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| My view before deployment (which he zoomed in a bit and I blew up to full screen during the game). |
This time Rob was hosting and the technical improvement in clarity and dependability vs 8 years ago would be amazing if we weren't accustomed to that sort of continual change and improvement in technology.
Rob has covered the game in two blog posts on his Sharp End of the Brush blog.
This one is an illustrated account of the battle (click).
This one is a commentary on the how and reflections from players' perspective (click).
The game was a good one and he kept me in a constant state of tension, aware of how quickly my line could collapse and of how little I had to counterattack with once I had committed my reserves. Fortunately for me I have played the scenario dozens of times in the last 40 years and it was his first go at it as a player and I have a little bit more experience with the rules as well.
My experience with the scenario is that despite the need for haste, it pays the attacker to deploy a good part of the army before attacking. The instinct of course is to throw units in as they come up but that has yet to work well for me though the last time I tried it, the game ended in an 11th hour Pyhrric victory for the attacker, so it can work.
I must say though, that in this game, Rob had some of the most consistently bad saving roles that I've ever witnessed! I did help average out those odds though by hitting and saving with slightly above average success on my dice.
The next game will probably be a 16thC one. I really need to improve my setup before I host another game though, better lighting in my room at the very least, (which I hope to achieve by summer) but a better webcam would also be really good. <Update: actually, a quick tests suggests my LG smart phone might be up to it after all>
Now, I have a new glossy toy soldier Rebel limber that needs its baptism of fire so I need to think about a scenario.
The Fog of War effect caused by the static camera is interesting - perhaps a third person should move the figures with both players only seeing the battlefield via web-cams? Would need a lot more organization, AND a third man!
ReplyDeleteActually I had a pretty good view and Rob could zoom in and out when needed though it wasn't. Having 40mm figures on a smallish table helped.
ReplyDeleteAs Ross says, we have certainly moved the cameras around when needed to recreate what an “in person” player could see when necessary. Ross’s army moved no more than a few inches during the battle, though, so it wasn’t necessary.
ReplyDeleteThe commander’s eye view game would be interesting, but possibly played out over a longer time period as a turn-based event. Talking to each of the separate players (presumably not at the same time to preserve the fog) would make each player’s session of somewhat unpredictable duration while the other player was sitting by his device waiting for a call-back. I suppose one could get a little painting done...
A single general would have helped. You’d have then needed a bit of luck to get through your army in two cards, or else commit hold cards if available,
ReplyDelete