First and foremost, I hope every tournament game will be conducted with outstanding sportsmanship at the top of everyone's agenda. All of the rules and regulations governing the tournament are secondary to the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Be kind and considerate to your opponent. Give him the benefit of the doubt as often as you reasonably can. Try to resolve any disputes between yourselves with common sense, grace and equanimity. Any and all rules disputes and adjudications will be governed with this principle in mind - and that principle may trump the letter of the law when the GMs see fit to do so.

Also...this is War at Sea. The dice in this game are often very cruel mistresses. Bad luck happens. Try to be cool about it! With his permission, I'd like to reprint a great Consimworld post by the venerable Alan Applebaum entitled Rules for Whining - please consider these guidelines before subjecting your opponent to another dice-related tantrum, OK? :)

I try to comply with these, although I don't always succeed.

1. You may not whine on the first die-roll of the game.

2. You should not whine at all if:

• You believe that you are the superior player and will win anyway; 
• Your position is clearly superior despite the adverse result;
• Your overall luck in the game has been superior; or
• You have never played against this opponent before.

3. You should not issue the initial whine of the game unless at least one of the following conditions has been fulfilled:

• The result was a 1/6 chance or worse;
• The result is your second consecutive result with less than a 50% chance; or
• The result is your third consecutive adverse result.

4. You should not whine on a good result, suggesting either that:

• You have “used up” your good results and are now expecting “compensating” bad results, whether in this game or other games; or
• You only get good results on unimportant rolls.

Once you have whined, you should never issue a second whine unless your opponent has issued a sympathetic comment or a counter-whine.

If your opponent issues the first whine, and it complies with the above rules (a “justified whine”), you should issue a sympathetic comment. If you do, Rule 3 no longer applies and you may whine about any bad result, up to the extent of the opponent’s whining, provided you remain in compliance with Rules 2 and 4.

If your opponent issues a non-compliant first whine, you may counter-whine if overall, your opponent has had the superior luck, and may also whine about future bad results without compliance with Rule 3.

If you (a) issue a justified whine or (b) have a Rule 3 event and do not whine, and in either case your opponent does not issue a sympathetic comment, just remain silent for the rest of the game and resolve to beat the jerk anyway.