"How long is your game?" Topic

Some games are short and some games are long. Both are good.

What is the average time you spend on a game from "Let' set the table up" until "if only I had advanced on the left".

Have your games got longer or shorter as a result of illness or age?

By "average" I mean your expectation of the time you set aside.
There is no "aimed for" result of this conversation.

Thanks

martin

Some games are short and some games are long. Both are good.

What is the average time you spend on a game from "Let' set the table up" until "if only I had advanced on the left".

Have your games got longer or shorter as a result of illness or age?

By "average" I mean your expectation of the time you set aside.
There is no "aimed for" result of this conversation.

Thanks

martin

Gosh! That multiplied.

martin

A month, I can set up a Napoleonic game and keep it up as long as needed. I play solo so it's not fast. And sadly haven't had one in a long time.

My "Average" game is about 4hrs with set up and take down. Long game is just lots of 3 to 4 hrs sessions back to back taking months at 1 game a week.

Probably 4 hours. Sometimes a bit shorter, sometimes a bit longer. The club is open 4-10pm,and I can get there at the start.
I can't remember the last time I had to call a game.

anything over two hours is too long these days

Games at my place (2-5 players) are timed from arrival to leaving of players, usually that is 10:30-17:00 so 6.5 hours. Set up is done the day before and takes from 1-3 hours depending on the game then an hour for take down.

That includes a chat while the players are arriving, catching up with news etc. We take a lunch break away from the table too. Playing time is probably 4.5 to 5 hours. Usually get a conclusion agreed on but getting better at scenarios that actually finish in that time.

Yesterday's game was a BBB 4-hander and that ran the full 10 turns with a definite conclusion. BBB games fit our time constraints quite well now that we are all familiar with the rules.

I want my games to last about two hours. One of the things I don't care for in full 40K and AoS is the long games. I'll do Combat Patrol, Spearhead, Kill team, etc.

We played DBM regularly on Friday nights for years, often playing 3-4 hours, but gave it up 7-8 years ago to play DBA games at 45 minutes apiece, maybe 2-3 games in a night, or skirmish games that would take under 2 hours. Spending 4+ hours on a single game isn't as attractive anymore.

I will still play Napoleonic games using Napoleons Battles where we will go 8-12 hours of gaming time, usually over two days, but I am usually ready to pack it in and move on to another game 2/3 of the way through.

Hows does the number of players affect your game length?
How late into the night do you play?

martin

4-5 hours including set-up and take-down. We used to play one 4 hour game. Brake for a late lunch and then do a 2 hour game, but we're getting too old to for this.

I try for a 4 hour game, plus maybe an hour set-up and take down each. At my home, I often leave it set up until next game.

A full day around 7 to 8 hours.

Usually 4-6 hours is the longest I can get a commitment from players for.

I ran one game over a period of around 8-10 hours on Saturday, and the following Sunday, making it a two-day affair. This was for a 12-foot by 30-foot table setup, for gaming with Army Men: beach landing, up a hill to attack a city and a train arriving with relief troops and equipment. Most of my players bowed out at the conclusion of Saturday, but two die-hards showed up the next day to finish it. What a meat grinder! The attacker won a pyrrhic victory, but it was an incredibly fun, epic game! Cheers!

Since most conventions set a 4-hour time span for games, that's what most of mine are. But lately we've been doing Commands and Colors games and can normally get two into a less than 3-hour block by playing a scenario then switching sides and playing it again.

Jim

At a con, my games go about 4 hours set up to take down,

At home, a bit longer, say 5.5 hours.

It really depends. Most of my local gaming is probably done in 2 to 3 hour blocks. A 4 hour block at cons. Sometimes my son and I will throw a quick skirmish game together and be done in about an hour. Those games are more about spending time with my son.

30-60 mins set up – 3-4 hours play – 30 mins pack up

3 to 4 hours for playing and takedown. Sometimes that will include setup. That is for the weeknight games.

Weekend games can go longer depending on how the game goes.

