Looking to throw together a makeshift game

[teacherdan]

So I'm one of the new guys. As I wrote in my introduction, I'm a teacher. Next week I'll be teaching a Military History elective for 2 hours each morning to about 20 11-year olds.

I'm going to introduce them to Wings of Glory as well as Ships of Glory. I have a full WoG game, six British planes, six German planes, as well as some WoG playing experience.

On the SoG front, not so much. I have five French and five British ships. I've downloaded a set of the rules from the Ares site.

I think I can pull off a simplified version of the game, though I have to teach it to myself this weekend. Que up my 12 year old son to help with that.

I'm looking for any additional thoughts or ideas on how ways to organize a game with the resources I have.

Thanks,

Dan

[Andy Blozinski]

Only use the Basic rules. You might want to get something to color code ships as well.

[7eat51]

I agree with Andy. With the time allotted, age, and number of players, I would keep it quite simple. Stick with choosing the maneuver card each turn, and not have them plan a card ahead. Keep to ball ammo, one sail setting, no terrain obstacles, etc.

Two areas you might want to review are taken aback and collisions. If you have any questions on these, let us know.

Warn them that SoLs can give quite the beating to frigates.

[The Royal Hajj]

I would suggest dropping collisions entirely. Not only can they be confusing to figure out movement wise, kids of that age can only be expect to star ramming each other on purpose... regardless of who it actually hurts. lol

For Taken aback, they will find it much easier to remember if you tell them "Number one comes out the front, and number two comes out the back!" LOL Seriously, it works for adults as well.

[teacherdan]

Thanks for the advice. Point taken for just choosing one maneuver card at a time, though they quickly got the hang of choosing three cards for WoG. I really have to teach myself to play this weekend, before I teach the kids to play. :) I think some selected scenes from Hornblower or from Master and Commander are in order. :)

[7eat51]

Thanks for the advice. Point taken for just choosing one maneuver card at a time, though they quickly got the hang of choosing three cards for WoG. I really have to teach myself to play this weekend, before I teach the kids to play. :) I think some selected scenes from Hornblower or from Master and Commander are in order. :)

I find that the three cards in WoG have a different feel than the one planned-ahead card in SoG. It's kind of weird. Maybe it is because in WoG there is less to think about and less to check each maneuver, even when playing with altitude. Additionally, in a con game when you have limited time, or in your case with the class, pausing each turn to plan can slow the game down, especially with folks that lack a decent level of experience with the game. At least in WoG, once the maneuvers are selected, there are back-to-back moves without planning. Each passing year will see more experienced players than the year before, so it will become easier to run more complex games when the clock is ticking.

[Пилот]

Dan, I appreciate your effort

[Capn Duff]

With this many ships and players you will be surprised just how easily it is to get the manoeuvre cards mixed up.
I would suggest not only colour coding the ships as has been suggested but also each manoeuvre deck to match it's ship.
I use a stick on coloured dot with a number.
Red dot numbered 1-9 for each of my 9 a British frigates
Orange dot British SoL
Yellow dot French SoL
Green dot French Frigates
It's then easy between scenarios just to gather all cards with same colour and number.
To use this though I would advise to sleeve your cards to protect against unwanted marks.

[teacherdan]

Thanks for the suggestion Capn Duff. I think I'll give that a try.

[fredmiracle]

With this many ships and players you will be surprised just how easily it is to get the manoeuvre cards mixed up.

I noticed that too. I've been playing some 4 on 4 games, and I thought I had a really good system (although it does take a lot of table space) and no problems. But after ~3 games I realized my maneuver decks had become noticeably scrambled and I had to count through all the cards to get them fixed up. Thank goodness they are numbered!

[7eat51]

I use the following system for marking my decks: T (for my last name) Letter (for given maneuver deck) Number (for a given maneuver set), e.g. TA1 and TA2 would be two A maneuver decks. I have a sheet with each maneuver deck and the number of cards in that deck. I have noticed a couple of benefits: 1) while playing, it is easy to see if you have a wrong card in your deck, 2) after the game, it is easy to check for a full deck. At a gathering, if more than one person supplies decks, my last initial takes care of that.

[teacherdan]

The kids really enjoyed playing my modified version of SoG. The concept of not sailing into the wind was a little too much, but all in all it was a huge success. No surprises here, they also really enjoyed playing WoW.

[Nightmoss]

The kids really enjoyed playing my modified version of SoG. The concept of not sailing into the wind was a little too much, but all in all it was a huge success. No surpass here, they also really enjoyed playing WoW.

Good to hear! Future sailors need early recruitment and it's a physical game (not some video or pc game).