First Game of Spring
Apr/01/06 21:58
Well, it's been too
long since the last Game in Review. We've played
several time throughout the winter. We took quite a
few pictures, check 'em
out.
Well, spring is here. You couldn't tell it by the 50 degree weather, but leaves are just poking out into the sunlight. Out in the country here, the flowers always are later to bloom than in town. It won't be long, though.
We had about 20 people playing today. All but one or two had played before. Since most everyone knew how to play... Time to change up the field!
We normally play between the two brown trails (North road and South road), from the western edge of the field east to the green trail (the border of B and C). But today we decided to open the field up all the way to the orange trail (the border of C and D). Not only does this bring the field size up to about 15 acres, is brings into play some very fun topographical features. Most notably is the ridge line about 3/4 the way up the orange trail.
The southern side of the ridge is a long, gentle slope, with a clean path. The north side of the slope is short and steep, continuing north into bogs, and downed trees. Great cover, but very hard to move! Many battles were played out on this ridge, generally with the team to hold the ridge top dealing the most damage, but not always.
After the first few games, people were getting pretty tired from all the running. Us old folk started hanging closer to the dead area, and let the young lets cover the rest of the 15 acres.
Everyone is improving nicely, especially the kids. They love it as much as the adults, and are getting almost as good! (As long as we keep the radios away from them.)
On a side note, we tried a new hit point setting. Instead of 6 hit points with a 1 hit per second acceptance rate (if someone shoots you solid, you will die in 6 second), we tried 24 hit points and a 3 hits per second acceptance rate. This is close to the same death rate from a single enemy (8 seconds), but if more than one enemy is on you, you can die even faster. The end result was somewhat surprising. Players could avoid getting ganged up upon, and stretch their hit points even further. Taking longer before you die really added some good combat fun. You had a chance to run and dive for cover, and call in friendly support. This made it feel much more like what you see in the movies, and less "I took a hit! Ah, I'm out!" We'll learn more about this next game.
Darn, we're just going to have to go out and do more research.
Well, spring is here. You couldn't tell it by the 50 degree weather, but leaves are just poking out into the sunlight. Out in the country here, the flowers always are later to bloom than in town. It won't be long, though.
We had about 20 people playing today. All but one or two had played before. Since most everyone knew how to play... Time to change up the field!
We normally play between the two brown trails (North road and South road), from the western edge of the field east to the green trail (the border of B and C). But today we decided to open the field up all the way to the orange trail (the border of C and D). Not only does this bring the field size up to about 15 acres, is brings into play some very fun topographical features. Most notably is the ridge line about 3/4 the way up the orange trail.
The southern side of the ridge is a long, gentle slope, with a clean path. The north side of the slope is short and steep, continuing north into bogs, and downed trees. Great cover, but very hard to move! Many battles were played out on this ridge, generally with the team to hold the ridge top dealing the most damage, but not always.
After the first few games, people were getting pretty tired from all the running. Us old folk started hanging closer to the dead area, and let the young lets cover the rest of the 15 acres.
Everyone is improving nicely, especially the kids. They love it as much as the adults, and are getting almost as good! (As long as we keep the radios away from them.)
On a side note, we tried a new hit point setting. Instead of 6 hit points with a 1 hit per second acceptance rate (if someone shoots you solid, you will die in 6 second), we tried 24 hit points and a 3 hits per second acceptance rate. This is close to the same death rate from a single enemy (8 seconds), but if more than one enemy is on you, you can die even faster. The end result was somewhat surprising. Players could avoid getting ganged up upon, and stretch their hit points even further. Taking longer before you die really added some good combat fun. You had a chance to run and dive for cover, and call in friendly support. This made it feel much more like what you see in the movies, and less "I took a hit! Ah, I'm out!" We'll learn more about this next game.
Darn, we're just going to have to go out and do more research.