To speed up these long games, i am wanting to impose a time limit on each player.
Most people have their buy ready before their turn but how long do you give a player to have their buy and comabts announced before you say enough or simply say no more. Of course rolling dice does not count towards the time, but the indecision on what to attack and how much does.
Wow!! 5 minutes!? That would be a DREAM!
We’re pretty new at this but we average 15-20 minutes!!!
I met a group of players who use the “Cone of Silence Method”….No talking to the player who is taking his turn. Most disusss before turn starts.
cuts down on discussion
We don’t set a time limit, but then again most of us have our purchases made before our turn comes (and then make quick changes on the fly based on what happened until then).
1 round of 6-7 players takes us about an hour total in G40.
an hour is minimum per round. well more than 6 minutes then… :-D
Most of my experienced players are ready to go BEFORE their turn starts. I can’t stand it when a player starts their turn and has not even considered their build.
At least 1 day, since I only play by forum
Most of my experienced players are ready to go BEFORE their turn starts. I can’t stand it when a player starts their turn and has not even considered their build.
That is not always possible, as the combat of the opponent can make a big difference in what you’ll buy and do. (sure, some parts and some nations can be done quite fast, or in advance).
We usually have germany and japan prepare their opening move before the game starts, to win time.
And for us too: 1 round ± 1 hour
edit: i’d be ok with 5 minutes per person, though.
We don’t have a specified time frame so I didnt vote. you should update the poll to reflect unlimited time. Really six minutes? That would never fly in my group. Props to those of you who can keep the game rolling that fast.
Like FMG, I also usually have my turn already planned out so I would be in favor of a 10 minute time limit since this can be easily done even if the combat situation changes right before your turn. However I doubt I could convince some in our group to go along with that.
If the group is experienced and knows what they’re going to do on their turn before it starts, 5-6 minutes could work. But otherwise you’ll need a lot more time.
OK, if you impose a time limit, who agrees with a penalty and what should it be if you go over set time limit?
How will you enforce this limit?
Has to be a rule everyone agrees to and follows. you dont let a player break other rules like to # of spaces a fighter can move, or " im short a ipc or 2 can i slide?"
Unless people break the rule a lot I’d say no penalty is necessary. The point of it is to get people to move faster, and it should still do that. If one player has a particularly complex turn (like the USA’s first war turn or a German Barbarossa) I wouldn’t mind them going over a bit.
The greatest part about playing my roommate is that we can have unlimited turns. I don’t mind watching him think through his turns and visa-versa. Our games usually take weeks to finish, but we can leave it set up.
I made an app for axis and allies that includes a turn timer. On iOS it’s called “Axis & Allies Utility”, on Android it’s called “Utility for Axis & Allies Game”.
OK so to keep rounds around an hour you would need something like major powers to come in at around 8 min’s each, and minor powers at about 4 min’s….give or take, so I chose 6 min in the poll as an average per power.
Total 55 min’s
Axis – 20 min (plus 3 min grace time)
Germany - 8 min
Japan – 8 min
Italy – 4 min
Allies — 35 min (plus 5 min grace time)
Russia – 8 min
USA – 10 min
UK E — 8 min
UK P – 4 min
Anz – 4 min
France – 1 min
So the above scale would be idea, but that is kinda a pipe dream IMO.
Maybe keep it democratic like in Congress (because that is working so well LOL). Trying to keep rounds at around an hour, so get two timers. Axis clock gets 20 min’s, and allies get 35 min’s (or what ever you decide). For the Axis alot Germany 8 min, Japan 8 min, and Italy 4 min (20 min total). Say Germany takes its turn and only uses 6 min, so it can defer its unused min’s back to the pool for another team member etc… Allies would be similar but get 35 min’s because they have more powers. You start a new clock every round, so you can’t save time from round to round.
So just to go through it for the axis you would start their clock once Germany’s turn begins, and end it as they place their units. 8 min’s to do it all (Purchase, Combat Move, Combat, and NCM), then timer is stopped leaving the balance of time to the other members of the axis side etc…of course you could allow the Germans to set-up their battles on the first turn then start the clock (giving the Japs a little more time). Also if you do your purchases beforehand then you have more time for your moves etc…
Not sure what kind of penalty should be imposed if one side goes over. Maybe each side gets a 1 min grace time per powers on their side (axis get 3 min grace, and allies get 5 min’s grace). If they go beyond that the power/player that relly blew it has to pay 1 IPC per min?.
You could also allow for a 5 min strategy discussion per side each round that doesn’t count against your clock.
I understand that some folks allow a different time per power. China, for instance, rarely needs more than 3 minutes. The large powers, on the other hand, can easily consume 10 on a complex turn (die rolling time not included).
Giving each power the same fixed amount of time is not reasonable in my opinion.
Marsh
I like the idea of measuring the time spent thinking but not the time spent rolling dice! That is much fairer and more elegant than trying to figure out how long the battles should take. The downside is that you can’t really use your time limits to predict the overall length of the game. E.g. if you give 8 players 5 minutes each to think, you can’t count on having 40 minute rounds…they might go for 40 minutes, or they might go for 90 minutes, depending on how much combat and down time there is.
I think if you bother to have time limits at all, you should enforce them with a penalty, which could be 1 ipc per minute. The player who is running over time can decide whether he values the extra time more or the extra money more. If everyone agrees that the situation was surprising and complicated and clearly warrants more time, then the opponents can always waive the penalty as an act of good sportsmanship.
The group I play with is very casual, a lot of drinking and joking around. We don’t have a set time for turns, but you can be assured that the longer you take, the more razzing you’re gonna get for taking a long time. So either your quick and decisive or you will be ridiculed to the point of not being able to concentrate.
