Have you Ever Taken a Dive?

“Check mate in 6 moves!” My opponent grins at me lopsidedly.

“Too bad I see mate in 5!” I laugh back.

We had a good laugh and returned the game. But deep down, looking at the board, I knew I had him. I’m not even talking about “if the dice behave like they should” sort of have him - I have this guy dead to rights with triple redundant plans and even with poor rolling I have nothing to fear… this game is in the bag.
And that’s a problem.

It’s a problem because this is one of my best friends, and I’ve been stomping him all night. In fact the last few times we’ve gotten together I’ve stomped him. It’s to the point I’m starting to feel bad when I win. I know the quip he just made was a bit of humorous bravado to soften the impending blow. I have broken the man’s spirit.

So I make the choice: it’s time to take a dive.

Not as Easy as it Sounds
Throwing a tactical war game can actually be quite tricky. If I’m trying to lose in order to build up my opponent’s confidence then running my guys up the middle to be slaughtered will be so obvious that I could actually make my opponent feel worse! No one wants a pity win from their friend.

It takes a delicate touch, bringing units in from reserve where they will only do superficial damage, accidently move something out of range or out of line of sight are good starts, but if done too much this can again, raise suspicion. A more subtle way to lose is by responding to his threats blindly; take the a bit he is offering and pretend you don’t see his counter attack coming.

Dubious Results?
Now it could be argued that throwing a game is counter-productive. By intentionally losing all I am doing is rewarding poor tactics. My opponent will get a false positive about what he is doing and will continue doing things that will make him lose unless I keep taking a dive. If he doesn’t learn, he will never progress, and we learn by making mistakes.

This is a very valid point. However, we aren’t Spartans and this isn’t the agoge. We play this game for fun and getting curb stomped every time we play isn’t fun. If your opponent spends enough time not having fun, they are going to move on to something else. I don’t want them to move onto something else, I want them to keep playing.

So if  keeping people around the table rolling dice requires me to play down a notch or two once in a while… I think I can handle that.

Do you ever throw games, if so why? Is throwing a game an abomination to everything war gaming stands for? Tell us!