When we were kids we were told, cheaters never prosper…well in the 40k universe they sometimes do. As most of you have heard, a renowned cheater of the Pacific Northwest won Best Overall at the Seattle Conquest GT. His cheating was so known, that he had been kicked out of every gaming store in the greater Seattle area. In fact, he was even banned from the GT and only snuck back in because those that banned him dropped out as organizers. What is extra sad about the whole escapade is that after watching Nathaniel play; he would be pretty good player if not for the cheating.

Here is list of broken rules in particular order.

  • Moved models 2-3 inches more than they allowed.
  • Bumped into his own models then move them again to get a better positions.
  • Took back moves.
  • Did not bring reserves out first before moving other models.
  • Did not account for the -AP of Warp Spiders weapons on vehicles.
  • Called out cheating on opponent when there was no cheating.
  • Cheated wound allocation when it suited him best.
  • Went back and forth between 2D6 and 3D6 falling back depending on when it suited him.
  • Used a cover save on death or glory.
  • Line of sight cheating.
  • Did not maintain coherency on assaulting.
  • Using hands and tape measure to judge distances before shooting or assaulting.

I am sure he broke more, but those were the big ones. I will say at least Nathaniel didn’t dice cheat. Now I could go into a whole litany to make fun of Nathaniel. Like he cried every time he lost a model because of course it is impossible to fail two invul saves in a row.  Or like his cheesy Roman hair cut and acid wash jeans making him look straight out of Jersey Shore. Or I could go into the fact that he was standing all alone while results were released and it seemed like he had no friends to speak of.  All these things I could go into, but that would be too easy.

Instead what about how we the players and the tournament organizers, failed in calling out his bullshit. It is easy for us to talk shit about someone after the fact, it is harder to tell it to their face. Gerry could have been more vociferous and call out Nathaniel at every turn, but not everyone is confrontational and having played against Gerry he is a nice and passive man, not someone that wants to waste his time watching Nathaniel’s ever move. The blame lies in everyone else.

Let us start with me. I should have said something, but I didn’t want look like a arm-chair quarterback nor did I want to be kicked out of the GT. Instead, I regulated myself to being a passive aggressive prick watching Nathaniel walked all over Gerry. At the very least I should have had the balls to call over a judge and have them watch a round. There was one problem with that– the players were told that they had to police there own tables as well as other players should not interfere. The judges were just there to dispute rules nothing more. So a person like Nathaniel (bully) is given carte blanche to push people around. As the game went along more and more people circled around to watch. More and more I was approached about Nathaniel and his cheating. Not ONE of us stood up and told Nathaniel to stop it. Maybe deep down we thought that justice would prevail and Gerry would win (he almost did), more likely we just cowards.

I often see people complain about cheaters as an excuse to avoid competitive play. Either because you are not a competitive person or you have been burned by a cheater. Those that have been burned by a cheater typically never say anything during the game only to bitch about it after. Cheaters cheat because they can get away with it. Even Nathaniel I have been told has been “getting better” you know why? Not because he wants to stop cheating, it is because people have called him out on it and forced him to change. There should be no tolerance for cheating, but we are gamers and overall a passive bunch. Never had I seen such flagrant cheating and maybe I was in pure shock to do anything, but I am pretty sure I was just a pussy, nothing more and nothing less.

Here are some videos of Nathaniel cheating, enjoy

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLQNz-Ps1-Q

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSCvuTfcg0k

Questions for Comments:

  1. Whose responsibility is it to stop cheaters?
  2. How do you deal with cheating in your area?
  3. How should tournaments approach cheating?