Game Length? What's the ideal # of turns in a Game

[Carrington]

I wanted to raise the issue of the ideal number of turns in a game... I find that I finish sit-down games of 5-7 turns, and campaigns of 24-40 turns seem reasonable commitments. I'm beginning to think that this is not a coincidence, and I wanted to fish for other people's opinions.


I love the game, but I have to admit I'm a little uncomfortable with the scenario menus and particularly the campaign scenarios -- I have a hard time imagining being able to complete a campaign at @108 turns.

I know for board-games one common design mistake is to build from the ground up -- "I want to have 20 minute turns for the game (or two week turns for the game) and the battle took 8 hours, so we'll have 8x3 = 24 turns. (people who've seen MMP/The Gamers TCS system may find this familiar.

One problem is that this approach generally over-states the number of turns, so the game is almost never played to a finish.

And, if you think about it, it's probably better to say "I think there were about X decision points in the course of a battle, so let me have a number of turns reflecting these decision points."

[veji1]

I actually like the great campaign and find it very very very finishable compared to other Wargames à la War in the Pacific that are unfinishables...

I haven't tried the game in PBEM yet, but I guess it would work fine as well.

[jackfox]

I actually like the great campaign and find it very very very finishable compared to other Wargames à la War in the Pacific that are unfinishables...

I haven't tried the game in PBEM yet, but I guess it would work fine as well.

I agree. The grand campaign is very finishable, but has never reached 108 turns. My experience has been that the game is won or lost sometime in 1863.

[Carrington]

I agree. The grand campaign is very finishable, but has never reached 108 turns. My experience has been that the game is won or lost sometime in 1863.

PBEM or vs. computer?