Average Game time

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moorgull
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:49 am

most of the times i played the game it was with two players. Very casual with coffee and cigarette break, and found an average run time of 2-3 hours. Recently i taught my son how to play. He in turn, added an additional friend. The last game, with only three people took a whopping 5 hours, but with dinner and things in the middle... And now they are planning on adding another friend or two, so my question is, then with 4 or 5 people, how long will it take to play a game?
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CDavis7M
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Location: California

It can easily take 4+ hours for a 4 or 5 person game with 2 resource players at once. And this is when playing with familiar Challenge Decks or the Arda variation (board game style), not with preconstructed decks that usually take longer to play. With preconstructed decks I would not be surprised if it were a lot longer.

With only 4-5 players you can have 2 resources players playing at once without issues. One variation is to let the hazard player spend 1 hazard limit to pass the play of hazards along to the next player. I think this is more fun and it usually doesn't interfere with the other person taking their turn. Though sometimes the long/permanent events can get out of hand.

Are you guys playing 30/30 card 2-deck games? If you want to speed things up you could always try dropping to 30/30 1-deck games or even 25/25 1-deck.
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Theo
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With 2-3 hour 2-player games, I'd expect +1.5 to +2 hours per player. So maybe average around 4.75 hours for 3, 6.5 hours for 4, 8.25 hours for 5 (I've only attempted this once). I've also seen very reasonable 6 hour 2-player games and 3 hour 4-player games, so sometimes it just depends on the circumstances.

What has seemed like the biggest source of slowdown in multiplayer for me is people not paying attention to or hearing when it is their turn; totally reasonable when they are enjoying socializing, so it's just about having clear communication for when people should snap back into the flow.

Oh, and rules debates. Decide something (anything!) quick and check more thoroughly between game days.

I second CDavis7M about the hazard variant. You can't necessarily tell people to play decks they are familiar with, but you can decide the hazard variant. I would expect variants that limit hazard passing to be faster (every turn transition takes time), but I also think they aren't as fun!

The other thing to keep in mind is that uniqueness rules start to impact the game quite a bit with that many players. Not only might hazards be worse if passing is allowed, but companies are less optimal because the best characters / items / allies / etc. will be split among different players. I found ignoring character uniqueness rules above 3-player games to be more enjoyable mechanistically (though not as world-immersive).

My main suggestion would be to break into groups of 2 or 3. :roll:
One [online community] with hammer and chisel might mar more than they make...
All players are welcome at Meduseld! https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/
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Konrad Klar
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It was usually 12 hours for 4 decks 3 players games I was playing.
One time it was 15 minutes, when I won by The One Ring as Fallen Saruman. :)
We will not speak of such things even in the morning of the Shire.
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moorgull
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Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:49 am

Yeah, we are using 25/25 because of the limits on the card collection itself, and passing the hazards till the limit is met on the site card. But I haven't even gotten the others past the basic set, so they haven't learned hoards, minions, or fallen.
scottrick
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri May 15, 2020 8:40 pm
Location: Lino lakes, Minnesota

Do most people play 2-deck games? 3? Or does it really just depends on how long you want to play?
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CDavis7M
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scottrick wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 11:55 pm Do most people play 2-deck games? 3? Or does it really just depends on how long you want to play?
Most people play 30/30 minimum 2-deck games because this is the tournament standard. Back in the day 25/25 1-deck games were the tournament standard and that is what people played.

Some cards and strategies are designed to be used in 3-deck or 4-deck games instead of 1 or 2 deck games.
scottrick
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri May 15, 2020 8:40 pm
Location: Lino lakes, Minnesota

Thanks. Just to make sure I'm on the same page, 30/30 means 30 hazards and 30 resources minimum in your actual deck? Not counting your starting party/items?
Vastor Peredhil
Council Member
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Location: Kempen (Niederrhein) Germany

correct,

though most decks have 66 cards (3 wizards and 3 more characters (which can come from characters not revealed from the pool) or new ones altogether

10 are possible - but most players do not use these (unless trying somethhing deadly)

yours Nicolai
scottrick
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri May 15, 2020 8:40 pm
Location: Lino lakes, Minnesota

Interesting, thanks. Is there a deck building rules page with the most up-do-date rules? I'm reading the Wizard's Companion and some of the deck building rules seem to have changed somewhat.
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CDavis7M
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A player not on here has been working on a deck validation checklist. He'll be sharing his work soon.

But here are some quick notes:

30/30 card resource/hazard minimum, 30 card sideboard. 10 vs-FW sideboard. 10 characters preselected for the deck. 10 characters in the draft pool (for starting company). Max of 10 of the remaining characters go into the deck after the draft. 2 minor items preselected for the starting company.

3 avatar (eg Wizard or RW) max: 3 of the same or 2 of one and 1 of another. You can also have 1 of each unused Wizards/RW in your sideboard as a backup.

You need to count 1/2 creatures for the 12 creature minimum. These are event/creatures (like Nazgul), agents (except minion agents in a minion or FW deck), and unique hazard events with attacks that can be defeated for MP (Balrog, Dragons, Spawn).

Also, if a card can be played as a resource and a hazard (like Twilight and Tookish Blood) you can count it for either portion of the deck.
Last edited by CDavis7M on Wed May 20, 2020 6:37 pm, edited 5 times in total.
scottrick
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Joined: Fri May 15, 2020 8:40 pm
Location: Lino lakes, Minnesota

Awesome, thank you!
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Theo
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Location: Denver, CO

To clarify, the 10 character maximum in the deck is a maximum on the sum of characters preselected for the deck PLUS characters from the draft pool that are chosen to be placed in the deck.
One [online community] with hammer and chisel might mar more than they make...
All players are welcome at Meduseld! https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/
gollum51
Posts: 313
Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:30 pm

I am personally not a big fan of more than 2p game.
We tend to play 90 min games (or even 80 min for scenario format) with a timer.

Alternatively, if you are a group of 4 players, you might want to play 3 rounds of 90 min against each other rather than a 5 hour game.
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