Ready Play - Guide to Speeding Up Tournament Play

Slow Play makes Steven sad.

Tournaments need to move along for most people to have the most fun.  With the scoring in Flames of War the way it is, it is very hard to win a tournament dealing with a timeout, as both players lose.  If your play is slow, this not only impacts you, but your opponents' chances as well - it is in everyone's best interest to have game finish up within the allotted time.  If you are struggling, spending some time thinking about your play speed can go a long way toward making your game experience fun for everyone.

All of you golfers out there know what I am talking about, but for the rest - 'Ready Play' simply means moving the game along  at a quick pace in an orderly fashion.  In this article, I will give some DOs and DON'Ts for speeding up your tournament play.

Know Your List - This will only gain you a little time, but is one of the things you can do ahead of time.  If you have to keep going back and forth to see if the Recce is Wheeled or Jeep, what the front armor is, or the firepower of your gun, this will cost time in the game.  Make sure that you read and re-read your list, including stats for your units, national rules, special rules and the number of stands in each platoon -- you don't want to have to look at your sheet to see if it is Morale Check time for the platoon.

Provide a List - Printing a copy for your opponent can save a lot of questions, especially if you are playing something obscure.  This can help opponents who don't know much more than the lists they play and/or have a terrible memory - Guilty!

Ambush these tanks?  Sure!

Plan for Missions - This is part of quick play and will also help your tournament results.  Take some time to think about how you might set up in certain missions, especially if the mission list is provided by the tournament organizer.  Which units are likely to be put in Ambush?  If I am facing tanks, mech or infantry, does that change?  In missions where I get half on and half off-board, which units will be on the board?  What units or combination of units can hold an objective?


Colored Dice - Use multiple dice colors to roll multiple weapons systems at once, like tank main guns and machine guns.  This can also be used when firing from different range with AT assets.  I usually carry three or more different colors and sizes with me.  Use caution - sometimes working out which dice are which and all that can be more time consuming than just pointing at a model, tossing a dice and moving on.

Don't Spectate - Try not to just spectate during your opponents' turns.  Pay attention and try to determine how the results of their turn will impact your plan for your next turn -- you DO have a plan for your next turn, right?

Be Decisive - Take a minute at the beginning of your turn and make a final decision on your actions for each unit.  You should have an overall objective for your forces and paid close attention during your opponent's turn.  Now is the time to make final decisions about what your forces will do based on the results of the last turn.  Don't just start moving stuff around, re-arranging and taking moves back - take a second, decide who is doing what, then execute.

Ask for Help - Finally, ask your friends and opponents for feedback.  I was pretty darn slow when I started out, but my friends helped me to make some changes.

TOs love fast play!

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