I have a question for people who have seen Mage Knight played at the highest tournament levels.

How tight are people about measurements and facings.

How often do figures get picked up and replaced, then there is a question about if it was put back correctly.

How often do Warlords have to come in and determine range and distance?

I have been with people who are vary anal about this, and i am somewhat anal myself.

I play a guy that always moves people around so fast that it is impossible to argue, if the figure could really reach the distance that he moved them.

I attended and played in Nationals this year.

I found that everyone I played was exceedingly accurate about figure placement. To the point where I never really had a doubt about whether figures were in range or not. It was never an issue the whole tourney. There was a lot of stipulating. "this figure is just in or out of range" stuff as expected with experienced players.

I never once had or saw a warlord called over for a measurement ruling. Of course you don't need that with a storm maul sitting in deep water. ;)

I understand your problem though. It has happened a lot to me in smaller games, tourneys, etc. I find it is important to always do all your own measuring on your turn so you know what figures are in and out of range. Stipulations are critical. Sometimes this will tip your hand as to your movement options but at least you aren't being based illegally.

1. I played Storm Maul(yeah, yeah, i'm cheesy. go ahead, shoot me) so the measurements in my games weren't all that important. The most played figures were Chroma, Storm Maul, and Rava so facing didn't really matter either.

2. Never in any of my games.

3. No, the only game of mine where we had to call a warlord was a rules question.

At Worlds, I think I was asked ONCE that I can remember (though I think I vaguely remember a second). The "once" I remember was a front-arc question - basically, it was a question as to whether a particular figure could touch both other figures with the front arc (it was a close call).

But I don't think I had to make any real measurement rulings (that I can recall).

Army, I played at Nationals and I think it was mixed. I played against a few people that took their time measuring and wanted to make sure they were exact. However, I saw very little issues about front arc. I tend to play at a measured pace myself and try to be precise on my measurements so I had no problems. I never saw a warlord get involved with a measurement issue.

Now with that said I also ran up against a few Storm Maul armies (before they were nerfed) and really big bound armies. When you can sit back and dole out damage you don't tend to fret too much about measurements. Also, when you can effectively shoot from 22" away measurements tend to be less important.

Bottomline, I don't see terrain placement, LOS blocking and measurement used as tactically as it once was.

Steve

I played in Nationals last year. Only one of my opponents gave me any greif about measurment and figure placement. He had some problem with the actual way I was measuring things. Mind you, this was during the last game of the day and win or lose neither of us were moving on to the Finals.

But I can see where this issue can become a problem. I am sure we all have those players we face that "creatively" place their figs after clicking them for damage to where their arc is blatantly facing differently.

when i played at nat.s, very little was ever in question. the level and skill of the players as well as the honor among such players was quite high. i don't believe anyone had any problems w/ it there but i believe that is because those players play serious enough to want to play right and fair. on local levels when less experienced players are playing, quite often i have seen measurement and arc facing taken w/ a grain of salt and yes i do have to get on these people. i think though in all my experience, i only ever met one excellent player who also cheated purposefully.

I was a player in the 2004 Nationals and the head floor judge in the 2003 Nationals.

I didn't have any measurement/arc issues in any of my games in 2004. Everyone was very professional and careful about figure placement. Though I don't usually have a problem with this issue locally for the most part, either.

I remember very few measurement calls in 2003. I think especially at the highest levels of play, the vast majority of players are well aware of the distance and facing factors, and unless they are in the 1% that are knowingly abusing the rules (and are usually very good at this abuse), treat these factors quite carefully.

In the 2.0 game, I have found it invaluable to have dial templates for each type of dial for the 2.0 game. I have a mount template, a slotted base template, and a normal base template that I use in every game. It allows me to make measurement calls without moving the figure in question, and allows for a great deal more precision in placement.

Well, that's my dime... :)