3-4 hours for a Con game. About the same on a Friday night club game.

Goal for years was two hours or less for an "away game" which might be flipped and repeated. Home games are more like an afternoon or evening.

I am simply not interested in long games. Bums me out at conventions that so many are 4 hours or more! I like my games to be up to 2 hours with maybe a half hour added for set up.

3-5 hours for us too, but it very much depends on the players and type of game!

Our group plays from about 12-4 once a week. In the beginning we would adjudicate victory at the end of the game but have now gone to 2 or 3 sessions until a decision is clearly reached. I don't like short games (c. 2 hours) but often find myself bored by a multi-session game. Perhaps it is the 30 minute dash down and up the Interstate of Possible Death before and after the game that wearies me.

I normally set the table before the game, at home. It can take several hours.
Then games last 4 or 7 hours and rarely (not enough) over 2 meetings
I went to miniatures for the beauty and flexibility of it, and History. No fantasy in historical disguise.

Longer. Set up takes a long time. But I don't do it all at once, I take my time.

With fast short games one can have the players swop sides and play it again. This is often a lot of fun.

Most games are from 3 1/2 to 4 hours and usually last for 6 or less turns. I've also played in games that have taken less than 1 hour and that sometimes two games can be played in an hour. It all depends on the number of players, their familiarity with the rules, the rules complexity, number of units each player is handling, and how many players are into "analysis paralysis." I just played a game tonight with one player per side that lasted 6 full turns and 3 1/2 hours that was also played 10 days before with 2 players per side with the same number of turns in 4 hours.

Club games, two hours, maybe two and a half tops including setup. Games at shows or conventions, whatever the allocated time slot is.

Remote games we usually do as two one and a half hour sessions as they are so exhausting to run. I can take all day to set up hose up though.

All day games take all day. Do those once a month.

Something I'd like to add, connecting to something others have said. For the full time frame to include set up and takedown, away games are very different from home. At home I can leave it up until I feel like/have time for taking it down. Especially for an away game I try to minimize setup and takedown time because I want more time for gameplay.

It usually takes a week to set up a historical game board and flesh out the troops, then 3 weekends and quite a few evenings to play it out. But takedown can be just a few hours.

Last few years, it would be about 4 hours between cons and local gaming group. Local gaming group we meet at 1700 Sundays, eat dinner and kibbitz, then game until NLT than 2130, so we're out of the house by 2200. Gets any longer, and there's hell to pay going to work on Monday. About once a year, we've been able to set up and play a big 6-8 hour game.

pjm

I have to admit I am astonished by the range of the replys. No wonder there is such differences in rules gieven the range of ideal game lengths extolled.

0 hours.

It dawned on me a few years ago that the worst part of wargaming was playing games: they had become either irritating, boring or both. Most of my enjoyment came from collecting and painting the toys, so I just do that now. When I've had my fun, they go on ebay.

I would say 2.5-4.0 hours. I like games that set up relatively quickly, and rules that don't bog down. I'm a fan of Daniel Mersey and David Manley games. They explain easily and play quickly. But everyone has a good time.

A good conversation (so far).
No one lecturing on the "correct" game length. Thank you.
Lots of information and even a few surprises.

martin

Depends, a few hours to many hours,

Tally Ho!

2-3 hours usually for club night games, 5-7 hours when I was running big games with the NWS.

one hour

You know, this is one of those times where I'm not sure "average" is useful. Game length should be contingent on number of players, available time and such. As noted, with a single opponent short on time, I've geared games for an hour or two on a card table. But I've also played two-day games on humongous permanent boards with about 20 players. Everything depends on circumstances.

(Just finished The Notebook whose author helpfully tells me that the average estate in Renaissance Florence involved about 18 books. But does this mean pretty much everyone had between 15 and 25, or that most people had one or two, and one dead princeling had 5,000? I don't need "average:" I need a distribution curve.)

4-6 hours for me these days including set-up and breakdown.

I used to do games that lasted over several sessions but the problem was that some players lost interest over a couple weeks.