Another new player...

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Mike Parker

Just to chime in here about tutorials also.

The Video Tutorials for GG's "War Between the States" accelerated the learning curb for me immensly in that game.  I think they would do the same for MWiF also, there will be enough time spent learning the subtlies of the game itself, then you have to learn how to be good at the thing!  Helping as much as possible with the "This is how you do things.. and this is what they do" will be a huge asset I think!

Teaching WIF to new players is something I have worried about quite a bit. I don't do that much any more - believing we have some reasonable tools available for new players to learn the game. The latest addition is a video tutorial with a narration of playing one complete impulse, which includes air, naval, and land movement and combat. That won't be super elaborate, but it might still run to 30 minutes or more.
---
At one point it struck me that trying to make WIF sexier by making it "easy to learn" is like trying to design a bikini for an elephant.[:D]

[Mike Parker]

I believe that will be alot.  Especially if you do it in 42/43 and have say Japan do a Naval in the pacific, Germany do a Land in USSR, and maybe the US/CW do a combined with an Anzio style invasion in Italy or something.
 
Just seeing how a successful impulse of each type is done will go a long way towards putting the new player on track to learn the rest themselves.  The danger becomes if a new player gets bogged down in both the way to do things, as well as what they should be doing to play decently.. you risk frustration.  MWiF will be alot to take in just because its a division level simulation of the entirety of WWII, the planned video tutorial will at least get them 'mashing the buttons and pulling the levers' properly so they can move onto understand the more subtle aspects of play.
 

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Mike Parker

I believe that will be alot.  Especially if you do it in 42/43 and have say Japan do a Naval in the pacific, Germany do a Land in USSR, and maybe the US/CW do a combined with an Anzio style invasion in Italy or something.

Just seeing how a successful impulse of each type is done will go a long way towards putting the new player on track to learn the rest themselves.  The danger becomes if a new player gets bogged down in both the way to do things, as well as what they should be doing to play decently.. you risk frustration.  MWiF will be alot to take in just because its a division level simulation of the entirety of WWII, the planned video tutorial will at least get them 'mashing the buttons and pulling the levers' properly so they can move onto understand the more subtle aspects of play.

What I am thinking about doing for the Training Video is the first impulse of the first turn of Waking Giant: Nov/Dec 1941. I would like it to run in under 30 minutes.

Germany takes a Land action in Russia.
Italy takes a Naval action and conducts submarine warfare in the Atlantic.
Japan takes a Combined action , using an Offensive chit, and conducts numerous invasions in the Southeastern Pacific.

I thought about re-enacting Pearl Harbor, but that would have to be in the 3rd impulse. I think the variant history I propose here will be more informative about how the game is played.

My goal is not to show every feature of MWIF. For example, there will not be any port attacks, naval air combat, naval surface combat, strategic bombing, etc..

I want the Training Video to do just what its name implies, rather than have it be an exhaustive tutorial of game features or a marketing tool. Which is not to say I want to skimp on its run time; although a 60+ minute training tutorial would be daunting to most new players.

[Greyshaft]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
... although a 60+ minute training tutorial would be daunting to most new players.

Daunting maybe, but it would be a heck of an effective advertising tool once you load it up on YouTube. IMHO even experienced WiF players would download it so they could tell you where you went wrong...

"Look!!! He's trying to take Rabaul but he's ignoring Singapore... that move is so passe... I haven't seen that strategy since around 2004."

"And his Leningrad front is pitifully weak... who wrote the script for this video? I'd like to challenge them to a real game..."

etc. etc.
[:D][:D][:D]

[brian brian]

you could do Pearl Harbor still...you leave the choice parts of the Combined Fleet in the 1 box off of Pearl (to the north, naturally) the turn before. Ahh, but the Axis loses the initiative die roll (and the re-roll, for the drama and the player education) and the Yankee carriers escape. Japan launches the operation anyway with the DoW and the Offensive Chit. The carrier planes strike and then the fleet does a return to base move. So in alternate history, Pearl Harbor maybe is in mid-Novemberish instead. But you could still get pretty close.

Once you go that, you could go historical on the European map too. Germany launches the last desperate lunge forward in Operation Typhoon, (the Russians having railed in and re-organized the Siberian INF on their first impulse) and figure out what Italy was up to that turn (Siege of Tobruk? zzzz, maybe show off some CW defensive Shore Bombardment or something, but still zzzz) and you are good to go.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

you could do Pearl Harbor still...you leave the choice parts of the Combined Fleet in the 1 box off of Pearl (to the north, naturally) the turn before. Ahh, but the Axis loses the initiative die roll (and the re-roll, for the drama and the player education) and the Yankee carriers escape. Japan launches the operation anyway with the DoW and the Offensive Chit. The carrier planes strike and then the fleet does a return to base move. So in alternate history, Pearl Harbor maybe is in mid-Novemberish instead. But you could still get pretty close.

Once you go that, you could go historical on the European map too. Germany launches the last desperate lunge forward in Operation Typhoon, (the Russians having railed in and re-organized the Siberian INF on their first impulse) and figure out what Italy was up to that turn (Siege of Tobruk? zzzz, maybe show off some CW defensive Shore Bombardment or something, but still zzzz) and you are good to go.

I want this to be tight, without a lot of answering MWIF prompts 'No'.

There is going to be a lot of that even with only going through one impulse. All 3 Axis major powers will have the option of conducting port attacks, naval movement, naval air, strategic bombing, carpet bombing, ground strikes, etc.. Most of the time, the major powers will simply cilck on the "End Phase" button. That's really boring to watch. Extending the video to cover an Allied impulse would make the situation much worse.

[brian brian]

just thinking out loud as always, Steve. Maybe do the Pacific only? Except most of the 'combat' would be notional based. And the Allied part would be short, if you have them move first.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

just thinking out loud as always, Steve. Maybe do the Pacific only? Except most of the 'combat' would be notional based. And the Allied part would be short, if you have them move first.

Let's leave this topic for now. When I develop a draft script for the Training Video, I'll post it for comments. This isn't high priority for me presently.

[cantona2]

Like Blind Sniper i have never played the board version of this but im very interested in the PC version. Great work put in, clearly a labour of love.