How would you approach this?

[secretpaintgeek]

Hi guys,

I'll start off with a bit of background. Where I live is a pretty small place with a very limited circle of people that are interested in our hobby be it painting or gaming. Within my area I know of 3 people that i can play on a fairly regular basis.

Where the real problem comes in is that there seems to be a bit of a problem with people learning the rules. Eg. one guy has been playing for a couple of years now pretty much using a deathwing list everytime. He still has to ask how a storm bolter works. As you can imagine, if he hasnt bothered to learn this rather basic element of the game that he has used repeatedly then he obviously hasnt bothered learning other things such as wound allocation, terrain effect and so on. Now, for me, who likes to be very prepared for each game and will study up on anything i'm not sure on prior to a game this is getting very annoying. It makes games take ages and I feel like the bad guy all the time when he goes to do something and I have to say "you cant do that" and then he gets moody for the rest of the game and we have even had incidents of 2nd turn "lets just call it" finishes because of it which is obviously no fun for anyone.
I used to be able to negate this a little by knowing the codex for the other players and guessing thier intentions and warning them ahead of time when I thoght they were about to make a mistake (Which was a bit like playing myself at times) but now with the codexs being so expensive i dont really wanna have to buy all of them so I can check the rules and make sure they are not making mistakes/adding random rules and so on.

Short of just never playing anymore I'm not sure what to do here.
Anyone care to offer some advice? Share some common experiences?

Thanks fellas and sorry for the massive rant

SPG

 

[Bailey03]

Yeah, I think that would drive me crazy as well. Normally I'd just avoid playing that guy... but considering the limited options in your area that might not be the best option. Would it be possible to make up a couple quick reference/cheat sheets for the rules the guy commonly forgets. If he can't be bothered with a whole rulebook perhaps he'll at least glance at a few pages during the game. I'd try to include a bunch of the 'you can't do that' rules so you hopefully don't have to say it. And make sure to include the special rules for your army so he can see what you can and can't do. Don't know if that would work with this guy but it's the best idea I've got.

 

[secretpaintgeek]

Thanks Bailey, Thats a pretty good idea. I normally do something similar for myself so wouldnt look too much like i'm babying him if I give one to him too hehe He is a sensitive soul or as I call them Whiners
I do fear that even that might be too much effort on his behalf though