Bowing out: A lesson in losing

As D pointed out to me the other day its been a while since I have managed to get a post up, and rather then bore you with a quick snapshot of my DE army in progress I thought I would post something more meaningful.

Today I would like to talk about surrendering gracefully. Now some will say "why not just play through and take the loss" well there are a couple of reasons you might want to simply opt out, the biggest one being time, if you simply cant finish by the time you expected to leave it can be appropriate to bow out and call it a game, but do make sure that you do not do this to your advantage. What I mean by that is call the game a loss or a draw depending on the situation. Another reason you may wish to end a game early is a well analyzed evaluation of your options, in some situations you can see weather or not it is worth it for you to stick it out or call it a day and pack up early. I particularly like this option as it gives you time to pack up and talk about the game and go over what went wrong in your strategy, or simply go and grab lunch or drinks. A good example of this was when I played D at 2000 points the other day. The first half of the game went rather well for me, but by turn four out of the two objectives he had one and was contesting the other by placing several squads of guardians in waveserpants around my poor lone chimera and the squad of ten farseers on jetbikes did not bode well. True I did have two tanks still fully operational but at that point there could be little done tactically to change the outcome of the battle. There is not always a way to cheat death my friends, and so sometimes it is necessary to embrace it then get a sandwich.

The third and most disliked option is simply the "I don't really feel like playing anymore" If it comes to this there should be a decent reason behind it other then getting your rear entrance kicked in. Illness and stress (I am talking real stress) death of a pet or loved one. Let us be honest though, if any of those are affecting you then you should not be playing that day in the first place, but should it come to that simply state that you do not wish to continue due to what ever it is that is actually inhibiting your game play. If your opponent is a sportsman then it would be proper to arrange another match when you are in better condition.

That being said I am sure there are many ways to bow out of a game but the point of this article is that no matter why or how you do it, be sure to be sure to show respect and do so in a way that will not offend. The point of casual games is to have fun and work on strategy or throw down with friends. So the next time you feel the need to drop out remember to be a good sport about it and try not to ruin the experience for yourself or your opponent.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor