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View Full Version : Two days two games taught.



kelsith
02-28-2014, 22:58
I was off this week (vacation) and finally got my first non-solo games played (excluding Flat-cons pre-production Demolition Derby). All games taught were basic games without using crew actions, wind strength/direction or sail changes, and only using cannon shot. All games were played starting with playing 1 card per turn for the first 3 or 4 then increasing to two cards per turn when everyone agreed they were comfortable with movement.

Firstly Wednesday I went to my normal board game group and found 3 willing participants. We divided up in teams of two and did a basic open seas Frigate battle (1 ship apiece). The battle started with Courageuse the Terpsichore fighting downwind from a battle between La Concorde vs Castor. The Castor did a great job and was holding there own quite well until the Courageuse managed to accidentally position themselves close enough to get a shot off while the Terpischore was trying to maneuver around. This led to the Courageuse splitting off to help La Concorde finish the Castor and now both French ships prepared to head downwind to face the Terpsichore. Luckily for the English lads the French did has a minor collision (just lasted 1 turn and they got out of it pretty easily) while turning to prepare for the battle with the Terpsichore. The Terpsichore lay in wait for the very damaged La Concorde and was able to deliver the final crippling blow to put them out of the battle on the next turn. Shortly thereafter the La Concorde and Terpsichore faced off in a battle of broadsides and luckily for the English lads there counter parts on the Castor had managed a shot on the Courageuse before they went down, and the day went to the Terpsichore.

This session was all with people who had played the x-wing game and therefore had that background with the patterened movement from that game. In fact at one point there was even a joke about needing a couple specific movement templates from said game. Everyone seemed to have a good time, a couple of the other people in the group seemed to be interested in the game as well. Not to mention a few random people at the location (a local Dairy Queen) as they walked by commented that it looked interesting. I think likely the game will see more table time at that location (especially as one other person in the group mentioned they had also pledged at Lieutenant).

What I learned: Number 1, when going over the rules if you forget to mention raking shots and how much damage changes you will immediately remember when you have one set up. As I didn't consider it fair to add that rule after the fact I mentioned it, explained the rule and how it should be played and apologized for forgetting it and we left it out for the session. Number 2, the way Eric (7Eat51) taught us at Flatcon where you start with just using 1 card at a time and move two two after 3 or 4 turns when everyone is comfortable with it will be my standard way to teach. I think it worked really well that way. Lastly number 3 when the French do collision damage to each other it feels a lot better when you are playing English.

Secondly The next day on Thursday went to a local board game shop. We played a three player game using SOLs. The other two players chose French so I took English. HMS Defense and the Genereaux squared off downwind from the Bellerophon and the Redoubtable. The Defense and Genereaux cautiously approached each other; however, the Genereaux managed to get an impressive rake across the bow of the Defense. Meanwhile the returning Stern rake on the Generaux for 8 had 6 misses. Meanwhile the upwind battle took a more direct approach with both ships quickly approaching and going at each other with full broadsides doing much damage to the Redoubtables crew. As they passed each other the Redoubtable split off to the south and was clearly trying to set up a stern rake of the Defense who true to its name managed to slightly get a better angle to avoid full raking damage. Although he was still tagged with the front cannons. As the Bellerophon tried to hurry back to the aid of his allies the French ships pounded him until he was down to nothing but the last full box of hull. Then the Redoubtable launched a broadside that did incredible damage dealing out a 6 a 5 and a 3 effectively closing two boxes past sinkage while the HMS Defense was able to take out a few more of the crew of the Redoubtable. As the Bellerephon returned to combat the Redoubtable showed him too much of a target and the Bellerephon did even more damage to his crew removing him from battle. The Bellerophon now continued its cruise towards the Genereaux which was having a little trouble getting turned around and was being taken aback giving difficulty avoiding leaving the engagement area. The Bellerophon then aimed it bow into the wind and using the careful selection of the correct cards to trigger the correct aback movements was able to back into a devastating rake across the bow of the Genereaux then turn slightly while reloading and on the next turn was in perfect position to finish the French ship.

