The Face

[Aldramelech]

Goodbye

[eldargal]

I've not had that happen to me, I really don't care about losing so long as the game is fun. I don't lose often though, maybe if I did I would mind more.:rolleyes:

[sangrail777]

I've been there. I do my best to maintain a smile. I tend to start talking alot at that point. Complimenting there tactics or what apparently went well in their favour. Anything to keep from saying whats really going through my mind.

[Cryl]

The Face........

The esteemed Mr. Johnson talks about what he calls "The Face" in WD this month.

A state of mind you enter when your gonna lose and know it, and although you don't want to be that "Sore Looser" you just cant seem to help yourself.

Discuss.

Ah yes, the face. I know it well, usually happens to me when I roll a series of 1s and 2s for my TH/SS termie saves and I know that the daemon prince they've just failed to kill will be eating my tactical squads in a turns time!

[Lord Azaghul]

Depends on the game really. If its at the store and I have an audience and the game is looking like a sure lose, unsalvagable, I tend to take an 'over the top' approach: Weeping over every set of one's my vet meltas seem to roll, and moaning every stunned and shaken result on my opponents vehicles, building up to a 'why God why?' on my knees.

If its a tounry I become a bit more stoic, but trying to maintain a 'good sport' attitude.

[Renegade]

If it all goes horribly wrong, I tend to submit. Shake the other persons hand and walk away. If I think I have a chance I tend to grimace a lot at each casualty.

I've work with directors, you learn to smile when all you really want to do is introduce them to a red hot poker.

[Duke]

I can honestly say that I know I suffer from the face... Sometimes when I see a game going down the pipes I start sitting down a lot and saying things like "Really?"

If Im playing a friend I usually just try to make jokes and laugh through the pain. IF it isn't against a friend then I shamefully start 'paying more attention,' and allow less 'oops type stuff' from my opponent. Yes, Im not perfect and could improve that whole aspect.

Duke

[david5th]

I think it's human nature to thave " The Face " when defeated. All you can do is smile and accept while secretly condeming their souls to the underworld...or a chris de burgh concert. Which ever you belive is worse.

[Herald of Nurgle]

I'm sorry, but i'm a Nurgle follower. If you can see my face, you're already dead :P

On a more serious note, I like the mild RP. Take a jovial smile, laugh at your Nurgle terminator champions last two game turns in combat against a big scary Combat-Fex... laugh at seven ones being rolled as you charge that unit of gaunts that just re-entered Without Number.
You are a gamer with his toys. Act like it, dammit!

If it's the face of the opponent? Again, you're a Chaos player. And all chaos players know that bad opponents go to The Warp.

[Rogue428]

"The Face" usually affects me when the opponent starts being condescending. We're not stupid. If you beat me, just beat me and win. Don't sit there and try and sugarcoat it in an effort to get good sportsmanship points. You're not that good an actor, and I'm not stupid enough not to see through it. But yeah, it's happened to me.

[Cyberscape7]

I have faced the temptations of pulling 'the face' and have found a cure...
Replace your opponents chaos marines with Imperial guard...:cool:

[BuFFo]

My opponents nearly always lose hope during the first turn or two, only to not play the game at their best, only to realize they COULD HAVE won when turn 5 rolls by if they bothered to give damn.

[Lerra]

I was playing in a 2v2 this weekend, and my partner was using his brand new vendetta. First game, the rear stabilizers fell off. Second game, the model fell off of its base and a wing broke. Next game the other wing and a door fell off. That's the best example of The Face I've ever seen. He looked like a kicked puppy, poor bloke.

[Lord Anubis]

I think when most people get "the face" it's far more a product of the person they're playing with than the game itself.

Yeah, we all make mistakes and get bad rolls. If you've got someone decent across the table from you, though, every game is fun. That's why I can usually laugh or even cheer when something God-awful happens in a game with my friends.

It's when you're stuck playing across from some single-minded, zero-personality type that the face comes out, because what was a bad hour of gaming from the start is only getting worse. :(

[LadasN]

Usually, when a game just doesn't go my way, I'll sit down and litterally say CRAP lol. Then I'll try to take the game back BUT usually when it gets to crap its all over lol. It's all fun and it makes my opponents smile and laugh so its all good :D.

[Madjob]

"The Face" usually affects me when the opponent starts being condescending. We're not stupid. If you beat me, just beat me and win. Don't sit there and try and sugarcoat it in an effort to get good sportsmanship points. You're not that good an actor, and I'm not stupid enough not to see through it. But yeah, it's happened to me.

While it's a bit off topic I can't pass up an opportunity to comment on a strange phenomenon related to what you've said.

I'll get to turn 3 or so of a game, and I've been doing good but it's very much a situation where the right moves in the right places can turn things around. Yet, incredibly, my opponent is in the pits when it comes to their spirit of competition. A few things didn't go the way they'd hoped or planned, and the fight just completely goes out of them. In those cases I admittedly end up doing the sort of thing you're complaining about: I try and encourage them, maybe even point out things that could be done to salvage their game. It's not that I think they're stupid, I just have trouble comprehending why they lost hope so quickly and want them to have a good game when one is possible for them. I've had several games where I actually got through to them and they went on to beat me, which is just fine.

