How do you like your battle reports?

[Kimbrown]

Hey everyone,
A couple friends and I were about to start a small campaign. The idea of filming it came up and we're all on board. I watch plenty of battle reports and know what I live and hate about the differing styles I've seen, but what about you guys?

Thanks in advance.

[Maniacal_cackle]

There's two styles I like.

One is just filming the whole thing and slapping it up. As long as you have interesting commentary going through the game, it's a good format.

The other is a condensed version that talks about everything interesting happening (and why people are trying to do as they do). I imagine this takes tons of editing, as you'd basically have to film/edit after every move.

You could also do a super condensed version that just does the end of each turn, and talks about all the key events/strategic thinking going on at each stage. That could probably be pushed down to 5-10 minutes.

[DuBlanck]

Easy option: 3x speed video with general narration of key moments "scheme runners ran up the wings early, beaters and Master take the middle late, this is the first marker that scored Search the Ruins, here's the second".

Bonus points: Explanations of the rationale behind moves. "Scheme runner dropped marker here so that 4" distance to the drop next turn will still keep it out of LoS of opponent."

Hard mode: As above, with slow-downs to 1.5x to cover key actions/activations, e.g. beater fights, high-impact triggers, stuff that causes major board-state changes. This is how a lot of Guild Ball match reports are done (e.g. Don't Touch The Beard), but it is a bit easier with GB's 6-a-side with similar abilities, rather than Malifaux's 12-30 models on the table and wildly disparate model capabilities.

[Ogid]

I'd rather a condensed version, a battle report of 2+ hours is too much imo, with 30-40 mins is more than enough. Stopping a bit in key activations (and maybe with some editing showing the cards or relevant abilities/triggers) and comenting the movements, the reason behind them and also why they picked those models for the crew (considering schemes or to counter an expected X model or tech in the other crew)

Then some Mychael Bay editing! Slow motion, explosions, testosterone and badassery (just kidding, dont do this XDD)

[Mortarion]

The best ones in my opinion are the ones that don't show every single thing that happens. I'm not really interested in watching a 2 hour battle report where a lot of the time is players thinking about whether they should cheat in a duel. Showing the important bits and making a summary of the rest makes for better pacing and a more managable view time.

[Forgotten]

If it's a video Battle Report, I like to be able to see crews, deployment and strategy, schemes. I want/need to hear why decisions are made... like in this deployment for this strategy vs. opposing crew, with this set of scheme pools, why are you hiring who you hired and what schemes are you going to go for, and... what do you think your opponent is choosing. 

I always get too caught up in creating a crew that I think that can outbeat the opposing crew, instead of thinking, what can I accomplish with this crew, and what will they be trying to accomplish. I'm like Lenny with a Bunny! And then I lose...

Seeing a model of those considerations would be really helpful.

Next, after a turn is over, I want to know what the player thinks of the past turn and what they need to get done the following turn. Another instance of modeling good player work.

After the game, I want a run down of highlights, maybe detailing that moment where FATE stepped in and said, nope! ain't gonn' appen! for each of the teams. Also, what the player thinks needs to be considered for the future, like maybe choosing different schemes or refining their crews in a certain way and why they would make those considerations. Another instance of modeling problem-solving, instead of blaming their deck for poor choices that the deck's luck just punished. (Believe me, I've had my fair share of those, because I am not a good player at all).  Trying to learn though and rely on seeing what is going on.

Another thing with the video is having views of the action occurring, the flipping of the cards, and a good overhead view of the positioning of the crews, terrain, and markers. Sadly, there are times, when I just can't see the positioning of the crew very well, because the camera angle is poor, or the models are blending with map/terrain and it's tough to see which model it is. Probably too much to ask for, but I'd love an overhead view with highlights, so I know who is who.

There's some decent Battle Reports out there, with The Third Floor having the best so far, imo. Can't wait to see the updates they make for the next stream in December.

Hope this helps and thanks for asking.

[Regelridderen]

PITFALLS 

BAD SOUND : The first thing, that makes me go somewhere else is bad sound. Noise and echo just ruins the stuff, I generally watch reports while painting, so primarily go by sound.

BAD TERRAIN : It doesn’t need to be a work of art. Just some nice terrain to keep with the theme. Models are usually small and details get lost, so terrain is more important. A White table top May work for playing, but is really jarring to the eye on screen.

HANDHELD : Leave this to the pros, unless you know, what you’re doing, it’ll only give you blurry images with no focus.

 

GOOD STUFF

Camera Angles : variations in these. Wide shots, close-ups. It doesn’t need the pacing of a Music video, but some variation in angles just make it a little more interesting and helps to keep focus. And Malifaux tends to center on a couple of hotspots.

GRAPHICS : Strats and Schemes, Scoring, Cards, Hands. There’s lots of info, that you can help the viewers for reference.

RULES and HINDSIGHT : You will inevitably botch up some rules and make mistakes, making a note of this helps others from repeating those.

REFLECTION : It’s always great to understand why people do, what they do. I’ve yet to see someone say, what they hope to achieve in a given turn, but all those tactical considerations is great stuff. Be as open as you can, so I as a viewer get, why you’re making all those poor choices and make me shoot at the screen.

HUMOUR and ENTHUSIASM : Aim to win, but play for the fun of the game. Don’t take it too serious. It’s a hobby of grown ‘men’ and little dolls after all. I have a much better time seeing two n00bs having fun and messing up, over watching a couple of serious gamers duke it out.

 

This is a nice example :

 

 

[Zebo]

I would beg for subtitles in English. While I can have a fluid conversation face to face, English not being your language make you lose a lot of stuff during a game, specially in a game with many technical words, abbreviations, names and jokes.