Knowing is Half the Battle!!! Part 1 of 4: Know ThyRules!!!

Wow. Sorry for the long dead period. To make a long story short: Mid-terms, Spring Break, Last-minute 13.5 hour drive to Naples, FL, Second degree sunburn, PC burned out, Now have crappy rent-a-mac from School that won't play flash:( , It's a Mac! :'''''( , joined and helped start Unbroken Gaming Club, currently handling t-shirt orders, car is leaking oil, won the Bash at the Barn tournament with my Orks( Waaagh!!!), just pledged to finish 2000pts of DE in 2 months, taxes and fafsa still not done, and i still need a job!!! Anyhow back to the action.

Today I want to start a 4 part series based on what I think is a major reason people do badly in competive play. Most people are pretty competent individuals. So why do some people constantly win top tournements, while other, equally competent players never seem to hit their stride. The answer: MISTAKES!!! How do we prevent ourselves from making mistakes? By become Knowlegable about the game we play. There are many different aspects to this. Today we will cover the first aspect. Know ThyRules!!!

Know the basic rules: This is one of those things you shouldn't think you would have to mention, but it is often overlooked, especially with "veteran" gamers. Many so-called vets fail to really learn the new rules after a new edition releases and often confuse rules between editions.  Do you remember the first time you played a game of chess and someone castled their king? How about taking a pawn en passant?

The Wookie let's Chuck Norris win.

A player must ask himself, 'How do I expect to master a game I do not know the rules of?'
When my brother-in-law first started playing, he lost alot.  He has always played his tau really well, but his tactics are very min-maxed. He would always try some caculated gamble only to realize too late that the rule didn't work quite like he thought. This would often result in a game losing failure. Being knowlegable about the rules is the only way to make tatical desicions on the fly and come out on top.

"What do you mean,  'The popular vote doesn't count'"

Examples: Do you still have to make last man standing checks? What happens if a squads transport is destroyed and they can't disembark out of the exit points? If a squad deep strikes into a multi-floored ruin, where is it placed? Can a vehicle drive through a ruin? Do jump infantry squads take dangerous terrian tests when leaving difficult terrain. How fast is cruising speed? Can you make saves off dangerous terrian tests. Can fearless models fail leadership tests?  I think you got the hint. If you don't know any of the above questions, look them up. One of the biggest weaknesses most players have is that they would rather ask 'that rules guy' or post a rules question on a forum instead of looking it up. Sadly, " That's what it said on Warseer" doesn't hold up well in a rules argument at a tournament. Don't be afraid to crack open the BBOR. You might learn something. Another way to familiarize yourself with the rules is to surf online rules forums for other peoples rules questions.

That's it for now. What are some ways you find to keep up-to-date and fresh on the rules? Tune in next time for Part 2: Know Thyself!!!