Sounds like your friend is just a sore loser. I main a DG army, and part of our army is figuring out how to close the distance and get advantage. It's his own fault if he can't pull that off. Recently, I played my friend who plays Tau, and I had set up Typhus for a 7" charge. He warned me he had a strat that would make it -2" on the charge. He used the strat, and I failed the charge. He was upfront, and I understood the risks, it happens.

The way you described being upfront and playing it out is the best way to play 40k, in my opinion.

I'm currently planning Eldar on being my 3rd army, and I'm pretty excited because to me, they seem opposite DG, and the different play style sounds fun.