"Prepare for Battle?" Topic

With another Napoleonic game scheduled for this Thursday night, I found myself thinking about all the preparation that goes into a tabletop battle. Making mental checklists and ensuring everything is ready. As organiser and host, there's a lot to do.

This is a home game rather than a club night or convention game where the workload is often shared. In this case, virtually all the preparation falls to one person.

I'm not just talking about scenario design, orders of battle and historical research. That can take several hours spread over days or even weeks. There are also all the practical jobs:

Setting up terrain
Deploying units
Preparing player briefings
Printing maps and orders
Checking army lists
Finding markers, rulers and dice for those who don't bring any
Making sure everything is ready before the first player arrives so not a minute of precious gaming time is wasted

In my case, getting a game table ready can easily take an hour or more. Then there is the inevitable packing away afterwards!

How much preparation do you do before a game?

Do you enjoy the preparation as part of the hobby, or is it simply the price you pay to get figures onto the table?

And what preparation gives the biggest return? Historical research? Scenario design? Terrain? Player briefings? Or something else entirely?

How does your preparation time compare with your actual playing time?

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Now Im retired I enjoy the prep, particularly scenario research and design. I can also take my time setting up the table, which can easily take an hour or more. In a club setting it tends to be a lot more rushed.

I our group, it has always been down to one individual to do all the design and prep worh, we only do a team effort if it is a game for a show or something.

We'd generally play for rather longer than the setup and takedown time, but obviously it takes time to research and prepare the briefings etc,

When I'm hosting a game, in addition to the above I have to think about what I need to do to ensure player comfort during the game. This means making sure there's a clean bathroom handy, enough chairs, adequate space for folks to dump belongings, and tableware available for snacks or foods, drinks, providing trash and recycling recepticles, making space in a fridge for people bringing beers or sodas, plus setting up a coffee pot and cups. That all takes significant time and requires clean-up afterward.