Demonstration game today
- Thread starter McKinstry
- Start date
Crimson Castle
Mongoose
Good luck
9 players + 4 full game spectators, all first timers wanting to try the game with two somewhat familiar with SFB/FC.
4 x 6 playing area. 6' along the x-axis, x-axis numbered 1-6, Y-axis A-D
Rescue scenario
Dust clouds in the center just above the rescue target (3&4,C) and lower left corner (2, A) and asteroids (density 9 ) in (6,A) and (1,D) - asteroids never really affected play
Klingons - 1xD7c, 4X D6, 3 X F5, 3 X E4
Feds - 1 x CC, 2 X CA, 3 X OCL, 2X FFB, 3 x FF
Klingons swung 2 X D6 + 3 X F5 around their right flank, D7c + 2 XD6 straight through the center around the dust cloud and ran the E4 squadron right up the center through the dust cloud.
Feds ran 3 X OCL, 1 X CA, 1 X CC & 2 x FF straight up the middle slightly right of the dust cloud, 1 X CA, 2 X FFB, 1 X FF splitting a bit to the left flank to hold off the Klingon flankers.
Turns 2 through 5 were close range fights with the game ending in essentially a draw. Klingons lost 3 x E4, 1 x D6 and had 1 X D7C plus 2 X D6 crippled. Feds lost 1 x CA (Enterprise), 1 x OCL (Alaska), 1 X FFB (Bryant) and had the OCL Sinai crippled plus 1 FF crippled. The Feds held the objective ship for 100 points.
Players all had a good time and 1 bought the rules on the spot and another 2+ started planning fleets.
it took 4.5 hours with absolutely nobody having any prior ACTA-SF experience and only two with Noble Armada/B5 experience.
4 x 6 playing area. 6' along the x-axis, x-axis numbered 1-6, Y-axis A-D
Rescue scenario
Dust clouds in the center just above the rescue target (3&4,C) and lower left corner (2, A) and asteroids (density 9 ) in (6,A) and (1,D) - asteroids never really affected play
Klingons - 1xD7c, 4X D6, 3 X F5, 3 X E4
Feds - 1 x CC, 2 X CA, 3 X OCL, 2X FFB, 3 x FF
Klingons swung 2 X D6 + 3 X F5 around their right flank, D7c + 2 XD6 straight through the center around the dust cloud and ran the E4 squadron right up the center through the dust cloud.
Feds ran 3 X OCL, 1 X CA, 1 X CC & 2 x FF straight up the middle slightly right of the dust cloud, 1 X CA, 2 X FFB, 1 X FF splitting a bit to the left flank to hold off the Klingon flankers.
Turns 2 through 5 were close range fights with the game ending in essentially a draw. Klingons lost 3 x E4, 1 x D6 and had 1 X D7C plus 2 X D6 crippled. Feds lost 1 x CA (Enterprise), 1 x OCL (Alaska), 1 X FFB (Bryant) and had the OCL Sinai crippled plus 1 FF crippled. The Feds held the objective ship for 100 points.
Players all had a good time and 1 bought the rules on the spot and another 2+ started planning fleets.
it took 4.5 hours with absolutely nobody having any prior ACTA-SF experience and only two with Noble Armada/B5 experience.
billclo said:
Most interesting to me was with 9 players, decision making as to who moves, who shoots among the fleets was spirited and often like herding cats yet they made good time. Further, I think in one more game and if I make cheat sheets for everyone, they'll be capable of running the game themselves which will speed things up greatly.
One other note, I received three emails from players looking to set up more games, where to buy fleets etc. This game really has the potential to act as a gaming infection vector.
McKinstry said:
Indeed.
I hope to get some demos in at next year's Origins prior to the main event on Saturday for just that reason.I've noted the same thing in the Star Wars games that Dervel runs at Origins every year; once you get a core group of players who know the game and keep coming back, that the games go somewhat faster and there is less need for GM involvement.
I have to say that I keep having issues speeding up the game.
