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How long can I realistically expect a first game between two players who've never played the game to take? With Twilight Struggle we still hadn't finished our first game after 8 hours; I ended up trading that game because it's just too long. Would it be the same with Hannibal?
TS mainly took so long because all the cards were new to us and we had to do a lot of reading and thinking each turn.
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Russ Williams
Poland
Wrocław
Dolny Śląsk
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8 hours and unfinished? Wow. My 3 games of TS were all well under 8 hours, I think all under 4 hours or so. Maybe you had a strangely long game (or we had strangely short games), or maybe you play unusually slowly. (I'm not known for fast play in these kinds of games...)
Hannibal seems similar in length to TS for me. I've played Hannibal 30 times and I think we always finish in 3 or 4 hours at most now, although we were slower when learning and maybe had some 5 hour games in the beginning; hard to remember exactly now. Given your TS story, it might be that you would take 8+ hours for your first Hannibal... As in TS there are lots of cards with various events to read.
It also depends on whether someone wins before turn 9 or not. If it's a close game, it will last the full 9 turns and thus take more time, but it's also possible for the game to end much earlier by one of the sudden death type victories!
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Arthur Dickie
United Kingdom
South Leverton
Nottinghamshire
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If you were able to make Twilight Struggle last for 8 hours, I am sure you would have no difficulty pushing Hannibal to 10+.
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Will Todd
United States
Twin Falls
Idaho
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krommenaas wrote: How long can I realistically expect a first game between two players who've never played the game to take? With Twilight Struggle we still hadn't finished our first game after 8 hours; I ended up trading that game because it's just too long. Would it be the same with Hannibal?
TS mainly took so long because all the cards were new to us and we had to do a lot of reading and thinking each turn.
You probably should have hung onto TS, because with games like these, the more you play, the more familiar you'll get with the system and the faster they'll go.
My first game of Hannibal went about 5 hours (flipping through the rules every few minutes) but now we can get a game in around 2 or 2.5
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Alex H.
Germany
Würzburg / Aachen
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IMO, no single CDG can be played really competently during the first play. Thus, one should not worry too much about underperforming and really just try to get a feel for the game. In TS much more than in H:RvC you really can't know what the best move is each turn if you don't know the cards - so don't bother too much. Since Hannibal has more generic events on the cards you might be able to play more quickly but overall, if you traded TS, I would be hesitant to recommend Hannibal to you.
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Valery Prikhodko
Belarus
Gomel
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My first game of Hannibal started from reading rules and went from 8PM to 3AM. Paused with 2 turns remaining.
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Alexander Boucharelis
Greece
Drama
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1st games lasted 6 hours in 2 days, i also spend approx 4 hours reading the rules
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Justus Pendleton
Australia
Sydney
NSW
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I agree. If you couldn't finish your first game of Twilight Struggle under 8 hours you have no chance of finishing Hannibal any faster. My first game of TS took 3-4 hours (both of us newbies). My first game of Hannibal took about the same (one had played before a couple of times but was not an expert).
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Oliver Paul
Iceland
Reykjavik
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hoostus wrote: I agree. If you couldn't finish your first game of Twilight Struggle under 8 hours you have no chance of finishing Hannibal any faster. My first game of TS took 3-4 hours (both of us newbies). My first game of Hannibal took about the same (one had played before a couple of times but was not an expert).
This. Games of TS shouldn't take anywhere near 8 hours, let alone not finishing in 8. My first game took around 4 hours, and that was because we were looking up rules constantly. Nowadays games take me 1,5-3, depending on on what turn it ends.
Hannibal should take around the same amount of time.
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thx all, guess this just won't be my type of game then :/
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Ishai BD
United States
Mountain View
California
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I was very reluctant to give Hannibal a try, given the advertised length of play and my expectation that for me it would take much longer. I had a surprising experience.
I described that experience in detail in this GeekList.
- Ishai
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If game length is an issue, let me recommend Washington’s War. It uses the same basic concept as Hannibal: playing cards, placing influence and moving armies around. Washington’s War plays a lot quicker though, because there are fewer pieces on the board and the cards are either an ops value or an event – so no analysis paralysis there! It’s rated at 90 minutes. Perhaps the first games will last 3 hours, but soon you’ll be able to get it finished in 2 hours.
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I'd recommend a first game of about 2-3 turns duration with open hands for full tutorial. Then stop, re-set up and play it for real the next day.
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