I try to use the following tips when I run a convention game. My goal is to provide an enjoyable gaming experience for the players. Most of these tips are obvious but there are probably a few you never though of.

Start Your Event On Time:

When players show up for your game, try to start on time per the convention game schedule. Players don’t like waiting half an hour because you arrived late and are still setting up.

Be Prepared:

Bring all gaming materials needed to play. This includes rulers, dice and rule “cheat sheets” for each player. Players trying to find dice and rulers slows the game down.

Know Your Rules:

This has never happened to me but understand and be able run a game with the rules you are using. Learning rules at a convention is not the time or place.

Have a prepared scenario:

Some game masters set up terrain in a random matter and put some figures on the table. This is not good. Even for a simple scenario, having an order of battle for each side and a simple sketch map shows the players that you actually put some thought into preparing the game. Your players will appreciate this.

Define victory conditions for each side:

I don’t feel good when I ask the game master what are the victory objectives and I get the response “kill the other side”. No matter how simple the conditions are (take the hill and hold it), victory conditions need to be defined. This gives the players a purpose. Most “real life” battles involve objectives, at least for the attacker.

At minimum, one side needs to be encouraged to attack.

I remember at a Mexican-American War game I played at Historicon several years ago. Playing on the American side, we had to assault and hold a Mexican occupied hill. Unfortunately, my fellow players were more concerned with executing “parade ground” maneuvers and following the “perfect” plan to minimize casualties. After 4 hours of play, we finally reached the hill. Then the game master ruled the game was over because the following game needed the table. At least one side needs to be encouraged to attack. This can be done with a time limit: Take the hill within 20 turns for example. To determine the time limit, calculate the number of turns an infantry unit would take to move to the terrain objective. Then double or triple this amount. Try playing the game at least twice if you can to see if the time limit is reasonable. I don’t know what all people like but I play wargames to move my troops and engage in combat, not to move around the table for most of the game.

Define terrain effects at the beginning of the game:

During one Sudan game I was playing, I placed one of my Dervish units behind a ridge feeling that the unit be hidden or least get some combat advantage. A British wanted to fire at my unit. I disagreed and asked the game master. It was obvious he hadn’t thought before hand if ridges blocked line of sight. He rolled a die to decide. I would have understood if the game master stated this at the beginning of the game.

Provide “play” hints to each side:

My friend used to run American Revolution Games. The rules he used highly favored British infantry over American militia units in melee combat. One American player kept charging British Highlanders with militia and blamed the rules because they were getting slaughtered. Provide a hint “If you charge British regulars with militia, you will probably get slaughtered”. If players still commit tactical errors, oh well.

Players should be able to resolve most of the combat:

There is nothing worse than the game master resolving each individual combat and moral check in a game. This REALLY slows down a game. The rules should be simple enough so players can resolve most combats on their own. The game master’s job is to watch and see if the rules are being followed correctly and answer any questions.

Call out the game phases:

To keep a game moving, call out each game phase “British move” for example. There is nothing more distressing than not knowing what phase of the turn you are on. Give the players 5 or 10 minutes to move. Then ask “British done moving?”. State before the game that you will call out each phase and than ask if everybody has completed the step. Also add that there is no going back if it’s the combat phase now and someone forgot to move a unit.

I know I am taking out my frustrations resulting from bad convention games in the past and sounding negative. I realize that people make mistakes and aren’t perfect. But the game master is a huge factor the quality of a convention game.

We go to gaming conventions to enjoy ourselves and take a break from life’s problems and hassles. Convention games shouldn’t have problems that are easily prevented. The best convention games are the ones where the scenario is a good, the game master is competent and everybody is laughing and having fun.