I just ran a game yesterday. Myself, another fairly experienced player, 2 new guys. Fed vs Klingon, 10 ships per side. Game went 6+ hours. Though to be fair, the player on my side had to leave halfway through the battle which forced me to take over his ships.
At the point where we called the game due to running out of time, the Feds had a slight win points-wise, with 5 surviving ships (varying states of damage) vs 4 Klingon ships (none crippled) though if we had played next turn it was time for the Feds to run away and they would have lost 2 cripples doing it.
Does having more players with fewer ships/player seem to speed up the game vs fewer players with more ships/player? I don't see how I can run my 43-ship game in 8 hours at a convention if things keep going this way. Would 6 players total or 8 work better?
I used really stripped down ship record sheets (4-6 ships per page), and tried to keep things moving along with less socializing, but socializing just happens and you have to go with it.
I just ran a game yesterday. Myself, another fairly experienced player, 2 new guys. Fed vs Klingon, 10 ships per side. Game went 6+ hours. Though to be fair, the player on my side had to leave halfway through the battle which forced me to take over his ships.
At the point where we called the game due to running out of time, the Feds had a slight win points-wise, with 5 surviving ships (varying states of damage) vs 4 Klingon ships (none crippled) though if we had played next turn it was time for the Feds to run away and they would have lost 2 cripples doing it.
Does having more players with fewer ships/player seem to speed up the game vs fewer players with more ships/player? I don't see how I can run my 43-ship game in 8 hours at a convention if things keep going this way. Would 6 players total or 8 work better?
I used really stripped down ship record sheets (4-6 ships per page), and tried to keep things moving along with less socializing, but socializing just happens and you have to go with it.
I didn't have anyone with more than 3 small or 2 medium ships and I believe that helped. I also nag that if A is finished side B can move or after say turn 2, if A is finishing on one end and B has a move/shoot coming up that won't affect A (say the other end of the table), then start now.
How big were the ships? Frigates and destroyers go move fire and are destroyed a lot quicker than cruisers and dreadnoughts.
We crammed in 4 games yesterday with the last two being pretty big. It was all experienced players though.
I would use the optional squadron rules to speed things up, but I'd say a 43 ship game with players who haven't played before might be too ambitious.
Would you mind posting the fleets you want to use?
We crammed in 4 games yesterday with the last two being pretty big. It was all experienced players though.
I would use the optional squadron rules to speed things up, but I'd say a 43 ship game with players who haven't played before might be too ambitious.
Would you mind posting the fleets you want to use?
I used a mix of ships:
Klingon
Squadron 1: C7, 2 D7, 2 E4 (taken by the other experienced player).
Squadron 2: 2 D5, 3 F5.
Feds
Squadron 1: (myself) BCH, CA, NCL, FF
Squadron 2: NCA, NCL, 2 DW, 2 FF.
Ben, I'll PM you the ship list; I don't want anyone who might attend the convention to see the list prematurely.
I was going to do a 2-part scenario, 4 hours per part with an hour break between them. The ships available in the second part are to be largely determined by what survives the first part (with some reinforcements if I think they are needed by one side or the other).
But yes, I think it may have to be scaled back somewhat. If I had more experienced players, say at like Nashcon, I might be able to pull it off. I've got some people interested and trying the game now (4 people so far, 3 of which are local), so hopefully the group will at some point hit critical mass and take off.
Klingon
Squadron 1: C7, 2 D7, 2 E4 (taken by the other experienced player).
Squadron 2: 2 D5, 3 F5.
Feds
Squadron 1: (myself) BCH, CA, NCL, FF
Squadron 2: NCA, NCL, 2 DW, 2 FF.
Ben, I'll PM you the ship list; I don't want anyone who might attend the convention to see the list prematurely.
I was going to do a 2-part scenario, 4 hours per part with an hour break between them. The ships available in the second part are to be largely determined by what survives the first part (with some reinforcements if I think they are needed by one side or the other).
