Online Battle Reports

So Something a little different today. I thought I'd chat about online battle reports (having just helped film my third) and what it is like filming for them, why I enjoy them and what I think they do for the community. So hopefully this'll be something you enjoy and something I little different to the standard.

Why do I watch Battle Reports?

Across youtube there is a multitude of different people filming and uploading battle reports of all different styles, from Sam over at the Emperors path and WWAus40k who do turn summary style reports to Miniwargaming, Guerilla Miniature Gaming, Winters SEO who do every dice roll epics, to mention a few that I watch on a regular basis. Most of the time I watch these in the background when painting, cooking or sometimes on a really slow day in the office. But why? Why don't I just go and play some games myself? Well that's the first problem, up until more recently I didn't have a gaming club near by that I wanted to attend and actually when I worked for GW the last thing I wanted to do at 7pm on a Friday evening was go and spend time playing more games (potentially with people I had served earlier in the day...). So I watched battle reports to keep myself in the loop, how rules work (although you do have to be careful), what armies do, how certain missions or games that I don't own play etc. It's also something to have on in the background. I also don't watch a lot of TV which helps. As I said I tend to do it when I paint so I actually kill two birds with one stone. It also helps keep me motivated for carrying on the hobby, seeing what new cool things can be done and what ideas can I take into my own armies and play styles. 

So what is it like filming them?

So I've only done three so far with Emperors Path, plus a sit and chat about Mechanicum (I'll post links below). So there are two parts to it, filming it and watching it back on youtube. The second part is just down right odd. Filming is interesting. Firstly it takes way longer than just playing a game. You stop and start, you film intros, part way through you have lunch and just put the game aside for half and hour. I'm normally with Sam for about 6 hours and that produces maybe and hours worth of content in total (don't forget the editing time that is involved as well). It's also very tiring, you have to keep up a presence on the camera and try and convey what it is like playing the game even though you a doing a wrap up of what has just happened. However it is also good fun, you tend to chat a lot of random shit of camera and it allows discussion as to what each player will do so that the game is actually fun for both parties involved as you go through. This is not to say that we change how we would play because it's for camera but you might do the less tactical thing because it will just be cooler than you might do in a tournament or event setting. Prime example of this was in the last game Sam and I did we re-rolled on the ZM catastrophic damage table in the last turn as we wanted something cool to happen and when we rolled nothing we decided that was too boring. Filming allows you to really have cool thematic games as you are playing the games for people to watch and enjoy and much as you enjoyed the game, and that doesn't come from a one sided game.

So are battle reports good for the community?

In short yes, I think they are. For people who can't get to clubs to play it allows you to at least see what is going on in the community. It allows you to watch reviews of armies and see how they can play without buying an army and realising that you don't like it after spending money on it. It also give hobbyists something the chat about second hand, when you do get a chance to talk with others you have things to discuss whether it is a new tactic you've seen or a new army idea you want to try out. 

Any way that is a very wordy post but I thought I'd put some of my thoughts out there. What do you think about battle reports and why?

Philip

Emperors Path Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU1jAqaoprzYdgwkhCpxtFw 

Mechanicum showcase: https://youtu.be/7mECJoBbOYc

Custodes Battle Reports 1 and 2: https://youtu.be/kvkU12sQeZw https://youtu.be/cPxojYOYOOY
Mechanicum Battle Reprot: https://youtu.be/UQC1UT282M0