In a game last night, after we set up obstacles, before deploying, my opponent took his MC80 base and moved it between them, to see if it would be able to make it through at certain angles...

... surely this is not allowed, right? He said it was because of how lenient the game is about pre-measuring, but this doesn't even seem like that.

I don't think that is allowed. He could've used the range ruler to get an estimate on his base width, and compared that to the obstacles definitely, but I don't think that tools you can premeasure with include ship bases.

The game is pretty casual about some pre measurement, but not all pre measurement.

Was it a pretty casual game?

Was it a pretty casual game?

Yeah, I mean, he's my friend and all our games are casual, but I don't think I want them to be THAT casual, you know?

If it was a casual game, or a new player, let it slide. Like a poster before said, you can just measure the base with the range ruler and put between the obstacles.

If it was a formal event, I would have called over a TO.

Oh definitely.

Part of learning how much space you have to maneuver is in making the mistakes.

Feel free to ask him not to do that in the future, if you feel it's a step too far. It's a reasonable expectation.

Was it a pretty casual game?

Yeah, I mean, he's my friend and all our games are casual, but I don't think I want them to be THAT casual, you know?

Casual learning experience ok. Tournament, hells 2 da naw!

But in seriousness you are not supposed to have your ships on the mat unless they are in the deployment zone. So if you opponent wants to slide his ships around in the deployment zone, that is ok. Putting ships anywhere else is a no no.

I concur, not allowed. Now, during casual games, I have asked my opponent if I can "check" something and it's usually a maneuver. For example, I placed a flotilla right up against the edge of the board, parallel to the edge. I was fairly certain that if I'd executed a speed 1-2 click turn it would have gone off the board. I elected instead to do a speed 2 move with 1 click each. After I set my ship, I asked my friend if I might go back quickly to confirm my hunch. He aggreed and the flotilla went back to where it ended its planned move. Bottom line: he should ask if it's ok during a casual game. Part of the fun is the uncertainty in planning.