Huh? I have to do what?!

So I was playing at a new venue (for me). It is an already established group that has been around for a little while, under the guidance of a press ganger. I was activating my warcaster, who has a Focus stat of 6. I measured out 7 inches from her to see where I could possibly move, and declared I was measuring to a point in my control area. I was told (by several people there), that this was not allowed, and that I was technically cheating, and that if I did this in a tournament, it would be grounds for disqualification.

Frankly I was taken somehat aback, and didn't know how to respond. I was told that I was allowed to measure my control area, at any time, for any reason, but that when I measured my control area, I had to extend the tape measure to the full 12 inches. So I could measure to see where I could move, but my tape measure had to be extended to the full extent of my control area. I pointed out the section in the rules that says something to the effect of "specifically, you can measure the distance from a model to any point within its control area at any time." I was told that this just meant that you could look at the tape measure at a point that was less than the full control range, but you still had to put the tape out to the maximum control area and then do the math in your head.

So...have I been playing this totally wrong for all these years? Please tell me these guys are collectively wrong. Then help me figure out a way that I can politely correct the error of their ways. After all, I'm the new guy. I don't want to come across as some boat rockin' jerk or anything.

edit: THe PP forums have been down for me, or I would've checked there too.

The main forums are back up. Looks like I had it right: http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?83007-Do-you-have-to-measure-the-FULL-control-area-of-the-warcaster-everytime&highlight=measuring+control+area

It really makes you second guess yourself when a room full of people is telling you that you are wrong.

Not only are they wrong, they are stupid wrong. Why would you be forced to go through a process that takes longer (doing the math) to get to functionally the same result? That's just extra annoying work. Since 2001, it has always been "up to your control area."

Behold the power of the local meta. Imagine how these superstitions took root and flourished before the internet!

Well that's good to know. At my other store their justification was you were measuring your control area so you must use the full distance. Using math to figure out the distance between models what what everyone did.

Now that you have an official clarification on the matter, are you going to show this other group the thread? I wonder if even then it will change their minds...

I've posted the rules link on the group's facebook page. We'll see how it goes...

Its amazing what local metas can come up with. Warmachine has such a solid rule set and you can still get local variations. Must be heck moving to a new meta for warhammer 40k.

My guess ? They are cheating cause doing so, that allows them to see if they are close to you more precisely, they do the math backwards from their minis to yours.

And English speaking people not understanding an English sentence as simple as the one from the rulebook... Priceless.

I can't count how many times I've seen someone misinterpret even the simplest and clearly written rules (for any game). MTG metas can be weird too, even though nowadays they have a pretty uniform ruleset. For each of these anomalies, it usually happens when one player does something incorrectly and nobody notices. When a similar situation arises again, they simply refer back to the last interpretation (which was incorrect to begin with). From there, the process is now accepted and commonplace for them... until an outsider comes along that knows otherwise.

Note that this can often be cleared up by simply reading the rules again with an open mind, or asking for clarification from an official source (as you have done). The problem then is getting all those players to readjust to the correct interpretation.

That said, it makes me so happy to be playing WM/H with their well-written rules and rules clarification forums. The alternative must be a nightmare...