The tournament rules state that a match ends at 135 minutes or round 6, whichever comes first. We never get to round 6 because of a guy (who shall remain nameless) takes forever on his turn. We are lucky to get to round 4 by the 135 minute mark. By then, it just doesn't feel like a complete game.

How do you guys deal with a guy that slows down the game? If we ignore the time limit and play until round 6, will the game still be "balanced"? Has anyone tried anything with a chess timer to keep players moving?

Cattleprod.

...

In seriousness.

If the Slow Play is deliberate, or in this case, extendedly repeated, then there is a case against them in the slow play rules on the Tournament document...

The game is not balanced for some if it does not go to the end of the 6th round.. - Garm Bel Iblis, for example, has a direct effect in the 5th and 6th Game turns, that if you don't get to, you've paid for as a Rebel player... If I never got to use that because my opponent slow-played to 4 turns, and then won, I'd be a little miffed.

They may need a gentle, then firm, then harder reminder that it is their responsibility to have their game move along and be equitable for their opponent. Perhaps getting them to practice outside of a tournament with a Stopwatch or Chess Clock would be an interesting learning experience for both them and their opponents...

But as there are many reasons behind it, there is no actual quick easy fix solution that's fair to everyone in the meantime... That'll have to be explored.

But another reinforcement I should state, is that this is only for Tournament games... Outside of that, grab a Beer and enjoy the game, no matter how long it takes

My view on that one would be simple:

It's the TO's responsibility, but for that guy's games, you may want to use a round-based turn timer for him. As in, if you are playing 135 min, you don't get more than 20 min for each of your rounds, and if you aren't done by then, too bad. That still leaves 35 min buffer (including opponent and counter-reactions), but it means you can't have someone slow play everything to death.

It's tough, but if someone NEVER finishes their games (as opposed to a one-time thing), as a TO I would have to start hitting them with the slow play rule or enforce some additional restriction.

Use time clocks give each person half the time on there clock and when that time runs out then you get 5 mins to do a turn and then your done! Set up everything ships and squadrons then split the remaining time between the 2 players. After your time is up only 5 mins for your turn whatever you don't get to doesn't get to go. That's the only fair way I know

With Flames I used to warn both players in an unfinished game. Letting them know that if it happened again the person who didn't finish in two games would have his score reversed as to be losses.

I don't think I ever enforced a penalty.

It's unfortunate when a player forces confrontation in these situations. While yes, it's "just a game" and everyone is there to have fun, part of the fun of a tournament is getting three out more full games in and sing how you did at the end. Slow guy has to know that tournament speed is different than garage game speed.

That said, often slow play gets blamed on both sides. Sometimes people don't even notice. Some of us don't have lots of tournament gaming experience and need some education. 99/100 would pick the speed up if it's gently mentioned to them.

IMO, one kick in the junk per minute over reasonable time per turn. Its not often looked at favorably, but it does keep people from slow playing/playing at all with me.

I think the TO needs to handle it. But is it straight up indecision or an unfamiliarity with the game? If it's unfamiliarity, then the TO should match that guy with people who are patient and knowledgeable. If it's just delay, then they need to warn him of slow play just the same as a ranger on a golf course warns of slow play.

Fighters do slow play down naturally. But even still, it gets moving eventually.

A TO can't be rigging pairings like that. I understand the impulse to do so, but how a TO handles pairings is very clearly laid out in the Tournament Rules, and doesn't allow for hand selecting opponents for certain players. Especially not since in many instances events will be decided with multiple undefeated players. It's unfair to the others within the event.

If a player has a discernable habit of being unable to finish games within the time limit that a TO needs to explain to that player that playing at a pace that allows a reasonable chance for the game to play out to conclusion is as much a part of thier responsibilities of a player as treating thier opponents with respect, knowing the rules, or having all the needed game components. Subsequent to having that conversation a TO needs to be willing to back up that talk with possible ramifications if a player doesn't improve the issue.

