The trend of moving the date of the Annual Megabattle will be continuing this year. After much consideration, we've decided to aim for August 4th or 11th (trying to dodge GenCon which is from 16th-19th). I think I prefer the 4th. We are always trying to maximize our potential field of players. This year, we'd like to achieve the goal of 60 players. The 2011 Megabattle had this as its goal, but we fell short about 20 players. Forty has been the number for the past two years and I'd like to top it (just because I like to top old records).
Before I nail down a hard date, does anyone see a reason why these dates don't work? I'm less interested in a reason like, "Those dates don't work for me because X," and more interested in conflicts that might cause problems for large numbers of people (like GenCon). My thinking was that in August, lots of summer vacations will already have taken place and people who are going to college seem to be around a lot during this month.
Some other initial thoughts on the Megabattle:
1. We want the game to move at a faster pace. We plan on addressing this in 2012 with timed rounds. All participants will need to plan accordingly.
2. Separating the tables (like year 3). Last year we had a long connected table. While aesthetically awesome, it made for a huge slowdown due to people spreading out all over. We are going to try to break things up again. This seemed to help with speed on year 3 and we'll be revisiting that concept in 2012.
3. More interactivity and options for strategy. Making the tables work together and establishing a deeper "theme" than order vs. chaos. Details are scarce for this right now, as we are working with several people to come up with rules that are interesting but not too complicated.
4. Varied army sizes. We'd like to include more people by offering options for somewhat smaller forces while still celebrating the "go big or go home" mentality of past years.
5. Not give Chase an aneurysm.
6. Other stuff.
Discuss.
