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Hey guys,

So ever since I've started playing games, I've also been interesting in making my own Battle Reports. This is predominantly because I both watch a few Battle Reports online (mainly from MWG) and love playing 40K. So I've run into two things that have stopped me so far:

(1) I need a fully paint army. This is not what I need advice on. All I need to do here is just put in the time and effort (or money in lieu of both haha).

(2) Equipment. This is where I run into the problem.


So here's what I'm thinking is the bare minimum I need equipment-wise in order to create a Battle Report:

-- At least once decent quality Video Camera.
-- -- I considered the need for a stand for the video camera, but it seemed like a bad idea based on previous experience with friends who've tried to record battles (we were consistently getting in the way, not capturing dice rolls, etc etc etc).

-- Clip-On Microphones for all those involved in the video (e.g. two players for a 1v1).
-- -- I don't know how to sync up these microphones with the video camera since I've not used a video camera or microphone w/ a video camera in years, but I'm sure there's a way.

-- Software that allows me to edit the video into something worth watching that I can upload.


So here's my main question: Is there anything I'm missing from my minimum equipment list?

What are your thoughts on what I need for to make a decent Battle Report?

Cheers

IMO good camera, pen&paper or something to take notes and good ability to write.

Haven't seen video battle report yet that's not beaten by well written one with photos.

Well except one blood bowl one but BB works better than 40k for that and it also had 3rd party commentator(or two?) describing things. Players didn't actually chat much. It was commentator who did most of speaking in very BB-style.

tneva82 wrote:
IMO good camera, pen&paper or something to take notes and good ability to write.

Haven't seen video battle report yet that's not beaten by well written one with photos.

Fair enough. That's definitely one way to go and I'll be sure to give it a try, but what about video Battle Reports (i.e. the sorts you see on YouTube)?

 IllumiNini wrote:

tneva82 wrote:
IMO good camera, pen&paper or something to take notes and good ability to write.

Haven't seen video battle report yet that's not beaten by well written one with photos.

Fair enough. That's definitely one way to go and I'll be sure to give it a try, but what about video Battle Reports (i.e. the sorts you see on YouTube)?

That I can't help much since a) I rarely watch them b) never done it.

But about syncing issue maybe you could have them(video and voice records) started all at the same time(more or less. Maybe start mice's first and have mic users say something when you press video record on to help indicate the moment) and then combine them post-production? That would be my first thought on how to do it but then again I have never tried before. My videos are much simpler ones utilizing camera's built-in mice(would need to buy external but that's less portable solution and camera gear is bought in mind of soon to begin 640km+ walk. I do NOT want to carry any extra stuff during that).

So many tips you could give here.

1) It's not just about the models - the gaming table needs to look great. I'm not going to watch something that looks like it's your dining room table with some egg cartons and pringles cans for terrain. I don't feel you need music and animations and stuff when starting out, but a title card is useful to act as the image on YouTube.

2) Every time you move the camera have a reason for doing so. Some batreps the camera is just swooping about all over the place like a scene from Cloverfield. It's hard to watch. Camera movement is important but give it the USR "Slow and Purposeful"!

3) Decide in advance if you are going to have a Winters-style "only one person is allowed to talk" or a "banter batrep" style. The worst batreps are the ones where there's a dominant personality who is bossing around the other player around "I assume you're doing this now" "You need to move this guy up" etc.

4) Many dice rolls are exciting... but most of them are boring. If you watch Winters he hardly shows any dice rolls in turns 1 and 2... there's so much going on and so many units dying it would turn a 1.5 hour video into a 3 hour one that nobody will watch. Nobody needs to see your unit of troops making individual "look out, sir" rolls and then saves twenty times... but everyone needs to see how the critical fights are decided. I'd also advise you to have a dedicated "dice roll zone" rather than just chucking them all over the table, to keep them easy to see at camera distance.

5) Consider the mission itself. Something Warhammer TV does badly is play "hidden objective" missions where the audience don't know what the players are trying to achieve. Where's the fun in that? Play a game with open objectives, or help the viewer understand what's going on by editing in the objectives after the game.

Realistically I think you should video (and not publish) about 5 games just to try and get used to having to narrate it as well as play it! I expect it will be much more difficult than you think!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXXhl19Xr2S1v2691Qq4kBw

That is all.

Tabletop Tactics, especially their most recent content, is the gold standard for bat-reps - definitely watch and see how Lawrence runs his games and BRs.

 Retrogamer0001 wrote:
Tabletop Tactics, especially their most recent content, is the gold standard for bat-reps - definitely watch and see how Lawrence runs his games and BRs.

+1

Lawrence is the reason I'm building a DE army (yeah, I know they suck but so cool looking). The batreps are great, and I've found myself watching more and more of them.

