Saturday 10 January 2015

Conclusion and after thoughts of the PBB!

Most important to me is I want/need to thank everyone involved in my first Play by blog game. Without you all It would have been a flop. So Once again I thank you all, from the rabid players to the casual followers. All of you deserve my thanks.
How It started.

STARTING

Right that has got the cringy bit out the way. But I do mean it. It started when in casual conversation with Ray (HMS Badger). When he said he had only played a few games last year. Right I thought let's play a game via the blogs. I had previously played a game on Ian (Shelldrake)'s blog but that was more roleplaying still huge fun but I instinctively knew that Ray was not a roleplayer. So I had a quick think and wondered what type of game I could do. As I knew Alan Abbey and had played my fair share of games of his "Blood Bilge and Iron Balls" and had found the rules instinctive and yet challenging. Most importantly I was familure with them and had a few ships as well as some sea and coast boards I quickly settled on that as the way to go. So I emailed a few bloggers I had dealings with in the past and offered them the chance to play in order to establish a core group. I then advertised it on my blog and invited others to join in. I will admit I got a few more than I was first expecting and as the format of playing a game via a blog had not been tested by me I approached it with no small apprehension. I did think I could make a complete fool of myself. Oh well never mind it has happened before and I have little doubt it will happen again, and probably again after that a few dozen more times! Yeah it's called life.

By using a commercial set of rules I did have the advantage that I was not going to think on my feet. I may well be good at tripping over them but less good at thinking on them. Anyway a couple more people I did not know asked to join and well in for a penny in for a pound. That could be even more people to see me fail. So they were given Frigates because I had run out of painted ships of the line by that stage. I wrote a scenario based on the British keeping the Spanish fleet in port while the Spanish would have to break out and escape of the board.

So It begins.

Having not run a Play by blog game before I was determined to stick to the rules and told the players what the rules were and how to order their ships to move and the priority of their fire. One of the mistakes I did make was starting them all too far apart. The result was the first five weeks or so just straight moving and not a single shot being fired. I consoled myself by knowing that once it did start then it would end quickly. I thought the  first few moves might also allow players to try a few manoeuvres out and get the hand of their ships. Only Captain Lucky Lee did so (HMS Pachyderm) as I had positioned him rather proactively close to land and the Spanish fleet and rather than go in thinking he was superman decided to use his discretion and set a course parallel to the Spanish.

Juggling Cats

For those five or six starting turns all the players were obeying orders and forming battle lines and behaving sensibly. And then the first shots were fired. From then on it was every man for themselves as each captain did their own thing. That is when the game really did become like "heading cats!" At least for me. Great fun. several players did not understand "port and Starboard" and a few mistakes were made mostly leaving them facing into the wind with them wanting to move straight ahead directly into the wind. But let's not dwell on that. I made a couple of errors as well. If you do this yourself and set up a game needless to say try not to do that, but if it happens and sometimes it will so be prepared to say you are sorry and it was your fault. The two players I know it happened to (one on each side) were very understanding about it and the game went on.

Some players gave orders that you knew were the wrong thing to do both in the rules and in history. But that is the joy of the game. As every player has free choice to command their ship as they see fit. Many times players would do something surprising. Things you would know would lead to problems a couple of turns down the line, but that is probably my knowledge of the rules and not their mistake as much. A couple of players were down right suicidal wanting to ram and board enemy ships before they were sufficiently damaged to ensure success.

Conclusion

After 24-25 weeks the battle was finished. Few ships were still intact. Several had struck their colours one had actually sank and two had been captured. Two were not captured in the battle but would have surrounded after the battle due to lack of crew and the close presence of the enemy. It really was close at the end. At about turn 20 I thought it would be a clear Spanish victory. but the British were able to swing the pendulum the other way and the game ended with a minor British Win.

I am not going to sort out Victory points. Mostly because I don't actually like them but also I find them an artificial construct. That said these players dis capture prizes.

