Why does it bother me when people say 4 to glance, 5 to pen

[BrilliantAntelope]

I totally agree with Gingerwerewolf, I think it's good manners to announce before rolling as it gives your opponent the chance to see that not only do you know what you're doing, but also to inform me of anything i may have missed.

I hate games where my opponents roll huge handfulls of dice without telling me what they are doing.

This may be because I play within the tournament scene and have been caught out before by opponents that didn't know their Codexes as well as they should have (or were cheating), and didn't spot ti right away because they weren't communicating with me.

As for coloured dice, I agree with you on that point. If people don't have enough differently coloured dice then yes it is better to roll them individually.

The thing that grinds my gears the most is people who do their run moves at the same time as their movement. Run moves should be done in the shooting phase as they might affect line of sight.

Definitely agree with the above. You can announce what your rolls will be as you're picking up dice, it takes literally no time. And doing so totally removes any element of suspicion - hell, if someone just hands me a set of dice after rolling in a back corner and says 'these are your saves' without telling me what he was doing, I'll ask him to do it again so I can watch, and what he's rolling on. Sounds pedantic? Hardly - it's brutally easy for someone to forget (or 'forget') that, say, Wracks have T4, and then to accidentally be wounding them as if they're T3 like most dark eldar. In a tournament, that could be a big deal, and it's just less of a headache to know. It's downright bad manners for people to not show you what they're doing.

4s to glance and 5s to pen? I do that all the time too. You know what I really find it's for? Fricking obviousness. If you say '4s to glance', then people can start automatically looking for 4 or more, and treating them all the same. It sounds silly, but if you have the distinction in your head between 4s and 5+, you don't get those mistakes.

Both nailed it right on the head. I can see why you'd be annoyed, hearing it over and over. But what you think is common sense, actually isn't. Of course if they say 4 to glance then a 5 or a 6 will pen. But it's always good for clarity and polite to just, say it. So, to avoid sounding like a broken record. I agree with both of the above and other similar statements.

[Iron Puritan]

Something else to consider: games with an IGO-UGO framework can result in a fair bit of down time when it is not your turn. Ongoing communication will maintain a level of involvement for both players throughout the entire game.

[loveless]

I prefer announcing the needed rolls - 4 to glance, 5 to pen; 4 to hit, 3 to wound; etc. It helps me check my own results along with those of my opponent and provides the same redundancy for him/her.

[althathir]

I prefer announcing the needed rolls - 4 to glance, 5 to pen; 4 to hit, 3 to wound; etc. It helps me check my own results along with those of my opponent and provides the same redundancy for him/her.

I do this as well, and it also helps teach people. I think thats where the OP gets a bit annoyed though because I think its a situation where they already know what you need to roll, and just want to keep moving. That said in the scheme of things it can't really be that bothersome IMO.

[ColShaw]

I always announce what I'm doing, and I also say the "4 to glance, 5 to pen." I don't do it to annoy people, and if someone specifically asks me not to in a game, then I can certainly just say it as "4 to glance". But it's my opponent's responsibility to:

1) Let me know that they'd rather just hear it that way;

2) Not say it in an irritable way, taking out their own inner annoyance on me, when I am honestly doing the best I can both to be a good sport in the game and to maintain clarity of communication.

So my advice to the OP would be to, the first time the situation comes up in a game with a given opponent, politely ask that everyone just declare the number necessary for the glance. Problem solved.

[Chem-Dog]

I don't know why but it kinda drives me batty when someone says for example" 4 to glance 5 to pen"

It is somewhat tautological but there are numerous considerations where the distinction between glancing and penetrating hits are well worth underscoring, not only are there the inherent modifiers associated with the Glancing effects on the damage roll but there are effects which only kick in when a hit is one or the other, for example, Quantum Shielding.
That said, I usually plump for saying something like "Four or more" when I'm rolling, then pick out the glances, and pick out the pens, let them roll each group for any cover saves (or any other type of save) and then roll what's left for damage in two groups.

I always announce, it's a bad habit.

Far from, by announcing the needed results to create any effect, you're including the opponent in the roll, rather than requiring them to sit back and receive the news after you've rolled. It's a courtesy.

Something else to consider: games with an IGO-UGO framework can result in a fair bit of down time when it is not your turn. Ongoing communication will maintain a level of involvement for both players throughout the entire game.

Exactly! it's a negligible amount of effort to continue a dialogue and keep players up to speed with what's happening. The games I have least fun in is the ones when I turn around from talking to someone, return from a trip to the head (or any one of the dozen or so reasons I might have my attention broken) and am handed a bunch of dice for saves when I haven't even been aware that the to-hit or to-wound rolls were taking place.
Occasionally, without announcing rolls, it turns out that a series of dice rolls need to start again because the opponent hasn't taken into account that your unit has a perk attached. Letting a player know what you're rolling for and the results associated with success allows them the chance to interject and inform you of any pertinent modifiers, rather than rolling a handful of dice on the charge and finding out when you hand the dice over to your opponent to make saves to find they are armed with defensive grenades.
It also gives them a chance to remind you of anything you're forgetting ("Doesn't that unit have Furious Charge?!).

[Tarian]

Far from, by announcing the needed results to create any effect, you're including the opponent in the roll, rather than requiring them to sit back and receive the news after you've rolled. It's a courtesy.

