How do you prefer your BRs?

[Curu Olannon]

If you read a battle report, do you prefer to see BC diagrams or RL photos? Please also state why

[sparkytrypod]

hi curu,

just read your empire report, I prefer pictures if they are done as you have done them, it was quite easy to follow the movements and see the angles and plan what I would do.

also I would have missed the glory of seeing that magical can of tuborg if it was done in BC!

[Andrew_uk]

I prefer reading them with a mix of both - I'm terrible for writing my own up (not that I play much anymore anyway) but I do really enjoy reading them when they have a mixture of photos and the tactical overview which comes from diagrams

[John Rainbow]

I prefer Battle Chronicler (or similar diagrams) simply because they are generally easier to follow and show the important details better in most cases. This makes the games easier to follow and comments easier to make. Having done a bunch of them myself however, I appreciate that they take a fair amount of effort and that pictures can do a decent job in some cases - especially when supported with good text and annotations.

[Bolt Thrower]

Can you add a mix of both to the choices? I have not voted as that is how I prefer it. However, if forced to choose I would say real pictures. I enjoy seeing the armies and terrain to see how my fellow gamers get to play.

Overall, though, the most important thing is clear narrative on what happened each turn. Details are vital! I like to know what the magic dice rolls are, how many dice were thrown, etc.

[Teledor]

I second JR. I prefer battle chronicler diagrams because it is easier to follow along and get a better understanding tactical where the units are positioned. Real Life photos are great, but perspective makes it difficult to tell distances, posture of units, and casualties.

[Cold Phoenix]

I find that battle chronicler diagrams are easier to follow, because it's usually easier for me to judge distances, angles and movement when I have the grid lines for reference and some arrows to follow. That being said, photos with detailed notes (such as your last battle against empire) are a good substitute.

[Jimmy]

Can you add a mix of both to the choices? I have not voted as that is how I prefer it. However, if forced to choose I would say real pictures. I enjoy seeing the armies and terrain to see how my fellow gamers get to play.

Overall, though, the most important thing is clear narrative on what happened each turn. Details are vital! I like to know what the magic dice rolls are, how many dice were thrown, etc.

You're missing some options Curu.

- Combination of both
- Video reports (I know you said read however out of interest would be worth knowing)
- UB screenshots

[Curu Olannon]

Thanks a lot for your feedback so far guys (and keep it coming)

I intentionally left out other options as this was something I asked mainly to prioritize how I will write BRs in the future. Seeing as I assume that mixed is always superior (having your cake and eating it too...) and UB + Youtube are irrelevant, I was left with two options. If you want a general "best type of BR" discussion we can create a separate thread for that

[oreaper]

I prefer both to an extent. To gleem tactics and conditions battle chronicler is far superior, and that is the method id prefer if forced a choice, but its always nice to have recap pics at the end. Candid pics give a reaffirming perspective on the sistuation of the board, that and lets face it this is a hobby of undeniable aesthetic quality

[siovim]

Pictures are good to display the painting and modeling skills of the opposings sides, but to better grasp the tactics of the game, battle chronicler diagrams are far superior. It hasn't been mentioned here, but i also prefer written battle rapports over youtube ones, because then i can read them at my own pace.

[Nicene]

I voted BC diagrams but I will say it's really great when you can sprinkle a photo in here or there--even if it's just for decoration (like of a climactic battle, great painting job, combo charge, heavy casualties from a spell, amazing dice luck, etc). This makes it feel more real. With only diagrams, I feel like the battle was all in your imagination!

My reports have a photo and a diagram for literally every turn, but I've been considering dropping most of the photos and just adding "flavor" photos here and there to spice things up. The plain overview photos don't really add much that you can't see in the diagrams, I think.

[solith]

I can't vote because my option isn't up there, but in my opinion:

Good pictures > Battle Chronicler > bad pictures > nothing.

My rule of thumb would be that if there's more than 2 blurry/unfocused pictures then I'd prefer BC. When photos are too blurry I can end up giving myself a headache trying to see what's going on, but I need pictures of some sort to get an idea of what's actually going on.

Nothing beats good pictures of fully painted armies however.

[Nicene]

If you don't have the time for BC, i do like the idea of drawing in the photos a bit to indicate movement/casualties. Or to label deployment, for example.

[RogueSun]

Video.

You don't have to film the game but if you take good notes, and good pictures coming back with a slide show that you do voice over work to seems like far less of task. I don't mind reading but having to scroll up or down just to know where each unit you're talking about is gets annoying. Video I can easily see and I can paint or browse other forums while listening if I need to. In this day and age doing voice recording and assembling a simple video is cake.

[Tiny]

I prefare BC and even stoped reading battle reports without diagrams.

Foto, videos and/or long texts explaining the situation are nice to have, but are (at least for me) no replacement for proper diagrams.

The main problem I have with fotos (or videos) is I can't really judge the board situation, distance and angle between units. But without this information battle reports often bowl down to a pure listing of single unit fights with known statistics and the report how well the dice followed those statistic during the game.

[NHB]

Well, Battle Chronicler Diagrams carry pure Information, while Pictures (can/should) carry emotion.

So I too prefer a mix:

BC Diagrams for being a summary of the turn - which you can quickly refer to, to track the overall picture.

Pictures for setting the scene, highlighting important events, showing of crazy events etc.


Also: I don't know what you guys think, but personally I prefer the BC Diagram AFTER the story of the turn. I feel I can't give the report full justice, when I first see the turn summary and basically can guess what is happening 90% of the time without reading the report of the turn.

[Noble Korhedron]

I prefer photos 'cause I can't seem to get the hang of using BatChron.