This session was against people who had not played either x-wing or Wing of Glory although both had some experience with other miniature games. One player had a little difficulty with the cards while trying to turn into the wind (the Genereaux player) but otherwise the movement seemed to go pretty smoothly everyone seemed to have a good time with one player immediately commenting if they did a pirate theme he would be on board instantly. Most everyone there commented on how nice the game and the miniatures looked. After the game I spoke with the shop owner about maybe doing a demo for him someday down the road, so I expect that at some point the game will hit the table again there.

What I learned. Learn how to handle being taken aback. The first time I played a solo game I got totally boned by it (While playing Sitting Ducks I actually managed to line up a raking shot AGAINST myself) Since then I have gotten more cautious about it and have learned how to handle it better. In fact probably 5 of the last 6 turns the Bellerophon was in the red and trying to line up shots at the Genereaux.

Overall Synopsis.

All players seemed to enjoy themselves, everyone asked about price and where to obtain. Everyone was excited about the possibility of more advanced rules if someone were to want to delve into them. It is my honest opinion that the grog rules was a brilliant piece of PR, as how do you not explain that there are so many optional rules that there are even rules for that if someone really wanted to go into it. Needless to say lots of comments were made that the models are beautiful. People were also excited that down the road there are more ships coming out and that they are going both larger and smaller with different ships (Oceans and Swan classes). People also seemed interested that eventually US ships would be present such as the Constitution. (I suspect that is the only ship most players had ever heard of in truth).

Nightmoss
03-01-2014, 10:20
Thanks for the AAR, Chris. It's really nice to hear more positive comments from folks who are getting introduced to SoG. Keep up the great work spreading the game to new venues (and players). :hatsoff:

7eat51
03-01-2014, 10:31
Well done, Chris. :thumbsup:

I like how you shared lessons learned. Thanks for sharing about the one card at start. You solidified this for me for the beginner games I will run at Origins.

We are starting to build a crew here in Bloomington. Let's set a date (when Spring finally arrives) to pool all of our players and run several tables, and maybe even a large scenario - I have an idea or two we could discuss.

kelsith
03-01-2014, 23:54
Thanks, I definitely think the learn one card then change to two was a great idea. I know it helped me when you taught me, as I had not played Wings/X-Wing or any other miniatures game. I don't know if it would always be needed for all groups but if nothing else it is a good way to get people used to the idea of seeing how the wind affects the movement. As far as when to add it in, I just asked if everyone was comfortable before doing it, and in both groups already one person had been taken aback for at least one turn which I think would be much easier to explain before we start adding in extra cards.

I would be up for seeing what we could do as far as a larger thing down the road, not sure what time frame we would be looking at though as I don't know how much repeat exposure my Bloomington group would have and the game shop I was at was in Decatur. At the moment they do not have any SOG merchandise but I know the owner posted on Facebook and a few people looked interested, so hopefully down the road we might start to see some action from there.

7eat51
03-02-2014, 14:12
I'll check with our FLGS to see if I can reserve space. It is in downtown Bloomington, so it is easy for anyone coming up 51 from Decatur. He is carrying SoG ships, and he had a starter set on the shelf the other day.

Nightbomber
03-02-2014, 14:46
Well done, Chris. Great game PR there;)

kelsith
03-02-2014, 20:28
Cool I hadn't realized Ken was carrying SOG, in all fairness I haven't been there in a month or two but good to know he's on board. I know if you give him notice and there isn't something else running supposedly he is usually good with allowing reservations, I never have myself but I known about other people setting things up there.

Incidentally the game shop in Decatur (Board Knight) is moving to a new location downtown this week. He should have quite a bit more room after the move so if you are in Decatur sometime its certainly worth a look.