ED NOTE: This article was written for Seth's now out-of-print magazine for Complete Brigadier gamers. I felt that it addressed the problems of setting up convention games well enough to be of general interest Many convention games fail in their goals because their organizers do not pay attention to the very basic tenets outlined herein. The Complete Brigadier* is designed to be played without need for an umpire, normally. In a club setting this is ideal, maximizing everybody's chance to play, instead of requiring someone to volunteer to be tied up in a non-playing role. A number of factors peculiar to convention play do make the services of an umpire a necessity, even for TCB. For one thing, someone has to be responsible to the convention organizers to see that a schedule event, usually with a game fee, goes off as planned. Secondly, in a convention setting you can expect to see a high proportion of new players. Some will only be new to the rules; some will be unfamiliar with the period; still others will be new to miniatures, or even to wargaming. The umpire has to take into account the wide variety of experience levels he may encounter. Thirdly, the umpire can never be certain how many players will be available, at least not until quarter past the scheduled start time. Lastly, there will be a strict time limit. The game will need to be quick to set up, and perhaps even more importantly, quick to take down. Selecting a scenario, and the order of battle, are the most vital decisions affecting the eventual success of any miniatures battle, only more so for the convention contest. The best advice is... Think Small! Most umpires cannot resist the temptation to throw in every last Hussar (Panzer, Destroyer, Zero, Starship... take your pick) that they've painted. If you bought it, spent all that time researching and painting it, you want to damn well use it. Fight that temptation. Your fun is not related to the number of figures on the table, except maybe inversely. TCB is not typical of your miniatures rules, because it tends to play faster, the more players there are. What slows it down is the number of units per player. For a convention, three or four units each is PLENTY. Two are fine if one of them is a difficult unit to use effectively like cavalry. Start the armies within striking range of each other, so that a decision is likely within a dozen turns or so. On the average you can expect to knock off a turn in about 15 to 20 minutes, soa 12 turn battle will take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours to finish. When you take into account set up, pull down and explaining the rules time, you are right in the usually allotted time window. Explaining the rules can be tedious for all concerned. Most players want to get right into the action. They will only worry about the rules and complain about things they didn't understand or hear when they are right in the middle of the game. I spend the bulk of my introduction to the game going over the Command Phase. This is the heart of the system; everything else flows from it. I insure that everyone understands each part of the order (Rate, Formation, Direction, Action) and I go over each in turn. If possible, during the pregame set up I try to have a unit in each common formation placed on the table for illustration. I emphasize the use of Commands, and how orders are transmitted over the distance of the board. I pass relatively quickly over the other phases, usually just giving a quick explanation of the controllable factors players need to know for decision making. Examples of this are: that flank and rear support help morale, and the qualifying distances; that it is best to melee in line (unlike many other rules); that units will fire automatically unless under FOC etc. In fifteen minutes you can have everyone playing. For each unit I have cards made up, placed on the table next to the unit, and let the players fill in the headings on their orders sheet as I explain the use of each factor. This allows each player to visually identify which unit is which, allows for last minute 08 changes if needed, and gives them something to do while you finish up the rules explanations. Finally, we allow the players to set up and begin writing orders. The last element for successful umpiring of a convention TCB is aggressiveness. Keep the game flowing. I always provide each side with a copy of the charts (laminated) to have in hand as the game progresses. This prevents them from being frustrated by events they can't understand, guards against errors by the umpire and helps to further teach the game. I also let the players have access to the rule book whenever they want, as long as it doesn't slow down the game. As umpire, I always run the charts. This is a terrific time saver. As umpire, you soon become very familiar with the rules and quickly find anything you need much faster than the players. It makes combat resolution that much faster too. Due to the fairly predictable nature of combat resolution, it is not always required that you go through the whole routine every time. If the 3rd Foot &Mouth caused 67 casualties to the 1st Feldbooton turn 4 (so you assessed 1 casualty), if conditions are the same on turn five you can merely announce that the fire was ineffective and go on to the next fire. I think TCB is very well suited to convention play. It is easy to learn, has common sense mechanics and is decisive. I hope that these hints will embolden some readers to try their hands at running a game at their local and regional cons. If you've got hints and suggestions of your own, share them! *THE COMPLETE BRIGADIER Rules are available from Frying Pan & Blanket Amalgamated, 2283 Apache St., Mendota Heights, MN 55120. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. IX No. 1 Back to Courier List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1989 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com