"Best Rules for a Convention Game" Topic

As my club starts gearing up for our yearly project, the question of convention games comes up.

I'm wondering which rules were favorites to play- not because they were the most accurate or realistic, but because six people could sit down, get playing, and not start staring off into the distance while the play centered around one or two people.

Thanks-

B.

The Sword and the Flame.

Any particular genre, or are you just looking for any rules that are good for conventions? I like games at a convention where you can get the rules fairly quickly and get to the fun. You only have a few hours to draw them in and make it a rewarding experience. If the first hour is just explaining the rules- ugh.

Air- Check Your Six- fairly quick to pick up and fun.
Naval- Naval Thunder- Also a fast to pick up game that gives enough of a naval feel to make real tactics effective, but not so detailed that the first time someone shoots you spend 10 minutes cross referencing charts.
Space- Starmada. It works for just about anything and is fast to play. Also a vote for Full Thrust, which has the added benefit of being free.

I also like the various Epic derived Commander games- Cold War Commander, Brigade Commander and Future Commander. Fun, you can move a lot of units, and there are real tactics and strategy involved.

John/Winston nailed it.

Rick

For skirmishing, try something fast and loose like Astounding Tales for an adventure type game. For more stand up fight, try my current favorite hobby horse, 5 Core.

Thanks for the feedback. So far my best experiences have been Commands and Colors, Aerodrome and the Battlegroup set. I just hate to run a game and have five people waiting for one person to do something.

I have TSatF, I should give it a better look…

B.

AirWar C21 for modern jet combat.

Canvas Eagles and Knight's Cross, free rules, for WWI and WWII aerial combat.

The older version(s) of Full Thrust for Spaceship combat.

I am going to vote against TSATF for a convention game. I have never played a TSATF convention game in which players didn't sit around with their thumbs up their butt for half an hour to an hour, every single turn. If you do use TSATF, you need to modify it so everyone on the red side moves a unit on a red card, etc. so players can actually play the game (and avoid five people watching one guy do something).

I think Volley and Bayonet works well for big battle horse and musket games.

Wings of War is good for air-to-air games.

TS&TF even though you can have a lot of down time waiting for your card to come up.

…you need to modify it so everyone on the red side moves a unit on a red card, etc.

If you do that then you can just have an initiative roll and only need cards for firing. I guess you can do away with cards for firing too, but would you still be playing TS&TF or something different?

Look at games with reaction mechanics – Chain Reaction, Force On Force, Operation Squad. I really prefer this sort of game to any other, for the reasons discussed above: everybody is involved all the time, because you have to pay attention to what's happening on both sides so you can react to it. Sitting in a crappy plastic chair while my opponent agonizes over his options for an hour is boring to the point where it's almost not worth playing some games now.

Dont forget 'Wings of Glory' for WW1!

Pulp Alley, as even if its not your turn you are keenly watching what the other players are up to. Good fun too with not much need to look up rules once you have played a few games.

akulasrules.blogspot.co.uk

Check out Akulas rules. Brilliant for conventions if you also want bystanders to get in on the game.

Empire III

That's just mean.

Silent death, space fighter combat, quick and fun with some great rules intended for convention use, plus quick and easy to paint up.

Phil

For WW II Rapid Fire works great. Been using for years at conventions.

I would humbly disagree on TSATF lagging. The key is manageable scenarios. Each player with a unit or two at most. We have some great GMs in HMGS-South so may be the difference but all the games of TSATF I have played have moved along at a pretty good clip.

Mark!

The key to TSATF as a convention game is indeed scenario design. But, isn't that the key for EVERY game?
One assumes that in an open convention game that some will not know the rules and must be taught. If you want to do Omdurman then some players will indeed have time to go for lunch and get new tires put on the car. So limit the players to 2 or 3 units at most and limit the number of players.
It's not that difficult.

Any game can be abused by a GM with megalomania.
And even Empire V can be dumbed down for tyros to handle a brigade and have fun. Reduce it to pure tactics and it's a cinch.

LoTr would be a nice game as well

DBM ;)

The Sword and The Flame is a great convention game for several reasons. the colonial period offers a plethora of different armies, figures and colors. It lends itself to movie scenarios best. Many gamers are familiar with movies like Gunga din, khartoum and The Wind and the Lion and so there is an immediate connection. Scenarios are limitless. The game master has to design one that allows everyone to be involved from the get go. I modify my games by giving everyone no more than 3 units, usually 2, and allowing players to move their commands when they get their card. For example I give a Zulu player an Iviyo of 3 units that he can move on one card, speeding up the movement portion of the game. In the shooting phase we stay with the original rule. Another thing we do is to have 2 gm's. each working a different end of the table. Usually action gets separated by distance, and each GM handles this separately, thus players are always engaged. Then we throw in humorous and interesting twists that keep players involved. Even when they are not moving or shooting players are watching to see what happens with these twists and turns. Lastly, our games last no more than 4 hours, so there is little time for down time.

I didn't catch which era you wanted to game but the Carnage & Glory II computer moderated rules work well for conventions. I just finished running the ACW version at a Con this weekend. Since the computer does all the work there are no rules are tables to consult. No time interpreting dice rolls. The players spend their time moving and shooting. There is one chart for movement distances and one for fire ranges. One page! Not much down time even for a you go/I go system since fire is resolved simultaneously. I did two four hour sections of 6 players each. They have versions for TYW/ECW, GNW, WSS, SYW/AWI, Napoleonic, ACW and Franco Prussian.