But yes, I think it may have to be scaled back somewhat. If I had more experienced players, say at like Nashcon, I might be able to pull it off. I've got some people interested and trying the game now (4 people so far, 3 of which are local), so hopefully the group will at some point hit critical mass and take off.
billclo said:
Bill,
One of the things that we've found helps in demos is to limit the "type" of ships being used.
My favorite demo is still D7s versus Fed CAs. Foir two reasons:
1) Because they ARE the iconic ships. Everyone seems them and thinks Star Trek (or SFU, in this case). That doesn;t happen with a Kzinti versus Orion Pirate battle.
2) Simplicity. The SFU ships have a large number of different weapon systems and firing arcs (compared to other games). If you limit the demos to those two ships, then everything is easier. Once the players have gone through a firing phase or two, they have an idea about what weapons they ahve and where they can fire.
Throw in a Fed FFG and a BC along with a C7 and an F5 and now the new players spend more time looking at ship cards and determeining firing arcs than they do playing the game.
Also, have a one page summary of the rules and a one page summary of the Special Actions available. Preferably one for every player. This prevents a look of thumbing through the rulebook and speeds play. Having some laminated Critical Hit charts also helps save time by not having to thumb through the rule book.
Even with half a dozen brand new players, once the Battel For Kh'rtis Rock scenario began, we put all the rulebooks away and just played off those three cheat sheets.
One of the things we did to speed us up at Nashcon was to mark the ships that had acted.
As each ship moved, a small d6 was placed on its base. This made it easy to look at the table at wnytime and see which of the 60+ ships had yet to move.
Then as they fired their weapons, the dice were removed. Again - a quick glance would let you know what still needed to fire.
It's the little things like these items that when added together drastically reduce the time needed to play the game.
Tony,
The summary of Special Actions on one sheet is a good idea, as is a Sequence of Play.
I did have the Hit Charts, Attack Table, and Critical Hits effects on a cheat sheet for each side.
I also adopted the idea of using a small die to mark ships that have moved and remove them when they fire. I am using the Special Action markers you made up as well.
For drone markers, we used pennies, but I will be ordering those SFB ammo counters you mentioned, Tony.
Perhaps reducing the number of ship types that a player has to run would be of benefit. I don't know if I can easily change the scenario to 3 ships of one type in a squadron, but that would be alot easier for a new player, I have to admit. Might force me to reduce the size of the game and shuffle the ship selection around so that new guys run a squadron of 3x a given ship; more experienced players get 2 squadrons (possibly a mixed squadron).
I don't even have the rules on the table when I'm teaching/running the game; it's off to the side for reference if needed, but the flipping through the rules has been pretty minimal I have to say. Except the other day when I checked the rules before I dove several Feds through a low density asteroid field (rolling a "1" for any of those ships would have been baaaaad) to cut off some Klingons playing "chase the Feds around the asteroid field" game, and letting them have it with Photons at close range in their flank (oops).
The summary of Special Actions on one sheet is a good idea, as is a Sequence of Play.
I did have the Hit Charts, Attack Table, and Critical Hits effects on a cheat sheet for each side.
I also adopted the idea of using a small die to mark ships that have moved and remove them when they fire. I am using the Special Action markers you made up as well.
For drone markers, we used pennies, but I will be ordering those SFB ammo counters you mentioned, Tony.
Perhaps reducing the number of ship types that a player has to run would be of benefit. I don't know if I can easily change the scenario to 3 ships of one type in a squadron, but that would be alot easier for a new player, I have to admit. Might force me to reduce the size of the game and shuffle the ship selection around so that new guys run a squadron of 3x a given ship; more experienced players get 2 squadrons (possibly a mixed squadron).
I don't even have the rules on the table when I'm teaching/running the game; it's off to the side for reference if needed, but the flipping through the rules has been pretty minimal I have to say. Except the other day when I checked the rules before I dove several Feds through a low density asteroid field (rolling a "1" for any of those ships would have been baaaaad) to cut off some Klingons playing "chase the Feds around the asteroid field" game, and letting them have it with Photons at close range in their flank (oops).