Lee Hadley HMS Pachyderm Captured a 64 gun ship of the line and sunk another.
Miles Reidy in a frigate did board and capture HMS Inconsistent for the Spanish
Dave Docherty and Peter Douglas Combined managed to capture a 74 gun ship of the line.(The Spanish Flag ship)
Curt Campbell in HMS Challenge did board SS Pina colada but was beaten off as he just lost too many crew in the assault. As the game ended in a British victory Pina Colada would surrender to Captain Campbell after  the game. If It had been a Spanish Victory HMS Challenge would have struck their colours and surrendered to them. It really could have gone either way on these two ships.

What's next?

Well indeed what is next? I have been asked to write it all up for WBQ and I will attempt to do so. Should I succeed the author and the publishing editor both want to see it.  I know them and have wargamed with them both and count them as friends so not a big deal really just a couple of mates being nosey! And no doubt extracting the urine! Oh yes they will.

Will there be another game?  Well the short answer is Yes. Well not exactly the same as I do not want to do another ship battle that lasts quite so long this year. So I am thinking of another game setting and maybe come back to sailing ships in the following year. The criteria I am working to is a single vehicle, be it air, land or sea based per player. For me this is important as it allows independence among players. So far I have considered Aeronef, aquanef (both Victorian Sci fi) WW2 Tank battles, Modern tanks. giant robots, Modern, WW1 and WW2 Aircraft, as well as ACW, ww1 and WW2 fleet battles, I have even considered GZG Full thrust! So there really is a lot of choices but luckily I do not have to decide just yet. They really do all have both advantages and disadvantages. One thing I know for sure is that the more choices I offer the more varied the answers I will receive as we all like different things. It also needs to be based on a simple set of rules that I am familure with. I would even consider squad level infantry actions but that will need to be tackled in a very different way. So feel free to suggest any period/setting you like as you never know it just might spark my interest.

When you ask? Well I was thinking beginning of July. As that would give me long enough to recover and push the "RESET" button! Both of which I really do need to do.

I realise todays post has been incredibly self indulgent and I thank you for struggling to the end. Even if you just skipped to the end as far as I am concerned thank you and well done.

On to the next game. Cheers Clint. Paint monkey is getting bored and I really do need to get some more figures finished for the challenge.  2 entries ready so far this week but very small ones no bombs that is for sure.





28 comments:

  1. Clint

    It was great fun and thanks for running the game. We did all get caught up in our own worlds and I had no idea what had happened with some of the other ships. I just focused on getting "MY" Don.
    Sign me up for whatever the next one is!
    Cheers
    PD

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    1. It will be a pleasure to have you involved. I have more ideas than focus at the moment but hope to get all I need by or at Salute. So look at my loot haul for some clues.

      Thanks Peter,

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  2. Nice one Clint.

    One thing I'm thinking on, instead of just allowing players a single model to control, is maybe each having between 3 to 5 models. This then allows for them to use tactics and not necessarily need the assistance of the other players. Also, it means that the player will not be out of the game should they lose one model. Obviously this idea has the issues of needing more playing space and more models.
    Still it's all fun.

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    1. Thanks Roy. There is much merit to what you say. For me though the paperwork might well swamp the game. So I will keep them to a single model, be that a ship tank sub plane helicopter or balloon! Not expecting Balloons but the idea does have some merit!

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  3. I had loads of fun following the game and it will be nice to see you do another one. The fact that so few ships remained intact was pretty neat as that meant there was lots of action. I liked seeing ships getting boarded and taken as prizes the most.

    It would be nice to see this written up in WBQ although with the painting Challenge getting round to that could be difficult.

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    1. Thanks Anne. I have not painted at all today and some days have to be like that. Not even touched a brush. Well boarding will only happen IF I do another ship game. (OK maybe in an aeronef game but not very much chance). Having said that If it was tanks I think a few people would want crowbars!

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    2. There was a death in The Hubbies family, so I've missed a few days of painting. Scrambling now to catch up.

      Tanks would be nice for the next game. Lots of BOOM BOOM there!

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    3. I am so sorry mate. family comes first always.

      I do have an idea what the game may be but no clues just yet, Or maybe there already has been. But if there has been it has not been deliberate.
      Thank you Anne.

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  4. It was great fun, and an interesting learning curve. I'm sure I would be a lot more cautious if it were replayed!

