Wargaming Tournaments: Dealing With Cheaters

Since we are naturally flowing into psy-stuff let’s talk about the cheater and how to deal with them.

Opponents or organized competitive play would have you believe that cheating is rampant wide in tournaments, and while it does exist and you may face it, it is a rare event- again the wargaming community is smaller than many think and VERY self-policing.

So why are we talking about this? The two biggest hurdles/questions I hear about when players first start thinking about playing in a comparative event is this: #1 What if I’m not good enough and just lose every game? #2 What if somebody cheats me, what do I do?

We are taking care of #1 in the training guide so far, and for #2 we are going to put that at rest now.

Worrying about cheaters and being cheated takes mental energy in a game- energy you need to be focusing on using to win.

The first step is to define what really is cheating. I’m not making light of the situation but getting caught with loaded dice over forgetting a rule are two completely different things.

When something happens in the course of a game that you feel cheated or that cheating is taking place take a moment and ask if it really is cheating. Are they really cheating you or is it something else?

Is the person moving their models a little extra because they are excited to play in the moment, or are they trying to pull one over on you. Did they forget a rule because it favors their army in the moment, or is because they just started playing last month?

Now beyond that what if it isn’t an understanding and the person is a cheating.

Call the tournament organizer (TO) or rules judge over and let them deal with it.

That is what the TO is there to accomplish.

Keep your reputation intact and let them confront and resolve the issue.

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