Posts by McGran

  • Friday 2nd November 2018

    A busy Friday kicked off for Alex (freshly returned from Essen Spiel with a haul of fresh new games), Bryan, Paul and I with Cryptid, a deduction game where players try to figure out each other's clues to discover the mystical animal.


    Dave and Al played Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes



    Darren and Mike played their Blood Bowl league match. See the league forum for the progress so far.



    Steve, Rik and Ian manned the painting tables with Steve taking time out to explain to Ian the difference between an airbrush and a sex aid, and Rik helpfully pointing out the similarities.


    Alex, Bryan, Paul and I followed Cryptid another of Alex's new acquisitions, Railroad Ink. A dice rolling, network building game where players try to draw the most efficient transport network on a 7x7 grid.


    Steve works on his Sikhs

    Rik tubbifies a terminator

    Ian engages in a bit of cut and shut

    Alex and Bryan play Crown of Emara, a worker placement and card play game with dual score tracks see players compete to win the hearts and minds of the citizens to become king.

    Ian and I rounded off the evening with a game of Warhammer Underworlds, my Eyes of the Nine facing Ian's Briar Queen.

  • Timed games

    Yes, if you took the full time every time. We know that on average you’re going to have a couple of very short turns due to shit happening. So the time you save there is more time on other turns that matter. Besides, surely the point is to make the game more hectic and have it take less time to play?!


    Either way my point was that I believe the timed half is preferable to timed turns. How much time it should be I’m less concerned with - start at 40 mins per half if you like (then have a handicap system that whittles total time down to 16 mins per half). It doesn’t need to be the same limit for both players.


    As for penalties, I’ve already explained my proposal above.

  • Timed games

    Yes to timed matches, but 5 minutes per turn is waaaaay too much. Along with stoppages you're looking at 3 hours for a game.


    20 minutes per half inclusive of all actions is plenty of time. Stoppages only allowed in agreement with the opponent for rules reference purposes or during reset after a touchdown (clock resuming after resolution of kick-off). This means games should last 90 minutes max.


    There should also be a penalty for being over time. I suggest that at the end of each half if you are over time your opponent rolls a d6 and is awarded a touchdown on a 6. For each full minute you are over time +1 is added to the roll. This means a touchdown will automatically be awarded if you are 5 minutes over time. Additional penalty touchdowns are awarded for each multiple of 6 rolled.


    e.g.
    30 secs over = d6 = 0-1 TDs
    2 mins x sec = d6+2 = 0-1 TDs
    5 mins x sec = d6+5 = 1 TD
    6 mins x sec = d6+6 = 1-2 TDs
    12 mins x sec=d6+12=2-3 TDs
    etc...


    This system gives you the flexibility to spend more time on an important turn than others while potentially creating a frantic end to the half as time runs short.

  • Round 3 Fixtures, Results and Match Reports

    Green Bay Hackers 1 - 0 Punch Suckers


    The orcs ground out a narrow (and probably undeserved) victory with a solitary touchdown right on the final whistle.


    In the first half the humans played the tactically superior game, moving around the orcs and always pressuring the ball carrier - even when down to 8 players on the pitch to the orcs' 11. In the second half the orcs caught the humans off guard at the kick off and quickly reduced the humans to 6 players.


    It is a testament to the humans' game-craft that they still nearly managed to break out with a thrilling touchline dash, thwarted when tackled into the orc fans who threw the ball back to the orc players. Even then the humans managed to dispossess the Hackers before going down to 4 players as the orcs got a player sent off for fouling.


    With time running down the orc Thrower, Bigsub Nosepicker, gathered up the ball and ran it half the length of the pitch to score, with close support from the three blitzers, while the rest of the team set about smashing the humans into the dirt.