"Cone of Silence"

I do not like “Table Talk” regarding strategies and missed moves/opportunities in Multi-Player games (as long as it is 2 vs 2 or 2 vs 3, etc…)

Players can all talk at the start of each new round to plan general strategy…but thats it.

Not really the original point of topic…but, what the hell…

Just use these rules.

1. You have to have your purchase ready, by the start of your turn.  (Yes that can mean you organize several purchase options)  If you don’t have one ready, you don’t get to purchase.

2. You have 5 minutes (Use an hourglass or stop watch) to place all your combat attacks, Monitored by opposing team.

Roll Dice, then after all dice are rolled…

3. You have 5 minutes + whatever time you didn’t swallow up from your combat moves to do all your NCM.

You SHOULD make the time alotments dependant on per country (China doesn’t take 5 minutes to do the whole turn, but Germany or U.K. can take time…)

Also, allowing players to play simultaneously (Germany+Japan with Russian eastern forces moving,  UK + ANZAC, ETC)  Significantly reduces time in game.

You could also reduce times to very low, but keep a consecutive clock, IE you save timed last turn, so have it this turn.

OR  allow the player for 1 IPC to buy 2 minutes of time,

OR allow each side a certain amount of TIME OUT’s for team meetings.

OR just play the game with experienced players and tell everyone to move quickly.

BEST  Pick the teams days BEFORE the game, so they can talk up a good strategy, and know their respective roles.

@FieldMarshalGames:

What about heckling your enemy?  Making him second guess his moves

Me and my mate do this too, as well as talking about moves that we may or may not do. So sometimes I’ll talk about a strategy in regards to taking a territory or a group of territories that I have no intention of taking, and sometimes I’ll openly talk about my actual strategy. He’ll do this to me too, and we can never be sure if it’s truth or lies.

We call it Propaganda.

Table talk both positive and negative is one of my favorite aspects of playing a board game rather then a video game… IMHO.

Yeah, I agree

I like the idea of limiting table talk.  We’ve toyed with time limits on turns, as well as stuff like having your purchases ready, but it seems a little unfair to us.  Germany and Japan have a lot more to consider than, say, early-game Italy or U.K., which sucks for time limits, and, with regard to purchases, if the person you’re in conflict with is directly before you in turn order (i.e. Russia after war is declared), it’s a lot tougher to have stuff ready than if the previous turn has limited direct involvement with you (i.e. Japan).

Propaganda is a great part of the game!

I have won games as Axis by taunting the Allied players and creating a situation were by applying the right amount of pressure on one country then they feel like their allie is not committing enough troops to support them and there is a breakdown of cooperation between them. OH, then the fun starts. But as long as the primary focous of conversation is the game, its all good.

Hello,
I am the organizer of the Portland group, and as such, came up with the idea of “the cone of silence”. In effect it means: noone may talk to the acting player during his turn and , the acting player may not talk to anyone except to ask rules related questions.
This is in a attempt to allow each player to develop their own playing style, learn their own lessons(good or bad), and speed up play(quite conciderably by the way).
 In addition it results in mistakes(good or bad) that happen in a real war situation. Players are still allowed to discuss strategies or whatever during thier allies turn and during any of their opponents turns so absolutely none of the social interaction is lost. Give it a try(especially if you have 7+ players playing) and I think you will see the benefits.
I am not trying to tell others how to play, but it has gotten us down to 1 hr or less per round and made for more interesting and diverse play. I dont believe anyone wants this game to digress to a set of preset maneuvers or battles that exclude any personal mistakes or “eurikas”. My 2 cents as a play group organizer. War on gentlemen!  8-)

Talking with allies is a must because for either side to win they have to have a plan. You can’t just add lib the entire game and expect to win. As for talking to other players that is just the fun in the game. Make them second guess their moves.

Also when we play with newer players both sides offer good advice. Now that being said while it may be good advice its not always the BEST possible advice for the situation. Its still a good and valid move though.