NT BR River Plate

[itineranthobbyist]

Seond game of NT and another quick report on my blog

itineranthobbyist.blogspot.com/2012/07/naval-thunder-river-plate.html

Besides setting up the scenario incorrectly, I wonder if I'm doing something wrong - both of my tests have ended quickly. It doesn't take long to sink a ship. I enjoy this, but it would be discouraging if I were playing one side at a con game and my main ship was sunk in 3-4 turns. Any thoughts? Or perhaps I'm just not a good naval gamer - very likely.

Also, please don't read this as a criticism. I really like the game and would like to put one on at our next con and introduce Nt to the Midwest.

[warchariot]

River Plate is an intro game so it does play quick. If you are playing against someone it would take a bit longer. Adding more ships or playing one of the larger scenarios would be best at a con. But you could still run this at a con by having players switch sides/ships and play it twice. The better combined outcome wins the scenario.

[TheDreadnought]

Yes, NT is a fast play system. . . and so it plays fast.

You'd be just fine running a bigger scenario to stretch the game out. I've run the Oldendorff's battle-line vs. Kurita's returning Center Force scenario a few times. Generally quite a bit of fun as it gives everyone a battleship to play with.

Or, as suggested, allow the players to play it more than once changing sides each time.

[regiamarina]

I've played this scenario quite a number of times to introduce the game to players at my club and find it's quite good as a learning scenario. You only have 4 ships to worry about on the table and they aren't overwhelmingly powerful ships with numerous gun systems.

A couple of points to remember is that as mentioned it is a fast play set of rules and this scenario shouldn't run for more than about an hour and a half.
Also, and most importantly I think, it's not a balanced scenario it's an historical scenario. There is a 150 point difference between the Germans and the British which is quite a bit when you consider the Graf Spee is only 181 points.
Finally I have found that how the game goes depends greatly on the tactics used. When just starting the game myself and my opponents just charged each other and blazed away which meant the Graf Spee quickly came within range of the British light cruisers and died. I have since learned to sail slowly at about 1-3 and use the much longer range and power of the Graf Spee guns to really hurt the British heavy cruiser before the lights come into range. Still hard for the Germans to pull off a win but a much better chance than just pinning the ears back and charging the table edge.
Oh and don't allow the British to lay smoke!!

Hope this helps you put on a good con game.

Martin