I am thinking about doing an exhibition game at a local store, and was
wondering what parts of SG2 to leave out or keep in, in order to teach
the basics to non-believers. Any ideas?
I want to give the flavor of the game, but I don't want to have to teach
everything at once. I will probably use short squads (4-5 troopers) in
non-power suits, with no artillery or vehicle backup.
I would like to use command squads, because I think they are essential.
Does anyone have any words of wisdom in this arena?
Thanks,
Bobby, I'm getting ready to run my first demonstration game of SGII. I've been
through many of thesee same questions. Here's what I've decided: Like you, I'm
going to run with short squads, 6 men in each squad counting the sergeant. I'm
not going to have PA, arty, or vehicles. Again, like you, I see the need for
command squads and am going to have platoon and company commands. Otherwise,
I'm going to teach the rest of the rules. Now, I'm not going to have
characters, snipers, or hidden units, so those rules will not need to be
taught. I won't allow any unit to go into a land stand, so that's not needed.
I'm not going to have any EW units, so again, I won't have to teach those
rules. I will have to teach LV and confidence tests, fire combat, and close
assaults. I'll handle casualties, but probably only as they occur. I've been
practicing my "lecture" and can impart most of the rules in about 15 minutes
with time for examples.
-Mike
> Bobby Mock wrote:
> I am thinking about doing an exhibition game at a local store, and was
Hey guys,
I've run lots of demo games at conventions for people who have never played
before, and from what I've seen so far the most effective technique is to keep
it simple, small, fast, but give it an interesting hook. Once they are excited
about the game, add in the advanced stuff.
Create a scenario with some kind of dramatic hook, rather than having a simple
"my three squads meet your three squads and fight over some trees" kind of
battle. A lot of the unique "feel" of Stargrunt comes in when you add in the
advanced rules, but you want to keep these out in an intro demo. If you stick
to LV, confidence, fire combat (squad level with regular infantry weapons,
IAVR, SAW) and close assault, then the game is kind of plain without something
interesting in the scenario. Keep out vehicles (or
maybe use one - I've often had one side with more troops than the other,
but the smaller side gets a hover jeep with a RFAC/1 - this makes it a
bit more interesting, and the jeep without any of the additional vehicle
equipment (ew, smoke, decoys, etc) is really simple to run). Keep out snipers,
ew, PA, arty, etc. Use a command element on each side, for
sure -
that is a vital part of the game.
A scenario I have run many times to the great enjoyment of the (suddenly very
bloodthirsty) participants is the "Kill the Reporters" scenario. <plug> GZG
has introduced a tv reporter set, with a camera man, a sound man, and a female
reporter in two different outfits. We have been using a much older set from
another miniature line, but I just bought St.Jon's,
and they're great </plug>
Basically, you have a "good guy" side and a "bad guy" side. There is a tv news
team from the good guy side who has footage of the bad guys comitting
atrocities. They start in the middle of the table. The good guys enter on one
side of the table, and are a team sent to secure the reporters and escort them
and their prescious film back to "civilization". The bad guys
enter from the other side, and their objective is to capture/kill the
news crew before they can escape with the footage. I usually set it up so that
the bad guys outnumber the good guys a bit. That adds some drama and tension.
I usually balance that off by making the good guys better
(regulars with a veteran leader, to the bad guys regular/green mix with
a regular leader). The newscrew are unarmed civilians (yellow markers) but
usually have a decent leadership - she is a veteran combat correspondant
and has "been there and done that". In the end, it's all about a race, but
there are some interesting tactical problems for both sides to work out,
without being complex. Do the bad guys run flat out chasing down the news
team, but maybe get caught in crossfires by the good guys, OR do they send
some of their force after the good guy team and some after the reporters. Do
the good guys deploy a proper improvised defense, or just grab the reporters
and run like crazy, etc. It is important that the terrain is set
up to make both sides manoever - ie no long sightlines OR the reporters
will get sniped from a distance. The good guys control the news team (or
they may be run by the person giving the demo - to keep it interesting),
but don't come under the command of their "platoon" commander, and can't be
reactivated. That stops the good guys just running them off the board in the
first turn or two...
It's amazing what happens when a group of normal mild-mannered people
are let loose on this scenario. The knives get sharpened and killing the
reporters becomes nearly an obsession. Lots of fun.
