"Planning convention and show Games" Topic

I sat down last night to start to plan the games that I am putting on in 2016, and 2017.

Is this normal?

2016 looks pirate-y (a very big 28mm multi pirate ship, treasure island, Governors mansion, trading port, silver mine, plantations, and possibly southern American ruins kind of game…) played to yet un-designed D6 based rules.

2017 looks like a one/three scale skirmish game based on the battle on the ice… lots of knights, Russians, dismounted and mounted Druzhina, and hordes of spear carriers.. on a six by eight snow board.. with cracking ice plates.

I am probably only taking the games to two or three shows tops?… and it will cost me at least a thousand quid for figures…

Wow. It's not my normal. My planning usually is right after the current show ends, I start plannin for the next. So that is probably just four months beforehand, and it usually involves putting on games with stuff I currently have in my collection, though there have been times when I've used it to spur me to finish painting something that's been sitting around to long.
I am working on the HMGS-East show cycle, so I usually just take a scenario to only one of the cons, but sometimes I'll re-run it at two of them. And, I'm usually running three different games per con.

and it will cost me at least a thousand quid for figures…

I wish I had a a thousand quid to spend on figures …

I don't… I will have to sell stuff to buy stuff…

Quite normal Maddazz111 I'm already working on fall 2015-2016 season games and have Salute 2017 in pre-production/ concepts.

Like yourself this has to be somewhat self funding.

So good luck and keep the faith.
Regards
Guy T
Taylor's Crew

I don't… I will have to sell stuff to buy stuff…

I'm afraid I really don't understand that logic!

I started planning my game for Recon 2015 in Orlando, prior to Hurricon 2014 and then continued after the con. I try to coordinate with friends to arrange our games on one table all weekend and to share figures. This allows us to run larger games.

Three words: Keep it simple. You are in a chaotic environment with a bunch of gamers that are eager to roll some dice. Complex scenarios or complicated rules won't work well from my experience. Modify or make the rules convention friendly.

I always write the rules to be different, and usually players against system/umpire..

normally fit on a play sheet (rules and objectives…)

yes my games are participation… you can turn up and play…

the logic of a participation game plan…

(there is no logic?)

Plan to do something you have not done for ages…/ ever? but have a little interest in…

build it, paint it, buy it, paint it, beg manufacturers to make, buy it, paint it, repaint it because someone changes colour schemes, rebase it, spend more money, still be painting and basing the day of the show.. sometimes blowing / hairdrying varnish at the show…

get so sick and fed up of…

Researching,
Planning,
Painting,
Basing,
Scenery building,
Rules Playtesting,

that you say.. I never want to see .. something .. like that again.. and you can then dump huge amounts of the previous game at the bring and buy..

Say that the next game is only going to be a small affair..

And then sit with mate (s) at pub, and someone says.. you know what would be cool…

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!

I tend to think a year or so ahead, for example I planned out my subject for the 2015 Naval Wargames Show during the 2014 event. I always make sure though that the subject is something that, should I need to buy extra stuff, is on my "to do" list anyway. And in the case of the 2015 game is the finalisation of a project that has been at various stages of back-burnerness for about 5 yeas or so

Maddaz111,

This is a big hobby that houses many different types of gamers. Honestly, I'm with MajorB in that I just don't get your logic.

But don't let that stop you, we each look for different things in this hobby and no one is wrong or right. I really wish I could play in your Battle of Lake Peipus game in 2017. I would then promptly put in an offer for all those Teutonics and Russians and fly them back safely to Canada. That way you can fund 2018.

Probably a good idea, if you have a lot to get together, prep, base, and paint, not to mention working out rules and the scenario(s) for the event.

Well, we all like a project, but what with this being a hobby and not a job, we all approach them in our own individual ways.

Anyway, we usually start planning next year's show game while running this years, although on odd occasions we have had two or even three years worth of games lined up. They are also all one offs, but tend not to be as toy intensive as Maddaz.

Excuse me, I just got back from the hospital from a heart attack when I read about spending a few thousand pounds on figures and selling off what one had to pay for it.

I understand the phenomenon. I know many model railroaders who will spend a decade on a layout getting it just right and perfect, and then bust it all up or sell it and make a new one starting from scratch..

I understand the phenomenon but I cannot internalize it.

I don't understand doing this just to show it at a convention for a few days and letting a few strangers play it, even a few friends and then selling it off. I understand in England you guys do conventions differently.

Are you selling these things off at a profit and making anything?

I tend to plan a year ahead, and will generally run 2-3 different games in the course of a year.

Whilst I might bring up to £10.00 GBPK worth of minis to a game*, I usually only spend £1.00 GBP-200 on the terrain for a specific game, and this generally tends to be recycled for future projects.

*Ancients in 28mm are an expensive mistress

"I understand the phenomenon but I cannot internalize it."

I am exactly the same when it come to writing rules. Once I've got a set which works I instantly lose interest and move onto something else.

'Solving the problem' is the fun bit, which is why increasingly for actual games I tend to play other peoples rules (with suitable tweaks:)

Dear Martin

I'm exactly the opposite. Once I got my rules to work well I moved on to another period and don't change anything.

I don't buy other people's rules. They're for them.

The scenario must be con friendly and fit in the time allowed. If it does and allows players to get involved immediately, the rules don't need to be changed. Rules should not be ponderous and as many gamers may not have played them, simple and easy to explain, or able to be played with charts only.

Looking back, I started planning for my event for Cold Wars 2014 back in April 2012. I also was starting completely from scratch.

I'm hoping a year off from running a game at the con will inspire me to start another project, which means I won't get to run that until 2017.

I'm with Chris. I start planning for my next convention right after my last one. Sometime on Saturday night of the current Con. I also sell stuff to make money for the years convention. I get a good % of my money back and sometimes I make good money so it's not a loss.

I have never ran a con game with rules that I haven't made up or altered for the con.

We have never put that amount of work into a game.

Right from the first show we ever did my group set out to produce the best looking game we could with what we had avilable in terms of the table layout.

So far we feel that only clubs that have spent Lord Knows how long on purpose built terrain to show a particular battle regulary top our display and that's not self praise, judging by the positive coments we have had over the years

Of course the quality of the figure painting helps but you would be amazed
what can be done if you take a bit of care in the presentation.

Lack of storage has meant we couldn't do built terrain even if we wanted too and we have deliberately chosen not to do 'real' battles to avoid showing something less than perfect with what we have, in terms of what the actual terrain may have looked like.

We always use new or recent commercial rule sets for whatever period we chose, generally with a twist or mods of our own to get people talking about the game but outside of two or three sakedown sessions on the theam we have chose for that year or event, that's about it!

All those who have the commitment to do more we salute and wonder where they get their time from!

Planning? What's that about?

Yep – fairly normal from my perspective.

John T

There again JT over the years your games have been anything but ."normal" . – In a good way! 😄