Training Exercise?

[AdamW]

Has anyone had any success in hacking together some training movements/missions that would be useful to help solidify our own rules knowledge? I know i keep slapping random things on the table, but would like to do something a little more productive.

My thought would be to model these after actual training maneuvers (or whatever the actual name of them is, i'm no history buff!) used by the french and brittish navies during the period, or less complex battles from the era.

Any thoughts?

[7eat51]

Hi Adam,

I started posting some collision examples, and that seeded the idea to do some "quizzes" on collisions and maneuvers, somewhat like a book on chess endings. I will try to get one up later today. I know this isn't quite what you are looking for, but I think they could be interesting exercises and the potential associated dialogues could be informative.

[AdamW]

That's close. I was looking, i guess, for more Solitaire-style games. So, for example, one i've been running for myself is 1x SoL against one fort. Just to get the advanced maneuvers down and such.

[Nightmoss]

That's close. I was looking, i guess, for more Solitaire-style games. So, for example, one i've been running for myself is 1x SoL against one fort. Just to get the advanced maneuvers down and such.

I'd be interested in this as well. There's one solitaire scenario in the rules, but something simpler, or geared towards learning the rules at various levels would be nice.

[AdamW]

Time to spitball, i suppose..

Slalom Training
Centered on the board, one ruler from the east edge, place a reef, then a reef another ruler away, then a third another ruler away (measure to the edges, i think this is enough. Place the ship of your choice within a half-ruler of the east edge, even with the reefs.

Randomly determine wind direction, or set it to what feels challenging.

Goal: Successfully navigate from south to north, then north to south, then south to north, reverse direction, and sail off the east edge.

Failure: Run aground, or go between the reefs in an improper order.

Modifiers: Add coasts with different danger levels to the north and south sides of the board. Additionally, enable bunkers/forts (i forget what they're called).

Hardmode: Opposite nation ship sailing the opposite direction, firing on you from upwind. Good luck with that.

[Nightmoss]

Adam, I like your Slalom Training. I'm going to try and find some time this evening to set it up. Thanks!!

[fredmiracle]

maybe some kind of follow the leader. Take two or more ships, each from a different class represented in the game. The slowest is the leader. The others go in column formation behind. The leader uses the solitaire rules in the rulebook. You're in charge of all the other ships, using the standard two-maneuver-ahead planning. The goal is to move the squadron a certain distance, while keeping all the ships in column, and each within a certain distance of each other. If you get too far away, fall out of column, or collide you lose.

[7eat51]

Adam, now I see what you are looking for. Great idea and nice introductory offering. :thumbsup:

[7eat51]

Here's one - run a frigate from point to point by number; repeat with an SoL. Wind direction is according to arrow in lower right corner. Another player can do the same, and compare the number of maneuvers it took, times running aground, etc.

I used the basic configuration of the mat, though not perfectly to scale, and drew in coasts/batteries based on the terrain pieces we received - freehand, so please be forgiving. If you think something like this is useful, I can make more and post them in the files along with directions for their use.

8757

[AdamW]

maybe some kind of follow the leader. Take two or more ships, each from a different class represented in the game. The slowest is the leader. The others go in column formation behind. The leader uses the solitaire rules in the rulebook. You're in charge of all the other ships, using the standard two-maneuver-ahead planning. The goal is to move the squadron a certain distance, while keeping all the ships in column, and each within a certain distance of each other. If you get too far away, fall out of column, or collide you lose.

I like this, but we need to clarify what qualifies as a 'line'. I would define it as needing to remain within C/D (Grapeshot/Chain) range of the lead ship, and each successive ship must remain likewise behind. The other challenge would be to KEEP THE SHIPS IN ORDER.

Wow... that actually seems fun.


Adam, now I see what you are looking for. Great idea and nice introductory offering. :thumbsup:

Aww, shucks. You're so nice.

So, here's a clean-up of "Follow the Leader" and "Slalom" from earlier, in pretty scenario format, since I darn well can.

Drill: Slalom

Players: Solitaire
Gaming Surface: 1 Mat. Place a reef one ruler length from the east edge of the mat near the center. THen, place another reef one ruler further west from there, and finally a third reef one ruler beyond that.
Human Player: 1 Ship, any nation. Deploy a half-ruler from the east edge of the mat facing westward.
Additional Rules Needed: Reefs
Winning Condition: The human player must navigate between the reefs in order from east to west, then west to east. He must navigate southward between the first and second reef, northward between the second and third reef, then southward between the third reef and the west edge of the mat. Then, they must navigate in opposite order heading eastward: North between the second and third reef, south between the first and second reef, and finally north between the first reef and the edge of the mat. The player fails if the ship runs aground on the reefs or he navigates between reefs improperly.

Variants
Multiplayer: An opposing ship starts on the westward side of the map. Both ships must maintain the prescribed course for the entire battle.
Variable Wind: Use the wind variation rules presented in the rule book.
'Strait' and Narrow: Use coastal terrain to reduce the lateral distance available to ships.
Cannon Fodder: As 'Strait' and Narrow, but enable coastal forts.