As far as my own personal experiences with 'the face', it doesn't happen very often and it's usually not a matter of frustration so much as I completely go blank on what to do next in my turn if I find myself running out of options to even attempt for a draw. So I'll end up staring at spots on the board intensely without saying a word for some time until I finally come up with something, even if it doesn't satisfy me.

[LemanRussCommander]

Oh the face.... Why oh why foul dice gods? How can my guardsmen kill a deamon prince but fail to kill a single ork boy with volley fire!!!! I haven't met many players that give me the face, but i've gone through my share of dice...

[LadasN]

[QUOTE=Madjob;47915]I'll get to turn 3 or so of a game, and I've been doing good but it's very much a situation where the right moves in the right places can turn things around. Yet, incredibly, my opponent is in the pits when it comes to their spirit of competition. It's not that I think they're stupid, I just have trouble comprehending why they lost hope so quickly and want them to have a good game when one is possible for them./QUOTE]

That's happened often to me on my friday game night. There's one guy who does this almost every friday when he starts to lose and the game becomes no fun at all.

[Rogue428]

While it's a bit off topic I can't pass up an opportunity to comment on a strange phenomenon related to what you've said.

I'll get to turn 3 or so of a game, and I've been doing good but it's very much a situation where the right moves in the right places can turn things around. Yet, incredibly, my opponent is in the pits when it comes to their spirit of competition. A few things didn't go the way they'd hoped or planned, and the fight just completely goes out of them. In those cases I admittedly end up doing the sort of thing you're complaining about: I try and encourage them, maybe even point out things that could be done to salvage their game. It's not that I think they're stupid, I just have trouble comprehending why they lost hope so quickly and want them to have a good game when one is possible for them. I've had several games where I actually got through to them and they went on to beat me, which is just fine.


Not really what I was talking about. Sounds like you're just trying to help the guy have a good time. What I mean is when someone says something like, "Oh man, your dice just betrayed you. Sorry about that." When it had nothing to do with the dice and more something to do with the 10 nob bikers he just smashed a normal IG unit with. That kind of annoys me because there was no way my normal IG guys could have won. I'd just appreciate if they'd say it like it was, "Wow, those IG didn't stand a chance." I'm okay with that. My ego isn't tied to the tabletop.

What someone else wrote about this happening due to opponents they are facing is spot on. I've been tabled in turn 2 (yes it was quite a feat!) but it was by a good friend of mine, and while I was shaking my head about how he pulled it off. We were both laughing about it.

[DarkLink]

As a Grey Knight player, the type of utterly hopeless games that can result in the Face are pretty much inevitable in 5th ed. The sort of game when first turn your opponent manages to immobilize/destroy one of your LR's, then does the same thing to one of the others next turn, and then gets perfect scatters to wipe out your now exposed squads with his vindicator, and he saves ALL your return fire, and you fail every cover/armor save...:(

BTW, nice avatar LadasN

[Mike X]

A state of mind you enter when your gonna lose and know it, and although you don't want to be that "Sore Looser" you just cant seem to help yourself.

I'm never a sore loser, I enjoy losing as much as I do winning. My version of "The Face" is a look of despair.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

I've not had that happen to me, I really don't care about losing so long as the game is fun. I don't lose often though, maybe if I did I would mind more.:rolleyes:

I couldnt agree more! its all about the fun of it for me.

That said, I actually enjoying losing as much as winning. Theres something appealing about knowing you've lost but trying to take down as many as the enemy as possible before you get wiped out, or dramatic Last Stands!

And I somehow doubt at least the praetorian imperial guard players would disagree with me on that :D

[Andrew283]

Being Scottish really unfortunitly means that "the face" is something I am all too familiar with :L. My gaming group tend to get fairly peed off if things ain't going their way

[BuFFo]

Being Scottish really unfortunitly means that "the face" is something I am all too familiar with :L. My gaming group tend to get fairly peed off if things ain't going their way

Hahahahah!!!! :D :D

[Subject Keyword]

The face... hmm... Can't say I've ever gotten sore about getting whooped up on.

Well, the second game I ever played with my Ogre Kingdoms army was the first opportunity I ever had to field a tooled out Tyrant. He charged a Chaos Lord on Juggernaut. The ogre had a huge club that could deliver a FLURRY of strength 8 attacks, high WS, magic **** that let me reroll armor saves, and a ****load of wounds. Frankly, anything standing in front of a Tyrant is a bit like a wheelchair-bound coma patient in front of a train that is made of lava. The Chaos HERO had SLIGHTLY higher initiative, and rolled a 6, which was a "killing blow." No save. Do not pass go do not collect $200.

I was laughing to keep back the Nerd tears.

[Cryl]

Frankly, anything standing in front of a Tyrant is a bit like a wheelchair-bound coma patient in front of a train that is made of lava.

Utterly brilliant imagery! :D Made me laugh