@Charles:
One more note: do you have a certain code of play? For instance, those who forget the rules must suffer, dice falling off the table are invalid, you must finalize your purchases before moving, etc. I find that low luck helps a lot of people who just get furious when their glorious plans go down in flames because of extreme dice results. (I must confess, I am liable to keep telling people if they were lucky or not.) Another thing you can do is consider giving people a second chance if they just can’t get a hold of the rules. I often do this for new players and even go so far as to point out all their options. […] It is all just fun and games anyway right? Of course we don’t want to take the fun out of our games though…
These are good points. There was another thread here recently which quoted the Genghis Khan-inspired line in the Conan the Barbarian movie “Crush enemies…see them driven before you…hear the lamentations of the women” – but that’s not how an evening of A&A (which should be played for fun) ought to go. There’s a difference between being passionate about the game (which is good) and taking it so seriously that playing it stops being fun (which is bad). And the rules of good sportsmanship are important too, because playing a board game face to face is an interactive social experience. I once read a book on wargaming in which the author, a veteran of countless wargames, commented that the wargamers he plays with are all clever and healthily competitive people who will sometimes push to the limit what the rules of a game allow…but who will draw the line at actual cheating, and who would be horrified by the concept of winning a game in a dishonest way. He said that this was the right perspective to have at the gaming table, and that it makes the experience more enjoyable for all concerned.