I wouldn't use more than 3 rifle squads (of maybe 6 troops, including 5
riflemen and a SAW gunner) and a command team (4 troops, including the
commander and a SAW gunner) on each side. Maybe give the bad guys an extra
squad of riflemen, but make two or three of their squads green. This is a
good demo for two players on each side - and having any more than that
in an intro game means that there will be a lot of time spent doing nothing in
between turns for most of the players, and people will get bored.
Anyway, that's my $0.02. Hope you have fun at your demos.
> At 11:28 AM 12/6/99 -0500, you wrote:
Again,
> like you, I see the need for command squads and am going to have
I've
> been practicing my "lecture" and can impart most of the rules in about
in
> non-power suits, with no artillery or vehicle backup.
Well, Michael and Adrian have pretty well covered this but I'll add my 2 cents
worth.
As Adrian said come up with an interesting scenario. That grabs the attention
first then get the 'marks' interested in teh rules set next.
Stay at Platoon level only. Company Level command can really unbalance the
game if not carefully controlled or played.
Leave GMS and EW out but include smoke. Vehicles can be okay if you use them
on one side only.
I'd recommend no buildings for a first game; buildings can be confusing with
arguments over squad facing etc.
Size of squads is actually fairly irrelevant. I would actually recommend using
the squad structure from the back of the rules book; NAC and NSL are good
ones; use PPG instead of GMS.
Terrain is quite important so balance your terrain with some hard and soft
cover on teh board and leave gaps of at least 6 inches between most terrain so
the old combat roll vs two movement actions gets used.
The comments on quality and leadership levels is also good. Have a variety but
perhaps only two eg Vet and Reg or Reg and Green. Set the quality, leadership
and Confidence levels yourself rather than any chance method of selecting
them.
Also keep the number of players to either one or two per side. Any more and
you'll run the risk of players getting bored waiting their turn.
Have fun,
Owen G
> -----Original Message-----
I'm going to be running a Stargrunt demo next year at Conquest (local con) &
one of the scenario's I've got picked out is based on the "Welcome to Ground
Zero" story. It matches most of these suggestions & should play well, once I
work out the fine details. Considering the first 2 days of the con is the 40k
wargames tournament, I should upset quite a few munchkins...
Neath Southern Skies - http://users.mcmedia.com.au/~denian/
[mkw] Admiral Peter Rollins; Task Force Zulu
> -----Original Message-----
I'll agree and disagree with some things said so far.
1. Try not to overgun your squads. Limit to one support weapon per 4-8
guys. More and you start throwing mitt-fulls of dice and causing mass
casualties.
2. Keep most troop qualities vet-reg. elite are powerful and green or
untrained add some nasty things to remember. They add a lot to the game, but
it is easy to miss their extra rules.
3. Keep troop morale at confident, unless you want to handicap then make some
fatigued which drops them to steady.
4. Make mission motivation medium. It is the best all around choice.
5. Avoid (though later games are good) snipers, heavy arty (though a mortar
might be neat to give the feel), PA (I find these very tough and their
mobility quite distorting as well at the CC benefits huge), large or numerous
vehicles.
6. Unlike Owen, I've seen GMS in almost every game I play and smoke rarely.
Smoke tends to slow down the game a lot as it cuts of lines of fire and turns
games into far more defensive ventures. I agree it is a staple of RL combat,
but if you want a fast scenario, this isn't the
way. GMS too add an extra mechanic - if you don't like them, stick to
IAVRs and SAWs.
7. EW makes again for a slower game. Good choice to avoid.
8. Have a command squad, and 2-4 rifle squads or 2-3 rifle squads + HW
squad. The command is part of the major inspiration in the SG2 system.
9. Keep a handle on squad FP. Too much means you get casualties pretty easy.
Armour OTOH serves to draw out the game (if the defender can
roll....).
10. For a board, remember regular troops are deadly out to (I'd say) 24" and
still dangerous out to 40". So cover is good. Fences, hills, boulders,
thickets... all good. Avoid too many terrains that impose
differing movement strictures. Keep your cover spaced - some of it 4"
apart, some of it 8-10" apart... and keep in mind you should set the
board up to encourage the fight in the middle - sane players will try
to stay in cover and if all the cover is along the edges, you'll get a fight
that avoids the middle like the plague.
11. Remember: Play the Game, Not the Rules. You're there to have fun. If you
don't have an answer, don't waste a day looking for it (some stuff can be hard
to find at the minute you want it). Make up an answer. Keep play rolling and
the players engaged.