Rome wasn't played in a day…

[Angel Barracks]

What sort of planning goes into your games?

When coming up with a scenario I look at what the next logical step is in the campaign.
So the last game had one side extract a person with intel on the other side, they are now going to act on that intel.
In this case that means checking out some weapons caches.

For the scenario I made a weapons dump model and wrote the scenario and sorted the table set up.

For some scenarios I look at what terrain I have not used yet, and write a scenario so that I get to use it. (nothing pains me like spending 366 days on a terrain piece and never using it)
For other scenarios I don’t have the terrain I need, so I make it.
For some scenarios I don’t have enough stuff painted, so I paint up what I need.

I never try to put myself in a position where whatever needs to be done will take more than two weeks though. (try)

What sort of prep do you do in readiness for the next game?

https://cromsanvil.co.uk/

[Mr. Average]

I don’t, or at least I so far haven’t, played any long campaigns, except solitaire. In such exercises, though, I generally consider each event to effect the event that follows it. Particularly interesting parts of one game suggest the outline of the next one. As you mention terrain, having a modular set makes this much easier, as I like to have a “theater” of conflict which helps form a structure for a campaign narrative.

[Angel Barracks]

Need not be a campaign, many gamers seem to get inspired something they read or saw and decide they want to game it as a one off.
In such circumstances, how much effort will you go to, in order to play that game?

https://cromsanvil.co.uk/

[Ivan Sorensen]

I do very very little prep work. Grab the stuff we need, put it on the table and go.

If we’re doing a campaign, we tend to usually know what is going to happen. If not, sketch out the 3 most likely events and roll randomly.

We almost always adapt it to the terrain and miniatures we have available though.

With the people I hang out with, too much prep work = game ends up not happening because someone gets distracted with something else 🙂

Nordic Weasel Games
https://www.wargamevault.com/browse/pub/5701/Nordic-Weasel-Games?src=browse5701

[Norm S]

My prep can include all or none of;

check the rules and read any notes that I made last time

plan both the terrain and forces to give some balance,

I like a one paragraph intro that sets the scene and I will often put together a scenario card with forces and map printed on it.

make or get anything I need to make the table work – so if I need more road I get some or make some – I will not put spaghetti  down or some-such and pretend its a road.

[Steve Johnson]

For BKCII games I will broadly do the following:

• Get inspiration from somewhere, such as a book, film, chat with a friend etc. As an example I decided a month or so ago to start a little solo AVBCW campaign, linked in with a long running campaign that I have been involved in.
• So I dug out my map of Bristol and surroundings circa 1910 to decide where to play the game.
• Having found an area that fitted in with terrain that I have, it gave me other ideas on how the campaign might unfold.
• To kick things off there will be a seaborne invasion around Aust on the River Severn, with other scenarios based upon land and airborne drops. With three possible scenarios already the working title is Operation Trident (which will probably change due to the nature of the Police version).
• I then start to draft a map of the table, based upon the real map as mentioned above.
• With table broadly sorted, I will come up with two OOB for both sides. This will go through several drafts until I come up with something that I’m happy with and know should give a good balanced game, but also ties in with the campaign.
• As an example the seaborne forces will only have light tanks and armoured cars as they have no ability to unload anything heavier. Conversely the land based force will have all the heavy kit.
• With the scenario sorted out campaign sketched out, it is then a case of play the game and repeat the above until it reaches its natural conclusion.

I tend to do this for most games, but especially for BKCII that benefits this level of prep IMHO.

[Shandy]

I love writing scenarios, so I read about the history, browse scenario books (like the fabulous Grant volumes) etc.

I’ll sometimes paint up special units or build terrain, but normally the process is the other way round: I want to make some terrain I’ve seen or read about, and then try to think of a scenario where I can use it. E.g. I’ve just had the idea of building a Murray semaphore used by the British in the Napoleonic Wars, so I’ll think of how it could be included in a game. Or I get inspired by some old packaging material to make a sci-fi structure and then think how it could be used for a scenario.

My blog: http://wargamingraft.wordpress.com

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