Game Length

[Daeruin]

My main question is about the length of the game. I've played with up to 4 players, but for this game I may get as many as 10 players. How long would a game take if we use the basic rules? How long for the advanced rules? I've read several times advice not to use the advanced rules for newbie players. Is the reasoning for that mainly because of the extra time it would take? If so I may be fine with that, but it depends on how much time.

[Dobbs]

Welcome aboard, Benjamin!

I think the main reason they suggest starting withe the basic rules is to familiarize new players with how a sailing ship moves, which has no modern comparison.

You could always cherry-pick rules that you want to add. As to time constraints, I have nothing to add, as my friends and I play a heavily modified version intended to take all day.

[Bligh]

Hi Ben.
A few other considerations that we take onboard when doing a game for beginners is that a Frigate action is usually far quicker than a pounding match between 74's. Even with a Games Master, for beginners you also really need a minder to sort out the questions about movement the other rules et al as the game progresses, otherwise play grinds to a stop whilst you answer all the questions that each move throws at you. We never have more than eight new players at a table even though we have years of experience in running the games.
Also a set of enlarged flash cards are useful to hold up when explaining the deck movement cards ship mat and ship base markings. This allows you to inform all the players at once rather than have to go round each one at the start of the game explaining the whole thing over and over to each individual. If you like I will download an example of the cards I mean. All mine are blown up to A5 size for small cards and A4 for the ship mat.
Hope this helps you along a bit. The only real way to judge your game length is to suck it and see. Just don't beat yourself with knotted ropes if it does not run seamlessly the first few times.
Remember that practice makes perfect.
Rob.

[DeRuyter]

A number of years ago I ran games at conventions with 8-10 players. In one scenario the oob was all frigates - The Battle of Lissa with 10 ships altogether. In another it was 8 ships of the line, four per side. For that type of game with time set aside for rules explanation I would allocate 3-4 hours.

[Daeruin]

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it! I was thinking of running the 2014 contest winner scenario, A Safe Harbor (Battle of Algeciras). It seems like it could be easily scalable by removing a few ships or coastal batteries if I don't get as many people. I like that there's some specific strategy involved, too. The ships in that scenario are mostly large ships, though, so I guess that will extend how long it takes. I have 6 hours set aside for the game. Hopefully that is enough!

I like the idea of having enlarged flash cards and would love to see your examples.

[Daeruin]

DeRuyter, for those convention games, were you using the advanced rules? Is the Battle of Lissa available as a scenario somewhere, or was it a custom one you put together?

[Bligh]

In the convention games we run we use mainly basic rules, with the odd one or two from the other levels just to add a bit of extra flavour of the period.
Ask Captain Duff. He is the leading expert on our show games. I will look out the cards for you and post them.
Rob.

[Bligh]

The cards.

[Daeruin]

Thank you for posting the cards! I can see how that would be very helpful while explaining the rules to a large table full of newbies. Much appreciated.

[Bligh]

My pleasure Ben.
If anything else springs to mind I will let you know.
Rob.

[DeRuyter]

DeRuyter, for those convention games, were you using the advanced rules? Is the Battle of Lissa available as a scenario somewhere, or was it a custom one you put together?

I used a mixture of rules and some house rules (on collisions, etc). I did not use the advanced rules on crew actions, that is just too much for a convention game imo. If you peruse the House rules sub forum there are some good ideas there. Something I added on collisions was a speed loss rule and I didn't use the damage on collisions with friendly ships. I always use the rules for different types of shot. I think in the Lissa scenario I used poor shots for the French.

For the battle of Lissa I found scenarios for other games and modified it, frankly the Wiki page is a good resource for some naval battles. Also a member here, maybe Bligh?, ran it and made custom templates for the bases and laminated ship cards so you didn't have to use all the counters.

I also ran a scenario on the Battle of Gran Port in the Mauritius campaign. This one had shore batteries and ships running around as well as East India Company ships. Years ago I posted an AAR, not sure if it is still there. I ran SoG games mainly when the game was released and a few years thereafter.

[Daeruin]

My pleasure Ben.
If anything else springs to mind I will let you know.
Rob.

What does the purple dot mean on some of these enlarged cards?

[Bligh]

All my cards in a set are marked with a different coloured dot as are the ship bases and ship cards to ensure they all go back in the right boxes when packing up at shows Ben.

Rob.

[James Wilmore]

Clever system :-)

[Bligh]

If you get to the stage where you have more decks than the eight colours on the dots sheets you just start again with the dots in the next corner. this gives you a possible total of 32 decks with dots available plus one deck with no dots. I have never quite reached the 33 deck point yet.

Rob.