I can't think of a single time where you *WOULDN'T* use Dash's ability during the movement phase. So I would have your son ask his opponent if they are ok accepting that every movement will be with Dash's ability. He *will* declare during actions. Do that at the very start of the game before the first dial is revealed. ****, if you need to, have it as part of a setup checklist for him.

From there it just comes down to actions. When barrel rolling he has to get into the habit of saying if he is using Dash or not. That's where the real nuance comes into play. If he thinks a barrel roll will put him a rock, he can declare *not* to use Dash and try the move. If he hits the rock he doesn't have to complete the move.

This is the most graceful compromise I can think of and I would have zero issues as an opponent with it, regardless of age or skill level.

There are edge cases, but they involve bad Dash builds (e.g. Wired).

4 hours ago, AT Leader said:

My (the OP) question was for fun ideas to help him reduce the negative interactions regarding Dash's ability. I said that that might be simple to declare at the beginning, but it doesn't solve the problem at hand. Good action and ability declaration is still the expectation. It devolved into a discussion of the ethics of declaring Dash's ability at the beginning. I have had been given some good ideas of how to help him develop good habits, and I have seen some good ideas of visual reminders.

Personally, the whole purpose of this thread was to reduce his risk of conflict versus those who are 'letter of the law' rather then 'spirit of the law'. I have my personal opinions on how the game should be played, but that doesn't matter. I am not pretentious enough to say that one or the other is better.

If anything, this thread highlights that the odds of the Dash rules, even by the book, going pear shaped in discussions between any two players are very, very high.

If it was me, I'd suggest that my son run something else to avoid the issue entirely, because I want him to experience 0 salt when playing X-wing. YMMV.

No mercy #Kobrakai

On 1/18/2018 at 1:34 PM, drjkel said:

If anything, this thread highlights that the odds of the Dash rules, even by the book, going pear shaped in discussions between any two players are very, very high.

If it was me, I'd suggest that my son run something else to avoid the issue entirely, because I want him to experience 0 salt when playing X-wing. YMMV.

Agreed.

As Dash was just on a short list, likely the route I will go. Sadly, primarily because of the experiences of the aforementioned fellow player who has had multiple people cheat against her. I am also considering just keeping him local until next season.

20 minutes ago, AT Leader said:

Agreed.

As Dash was just on a short list, likely the route I will go.

I took no joy in suggesting that... As I just pointed out to someone, playing with kids, you get to see just how shady X-wing can be, people who tend towards shady turn it up to 11 when playing kids. IME over the last 2 years, 90% of players are great with playing against kids, 5-8% could see some improvement (and some do improve over time!), the rest is just totally and utterly depressing.

I've seen arc measurement that are nowhere near following the line, loudly asking me if he can play less sloppily (he played cleaner at 6 than the average adult), reminding him of Biggs' ability when Biggs is not at range 1 ("I wasn't telling him to shoot Biggs, just reminding him for future rounds"), and the list goes on. My son is utterly naive, so he sees none of this. He truly believes everyone is always doing their best to be fair.

The sad thing is that you never know when he'll hit one of those players, unless you play with mostly known players.

On the positive side, I've had players declare his Defender not off the board when just the pegs were after a k-turn, reminding him of actions, and, my favorite, players the next table over denying him the joy of screaming CRACKSHOT by beating him to the punch 'cause we all know it's coming There are many class acts out there, and the more people play against kids, the more they "get it".

And I take no joy in conceding that the stories I hear about cheating attempts at the local regional and above tournaments against a local player (female) have made me reconsider taking him for fear of turning him off X-Wing. I have been beyond satisfied with the same 98% you spoke of, but what I have heard, our region has a higher percentage of the remaining 2%.