Unfortunately... Re: Measuring things...

...this tends to break down to 'if you have problems with distances, use
hexes' kind of discussion; that, or just LEARN TO ESTIMATE. Can come with
enough practice, I admit. I'd also admit I'm tired of waiting.

My problem is that it DOES tend to slow the game down. I know most folks
suggest it's not a big thing, but one of the things I hate about 40K(tm) is
roll to hit, roll to wound, roll to save, roll to...

A friend sez 'What would you rather do, roll, look through tables?' No, but if
it's not simple enough to roll, apply modifiers, and go on, it ain't me.

On the other hand, my distance estimation is soooo poor, I like the option,
just, I don't measure to more than one or two ships before I know where I'm
going. When I was playing opposite some folks at a MageCon, and they'd
measured for the fifth time in their turn, and stood discussing plans, I was
ready to walk away from the table. They were having fun; I wasn't.

I'd have to say it's not a question of instrumentation, i.e., yes, the
equipment can do the measuring, but you shouldn't necessarily have the time to
evaluate at your leisure. *shrug* Big YMMV there.

Let's leave it at 'please determine table conventions before you start the
game.'

As an aside, I've been lurking, and wish to apologize to those folks who
replied to my questions. I promise to respond in detail shortly.

The_Beast

-Douglas J. Evans, curmudgeon

One World, one Web, one Program - Microsoft promotional ad
Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer - Adolf Hitler

                    Roger Books

		    <books@mail.state.f        To:
gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
l.us> cc:

		    Sent by:		       Subject:     Re:
Measuring things...
                    owner-gzg-l@CSUA.Be

rkeley.EDU

                    05/30/00 09:27 AM

Please respond to

                    gzg-l

On 30-May-00 at 10:23, Sean Bayan Schoonmaker (s_schoon@pacbell.net)
wrote:

> Thus, personally, I don't care to pre-measure for combat or movement.
I'd
> rather put my Mk. I eyeball to the test and simply PLAY.

Not that this is directed at anyone in particular, but have you noticed
that the people who are the most against pre-measurement often happen
to be the same ones who have no problems eyeballing distances? To a new
wargamer the feeling is not only are they at a tactical disadvantage but they
are also at a severe "calibrated eyeball" disadvantage also.

Roger

> On Tue, 30 May 2000 09:51:33 -0500, devans@uneb.edu wrote:

> On the other hand, my distance estimation is soooo poor, I like the

That's a good point. When we pre-measure, I look at my ship, look at the
opponents, and pull out the tape measure. I can measure to five or so ships in
about 10 seconds. I'm only looking at range bands, not actual fractions of an
inch...

On the other hand, I have a friend who tends to overthink EVERYTHING. He does
this with every game, be it SG2 or FT or Formula De. A simple prodding gets
him moving. It would really bug me, though, to be in a game at a con where
pre-measuring is allowed and the players take forever to move. This is a
common problem with games in general. If it happens once more while playing
Formula De, I'm going to look for a 1 minute egg timer... or maybe a 30 second
egg timer...

> On the other hand, I have a friend who tends to overthink
This is a
> common problem with games in general. If it happens once more

So just stand there, staring at the miniatures, without moving or saying
anything, for 2 minutes. When they ask you what you're doing, reply "I'm
trying to judge the distance"