Gentleman how do you run a pbem?

[comte]

Hi guys wondering what the logistics are for running this pbem? You use whatsapp? Do you pass a email with the turn around?

[Angeldust2]

Yes, exactly. We use whatsapp to show the other player(s) what we are doing, either by sending a screenshot or a quick line describing our activity. This we do also if the non-phasing player is asked for a decision. And yes, later we send the turn by whatsapp as well to the other player to continue, when he becomes phasing player. Works very well.

[Joseignacio]

Do you send files to each other or screenshots every phase and subphase?
I mean, Strat Bomb, describe , enemy decides if intercept, then you, then the fight, then losses, and so on?
Seems to me incredibly slow, but it must not be, considering some people play it...

[Angeldust2]

Why would it be slow? It is normally slightly faster compared to the table in the early years and much faster than the boardgame in the later years with many counters. Plus, important, everybody can take his own time, not both (all) players must be at the table at the same time and pay attention. For example everybody can go to the toilet and will still get all relevant information 5min later, without having somebody else to repeat.

[craigbear]

Attach game files as documents. Use Print Screen>>> ctl-V to paste pictures into chat. Matter of seconds to show whatever info is needed. Whole naval combats back and forth can be done this way...

We also trust eachother and turn on the die-roller so we can see them... then if we start with the same file, we can follow along inputting the rolls...

Seems to work... and gets quicker as we become more familiar with the process.

[juntoalmar]

We use a Dropbox folder for game files, so there is only one place to look for files (and there is a historic of them).

For quick decisions, we send a screenshot on whatsapp. In Windows you can take a screenshot of part of the screen with Control+Shift+S and then select with the mouse the area of the screen you want to capture. It is captured directly into the clipboard and easily pasted in Whatsapp with Control+V

If we anticipate there will be many interactions (for example, if there are a couple of naval combats) then we make a Skype call and share the screen

[davidc]

We also use an independent die-roller
http://acts.warhorsesim.com/index.asp is good for this purpose and keeps the whole history of your rolls

[Joseignacio]

Hi, we are currently looking for a dice roller for our vassal game.

At http://acts.warhorsesim.com/index.asp I see only a list of games and some tabs with more games...

Or I can see that option only after registering?

[Angeldust2]

https://www.pbegames.com/roller/

works well and is easy to use.

[juntoalmar]

Do you use a dice roller always or only with players you don't know? I like the idea (and to keep track of rolls) but I always feel is a pain in the ass to implement it, so I just trust people.

I think, in the end, there's always a lot of trust involved when playing wargames even with strangers.

[Angeldust2]

My experience is, using an external dice roller for MWIF increases the satisfaction with the game on several levels. I understand your concern, using a dice roller being a PITA, but this is not the case. While using it, it becomes second nature and will cost you just 20-30sec for each dice roll and with some practice you can sometimes put conditional rolls in the same email, saving on the total number of emails needed and saving even more time by doing so.
I do not consider using a dice roller a case of trust/distrust at all. I consider it as an insurance for both players to avoid unintentional user mistakes.

[Joseignacio]

Do you use a dice roller always or only with players you don't know? I like the idea (and to keep track of rolls) but I always feel is a pain in the ass to implement it, so I just trust people.

I think, in the end, there's always a lot of trust involved when playing wargames even with strangers.

I give the "benefit of the doubt" (like in Spanish ) to those I dont know, and assume they are honest. And they are, in a wide majority. However there are some guys who tend to be less strict with themselves than with the rest, and a tiny number of openly dishonest people.

So I prefer to have the things clear and open for all. However I am not opposed to relying on people (because it usually comes out well) until people (sometimes) show not reliable.

[juntoalmar]

Well, I find it completely impossible to know about the honesty of those I play with, specially on MWiF. Even when I play solitary there are a few "crazy dice rolls" that I think: "If I was playing with someone else, I'd believe he's cheating me because I can't simply believe this is happening to me".

Perhaps Steve just put some logic in the game to troll us all

[Joseignacio]

Well, in the board game you can see when someone wants to reroll without a real reason for example, maybe a die is 1mm leaned because of a paper it fell on. However, he doesnt want to reroll yours which went to the wall of the box and is almost in the middle of two numbers...

In MWIF, NP, when you need to reload and he happens not to be able to remember the precise dice you had just rolled or remembers them very differently to your own remind.

As for having excellent rolls, that shouldnt be enough, over the board I have seen a friend get like 10 or 11 "6" results rolling 12d6, or he many times getting 6 "6" with 6d6.

Or in the Eurowifcon once I rolled like 11 or 12 times searching for IT fleet in the Med and all of them I got over 5,sometimes much more, while he rolled 1 or 2 all of them so he found with all of his fighters and navals he couldnt put in upper boxes.. and it was not the dice, we changed dice several times along all this.

Sometimes you can tell he is a cheater for other reasons, and then you dont rely on his rollings.

For example on the board game a guy kept moving his IT land units into Egypt, even thought I asked him (seriously and repeatedly) to move them in the land phase, not trying to hide the movement while I was busy with the GE subs elsewhere. He finally took Egypt because of this and I never played with him anymore, and because of personal insults we almost had a fight (and I am not talking of a WIF fight).

A different way to do the cheesy thing is what a friend of mine did. He calculated the odds of a land attack and got a result. If he didnt like the result he checked again the modifiers... It came out most of the times he could get better results. However if he got the result he wanted he never checked anything. I came to the conclussion that he may leave one or two modifyers unaccounted on purpose and then apply them only if convenient (for example, sometimes it is better to get an 18 than a 19...).

For instance if he had a total of 14 (dreaded 14 in 2d10) or higher results he would say he had one extra modifyer he "forgot" from HQ support or an armor, for example so he really had 15 instead, or more in case of the higher results . If he had a 13 he wouldnt inform us that he had one extra point in reserve, because 13 is terribly better than 14 in most cases.

This sounds strange but as long as he corrects it... seems ok. What is not so fine is when he "forgets" to account for the previously "not counted" factors when it is convenient for him.

I spoke to him seriously and explained my doubts and the reason for them, and we count exhaustively before, since.

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/down ... ?id=930654

[Arshi]

I use this to reach out to friends, online communities, or forums to find players who are interested in playing the same game. GBWhatsApp

[juntoalmar]

We have started something that seems a bit faster than an external dice roller: we send a video through whatsapp of the computer screen while the dice is rolled and the MWiF result