Leprecon II: Lessons learned

An aerial view of the battle of Corunna,

British forces holding the hills overlooking Elvina

I have been giving the games that were played over the weekend some thought and there is a great deal to be pleased about. The ever fickle convention going public were willing to give a strange game a try, though the Memoir '44 factor helped immensely. While there are significant differances between the two games, people who had played Memoir '44 knew the rough outlines of the game immediately and that it was short.

The great unwashed were far more likely to play a short game sight unseen than a long one.

Foy over at Prometheus in Aspic has spoken of the crispness of the turn sequence, which I think it one of the games major strengths. I wrote to Richard Borg, the creator of the game, some years ago to thank him for his work on Battle Cry and Memoir '44. I told him that there were games that one talks about and games that one plays. I own over a dozen rules systems, several which I believe are fine games. I have in the last six weeks played more Command & Colours: Napoleonics than any of those combined - the speed at which the game is played is probably the key factor in this.

But where was I?

Behold the offending bases

There were problems however, setting the battlefield up took far too long. This was nothing to do with terrain, which was relatively simple and rather a lot more to do with how I base my figures. A rebasing experiment some years ago left deep scars in my pysche and I vowed that I would never do such a thing again. As a result, I base my Napoleonics singly and place them on sabot bases as necessary. This has worked out rather well - I've used figures singly for Savage Worlds and then placed them on bases for En Avant! and Command&Colours: Napoleonics.

However, I store them in boxes without their sabot bases and the business of laboriously transfering single figures their sabot bases ate up valuable gaming time. Also because I was using En Avant! bases, infantry battalions were exactly inch too wide. This wasn't really an issue until players began to form lines whereupon it began to be a little unsightly.

The solution? Bespoke bases five inches wide by two deep.

There are two possibilities here, steel bases with magnetic material attached to the bottom or unadorned steel bases. One of the players, a phyicist who works with magnets has assured by that the magnetic material attached to the figures will hold the bases in place. He is however, an oaf, notorious for his drunken buffonery, so I haven't committed myself just yet.

Either way, I shall cut down setup time and get more time around the table.

Leprecon - Lessons learned

1. Casual players will play C&C: Napoleonics if you convince them that it is "...like Memoir '44". This is key to ensuring that there is a pool of players available, dearth of players is the death of many a game.

2. Set-up for my large scale C&C: Napoleonics set is too long, changes to basing will solve this.

3. Five inch hexes simply will not fit guns and gun teams, I will need to square this particular circle in order to field Horse Artillery.

4. Marking the sections of the battlefield with string is effective, but it isn't attractive. I am reluctant to permanently mark my mats, but it may have to come to that.