lessons learned - from an event point of view

[thumper]

Normally after the game, Aerion and I will go to Southern Pigs and chew the fat - literally, discussing what went well, what didnt and what we should have done. This is kind of me thinking out loud - but If you have a suggestion of comment, Im all ears.

- I wish I had put in fewer multiple-objective missions in the afternoon. The ones where one objective was close to one base and one was close to the other gave the armies the chance to take the easy and leave the hard. Next game more single objective mission.

- Possibly doing a@11:00, b@11:05, c@11:10 sets instead of a,b, & c @ 11:00

- The Sniper Bonus and General Lead bonus thing worked great. Maybe up the sniper bonus to 100 - 5 snipers per side is plenty. Sniper paint by the bag is perfect.

- The tunnel network / spawn thing worked pretty good. = Just be johnny on the spot to close down the exits when they become overwhelmed. Put a board in the center of the exit to allow LAWS to blow it. (orange pallets?)

- The gunship - loved it. It worked better than I hoped. Ref manned, 2 gunners. Clarify rules on passengers disembarking mid-sortie

- LAWS : loved it. The players seemed to enjoy these, and the refs seemed to handle the law shots easily.

- Blaze : loved it. no complaints, the orange marked very well.

- Team to Flop : Designate 1 strong team per army to flop over just in case. This is a last ditch effort, but occassionally necessary.

- The 15bps : no problems. Maybe add to the briefing a stronger bonus ball warning and Massed Fire warning.

[Steers]

all that you said is right on with me.

Everything went extremely well.

In my opinion, this scenario is one of those rare scenario's were you have a great group that cares about honor, respect, and the sport.

Everyone who shot me out asked if I was hit, did not over shoot me (or no more than he had to shoot me), congradulated my play, and left me saying "see ya later!"

The scenario was produced very well. The refs kicked butt! The players played awesome!

The open book missions put everyone right in the middle of everything. The gunships were scary! Aerion was driving after me at one point and the thought of a 3-man gun-ship running you down is not a pretty one.

Good job to Thumper, all of the Refs, and all of the players for making this a scenario to remember!

[crooked butt doctor]

i thought the scenario was great... a couple of ideas... that my team and i had thought would possibly improve the gameplay....
maybe keep the general sniper bonus, but add a smaller bonus for snipers to eliminate the team XO and if its a bigger game, perhaps even some lower ranking officers. just seems that my guys were on the hunt all day, but just ONE target made it hard for them to find success.
generals with 2 arms band and xo with just one... or something along those lines.
also- maybe some way to get a smaller refill station for co2 n2 in or around some neutral point on the field... ie the alternate respawn point near no mans with the netting... just a thought and it would keep more player son the field as it eliminates the dreaded 10 minute walk off the field for air... and the even worse, 10 minute walk back... leaving 10minutes til the objective.

other than that- perfect game set up.

[Aerion]

Originally Posted by thumper

Normally after the game, Aerion and I will go to Southern Pigs and chew the fat - literally, discussing what went well, what didnt and what we should have done. This is kind of me thinking out loud - but If you have a suggestion of comment, Im all ears.

- I wish I had put in fewer multiple-objective missions in the afternoon. The ones where one objective was close to one base and one was close to the other gave the armies the chance to take the easy and leave the hard. Next game more single objective mission.

- Possibly doing a@11:00, b@11:05, c@11:10 sets instead of a,b, & c @ 11:00

- The Sniper Bonus and General Lead bonus thing worked great. Maybe up the sniper bonus to 100 - 5 snipers per side is plenty. Sniper paint by the bag is perfect.

- The tunnel network / spawn thing worked pretty good. = Just be johnny on the spot to close down the exits when they become overwhelmed. Put a board in the center of the exit to allow LAWS to blow it. (orange pallets?)

- The gunship - loved it. It worked better than I hoped. Ref manned, 2 gunners. Clarify rules on passengers disembarking mid-sortie

- LAWS : loved it. The players seemed to enjoy these, and the refs seemed to handle the law shots easily.

- Blaze : loved it. no complaints, the orange marked very well.

- Team to Flop : Designate 1 strong team per army to flop over just in case. This is a last ditch effort, but occassionally necessary.

- The 15bps : no problems. Maybe add to the briefing a stronger bonus ball warning and Massed Fire warning.

I think having multiple objectives at the same time was just fine. Had the score been closer and the weather a bit cooler, those multple objectives would have been more contested. That part was essentially the same format we used in Worst Case and it worked just fine then. You might consider making sure they are always an odd number of objectives so in a close game, neither side can sit back on half the points.

You might consider spreading out the multi-objective missions more time wise. Instead of putting them all in the mid to late afternoon slot. Also make sure there is a single objective mission between each multple to allow the players to pace themselves.

100 points for the sniper kill was what I wanted to start with.

30 minutes between missions is perfect. Enough time to regroup between missions without standing around bored for too long. Also the midday break was a great idea.


My Lessons Learned:

1> Someone else besides me drives the tank or keep the tank usage far more limited than we had in this game. But then, we opened up usage to help balance the sides. I spent too much time driving and not enough time keeping an eye on things.

2> My gut told me early on the teams were very one sided even though they looked balanced on paper. Stronger balancing early on would have made this a much more interesting game. But we can't beat ourselves up too much, I have seen many teams that start off slow but come on strong in the mid game.

3> Though I had reservations about the idea, I have to admit the tank/gunship did add some spice to the game.

4> I'm not sure if this was because neither team really took full advantage of the tank, but it seemed as though the tank can make a difference in a close fight, it isn't a huge advantage. Only one time did the Americans come close to making the tank swing a battle and the VC never did. I'd say the use of a tank has to be well planned. The main strength of the tank seemed to be to push back the opponents fairly quickly. But then, had the fights been closer, the tank might have been more of a factor.

5> There needs to be a gun port on the passenger side windshield screen. It's too dangerous having the front gunner firing out the divers gun port. Also, I'd like to see the back gunner's position screened in with side and rear gun ports.

[thumper]

good stuff yall -

[PaintedWarrior]

The larger multi-missions should be planned so that they follow a couple of smaller 1 mission runs. More like big battle, skirmish, skirmish, big battle, ect. This way everyone has time to restock and prep for the big multi-hoe-downs. However there is still action on the field between time in the form of smaller skirmishes for the ones who want it. This lets the old guys catch their breath. jk.

[Aerion]

Originally Posted by PaintedWarrior

...
This lets the old guys catch their breath. jk.

Hey!! I resemble that remark!!