Cooperative game : bigger table or more than 3x3 squares ?

[tercio]

Although I will often play solo, I think some friends should be interested in those rules. And I'd like to show them with cooperative playing. Then, should I play on bigger table or more than 3x3 squares ?

[atomicfloozy]

It depends on what you want to do - that being said, I've found that if you are each playing a band of 5 figures or less, then a 3'x3' is more than adequate. And regardless of table size, I would keep the 3x3 or 9 sector grid. Even when I've run convention games on an 8'x4' table, the 9 sector grid worked very well.

A rule of thumb I use for large games is that a player is more comfortable with 8" to 12" of table width in which to deploy his or her band. A 3'x3' table is easily large enough for three players on one side of the board. Of course I'm talking about the THW skirmish rules & 28mm figures for games from 5150 to Talomir Tales, NUTS!, Mission St. Mary, etc.

Anyway, play a few games on the standard size table first. The only reason for using a larger table is if you are using a ton of figures or you have more than 4 players total per side or you wish to spend much more time maneuvering troops.

Hope I don't sound to preachy, I've been ill. Anyway, tray the standard size first. It helps to have a good amount of terrain. In other words, if you roll a section to be woods, put more than one tree down.

[tercio]

It's clear Thanks a lot.

[TXWargamer]

Aug 7, 2020 9:29:26 GMT tercio said:

Although I will often play solo, I think some friends should be interested in those rules. And I'd like to show them with cooperative playing. Then, should I play on bigger table or more than 3x3 squares ?

I have always found the 3x3 the sweet spot. It give movement options but keeps the story and action moving. In fact many games now copy THW with smaller boards even many at 3x2. 

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

Aug 7, 2020 15:49:58 GMT TXWargamer said:

Aug 7, 2020 9:29:26 GMT tercio said:

Although I will often play solo, I think some friends should be interested in those rules. And I'd like to show them with cooperative playing. Then, should I play on bigger table or more than 3x3 squares ?

I have always found the 3x3 the sweet spot. It give movement options but keeps the story and action moving. In fact many games now copy THW with smaller boards even many at 3x2. 

Yep and copy Reaction Tests and copy... well, 

[claudiasboris]

One of the reasons I’ve started preferring 15mm is that you can play on a more condensed area and can go even smaller than 3x3. Of course, with more players 3x3 may give you the starting space so that you’re not on top of each other (though that gets the action off straight away!).

[blacksmith]

 I like to play Nuts! in 20mm and with a 3x5 feet table; but I also play 15mm on 3x3 or even 2x2 feet like in this picture below, and all measures work perfectly.

[claudiasboris]

That table looks great for exciting and claustrophobic indoor skirmishes! I read your AAR and it looked like an intense game: action almost from the start.

[karl]

A related question:

How do you handle activations in a cooperative game? That is, how do you decide who moves his groups first? And does one player move all her/his groups and then the next player or just one group per player, alternating until all groups have been moved?

Greetings
Karl

[atomicfloozy]

Which game? In a few games the active side activates from right to left, such as Rally Round the King. In some games each player rolls an activation dice and play is done in that order. For ease or play in most games I've run at conventions I usually opt to have the players on the active side activate their groups from right to left.

Why right to left? Until the mid-19th century, the place of honor was always on the right. In most ancient armies, that is where the commander was & it carried over for centuries.

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

Sept 11, 2020 15:00:53 GMT karl said:

A related question:

How do you handle activations in a cooperative game? That is, how do you decide who moves his groups first? And does one player move all her/his groups and then the next player or just one group per player, alternating until all groups have been moved?

Greetings
Karl

If the players are on the same side, they move at the same time based on the  Activation die result.  So if the score is a 4, they move their Rep 4 and 5 units as they want or right to left. 

I've played huge games and when it's time to move, we just move. Then after all  movement is done, all Reaction tests are resolved. Then shooting then melee then morale/will to fight checks.

You can tweak it to fit though. One time at Enfilade in WA we played a large Napoleonic game. The two players on the left, facing and fighting each other, would get finished way before the other players who would talk and take their time. After an hour or so I just said, "Hey if they get done they can move on to the next turn which means they could attack you guys in the flank." It was common in real life Nap battle where enemies would arrive on the flank so they had no problem with it and amazingly the center and right side players resolved their turns much quicker.

[stryderg]

If you are teaching them, start with one squad of 2-3 minis each. Each player gets 1 Star (representing the player on the table) and 2 or 3 grunts. Give them different Reps.
Have their first mission be to move across the board. This gives them a feel for how activation and movement works. And if they want to split up their squad or send a grunt to join another squad, you can show them how groups work. That's a 10-15 minute game.

Next game, throw some PEF's out there and let them start shooting. Gives them a feel for the reaction system and combat. Probably a 20-30 minute game

Then move up to bigger squads or more squads. As they learn the tables, and get a few games in, they should be able to handle larger games.