I also like to get in a game of any type with my brother when I can. These are leisurely affairs that often devolve into rules-research sessions and strategy discussions. Beer-drinkers and hell-raisers, we are. However, he has agreed to shift gears and push me to speed up my game. This will be helpful, since a non-mech army will have a higher model count and more close combat than I am used to.
I also plan to use these smaller games to test out some ideas I have for battle-reporting. I have the feeling that this type of writing hasn't quite matured. Some battle reports grip me, others lose me mid-battle. With the possibility of video, audio, revolving slides, animations, roll-over pop-ups, and more, I feel like there is room for improvement in this genre. If anyone has format suggestions or consistently good sites to recommend, I am very interested.
I hope I can succesfully command my force AND report on its exploits simultaneously. If not, my brother will gladly dispatch the dispatcher. So stay tuned!
10 years ago
Hmmm...surely the devolvement is not linked to the beer, right?
ReplyDeleteSome of the possibilities you mention interest me. It seems that most BRs skip illustrating movement, or show the board from inconsistent vantage points. For a noob like me, it would be nice to see maybe a revolving slide made from aerial pics right after each movement (taken from same location). Or maybe a rollover that shows before and after movement, worked into the body of the report. For some reason, I have a hard time following the flow of battle in the BRs without knowing the flow of units over the table.
I look forward to crushing you army while you fiddle with the camera.
I agree with your contention: continuity and context are missing in many battle reports, and the ones that have it can get kinda wordy. Seems like there ought to be ways to get the point across visually with the right tricks. I think it would be cool if an aerial photo floated at the side as you scrolled through the report, updating at each player turn. If you rollover a unit, a window pops up showing a closeup seen from a model's sightline, and if you click on the unit, ghost images of the squad show up reminding you where it had been in previous turns. By the end of turn 7, there would be 7 stops, each numbered, and maybe a line connecting the dots.(I need to find out how flexible blogspot is as far as programming your own layouts.)
ReplyDeleteI'd like something somewhat interactive like that. I've read chess games in print and gotten some good out of it before, but it's not until I set up a board and start recreating the games that I "see" the factors at work.
Hmm. It also just occurred to me that with all the 40k comp games out there, it should be pretty easy machinimate an entire game. I've actually been looking for a small scale project to give me an excuse to learn my new Movie Maker program. Maybe a battle report?
That would be the coolest battle report on the block, if you were able to do it. Also, if it happened to cover a battle against me, it might distract readers from my lame army...not only unpainted, but unprimed.
ReplyDeleteHave you guys heard about Vassel40K? I think it's been pulled, but I have a download.
ReplyDeleteDo some research and see if it's what you need and I'll get it your way.
I understand where you guys are coming from re: battle reports - mine tend to get wordy, but it's tough to find a balance between words and usefulness. I'm open to suggestions.
Keep it up guys - Brent
Brent, yours are wordy, but it's great because you have style! ;)
ReplyDelete