Boardgamers who cannot cope with being attacked

[Martim Silva]

I think you should raise this topic during next meeting with the ambassador.

I prefer not to speak with them about that. In fact, I prefer to let my love of games be fairly unknown, in order not to tarnish my reputation.

That said, the VP of one of the banks that went down badly in Portugal (BPN) was a regular at our EU2 LAN games and at EiA (one of the games was at his house), while the once-CEO of BCP, the (at the time) largest bank in the country, did play some sessions we had at the Palace of Independence (the Palace's director was a friend and let us use some rooms for some game sessions, some years back).

Maybe that is part of the reason why those banks got so bad...

[Habbaku]

I was "WTF?" and started to check the country... turns out he had FIVE outstanding 200 ducat loans at 33% interest each, who were eating away ALL his income. He had to go bust, but due to the setting to max cash, his inflation was at 40% already! I couldn't even believe someone could wreck a country this badly, and he only had faced the AI yet!

Just like real Portugal. 

[Viking]

Backstabs are part of any player balanced and team game with separate winners. E.g. in WWII games you send Russia just enough LL to achieve your own aims as the western allies. Many games require a stab to win. Elegant stabs with great results are only to be admired. That one support order you decline to give your putative ally in diplomacy which results in you getting all his centers during the masterful backstab. In one case as Florence in Machiavelli I saved up enough money by running a constant surplus over many turns and taking some loans because "I was so weak, just look how few units I have" I bribed one venetian unit to switch sides, collapsing his system of supports resulting in my taking everything except his albanian stuff in one move. That was elegant and beautiful.

Petty  backstabs over minor prizes, especially those that turn ingame allies into ingame rivals are just stupid. In the Socratic sense that all virtue is knowledge some backstabs are elegant and others are merely petty.

Reasonable attacks and backstabs, e.g. the last time I played 7 Ages I had twice as many points as the next player in age 5 with a fully tricked out and teched up Ming, England and France and was outproducing the next player on points 2-1. Everybody attacked me constantly. I can understand that, but the experience is very stressful. I lost that game and in hindsight, I should have let my über-civs fall, since I lost that game because the my übers were hit so hard with events they stopped earning points and rather than stand and fight I should have discarded and restarted somewhere else so that I could have been producing points during the endgame when the various glory cards get played.

The example of a poor backstab is Katmai, who in a EU3 MP game promised to let me form the HRE in exchange for my french culture provinces and backstabbed me BEFORE I could finish selling them to him. Had he waited a few ingame months he could have been paid and backstabbed me afterwards.

If your attack or backstab is a game winning move I salute you, even if it fails. You can't blame a guy for trying; you can, however, blame a man for being too stupid to realize that he didn't have a chance at success.

[PDH]

The example of a poor backstab is Katmai

The beaner backstab always fails 

[Lucidor]

Oww, I wouldn't want to play with a group like that. It'd feel like a waste of time.

[Solmyr]

All this talk makes me pine for a new Languish MP game. Come on, people. EU3? Civ5? Napoleon? Something?

[Martinus]

I'd play some PBEM game. Maybe Here I Stand?

[Martinus]

Or Game of Thrones if there is a way to play it PBEM.

[Habbaku]

I'd play some PBEM game. Maybe Here I Stand?

And have you freak out like the people Martim's talking about as you did the last time?  No thanks.

[Habbaku]

All this talk makes me pine for a new Languish MP game. Come on, people. EU3? Civ5? Napoleon? Something?

I would happily do Civ 5 if we could come up with a decent time.

[Ed Anger]

I'd play some PBEM game. Maybe Here I Stand?

And have you freak out like the people Martim's talking about as you did the last time?  No thanks.

gay rage. lol.

[Drakken]

Meh, I liked playing/learning Paths of Glory with Berkut. Alas, I don't know the rules of Here I Stand. 

[Habbaku]

That's okay; neither does Berkut.

[Berkut]

:MAD:

[Shade]

All this talk makes me pine for a new Languish MP game. Come on, people. EU3? Civ5? Napoleon? Something?

I would happily do Civ 5 if we could come up with a decent time.

I would be in what is a reasonable time?