As far as a play group goes, someone should just be willing to state the obvious and tell the guy or gal that they need to stop playing so **** slowly.

Timers are the way to go. When I ran BloodBowl tournaments, I always brought a stack of little kitchen timers. If a player was running slow enough to drag the game, I would first tell them that they needed to play faster in order to complete the game. If they didn't speed up, then I would bring over the timers for both players in that game. That system worked fine, and the timers rarely needed to be employed.

BB does have a 3 minute time limit per turn, but the vast majority of players do not need to bother using timers.

I have been holding monthly tournaments at the 2 hour time period. This is to get people used to the expected time bump for wave 2 as well as prep them for SC season and beyond.

I know of I am a fast player and I don't have issues but in all honesty 20 minutes a game turn is more than enough to get things done.

Also, I realize I should have asked this up front, but:

1. Is the language you are speaking at the tournament their first language?
2. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being low, 10 being Drunk Tarkin, how drunk and/or high was this player?
3. Did anyone mention the speed thing to them?

I try to imagine how spend 40 min. per round. How many ship I need to doubt about what I should activate first, how many dice I roll to keep me gathering them, how many dice modifiers to never go ahead with attacking timing, how many hits I get to never end counting them, how long the crit text is to resolve it, how many clicks my ships have when moving...

Also, I realize I should have asked this up front, but:

1. Is the language you are speaking at the tournament their first language?
2. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being low, 10 being Drunk Tarkin, how drunk and/or high was this player?
3. Did anyone mention the speed thing to them?

I resemble the implication that being drunk and/or high results in slow play!

Srsly though I play in various states of intoxication constantly and don't have this problem.

No excuses!

Also, I realize I should have asked this up front, but:

• Is the language you are speaking at the tournament their first language?
• On a scale of 1-10, 1 being low, 10 being Drunk Tarkin, how drunk and/or high was this player?
• Did anyone mention the speed thing to them?

I resemble the implication that being drunk and/or high results in slow play!

Srsly though I play in various states of intoxication constantly and don't have this problem.

No excuses!

I'm not Talented.

I'm just Australian.

In a tournament, you either need to enforce some sort of a time clock (I've always been partial to the deathclock* format myself and would recommend this solution over option B...) or simply not allow Mr. Slow-Mo to participate if you do not believe he will be capable of completing games in the time allowed. It's sad, but if the tournament is going to be ruined for every person this extremely slow person plays against, his presence is effectively negative 4 people (himself and 3 others who have the misfortune of playing him and not getting in full games) in an event that should be competitive, enjoyable, and complete for everybody attending.

For casual games you can be more relaxed of course but people can reserve the right to simply not play Mr. Slow-Mo in favor of playing versus opponents who will play at a pace they prefer. It's undeniably not being nice to Slow-Mo** but the fact is that once Slow-Mo realizes there are penalties to wasting everyone's time, he has an incentive to change his ways (hopefully with some assistance from more patient players); in the long run both your local group and Slow-Mo should find the outcome superior once you confront this problem head-on and bring Slow-Mo up to speed.

* The deathclock format provides a chess clock for each game. Each opponent gets half of the allotted round time for his activations. When your activation finishes, slap the clock and time passes to your opponent. If someone's time runs out, they lose. Completely. I find it superior to the each player gets "X minutes for each round" solution because sometimes you'll have a round that requires more time than other rounds (example: that big turn all your black dice ship are finally in range) and so it seems to unfairly punish players who bring fleets that will need more minutes for 1-2 of their available rounds but won't really need many minutes for the rest of their rounds. It's also superior to the "the two players between themselves get X minutes per round," as this restriction can still incentivize slow play from shallow sociopaths who see an advantage in not allowing their opponent to activate certain models later in a given round and so drag it out. In death clock, the only time you waste is your own and it's extremely difficult to game the system. Death clock can be kind of expensive to set up (as chess clocks aren't super cheap) but is not that bad financially. If you have Warmachine events at your store (/had them, as in our case - that game has dried up completely out here) you should already have a lot of chess clocks available.

