheap is because he has found a few good commanders and then just alters thee support around them. and he neverr changes his squad. ever. he is never experimental and he is very predictable. now why I think hes cheap is because he takes the fun out of friendly games. and I mean he might not have alot of figures but if he wanted he could borrow my some what 500 minis. but no its the same every time. Its disapointing and in some ways it spoiles the game.

I think it totally depends on the setting. If you're playing a friendly or non-competitive game, then sure, there are some strategies that should probably be avoided, mostly because playing a non-competitive squad/tactic against a very competitive squad/tactic isn't really fun for anybody.

If you're playing in a tournament where it's expected that you're trying to win, then you should do everything within the rules to do just that, win. For people who enjoy the competition (like myself), that's half the fun! It's nothing personal, it's just part of the game. The competitive scene isn't for everyone, so if you don't like it I suggest you avoid it and just play friendly games, but don't call people "cheap" for being competitive.

If you forget to say you're activating 2 when you're playing Dodonna, well, sorry, that's how it goes. If you get mad about your opponent calling you on it then you just have the total wrong attitude for tournaments and probably shouldn't play in them. The right attitude is to learn from the mistake and not do it again. I've done that exact thing. I used to forget to say that I was activating 2 when I meant to a lot when I played Dodonna; after being called on it enough, I learned not to. Now I rarely if ever forget it. I LIKE that. I'm GLAD my opponents called me on it, because I learned from it, and got better because of it.

The same thing goes with "cheap" tactics. Everything can be beaten. If you don't play against the "cheap" stuff, you will never learn how to beat it. I welcome people to use "cheap" tactics against me while in a competitive setting so that I can learn about it and figure out how to get better and win against it. Nothing feels better than losing to something again and again until finally you know it inside and out and are able to beat it. That feeling of accomplishment is what brings me back to competitive play.

Like I said, though, it isn't for everyone. Some people don't enjoy competitive play or competition. Those are the people who consider certain tactics "cheap", and they aren't wrong. Like I said before, a non-competitive squad vs. a very competitive squad isn't usually fun for anybody.

Bringing words like "honor" into the discussion is kind of silly, and sort of demeaning. Competition is healthy if you enjoy it and have the right attitude about it. The key to remember is that it's just a game; if your "honor" is based on a game, then there are problems way beyond the scope of this thread. Everyone should play the game however they enjoy it best: for some people, the most enjoyable way to play is at the highly competitive level where they can test their skills and learn how to be better; for others, it's at the kitchen table playing a friendly game where they can make crazy squads and use fun abilities that the competitive players would never use. Neither of these players are wrong.

If you're a casual, fun player you probably shouldn't enter tournaments, because you might not like the more highly competitive players. Likewise, if you are highly competitive player, you should probably not play against totally casual players, because it probably won't be very much fun for either of you. Some people can be both casual and competitive depending on the environment, though, and those are the people who have the most fun with the game, in my opinion.

In a non competitive game, any time some one uses the same squad, or core figs, all the time is no fun for anyone. We roll for faction, so the same squad can't be brought to the table every time.In competitive play, just play the rebel squad the won GenCon the last 2 years.

the following comment is more baiting
You'd think someone who was at Gencon would know better than to make stupid (and yes, I mean stupid) comments like this. You must be so much better than everyone to have come to this conclusion when virtually no one else at the event did so. Oh wait, maybe that's not better, maybe that's just a stupid comment.