Playing Faster

[Primarch]

From the NH2012 feedback thread, there were several comments about how to play the game within the time limits. 2.5 hours should be more than enough time to play a 1500 point game, but for one reason or another some games went over the limit.

So, how can you speed up your gaming.

For starters, know the rules. I dont just mean 'have some idea of the rules,' I mean know them inside and out and back to front as well. Read the rulebook cover to cover a couple of times and at least once before the event. This helps stop any mistakes and allows you to find rules quickly if a problem does crop up.

Similarly, Know your army. Make sure you know your unit's stats and the stats for their weapons. Constantly consulting your codex slows things down.

And the best way to speed up is to use your opponent's turn to plan what you are going to do. When it isnt your turn you should be thinking about what you will do next. Most of the time, you should be able to predict the state of the board at the start of your turn by the end of the enemy shooting phase. A little experience helps here, but getting all your planning done before it is your turn allows you to use your time more effectively. Of course, sometimes your opponent will get lucky or do something unexpected, but more often than not you can use the law of averages to give you a good idea of what will happen next.

And if all that fails, you can speed up the game by tabling your opponent on turn 1.

[me_in_japan]

Might I suggest a deathclock? This seems to work well for warmahordes, and it avoids the all too common situation of "I would've won if we had played turn 5. I played as fast as I could, but my opponent was dragging ass."

I'm not in any way suggesting anyone plays slow on purpose, not at all, but there are often games where one player/team is significantly slower than the other, and who can say who benefits from that at the end of the day? If you lose because you played too slow to make it to turn 5 then fair do's, but if you lose because your opponent played too slow to make it to turn 5, then that kinda sucks.

[Danguinius]

Thank you for starting this thread Prim.

Also, I`d like to add: If you roll the dice to go first, win that roll, and decide to go first...then set up your stuff quickly. Your opponent`s stuff isn`t on the board yet. You don`t know how they will deploy (My opponent`s assault marines will...set up behind some terrain? walk in from board edge? deep strike?). You can do bit of careful planning, but generally your opponent is going to look at your deployment and THEN decide how to deploy. I guess my point is, teams that are going first should deploy quickly...and teams deploying second shouldn`t take much longer.

Also, in team play it is vital that more than one set of rolls be happening at the same time. You have two opponents, so they can watch two of your units moved at the same time. They can also watch two separate units` shooting phases. If you`ve ever played multi-player Apocalypse, you know how important this is. Moving one unit at a time, shooting one unit at a time, assulting one unit at a time effectively doubles your turn. Before I get the knee-jerk response that timing can be important in deciding which unit shoots at what enemy units, I`ll say, "Yes, sometimes this important. Other times it is totally irrelevant." When your unit of 3 assault marines only has one potential target within 12", go ahead and shoot `em. No need to wait.

Lastly, courtesy can be a total time-waster. If you are waiting to move/shoot/assault because your opponents are not watching the board (they are checking their codex AGAIN...or chit-chatting with their buddy at another table...etc.), you are wasting time. Just say something like, "Okay, we`re moving". You`re not being rude. Your opponents are being rude by not paying attention to the game. If you announce what your doing and start playing faster, your opponents will soon play faster to match the pace of the game.

These are just some suggestions for speeding up game play. Please post any other ideas you might have. I`m really interested in this (Yes, I was one of the people who had issues with playing speed and finishing games within the allotted time).

Danguinius

[Danguinius]

Interesting idea MIJ. I`ve never heard of deathclock applied to 40K, but I supposed it could be used. As you know, I`m a big fan of it it WarMaHordes. I also always used timed turns in Bloodbowl. It`s just my opinion, but it adds another level of "realism" (for lack of a better word) to the battle; a good general has to command/direct his troops under pressure and with efficiency. The deathclock simulates this. Chess and other strategy games are often timed as well. I`m not sure how other 40K players would react to deathclock, but I would at least like to try it a few times.

Danguinius

[Primarch]

Might I suggest a deathclock? This seems to work well for warmahordes, and it avoids the all too common situation of "I would've won if we had played turn 5. I played as fast as I could, but my opponent was dragging ass."

I'm not in any way suggesting anyone plays slow on purpose, not at all, but there are often games where one player/team is significantly slower than the other, and who can say who benefits from that at the end of the day? If you lose because you played too slow to make it to turn 5 then fair do's, but if you lose because your opponent played too slow to make it to turn 5, then that kinda sucks.

That sounds like fun. I wonder how it would work in 40K as there is more to do in your opponent's turn compared to WM, but that could be a possibility.....

[Admiral-Badruck]

To play faster folks need to know the rules. Nothing takes more time than looking up a rule except not looking it up and not knowing it.

[pdfitzg]

The tried and true coin toss, or dice roll works well if both players aren't sure about a rule. We'll do that, play the same way for the rest of the game, and then look the rule up later. Saves a little bit of time. Takes some trust, but we roll for reserves on the other player's turn and don't share the results until their turn is over (as to not give your opponent an edge and influence their actions).

Of course I'm still a horribly slow player. Most games, which are far and few between, are at a friend's house and he has three little kids. By the time they are asleep, one or both of us have had too much to drink so our games are four times as long as they should be.

I'll have to look into this Death Clock thing, but we have used a turn timer before and that seemed to help pace things better than just an overall game time limit.

When I ran a club in Hawaii, most days it was just the players there, we played regularly, and the games went a lot faster, so knowing the rules, avoiding distractions, and having a deadline seem to be the biggest factors in keeping the game flowing.

Paul

[Primarch]

Having just had a PM on this subject I have decided to put on my thread-o-mancy hat and resurrect this thread from the grave.

With NagoyaHammer getting closer and closer it is probably a good idea to review your codex and rule books again. You don't have to memorise every statline, but reviewing each unit entry for your army list and familiarizing yourself with any special rules is a good idea.

One point that I'd like to add to the list above is:
Don't chat with your opponents about unrelated subjects. Keep questions about how exactly the painted those shades on their mini or what material they used for basing until after the game. I'm not suggesting that players be rude or cold to each other, just that you try to keep things focussed, especially if it is not your turn.

I'm against the idea of timed turns or death clocks because they severely hurt certain armies that take a long tome to move, whilst benefiting armies that have either a low model count or dont rely on manoeuvre.
E.g. Deathwing can get through their turns much faster than a Nid horde. IG can realistically ignore the movement phase and the assault phase for most of the game. If you know you are a slow player, then work on getting faster between now and the big day.

[ashmie]

Can I just say its this kind of play that put me off the hobby. No disrespect to you guys as you're all great people one to one and I enjoy gaming with you. But I wanted to mention a few things.
1: not everyone is great with numbers and laws of averages therefore it takes us longer to look up things and harder to commit things to memory
2: this kind of pressure ain't fun or enjoyable
3: I like to talk to my opponent and enjoy the time spent, isn't it social more than anything?
4: yes I agree its good to know the rules but not everyone has time to read it cover to cover again and again, inside out.
5: I don't like being told what to do most of the time but I tolerate it in life at work/home etc. In gaming? No, it shouldn't be so strict I feel.

That said I won't be there this year due to parents visit but I thought you might value my opinion on why I don't play tournaments and why I wargame less these days.
Cheers. Play nice.

[ashmie]

To be fair there was a time in 2010 I could play a game in 2.5 hours but not now. I guess if you have been practising once or twice a month you should be fine.
When I only get to play two or three times a year it's not a reality unfortunately. Anyway, have a good one I'm sure it will be a blast.