I wanted to start a thread on how to handle cheaters within the BG community.
I think the community at BG is the best I've been a part of, and the events run by Chase, Sam, Derek, and the whole team are top notch. Obviously word of this has gotten out as their events are now filling up within 24 hours of being posted.
Unfortunately, a few douchebags can leave a real negative impression on someone who comes down to BG from further away and doesn't get to come all the time.
Cheaters not only make our own games less fun, but also reflect very poorly on us as a gaming community and on the store in general. Outsiders who come to tournaments at BG and play someone who they feel is "part of the group" for one reason or another (say, they are a paint judge at the event), and get cheated by that person, are not likely to return, or report back to freinds/clubmates positively about their experience.
I understand that a lot of people don't feel comfortable confronting someone directly at the table.
But at the very least, same something to whomever is running the event after the game. Odds are, they aren't just cheating against you.
It is important for everyone to know who the cheaters are, and if they don't improve, hopefully ban them from events at the store. An important thing to remember, when you catch someone cheating, YOU have the power. A person who makes an honest mistake, will have no issue correcting it, and if it is a game changer, would have no issue conceding the game because of a mistake of their own.
For example, a few years ago, back in 7th edition Fantasy. I was playing at a local 'ard boyz event and my friend Josh played a Dark elf player who played his cauldron incorrectly for the entire game. It is something that protected his flanks for several turns and swung the tide of the game. When he realized his error, he quickly brought it to my friend Josh's attention and went up to the TO and conceded the game due to this.
Another example would be if you were at 'Ard boyz, round 1 on Sunday in Abington and during the second round took a break for a moment to use the bathroom and came back to find that an entire squad had somehow moved, AS WELL AS some terrain.
If you don't call cheaters out, they will keep cheating.
Do not let people bully you at the table, if their cheating resulted in your tank being blown up, put it back on the table! Or let them concede. If you have repeated issues with the same person. Go to Chase/Sam. Everyone makes honest mistakes once in a while, but bring it up with your opponent. Honest people would have no issue replaying something if it was done wrong.
Anyhow, Chase et al. work very hard to put these events on for us. We need to do some of the work ourselves and continue to improve our community.