** I feel it's important to note that nobody has any obligation to be miserable or disadvantaged for the sake of Slow-Mo's feelings. This doesn't give you carte blanche to be a jerk to Slow-Mo, but asking your players to continuously sacrifice at least some, if not all, of their enjoyment of coming out for game nights or event days in order to maintain the fiction that Slow-Mo's play speed is acceptable is going to breed resentment and negatively affect your meta. You can be direct but polite when discussing this with Slow-Mo, and having this conversation in a controlled and respectful environment will inevitably save you the social disaster of having the same airing of grievances in an uncontrolled and emotionally-charged environment when someone with a short temper inevitably feels they have been disadvantaged by having to play him.

P.S. I feel the need to add in post-script (sorry, I have a lot of add-ons this post) that in my experience, extreme analysis paralysis often comes from people who are anxious and feel judged by their performance and thus agonize over every choice trying to make sure they found the absolutely best thing to do all the time and are therefore cool kids please don't hate me. The appearance of being skilled/doing well tends to trump the actuality of doing well (because anxious people often feel like phonies just waiting to be unmasked and ridiculed by their peers).

Therefore, you need to approach it like so:

1. Have a private conversation with Slow-Mo where you discuss the situation calmly and politely with no character attacks or ridicule. He's quite likely going to be very sensitive to that kind of thing. It's very important it happens this way because if someone explodes at Slow-Mo because this issue hasn't been addressed (as I mentioned earlier) it's going to be the nightmare scenario an anxious person has been dreading all along of being publicly attacked and ridiculed in front of their peers.
2. Establish that you are in a safe place where failure (in a game, in life) is not seen as an unforgivable sign of an inferior person and isn't subject to ridicule. If anything, failure is a far better teacher than success and should be celebrated in circumstances where the failure is effectively harmless (like when you're playing with plastic toy ships and making pew pew laser noises).
3. Explain that paradoxically by playing so slowly and agonizing over every single decision, Slow-Mo is getting in much less experience than other players and thus not learning as much as he could be. Players who take chances and play more quickly are getting in more total experience and becoming more competitive.
4. Come to the conclusion that your local group would prefer if Slow-Mo sped up his game and dropped the analysis paralysis and that Slow-Mo himself would benefit from this in the form of getting in more experience and becoming a better player, which should also improve Slow-Mo's satisfaction with the game. Offer some assistance in the form of your more patient players who agreed to assist in this endeavor beforehand.
5. Everybody high-fives

Something will have to be done about it before he goes to a store championship event. If his slow play prevents games from ending then he is possibly costing people a chance for the tournament win.

In a tournament, you either need to enforce some sort of a time clock (I've always been partial to the deathclock* format myself and would recommend this solution over option B...) or simply not allow Mr. Slow-Mo to participate if you do not believe he will be capable of completing games in the time allowed. It's sad, but if the tournament is going to be ruined for every person this extremely slow person plays against, his presence is effectively negative 4 people (himself and 3 others who have the misfortune of playing him and not getting in full games) in an event that should be competitive, enjoyable, and complete for everybody attending.

For casual games you can be more relaxed of course but people can reserve the right to simply not play Mr. Slow-Mo in favor of playing versus opponents who will play at a pace they prefer. It's undeniably not being nice to Slow-Mo** but the fact is that once Slow-Mo realizes there are penalties to wasting everyone's time, he has an incentive to change his ways (hopefully with some assistance from more patient players); in the long run both your local group and Slow-Mo should find the outcome superior once you confront this problem head-on and bring Slow-Mo up to speed.

