I can't say that I know all about running games, since I've only been into miniatures wargaming for two years now. I've played and run a lot of games with friends, and in the last year I have run nine games at five different conventions. I've also played maybe 20 games at conventions. Being a gamemaster is quite a challenge, and I think I've learned at least a few things from doing it myself and observing others, and I'm willing to try to put them on paper. Here are some thoughts/ideas/suggestions.

1. Be ready at the starting time. It's frustrating for the players to find an empty table. It puts pressure on the GM to be trying to set up while folks are asking questions, or wondering if they should get into a different game, or kind of wandering around the room or tapping their toes as if to say, "Come on, why aren't you ready?" By the second night or third day of a convention, everyone is getting tired, but make every effort to provide a great time, ready to go ON time.
2. Clean up in time for the NEXT gamemaster to have plenty of time to set up! If you have a big game, take your cleanup time into account, or keep the same table for repeat events.
3. Inform players of your "home" rules. This may be complete instruction, or at least letting experienced players of a popular rules set know which rules you are omitting or adding. I'm not sure if there are many miniatures games played EXACTLY as written.
4. Help the players as needed. As a gamemaster, you can sort of get to play. Without kibitzing too much (that's a challenge right there), give the players some useful ideas or options at times. You must be careful not to give everything away, but someone who is unfamiliar with the rules or the period might need reminders or suggestions. Try not to let an inexperienced player get trounced too badly - they usually welcome some help.
5. Try to find a scenario where everyone stays in the game a substantial amount of the allocated playing time. This can be tough in a skirmish game. In one game I witnessed, the gamemaster didn't mention the morale rule until the situation came up. A player had plunged into combat and had one killed and two wounded out of nine figures. Only then was he told about a 25% casualty rule, then he failed his first morale check, and had to quit the field, and the game. I'm sure that for that player, leaving the game after 45 minutes out of four hours was a pretty unsatisfactory experience.

   In that situation, I might modify or omit that particular morale rule, or allow a return to the field with a reduced force, or do SOMETHING to let the player stay in the game for a while longer.

   Something like this can be especially annoying to the player if it is at one of those conventions where you not only pay to get in, but you pay to play each game. Yes, I know it is bad to rob a player of a victory that has been earned, and I'm not saying to do that, but you can probably let someone keep playing, with everyone knowing that the guy probably can't win - he just wants to play some more!

   In one naval game of mine, I intermix the ships of the players of one side in their different squadrons, because I know that one of the squadrons is going to get creamed early - each player on that team has a couple of ships there, but also has others mixed in other squadrons - I try not to put one player alone into what I think will be a short-lived situation.

6. Try to fill the time allotted. For a four-hour slot, most people would probably not expect a game to last less than three hours. Most of my games last about three and a half hours; by that time we can usually determine who would win, but sometimes we play for the full four hours before I have to start cleanup (this is for the usual one hour break between games; if I can clean up in 20 minutes at the most, the next GM has 40 minutes or so to set up; sometimes you can pack dead figures while the game is still in progress). Tying in with the previous paragraph, the soonest that anyone has ever been wiped out in one of my games is about two and a half hours.
7. I like some of the new rules that say something like, "A decision by the referee is final, even if it directly conflicts with any of these written rules." There are always special situations that come up, and you just have to decide something quickly to keep the game moving. I try to have some pretty good reasons, but sometimes it's just that something is too complex to account for within the game being played - most people seem to accept it if you just say, "That's too hard or time-consuming for us to do." Of course, you must be fair and make sure that you don't give some unreasonable advantage. A die roll can often help, and most players accept that as a good way to resolve a questionable or unsure situation.
8. Speaking of die rolls, there is a pretty easy way to make rules modifications or exceptions on the fly. It uses the dicing technique from some of the matrix games.

   Here's how it works:

   1. A player makes a reasonable request, something that makes sense but isn't covered in the rules or might even be stretching the rules a bit, such as, "Can't I force march this unit an extra two inches just this once?", or, "Even though my figure has already moved, he really should be allowed to opportunity fire on that guy!"
   2. Decide how difficult it would be for that action to be performed. The choices are:
      very easy (succeeds on a D6 roll of 2-6)
      easy (3-6)
      average difficulty (4-6)
      hard (5-6)
      very hard (6)
   3. Let the player decide if he wants to take a chance on performing the action. If his die roll is successful, he gets to perform the action, but if not, he does nothing with the unit involved - it refused to march, got a jammed weapon, etc. The player does not have to try the special action if he doesn't think much of his chances - you determine the difficulty, and he gets to make the final decision as to whether to try.

      If he decides against the attempt, he still gets to take his normal turn, whatever that may be. This can be used as a sort of initiative or advantage by giving certain forces in a game a specific number of special action requests. The player will have to decide WHEN to ask for a special action, as well as WHETHER to actually try it.

Learn Something New...

I learn something new with every game I play or run. Most people come to the conventions to play, not to argue. The thing I try to remember is to keep the game fun and to keep it moving.

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