    Thank you for all your hard work. "I just happened to have a couple of boards and a few painted ships" doesn't quite cover the quality of the set-up your presented us with! And herding cats is right! There must have been a huge amount of paperwork involved! Thank you!

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    1. It is true I did just happen to have a few painted ships and boards. I maybe (IF I can get my act together) make some custom terrain for then next PBB game! As now I know it can work it is worth the time and effort.
      Great to have you involved and I hope you will be next time as well.
      Thanks Edwin.

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  5. It was a great game and experience - thanks for all your time and effort in making it happen

    I look forward to the next game!

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    1. May not be ships next time. But whatever it is you will be welcome and now I know you a little more I think a better starting position may be called for.

      Thank you Miles.

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  6. It was great fun Clint... Well done... And I hope the Lords of the Admiralty look at promoting the commander of HMS Cutlass!

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    1. I suspect like Mr Reidy you will be given more responsibility in the next game.

      Thank you Dave.

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  7. Thanks again Clint - well-run, lots of fun and always a good read!

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    1. Thanks Phil I hope you will join in the next game. There is a place for you if you want in!

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  8. It took a very long time to reach a conclusion to the game, which I doubt you expected; this inevitbly led to the 'drop-out' factor at various times during the game, a very similar symptom of fece-to-face wargame campaign in my experience - which is a great pity.
    If as you suggest, that you're having another bash at something similar then I'm sure you'll have many ideas from lessons learned from the experience, good luck with it if/when you have another go.

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    1. Thanks Joe, you are right. In my head I have solved the drop out problem for the next game. But as it is only in my head it is a long way from in practice. So Only time and doing another game will tell. I am hopeful however.

      yes It did go on longer than I expected so perhaps a turn limit might be best!

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  9. Nothing self indulgent about this, what a great recap Clint. It was great fun, as a casual observer, watching the action unfold and a huge deal of the credit for its success belongs to you.

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    1. Be good to have you involved next time and not as a casual reader. Thank you Michael.

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  10. As a reader its been interesting to follow each week, Kudos on a great job you did of organising it all!

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    1. Thank you Simon. If you want to get involved I can always spare a place at the table for you.

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  11. Great write up mate and once again congratulations to you on running such an enjoyable game. Frankly I'm amazed I reached the end without making some terrible (and terminal) mistake, let alone accounting for two Spanish ships. Grog all round for the crew!

    I'd definitely like to play this set of rules again...perhaps 'live' in Posties Shed-o-War?

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    1. Thanks Lee. Let's all hope the next one is as good!

      Happy to play these rules where ever they have an instinctive feel to them when you play face to face and yes a bit of paperwork which I am sure Ray and postie will enjoy tremendously. (Snigger)

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  12. I think we should above all thank you for sticking with it and making sure every possible saturday was PBB day! I had a lot of fun, but I have to admit I was swarmed at one point by other things and only barely knew what was happening around me. Not that it mattered, with half of my ship being wrecked!

    As for something new, if you can't decide you can always make a poll. Pick a few of the periods you'd be interested in and work from there. Perhaps decide on either it will be air, naval or land battle and you can figure from there on.

    Personally, I would rather do an air battle (I'd love to chase zeppelins or bombers around, but thats probably a bit unrealistic) or a land battle. Moderns are so-so imo as the killing power skyrocketed, but WW2 sounds interesting - especially if it would be from the first years of the war. There's something I really like about the early WW2 tanks. That's just personal opinion, of course.

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    1. Thanks for your kind words. WW1 Air warfare is a possibility as are early ww2 tanks. Over the last few days I have started narrowing it down. NO Aeronef for example! but I do like the idea of Victorian submarine warfare. That sounds nice and quirky. The only problem is no one makes the models or the rules. Which is a small issue, maybe I should!

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  13. Only just found this... very interesting idea.

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    1. Hi Adam. I know you from the "Challenge"

      As wargamers playing games is what we do. A Blog can be utilised as a tool to play as well. Ian (Shelldrake) was the first to show me this and I am surprised more people don't do it. Hopefully we can find a place and get you involved in the summer game.

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