Oh the humanity!

[jodiepascal]

So last night, at our regular weekly WoW league, I was given the chance to premier a scenario that I had written. While at home writing it I was very pleased with the way it felt and could even picture it in my mind, but once I arrived at the Friendly Local Game Store...Lets just say that this did not go as planned.

It was the usually mix of our regular players plus a few new people, which was great as I did not go into many advanced rules in the scenario.

While the scenario had several components to it, none of them were overly complicated, but neither side seemed to listen to instructions very well and a few of the components were muddled and lost in the confusion.

Once gameplay actually started I had envisioned the Central Empires players, whose job it was to escort a two seater into Allied territory and take some Recon Photos of a trenchline then safely escort it back off the table, working together and supporting their fellow planes to acheive the victory conditions...:mad: In reality what transpired was a chaotic dogfight with every man for himself. The two-seater Roland (with a fantastic repaint, if I do say so myself :D) actually made it to the trenchline and managed to get a photo of one of them, although he was completely alone and dogged by several Allied fighters. After the Roland fell the blood bath continued and the Central Empires players slaughtered the remaining Allied planes.

All in all I hope everyone had fun, but I am curious to know from my fellow forum members and pilots how you are able (if at all) to make players work together as if they were all actually on the same side....?

I will post the full scenario soon for you to critique.

Until then, keep your eyes on the skies!

[LazyEyedPsycho]

I've found the easiest way to get the players "on side" is to make victory conditions based on the scenario only. "2 seater you had to escort got shot down but you took out all the allied fighters... Sorry, you loose."

The last game I ran had a German 2 seater getting jumped by some Snipes with a Fokker Triplane racing to the rescue. It was make up on the fly so the special rules where pretty.

Set up - 2 seater starts in the middle of the play area facing the defenders edge, with one engine damaged result. 2 Snipes set up at least 6 inches behind the 2 seater. Triplane is off board.

At the begining of the 2nd turn draw an "A" card for where the Triplane enters the playing area. 1 = left side, 2 = right side, 3 = defenders side, 4 = defender picks, 5 = attacker picks.

The defender wins if the 2 seater makes it off the board. Attacker wins if the 2 seater is shot down.

[Oberst Hajj]

I've found that if they don't want to really play as a team, they will not. The best way to get them to, is to run a campaign where the outcome of each mission effects what they can do next mission. That way they are vested in the outcome.


a Fokker Triplane racing to the rescue

That one had me laughing!

[Charlie3]

First thanks for running the game last night, second the scenario was great, and remember you can't guess what the pilots will do. Just like in real life sometimes when the combat starts the training and plans go right out the window!

Actually I thought the German players did fairly well until the fantastically re-painted two seater strayed from the agreed upon plan, and lost his escorts.

Don't get discouraged

[KirkH]

OK, that's twice the "fantastically repainted" Roland has been mentioned. Is there a way to post some photos? You guys just can't bait us by telling us how great it looks and not show it to us!!!!

[Oberst Hajj]

OK, that's twice the "fantastically repainted" Roland has been mentioned. Is there a way to post some photos? You guys just can't bait us by telling us how great it looks and not show it to us!!!!

I'm with him!

[Charlie3]

If you have seen the Rolland with the pink and green paint job and sharks mouth listed as UNKNOWN PILOT you know which model plane he HAD to repaint. He simply re-colored the pink areas with the purple that seems so common on german aircraft...so the "fantastically repainted" comment was rather tounge in cheek. It does look much better and has cut down on the sexual orientation jokes!

[jodiepascal]

I'll get some pics as soon as I can. Maybe Charlie can help me out...