* The deathclock format provides a chess clock for each game. Each opponent gets half of the allotted round time for his activations. When your activation finishes, slap the clock and time passes to your opponent. If someone's time runs out, they lose. Completely. I find it superior to the each player gets "X minutes for each round" solution because sometimes you'll have a round that requires more time than other rounds (example: that big turn all your black dice ship are finally in range) and so it seems to unfairly punish players who bring fleets that will need more minutes for 1-2 of their available rounds but won't really need many minutes for the rest of their rounds. It's also superior to the "the two players between themselves get X minutes per round," as this restriction can still incentivize slow play from shallow sociopaths who see an advantage in not allowing their opponent to activate certain models later in a given round and so drag it out. In death clock, the only time you waste is your own and it's extremely difficult to game the system. Death clock can be kind of expensive to set up (as chess clocks aren't super cheap) but is not that bad financially. If you have Warmachine events at your store (/had them, as in our case - that game has dried up completely out here) you should already have a lot of chess clocks available.

** I feel it's important to note that nobody has any obligation to be miserable or disadvantaged for the sake of Slow-Mo's feelings. This doesn't give you carte blanche to be a jerk to Slow-Mo, but asking your players to continuously sacrifice at least some, if not all, of their enjoyment of coming out for game nights or event days in order to maintain the fiction that Slow-Mo's play speed is acceptable is going to breed resentment and negatively affect your meta. You can be direct but polite when discussing this with Slow-Mo, and having this conversation in a controlled and respectful environment will inevitably save you the social disaster of having the same airing of grievances in an uncontrolled and emotionally-charged environment when someone with a short temper inevitably feels they have been disadvantaged by having to play him.

P.S. I feel the need to add in post-script (sorry, I have a lot of add-ons this post) that in my experience, extreme analysis paralysis often comes from people who are anxious and feel judged by their performance and thus agonize over every choice trying to make sure they found the absolutely best thing to do all the time and are therefore cool kids please don't hate me. The appearance of being skilled/doing well tends to trump the actuality of doing well (because anxious people often feel like phonies just waiting to be unmasked and ridiculed by their peers).

Therefore, you need to approach it like so:

1. Have a private conversation with Slow-Mo where you discuss the situation calmly and politely with no character attacks or ridicule. He's quite likely going to be very sensitive to that kind of thing. It's very important it happens this way because if someone explodes at Slow-Mo because this issue hasn't been addressed (as I mentioned earlier) it's going to be the nightmare scenario an anxious person has been dreading all along of being publicly attacked and ridiculed in front of their peers.
2. Establish that you are in a safe place where failure (in a game, in life) is not seen as an unforgivable sign of an inferior person and isn't subject to ridicule. If anything, failure is a far better teacher than success and should be celebrated in circumstances where the failure is effectively harmless (like when you're playing with plastic toy ships and making pew pew laser noises).
3. Explain that paradoxically by playing so slowly and agonizing over every single decision, Slow-Mo is getting in much less experience than other players and thus not learning as much as he could be. Players who take chances and play more quickly are getting in more total experience and becoming more competitive.
4. Come to the conclusion that your local group would prefer if Slow-Mo sped up his game and dropped the analysis paralysis and that Slow-Mo himself would benefit from this in the form of getting in more experience and becoming a better player, which should also improve Slow-Mo's satisfaction with the game. Offer some assistance in the form of your more patient players who agreed to assist in this endeavor beforehand.
5. Everybody high-fives

I don't see how this is any different than my suggestion.

I don't see how this is any different than my suggestion.

Fewer Aggravated Assault Charges?

I don't see how this is any different than my suggestion.

Fewer Aggravated Assault Charges?

But Dras, we are in a safe space. Doesn't that mean I cannot suffer the consequences of my actions?

I don't see how this is any different than my suggestion.

Fewer Aggravated Assault Charges?

But Dras, we are in a safe space. Doesn't that mean I cannot suffer the consequences of my actions?

That depends. Do I have a Cattleprod handy?

What he said.

What he said.

Drasnighta did steal the show with his comment. . .

give him a 5 min activation count down. If you can't do each ship in 5 min your not even playing the game.