A sad fact about the game of 40k is that it is practically impossible to weed out the poor sports and cheaters from the mix. With all of the variables in the game (dice, army list building, measuring distances, checking line of sight from the models point of view, etc.), there are many ways where an unscrupulous player can try to take advantage of the confusion inherent in the game in order to cheat you out of a fair game. It sucks, but it happens. If you don't have a set of regular opponents you can trust, then you probably want to learn how you can avoid being cheated out of a fair game... especially when prizes are on the line in a tournament. From time to time I'll pick a common dirty trick that shows up on the gaming table and point it out so you can spot it and avoid a dirty cheater in the future.
Scatter Dice
If you pay attention to scatter dice, you'll notice that each one has 2 "Hit" icons, and 4 arrows. That's a 1 in 3 chance of rolling a hit, right? Sure... if you don't bowl the dice when you roll it. That's right, folks. If you bowl the dice in a linear pattern, rather than just rolling and spinning the dice as normal, you can eliminate two sides of the dice in the roll. That gives you a 1 in 2 chance in rolling a hit. And if you really practice the pitch, you can improve that roll even more with a little muscle memory and by placing the dice a certain face up in your palm each time you roll it. Yeah, that's cheating. And depending on the kind of army you're facing (e.g. Daemons, massed drop pods, massed vanguard veterans, etc.), that kind of cheating can be devastating to your army.
So, what do you do about it? Well, practically speaking, you can't really stop the cheater from rolling that way until you've called him/her out. And you can't call it out unless you can spot it. Here are some of the things to key on to see if you're being cheated:
1) Does your opponent roll the scatter die by itself or with other dice?
It is damn near impossible to bowl the die precisely if you have several dice in your hand at a time. It's certainly not unheard of, and a good cheat-roller can certainly improve his odds, but it is much more difficult to pull off. Encourage your opponent to roll all the dice for a scatter test at the same time to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Yeah, it's easier to move the template accurately if you roll the scatter die as close to the template as possible; and yeah its even easier to keep them close if you just roll the single die. But if you see the bowling motion (discussed below), you need to get more dice in his hand.
2) Does your opponent pick up the die to roll it, or does he place it in his hand?
You can't bowl the dice correctly unless you ensure you have two arrows on the sides you eliminate. The more careful your opponent is being in getting the die lined up in his hand, the more likely he's trying to "improve" his odds by bowling.
3) Does the die bowl or skip?
Watch the die as it rolls. Is it rolling in a linear fashion - like a barrel roll - or is it skipping and jumping around like other rolled dice? Roll some dice and pay attention to how they move. If you catch a corner of the die as you roll it, it will bounce and skip around a bit. When you bowl it, it may spin, but will generally follow the same path as the release all the way through. Bowling is more natural when you've only got one die in your hand, but even the casual dice roll will catch the corner from time to time and bounce around a bit. If you see a bowling motion every time... well, it's time to go back to #1 and get more dice in his hand.
Keep an eye out for these three cues: bowling motion, careful placement of the dice in the hand, and only rolling the die by itself. In my experience, most cheaters are short-cut takers and they cheat because they don't want to take the time to learn to play the game with actual skill. And with the exception of the handful of true sharks that are out there, they probably won't take the time to bowl that dice without being obvious if you know what to look for. Besides, a shark is going to beat you one way or the other -- and you'll probably not realize you're being taken (so who cares). But when you've got a cheeky little upstart that is trying to half-ass his way through the game with a poorly practiced dirty trick... Well, that's something nobody should stand for.