So, I watch a lot of batreps. What determines if you get my subscribe, or if i'll watch again, are:

1. No background noise. This is important to me, I watch the batrep to hear what's happening in the game.

2. No shaky camera. I don't care if your camera isn't great - just keep it stable.

3. Cut out footage of excessive measuring or looking up rules, just tell me the decision. "we paused the video and looked up this rule, and did all the measuring, i can do this but the cover save is blah."

miniwargaming does good batreps, although I wouldn't expect that level of quality, as they run a for-profit channel.

Tabletop Tactics, especially their most recent content, is the gold standard for bat-reps - definitely watch and see how Lawrence runs his games and BRs.

Good artificial lighting.

I've seen too many batreps that are hard to see, don't show the painted models well, or have terrible glare/contrast.

If you're in a room, get some good diffuse lights and blackout curtains for any windows. MWG did that with their new studio.

My main problem with video battle reports, which makes me yet to find a single one which I can honestly say was good, is that they are usually a "documentary" on someone elses play, not a proper battle report at all. What I mean by that?

First of all, take a look at the old White Dwarf printed battle reports - they are a set of maps, highlight pictures and commentary by the players about what they intended to achieve that turn, what they actually managed and how they had to adapt to the results. What the are not, is two players constantly chatting, laughing and rolling more or less meaningless dice before the camera. Proper battle reports are played with the purpose of generating the battle report in mind, with everything else being a cosequence of this.

IMHO the ideal video battle report should be a video version of a printed one:

- it should have an intro and overview of what is on the table and what the mission is and if there is a larger story to this battle. Introduction should also have a nice, clear picture of the forces on a table not yet set up for the actual battle - a climatic "group shot" of everything with some decorative elements. And it should contain pausable armylists WRITTEN on screen. Army presentation done over 10 minutes of an unsteady camera movement over terrain-obscured models is 9 minutes too long and usually offers nothing in terms of actually explaining what was the idea behind armies or how they should work.

- there should be an overview shot of the table before each players turn with "situational overlay". Battle report focusing entire time on two - three closeups of the table are unclear and usually meaningless.

- there should be only HIGHLIGHTS of what important things happened during the turn, with maybe a short edit of a hinge dice roll. Battle reports should not be an endless stream of colored dice bouncing all around. Showing movement decisions and phase results are more informative than 100 dice rolled. Comentary from the players should not be on "I now roll to hit, now I roll to wound and now you roll your saves". They should be "in order to gain ground before my next turn's assaults I move here and try to whitstand enemy retaliation using this ruin as a cover". I'm really not interested in viewing dice, I'm interested in getting into force commander mind and learn 40K STRATEGY and TACTICS (or learning an unfolding narrative plot behind the game if there is one), I can read my rules on my own.

- keep it short, like "sitcom" 25 minutes short - full lenght battle reports are boring, as so are most 1hr long ones. Cut it, edit it, make it an interesting STORY about a battle, not a "go-pro recording" of an uninspiring game. Youtube batreps are not live sessions from tournaments (or first games of new units/models from Warhammer TV) that will be viewed with innate excitement. You should aim at exactly the same amount of time and effort expected from a viewer as you would from a reader.

As to technicalities - interesting terrain, well lit and composed shots of the actual battle, no clutter of books, unused templates or accesories, no out of focus or shaky shots. Battle report shots could be RECREATED after the actual game takes place, just do some in-game snapshots and then rearrange higlight moments to make trully catching imagery.

If you can deliver reports that combine interesting imagery with actual batrep storytelling and strategic commentary (spoken in a clear manner, no mumbling, stutting or being overly "cool and laughing" all the time), then you have my subscribe.

IMO, the best Batreps are ones which do NOT use the audio from the actual game. They do a voice over commentary, and preferably the video is sped up to 2x speed so your 2.5 hour game isn't a 2.5 hour youtube video.

The worst battlereports are those that use handcam. Get a tripod! Have it set at one end of the table so it is looking down it. Maybe occasionally re-position it to look at key points, but avoid shaky handcam.

 Marmatag wrote:

miniwargaming does good batreps, although I wouldn't expect that level of quality, as they run a for-profit channel.

No, no, no, no... They're actually a good example of how NOT to do a batrep. They always have shaky cameras because they always hold the cameras at the same time as they are doing stuff, they need to get a damn tripod, which also results in them often incorrectly measuring stuff.

They have good quality when it comes to editing and sound, but their videos have many fatal flaws that just irritate the crap out of me.

Get a tripod, a DSLR camera, and if you can spring for a GoPro to put over the table you can get a few good angles. Record audio after the fact. That's what I'm doing when I make some for my channel.