I usually do it to be polite, but sometimes when I play an opponent enough, they know that my platoons need a 4+ to hit 5+ to wound marines, but I say it anyways.

That, and they get tired of me rolling batches of 90 dice whenever they deepstrike within 12" of my lines. Who needs fancy Strike Squads when you can fill your side of the table with bodies.

[Loki73]

It makes things go faster. If you want someone to slow down then ask them to. And then ask if they can separate rolls. But you is this really worth getting upset over?

[Rated_lexxx]

I am not saying people should stop doing it that it drives me nuts when I hear it over and over again. Especially when it's almost always X number to glance and X+1 to pen

The multi colored dice makes sense for 2 different weapons but after that it becomes a game of remembering what dice meant what and what is needed to roll on what dice

[Nurgling Chieftain]

I think three colors is fine - one of them is usually obvious by simple weight of numbers. More than three (basic, special, heavy) is, in my experience, highly unusual.

[MajorWesJanson]

Saying what numbers you are looking for out loud both involves the other player, but encourages them to watchthe dice closer, building trust on rolls. It's handy to have both players actually see the dice to avoid any conflicts.

[cynic]

I always announce "4s to glance, 5s to pen", just so people know whats going on. Not everyone is a seasoned vet, and even some people who've been playing for years still seem unsure of the rules at times.


What DOES bug be:
People who use custom dice that you can't see properly! The ones with an emblem for either the 6, or 1 (its NEVER clear which it actually is), or the marbled colours.

Also people who roll, then quickly pick up the dice that hit/wound, leaving all the failed dice on the table. I don't care about seeing the dice that failed!!! I want to see the hits/wounds BEFORE you scoop them up, thank you.

[ted1138]

I hate it when players roll their Difficult Terrain dice behind cover, or quickly, when you're not looking(they always seem to get a six). Or when they apply some special rule without telling you what rule it is they're using(and then get snotty when you ask them politely to name/describe it). Saying what you need to roll is just polite, plus it allows your opponent a chance to correct you if you've made a mistake before you've rolled dice and picked up your misses("oh, it was 4+ not 5+ I needed? I think you'll find I had seven 4s")...

[Essia]

I usually declare what I'm rolling for, roll the dice, then decide the results from the roll.
there is not much point working it out when your result is a 1, so to save thinking(XD) I'd prefer to roll first.

[Ponge]

How does saying that even slow down the game? Its not like it takes more then 3 seconds to say what you need to roll...

[bad dice]

I don't know why but it kinda drives me batty when someone says for example" 4 to glance 5 to pen"

You don't have to say 5 to pen if you say 4 to glance. If a 4 glances then a 5 will pen 99% of the time( I can't think of a situation where this wouldn't happen but I am sure there is)

The other thing that gets me is when someone has 4 colored dice and each one represents something different in regards to shooting or CC. By the time the explanation is done you could have just rolled for each different shot or cc hit.

Also half the time someone forgets which color meant what.

Anyone else have these same problems?

You know what drives me batty?

Ppl complaining about small things

That energie is beter spend else where.

I mean what am i even dooing here ?

Responding to this. I could be painting my next squad,

Or spending time whit my GF

I am driving myself crazy now darn.

[Mr Zoat]

I announce every roll because I don't expect my opponent to have memorised every weapon in my list. It also gives them a chance to correct me if I've forgotten something about theirs.

[ReveredChaplainDrake]

I started doing this in 5th edition, due to the extremely forgiving damage table. When I say "4 to glance, 5 to pen", what I mean is "4 to annoy your tank a little, 5 to have a legitimate shot at harming it for real".

[the1stpip]

It all comes down to manners. Would you rather I just roll a bunch of dice and then say, "oh, those hit and those penetrated" or would you rather state what i was doing first.

As for the dice thing, rarely a problem, and I tend to roll them separately anyway.

[MooseOnTheLoose]

I think it tends to be something of respect and to avoid confusion. If you announce 4's to hit. You know and and the person your playing knows what is happening. If I check my phone cause it goes off, or a friend walks in and says hi, I get distracted for a numerous possibility of things and I look back/up and your just rolling away, I have no idea whats going on most likely and am going to slow the game down more figuring out what your even rolling for. I normally do the following:

-Figure out my attacks, gather the total dice needed. At least for me non of my armies have more then 2 weapon options so only 2 dice colours, and that is normally like a ton of basic weapons and a far less amount of a "better weapon" eg: 4 bolter shots, 1 melta. 7 lasgun, 3 flamer, not hard to figure out and quick.
-Declare what roll I need to hit. Now this IMO is even more crucial in CC and more so in fantasy as ws can alter vastly from army to army, unit to unit.
-Roll my dice.
-I always remove the "non hits" so who I am playing can see I have not altered "hits" instead of the reverse where I have seen people have a bad roll and try to sneak a 3 or two into a 4s hit.
-Declare what I need to wound. With the potential to be wounding with different weapon strengths based off of my dice colour, I will say wound on 2s with green, 4s with white.
-Roll and remove non wounds.
-If a certain weapon negates saves, I say eg: 2 dead, 4 saves.

I always say when rolling for saves, and can't think of a time where I haven't heard, 3s to save etc.

I think its a sow of respect and communication, which doesn't slow the game down, but prevents arguments and prolonged "wait what are you rolling for?"