Drill: Follow the Leader
Players: Solitaire
Gaming Surface: 1 Mat.
Human Player: Two ships. One ship must be one burden less than the AI ship, the second must be two burden less than the AI ship.
AI Player: Any ship (reccommended burden 5+). This ship uses the AI movement rules discussed in the rulebook.
Additional Rules Needed: None.
Winning Condition: All three ships deploy within C/D of each other on the south edge of the map. The player must keep formation with the lead ship for six turns to pass. Formation means that the AI ship is within C/D to the fore the larger of the player's two ships, and the smallest ship is within C/D range of the aft of the player's largest ship. For those of us that don't speak sailor: Keep the ships in a line, largest to smallest in order of burden. The player fails if this formation is broken at the end of a turn.

Variants

More ships: Add more ships to the formation.
Variable Wind: Use the variable wind rule.
(Easier) Looser formation: maintain B ruler distance between ships.
(Legendary) Tight Formation: Reduce formation to half of C/D range
Reefs: Add reefs at random to the map. The lead ship will reselect manuvers.

[Hobbes]

This is something I was thinking about:

You controle one ship and try to cover a given distance against the wind in the least number of turns.

[Andy Blozinski]

I think the slalom idea is some good training in the subtleties of basic movement. I've noticed a significant problem when coordinating with others. You need to simulate this, but want to do it solo. Set up a one map game with two ships to a side. Plot everyone, move. Plot everyone, don't move. Come back the next day. Move and then plot everyone. You need to introduce elements of confusion so you don't remember exactly what every ship is doing.

[7eat51]

I think the slalom idea is some good training in the subtleties of basic movement. I've noticed a significant problem when coordinating with others.

It could be an interesting exercise to have two identically prepared mats with ordered points to sail across. Have two players work their way through the sequence and see how close they are to sailing the same course. You can discuss the overall route before beginning, but seeing how each other sets sails and which cards are chosen, you can get an idea of each other's thinking. This could also be a good way to practice signaling. Have the lead ship set a course, and signal to the other ship where to go and how to get there. This could be especially interesting if you set up a wall between the two mats so the trailing ship cannot see the maneuvers, but solely rely on the signaling.

[fredmiracle]

It could be an interesting exercise to have two identically prepared mats with ordered points to sail across. Have two players work their way through the sequence and see how close they are to sailing the same course. You can discuss the overall route before beginning, but seeing how each other sets sails and which cards are chosen, you can get an idea of each other's thinking. This could also be a good way to practice signaling. Have the lead ship set a course, and signal to the other ship where to go and how to get there. This could be especially interesting if you set up a wall between the two mats so the trailing ship cannot see the maneuvers, but solely rely on the signaling.

This brings up an interesting idea--maybe it will be fun to play SoG using the solitaire rules, but as a cooperative. When playing with the kids, it can get old sometimes for us to always be in adversarial mode.

Perhaps we'll do something like the Nile--set up line of static enemy ships, maybe add some forts, and then take our squadron in with each of us piloting one or two ships and only communicating with signal flags, and see how well we operate as a fleet

Do people ever do that with WoG?

[7eat51]

I have been talking with a friend about us playing WoG, SoG, and board wargames together, playing these cooperatively. I wasn't thinking about static enemies, but playing both sides together, and with WoG, utilizing the solo rules for enemy aircraft. As we develop enhanced solo rules here, we would use them. The older I get, it seems, the more interested I am in coop mechanisms. At least I think it is age related.

[fredmiracle]

I have been talking with a friend about us playing WoG, SoG, and board wargames together, playing these cooperatively. I wasn't thinking about static enemies, but playing both sides together, and with WoG, utilizing the solo rules for enemy aircraft. As we develop enhanced solo rules here, we would use them. The older I get, it seems, the more interested I am in coop mechanisms. At least I think it is age related.

I think cooperative games can be a lot of fun when designed well--it's a whole different experience.

I've gotten more attuned to it by my family--my wife really hates competitive games, and sometimes too much competition introduces barriers to playing with the kids (especially now that the second one is getting old enough to play--lots of conflicts about who gets to be on who's side and who doesn't have any partners, etc.). Cooperative gaming can make it more accessible and fun when competition isn't comfortable for some of the participants.

Sadly I still don't think I can get her to take to the high seas with us. She's happy to get a break when it's "daddy time" and sees little of interest in toy ships :)

[7eat51]

We've been playing more games with friends and my sisters, and coops are rising to the top. Win or lose, we all have a good time. I think the coops have made the competitive games somewhat less competitive for us; we don't seem to care who wins anymore - we just enjoy playing together.

I think this is why I am more interested in playing wargames on the same side. We can discuss tactics, etc., bringing a richer experience to the game for us. I really hope we can develop a good set of solo rules for SoG. The WoG solo rules work pretty well, though altitude is not quite up to snuff yet, IMHO. There are a few folks on the Aerodrome who are experimenting with altitude, so I imagine within a few months, a decent system will be worked out.

[Nightmoss]

Outside of the chance to demo and see Sails of Glory at GenCon 2013 the absolutely best gaming experience I had all weekend was playing a cooperative game of Pandemic in the Vendor Hall. In fact the GM was having so much fun with our group that he didn't cut the 'demo' short because we were so close to beating the game. Statistically 'winning' in Pandemic is fairly hard to do, or so he told us. It was a great time and of course sold me on buying not only the base game but two of the expansions. :wink: