I will be doing some Demo versions tonight and tomorrow and posting the videos up

looking forward to it

An old White Dwarf battle report staple was to sum up the battle plan of each player before play started, and then they would critique how well they felt the plan worked at the end. Really helped the reader understand why they made the choices they did. Could work for you as well.

I did enjoy the fact that they did that.

I will work on this. . .

I will work on a outline of what I will be doing. Keep the info coming. It helps fill in the puzzle that is in my head

Hey Ly,

I think you're asking the right questions. Best of luck to you. I'm glad to see someone thoughtful looking for real knowledge.

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This idea is truly great for helping people become better players. Also not too hard.

The main thing about video to me is this: Is what I get from this being a video much more value than what I'd get from reading a long post? Or just even voice only?

I think some pics and some text does fine.

Though, on camera you can be funny and entertaining and certainly people will like that.

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I'd say go for what's possible to do that won't strain you:

I wouldn't show every attack and ship or roll. Just sum it up, maybe put in a few shots for important rolls of stuff going down. Even, just taking the footage from the setting dials phase is pretty cool.

I'd put more effort into getting footage on squadron tactics and how that's done. Most people are pretty clueless on that.

I watch a lot of Warmachordes battle reports, and my favourite are "Advanced Maneuvers".

I find these so much more valuable due to the format. Each turn is narrated by that player after the game, and goes through their thought processes as they played their turn at the time, explaining what they planned to do, why, and what they did wrong (if anything) with the benefit of hindsight. It's helped me a lot in becoming a better player.

The issue there of course is that it requires both players to take time doing it, which might not be practical. However, even narrating just your turns this way and providing an overview of the opponents actions (not thinking) would be great.

I was planning to try some in this very format as soon as i move house and my gaming room is up and running. First time i've owned my own place so now i can have a full on nerd cave

Thank you all for the insight. Please keep it coming.

Here is the outline so far that I think can work though it needs to be fleshed out.

Pregame:

1) List overview

2) Objective selection

3) Obstacle placement & Fleet Deployment

4) Battle Plans

In Game:

1) Cap Ship attacks

2) Squadron resolution

3) Turn Overview

Post Game:

1) Winner review

a. What went well

b. What could have gone better

c. MVP

2) Loser review

a. What went well

b. What could have gone better

c. MVP

I watch a lot of Warmachordes battle reports, and my favourite are "Advanced Maneuvers".

I find these so much more valuable due to the format. Each turn is narrated by that player after the game, and goes through their thought processes as they played their turn at the time, explaining what they planned to do, why, and what they did wrong (if anything) with the benefit of hindsight. It's helped me a lot in becoming a better player.

The issue there of course is that it requires both players to take time doing it, which might not be practical. However, even narrating just your turns this way and providing an overview of the opponents actions (not thinking) would be great.

I was planning to try some in this very format as soon as i move house and my gaming room is up and running. First time i've owned my own place so now i can have a full on nerd cave

I watched an episode of Advanced Maneuvers. I like the concept and idea. They seem to have the game on a .5 speed increase which is good but it seems they have a studio or place to record voice overs and their stationary camera is just that. I would have to say I like the layout that Advanced Maneuvers has but I will have to learn to do more editing and I will need to find someone to assist me in creating some graphics, an intro, and outro. . . so much work to do. . .

I dont think it's a studio, just a quiet room where they rewatch the game. Stationary camera is just a high angled tripod i expect.

Oh yeah...i forget to mention the speed up. I think it works really well, stops the report from dragging too badly.

It would work well for a game where you move things on your side before the opponent. A bit ok for Armada and other alternate activation games.

I will try a few variants.

Something like this would be nice to do but that is more for narrative purposes. . . I would like to do the Layout for shields, health, etc. . . Hmmmm

Thoughts?

I found this one to be very entertaining and easy to follow

I found this one to be very entertaining and easy to follow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf1URyqPAtU

I don't know if I can be as much of a minimalist. . . I would want to show Vassal ship models with shield values. . . And speed and hull remaining. . .

I think then you'll lose people, 10-15 minutes for a 2 hour battle is about what I want to see. (Try watching an X-Wing feed for 2 hours of play, its 1.5 hours of dull.)

The thing about a battle report is it is more concerned with the pregame strategies, and then high level tactics.

If you do a player interview at the end of each turn you could ask "Why did you activate the Nebulon first this turn?" or if you see that something could use more explanation you could then zoom in the detail. "Now as the Imperial Player had a Maneuver Command he was able to speed up to 2 and make a yaw on speed 1 and 2, thus getting a possible front and side shot on the Corvette next turn."

The thing is, if I am watching a battle report I am looking for was to improve my play, not learn how to play, so the thing I am trying to take from the video is why not how.

I can see a 25 to 30 minute video at best but that is only if I am just putting the camera up and letting it roll (which I can't due to size of my memory card)

I think either 10-15 minutes, either 25-30 is good. The former can be informative, the second format can be more enterainment-like.

Another thought is compiling battle reports in a quantitative data format, such as what Sozin and MajorJuggler do for X-Wing tournaments.

What would help is a standard list format, and then columns for MoV, initiative, and objective. Doesn't Fab have a code for the builds?

Matt Biggs did a nice clear battle report recently that could be worth a look. It's not a video, but could give an indication of what sort of information to include on a turn by turn basis.

http://xwingtactics.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/vassalaarRound1.html

Here's a sneak preview

At this point what I suspected was confirmed - Big Boy was the Most Wanted objective chosen by godofcheese, and his flagship - the one furthest from the battle - was the other objective. My plans remained unchanged - Big Boy needed to survive for me to win.


The first turn had our ships making their initial maneuvers, moving along and into position.

End of Turn 1 - My Assault Frigate and escorts move down through the obstacles, while his forces turn in to catch them. My squadrons head out unsupported to harass the Victorys.
I had the Tantive moving at speed 3 in the hopes that it could turn inside the VSDs, or force them to turn in through the rocks to take a shot on it. Big Boy slowed down slightly, to put some distance between himself and the Gladiator.



End of Turn 2 - The VSDs had made hard turns to engage the rebel fleet. The Gladiator had changed his direction, angling to avoid the trap I had been setting for it with the corvettes.

Great for Vassal, not so good for IRL