Question on Death from the Skies

[tyurtddr]

So, got back into the hobby a few months ago, and have had a bunch of great pretty even and fun maelstrom games. But, just had a very unpleasant game that left a sour taste.

For reference I'm playing Guard, my army is fluffy rather than overly competitive, and I don;t mind losing but like to at least put up a decent fight. Anyway, 1500pt game, he bring a fully tooled chapter master on a a bike, a Knight, 4 Stormhawks, and a min squad of marines and scouts. I was tabled in 3 turns and killed 3 marines and 3 scouts. whatever, I knew I never had a chance.

My question is are the Death from the Skies rules optional, do both players need to agree to use them before the game? He basically pulled his stuff and told me were using them at the start of the game, I've never read them before.

[Captain Bubonicus]

The Dogfight Phase is optional, but the rest of the rules aren't, unfortunately.

Another thing that's optional is playing against jerks like that. It would have been tempting just to pack it all up after you saw what he brought.

[tyurtddr]

Ah, ok. Yeah, spent 25 minutes removing my models from the table. Wont play him again.

[Wolfshade]

Everyone's a loser