Play the Game to the bitter End - You may be suprised

You know the feeling - "Damn, I don't think I can win this one, maybe I should just concede" - we have all seen somebody get to that point or have been in that state of mind ourselves. It doesn't feel good and it makes you wonder if you should just scoop and see if there is time for another game instead of playing this one out.

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While it may be tempting, I encourage you to play it out. I'm not going to speak as if I am "holier than thou" in fact I have scooped before, but its that experience which brings this advice. I recently played a game against a good player from the FLGS - he brought a Tzeentch heavy CSM army (4+ invuls and AP 3, yikes) and deployed and played it very well. My outflanks came on the side I didn't need to and I dropped the trygons a little less than optimally. I knew I had made some bad mistake by the top of the third and with the store closing soon, I didn't quite want to call it, but I did feel like I had screwed the pooch and was playing toward a draw at best.

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Anyway, I decided to play it out to the bitter end and ended up holding an objective, wiping one of his squads off another and contesting the last one (ending in 2-3/4" away) with the doom of Malan'tai (who walked about 24" to be there). In the last 10 games I have played, I have had that feeling that I might have messed up about 6 times, but playing it out has brought it through to victory in the end each of those times. I have noticed watching games and TO'ing the EoD tournament that many times the victors are the players who "played a losing game" where they thought they had to come back from a loss - maybe some players play smarter and tougher under the gun, maybe we get all wrapped around the axle over little stuff and start doubting our skills, only to find we could pull it off, even if it is by the skin of our teeth.

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Regardless the reason, if you start to get that feeling, don't quit. Take a break, eat a twix, take a deep breath and think about where everything is, what you can pull off in the turns remaining and how you will have to achieve victory. Then, reach down, grab a hold of your manhood and march back to the table with your head on your shoulder ... and strap in for a rough ride. If you win, you will have an incredible feeling of accomplishment and a better realization of who you are as a player. If you lose, you have more respect for yourself and you and your opponent will probably have some real fun, just remember that the real point of pushing plastic spacemen across the board is just that - to have fun, so don't be a baby. Play it out!

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Have you ever had that feeling? Know somebody who scoops a lot? How do you stay in the game? Have a comeback experience? Share them with us here, we are all ears!